On Monday night, I had chicken for dinner.
I did not have a chicken sandwich, nor a chicken wrap or a Chicken McNugget, nor even a chicken quesadilla or burrito. The chicken did not come deep-fried, ground and served in a bun or stuffed into a hot dog. It wasn't even grilled and chopped into tiny cubes to be scattered more easily on top of a pizza or salad.
No, instead I had a piece of chicken, simply prepared and served with green beans and other vegetables. This privilege was bought for $12, not cheap; but with every bite I thought of how tired I was with my Loop-Dillo-McDonald's-Atrium rotation last semester. By the time I received the bill (tipping on campus?!?), I was thoroughly satisfied.
What makes Upstairs@The Commons so extraordinary is not that you have a menu, or that someone brings food to your table. It's that the food it does serve seems like a meal, rather than a snack or a meal-to-go. It's not unique in this: Other on-campus "eateries" serve entrees that defy the salad or meat-and-salad-wrapped-in-carbs paradigms.
Most prominent among these defiant few are the Marketplace and the Great Hall, apparently our one-stop-shops for balanced meals. The Marketplace, however, is on East-a wilderness convenient only to freshmen-and the Great Hall has historically served foodstuffs in the "cafeteria" range of quality.
I have not yet visited the Great Hall this year, and Tuesday's Chronicle indicates this may have been my mistake. Nevertheless, my defining mental image from the Great Hall is a well-oiled piece of rubber charitably labeled "steak."
Then there are the Blue Express and the Refectory, the two best dining venues on campus for my money, both of which present the diner every day with multiple compelling options. It seems a bit odd that only those loyal to God or calculus should have access to quality entrees, but if there really is a theo-scientific culinary conspiracy within the administration, it's one that suits me: Most of my classes this semester are in the Physics Building.
The bigger problem, though, is that both of these venues close for dinner, the one meal only undergraduates eat on campus. I have long nurtured the suspicion that Duke Dining Services considers undergraduates barbarians who wouldn't recognize a good meal if it were knocked down and turned into a plaza. Perhaps they just like graduate students better, or the Academic Council does a better job than Duke Student Government at bullying them.
Regardless, this is changing. Those of us who watched and wondered whether the closing of Rick's would lead to something truly new (am I the only person who still pines for a noodle bar, like Chai's, on campus?), only to see the arrival of Tommy's, where they put pulled pork in a bun, should rejoice at the arrival of the Commons onto the Duke dining scene.
There's still progress to be made. One comparatively easy change would be to add more diversity to Merchants on Points (did you know that more than a third of the 14 merchants have "Pizza" in their name?-and that doesn't even include Satisfaction), perhaps through a new and improved version of Gourmet Dining and Bakery.
But there is no denying that Duke is finally doing something right. Last year saw the dramatic improvement in the Marketplace's reputation. If early reports are accurate, this year may do the same to the Great Hall. The decision to hand it over to Sitar on weekends may be the best thing since Bostock, particularly if they start serving something besides the same three dishes every week. And the Commons is an uncommonly inspired move.
So kudos to Jim Wulforst and the Dining Services staff, who, for the first time in four years, I think may be onto something.
David Rademeyer is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Thursday.
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