By Lee McGowan
Correspondent
I entered the Eickhoff dining hall with a big task at hand.
“Eick,” as it is referred to by students, regularly receives highly mixed reviews. Instagram and Snapchat accounts dedicated to “Eick Fails” are common on campus, but there are also students who will eat there for every meal. That’s where I come in–to try food from every station and truly get to the bottom of the long lasting debate: Is Eickhoff good?
I brought support for my cause, senior journalism and professional writing major Riley Eisenbeil. She and I worked together to try foods, making sure none of it went to waste. Once we found a table, we got down to work.
We started with cheese pizza and tortellini with marinara sauce from Ceva Pizza and Pasta. The pizza was great; it didn’t taste like it was from a true pizzeria and brought me back to high school cafeteria pizza. The bread wasn’t burnt or too doughy, and the sauce tasted perfect. I am always under the impression that it’s impossible to mess up pizza, and Eick proved me right.
The tortellini was more disappointing. Ceva has a self-serve pasta station, meaning the same pasta sits in the warmer until it needs to be refilled. This led the sauce to be dry, and the whole dish was lukewarm. The tortellini was cooked well, but the dry sauce that had no seasoning in it made the entire dish quite bland.
Next up was a hearty beef stew from Green Farm Salads. The soup immediately brought Eisenbeil back to home cooked soups from her mother. The beef was tender, and the pairing with beans, celery and carrots led to a perfect stew. Then I tried a salad, which was also great! There are times when I steer clear from the station due to dirty vegetables, but that day they were all fresh and full of great taste.
We moved onto rotisserie chicken, a baked potato, squash and zucchini from the Rotisserie. I was given two pieces of chicken; one was very pink, so I put that one aside. The other was cooked very well and had great seasoning.
Next was the baked potato. I am not usually a fan of potatoes, but that one was soft and buttery—it didn’t even need more seasoning. The squash and zucchini tasted exactly alike. They were marinated in oil and pepper, which was essentially all that I could taste. It was a solid meal, though not necessarily one I would crave.
After the Rotisserie was Quimby’s, Eickhoff’s micro-restaurant that offers a new menu item each day. The choice for the day was pork, macaroni and cheese, and a bok choy salad. The pork was tender and well marinated, and the macaroni and cheese tasted great, which was expected.
“The mac and cheese is one of my favorites here, so it’s gonna be good,” Eisenbiel guessed before her bite. It was followed quickly by, “I was right!” once she finished.
The bok choy salad was new for both Eisenbiel and myself. It looked soggy from afar, but ended up only tasting like the wasabi it was seasoned with. It was a fine taste, but left us wondering what it would be like with less wasabi.
C Street Grill was our last stop for entrees during our trip. I tried the hot dog, while Eisenbiel chose a turkey burger. I found the hot dog fine, it tasted no different from any hot dog I have eaten elsewhere. Eisenbeil enjoyed her turkey burger, though she thought it tasted more like chicken than turkey.
“If it was warm, I think it would taste like the crispy chicken sandwich from Wendy’s,” she said. We both shared the fries, which were crispy and salted to perfection; we didn’t even need ketchup.
We ended our feast with melon from Green Farm Salads, along with a brownie and M&M chocolate chip cookies from Bliss Bakery. The melon tasted fresh and was super juicy, receiving a thumbs up from both Eisenbeil and I.
The cookies got the same review–chewy and similar to a home-baked chocolate chip cookie. The brownie was where Eisenbeil and I finally disagreed. We both agreed it was very moist and dense, but I found the brownie had too much fudge on it. Eisenbeil felt the fudge was the perfect addition to the brownie, so I will recommend trying them only if you are a fan of a lot of chocolate.
After our busy day, Eisenbeil and I came to the same conclusions. The main problem we had was the temperature: warming the food more would be a quick improvement. The food was well seasoned, though, and had a good taste overall.
But does this mean we’ve answered our question? Is Eick good?
Maybe! It certainly was fine during our visit, but all students at the College know that with every day comes a new Eick experience. I typically do not enjoy the food, but I was pleasantly surprised on this day. Overall, I suggest having an open mind when visiting Eick. If you make your way through the entire hall before giving up, you are sure to find a hidden delicacy.
