New Year New Meal
Last semester ended with that dreaded week of finals where some of us stayed up all night drinking coffee after coffee, studying for exam after exam. One of the better parts of our day would be grabbing a meal and letting our minds relax, but as we transitioned Aramark out of their contract, we settled for PB&J when the food lines consisted of leftovers from before thanksgiving furlough. As the last day Christmas before break rolled around, we could not wait for Aramark’s “Last Supper” and forget about the atrocity it instilled upon our stomachs and taste buds. Needless to say, Aramark did not leave Parkhurst big shoes to fill.
After Christmas furlough, we arrived back to post early for Governor Northam’s inauguration and it left us with time to critique the new food that was coming into play. The first dinner of many included options from the new and improved panini line, pasta bar, salad bar, grill line, dinner buffets, and to add, the burrito line. We quickly learned that Parkhurst is for the students when they served a trip around the world in Crozet on their first night in business. For once, there were smiles on our faces and relief to know we didn’t have to dred marching down the hill for trashy food. To add to the hype, the PX has received improvements in the pizza, sandwich, and snack areas, while becoming the home to our very own Starbucks. Although our Starbucks may not have a full menu, it is consistent with the taste and quality of each drink to avoid driving 20+ miles out of Lexington to get our luxury caffeine fix. If you watch closely, you can see the difference in effort and attitude made by the Parkhurst employees by the way they put your burger bun on the grill before they serve it to you, or how they have up to two servers on each buffet to keep our vulture-like attitude at ease during SRC.
As we approach our seventh week of the semester, we can start to crave some items Parkhurst serves whether it’s a fresh pancake with your choice of toppings or a slice of pizza that you watched roll out of the oven and onto your plate. Some Cadets enjoy a liquid breakfast of Greenberry’s coffee while others shoot for the buffet to whip up a breakfast burrito of eggs, bacon, and tater tots. “The go to food in Crozet is definitely the omelet line,” says Kyle Coons (’19) “I also look forward to ribs whenever they serve it.” My personal favorite is the fresh tomato pizza or the different paninis they offer each day, which are both quick lines when you don’t have much time to eat before class. No longer do we have to decide to order pizza or Chinese as Crozet has enough options to satisfy or appetites with the wide range of options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All in all, Parkhurst has knocked VMI’s dining experience out of the park and it gives us one less thing to complain about.
Matthew P. Kelly