Ivonne: Welcome to our first episode of Falcon foodies [bird noise, which came from Nagaty Studio and is Track 4]

Where we let you know which spots on campus are worth the visit, I’m Ivonne Zepeda.

Cinthia: And I’m Cinthia Gutierrez. I have made it my job to go around these food places on campus to let you know what food places are really worth it.

So I’m going to be going over some of the food places on campus. So we have the food court, which is going to be in the student center. There’s a subway in there and then there are two other restaurants in there.

We have Zebra Coffee, which is by the Social Science breezeway, we have an Elbow Room in the multipurpose building.

We have Cassidy’s Corner, we have Cassidy’s Corner cart and then we have the actual store so Cassidy’s Corner cart is going to be located outside of the library on the EPS walkway.

And then we’re going to have Culinary Cafe and Falcons Room which is going to be located in the Culinary Arts Center.

Lastly, we have Frantones which has unfortunately closed down but I did get to eat there as well. So, I’ll be going over these places the places I have ate the places I haven’t ate and what I recommend.

Ivonne: Imma start off with some questions for Cynthia about the food places, her recommendations, price and quality-wise. So for the food court, have you tried anything in the food court yet?

Cinthia: The food court, I have not tried anything, the thing I do want to try soon is the Subway, since I just found out there’s a Subway there and I love Subway, but I want to see what it’s like here.

Ivonne: Okay, that’s good to know. I also haven’t been to the food court yet. So for Zebra Coffee, have you been?

Cinthia: Yes, since I have a class in the Social Science building or if classes I should say, I really love iced coffee. So I have gotten an iced coffee there a few times.

I usually go for the small which is $5 most of the time, what I always pay. I usually go for a caramel iced coffee or vanilla iced coffee and then you can also ask for extra caramel.

He also gives like coffee cakes and little um pastries that you can have and then chips as well. So that’s really good. You know to grab along with your coffee.

Ivonne: Oh yeah, that is good. And what would you recommend? Do you have any food items that you would recommend from Zebra Coffee?

Cinthia: I love his coffee cake. It’s really good. And the coffee there is really good because I like my coffee. I’m a more sweet-coffee person.

Ivonne: Same

Cinthia: so I love how it’s sweeter than- more than sweet than bitter, I should say.

For example, Starbucks coffee. I don’t like Starbucks coffee because it’s too bitter sometimes unless I do a lot of add-ons like syrups and stuff like that. But here like it’s really nice.

Ivonne: Yeah, I was about to ask like compared to Starbucks, what would you rate it like out of five stars?

Cinthia: Mmm, This is maybe going to be like a little disagreeing to some people,

Ivonne: hahaha

Cinthia: since you know, people love Starbucks.

Ivonne: A little controversial.

Cinthia: A little controversial moment. Um, Starbucks coffee I would say is like to me, iced coffee with no add-ons is like six out of 10.

Ivonne: Yeah.

Cinthia: And so here since I don’t really have to add much to make it to my desired sweetness, I would say is like a nine out of 10.

Ivonne: Nine out of 10

Cinthia: Yeah.

Ivonne: All right. All right. And let’s see next on the list, we have Elbow Room. So for the Elbow Room, what do you usually get from the Elbow Room?

Cinthia: Okay, so the Elbow Room has been the biggest thing that I’ve been able to try so many things because this is right next to the Social Science building as well.

So I’m there literally almost every day so I’m always hungry after class or before class. They have so many things it kind of looks like a liquor store and at the same time, they have fresh food made for you.

And they have a lot of different refrigerators with ready-to-go food that they prepped early in the morning or they have prepackaged sandwiches.

Ivonne: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Cinthia: Yeah, so from the menu I would say they have for boba lovers out there they have a really good Boba menu.

Ivonne: Have you tried the boba yourself?

Cinthia: Yes, I have I actually tried the Milk Tea boba, the Thai tea boba and I want to say the last one I tried recently, oh the Tarot tea boba.

Ivonne: The tarot is good.

Cinthia: and they’re all really really good. They’re- they’re um, boba is really good. Oh, and then also the last one is Horchata.

Ivonne: Oh, oh wow. Horchata… I haven’t even tried like an horchata boba that’s that’s interesting.

Cinthia: Yeah.

Ivonne: Um, and compared to zebra coffee is does elbow room so coffee also?

Cinthia: They have the Starbucks coffee ready to go,

Ivonne: Oh, like the little glass bottles?

Cinthia: Yeah, yeah, and the glass bottles

Ivonne: Oh okay, okay.

Cinthia: And then they also actually have hot coffee like they have the coffee brews.

Ivonne: Oh, the dispenser?

Cinthia: Yeah.

Ivonne: Oh Okay.

Cinthia: Yeah. So they have that, you can get coffee from there. As of iced coffee… I don’t think they sell iced coffee but what I have seen is they sell coffee boba so if you want to

Ivonne: oh okay,

Cinthia: get a hot coffee- to me coffee boba was sometimes too strong as well. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried coffee boba.

Ivonne: I don’t think I have. I’m just not a fan of boba.

Cinthia: Oh

Ivonne: It’s the chewing. I don’t know why.

Cinthia: Honestly, I don’t like the boba either, but I like the drinks.

Ivonne: Yeah, the drinks are really good.

Cinthia: I ask for the boba drink but with no boba.

Ivonne: Yeah. A little controversial.

Cinthia: Yeah.

Ivonne: All righty. And next on the list, we have Cassidy’s Corner. Have you tried the cart and the shop or just the cart?

Cinthia: I’ve only tried to cart because I passed by a few times and then coming over to our building over here. Specifically.

Cinthia: Oh Okay, so yeah, walking over to the Fine Arts Building. If I didn’t grab anything at the Elbow Room, I’ll grab something at, over here at Cassidy’s Corner. They have their bagels for I believe $1.50. I want to say and then with cream cheese. I believe it comes out to $4.

Ivonne: Yeah.

Cinthia: So I’ve only had their bagel like maybe once. It’s a bagel, you know, a regular bagel.

Ivonne: Is there anything else you tried from Cassidy’s corner?

Cinthia: Um, I’ve gotten the chips, but you know, chips are chips.

Ivonne: I’ve-Cassidy’s Corner is actually the one that I visit the most. But it’s honestly pretty pricey. But I’ve tried it. I think it was the Texas um or the BBQ ranch bagel. It was pretty good. And what is it, the parmesan asiago bagel?

Cinthia: Oh, okay

Ivonne: It was pretty good.

Ivonne: The only thing is, is that if they toasted it more, it would be way better

Cinthia: hmm

Ivonne: because it kind of feels like they’re giving the bagel raw.

Cinthia: Okay, yeah, soggy bagel. They have a lot of drinks, too, that I’ve seen, but at the same thing you’ve said is a little pricier. So I kind of I rather stopped by Elbow Room first and get something there maybe.

Ivonne: Alrighty, and then said you did say that you tried Frantones? It is closed for the Fall ’22 session. But what did you try from there that you would recommend?

Cinthia: The pizza was honestly really good. I don’t know if Frantones is going to be closed forever. Like I don’t know if next year they’re gonna open it or…

Ivonne: Yeah, they’re I believe they did say it should be open. It should be closed for Fall 2022. So it should be opened by maybe next spring. Hopefully,

Cinthia: Hopefully. I mean, if they do replace it, maybe it’s something better. But…

Ivonne: Yeah

Cinthia: They had a large, really big menu. They had chicken strips, they had hot Cheetos with cheese,

Ivonne: Oh wow!

Cinthia: They had Subway sandwiches and pizza. They had so many different food items available.

What I got to try was the pizza the pepperoni pizza with ranch because I love ranch. And it was pretty good. I would rate it a seven out of 10

Ivonne: Okay, okay. And cool.

Cinthia: The slice was pretty big, too.

Ivonne: Oh, that’s good.

Cinthia: For the price, It was really good. They give you a um, you can get like there’s a lot of combo options.

So that’s really good. You know, when you’re trying to get a meal. They give you a lot of good meals. But sadly it’s closed down right now.

Ivonne: Yeah,

Cinthia: I’ve been wanting I wanted to go back to try like the chicken strips and other things. But unfortunately, I saw that it was closed

Ivonne: The pizza, was it like garlic-y like Domino’s? Or was it like fluffy like Pizza Hut? Was it thin?

Cinthia: I would say it was on the thinner side.

Ivonne: Thinner side, ooh.

Cinthia: Yeah.

Ivonne: I love, I love like the really garlic-y crust.

Cinthia: Me too, I don’t think the crust was very good. But, yeah.

Ivonne: Damn, sometimes -sometimes the crust is like probably the best part for me.

Cinthia: Yeah. Domino’s. I understand.

Ivonne: Yeah. And then we also have our um Culinary Cafe and Falcons Room, which is for the Culinary Arts also ran by the students. But we personally haven’t gotten to visit right?

Cinthia: No, no I haven’t either. Um, hopefully, I stop by, since my classes are more on the Social Science building. And then I have over here in the Fine Arts building. I feel like maybe that’s why I haven’t been over there to where that is,

Ivonne: Yeah, I’m mainly on the side of campus.

Cinthia: Yeah, me too. So that’s why I don’t think I’ve came across that place.

Ivonne: And out of all these food places. What do you think is best price-wise?

Cinthia: Price-wise, I would really recommend Elbow Room.

Ivonne: Elbow Room.

Cinthia: Elbow Room has literally so many different things. Like I’ll go more into depth about what I’ve had specifically. So in their menu, they also have paninis.

Ivonne: Oh, I love paninis.

Cinthia: Yeah, I had a ham, ham and swiss Panini they toasted up really well. And then they give you a salad. So they give you your Panini inside of a little box with a salad on the side.

And then you can just buy your drink I believe on the side or I’m not sure if they give you a drink. But yeah, the way they give it to you is really good and then they always provide you with really good utensils.

They’ll even ask you at the register like do you need any mayo? Do you need any ketchup? Do you need a fork, spoon or napkin they always make sure to give you that. And another thing I’ve tried is their sandwiches, specifically their BLT sandwich is so good.

Ivonne: Oh, what is that? Bacon, lettuce and…

Cinthia: Tomato

Ivonne: Tomato

Cinthia: yeah, so they toast up the bread so nicely with the butter

Ivonne: ooh.

Cinthia: And then the bacon is crunchy-nice toasted and crunchy with the lettuce and mayo and tomatoes. I’m not a fan of big fan of tomatoes they’re a little soggy it makes it soggy sometimes right?

Ivonne: Same, yeah.

Cinthia: But usually I’ll ask for no tomatoes or if I’m feeling more veggies that day I’ll eat the tomatoes but… they also have a lot of chips. A lot of different chips. I even saw that they have shrimp chips. Have you tried shrimp chips before?

Ivonne: Aw, I love shrimp chips. Is it like the Asian ones?

Cinthia: Yeah,

Ivonne: Yeah? Oh, I love those.

Cinthia: They’re really good. They give them in little packages too. They’re not the big bags.

Ivonne: I love the big bags though. I devour those.

Cinthia: Yeah, they have a little chip snack bags. And another thing that they have is basically anything you can think about like um, Cheez-Its.

Ivonne: And that’s in the Elbow Room, right?

Cinthia: Yeah,

Ivonne: Oh wow.

Cinthia: Cheez-its, pretzels, sodas, lemonade. Water, like all your basic drinks Gatorade. I usually go for Gatorade because I’m just, I get super dehydrated so and I love Gatorade. They even have the lemon cucumber one.

Ivonne: Oh, I do know that one.

Cinthia: That one’s super good. I get one almost every day when I get a Gatorade. I get water. If not, I’ll get a soda. I usually don’t get soda, but I’ll get a soda here and there when I’m having like a good meal.

Ivonne: Yeah,

Cinthia: Because they have kind of like a little I don’t know what it’s called. It’s like it keeps the food warm.

Ivonne: Oh, I know what you’re talking about. It’s the metal tray right?

Cinthia: No, it’s like a whole little thing where there’s like three

Ivonne: shelves.

Cinthia: Three shelves.

Ivonne: Yeah.

Cinthia: And it’s like it has like a light in there to keep everything warm and they make them in the morning and they put everything in there.

Ivonne: I think I know what you’re talking about. I’ve seen that when I went to Buc-ee’s once. It’s like this gas station in Texas. But they have this whole like line of like food all kept warmed up.

Cinthia: Mhm. Yeah, so they keep it warm after they make it. I’ve seen them making a lot of these items. They have breakfast sandwiches, like sausage, cheese and egg. They have burritos they have chicken and- and what is it? Beef hamburgers.

Ivonne: Oh okay,

Cinthia: We have chicken and beef hamburgers. And then they have teriyaki bowls. I have not tried to tell your people just because I’m not a big fan of it.

Ivonne: Oh, yeah.

Cinthia: So I haven’t-

Ivonne: It’s a hit or miss.

Cinthia: Yeah, so I haven’t tried it. Um, and then they had the spam musubi.

Ivonne: Oh, right. The one you told me about. that I’ve been meaning to try because I love spam musubi. so out of all of these places. Which one do you think tops for food quality-wise?

Cinthia: I would say, hmm, I would have to go with Elbow Room as well.

Ivonne: Elbow Room?

Cinthia: Yeah.

Ivonne: All right, so elbow room looks like it’s at the top of our list. Once again, that is found in the multipurpose building. And I guess in a close second what would you say is Zebra Coffee or Cassidy’s Corner?

Cinthia: Hmm. I would say…Zebra Coffee

Ivonne: Zebra Coffee?

Cinthia: Mhmm

Ivonne: For sure and then Cassidy’s Corner is our runner-up in third. And any other food places on campus you would recommend?

Cinthia: That’s the only places I’ve actually tried.

Ivonne: Alrighty, well, we’re getting to the end of our episode. Thank you for listening. I’m Ivonne Zepeda.

Cinthia: I’m Cinthia Gutierrez,

Ivonne: And hopefully, we’ll be back to bring you guys some more food recommendations.