Carleton Dining Hall Tour: LDC

Hi guys, welcome back to my channel! In this blog post, I’d like to give you a tour of a place that I go to once, twice, or most likely three times a day: the dining hall. Located around the center of the campus, the East Dining Hall is where I go for meals most of the time. Without further ado, let’s see what the East Dining Hall looks like inside!

Special counter

As you walk into the dining hall, the first counter is on your left. It’s a rather mysterious counter that doesn’t open every day. When it opens, this counter often features some special food from the chefs. Things like specialty salads and sandwiches, grilled chicken kabobs, and Japanese pancakes are all worth trying.

Asian counter

The next counter right in front as you walk in is the Asian counter. It serves steamed white rice, brown rice, and two hot-fried dishes every day. Dishes range from pork belly and stir-fried beef to sweet and sour chicken, and the vegetable dishes could be spicy tofu or mixed vegetables.

Two weeks ago they had Mapo Tofu, a traditional type of Chinese food that’s supposed to be exceedingly spicy. However, the chef mistakenly added all the spice to the other dish “tomato and egg stir fry”, which I’ve never seen any spicy version of it in Asia. We Asians have a lot of judgments about our own food, but it’s good to at least have it available on campus. In general, most students enjoy the food at the Asian counter.

Cucina counter + American regional

As you continue through LDC, you’ll enter the world of American food. The counter on the left serves pasta every day, which appears to never change from my perspective. The counter on the right, in contrast, has more diversity. It usually serves sandwiches or burgers, chicken breast or turkey thigh, and grilled vegetables like onions, squash, zucchini, mushroom, tofu, or carrots.

There are also always fries. French fries, waffle fries, sweet potato fries, tater tots, sidewinder fries, and curly fries. I particularly enjoy waffle fries and tater tots.

Pizza

If it’s your first time coming to LDC, you’ll definitely notice the huge oven used for making pizza. It’s an open space where you can see the chef spreading cheese and tomato sauce onto crusts. The pizza will then be put into the oven and roasted by the fire. There are three different types of pizza every day, and it’s convenient to grab a piece when you’re rushing for time.

Vegetarian Counter

At the back counter across from the American Regional counter, a variety of vegetarian food is served. There is a lot of diversity and the lines are usually short too.

Salad bar & desserts

My meals usually always need to include either salads or some desserts. The salad bar is similar to that in the dining halls of most colleges and offers plentiful vegetable options. There are also the bread and bagels offered that you could always rely on. Some of my favorite desserts include lemon brownies, banana cake, red-velvet cake, and cheesecake.

Green-2-Go boxes

The last thing I want to mention are Green2Go boxes that are available for student check-out. You can see people carrying green plastic boxes with food all over campus. As someone who likes take-out, I use Green2Go boxes all the time. This year the school switched to a mobile app called “USEFULL” to check out boxes for sustainability. Simply scan the QR code on the box to rent it, and scan it toward the machine in the dining hall to return it.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of the East Dining Hall! Stay tuned for the next post!

Sherry is a sophomore from Hangzhou, China, and holds a real passion for travel and food. She is thinking about majoring in Mathematics, but would also like to explore more in Economics, English, and French. Things she likes to do in her free time include hanging out with friends, taking photos, writing random stuff, and finding the funny in everyday life. She also got started with alpine skiing and is always ready for the trip to Welch Village every Friday! Meet the other bloggers!