J Street
Students can grab a Subway sandwich at J Street when they return to campus this week, one of several dining changes for the fall. The sandwich and salad shop will be located in the area formerly used for Bene Pasta and Malaysia Kopitam, both of which will be relocated.
The Mitchell Hall Subway will continue to operate.
Bene Pasta and Pizza will combine and offer several new menu items, while Malaysia Kopitam – combined with a Noodle Bar – will take over the space used last year for Veggie Virtuoso.
Vegetarian and vegan students have said that there are not enough non-meat options on campus, even with the Veggie Virtuoso station; but GW has added more vegetarian and vegan options to other venues.
Among the locations featuring vegetarian options is the Home Zone, which will offer several of Veggie Virtuoso’s more popular items such as the stuffed baked potato, said Steve Gibbs, resident district manager for Aramark.
Gibbs said the Home Zone will include “made-to-order exhibition cooking,” such as omelets in the morning and stir fry later in the day. Montague’s Deli has changed its name to Salad Garden, and will offer made-to-order salads and a wider variety of sandwiches.
Several other locations have also expanded their menus. Starbucks will now offer additional pastries, sandwiches and salads; Chick-fil-A will carry a wider variety of salads; new wrap choices have been added at the Wrap and Salad station and Kaz Sushi Bistro will carry more sushi options.
A new counter and machine to make specialty drinks will be added to Starbucks, Gibbs said.
Aside from menu and configuration changes, students will be able to purchase food at J Street later in the evening.
The most drastic new option in “late-night dining” will be at the Hall on Virginia Avenue Diner, where students can eat until 2 a.m. during the week and 3 a.m. on weekends.
Ground Floor
The Marvin Center ground floor received a face-lift this summer, when GW added an expanded Provisions Market and new grab-and-go store, and replaced Ben and Jerry’s with an ice cream and snack venue.
An expanded Provisions has been relocated to the space that formerly housed Colonial Computers and the Marvin Center Post Office. The new space will be 2,200 square feet, 600 more than the past space, said Joe Pasterkiewicz, director of operations for Aramark.
Despite last year’s talks of expanding Einstein Bagels and relocating it to the Colonial Computers and Post Office space, a larger Provisions will be “more useful to students,” Pasterkiewicz said.
“The old Provisions Market will be renamed Colonial Express, and will feature an assortment of grab-and-go items,” said Steve Gibbs, resident district manager for Aramark. “We will also provide a concierge service for dry cleaning, in partnership with Esteem Cleaners, and a film drop off.”
Some of the space occupied by for Colonial Express will be used as storage for Provisions, which allows for Aramark to buy more items in bulk to sell at the market.
“If we can store more, then there may be some prices at Provisions that can be slightly reduced,” said Amelia Powell, marketing program manager for Aramark.
Officials said Ben and Jerry’s is being replaced by Fan Fare, which will continue to serve several flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and novelties. It will also feature foods popular at a stadium, such as hot dogs, popcorn, hot pretzels and nachos.
“One reason why we didn’t continue with Ben and Jerry’s was people didn’t buy it at all times of day,” Powell said. “Students still want it, though, and we don’t want to take anything away from them.”
