Eats & Treats from a BU foodie

By Mike Tom

With the school year and spring semester slowly winding down, it’s becoming harder and harder to enjoy the same bland burrito or plain piece of pizza at the dining hall. Even the few options at the GSU seem to have lost their appeal. Thankfully, the city of Boston has provided BU students with an outstanding opportunity to sample a wide array of culinary tastes. Better yet, many of these restaurants are college-student friendly and are either on campus or within comfortable walking distance from Commonwealth Avenue. The best time to explore the city, and even unfamiliar parts of campus, is the weekend. Here are some local eateries to try this weekend.

Eastern Standard is located in Kenmore and caters primarily to guests staying in the Hotel Commonwealth. Although the outside of the restaurant may seem posh, the food is simple and delicious. The dinner menu features fresh seafood, such as oysters, salmon, and lobster, as well as grilled steak and pasta. The menu may not be adventurous, but executive chef Jeremy Sewall packs flavor into all of his dishes. Eastern Standard also serves breakfast, brunch, and lunch and can anything from a quiet, intimate venue to a bustling café-style restaurant between lunch and dinner hours. Prices of many of the entrees may be a little steep, so save this one for a special date night or when parents are visiting.

In West Campus, situated right on Commonwealth Avenue, Brown Sugar Café is a familiar place to students living on that end of campus. Both Thai food enthusiasts and vegetarians will love Brown Sugar Café. It’s difficult for the dining hall’s vegetarian options to stand up to both the lunch and dinner menus. The featured dish at Brown Sugar Café is the Brown Sugar Hawaiian fried rice. This dish comes with an excess of crab meat and shrimp stir-fried in the house fried rice and served in a pineapple shell. The best thing about this Thai restaurant is its prices. Every one of the lunch entrees served there is priced at or below $10 and the dinner entrees are well below $20 making it an affordable place for BU students to visit. For students living in East Campus who don’t want to trek to Allston this weekend to get a Thai food fix, try Nud Pob on Commonwealth near St. Mary’s Street. This Thai restaurant has scary fast service and authentic Thai cuisine. Try the popular pad Thai or mango fried rice; both have a deep, rich flavor and spice if you ask for it! The price range is under $10 and up to $15 for the house specials. Nud Pob is a great place to eat if you’re in for a busy weekend.

On Beacon Street, The Elephant Walk serves Cambodian-French fusion food. The special Sunday brunch menu might just be one step above the Sunday brunches offered at the dining halls. Poulet a la Citronelle is a simple brunch entrée of chicken seared with fragrant lemon grass and bell peppers. The gourmet omelets and crepes are made to order and can be made with vegetarian or vegan ingredients. Almost all of the menu items can be made with tofu or vegetable substitutes making The Elephant Walk another great campus restaurant for vegetarians and vegans to enjoy. The cozy, casual atmosphere of the dining area is reflected in the prices of the dishes, which are around $10 per entrée.

With extra free time on the weekends, explore the other side of campus and visit any one of these great restaurants.