You’re a little hungry. What’s the first thing you think of? New South, but that was last year. This year’s first-years will never have to experience our spectacular old dining hall with its one-way-in, one-way-out door, long lines and dirty, sticky floors. It seems as if the new dining hall is the antithesis of everything New South was, unless you look beyond the nice brick fa?ade and sweeping dining rooms. It is then you will see that our beloved Rev. Leo J. O’Donovan, S.J. Dining Hall is just New South in disguise.
The nice, wooden doors and almost classic, retro feel of the building might seem nice, but walk downstairs and the ghosts of New South will continue to haunt you. Last Friday, I had the chance to sit down with my friends at “Leo’s.” Though it is not a pizza parlor nor an Italian grill, I think the name gives the University something that makes it seem less old world and a little more hip-if you want to call it that. I proceeded to get my tray and plates and that was when it hit me. Everything inside the place was the same as before. It was just a newer cover on the same awful book.
This was definitely a bad case of d?j? vu. At least I could take solace in the fact that the place looks nice. When all else fails, looks can override everything, right? Sure. I got some chicken fingers, and some of the other traditional college staples such as a hamburger and some fries, topping off my meal with a delicious self-made ham sandwich straight from the deli. Yum! This is good, right? Wrong. Instead of some variety and something “fresh”, Leo’s is now New South’s cousin. Or maybe Leo’s is the cousin that never wants to be associated with New South.
I hope you’ve noticed that I didn’t use “new and improved” before the word cousin. What makes the hype surrounding Leo’s so ironic is that New South was old and tired, and it seems that despite the new layout and atmosphere of the dining hall, it will always be compared to New South. However, at least New South never had flat sodas from the soda fountains. I tried to get Coke, Sprite, and Minute Maid soda from three different soda fountains and they were all flat. To top it off, the ice for each of the machines was gone, so that was something else I had to hunt for, along with ten other people joining me on the quest.
In trying to be the anti-New South, Leo’s has become the neo-New South, with a twist. Student satisfaction for New South was so high that they dubbed the facility “Dirty South.” Who knows, though, maybe I will come to think of Leo’s as my favorite place to eat when I am not at home. If this happens, maybe President Bush will tell us how many countries he can actually identify on a map. However, I doubt this would happen, especially the latter.
In coming to terms with Leo’s, I decided that it would be best to remember the good times, through conversations with friends and seeing people experience college. I enjoy talking with people, forming friendships, and eating good food, but I guess if I can’t eat a good meal with them, at least I can spend time with them occupying a multimillion-dollar building. If we don’t like the food, at least we can admire the wood paneling or the floors that may or may not stay clean. But who knows, life brings us many things. Leo’s is one of them. My advice is to enjoy the building before it gets dubbed “Dirty Leo’s,” which sounds more like a porn movie than a dining hall, and to eat the food while it’s hot and still edible.
John Dorman is a sophomore in the School of Business. He’s going to vote for John Kerry.
