Fusion’s banh mi sandwich offers a selection of tofu, chicken or steak with a mix of vegetables and sauce.
The days of the $3 grilled cheese are over.
The food trucks that paraded in and out of the Court of Sciences each day were often overpriced, but The Grilled Cheese Truck was such a guilty pleasure when it stopped by, and its simplest melt was one of the cheapest meals on campus.
In that just-buttery-enough sandwich’s stead has arrived the South Campus Student Center: healthier, permanent, more expensive.
The new complex offers coffee, a small student store, Subway, Yoshinoya and two new developments ““ the multicultural Fusion, and the Bombshelter Bistro, which Associated Students UCLA has been marketing as “fresh artisan entrees.”
The Bombshelter Bistro serves sandwiches and salads, as well as combination deals that allow diners to design quite a well-balanced meal of meat or tofu, potatoes or rice and vegetables.
In an attempt to echo the variety of the food trucks, Fusion picks a cuisine of the day and offers meat and tofu options in tacos, burritos, banh mi sandwiches and lettuce wraps.
At both counters, meat is grilled, not greasy, and portions are more sensible than the mounds of food typical of American restaurants.
This might make some students feel cheated, because pretty much any restaurant in Ackerman Union serves an overflowing plate. But these smaller portions are certainly healthier.
On the other hand, while the $4.50 burritos at Fusion are cheaper than most meals in Ackerman, some of the dishes at Bombshelter Bistro near $8.
That’s more expensive than many students can afford.
Ironically, though, it’s the costly dishes that are worth buying.
Take the smallish and reasonably priced burritos.
On a recent Argentinian-themed day, Fusion paired dry beef with sharply pickled onions. A friend said the onions tasted like dishwashing detergent.
In contrast, the rice and beans were bland and heavy.
Another friend complained that Fusion’s steak banh mi with jalapeno pepper slices and cilantro was boring and inauthentic. The mix of Asian and Mexican flavors perhaps reflects the menu’s theme, but hot peppers shouldn’t be bland.
For an extra few dollars, the Bombshelter Bistro serves meals that do stand out. The dishes are unlike anything else on campus ““ chickpea and cheese sandwiches, wild rice with herbs that pop.
It’s exciting to see bits of carrots and mashed-up yellow squash in the vegetarian patty, not necessarily because the vegetables are terrific, but because they’re there.
It feels like a novelty that ASUCLA cooks are experimenting with flavors and offering balanced meals. It shouldn’t, but it does.
Much has been made of the LEED-certified facility. The seating areas are peaceful, even when the counters are crowded with impatient patrons. The sun gets into the building and makes the food feel lighter, which in the case of Fusion is sometimes necessary.
The Bombshelter Bistro earns classy points for offering actual plates and forks to dine-in customers. The biodegradable take-out silverware is environmentally friendly, the plastic to-go boxes less so.
Because the South Campus Student Center is not going anywhere, ASUCLA has the opportunity to continue making it more green and to improve the food. This is a type of control and commitment that wasn’t possible with stop-by-every-two-weeks food trucks.
Email Rogozen at srogozen@media.ucla.edu.