If you attended SLU prior to the 2014-2015 school year, you probably have some memories (both good and bad) of our former food provider, Chartwells. Before Aramark brought Panera and Qdoba to our campus, students spent their meal time at ABP, Salsarita's, or that weird chicken place that used to be at Fusz.
I will admit that I am one of those students who was pretty excited about the food provider change last year, but I do believe it is importance to hold our memories of Chartwells in our hearts. So whether you loved them, hated them, or had feelings somewhere in between, here is a little tribute to the former Chartwells days of Saint Louis University.
Salsarita's
The former site of this SLU restaurant now houses the Billiken Club. Salsarita's was one of those places you either loved or hated. If you ask me, "Salsie's" was a knockoff Chipotle that used to give me stomach aches, but I know a lot people who really miss their queso. Luckily, we now have Qdoba at SLU to fill our burrito and taco needs. However, I will always remember great Friday swipe nights freshman year spent with friends over chips, queso, and occasional greasy nachos.
Fusz
Before the Billiken Layer, the basement of Fusz housed the cleverly named "Fusz Food Court." Back in the olden days, Fusz used to have a place to get pizza, a salad bar, a make-your-own-burger bar, and then this place that served low portions of chicken wings for incredibly high prices. The food was fine, but there was absolutely nothing super WOW about the options Fusz. They did try to add in a Jamba Juice my freshman year, but it turned out to just be a smoothie machine with two flavors. My friend did remind me though as I was writing this that the one great thing about Fusz was that it was always open until 2 a.m., and in the early morning hours, overpriced chicken wings are actually pretty amazing.
ABP
Au Bon Pain or "ABP" was one of the few mainstream restaurants we had at SLU before Aramark came. It is not super widespread or anything, but it was a place you actually could find off campus. Younger students may not know this, but before Aramark came, swipe nights for your meal plan were actually limited to one food place per night during the week. Monday night was swipe night for ABP, and man, the thought of ABP mac and cheese or one of their paninis for dinner really got me through Mondays when I was a freshman. ABP also used to have really amazing pre-made bagel breakfast sandwiches you could grab on your way to class. I still really miss those.
The Bean
Surprise kids, the Pod -- that convenience store in the BSC -- actually used to be the go to coffee place on campus. Before Clemen's was blessed with a Starbucks, SLU students all used to go to the student center for their caffeine. It was not an official Starbucks, but rather, one of those "we proudly brew Starbuck's Coffee" places. The menu was basically the same though. It also used to serve Pumpkin Spice lattes in the fall so it served its purpose in my opinion. I definitely am not complaining about having a real Starbuck's on campus now though.
Argo Tea
Raise your hands if you have heard of Argo Tea! Anyone, anyone? Yeah no, I didn't think so. So for you confused youngsters, before Pius had an Einstein's, we had this really random coffee and tea place called Argo Tea. It was fine, but in addition to your everyday coffee and tea, it served some pretty weird stuff like tea-flavored ice cream. I'm sure some people love that, but it is not something you see everyday. For the longest time though, I thought Argo was just something made up for the SLUniverse. BUT, just this summer, I was catching a connecting flight at the Chicago airport, and behold there was an Argo tea right there in front of me. I was tempted to get a latte there for nostalgic purposes, but it was not worth being late for my flight.
Terra Ve
This was probably the worst loss we had from the food supplier change. Terra Ve used to have the best salad bar and vegan flat bread. You could get one entree and then pick two sides like a cup of food or an apple, and all for a meal swipe. Lines always were really long around lunch time because it was one of the more healthy places to eat on campus, and you could use a meal swipe there any time of the week. It provided a really nice break from the Gries dining hall for freshman students.
