Grins Vegetarian Cafe
Let’s face it: when making my college decision, I wanted to know about food. I am a self-acknowledged food junkie, and when I say junkie, I don’t mean candy and chips. I mean good, home-cooked meals. I had heard horror stories of dorm food-my dad generally liked to freak me out by telling me that he only had the options of “mystery meat” or fried chicken, and my mom likes to tell me that when she was in college, the dorm food was so terrible that they never even ate there. So I clearly had priorities when selecting a college- I decided my food experience was not going to be like theirs.
I visited Vanderbilt the summer before my senior year, and my entire family came with me. We drove the 4 and a half hours from St. Louis, and stayed for a few days. While here, after taking the tour, we ate in the Commons. My brother began calling Vanderbilt a “country club” soon after. I think he was even more excited than I was-he ran around looking at all of the options: wood burning oven pizza, chicken fingers, burgers, desserts galore, sandwiches, sushi, salads, salmon !!! He couldn’t believe that all of this dining was for a college.
Our food…is amazing. But the place I eat every single day (no exaggeration) is Grins Vegetarian Cafe. Located in the Ben Schulman Center for Jewish Life, which is right on Greek Row, in between Memorial Gym and Branscomb Quadrangle, (map) Grins is one of the only vegetarian and certified kosher restaurants on a college campus in the entire country. Grins (we fight over how to pronounce it…some say “grihnz”, and others say “greens” …it’s personal preference) has a set menu, and they also have specials-a different soup, entree, sides, and panini every day. Here is the chalkboard where they write the specials:
Their staples include the PBG wrap, which is peanut butter, banana and granola toasted in a whole wheat tortilla; the apple wrap, which is the same as the PBG but with delicious cooked apples; the veggie wrap-avocado, cucumber, tomatoes, shredded carrots and spinach in a wheat wrap (I usually add tofu and goat cheese and have them toast it); the thai tofu, which is tofu with peanut sauce, bean sprouts, spinach, shredded carrots, and red cabbage in a whole wheat tortilla; and the mexicali, which is black beans, avocado, pico de gallo, and brown rice served in a toasted flour tortilla. Each of these wraps is considered an “entree” on our meal plan, which is served with your choice of one side (apple, banana, etc., or one of their daily sides, which could include fruit salad, smashed sweet potatoes, zucchini, pea salad, macaroni salad, or whatever the side of the day is), and a drink-they have two types of iced tea available, or you can choose to get a hot tea or coffee.
They also make custom-orders, which are served with a disclaimer: they will take about 15-20 minutes. Us regulars usually get custom orders by adding cheese to our wraps and having them toasted, but it is well worth the wait. Grins also has a drink special of the month-the Soy Vey was a popular one, and in December the special was the Frozen Hot Chocolate with cookie crumbles…mMmmMm good.
Each day there is a different panini-my personal favorite is the Bruschetta-nini, which is tomatoes marinated with basil, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil, with mozzarella and feta. There is also a different soup each day-my favorites include Butternut Squash (they had it on Friday-YUM), Country Vegetable, and the White Beans and Sage. Although the Entrees and Pastas are not on meal plan, you can buy them with Meal Money- and the best one is the Grins Mac & Cheese. It is penne pasta, with a four cheese sauce, fire-roasted poblanos, topped with cheddar & panko, and baked until it is bubbly and toasty. Have you ever heard of anything better??
Grins also has the best desserts. They have cookies-snickerdoodle, chocolate chip, lemon and pine nut (sounds strange, but it is phenomenal), peanut butter …and so many more.
They make vegan cupcakes that are sooo good- some favorites are the green tea cupcakes and the oreo cupcakes. Right before winter break, Grins sells their cookie dough so that we can take it home with us over the holidays-best idea ever.
Some of my guy friends were wary of eating at Grins at first, because they do not serve any meat, in accordance with their vegetarian and kosher status. However, once they began to realize how many girls eat at Grins, they figured they might as well try it, if only to go and flirt. Now, on any given day, you can find many boys eating there, enjoying TOFU and the other delicacies that Grins offers.
When my dad came to pick me up for winter break, we went to Grins. He got the Mexicali, and loved it!!
This semester, Grins started serving breakfast. I now eat three meals a day there…start out my morning with a yogurt parfait, have the veggie wrap for lunch, and the soup for dinner. My perfect day of eating.
In case any of y’all are interested in eating at Grins while you are visiting, they have a Facebook Page where they post all of their specials! Many of us check it every day to see what is on the menu…bon appetit!
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