Come and get it: New Gordon Dining & Event Center offers lots of appetizing options

Burritos, omelets or a quick sandwich.

All will be offered this fall when the new Gordon Dining & Event Center opens.

Gone is the traditional cafeteria, replaced by a marketplace serving up 13 dining venues as well as a convenience store.

“This offers more choices and more ways to customize what you’re eating,” says Brendon Dybdahl, University Housing director of marketing and communications. “It’s similar to Union South, but on a larger scale that’s tailored to the daily needs of our residents.”

The new $41.3 million facility replaces the existing Gordon Commons and will have three main dining areas with seating for 600. It is financed almost entirely by program revenue.

It will largely serve the dining needs of Smith, Ogg, Witte and Sellery residents.

Some of the venues will have set menus while others will change up their selections daily.

“The students really like to see the variety. That’s the trend nationwide to go toward this model,” says Dybdahl, who compares the marketplace style to a food court.

Delicious will offer a sandwich station where diners can build their own sandwiches using fresh deli meats, cheeses, salads, condiments, veggies, breads and wraps. Customers can also order from a menu of Panini, subs, wraps.

Other dining options include Global Kitchen which will serve international fare including Middle Eastern, North African, German, Austrian, Indian, Scandinavian, English, Irish pub fare and many others.

Egg Cetera will feature breakfast foods like omelets made to order, breakfast sandwiches, hot cereals, breakfast meats and potatoes as well as a rotating selection of pancakes, French toast, quiche and other specialties.

Flamingo Run, the new convenience store, is named in honor of the famous event in 1979, when over 1,000 plastic flamingos were placed on Bascom Hill.

“With all of the different stations, there will be a lot more opportunity for variety, where students can go in and choose whatever they’re in the mood for that day,” Dybdahl says.

The upper event level space will feature a meeting room that can seat 300 as well as three other 250-seat meeting rooms that can be combined into one large room with 750 seats and a formal dining/meeting room with space for 20 guests.

Construction is scheduled to wrap up in June, but the new facility won’t officially open until the fall semester. In late summer, the building will get its first test runs by serving training events and a conference group.

Once the new Gordon Dining & Event Center is open, the old Gordon Commons will be torn down to create 55,000-square feet of green space for recreation and outdoor dining.