The Drey at UCLA: A New Hub for Bruins
Congratulations on getting into the University of California, Los Angeles, one of the oldest colleges in the world-renowned UC system! Founded in 1919, this school is considered to be one of America’s most prestigious universities. As a Bruin, you will soon have access to a wide range of undergraduate programs and a Film & Television archive that includes 200,000 movie titles and TV shows. As a future resident of Los Angeles, you will soon live in an area where there is always something to do. LA is loved for its amazing year-round weather, with mild winters and dry summers. Los Angeles residents enjoy all the benefits of a sprawling metropolitan area, like world-class dining, huge shopping malls, and an assortment of museums and music venues. Known for its suburban sprawl, Los Angeles is home to over 9.5 million people.
Introduction to UCLA Housing and Dining
UCLA Housing and Hospitality strives to provide high-quality, affordable campus housing to help students access and take advantage of everything that UCLA has to offer. UCLA Dining is comprised of more than 600 team members who work to provide the very best food, service and guest experience each day. Each brings a wealth of experience and a desire to make the student experience a memorable one. In fact, it is not uncommon for our team members to treat our guests with the same care they would give to their own family members, especially those who have college-aged children of their own. When people imagine campus cuisine, they rarely envision it in elevated terms. UCLA. connection. spaces with curiosity and excitement. food, and our mission is to give them that and more.
New Residence Halls: Olympic and Centennial
Situated on the western slope of the Hill, the just-opened Olympic and Centennial residence halls offer 621 rooms, multiple study spaces, 3D printer access, a new dining hall, great views from the Hill and 1,800 new beds to undergraduates who want to enjoy the benefits of living on campus. With the addition of Olympic and Centennial, UCLA has been able to clear its waitlist, ensuring beds for all interested students this year, said Sarah Dundish, director of housing services and strategic initiatives. “We’re really excited that students are going to have a year of experiencing these buildings under their belt,” Dundish said. The first two floors will house study spaces with a thematic environment with a fireplace and access to The Drey, a new eatery offering sandwiches, salads and ramen to go. “The big takeaway here is to have these study and social spaces be worthy of a premier public institution,” Angelis said. Both halls’ names are nods to UCLA’s past, present and future. On a clear day you can see the Pacific Ocean from the west-facing top floors of the halls and looking northwest, the Getty Center. Inside, however, one’s focus might be quickly diverted to the interior of the buildings, which take design cues from the structures of trees. The buildings aim to be an extension of the natural botany that exists around them. Visitors can expect to see stone pine, Aleppo pine, coral bells, wild strawberry, coyote bush and sages marking the building’s exteriors.
The Drey: A New Eatery on the Hill
The Drey is a new eatery located in the Olympic and Centennial residence halls, offering sandwiches, salads, and ramen to go. At this market on the Hill, you can get anything your heart desires (even if it’s just a lot of snacks). This market is designed to provide students with a convenient and diverse range of options.
Safety Precautions in UCLA Housing
As students return, UCLA Housing staff are seriously focused on safety precautions. Residents vaccinated against COVID-19 will not be required to get tested for the virus, although all members of the UCLA community are required to complete daily symptom monitoring surveys if they’re living or working on campus. Tests will also be available for anyone who wants one and students with vaccine exemptions are required to get tested twice a week. While students won’t be required to wear face coverings in their rooms, masks will be required indoors in common areas. “I can’t even tell you the pent-up energy that’s within the housing and hospitality team to have students back on campus,” he said. “They are craving that interaction … They enjoy taking care of students.
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The Importance of Campus Cuisine
As the nation’s #1 public university in terms of dining quality, we have a lot of different dining options to choose from. We believe in the importance of fresh, nutritious and well-prepared food that paints a picture of the natural bounty grown in Southern California and the people and cultures that turn it into amazing dishes. With an excellent climate for year-round growing, we take great pride in working with local farmers and distributors to bring our guests the best our region has to offer. Each year, our campus welcomes students from myriad cultures, nations, backgrounds and traditions. Food is a perfect way to bring people together to share in the beauty of community. That’s why we work to showcase regional and global cuisines with excellence and enthusiasm. Whether that is Mediterranean-inspired menus at Epicuria, American classics at De Neve or Asian and Latin options at Rendezvous, we bring the world to you with every bite. With roughly 14,500 student residents using our restaurants each day, we know how important it is to provide options that everyone can feel good about. For some of our students that includes knowing that their food allergies or other food-related factors are not going to slow them down once they pass through our doors. Our dining program also has a dietician on staff to provide nutrition education and help students with meal planning. We take every possible opportunity to minimize food waste and maximize environmental sustainability through our culture of conservation, which includes offering smaller portion sizes, providing ample vegetarian and vegan options, composting food waste. We also find creative and efficient ways to use unserved food ingredients, such as repurposing vegetable peelings for use in stocks and soups, among other things. In addition, students are encouraged to consider the carbon-footprint of their choices by paying attention to our labeling of various dishes. difference in protecting our natural resources and improving the overall health of the environment. We believe in multi-functional spaces where eating, socializing and studying can happen simultaneously. From the distinct design of each of our concept-driven restaurants, to the architecture, lighting, wall art, aesthetic features, comfortable furniture and access to charging stations for electronic devices, each space provides room for guests to excel and feel their best. Preparing food is an important life skill, and we love to get students excited about cooking by getting them involved. Not only do we integrate platform cooking into many of our restaurant concepts so that guests can watch our chefs and cooks prepare their meals, but we also provide many opportunities for guests to customize their meals.
Other Dining Options at UCLA
There are several highly-rated university food options that you and a roommate can check out. Here, the culinary choices on offer are as diverse as the student body and include restaurants to fast food take-out, and coffee shops to award-winning residential cuisine.
- Epicureanism (The Hill) - A Mediterranean marketplace guided by Epicureanism, which is the idea that pleasure and comfort can be found by living a life of simplicity. This is reflected in the food, which is made with simple, fresh, and healthy ingredients.
- De Neve (The Hill, Central De Neve Plaza) - De Neve offers a large diversity of cuisines inspired by North, Central, and South America. Dishes served here include Chicago deep dish pizza, Texas barbecue brisket, chili spaghetti, pollo en crema, churrasco, sopa de caracol, and poutine.
- The Study at Hedrick (The Hill, Lower level of Hedrick Hall) - A European-style artisan bakery cafe with a central fireplace and ample chairs, making for an ideal place to… You guessed it… Study with your roommate. They serve coffee and a mix of European-influenced cafe foods.
- Burger’s Assembly (North University, LuValle Commons) - This is the go-to joint for burgers, chicken sandwiches, and wings. Bruins tip: the burgers are great, but the other spots are better for anything (and everything) else.
- Blaze Pizza (South University, Court of Sciences) - One of many chain options at this university, students have left remarks about the excellent service. Blaze Pizza sells fast-fired, fresh, made-from-scratch pizzas with your choice of toppings.
- Cafe Synapse (South University, across from Ronald Reagan Hospital) - This is a place where researchers and doctors of the Gonda Center and MacDonald Laboratories can connect. They serve Peet’s Coffee and feature all-day breakfast, which includes panini sandwiches and gourmet salads.
One of the amazing things about our on-campus dining options is that food trucks gather in Rieber, Sproul and De Neve Plaza to give students some different options. They take our meal swipes, which is amazing.
Impact of COVID-19 on Dining Experience
Recent changes to COVID-19 protocols have shifted the typical dining experience, including a takeout-only format and meal plans offered only to on-campus residents. However, UCLA Housing has remained persistent with dining updates as part of a long-term plan to explore new concepts and enhance dining at UCLA, Angelis said. UCLA Housing has repeatedly been ranked as having the No. [Related link: The Quad: Bruins Savor taste of UCLA’s No. The satellite location is expected to open once staffing levels increase, Chan said, and will serve dishes similar to those at the main location. More than 30,000 meals are served on the Hill during the busier days of the week, said Al Ferrone, senior director of food and beverage at UCLA Housing. Before closing for renovations, Covel Commons was typically the least frequented dining hall, Ferrone said.
Culinary Innovations and Focus on Sustainability
The starting point of Epicuria’s concept, like that of many of Housing’s new projects, was by analyzing the private sector. In addition to using new tones of wood and lighting fixtures, the team incorporated elements that will help turn the space into a study area, including installing outlets throughout the hall. “(Students) can really focus on their studying and their well-being, and then have a really great dining experience that could be social, or they can sit by themselves,” Angelis said. Epicuria is also unique from standard cafeterias with its Mediterranean-diet focus, Angelis said. Ferrone said he recognizes the importance of introducing healthy and fresh food options to young college students. His team consistently works to ensure the menu evolves and features new options, Ferrone added. Dining traffic is used when making menu decisions, Ferrone said. “We see where the swipes go, and that’s telling us that we’re doing something right. UCLA Dining also renovated its commissary, the central kitchen and bakery located on the Hill. Richard Ruskell (left), the executive pastry chef, and Steven Asidilla, a baker’s assistant, work on a batch of freshly-baked vegan chocolate chip cookies for the dining halls. His team prepares a wide range of baked goods - including artisanal bread, hamburger buns, pizza dough and chocolate chip cookies. “The secret to our program is that everything is at scale, but it still doesn’t taste mass-produced because everything is made from scratch,” Angelis said. UCLA's on-campus commissary was recently renovated. It houses various professional machines that aid the process of making and packing the sauces and dressings that are offered daily across the university's dining halls. At the recently renovated on-campus commissary, sauces, dressings and other staples are freshly made and packaged using professional machinery. The modern systems allow for large-scale food production and rapid distribution. “We’re very proud of the dining program,” Angelis said. “Housing and Hospitality really wants to do things that are high level.
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