Free cups of coffee for the remainder
of the academic year will be offered to the person who comes up with the best name for the recently opened buttery/café at the McDougal Center for Graduate Students, a student-run operation that prides itself on offering the best of local goods.
Since its opening on Jan. 19, the McDougal Center's new coffee and food operation has simply been called either "The Buttery" or "The Café" by its customers and employees, but manager Eugenia Gómez-Escobar, a graduate student in the French department, hopes that someone will come up with a name that reflects the ambiance or the specialness of the café, which is located in the newly renovated Common Room in the Hall of Graduate Studies.
All customers -- including graduate and undergraduate students, faculty and staff -- can compete in the contest by filling out a coupon they are given when they purchase a food or beverage at the café. The deadline for entries is Tuesday, March 3.
Products purchased locally. The non-commercial operation offers a variety of baked goods, including muffins, scones, brownies and cookies, as well as bagels, granola bars, lowfat yogurt, cereals, fruits, popcorn and pudding. In addition to four gourmet coffee blends (regular, French roast, decaffeinated and the "flavor of the month"), customers can also purchase a variety of teas, hot chocolate, juices and bottled water. Most of the items are bought from local vendors, such as the New Haven bakery Chabaso and Elm City Roasters.
"One of our policies is to buy top-quality, fresh products locally," says Gómez-Escobar, who works about 10-12 hours weekly in the café. "And because we are a student-run, non-commercial venture, we don't pay taxes for anything, so we can offer what we do for the lowest prices in town."
As news of the café's opening has spread around campus, Gómez-Escobar and the eight other student employees have noticed a weekly increase in the number of customers. "Anyone who has come in once has come back again," says the café manager.
Its fresh coffee and baked goods are only part of what makes the new café so special, says Gómez-Escobar. The other draw for customers, she says, is the beauty of the space in which it is located. When the 70-year-old Common Room was spruced up last summer as part of the creation of the McDougal Center for Graduate Students, workers from the renovation firm of John Canning & Co. discovered that underneath layers of dirt was a beautiful mosaic ceiling depicting the history of Western civilization. The colorful ceiling, as well as a fireplace, comfortable new furniture, Oriental rugs and rich new woodwork, make the Common Room café an inviting place, Gómez-Escobar says.
Nice place 'just to sit.' "It's a very comfortable and homey place to be in," she comments. "People have been coming in to hold language tables and meetings there, as well as office hours. We play music but it's not too loud, so people can sit there and do serious work or just relax. It's a nice place to come just to sit with friends while having coffee or tea, and for those who bring their own lunches, we welcome them to use one of our three microwaves to heat them up. For graduate students, it's really incredible to have this kind of space that was created especially for us, but we also enjoy sharing this beautiful room and its great café with everybody in the Yale community."
The McDougal Center buttery/café is open 9 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, and 6:30-10:30 p.m. Sunday. It is a cash-only operation; no meal transfers or flex dollars are accepted.
To get to the café, enter the Hall of Graduate Studies gate, turn right, and cross the courtyard path to the double-glass doors. The Common Room is located just inside, on the left. For night access, call the night assistant from the blue phone at the gate; the number is posted there.
For further information on the McDougal Center, visit the center's website at www.yale.edu/mcdougal or call Julia at 432-8273.