After nearly 10 years of eating the same thing, school lunch can get kind of boring. But, thanks to our generous off-campus lunch policy, you have the choice to try out some local restaurants for lunch.

MidCity Smash Burger

Menu & Prices

In addition to smash burgers and french fries, they also offer chicken nuggets and chicken sandwiches. Their prices are very reasonable, a little bit cheaper than franchised fast food chains.

What We Got

• Deluxie Boi Smash Burger
  • One of the best burgers I’ve had. The toppings work incredibly well with the flavor and texture of the rest of the burger, even adding a slight bit of crunch. The sauce was tangy and very slightly spicy, though a little bit sparse.
• Crinkle-Cut Fries
  • Seasoning was good, but somewhat uneven; some fries were kind of bland compared to others. They weren’t quite as crispy as I would like, but they were still very good.

• Chicken Nuggets
  • Really good; they were crispy and well-seasoned. 

Location & Wait Time

MidCity Smash Burger is located just on the other side of the football field, so it isn’t a terribly long walk, about a quarter mile there and back. The food was served fairly quickly, but not quick enough that we could finish our meals at the cart. I recommend that you start heading back once you get your food, and try to eat it on-campus to avoid being late to class.

Nacho’s House

Menu & Prices

Nacho’s House offers a wide variety of Mexican food, including burritos, tacos, quesadillas, taquitos, and, as their name suggests, nachos. Their prices are very low for the quality and amount of food.

What We Got

• Nachitos
  • The tortilla chips stayed crunchy and came with a perfect amount of toppings, all of which were super high quality and tasted wonderful. Great for sharing with a friend. 

• Carne Asada Burrito
  • The steak strips were delicious and very well seasoned. The other fillings (rice, black beans, pico de gallo, cheese) were all very good. The burrito also came with green salsa, which made for an excellent addition. Finishing it in time for class was a bit difficult due to its large size, but I’m not complaining.

Location & Wait Time

Nacho’s House is located in the same lot as MidCity Smash Burger, and served us our food in a similarly short amount of time.

Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels

Menu & Prices

Henry Higgins offers a wide range of sandwiches, from a typical breakfast sandwich with eggs, meat and cheese, traditional Lox bagels with onions, capers, and cream cheese, to a Reuben bagel, and even a PB&J. All these different sandwiches can be on your choice of bagel, at a wide range of prices. Just a bagel with cream cheese will run you about $6.00, and most sandwiches range from $9.00 to $13.00. While I had entered the store hoping to pick up a lox bagel, I ended up pivoting to something else when I noticed that it would cost me $20.00. 

What We Got

• BLT on Jalapeño bagel
  • I chose the Jalapeño bagel entirely on impulse, but it ended up working really nicely for this sandwich. In addition to the lettuce, bacon, and tomato, there was also a little bit of mayonnaise that helped to balance some of the spice from the jalapeño. The bagel itself was somewhat tough, but that texture combined well with the crispiness of the bacon and the softness of the other fillings.

• Plain cream cheese bagel
  • My friend just opted to get a simple cream cheese bagel, but he described it as one of the best bagels he has ever had.

Location & Wait Time

Henry Higgins is located a little under a quarter-mile away from Benson. Despite not looking very busy, the wait time was longer than we expected. Even though we went out as early as we could during Flex, we still ended up being slightly late to 6th period. Given that flex is a little bit longer than lunch, it might not be the best idea to go to Henry Higgins during lunch.

Voodoo Donuts

Menu & Prices

Voodoo is known across the country for selling strange and unique donuts, though some of their prices can be a little bit steep compared to their competition. They also don’t offer much else other than donuts, so maybe don’t go if you’re looking for a place to get a substantial lunch.

What We Got

• “Dirt”
  • The donut itself has a very soft and doughy texture. The bit of crunch from the cookie pieces is a welcome addition. The cream from the Oreo’s sweet filling cuts through both the taste of the donut, and the chocolate from the other parts of the Oreo chunks
• “Grape Ape”
  • Putting Kool-Aid powder on a donut sounds like a strange idea at first, but it works surprisingly well. I haven’t had many donuts with a fruit flavor, so the Grape Ape is incredibly unique in that regard. The powder is also very slightly sour, which leads to a more complex flavor in a donut that would otherwise just be sweet.

Location & Wait Time

Voodoo is also just across the field, but is slightly closer than the food trucks. Generally, choosing a donut is the longest part of a Voodoo visit. I remember Voodoo having lines around the parking lot, but nowadays, you’ll get your food very quickly.

Franz Bakery Outlet

Menu & Prices

Franz mainly offers a variety of sweets and baked goods at very affordable prices. People mostly get sweets and energy drinks from Franz, but I have seen some students walking around school with entire loaves of bread.

Franz is especially notable for having very cheap prices, offering hand pies for $1, as well as packages of nine cookies or boxes of six donuts for only $3 each.

Also, not a fantastic place to go for a substantial lunch.

What We Got

• Old-Fashioned Chocolate Donuts
  • The chocolate coating was crispy, rich, and slightly flaky. The ratio of donut to chocolate was just right, and kept the chocolate flavor from being overwhelming.
• Chocolate chip cookies
  • As their packaging says, these are soft-baked cookies. They were very soft, but the edges were still a little bit crumbly. The dough had a very strong and slightly salty flavor compared to the chocolate chips, but the cookie was still very sweet overall.

Location & Wait Time

Checkout is very fast, but the limit on how many students are allowed in the store can slow things down during Lunch or Flex. Being late to class is possible, but very unlikely.