The Night Owl Café may not be Buffalo Wild Wings, but during the NFL Season, it is doing its best impression of that place.
According to Young Student Center Program Coordinator Gino Vallante, the Night Owl Café is offering a few new programs during the NFL Season on Thursday nights and Sundays. Vallante came up with the idea when he was taking a look at the programs for the year.
“Every year I take a look at our programs and try to figure out what we can change,” Vallante said. “What do students like? What don’t they like? I thought it had success in the past.”
Devin Cutter / Equinox Staff: Students enjoy the Night Owl Cafe’s DirectTV Sunday Ticket package on September 22. The package allows students to watch any NFL game they want, regardless of location.
When referring to the past, Vallante said the NOC hosted a special hockey night (Hockey Night at the Night Owl) and he thought it could be brought on to the NFL on Thursdays in addition to Sundays.
Another factor in the decision was that campus had a lot of dining changes. Vallante said, “I thought we could tie in with them and try to enhance our Sunday program so I calibrated with the dining services folks.”
According to Vallante, the planning for the events started in June. It was approved pretty quickly. “One of the great things we do with Sodexo, the dining folks, is they are always looking for ways to help students meet their needs. They had some great ideas, we’re hoping to expand this as time goes on. We want to get this running and see how it goes,” Vallante said.
Another Thursday night feature that the NOC is offering is appetizers. This past Thursday the NOC offered tortilla chips, sweet and sour meatballs and pot stickers. Vallante pointed out that the appetizers are free for folks watching the game.
“I don’t know many spots where you get free appetizers during the game,” said Vallante.
Sunday’s menu started on September 8. “It’s pretty diverse, students can use their dining dollars or meal plan dollars, they can use Owl Cash, they can use cash, credit, or debit,” Vallante said.
The menu consists of a variety of items. Vallante said there are large pizzas that cost just ten bucks, there is a great sampler platter that contains fried ravioli, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, buffalo bites and mushrooms. In addition, the menu includes eight churros for $5.99 and nachos for $4.99. “I think the menu is diverse enough and student-friendly. If you are just rolling out of bed you can get a bacon egg and cheese bagel for three dollars,” Vallante said. Vallante also pointed out that none of these items are available on the menu at Lloyds Marketplace.
According to Cam Haggar, the ordering process is similar to a sizzler. “You tell us what you want all we do is we pretty much put it into the system,” Haggar said. “Then the order is radioed down to Lloyd’s and once it is done a worker goes down to pick it up and then it is brought to your table,” Haggar added.
KSC freshman Craig Peterson said, “Its pretty cool, I like the food that they have. I have ordered a few things. The bacon egg and cheese is good.”
When interviewed during week two of the season Peterson said, “Last Sunday the Jets and Patriots were playing at the same time so there were a lot of people.” Peterson is a Green Bay Packers fan so he will be there every Sunday to watch. “I think it is cool how they have multiple games on all the time, they air all the games they can,” Peterson said.
The reason why the NOC can show many different games at once is because they have DirectTV Sunday Ticket. With Sunday Ticket, any NFL game is available.
“One of the great things about the Night Owl is we’re the only place on campus with the Ticket and if you are not getting your favorite team then you can come get them at the Night Owl,” Vallante said.
KSC senior Matthew Lynn likes the menu and convenience at the NOC this year. Lynn said, “I love it, I would come here before to watch the football games, it was good with just popcorn and soda but with the full menu it makes it motivating to come down here.”
Lynn has also ordered from the menu. Lynn said he has had a few items, “I just ordered the sampler platter and that was really good. I had Churros last week and they were both great.” Lynn added, “It saves me a trip down to Lloyds and I can keep watching the game.”
So far the crowds have been pretty good except for week two of the season. Vallante attributed the good crowd on opening day to the Patriots playing on Sunday.
“The Patriots didn’t play last Sunday and lot of the local folks might not be there,” Vallante said. However on opening day Vallante said, “We saw a good crowd.”
Vallante is hopeful that more people will come out. He also wants people to at least give it a shot.
“I want people to come and try it out, it is something different so people will have to step out of their comfort zone and try it out,” Vallante said. “At the end of the day, when you look at everything we do at the Night Owl we have hundreds of programs a year and this is just another way for students to have something to do and come out and socialize and have a good time.”
Brian Clemmenson can be cotacted at bclemmenson@keene-equinox.com
