Late on a Saturday Night

Published September 10, 2007

By Kurt Weiss

Late on a Saturday night, with the bars closed and every house party either busted by Vermont’s finest or having long since kicked the last keg of Natty Light, there’s really only one thing left to do: eat.

No one’s actually hungry at 2 in the morning. No one starves to death in his sleep. No one would usually be consuming a full meal at that hour. People don’t normally wake up in the middle of the night famished with a craving for a full pizza.

We eat at these absurd hours because it’s social and after buying drinks for that girl in your Econ class all night it’s time to lay it all down on the long shot that she finds kebabs to be the most romantic food to come out of the Mediterranean since Roasted Red Pepper Hummus. Chances are she doesn’t and you end up back at the house with your buddies and some permutation of Domino’s 3-for-$5.99 deal on the table.

Either way, we should be thankful we live in a town with so many late night options. Somewhere in upstate New York, students at some small liberal arts school headed out this weekend and trekked 12 miles from campus for a HoHo and a bag of Sun Chips at the local Mobil Mart. Burlington has much more to offer.

For anyone living in the dorms and off their CatCard, the choice for late night munchies comes down to Domino’s or Leonardo’s. Domino’s is the safe bet— a chain with a dominating national presence, a number everyone knows (just call 1-800-Domino’s) and a commercial claim to the deep-dish pizza.

Leonardo’s is barely a diamond in the rough. However, their whole-wheat crust and an armada of deliverymen have made them into a Burlington staple. Just remember that word of a pizza coming into the dorms travels faster than news of Lindsay Lohan’s most recent drunk driving incident and if you’re not careful the whole thing will be gone before she gets out of jail.

Anyone able to stumble their way downtown will find their options far improved. For pizza there is no question that Mr. Mike’s is the place to go. They’ll throw anything on a pizza and sell it by the slice. So grab some cheesy pesto, flirt with the girls behind the counter and be sure to tip.

For romantics, walk up Church St. half a block and discover a magical blend of elephant and rhino meat in a kebab from Amir’s. It’s just steps away from an overpriced hot dog, and for those wary of a cylindrical meat shaved off with a vibrating knife, I assure you it lends less mystery to its origins than an “all beef” frank.

Late night meals are a quintessential component of any good night out. So don’t worry that you just ate a whole pizza and a box of buffalo kickers, it’s probably coming up in the morning anyway.

Fortunately, there are a number of businesses willing to take on the hordes of drunken, boisterous college students and decipher their incoherent orders with a smile.

Print This Article

Comments