Love it or hate it, the food at the UCLA dining halls is here to stay. While the food is incredible and has been ranked as number one in terms of best college food in America for the seventh time in the past 10 years, it can get a bit repetitive.
So the next time you get tired of BPlate egg whites or De Neve pizza and plain old chicken thighs, spice up your life with these secret menu items.
De Neve Dining Bacon, Egg and Cheese
For those of you who wake up early enough for breakfast, this one’s for you. Instead of settling for scrambled eggs every morning, kick off the day the New York way with a classic bacon, egg and cheese.
The first step is to go to the Flex Bar, grab a bagel and toast it. Then go back to the Flex Bar and grab a slice or two of jack cheese — no more than two, or the next step won’t work. Place your cheese between the bagel halves so the heat from the bagel can slightly melt the cheese. Next, head over to the Kitchen and ask for a fried egg and a side of bacon. Once the last two ingredients are acquired, assemble your sandwich and enjoy.
BPlate Secret Sauce
As good as BPlate may be, their offerings can get pretty stale. Meat, vegetables and brown rice don’t always hit the spot when looking for a delicious meal on the Hill. Luckily, BPlate provides diners with the ability to make their own secret sauce. Unlike most secret sauces that have countless ingredients only for them to turn out to be Thousand Island dressing, this one only has two. Mix together the vegan coconut yogurt and sriracha sauce and there you have it, your own makeshift coconut curry sauce. This dipping sauce doesn’t go great on just chicken, broccoli and brown rice, but it also instantly elevates almost anything on the BPlate menu.
BPlate also has a second secret sauce option. A spicy peanut sauce can be made by combining peanut butter, sriracha and soy sauce.
De Neve Dining Milkshake
You scream, I scream, we all scream for milkshakes. De Neve’s soft serve is great, but it can be made even better by turning it into a milkshake. First, fill a glass a quarter of the way full with either vanilla or chocolate soft serve (or, go crazy and do a swirl of both). Then, add your milk of choice, filling the glass to about three-quarters full, and stir. After the base is created, this is where the fun begins. De Neve offers a wide variety of toppings to take your milkshake creation to the next level.
The Neapolitan Shake: Create a base using chocolate vanilla swirl and mix with crushed strawberries from the yogurt bar.
Peanut Butter Brownie Shake: Stir in a scoop of peanut butter, found near the toaster, to your soft serve and milk base. Then top with whipped cream from the yogurt bar and crown with a brownie from the Sweet Shop.
Chocolate Lovers Shake: Create a base using chocolate soft serve and chocolate milk. Then add in a scoop of Nutella. Nutella can be found next to the cereal.
The Portillo’s Chocolate Cake Shake: For all of our Chicago Bruins out there who are feeling homesick, this one’s for you. Create your base using vanilla soft serve and milk. Then mash up and stir in a whole slice of chocolate cake from the Sweet Shop to your base.
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The next time you find yourself bored by the dining hall’s offerings, try one of these secret menu items or create your own to spice up your life.
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Featured Image Photographed by Julia Gu/BruinLife
