tabbouleh, patchouli

So far the Great Food Court Project has involved more burgers, hot dogs and french fries than I would care to think about right now. That's why today when I headed off to eat at the food court I decided that would try to eat as healthily as possible. With this goal, I felt I only had two real options: Subway or Hovan Mediterranean.

The evidence for Subway being healthy is that guy Jared, who ate Subway all the time, halved his size, and can now never gain a pound lest he lose his livelihood. The evidence for Hovan being healthy was the word "Mediterranean" in the title, and I thought I remembered a lot of women's magazines telling me that Mediterranean diets were good. Since the evidence for the Mediterranean place was admittedly a little shaky, I initially decided to go to Subway. But the line for Subway was really long, and I didn't think that I'd be able to stand in a line so long without getting a chocolate chip cookie and thus defeating the purpose. So I decided to go with Hovan after all.

At Hovan, I ordered a veggie wrap that came with hummus, tabbouleh, lettuce and tomato. The meal kinda failed as a wrap but made a delicious salad after it fell apart. However, it tasted very salty to me, which makes me doubt if there was truly any healthful impact.

As for the restaurant, Hovan joins a long list of places in this food court with a hard-to-read and confusing menu. Things were all over the place and I do not like ordering without knowing if I've fully considered all the options. Food court stalls make it particularly hard to consider a scattered menu without annoying all the people behind you, and food court personnel can be aggressive about getting you to order when you're in close proximity. And yet close proximity is necessary to see the whole menu! Perhaps it is a marketing technique.

On the positive side, the people working at Hovan today were extremely nice. One lady had a jolly British accent. It was possibly the best customer service I've experienced in the Great Food Court Project so far. My recommendation to Hovan, though, in addition to working on the menu situation, is to start offering mints to their customers. After my meal was over I was extremely glad that I am in the habit of carrying gum on my person.