Bard College's Down The Road Cafe

A week ago I went up to Bard College to watch my younger sister graduate. It was really exciting/sentimental, I got to see my whole family together, and the campus is beautiful so it was a nice break from the city for a couple days.


My sister, on the left

Although there were several big celebratory meals planned for the graduates and their families, some of the time we were left to fend for ourselves, so we ended up eating at one of the campus restaurants. And guess what? They served veggie burgers.


fried dough??? not exactly the healthiest menu I've ever seen on a campus!

You get your choice of toppings – there wasn’t anything fancy to choose from, so I just went for the simple: lettuce, tomato, and chipotle mayo. The bun was fairly standard fare – toasted but tasting a little stale. The side of black pepper potato chips was an extra 75 cents, I think. Students can use their meal plan here, so prices on the menu are listed in “points” as well as dollars.



All-vegan, this patty is actually homemade – which I thought was pretty impressive for a college campus! (the two colleges I attended definitely only served those pre-packaged frozen veggie burgers we are all too familiar with. Some of them weren’t bad for pre-packaged burgers, but they were nothing close to homemade!). Inside was a mix of black beans and rice with lots of vegetables including zucchini, corn, onions, and peppers. It fell apart quite a lot before I even took a bite – although it was fried to a slight crisp on the outside it was still very mushy. But surprisingly tasty, for a college campus!



I’m sure I’d get sick of it pretty fast if I had to eat here every day of the week, like the students do (my sister is so excited to never have to eat another campus meal again!) but still… not bad.

Cost: $3.50 [or 7 mealplan points]
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 3       Bun: 2      Toppings: 3

Down The Road Café at Bard College
30 Campus Road
Red Hook, NY 12571
845.758.6822

YumVeggieBurger review #58