After a two-year break, the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts cafe space is back open under New School management.

New School President Dwight A. McBride celebrated the opening of Café New at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Art with students on Thursday.

Located at 65 W. 11th St., Café New will be open to students, faculty and staff from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. It features an array of beverages, such as coffee, tea and hot chocolate, and food such as on-the-go sandwiches, baked goods and fruit. Beverages cost between $2.39 and $5.19, and bakery items range from $1 to $3.29. The prices for additional food items, such as sandwiches and oatmeal cups, were not listed on the menu. Students can pay with cash, credit, debit or using their meal plans. 

The menu at Café New features drinks and food items in the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts building. The cafe space reopened Thursday after a two-year hiatus. Photo by Caroline McKenzie

In addition to Café New, New School dining staff added a Farmer’s Fridge vending machine to the space. Here, fresher and healthier meals than in traditional vending machines are available to students at all times. Options include breakfast bowls, salads, savory bowls, sandwiches, snacks and more. Snacks are between $3.29 and $5.99, while meals are between $5.99 and $10.99. 

A new Farmer’s Fridge vending machine was added to Café New, the food and drink service located on the ground floor of the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts building at 65 W. 11th St. New School President Dwight A. McBride celebrated the reopening of the space with students Thursday. Photo by Caroline McKenzie

“It’s here to supplement [the cafe],” Gregory Herrera, the director of business operations at the New School, said.

The Lang cafe space was previously occupied by O CAFE, but it shut down when COVID-19 struck in March 2020, like many other spaces in the university. Despite the university’s return to in-person learning in August 2021, the cafe space remained empty until this month, leaving students, staff and faculty without an on-campus food or drink option within the Lang buildings.

McBride and The New School mascot, Gnarls, treated students to free food and drinks from Café New to commemorate the reopening. McBride spoke with each student in line for the free treats, while Gnarls took pictures with students throughout the cafe and handed out free fanny packs. The atmosphere was filled with excitement from students, faculty and staff members.

“Today has been amazing. I hope this is the beginning of more of this type of thing,” McBride said, referring to community involvement events on campus.

“​​I’m glad it’s open. It’s a very convenient place to study and get food,” Blythe Graziano, a third-year communication design and Culture and Media student at Lang and Parsons School of Design, said. “It’s good to have the space again because there are not really a lot of community spaces.” 

The two-year delayed cafe reopening was caused by challenges including supply chain issues, changing regulations and health department protocols, Anne Moriarta, the director of dining at The New School said. Moriarta and Herrera worked together to bring Chartwells — the same higher education dining service present in the New School cafeteria — to Café New. With the cafe under New School management, its food and drinks are provided through Chartwells.

While the cafe is now open, Moriarta and Herrera said it is far from complete.

“[We want to] hear from you guys [students] what it is that you would like to see the space become and how we can accommodate that from a dining service perspective,” Herrera said.

Correction: The cafe is open to students, faculty and staff. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the cafe was open to students and faculty. The cafe space closed as a result of the university-wide shut down. A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the cafe space closed when the college closed.

A version of this article appeared in the Spring 2022 International Issue of The New School Free Press. Read more stories from the print issue here.