To help celebrate autumn and to give people a taste of downtown dining, a number of the city’s restaurants will offer free food to the campus community during “Fall for Schenectady” this evening, Thursday, Sept. 23.
From 5 to 7 p.m., each restaurant will serve their fare in one of the seven Minerva Houses. Some establishments will also offer cooking demonstrations. The participating restaurants are Aperitivo Bistro, Bombers Burrito Bar, Cafe Nola, Chez Daisie Creperie, Homestyle Pizza, Mr. Wasabi and Taj Mahal.
In addition, dessert prepared by Villa Italia will be available in the gardens at the President’s House. The bakery recently garnered attention for making a high school graduation cake resembling the Nott Memorial. The cake was for Caitlyn Collins, now a member of the Class of 2014.
Tonight's event, sponsored by the Minerva Houses and the Union-Schenectady Alliance, follows last spring’s wildly popular “Sample Schenectady,” when hundreds of campus members took part.
“We are trying to highlight the number of places to eat downtown and to get students and others to venture off campus and try these places on their own,” said Randy Miller ’12. “It’s great for the businesses, too. They get to show the campus community what they have to offer.”
To encourage people to visit each Minerva, diners can get a special “passport” stamped as they travel between houses, with prizes being offered to some.
“If this is a hit, we’ll do it again in the spring,” Miller said.