For college students, the problem is universal: It's nearing midnight, and the crucial macroeconomics problem set or philosophy paper remains unfinished. With a long night of studying ahead, an effective student should be focused on numbers and syntax, but often there's only one thing on his or her mind: food.
The Tufts campus offers many viable options for students craving a late-night meal. While the two main dining halls are never open after 9 p.m., the Mayer Campus center is open until 1 a.m. on weekdays and 2 a.m. on the weekends. Adding to a student's choices are local restaurants that, looking for some extra business, are often open after midnight during the week and into the early morning hours on weekends.
While eateries in the area surrounding Tufts have been open late for as long as students can remember, the late-night eating scene changed dramatically three years ago with the arrival of popular delivery pizza joint Pizza Days on Boston Avenue.
In an attempt to capture the elusive late-night student market, Pizza Days owner Hakki Dengizli decided to keep his restaurant open until the absolute latest his license allowed: 3 a.m.
Pizza Days' late closing time in combination with its relentless advertising campaign, which includes a Facebook.com page with over 1,000 friends and constant coupon discounts, led to the restaurant being recognized across campus as a dependable and convenient option for late-night dining.
"If students are studying or hanging out, they get hungry after midnight, and a lot of them choose Pizza Days to eat because we are good at delivery and keep enough employees to be able to serve on a reasonably fast time," Dengizli said.
Other Medford staples like Helen's Roast Beef and Andrea's House of Pizza have more recently adopted the Pizza Days model for adapting to students' late-night habits. Since it opened five years ago on Boston Avenue, Helen's has had a closing time of 11 p.m. But this past March, the management added an extra shift and pushed closing time to 3 a.m., according to co-owner David Quirasi.
After years of closing at 11 p.m., Bob Iliopoulos, owner of Andrea's, decided just four weeks ago to push his restaurant's closing time to 1 a.m. on weekends in an attempt to cater to students' late-night cravings.
"I usually like to have businesses at ‘normal hours,' but four weeks ago I decided to keep Andrea's open until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday, get a little late business," said Iliopoulos, who also noted that Andrea's opens at 11 a.m. for a lunch, while Pizza Days does not. "My license goes until 3 a.m., too, but it's hard to work 20 hours of the day. I need some sleep."
Convenience is crucially important for students hungry at late hours. And businesses are doing their best to make their products as easily attainable as possible. Late-night delivery, online ordering and sometimes even the choice of paying with JumboCash have all become common.
"Convenience is the most important factor," said senior Jared Olkin, who writes the column "Beyond Boston Avenue" for the Tufts Culinary Society blog, Tasty Tufts.
While Olkin's column is devoted to "eradicating mediocre food from the Tufts diet," he acknowledged that most late-night customers will choose the option that involves the least cognitive and physical effort as long as it is of decent quality. To succeed in the Tufts marketplace, restaurants must stay open late and advertise their hours to students.
"If you want hot food [late at night] then your options are limited. It comes down to having good advertising and good prices. That's why Pizza Days has been so successful: when they first got here, they immediately came out with a bunch of good coupons, great deals, opened later than most places. That really put them on the radar," Olkin said.
Restaurants like Andrea's that have only recently attempted to take advantage of the late-night market are forced to compete with the mammoth marketing power of Pizza Days, which, for example, offers free Pizza Days socks with every order.
Another late-night dining option for Tufts students without the foresight to gather food in advance is Moe's Hot Dogs, a food cart operated by two hot dog veterans who prefer to go by their first names, Moe and Sami. For the past three years on weekend evenings, Moe's has been stationed at the apex of fraternity activity: the corner of Professors Row and Packard Avenue. Moe and Sami serve up cheap grub, mostly burgers and dogs, until around 3 a.m. on busy nights.
"I used to be down on Broadway at night, but I like it up here," Moe said. "I enjoy getting to meet a lot of nice people. This is one of our favorite places to work."
In a time of economic uncertainty, Moe's can boast that its prices have not changed since it arrived on campus.
"The same sausage we sell here for five bucks we would sell for seven or eight during the day," Sami said. "And our big kosher hot dog that we bring all the way from New York is only five bucks. I promise you, for five bucks, that's a bargain and a half."
A common fear among students is that eating after midnight is unhealthy, given that there are fewer opportunities to burn off calories in the wee hours of the morning. But according to Kerri Hawkins, senior dietician in the Tufts Medical Center Weight and Wellness Program, eating late can be a good choice for students assuming that they plan ahead and space out their calories over the course of the day.
"There's very little research to show that [eating late] is bad," Hawkins said. "The problem is that, at night, most people make poor choices, eat more convenient foods. A lot of people have refined carbohydrates when they would probably benefit more from fiber or protein."
According to Hawkins, students, who would be better off having an apple with some low-fat cheese, resort to ordering take-out or delivery because it is convenient, a choice that could potentially affect their health. Maintaining a balanced diet and making smart choices is crucial, even late at night.
"A typical take-out meal has something like 1,200 calories, which might be more than half the person's calories for the day," Hawkins said. "Eating too much take-out can affect how someone is feeling. The sodium content in take-out is outrageous!"
But for some students, the occasional Pizza Days order or trip to Moe's is something to look forward to on long weekend nights. On Friday night, junior Mike Goetzman told his friends to wait at the corner for a minute while he picked up a juicy Italian sausage from Moe and Sami, complete with a heaping amount of onions and peppers. As he devoured his sausage, Mike looked about as happy as a student can be, and balanced talking to The Daily with taking giant bites.
"I eat at Moe's all the time," Goetzman said. "They're the friendliest guys on the entire campus, and their sausages blow my mind every single time."
