You’re hungover. You want to sleep or vomit or get hit by a bus, you can’t tell which. You’re looking for ANYTHING to absorb the alcohol remnants in your stomach from last night before they ruin the rest of your entire life. So, naturally, you head to De Neve.
Loaded with greasy pizzas and fries, hash browns, burgers and cakes, De Neve is perfect for that “eh, I’ll diet tomorrow” lifestyle. It attracts food lovers of all kinds but health nuts and vegans steer clear. Until now.
As UCLA rang in the new year, De Neve rang in the decade. Even after years of being surrounded by the ultra-vegan-paleo-green lifestyle of Angelenos, the dining hall remained as much of a guilty pleasure as it had ever been. Yet with the addition of the new De Neve Flex Bar, the hall finally took its first step into 21st century LA.
As you walk into the hall, the new Flex Bar is impossible to miss. It stands in the center of the room with a towering chrome and glass refrigerator as its centerpiece. Surrounding it is a bountiful harvest of kale, arugula and other greens so bright and fresh that looking that it might hurt your eyes. And if that isn’t enough to keep you coming back for seconds and then thirds, foods like “Cuban-Style Tempeh Escabeche,” “Broccolini Chile,” and “Pesto Rotini with Walnut Oil” are also featured. It’s quite magical really. To be honest, with its larger portions and wider variety of fresh greens, this little slice of low-calorie heaven might even transcend the beloved B-Plate.
I’m not quite sure what it was that I was expecting when walking into the Flex Bar. Maybe it was a slightly larger salad bar than that which previously existed or a bowl of kale pushed off to the side of the pizza table. But surely that was not what I found. Instead I found a revolutionized De Neve; a beautiful farmers market of a dining hall; a place where finally, pizza lovers and health nuts alike can be brought together in peaceful unity.