The Coolest Workplace Cafeterias in America
It used to be if you had to eat at the place you worked, it was a tepid affair. Standing under the flickering fluorescent lights, you tried not to let the cafeteria tables and hard plastic chairs remind you too much of college or—ugh—high school, then you dragged your plastic tray around to the woman in the hair net and pointed either at the overdone chicken fingers or the overdone mac and cheese, making a mental note to start bringing lunch to work, and eating at your desk.
These days, however, many companies are redesigning their cafeteria spaces to make them both warm and inviting, and hiring serious chefs to build daily menus of tasty and healthy food. Some of the best of these places are even becoming destination spots for the public. Here are some places around the world where employees can get an unexpectedly good meal.
Matt Gross1/8Google's Hemispheres Café
Flickr user kirainet2/8Apple's Caffé Macs
Company: Apple Cafe Name: Caffé Macs Location: Cupertino, California Average Price: Under $10 Open to Public: No. You wouldn't expect a company that sets trends like Apple does to let employees eat Sterno-warmed mac and cheese or microwaved burritos for lunch. (Can you imagine Steve Jobs allowing that?) Though the food here isn't free, it's inexpensive and highly creative: wood-fired pizzas with dungeness crab, seared sea bass with harissa sauce, and mountainous portions of paella are not unusual menu items. The restaurant stresses seafood, and minimizes its use of beef or pork; burritos, for instance, are filled with leaner bison meat. One Yelp! reviewer called it "hands down the best cafeteria I've ever been to." Predictably, it's busy, but when you do finally get your food, you can sit outside. This is California, after all.
Flickr user orrblue3/8Marvell Technology's Semiconductor Café
Company: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. Cafe Name: Semiconductor Café Location: Santa Clara, California Average Price: $2 for breakfast, $3 for dinner Open to Public: No. The headquarters of this semiconductor company (which, like Intel, makes chips for motherboards) boasts "great quality food that rivals Google," according to the company review website GlassDoor.com. Three meals a day are on offer, and while it's not free, prices are dirt-cheap. Fresh sushi is in regular rotation, and authentic Chinese food is a specialty (a nod to the many native-Chinese employees), with traditional Chinese sausage and tofu dishes, as well as vegetables like dou miao—snow pea shoots—making regular appearances. They go the extra mile to keep food healthy, so that many of the desserts like this mousse, pictured, are low-fat as well.
Courtesy Gerald A. Runyan4/8Huntsman Cancer Institute's The Point
Company: Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah Cafe Name: The Point Location: Salt Lake City, Utah Average Price: Under $10 Open to Public: yes. Hospitals are infamous for poor food, but since 1999 the Huntsman Cancer Institute has been making it a point to change that perception, serving inexpensive and healthy breakfasts and lunches to employees and patients alike. The bistro-style menu includes green apple and gorgonzola salad, fresh-made burritos with lime-cilantro rice, a rotating array of fresh fish dishes (salmon, ono, marlin, trout, tuna), and comfort foods like meatloaf, or penne with sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil. They've also partnered with several local restaurants to provide Vietnamese bánh mì and Greek, Napolitano, and Cantonese cuisine. You don't have to be an employee or in need of the hospital's services to eat there, and the place is an open secret among Salt Lake City locals for its stunning views as well as for its food. The sixth-floor restaurant is in one of the easternmost buildings, nestled up against the mountains that edge the city, and floor-to-ceiling windows in the dining room look out over the entire city. The restaurant even hosted weddings up until about two years ago when a decision was made to restrict gatherings to cancer-related events only.
Flickr user mrphancy5/8Pixar's Café Luxo
Company: Pixar Studios Cafe Name: Café Luxo Location: Emeryville, California Average Price: Under $10 Open to Public: No. If you're well-connected enough to have an in at Pixar, you just might be able to get past the campus gates, check out the statue of the iconic lamp and ball, and maybe even get a sneak peak at the new movies. As you wend back and forth between the various areas, you'll pass through an open central atrium containing Café Luxo, the studio's cafeteria. The central location and picnic table seating are intentionally designed to encourage cross-communication, but it's the food, overseen by executive chef Jennifer Johnston, formerly of London's La Tante Claire*,* that keeps employees from eating in their cubicles. Favorites include traditional Italian piadina and dishes like seared ahi and bok choi, but in Pixar style, things are also kept friendly and fun. One recent Pancake Tuesday saw sugar-balsamic pancakes topped with a poppyseed crème fraîche. Most non-employees, however, feel lucky just to be there.
UN Information Centres6/8The United Nations' Delegates Dining Room
Organization: United Nations Cafe Names: U.N. Delegates Dining Room / Secretariat Main Cafe Location: New York Average Price: $11-30 Open to the Public: By Reservation. Where else but the U.N. Delegates Dining Room can you dine on cuisine from every corner of the world while rubbing elbows with dignitaries from every other corner of the world, all while gazing out at stunning East River views? Both the quotidian Secretariat Cafeteria and the special-occasions UN Delegates Dining Room are run by food-service giant Aramark, and the workaday cafeteria is nothing to write home about. But canny visitors who call ahead can make lunch or dinner reservations at the much fancier Delegates Dining Room. Here you'll find the aforementioned views, perhaps be seated next to a group of Pacific Islanders in traditional garb, and of course feast on an array of cuisines from around the world. The menu changes daily, and often highlights a different area of the world: yesterday's lamb tartare on Japanese cracker with Tsar sturgeon caviar may be replaced by today's Scottish smoked salmon on Irish soda bread with clotted cream, or tomorrow's vegetable samosas with creamy raita. Service is à la carte, though there's also an international buffet. Given the extent of the restaurant's clientele, it's an impressive effort. Post-9/11 security makes reservations a requirement, but the singular experience is worth the security hassles (bring I.D.!).
Flickr user mytoenailcameoff7/8Urban Outfitters' Shop 543
Organization: Urban Outfitters Cafe Name: Shop 543 Location: Philadelphia Average Price: $10–$20 Open to the Public: Weekdays from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Shop 543 is the "high capacity dining establishment" for Urban Outfitters' corporate headquarters, in Philadelphia's Navy Yards. The lunch spot isn't restricted to designers of graphic tees, though: at lunchtime, anyone can stop by. The composed-salad station recently offered a steak and barley salad with kale, and an antipasta with sausage, olives, artichoke hearts, and chickpeas. The sandwich station had flank steak on a pretzel roll, and the grill serves locally raised beef in its hamburgers. Enjoy your food while hanging out near one of the two koi ponds, and watch the well-dressed employees wander by while you eat.
Flickr user gurms8/8Shanghai's Changi Airport staff canteen
Company: Changi Airport Cafe Name: Staff Canteen Location: Singapore Average Price: under $5 Open to Public: yes. Sure, it's not technically "in America," which technically "makes us liars," but we couldn't resist. Changi Airport may offer amazing amenities for travelers stuck with (or occasionally opting into) long layovers, including video games, a four-story slide, and vibrating alarm-clock couches, as well as a vast array of restaurants. But for adventurous eaters looking for something less Western (and a lot cheaper), the staff canteens are unbeatable—if you can find them. (Ask an info desk.) The intrepid are rewarded with seriously decent Singapore street food: jackfruit curry with beef rendang, spicy laksa noodle soup, and braised duck porridge. And you'll pay street-food prices: most menu items are under 5 Singapore dollars, much cheaper than you'll find elsewhere in the airport. Although, since a 10-Singapore-dollar receipt nets you a free ride on that slide, it may be worth splurging.
