In this episode, The Daily reports on the opening of Luna’s Pub and Grill at Norris University Center, talking with students and staff about food, pricing, programming and the community appeal of a new campus restaurant.
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ALLEGRA LIEF: After years of planning and construction, Northwestern welcomed its first full-service pub since the ’90s at Norris University Center. Luna’s Pub and Grill officially hosted its grand opening on Jan. 5, complete with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, lakefront views, student performances and free appetizers for early attendees.
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From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Allegra Lief. This is What’s New at NU, a podcast about everything from mainstage NU issues and events to those hidden in the nooks and crannies of campus.
Today, we’re talking about Luna’s Pub and Grill, NU’s newest gathering space at Norris University Center.
The Daily spoke with a few students and staff about what Luna’s feels like now that it’s open. Here’s what Weinberg freshman Emmanuel Carter had to say.
EMMANUEL CARTER: This is my first time. My initial thoughts — it looks pretty nice. I got to say I do like the vibe. I like the atmosphere. The lighting’s pretty nice, the seating looks pretty nice, it’s – not your average dining hall experience, which I like. It’s got like a kind of bar thing here. All in all, I’m liking it.
ALLEGRA LIEF: The space offers pub fare and elevated comfort food, with hearty dishes like bacon jam poutine, wings, burgers and salads and an outdoor patio with views of Lake Michigan. It also hosts weekly programming, including karaoke on Tuesdays and trivia on Thursdays. As new bartender Carlos Alvarez explains:
CARLOS ALVAREZ: If it functions for what we’re aiming for, like a nice cool hangout spot, karaoke night, trivia. Friday, we’re going to figure it out. We’re having variety nights, so we’re just going to implement different things that we could do with the students and just, yeah, so somewhere where people just could come chill out.
ALLEGRA LIEF: Luna’s has quickly become a space whose purpose shifts throughout the day, from a place to grab lunch, to somewhere students settle in with laptops, to a nighttime hangout spot. Staff members noticed that flexibility right away.
CARLOS ALVAREZ: It just depends on what time you’re here. Very early in the morning we do have a lot of lunch. People come in just to get their lunch and then after five, we have more of like a beer crowd, more hang out, play pool, watch sports and stuff, but between five and like noon you have people who just come here, do some homework, and just hang out.
ALLEGRA LIEF: For some students, that blend of restaurant, bar and study space made Luna’s feel different from other campus dining options.
ALEXANDRA BLAKE: I honestly love it. I like how you can see the lake. I like that it’s like it’s a pretty like clean formal environment, but I like that you can also have your computer out and it feels like I’m at a restaurant, but like being served, so it’s kind of different from going to like where Norris Center has like pizza and that kind of stuff, and I like how they just like bring out your meal and that kind of thing.
ALLEGRA LIEF: SESP Junior Alexandra Blake said the location also made Luna’s an easy stop in her daily routine as a student athlete.
ALEXANDRA BLAKE: It’s also right by my facility because I’m on the lacrosse team, so it’s nice that I can just like walk over after practice and get it.
ALLEGRA LIEF: But while some students see Luna’s as an accessible hangout, others like Weinberg junior Analeesa DeBotello are still figuring out where it fits into student life — especially when it comes to price.
ANALEESA DEBOTELLO: I think the menu items are more higher priced than most students live on. I feel like it definitely seems more geared towards adults than students.
ALLEGRA LIEF: DeBotello said that cost could affect how often students come to Luna’s.
ANALEESA DEBOTELLO: I just feel like most college students probably wouldn’t regularly pay that much for food. If you’re going to dinner like on a Friday or something or like on a weekend or something, I think that’s different.
ALLEGRA LIEF: Still, even students who are cautious about price say Luna’s offers something campus has been missing.
ALLEGRA LIEF: SESP sophomore Yareht Argueta says the layout is what keeps bringing her back.
YAREHT ARGUETA: The booths, yeah. I think it’s just more secluded. We have booths in the back, but I think these are more cozy and like you’re able to like actually have a conversation.
ALLEGRA LIEF: Behind the bar, staff including bartender Ben Breitenstein says the crowd shifts depending on what’s happening that night.
BEN BREITENSTEIN: Whenever they have something going on, we’ll always get a nice little dinner rush … pop, you know students are always going to come in and grab a beer here. Yeah, mostly just those Tuesdays and Thursdays, like tonight, we’ll probably be busy with karaoke.
ALLEGRA LIEF: As Luna’s continues to settle into campus life, students say its future may depend on how much it continues to center student needs, from pricing to programming to atmosphere. For now, Luna’s is still defining itself: part restaurant, part study space, part social hub.
ALLEGRA LIEF: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Allegra Lief. Thanks for listening to another episode of What’s New at NU. This episode was reported and produced by me, Allegra Lief.
The audio editor is Ruby Dowling. The multimedia managing editors are Femi Horrall, Yong-Yu Huang and Jonah McClure. The editor-in-chief is Emily Lichty.
Our theme music is “He’s Gonna Come and Get You Baby” by Xennial, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and provided by the Free Music Archive.
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