A good choice for free grub

I am a huge fan of free food.  I don’t know who isn’t.  After all, that’s why people waited so long in line during free breadstix day at Pizza X last week.

But while everyone was waiting for their stix and sauce, I casually sauntered my way past them to get free food from Fortune Cookies.

How on earth was I able to get free food from Fortune Cookies?

Simple enough — the Grub Club card.

Created by seniors Robert Demaree and David Cavise, the Grub Club card gave me free food from ten different restaurants. All in all, it’s not a bad deal — you pay $20 and get approximately $75 worth of food.

So Tuesday, as the large line of Pizza X lovers waited along 10th Street, I was able to help myself to a free small entrée from Fortune Cookies.

One of my main concerns with using this card was that not all employees would recognize or know what to do with the card and might not use it.  Fortunately, the young man serving me at Fortune Cookies knew about the card and was able to tell me which foods applied to the card. I could choose from any entree on the menu, as long as it had the option of being small or large.

Taking home fresh Szechuan Pork  for dinner that night was a treat. The funny thing is, even though it was a small entrée, I still couldn’t eat it all.  So I was able to keep the leftovers, getting even more value out of it.

A few nights later, I sauntered over to Dats for some good, home-style Cajun. After figuring out what I wanted, I asked for my free chili cheese etouffee with crawfish. The cashier had not seen the card before, but the man working in the kitchen had already worked the cash register when other Grub Club members used the card.

A pleasant surprise was I got a free fountain drink as well. And once again, I was not able to eat my whole meal.

There were still quite a few options I could use on the card, the most attractive being Farm, Taste of India and Opie Taylor’s. My boyfriend and I debated which to try Friday night, and ended up choosing Opie Taylor’s. While we really wanted to go to Farm, the free food option was only for an appetizer and we just couldn’t afford the other meal options there.

Opie Taylor’s was the first restaurant where any confusion came from the card. I could pick any entrée for up to $8 value, so I would’ve been paying at most one or two dollars for my actual burger. However, that night I wasn’t particularly hungry and wanted an appetizer.

Fortunately, I was able to talk with the manager and work out a deal to have the $8 apply to other foods. I got a small appetizer order of boneless buffalo wings, which made me happy. My boyfriend was also pretty excited about not having to pay for my meal.

The idea of the Grub Club card is great. Free food is ideal for everyone, without a doubt. But considering the fact the other five restaurants mentioned I would never go to, it wasn’t all that exciting once my top choices were gone. Maybe this is because I’ve already tried the restaurants and am not a fan.

I think this card is a great idea, mainly for parents looking to get a gift for their kids or perhaps freshmen not knowing where to go for good food around town.

Other students may be wary of purchasing the card if they don’t like the limited options available to them.