The areas surrounding NYC Museum School offer a variety of lunch options to students. So how do students choose to spend this 50 minute period? 

Junior Jack Kneale often goes to Italia Pizza, a local pizza place. “It’s really close and easy to get to,” he explained, “But we’ve also traveled pretty far. We’ve even taken the train to get lunch.” 

For those less adventurous, there are a variety of options accessible in the Chelsea area. These include Stella’s Pizza, Starbucks and the Alaska Food Market. Senior Lisdarelyn Grassals said, “We recently just tried Mad For Chicken and it was really good.”

A challenge that comes with straying from the cafeteria is that most stores are small and offer limited indoor seating. Many students buy lunch to bring back to school or go to some smaller, less crowded areas. Students leave the building for lunch in a huge stream, some headed for the park across the street, some the cafeteria, and some even choosing the hallways inside of the building.

“I normally eat in the hallway because the cafeteria is over-packed,” Sophomore Yuliana Rossi said. “But when it’s warm out, I eat in Chelsea.”

After several years at Museum, students find their favorite lunches. “Me and my friends rotate between a couple places…including Just salad, Chipotle, pizza and Som Bo,” Grassals explained. “It’s what we’ve been doing since freshman year, and most of these places include vegan and vegetarian options for some of my friends.”

Another of the more popular places by Museum School is called the Alaska Food Market, a deli located on the corner of West 17th and 9th Ave. In general, delis tend to get extremely crowded, because of their small size.  This doesn’t seem to bother their employees;  Hanjot Singh, an employee at Alaska said that it was a “very good experience” serving so many customers in a day. 

Delis are a good place to find moderately priced foods. Freshman Bianny Fernández said, “I go to the deli for quesadillas.” 

Juniors Eva Kumits and Aimée Gladding get lunch together. Aimée said, “We usually go to Starbucks because there are a lot of options and I like to get coffee.” Eva added, “We also go to Dunkin and Rocco’s… to eat, breathe a little, and relax.”   

Similarly, lunchtime is used to “take a break from school and enjoy each other’s presence,” Grassals said. It’s also a time where students can do homework in preparation for the next day or their afternoon classes.”