by Cheyenne Schoen |
The long-anticipated opening of the newly-renovated Pilot House is finally here. The Pilot House will open Friday morning at 7:30 a.m. for coffee service, lunch beginning at 11 a.m. and the first Pilots After Dark event at 10 p.m.
Students can gather at one of its 340 seats, nearly double the amount of seating The Cove had, to eat new food, drink new drinks, watch sports on one of the five 90-inch monitors and listen to live music on the new stage.
“Everybody at Bon Appetit is very appreciative of everyone's patience,” Bon Appetit general manager Kirk Mustain said. “We know it's been tough with long lines, and our staff has been working really hard. It's been a long wait, but I have been to 50 different college campuses and there is no other space like this in the country.”
The new menu aims to satisfy a variety of appetites. According to Mustain, the menu will still include some old favorites like burgers, sandwiches and chicken wraps, but two-thirds of the menu will be all-new, with rotating specials, a rotisserie station and pub dinners. Community dinners will be available for $26, which can feed up to four people and may include entrees like whole chickens and options for sides.
The Commons will close at 7:30 p.m. every night for dinner. The Pilot House dinner menu will be available from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. A late-night pub menu will go live at the Pilot House from 9 p.m. to close.
The new bar will serve Stumptown coffee and pastries by day and eight different beers on tap beginning at 4 p.m. Wine will also be served at the bar. Alcohol cannot be purchased with meal points, but prices will be low and comparable with local bars. Minors cannot sit in the bar area after 4 p.m., but there will be loosely segregated areas at the bar starting after 8 p.m. to encourage socialization.
“We want to make sure the space is for upperclassmen and lower classmen,” Mustain said. “We don’t want a situation where there is one crowd here and one crowd there.”
The first Pilots After Dark event to be held in the Pilot House since last April will kick off Friday at 10 p.m. with an emcee and a preview of future Pilots After Dark events. At 10:30 p.m., sophomore Arran Fagan’s band, Back in the States, will open for the main act with some original folk songs.
“I’m working on my second record right now,” Fagan said. “I wrote all the songs we’ll be playing. I’m stoked.”
Portland-based band, Horsefeathers, will bring down the house at 11 p.m. with a two-hour set of alternative-folk music.
Pilots After Dark programming coordinator Tyler Zimmerman picked Horsefeathers as the main act because he wanted a sound that would appeal to a variety of musical tastes.
“I think they’re the perfect band for the Pilot House opening because they’re really ‘Portland’ and they play at a lot of bars and clubs and are well-loved, but aren’t widely famous, but are still top-shelf artists,” Zimmerman said. “Plus they’re just really easy to listen to.”
Zimmerman is excited about the opportunities the new space allows for. With a stage, bar and permanent light and sound systems, the Pilot House is better equipped for entertainment than the Cove was.
“When we reach out to artists, sometimes they’re a little skeptical about playing in a cafeteria, which is what we were doing with the old Pilot House,” Zimmerman said. “The types of artists who are willing to say yes to the new space are of a lot higher caliber, and they’re excited about it. Artists love performing for college students and they love the college crowd.”
Mack’s Market is also located in the Pilot House and will be open 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. The new market features more fresh food items and less processed foods. It will also sell hot meals on-the-go, with simple single entrees like burritos, pasta dishes and “easy riser” breakfast sandwiches.
Cheyenne Schoen is a reporter at The Beacon. She can be reached at schoen17@up.edu.
Pilot House hours:
11 a.m. - midnight Mon-Thur
11 a.m. - 1 a.m. Fri
5 p.m. - 1 a.m. Sat
5 p.m. - midnight Sun
Mack's Market hours:
7:30 a.m. - 7 p.m. Mon-Fri
11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Weekends
Interactive graphic by Clare Duffy, Photos by The Beacon, Malika Andrews and Cheyenne Schoen.
