JSB cafe
Reviewed by Ana Mezic
How does one begin to define the enigma that is JSB Café?
Despite a long line of hungry students that’s always crawling from the door to cash registers on the other side of the room, the JSB café remains relatively unknown.
Most students visit the campus cafeteria for lunch because it’s quick, inexpensive and relatively tasty.
JSB offers a more leisurely meal experience with a restaurant setting where students can meet up, sit down, and eat in peace. The food is affordable and delicious. However, waiting time is about 15 to 30 minutes depending on how busy they are (which is really busy, all the time).
Culinary program students take orders, cook and serve. Each day, JSB offers two specials, which can be anything from candied pear and Gorgonzola pizza to Kobe beef burgers. The service has always been fantastic. Servers are cheerful as they are rushed, bustling about calling orders or bussing plates.
In my two years at City College, I must have frequented JSB at least twice or three times a week and have yet to get sick of it. If that’s not convincing enough, I might also add that I have either ordered the garden burger, salmon special, or grilled cheese each of these times.
They fail to disappoint. With options ranging from healthy to sinful, it’s easy to find exactly what you need within JSB’s menu.
But one reason to visit prevails above all others and that reason is Cajun-style fries.
Rating: 5 out of 5
East Campus Overlook
Reviewed by Scott Buffon
My academic life at City College is best compared to a small sailboat being thrashed about by a turbulent storm.
Standing on the edge of East Campus’s Winslow Maxwell Overlook on a windy day, that fact has never felt more real.
From the overlook you can see the mountainous skyline with houses sprinkled generously from tip to base, a slice of the West Cabrillo Boulevard beachfront and the harbored boats tilting with the water’s current.
With a circular patch of grass backed by gray wooden benches, lampposts and the occasional palm tree, the vista caters to those looking for a shady tree to nap under or people looking to spend a special moment with a friend.
As it stands, this overlook is one of three spots on campus available for weddings.
If people consistently choose to be married here, you can bet that eating your once-in-a-lifetime Lunchables here won’t be disappointing.
Personally, I suggest going alone with your iPod and trusty headphones to unwind after a long day. While there may be another visitor present upon your arrival, there will always be enough view for you to personally enjoy.
Looking out over the flowing sprawl of urban life, you get a real sense of what Santa Barbara is all about – doing what you love in a place you’re lucky enough to call home.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Lifescape Garden
Reviewed by Tram Nguyen
For an introverted student like me, campus life can be busy, suffocating and overwhelming.
Luckily, I’ve found myself a hiding place where my thoughts can drift freely and my hobby of silently observing the surrounding can be satisfied.
The spot, called the Lifescape Garden Chumash Preserve, is located to the right of the Winslow Maxwell Overlook, on the bluff above Santa Barbara Harbor on East Campus.
The area runs for approximately 500 feet and exhibits a wide range of edible and decorative plants that are native to four Channel Islands: San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz and Anacapa.
The Chumash tribe uses this site to keep their culture alive, while Horticulture students use it as their living classroom.
The best thing about it are the stone and wooden chairs hidden under groves of big trees that bear alien names such as annona cherimola, arbutus unedo (strawberry tree) and black wattle.
I often sit alone under an Annona cherimoya and listen to the footsteps of people wandering around the garden. That is how I define romance.
The site also features an area shaped as a miniature theatrical arena. From there, one can observe the harbor and find some peace of mind.
Now, let’s imagine you are on the landscape itself.
Fifteen feet below you lie sacredly buried Chumash Native Americans. The overlying cap soil was imported from West Campus.
The thought of it is disconcerting, but nature-friendly ghosts could still be good friends.
Is it a good place to relax? Yes, if you need to escape life.
Is it the best place to study for exams? Birds adore this area, and they sing. So you decide for yourself if that would be distracting.
Rating: 4,5 out of 5
