More Than Just An Ice Cream Shop
By Jody Record, Campus Journal Editor
March 7, 2007
Okay, so the name’s a bit deceiving. And then there are the takeout
windows that just scream ‘ice cream.’ But the little restaurant
in the old Durham train station has more to offer than a scoop of black
raspberry or chocolate chip on a sugar cone.
The UNH Dairy Bar is one of the three on-campus eateries run by the Thompson
School’s restaurant management program. Boxed lunches are priced
between $5 and $6.75 and that includes a side of something—fruit,
potato salad, cole slaw or chips.
Breakfast sandwiches with bacon or sausage, or waffles and a coffee will
run about $3.50. For a special meeting of 10 people or more, the place
will put together a cooked-to-order meal with eggs and pancakes. Everything
is made fresh right on the premises.
“We’re a pretty well-kept secret,” says manager Beverley
Nemetz. “I’m amazed at the number of people who don’t
know we’re here. Sometimes a senior will be taking the train to Boston
and come in for the first time. It happened a lot during graduation last
year.”
It seems many folks on campus think the Depot Road building is just for
the Amtrak train that shuttles passengers between Portland and Boston.
Yet the Dairy Bar has been serving up breakfast and lunch since 1965, starting
five years after the B&M Railroad sold the building to the university
for $1. The deed included the stipulation that the depot continue to accommodate
railroad passengers.
Built in 1896 in Lynn, Mass., the rail station served that community until
1911 when it was painstakingly dismantled and transported to Durham, where,
detail for detail, it was rebuilt. Trains still stopped there until the
1960s when rail service ended. It resumed again in 2001.
“We do get some riders from the train,” Nemetz says. “There
are some people who think they can only eat here if they’re affiliated
with UNH but we are open to the public.”
The restaurant seats 38 people and can accommodate the same number with
its outdoor seating. And, with orders for seven or more, Nemetz will deliver
anywhere on campus.
Menu items include sandwiches, burgers, club sandwiches, salads, fried
fish, onion rings, mozzarella sticks and, of course, french fries, and
soups and chili.
“At least one soup or the chili is vegetarian,” Nemetz says. “And
we have a hummus wrap. We do try to think of the vegetarians.”
Grill service is offered throughout the year Monday through Friday from
8 a.m. to 4 p.m. From the Monday after Spring Break through Columbus Day,
the window stays open for ice cream on Saturdays, noon to 6 p.m. During
the summer (third week of June to Labor Day) the ice cream window is open
from 4:30 to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.
For more information, go to http://www.unh.edu/dairy-bar/hours.html.
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