Campus food trucks, DoorDash orders satisfy SU students’ late-night cravings
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After a night out, Syracuse University students walk, Veo or Uber back to their homes all across campus. On the way back to their beds, many of those students have the same question on their minds: what are they going to eat when they return home?
Whether it’s fast foods or authentic cuisine, the options around Syracuse are somehow endless at 3 a.m. on a Saturday.
“Usually we all come back together, and then someone’s like, ‘Oh, we should DoorDash,’” SU junior Sophia Dagostino said. “I’d stay longer because of that. I wouldn’t stay as long if I didn’t have a DoorDash coming.”
From Marshall Street to food trucks to the plethora of restaurants available on food delivery apps, SU students are always ready to grab a late-night bite. Whether they’re dining solo or with friends, the post-midnight meal has become its own kind of campus ritual.
For many students, the night doesn’t end until the delivery driver arrives.
Nick Zuppe, a junior, has been ordering from D.P. Dough since his freshman year. The national calzone chain markets late-night delivery to students in college towns. The Syracuse location, situated next to bars like Al’s Wine and Whiskey Lounge and Funk ‘n Waffles, is popular with students, and Zuppe said he orders about once every two weeks. His go-to order? Cinnamon bites and an Italian calzone with bacon.
One of his freshman year dormmates introduced him to the spot during Welcome Week when he showed up with a calzone and a box of cinnamon bites.
“From then on, the two of us have been DoorDashing it for almost two and a half years,” Zuppe said.
Last year, the habit grew into a group ritual. Around midnight, Zuppe said, his friends in Ernie Davis Hall would just look at him to ask whether it was time to DoorDash D.P. Dough. About eight of them took turns placing the order each week.
“You take a food place that you could DoorDash at 2 a.m. and turn it into an almost weekly tradition with friends who have come from all over the country,” Zuppe said. “It’s just awesome to see how it all comes together in the end.”
During his dorm-living days, orders usually came after dinner when the dining halls had already closed. Zuppe said the group never worried about the calories.
“We’re college students,” he said. “If we eat dinner and then order D.P. Dough, who cares?”
Zuppe describes himself as a “D.P. Dough loyalist,” but when he does branch out, McDonald’s is his second choice, and he sticks with chicken nuggets and fries.
Staying in has practical appeal, too. Zuppe said not having to leave the dorm matters during Syracuse winters. Dagostino said she orders because she’s “lazy,” and she uses the wait as motivation to finish her work.
Her go-to dinner order is a fried rice bowl from Poke Fish. But after a night out, she usually switches to Papa John’s or Taco Bell. When her friends place a group order, usually for fast food, she typically joins in.
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The habit of late-night food orders isn’t exclusive to SU. A 2022 survey of 500 college-aged students in the United States commissioned by DoorDash found that 70% order from a delivery app in a typical week, and 19% order after 11 p.m. The company also launched DashPass for Students in 2022, a discounted subscription for college kids.
However, both Zuppe and Dagostino have cut back this year. Dagostino said she rarely orders now that she has a kitchen.
Despite Marshall Street’s vast food options during the day, Dagostino said its late-night choices are slim. While Poke Fish is one of her favorites, the restaurant closes at 10 p.m. Popeyes is the one place Dagostino said she can count on being open, but it’s usually packed. Cuse Gourmet Deli & Café is a 24/7 Marshall Street option, but not something she gravitates toward.
For Dagostino, she wishes all the options on Marshall Street stayed open later — Bleu Monkey Cafe would be a good late-night option, she said.
Students who don’t want to order in or wait in line have another option: food trucks. There are usually around two to three options set up on Walnut Avenue as the night winds down.
Syracuse Halal Gyro, a family-run business that also has a storefront on Westcott Street, parks its truck on the corner every week. Manager Randy Jones said the truck arrives by 1 p.m. and stays open as late as 4 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. The busiest stretch runs from 1 to 3 a.m., he said.
“Once everyone’s done doing what they need to do out here, they all migrate to us,” Jones said.
Timing matters, Jones said. Students typically head out at around 11 p.m., so the truck gets its rush when they walk back toward their dorms from 1 to 3 a.m. The corner also works because students usually pass through Walnut Avenue as they come down from campus or up from Marshall Street, he said. The company’s second truck, which parks downtown near Washington Street, draws an older crowd that trickles in steadily until the bars close.
The truck near SU’s most popular order is a combo plate of chicken and lamb over rice with white and hot sauce. Jones, a chef by trade, said the late hours are tough at first. Then the students trickle in.
“The students are so welcoming, and the energy they bring to us, and they love our food,” Jones said. “They want to see us cooking back there.”
Jones described the relationship among the other food trucks like Ali Baba and Cuse Bites as one of “friendly competition,” though Ali Baba now sits near Thornden Park after SU’s Department of Public Safety asked it to relocate last year. The food trucks are all there for the same reason, and they all love to serve the students, he said.
Jones also recognizes regulars by face if not by name. Last week, some students told him they plan to keep coming back all four years. Winter won’t change that, he said. Syracuse Halal Gyro will be there in rain, sun or snow unless a blizzard blocks the road.
“As long as they keep coming back, we’ll be here,” Jones said.
