Being the foodie that he is, Brian Wansink's most memorable C-U spots all have calories in common.
“Since I’m giddy about eating behavior research,” says the former UI professor (1997-2005), “three places stand out.
“One is Bevier Hall, where we did tons of cafeteria studies, like showing that vegetables with descriptive names taste better or that bottomless soup bowls cause you to eat more and not know it.
“The second is the Carl’s Jr. on South Neil Street. It was a Hardees back then. My grad students and I would often go there to brainstorm over lunch or in the afternoon in order to get away from interruptions. We used it for a ABC 20/20 ‘restaurant makeover’ episode where we showed that if you made it look like a fancy restaurant — soft lighting and music, tablecloths, plants and so on — people would rate the food as great.
“Last, on the topic of really great restaurants, I loved the years that the French Embassy restaurant was in that bowling alley in Tuscola. Perhaps my favorite restaurant ever.”
