Arlington campus opens Mason's first Einstein Bros. Bagels

 
A small crowd gathers outside of the new Einstein Bros. Bagels location in Founders Hall. The location, the first of three planned to open for Mason Dining, held soft openings at the end of last week. (Jake McLernon)

Gone are the days of the Hazel Hall Café. A long-awaited, full-sized Einstein Bros. Bagels dining location opened Monday on George Mason University’s Arlington campus.

The shop, operated by Sodexo and located on the ground floor of the campus’s new Founders Hall, offers a full selection of sandwiches, salad, soups and coffee that are found at off-campus locations. The location is next to the bookstore and faces out to the courtyard.

“It fits,” said Mark Kraner, executive director for campus retail operations and auxiliary enterprises, who worked on details for the project. “You got to have coffeeshops.”

Before Einstein Bagels, Arlington’s options for dining consisted of the Hazel Hall Café, a location Kraner says tried to do “too many things,” as opposed to a focused venue like Einstein Bagles. Now closed, Hazel Hall Café’s kitchen will remain for catering purposes, but the space’s future usage has yet to be determined.

Einstein Bagels was chosen because it covered what Kraner calls “day parts.” The full-sized menu offers options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. There’s also the catering element—Kraner says he expects those on the Arlington campus to grab a batch of bagels or cartons of coffee for meetings.

The project’s official opening was delayed due to construction and inspections. It is one of three Einstein’s locations coming to Mason, two of which will be on the Fairfax campus. A full-sized location like the Arlington location is scheduled to open in fall 2011 in the new administrative and retail building University Hall. A limited-menu location in the Engineering Building, expected for a fall 2010 opening, has been delayed due to building permits.

Other comparable venues in the area include a Cosi and Starbucks, each about a block and half from the Metro stop.