Despite all of the effort that goes into tailoring on-campus meals to better suit student standards, after eating the same dining hall meals students naturally begin to look to some off campus options to break up the monotony.

One particular restaurant that has recently began to make some changes to its menu in order to entice more local clientele is Cheddar’s Casual Cafe. Located at 12152 L St, Cheddar’s stands as a popular Omaha favorite.

This particular restaurant prides itself on giving large portions for a very reasonable price which proves to be a value that even college students can’t pass up.

In an effort to attract more health- conscious customers at the Omaha location, Cheddar’s decided to offer a new lighter side menu with five entrees under 575 calories. These new options were first introduced on Aug. 12 and have been receiving high accolades ever since.

Director of Culinary and R&D, Robert Pesch explained that Cheddar’s decided to make these new changes because restaurant consumers expressed that they really wanted some healthier options.

“We [at Cheddar’s] figured this would be a perfect opportunity for us to give some more nutritious foods and offer some more lower calorie options as well to provide more of a balance to our menu,” Pesch said.

Some of the options offered on this new lighter side menu include grilled baja chicken, garlic parmesan sirloin steak, lemon pepper whitefish, citrus miso glazed salmon, sweet heat chicken & shrimp.

Another menu change being offered at the

Omaha Cheddar’s location is a series of Chef’s favorites such as a summer strawberry salad and a crab cake and steak combination dish. These options are exclusive at the Omaha location.

The strawberry salad consists of fresh strawberries, parmesan cheese, chicken and chilled greens. The combination dinner is made up of a handmade crab cake that is cooked and servedwitha6ouncesirloinsteakandyour choice of two sides.

Pesch feels that Creighton students should come check out these new menu offerings because they are different than anything that has ever been seen on the regular menu.

“We are using really good products to be able to give the dishes a really high value,” Pesch said. “[The new additions are] something different to give a try aside from whatever you usually order on the menu.”

Pesch said that these new Chef’s favorites have been receiving very positive feedback from customers thus far as many of these dishes are being sold before they will be replaced with new selections on Oct. 6.

”We have been receiving a lot of positive feedback because we are offering a variety that will really spark people’s interest,” Pesch said. “These [Chef’s favorites] options like the strawberry salad are only going to be here for a little while and then we’re going to take them off the menu.”

Arts & Sciences junior Lauren Murphy- Moore has only visited this local Cheddar’s Casual Café once in the past with friends, but she had such a great experience that she would be more than willing to return.

“[The food] was pretty cheap which was good and it was in really nice portion sizes,” Murphy-Moore said. “The atmosphere was very cool and overall it was a really great experience when I went.”

One element that prevents Murphy-Moore from visiting Cheddar’s as often as she would like is its location in relation to Creighton’s campus as it is “pretty far out west.” However, Murphy-Moore suggested that incentives such as offering a happy hour entrée menu would encourage more students to make the trip.

“It’s mainly just the location that keeps Creighton students from eating there as often,” Murphy-Moore said. “If it was closer to downtown or closer to Creighton then it would

definitely be a place that I’d consider eating at more often.”

Murphy-Moore found the new menu options to be very appealing and looks forward her next opportunity to visit Cheddar’s Causal Café and sample these things.

“The whole idea of doing Chef’s favorites and the lighter meals I think is a really good idea because the portions were huge when I went there and that would definitely make me want go back.”