Oy Vey Café provides vegetarian food, personal atmosphere

TUCSON, Ariz. – If you regularly enjoy lunch at Oy Vey Café you probably know Joyce Terry.

Terry, the manager of the vegetarian café located in the Hillel Center’s building, offers healthy, kosher food and a friendly atmosphere steps outside the main Student Union.

Oy Vey Café’s menu includes salads, quiches, sandwiches and paninis made fresh daily by Terry and her staff.

“The students are so bogged down and they use up so much of their energy, so if they can eat healthy they’re just going to be a lot better off,” said Terry, who has spent 10 years at her position and knows many of the students’ typical orders by heart.

Just this year the café, which has been open for about 17 years, has integrated some organic products into its mix, and next year plans are in the works to make the menu completely organic, although Terry could not guarantee that would happen.

Terry said the café also has been doing research into buying reusable, recyclable products such as silverware, utensils, cups and paper goods, hoping Oy Vey Café can do away with the Styrofoam cups it currently uses.

But you won’t find the restaurant more than referenced with the vending machines on the Student Union’s dining site because it’s not a Union entity, and Terry prides herself on building up a strong customer base mainly from word of mouth.

“That’s when you know it’s good,” Terry said. “We do no advertising whatsoever. Nothing.”

When Terry started 10 years ago she said the restaurant served about 60 people daily, a number that has since ballooned to about 150-200 people per day.

Although it features a Jewish name and is nestled inside of the Hillel building, Terry said Oy Vey Café is much more than just a Jewish place. She said students from the Newman Center are frequent visitors, as are vegetarians and others who enjoy the Mediterranean fare offered.

Terry admitted the prices at Oy Vey Café are a bit higher than what students might pay at the Union because it’s a kosher product, but she said she keeps an edge on that to make sure the prices are comparable.

“I think that we’re strong as what we have to offer for the quality of our food, and it’s a little more personal,” Terry said, “so I think a lot of people like to come here also because it feels comfortable and it’s kind of like a place for them to go that they know that they’re welcome, and I don’t think that they get that at the Union.

“I think people don’t mind paying because you do, everybody that comes in here I know their name, and I think that they’re getting a little more special touch. … So I think that’s important to them, too.”

After saying that Terry looked over to a student enjoying a panini for lunch and said, “Don’t you think, Jacob? I’ve known Jacob for how many years? Three?”

That personal atmosphere – not to mention the vegetarian, kosher food – makes Oy Vey Café one of the hidden gems of healthy eating on campus.