It is often the case here at Elgin Community College that the aromas of baked dough, sugar and cinnamon swirl around building H. This is often a sign that the culinary students are busy at work, preparing various dishes and baked goods.

While most of the cooking happens in classroom settings, non-culinary students get the chance to sample the creations made by their peers through some dining opportunities like The Spartan to-go.

A grab-and-go style eatery in the H building on campus, Spartan to-go, is open every Wednesday from 11:30 a.m.  to 1:00 p.m.

The Spartan to-go gives students and faculty a place to get a snack on campus that is both tasty and affordable. For less than the price of a bag of Cheetos in the vending machine down the hall, you can buy a baked treat like a muffin for $0.50.

We tried several dishes in the course of this review. We found it best to keep in mind that the baked goods are not warm out of the oven, although there is a microwave available for reheating. This is not to say that the items tasted stale, for most of the dishes are made within the last 24-hours.

With only the microwave available for reheating, we found pastries that didn’t need to be warmed up the best. In the following list we will rank several of the items we tried from 1 stars to 5 stars and note some aspects of the items we tried.

Almond Danish 5/5 stars

By far the most attractive presentation, the almond danish was baked to leave light browning from the oven on the flaky exterior. The danish was flaky and a bit messy to eat, but once you got to enjoying the developed tastes, it was a buttery and sweet experience with notes of toasted almond.

Chocolate Croissant 2/5 stars

If you’re looking for a gooey, rich and fluffy pastry, you will be disappointed by this croissant. The chocolate was bitter and the dough was dry and stiff. This is a dish we think is best served fresh from the oven and not cooled.

Blueberry Muffin 2 / 5 

The presentation of the muffin was a little off putting as on the outside the blueberries tended to have shades of green on them. However, the main draw of the Blueberry muffin was its abundance of blueberries and hints of lemons.

Cream Cheese Muffin 4 / 5  Stars

We have never tried a cream cheese muffin, but we were pleasantly surprised with the experience. With some sugar sprinkled on top the muffin had some hints of cream cheese. However, we found the muffin to taste remarkably like cornbread which was a pleasant surprise as it was neither too sweet nor too salty.

If you have a few minutes between classes on a Wednesday some time this semester try to stop by the H building for a sweet treat.