Continuing in my now two-issue long tradition of urging Wesleyan students to at least eat off campus for some variety (and to expose you to vitamins and minerals unknown at WesWings) I am reviewing another restaurant in lovely and easy-to-get to New Haven. Now, I might be biased because I’m from there, but that’s too bad. This time I’m going to let you in on a small culinary secret that’s well-known and easy to get to if you’ve heard of it or have had it recommended to you, but if you’re going to just be passing through town for the day it’s easy to miss.

The Rainbow Café in downtown New Haven on Chapel Street has been serving unpretentious, relatively healthy, yet interesting and tasty food for over 20 years. Located on Chapel Street directly across from Yale’s main quad, Rainbow Café is surrounded by tiny jewelry stores, gift shops, used bookstores, and the like. But the reason that Rainbow Café is easy to miss is because it’s located entirely underground underneath a building that houses storefronts on the street level and apartments above. I have to talk about the name though. Back in my heterosexual days, aka high school, I used to think the place was some super-secret underground gay bar. Intriguing, I thought. Alas, it isn’t, I found those a few years later (they’re around the corner). The sign for the restaurant is close to the ground and not very eye-catching, and with no street level windows, even I have walked by it once or twice before I realized that I had passed it. You enter the restaurant by walking down a set of stone steps to what is technically the basement of the building, though the inside is far from basement-like.

Inside, the restaurant feels light and airy – it is filled with natural light (surprising for a basement) – and the walls are painted any number of bright colors – sage greens, purples, reds, and yellows. On the walls, writ large, are painted quotations and proverbs of all kinds as well as autographed posters of touring companies that have performed at the nearby Shubert Theater. That’s right – Annie Get Your Gun with Marilu Henner. How can you beat that? If you’re not impressed yet, write a wespeak and complain.

Above the open kitchen is an extensive menu of salads, soups, sandwiches, side dishes, specials, and other things that start with S. There are also really good burgers. I highly recommend the Gorgonzola and Onion burger ($8.95), though no one (at super-secret gay bars or otherwise) will want to kiss you afterwards.

In the salad category, the Ensalata Rustica ($7.95) with mixed greens, gorgonzola, roasted red peppers, pine nuts, and balsamic vinegar is not to be missed and you’ll leave feeling satisfied and smug, knowing that you had a salad for a meal. But the sandwiches are where Rainbow Café really excels. The thing I probably eat most often when I’m there is the Philly Chicken sandwich ($8.95) – a large grinder roll overstuffed with grilled chicken, sautéed mushrooms, onions, and cheddar cheese. The sandwich is almost too full to eat with your hands; you might have to resort to using a knife and fork. It can be a little greasy sometimes, but the mess is worth it. And the French fries are so good – crispy, a little spicy, and curly. Who doesn’t like curly fries?

The Classic Caesar Salad ($7.95) is excellent – garlicky and with just enough dressing without being gloppy or making the lettuce soggy. I think Caesar salad should taste like lettuce first, and then the dressing should hit you without being overpowering. And, it’s so big you could split it.

The Raspberry Chicken Explosion ($11.95) is pricey, but you get an enormous salad of field greens with grilled chicken, apples, grapes, berries and blue cheese with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Though it mostly serves sandwiches and the like, Rainbow Café also does an excellent job with larger entrees. If you’re really hungry, be sure to try the Green Goddess – angel hair pasta in a creamy pesto sauce with asparagus, broccoli and fresh tomatoes ($11.95).

There are quite a number of excellent vegetarian options here too, besides the salads. The Falafel Pita ($7.95) is oversized and definitely filling. Though I don’t have any firsthand experience in the matter, I have it on good authority that the Cajun Tofu Veggie Rollup ($7.95) is excellent.

It’s hard to find fault with this restaurant. Because of its popularity the line is often long and you may even have to wait a minute or two for a table to be cleaned for you, but so what. For the quality and quantity of food that you get, the prices at Rainbow Café are a pretty good deal.

Once you add everything up, a meal at WesWings could cost you just as much if not more than a meal here. You order your food at the front counter, and you get a pretty little wooden block letter that you take to your table. When your food comes, it gets brought to you, which is nice, since having your food brought to your table makes you feel like you’re eating at a “real” restaurant. But, because you don’t have a waiter or waitress per se, you don’t need to leave a tip, thus saving you, the destitute college student, money. So, if you find yourself in New Haven and don’t want to eat at some mediocre takeout place, but also don’t want to shell out big bucks for Latin-Chinese-Ethiopian fusion cuisine somewhere, do go to the Rainbow Café.

The Rainbow Café is located at 1022 Chapel Street (downstairs) in New Haven. 203-772-2390. Go there and make fun of the pretentious conversations Yale students next to you are most likely having.