At Milken Community School, there is one place always swarming with student life and activity: the Milken Mart. 

During class, lunch, and breaks, students rush to the mart to purchase all kinds of foods and drinks. It can get so chaotic that those running the Mart, Leigh Orloff, Wendy Perlmutter, and Edwin Hurtado, have established rules in order to maintain safety and decorum there.

There are a variety of different foods, and all students, teachers, visitors, and bus drivers share opinions about the most amazing and least popular foods at the mart. The Milken Roar (Stella and Sofia) reviewed eight of the most and least popular items from the mart to help students choose the best snack or meal.

The first item that we sampled was the Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino. It was very sweet, and the coffee was not insanely overpowering. 

Sofia: I don’t like coffee, but this is so good. 

We rated this item an 8/10.

The next item we reviewed was the St. James Organic Green Tea. A student stated that this was his least favorite thing at the Milken Mart. However, after we tasted it, we concluded that it was actually very good. 

Stella: It’s totally good, I really like it.

Sofia: It tastes like Arizona Iced Tea.

We rated it a 7/10 and agreed that it was very good, but could use a little more sugar.

The next item we reviewed was the Tasty Bite All Natural Protein Bowl. This is a quinoa bowl containing beans and other sorts of vegetables. The Mart staff voted this as the least popular item that Milken students bought. After eating it, we understood why many students did not enjoy eating it by choice. It didn’t have much flavor and was bland, but it was not as bad as we expected.

Stella: It tasted like nothing, but if I were really hungry, I would eat it.

Sofia: It is not something I would willingly eat.

We rated it a 4/10 overall due to its blandness and odd texture. 

After trying the least favorite foods, we shifted to the favorite foods. The Lieber’s Rice Cakes with Dark Chocolate was offered by the staff as the students’ favorite snacks to eat. We took this into consideration and tried it. After eating it, we both agreed that it was bland. There was not much flavor and it tasted plain, but the chocolate on top added some sweetness and flavor. We rated this a 6/10.

After this, we sampled the Chef Woo Braised Beef Flavor Ramen. This was recommended by the staff, and they stated that the Purple Ramen was actually the student favorite, but they were out of that due to its popularity, so this was their second option. The noodles were very good, and the broth was perfectly salty. However, it was hard to eat, but the beef flavor was not prominent. Overall, we rated this a 7/10.

Tru Fru Nature’s Strawberries were the next item we ate. We can always spot many students at Milken eating these, and the Mart staff mentioned these as a student favorite as well. Tru Frus are balls layered from the center with strawberries, white chocolate, and dark chocolate. We both thought it was overly sweet but had a nice mix of flavors. We really liked it. Overall, we rated this snack an 8/10, deducting points for the sweetness.

The next item we reviewed were the Sugar Bowl Bakery Madeleines. They are a sort of traditional French pastry that is a bridge between a cake and a cookie, and they are very soft and sweet. One student said, “I get these every morning if I need something sweet.” The Madeleines are a perfect snack, especially because they are only 45 cents! We rated it a 9/10. Additionally, we tried this combined with the Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream, and it was very good.

Our favorite, and the last item that we tried, was the Häagen-Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream. Adolfo, the bus driver, said this was his favorite treat. It had a perfect balance of sweet and creamy, 

Stella: It’s very sweet, and you can tell that it’s good quality. 

Sofia: It’s really delicious. 

We rated it a 10/10 because it was truly a very good treat. We would recommend it as an after-lunch snack.

After eating a few spoons of the ice cream, we mixed it with the other items. First, we tried it with Tru Fru. It was sweet, crunchy, and added a fruity tang to the ice cream. After, we tried it with the madeline. The ice cream mixed with the madeline created an ice cream cake in your mouth. Although they were both delicious, Sofia and Stella had different opinions on which combination was better. As Sofia enjoyed the Madeline mixture more, Stella enjoyed the Tru Fru mixture.

Overall, we appreciated the food from the Milken Mart because of its variety and good flavor. Additionally, since all the food is Kosher, students are free to eat whatever they want. Furthermore, we concluded that we enjoyed the green tea, ice cream, and Tru Fru the most. We encourage all students to try these items along with the others we sampled, with the exception of the protein bowl. 

Additionally, the mart offers many hot lunches and burritos that we recommend and think are very good quality and delicious meals.