Tufts celebrates official naming and opening of Pax et Lox kosher deli

Tufts Dining hosted an official opening and naming celebration for the Pax et Lox Glatt Kosher Deli last Tuesday to commemorate the addition of the new venue to dining options on campus. The deli supplements other take-out dining choices offered by Tufts, such as Hodgdon On-the-Run and Hotung Café.

The celebration offered a sampling of foods, including hot hors d’oeurves and a variety of sandwiches and sodas offered by the deli, according to Lyza Bayard, marketing and communications specialist of Dining and Business Services. Students at the celebration got to taste pastrami, chicken salad and tofu sandwiches.

Bayard described the overall celebration as a success.

“The official celebration was based on ... getting the name, getting the awning up and being able to have everything ready to roll,” she explained.

Although the deli has been open since last spring, it was not officially named until last week, Bayard said. A naming contest was run by the university, and more than 600 submissions were sent in to the contest.

“There was a whole panel of judges comprised of students, faculty and staff from Tufts that weighed in and narrowed down [the submissions],” Bayard said.

Jason Brillon, a junior, won the naming contest for the deli with the title “Pax et Lox.” According to Brillon, the name was inspired by other student-named locations on campus.

“Brown and Brew was actually named by a Tufts student … and that had the play on words of “brown and blue,” which is our campus’ colors,” he explained.

Brillon said he also wanted to raise awareness of the Tufts motto, “Pax et Lux,” through his name choice.

“It was a good opportunity to both make a fun pun about smoked salmon … and also shed light on one of our university’s sayings,” he said.

Brillon’s prize for winning the competition was having a sandwich named after him at the Pax et Lox deli, which he got to design over the summer. According to Brillon, the sandwich consists of some of his favorite ingredients, including chicken, roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, spinach and a Dijon bistro sauce.

“I made a few different options … and then me and one of my best friends did a taste testing of them,” he explained.

The Pax et Lox deli offers glatt kosher lunch and dinner options four days a week, according to Bayard.

“The deli offers flavors that we haven’t specifically had on campus before, and it is really all about hot and cold sandwiches," she said. "It is a tasty carry-out option."

According to Bayard, the deli has been well-received thus far. Students have been enthusiastic about the size of the sandwiches and the options offered by the deli.

“From the day it opened, there were students lining up for sandwiches," she said. "We’ve heard incredible things about the flavors, the options, the size of the sandwich … it’s done really, really well."

Brillon emphasized his own fondness for the deli and the sense of community that it can bring to students who want to have kosher options on campus.

“I like that there’s an opportunity for students who keep kosher or have some sort of dietary restriction concerning meat to have an option on campus so they can go grab food and then take it to go and eat with their friends, so it provides a more inclusive community for Tufts,” he said.

Bayard added that the deli has been in the works for a number of years.

“We’ve wanted to do this for years, so we’re excited that we could make it happen,” she said.