by C. GARRETT KEIDEL & ALEXA SCHMIDT, Asst. Editors

The Bronx Bites Instagram account is dedicated to providing Manhattan College students with suggested places to eat. Through colorful pictures and videos, the account highlights where to eat next.

Bronx Bites is run by freshman Sophie Demurjian, a communications major. Her first post was in late October, and she has remained active since. The account has 1,696 followers and 44 posts. Demurjian was inspired to start the account by her sister, who goes to Fordham and has her own food account based on Fordham’s surrounding area.

“I figured that I wanted to do something like that, but I didn’t see one that was just based on the Bronx. I wanted to use my page to show how good the food in the Bronx is,” she said.
Demurjian chose to focus on restaurants in the Bronx because it’s where MC is located. Her account is a useful platform to inform people who don’t know where to eat what restaurants are a good price and are easily accessible.

Demurjian has a whole bookmark folder on Yelp to find different kinds of cuisines and places to try, and will share whatever she orders with the rest of Instagram. Some of her personal favorite places to eat are Kingsbridge Social Club, Palace of Japan, and Bella Notte Pizzeria. She noted that Kingsbridge Social Club has been one of her best Bronx meals.

“Their salads and their pizzas are just so good. Usually my roommate and I will go there. We will split a pizza then get a salad and its always a great dinner. It’s a good price too. Most of the restaurants I go to around here a really affordable,” she said.

So far, Demurjian has gotten all positive reactions. She recently just put her name in the description of the page, so she thinks that people still don’t know its her running the account. Regardless, she’s content with how the Instagram account is turning out. Many MC students follow the account, and take her suggestions seriously.

“I don’t know the statistics exactly, but I know the majority of my following is student based. I make sure to follow everyone from Manhattan, because I want everyone from around here to see it and use to to help them choose really cool places to eat. It also helps to promote local businesses.”

She continued.

“I love doing it. I just get positive feedback and it seems to make people happy. I get texts, like before this, I used to get a lot of texts asking, ‘what’s a good place to eat?’, because I love going out ot eat. It just makes everything easier now because more people can know,” she said.

While Demirjian’s account is a fun way to connect MC students to the local food, it is also a way to broadcast the small businesses in the local area and show their quality of food.

“I feel like people don’t realize that and they don’t get to experience that. They might even be afraid to experience it, so if I post pictures of places and people see that it looks really good they might be more willing to try. Like Asian Tokyo has really good sushi and I don’t think many people know that. House of Japan also has a really cool inside,” she said.

Demurjian says that she plans to continue running the page even after she graduates. The Instagram account is @bronxbites.