Sure, the plate might be the same beige ceramic and the slice might not look like anything special, but today the pizza artists at the Sharpe Refectory (in a moment of gourmet splendor, it sheds its Ratty nickname) have truly outdone themselves. BBQ Chicken Pizza premiered to little fanfare (not even a mention on the BDS site?) beyond the grease pen on the sneeze guard, but what it lacked in promotion, it more than made up for in taste. In fact, the pizza was so surprisingly yummy that my dining companion exclaimed with unbounded joy: “This might be one of best things the Ratty has ever done.” Three major components distinguish this pizza from the Ratty’s previous offerings:

1. Doneness: this might be the most perfectly cooked pie ever to come out of a salamander — the crust is super crispy, with bits of deliciously burnt cheese on the upper crust and a nice, brown undercarriage. In the toppings department, the chicken, cheese (possibly a mix of cheddar and mozzarella) and sauce on the body of the slice remained pleasantly warm but not too hot or overdone.
2. The Sauce: while you can definitely taste the corn syrup, the barbeque sauce is tangy, slightly spicy, and, while definitely lacking that familiar molasses taste, not too much worse than the pizzeria equivalent. Moreover, the sauce gets distributed like normal pizza sauce rather than in a spiral, so you get the BBQ flavor in each bite.
3. The Chicken: what really sets this Ratty pie apart from even the most revered pizza joints is the chicken-to-slice ratio. Not only are there a few large chunks of white meat on almost every slice, but the chicken is not unpleasantly dry or chewy like its Thayer St. counterparts at Nice Slice and Antonio’s.

If the Ratty continues to roll out new pizzas like these, we might have to add The Pizza Principle to our comprehensive list of meal plan taos. As far as we know, this bad boy is available through dinner — so don’t let it slip by you!

If you’re feeling particularly gratuitous and/or generous today between 12 and 2 pm, stop by the Chancellor’s Dining Room in the Ratty and leave Ruth Simmons a video message at the “Ruth Booth”…. and maybe donate some money to the Annual Fund, too. This is a great opportunity to show Ruth your appreciation, wear your T(ruth) t-shirt and let her know how much of a boss you think she is. Representatives from the Brown Annual Fund will be standing by to provide information and answer questions about the Million Dollar Milestone: A Record for Ruth. If the fund gets a record-setting 34,317 donors to make gifts this year, the Corporation has promised to contribute an additional $1 million.  

Image via.

Tao — “the way.” The notion’s metaphysical vastness is alarming. “The way” to what? Taoism, an Eastern belief system, would contend that it is “the way” to best interact with and understand nature in order to lead a happy life. But college students consider “the way” pretty often, too. “The way” to get “the right” level of intoxicated. “The way” to check BlogDailyHerald in a 10-person seminar. “The way” to get a high-paying good job after senior year. Someone’s probably even pondered “the way” to avoid yielding to cars at Brown and Waterman. There is one question, however, that almost every Brown student contemplates at some point in his/her undergraduate education: what is “the way” to best utilize the meal plan? Everybody has his/her own answer to this all important question, but BlogDailyHerald will offer some insight on the pros and cons of meal plan taos after the jump.

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National Pretzel Day!  In the Ratty.  Right now.  Per usual, the Ratty has opted to go all out: the spread (next to the salad bar) includes several different kinds of mustard, marinara sauce (pictured above), cinnamon sugar, and hummus (for those of you who like your soft pretzels Mediterranean style).

While we may sometimes criticize the Ratty for being the embodiment of poor taste (literally), it has transformed today (with new tablecloths and all!) for visiting chef Jody Adams.  It’s all delicious.  Our advice?  Be there.  Now.

Scallops, fennel, and tomatoes. Mmmm.

It’s St. Patrick’s day, and, naturally, BUDS is pulling out all the stops.  For lunch, they’ve set up multi-part build-and-frost-your-own cupcake stations in both eateries, with sugar shamrock garnishes included. Dinner will feature some pseudo-authentic Irish fare (sorry, Ratty, the cupcake trend began in New York, not Dublin), with corned beef brisket and colcannon potatoes.  Diners not wearing green will be forcibly removed.

A tipster sent us this image of a cotton candy machine in the Ratty.  While we have no idea why they had this, it is absolutely awesome.  If anyone knows why it was there, or if it is going to be a regular thing, please share your knowledge in the comments.

Tonight, in celebration of Asian/Asian American Heritage Month, Southeast Heritage Week, and South Asian Identity Week, the Ratty will be serving up a delicious meal. From 4:00 to 7:30 pm, you can satisfy your taste buds with cuisine like:

• Vegan stir fried noodles with tofu
• Sustainable salmon teriyaki
• Red Thai chicken
• Korean style marintaed beef
• Vegan chana masala
• Vegan curried vegetables
• Miso soup
• Basmati rice, stir fried rice
• Vegetarian egg rolls with dipping sauce

To top off the meal, for dessert there will be green tea ice cream and mango lassi. Also, there will be a special sushi-making demo from Shanghai Restaurant.

NB: This is not necessarily an accurate representation of the crêpe you will receive at The Ratty. Photo courtesy of Stu Spivack

If tomorrow’s promise of sunshine wasn’t enough to make you get your ass out of bed in the morning, the Ratty promises crêpes. Executive chef John O’Shea will be at breakfast demonstrating proper crêpe-making technique and dishing up delicious triple berry crêpes.

Don’t miss this rare change from pancakes and French toast.

If you walk into the Ratty today (which is pretty likely, especially considering the ridiculous downpour outside) you might be greeted with a slip as seen in the picture above. What is this slip? Oh, you know, just some Ratty To-Go Guidelines.

The main stress of the slip is that there are limitations on takeout portions; we’ve all seen that person shoving an entire loaf of bread or milk container into their backpack, so this kind of makes sense. Actually, there was recently a story of someone filling not only a takeout box, but also a brought-from-home tupperware with pasta. Maybe that’s what inspired this sudden stress of Ratty takeout rules.

And you had better stick to the instructions outlined on the slip. “Make your selection” and get out. Thanks. Oh yeah, and if you fail to do so, be careful…you’re on “contract” with your meal plan.