Those of you who walked by Soldier’s Arch tonight probably noticed the tantalizing smell of grilled cheese in the air. The smell comes from the newest food truck on Thayer, Fancheezical, which cooks up a variety of grilled cheeses and other comfort foods that include ingredients sourced from local farms.

The menu includes the BBQ ($6), a pulled pork sandwich with North Carolina BBQ sauce and a “secret cheese blend”; the Spicy Wheat ($5), a sandwich—not to be confused with the Spicy With—with jalepeno cheese; the Hill ($7), presumably named after our very own College Hill, which includes a mix of fresh pesto, tomatoes, and provolone and asiago cheeses; and the Crantastic ($5), which contains aged cheddar on cranberry walnut bread.

If none of the above selections appeal to you, you can build your own grilled cheese (B.Y.O.G.C.) Fancheezical even has vegan and gluten-free options for all you vegans, lactose- and gluten-intolerant folks out there. Every order comes with a small pack of gum, so your breath won’t smell like cheese for the rest of the day.

While the truck has only started churning out grilled cheeses (there’s only one review on Yelp!) and has yet to set a regular schedule, it plans to service Brown students on Wednesday nights and occasionally during lunchtimes. To get the latest updates from the truck, follow them on Twitter (@fancheezical) or “like” their Facebook page!

The Class of ’15 has been on campus for a few weeks now, and if you’re anything like I was at that point in my budding Brown career (i.e., adventurous, handsome, a lover of long walks, etc.), then I bet you’re growing weary of the offerings on Thayer Street. Sure, Thayer’s the most popular Brown stomping ground for a reason, and it definitely has its hidden gems, but one can only alternate daily falafel and pizza cones for so long. So, if there’s a single piece of advice I – in my Yoda-like wisdom – can impart to the incoming class, it’s something like, “Explore the city, you must!” This primer to Brown-relevant Providence streets is by no means exhaustive, but it’s a start. Bookmark this list, introduce yourself to these streets, seduce them and love them, and I promise each one will be worth the walk: [Read more →]

After weeks of anticipation, Froyoworld finally held a soft open today. Located across the street from Starbucks and next to BBC, this self-serve frozen yogurt lounge offers eight flavors that change every two weeks and a huge variety of toppings. Customers serve themselves and pay by weight at a price of 49 cents per ounce.

In addition to cookie dough bits and fresh fruit, Froyoworld also has free WiFi and plenty of outlets so you can do your work after treating yourself to some frozen yogurt.

It looks like Juniper, just a few doors down, has some serious competition. Froyoworld boasts more flavors and toppings to choose from, and its welcoming and energetic atmosphere trumps the grumpy ‘tude you’re likely to encounter at Juniper.

If you’ve walked by the SciLi in the past couple of days, you may have caught a whiff of the mouth-watering aroma coming from Thayer Street’s newest addition: Mama Kim’s Korean BBQ food truck.

Lines of students greeted Mama Kim’s last Friday on opening day, so much so that they emptied the truck of all the food it had stocked up for the weekend. After re-opening on Monday, the truck’s menu offers a wide variety of traditional and contemporary dishes, such as bulgogi (marinated beef), seafood pajun (scallion pancakes), spicy pork wraps and sliders. The truck also offers vegan options, such as kimchi pajun and yuba (marinated tofu) rice.

Run by Mama Sook Kim and son Hyun ’01, the truck’s website boasts of using locally grown produce and meats. So far, the response to Mama Kim’s has been predominantly positive, with many noting the lack of other Korean restaurants around Brown.

Mama Kim’s can be found on the corner of Waterman and Brook or outside of Barus and Holley during lunch and around the corner of Thayer and Waterman, outside MacMillan, for dinner. The truck also operates late night, but posts its location via Twitter and Facebook.

And with that, Mama Kim’s gets the award for being the most social media savvy food truck.

… But go now! The Rhode Island Girl Scouts have set up a table in front of the bookstore selling their signature cookies. You’ve probably seen them all around campus, but this is the last weekend they’ll be selling them around Brown. They’ll be in front of the bookstore until 3:00 PM, so come buy a box of Caramel DeLites (formerly Samoas, RIP) on your way to the SciLi.

Thayer Street- Max Monn / Herald

The Providence police department is looking into an altercation which occurred outside Paragon Restaurant on Thayer Street last night.  According to the ProJo, the incident, which occurred just after 11 p.m., consisted of a heated argument between two men, and resulted in one man stabbing the other.  It appears as though neither party involved is in any way affiliated with Brown.

Before there was CitySports, there was Gap.  Before Verizon, we had Coldstone.  Before Tedeschi, Store24 still wasn’t 24 hours/day.  Most importantly, Smoothie King preceded Roba!Dolce (out of commission since 2009) in the years leading up to 2010’s prize addition to the Thayer Street lineup: Chipotle.

In honor of this new addition we bring you a step back in time to the year of 6 B.C.E. (Before Chipotle Era), aka 2004.  Enjoy!

Even though the opening date was pushed back to December 8^th, Chipotle on Thayer has put up some snazzy new signs which are sure to make any passing student’s mouth water. [Read more →]

For our geometric friends who refuse to eat pancakes not in the shape of Mickey Mouse or consume alcohol not in the shape of jell-o shots, the new cone restaurant on Thayer was made for you. It calls itself Toledo, but it has made its way through the Brown circuit referred to as “All in a Cone”. The restaurant takes its moniker from the fact that regular food disguises itself as a cone. In order to preserve its meaning, let’s just refer to it as the “cone clones” (take a cue, G. Lucas!).

In order to celebrate its opening, the restaurant is slashing prices to $1 or $2 for all its menu items from Friday until Sunday. Its outside states that it serves pizza, Mediterranean food, salads, and more in cones. What is the most pressing issue, however, is whether they serve ice cream in cones or in a cooler, alt-er shape.

If you’ve spent any time walking up or down Thayer this year, then you have most certainly been posed with the question: “What exactly is a cone zone?” For months, Brown pedestrians have asked themselves what the mysterious new “Mediterranean Experience” undergoing construction might be. An ice cream parlor? An Italian themed laser park extravaganza? The possibilities were limitless… [Read more →]