Pavaraccia

“Pavaraccia” (pronounced Pa-Var-Asha). To me, it sounds like an exotic jewel that’s so big it could eat the diamond Rose stupidly threw over the Titanic, or a rare, luxurious silk woven by virgins in the lost lands of Atlantis. Pavaraccia.

Okay, so I wish the origins of the word were as magical as I make it seem, but really it’s just a word I made up for my favorite sandwich at the Cheese Shop, an awesome small restaurant on DoG Street. Pate and havarti cheese on focaccia bread = pavaraccia. Why I picked those three things is even less magical. I picked the three things on the menu that I couldn’t pronounce. Pate was “Pat-eee,” havarti was “haa-vaa-rat-e,” and it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to write how I said “focaccia.” Anyway, I would never have guessed, but it ended up being a sandwich that Rachel Ray herself would drool over.

It’s the only thing I order when I go to the Cheese Shop. And then I thought about it, and I think almost every student has that one sandwich that he’s obsessed with – the sandwich that’s “his” sandwich at the Cheese Shop. Well, I tested this theory out. I approached two people, one whom I’ve never met before, and asked them what their Cheese Shop sandwich was. One said, “Roast beef and cheddar on whole wheat” (or, in my Cheese Shop lingo: roaseechedareat) while the other, without hesitation, shot out, “Corned beef, provolone, and mayo on French bread!” (aka Coreevolonayoench). W&M students have a cheese shop sandwich as unique as their DNA.

And aside from the fact that the Cheese Shop has these delicious sandwiches, it’s also an awesome place to go and relax. There is nothing more satisfying than sitting at a table with my friends and my beloved pavaraccia. We eat, talk, tourist-watch, eat some more, and realize how insane it is that we’re going to school in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg. We’ve even had some tourists come up to us at the Cheese Shop and ask questions about the area and campus. If you’re a student, the tourists here are as interested in you as they are in the 300 year old buildings they came to see.

William and Mary definitely has its perks. Yea, it has a bunch of academic qualifications, a super-cool student body, an awesome faculty, etc, but one of the biggest perks doesn’t even have to do with the school. This school’s in Williamsburg, Virginia – home to one of the nation’s most renowned living museums, home to the College, and of course, home to my dearly loved pavaraccia.