food

harvest cafe IFNH

Harvest IFNH, often colloquially referred to as Harvest or Harvest Cafe is a somewhat hidden gem on Cook-Douglass. It is part of the Institute for Food Nutrition and Health. The food here is made fresh and right in front of you! The chefs exhibit their culinary talents here on a daily basis. Harvest offers a wide variety of delicious food from a frequently changing menu, ranging from noodle soups to freshly made smoothies. There are also prepackaged fresh sandwiches that you can take home to enjoy later. One meal swipe can get you an entrée with a side and a drink, or a smoothie with a side. Not only is the food from Harvest Cafe incredibly delicious, it is also quite aesthetically pleasing! The first time at Harvest Cafe, I got palak paneer as my entrée, with a chocolate cookie as my side and iced coffee to drink. My second meal at Harvest was lentils and rice, with an oatmeal raisin cookie and passion fruit iced tea. During my second visit, I also got the purple sky smoothie, which contains lots of berries and antioxidants. Unfortunately, it is only open from 9 am to 2:30 pm.

Address: 61 Dudley Rd, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

khyber coffee & tea

If you have never tried a hot cup of freshly made chai on a cold winter evening, you are missing out! But don't worry, Khyber Coffee & Tea is the perfect cozy place for that! The chai served with petite glass cups, and it comes in a kettle that rests on a metal circle with a candle underneath to maintain heat. The iced chair is also delicious and refreshing, as well as their many other drinks and treats.

The cafe's name, Khyber, refers to the Khyber Pass. This is a historically significant mountain pass that connects the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province of Pakistan, to Afghanistan and represents centuries of exchange in trade, culture, faith, and ideas. Interestingly enough, along the historical trade routes of the Khyber Pass, people often exchanged coffee and tea. The meaning behind the cafe's name is quite fitting.For more details on Khyber, you can read my review of it here.

Address: 110 Church St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

ru grill & pizza

It's no secret that college students like to party. RU Grill & Pizza is its busiest late into the night when crowds of drunk students stumble in craving greasy carbohydrates. The workers at this small family-owned business diligently attend to the hoards of hungry guests. They love their customers so much that there is an entire wall covered in pictures of patrons. I have quite a few recommendations for what to order:

• jalapeño poppers (make sure to dip them in the marinara sauce that it comes with!)
• cheese fries and buffalo wings (I also recommend dipping the wings in the cheese.)
• a plain slice of pizza and garlic knots with cheese sauce
• mozzarella sticks with marinara sauce and a vanilla milkshake

You might be thinking, "Wow that's a LOT of food for such a small Pokémon!" Well, for human portions yes, but they make an extra small version just for me! I highly recommend stopping by RU Grill & Pizza on your next walk back home from a party.

Address: 142 Easton Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

 entertainment

radical reads

Radical Reads is new student-run book club that meets on Monday evenings in the library at the Paul Robeson Cultural Center (PRCC) on Busch Campus. The club started in the spring 2024 semester, and the book for the semester was Here I Stand (1958), an autobiography written by Paul Robeson. It was so riveting to read about Paul Robeson's life and his time at Rutgers while in a building name after him at a university that treated him awfully when he was alive. The part of Radical Read's mission is to empower people through education on topics through history that have been overlooked and/or misconstrued. I am excited for what we will read next!

Address: 600 Bartholomew Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854

spina records

In the past decade, despite the increased digitalization of practically everything, vinyl records have had a surge in popularity. Some retail stores, like Urban Outfitters, have hopped on the trend of vinyl records and sell vinyls of newly released music as well. However, these prices get quite hefty for a new and popular record! Even the new copies of old music is expensive! On the flipside, some thrift stores sometimes have vinyl records, but they are usually old music so obscure your grandma has never even heard of. Luck for you there is Spina Records! They have more than just vinyl records too. There are cassette tapes, CDs, stickers, posters, and other merch. The vinyls, CDs, and cassettes are a combination of both vintage, used ones and brand new ones. You can also sell items from your own music collection, instead of letting them collect dust in the box somewhere. Also, all the music is sorted and organized very neated so it is easy to browse or look for something in particular.

Address: 118 Easton Ave, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

ru cinema

Look no farther than Rutgers Cinema on Livingston Campus for the cheapest movie tickets in the state!!! An adult ticket is $10, which is $3 cheaper than at the New Brunswick AMC movie theater. For children, senior citizens, and anyone with a Rutgers ID, tickets are just $8. I miss when all movie tickets where in the single digits. I really wanted to see Dev Patel's directorial debut film, Monkey Man (2024), but unfortunately it seems like it is no longer showing at Rutgers Cinema. Alas, it is finals season, after all.

Address: 105 Joyce Kilmer Ave, Piscataway, NJ 08854

 nature

passion puddle

Passion Puddle is a quaint pond right by the Red Oak Lane bus stop on the Cook-Douglass Campus. It is a scenic spot to enjoy nice weather and observe wild life. College Ranker ranked Passion Puddle at sixth place out of the top 25 most romantic spots on an American college campus. Legend has it that if you if you walk around the pond three times while holding hands with someone, you will fall in love with someone. The legend originated with specifically a man from Cook College and a woman from Douglass College in mind, and alleged that they would get married and live happily ever after.

Interestingly, Douglass College first started out as the New Jersey College Women in 1918 with 54 students and 12 books in its library. In 2007, it was renamed as Douglass Residential College. Additionally, Cook College was renamed as the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (SEBS). Thus throughout the years, the narrative on the romance of Passion Puddle has shifted to include couples at Rutgers that are not just a man from the obsolete Cook College and a woman from Douglass College.

Address: 71 Lipman Dr, New Brunswick, NJ 08901

livingston ecological preserve

The Livingston Ecological Preserve is a massive woodsy hiking trail located on Livingston Campus. There is a plethora of flora and fauna to be explored along the different trails. The different trails are:

The ecological preserve is so massive that it across three towns! Majority of the ecological preserve is in Piscataway Township. A small corner mostly encompassing the white trail is in Edison. The town is Highland Park which is just has only the blue and orange trail a small part of the white trail.

Address: 100 Rockafeller Rd, Piscataway, NJ 08854
*** Note that this address is for Rutgers Business School (RBS) which is across the street from the Livi Eco Preserve entrance, which has no street address ***

voorhess mall

Voorhees Mall is a mjaor outdoor social hub on the College Avenue Campus. The annual Rutgers Day celebration and the Involvement Fair (and many other events) on College Ave take place at Voorhees Mall. Whether the weather is slightly warmer than usual, you can find groups of friends gathering across the grassy area. There is someone over there lying in a hammoc. Another person is lying in the sun, while someone else is climbing a tree.

Voorhees Mall has been a place for activism. In spring 2023, the Rutgers professors and faculty went on strike due to their unfair treatment by administration. Most recently in spring 2024, from April 15-17, students participated in a strike in solidarity with Palestine. Additionally, on Monday April 29 around 1 pm, the students sent up an encampment in Voorhees Mall, to further protest against Rutgers administration. Unfortunately, the police stated that the encampment must be cleared out by 4 pm on Thursday. Two of the major demands from the students for the university are still being dismissed. A student-body election resulted in over 80% of students agreeing that Rutgers Universtiy should divest from the major coporations that support the colonial occupation, genocide, and apartheid in Palestine.

Address: 71 Hamilton St, New Brunswick, NJ 08901