Will Gilson's Latest Pop-Up Will Help You Relive the Days of Dorm Food

The dorm room trifecta: grilled cheese, cheez-its and a laptop. (Photo courtesy of Flickr/@cdharrison)

Over the past year, chef Will Gilson has been hosting pop-up restaurants everywhere from the British Consulate to hair salons to furniture shops; this fall, he just completed a summer-long stint serving thoughtful Cape fare at Adrian’s in Truro. For his next pop-up, which will go down in December, Gilson is turning to a cuisine that many Boston undergrads both past and present hold near and dear to their hearts: dorm food.

Gilson is teaching a senior seminar course to culinary students at Newbury College in Brookline this semester, and is working with them for this undertaking. “I thought it would be a fun final project for kids to throw a pop-up on the campus,” he tells Chowder. The four-course menu for the pop-up—which will be held in The Mitton House on the Newbury College campus on December 12—is still in the planning stages, but Gilson promises upscale takes on familiar dorm-esque fare like ramen, soft serve and grilled cheese. As for his favorite dorm-room eats? Gilson says that back when he was a culinary students at Johnson & Wales, he was all about pizza with ranch dressing and booze-fueled, late-night fried chicken.

He’s still open to suggestions for the pop-up menu—he’s already gotten a few for peanut butter-slathered Chips Ahoy, jello shots and tortilla chips with queso dip—so let us know your dorm room go-to in the comments. Tickets won’t go on sale for about a month—we’ll keep you posted.

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