Of course you know about Thayer, the artsy neo-Bohemian part of Providence's East Side, sort of a downtown for Brown University and RISD. You'd expect Thayer Street to attract quirky sandwich shops, poet havens, and funky jewelry boutiques. Well, Thayer attracts those, but there are also a couple of nice upscale restaurants. In particular, you can find Andrea's.

Andrea's has been a Thayer Street icon since 1966, serving real Greek food. That, too, is a little unusual for Rhode Island. We're used to Italian food, and Greek has many similarities, but it's different enough to seek out just for a different taste.

Before the weather turned too cold to eat outside, we visited Andrea's at lunch time. Sure we could have eaten indoors, but the weather was nice and we didn't want to waste one of the last warm days of the year. Inside was dark wood, linen tablecloths. Outside under the awnings we had butcher paper covering round patio tables.

Calamari for an appetizer. Big meaty chunks with a light breading. It was a nice change from the tiny chopped calamari fried to a crisp that we typically find at modestly priced restaurants.

Of course there were other appetizer choices, a greek Spanakopita, for instance. It's a phyllo dough pastry with spinach, herbs, and feta cheese. Or maybe Skordalia -- sort of like the Rhode Island standby 'garlic mash'.

Sure they have buffalo wings and fried mozzarella sticks, they recognize that their customers don't always have a taste for the unfamiliar. They even have 'designer' burgers -- open flame broiled black angus chopped sirloin. These have names like "Olympian Burger" and "Greek Burger", but they're still the familiar American burger with just a touch of Greece.

Instead, we stayed with a Greek menu. Moussaka was a dish of minced beef, roasted eggplant, and potato topped with a Bechamel sauce. The Gyro sandwich, with lamb, was a bit too exotic for my wife, who went for a Beef Souvlaki and salad. What's a Souvlaki -- think Gyro and you'll have an idea. What's Gyro? A rolled pita bread sandwich with a tangy yoghurt sauce.

They also serve pasta, fish, beef, and shrimp dishes, but these were a bit too heavy for lunch. Maybe if we are invited out to dinner, we'll give them a try.

Desserts looked too tasy to ignore. Many upscale restaurants pay special attention to desserts and Andrea's is no exception. A wonderful little chocolate dessert was exactly what we wanted.

I'm happy to recommend Andrea's if you'd like to try Greek food, especially during warm weather when you can sit outside and watch the parade that is Thayer Street.

Andreas is at 268 Thayer St, Providence. You can call them at 401-331-7879. Because of their bar, they keep very late hours, and the open extra early on Saturdays and Sundays for brunch.

About the author, Paul Pence: Not a life-long Rhode Islander, Paul got to Rhode Island as fast as he could. He has 25 years of writing experience and numerous publication credits including the Providence Journal, the East Greenwich Magazine, Weissmann Travel Reports, Travel Lady Magazine, Jackhammer, Your Skin and Sun, TravelNotes, TexWoman, and many others.

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