photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Amrutha Ravikumar, owner of Boba & Beyond stands next to the bakery case of her new store in west Lawrence.

Maybe a concoction that combines noodles and ice cream is the recipe that will bring the world together.

The drink — which also has rose-flavored milk, basil seeds, jelly and other ingredients — is called falooda, and the owner of the newly opened Boba & Beyond shop on West Sixth Street is betting that it will be the biggest surprise and one of the most popular items on the shop’s menu.

“It is a national drink,” owner Amrutha Ravikumar said of falooda’s popularity in her native India.

Ravikumar is confident that the menu item will attract many Indians who are living in Lawrence, plus Iranians and others with Middle Eastern ties, where the drink also is popular. But she also is betting there are many Lawrence residents who don’t have any connection to those regions of the world who will be stopping by to try falooda and the host of other Asian and south Asian drinks that are featured on the menu.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Falooda, a south Asian dessert drink that includes vermicelli noodles and ice cream, among other ingredients, is shown at the new Boba & Beyond shop on July 25, 2024.

She’s confident that is the case because she’s seen such interest in her longtime Lawrence business, Cosmos Indian Store. Ravikumar has owned that business since 2010. It has long attracted customers both with an Indian connection and without.

“The diversity is what I love here,” Ravikumar said of her time in Lawrence.

Customers coming into Cosmos sparked the idea of Boba & Beyond, which is located in the same shopping center as Cosmos at 3315 W. Sixth St. If you are having a hard time picturing the location, it is the center that is home to Murf’s Pub and is next door to the KLWN radio station building.

Cosmos customers increasingly were asking for more drink offerings, particularly boba tea. That drink, which features classic milk tea with chewy tapioca pearls, was selling well at Cosmos, so much so that Ravikumar began thinking about whether a unique drink shop featuring boba tea could be its own business.

She decided it could, but it had to go well beyond boba.

“We think we should have a drink shop that everybody connects with,” Ravikumar said.

That’s why the menu features more than 15 different types of drinks, with many of the categories coming in multiple flavor possibilities. In addition to boba and falooda, the menu includes jigarthanda, an Indian drink that is touted as a great drink for hot days with its featured ingredients of almond gum, sarsaparilla, milk and others.

Also on the menu is Hawaiian POG that combines passion fruit, orange and guava juices for a traditional island taste. Irish tea and Turkish coffee also are on the menu, plus several drinks that are common in America, including a variety of latte coffees and fruit smoothies.

The shop will feature some food, including curry puffs, which are puff pastries stuffed with a meat and curry sauce combination. Naan pizza also is an offering, and the shop expects its signature dessert — if you don’t count some of these sweet drinks as a dessert — to be a creme brulee that Ravikumar says is both familiar and exotic.

Ravikumar said the menu is always designed to promote that idea of a “cultural hub where people from all walks of life can come together to enjoy, learn and appreciate the diverse traditions of Asian and south Asian cultures.”

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Work is underway to convert the former Mama’s Tamale Shop into 9th Street Cafe. The site at 602 W. Ninth St. is pictured on July 25, 2024.

In other news and notes from around town:

• Mama’s Tamale Shop on Ninth Street has closed, but don’t look for the space to be empty for long. A sign has gone up at the location touting an August opening for 9th Street Cafe.

A short social media posting about the location says the restaurant will have fresh coffee, smoothies, juices and a breakfast and lunch menu that features salads, sandwiches, pasta, soups and tacos. I’ll look to do a follow-up as the business gets closer to opening.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

Look for a new liquor store at the corner of Sixth Street and Crestline Drive. Work was underway at the site on July 25, 2024.

• A pawn shop has closed on West Sixth Street, but a liquor store is moving in to take its place. Lawrence Pawn & Jewelry had been located in the old convenience store/gas station building at the corner of Sixth Street and Crestline Drive since 2019.

But no more. Remodeling work is underway on the building, and a sign for Buddy’s Liquor is now on the building. So, look for that liquor store to open soon.

• The old Salvation Army building on New Hampshire Street has a new tenant. The Lawrence Tae Kwon Do school has recently put its sign on the building at 10th and New Hampshire streets.

If you recall, the Lawrence Arts Center bought the building last year. The former Salvation Army home is basically next door to the Arts Center. The property includes a vacant lot in between the two buildings, which the Arts Center obtained as part of the purchase.

The Arts Center bought the building, in part, to secure the use of the vacant lot and also to have more options for expansion in the future. At the time of the purchase, the Arts Center said it expected it could be three to five years before it made decisions on how to use the building, and in the meantime was seeking a tenant for the space.

photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World

Lawrence’s Tae Kwon Do studio has become a tenant at the former Salvation Army building at 10th and New Hampshire streets.