Lunchbox Eats

Lunchbox Eats
288 S 4th Street
526-0820

Lunchbox Eats is very close to my office, and it was opened by the daughter of my former supervisor, Kaia Brewer. I remember when she went off to culinary school! I believe that officially makes me old.



I've eaten there several times and had been dying to take the monkeys (Satchel, 8, and Jiro, 6) ever since it opened a few months ago. Because it's only open for lunch during the week, it proved quite difficult. Finally, I got a chance to take the monkeys and Warren over winter break.



Lunchbox Eats does a fairly bustling business, but due to the holiday week and our early arrival, we nearly had it all to ourselves. I tried to steer the monkeys towards a four top, but they really wanted to eat at one of the larger, family style tables. These family style tables are actually prep tables, so they are higher than a normal table and feature stools. Adjustable stools. Luckily the monkeys don't weigh enough to actually adjust them without assistance, but believe me, they tried!



Once everyone settled, we tackled the menu. I already had a list of favorites, so I told Warren about them. He decided on the Graduation Burger which is meatloaf tunneled with pepper jack cheese and topped with mashed potatoes, gravy, and crisp onions. It's served on giant (homemade?) bread. Yum.

Everything is pretty hearty at the Lunchbox, and apparently it all sounded good to the monkeys. They were naturally drawn to the After School Scooby Snack--chicken strips and fries--because of the name, and they both wanted macaroni & cheese, corn on the cob, and Bird & Noodle soup. I explained that would be WAY too much food and scaled their order back a bit. I grabbed Jiro's order form/quiz sheet and circled Scooby Snack and corn on the cob. I figured the Scooby Snack would be big enough to share, so I circled corn on the cob and Bird & Noodle soup on Satchel's sheet.

I circled field trip greens on my sheet, which I consider to be the healthiest choice at the Lunchbox, but in a last minute fit of indecision, I scratched it out and circled the Chicken & Grids, which is a very high fat/calorie sandwich consisting of chicken and waffles, and some macaroni & cheese. I rationalized my decision two ways. First, I really wanted my guys to try these two dishes. Second, Lunchbox Eats has really weird wooden flatware. Maybe it's bamboo and super eco-friendly, which would be awesome, but I have to say that eating a salad with a wooden fork sucks. You can taste the dryness of the wood in every bite.

When our lovely waitress came for our sheets, mine was a mess and the boys all teased that I had failed the quiz.



While we waited for our food, we chatted about the ambiance. The school theme is played out with great school chairs, giant alphabet letters on the wall, lunchboxes on the counter, etc. It's super cute. The monkeys asked why the wall was all broken up and we explained that exposed brick was awesome. Then they started finding shapes in the remaining plaster. (See the fish over Warren's shoulder in the above picture?)

I have a serious chair addiction, and I love the chairs (not the stools!) at the Lunchbox.



Our trays soon came out and I made everyone pause while I took pictures. They were all ravenous and eager to dig in, but they obliged me.



Here you can see Jiro's Scooby Snack in a paper bag--very cute--with the corn on the side. He also had some BBQ sauce for dipping the chicken and melted butter for the corn. Yes, a cup of melted butter!



The portion wasn't as massive as I was expecting, but was plenty enough to share. (At check-out I learned that we received a kiddie sized Scooby Snack for half price.) I should add that if you wanted one of Jiro's Scooby Snacks, you had to impersonate Scooby Doo. Both Warren and Satchel did fine impersonations!

Warren was thrilled with his burger. Look at the size of it!



It looked pretty sad all alone on his big tray though! My meal was much more balanced.



Lunchbox Eats has the best macaroni ever. It's super spicy, so I only had to share with Warren. I also let him have my homemade relish and pickles. he wanted my honey mustard too, but I stopped him. (He thought it was nacho cheese!)



Satchel was a little let down by his lunch initially. The corn was too hot to eat, as was the soup. However, once the soup cooled he wasn't too thrilled about eating it with a shallow wooden spoon. I told him about my disdain for the wooden forks and then he whimpered, "Why didn't you warn me?" Honestly it never crossed my mind. I gave him half of my sandwich to tide him over and then I asked our awesome waitress if they had any metal spoons. Thankfully they did. Problem solved. Happy monkey.



Satchel liked that the soup had alphabet noodles. He said it was "alphalicious."

I'm hoping that once their supply of wooden flatware gets used up, they'll move on to regular, reusable silverware. (They could order slightly shorter straws too!)

The little kinks, are just that. Overall Lunchbox Eats is a great place to take yourself and the kids. Just don't go if you are dieting! We all left very full, and very happy.



The total bill was $38 plus tip. A little steep for lunch, but worth it for a special treat. Beware that the credit card machine doesn't allow you to add your tip separately. Bring cash or have your tip added in before taxes.

p.s. None of us visited the bathroom, but I'd been on previous visits. Super cute but no changing table.

Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin Donuts
1540 Union Avenue
272-0172



Warren woke up wanting donuts. So did Jiro (age 6). Satchel (age8) and I wanted more of a real breakfast, but we deferred. At first Warren was just going to run to Donald's, but we somehow all ended up bundling up and checking out the new Dunkin Donuts on Union. I have to admit that I have never been inside of a Dunkin Donuts. My last DD encounter was in 1993 when there was one on the other side of Union. My bestie used to like and stop by for donuts from the drive thru at 3am.

The new DD is where Wolf Camera used to be. They knocked out half of the building to create a drive thru. It's really insane, but an improvement over the world's tightest drive through at the new TCBY down the street. I kind of like the urbany feel, and I am a fan of the parking in back.



Satchel asked, "Did we just go through a subway?" in all seriousness. There are windows lining the inside so you can see people eating inside and they can see you driving by.

Inside, DD has a very Starbucksian feel with the leather sofa seating/study area, free wifi, clean lines, etc. (There's even a conference room.) They were very much in the holiday spirit with several trees, Christmas music on the radio, and gift idea displays throughout the store.



It was quite bustling with several people eating and several in line. As soon as we were inside, the monkeys started taking off their gloves and coats and thrusting them at me. I held my hands up in the air and told them that they were in charge of their own coats and I was in charge of ordering. Then they (along with Warren) started yelping orders at me until I finally sent them all to a table to wait. "I'll just get something," I told them.

I had heard words like hot chocolate and hashbrowns, so I started ordering those things. Then the monkeys reappeared to put in some donut orders. Just as they pointed out the ones they wanted, a man gave them each a free sprinkled donut. (A nice touch, but amazingly timed to come after I had already ordered for them!) I knew Warren wanted coffee, as did I--I needed to know if it was as good as everyone says. Then I ordered an egg white sandwich because I am still not eating donuts (I procrastinated on my donut story for the Flyer and had to eat at 4 places in one day) and I couldn't resist an order of sausage pancake bites.

I sent the monkeys back to the table and paid up. It was a whopping $18, probably the most I have ever spent in a donut shop. (Donuts are .89 cents each, the highest in town, and the accoutrements are in the $2-4 range.) I got our drinks and donuts and was told to get everything else at the end of the counter. I dropped off what I had at the table and went to wait. A woman, who liked managerial, asked me what I was waiting for and I said "Order 242." She shook her head and said, "What was in your order?" So I told her. The store had only been open a week, so I didn't care. Meanwhile Satchel came bounding over asking for water. I sent him to find a water fountain but there wasn't one. I got the rest of our food, and went to the table.

There Jiro was happily enjoying his breakfast.



Warren, however, was sad.



I goofed his order. He always uses technical terms for the donuts he wants (i.e. a raised chocolate, which they call frosted, but I think of as glazed) and I always think he wants something else (a chocolate cake donut with icing). Not wanting him to be sad, I went back and got him the right donut and a glass of water for Satchel. (They charge .25 for water.) When I returned victorious with a raised chocolate donut to the table, Warren then told me I forgot the second donut he wanted--an old fashioned. So I went back, again. (Each order I made got bagged up even though they surely knew by now that I wasn't going anywhere.) I came back with an old fashioned and Warren just stared at me. "Did you actually order an old fashioned or did you point at what you thought an old fashioned is?" he asked.

Clearly I should have been the one sitting at the table and he should have been the one ordering!

As it turns out, DD doesn't know what an old fashioned is supposed to look like. However, Warren said it tasted old fashioned.

I don't think we're ever going to eat at DD again. At least not donuts. I may have to get some of those pancake bites again. Those were yummy.




The monkeys also gave the hashbrowns the thumbs up. They wanted seconds but I refused to spend any more money there! We made a quick restroom stop to get unsticky and to see whether they had a changing table. (They did not. I say use the conference room!)

Next time we want donuts, or a cheap breakfast, I'll insist on Donald's.

Ching's Hot Wings

Ching's Hot Wing's
1264 Getwell
743-5545

A few Saturdays ago, we ventured out to Ching's Hot Wings on Getwell. I'd heard a lot about it, but had never been before. I have a very serious chicken wing addiction, so I needed to check it out. I'll admit that when we pulled up, I was a little worried that it might not be a great place to take the kids, but once inside, everyone was all smiles and very cool.

There was a bit of a line at the window, so after a quick look at the menu--which was basically all chicken wings--I sent the dudes to sit down at a booth. I decided to get a couple of 5 piece whole wing combos--one mild hot and one plain--that included fries and a drink. Warren had asked for some jalapeno poppers, so I added those on to our order. The total was $19. The young girl behind the window instructed me to sit down and she said she'd call my name when it was ready.

I joined the dudes at the table and too in the atmosphere. I'd heard that Ching's was a big U of M hangout, but I wasn't prepared for flat screen TVs tuned to every game imaginable lining the walls of the very small dining room.


I think this picture can somewhat give you an idea of how into sports we all are.


Every once in a while, Warren would comment about something happening in the football game playing behind me, which I thought was funny. (Funny because he watches maybe 3 hours of sports a year.) He mostly scrolled through the Huffington Post, the monkeys drew, and I took notes.

About twenty minutes passed and they still hadn't called my name. It was definitely pretty busy, but twenty minutes is my threshold for waiting for food. Plus, we had tickets to Peter Pan at the Playhouse and I was getting concerned that we might be late. I went to the window to check on our order and a very helpful man told me it would just be a minute or two. And it was.

At first one of the girls mistakenly gave me a huge party pan and for a minute I felt really embarrassed about over ordering. Once I realized it couldn't possibly be ours, I went back to the window and got what we actually ordered.




The poppers were nothing special, probably frozen and fried.

The hot wings were spicy but not too hot, maybe a tad on the salty side. The fries had a special seasoning on them that was also salty and Warren said the mix had curry in it too. We also liked that the carrots were blanched or marinated.

The plain wings were covered in the same seasoning as the fries and Jiro took one teeny tiny taste and said he didn't like them. I was pretty shocked since he is a major chicken wing fan like me. No amount of coaxing could get him to eat any, and he similarly rejected the fries. I think he may have taken one bite of bread.

Luckily Satchel liked the wings and happily ate them up.


And as you can see from Warren's fingers, they were deliciously messy. (Each table has a canister of Clorox wipes!)


We pretty much had to eat and run in order to make the play, so there was no time to check out the bathrooms or anything like that. I'm not sure the monkeys will want to go back, but I dragged Warren there just a few days later for lunch. Then I decided to do a little write up for the Flyer. If you decide to check it out, I suggest you go all the way and get some Orange Mound Punch and get several flavors of sauce. (They'll mix and match for you.)

Tower Center

Josh Spickler, who blogs over at Boys in the 'Hood with his wife, Ginger, is our newest guest blogger. Give it up for Josh!

Tower Center
5100 Poplar, Suite 3300
767-8776

In the Spickler family, we typically don’t associate dark wood paneling, festive piano music and a carving station with places we would take our five-year old and 15-month old monkeys for Sunday brunch. In fact, we typically don’t even allow thoughts so luxurious to enter our minds. We still play a fair amount of dodge-Cheerio at Château Spickler, and we took down the wood paneling in ’83.

So, you can imagine our delight when we received an invitation from our neighbor and new manager at The Tower Center (formerly The Summit Club), Chey Fulgham, to come check out Sunday Brunch at the Summit free of charge. All he wanted in exchange was some honest feedback from those of us brave enough to dine in public with people who poop their pants and eat mac n cheese for breakfast. He didn’t have to ask twice.

With visions of Santa Claus and made-to-order waffles dancing in our heads, we set out to Clark Tower (5100 Poplar Avenue) on a crisp, December Sunday morning. We had a reservation for 11AM, the perfect time, especially considering we got in before the rush and got situated at a primo corner table with breathtaking views of our fair city on two sides. If you don’t know Clark Tower, it’s the taller of the two conspicuous high rises near Mendenhall and Poplar in East Memphis. And The Tower Center, open to the public for Sunday brunch, is located on the 33rd floor with views extending to the horizon in all directions. Aside from Sunday brunch, it operates as an executive conference and special events facility.


The main dining room is on the west side, and you can see downtown and beyond through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the ones that our oldest monkey quickly sullied with his nose and palms. A train passed during the meal, and he could hardly contain his glee, standing face pressed to the glass for five solid minutes as he watched every last one of the empty coal cars pass beneath him and disappear around the bend. I must admit; I’ve seen my share of spectacular views and trains, but the combination of the two was like seeing the best model railroad exhibit you could imagine, complete with tiny cars, toothpick telephone poles and fluffy autumn foliage.

While our oldest was enthralled with the heights and views, our youngest was most interested in the stack of small raspberry and white chocolate scones that had been placed in the middle of our table when we sat down -- a nice touch, considering the patience level of a hungry 15-month old. I’d like to report on the tastiness of said scones, but they only gave us four of that particular flavor combination, and . . . well . . . let’s just say we weren’t going for nutritional balance. We were going for peace and quiet, and we got it, so, they must have been good. (My wife managed to sneak one, and she did say they were delicious.)


As for food that was not scones, it’s difficult to know where to begin. There was so much of it. And our server kindly explained the layout before we set out to fill our plates. There was a cold food table in the middle with some of the best smoked salmon I’ve ever had, along with a variety of salads, fresh fruit, quiche and the desserts (more on those later). Against the wall and nearer the kitchen doors were the hot food stations: a waffle station with classic toppings like blueberries and whipped cream and decadent add-ins like a chocolate/white chocolate/Reese’s peanut butter chip combo sure to satisfy the sweetest tooth; a carving station with beef and pork tenderloins; and finally, a made-to-order omelet station surrounded by shrimp and grits, scalloped potatoes, sausage, bacon, biscuits and portabella bread pudding. Yes. Portabella bread pudding. Yes. It was fantastic. As were the herbed, cheese biscuits. And the bacon was crispy and warm. My omelet was light and just the right size to allow me to try plenty of the other offerings.

Finally, the pièce de résistance: a pair of tables featuring chicken fingers, mac n cheese and a sugar cookie decorating station. Why would you ever leave? In fact, after his second helping of what appeared to be a decent version of the cheesy stuff, our monkey offered this jewel: “Daddy, I used to want to have all of my birthdays at Huey’s, but now I want to come here every time.” He was staring slack jawed at the sun peaking through the clouds over East Memphis as he said it.

Unfortunately, for dessert we only managed one piece of chocolate cake among us, if you don’t count Mr. Sconehead’s trifecta. But even though it didn’t land on any of our plates, the presence of one particular dessert overshadowed everything else in the dining room. Krispy Kreme doughnut bread pudding! I didn’t even look at it. I couldn’t. For fear it might leap directly into my arteries. Maybe next time.

Santa was there, and he made the rounds spreading cheer (and fear) throughout the room. He was there with his favorite contractually obligated professional photographer. (Prints not included.) We opted to spare all involved considering the sudden death grip our little one employs every time he lays eyes on the guy.

As for the logistics, costs and other details, getting in and out was a breeze. The website advertises parking in the surface lot to the west of the building where we parked and covered parking in the adjacent garage. The cost for brunch is $24.95 per adult, $11.95 for children 6-10 and $5.95 for five and under. Our bill would have been around $60 since we didn’t have any alcohol. Coffee, juice and milk were included (in a special fire safety cup with a straw for the kids). The staff was very attentive to the needs of the grownups and the little ones alike, and we never wanted for anything. We weren’t the only ones with young children, and they even sat us all on one side to contain the potential damage, but it was never an issue. Even with decorate-them-yourself sugar cookies as fuel. The piano player and his Christmas carols kept the background noise at a very nice level. There was a diaper-changing episode in the men’s room that is worthy of a blog post of its own, but this one is clearly long enough, so let’s just say, there are no changing tables for the brave dads, but there is adequate dry counter space. At least until your little stinker discovers the automatic faucets. Mommy reported a separate counter away from the sinks but no changing tables in the ladies’ room either. I just had to be the hero.

As we mentioned, we don’t do Sunday brunch very often anymore, but our research into other fixed-price options showed this to be very competitively priced, and we thought it was a great bargain considering the experience, atmosphere, service and food quality. If you’re looking to introduce your monkeys to a unique and quality Sunday brunch experience, you couldn’t do any better than Brunch at the Summit. Next time we’re bringing binoculars!

Editor's note: I asked Josh about the attire and this is what he said...

There were definite church people with holiday sweaters, ties and blazers, and there were plenty of khakis and sweaters. Generally, nicer than average. I had on jeans, a collared shirt, sweater and tennis shoes (recall what I did the day before [The St. Jude Marathon!]; I wasn't about to put on dress shoes), and I didn't feel like people were staring at me. The boys were in khakis and sweaters, which is quite formal for them.

No comment on the fact that he doesn't recall what his wife was wearing!

Thanks again for a great review, Josh!