Cravings: Casual Meals
Sandwich bread rarely gets much attention — until you savor the selection at Boo-Boo’s in Walker’s Point.
What kind of sandwich did you have for lunch? Everyone talks about the filling. Hardly anyone talks about the bread.
The bread at Boo-Boo’s Sandwiches in Walker’s Point could change that.
Bread can make or break a sandwich, to my mind. Flavorless bread, mushy bread, bread that drowns out the fillings — those will break a sandwich. But when the bread is a pleasure in itself, that is a sandwich to remember.
Most of Boo-Boo’s sandwiches are served on baguette-style loaves that are baked daily at its sister restaurant around the corner, Soup Bros. The bread is crusty and sturdy, but still yielding; a sprinkle of sesame seeds over the top bumps up its flavor even more. It is a fine, fine bread for a sandwich.
(There are, however, other breads from other bakers, should customers want them: gluten-free, wholewheat or Texas toast.)
Fans of Richard Regner and David Hernandez’s Soup Bros. already are familiar with how good the bread from that kitchen is, and the soups, too. (And, good news, some of those soups show up at BooBoo’s.)
For a no-frills counter-service restaurant like BooBoo’s, fresh, made-from-scratch bread feels like a luxury. It’s part of what makes the sandwiches on the short menu special.
The other part, of course, is tasty ingredients, put together in smart combinations. Hot sandwiches made on a flat-top grill (Boo-Boo’s calls itself home of flat-top cuisine) mostly are $8.50, cold sandwiches $7.50. That includes house potato chips or crisp coated fries.
Step inside the discreet front door, and you see the whole operation: the counter where you place your order, and just behind it, the flat-top grill. Get there at peak lunchtime and all of the seats might be taken — 10 near the service counter and kitchen, 12 in the bright, four-season patio painted in blues and greens. An employee will bring you your food if you’re dining in, but customers pitch in by clearing their tables.
Boo-Boo’s filled the space left by the Philly Way, the Philadelphia-style cheese steak shop. So it’s smart to serve what Boo-Boo’s calls a Milly Philly, a cheese steak that can be slathered in house cheese sauce instead of topped with provolone for an extra 75 cents, and with mushrooms and green peppers in addition to fried onion for 50 cents more. It’s rich, and it’s delicious.
Or try another ridiculously good sandwich, the Sloppy Johnny, if it hasn’t already sold out for the day. Based on New York’s chopped cheese sandwich, it’s not sloppy — lightly sauced, chunky ground beef with green pepper, melted cheese and a sprinkle of pickled pepper slices.
Other sandwiches incorporate those sweet-tart pickled peppers, too. They’re the bacon of the vegetable world, making everything they grace better, but with a little acidity instead of smoke.
You’ll find them on the jerk pork sandwich, too (I like that sandwich spicy instead of mild, with slices of fresh jalapeño and mayo with a kick) and on the K Jon, grilled chicken with Cajun seasoning, the spice tempered by fresh cucumber and tzatziki, the cucumberyogurt sauce.
There are eight hot sandwiches a day, give or take (the lineup changes on occasion, and there are specials), including a hand-pattied burger for $6.50, a good deal, though it didn’t hit the mark on temperature.
Hard as it is to bypass the hot sandwiches, the cold ones are well-done renditions, like hard salami in thin slices with thinner slices of onion and balsamic vinaigrette, ultracreamy tuna salad with dill, capers and celery; and brie with avocado, tomato and big leaves of fresh basil that could put a person in mind of summer.
The sandwiches are the stars, but the shop has salad, just in case, and it has three of those terrific Soup Bros. soups on hand (like spinach-fennel with rice, sour cream and toasts) in three sizes.
Customers in the know can ask for any of the soups that Soup Bros. has that day, though; Regner estimates it’s 15 steps from the back door of one restaurant to the other — easy enough to ferry over a serving of soup. Boo-Boo’s has another off-the-menu item customers can ask for: the London Bridge sandwich, a Milly Philly with garlic-Parmesan sauce.
Regner, who named the shop for the cartoon sidekick of the always-hungry and picnic-basket-obsessed Yogi Bear, plans to launch boo-boos.tv soon. Customers can scan a QR code with their phones, Regner said, and it will play amusing snippets that diners can watch while eating lunch.
He likened it to the childhood pastime of reading the sugary-cereal box and playing the games on it while eating breakfast.
He also hopes to get Boo-Boo’s menus into nearby bars and taprooms that don’t have kitchens of their own. Sounds like a good idea; those sandwiches would go great with a beer. (Boo-Boo’s itself has soft drinks, including Jarritos Mexican sodas.)
Besides the basic craveability of the sandwiches, the prices are moderate and lunch can be had fairly quickly. Especially as more offices and apartments sprout in Walker’s Point, Boo-Boo’s helps fill a need for quick, everyday lunch spots.