PB&J for grown-up palates

Tastes satisfy adults — and their inner child

Jeremiah Burns launched his PB&J with Tay peanut butter and jelly shop in 2019 at 5335 McCullough and added a food trailer in 2020.

His partner, Ricky Schweinsberg, runs the trailer, which is often parked off Interstate 35 in Selma and offers a slightly different menu.

All but one of the 10 sandwiches on the menu are built around peanut butter on grilled Texas toast that melts the peanut butter slightly when it’s all meshed together.

The outlier is the Rocky

Road, which is made with almond butter.

And forget the soda; PB&J with Tay stays old school, offering milk, tea or water to wash down that peanut butter goodness.

All orders come with a bag of original Lay’s potato chips and are packaged in a brown paper bag — just how mom packed your lunch back in the day.

The business is named after Burns’ 4-year-old daughter Taylynn, who like any kid, loves her peanut butter and jelly. In fact, during my visit, she was chowing down on one in the trailer while weathering a thunderstorm.

“It’s an idea that just popped into my head one day that I had to do this,” Burns said. “It’s a food that everybody grew up with and is a staple in our homes. I just had to make it Texas, and make everything bigger and better.”

Best dish: They call Elvis Presley “The King” for a reason. Yeah, it’s mostly for his stage presence and music catalog, but

he knew how to make the king of peanut butter sandwiches.

With The Elvis ($8), PB&J with Tay stays true to his formula

with sliced bananas, but then it adds bacon for a sandwich that bridges the gap between lunch and dessert. I couldn’t help falling in love.

Other dishes: If they have it in the trailer, it’s likely in The Kitchen Sink ($11). It comes loaded with Nutella, cream cheese, walnuts, bacon, banana and coconut flakes with your choice of jelly (I went with strawberry habanero).

It requires a third piece of bread sandwiched in the middle, Big Mac-style, to contain it all.

This was the most opulent peanut butter and jelly experience of my life, but there was just a little too much going on to give it the blue ribbon.

The Hawaiian ($8), loaded with two strips of crispy bacon, coconut flakes and pineapple jelly, went back to the tasty basics. The coconut melded with the peanut butter, producing a terrifically tropical bite and making me wonder why I had never thought of that combination before.

Make My Tay ($8) also kept it simple with cream cheese, bacon and an habanero peach jelly, but it was too simple for the price.

Overall, though, the truck taps into every adult’s nostalgia for simpler times and simpler food, and who can put a price on those happy memories?

Photos by Chuck Blount / Staff The Elvis, made with sliced bananas and bacon, is a signature sandwich at PB&J with Tay.

The Kitchen Sink is so loaded with ingredients, it requires a third slice of bread.