| RATINGS
(out
of 5)
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No Pie |
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No
drama or build up for this week’s selection. Gloria
was out of town last week and our SL4 meeting prior to this
lunch was over filled with Prom responsibilities and staffing
issues. Never remembering the order – the three of them
teamed up on me and said – it was my turn. I remember
hearing of a new place on University drive and I had two other
back ups just incase but Henry confirmed a new sandwich shop
next to the Pizza Patron.
We hopped
into the TAMS mobile and I pressed the transformer button
enabling
the Taurus wagon to evolve into the Hummer
we needed to reach our lunch destination.
We all love the name Pizza Patron because it gives
us feelings of
danger and gangsters however Gloria said the pizza was not
the greatest and it is only take out. Oh yea, we were not eating
there but next door – Lenny’s sub shop! The place
still had its grand opening sign flapping in the wind and the
entry was inviting.
Who is Lenny, we
all wondered. After a bit of googling – come
to find out this place is a franchise (http://www.lennyssubshop.com)!!
I wasn’t sure how I felt about it but my inevitable apathy
removed that concern.
The discussions
at lunch wandered into Gloria’s spring
break trip to Spain, current events in the news and Kevin’s
fascination with women’s hats. Gloria had shown us pictures
of a religious celebration/parade in Spain that depicted the
Spaniards in costume. Unfortunately those costumes were exactly
like KKK outfits and Gloria said at times there are burnings
of religious items in the parades. All of the eerily similarities
began to creep us all out so we focused on the sandwiches.
Kevin and Henry asked the proprietor behind the counter what
was the best and the Philly steak sandwich was the recommended
number one delight. With each sandwich, a patron could add
the drink and chip extras for a fee. Lenny’s has their
own brand of chips and I loved the jalapeno flavored ones.
Gloria ordered the mile high turkey and for myself I ordered
the Italian special. When I asked about the sandwich, the fellow
behind the counter said, “Essentially it is a pig on
a bun”, that helped my appetite. Depending on the sandwich
one can specify the type of bread and essentially any condiment
and vegetable. There was some mystery red spice salsa I had
on my sandwich which was quite tasty. Despite the requirement
of a 4 wheel drive vehicle, Lenny’s seemed to be doing
a brisk business – folks were eating in and taking many
orders to go. The interior was functional and clean, nothing
flashy and I got a sense it was purposely designed to keep
people comfortable for about 30-40 minutes or the time it takes
to eat a sandwich and bag of chips. My frugality radar was
immediately activated as I saw many patrons ordering and presenting
COUPONS that had somehow slipped past me. Kevin did comment
that for the price, “all hype
no flavor” was his
statement. The staff was every attentive and visited our table
several times asking to refill whatever we were drinking – this
was a nice touch.
On the way to Lenny’s we spied the Southern Fried Pie
Company, (SFP) and had made a commitment to return there for
lunch so we saved room and cut our conversation short. SFP
is a fun small little mom and pop place that originally started
by making pies for the Old West Café. Demand there was
so good, mom and pop opened SFP. There were a number of flavors
of pies – fruit filled, meat filled, cheese, etc.; just
about any filling you could think of was there. Kevin and I
were brave enough to order and our requests were individually
made right there on the spot. Henry promised to return for
a special date night with Michelle and Gloria was not interested.
I enjoyed my pie – thought it was pricy at $2.85 but
now understood I missed the nuance of fried pie eating. There
was an older couple in a booth behind us splitting a fried
pie with ice cream eating out of what appeared to be a tin
plate – straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting – priceless.
Kevin’s opinion on the fried pie was mediocre. [Kevin
being a fried pie connoisseur after judging the Oklahoma Fried
Pie Fair, (OFPF)]. After OFPF, Kevin’s taste buds were
trained to discriminate between the finest fried pies in the
southwest region. He fear SFP just would not stand up at the
OFPF but possibly could place on the local level. Kevin stated, “SFP
was not even close to the greasy flavor of the Oklahoma pies.
The fact that she wasn't even aware of the Oklahoma store makes
me think she is not authentic, because the Oklahoma store claimed
to be the original and I believe them.”
When we got back
in the car, Henry confessed that the name Lenny’s, just gave him the shivers which impeded his
enjoyment of lunch. When pressed for details, Henry blurted
out it all went back to Steinbeck’s novel.
Lenny’s was fine for a sandwich shop and I loved the
staff’s friendliness and attentive drink retrieval. One
staffer apologized because she had not asked us if we wanted
refills or not – she did not know that two other staffers
had filled our glasses three times already – great attention.
If you need a good sandwich and you find those blasted coupons
AND your car has 4 wheel drive visit Lenny’s. If you
have trouble with name – here is a quick list of other
Lenny’s you might focus on for a more positive feeling:
