Remember when we had winter for, like, a week? Yeah, last week. It was cold. It was so cold that every day I had lunch in near-empty restaurants that are normally used to a midday rush. I found myself at Bloor and Bathurst wondering if I should warm up in Honest Ed’s and dreamed of the sweet deals I would find. A measuring tape for 53 cents. A 5” fruit nappy glass for 25 cents. I didn’t even know what that was but it sounded like a steal. Instead, I venture steps away to Sky Blue Sky Sandwich Company Ltd. I stood OUTSIDE reading the menu, which is beyond stupid. There are menus inside. Where it’s warm.
As the name indicates, there are sandwiches. A lot of them. And they’re cheap. Nothing is more than $5 on the menu and if you’re a Wilco fan — you’ll realize that the shop and all the menu items are named after Wilco songs. Opened by Chad and Robyn Comfort three-and-a-half years ago, they didn’t have much food industry experience. They just liked making bread and soups, and making people happy. All the bread (except for the gluten-free variety) is made in-house. The Hey Chicken ($4.99) is one of the more popular sandwiches. A generous amount of shredded chicken breast is topped with sweet chipotle barbeque sauce, a slice of cheddar cheese and put in a Panini grill between three-cheese white bread. A bowl of piping hot potato mushroom soup ($2.49) completes my belly-warming lunch.
Sky Blue Sky Sandwiches offers many vegetarian options that go beyond the typical plain-veggies-between-bread sandwich. The Via Chicago ($4.29) combines curried chickpeas and onions with cumin, mango chutney, and tomato on French bread.
Cookies are also made on site. Sadly, the famous “scookie” (part scone, part cookie) was sold out on my visit. I also misread it as a Snookie — and imagined it was part tan and part fake eyelashes.
On days when your nostrils don’t freeze together, Sky Blue Sky is pretty busy during the lunch rush. They encourage online orders where your brown bag lunch will be waiting for you and will knock 5% off the price. When Honest Ed’s is your neighbour, you need to offer a deal.
Follow Sky Blu Sky on Twitter: @SBSSandwiches
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