When I walked in, I asked the question I always ask, “What’s your favorite dish?”
Her eyes lit up like she’d been waiting to tell this to someone: “Everything!”
It was my first time at Coleman’s Lunch Box, a café on Walton Way near the judicial center. It’s cozy inside, with warm red and yellow walls, cheery flowers, and just three dine-in tables, but plenty of people coming in and out with to-go boxes.
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It’s also the kind of place where the owners call you “baby” and love chatting with their customers. And I was ready to listen.
I needed help because I really couldn’t decide. Coleman’s offers a little of everything: 19 wing flavors, 10 different burgers, with toppings like bacon BBQ or mushrooms and Swiss (even a honey bun bacon cheeseburger!), grilled sub sandwiches with beef sausage, tenders or pork chops, Phillies, four wraps; four pastas, four entrée salads, plus “snippets” like garlic shrimp, spicy boil shrimp, macaroni bites, jalapeño poppers, fried okra and corn nuggets.
After a little back and forth, the owner admitted that the Phillies were pretty popular. So I ordered the steak Philly with everything—onions, peppers and mushrooms—plus fries. But as I sat down to wait, I realized I’d missed an entire case of cakes, baked in-house. She rattled them off when I asked: “We have key lime cake, strawberry cake, banana pudding cake, strawberry banana pudding cake, red velvet cake, strawberry lemonade cake, butter pecan caramel cake, German chocolate cake, and chocolate chip cookies and turtle cookies.”
I wasn’t planning on getting dessert, but who could resist? This time she was prepared to point to her favorites: key lime or butter pecan caramel, and I chose the latter.
As I sat at one of the tables to wait, one of the other tables was talking business, but the second, a group of workers in bright orange vests, didn’t have much to say besides, “Yum.” And one of the two TVs was broadcasting slow-mo videos of the chef lovingly putting together some of the dishes, and I was kicking myself for not ordering the wings, and then the pasta, and then the fried chicken salad—it all looked incredible.
Fifteen minutes later, I had my own “lunch box” from Coleman’s and was headed home to try it. I unpacked everything onto my kitchen counter—a homemade lemonade that was smooth and sweet, the box with the steak Philly and fries, which smelled delicious the entire car ride, and a plastic container with my cake slice.
Being at home, I chose my first bite—cake! It was subtly sweet and dense, almost like a pound cake, with a great caramel flavor that was punched up even more with the sweet caramel icing and the scattering of nuts on top.
It may sound strange to say this, but the steak Philly was completely out of my comfort zone (I think I’ve only ever eaten it one other time in my life!). But I appreciated it for its heavy, salty goodness, its heaping portion of thinly sliced and grilled steak, its light scattering of veggies, its drizzle of cheese sauce, and its thick, grilled and buttery bun.
It, along with the terrific seasoned fries, was heavy “man” food, for lack of a better word—something that would give you energy for the day ahead if you’d already been working hard or put you to sleep if you hadn’t!
My final take? Coleman’s Lunch Box is a fun find—a quick stop for lunch, with friendly people and filling food. And if everything is good, then I have a lot more to try.
Make Your Reservation
Coleman’s Lunch Box
1022 Walton Way, Suite A
www.facebook.com/thecolemanslunchbox
Cost: $8.99 to $18.99
