356. Bo Diddley's

I'm thinking about my sandwich right now. I bought in from Bo Diddley's, a popular sandwich shop in St. Joseph, Minnesota. I stop there just about every time I go up to Saint John's for a visit. The first thing you notice about the sandwich is that it is big. You can get it in three sizes: third, half, or full. I always get the full because you can get two, or if you're disciplined, three meals out of the whole thing. As I've said before, the key to a very good sandwich is making it with good bread. The bread for a Bo Did's sandwich is thick. I'm not sure who makes it, but I've never seen anything like it. It feels like it's almost as big as a football.

I usually get the turkey (obviously). IT comes with lettuce, tomato, peppers, onions, and pickles. I get it with mayo. There's nothing spectacular about the sandwich. It just all works together really well. Honestly, I think that's what some sandwich places don't get. They try to make it work with just one or two nice ingredients, but it doesn't come together. The meat, bread, veggies, and everything else all just works really well together when it comes to a Bo Diddley's sandwich.

It's also become the final stop on our annual WHY-SKYS retreat over the Christmas holiday. It's a good lunch spot to take in everything. The whole decor from Bo Did's probably hasn't changed from when it first opened in the 90's. The tableclothes are a red and white checkerboard pattern, the chairs are wood and feel like the ones a grandma would have. There are overhead lights, but no track lighting over the whole thing. The menus are still written in chalk. It just feels like it hasn't changed in all the years, and it doesn't feel like it has too. I am happy for that.

A few months ago, a friend of my posted on Facebook that Bo Did's was being sold. The owner wanted to retire after nearly three decades running the place. I don't blame him. The restaurant industry is exhausting and keeping the restaurant going when a number of other places have folded in that time is no small feat.

There was a small part of me that wondered if I should buy that sandwich shop. Well, I don't have the money, so that would probably be an issue. It's a romantic idea though. Sandwiches don't need to save the world. They just need to feed the people who are going to save the world. I like the idea of serving the meal where people are having their first dates or old friends getting back together to catch up after lives have all taken random turns. It's good to be a place of fellowship. That whole act of getting together over food and drink is so underrated. I don't know if I'd be able to buy and sandwich shop, but I'm going to continue to go there.

Ok, time to eat that sandwich...