Well, it’s been quite a little while since I did one of these, “Can I Eat My Lunch In Here” segments. The main reason is I just about get sick to my stomach thinking about doing them because it’s always so awkward and uncomfortable. But it’s probably one of the most popular things I do on here, so this time I thought I’d try a place that’s either going to be a lot of fun or a total swing and a miss!

I’ve never been inside of the Peoria Police Department. I’ve been to the jail (several times) and that can be a whole blog unto itself, but I’ll let that go for now! Anyway, I thought it might be fun to go and see the lunchroom in the Peoria Police Department and have lunch in there. Before we go there though, we need to stop in at the official kitchen for these “Can I Eat My Lunch In Here” segments: Khaki Jack’s. I’ve mentioned this before, but Khaki Jack’s is within spitting distance of the MBIP World Headquarters and one of my favorite Peoria places. So away we go!

Khaki Jack’s

I told you it was close by, here we are! It’s raining out here, so let’s get inside and get the lunch for this episode!

It’s not too crowded in here yet, the lunch time crowd hasn’t showed up yet. I asked Tony, who’s a friend and the owner of Khaki Jack’s to fix up something for our trip to the Peoria Police Department and that’s Brandon behind the bar handing it off. It’s a pizza (in a box, no less!) and some other goodies in the bag. Okay, my stomach is in knots thinking about this, so let's go downtown and see if we can eat this lunch in the Peoria Police Department.

Peoria Police Department

Here we are at The Peoria Police Department. Sadly, these are the only photos we’re going to get of this place because they wouldn’t let me eat my lunch in there. Cue up sad and disappointing sound effect! I think this holds the record for the quickest time for me being told to take my lunch and leave. I walked in and gave the woman behind the front desk my MBIP card and explained to her about the "Can I Eat My Lunch In Here" segments. She just looked at me and really expressed no emotion except for what I perceived to be a little bit of disgust. She told me that she had never heard of the blog and that since it’s a secure area, me eating lunch in there was not going to happen. And she emphasized the word, “not.” Yikes. I didn’t know lunch was un-secure, so you learn something new almost every day! Anyway, this was really uncomfortable and the woman did not seem amused at all by my antics so I took the lunch and walked out. I have to admit I was pretty disappointed because I thought they were going to let me do this in there. I was hoping to get some cool photos of the inside of the Peoria Police Department but there’s no time to sit around and cry over a missed lunch opportunity. I have to get in to work in a little bit, so it’s time to try another spot. Oh, the agony of luncheon defeat!

Born Paint

I actually had a backup plan in place, I usually do because the odds of getting turned down are about a 30% chance. Here’s a couple rejections from past episodes in case you missed them: no lunch here and no lunch here. However the backup plan is located across town and I happened to see a familiar building in the distance, it’s the Born Paint building! I’m also 100 percent sure we can eat this lunch in there and it’s one of the oldest Peoria businesses in town, so it’s got some history too. As you can see from the sign, they’ve been doing business here since 1920, almost 100 years! Let’s go inside and see if we can eat this lunch in here before it gets any colder than it already is!

I walked in and saw a familiar face I was hoping would be here, it’s the owner of Born Paint, Paul Berres! Paul and I have been friends since high school and he’s one of the nicest guys in Peoria, so of course he said we can eat lunch in here! This is the second time a blog has been rescued by a Berres! Back when I did a hitchhiking post, Paul’s wife Maggie (another friend I went to high school with) picked me up and saved that post! I should share some of the profits from this blog with them, but sadly there are no profits! So we’ll share this lunch instead! Paul said we could set it up buffet style down here and then go to the lunchroom to eat it. Nice! We’re back on track!

Born Paint Lunch Buffet Prepared By Paul!

As Paul opened up the pizza box we found this note that Tony had put there! Ha ha ha! Hilarious and I wish I knew about Tacky Jack the Bail Bondsman about two years ago (inside joke alert!) Nice job, Tony!

Wow, Tony and Khaki Jack’s outdid themselves with this lunch! There’s chicken tenders, One of their homemade pizzas and a Sanger sandwich! It all looks delicious and everything’s still warm, time to go eat our lunch in here!

We fixed up some plates and Matt and Steve joined in and got some lunch too! Paul led us to the lunchroom and it was already occupied by Dave who was enjoying three Wonder Dogs! We decided to let Dave eat in peace and go to the office, but first I had to look in their refrigerator, because that’s what I do! Hey, check it out, this is a first, they’ve got beer in here! I need to come here for happy hour too!

We decided to eat in the upstairs offices and that’s Paul’s brother Pat hard at work! He took a picture of Paul and I and then we settled into the desks and ate our lunch. Lunch from Khaki Jack’s was wonderful as always! I love their homemade pizza and you can read a post about that right here. This one had sausage, mushroom, green peppers and onions and it was so good! The chicken tenders were really juicy and flavorful and Tony had honey mustard and mild wing sauce to dip them in. I loved both of those entrees, but for me, the best part of the lunch was the Sanger sandwich! That was so tasty and it’s an interesting blend of fresh meats and cheeses and there was some sort of dressing at the bottom that I’m not sure what it was, but it was delicious! They also make a delicious, one-of-a-kind Kuban sandwich and you can read about that here. Thanks for the lunch, Tony, award-winning as always!

Office Tour

After lunch Paul said I could roam around and take some photos, so I started up in the office where we had our lunch. I love the snack box and check out the painting elf in the window with the Born Paint logo and wooden skyline. Paul said the elf kind of creeped him out and I agree, so I quickly moved on. The gentleman in the photo is Herb Wiedinger and he’s Paul’s grandfather. He was awarded the Purple Heart in World War II and that’s proudly on display as well. Check out the 1964 cover of The Weekender, which used to be a weekend (duh) supplement for the PJ Star. That’s a painting of downtown Peoria and Born Paint is featured in the painting! Very cool!

Shop Tour

I then took the MBIP Camera and went downstairs for a little tour and some photos of the shop. That’s the service area over there and Jason is in the back custom-mixing some paint for an automobile paint order. It’s been rumored that he sometimes stands there and slowly pours this paint for his entire shift! That’s one methodical worker!

And here’s some shots of the shop. As I said earlier, Born Paint has been doing business here on this corner in downtown Peoria for almost 100 years now! There’s everything paint-related that you can imagine in here and they service both commercial business accounts and also paint and items for home improvement. Check out the video below featuring Paul explaining the store and the business.

Nice work, Paul! After I watched this I thought about hiring him to be the MBIP Spokesman, but then I remembered I don’t have any money! I’d go rob a bank, but now the cops probably know about this blog, so we’ll just move along!

Up On The Roof

Dave was finished with his lunch and he offered to take me up to the roof and I wasn’t about to turn that down. We went up two flights of stairs and along the way encountered a vintage Pepsi machine and a painting sign from 1965! There’s Dave climbing out on to the...

Rooftop! Wow, the view up here is amazing! There’s the Peoria Chiefs baseball diamond down there! I wonder if Rocky Vonachen charges them a roof-top fee? I took some other roof-top shots of downtown Peoria and one of the Born Paint sign up here and Dave and I were ready to head back down.

On the way out, I got a shot of Paul and his two brothers. From left, the three Berres brothers are: Pete, Paul and Pat! Thanks for letting me eat my lunch in here guys, it was a blast and once again the MBIP blog is saved by the Berres family! We’ll see you all tomorrow!

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Khaki Jack’s

7221 N Allen Road

Peoria

309-691-8010

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Born Paint

317 Walnut Street

Peoria

309-673-3718

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