I haven’t had much luck with these “Can I Eat My Lunch In Here?” segments lately. I’ve been turned away at the last five places I’ve tried to eat lunch at. In fact I haven’t had a successful one since I went to the James Kelly Law Firm back in January of 2017! But I hope to break this streak with this episode!
There’s a law firm in Junction City called Doc Halliday’s Law Firm. What has always cracked me up is that there’s a bar in the lower east side of Manhattan called Doc Holliday’s, in fact I took a picture of it when I went to New York last summer and here it is.
I bet they have no idea that there is a bar in New York with the same name and I think that could be an ice-breaker to ease the awkwardness that always happens when I’m trying to do this. The other thing that makes me feel hopeful is that I saw this on their website:
They actually invite people to just drop in. So that’s just what I’m going to do, but first we need to pick up lunch, so let’s hit the road and see if I can eat my lunch in Doc Halliday’s Law Firm!
Brienzo’s Wood Fired Pizza
I figured that since Doc Halliday’s office is located in Junction City I’d pick up a pizza at Brienzo’s Wood Fired Pizza. I like to bring pizza because then I can share it with people in the office if they want to join in on lunch. There’s the front dining room and I love the mural painted on the wall. I called ahead, so let’s walk through the arched wall here and pick it up!
There’s the pizza being presented b y Kevin and Jody, nice work! They told me that Brienzo’s is moving to Heritage Square in Peoria Heights and they should be in operation sometime in mid to late August. We’ll have to check that out in a couple of months!
Doc Halliday’s Law Office
Doc Halliday’s Law Office is located up on the top floor of Junction City. I’ve never been up there and as I climbed the stairs my stomach went into the familiar knotty feeling that always happens when doing these lunch segments.
I walked into the office and found a woman sitting at a desk and we both said hi to each other. I went ahead and told her the ice-breaker about the Doc Holliday’s in New York and she got a kick out of that but I could tell she wondered if I came over just to share that information.
Well, I went into my "Can I Eat My Lunch In Here?" spiel and was immediately, but nicely shot down. She told me there was no lunch room in the offices, in fact Doc Halliday was out to lunch and she informed me that they don’t allow photography in the offices because of confidential files laying around. I think this is the quickest I’ve ever been turned down, but like I said, she was very nice about it and minutes after I entered, I did the luncheon walk of shame back down the steps.
Time for my back-up plan.
Random
I always try and have a secondary place to go to in case I get turned down and this has always worked, except for this time and I’m still pissed at that sign guy! So the secondary choice for this episode is Random a shop in the space that used to house The Drug Store here at Junction City. I worked at The Drug Store when I was in high school, so I have some history with this place and I’ve eaten many lunches in the back of the store where the pharmacy used to be.
Here’s a vintage shot of The Drug Store back in the ‘70’s. I wonder if there’s still an area in the back to eat lunch?
This is how the place looked when I worked there.
Okay, let’s go in and see just how awesome they really are in here!
I took some photos as I made my way to the back of the store. They still have the wooden floor in here and there’s quite an inventory of clothes, hats, sunglasses and jewelry to check out. There’s a pretty woman standing behind a table at the back, so now it’s the second moment of truth of the afternoon! I hope I can eat my lunch in here because I’m starvin’ like you know who by now!
This is the pretty woman I told you about and she looked familiar. I mentioned the blog and she told me that I had recently taken a photo of her sister, Natalie at Lou’s. No wonder she looks familiar, she looks just like Natalie! This is Olivia Vonachen and she said people are always commenting how she and Natalie look alike, but they’re not twins, Olivia is Natalie’s older sister. She's really nice and told me that I was more than welcome to eat my lunch in there but...
The back space has been turned into fitting rooms. I couldn’t eat my lunch back there, because it would really be awkward if a woman came back to change into something and I’m sitting there eating pizza! So we had to improvise...
Olivia set up this area for me to eat my lunch in and I settled in and opened up the pizza. I got a cheese pizza and it looks fantastic, time to finally eat my lunch!
Olivia took a couple of shots of my lunch in Random. The pizza was delicious and I had a nice conversation with Olivia about the store and her family. I’m friends with her uncle Rocky Vonachen, who recently retired from his position as President of the Peoria Chiefs and she told me he’s enjoying his new job as the business manager for the Arrowhead Country Club which is near Chillicothe. Thanks to Olivia for saving the day and letting me eat lunch at Random, but this luncheon episode isn’t quite over yet, we have one more stop...
Sweet CeCe's
Right next door at Sweet CeCe’s! This space was also part of The Drug Store and it used to be a an old-fashioned ice cream parlor and candy store with a marble soda fountain. That’s a picture of it from days gone by, let’s go in and take a look at it now.
It’s very nice in here and there’s plenty of comfortable spots to sit in! As long as we’re here, we might as well have some dessert to finish off today’s lunch here at Junction City!
Sweet CeCe’s is known for their self-serve frozen yogurt but they also have hand-dipped ice cream, baked goodies, smoothies and floats. I thought I’d get some frozen yogurt, so I filled up a cup and then went to the massive toppings area! There’s all kinds of treats to top your yogurt off including candy, chocolate, almonds, cereal and graham crackers. The only topping that confused me was gum balls, I just don’t see putting those in frozen yogurt but to each their own! It also caused me to have a Chad Wallace flashback! There’s more toppings at a bar and I added a squirt of a peanut butter sauce to mine. Then Emily rang me up and it’s time to bring this lunch to a sweet ending!
As you can see I got almost every topping except for those gumballs, I’ll obsess over that all day! The fro-yo was creamy and delicious! A perfect summertime treat! Thanks to Emily and Olivia for saving this episode of “Can I Eat My Lunch In Here!” We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Related Posts: Can I Eat My Lunch In Here @ Running Central, Moxie’s ReSale Boutique and Peoria Monument (featuring the asshole sign guy, yes, I’m still pissed!)
“Atomic Bongos” by Lydia Lunch
Surprise link...click on it, I dare you!
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Michelle’s Biggest Lawn Sale In The World! Come And Buy Something Or Michelle Will Burn You With The Matches I Gave Her!
My friend Michelle is having the biggest lawn sale in the history of the world! There’s a ton of items on sale and if you don’t stop by and check it out, she’s going to burn you with that pack of matches I gave her! Okay, not really but you should stop by, here’s just a few of the vintage and one-of-a-kind items for sale.
There’s all kinds of furniture, books, clothes, mirrors, wall art, Saki glasses, sushi plates, vintage jewelry, a popcorn maker, vintage hankies, lamps, Tupperware and tons of other fun and unique items for sale. Here’s the details:
Days of the sale: Thursday (tomorrow), Friday and Saturday.
Address: 2917 W. Rohmann Avenue in West Peoria.
Hours: 8AM to 4PM.
Items are priced to move, so stop by tomorrow and over the weekend for some wonderful deals!