Time to check another one off the list!
It’s a very badly kept secret among my friends that I wasn’t such a fan after my first encounter with Brian Voltaggio. In fact, I didn’t even mention Volt on the blog because I was so underwhelmed. Maybe foam just isn’t my thing, or I didn’t love what I paid for it. Either way, others seem to have much better experiences with Brian than I did, so I vowed to go back.
Unfortunately though, I didn’t quite make room in my food budget for another visit to Volt this year. So enter Lunchbox, Voltaggio’s new lunch spot in Frederick. Super affordable. Within easy walking distance of my friend Elizabeth’s. We both ended up with a free afternoon last Friday, so a trip to Frederick was in order!
Elizabeth had been to Lunchbox a few times since it’s opening last month–it’s in her backyard, who could blame her–so she gave me some tips on ordering. I felt like I ordered everything on the menu, but since I had driven all the way to Frederick (that’s practially WESTERN MARYLAND, folks) I wanted to make it count. And so we did.
I started off with the butternut squash soup, which was delightful. It took one of my favorite types of soup and married it with cinnamon sugar croutons. It’s like they designed this soup for me! It was a not too sweet squash soup, which was also nice since it balanced well with the rest of the meal. Elizabeth had the celeriac and chicken dumpling soup, which she also said was quite tasty.
For our mains, we opted not to go for salads (which are not well reviewed) and instead headed straight for the sandwiches. I had a Pilgrim, which came very highly recommended. Overall, I really enjoyed this sandwich. The turkey was sliced so thin it was perfect, and the cream cheese mushed in to it giving the whole thing a delicious creamy texture. I could have used a bit more relish on my sandwich, but the delightful crustyness of the bread, which was almost like a grilled cheese bread was wonderful, even if it did have sunflower seeds on it. Overall, very good!
Elizabeth had the pressed cuban, which she thought looked a little smaller than her last time around. The bite I had of her sandwich was good, but the pickle was definitely the star, and there didn’t seem to be quite enough of them to go around on the sandwich.
We enjoyed our sandwiches with some Cheerwine, which honestly I had never heard of before but it was delicious. It was my first soda in almost 2 years, but it felt so wholesome, it doesn’t count right?
And then we came to dessert (it took as a long time to get here in real life too!). Since I was all about splurging, I ordered two, the chocolate chip cookies and the oatmeal cookies.
Similar to my experience at Volt a year ago, the baked goods in the baggies were REALLY good. The chocolate chip was crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle, and had a nice mix of white and semi sweet chips. But that oatmeal cookies stole my heart, and I’ve been googling the recipe since last Friday nights. It was perfect.
All in all a great trip, and I feel like Brian and I are okay again. Maybe I’ll even go back to Volt!
{ 14 comments } | 
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
|
Frederick is NOT practically Western MD (haha… you probably knew I would say that). I have not been to Volt yet but we will probably try it out eventually. I’m not sure I’d be a big fan of foam either though. I will have to try out the Lunchbox though. I have to go to Frederick the day before my wedding and I’ve already declared it a girl’s day and was planning on doing lunch somewhere. Maybe we’ll go there!! That butternut squash soup looks awesome.. and cinnamon sugar croutons?!
Cinnamon sugar croutons? I’d drive to Frederick to try that.
Glad you and Brian are back on good terms.
Haha Kandi. If you’ve lived your whole life in Baltimore, Frederick is practially Western MD! Isn’t South Mountain the “official” boundary? Or do you put it out in Hagerstown? :-)
Wendi, the croutons were divine. I love croutons period, and these were great!
No, Cheerwine does not count as soda. It’s not soda, it’s Cheerwine, the pride of North Carolina. I went to school down there and miss being able to just pick it up at the grocery store. Now that you’re a fan, you can join the cause to get it in more places in Maryland! (Here’s where else you can find it now: http://www.cheerwine.com/find)
Thanks for the tip Steve. Is it really possible that my local 7-11 (in Canton) carries Cheerwine? Score!
Whoa, that’s news to me, too. They must have updated the map since I last checked it. Might just have to make a trip over there after work.
Cuban sandwich is my favorite sandwich. I should make some for us one weekend.
I was excited about Cheerwine but hence, it has HFCS and caffeine.
I hate going to restaurants where the expectations are high, you know the bill is going to be $$$ and you end up going through a drive through on the way home because you are still hungry. That’s actually happened to us!
Glad the lunch box was more reasonable – and if I spiced up that butternut squash with some chipotle peppers, those sugar cinnamon croutons would be an awesome balance – stealing that idea!
Have a great weekend B!
Well, looks like Steve already gave you the skinny on Cheerwine. We’re big fans, too, but I have to say that when you can get it in a 2 liter bottle, it’s hard to ignore the soda-y nature of it…
So glad you came to see me in WESTERN MARYLAND. :D Lovely lunch and happy I got to “poison” you with Cheerwine!
Abourt 2 years ago, my wife and I were treated so rudely by the matre’d at Volt, we vowed never to patronize any of this guy’s establishments. Warning to all, what we experienced was, in our impression, a vendor who thinks thier #%@ doesnt stink and can make customers play by thier rules on thier schedule. We fully realize that we’re just 2 people, but as they say, elephants NEVER forget. Any chance I have to voice my opinion about this outfit I will. For those of you that continue to patronize this organization, good luck. I hope that you dont have to go through the embarrassment and humiliation that we had to endure!
Beth, we just went to the Lunch Box in December. I didn’t know it was Brian Voltaggio’s place. I liked the avocado salad. It was simple, but the avocado was fresh and delicious. The grilled cheese was good too. I’ll have to try the butternut squash soup next time I make it to Frederick.
My in-laws always bring us Diet Cheerwine from North Carolina. Love that stuff! I didn’t realize you were drinking no soda. Well, looks like I should try to make it to Lunchbox, but I’d want to combine it with visiting a Frederick friend or something.