My kid uses his first-edition "PB&J With Tay" t-shirt like a bat signal. He wears it on days he…read morewants a sammy. This has been our routine more or less every other Saturday for the past five years. So I have somewhere around 130 sandwiches under my belt, and my gifted little Bat-Potato has maybe double that (he loops his momma into the rotation on her weeks).
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Be forewarned that it's peak midlife lunch. By that I mean Tay's doesn't have niceties like an all-you-can-drink Bloody Mary bar. Frankly, I'm not even sure Tay has a liquor license. On the surface, Tay's seems to prioritize the whims of my nine-year-old. But it feels wholesome as fuck.
Wholesome like...you'll get an enthusiastic "HI FRIENDS!" on the way in, guaranteed. It's not unlike arriving at a preschool; I love it.
Tay's is an order-at-the-counter place. I don't need to order (they've memorized mine), but you probably will, at least the first few times you go. They seem to be pretty good at remembering after that.
You would think that 130 sandwiches would have afforded me the luxury of having tasted the entire menu. Nope. I've tried the Make My Tay with whichever jalapeno-infused jelly sounds good, 130 different times now. So I just order a jelly, and they figure the rest out.
And, for the record, the Make My Tay is pretty much PB&J perfection. I know cream cheese sounds a little weird, but it's gonna change your world, guaranteed.
My Bat-Potato enjoys the Kids Classic with strawberry jam. Untoasted. Actually, please make sure his sandwich has not been placed within 12" of a toaster and try not to glance at the toaster while you make it. So I guess that's a solid option if you are a child or have the palate of one.
Our drink of choice is a glass of milk, because again I arrived at a preschool and ordered an upscale elementary school lunch; why not further relive my childhood with some cow juice?
The sandwiches are paired with ruffles, or some chips of that sort. You get a generous helping, and the sammys are also substantial. The meals are not inexpensive, but I don't think the owner is making out like a bandit either; for my son and me, the total is around $25 including drinks.
The dining area is quaint with four or five small tables and one larger one. The decor is...old west ghost town, maybe? It feels vaguely Old Spaghetti Factory-esque. A wall-sized window overlooks the shopping plaza and McCullough.
Wholesome like...you'll get an enthusiastic "HAVE A BLESSED DAY!" on the way out. I don't even much care for blessed days, but for y'all I shall have one.
And then we leave. As I meander down the stairs, somewhere around step five, the forcefield ends, and I am no longer in my Elementary School's cafeteria. And my Bat-Potato says, "Race you!"