Sonnets Sandwich Shop

I've always romanticized the idea of owning a bakery. I mean, who doesn't love a good bakery? The aroma, the warmth, the comfort food trinity of flour, sugar and butter - what's not to like? Part of me thinks it would be magical to own one, to be in the bakery atmosphere 24/7 and known in your community as "the bakery lady."

However, talk to a baker and they'll tell you of the long hours that start at 4 am, the tight profit margins, the rising costs of inputs, the difficulty finding good help, the constant battle against the United States of Food Corporations...

I guess I'm ok with just playing bakery in my own kitchen.

Thankfully, other Bis residents decided to take on the bakery biz challenge, the most popular of which has to be Bread Poets. A true local business success story, the swirled cinnamon log is the Bread Poets signature, although I prefer the hearty multi-grain loaf. If you haven't had a Bread Poets cookie yet, you are missing the boat. Huge, wholesome yumminess.

Now Bread Poets has now opened a sandwich shop called Sonnets (get it? Poets? Sonnets? It took me a moment...). Amber, her adorable daughter Emma, and I checked it out this weekend.

See, I told you Emma was adorable! She put those upside-down sunglasses on herself. I think she's ahead of her time in the sunglasses trend world.

Not only is Sonnets locally owned, but the army of sandwich assembly staff behind the counter are so super nice, you can't help but root for them and want to see the shop succeed.

Every sandwich is named after a poet, and the ones I tried were great: the turkey cranberry "Eliot" sandwich (named after T.S. "April is the Cruelest Month" Eliot, which I think is appropriate, since turkey and cranberry is the opposite of April...I wonder if that was intentional) and the tuna salad "Dickinson", which was amazing with a touch of curry powder in it to take it over the top. Next time, I'm ordering off the kids menu with the Fluffernutter - peanut butter and marshmallow creme!

Sonnets just opened and there are still a few bugs in the system. The menu is hard to read - customers stand at the counter and squint trying to read the descriptions. They carry a line of potato chips with beer/margarita/bloody mary flavors that look kinda fun, but they aren't tasty, trust me. And as we went during a Saturday lunch rush, seating was a little sparse. But overall, two thumbs up, it's great to have another locally-owned lunch option in town.

For you Bis-bang locals, check it out up by Kohl's. Sandwiches are around $6.