Corner Bakery Cafe

When I was in the 7th grade, I went on a big class trip to Chicago.  This was a big deal because it was an overnight trip and we went by bus.  One of the places we stopped by was the Field Museum.  As embarrassed as I am to admit this, the only thing that i remember from the museum was what I ate for lunch.  I went to the Corner Bakery Cafe with my friend and we split a salad and a pre-made sandwich.  We picked out this particular sandwich because it had brie on it and, at the time, brie was a super fancy cheese that grown ups ate.  We ended up finishing the salad and were both full, so we wanted to return the sandwich because we hadn't touched it and then realized that we were never charged for it, so one of us quietly put it back in the refrigerated case.  

Fast forward 13 years (oh my gah how am I so OLD?), and I found out that a Corner Bakery was opening up super close to where my brother-in-law lives and where Colby works.  We kept meaning to stop in at some point and then I was contacted by the awesome people at CB to see if I wanted some vouchers to try the food there.  Yes, please.  We've been there several times and, between the two of us, have sampled a large part of the menu.  Here's what we got:

The Uptown Turkey Sandwich was really good.  It's basically a club with avocado.  I also really like their chips and Colby likes their pickles.  I know this because he always tries to steal mine.

 

Uptown Turkey Sandwich - $7.29

 

They have a lot of combo offerings, from soup and salad to salad and sandwiches, etc.  I got the chicken noodle soup and a half turkey pretzel sandwich.  The soup was unremarkable, but the sandwich was pretty good.

Signature Sandwich Corner Combo: Chicken Noodle Soup and Turkey Pretzel - $7.69

Another combination that they let you get is a whole lot of salad and some soup.  Here we got the broccoli cheddar soup, again not remarkable; the Mozzarella, Tomato, and Arugula Salad which tasted like a MTA salad... so very good; and the Southwest Avocado Wedge salad, which was great except that it had cilantro in it.  If you don't hate cilantro, and you're looking for a really good, refreshing salad, I'd go with this one.

The Trio: Southwest Avocado Wedge Salad, Mozzarella, Tomato and Arugula Salad, Broccoli Cheddar Soup - $7.99

 It's chicken and pesto, which is one of my favorite combinations.  Very well executed!

Chicken Pesto Sandwich - $7.49

It's the Turkey Pretzel sandwich again -it's that good!  Also, no soup.  This also comes with ham, which we haven't tried.

Turkey Pretzel Sandwich - $6.99

This chicken pomodori panini is probably my favorite sandwich of the bunch.  There's nothing better than a good panini and between the cheese and the chicken and the tomatoes, it made for a really tasty, filling dinner.

Chicken Pomodori Panini - $7.59

And who could forget dessert?  I honestly would come here specifically to get the sugar cookies.  I'm not a huge sweets person, but these are really quite excellent and maybe my favorite thing that I've had here.

Chocolate Chip and Sugar Cookies

In essence, this place is great for lunch if you're in the Arboretum area of Austin or for a light dinner.  We've been there several times now and it's already becoming one of our regular spots in Austin.

P.S.  If you happened to grab a turkey and brie sandwich from the Corner Bakery in the Field Museum on a Spring day in 1999, please know that we never opened the sandwich and that it was perfectly fine that you ate it.

Disclaimer: I received vouchers that covered the cost of part of these meals, but the opinions are all my own.