The Lunch Show

Small yet great stop for a truly tasty lunch. We stopped on our drive through, had a bit of a hard time finding this place, but worth the effort

So sad to see this gone, seems as though «here today, gone tomorrow» happened. I walked by today and the new place was using the same buckets with silverware. I kind of hope it’s the same family and same cook. I doubt I’ll find out due to a not great love of Hawaiian food.

Came in for lunch on a Wednesday. Very cute café! Love the interior design. Small easy to read menu. I had the grilled cheese– overflowing with gooey cheese, a pickle, and chips. Black iced tea was refreshing.

I’m really not sure what all the hype is about. Perhaps I came in on an off day, but there was certainly nothing special about the pastrami/​Reuben sandwich. I can make a better sandwich easily in my own kitchen. This place definitely can’t touch the quality of Lardo in Portland.

Cold tangerine beer. Porchetta sandwich. Sweet potato salad. Airy, light interior. Water from colorful bottles. Slightly tipsy. Good company. Attractive actress from OSF makes meaningful eye contact with the table of queer women. Swoon.

I have to agree that I’m not sure what all the hype is about this place. It’s a few sandwiches and salads people — this isn’t Top Chef. Menu is very limited as is the seating. Prices are fairly high for what you get. The sandwiches and salads are good but all was fairly unremarkable in the sea of available Ashland options. Sammich has much better sandwiches if you aren’t looking for someplace downtown. Again, if you just want a simple sandwich and/​or salad while cruising the downtown area, you won’t be disappointed. But this is definitely not a destination lunch spot.

This place makes a mean sandwich. Unlike most places that service you a sandwhich with store bought condiments to mask what it lacks, this chef puts in time to make one supreme meal. I’ve gotten the Cubano, porchetta, and bbq pork sandwiches.

HAVE AGAIN: The pork belly BLT was really delicious and messy. Only negative was the ciabatta bread that was too thick, but also really delicious. Next time, I will go for the soup with the bread and butter.

The pastrami sandwich was excellent. (I ordered it without the dressing.) Very good meat, sauerkraut with dijon mustard in a chewy french roll with a sweet/​sour pickle and chips on the side.
There are more tables inside since the freezer with take out food was removed.

Walking into the bathroom, I saw a vacancy sign on the door lock– this is always helpful to me. I did my business, and proceeded to wash my hands. The soap was actually powdered, a first for me, so I would have preferred to have instructions on how to use. Both water taps were hot so my hands did not receive the heat from one tap and a cool sensation from the other like one would usually expect. I looked up to see my dusty reflection in an antique yet simplistic mirror. I dried my hands with a paper towel and exited the bathroom.
Good food. Plates too small for salads.

Vegetarian options, all fresh ingredients and really delicious food! It is a small, ever changing menu but everything on it is excellent. the bread is baked fresh everyday and the meat is cured and seasoned there. The yammwich and soup are delicious.

I just returned from a trip to Los Angeles, where it seems anything «organic» is the trendy way to be, rather than a way of life. There are so many restaurants there that make this claim, and then lose all credibility when they serve items like «organic Atlantic salmon.» I was going insane trying to find a legitimately healthy, tasty place to dine.
So here I am, fresh off a flight in, starving and dreaming of the awesomeness that Ashland’s culinary scene offers. The Lunch Show was my first choice. As I got closer, walking, I suddenly realized it’s Sunday. Shoot!!! Surely they’re closed, but wait… no, they’re OPEN!
House roast beef from sources I know I can trust to be ethical and fed well. Local greens. Housemade delicious bread. A little horseradish. Caramelized onions and cheddar. So good. And a house made chai cola soda. Fantastic.
(Great vegetarian options too, but this is a safe zone for quality meat. I was a little disappointed to learn the potato chips aren’t housemade… that seems to go against their MO, but at least they’re Kettle brand.)

The Lunch Show opened in downtown Ashland in April in the space formally occupied by the Boulton & Son butcher shop. It’s just a few blocks from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and who knows what OSF actor (that would be you Rex Young) you might see at Lunch.
The café itself is small and features an interior of white-​tiled floors and nondescript bare tables. I was particularly impressed with the yellow/​blue behive/​stamp-​accented art on the walls by Brooke Nuckles Gentekos.
I went veggie with some kind of melted cheese and tomato panini combination, with really wonderful bread and a pickle. I can’t remember what Gayle ordered, but she also enjoyed her selection in addition to being seated by the window on a wonderful fall Ashland day. The overall menu is somewhat limited, but the whether be a sandwich, soup, or salad, it all looked tempting. From scratch simplicity is good.

The menu at The Lunch Show seems to have firmed up a bit over the busy summer months. I won’t pretend that I’m not sad to see the pot pies off the menu, because I am. That said, we just got three sandwiches to go — The Roast Beast, The Hot Pastrami, and the Panini. They were all absolutley delicious, the bread so fresh. Man, it’s good to be able to get really great sandwiches down town again (how we missed Alyson’s)!
So, it seems like in narrowing their offerings and offering a more fixed menu The Lunch Show is filling a gap and playing to their strengths. I honestly haven’t eaten a better sandwich, they’re top rate. I’m looking forward to trying soup next, once the fall rains begin. Happy, and no longer hungry. Well done TLC!

This is a very nice little place for a salad or half a sandwich or a bowl of soup for lunch. Which is exactly what I and my two traveling companions had at The Lunch Show.
Salads are large and a half portion is plenty. Sandwiches are huge. A bowl of soup here is enough for a meal.
The tomato bisque was delicious, and both of my friends enjoyed their half salads. We were all full by the time we had finished out meals.
I see other reviews here complaining about the price. I think if you’re going to complain about price, you also have to mention the fact that the portions are huge and the quality is high. Our neighbor to my left had ordered a sandwich. Although he ate the whole thing himself, it was enough for two if not three people. On my right side, one person had a whole order of chicken salad and the other, a half order. I can’t imaging finishing the whole order — again, it was huge.
We spent around $ 20 for three of us to eat here, which is altogether reasonable given the quality of the food.
Only down side — there’s a precious attitude here — multiple signs telling customers about its sustainable/​local/​organic philosophy and how wonderful the place is — OK, a simple mention on the menu that you’re using local, organic ingredients would be enough to get the message across. Show some confidence — the quality of your food tells me what you’re doing — you don’t have to keep mentioning it!

I just refuse to not write a review on this little place because I don’t want others to read reviews and to make the same mistake.
Good news:
Food was not bad. We didn’t get sick. There was no wait for lunch (12:30 pm on a wednesday). It was easy to find.
Not so good news
For $ 32, we had two modest unremarkable salads (think TJ salad mix with a few condiments and no bread) a ½ chicken salad sand on ciabatta, iced tea and too sweet komboucha. Again, no belly aches, but just rather ordinary and for the price point no overwhelming desire to ever return.

Lovely casual lunch spot. I was in town for a conference at SOU and grabbed lunch here on my one day of local exploring. The staff was super lovely and helpful, even though I stopped in about 20 minutes before closing. The homemade ciabatta was delicious, and I love that they cure their own lunchmeats in house. Only complaint was that the ham was just a smidge too salty. I actually liked it, but can imagine it might be too much for other diners. Overall a great local spot.

We had such a great casual lunch here, it took a little sting out of my disappointment that the prior tenant (Boulton & Son) was no longer there. But, if I’m not mistaken, I believe The Lunch Show is run by the same people (at least in part) and they still have meat pies. Yay!
This time we skipped the meat and ordered the Cuban Yamwich that came with a delightfully marinated dill pickle. My dining partner-​in-​crime (aka mom) has food allergies and they were completely accommodating. Since this is a small operation (two people), the communication was easy and the sandwiches were delicious. They have an ever changing menu to take advantage of what’s fresh now and bake their bread fresh daily. They regularly post updates on their social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) so you can check out the menu for the day.
In addition to the food, two types of kombucha were on tap. You order at the counter and bus your own table. There are a few tables inside and two small café tables outside so you can enjoy the street scene and watch the OSF actors walk by on their way to their matinée performances. They even have an artist’s reception on Fridays.
I am tempted to give them five stars for the name alone, but they get a solid four plus on their own merits.

I had the prosciutto panini (YES), Cuban yam sandwich, and fresh tomato soup. All were seriously delicious. They make their own bread and it is great… Fluffy with some texture and not too much in one’s mouth. A nice iced chai complemented this well.
Each dish was made in a timely way and the workers were totally cool and friendly. I liked that I could see the kitchen… Whole place has a nice vibe with local artists featured in the walls, little herbs on each table and a good&simple feel.
This place gets total cred for healthy, organic, safely grown, local foods (I imagine this is what bumps the price up a bit, but I think everything’s pretty much under $ 10) and, though I didn’t indulge (not 21), they sold local beer from the S. Oregon Brewing Co.
The Lunch Show also frequently changes their menu… So I’m definitely going back SOON. Everybody who eats here is so glad they did.
Yay Lunch Show!

Finally a restaurant that is everything they claim to be. Fresh ingredients, great prices, great value, AMAZING FLAVORS! Don’t let the old butcher shop front fool you, they have vegetarian choices too. But they still have the same great sausages from the old shop.
I had the fresh made soup of the day, sweet potato and kale miso soup. My hubby had a meatball sandwich that was to die for! And we took some sausages home for later. Yum! I just wish they were open for dinner.
Best. Food. In. Ashland.