The sandwich line at Stick Boy Kitchen is worth it

Stick Boy Kitchen | Boone The Boone sandwich spot with lines and good food

There are places you walk into and immediately understand why they're packed. Stick Boy Kitchen is one of them. The line is sometimes out the door. The room is loud in a good way. And everyone around you seems to know exactly what they're ordering. It's the kind of lunch spot that earns its reputation not through hype but through repetition — people come back because the sandwiches are genuinely good, the bread is excellent, and the whole operation runs with the confidence of a place that has figured out exactly what it wants to be.

The basics: Off U.S. 321 in Boone. Casual counter service. Sandwiches in the $12-$14 range. Salads $13. Also coffee and pastries for breakfast.

What it is: Stick Boy Kitchen is the sister restaurant to Stick Boy Bread Company, which tells you most of what you need to know about why the bread is so good. The menu is built around sandwiches, but they also do muffins and breakfast items that are worth showing up early for. The vibe is casual, fast-moving, and unpretentious. It gets packed, especially on weekends, and the crowd is a good mix of locals, students and visitors who were smart enough to ask a local where to eat lunch.

What to order: The El Presidente is the move: turkey, bacon, cheese, avocado, onion and tomato on country French bread. Skip the spinach if that's not your thing (it’s not my thing), and the sandwich holds up fine without it. The Goudaness Gracious — which has ham, carmelized onions, Gouda cheese, lettuce and tomato — is another strong choice, particularly if you're more of a cheese person than a bacon person. The muffins are worth grabbing on the way out if you have any room left, and the breakfast items are legitimately good if you're there in the morning.

Good to know: This place gets busy. On a Saturday afternoon, the line can get long enough to test your patience. Don't let the line discourage you if you do end up in it, it moves, and the sandwich at the end is worth it.

The move: Order online. It usually takes about 20 minutes. When you get there, stand in the short online order line on the left, not the longer we-didn’t-order-online line on the right. Find a spot to sit. If it’s nice out, the Boone Greenway is just a couple minutes drive away and you can have a pleasant picnic.