City Life, Life

A Sandwich Shop, New Menus, and Springfield Little Theatre

August 20, 2020

There’s a lot happening in Springfield these days, so here are some of the new eats to try, new beers to order, and places to see. Secret Sandwich Shop – 310 S. Avenue (inside Sweet Boys) – SecretSandwichSGF.com After weeks of hints and teasers, the secret is out. Sweet Boys bar is now home to Secret Sandwich Shop. This walk-up grinder joint located in the back of Sweet Boys, opened in mid July and has been cranking out hot sandwiches ever since. The menu itself is small—there are just six sandwiches on regular rotation—but the range of flavors is far from limited. The St. Louish features house-made terrine and, of course, Provel cheese. The Eurbano is the shop’s take on the classic Cuban except here, your hoagie hugs together a collection of pulled pork, terrine, Italian ham, Swiss cheese, and spicy giardiniera mix. Even more delicious is the fact that Secrete Sandwich shop started offering lunch from 11 to 2 PM, Wednesday through Saturday with special daily sandwich offerings. Springfield Little Theatre – 311 E. Walnut St. – SpringfieldLittleTheatre.org Back for its 86th season, Springfield Little Theatre reopened last week with a production of The Last Five Years. Up until this point, the 2020 season for this community theater was up in the air thanks to COVID-19. With social distancing restrictions in place, gathering together for a night at the theater seemed impossible. The theater even streamed some of its earlier stage productions online, so audience members could still enjoy the shows without having to take a seat at Landers Theatre. Now, the theater doors are back open, but there are a few new restrictions. Instead of filling the 525-person theater, Springfield Little Theatre is only seating 130 people to allow for social distancing. It’s also doing temperature checks for all guests who attend. The Last Five Years runs through Aug. 30 and is followed by Forbidden Broadway’s Greatest Hits, Clue The Musical, It’s A Wonderful Life, The Sound of Music, Chicago and more mainstage shows. Springfield Brewing Company – 305 S. Market Ave. – SpringfieldBrewingCo.com There is a lot happening at Springfield Brewing Company these days. Not only did this award-winning craft brewery take over the Missouri Spirits distillery next door, but it has reworked its menu to beef up the vegetarian options, and then last week the big news dropped. Brew Co. is changing its lineup of core beers. That means some of the long-time favorites including Pauls Pale Ale, Walnut Street Wheat, and Bull Creek Brown are being retired, but in their place, Brew Co. is introducing several new beers. The first one to pop up last week was Blue Canoe—an American Pale Ale. Walnut Street Wheat is being replaced by 417 American Lager in early October, and Bull Creek Brown will be swapped out for a rotating series of sour ales starting in November. And, because that’s not enough news coming out of Brew Co., the brewery is making the gradual move to cans, which means you will soon be able to haul your SBC beers to the lake and river with you. Photo by Jared Willard.