dining
MARCH2011 News Reviews In t e rv i e w s
Joe Moore wants to serve up some tasty dogs — and spread a little community, too.
Bun in a million The University District’s Lunch Box serves up innovative hot dogs — and a distinct community vibe
L by brock radke
Let’s think about lunch. Sitting at a table, waiting for your order. You’re looking down at your iPhone, checking email, when you notice your tie doesn’t really go with your shirt today. There are young people at two other tables, happily munching and talking, almost certainly college students from across the street. There is a nostalgic vibe here, thanks to a funny little display of tin lunch boxes, like the one you took to school as a kid. You’re starting to like this place. Then you catch something else, something that pulls you out of your weekday routine. It could be the taste of what you’re eating, the music playing or the polite service that catches you off guard. Whatever the signal, it makes you realize lunch shouldn’t be just quick and practical consumption squished between hours-long blocks of work. Lunch is time to break, for real, and find something to enjoy. For me, the signal was a poster on the wall. It’s from a recent concert, when Alice in Chains, Mastodon and Deftones performed. I noticed it while I was waiting for the proprietor of the Lunch Box, Joe Moore, to fix my lunch, and it gave me two thoughts. 1. Why didn’t I go to that concert? 2. W hy is this poster hanging in this neat little hot dog joint?
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“I’m a pretty big metal fan,” Moore tells me. “I tried a couple of times to go just straight metal in here, but it can be a little polarizing.” Makes sense. “There’s this great place in Chicago called Kuma’s Corner, and it’s just a bar with bar food, but it is straight up metal. And the crowd is not really who you think would go there. It’s a bunch of hipsters. There isn’t really a spot like that in Las Vegas, but it would definitely be a fun idea to do.” Moore, 28, is from Chicago. He’s been in Vegas for about two and a half years. He came to
town as a breakfast line cook at Bouchon in The Venetian, and he decided to pursue his own “fun idea to do” about a year ago. He opened the Lunch Box adjacent to UNLV in March 2009, serving up tasty hot dogs in the style of his hometown, and a few other styles, too. The Lunch Box has evolved in a short time, mostly because of its location and because Moore is way open to new ideas. “I’m young so it’s easy for me to be here,” he says. “It’s easy to connect with students because I feel like I’m still part of that crowd. But
PHOTOGRAPHY By CHRISTOPHER SMITH