Weekly Lunch Pick: The soup and grilled cheese combo at Cool Hand Luc

Weekly Lunch Pick: The soup and grilled cheese combo at Cool Hand Luc

(Image: Renée Suen)

Cool Hand Luc opened last June as King West’s first ice cream parlour. But come fall, owner Luc Essiambre branched outside the ice cream market, adding some nostalgic savoury numbers as well. Made-to-order grilled cheese sandwiches are available alone ($3.50–$5) or as a soup-sandwich-drink combo ($7.50–$9.50). With eight soups, two breads, two cheeses, six veggies and two meats on the menu, the possible combinations are endless (or nearly so: there are 12,288 by our calculations, although we wouldn’t recommend some of them). We opt for the Hall’s Kitchen Moroccan stew, a veggie-based broth that’s perfumed with cumin and turmeric and loaded with sweet potatoes, currants, chickpeas, chunks of tomato and celery (it’s also vegan). For our sandwich, we fill two slices of Cobs nutty country grain bread with mozzarella, shaved ham, tomato and chopped basil, before taking to one of the five window-flanking stools to look out onto King West as we eat.

The cost: $10.74 including tax.

The time: 17 minutes; the full order is processed in about five minutes.

Cool Hand Luc, 545 King St. W., 647-919-2661, coolhandluc.ca