It's been a while.

A month or so ago I went looking for the location of a restaurant in Sioux Falls, and wound up having to look through a list of supposedly all of the Sioux Falls restaurants. I eventually found the one I was looking for and confirmed its location, but in the process I saw an entry for a place called Pickle Barrel.

When I was attending UW-Platteville, one of the places I'd eat or order delivery from was Pickle Barrel. They had subs that were, well, substantial. Subway always seemed lacking in comparison. I was disappointed when the establishment was sold and the new owner wasn't as good. He was still better than Subway, but believed that "oil makes a sub" and seemed surprised when people told him to leave it off or only on about a tenth of what he normally did. Too much oil makes a sandwich too slippery to eat.

Yesterday jmaynard and I went to Sioux Falls and among the things we did, we stopped in at Pickle Barrel. I was halfway expecting to discover that it was something entirely other than what I remembered. While it might not have been exactly as I remembered, it was certainly close and nothing beyond what might be expected for changes due to the intervening years and different location.

It's a sandwich place, with big, substantial sandwiches. I ordered a "half" and got a meal. Having the smallest ice cream cone (minty "grasshopper fudge") afterward was indulgence, not necessity. The decor is what one might expect for a place named Pickle Barrel, and there is a barrel with pickles - though the barrel holds ice and the pickles are in plastic containers. I did not have a pickle, though I could have, having ordered a sandwich.

The place is in a small mall that melissasutton told me is expensive. I didn't look around to see how pricey other places in the mall were. Pickle Barrel is probably a bit more expensive than Subway, but I think it's also worth it. I plan on dining at Pickle Barrel again.