Mom always said breakfast was the most important meal of the day.
We don't think she had The Cereal Boxx's Slice of Life in mind: a mix of Life and Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereals, topped with walnuts, a sprinkle or two (or three) of cinnamon sugar topped with gooey, cold apple pie filling.
Yeah, that apple pie filling is decadent, just south of tooth-achingly sweet.
In fact, it's almost too sweet, unless you were a kid who grew up on corn flakes and Cheerios — the staples for moms who believe sugar is best when applied by hand to cereal.
Jordan Schacht had one of those moms. You can tell by scanning the 31 mostly sugar-laden cereals offered at the restaurant he opened with his wife, Terra, last month.
The Cereal Boxx, A Cereal Cafe will remind you of a big eat-in kitchen with impossibly high ceilings and über-cool ducts snaking above a curving metal counter. High-backed metal stools create a breakfast bar mood.
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The walls are painted a warm and inviting burnt red and yellow. Several wooden tables ringing the modest space complement the warmth. Behind the counter, you can see the 31 different types of cereal ready to be dispensed from see-through containers mounted like a beer tap to the wall. On a counter nearby is a chrome cafeteria-style dispenser offering cold whole, 2 percent and skim milk; you can also request soy milk.
Cereal is served in various indulgent combinations: Golden Grahams with Cocoa Krispies; Cocoa Puffs with Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch; Honey Smacks with Smart Start, to name a few. Or you can get creative and mix and match your own.
Then you top them with any number of things, from healthy dried and fresh fruits to candies and gooey fruit fillings.
The apple pie filling topped with crunchy Grape-Nuts has a starring role in Apple of My Eye, one of the cafe's four oatmeal creations. The oatmeal is made from quick oats, but it has the slow-cooked firmness of Irish steel-cut oats. The cold apple pie filling topping the hot oatmeal was refreshing in a comfort-food sort of way. The caramel sauce drizzled on top provides additional comfort.
If you end up here with Mom on Sunday, you might want to go for the Health Nut: Special K and Kashi Go Lean cereals topped with fresh bananas, blueberries, dried cranberries and slivered almonds. It was refreshing, nutty, sweet and filling.
Perfectly healthy on Mother's Day or any other.
• What: A University of Arizona-area cereal restaurant.
• Where: 943 E. University Blvd.
• Hours: 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays, 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 9 a.m.- 5 p.m. Sundays.
• Internet: Free Wi-Fi.
• Parking: Metered on University, parking lot nearby.
• Takeout: Milk and cereal packaged to-go.
• Phone: 622-2699.
THE BILL
• Apple of My Eye: $3.99
• Slice of Life: $3.99
• Health Nut: $3.99
• Two coffees: $3.10
• Cereal bar: $1.99
• Total, before tax and tip: $17.06
