CHEBA HUT HELPS WITH MUNCHIES

Cheba Hut, the newly opened, marijuana-themed sandwich shop on Sixth
Street is the perfect example of the seemingly brilliant - but totally
unrealistic - business enterprises people might come up with when
they're stoned.

Or, what they want you to think they came up when they were
stoned.

While some people smoke pot and say things like, "I should totally
open an indoor snowboarding park in Hawaii," they usually end up
watching that Cirque du Soleil special on Bravo and forgetting all
about it. In Cheba Hut's case, however, somebody said, "I should
totally open up sub shops in college towns where EVERYTHING is a
reference to weed," and it actually happened.

When walking into Cheba Hut, you're sucked into a weird pothead vortex
where you're not sure if the restaurant's barrage of decorations are
really stupid or really hilarious. Besides obligatory posters of
Cheech and Chong, The Grateful Dead, and a ton of other bands who love
the bubonic chronic, the walls feature a trippy, jungle-themed mural
that doesn't make any sense. In one part of the mural, a man in a
safari hat with an arrow through the top of it peers out from behind
some leaves, while Bob Marley's head floats nearby, surrounded by
stars. Even if you aren't stoned when you go in, you'll feel like you
are when you leave.

But the decor is only the beginning of the innuendo-laden, "dude, do
you get it?" theme of Cheba Hut. The menu features 25 toasted subs
with names like the "Chronic," a barbecued beef sub, or a spicy
chicken and jalapeno combination named "The Schwag." Sub sizes come in
four-inch "nugs," eight-inch "pinners," or 12-inch "blunts."

While the sandwich list features beef, turkey, chicken and bologna, it
also caters to vegetarians with both eggplant and portabella mushroom
sandwiches. The "Griefo" featured a fairly run-of-the-mill veggie
selection but caught our attention with pepper jack cheese, guacamole
and hemp cream cheese.

While the Griefo sounded interesting, we decided cream cheese should
never contain ingredients you can make clothing with. Instead, we
opted for Majic Mushrooms, ($2.69) portabella mushrooms and melted
Monterey Jack cheese, and The White Widow, ($2.69) a grilled chicken
sandwich with a delightfully tangy ranch sauce and melted provolone
and parmesan.

The Majic Mushrooms sub would have hit the spot with a little more
flavor, and who kicked ourselves for forgoing the offered mayonnaise,
mustard and fresh vegetables. The White Widow, however, did not
disappoint. The tangy ranch sauce combined with the melted Monterey
Jack was chock-full of tastiness, and none of the various condiments
offered were needed.

We also enjoyed a tomato melt ($2.49) off of the "cotton mouth cures
and munchies" menu, which was filling enough to be had on its own or
shared. Fresh tomato slices came smothered in evenly melted mozzarella
on toasted garlic bread, and a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on top.
With your choice of regular or vegetarian marinara dipping sauce, it
was very pizza-esque and delicious.

While the sound of hemp cream cheese scared us a little, we bit the
bullet and ordered a hemp brownie for dessert ($1.95). The brownie
came with a layer of hemp seeds on top, but didn't have the creepy
aftertaste we had expected. The texture was the only thing affected by
the addition of the hemp, which made it denser and moister than a
regular brownie.

Not only does Cheba Hut serve up delicious, healthy-ish food, but they
do it for cheap. Two pinners, a tomato melt, a hemp brownie and two
drinks only set us back about $12, leaving us with plenty left over to
buy a nickel sack and slurpees on the way home.

And, as promised by the sign out front that says "where the only thing
fried is an occasional customer," one apparently stoned patron became
panicked when he couldn't figure out how to find the exit to a side
patio. Maybe he was frightened by the giant, faux joint hanging over
the cash register, or the giant hookah behind the counter, or the
giant framed picture of Tupac and Snoop in the bathroom, or, maybe he
had just smoked too much pot. Either way, his paranoid presence added
a little authenticity to the otherwise slightly hackneyed decor.

Overall, Cheba Hut was worth "the trip." The food was far tastier and
fresher than any other campus sub places. Give it time, and Cheba Hut
will be "high" on the list of Tucson's favorite sandwich shops. (Dude,
do you get it?)