July 2014 by Hayley H.
How on earth am I first to review this place?! Wow! Anyway, this Murphy's Deli is located inside of KBR Tower at 601 Jefferson St. (specifically located on the southwest corner of Pease between Louisiana and Smith). The restaurant's main entrance is inside the KBR first floor lobby, and I do not believe there is any sign visible from the street indicating its presence, so I would imagine that most outsiders isn't aware of this location's existence. With that said, this Murphy's Deli location is smaller than most, and it is best for customers who are looking to grab a quick breakfast or lunch and carry it back to their desks. For breakfast, Murphys offers tacos, croissant sandwiches, biscuits and more, and they brew Starbucks coffee. You can order most things with some combination of egg, breakfast meat, and cheese. For the tacos they have salsa, and for the biscuits jelly and butter. They may also have breakfast potatoes, but I can't recall... During lunch there is a small but standard salad bar to the left when you walk in, and it offers most of the essentials: various lettuces, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, boiled eggs, corn, olives, croutons, cheeses, etc. and various dressings. The salad bar also has a few types of canned fruit and cottage cheese. Between the salad bar and the sandwich line is a small open-faced refrigerator filled with grab-and-go items like yogurt parfaits, hummus, tabouleh, egg salad, potato salad, sliced fruit, deviled eggs, pickle slices, bottled sodas, and more. This kiosk is also available during breakfast with whole pieces of fruit, muffins, etc. This area is nice when you are in a hurry and don't feel like waiting in the sandwich line. When you hit the register, the owners will ask if you'd like crackers to eat with your egg salad, or pita with your hummus. The sandwich line tends to queue almost out the door, sometimes longer, but the line moves quickly as there is an assembly line of employees fulfilling orders. They will ask your order and put your bread in the oven to toast (you must state if you do NOT want it toasted, as toasted is their default). There are many kinds of sandwich options including deli meat sandwiches; roast beef w/ jus; California-style veggie; salad sandwiches (egg, chicken, tuna); paninis; their famous Muffalettas, and more. They also have pita pocket sandwiches, including a falafel sandwich (very good) and a basic gyro. This location also makes burgers (pass on these), deli wraps (pretty standard), as well as burritos with meat, veggies and rice, beans, and avocado spread. The burritos are pretty tasty, though they are certainly not as delicious as what you'd find at most burrito joints (Mission Burrito, Chipotle, Freebirds...). They also have at least one flavor of soup (usually two), which rotates daily. You can expect to find chicken noodle, Italian wedding, tomato basil, broccoli cheddar, New England-style clam chowder, Minestrone, etc. I've tried them all and each was enjoyable. Soups are served with a few packets of Saltine crackers. Murphy's now sells its own brand of potato chips, though until recently they offered many Frito Lay varieties. Murphy's chip varieties are all cooked kettle-style and are flavorful and crunchy, but they don't satisfy when you're looking for Cheetos, Sunchips, Fritos, etc., so keep that in mind. They are located to the right of the cash register, so be careful not to pass these up before checking out. One of the biggest disappointments here is that near the register there is a list of up-charges for what they consider "premium" sandwich toppings. These additions include spinach leaves (vs. lettuce which is included), sprouts, olive mix (when added to anything other than a Muffaletta); avocado spread (to be expected, but I'm pretty sure it's not even real avocado), and sliced wheatberry bread versus their standard sub style bread. So, when I order an egg salad sandwich on w