Epilogue: A valiant adventure has reached its end. Toybox Bistro, a humble tavern that’s fed stomachs and imaginations in Huntsville for seven winters, will close its doors forevermore August 12. Yester-eve, Toybox called upon Facebook’s dark magic to make this known to their 7.9 followers within that treacherous online realm.

“It is with a heavy heart and a few tears that we are making this announcement,” Toybox inscribed on their Facebook portal. “The truth be told, we are just another victim in the aftermath of COVID. We want to thank everyone who has supported us through the years. We certainly have made some close friends and lots of fans of our quirky hole in wall place.”

A self-described “nerd restaurant,” Toybox carved their own legend with whimsical takes on American classics like burgers and hotdogs, décor dripping with sci-fi, comic-book and gaming collectibles, and a solid local-heavy draft beer selection. They opened March 2016 at 513 Jordan Drive.

It’s been a fun place to eat, drink and conspire. Recently, Toybox’s half-pound Sonic Gut Buster clocked in at number four on AL.com’s Huntsville’s best hot dogs list. We wrote, “Drenched in a family-recipe chili (made with local beer from Yellowhammer Brewing), queso and diced onion. The menu accurately quips “antacids sold separately.” But the pain’s worth the gain.”

Toybox’s burger offerings went from a standard cheeseburger to a far-out version with peanut butter, bacon and ghost pepper. Their signature apps? Waffled mac & cheese and “wicked fried pickles.”

The décor and vibe have been just as big a draw as the food, and maybe more. A fleet of “Star Wars” toy vehicles are suspended from the dining room ceiling. There are superhero logos and gaming cards underneath the glass tops of the tables and bar. Display cases are filled “Dungeons & Dragons” manuals, dice and other mementos. Each time I entered Toybox, my eyes were immediately drawn to “The Empire Strikes Back” AT-AT Walker on top of that case.

As we put it in Toybox’s “best Huntsville hotdogs” blurb, “This place isn’t for normies whose extent of nerd-dom is dressing up as sexy superheroes for Halloween or watching blockbuster movies. This place is for real-deal got-bullied-for-it-as-a-kid nerds.”

Here, a fan of geek-culture could literally be surrounded by their childhood. A welcome (albeit temporary) shelter from adulthood’s bills, backaches and bummers.

Toybox was set up inside a former Beauregard’s barbecue restaurant. The location’s both an easy drive from downtown (and the pop-culture conventions held at Von Braun Center) and just outside the University of Alabama in Huntsville (a campus, let’s be honest, never short on nerds).

Toybox was founded by Michelle Timon, who grew up in Florida, and Bill Bridgmon, a lifelong friend, trained chef and restaurant business veteran, who relocated to Huntsville from New Hampshire to launch their restaurant.

“Huntsville is the land of nerd-dom,” Timon told AL.com writer Michelle Matthews in 2018. “Everyone has a connection to high-tech industry here. They’re proud of being nerdy and geeky.”

The 500 or so collectibles that have adorned the restaurant’s interior are from Timon’s late husband Steve’s collection, which grew to around 10,000 before his circa-2010 death from cancer.

Before Toybox, Timon had already lived few lives. Professional photographer. Health counselor. Operator of Hamacon, a Huntsville anime event which ran from 2010 to 2019 and grew in attendance from 300 to several thousand each year. After Steve fell ill, she became his caretaker. In 2018, Timon told AL.com her late husband, “would have loved Toybox. It speaks to everyone’s inner nerd.”

Toybox’s Facebook post this Tuesday concluded: “Our dream was to have a place that anyone could feel comfortable, have a great meal and maybe a laugh or two. We definitely feel that goal was reached. As we close this chapter, we would love to see you one more time to feed you and thank you in person for your patronage.”

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