Raw menu data in block.tpl.php I need to access the raw menu data in a menu block, but $content only stores the rendered markup. How can I gain access to this object from within the block--sidebar_second.tpl.php file?

I've looked into creating a View but I couldn't figure out how to select menu nodes. Either solution will work for me... 

Here is the output of the $block object:

stdClass Object
(
    [bid] =&gt; 196
    [module] =&gt; menu_block
    [delta] =&gt; 7
    [theme] =&gt; theme-name
    [status] =&gt; 1
    [weight] =&gt; 0
    [region] =&gt; sidebar_second
    [custom] =&gt; 0
    [visibility] =&gt; 0
    [pages] =&gt; 
    [title] =&gt; Services Menu
    [cache] =&gt; -1
    [subject_array] =&gt; Array
        (
            [#markup] =&gt; Services
        )

    [subject] =&gt; Services
    [last_in_region] =&gt; 1
)
It sounds like you are using Menu block module, and you would have already successfully placed the menu-tree in your region. If your desire is to access raw menu data from a menu block, just use TEMPLATE_preprocess_block(&amp;$variables).

$variables['content'] is rendered.
$variables['elements']['#content'] is raw.