Black Eyed Bean - Mesquite

It's Saturday night and I was takin the wifey out on the town tonight. We were going to see American Sniper at 7:00 and it was 6:00 when we made these executive decisions. You know Mitcho does not miss meals, so we had to eat at something close and fairly fast. After a short discussion we decided on Black Eyed Bean. So we did the Sarabande to the BEB.

Just as we thought, we walked in and was seated immediately. There were quite a few empty tables.

When it came time to order, I didn't even bother reading the menu because I knew the wifey was going to tell me what I was eating. After she did her deep analysis she decided we would split the Texas Sized Chicken Fried Steak. They were not kidding. This thang was the size of the plate. We split that baby in half and I couldn't eat all of my half. This puppy was breaded heavily, just like Mitcho likes it. The meat was a little greasy, but with so much crust it didn't matter. You can't go wrong here, this was a pretty good CFS.

The wifey ordered green beans and I ordered red beans and rice. They don't tell you that it is going to be loaded with sausage also.. The beans had a real good flavor and the sausage was real good. This was a definite plus.

The meal also came with rolls and corn bread. The rolls were almost as big as the CFS. So I never got to the corn bread, I could barely finish my roll. Oh by the way, it was yummy.

Now normally I don't go into much detail  about drinks. What can you say about unsweetened tea that nothing is put into it. Not exciting, unless you are a born and bread Texan and consider tea the national drink. Tonight we order Peach Tea. Oh my. Olive Garden has the best peach tea bar none. But this was the next best I have ever had. If you go to The Bean, get Peach Tea.
(NOTE: 4 days later we went back to the Bean and the Peach Tea had a definite peach taste, but it was really sour. How can it be so great one time, and so bad the next????)


Overall this was a good meal.

Givn em a 8.09.

American Sniper was a gory movie, but it did show the effects PTSD had on our servicemen and women. Also, all of the injuries they have to carry the rest of their lives. Of course we are thankful for Chris Kyle's service to our country and saddened by his unfortunate death. The earth is a better place because of men like Chris Kyle. The wifey said later that we (all Americans) should pay for his kids college education. My answer is that we should do a much better job of taking care of all of our servicemen. Remember this terrorist war is going to be fought. We can fight it in the middle east or we can fight here in the States. Just remember Garland a few weeks ago. Off the soapbox for now.

Mitcho
©2015

Cheesecake Factory - Allen

So CBoss was in the 3rd grade this year. So it was time to take the Starr test. Since we are a family of school teachers and teacher wanabe's, we take these things serious, which is a new experience for me.
In my time school was something you did if there were no sports to play or you couldn't play in the creek. So we spent many a night at Darlin's house helping CBoss with his homework to get ready for the Starr test. So he finally took the test a couple of weeks ago and we got his scores back this week. He passed with good scores. It's time to party. I think all of the adults suggested a party at the same moment. So it was on. After about 10 seconds of discussion we decided to hold the party at the Cheesecake Factory. We decided Allen was easier for us to get to than Northpark. We have been to Northpark a number of times, but we have never been to the one in Allen. So we did the skank dance to Allen.

First of all, we walked in and was seated immediately. That never happened at Northpark. So we are off to a good start. So the party was me, wifey, Sax Man/bean counter, Darlin', CBoss (of course), Lil Darlin', and Big Guy.

As we negotiated what we would have for dinner, I made it clear that I would share an entrée, but I was getting my own cheesecake. A man has to have priorities. So the wifey and me decided to share a Crusted Chicken Romano. This is a chicken breast in a romano-parmesan  cheese crust, served on pasta. The crusted chick is very good, you would almost go here just to eat dinner sans cheesecake. However, since this is the cheesecake capital of Texas, why? The pasta was very tasty also. The waiter brought us plenty of bread which was pretty tasty. So things are going real good here.

Finally it is time for cheesecake. The waiter asked me if I needed a menu. Nope, I walked in the door knowing what I wanted. I ordered Dulce de Leche Caramel Cheesecake. This is caramel cheesecake loaded heavily with whipped cream. Man oh man, I need a six pack of these. The meal just went from real good to out of this world. To make things better, wifey paid for the meal out of her slush fund. It is a little pricey here, but after you have had cheesecake, you don't seem to worry about minor issues like money.

So I recommend that you grab up your foodies and bust a move to The Factory. While you are there get me a Dulce de Leche to go.

Givn em a 8.75 (it's all about cheesecake)

Mitcho
©2015

Bodacious BBQ - Tyler

The last night in Tyler, the wifey and me were by our self and we survived it. We also survived a downpour of a rain. We were planning on cooking food bags in the fire, but with it raining heavily that was not an option. So we decided we needed to go find a place to eat. I was really concerned how much flooding we would run into, so we went to the first place from Tyler State Park. That happened to be Bodacious BBQ.

As usual at most BBQ joints, we ordered a two meat plate, sliced brisket and sausage. The sliced brisket had a nice flavor and was pretty lean. The sausage was another story. It was pretty greasy and fatty. Not what Mitcho wanted.

We also ordered potato salad and this had very little mustard and Mitcho likes his spices. So it was OK, but not exciting.

Finally, I get to the beans. Man, these were some of the best beans I have had outside of Zeke's. The beans had a good amount of chili powder in them and did I mention I like my spices.

Overall, you could do a lot worse, but it is not in my top 5.

Givn em a 6.24 (beans get bonus points, to get here).

MItcho
©2015

Rudy's Tyler

 A satisfied customer at Rudy's!!!!

So while campin at Tyler with our buds, we always go to dinner once during our campout. Since we were in Tyler the unanimous choice was Rudy's. Luves me some Rudy's. So we were planning on going to Rudy's on Sunday evening, but Bud called and his family was campin at Rusk and said they would drive over to Tyler for dinner if we went to Rudy's on Saturday evening. So brought yourself on. So besides all of the campin buds, we had our full crew, Wifey, Bud, Lefty, Precious, Lil' Bud, Darlin, Sax Man, CBoss, Big Guy and of course Lil' Darlin.

We ordered lean brisket and sausage, with potato salad and beans. The lean brisket has virtually no fat on it, which is how Mitcho likes it. Slap my mammy. This is flavored up nicely and you pour the best BBQ sauce in Texas and you got something rat there. The sausage is pretty good, but pretty much the standard fare. Of course with the BBQ sauce it is lip smacking good. The potato salad and beans are just ordinary, but you didn't come here for potato salad and beans. The main thing is the main thing, brisket. This is my favorite of all of the BBQ joints. You can have your Pecan Lodge, take me to Rudy's.

Great food, great company, all of the grands, you can't get any better.

Givn em a 9.35.

Mitcho
©2015

Mercado's - Tyler

It was Memorial Day holiday so it was time to get away and do some campin wit buds. So the wifey and me did the shake, rattle and roll to Tyler. We spent 5 nights there and in that time we ate at Mercado's twice. Not that we like it or anything. The original plan with our bud's was to eat out once and at another place which I will blog about tomorrow. So the wifey and me decided to go to Mercados on Thursday night. Well by Sunday night, it was still raining and cooking outside was not an option. So the gang made an executive decision to go to Mercado's. So twice. I have never done this before, but I am merging the two trips to one blog.

Mercado's is the training restaurant for the Posado's chain. We have eaten here many times over the years. It's food is basically Posado's, just the name is different. There are also Posado's restaurants in Tyler, but their seating is much smaller. When you have 16 in your party, that is an issue. So twice we did the Merengue to Mercado's.

First of all chips and salsa, The chips are pretty good. The salsa is another story. Both trips, the salsa was like vegetable soup. It was very runny and not much in the way of spices. I find that salsa at places that make it on-site is very inconsistent. You don't go to Mercado's/Posado's for salsa.

In the first trip I had a beef taco. The meat was full of grease and the taco shell was soggy. However, the meat was spiced up nicely and was very tasty.

I am back, had to go to the pantry for a Cocoa Crème (Little Debbie's version of Ding Dongs). Everything is better.

I also had a beef enchilada which was topped in chili sauce and was very spicy. But was greasy also.

The meal also came with a cheese enchilada. Filled with a tasty cheese and covered sufficiently with cheese. Yum, yum.

We also ordered cilantro and lime rice. Normally rice is rice, but man this was some good rice. You could really taste the lime in the rice. A nice touch.

Finally this meal had charro beans, which are pretty tasty.

The next trip we went for the combo fajitas. Both the beef and chicken meat were very tasty. I loaded them with sautéed onions, bell pepper, pico, sour cream and cheese. This is some good eats rat here.

Of course as usual the wifey got the butter sauce which I hear is out of this world.

More cilantro and lime rice and charro beans. More good eats.

This 2nd time there were 16 of us, and the waiter did a great job taking care of us.

Of course the meal ends with a free sopapilla. With plenty of butter and honey, this is a great finale.

Mercado's/Posado's is one of our favorite haunts.

Givn em an 7.9.

Mitcho
©2015

Cafe Del Rio - Mesquite

By 4:00 this afternoon I was starving. How can that be after eating BBQ for lunch. So the wifey and me started the negotiations over dinner. You can't talk about food too much you know. So we negotiated some, then the wifey took off to her office for a while. She came back saying she wanted to go to a Historic Mesquite Inc. presentation tonight so we needed to put dinner off a while so that we could go from dinner to the show. Not what you want to hear when you are starving. So I indicated that the dinner choice better have a lot of food. So it came down to Posado's and a free sopapilla or Café Del Rio and jalapeno ranch dip. Tonight Jalapeno ranch dip won out over sopapilla.

So we did the Hootchy Kootchy to Café Del Rio. We ordered combination fajitas for one with charro beans and rice.

The chips here are pretty normal Mexican restaurant chips. Which are pretty good. The chips come with regular salsa, hot salsa and jalapeno ranch dip. The jalapeno ranch is hot, but it sure is good. The jalapeno ranch is as good as Chuy's and that is saying something.

I like the taste of the tortillas. The chicken and beef fajita meat are flavored up nicely. Liking me some fajita meat here. They come with bell peppers, green pepper, onions, guacamole, pico de gallo, cheese and sour cream. Oh yea a butter sauce that is to die for, I here. The wifey takes the butter sauce every time. Rice is rice. The charro beans had plenty of spices, onions, etc. They were pretty good beans.

This is some good grub, with good service and an ice cream machine. I'm liking Del Rio.

givem an 7.99

Mitcho
©2015

Mesquite BBQ - Downtown Mesquite

So we finally got around to getting our burb inspected and license tag today. Our auto repair place of choice is Carter Automotive, which is conveniently one block walk to Mesquite BBQ. So I suggested to the wifey that just before lunch we take the burb to Carter's and then walk to Mesquite BBQ for lunch. Pretty good plan if a I say so myself. Mesquite BBQ has been in the same place about 50 years.

So we strut over to MBBQ and ordered the two meat special. We get brisket and sausage. Mitcho is a big fan of the sausage. Today I let the wifey choose sides and she chose pinto beans and baked potato casserole.

The brisket was pretty lean and very tasty, just like Mitcho likes. The sausage was an above average sausage with a pretty good flavor.

The pinto beans are pretty standard, not much taste. However, if you drown them in BBQ sauce, they are pretty good.

On to the baked potato casserole. Really???? Let's change this name to potato soup. Me and the wifey were expecting some tricked up potatos, you know chives, cheese, sour cream, bacon bits or bacon strips (you can always dream). We were not thinking potato soup. This stuff had some decent flavor, but not what I was wanting. NOTE to MBBQ, go to Dickey's and try their baked potato casserole. Now that is some good stuff.

The meal comes with two 1/2 slices of Texas toast, which is pretty good. However, they can't match rolls at SpringCreek BBQ. Come on MBBQ, pick up your game.

The meat is good here, don't get me wrong, but they need to work on the rest of the meal.

Givem a 7.23.

Mitcho
©2015

Zeke's Italian Sub - Kingsley & Shiloh

So the wifey today had one of those book clubs/brunch to go to. This predicament leaves me to eat lunch anywhere I want and I don't have to share, both very good things. In these situations it is very important to eat in a place the wifey has no desire to eat in. The wifey luves the food at Zeke's but she can make a meal at Zeke's last for 3 meals and the food is so good I am not real interested in sharing. These guys load you up with mass quantities of food. You probably can't tell from the picture above, but the bun is 8 inches and it is overflowing with meat, cheese and peppers.

I have been here a number of times and everything I have eaten is absolutely wonderful. These guys know how to cook!!! (I do have to admit that the owners are dear friends, but if you have to have someone to hang out with, it might as well be a great cook!!!) Today I ordered the Italian Sub which is probably my favorite, but the Incredible Burger is a very close 2nd and everything else on the menu is tied for 2nd.

As I mentioned the Italian sub comes on an 8" bun and it is heaping in meat. You will need the fork because 1/2 of the meat is going to fall out and you want to be sure you eat it. Several kinds of meat, cheese and peppers and a secret Italian sauce and it's time to slap your mammy.

The meal also comes with a side and I always choose the BBQ beans which are very tasty. Someday I should try the other sides just to be able to report on them. Maybe one day I will go in and just order sides. Figure that one out at the cash register.

The bottom line here is great food and very friendly staff, just don't let em know you know Mitcho. So tell the boss you are going to take a long lunch, gather up your buddies and boogy to Zeke's. Of course you will need the long lunch, because after eating you will take a 20 minute nap. No one can work after eating this much of this good of food. So get your boogy on!!!

Givem a 9.29


Mitcho
©2015

Snuffer's - Rockwall

The wifey and me spent the day babysitting the grands. We actually spent time with both sets. May be grands overload, but no one is complaining. So we ended the day in Rockwall. It was dinner time when we left and so we might as well eat in a Rockwall foodery. We kicked around several options that we don't have in Mesquite, actually most of the Rockwall foodery's do not have one in Skeeterville. So after great in depth analysis, we made the executive decision to go to Snuffers. There is one main reason to go to Snuffers CHEESE FRIES.

So we did the Manipuri to Snuffer's. Snuffer's is a hamburger joint, but it is also a watering hole. Most places we eat in, you don't really see much adult beverages being consumed, but at Snuffer's it apparently is as much a draw as the Cheese Fries. So I order my glass of tea and we pray.

We ordered the cheese burger and an order of cheese fries with bacon and chives. We had decided to split the burger and fries and it was good thing because the 1/2 lb burger was big. The burger meat had a very good flavor and was on a tasty bun. It also had all of the normal associates. This is a very good burger.

The cheese fries are the main draw. The fries if they had nothing on them would be ok, but when you load them heavily with cheddar cheese, bacon and chives. These are some very good fries. I think they are the best cheese fries we have had anywhere.

Giv'n em a 7.98.

Mitcho
©2015

Lamberts - Foley, Al

Earlier this week the wifey and I made a beach run to Gulf Shores, Al. Did some walks on the beach and some serious relaxing. One night while there we decided to eat dinner at Lamberts in Foley, AL. OMG!!!!! I have never seen a place like this.

First of all, regardless of what you order you get all you can eat of Throwed rolls, Macaromi & Tomatoes, Fried Potatoes & Onions, Black-Eyed Peas, Fried Okra, Apple Butter and Boiled Cabbage. ALL YOU CAN EAT. They have one person for each of these walking around with a huge pot and anytime you are running low, they fill you back up. They call these Pass Arounds. Unbelievable. You are supposed to order a meal which will come with mashed potatoes and two other vegetables, like you are going to need them.  You can elect to have the Pass Arounds for your meal.

We decided to go for a vegetable plate and one Pass Around meal. We ordered baked beans, cottage cheese, green beans and cold slaw.

The call them Throwed Rolls because they throw them at you! The rolls were very good and the 2nd one I put honey on it. Yum, Yum. I caught both of them.

The macaroni & tomatoes didn't sound too good to this none tomato eating redneck. However, the tomato was actually something close to spaghetti sauce. This was some pretty good macaroni.

The fried potatoes and onions was basically hash browns. They were pretty good.

The black-eyed peas were basic,

The fried okra was pretty decent okra.

I didn't ask for the Apple Butter or Molasses which were meant for the rolls. They had honey also and I went for the honey.

The baked beans were almost as good as Zeke's Kitchen which is saying they were very good.

The cottage cheese was normal. You can't do much with cottage cheese, unless you drown them with peaches.

The green beans were a basic green bean.

The cold slaw was pretty good.

Overall the food was very good and you can't eat it all, I guarantee.

Just for quantity and variety, given em a 8.821

Mitcho
©

El Fenix Downtown - AAC to see Joan Jett and the Heartbreakers (oh yea, The Who closed the show)

To make a short story long, being at my stage in life, I pretty much have everything I want and if I find something new that I want I go get it (of course after growing up poor, I don't want much). This is pretty tough on my kids at birthday and Christmas time because there is nothing I want. So one of my chilluns this year bought us tickets to the Who concert for Christmas. The concert was tonight.

I find that the biggest joy in life is being with my family!!!!

So since we were going to be downtown tonight I suggested that we eat dinner at El Fenix. The El Fenix's all of the Metromess are very good, but there is just something special about the downtown one which I believe is the original one. They have plenty of parking and most of the time you can walk right in and get seated at a table. The service here is pretty good also.

I think the chips at El Fenix are the best of all of the Mexican restaurants. The salsa has a nice spicy taste, not very hot but tasty. They need to work on the hot part.

I ordered the Saltillo dinner. This one does not have rice or beans., which I normally don't eat much of anyway. I got a beef taco, which is very full with a good spicy meat. Topped with lettuce and cheese. This is a good. Then there is the beef enchilada covered in chili. As I mentioned the beef has a good spicy taste and covered with a spicy chili. This is also a good. Finally there is a cheese enchilada and this is one of the best tasting cheese enchilada in these parts. I also asked for some flour tortillas which are good. Overall it's a good.

Given em an 8.0.

Then we went to the AAC to see the The Who. Joan Jett and the Heartbreakers opened. Apparently she has been rocking since the 80's. I had heard the name, but didn't know much beyond that. All of the old people around me were pretty excited to get to see her. So let's rock. Her first 5 or 6 songs, I had never heard, but they had a good driving beat with some good lead guitar work. This was some pretty good rock n roll. Finally they played several songs that I had heard and liked, that's always good. At the end, for the last two songs, Miley Cyrus came on stage and we saw way toooooo much of her. Buys some clothes that do a better job of covering your vital parts of your body. We were very thankful for a couple of stars in strategic places. Without Miley, Joan Jett gets a 7.5. The jury is out on how many points we have to take away because of Miley!!!@@!

Now for the real deal. The Who. I knew I liked some of their songs but wasn't sure just how many. Come to find out there are 8 or 9 that I have heard and liked. Most of the songs I hadn't heard were good rock songs that had my foot tapping. These guys are too interested in rock operas. Of course Tommy is full of some good stuff, but they played one they had done before Tommy and it worked out to be just enough time for a short nap. Did like Tommy, Pinball Wizard, and a number of the others. Overall, this was an enjoyable concert and good evening out with the wifey. Givn The Who an 8.75.

surfs up

Mitcho
©2015

Athenos - Mesquite

Writing the food blog has really expanded our horizon of eating. Once it was Mexican, pizza and hamburgers. Repeat. Over the last year we have eaten in and blogged about more than 100 different restaurants. However, I have never reviewed any greek food. The wifey had eaten lunch in Athenos a week or two ago and enjoyed whatever it was she had. She said that we needed to go back. So I was trying to think about something different for dinner tonight and Athenos came to mind. I suggested it to the wifey and she immediately liked that idea. So we did the Syrtos to Athenos.

Being a Grove Rat redneck, I can tell you for sure we didn't have any greek restaurants in the Grove. Based upon the clientele in the place tonight, rednecks don't hang out here. But Mitcho is expanding his horizons and waste line.

So how do you order when you have no idea what anything is on the menu. I will say the waitresses were very helpful and very patient. After studying for a few minutes and having no idea what to do, we decided to roll the dice and order a combination dinner that had a little of everything. So we ordered the Delphi Combination. All along my backup plan was a burger at Whataburger.

 

 

First of all my explanation is the best I understand it, so don't hold me too responsible here.





The Delphi came with Gyros meat. This is a thin sliced meat that is very lean and has a very

unique flavor. I can't describe it, but I will be eating this stuff again. Then there was Meat Dolmas.

This was similar to meat loaf and Mitcho is a big fan of meat loaf. It had a little different flavor and was covered in cheese. I could make a meal out of Meat Dolmas. So far so good.  the next item is Chicken souvlaki. This is chicken on a stick. This and the rice taste pretty much like American

food. Next was Moussake. Very interesting. This is meat and rice rolled up in in egg plant with a béchamel sauce. I was pretty concerned about this and even more when it came to the table and

looked like a jalapeno. But it had a very good flavor. The sauce gave it a twang that was unique

and tasty. The meal was served with a plate of pita bread. This was very good pita bread. Yummy.

 

 

So when you are adventuresome in life and wanting something different than pizza every night, grab you up some buds and head to Athenos. Note you will need some buds because there won't be any rednecks there.

 

Given em a 8.5.

 

Mitcho

©2015



The Pantry - McKinney Downtown

This morning we had some ministry work to do in Denison. So on the way home we were going through McKinney at lunch time. The Pantry 10 to 15 years ago was the place to go in McKinney. Then shopping centers and restaurants blew up out on 75 and the downtown area suffered. During it's time you would have to wait in a long line to order and most of the tables were full. Now you walk up order and pick any table in the joint. It is a very cute restaurant with an antique theme. The wifey really likes this place because it is kind of a girly joint and they have PIE.

The wifey was craving their chicken salad and chocolate cream pie. So we did the Acro dance into the downtown McKinney. Yes guessed it the wifey ordered chicken salad and after looking at all of the pie choices, she ordered chocolate cream. As for me, I ordered a cup of chili and I went straight to the chocolate cream PIE. The wifey says the chicken salad was very good. So there you go ladies. As for my chili it was ok, it was not very spicy Pretty short on flavor but it was ok. Chocolate Cream pie is an almost guaranteed good thing. The chocolate on this pie was not as bold as I would want. The crust had a good crunch and good flavor, but it was pretty hard to cut.

Overall, this is a place that is surviving on its reputation. It's food was once awesome, but now it is just above OK.

Givn em a 6.51

Mitcho
©2015