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