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