Krystal

I stopped by Krystal in Tarrant City, AL to check out their Egg Nog Milkquake.  I am a huge fan of "good" egg nog.  It took several minutes before I could actually drink the shake as it was too thick to drink right away.  But, after a few minutes, I was able to drink it.  If you like egg nog, you need to check out one of these.  It is my understanding that they will only offer these through the holiday season though - so better hurry!

Jack's

OK - how many of you have gone through a drive-thru window at a fast food restaurant, intending on taking your food home - only to get home and realize that your order was not filled properly?  Am I the only person that this irritates?

We went through the drive-thru at the Jack's in Locust Fork, AL yesterday.  We ordered chicken plates - 3 piece chicken dinners to be precise.  First, they were out of breasts and legs.  No big deal - we agreed that an extra thigh on one of the plates would be fine.  We finally got our food and went home.

Now, to clarify, the order was: 

1 three-piece chicken dinner with green beans and mashed potatoes;  and
1 three-piece chicken dinner with green beans and slaw.

As far as the sides, this is always what we order when ordering the chicken dinner.  We got home to find that we had green beans and slaw on BOTH dinners.  To make matters worse, this is the second time in a row this has happened.  Is it so hard to get it right?

Now, it is not catastrophic as I like the slaw, but there is a principle here!  I want what I ordered!

Is this too much to ask?

Cracker Barrel

I decided to get out and join the crowds today on Black Friday!  I decided on Cracker Barrel in Trussville for breakfast.  Of course, I had to put my name on the list and wait for a table.  But, the wait was not bad.  We were waited on promptly and I ordered my coffee.  The waitress brought the coffee, a bowl of creamers, although she had asked about cream when she took the order and I had told her "no".  She did bring the glass of ice water I had asked for.  She took the food order and left the table.  I wanted to put a couple of pieces of ice in my coffee to cool it a bit, but no silverware.  I sat there wondering:  if I had been going to use the cream she brought, what was I to stir the coffee with??

Another person brought the food and "plopped" the plates on the table.  Now, this is something I hate!  Please just sit my plate down - don't get close and then just drop it!  OK - now beverage is here - food is here - still no silverware.  After sitting for a few minutes, my companion went up to the front to inquire about silverware.  She was told that the servers would bring the silverware.  Our waitress was at a nearby table taking an order, so my companion walked over and asked her for silverware.  She, in turn, asked another waitress to bring us silverware - loud enough that we, and probably several other tables, heard the request.  Finally, silverware arrives!

The food was good.  I had the Smokehouse Breakfast with eggs scrambled and smoked sausage patties.  The gravy was a little on the "thick" side, but it normally is at Cracker Barrel.

All in all, it was a good meal.  Needless to say, I did not leave a 20% tip, as the service was certainly lacking.

Munoz Mexican Restaurant

OK - yesterday we ate lunch at Munoz Mexican Restaurant in Pinson, AL.  It is in the shopping center with Food Giant, etc.  Great place for lunch or dinner.

I always have number 107 on the lunch menu - one enchilada, refried beans, spanish rice and a taco.  Their enchiladas are great and so are the refried beans.  The price of  the plate is only $6.00 plus your beverage.

Stop by if you get a chance and try them out!!

Big Daddy's Bar-B-Que

Last night, we ate at Big Daddy's Bar-B-Que in Warrior.  I had a pork plate, onion rings and baked beans.  I order my sauce and bread on the side.  The pork was wonderful, as usual here.  I love their sauce also.  The onion rings are great, as were the baked beans.  I have made several trips here and the food is always awesome. 

They have very good ribs, very tender.  The deep fried corn on the cob is wonderful for those of you who can eat corn on the cob.  If you have a problem biting the corn, as I do, just cut it off the cob - it is certainly worth the trouble. 

Be sure to save room for dessert - which I did not last night.  They have the absolute BEST home made desserts.

Total cost of a plate and beverage - around $10.00

 

Papa's Rib Shack

Recently, we had the opportunity to eat at Papa's Rib Shack, located on Highway 79 in Locust Fork, AL.  Papa's is open Thursday through Sunday from 10 AM until 10 PM. 

I had a plate with smoked boston butt, baked beans and fries.  The boston butt had a very good smoked flavor, the baked beans were well seasoned and the fries are actually cut potatoes - not frozen crinkle cut fries.  Also, there was a mixture of regular irish potato fries and sweet potato fries on my plate.  I had tea to drink with this.  The cost of the meal was around $10.00.

The food is great and I hope to get a chance to re-visit this place.

Red Lobster

We had an occasion to eat at Red Lobster in Trussville, Alabama.  Of course, at this time, they have their Endless Shrimp deal - all you can eat for $15.99.  I had the hand battered fried shrimp and the garlic shrimp scampi.  Both of these were great.  Scampi is my favorite on the shrimp scene, but I have to admit that the fried shrimp was the most tender fried shrimp I have ever eaten! 

Of course, we had about a 30 minute wait, but that was to be expected.  Our server was extremely good at his job - we did not run out of shrimp or beverage.  He was very attentive while not being obtrusive.  I know we have all seen those - they are trying to do a good job, but they come to the table so often that you cannot carry on a conversation with your dinner party and it gets very frustrating and bothersome.  This guy was not like that at all.  He certainly deserved his tip.

A couple of other people in the party had the Chocolate Wave as desert.  Of course, I had to try a bit of it.  For those of you who do not know what the Chocolate Wave is, it is chocolate cake, with a chocolate icing full of miniature chocolate chips, chocolate filling between the layers and it is served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Then, of course, it is all drizzled with more chocolate.  It is certainly a delight for a chocolate lover!

Overall this was an excellent dining experience and I look forward to getting to go back there again.

Barber's Egg Nog

Let me begin by saying - I Love Egg Nog.  Now, while this is not about dining out - I wanted to comment on Barber's Egg Nog.

Every year, I start buying egg nog as soon as it goes on sale in the grocery stores and I drink it until I can no longer buy it.  I love egg nog - but not just any egg nog.  Over the last several years, I have tried a variety of brands of egg nog.  I would try two or three different brands every year - and every year I have come to the same conclusion - there is only ONE egg nog - Barber's Egg Nog.

I have always had a glass of egg nog each day, usually in the evening, and thoroughly enjoyed and even looked forward to that glass of egg nog throughout the day.  I even drink it from a champagne glass. 

Now, I settled on Barber's Egg Nog for a couple of reasons:  taste and its rich, creamy texture.  I love to just "sip" the egg nog (and no, I don't add anything to my egg nog).  So, having said that, image my disappointment this year when I bought my second carton of Barber's Egg Nog, only to find that it was no better than the first carton - which I had hoped was a fluke!

It's rich, creamy, thick texture - GONE.  It is as if it has been "watered down" - its consistency now not much thicker than a glass of milk.  This totally ruined my "egg nog" experience.

I guess I may be on the hunt for another brand of egg nog now - but I have one question first:

Barber's - why did you ruin the egg nog????

Captain D's Seafood

Last night, we stopped by the Captain D's restaurant in Trussville, Alabama.  It was a bit crowded as it was shortly after 6:00 PM.  It took several minutes to get our food once we ordered, but not an unreasonable amount of time, considering how busy they were.

We both had the 3-piece battered fish with cole slaw and fries.  I had sweet tea with my meal.  The pieces of fish were all a good size, well battered and cooked throughout.  The fries were actually unusually good, as I am not typically a huge fan of Captain D's french fries.  The cole slaw was good and the hushpuppies were excellent.  They were not cooked too long so that the outside is a bit "hard". 

The employees were friendly and we did have one employee come around to our table during our meal to ask if everything was alright and if we needed anything.

Overall, it was a very good meal.  Of course, there was one small "glitch" with the visit.  The menu board advertises the 3-piece fish meal for $6.49.  A sign underneath advertises the meal for $7.49 with a small drink.  I ordered the 3-piece meal with a small sweet tea.  When I got home and checked my ticket, something I should have done while still at the restaurant, I found that I was charged $6.49 for the meal and $1.59 for the small beverage.  Of course, this was $.59 too much.  While certainly not worth a trip back to Trussville, it is a bit irritating to be improperly charged.

Until next meal!!