peas at a party

It’s been quiet here in Blogville.  We were travelling for a few days; then rushing around to catch up. 

As we were driving into Dallas, we were consulting by cell phone to choose a place to meet everyone for dinner.  The consensus of the group was a restaurant that is often described with statements such as “But their food is good.”  Note the italics.  Or “They really do have great food.”  Again, the italics.

In other words, this place is not known for its atmosphere.  Well, actually it is.  Eating there is a bit like subscribing to Playboy for the wonderful, thought-provoking articles.

We’re greeted at the door by a wave of noise, perkiness, and silicone.  But then we were expecting that.  So it’s on to a table for eight and menus to check out the “good” food. 

Decidedly not green.  Out of 12 side dishes, only two had any connection to the color green—other than a price tag.  There was coleslaw.  I didn’t see it, but I’m pretty confident in guessing that it was awash in mayo.  There was a dinner salad that could generally be classified as green if a few bits of Romaine amidst the iceberg count.  That was pretty much it.  You could choose from fried potatoes, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, signature spuds, potato salad, mac & cheese, corn with peppers, baked beans in a sicky sweet sauce, and fried apples.

Now we’re very pretty flexible and we had agreed to this place, so it is clearly a night for Sometime Food.  I decided to order what was the most appealing and savor the moment.  Chicken Fried Chicken, Roadhouse Spuds (a smashed up version of a loaded baked potato), and a dinner salad with blue cheese dressing.  On the side, of course.  (Heh.  Why I worried about that I don’t know.  Old habits, I suppose.)

The food arrived on platters.  No.  They don’t serve family style.  Every order arrived on its own platter.  And filled it up!  The boneless chicken breast was about 10″ long and 5″ wide.  Once I got over the horror movie visions of a chicken large enough to have a breast this size, I computed that this was about four servings of chicken.  On my plate.  Also gracing the plate was well over a cup of the smashed potatoes or two big servings.

Self-talk is called for here:  “This is a Sometime Food night; I certainly don’t have to eat all of this; just enjoy a little and move on.”

But at first bite, there was another problem.  It was wonderful.  Absolutely wonderful.  Perfectly crisp and savory with the flavors of my most favorite fried chicken.  The potatoes were rich and decadent with a blend of flavors that has become a baked potato tradition for good reason.

I managed to stop eating with over half the food still on the platter, but only because I signaled our server to whisk it away.  She wanted to know if there was anything wrong with the food.  How in the world would you answer that?  No, the food was wonderful.  Yes, there was way too much.  I settled for “Not at all.  That’s just all I want right now.”

Would we go back?  That’s hard to say.  The atmosphere is truly awful if you want to talk to, not yell at, your dinner companions and you aren’t crazy about servers that sit down at your table and reach over you to fill someone else’s water glass.  Then again, “they really do have great food” if it’s a Sometime Food kind of night.

So what is “good” food or “great” food?  Cheap, fast, healthy, comforting, delicious, adventuous, fresh, pretty, indulgent?

Have a “great” food day.