Eating out...

While vacationing in the Caribbean, we had a stop at Grand Turk, so of course we had to stop at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. The place was packed, there was a DJ by the pool spinning some island tunes, the restaurant was filled with folks eating, and the gift shops were overflowing with folks shopping for souvenirs. Needless to say, it seemed to be a popular place to grab a bite to eat.

We had a short wait for a table, and once seated sat for over 15 minutes before having our drink order taken, to which we added an order of nachos that we had overheard someone say were excellent. 20 minutes later, our drinks were delivered, by which point we had already decided to skip ordering additional items as were losing out on time at the beach. 40 minutes later, our nachos finally arrived, I would certainly not call them 'excellent', but they were fairly tasty, or maybe we were just too hungry to care, it's pretty hard to tell at this point.

Many other tables around us seemed to be getting exactly the same service, waits for drinks, waits for food, despite the fact that the wait staff were constantly moving between tables looking busy. These folks take the concept of 'Island Time' to a whole new level, I'd heartily recommend having a full stomach before hitting the beach at Grand Turk...

Over Christmas when we did our last road trip, we finally managed to stop in at Lambert's Cafe, home of the Throwed Rolls, at their main location in Sikeston, Missouri. Their original location in Sikeston closed in 1981 when their new and larger site opened, which was quickly outgrown and their current site opened in 1988. In case you're wondering, a Throwed Roll is exactly what it sounds like, a roll that is thrown, usually from well across the restaurant, to your waiting hands.

The rolls are darned tasty, and are large and fluffy, or, depending on your catching skills, flat and misshapen, but still just as tasty, especially with some sorghum on top.

The dinners themselves are large enough to feed a small army. I ordered the Chicken Fried Round Steak, which came served in a huge skillet. That very small utensil on the left is actually a full sized fork, just so you have an idea of the size of the portions involved.

My son ordered the Hamburger Steak, a full pound of beef smothered with tasty veggies:

As if the meals weren't enough on their own, the waitstaff rotate through the restaurant with even more food they will happily dish out: Fried Potatoes & Onions, Macaroni & Tomatoes, Black-eyed Peas, Fried Okra, Hot Rolls, Sorghum, and Apple Butter.

It is virtually impossible to leave this place and still be hungry, wear loose fitting pants and leave your belt at home.

Picked up one of these today, heard their salads weren't too bad. Not exactly a mistake, but not great either.

The Asian Salad is a mixed green salad with julienned carrots, cucumber slices, a few thin slices of purple onion, mandarin oranges, roasted slivered almonds, wonton strips, chicken (grilled or fried), and asian dressing.

The fried chicken I had, unfortunately, was on the dry side, and the strips were difficult to cut with the plastic knife and fork, I ended up having to pull the strips apart by hand. The dressing was sufficient to cover the salad, but wasn't all that flavorful. The roasted almonds sounded like they would be a nice touch, but roasting in this case didn't add to their flavor, it simply made them dryer and a tad more crunch, but removed most of the flavor they might have added if left alone.

Between the dry chicken and lackluster dressing, the salad overall just wasn't that interesting to eat. My quest for a good lunchtime salad continues...

Wendy's is currently promoting their new salads. Test drove their Chicken BLT Salad, ended up being a disappointment. Featuring cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, croutons, cheese, extremely tiny bits of bacon, and of course a sliced grilled chicken fillet.

Their lite dressing selections were slim, the packet of lite ranch wasn't quite enough to go around. After munching on mouthful after mouthful of lettuce, I finally concentrated on the chicken and other good bits, and ended up tossing a lot of the remaining lettuce, it had just gotten too boring. The bacon bits were too tiny to even register on the taste buds, and the overall flavor was just lacking.

This is one of current favorite salads. Bacon, cheese, diced tomatoes, eggs, croutons, and crispy fried chicken. Being Hooters, the chicken can be tossed in any of their wing sauces, their hot sauce works very well with a ranch or blue cheese dressing on the salad.

The salad is quite large, and has a great mix of items so that it doesn't get boring.

Olgas Kitchen, Fairview Heights, Illinois

A long time favorite of mine, I've been to different locations many times. Pictured is their Peasant's Soup, something I've made at home with pretty good success.

Of course, they're best known for their Olga sandwiches, similar to gyros, but their pita bread is slightly sweet, and definitely delicious.

Anchor Bar, Buffalo, New York

This is the home of the Buffalo Wing, any wing lover should definitely pay a visit. To be honest, I've had better elsewhere, but this is where it all started, and they were still darned good.

Eager hands couldn't wait for me to snap a pic before digging in... The long wing on the right without sauce was to try their 'suicide' sauce. Definitely tasty, but not as hot as they'd lead you to believe.

Lake Effect Diner, Buffalo, New York

Great little diner, lots of great dishes, and their breakfasts are great. The family ordered four different selections, portions were large and prices were reasonable, all tasty.

620 Cafe, Round Rock, Texas

A nice little place near home with plenty of country cooking. Pictured below is a new item on their menu, Chicken Fried Bacon. It's as tasty as it sounds.

Autozone Park, Memphis, Tennessee

Home of the Memphis Redbirds, this ballpark has many tasty treats for the baseball fan. Pictured below is 'The Big Dog', a half pound chili dog w/cheese and onion rings on top. Below that are the BBQ Nachos, with plenty of pulled pork, BBQ sauce, and a dry rub seasoning.