The Keeter Center, Branson, MO

 We had a wonderful week in Branson, thanks partly to our great friends who gifted, yes gifted, us their timeshare for the week. It was nice to be able to cook breakfast every morning and a few of the nights we were in town. It helped keep costs down and provided a more family atmosphere that we were looking for since it was a family Christmas after all. On Wednesday morning at 9am, we took the kids back to their Dad’s house in LeGrand, IA and then turned around and came back to Branson, MO for two more nights. We arrived back in Branson at 3:30am on Thursday. Wow…

After trying to recover a bit Thursday night, The Hubby surprised me with a dinner date to The Keeter Center. While others may just see a huge log cabin, amazing interior and incredible food, I found the place tremendously astounding. The Keeter Center is on the property of the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, MO. The students at the college all work on campus in some sort of fashion in order to graduate debt-free. Their workstations include the restaurant as servers and cooks, the mill, where they grind their own flour and sell bread mixes, the fruitcake and jelly kitchen, the dairy, milking cows, and many other places. There are 44 majors in the college and are internationally accredited.

Service was impeccable from Reagan, and the food was beyond spectacular. 

I ordered the special, Chicken Cordon Bleu and the sauce was literally mouthwatering. Grilled carrots fresh from the garden along with asparagus that couldn’t have been cooked any better. The Hubby ordered the Chicken Duet with mashed potatoes and the same veggies. The meat practically fell off the bone. The Hubby actually had room for dessert!! White Chocolate Bread Pudding with an apple cider sauce... oh my goodness... During the meal, another student came in and graced us with her wonderful piano playing abilities. What a great night! He sure does know how to touch my heart in the hospitality field. What a dear!

I can’t wait until we go back to Branson for many reasons, but one specifically being to take the tour of the campus and eat in the restaurant again. They also have a 15 room bed and breakfast I just might have to try out as well.

The Keeter Center gets a huge 5 stars in my book!!

Des Moines Outback

While passing through Des Moines, IA we decided to stop at a favorite of ours, Outback. We have eaten at this particular location once before, so figured it was a good choice.

The wait wasn't long although misquoted horribly; service was okay; and the food/presentation left something to be desired. The Hubby and I split most meals because we just don't eat the size portions that are served in the restaurants today. We usually order an appetizer and one meal to split. Every other time we split a meal at Outback, it comes on two plates. This time, I guess either the server didn't ring it in properly or the expo cook didn't bother. Either way, we had to ask for another plate for both courses.

My favorite thing at Outback is their wedge salad. Not this visit. Presentation and taste left a lot to be desired. Never mind the fact that I asked for no onions and they didn't bother to adhere to that request. Overall it was an okay visit. I'm sure we will try them again, for as many times as we travel up that way.

Dean & Deluca... not impressed

The Hubby 

Kansas City, MO
Upon rave recommendations from good friends in Kansas City, we opted to try Dean & Deluca for dinner on our way through Kansas City. It's a store that has a deli, bakery, and barista inside. Unique concept - well lit, well stocked, and had a feel of a New York style deli to us. After perusing the aisles of creative food items, we both ordered sandwiches from the less than friendly sandwich maker. He wasn't rude at all, just no smiles or friendly greeting, only 'what can I get you'. Strange for such a well setup place. No real hospitality.

The Hubby ordered the tuna and I chose the turkey and brie on sourdough. His tuna was chock full of onions, so much so that he took it back and ordered something different - roast beef. In his words - it's better than the tuna, not bad.

Mine was okay - it had an apricot mustard that overpowered everything else in the sandwich. After taking the sandwich apart and eating only the inside, it was... okay.

I picked out a snickerdoodle cookie and hot tea for afterwards and they were both good. Everything was over priced and had a stuffy feel to the whole thing. Will we go back, even if someone else was paying? Probably not. Next!

The Venetian for dinner and a movie

It's a movie theater, so no pictures. Not sure the 15 other people in the theater would have been too appreciative. ;)

The Hubby and I waiting until mid-week to see The Hobbit because we wanted to make sure we got a good seat in the theater. He had bought Groupons for the new dinner theater in Carrollton called the Venetian. It's an old grocery store that has been remodeled and in my opinion with too much gold paint (I mean like 50 gallons too much). Service was very 'wa-wa' although the Hubby enjoyed his burger thoroughly.

For chairs, viewing this 2+ hour movie, we sat in high back leather desk chairs. Yes, I said desk chairs. Like we didn't just sit in desk chairs all day. Not able to lean back or get reasonably comfortable, I would have rather dined at home and watched the movie elsewhere.

Hospitality was great at the front desk, but that's where it stopped. Bartender was less than thrilled to even be awake it seemed and our server was more mono-toned and straight faced than an IRS agent. They need some serious hospitality training in that place. At least the cook knew how to do his job. Blah...

Cattlemen's in Oklahoma City

Oh my yumminess... (is yumminess a word?)

The Hubby has been raving about Cattlemen's restaurant in the historic Stockyard City by Oklahoma City since we met, and on the way home from an Iowa trip, I finally got to sink my teeth into the most tender, delicious steak ever. From the picture you can see the juices on the steak plate, yes, it was that moist.

Note: This is one person's meal... thank goodness we shared

Setting: I'm not sure if anything has changed except for some basic updates since the restaurant opened 1910. However, it is very well kept and looks clean even behind the open counter setup.

People: There must be something in the air for the niceness that comes out of every worker. Besides being friendly at the table, they were friendly to each other, and other restaurant patrons. Classic thing that actually happened - a police officer walked in, said hi to the server by name as he sat up at the open kitchen bar, and   other server called from the other side - Hi Sam! Felt like we were in the cowboy version of Cheers.

I look forward to going back and enjoying the rest of the cute town!

Snooze in Denver

Breakfast at 1:30 pm? Yes! A forty minute wait in line at that time? Yes... but so worth it.

Snooze in Dallas came recommended by the locals and we were warned that no matter what time we went there would be a wait. Service was good, but not outstanding. She was sweet and attentive, but not anything past normal.

The food however was past normal. The hubby ordered the ham benedict and he said it was at the top of his list (after Disney of course). I ordered the french toast and am not much for real maple syrup which it was served with. Good consistency though. Our friends ordered the stuffed french toast and the breakfast shepherd's pie and said both were outstanding. Overall, it was quite a wait, but so worth it in the end.

Piece of advice - plan on waiting and not getting in and out quickly. Also, plan on being well-fed and leaving satisfied.

Racines - a place the locals love

So, I'm a slacker I know. No pictures this time - too much great conversation with the friends we were dining with. Visiting the mile high city for a trade show Monday and we flew in early to have a little R & R. We always like to go off recommendations or Yelp reviews in new cities or better yet - ask the locals. They know all the good spots. Racine's was highly recommended as a place the locals love. Going through the Yelp reviews for it, apparently breakfast is amazing, but at 5:30 pm, it was dinner time and we were hungry for good eats.

We were greeted when we walked in the door and seated immediately. The dining room was beautiful with cathedral ceilings done in wood with unique lamps hanging down. Medium lighting let it seem casual, but still very nice. The expansive menu had us chatting food decisions for a while, but settled on the eggrolls for an appetizer - great choice! I had the Ahi tuna which came on a bed of brown rice with veggies and loved it. A large piece of tuna seared to perfection I did my best, but could not eat all of it. The hubby had a buffalo burger that was extremely tasty. One of our friends ordered the cod and the other a salad with nuts and bananas. The salad was very rich she said and he said the cod had a lemon sauce that tasted delicious. For dessert I had an apple cinnamon hot tea and everyone else had coffee. The hubby ordered a pumpkin cheesecake which I nibbled on. it had good flavor - not too overpowering and with a pumpkin pie consistency. The friends ordered the apple torte dish and their comments said it was good, but would have rather there been more crunchy to the crust to go with the tall portion of soft apples inside.

Service was great - our server, Laura, who seemed to have a helper who took care of keeping our drinks filled and dishes cleared. While I didn't feel like we were the only ones in the restaurant, she gave recommendations and did not rush us through the meal. I think it was a manager who came and opened the blinds a little once the sun went down, but she did not smile nor say anything to any tables she walked past. Maybe she should take some customer service skills from our server.

2 more days here in Denver - I'll work better on getting some pictures!