Red Robin - Yummmm

Even the name reminds me of the jingle on the commercial - great marketing, huh? Father's Day, June 16th, we a long day for us. We had picked up the children that day and were making our way down to Branson. Stopping for an early dinner/ late lunch (linner/dunch) in Kansas City seemed like the best idea. Wanting some place new and not too far off the highway, we elected Red Robin in Liberty just north of Kansas City.

Service was partial, the poor girl looked like she was miserable but she wasn't a horrible server. Just looked like she needed more training. Food was as good as could be expected from a multiunit casual dining restaurant. Nothing spectacular at all from the kitchen and on the service, no manager was ever seen visiting tables. Oh well.

I ordered the chicken in a spinach wrap - too much wrap for the amount of filling. Great fried though and they are bottomless. They even brought out a basket as an appetizer before our meal which I thought was unique. The Hubby ordered a burger and said it was decent. Not outstanding like Fuddruckers, but not gross like other places I won't mention. Sarah tried to go the slightly healthy route and ordered a fried chicken finger salad with honey mustard dressing. Looked yummy and seemed well-proportioned until I realized it was a shallow bowl. Jason order the ribs and macaroni and cheese. While he ate all the ribs, he hardly touched the macaroni and cheese. Once I tasted it I figured out why - it was made from real noodles and cheese, not the kind that comes from the blue and yellow box he's used to. Oh well, we took it with us and the Hubby ate it for a late night snack at the hotel.

Overall, not excited to go back since there are so many more choices to chose from, but I'm glad we gave it a good college try!

Dressing up for a romantic dinner at The Tower Club

Mid June means craziness of the children for the summer for the Hubby and I. We love spending quality time with them, and since we don't get enough of it, we don't do date night in the short amount of time they are in town. So, the Hubby planned for a romantic dinner at The Tower Club in the Thanksgiving Tower, Dallas. Beautiful view, amazing food, and best of all, getting lost in the eyes of the man who loves me more than life.

Ahhh... marital bliss! :)

Okay - about the restaurant. It sits on the 48th floor and looks out over the north side of downtown Dallas. Breathtakingly beautiful view especially since we had an earlier dinner and enjoyed the sunset. We ordered a sushi roll for an appetizer, and the sauce with it was divine.

For dinner, I ordered the chef special of Mahi Mahi with a lemon butter sauce that melted in my mouth. Rice pilaf on the side with fresh steamed vegetables. It made me think bad to the Julie & Julia movie when Julie makes a very tasty dish and asks if it's rude to say yum. I said Yum that included a moan in the 'm' and chewed so slowly, eyes closed because it was the most elegant and smooth taste of Mahi Mahi I have ever had. Delish!!

 I couldn't even finish my dinner halfway though when the Hubby reminded me about their desserts. Taking the remainder of my dinner home with an extra side of the sauce, I readied my palate for dessert. He ordered a creme brulee with berries on top and I ordered a chocolate upon chocolate with berry scrumptiousness. Totally don't remember the name, but that's what I called it. It was rich and smooth but not bitter tasting like some extra chocolate desserts are. There was a balance of the rich chocolate with the fresh berries and sauce, that made me want a glass of milk and time alone with my yumminess.


After our glass of wine - Riesling for me, Pinot Noir for the Hubby, we walked around the courtyard area enjoying the time and company. This is our second time here and I can't say enough about it. The service was impeccable and the food was prepared perfectly. It was a great way to spend our romantic night before summer really began.

Our local Outback Steakhouse

Sometimes it's nice to not have to cook and do dishes, right? I agree. After picking a friend up from the airport who was coming home from Scotland, it nearly dinnertime. Jet-lagged about 8 hours off schedule, she was too exhausted to get a bite to eat. So we dropped her off and I realized I hadn't pulled anything out for dinner.

Hmmm... (waiting for the Hubby to say lets eat out)

Quickly, the Hubby has a bright idea - "Let's eat out!" (Love that guy). So we headed down to Outback, knowing they always have some kind of special we can share, but never knowing which one. Low and behold, they have a "No Worries Wednesdays". Thank you Holy Spirit for directing us there. I got my 6 oz sirloin and the Hubby ordered an 8 oz prime rib. We both had salads, bread, and shared cheese fries (with a side a jalapenos) and our bill was only $32. With all that food, we actually had enough to have lunch the next day - so you do the math on what dinner really costs us. :)

About the service... our server was Mark and he was okay. The salads came out about 90 seconds before our entrees and when we were ready to pay we honestly waiting about 7-8 minutes for him to come and collect payment. He was very nice though, so I'd still give him a thumbs up. The manager, Kori, however was one of the best I have ever seen in quite a while. I give her 100% on management travel paths and touching tables. With our issue of the food coming out too quickly, she came by unexpectedly and tripped over herself apologizing and offered to buy us dessert. She was kind, gracious, and acted like she truly enjoyed her job. Not very often do I see that these days. A great manager - I pray she is recognized for her efforts.

Johnnie's Grill

While on a storm chasing trip last weekend, I was searching through the restaurant listings in El Reno, OK and checking out the reviews on Yelp. El Reno is not a large town, although very quaint in nature. We decided on Johnnie's Grill because of all the rave reviews it received on Yelp. The only bad ones were about not going during the rush hour because service was lacking. It was about 2:30 in the afternoon when we stopped by and there were only 4-5 other tables of guests in the place. Just having burgers the night before, we decided on the famous coneys. The Hubby ordered his with chili and cheese and I ordered mine plain, along with a large side of tater tots to share. This was after we were assured they were all beef hot dogs (we don't eat any pork for health reasons - that stuff is ridiculously bad for us!). A short time passed when one of the cooks brought our food by - Greg's was smothered so we couldn't see the hit dog, but since my were plain, we got to see the actual meat and we were so glad we did. The hot dogs were PINK. I was shocked and astounded. I asked why they were pink and he said it's a color that the distributors inject into the hot dogs.

Why do hot dogs need to be colorful?

I told him I could not eat them and neither could the Hubby since we have food coloring dietary restrictions for our health. Neither of us are allergic to food coloring, but there is honestly no need for it in our food. People say we eat with our eyes, which I agreed, but food can be just as colorful naturally. Pink hot dogs that were supposed to be all beef? Ummmm, no.

Service was cordial, but no smiles or helpful suggestions. I'm sure questions and requests like ours (no pork or food coloring) don't happen very often. Management should really train their staff to be more open to the needs of the guests and respectful. The whole thing felt off some how - couldn't really put my finger on it. To add to the feeling I had, they did not accept debit or credit cards, cash and check only. I know some Mom and Pop places are like that due to the fees credit card companies charge, but I also know the less ethical ones do it so they don't have to claim all their sales. I'm not saying I know the facts, just stating my opinion. Something didn't feel right to me, and we were glad to leave that place and find another restaurant to share our business with. Zero stars for food and service for Johnnie's Grill. Disappointing to say the least.

Boston's - pizza and beer

Not sure if I have written about this place before and considering I am catching up on some past experiences, I realized I still have a love for pizza. Maybe it's not just a teenage or young twenty-something passion. Cold pizza isn't quite as appealing as it was before - maybe that's the only sign that I'm growing up. For my milestone birthday (not saying which milestone), my sweet Hubby took me to Boston's for my free flatbread. Checking with the server about just how spicy the Spicy Chicken Pesto flatbread was, I decided to go for it. Besides, it would go great with my Sam Adams seasonal beer that had already been ordered. While the menu boasted of a crispy crust, I like that it wasn't too crispy. Toppings were chicken, basil pesto, poblano peppers, diced tomatoes, feta and mozzarella cheese. Divine...

The Hubby ordered wings and usually they are fantastic, but the last two times we ordered them, they were on the fattier side. He ordered the garlic wings and I had one - good flavor - intense garlic. Let's just say, not too many kisses happened until I gave him a peppermint - lol. 

Gusto Pizza Company

We took a weekend trip to see the children in Iowa (my Spring Break, but not theirs - they don't get the normal week long Spring Break (!?!?)) and Greg found a fantastic gourmet pizza place for us to eat dinner one night. Gusto Pizza Company. Great atmosphere and layout of the dining room and kitchen. Be prepared to wait a bit for the pie, it's worth it though! The children, well teenagers really, just wanted pepperoni... at a gourmet pizza place. The lady behind the counter was like...really? 

Really. 

So they shared a whole pepperoni pizza. Exciting, but they loved it. 

Greg and I shared the Mona Lisa - his pick. I was kind of skeptical, until I tried a bite. After that, he was lucky he got a piece! Crust, rosemary olive oil, garlic, cremini mushrooms, roma tomatoes, kalamata olives, romano, and fresh ricotta. WOW. I savored every bite of it. Couldn't even order a beverage because I didn't want to change the taste I had in my mouth from the pizza. 

Something (besides the children) to look forward to driving to Iowa for. Highly recommend. 

Storm chasing dinner - Portobello Grille

We started our storm chasing weekend in Elk City. Figured it was a pretty central location for Saturday's forecast. Searching through Yelp, there were only 2 highly recommended places to eat since I'm shying away from fastfood places. After checking into the hotel and getting their recommendation, we headed across the street to the Portobello Grille. The Hubby and I both ordered burgers - mushroom and swiss for him, and cheese and avocado for me. No lie, they looked and tasted like I made and grilled them at home. For the $10 each, it was so worth it! For my side i chose the homemade tomato basil soup and after the burger I shouldn't have been surprised. One word - deliciousness. I look forward to storm chasing in Elk City again!