Lunch at El Paso Chili Company

I went out with some co-workers to a place I've never been to before and was pleasantly surprised. Its a hole in the wall restaurant hidden in an old strip mall off of Lagoon park and the Eastern Boulevard. The servers could all have been your mother or grandmother, always over offering refills.

On the recommendation of a friend, I ordered the cajun burger. It was served on a bun with Lettuce, Tomato, Onions and Mayo, and came with fries. Even without the cheese that I forgot to order, it was very good. My only suggestion would be to update the look of the place, and get rid of the Pepsi products.

Good place for a quick hearty lunch

Aborted dessert.

After eating out at the Olive Room, we were going to stop by Bruno's bakery to bring back a cake to share with our friends. The Perry Hill and Carmicheal location was the closest, so we stopped in around 815pm to pick something up. We spent around 5 minutes looking at each cake, and everyone that had fruit on it looked gross. Either the fruit glaze was turning cloudy, or the strawberries were decomposing.

This is why I no longer buy pastries from Bruno's. Fresh Market is the only way to go.

Dinner at the Olive Room

http://www.noblesandoliveroom.com/OliveRoom/menu.htm

I recently had the opportunity to dine out sans child, and since I've been tired of going to Bonefish all the time at the behest of my significant other, I thought we'd give the Olive Room another try. We've only been there two other times previously, and they've batted about 500. This time was as good as the first time we went there. It was pretty empty when we got there, at 7pm on Saturday night, but with the lighting just barely above pitch dark, it didn't really matter. We could have been alone, had it not been for the Waiter, and the loud cacklings of a party of slightly drunk, obnoxious thirty somethings a few tables away.

For an appetizer we had the Tomato Napolean, which was a tower of lucious thick slices of tomatoes from the farmer's market, bruschetta, bacon, goat cheese, fresh basil, and a warm bacon vineagrette. The S.O. had the Mixed green fruit salad, which was also good.
Dinner consisted of the Duck for myself, and an off menu special of Halibut, prepared in much the same way as the Parmesean crusted Snapper listed on their menu. The duck was well roasted, and the Jicama slaw that accompanied it was also suprisingly tasty. The "fingerling" potatoes served with both entree's were quite dissapointing, and seemed more like quartered new potatoes, instead of the more flavorfull butteryness of whole, roasted fingerlings.

Service was good (not great, but still above par) and attentive enough. We were seated promptly, by our waiter, and drinks were ordered as soon as we sat down, and kept them topped off most of the time. He seemed a little bit scatter brained however, when he couldn't even remember which entree went with which person. There was also no "thanks, come again", or even recognition that we were leaving after we paid the check.

The Atmosphere is still great. The dining room is a small 20'x100' olive drab "closet" which is lit by sparse flood lighting, but mainly tea lights. The Restrooms are cool, featuring a waterfall urinal, and a stainless steel prison toilet with a 6" lucite seat. The portions are smaller than the price, but guess you pay for the quality.

Overall, this is a good place to bring a date, good taste in food, and a full wallet, but not the kids.

Lunch at the Garden Cafe at Southern Homes and Gardens on Vaughn

I stopped in to get some plants, and had a bite to eat at their cafe. The Vaughn SHAG is even better than the Wetumpka location. It is all new and has cool spacious greenhouses. I had a chicken salad croisant, with chips and fruit salad. Their chicken salad has to be the best I've ever eaten. There were big chunks of seasoned white meat, mixed greens and seasoned tomatoes sandwiched between a firm croisant. The fruit salad was also quite good. It consisted of Blueberries, Strawberries, red grapes and muskmelon, all drizzled with a sweet dressing with poppy seeds.

Great food for a light lunch, patio seating available.

Lunch at Nobles

We went to Nobles for lunch recently, and were not very impressed. Let me start out by saying that I've eaten lunch there at least two other times before, and have never been dissapointed. This time was different, however. We sat down almost as soon as we walked in, and continued to do so, ungreated for at least 5 minutes. When our waiter did finally arrive, he joked about us having enough time to decide on what we wanted, and offered no apology. Besides the slowness of our waiter, his appearence left something to be desired as well. He was wearing the standard uniform of a open collared button down, but his T-Shirt underneath was old and threadbare.

I ordered the Blackened Tuna Sandwich with Wasabi Aoli and Sweet Potato Fries, and my guest had the special of the day, Spaghetti and Meatballs, with a side salad. After waiting an increadibly long time for our food to come out, I was sorely dissapointed. The blackened tuna was not blackened, only coated with very hot spices, that had not been blackened at all. The tuna was almost cool to the touch. It had the appearace that it had been cooked ahead of time, or at least seasoned ahead of time, and cooked on a cool stove. The sweet potato fries were all limp, as though they were cooked earlier in the day as well. My guest's spaghetti was watery, probably a result of insufficient draining. The balsamic vineagrette dressing and the mixed green salad was quite good however. We later split a layered strawberry cake which was iced with a wonderfull strawberry icing. It was almost as dense as a fruit bread, but still very good and eat-able.

Overall, I would have to say that either Nobles is slipping, or we just came on a bad day. Either way, that dining experience was bad.

Dinner at Outback Steakhouse.

It had been awhile since I've eaten at Outback, mainly due to my dislike of waiting 45+ minutes for a table. We got there at 5:30, and went straight to our table. I'm still not sure if that is because it was early, or if the new Prattville location has helped to take some of the damand off the Montgomery one.

We ordered the Bloomin' Onion, one of our favorites, aside from Bacon Cheese Fries, and were not dissapointed. We then split the Royal Port catch with the Toowoomba sauce, which is a cream sauce with crawfish tails and shrimp, and a side of steamed veggies. The only thing that dissapointed was the size of the filet, and the Outback standard of zero garnish.
Our waiter was always there when we needed him, and kept our drinks full. It wasn't spectacular service, but it was helpful, and there when needed, which, for Montgomery, is still above par.

Overall, Outback was what we expected from Outback, always great food, and a good dining experience.

Dinner: Bonefish Grill

It's been awhile since I've posted, and although I've reduced the amounts of times I've eaten out, I haven't been very diligent in recording my experiences.

Last night, we ate at Bonefish Grill, again. I had my favorite, the Spinach Bacon Gorgonzola Swordfish. It was delicious, although the gorgonzola was a little cold, and the seasonal vegatable side was very petite. For desert, I had something that I hadn't seen there before, a Banana's Foster. It was 2 scoops of vanilla with a standard banana-cinnamon-rum syrup, and a small sopapilla.

The service was to be expected, great. Our waitress was attentive and kept our drinks constantly refilled.

Bonefish continues to prove that a restaurant can provide quality service and food, provided it hires the right people.

Dessert: Cheesecake Factory, Birmingham

I was in Birmingham, and I thought I'd try some cheesecake at a place that is supposedly so good at it, they call them selves the Cheesecake Factory.

I was originally hoping for a savory cheesecake. I've watched several shows on Food Network where the host has mentioned savory cheesecakes with lobster, crab meat or whatever. Hey this is THE Cheesecake Factory right? They should have it.

Nope, just dessert cheesecakes, so that is what I had, along with some Coffee. I ordered the Toblerone Swiss chocolate cheese cake. It was good, but no great. it had a chocolate and almond topping that was reminiscent of chocolate no-bake cookies. The coffee was mediocre, and made me regret not ordering one of their many coffee or kahlua flavored cheesecakes.

The service was ok, it was 5pm when I stopped in, not busy at all, yet my server still managed to elude me, causing me to wait for refills, and a paid check.

I'd like to try it again, perhaps give one of their entree's a chance.

Lunch: Smokey Bones

I had the opportunity to return to Smokey Bones due to a coworker's going away luncheon. I had the Brisket Lunch with BBQ Beans and fries. This is what I usually get, and with some splashes of their great habanero hot sauce, it was great. The only complaint I've ever had with Smokey Bones is their lack of vegatables.

The service was great, even though we had a table of 10, with even the manager stopping by every now and then to check up on us.

Smokey Bones is the best full service BBQ joint in town, fuhgitabout Country's

Lunch: Fat Man's Smokehouse

Just about the last place I would expect to find good food would be in a gas station convenience store. I've tried my share of quickie burgers and gas station pizza, and they all ended in at the very least, disappointment. Fat Man's Smokehouse is an exception to the rule. They are co-located with a Citgo convenience store off of Cong. Dick and the bypass. This is the second time I've eaten there, and I've left full and happy both times.

SERVICE: N/A, but the folks behind the counter were pleasant to talk to and friendly. The manager even let me have a sample of their rib tips to help make up my mind. There is limited dining available, but no table service.

FOOD: I've had the rib tips and the ribs now. Their lunch combo comes with two sides, and a slice of white bread. They have several choices of BBQ sauce, I liked to mix their Sweet with the hot sauce, it turned out great. The BBQ Baked beans and Potato salad were also great. Drinks were self serve. My only complaint was that the unsweet tea was in an old reused jug, while both tea pots were filled with Sweet Tea. I guess I can't really complain, since everyone seems to like it sweet. Not that I like anything besides Ice in my tea, but I've been given sweet tea before, and it tasted like tea flavored syrup.

If you work anywhere between Coliseum and the Boulevard, Fat Man's is the closest place to go for great BBQ.

Smoking is not permitted, it's a GAS STATION!!!