Thursday, September 3, 2009
This ART is for you
Art, you would love every inch of the Q hotel (formerly know as the Quarterage hotel). From the sheer curtains that divides the lobby form internet/business center to every piece of furniture, carpet, wall paper, and light fixtures. Plus on top of all that the hotel is committed to going "green". You and I must come here come someday soon and check out the Q and KC. A real girls get away. MOM
BOBO's Drive In
EAT here at Bobo's, what a name. You either have to laugh or roll your eyes when you say it. But this was the first true drive in on our trip and we finally found it.
This was the place that I was looking forward to the most and it was almost everything that I expected. Yeah, almost. Guy said they were famous for the Spanish burger and their apple pie and I would agree. Everything else was Sonic grade and not so memorable. When we first pulled in it was a bit confusing on how we were supposed to order and be served. We pulled in to a long line of cars that were covered by an awning and has striped parking slots but no speakers or anything only a giant menu board that could be seen by all cars.
We were sitting in our spot trying to figure out what to do when suddenly a car hop walked up to us and put a plastic card with a number on it under our windshield wiper. I have no idea how they keep up with who is coming or going or how long they have been there but somehow they do. She asked us for our order and we ordered the daily special of a pork sandwich fries and a coke. We also ordered the Spanish burger, onion rings a root beer float and apple pie. When they give it to you it is on a tray that his hooked to your window like they did in the old days. No paper bags here! That is unless you order take out.
This was the place that I was looking forward to the most and it was almost everything that I expected. Yeah, almost. Guy said they were famous for the Spanish burger and their apple pie and I would agree. Everything else was Sonic grade and not so memorable. When we first pulled in it was a bit confusing on how we were supposed to order and be served. We pulled in to a long line of cars that were covered by an awning and has striped parking slots but no speakers or anything only a giant menu board that could be seen by all cars.
While we were waiting for our food I went snooping in the enclosed seating area:
And I found proof that Guy had actually been there. Yes he signed their light shade:
The pork sandwich was fine but it is really nothing to write home about nor could you really tell it was pork. The breading was so strong and the pork was so thin that there was no greasiness at all and the pork flavor was totally overpowered. You could fake out your Kosher friends and say "here eat this it tastes just like chicken" then when the chow down tell them "AH HAHAHA It's PORK. Got you!". OK maybe that would be a great trick but not such a nice one after all.
One of the stars of the show, the Spanish burger, was a plain ole burger with a very unique tomato based sauce that really made it taste great. Not hot just good. And it was just a burger onions, pickles, and the sauce on a bun but it was great. The other star was the apple pie. Truly home made with fresh apples and served on a real plate with a real metal fork while everything else was in paper and plastic. But it deserved the special treatment it was something special itself.
Would we go to BoBo's again? Yes.
If you get the chance to touch down in Topeka get to BoBo's and have a Spanish burger and buy a whole pie and bring us a slice or two.
EAT
Brint's Diner
Our first morning in Kansas (on this trip that is) we enjoyed the hotel it was one of those apartment type with a stove and fridge and all. Or at least I did. EAT was feeling all nostalgic for the shabby sheik of the Builtmore. Spend more money get a better place and she likes the decaying best of 60's construction, go figure. We made it to Brint's by 9 and it is just about what you would expect to see as the picture in the encyclopedia under “diner”.
Nothing unique on the menu so I went for the #4 which was 2 eggs poached, corned beef, hash browns, toast, and OJ. EAT got 1 egg over easy, bacon, hash browns, and dry whole wheat toast (her favorite, I think it reminds her of her infancy chewing Melba toast. Now THAT's comfort food), coffee and diet coke caffeine junkie that she is. We also ordered a ½ order of their biscuits and gravy just to try as that is their signature dish.
This place had on the front of their menu a description of when Guy visited them. They are actually in his book and were filmed before the DDD show actually started airing. That means they were one of the first. And for good reason. This was a great diner. All the decor was there down to the regulars and the characters.
The standout work done by the Chef were the eggs. The over-easy were perfectly done with a gentle hand and not over cooked in any way. The poached were also exactly right deep water poached (no circle egg gizmos here) to exactly the right done-ness. Poached eggs are normally served in a separate cup and one of my pet peeves is sometimes the cook will slop water into the cup and the eggs end up sitting in a little puddle. This cook did a great job of draining the eggs as there was no water in the cup. Bravo.
The biscuits were light and the gravy was great with the appropriate amount of sausage bits in it. I am afraid to say that they beat out “The Diner” on this one. But they lose out on the hash browns. Brint's hash browns had a mushy greasy consistency and while they had brown bits on the outside they appeared to be actually undercooked a tiny little bit. The bacon was good and crispy but the corned beef hash was canned.
But we enjoyed everything and in fact when we were winding down in a valiant act of kindness I pulled the remaining hash browns out of EAT's range saying “you have to save room we have a long day”. She agreed with me but kept stabbing her fork at this and that and taking little nibbles. It's going to be a long day.
Would we go back? Yes. For either more biscuits and gravy or to check out their lunch.
Nothing unique on the menu so I went for the #4 which was 2 eggs poached, corned beef, hash browns, toast, and OJ. EAT got 1 egg over easy, bacon, hash browns, and dry whole wheat toast (her favorite, I think it reminds her of her infancy chewing Melba toast. Now THAT's comfort food), coffee and diet coke caffeine junkie that she is. We also ordered a ½ order of their biscuits and gravy just to try as that is their signature dish.
This place had on the front of their menu a description of when Guy visited them. They are actually in his book and were filmed before the DDD show actually started airing. That means they were one of the first. And for good reason. This was a great diner. All the decor was there down to the regulars and the characters.
The biscuits were light and the gravy was great with the appropriate amount of sausage bits in it. I am afraid to say that they beat out “The Diner” on this one. But they lose out on the hash browns. Brint's hash browns had a mushy greasy consistency and while they had brown bits on the outside they appeared to be actually undercooked a tiny little bit. The bacon was good and crispy but the corned beef hash was canned.
But we enjoyed everything and in fact when we were winding down in a valiant act of kindness I pulled the remaining hash browns out of EAT's range saying “you have to save room we have a long day”. She agreed with me but kept stabbing her fork at this and that and taking little nibbles. It's going to be a long day.
Would we go back? Yes. For either more biscuits and gravy or to check out their lunch.
Savute's Italian Ristorante
So we begin the Kansas edition by visiting Savute's.
This restaurant was not on Guy's list. Perhaps he just has not got around to it yet because it certainly qualifies. It is billed as Wichita's oldest Italian restaurant it was opened in 1944 by Rose and Tom Simone and was bought by Rosie's brother and wife John and Mary Savute in 1950. Defiantly a family business. The family is still involved in fact I believe we had daughter Mattie Savute in the dining room on our trip.
Savute's has retained much of the 1940's charm with cheesy big band music in the background (don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of big band and actually play in one but I have heard Dino sing “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. one too many times) and a most pronounced World War 2 south pacific decor ever. The original guy must have been a pilot because there is an airplane theme all over. In fact the menu's back page is devoted to airplane trivia and a reproduction of the “Instrument of Surrender” signed of behalf emperor of Japan and the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers General Douglas Mac Arthur. That is on every menu, every day, for 60 years, these people are seriously stuck in the '40's!
The menu has all the usual suspects that you expect at an Italian restaurant, spaghetti with all the trimmings, ravioli, lasagne, but they also have a few surprises like a dish of anchovies for an appetizer, and beef scallopini, A La Provolone. EAT and I decided that given the events of the day before discretion is the better part of valor so we decided to basically split a single full course meal.
We got a combo platter of lasagne, spaghetti and meat ball, and beef scallopini for our main dish, a plate of anchovies and a standard garden salad for our salad, and an antipasto plate as the appetizer., then we finished it off with a tiramisu.
The salad had a home made Italian dressing on it that actually was a little sweet and good not to vinegary and not too oily. The antipasto plate was a good attempt given that these people have to shop in Wichita and I doubt they have much access to authentic cheeses and sausages. It seemed they just threw a bunch of stuff that they thought was exotic on the plate and put a few toothpicks with paper Italian flag in it. But what the heck it worked out well to pair with the anchovies. They probably know that people in Wichita won't eat Gorgonzola.
I did find that the menu had been corrupted with some local food like Kansas Rib-Eye steak and believe it or not fried chicken. But I cut them some slack because after 60 years they have to play to the local palate a little bit.
The tiramisu was not exciting, not the worst but not the best. It was a little strange that they managed to cut it in a wedge like a cake.
But I found the combo platter to the be the better features. Their sauce was a little bit sweet not like most modern restaurant sauces you get these days where they try to drive you out of our seat with the spices. It gave me a hint of “Chef Boyardee” canned sauce but is was obviously freshly made from an old recipe. I am thinking that this is just about what the Italian-American palate wanted in a spaghetti sauce in the 1940's. I think it us modern people who have changed our opinion of what a spaghetti sauce should be. So I give their sauce a thumbs up. And the meat ball was superb! Great seasoning and very finely ground. My only complaint there was that there was only one and I had to split it with EAT who wouldn't give up even a little sliver of her half!
The lasagne was good with the same sauce and a very good helping of good quality ricotta cheese. No complaints there. But the surprise was the beef scallopini. It is some low grade cuts of meat beaten into submission to about 3/16 of an inch thick and fast grilled on a flat top with again the sauce and vegetables and a glob of mozzarella. When I first bit into it I came across a flavor that took me quite a while to recognize, it was celery! The beef is truly something special.
Would we go back to Savute's? I would. I would like to try a full plate of spaghetti with extra meat balls. EAT on the other hand would not. She thought that for the money spent there was little delight. For the flavors she got she could do better all by herself at home. A split vote.
This restaurant was not on Guy's list. Perhaps he just has not got around to it yet because it certainly qualifies. It is billed as Wichita's oldest Italian restaurant it was opened in 1944 by Rose and Tom Simone and was bought by Rosie's brother and wife John and Mary Savute in 1950. Defiantly a family business. The family is still involved in fact I believe we had daughter Mattie Savute in the dining room on our trip.
Savute's has retained much of the 1940's charm with cheesy big band music in the background (don't get me wrong I'm a big fan of big band and actually play in one but I have heard Dino sing “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie. one too many times) and a most pronounced World War 2 south pacific decor ever. The original guy must have been a pilot because there is an airplane theme all over. In fact the menu's back page is devoted to airplane trivia and a reproduction of the “Instrument of Surrender” signed of behalf emperor of Japan and the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers General Douglas Mac Arthur. That is on every menu, every day, for 60 years, these people are seriously stuck in the '40's!
The menu has all the usual suspects that you expect at an Italian restaurant, spaghetti with all the trimmings, ravioli, lasagne, but they also have a few surprises like a dish of anchovies for an appetizer, and beef scallopini, A La Provolone. EAT and I decided that given the events of the day before discretion is the better part of valor so we decided to basically split a single full course meal.
We got a combo platter of lasagne, spaghetti and meat ball, and beef scallopini for our main dish, a plate of anchovies and a standard garden salad for our salad, and an antipasto plate as the appetizer., then we finished it off with a tiramisu.
The salad had a home made Italian dressing on it that actually was a little sweet and good not to vinegary and not too oily. The antipasto plate was a good attempt given that these people have to shop in Wichita and I doubt they have much access to authentic cheeses and sausages. It seemed they just threw a bunch of stuff that they thought was exotic on the plate and put a few toothpicks with paper Italian flag in it. But what the heck it worked out well to pair with the anchovies. They probably know that people in Wichita won't eat Gorgonzola.
I did find that the menu had been corrupted with some local food like Kansas Rib-Eye steak and believe it or not fried chicken. But I cut them some slack because after 60 years they have to play to the local palate a little bit.
The tiramisu was not exciting, not the worst but not the best. It was a little strange that they managed to cut it in a wedge like a cake.
But I found the combo platter to the be the better features. Their sauce was a little bit sweet not like most modern restaurant sauces you get these days where they try to drive you out of our seat with the spices. It gave me a hint of “Chef Boyardee” canned sauce but is was obviously freshly made from an old recipe. I am thinking that this is just about what the Italian-American palate wanted in a spaghetti sauce in the 1940's. I think it us modern people who have changed our opinion of what a spaghetti sauce should be. So I give their sauce a thumbs up. And the meat ball was superb! Great seasoning and very finely ground. My only complaint there was that there was only one and I had to split it with EAT who wouldn't give up even a little sliver of her half!
The lasagne was good with the same sauce and a very good helping of good quality ricotta cheese. No complaints there. But the surprise was the beef scallopini. It is some low grade cuts of meat beaten into submission to about 3/16 of an inch thick and fast grilled on a flat top with again the sauce and vegetables and a glob of mozzarella. When I first bit into it I came across a flavor that took me quite a while to recognize, it was celery! The beef is truly something special.
Would we go back to Savute's? I would. I would like to try a full plate of spaghetti with extra meat balls. EAT on the other hand would not. She thought that for the money spent there was little delight. For the flavors she got she could do better all by herself at home. A split vote.
The things I see in the waiting room
EAT here. Here are some pictures of things that caught my eye during the car ride. SET has told you that I'm left brain and in a waiting room I would notice the colors and shapes and design, here are things that I made Set pull over for. A windmill on a Oklahoma farm, flowers along the roadside in Kansas. I especially like the bees on the purple thistles, the yellow sunflowers against a mid afternoon sky in August. Vote for your favorite.
And I didn't flip the truck over after all.
Mama E's afterthought
Ok we were not being totally upfront about our breakfast yesterday. We actually took leftovers from Mama E's because we felt compelled to "clean our plate" as to not make them feel bad. With everything else we got desserts with our meals. I got a slice of lemon pound cake and EAT got a slice of sweet potato pie. Let me tell you these guys know their sugar. The cake and pie were sweet, sweet, sweet! There was so much sugar that ambulances should carry a slice as a treatment for insulin shock:
"This patitent is in insulin shock, administer a half a slice of the sweet potato pie--- STAT"
Later after transporting to the hospital.
"But doctor we tried to keep the pie away from him but he gobbled the whole piece when we looked away.". Doctor, "That's alright don't worry we will just put him in intensive care and monitor his blood sugar levels until he stabilizes. But please watch that pie around the patients it's powerful stuff!".
Yes they were sweet but the sweet potato actually tastes like potato. Normally sweet potato tastes like pumpkin pie to me. And the lemon pound had little flakes of lemon in it to make it taste bright and lively in all the sweetness.
So would we go back to Mama E's? Yes, to get a pie.
"This patitent is in insulin shock, administer a half a slice of the sweet potato pie--- STAT"
Later after transporting to the hospital.
"But doctor we tried to keep the pie away from him but he gobbled the whole piece when we looked away.". Doctor, "That's alright don't worry we will just put him in intensive care and monitor his blood sugar levels until he stabilizes. But please watch that pie around the patients it's powerful stuff!".
Yes they were sweet but the sweet potato actually tastes like potato. Normally sweet potato tastes like pumpkin pie to me. And the lemon pound had little flakes of lemon in it to make it taste bright and lively in all the sweetness.
So would we go back to Mama E's? Yes, to get a pie.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Eischen's
After Tuesdays food binge we skipped breakfast, even thought it would have been at Nick's (the magic place). I would like to claim that this decision was because of a superior sense of responsibility for our health but the truth is that our coma's didn't break until about 8am. After the mandatory 2 hour daily ablution period we were pretty much getting into Nick's lunch crowd. So we decided to head off for the lunch stop Eischen's.
Eischen's Bar has been in Oklahoma for around 103 years. This bar is family owned and run from the beginning. The grandfather started it and his sons re-opened it after prohibition and now his great-granddaughter is the bartender as well as owner. During prohibition it shifted to a grocery store (which later became an IGA) but as soon as prohibition stopped it went right back to being a bar. They claim to be the oldest in Oklahoma and with an over 100 year history they most certainly are. The grocery store is long shut down but they actually keep a small "museum" which is really a glass case with memorabilia from the grocery store days (see the produce scale to the right?). This speaks to the long history of this bar. How many other bars do you know that have a museum inside?
The bar originally had a huge hand carved wooden bar imported from Spain that they bought and installed in the 1950 in an attempt to bring some more character to the bar. But the building burned down in 1993 and that old bar mostly burned with it. The rebuilt the same year and now the decorations include souvenirs from the fire including a piece of the wooden bar.
The up side to Eischen's is the food. Their signature dish is their fried chicken and EAT and I both agree that it is the best fried chicken in Oklahoma and probably the best anywhere. You can't order a 2 piece or a 3 piece meal like at that place named with initials. Look at the menu the only size available is a whole chicken. Fried okra is the only side dish and there are no deserts. I don't know about the other dishes, I am sure they are great, but when in Eichen's there really is nothing else that you should eat but the fried chicken.
When our waiter (who was also the bartender and owner and great-granddaughter and perhaps mayor and judge ah-la "Green Acres" I'm thinking) said that most people get the whole fried chicken and split it EAT rolled her eyes and said "right" under her breath. We went ahead and ordered the famous chicken and the only side and they promptly brought out a bunch of white paper to serve as plates and a tray of sweet and dill pickles, sliced onions, and bread. Weird we thought but we began nibbling at the pickles and onions a bit like they were chips and salsa or something and we started to warm up to the idea of condiments as appetizers.
This is not a super fast place, they obviously actually cook everything right when it is ordered so we had to wait for about 20 min. They brought out the fried okra in a boat sized tray, it looked like about a full pound of okra, along with some packets of ranch dressing which we could not even imagine putting on the okra. As we began to eat that it became obvious that they really know what they are doing back there. The breading was good and flavorful and perfectly brown. The okra had no hint of sliminess and that is quite a mean feat! We got the chicken, all 8 pieces, a bit later after EAT had eaten about one third of the okra and we started in after a slight cooling off period, it was fresh from the fryer remember. The chicken is obviously marinaed or brined or something because every piece was jucy and tender. It did not appear to be "dipped" in a batter because the coating was too thin. It appeared to be hand washed and dredged like fried chicken ought to be. The coating was great a very good mix of spices but not the least bit overbearing.
At the end of it all somehow EAT and I managed to actually eat the whole thing.
Eischen's Bar has been in Oklahoma for around 103 years. This bar is family owned and run from the beginning. The grandfather started it and his sons re-opened it after prohibition and now his great-granddaughter is the bartender as well as owner. During prohibition it shifted to a grocery store (which later became an IGA) but as soon as prohibition stopped it went right back to being a bar. They claim to be the oldest in Oklahoma and with an over 100 year history they most certainly are. The grocery store is long shut down but they actually keep a small "museum" which is really a glass case with memorabilia from the grocery store days (see the produce scale to the right?). This speaks to the long history of this bar. How many other bars do you know that have a museum inside?
The bar originally had a huge hand carved wooden bar imported from Spain that they bought and installed in the 1950 in an attempt to bring some more character to the bar. But the building burned down in 1993 and that old bar mostly burned with it. The rebuilt the same year and now the decorations include souvenirs from the fire including a piece of the wooden bar.Now the down sides of Eischen's are three things;
1. It is in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. Really! All around is nothing but farms and oil wells. It is about an hour outside of OKC and all the other businesses are just supporting roles to the farms and oil business. On our way out there I saw the largest pump jack that I have ever seen, it was easily as tall as the full grown silver leaf maples around it. This is Oklahoma oil country.
2. It is a bar. Not a fancy martini piano bar. It is a beer bar in red neck country replete with a group of young men sitting at a table and glaring at you when you walk in. The lighting was very dark, like it always is in such bars. The floor was covered with dancing "dust" which are little wax grains they spread out to that help you slide on the linoleum while dancing. There were arcade games all over like the "claw", pinball, an arm wrestling machine, and a fortune teller. I half expected to see cattle prods hanging behind the bar for the bar tenders to use when the patrons got out of hand (believe me EAT and I have actually been a bar where that WAS the case).
3. The menu is very limited. In fact here is the whole thing it was pasted on the side of one of the arcade machines:
You can hardly read it but at the bottom it says "We serve Beer, Pop & Wine Coolers. No Tea or Coffee".
Saying they serve beer is a stretch. They proudly offer all of the Budweiser beer products and most of the Coors beer products and that's really it. Now call me cynical but I REALLY don't think that a German man fresh over here in the late 1800's would call anything Budweiser makes beer! He would probably refer to the 3.2 ultra light pilsener that graces the grocery stores shelves (and this bar) around here as some sort of water that comes out of an animal (this last statement edited to keep it clean). But we are in rural Oklahoma and I am pretty sure a micro-brewery would die on the vine out here so they are pretty much playing to the crowd with their bar list.
The up side to Eischen's is the food. Their signature dish is their fried chicken and EAT and I both agree that it is the best fried chicken in Oklahoma and probably the best anywhere. You can't order a 2 piece or a 3 piece meal like at that place named with initials. Look at the menu the only size available is a whole chicken. Fried okra is the only side dish and there are no deserts. I don't know about the other dishes, I am sure they are great, but when in Eichen's there really is nothing else that you should eat but the fried chicken.
This is not a super fast place, they obviously actually cook everything right when it is ordered so we had to wait for about 20 min. They brought out the fried okra in a boat sized tray, it looked like about a full pound of okra, along with some packets of ranch dressing which we could not even imagine putting on the okra. As we began to eat that it became obvious that they really know what they are doing back there. The breading was good and flavorful and perfectly brown. The okra had no hint of sliminess and that is quite a mean feat! We got the chicken, all 8 pieces, a bit later after EAT had eaten about one third of the okra and we started in after a slight cooling off period, it was fresh from the fryer remember. The chicken is obviously marinaed or brined or something because every piece was jucy and tender. It did not appear to be "dipped" in a batter because the coating was too thin. It appeared to be hand washed and dredged like fried chicken ought to be. The coating was great a very good mix of spices but not the least bit overbearing.
At the end of it all somehow EAT and I managed to actually eat the whole thing.
Would we go back to Eischen's? Absoutly! Would we go out of our way to do it? Absoutly! But not on a weekend night I hear they get "off the hook" busy and you have to stand in line. We can't be having any of that standing in line stuff!.
The best part is we heard that they would be on DDD from Guy's website and the episode that they will be featured in will show on the food network on Sept 7. Be sure to watch.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Mama E's
We arose from our slumber and focused ourselves on the task at hand. It was time to get back on task and pick the mantle of responsibility back up. We must go therefore and EAT!
So we got on the road to Mama E's, a soul food resturant.
Mamma E's is located in not the best section of town and their building architecture is early 90's home depot. Not that there is anything wrong with that doesn't the definition of DDD include Dives? What is "soul food" anyway? In our most common definition it means comfort food of black heritage. I don't actually think it can be properly prepared or served by any hodie-todie 4 star restaurant. It has to be experienced in a back water out of the way place where people only care about the food. This place definatly fits that description but never the less I was excited. I am actually a big fan of "soul food" and was pretty pumped to be getting the real stuff.
Notice Guy's stencil on the wall?. When they introduced their available dishes they actually named their famous "Waffles and Wings" as being featured on Food Network.
EAT went for the "Waffels and Wings" special which comes with sweetpotatoe pie and over sweetened KoolAid. She also selected what would turn out to be the best dish of them all, a side of their black-eyed peas. When we say "Waffles and Wings" it is just that. A fresh made Belgium waffle and chicken fried wings and powered sugar. Then they supplied us with a big bottle of syrup that is intended to be put over the whole thing. Strange. But the waffle was actually very good. Eating the wings proved to be challenging because they were fresh from the oil and were about 5000 degrees hot. We had to wait quite a while before we could even handle them. But the peas were great perfectly seasoned and probally worth the trip just to taste them. I got things off of their pre-prepaired service line. I got the "Smothered Ribs", "Chicken and stuffing", "Mashed potatoes and gravy", and "Collard Greens". 
I enjoyed the potatoes and the chicken and stuffing were great. The chicken seemed to be roasted but were pretty much buired in stuffing, no problem there! The ribs were simmered in brown gravy and onions and I was quite excited about that until I actually bit into it and found it to be very tough. Not good. Tough ribs are a primary fo-pa in rib land. Ok but on to the collard greens. They did a pretty good job with them and they were obviously made fresh but I was underwhelmed. Don't ask me why they just didn't trip my trigger. Then EAT tells me that the wings were just ho-hum and the waffle had absorbed so much syrup that it was just a glob of sweet (that between us we managed to wolf down by the way). It was all starting to unravel. My expected experience of un known soul food tastes was fading fast. I didn't know what to do so we started talking about how full we were and the wait staff brought us a bag to take things to go. I picked up my teeth-chatteringly sweet KoolAid and we slided out the door heading for the truck. Only to be met at the door by the owner and cook:
He was reasonably asking us what we thought of the food so I came up with the quickest complementary statement that I could that wasn't a lie. "It was better than the Cattleman's restaurant". He replied that his wife had been trying to get him to go there but he couldn't see spending the money. I told him not to bother that he had them beat.
Would I recommend Mama E's? Yes, simply experiencing the delightful friendly and cheerful wait staff, the location, and the unusual menu is something that everyone should enjoy at least once. Will I be going back alone? In other words will I be going back without having someone else along for the purpose of giving them this experience for the first time? Probably not. I really hate saying that because I WANT the resturant to be great. It turns out that the owner is the pastor of a local Church and all the profits go into the Church. The restaurant is an income source for the mission of that Church.... I left a big tip.
When the wait staff found out that we traveled down just to eat at their place (along with other places) they brought us a magic marker and asked us to sign their wall (the walls are covered with messages from patrons. So if you ever go there look in the corner for "Amazing Grace Amazing Food SET and EAT broken arrow OK 9-02-09" that's us.
So we got on the road to Mama E's, a soul food resturant.
Mamma E's is located in not the best section of town and their building architecture is early 90's home depot. Not that there is anything wrong with that doesn't the definition of DDD include Dives? What is "soul food" anyway? In our most common definition it means comfort food of black heritage. I don't actually think it can be properly prepared or served by any hodie-todie 4 star restaurant. It has to be experienced in a back water out of the way place where people only care about the food. This place definatly fits that description but never the less I was excited. I am actually a big fan of "soul food" and was pretty pumped to be getting the real stuff.So we went in with high hopes. They are the only restaurant so far who actually acknowledged the DDD show and that they had been featured on it:
Notice Guy's stencil on the wall?. When they introduced their available dishes they actually named their famous "Waffles and Wings" as being featured on Food Network.
EAT went for the "Waffels and Wings" special which comes with sweetpotatoe pie and over sweetened KoolAid. She also selected what would turn out to be the best dish of them all, a side of their black-eyed peas. When we say "Waffles and Wings" it is just that. A fresh made Belgium waffle and chicken fried wings and powered sugar. Then they supplied us with a big bottle of syrup that is intended to be put over the whole thing. Strange. But the waffle was actually very good. Eating the wings proved to be challenging because they were fresh from the oil and were about 5000 degrees hot. We had to wait quite a while before we could even handle them. But the peas were great perfectly seasoned and probally worth the trip just to taste them. I got things off of their pre-prepaired service line. I got the "Smothered Ribs", "Chicken and stuffing", "Mashed potatoes and gravy", and "Collard Greens". 
I enjoyed the potatoes and the chicken and stuffing were great. The chicken seemed to be roasted but were pretty much buired in stuffing, no problem there! The ribs were simmered in brown gravy and onions and I was quite excited about that until I actually bit into it and found it to be very tough. Not good. Tough ribs are a primary fo-pa in rib land. Ok but on to the collard greens. They did a pretty good job with them and they were obviously made fresh but I was underwhelmed. Don't ask me why they just didn't trip my trigger. Then EAT tells me that the wings were just ho-hum and the waffle had absorbed so much syrup that it was just a glob of sweet (that between us we managed to wolf down by the way). It was all starting to unravel. My expected experience of un known soul food tastes was fading fast. I didn't know what to do so we started talking about how full we were and the wait staff brought us a bag to take things to go. I picked up my teeth-chatteringly sweet KoolAid and we slided out the door heading for the truck. Only to be met at the door by the owner and cook:
He was reasonably asking us what we thought of the food so I came up with the quickest complementary statement that I could that wasn't a lie. "It was better than the Cattleman's restaurant". He replied that his wife had been trying to get him to go there but he couldn't see spending the money. I told him not to bother that he had them beat.
Would I recommend Mama E's? Yes, simply experiencing the delightful friendly and cheerful wait staff, the location, and the unusual menu is something that everyone should enjoy at least once. Will I be going back alone? In other words will I be going back without having someone else along for the purpose of giving them this experience for the first time? Probably not. I really hate saying that because I WANT the resturant to be great. It turns out that the owner is the pastor of a local Church and all the profits go into the Church. The restaurant is an income source for the mission of that Church.... I left a big tip.
When the wait staff found out that we traveled down just to eat at their place (along with other places) they brought us a magic marker and asked us to sign their wall (the walls are covered with messages from patrons. So if you ever go there look in the corner for "Amazing Grace Amazing Food SET and EAT broken arrow OK 9-02-09" that's us.
Nap revisitied
Eat. Just finished the Cattleman's Steakhouse blog. Our hotel has a courtyard and our room opens up to it. A lovely breeze is drifting in the room, the air smells clean and fresh, i stretched out across the bed with two soft cushy pillows under my head, I think...I...will....take...a...napZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz........
Nick's Grill
Full to overfull, about to go into some sort of coma state, it is only about 10am so what do we decide to do? Let's go to Nick's early to miss the crowd!
Nick's is an extremely small place with about 8 bar stools and three two person small tables. We got there at 10:45 and there were 4 bar stools left. Most of the patrons were still eating breakfast.
There is nothing wrong with eating breakfast at 10 or so but we were there for lunch, we had just had our breakfast. Just about an hour ago. A full breakfast that neither of us could actually finish. And here we are looking for lunch. WHAT WERE WE THINKING!
Nick's has a rather small menu there are really only about 5 lunch items but each of them are killer. He is famous for his burgers. In fact if you go read some of the other blogs some people think that eating a Nick's hamburger has changed their lives. Well I won't go that far but it is a mighty fine burger! EAT and I just ordered standard cheese burgers and watched Nick and his assistant squeeze past each other trying to do work in a space that only an anorexic supermodel could actually turn around in (I know, I know, anorexic supermodel is an oxymoron). But they got it happening! The assistant asked us for our drinks and what we wanted we grunted back "Coke! Diet! Cheeseburger" trying our best not to let the food already in our stomachs spew forth because we slightly constricted our diaphragms to speak louder. Did I mention that we were already full?
In some feat of telepathy the assistant communicated the order to Nick because we never saw anything written down nor did we see them actually talk about our order. Nick slapped down 2 balls of hamburger meat and things began to cook.
The picture is blurred by the steam but what you are seeing is buns, burgers, and a MESS of onions on the flattop grill. Nick is a master he put the meat down and never touched it again until he turned it once. The next time he touched them was to scoop some onions on them and put cheese to melt on them. And thick! His burgers are as thick if not thicker than you would make for your own back yard grill. No mashed flat white castle burgers here!
The net effect is that almost all the juice from both the burgers and the onions went straight into the bun. Nick finished them off with shredded lettuce, tomato, and your choice of dressings. We had mustard. I don't really remember ordering fries but we both had a serving. There is actually a sign on the menu that split orders and sharing are not allowed so we HAD to order our own burgers. Really, they forced us. Nick triple fried the absolutely fresh curly fries and everything was done right in front of us. We could have touched the fryer if we leaned over the counter and the grill was just a couple feet to the right of that.
The burgers were pretty much the best I have had in a long while, probably ever. And that's saying something I have had some pretty good burgers! The way the meat and onions and bread melded together made every bite absolutely a burst of flavor and goodness. I really don't want to gush on and on like everybody else does when writing about Nick's but you know what? It is deserved! This is the best burger!
And the joint is SO SMALL. People were standing behind me like Ethiopian refugees waiting for food. But I really didn't care because I had the burger and that's all that mattered. I even heard another patron down the way say to someone "you can sit here I don't care what you do as long as I get a burger!". I was thinking "I'm with you buddy!"
And after we ate the strangest thing happened. I wasn't over stuffed. Neither was EAT! How could that be? We had stuffed and stuffed all morning and all of the sudden our bodies just found some place to put it all and let us be comfortable! Was this some sort of culinary magic? Are Nick's burgers magic? I don't know. I can't think anymore I need a nap.
There is nothing wrong with eating breakfast at 10 or so but we were there for lunch, we had just had our breakfast. Just about an hour ago. A full breakfast that neither of us could actually finish. And here we are looking for lunch. WHAT WERE WE THINKING!
Nick's has a rather small menu there are really only about 5 lunch items but each of them are killer. He is famous for his burgers. In fact if you go read some of the other blogs some people think that eating a Nick's hamburger has changed their lives. Well I won't go that far but it is a mighty fine burger! EAT and I just ordered standard cheese burgers and watched Nick and his assistant squeeze past each other trying to do work in a space that only an anorexic supermodel could actually turn around in (I know, I know, anorexic supermodel is an oxymoron). But they got it happening! The assistant asked us for our drinks and what we wanted we grunted back "Coke! Diet! Cheeseburger" trying our best not to let the food already in our stomachs spew forth because we slightly constricted our diaphragms to speak louder. Did I mention that we were already full?
In some feat of telepathy the assistant communicated the order to Nick because we never saw anything written down nor did we see them actually talk about our order. Nick slapped down 2 balls of hamburger meat and things began to cook.
The net effect is that almost all the juice from both the burgers and the onions went straight into the bun. Nick finished them off with shredded lettuce, tomato, and your choice of dressings. We had mustard. I don't really remember ordering fries but we both had a serving. There is actually a sign on the menu that split orders and sharing are not allowed so we HAD to order our own burgers. Really, they forced us. Nick triple fried the absolutely fresh curly fries and everything was done right in front of us. We could have touched the fryer if we leaned over the counter and the grill was just a couple feet to the right of that.
The burgers were pretty much the best I have had in a long while, probably ever. And that's saying something I have had some pretty good burgers! The way the meat and onions and bread melded together made every bite absolutely a burst of flavor and goodness. I really don't want to gush on and on like everybody else does when writing about Nick's but you know what? It is deserved! This is the best burger!
And the joint is SO SMALL. People were standing behind me like Ethiopian refugees waiting for food. But I really didn't care because I had the burger and that's all that mattered. I even heard another patron down the way say to someone "you can sit here I don't care what you do as long as I get a burger!". I was thinking "I'm with you buddy!"
And after we ate the strangest thing happened. I wasn't over stuffed. Neither was EAT! How could that be? We had stuffed and stuffed all morning and all of the sudden our bodies just found some place to put it all and let us be comfortable! Was this some sort of culinary magic? Are Nick's burgers magic? I don't know. I can't think anymore I need a nap.
The Diner in Norman
So I wake up at 5am for no good reason. The Elwood effect in action. I lie there in the dark and just think about things until EAT wakes up. Our plan is to get to Norman before 8 so that we can shoehorn in to the diner before the crowd hits. We needn't have worried, it is a college town, NOBODY was awake before 9:30!
EAT hit the shower and started yelping for some strange reason. Not to long afterwords she came out and declared that the shower was ice cold and that she rushed through giving out a scream every time the cold water hit a new part of her body. Great! I thought the Builtmore was letting us down in yet a new way. But when I went into the ice cave of doom my shower was nice and warm. I figure that EAT ran the water long enough for the hot water to reach us from the boiler that must be a quarter mile away in this airport size motel. But I did think it was nice of her to draw a nice warm bath for me this morning.
Somehow I think that I will be taking the first shower tomorrow.
Going to Norman was a mostly uneventful trip except for a little arguing with the garmin and a dose of OKC rush hour.
"The Diner" Breakfast done right. Not fancy, not big but man let me tell you! This has got to be the best omelet I have ever eaten. Really!
They only do breakfast and lunch and the menu has nothing special except that it does seem to have a few more Mexican breakfast dishes than you would think (but then again it is OKC).
The big special item was the "Chef's choice combination Omelet" so ignoring the lesson of ordering different things that we learned yesterday we both ordered the chef's choice. I did go for the biscuits and gravy and EAT went for dry toast so we switched it up a little bit.
We were not disappointed the eggs were cooked perfectly and where actually fluffy. It had mushrooms in it which most of the time when people put mushrooms in an omelet they end up being raw. These mushrooms were obviously fresh but had actually been cooked. In fact all of the ingredients were cooked and cooked just right. The big surprise was the inclusion of a nicely spiced summer sausage that they had obviously peeled the casing off of (nice touch). I got hash-browns (which I WAY recommend over the french fry option) and they were also cooked perfectly. Not greasy like you get from the deep fried kind but obviously cooked on the flat top to crispy perfection. I didn't even use any ketchup! It was all great and I couldn't stop eating. I knew I had to slow down and save room but I just couldn't. Finally EAT's more cooler head prevailed and she said "Stop Eating!". Only then did I put my fork down and take time to sample the biscuits. The biscuits were light and fluffy and again not greasy.
The gravy was a standard white sauce that in any other restaurant would be the star of the show but on this table was the last runner up. It was sort of like watching the Miss America pageant. I mean all the girls are beautiful and talented and even the last place contestant is a knock out but when in a room together the stars obviously outshine the others.
The Omelet was the star the hash-browns were the first runner up. EAT and I are unanimous in this!
I would not make a trip back to the Cattleman's on purpose but I am really thinking about how we can find a way to swing back to Norman and go to the "The Diner".
EAT hit the shower and started yelping for some strange reason. Not to long afterwords she came out and declared that the shower was ice cold and that she rushed through giving out a scream every time the cold water hit a new part of her body. Great! I thought the Builtmore was letting us down in yet a new way. But when I went into the ice cave of doom my shower was nice and warm. I figure that EAT ran the water long enough for the hot water to reach us from the boiler that must be a quarter mile away in this airport size motel. But I did think it was nice of her to draw a nice warm bath for me this morning.
Somehow I think that I will be taking the first shower tomorrow.
Going to Norman was a mostly uneventful trip except for a little arguing with the garmin and a dose of OKC rush hour.
"The Diner" Breakfast done right. Not fancy, not big but man let me tell you! This has got to be the best omelet I have ever eaten. Really!
They only do breakfast and lunch and the menu has nothing special except that it does seem to have a few more Mexican breakfast dishes than you would think (but then again it is OKC).
The big special item was the "Chef's choice combination Omelet" so ignoring the lesson of ordering different things that we learned yesterday we both ordered the chef's choice. I did go for the biscuits and gravy and EAT went for dry toast so we switched it up a little bit.
We were not disappointed the eggs were cooked perfectly and where actually fluffy. It had mushrooms in it which most of the time when people put mushrooms in an omelet they end up being raw. These mushrooms were obviously fresh but had actually been cooked. In fact all of the ingredients were cooked and cooked just right. The big surprise was the inclusion of a nicely spiced summer sausage that they had obviously peeled the casing off of (nice touch). I got hash-browns (which I WAY recommend over the french fry option) and they were also cooked perfectly. Not greasy like you get from the deep fried kind but obviously cooked on the flat top to crispy perfection. I didn't even use any ketchup! It was all great and I couldn't stop eating. I knew I had to slow down and save room but I just couldn't. Finally EAT's more cooler head prevailed and she said "Stop Eating!". Only then did I put my fork down and take time to sample the biscuits. The biscuits were light and fluffy and again not greasy.
The gravy was a standard white sauce that in any other restaurant would be the star of the show but on this table was the last runner up. It was sort of like watching the Miss America pageant. I mean all the girls are beautiful and talented and even the last place contestant is a knock out but when in a room together the stars obviously outshine the others.
The Omelet was the star the hash-browns were the first runner up. EAT and I are unanimous in this!
I would not make a trip back to the Cattleman's on purpose but I am really thinking about how we can find a way to swing back to Norman and go to the "The Diner".
Stroud as Napa
There are actually many vineyards around Oklahoma I knew about the "Sparks" winery that is in Stroud and was mildly interested in finding it. But when we got into town I saw a sign saying it was about 12 miles away. We really didn't feel like going that far out of our way so, oh well.
On our way back from the booming metroplois of Kendrick I saw a small building and sign for a different wineary named Stableridge. So after the "Rock Cafe" we decided to stop by and check that one out.
It turns out that it was a family owned and run winery and vineyard that has been in operation for about 6 years. The land that it sits on was next door to the land of the current owners and when the 1999 tornado came through it wiped out the previous owners who put the land up for a steal. The current owner bought the land just to clean it up and preserve his property but on a lark he started with messing with growing grapes. Starting with 10 vines and getting up to about 1000. At that point he figured he may as well start making some wine with them.
They have been pretty busy building their business and have won over 40 international wine medals for their wine. In fact one of the wines we tasted had just come from a contest the previous week where it won four awards by itself. What an unexpected treat. Here we are in bo-diddley Italy Oklahoma and we come across a small multi-award winning winery!
We met with the owner and he took us all around the vines and the winery and explained their journey from not even being wine drinkers 6 years ago to being award winning vintners now.
And had the most fun showing us the outdoor pizza oven he had just built and describing the dinners he likes to put on using the oven. We have got to figure out a way to get invited to one of those!
And to top it all off their shop and office was a prestate-hood catholic church that just happened to be on the property and just happened to survive the tornado note the arched windows.
Lots of atmosphere, great wine, direct conversations with the owner, private tour, what a gem of a find! and to think we almost just drove by.
SET
On our way back from the booming metroplois of Kendrick I saw a small building and sign for a different wineary named Stableridge. So after the "Rock Cafe" we decided to stop by and check that one out.
It turns out that it was a family owned and run winery and vineyard that has been in operation for about 6 years. The land that it sits on was next door to the land of the current owners and when the 1999 tornado came through it wiped out the previous owners who put the land up for a steal. The current owner bought the land just to clean it up and preserve his property but on a lark he started with messing with growing grapes. Starting with 10 vines and getting up to about 1000. At that point he figured he may as well start making some wine with them.
They have been pretty busy building their business and have won over 40 international wine medals for their wine. In fact one of the wines we tasted had just come from a contest the previous week where it won four awards by itself. What an unexpected treat. Here we are in bo-diddley Italy Oklahoma and we come across a small multi-award winning winery!
And had the most fun showing us the outdoor pizza oven he had just built and describing the dinners he likes to put on using the oven. We have got to figure out a way to get invited to one of those!
And to top it all off their shop and office was a prestate-hood catholic church that just happened to be on the property and just happened to survive the tornado note the arched windows.
Lots of atmosphere, great wine, direct conversations with the owner, private tour, what a gem of a find! and to think we almost just drove by.
SET
The Cattleman's Steakhouse
Hey it's Eat, After my heavenly nap we made contact with the Sapplings. I finally got to see their new apt, it is in Brick Town area, very DINK interurban chic.
Saw just a streak of CAT but that was it. LSappling says that it take only 10 minutes on her bike to get to the medical college all very convenient. The Sapplings look content, cozy, and happy. Soon we were off to the Cattleman's Steakhouse. Even before Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives I was aware of the reputation of the Cattleman's Steakhouse.
As we got closer to the stockyards (yes it is right at the entrance gate to the stockyards, can't get fresher than that) it was cowboy world. Western wear, cowboy boots and hat stores galore. The interesting thing I'm really enjoying so far are the signs outside the restaurants, original 40, 50 and 60's design, no retro junk here, just classic tacky, I just love it. Upon entering the tacky continues but it is in a good way, you feel that you are back in the 60's and LBJ is president, you gotta know that he carried Oklahoma in the 64 elections. We were seated in a curved corner vinyl bench and table. Drawing of famous country and western singers who have graced the establishment are on the walls, I didn't have a clue who most of them were.
We placed our drink order, believe it or not they have a wine list, we ordered a Pino Noir 2007 from Oregon, very nice. For appetizers we ordered Lamb Fries, yes lamb fries (when we got back to the hotel we checked online for Lamb fries, and Wikipedia listed Cattleman's Steakhouse as one of two resturants famous for them. And yes you knew it was coming...Lamb Fries are a unique dish to Oklahoma. At least according to Wikipedia.). Yes Lamb fries are what you think.
So the question on your blog reader mind is what do they taste like? Well if you squeeze lemon juice on them and then dip them in cocktail sauce they taste like fried something (dip it and fry it, it's the Oklahoma way) with lemon and cocktail sauce. The disturbing thing is how soft, tender, and slightly chewy they are eat, no balls of steel here!
Next our salads arrive and they were not worth describing or of recall. L & JSapplings ordered petite steaks, while I ordered a fillet Mignon and Set ordered a PRIME grade rib-eye steak (if you don't know the difference between choice and prime, look it up). All steaks were cooked as ordered and very delicious.I remembered seeing a baked potato on my plate but can not recall how it tasted. For desert the Sapplings ordered blackberry cobbler and we ordered strawberry shortcake. LSappling thought the cobbler was great and after tasting the cobbler I didn't have the heart to tell her tasted like pie filling since she tells me they are mostly living on mac and cheese. The strawberry shortcake was to mushy, too sweet, too forgettable. Would I recommend the Cattleman's Steakhouse? Yes I would especially if someone else was picking up the tab!.
EAT
Saw just a streak of CAT but that was it. LSappling says that it take only 10 minutes on her bike to get to the medical college all very convenient. The Sapplings look content, cozy, and happy. Soon we were off to the Cattleman's Steakhouse. Even before Diners, Drive-in's, and Dives I was aware of the reputation of the Cattleman's Steakhouse.
We placed our drink order, believe it or not they have a wine list, we ordered a Pino Noir 2007 from Oregon, very nice. For appetizers we ordered Lamb Fries, yes lamb fries (when we got back to the hotel we checked online for Lamb fries, and Wikipedia listed Cattleman's Steakhouse as one of two resturants famous for them. And yes you knew it was coming...Lamb Fries are a unique dish to Oklahoma. At least according to Wikipedia.). Yes Lamb fries are what you think.
So the question on your blog reader mind is what do they taste like? Well if you squeeze lemon juice on them and then dip them in cocktail sauce they taste like fried something (dip it and fry it, it's the Oklahoma way) with lemon and cocktail sauce. The disturbing thing is how soft, tender, and slightly chewy they are eat, no balls of steel here!
Next our salads arrive and they were not worth describing or of recall. L & JSapplings ordered petite steaks, while I ordered a fillet Mignon and Set ordered a PRIME grade rib-eye steak (if you don't know the difference between choice and prime, look it up). All steaks were cooked as ordered and very delicious.I remembered seeing a baked potato on my plate but can not recall how it tasted. For desert the Sapplings ordered blackberry cobbler and we ordered strawberry shortcake. LSappling thought the cobbler was great and after tasting the cobbler I didn't have the heart to tell her tasted like pie filling since she tells me they are mostly living on mac and cheese. The strawberry shortcake was to mushy, too sweet, too forgettable. Would I recommend the Cattleman's Steakhouse? Yes I would especially if someone else was picking up the tab!.
EAT
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