Texas Road House

Our car broke down in West Haven Connecticut, trapped off of exit 57 on I95. A tow truck took the car and left us stranded in a no man's land middle America highway exit for over 29 hours. Trapped and helpless on labor day weekend.

Waiting patiently our visit started out at the Subway for a veggie foot long, then after a good night sleep at a Best Western we hit Denny's for breakfast. We decided to go for a walk so we did laps around the Walmart, then Dunkin Donuts for a pick me up and three hours of crosswords. Still no phone call about the health of our car. Time to eat again, I guess, so we headed to The Texas Roadhouse.

We had been walking from one parking lot to the next all day long-most of the lots were about 1/3 full-but when we came over the parking lot hill of the Hampton Hotel we could see that The Texas Roadhouse was an oasis in this deep abyss. It was 5:30 and this parking lot was packed.

Never in my life would I have stopped to eat at a Texas Roadhouse, I don't enjoy chain restaurants-but I think this was fate-the car break down is what brought me and this upscale fast food establishment together.

We walked in past the large locals waiting for their table. Greeted by 3 teenage girls standing behind a fake wood shack like stand, asking, "Have you ever been to the Texas Road House before?"

"No." I say

They write this information down and hand me a number. Explaining that there are tv monitors all over the restaurant and to look for my number there. We head to the bar to wait and notice peanut shells all over the floor, at The Texas Roadhouse it's customary to eat the free peanuts they give you, and throw the shells on the floor.

Everything is neon, and loud, and painted plywood.

Our number is called and the hostess lights up and says,

"So, you've never been here before?!"

"Nope."

"Well let me show you that right here (pointing to an oven station) we bake all are own bread that comes out of fresh every two minutes, and it comes with our signature cinnamon butter! And here, (points to a cooler filled with meat) you can choose your own cut of beef to be served with your choice of side!"

"Thank you."

We are led to a table in an area called "Willie's Corner". There's a large neon likeness of Willie Nelson playing the guitar hanging on the wall.

Another teenage girl brings us the bread with the signature butter, and takes our order. The cinnamon butter is probably the wrongest thing I've ever tasted in my life. I would have killed for some just regular salty butter-this was sweet and possibly filled with corn syrup and fake cinnamon flavoring.

As we wait for our food to come, I notice plastic cacti everywhere, and the kids at the next table throwing peanut shells at their large uncle as they all laugh. I decide that this would be fun and throw a few shells at my partner, he throws some back, and all is well.

Our dinner arrives- we split one large Dallas Fillet with mushrooms on top, side of mashed potatoes with gravy, and baked beans. The fillet was medium rare and really good. The cut of meat was fantastic and large enough for two people to split, and it was only $16! In fact, all the food was really reasonably priced on the menu-probably the cheapest place you can get a good cut of beef without personally knowing your waitress. Of course, I don't want to know how many antibiotics went into these cows, or how much corn they were force fed-because that night I agreed with myself to dine leaving my food phobias behind in the parking lot.

The baked beans were boring, and I wouldn't recommend them. I think you can get like 50 oz. of beer in a glass for like $6-although I just had a Corona light with a lime for $4. I do want to add that it's a little weird seeing so many teenagers basically running a large business. The wait staff were all under 19, the hosts were about 16, even the bartender looked about 19.

We did eventually get our car fixed and brought to us a 2am. When I pass their neon signs on the interstate, I will look fondly back at my brief affair with Texas Roadhouse.