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.

Third Ward Cafe

Third Ward Cafe
225 E. St. Paul
Milwaukee, WI.

The Third Ward Cafe is located directly across the street from the MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MARKET which, by the way, the letter "L" in "PUBLIC" has been burned out on their big neon sign for almost a year, which has not gone unnoticed by me. I keep wondering if anyone over there is going to take notice of what a huge public relations blunder this is (Or maybe I should say PUBIC RELATIONS)?
The occasion for visiting the Third Ward Cafe was my wife's & my birthday. We decided to park the daughter with my sister in-law and head out for a fancy date. No reservation was necessary.
The food served here is Italian Bistro Style. There is a rather brightly lit dining room with an olive & beechwood theme reminiscent of a WILLIAMS SONOMA store. It is flanked by an Italian Deli & small Italian grocery which is all part of the same enterprise. A rather casual meal can be had to go from the deli, including pasta salads, panini and pizza or, an entire picnic could be planned, right down to the basket, from the grocery store.
From my perspective, I was treating this as a fancy night out and I expected the staff to reciprocate though, to my surprise the service (except for the hostess) was very brusque and short. I got no sense from the wait staff that they gave a durn that this was a fancy experience for us. It seemed that, for most 3rd Ward residents who appear to have the best of everything, this was just a casual place to blow 150 dollars on a meal.
This aside, the food was well prepared and straighforward. For starters we had two different salads. A Spinach, Peach, Strawberry Salad with Pralines and a Pear Gorgonzola Salad with Door County Cherrries. The ingredients were fresh and excellent. The salads lugged along a 10 - 12 dollar price tag. An appetizer of mussels and several soup selections also caught my eye.
For our entrees I had the Chicken Piccata. This consisted of two chicken breasts pan fried with a tangy lemon caper sauce. It was served with a simple side of steamed carrots, broccoli, and zucchini. My partner had Pasta Livorno in Tomato Cream Sauce with Salmon. The salmon was cooked medium well and served in chunks on top of the pasta & sauce which was infused with the flavor of dill. Both of these dishes carried hefty 22 & 19 dollar price tags, respectively.
Some other menu items which looked tempting were the Braised Beef Short Ribs (24 dollars) and the Seared Scallops with Cannellini Beans and Pancetta (25 Dollars). Several of the entrees could be made with either chicken or veal. There was also a pizza section and a create your own pasta dish section. I still couldn't get over the prices of the fare, which seemed to be marked up about 25 to 30 percent more than it should have been.
Dessert consisted of Lemon Gelato with Limoncello Liqueur served in a flute glass, and Mandarin Orange Gelato, which was served in a hollowed out mandarin orange hull. The desserts were quite tasty. They carried a price tag in the neighborhood of 10 dollars each.
Throw in one glass of Pinot Noir and a Peroni and the bill came out to one hundred dollars. I guess they gotta pay the exorbitant rent somehow.
Well, I must say the food was nicely prepared, but I will not be going back. My cooking skills are good enough that I could prepare these dishes just as well at home for a fraction of the cost. If you have the hankering for Italian home-style cooking, save your money. Just go to the library and get Lidia Bastianich's cookbook & prepare it yourself.