I picked Lori up from work Wednesday night and one of the first things out of her mouth was, “Where are you taking me to dinner?” She does this sort of thing every once in awhile when she’s bored with home cooked meals. I’m almost always open to suggestion, when it comes to food, so I told her it was up to her. She suggested Texas Roadhouse, and I quickly agreed.

We hadn’t been there in awhile so I was looking forward to the yeast rolls, which are excellent. I haven’t had yeast rolls that good since Quincy’s Steak House closed in Gainesville.

We usually both go for their great steaks but I wanted something a little different. I asked our waiter why the “Country Fried Chicken” was called “Country Fried”, he said he wasn’t sure but it was fried chicken, so I ordered that along with a double order of steamed vegetables. I figured I was already doing enough damage without going after the fries or something else with hundreds of calories. Lori ordered the steak and a baked sweet potato with steamed vegetables.

I was already for some fried chicken, which I have cut way back on since we’ve been trying to lose weight. (Seems fried chicken and weight loss just don’t go together.) I could already taste the greasy goodness as the server brought our food but alas, it was not meant to be, a cruel joke had been played on this hungry Traveler.

It seems that “Country Fried Chicken” consists of flattened chicken breasts that have been deep fried with white gravy over them, not at all what I had in mind. No skin, no grease, this just wasn’t right. But I’m a reasonable guy and I’m usually willing to try new things, even if they aren’t what me or the waiter thought I was ordering. So I dug in and decided to make the best of it.

Truth is, it wasn’t bad once I got over my disappointment. The chicken was fried after all even if it was skinless. It wasn’t over fried and dry, the outside was just crispy and the inside actually had a little juice running around, not grease mind you but juice none the less. The gravy was pretty good as well but there wasn’t quite enough for my taste, I’ve always believed that if your going to put gravy on something, MAKE A STATEMENT!

The steamed vegetables were cooked perfectly but they were the same steamed vegetables that you seem to get at most restaurants these days; broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. BORING but good. (I like vegetables)

So all in all, it was enjoyable and tasty in places, I mean there were the yeast rolls. Next time we go there though, I think I’ll order the “Oven Roasted Chicken”, it’s still not fried chicken but I think I’ll enjoy it more. I did give the waiter a short lesson in what I had learned about “Country Fried Chicken“, just so he wouldn’t be giving out false information to any other unsuspecting patrons.

Lori and I were on our weekly shopping trip to Ocala and decided to eat at the local Outback Steakhouse. It’s their twentieth anniversary and they’ve added some things to their menu. According to our waiter, Rob, they’re trying to step up their menu a little.

I got the Slow-roasted Sirloin Medley and it was excellent!

Slow-Roasted Sirloin Medley - NEW!
Perfectly roasted slices of sirloin drizzled with fresh herbs, garlic, olive oil and lemon
surrounded by grape tomatoes and asparagus, served atop sautéed spinach and a
jumbo, homemade Outback crouton …………………………………………………………….$13.99

The sirloin itself was roasted to perfection, just rare enough. The grape tomatoes were cooked perfectly as well, still holding their shape but juicy and flavorful when bitten into. The sautéed spinach was very tasty and not the least bit slimy or tough. The sauce was most excellent, just the right taste to compliment but not over power the other ingredients. I wasn’t quite sure what they were trying for with the giant crouton but then I tried it and I understood. It soaks up all the different juices from the other ingredients and is a welcome end to the dish, reminding you of each of the tastes.

My only complaint concerning my order was that there wasn’t more asparagus and the few pieces there were, were fairly tough.

Lori ordered, as a side, their new Vanilla Bean Mashed Sweet Potato. She was raving about it so I had to try it and I must say I understand why. It leans more toward dessert than an actual meal side but I could eat it during any portion of the meal. It’s preparation reminded me almost of their Hot Apple Pecan Cobbler. Topped with rolled oats and other crusty delights with just a hint of vanilla. I almost ordered some to bring home.

We had an enjoyable time other than a couple ordering snafus with Lori’s order. Rob, our waiter handled it like a pro and had us laughing and joking in no time.

We asked him about something we’ve been noticing at a lot of the restaurants we’ve been in lately. According to Rob, they are going to a more “team” approach to service. They have servers who bring the food to the table as soon as it’s prepared instead of waiting for the actual waiter or waitress.

Excellent idea in theory, but there is a little bit of a down side. When the same person who took your order brings your order, they tend to notice whether the meal is prepared as ordered. When a separate server brings your food, that doesn’t usually happen. That means that quite a few of the mistakes that would normally get headed off in the kitchen are actually delivered to the table. It’s much easier and faster to fix the mistakes when they’re caught in the kitchen and the patron is rarely the wiser.

So, even though the new “team” approach gets you your food faster, I think I would rather wait for the waiter and have a better chance of receiving my meal as I ordered it.

Overall, we rated our meal quite high, we both enjoyed the new additions to the menu. The Outback is also quite good at consistency which means that the dish you ordered and enjoyed last week will be prepared the same this week.

If you are a regular at Outback, haven’t been for awhile or have never been, we highly recommend you give them a try if only for their new additions. One word of advice, if you aren’t fond of pepper you might ask them to go easy or skip the spice all together. They like to pepper their steaks quite liberally and there really is no need because their steaks are always tasty on their own.

Link to story:

http://www.gainesvillesun.com/article/20080404/NEWS/804040359/1002/NEWS