Thai Bistro & Sushi 
5999 De Zavala Road

just west of I-10

I've found delicious Thai food in just about every part of town, and that now includes the northwestern sprawl of the I-10 corridor.

This place takes up a double in a strip center 4 blocks west of the freeway, and it's obviously no secret. Not many restaurants, in a district so rife with restaurants, can entice people with little time for lunch to wait for tables, but this one manages it.

The décor is nothing special, but it's kept clean and comfortable. The staff is pleasant, service is prompt, and the kitchen manages to keep the crowd turning over (so those waiting by the front door don't have to wait too long). Prices are good.

Orders from the lunch menu are accompanied by hot and sour soup; I ordered the green curry, with chicken, and also ordered summer rolls; my tablemate got sweet and sour pork, which I sampled.

what's that mean?

The soup was tasty, but hardly special; it lacked subtlety and heat, both physical and chemical. It was easily the low point of the meal -- a fairly high low point. Next came two of the biggest summer rolls I've ever seen, stuffed full of good things and plainly meant to be shared. (They were not shared, but only because my friend didn't want any. She's not really the veggie-loving sort of diner.) The sauce served with the rolls was loaded with crushed peanuts, which is generally considered a good thing (though not by me: I find peanuts have a strong flavour that easily masks the more interesting subtleties of a good sauce.)

Then came the green curry, creamy and hot in a large bowl loaded with assorted vegetables, some crisp, some soft; and lots of thin pieces of chicken breast, way more than I would have expected; accompanied by a large scoop of rice. I had ordered it medium-spicy and it still made my eyes water, even though I am (or was, in my youth, at least) fairly tolerant of spicy-hot foods. And I don't think I would have it any other way. The heat, the textures, the flavours: the combination is wonderful complex, all in all one of the best curries I've ever tried.

I sampled my friend's sweet and sour pork and found that it, too, had an admirable texture and nice flavours in combination. If your tastes run to fried foods (and whose doesn't?) it's a dish worth trying.

 

For Real?

Chart House
Tower of the Americas

Well, ain't this a nice surprise! The food at the restaurant atop the Tower is finally as good as the view.

Friends from out of town were, of course, the impetus that got me back up there; next time I'll go of my own free will. And when have I ever been able to say that about the Tower? Never, until now.

First, of course, the ambience of the place could hardly be improved upon. Stunning views, the entire city laid out on a clear day ... other than that garish carpeting, it's just about perfect. Second, the service we had was the kind of service such a venue deserves, the kind one would expect in a fine restaurant. Third, the prices, while not cheap, were about what you'd expect for haute cuisine.

But the big attraction, now (and as we have always, always hoped it would be) is the food. I started with a bowl of Thai shrimp and coconut milk soup, served with a razored pair of slices of fried lotus root, and Oh, my Lord, did that set the standard. It may honestly be said that, after that, nothing much mattered. It was sweetish, milky-smooth and loaded with shrimp cooked to perfection. A selection of interesting breads; the first basket, served hot, was magnificent, but the second, having cooled, was less heavenly. Always a problem with fresh bread.

Next came the main plate. I'd ordered fish tacos, one of my friends ordered shrimp tacos, so naturally we swapped one of each. I got mine with sweet potato fries in place of the regular fries usually offered (a $1 upcharge that is not justified even though it's commonplace, but since I wasn't paying I only cared enough to gripe about it here). The fries were deftly seasoned and well prepared, so that made the upcharge even easier for me to bear.

The fish tacos were good, though not the best I've had here in town. I forgot to ask what kind of fish they used but it was of adequate quality. The tacos were double-wrapped in small corn tortillas that managed to hold together long enough for their purpose. The fish and other ingredients were well prepared and sufficient in quantity, though no more than that.

what's that mean?

The same could be said of the shrimp taco, but in its case the preparation was a cut above. The seasoning used on that dish was of a higher order than the fish tacos. It checked all the boxes for sauce: it added moisture, complemented the flavours of the main ingredient, and added layers of complexity and interest to the dish.

I generally don't rate for value when someone else picks up the check, but I will say that the prices, while high, were not out of line for a restaurant of this quality.

 

A Baby Step Backward

I learned yesterday that Zomato.com's "spoonback" will no longer work when more than one such link is included in a single blog post. That used to not be true, and several times over the last 8 years I've put up posts that included reviews of several restaurants within it -- either travelogues, or comparisons of two similar places; and the spoonback links have worked fine.

Last month I posted a review of two food trucks down the avenue from my house, but the Zomato web site wouldn't pick them up. So now I have removed the spoonbacks for the Ay Papi food truck, and am reposting it here. If you wanna see the blog post reviewing that food truck, click here.

 

She's Right Again

Beto's Comida Latina
8142 Broadway

(just north of Sunset Avenue)

Friends are always telling me that I'm the smartest person they know. Luckily for me, they don't know my wife, who is the smartest person I know. Last night's dinner at Beto's provided further evidence to support that judgment.

I had been to Beto's once before. It was so long ago, it might have been in the last century. (At that time, they had abandoned its Southtown roots for a location near the current one, but on the other side of the street.) I didn't like it. I don't recall now what, exactly, had displeased me about the place back then, but whatever it was, it was sufficient to keep me away for years. But my wife loves the place, and has continually championed it (gently and subtly) until, with an eye toward some kind of future trade-off, I at last agreed to go.

And wouldn't you know it? I have to admit it's a great place.

There's a small dining room on the front end, and a larger patio area out back. Both had live music being performed last night (a Friday): a guitar duo on the patio, a guy with a keyboard in the dining room. Had musical styles been the only consideration, the patio would have been the preferred venue, but the dining room is air conditioned. Shucks.

Anyway. So we take a table in the dining room, and even though we were close to the kitchen and the bar, we were undisturbed by the proximity. Noise wasn't excessive; a great relief in this era of concrete walls and floors. There was, in fact, nothing about the ambience of the place to disparage. I'm choking back tears, can you tell? It was clean, comfortable and pleasant. 

I had read a number of reviews on Zomato.com dissing Beto's service as the only failing of an otherwise-outstanding restaurant. Sadly, though, I can't join that chorus of grousing: our server, Luis, was exceptional: perfectly attentive, informative, straightforward, and pleasantly engaging without being intrusive. I may have had better table service in my life, but no such occasion comes immediately to mind.

I ordered a three-item combination, with a chicken-poblano empanada, a fish taco, and a sweet empanada of banana, leche quemada and pecans for afters. I also asked for a sample of something called chalupa cabra. My wife chose a two-item combo of fish taco and spinach-mushroom quesadilla. Both combinations come with soft drinks, but I had a margarita and she had a vodka concoction called Beto's breeze. (We had our soft drinks put in go-cups, because I'm not one to pass up horchata.)

The margarita was gold instead of the usual green; I don't know why and don't care. It was a little sweeter, a little less tart than is common, but it was very good. And it was only $4. (Note to self: happy hour goes until 7 on Fridays at Beto's.) I tried the Breeze, too, but after a sip of the margarita there was nothing there. 

The chalupa cabra sample came first. It's small chunks of goat meat in a curry sauce, topped with shredded vegetables, a little coconut, and a sprinkle of cotija cheese. In its full version it's served on a flatbread made from the same dough as the empanadas, which I suspect will make it completely irresistible. I made a mental note to include this dish in my order next time I come.

The combination plates are served with rice and beans. Not the kind of rice and beans in Tex-Mex cooking, but fluffy white rice in the Caribbean style, with savoury borracho beans. You can substitute roasted vegetables for the rice and beans, but that strikes me as a mistake, depending somewhat on which veggies are being served; last night's included yellow squash, and that made up my mind for me. 

fish taco, empanada, beans & rice

This was actually my very first fish taco; and while it was good, it had a strong fishy taste that I have avoided for many years. Don't get me wrong: I love fish. But some fish has that peculiar flavour, and I don't much like it. I don't know if it comes from having been frozen, or if it's just the type of fish used. Both possibilities seem unlikely, and it's not a question that raises in me the desire to investigate. It's most noticeable with catfish that's been frozen, but I haven't encountered it in other previously-frozen types. In any case, Beto's uses grilled Alaska pollock, a type of cod (and I often cook previously-frozen cod at home and don't get that fishy taste). It had a good texture, was on an excellent tortilla with slaw and cilantro (but not too much) and topped with a creamy poblano sauce. It's served with a small ramekin of chimichurri, in case you think the lily needs gilding. I see from this meal why people get so excited about fish tacos. Yes, even with that fishy taste.

And then there's that empanada: diced chicken with onion and poblano peppers, laced with a little cheese (I'm guessing cotija, but I could be wrong) and a light tomatillo sauce all wrapped up in an exquisitely made pastry. Writing that sentence made me want to go back for another. 

What's that mean?
Last city inspection: July 2017
score: 96

But no need! The three-item combo, plus the sample of chalupa cabra and a taste of my wife's quesadilla (which was good but not on the same elevated level as other things) proved to be too much food for one sitting, so that banana empanada with the leche quemada is sitting in my refrigerator right now. Having thought of that, I have nothing more to say before going downstairs to eat it, except that the prices at Beto's were pretty damned good, too. We got out of there for less than fifty bucks, including drinks, tax and tip, and that's better than what we normally spend on a date-night dinner.

 

Take a Flyswatter

The Rose Bush Food Truck Court
2301 San Pedro Avenue

(between Huisache and Mulberry streets)

Malik's Phamous Philly Cheesesteaks
food truck

Ay Papi Puerto Rican
food truck

We made our first real foray into the not-really-exciting world of food trucks tonight when we went with another couple to the recently-opened Rose Bush, a few blocks down the avenue from our houses. When we went last night there were only two vehicles in place, so we got two dishes from each and split them four ways.

From Malik's the choices were the original Philly sandwich, and a veggies-only version. The Philly was, frankly, pretty disappointing, possibly because, you know, it's a Philly cheesesteak: (a) it'd be hard to live up to the reputation that sandwich has acquired, reinforced on a recent visit to Philadelphia where they talk about the sandwich the way we talk about hot weather; and (b) they wanted to put what they call "whiz-cheese" on it, so we opted for no cheese. And a cheesesteak sandwich without cheese is like a guard dog without legs; it'll still bark, but can only bite if you give it your hand. There's just something missing, and I can't see how using something called "whiz-cheese" can be any kind of improvement.

Unless, of course, it's whatever chemical concoction was used to

Mobile vendor inspection
reports are not currently
available on line

cover the veggies-only sandwich. It looked like melted cheese, if a little on the white side; it had the consistency of fairly-good-quality cheese, such as is found on your average pizza; and it had a mild cheesy flavour, such as you would experience in an underaged Kraft product. It was laid on in a pretty generous layer and held the thoroughly cooked onions and peppers together (though it didn't really stick to the soft, warm oily bread) and stretched just like cheese on a mediocre pizza. It may not have been the best quality, nutritionally speaking, but of the four sandwiches we tried, the veggie Philly won top honours for the evening. And the cheese (or whatever cheese-like concoction it was) would have improved the other sandwich.

 

Mobile vendor inspection

reports are not currently

available on line

The other two were from the puertoriqueno mobile kitchen called "Ay Papi," which our neighbour tells us is a reference to some baseball player. Whatever.  This food truck -- trailer, actually -- offers a limited menu of 3 or 4 sandwiches, tostones, a few other sides, and canned drinks. We chose the cubano, a traditional Caribbean pressed sandwich; and a three-meat construct, the name of which I now forget. Both sandwiches were built in traditional hoagie-style rolls. The cubano was good for the type, though not outstanding; the other, larger sandwich was an esculent hodgepodge. It was impossible to separate the various ingredients either by flavour or texture, and overall both aspects of the product were the culinary equivalent of mud-brown. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good in any particular. And both sandwiches were marred by the slowness with which they were produced.

The prices for Malik's sandwiches were about what you'd expect, at roughly ten bucks apiece.  The sandwiches from Ay Papi cost about the same or a little more, but somehow seemed less worth it even before we'd tried them.

And here's one more curious failing to set against this food truck: at 7PM on a Friday night, with their busy time just beginning, they were already down to their last Diet Coke. I ordered two but could only get one. That is a failure of preparation on the most basic level.

No inspection report
on file

The place itself, the Rose Bush food truck court, is a converted auto-service shop, with a large paved area enclosed by a wrought-iron fence. It's family- and pet-friendly, though no one had brought their dog. In the far corner is a tetherball set-up to distract the kids; it worked well for that. The building provides restrooms, which were reasonably clean and adequately appointed, and seating in the former service bay (which, even with a fan running full speed, was intolerable in the early summer heat). The outside yard was washed with a comforting breeze that could do nothing to keep the hordes of flies away. There were sufficient trash receptacles with easy-to-close lids to help, but as soon as our first sandwiches arrived, so did more flies than you will find in a small back yard occupied by three large dogs. The picnic tables had paper towel rollers mounted on each, which was good, and there were plenty of paper towels, plus a service bar with barely-useful plastic utensils, napkins and a few essential condiments. The seating was adequate, except that one of the two planks used to make the picnic-table bench had sagged, quickly making it uncomfortable Had there been another table open, I would have insisted we move, but there wasn't; the entire outdoor seating area was taken up by our other neighbours.

Perfect Setting

Iron Cactus
200 River Walk

(at St Mary's, across from La Mansión)

This was a perfect day for lunch on the River Walk. There were no good movies we hadn't already seen; it was sunny and 75 with a mild breeze; and the crush of tourists is still a few weeks away. We pawed through the listings to decide on a place for lunch, then decided to just go down to the River and see what looked good. Ended up here.

This place wasn't around when I worked downtown, so I wasn't familiar with it. It's located in the Mokhara Hotel building, which used to be the Watermark, which is the building famous for having its historical facade fall over in the street about 15 years ago. I anticipated that anything in this part of the River Walk would be even pricier than the normally overpriced venues, but the prices on their posted (dinner) menu were, if not bargains, at least not unreasonable: $13 to $16 for sandwiches, $20 or so for entrées. 

We were seated almost immediately at a table hidden from the water by a planter. We couldn't see the strollers at riverside, but enjoyed all the ambience of the location: the perfect weather, the beautiful La Mansión Hotel on the opposite side; just a little traffic noise (and one siren) from street level; and a soft burble of conversation from all around.

Our server seemed new, tense and timid, but did a fine job throughout the meal. She brought me a sample of the chocolate chipotle sauce (it sounded too much like salsa molé for me to order it without tasting it first; I've had some wonderful molés, and others that are less appealing than dog puke) and kept our chips and salsa coming, followed up with us a couple of times at appropriate points, and hunted down answers to our questions, or at least tried to. 

The complimentary chips and salsa provided are very good. The chips are thin and fresh, though a lot of them had broken down to too-small fragments; the salsas --- one regular, one fire-roasted and served hot --- were both very good as well; chunky, with nice seasoning and not too runny. Despite having those to nosh on, we decided to split an appetizer. On our waitress's recommendation, we went for the tamale pops (see picture). Delightful balls of seasoned pork lightly fried and nestled on a bead of guacamole, they immediately attracted stares from the couple from Alabama who sat across the aisle from us. I always appreciate dishes that provoke conversation with strangers. These, as it happened, also taste good. They were a little overpriced, I thought, at $9, but then, this is the River Walk. Here, they seem reasonable.

For our entrées, my friend Roland went with the Stuffed Iron Burger, while I chose one smoked brisket enchilada in chocolate chipotle sauce (that sauce having passed review with flying colours), and one smoked chicken enchilada in salsa verde. 

Last city inspection: 10/2016
score: 90

The enchiladas were served with a small block of Spanish rice, good but unremarkable, and an equally small side of beans; you have the choice of black beans, refried beans, or charro beans; I chose the last and found it excellent. It had quite a bit of both ham and bacon in it, and there was some unidentifiable seasoning in the mix that really took it beyond merely good charro beans. I asked the waitress, who asked in the kitchen, but as she read from the list she'd made the only thing out of the ordinary was "solaro," which isn't a thing. Possibly she meant "celeriac," but by that point I was beyond following up. In any case, the beans were worthy of the venue.

The enchiladas were lightly filled, but had excellent textures and the sauces of each complemented the fillings in expert fashion. The chicken was nicely shredded, well-smoked without being at all dry, and with a very good smoky flavour; and the salsa verde was a quality mixture. The brisket was delicious, also with a clear smoky flavour, and the chocolate chipotle sauce was magnificent: rich, deeply flavoured, without the slightest hint of overwhelming the dish. (The sauce is also very good on tostadas....)

Roland's burger, which, like my enchiladas, we split, was of good size, with a satisfying patty stuffed with cheese and mild chiles verdes; it was served on what looked like a whole-wheat bun that was lightly toasted, but which seemed a little chewy by the time I got around to eating my half. It was served with fries that were coated in salt and parmesan cheese: too much of the former, not enough of the latter. Though in all honesty I could do without either. The fries would not have suffered from another few seconds in the oil, either. They were the outliers of an otherwise very good meal.

 

A link to my other restaurant reviews

I'm pretty sure nobody's interested, but when has that ever stopped anybody from posting anything on the internet? And this space is mine to do with as I like, so in case your mind races and you need some non-chemical soporific, here is a link to all the reviews I've posted on Zomato.com (formerly Urbanspoon) (and if they had to choose between the meaningless "Zomato" and the minimally clever and para-meaningful "Urbanspoon", why would they make the choice they did? I just wonder...).  Remember to "like" the reviews there ... if you can do so without lying. 

Nearly a Religious Experience

Rossini's Italian Bistro
2195 Northwest Military Drive

(in Castle Hills, where all the big streets cross)

We felt like trying someplace new this week, so I spent some time looking at what other Zomato users had to say about various places, including this one, and decided to go for it. Even though it's Outside The Loop, and I wasn't packing a suitcase. I figured I could justify the trip by stopping off at the pet shop on the way. (I don't much trust restaurant reviews from people who only ever write one; I figure those people are motivated by some personal agenda, either boosterism or vendetta. I still read 'em, but more for entertainment than information.) 

Found this small place on the corner of one of the three main intersections of Castle Hills -- in that section where all the major roads cross, and I can never keep straight which one is which. This one's across from the bank and kitty-corner from the drug store. It was easy enough to find, though, because it's at the very end of a leafy and elegant strip center. Yes, I know, that's an oxymoron, but we move on.

We were early, having calculated that, in this affluent part of town on a Friday night, with no reservation, we'd have to wait a long time if we went at a more fashionable hour. As it turned out, we were the first people there. But even when we left, at 7:30, the dining room wasn't even half-full. Considering how good this place is, and how small, I guess it counts as being a surprisingly well-guarded secret. And while I hope the place does well, so that it'll stay around forever, if it turns into the Fashion of the Month and gets too crowded, it'll ruin it for me. But it's been here for a year and a half already, and the local-boy owner/chef with long bi-coastal experience sure as Hell knows what he's doing.

If Castle Hills publishes its
restaurant inspections, it's
news to me

The space is nice enough; decorated mostly from the "Eye-talian Restaurant" page of some corporate consulting decorator's catalog. Nothing special, just nice in a very ordinary way. It was clean, well-maintained and quiet; including when a party of four came in and recognized some people they knew, and everybody else in the place (meaning, at that point, just us) could have heard all about what everybody had said about everything. Even then, the acoustics were good enough to allow us to ignore the alien conversation. There are a few tables outside, but it would seem to me that the noise of traffic in the area would keep them from being fully enjoyed. 

Prices here are on the high side; much higher, in fact, that what I would have believed had I relied on the information on this Zomato listing ($25 per couple, my ass; but kudos to Zomato for their quick update following my email); but I had looked at the menu on line and already knew that was wrong, so I wasn't unpleasantly surprised when we arrived. We ended up spending about $165 total, including a couple of glasses of wine, and tax and tip. That's about 3 times what we'll normally spend on a Friday night out. But it was not an unreasonable amount for what we got (and this is only the 2nd time I've said anything like that about a three-figure bill). I will also say this about the prices: the amounts for wine by the glass here are, unlike some would-be-upscale places, very reasonable; mostly $7 to $10. I don't drink wine very often, but I often find prices on a wine list a good guide to value overall.

So to sum up so far, the decor: not great, but not bad. And the prices: reasonable, tending to better than that. Beyond that, this was absolutely exquisite. 

It being near Valentine's day, the kitchen was offering a special prix-fixe menu, four courses for $55 a person. (Everything on the menu is available à la carte as well.) My wife chose tomato basil soup, which was, y'know, tomato basil soup ... served piping hot and topped with a marvelous thin parmesan wafer to lift it beyond ordinary. My choice was gnocchi with lamb. The lamb meat had been sautéed to perfection --- I really didn't know lamb could be so tender --- with mushrooms and a little red pepper, then spooned into a dish with the gnocchi. The gnocchi, which was home-made, I'm sure, was marvelously dense and perfectly simmered before being flash-fried for a few seconds to give it just the slightest crusty texture. It was a revelation. It was fabulous. It was the perfect touch to bring the whole course triumphantly together. I miss it already. 

Next came the salad course. We had both chosen the beet* salad, on the waiter's recommendation. Not a large salad, but delicious: diced beets on creamy ricotta, a few greens for colour and some nuts for texture, altogether a magic formula for a truly satisfying experience. Anyone who goes to Rossini's after reading this review should genuinely regret that this little beet salad isn't on the regular menu. Needs to be.

Our choices for entrées were a beef tenderloin for my wife, a fish dish for me. The quantity of my fish was substantial enough to keep me from complaining (and those who know me know how hard it is to keep me from complaining), while the size of my wife's cut of meat was something of a surprise. Not outrageous by any means, but there on her plate it looked prodigious: thick; mouthwatering; tender. It proved to be all those things, perfectly cooked to medium-rare, served with some mushrooms and asparagus in a Marsala sauce, the meat just melted in the mouth like ... well, like that lamb I'd just had. So, so good.

I had never ordered branzino before, but when it came and I'd tasted it, I recognised it as what we called spigola or spicolo when I was a kid, oh, sooo many years back, when New Orleans was still a big city. It's kind of like a sea bass, only smaller. Anyway, it was nicely grilled and served with minimal sauce and seasoning -- no more than was needed -- over some brussel sprouts and potato wedges. All in all, an excellent dish perfectly executed. I lingered over it with as much deliberation as I could muster, enjoying every morsel and mopping the plate with some of the slightly dry cubes of bread that had been served at the start of the meal. (The fact that I've forgotten about the bread until this moment should tell you volumes about the quality of the rest of the meal.)

The entire evening was capped majestically by dessert: cannoli. Cannoli are, without a doubt, the best possible dessert when properly prepared. They are also, without a doubt, the most difficult to prepare properly. In the last, oh, 30 years, I've had exactly one good cannolo in San Antonio, at a now-defunct restaurant near Olmos Circle. And plenty of so-so cannoli. And too many lousy cannoli.  The cannolo I had at Rossini was the best I've ever had; better even than the cannolo I measure all other cannoli against, one that I had in New York City in 1972 at a place on Mulberry Street that's gone now. Yes, it was good enough to remember, until now. Now, I can forget about that one.

The cannoli shells Rossini uses are mass-produced, but properly stored to maintain crispy freshness until served. That alone seems beyond the capability of other restaurateurs. The filling is a rich, sweet (but not too sweet) preparation of ricotta cheese, good-quality chocolate chips, and deft seasoning, carefully stuffed into the shell and sprinkled with just the right amount of confectioner's sugar. It's served on a small pedestal of the same ricotta filling, which helps make it easier to eat, but it does raise the awkward question of whether one should lick the plate, or use one's finger to get the last little bit. That, my friends, is a question I can't answer. You will have to determine the proper course for yourself; but do let me know what you decide.

 

* I have only recently removed beets from my List of Five Foods I Will Not Eat Under Any Circumstances; the list, these days is down to only two items: viscera and black-eyed peas, whether you care or not.

Index Update

My index of "Other San Antonio Restaurant Reviews (not Mexican, not Asian)" has been updated, finally. But now it's disappeared from the Contents list on the right of this blog. Until I figure out why and fix it, you can access it here.

(Actually, I know why; Google changed page formats on Blogger. I just have to figure out how to fix it.)

An Update

Josephine Street
400 East Josephine Street

(at 281)

When I reviewed this place five years ago, I said it was basically good enough food, with reasonable prices, excellent ambience, and very good service. Not so much anymore: while the effervescence of dining room -- complete with old-fashioned bar, juke box in the corner, and a real tree near the front -- makes for an enjoyable atmosphere at any meal; and while the prices are competitive for the sort of down-home Texas style cookin' you get, the food varied from disappointing to just barely okay. Nothing haute about the cuisine here, and that'd be just fine. Ordinarily.

But this last time, a few days ago, the service was pretty miserable. It took a long time to get menus, and then to get our orders placed. Then it took a long, long time to get the food. On the way to the table with our two plates, the waitress spilled watery sauce from my green chili chicken all over the floor and the table, and seemed unconcerned that both plates had, at some point, lain upon someone's chicken fried steak. They left cream gravy all over the table when she had to take them back to the kitchen because they'd gotten things completely wrong. And then a long time to get them back. By then, the food had cooled beyond the point of acceptability, but we were both hungry enough to eat it without further complaint (except, of course, to each other).

Green chili chicken is not a dish I'll ever order again. The tomatillo sauce is uninteresting. And I'll never get the fries again, either; they were limp and chewy, probably even when they were hot. My friend's Tony's chicken was a pounded and grilled chicken breast inundated with cheddar cheese and a few chives. Like I said, just okay. The Toll House Pie (a splurge for my friend's birthday) would have been pretty good if it weren't for the oddly jarring flavour imparted by the toasted walnuts.

THE CURMUDGEON'S RATINGS:

FOOD: 2 chili peppers (out of 5)

SERVICE: 1 chili pepper

AMBIENCE: 3 1/2 chili peppers

VALUE: 2 1/2 chili peppers