Escargot, my car go, one sixty, swiftly...

We decided to check out Stockman's Restaurant just off of the County Line Road exit - you can't miss'em. Fantastic Steaks (that blackened cajun something or other is the one to get, for sure), but they also had escargot on the menu. I've never tried escargot based on the fact that they've never served it at a fast food place and the fact that it's snails (mostly, the snails part).



My wife decides we should try a new food item once a week so, since it's on the menu, by all means - like roller coasters and airplanes, they'd never have them if they weren't safe.

As it turns out, Escargot isn't that bad at all! Like steamed clams, they taste just like doing a garlic-butter shooter from that Papa John's dipping sauce... which you've done before, right? It has that steamed clam texture so if you're a texture person - maybe not so much for you. The rest of the food at Stockman's was fantastic as well. Any place that has Sweet Potato Fries on the menu has to be alright by me. For dessert, you definitely gotta get the eclairs.

Conversation Heart fried chicken

D - Licious!

Ruby River Rocks!

Admittedly, I've never been to Ruby River Steakhouse until tonight. If you have small kids, you know how hard (and sometimes how embarrasing) it is to eat out of the house. Especially when those small kids are 8 months old and almost 3 years old.

We, at work, had visitors from out of town teaching us how to use our new texting service. Thinking about places to eat, Ruby River was brought up and I brought up the notion that I've never been there myself. The original plan for the evening was Autumn and my wife were going to watch America's Next Top Model. I figured 'why not invite my wife... and Autumn... and my kids... and her kids so their table of 2 quickly became a table of 8 (with our 9 month old in the car seat on the floor sleeping).

The Food? Outstanding! I'm all about the appetizers so we got the hot wings and artichoke dip. The hot wings were good... wish they were a little spicier, but still really good. Probably extremely good for people who've always wanted buffalo wings but can never eat'em because they're too spicy. The artichoke dip... My wife and I always use the spinach/artichoke dip from Red Robin at the measuring stick and this was right up there, but in a different way. It was more of a delicious cheesey salsa (like a mango salsa, but minus the mango) - but, like the wings, phenominal in their own right.

I had to get the ribs and steak to try out a little of everything, the yam (I'm not a french fry guy) and the steak soup instead of the salad (as seen in the picture above.) My only complaint is I couldn't eat everything - which is a good thing because now I know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow. My wife got a different kind of steak - she grew up raising cattle so she can tell the difference between steak cuts. My palate doesn't care which part of the body it came from - if it's delicious, it's worth eating. I can't tell you which cut I got and which cut she got but I can say they were both worth it. She did wish, however, they sold hamburgers there, too. I bet those would rock the house.

We don't normally do desserts at restaurants, but they had something called 'THE chocolate chip cookie' which was a cookie baked in a skillet with a scoop of ice cream on top. That one cookie was big enough for 8 of us to share and was soooooo good.

Naturally, if I'm going to a 'steakhouse', I gotta try the steak and it was definitely worth trying. I don't have a "thumbs up" or numerical scale of rating system, but I will say I'll definitely be going there again - hopefully sooner than later.

I win! I win!

Yeah! I won a free french fry with my order of onion rings!! I love it when that happens. Even though it probably happens 95% of the time, it's still fun... if I could get some fries cooked like onion ring breading, that'd be the best!

good night nurse... burger king, taco bell, 44oz gas station pepsi... what's wrong with my diet? Oh Yeah! I'm Married so it doesn't matter what I look like anymore! I Win Again!!

And the winner goes to the wife who loves her husband for just the way he is!

Fun waiting for Taco Bell

The picture didn't turn out too well, but I wanted to "make you there" with us. We stopped by the Taco Bell drive-thru on 17th across from Hastings. Taco Bell is notorius for having, what I believe, is one of the quickest taco bells and, since it was late, it was on the way home, it was convenient... all things I appreciate, we made it happen.

The potatoes weren't ready so they kindly asked if I wanted a refund, or wait 2 minutes for the potatoes...

I've gone to other fast food places, the employee greets me as if nothing is wrong... I start ordering food only to have him say "Oh, sorry, we're all out of french fries" Things that could've been brought to my attention when I stepped up to the counter! I guess it's so you'll feel like "well, I already ordered so I'll keep ordering" instead of thinking 'What, No Fries No Business from Me!'. Honestly, there was a place in Yakima that actually said the words, again, after greeting my friend and I as if nothing was wrong "Sorry, we're all out of meat"... Then say it when we pull up!

Not at the East Idaho Taco Bells. They pride them selves on service! They even ask how you are before asking what you'd like... I like that. anyways We don't mind the wait, they ask us to pull around to the front of the store (next to Les Schwab) If this ever happens to you, watch the reflection of the cars that pass by the garage door at Les Schwab. My wife noticed it looks like they're on a roller coaster. You can even add your own dialogue like we did.

... you're right, we need to get out more.