Road Trip Part 15: Ruby Tuesday

Back in the summer of 2006 I watched a lot of television. I had recently gotten my first HDTV and I could not get enough Angels games in glorious high-definition, to say nothing of the World Cup. Many - it seemed like most - commercial breaks featured an ad for Ruby Tuesday's "Triple Prime Burger." It looked delicious but that meant nothing: the closest Ruby Tuesday was in Vegas.

But later that summer I found myself driving from New York to Pasadena and somewhere in the midwest (I'm pretty sure it was outside of Columbus, Ohio) I was hungry for dinner. I stopped at a Ruby Tueday and ate an appetizer of tempura popcorn shrimp and had that Triple Prime Burger. Both were pretty tasty. Not enough to make me want to go back to Ruby Tuesday (a couple years later they opened a location in West Covina that only lasted two years, and I never tried it), but compared to Chili's, Applebee's or Red Robin, I much preferred Ruby Tuesday.

A few years later - meaning last month - Elizabeth and I were driving north from Florida on I-95. We stopped for gas in the middle of Georgia and we were both hungry. I really wanted another Whataburger but I hadn't seen a sign for one in quite a while. Across the street was a Ruby Tuesday and I suggested we just go there so we could eat and get back on the road without too much of a time commitment.

We were shown to a table in the bar.

The menus were beat-up and smudged and the silverware wasn't much better.

Elizabeth decided on the Buffalo Chicken Minis off the lunch menu. I hadn't had any fried seafood in Florida and I hadn't gotten enough of it in New Orleans, so I decided to order the Louisiana Fried Shrimp.

We were given a pair of garlic cheese biscuits to start. I liked them. Elizabeth was indifferent. I claimed that I definitely liked them more than Red Lobster's cheese biscuits. (Which is true, as I have never been a fan of those, but I also stated this because Elizabeth worked at Red Lobster during college and she likes those biscuits.)

We had the choice of soup or salad to start our meals, and I went to the salad bar: iceberg lettuce, cheese, broccoli, bacon [sic] bits, red onion, bell pepper, and croutons with honey mustard dressing. It was a completely average salad bar salad, but I still ate most of it.

Elizabeth started with the broccoli cheese soup and I took a bite. It was better than my salad, that's all I'll say.

Elizabeth liked the miniature chicken sandwiches. Of course she gave me a bite, and I thought they were okay. I mean, the buns weren't very good and they should have had more buffalo sauce on them, but they were by no means bad, and the portion size was just right for Elizabeth.

"It's a pretty good deal for $8.99 when you consider it came with two sides," she pointed out.

My plate, on the other hand, did not feel like a good deal. You can see the pictures yourself and decide if this looks like it was worth thirteen bucks. The onion rings and shrimp were covered in the same crumbs and fried to the same light-brown color. They tasted pretty much the same, too. Not bad. Not good. Just like previously-frozen stuff dumped out of a bag into a fryer. Which I'm sure it was.

So I've now been to Ruby Tuesday twice. Once was good. Once was not. I don't know if they just have a higher quality of Ruby Tuesdays in Ohio than they do in Georgia, or if ordering burgers is always the way to go. To be honest, I don't really care. I won't be coming back to a Ruby Tuesday.

Road Trip Part 14: Asian Too

We woke up in the morning on the east coast of Florida. It was beautiful out. I've been to Florida a couple of times and neither were all that enjoyable, but this place was really nice: sunny, breezy, blue skies everywhere. Elizabeth's mom asked what we felt like doing; I wanted to go by Target and get a bathing suit to use their pool. (I had shipped my bathing suit to New York; I didn't realize the weather was going to be so pleasant and I would want to swim.)

She said there was a Chinese place near Target that she and Elizabeth's dad liked and we could go there for lunch. (It is named Asian Too - I have no idea why). I'm always up for Chinese food but I still looked up reviews on two different sites. They were not good. Hmm, I thought to myself. A poorly-reviewed Chinese restaurant on the Florida coast? This does not sound promising. 

It turns out the place calls itself a "Pan-Asian eatery" and offers dishes that come from all over Asia, not just Chinese food. So there was sushi, banh mi, and tempura as well. 

It looked like a Pickup Stix or fancy Panda Express inside. The menu was posted on the wall, you order at the counter and they give you a number - er, letter - and bring your food when it's ready.

Remember the old joke about the kid who looks at his mother's driver's license and says something along the lines of "You're 5'5" and 120 pounds and I know why you're not married: because you got an F in sex"? I tried to come up with some kind of a similar joke here but I failed miserably.

I love iced tea normally, but something about drinking it in the humid South makes it so much more enjoyable.

Elizabeth had the fried rice bowl with shrimp. This was delicious. (I took at least two or three bites.) It was not too salty (my main dislike of fried rice), the veggies were fresh, and the shrimp were tasty. The bowl could have used a few more shrimp for the ten-dollar price tag but overall I was impressed.

Kathy had the Bourbon Chicken wrap. I did not try any of this but it looked really good, too. (She only ate half and took the rest home; I considered sneaking a bite later that evening but did not.) The marinated, grilled chicken comes wrapped in lettuce and rice paper with radish, cucumber, carrots, and a bourbon sauce.

Like many of these fast-casual Asian joints, Asian Too has a menu of flavors to choose from (called "Wok Stirs" here) to which you can add your choice of protein. I decided to get the Sweet & Spicy Hunan dish, adding chicken. The "sweet & spicy" sauce comes with snap peas, green beans, and red bell peppers.

The plate came out very hot, and I certainly enjoyed it. But, as often happens in these circumstances, the sauce was disappointing: it was all sweet with no heat. I have claimed in the past that 95% of Americanized Chinese restaurants that promise "sweet and sour" sauces deliver only on the sweet part. This was no exception. But the white meat chicken was tasty and the vegetables were all crisp and fresh, and I cleaned the plate.

Some of the other items I saw going by - especially the sushi - did not look very appetizing, so I can see how a meal here could be pretty bad. But I think we all chose well. It wasn't a great meal, but it was certainly good, and I would have no problem going back.

Road Trip Part 13: Zaxby's

Like Whataburger - or another chain I will be writing about next week - I have heard about Zaxby's for years. Their slogan of "Real Chicken" appealed to me, but pretty much all of the restaurants are in the Southeast part of the country, so it wasn't anything I had plans to eat. Until recently. The drive from New Orleans to Florida skirts right along the Gulf Coast, where there are plenty of Zaxby's locations.

As the sun was setting in the Florida panhandle, I suggested we stop at Zaxby's for dinner.

I liked the way it looked inside. It reminded me of the way Bennigan's used to look. The woman behind the counter was extremely friendly and she gave us some recommendations when we told her this was our first time at Zaxby's.

So this is what we ended up with: a chicken fingers plate for me and boneless wings for Elizabeth. As a commenter pointed out in a previous post, Texas Toast seems to come with all fast food options in this part of the country, and this was no exception.

Elizabeth gave me one of her boneless wings, in the "original" flavor that was recommended. I liked it. Certainly not the best I've ever had, but not bad. Judged against restaurants it was just average, but by fast food standards it was pretty good. I would like to try them in a different flavor. And I wish I had gotten them here.

Because I was not a fan of my chicken. Rubbery, with flaky breading, the chicken didn't have any flavor. This may be real chicken, but it's not real good chicken. And certainly not the "indescribably good chicken" that Zaxby's calls itself.

The fries were terrible. Crinkle-cut fries are probably my favorite variety of fries (not counting Belgian, of course) but these were undercooked, flabby, mealy pieces of potato. They were barely higher than room temperature. 

We were also told that we had to try the Zax sauce. There was nothing special about it; as far as I could tell it was just mayonnaise and ketchup, a poor man's attempt at replicating Popeyes Delta Sauce.

I don't live near a Zaxby's - the nearest one is in Virginia - and that's just as well. If there was one nearby I would give them one more try, but the chicken would have to be a lot better than what we received here for me to call myself a fan.

Road Trip Part 12: Daisy Duke's Express

Our last night in New Orleans. We had been out for a long time in the French Quarter enjoying adult beverages. We were getting up early in the morning to drive to Florida. I suggested we get some dinner. Daisy Duke's Express is located in the Central Business District, a few blocks from the French Quarter. (Apparently there is a Daisy Duke's in the Quarter that is known for its Bloody Mary's; I've never been.) It was close to our hotel and we were hungry so we decided to pop in.

We sat in the open window, looking out on Carondelet.

A menu not too different from many of the other places at which we ate, but I was not yet tired of fried seafood.

Or beer. I think this was an Abita Amber, but I don't remember.

A friend of mine once told me that he won't eat at a restaurant in New Orleans that only offers Tabasco on the table and not Crystal. I think he might have been pulling my chain a little, but I still thought of him here.

I ordered the catfish po' boy with onion rings on the side. The sandwich came on perfectly soft, cornmeal-dusted bread. The fish was crispy on the outside, tender and flaky inside. Everything I want in a po' boy. While this doesn't compete with Domilise's or Mother's as my favorite po' boy I have had in town, I still loved it and it blew away the fried seafood I had at Margartitaville or Le Bayou.

I tried the sandwich with the provided tartar sauce, but it didn't make it any better. I love tartar sauce, but the sandwich just didn't need any condiments beyond a couple of drops of hot sauce. 

I didn't even mind the tomato.

Elizabeth had the fried shrimp platter with fries. I tried a couple of her shrimp. They were good, but I did not like them nearly as much as my catfish.

I wish we had more time in New Orleans, but we've already started talking about our next trip back.