Well I had lunch at Ted's Montana Grill yesterday. When I first walked in, I noticed that a lot of the restaurant was made of wood, fake wood, but I like that look. And I expected more of a bar and grill type atmosphere. Instead there was one flat screen TV at the bar and straight to the left of the bar is the kitchen which is completely visible to the customers. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of being able to see the kitchen, but what does it matter. And at every booth, there's a mirror on the wall. I don't know if this was give the restaurant more light with the dark wood or (co-owner) Ted Turner's practical joke, or what. The other thing is the wall at out booth was really high, so I felt a little closed off from the rest of the place.
A few things I noticed on the menu. They have fresh lemonade, but you can only get one free refill. I guess that's a good sign it really is fresh. I was surprised they only offered four appetizers aside from soups and salads. I like that they have blue plate specials, seven rotating items that are only served one day a week. Saturday's bps was barbecue bison short ribs. Tempting, but I passed.
We started with a ramekin of sliced pickles being brought to our table. I'm a pickle fan, so this was a good start. Now it was a cool day outside, so I was in the mood for something hearty and I went with the bison chili. I don't order chili much , so I don't have much to compare it to. But it hit the spot. It had cheese onion, a few jalapenos, beans, and a lot of ground bison.
Then I ordered a Philly bison burger, which has bell peppers, grilled onions, mushrooms, and American cheese. Out of this world. The vegetables were cooked exactly right. The bison tasted like very lean beef. Bison has more iron and about a quarter the fat of beef, so that makes sense. Even after eating the burger I didn't have that heavy feeling in my stomach that I sometimes do after eating a regular burger. And the cheese complemented everything. The kaiser roll was fresh and thick so the juice of the burger didn't make it soggy. I hate it when that happens. And the fries have that fresh taste too. I also tried a few pieces of roasted asparagus, which was seasoned very well.
I'm not a big dessert eater, but for whatever reason, I went for a slice of key lime pie. Now klp's are very hit-or-miss for me. This was as good as it gets. It wasn't too sour as it is at Cheeseburger in Paradise or Pappadeaux. It had a lighter taste, almost like cheesecake. And the graham cracker crust had some bite to it, like it had cinnamon and fresh nutmeg.
All in all, the atmosphere was okay but the food was very enjoyable. It was a very good experience and I would certainly return for some more bison and key lime.
Now onto the Mets. Now they have won five of six games, but have you ever seen a less inspiring such streak? And last night, everything went right. Braves lose, Phillies lose, Mets win. And they lose Damian Easley with a torn ligament in his ankle, a Grade 3 sprain. He was just running to second on a wild pitch and all of a sudden his ankle completely turns and gets jammed into the infield dirt. It was horrifying to watch. This is one of our best hitters of the bench, a guy who has had clutch hits all season, and was batting .280 with ten homers.
So let's see, on the DL are both catchers (LoDuca and Castro), our top setup man (Sanchez), our ace starting pitcher (PEDRO), our fourth outfielder (Endy), our second baseman (Valentin, granted, who's lousy), and our top two outfield prospects (Gomez and Martinez). The more things like this happen, the more I'm thinking this season is headed for aggravation.
By the way, the Cubs may be in first place in their division, but six NL teams have better records. In other words, even if they make playoffs, they're likely not doing much anyway. Let's see what they do when they don't hvae the NL Central to beat up on.
Music pick: "Yard Sale" Sammy Kershaw
No comments:
Post a Comment