There is no doubt in my mind that this coming Thanksgiving week will produce increased girth on my waist. If I could only limit stuffing myself with turkey and potatoes and, well, stuffing, perhaps it wouldn't be an issue. I'm one of those who doesn't really pig out plate after plate on Thanksgiving. The problem is, all the ancillary eating we'll be doing now through next weekend.
It started Saturday when we had to run multiple errands in Alamo Ranch. I needed some items from Penny's (love those $10 off coupons they send) and then we had to run into Best Buy (am I the only person who purchases a new printer based strictly on the type of ink cartridges I have at home?) and we also had to run into Home Depot to grab something. By the time all that was over, my wife and I both realized that we had not even had breakfast, and it was already opening time at Logan's Roadhouse.
My wife had some sort of appetizer combo with cheese sticks, chicken tenders and potato skins. I think most of it is sitting in a Styrofoam container in our refrigerator as I type this, but she liked the parts she ate.
I had the catfish, onion petals and a skewer of veggies. That veggie skewer really does taste as though they cooked it on a grill as opposed to popping it in the microwave. My preference though would be to have it cooked for like another ten minutes. I know, not as healthy that way, but I like it. You can read more about Logan's Roadhouse here.
We went to HEB and saw a dog in the back of a pick-up truck that looked a lot like Gracie, just bigger and less like la chupacabras.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the airport to pick up our daughter and her little dogie, Panda. Okay, "little" might be an understatement. The dog is a porker at 20 pounds. If you don't remember Panda, read about her here.
By the way, while we were waiting at the airport, I had to hit the men's room. San Antonio is quickly modernizing things. In fact, check out the new space-age urinal they have. You are completely dry before you ever zip up your pants, though the floor seemed to be wet..
Anyway, I have always wondered if dogs have really long memories, you know, like an elephant or something. I don't know if it had anything to do with memory or not, but Panda seemed to know us right away. And my daughter also knew us! It has been two years since Panda moved to New Jersey and I was really worried about how Gracie might react to seeing her.
When we first walked in the door, Panda seemed happy to see Gracie - either that or she just likes to sniff dogs butts a lot. Gracie on the other hand, was very timid. If we could understand her language, I'm sure she was saying, "Who is this portly little dog who keeps sniffing my butt?"
After a little while, we let them hang out together and we took my daughter to get her fix. How many of you leave San Antonio for a while and come back knowing that the crap people try to pass off as authentic Mexican or worse, Tex-Mex, can only be corrected by going to your favorite San Antonio establishment. My daughter tells me that she went to a place in New Jersey that was supposed to be good and apparently, they felt good was worth $67.00 for two people. The equivalent quantity of tacos, rice and beans and a few lemonades would cost you $12-$15 at any place like Tink-a-Tako or such. And of course, it would taste much better.
We went to ChaCho's over on Bandera and got a half-order of fajita nachos. There is just something about that gooey, gov'ment cheese, melted all over the crispy chips and the chopped up beef fajita meat that says, Welcome Home.
And when we had all stuffed ourselves, there was only one hunk of nacho and one hunk of avocado left - and of course we let Roxanne have the honors.
Our son will arrive this afternoon, and for the first time in a while, we'll have both kids, both dogs and all of us eager to hit some of the regular dining locales. Well, the dogs might be eager, but they won't be coming with. Regardless, if you happen to be out and about this week, you just may see us; we'll be the family with our eatin' pants on.
I think the last time we ate at Logan's Roadhouse was at least two or three years ago. In fact, I could be more specific with the date if I knew exactly when Texas Roadhouse opened for business at Cinema Ridge near Ingram. Yes, I'm sorry to report that as a matter of convenience, we stopped going to a place we enjoyed routinely (The Logan's on I-10 near DeZavala) in favor of the TRH closer to home. The two places have pretty much the same basic formula and menu, though TRH added a little Willie Nelson twist to it.
But with the opening of Logan's in AR, not more than a few miles down the road from us, we were eager to give an old friend a new try. And, in spite of being opened a relatively short time, we had a great experience in both service and quality of food.
Inside, Logan's is much more wide open than TRH. I'm not sure it matters in the dining aspect, but I do question the openness and brightness of the bar. We only sit at the bar in places like Chile's or TRH when the wait for regular dining would be too long. Usually, if a seat is open, they'll let you jump right in. My concern is more for the folks who want to make their visit more of a sporting event or just hang out. The idea of the wide open brightly lighted bar just doesn't do it for me. If that sort of thing is important to you, then you'd be better off in TRH's bar area.
Of course, I'm still a fan of the standard signage everybody nails to the wall; old pictures, license plates, posters and beer signs. It makes you feel like your house is a lot better decorated.
Before I get to the food, there is one thing I must note: The water was horrendous! I don't know if somebody crossed the pipes or what, but I took one sip of water and instead opted for beer. Seriously, skip the water. But the peanuts are good. And just like TRH, you are free to toss them on the floor. I feel so naughty when I litter.
Just like TRH, Logan's server will bring you some hot fresh bread with a big scoop of butter. It is really good and hard to turn down the offer to bring more, but we did knowing that we'd make pigs of ourselves before the rest of dinner arrived.
My wife is a fan of the petite 8 oz steak at TRH and ordered a 6oz version from Logan's. For her two sides, she selected the loaded mashed potatoes and some form of onion peels. Instead of rings, they take hunks of onion and fry them, then cover them in salt. They were actually pretty good. She ordered her steak cooked medium but felt like it was done a little too much. Over all, she says the steak was good but compared with TRH, she would go with TRH. I had one bite of it and thought it was very good.
I immediately went with the southern fried catfish, the loaded baked potato and a house salad with Ranch. First, the salad was fine, served in a chilled bowl and very consistent with what you would get at TRH or Chili's. The one thing missing for sure was croutons. How do you serve a salad like this without croutons? For that injustice alone, the salad contest goes to TRH. The baked potato is served almost exactly like TRH including the huge chunks of salt glued to the skin. If you set them side by side or did a taste test, it would be a toss up. The fish on the other hand goes clearly to Logan's. I have always enjoyed the catfish at TRH (and will continue to do so when I visit) but the portion and the flavor of Logan's was easily superior in my mind.
My wife was intrigued by the little dessert special they have. A play on the bucket of peanuts they leave at your table, they offer you a small cup of ice cream or something, served in a little bucket you keep and topped with a Nutter Butter cookie.
A quick note about the service. For a fairly new place, we had excellent service. Of special note was when my wife got her plate, she had forgotten to ask for honey mustard for her onion things. When I was looking around for our server, an alert waitress sensed my search mode and immediately came up and asked we needed anything. Later, even though our waiter was nearby (taking another order), this same waitress noticed me holding the little folder with the bill and came up to take our check to speed up our departure.
Great food, great service, and the price is comparable to TRH. If you haven't been to the Logan's Roadhouse in Alamo Ranch, give 'em a whirl for a Tasty Treat.
Let's be clear; I am a Chili's person. I have said it before and I continue to believe that for a reasonable price, you can go to most Chili's restaurants, get some decent food, and it will be consistent with your previous several visits, regardless of location.
But in the past six or eight months, I have noticed an extremely consistent trend in crazy service in the bar section of the 1604 and Culebra Chili's, and I simply can't let it go beyond this evening; Chili's, you people need to know that directly across 1604, all that dust and construction and loads of new traffic are several new competitors that are just waiting to get started on earning my business.
But let me just fill you in on our experience tonight. First, it isn't so much our waiter. We have had this kid before and he is a good, friendly waiter. The problem is with the rest of the people milling about as if shift change is like some sort of two-hour overlap process where nobody does any actual work.
When we walked in around 4:30PM, the place was empty. The hostess immediately went to seat us in the regular dining section but my wife asked her if we had to sit in the bar to qualify for Happy Hour specials. (Don't even get me started on Happy Hour!) The hostess turned us around and sat us at a booth in the bar area and aside from the fact that there were only a few people in the area, we immediately noticed that there was no bartender.
This was not a problem because our intent was to eat, but it was a sign of something bad. An experience we had on previous seating's in this same area. By the way, am I the only person who finds it a tad bit unhealthy that they toss the receipt for the drinks in the tops of the drinks? In other words, say you are sitting in the regular area but you order a beer. Your server goes to the bar, orders up your beer then walks away to take some other customer their drinks. When the bartender (assuming they are there) fills your beer to about two inches below the top of the tall glass, thus serving you the same amount as if your ordered a regular size, he or she then takes the receipt and tosses into the top of the glass so your server will know which table to take it to. I trust the ink is edible.
So anyway, our server comes by and says he'll be right with us then leaves for about 10 minutes. I notice that two guys, apparently contractors of some sort, are seated at the bar near our table. Both these guys are working the cell phones, but are kind enough to leave the restaurant each time the phone rings.
The result is, for the majority of the time we were there, these two guys would take quick chugs of beer, then be outside for 5 to ten minutes at a stretch.
I trust they were coordinating the building of a new restaurant in Alamo Ranch while waiting for refills of beer.
I keep noticing the staff just hanging around, maybe having a meeting of some sort, and even though they are technically standing in the "employees only" area, they are in clear view of the customers. I could just tell that this was not going to be a quick dinner.
I ordinarily limit my Chili's consumption of beverages to either unsweetened iced tea or a single tall Miller Lite. Because of the unreasonably slow service, I was forced to order a second tall Miller Lite. This would have been fine had I not been waiting for an extra long time. 
And here is the real problem. If you sit in the bar area, you see everything that is going on in the bar, you know that you could simply get up, serve yourself a tall water, a fresh lemonade, or in this case, a Miller Lite, and it would happen in a reasonable time. If it was a case of a bartender constantly making drinks, mixing Margaritas or doing all sorts of Tom Cruise Cocktail tricks, you could sit back and wait your turn. But there was no one at the bar, yet three feet away, multiple Chili's uniformed servers chit-chatting and milling about like they were waiting for the results of a horse race.... and then my burger came. 
I went with the Jalapeno Smokehouse Big Mouth Bacon Burger. When cooked right, this puppy is seriously YUM! But if we mistake "medium-well" for "stick it in the microwave until it is overdone, then leave it on the counter until it is only slightly warm", it isn't that great.
My wife ordered some mushroom burger and asked for bacon on it, but was then upset that her bacon wasn't the same real thick good bacon that came on my Big Mouth Bacon Burger. Bacon discrimination: Call LULAC. Oh, I checked my receipt later. We didn't even get Happy Hour prices on the drinks we ordered. WTH?
Yes, Alamo Ranch is open. We Culebra folk' now have our own version of Bandera Pointe - no, better yet, The Rim! So let us count the competitors ready to take my money:
- Logan's Raodhouse: I used to go to the one up on I-10 until Texas Roadhouse opened at Ingram and 410. This Logan's will be closer.
- Mama Margie's: We enjoy the one on I-10, but this one is, say it with me.... Closer!
- Ruby Tuesday: Fairly new around here but I've enjoyed them in airports and this is going to be a shocker, they are pretty much like Chili's.
- Red Robin: How many times have I yammered on about Red Robin? And now I won't have to drive to The Rim. Hell, I'll pull into Home Depot (or the new Lowe's if they don't get their act together) and then pop in for one of those huge stacks of onion rings, and a burger with an egg on top.
Be warned Chili's at 1604 and Culebra, your competitors are calling and I'm not in the mood for crappy service.
My wife had some sort of appetizer combo with cheese sticks, chicken tenders and potato skins. I think most of it is sitting in a Styrofoam container in our refrigerator as I type this, but she liked the parts she ate.
I had the catfish, onion petals and a skewer of veggies. That veggie skewer really does taste as though they cooked it on a grill as opposed to popping it in the microwave. My preference though would be to have it cooked for like another ten minutes. I know, not as healthy that way, but I like it. You can read more about Logan's Roadhouse here.
We went to HEB and saw a dog in the back of a pick-up truck that looked a lot like Gracie, just bigger and less like la chupacabras.
By the way, while we were waiting at the airport, I had to hit the men's room. San Antonio is quickly modernizing things. In fact, check out the new space-age urinal they have. You are completely dry before you ever zip up your pants, though the floor seemed to be wet..
When we first walked in the door, Panda seemed happy to see Gracie - either that or she just likes to sniff dogs butts a lot. Gracie on the other hand, was very timid. If we could understand her language, I'm sure she was saying, "Who is this portly little dog who keeps sniffing my butt?"
We went to ChaCho's over on Bandera and got a half-order of fajita nachos. There is just something about that gooey, gov'ment cheese, melted all over the crispy chips and the chopped up beef fajita meat that says, Welcome Home.
And when we had all stuffed ourselves, there was only one hunk of nacho and one hunk of avocado left - and of course we let Roxanne have the honors.
