Saturday, July 31, 2010

Tico's ~ It really is as good as everyone says....


Ahhh.... July 24 was my 17th anniversay. Married to the most wonderful husband and friend. I am so blessed. But the best thing about it is that we are going out to eat! I am always looking for a reason to enjoy some good food and friends. So, where to go? I'll admit right here that I don't get to go out often at night. The husband works weird hours and we live pretty far away from everything. Most of my blogs will be about lunch time experiences. Jackson has so many great locally owned restaurants it's a tough decision. Since I am taking the hubby or should I say he's taking me, I can't think of anything better than a great steak. I've narrowed it down to Kathryn's and Tico's. Since my brother and his girlfriend were going to Tico's... I thought Tico's it is. We called and made a reservation for 7:30. I was unaware but you should probably always make a reservation at Tico's on a Saturday night. We arrive a little after 7 and run into some relatives of Tommy's. Looks like it's going to be a fun night. They are there for a suprise 30th birthday party for their son. We check in with the hostess and find that they actually have us down for 8. Not a problem, we go to the bar for a quick drink and hang out with the family. Now I'll just say the place is really crowded. But it seems to be a very controlled chaos. We wind up in the party room and didn't hear them call us for our table. I checked in with the hostess again and let her know where we were. Finally we were called for our table. We started off with a couple of appetizers. The Fried Crab Claws and the Onion Rings.
Tico's Fried Crab Claws Tico's Onion Rings
Now, I love fried crab claws and these were good. Nothing really special served with cocktail sauce. The onion rings were very good, piping hot with a light batter that really let the onion taste show through. We both ordered the Wedge with Ranch Dressing.
Tico's Wedge
It was adequate but again, nothing special. For our entrees I ordered the special of the evening. An 8oz filet topped with crab meat and hollandaise and served on a bed of grilled asparagus.
Tico's Filet with Crab & Hollandaise on a bed of Grilled Asparagus
Tommy had the bone in ribeye with potatoes and onions.
Photobucket Tico's Potatoes and Onions
My filet was cooked perfectly medium rare, just like I like it.
Perfect!
There was a bit of a grisly spot in it than just grew and grew when I chewed it, but once I got past that the rest of the steak was spot on. The ribeye was also cooked to perfection. Tommy likes his charred on the outside and pink in the middle and the chef at Tico's really knows how to cook a steak. The asparagus were just right. I think Tommy was thinking Waffle House Hash Browns when he saw the Potatoes and Onions on the menu so he was a little disappointed when they came out like homestyle potatoes. But everything is GREAT with ketchup and Tommy likes to use it liberally. We are not really dessert people so, we skipped that course and rejoined the birthday party.
Photobucket
Even though the place was packed our service was excellent. Our server, Tiffany had more than enough to do just keeping up with us. We bounced from table to table and room to room, visiting with all of our friends and family. I will definitely return to Tico's. It was one of the most memorable anniversaries yet!


Tico's Steak House on Urbanspoon

Thursday, July 29, 2010

It's not Keifer's......

My co-conspirator and I, along with her daughter decided to try Kristos today for lunch. Of course we read the recent reviews and blogs but had to try it for ourselves. We arrived and were immediately seated which is always a plus in my book. The first thing I noticed about the interior is that it does appear to be much cleaner than Keifer’s. The drawback was that the room was a little too cozy or cramped as we could hear everything the ladies behind us were discussing. Our server was very attentive and took our drink order and gave us our menus. While the font is the same as Keifer’s menu not everything on the menu is the same. We started off with the Kristo’s Meatballs and some hummus. I found the meatballs to have a strange sort of gummy texture. They were a bit salty but had a nice fiery kick at the end. The feta dressing was a nice accompaniment. On the other hand the hummus was great. I find sometimes plain hummus can be a bit bland but this had a nice creamy texture and a tart lemony taste. On to our entrees. I ordered the Gyro, my companions ordered the Turkey Opa and the Turkey Wrap. My Gyro was pretty run of the mill. There was an ample amount of Gyro meat and a nice Tzatziki sauce. One thing I may like even better about Kristo’s than Keifer’s is that there really wasn’t much else in there. Some lettuce and 1 piece of red onion. At Keifer’s I usually don’t even eat the pita but I polished this one off in probably record time. Initially I thought the service was a bit slow, especially between the time we ordered and when our appetizers hit the table. There probably wasn’t enough time between when the appetizers came and the entrée came. So, it’s time to pay the check. The server leaves one check on our table. Since everything else is so much like Keifer’s I obviously assumed you go to the cashier and tell them what you had off of the ticket and they tell you how much yours is. Well, we waited and waited and waited for someone to come ring us out. Finally she showed and she assumed I was paying the entire check….so, she had to re-ring both of our tickets. I’m glad there wasn’t a line to get out like there is sometimes at Keifers. All in all, I think I may go back, if for nothing but the hummus. Maybe try something different for an entrée. It’s definitely closer to my location than Keifers which is another plus for me.

Kristos on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Welcome to Mouthingoff Jxn! This will be my attempt to fill you all in on some of Jackson, MS and the surrounding area's food offerings as well as offerings in other cities I visit. My only credentials are that I absolutely LOVE food. I love to go out to eat and sample the different cuisines and atmospheres. I also love to cook my own food and you never know, I may even blog about that. Please feel free to leave comments or suggestions. I welcome them all!