this was not a photo op

 

hmmm. i didn’t really want to get into giving negative restaurant reviews. ok, at first i thought bad reviews would be fun, but then realized, it wasn’t (thanks eckhart!). but this restaurant visit was so bad, it was comical. this adventure begins with me thinking i was getting a good deal. kark website offers gift certificates for ½ price. you pay $25 and you get a $50 gift certificate. so far, so good. we trekked out to Bryant to use the Gabe’s Grill gift certificate. we’d dined at a former incarnation by the same owner in NLR called Gabriel’s Steakhouse & Oyster Bar, before it went tits up. Each visit to the steakhouse was worse than the last, but, in any case, i thought we’d give Gabe’s a try. first, the format is like Pei Wei. walk in, go to the cash register, look at the menu board, order, pay, get a bonanza style number for your table, self-serve a beverage, seat yourself and the food will be delivered. ok. we did all that. we ordered homemade onion rings for our appy, they were OK. homemade, sure. delicious, no. our salads came out, mine was placed before me while the other one strangely got delivered to another table. we watched it’s entire journey and wondered if the new owner would like the raspberry vinaigrette salad dressing. he ate it, so he must've like it. after a salad inquiry, another one appeared. salads? boooooooooring. then out came my NY Strip, baked potato and sautéed mushrooms (in gelatinous au jus). the potato was rock hard. inedible. we were told this is the way they were all going to be & was offered another side. ok. how about some fried okra to replace that side. out came french fries. let’s try again, how about some fried okra to replace that side. the okra was hand battered and probably the best thing i ate that night. the goal became to spend the entire $50 gift certificate so no money would be dangling out there thus no return visit. to accomplish this, we ordered desserts to go. a peach cobbler á la mode and a piece of chocolate cake. i don’t know where that chocolate cake is right now, but my cobbler is in susieQ and wee’s garbage bin & i hope the maggots don’t come. save your pesos mi amigo.

☠