In a Barbie World

Our trip to Smokey Bones! It's been a long time since our last trip there. It wasn't for any reason that we've avoided returning to the restaurant; just time flying by so quickly.

We ordered corn bread with honey pecan butter to start.

The restaurant is running a "Happy 'Que Year" meal special until the beginning of February on a few dinners. Included with the platter, you also get a dinner or caesar salad and a half order of doughnuts (3) for dessert, minus 1 vegetable side, for the price of the standard version of the platter.

The selection:
- baby back ribs (full rack)
- pulled pork
- smokehouse chicken
- St. Louis style ribs (half rack)
- honey glazed salmon

Decisions, decisions! I love salmon and don't really eat pork much. The baby back ribs sounded great, since I don't care for tough ribs. I was feeling lazy (and cheap), so I got the pulled pork for $10 and my one side was fire-roasted corn. Bug ordered the baby back ribs with onion rings and fries.

The corn bread arrived in all its beauty...until we mauled it. The round top was perfectly golden and gleaming. The bread was moist and wonderful on its own, but with the honey pecan butter, it was heavenly. As the whipped butter caressed my tongue, it melted away and left a very light, nutty sweet essence. Shortly after the sweetness, it trailed off into a soft saltiness. The sensation reminded me of eating cotton candy.

The timing of the dishes wasn't excellent, but I would rather have my food sooner than later. Before I could finish my quarter slice of corn bread, still enamored, my salad came. I was startled at the size of the salad. Lately, I've been craving crunchy lettuce and grape tomatoes, so this hit the spot almost dead on. If it had cucumbers, it would have been right-on. Hey, it was just a thought - this salad was free after all.

As I was 2/3 through with the salad, our dinner arrived. Our table looked cluttered, even though it initially had placesettings for 6 people.

The portions were huge. I shared with Bug 1/4 of my pulled pork. He shared some of his ribs. I...tested a french fry...y'know, to see if it was worthy of my husband's taste buds. They were amazingly good. First, they were freshly made, but they were seasoned with something that I couldn't quite pinpoint. Not seasoned salt, not Old Bay (didn't have the celery seed flavor)...something invisible that made it a little salty with a slight tang. Maybe it was mixed in with the potatoes when the fries were made.

The pulled pork was oooh smokey and moist, and very easy to eat. The fire-roasted corn was indeed roasted. It was sweet and, THANK ALL THAT IS GOOD, didn't have onions. It was mixed with small bits of red pepper, so it wasn't pepper-flavored corn. I was quite happy and was getting quite full. I was only able to eat 1/4 of my pulled pork serving, while I polished off the corn. I thought, Bug could have a delicious pulled pork sandwich for lunch the next day!

Bug's baby back ribs were sweet, but not sickeningly sweet. Despite the charred piece that he gave me, the meat that wasn't charred was very moist and pink. *grumble* I guess it's payback for all the times I've fed him burnt Dorito chips. Our server brought more napkins, wet-naps, and a cute brown bag to put the bones in.

Of course, I can't comment on the onions rings. >.> Bug ended up only finishing half his ribs.

Our order of donuts arrived in a white paper bag. She gave us 6! We quickly ate two. I kept burning my fingers and tongue because they were really hot and delicious. They were dusted with cinnamon and sugar and arrived with both dips, warm chocolate and cool strawberry. It was an excellent cap to a great meal.

As Bug reached into the bag to get another doughnut, I slapped his hand, and it dropped back into the bag. As much as I would have loved to split the 3rd doughnut with him, since we couldn't take the dips home, we had to draw the line somewhere!

I look forward to my next meal there!

- Cassaendra