My wife and I have joked about going to Ray Ray’s for years. I was raised a Proud Southern Boy©, and I have a deep affection for most aspects of the South – the culture, the people, the hospitality, the accents (despite my desperate attempts to hide my own), and especially the food. So, on a recent Friday night, trying to decide where to eat, we finally decided to check out Ray Ray’s.

Ray Ray’s is on Washington Avenue, just west of 41. It’s not the greatest neighborhood (he said, putting things mildly). The building is actually a converted gas station, which is very evident from the outside. With nerves of steel (and the car doors securely locked), we ventured into Ray Ray’s.

The first thing you will notice are several references to Jesus on the door. I don’t know if this would be off-putting to people or not. It made us smile. As we opened the door, the first thing we noticed was how clean the place was. The parts of the kitchen that were viewable from the dining “area” (more on that later) were immaculate. We were greeted immediately by a very nice younger girl who walked us through the menu. Ray Ray’s is primarily a take-out place, although there are a few (I counted 6) tables for people who don’t want to take their food home.

Feeling adventurous (and really hungry, since we hadn’t eaten in about 8 hours), we opted for 3 pieces of chicken, an order of catfish nuggets, and an order of butterfly shrimp. We discovered as we ordered that each order came with two sides and two dinner rolls. Final count – 3 pieces of chicken, 10 butterfly shrimp, around 10 catfish nuggets, coleslaw, mashed potatoes, potato salad, mixed greens, mac and cheese, fries, and 6 dinner rolls. (Don’t give me that look – we didn’t eat it all at once. And yes, I know there are starving pygmies in New Guinea.) Final total – $27 or so. Seriously.

While we waited for our food, we had a lovely conversation with Ms. Ray Ray, as she is affectionately known. She is a sweet woman, and was a great hostess as she told us the history of Ray Ray’s and of her family. Her husband (who is NOT named Ray Ray, I later learned) is also a pastor, and pastors a church in a small town in West Tennessee. It’s actually about 45 miles from where I grew up, and I know the area well. (Well enough that she was shocked I knew where Halls, Tennessee was.) The business is a family enterprise. The younger girl who greeted us and took our order is actually their daughter. (Either that, or she has a nasty habit of calling other people Mom.) It was a thoroughly pleasant experience, and as we left with our feast we knew we would return if the food was even halfway good.

Now, to the food. The chicken was good. Really good. Not quite slap your momma good, but it was some of the best I have had in a long time. The catfish was also among the best I have ever had. The mixed greens (which are not on the menu full time, sadly) were definitely the best I have ever had. (My wife, who hates greens, loved them.) The coleslaw was great – a creamy-vinegary hybrid with a refreshing peppery bite. The mashed potatoes were – well, we both hated them. We also hated the shrimp. We disagreed on the mac and cheese and the potato salad (I liked both – she liked neither). The fries were an afterthought by the time we got to them, but they would probably be really good if they had been hot and fresh. (They were served to us hot and fresh – but by the time we got home and got food plated, they were cold. Our fault, not theirs.) The dinner rolls were standard issue.

So, what did we really think? Given the way we were treated, the quality of the food, and the overall atmosphere, we will definitely be going back. (In fact, we did, a week later – and it was just as good.) The food was great (except for the mashed potatoes), the people were great, we made some new friends along the way, and – here’s the dirty little secret – the neighborhood is not that bad. I grew up in Memphis – there are no bad neighborhoods in this town. Some a bit rough, but none that are scary.

Bottom line? If you want good soul food, or comfort food, or just don’t feel like cooking, consider adding Ray Ray’s to your list of take out places. It’s a definite A-. (Hollywood was an F+, by way of comparison.)

Ray Ray’s Fish & Chicken is located at 1000 Washington Ave Evansville, IN 47714. 812-402-2101

In honor of my wife’s birthday, her family decided to take her out to dinner. It was a Sunday night, which is usually a slow time in the restaurant industry. Our first choice (RiRa) was closed, so we opted for Hollywood Bar and Grill on the North side. My wife and I had been there before, and it was average. Not great, not horrible, just OK. With the clan in tow, we gave it another shot.

We sat in the bar, as we always do, for two reasons. One, four out of five people in the group are stinky smokers relegated to our smoky ghetto. Two, the bar has TV’s, and the NCAA Tournament was on. (I know, I know, wife’s birthday and I was watching basketball. So was she.)

As we entered the bar, we noticed the decor. Hollywood is a movie themed restaurant. There are a few movie posters around, as well as an Elvis head behind the bar. There is also a Charlie McCarthy behind the bar. (Go ask your parents.) The menu has a film theme as well, with items such as the Indiana Jones, The Matrix, and The Terminator. What do these have to do with the food? Nothing I can tell, since two days later I can’t connect any of the names to their respective foods. There were ample TV’s, all tuned to basketball. (Sports or news are the only acceptable destinations for restaurant televisions, unless someone has asked specifically for something else. If the server is paying attention to American Idol, they’re not paying attention to you. Trust me – I’ve done it.)

When our server brought our drinks, she also brought a pitcher of iced tea and a carafe of coffee and set them on the table. It was a nice touch – unfortunately, there was no ice included. Mmm – room temperature tea, my favorite! We ordered – I got the chicken livers, with mashed potatoes and mac-n-cheese; my wife got a chicken sandwich, no bun, with a baked potato. Grandma got a chef salad with blue cheese dressing. My wife and I also opted for the salad bar (for $4.49 extra).

When we went to the salad bar, we were a bit – well, is underwhelmed a word, because it sure describes the salad bar. Brown, old mushrooms; lettuce with browned edges; a vegetable soup-type substance that could have been used to grout tile. Dressing choices were standard – ranch, blue cheese, 1000, Italian, honey mustard. It was edible (except for the mushrooms), but not good, and not worth the price.

When our food finally arrived (30 minutes after we ordered), we were similarly underwhelmed. Grandma’s salad had the wrong dressing, but she liked it. My wife’s chicken breast was dry and bland. My chicken livers were good, but they were served on a piece of lettuce that had been baked by sitting under a heat lamp for far too long. My mashed potatoes were dry and lumpy. My mac and cheese was saucy, with an off-putting sweetness. For dessert, we ordered a chocolate cake, which I quite enjoyed.

Our server was very personable, with a dry sense of humor. Hollywood has a movie ticket perk – if you spend $12.50, you get a free pass to the North Side Showplace Cinema. We were misinformed that our beverages counted towards that total. After much consternation, we were told that we were entitled to tickets – but Grandma, whose food total was $11.60 before tax, was not unless she ordered something else. She opted to add cheese to her salad that had been eaten a half-hour before. A bit off-putting – but the manager came to our table and actually gave her the dollar back, saying that we had been misinformed. It was a very welcome gesture, and saved us from an embarrassing scene. (Don’t make Grandma angry.)

Overall, it was a pretty awful experience. I can’t say that I will ever go back, nor will I recommend it to anyone with taste buds. Unfortunately, when I ask my wife what she wants for dinner, she often replies “SALAD BAR!”, so if it is up to her, I might be forced to return.

The crowning touch to the entire evening was a sign on the wall in the view of the entire restaurant that says, “If you forget to clock in, you will not be paid. Managers are no longer allowed to fix time, per Paul.” I am not sure who Paul is, or why he thinks that labor laws do not apply to him. However, if most experiences at Hollywood are like ours, I don’t think their employees will have to worry about getting paid much longer.

Viq Thomasson lives in Evansville with his wife and beagle. He is a veteran of the restaurant industry and a Chicago cubs fan. Neither of those contributes to his surly attitude.

Given that our resident food editor has moved to China for the duration of 2009, it’s up to me to review restaurants now. I hope I can live up to her extremely high standards

Being in Newburgh to visit the family, we decided it was as good of time as any to check out Beef ‘O’ Brady’s, the new Irish themed restaurant next to Showplace Newburgh. O’Bradys is a small midwest and southern centric chain with another restaurant nearby in Owensboro.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is located in the left edge of a small strip mall that was recently built in the area. The large green sign is designed using Celtic fonts giving the impression that it might be an Irish restaurant similar to Ri-Ra downtown, but that appears to be only in the branding.

Upon entering O’Brady’s, you’ll notice two things: the leprechaun green walls and over a dozen high definition televisions mounted on the walls. While I was there most of the TVs were tuned to the Nascar race with one on each side also showcasing the decor of the stars on Oscar’s Red Carpet.

The green walls are filled with local sports jerseys for Boonville and Castle to give it that somewhat local vibe.

One thing I was taken aback by was just how bright the lighting in the restaurant is. It’s possibly one of the brightest restaurants I have ever set foot in. There was no mood set by the lighting whatsoever, save for my desire to want sunglasses.

In terms of the food, Beef ‘O’ Brady’s doesn’t keep with its Irish themed name. The fair is more akin to Buffalo Wild Wings with its chicken wings, wraps and sandwiches.

My parents split the O’Bradys wing basket which came with 10 chicken wings, fries and coleslaw. The wings come in a few different flavors. There are the traditionals like mild, medium, hot, honey bbq, etc. O’Bradys also has a few sauces unique to them with their garlic parmesan, chipotle lime and sweet jalapeno. They opted to get half teriyaki and half garlic parmesan.

The wings were drenched in sauce when they arrived, similar to what you would get at Buffalo Wild Wings. They were both big fans of the garlic parmesa wings and went on about how good the sauce was. They were not that into the teriyaki feeling that there was better teriyaki wings elsewhere in town.

The wing basket also included fries and slaw. The french fries came out cold, but were promptly replaced with piping hot ones. My dad loved the cole slaw. I was waiting for him to beg for the recipe.

I am not one for fried food, so I opted for a salad. I had the Asian Mandarin Chicken Salad. The salad features teriyaki chicken (fried or grilled), almonds, rice noodles and mandarin oranges on a bed of lettuce and red cabbage. It’s served with pan-asian dressing straight from a plastic packets like you’d get at McDonalds or Ritzys.

The chicken on the salad was warm and delicious, and the salad overall was about on par with what I would expect from a place that specializes in greasy food. It wasn’t the best salad I have ever had, but I have had far worse. I would have liked the dressing packets to be replaced with little cups instead. If I am at a sit-down restaurant, I’d like a better presentation.

The service at Beef ‘O’ Brady’s was average. Our waitress was friendly and prompt to take drink orders, but disappeared until our food arrived leaving my dad with an empty beer pint. No one likes to have an empty beer pint.

Overall I’d rate the experience a C+ overall as the experience was just about average. The food was fairly good, but the atmosphere and service left a little to be desired for me. If you’re a fan of AppleBee-esque themed restaurants, it’s probably fine for you. I’d go back if my family wanted to, but I don’t think I will be adding Beef ‘O’ Brady’s to my list of frequently visited establishments.

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s is located at 8177 Bell Oaks Dr. Suite A. (812) 490-9464. Sunday – Thursday 11am-10pm. Friday – Saturday 11am – 11pm.

I’m sure some of you miscreants will be out trick-or-treating at far too old of an age. Perhaps some of you are even taking your children out to loot the neighbors for candy. While you’re out, think of other trick-or-treaters and learn to use the Halloween Candy Code.

Hobos have long had a code to assist other travelers by placing symbols on trees, sidewalks, etc. Now trick-or-treaters have something of the same kind. It’s now even easier to skip those creeps that pass out the fruit and toothbrushes and focus on the great neighbor who has the full size candy bars.

We are a little under two weeks away from the Fall Festival taking over Franklin St and I know you are all looking forward to it. To whet the appetite for grease a bit leading up to the event, I thought I’d share some of the new food creations that will be available at this year’s edition of the festival. The number at the end is the booth number so you can find it easily with your munchie map.

• Coney Island corn bread #2
• Baked Pronto Pups #6
• Deep Fried Cheese Ball #10
• Fried Pickle Chips #15
• Baklava Arabian Pastry #16
• BBQ Meatballs #34
• Fried Green Beans #36
• Deep Fried Hot Dogs #46
• Stromboli Nachos #46
• Hawaiian Pineapple Delight #46
• Chili Cheese Hot Tamales #47
• Corn Bread #66
• Devils Knuckles #67
• Kangurrito Burrito #72
• Deep Fried Olives #75
• Chicken Chili #77
• Grippochos #83
• Chocolate Covered Grapes #85
• Gator Gumbo #99
• Cincy Chili Dogs #101

Now, has anyone seen my bingo card?

photo courtesy of jastin

A few days ago we went to El Rio, a Mexican restaurant on North Green River Rd that we had been eying for quite a while. It is not new, and I believe its been there since I was in high school, but until this month, we’d never eaten there. I hadn’t heard much about it from anyone either.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall, so its outer decor isn’t much to be seen. Unfortunately, the interior isn’t very different. The first things I noticed when I walked in were its darkness, blandness, and over all brown color. Plain old brown tables and booths seemed to be sporadically, yet neatly, placed throughout the one large room. A handful of booths have carved and painted scenes (ie. birds or fish), but only a handful at best. I’ll give it to them that they tried to liven up the place by putting up a few pinatas and banners, but that’s it. The restaurant could really use some fresh (bright) paint and more than sparse “stereotypical” decorations.

The menu seemed to be of a good size and actually had some things on it that weren’t the norm for Mexican restaurants, though we did stick to the basics. I thought the chips and salsa were great, and we ordered cheese dip to go along with it. While the foundation of the cheese dip itself was good, there was no kick from spices and jalapenos to go along with it like any good cheese dip has. He decided on getting the chicken chimichanga that came with rice and beans–it looked good and though I didn’t try it, he said it was good. I ordered a dinner combination that came with rice, beans, a taco, and enchilada. The rice wasn’t my favorite; though it wasn’t bad, it was just average. I thought the taco was good and the enchiladas were average. The problem was that the meat was hardly seasoned; it tasted just like basic ground beef without any flavor. Had it been flavored better, I imagine I would’ve liked this restaurant a lot more.

Overall, I won’t be going back here on my own, but if someone else wanted to eat here, I wouldn’t resist. It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad–it was just “eh.” I think there are a lot of logical improvements to the decor and the food that the restaurant could make to easily improve their quality: paint and seasoning.

The West Side Nut Club has put their Fall Festival Munchie Map online so you can get an early start preparing the destruction of your internals.

The Fall Festival runs October 6 to 11. And yes, we will be doing Fall Festival Bingo 2008. Stay tuned.

Apologies for the food reviewing hiatus; really, I will try to be better! I’m sure most of you have noticed a new restaurant on Burkhardt Avenue. The Grand Traverse Pie Company is a small chain, that offers sandwiches, salads, and of course pie among other things.

The decoration inside seems to bring to mind a slight take of something you might find in the north Midwest. A little dark, wood features, and plants are throughout the restaurant. Its casual and simply, but the tables at a little packed in. When you enter, you immediately see a large display of pies. Just down the counter, you order your food. However, this area is extremely cramped during the rush hours, and there is an oddly placed high top table that is somewhat in the way. Just like Panera, you pick up your food at a different spot further down the counter.

Other than sandwiches and salads, the menu also offers wraps, soups, quesadillas, quiches, and potpies. I have been there a number of times now, and have tried several things. The first time I tried the Grand Traverse Club that consists of turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato, swiss cheese, and pesto sauce on Sourdough bread. I’m not a big fan of sandwiches, but I thought this was a pretty good sandwich in part due to the pesto sauce that was a different but good idea. My sister has tried the chicken quesadilla and my father devoured the Cherry Chicken Salad (romaine, chicken, tomato, cucumber, feta, parmesan, and dried cherries). Both were deemed to be quite good, although they had a hard time with me sisters request of no tomatoes. I’ve tried all three quiches, which are okay; they are good for the type of restaurant, although I wish they were firmer, and the Spinach Mushroom Quiche is my favorite. The Stuffed Pepper Soup is also quite good.

Surprisingly, I have found the pie to be hit or miss. I tried the Lakeshore Berry pie, which is a mix of strawberry, raspberry, blackberry, and apple. Despite the blend sounding so appealing, I didn’t really prefer it and found it to be really tart. On the other hand, my aunt loved the Strawberry Rhubarb pie. My sister and tried the chocolate cream pie but felt it was too thick and mousse-like. It was okay, but not what we would consider a good chocolate pie. I liked the lemon meringue, although it was extremely tart. The apple crumb was great, and the banana cream was fantastic.

Even though it opened recently, I think the Pie Company has already worked out a lot of the typical new restaurant kinks. The food is pretty good and has a lot of good ideas, although sometimes I think the quality of food could be bumped up a notch. Clearly, having eaten here a handful of times, I enjoy it. The menu is rather extensive and there is plenty to have something different to try each time.

The Grand Traverse Pie Company is located at 6245 Vogel Rd. (812) 477-7437. Mon-Thurs 7am-9pm, Fri & Sat 7am-10pm, Sun 8am-9pm.

If you have driven by Sir Beef over the past few weeks, you have noticed that the parking lot is bare. I drove by this morning to see a sign letting customers know that their “equipment broke” and has yet to be repaired.

Sir Beef is an Evansville staple that I hope does not go the way of Burger Farm. Hopefully the equipment issue can be remedied soon as I need my fill of beef, fries, cheesecakes and incredibly dirty, sticky tables. Yum.

Having been at Tin Fish just down the street many times, and we decided to travel a bit further down the street to Cafe Newburgh. We first tried to go on Monday, only to find out that they were closed on Mondays, so we returned on Wednesday.

The building initially appeared small, but going in, it opened up into 3 small rooms, as well as a back porch. There is definitely old charm to Cafe Newburgh with its original brick walls, dark wood floors, and high ceilings (that seemed to be covered in wallpaper). I definitely was enjoying that charm, but wish the tables had fit in more. They seemed to be just the standard “cheap eats” table covered with a white plastic tablecloth.

We were told to choose our seat, and were quickly presented with a menu. It wasn’t entirely what I expected: the 3 main categories that took up the vast majority of the menu were grinders, sandwiches, and hot dogs. Sandwiches & grinders all seemed to be the basic variety, choices of turkey, ham, roast beef, salami, etc. The hot dogs were slightly more different, ranging from the traditional to German/Austria style. There seemed to be very few other choices in terms of salad, burgers, and more.

I ordered a chicken salad sandwich on wheat, and it came served with chips and a pickle. I couldn’t figure out what an unpleasant sweet taste was. I thought at first that it was juice in the chicken salad, but later settled that it was a strong tasting honey-wheat bread. Once I focused on the flavor of the chicken salad, it was entirely bland without a hint of flavor. He tried one of the hot dogs, the Gourmet Dog, that was topped with fried onions, lettuce, and sour cream and substituted the potato fries instead of chips. He said his was alright, but we both had one complaint. The hot dog, while huge and thick, had a very thick bright red natural casing that snapped loudly with each bite. I guess some people like this, but we thought it should have been removed. Had I ordered a hot dog and it came out like this, I wouldn’t have eaten it for the life of me. We ordered a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie, which came out large, thick, and hot. It was the saving grace of our lunch.

Overall, it was completely different from what I had expected, but not a pleasant surprise. The food was nothing I couldn’t make at home, and mine had no flavor. Although the cookie and old charm was nice, I won’t be going back there just for that.

Cafe Newburgh is located at 17 W Jenning Street. (812) 842-2991. Tues-Sun, lunch & dinner.