Rafferty's Revisited

My mom swooped into town Friday to steal Emeline away for a few days of Granny Time so Ben and I had a built in babysitter... the easiest way to get out of the house! After a week of being housebound with sick kids, the holidays, and school/work vacation I was ready to eat a meal that I did not prepare.

So Ben and I decided to make our return trip to Rafferty's.

We were seated right away even though the restaurant was busy. That's one of the advantages to being a party of two! Our server was a friend (that ensured good service) and she knew of our previous negative experience so she was interested in the quality of this meal. This dinner was off to a good start.

The last time we dined at Rafferty's we ordered an appetizer, Ben had a margarita, Ben and I ordered meals, Ben added on a house salad, and Holden had a children's meal. The manager provided us with two meal cards good for any entree on the menu. Since we had a pretty big bill on the night of the nightmare we felt comfortable ordering the most expensive thing on the menu: the Jackson Hole Filet. It comes with a house salad and one side... a plus since most items on the Rafferty's menu come with a side only and you have to add the salad for $3.79.

The food arrived quickly. Salad was fresh and crisp. A problem that I have with Rafferty's salads is that towards the bottom they get watery and this time was no different, but the Romaine was fresh and it did not have the chemical taste that many restaurant salads have so I was ok with the watery finish. I skipped the croissant because I am trying to quit (in the famous words of my boss), but it was the usual big, fluffy pastry drizzled in liquid gold (honey butter).

The entrees also arrived quickly... maybe too quickly because Ben wasn't finished with his salad, but we didn't complain. Unfortunately, we are like most American's and we shovel food like nobody's business. Eating out is usually not an event that we linger over. Maybe it stems from school lunches that were 20 minutes long 10 of which were spent in the lunch line or maybe it's from eating out with small children: the faster you eat, the sooner you leave, the less chance for a kid to have a public meltdown. I digress... The filet was cooked perfectly; moist and juicy. It was a little salty tasting to me, but good. My side was Vegetable Stuffed Tomato (I was trying to be healthy). It turned out to be somewhat of a broccoli casserole with mushrooms, corn and parmesean bread crumbs... not so healthy, but it was the only vegetable option on the sides list. Ben got his usual fries and for once they seemed decent. I am not a fan of Rafferty's fries since they are usually pieces of fries - crumbly and greasy. All in all our meal was much better than before. We might go back on our own dime... if the recession ever ends.

Cheers to Rafferty's for not being a blankedy-blank embarassment again!

Rafferty's Update

My complaint to Rafferty's website was delivered to the manager... much to Ben's surprise (he said no one would ever read it). The manager graciously called me the Monday after my email to discuss my experience. I really didn't have anything more to add, but I did clarify the reason that I didn't mention it while at the restaurant was because I didn't want to make a scene (or get my food spit in). He sent out complimentary meal cards to compensate us and he said hopefully win us back. Believe it or not I am not in a hurry to go back. Not even for free food! I am sure we will though and I will post back about my experience. At least, they earn brownie points for having such a competent and pleasant manager.

What's Cooking?

This afternoon I came to a realization... I hate cooking. I cook everyday of my life at least once a day. Figuring out what to cook is frustrating. Preparing is a disaster. Clean up is a hassle. But we gotta eat and we are too poor for an in house chef (my fantasy) even eating out everyday is not an option.

OK... I guess I overstated it a bit. This is just the build up of a days and days of being a short order cook for four lousy tippers.

Many of our happiest family memories are in the kitchen over a bowl of cookie dough or a griddle of silver dollar pancakes. All three kids love to help prepare meals and Ben is the best guinea pig ever! I have a repertoire of recipes I prepare regularly, but every now an then I'll try something new. Sometimes it flies and sometimes it flops.

This weekend I had a taste for Buffalo Wings (skinless, boneless to be exact). My relationship with Buffalo Wings is an interesting one. I used to despise them. The smell would turn my stomach. Then during my pregnancy with Owen I started craving them almost daily. Not being one to deny a pregnancy craving I ate them and I liked them! And would eat them in a train... in a box... with a fox! I've heard they aren't hard to make at home and I gave it a whirl.

Here's the recipe I chose:

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp margarine or butter
1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot sauce
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
about 2 lbs chicken
vegetable oil or olive oil

You just mix the first four ingredients to coat the chicken pieces in. Then mix the next four for the sauce. You coat the chicken in the flour then brown in small batches in the oil in a pan on the stove top. Remove them from the pan and dip them in the sauce and place on a baking sheet. If you have extra sauce, pour it over the chicken. Bake the chicken at 350 for 5-10 minutes. And voila... Buffalo Chicken!

I tweaked the recipe some. After I mixed the butter, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce it seems too Worcestershirey so I added more hot sauce. Ben loved it and declared it "better than a restaurant." I am not so sure. They were good, but not quite true Buffalo Wings. The next time I may only use one or two tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce.

As for the name of this recipe? I cut the chicken into nugget sized portions so I started calling them Buffalo Nuggets and of course, Buf Nugs for short. Ben said it and I was thinking it...great minds, huh?

One more side note... I left the sauce off some of the nuggets and baked them on a separate baking sheet for Emeline and Owen because I thought the hot sauce might be too much for them. They were moist and delicious. Reminded me of Chick-Fil-A nuggets, but way less greasy. They ate 'em up!

I will be adding Buf Nugs to the rotation especially for football nights and parties!

Sinus Update

This is a follow up to my recent post regarding using the neti pot (sinus pot) to battle an impending cold. It didn't completely save me from the cold, but what I did come down with was considerably mild compared to what I felt like was coming. Whenever my sinuses became congested, I simply rinsed my nasal passages and I could breathe again. A sinus headache? Out came the neti pot and the headache went away. Usually every cold I get turns into a 3 week long hacking cough. This cold seems to be on it's way out and I have no cough.

I would say the neti is a success and I will be using it again!

Our "Night"mare Out

Our family loves to eat out. The kids like getting something other than "home food". Ben likes getting food that I don't cook at home like red meat. And I just love that I don't have to do the cooking and cleaning!

There was a time when we dined at a restaurant weekly, but then Owen came along. He hated restaurants. They made him scream relentlessly. Then came the bad economy and high gas prices. So eating out is a treat for us. We do a family afternoon out once a month or so when we do an errand or two together then have dinner at a restaurant.

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) there aren't many good restaurants in Clarksville. Most everything is a chain and they are all chains that gained popularity in the 1990's (read: old). Then there are the cookie cutter Mexican places and Chinese buffets. We usually choose Rafferty's or Longhorn. Rafferty's has several dishes that Ben is fond of. I only like a few things, but I have warm, fuzzy memories of it as one of the first places Ben and I visited when we started dating. They used to have good options for the kids too.

All of that changed on our visit there this week. It was so disappointing that I made my way to Rafferty's website to lodge a complaint. I don't like confrontation nor do I want the undue attention of other customers. But it definitely merited a complaint so I did it the best way I knew how: writing.

Here's what I wrote:

My family visited your Clarksville, TN location on December 4, 2008. Rafferty's has always been one of our favorite places to dine here in town as it is consistently good... good food and good service. Unfortunately, on our last visit we were disappointed. The service was fair, but the food left much to be desired. We ordered our usual hot chicken fingers appetizer which tasted the same as always, but seemed much smaller than usual. I was surprised when my request for honey butter drizzle on the croissants that come with the Chicken Salad, Soup, and Croissants entree was met with an up-charge for an entire ramekin of honey butter. I declined. It is just ridiculous to me that I would be charged for a 1/4 cup of something that would amount to less that 1 tablespoon when drizzled on the croissants as it is on the ones that come with all of other the salads on the menu. I ordered the soup of the day, broccoli cheese, which amounted to melted Velveeta with chopped broccoli... at least that is how it tasted. It was lukewarm and had the consistency of glue. The grapes in the chicken salad were ALL mushy... way past their prime. The croissants were not the usual ones nor were they anything like the one my husband got with his salad that evening; they were more like Pilsbury crescent rolls... small and tasteless. My husband's meal was the Wood-Fired Pork Chops. They were barely eatable. Tough and overdone. In this economy, eating out is no longer a given. Our family goes out to eat about once a month... a special treat for all of us. I have a friend who is a server at a local restaurant and she has noticed a marked decrease in business as well as her tips. What I expect of a restaurant that values me as a customer and wants to keep my business in order to STAY in business is that despite tough times they will give me my money's worth. I was willing to lay down my hard earned money at Rafferty's for food I expected to be worth it. I am not surprised at higher prices on the menu, but I am shocked when the food I receive in return is mediocre and not up to the standards that you once achieved. We will not make that mistake again.

I felt like Chef Ramsay in a Kitchen Nightmare of my own. Only I didn't want to help them turn things around nor was my meal on the house. But hell hath no fury like a mom who got a crappy meal that she could have prepared better and for way less money on her own. So spread the word... add 'em to the black list of Clarksville restaurants NOT to eat at.

Wednesday's Word

Aggressive, adjective. Ready or likely to attack or confront.

Emeline's usage: "I think it would be fun to be a teacher, but would have to be awfully aggressive."

Hummm... that's not exactly the adjective I would have picked.

Images from Sunday Night

Jason Mraz concert at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville...

We were in the balcony, but there's really not a bad seat in the house.


The horn section came up top to play during one of the songs...


Opening act Lisa Hannigan...



It was a great concert. Mr. Az put on a really fun show full of emotion and laughs... plus choreography.