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!