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A long time ago in Columbus Ohio I bought a record album for 49¢. It was in a bin in Woolworths, Kresge's or maybe the Buckeye Mart. You know, it had been punched in one corner and that meant it is cheap and the next stop is the landfill. I bought several records this way and if you liked them you were ahead and if you didn't you could use it for a target or a frisbe. The name of this particular album was "Nuggets: "60s Garage Bands" and it was a compilation of 10 or 15 songs that ranged from, still one of my favorites, Billy McKnight doing "You're Doin' Me Wrong", to an abomination of a song, "Ding Dong The Witch is Dead" by The Fifth Estate. "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead was so wrong. If you ever get a chance to listen to it...don't. This review is something like that album. It is cheap, it covers a wide variety of places and the places mentioned vary in quality. We will think of this as the restaurant "Nuggets." My Wife and I took a road trip to Dallas Texas a few weeks ago and just got back a few days ago. Like most cross-country trips there is a lot thrown at you. Lets start with a solid Tex-Mex place in Dallas. Mattito's Tex-Mex
This was a small, neat, clean and cheerful little neighborhood place. Essentially this is a 100% Tex-Mex fare restaurant. Sure, you could get a hamburger but why would you? My daughter married into a family from Oaxaca Mexico and I have been treated to some fabulous Mexican fare. I am not an expert but I can tell fake Mexican Food and Mattito's is the real thing. I had the Chile Relleno and it was very good. It is not the best because I have to claim that distinction for my daughter's family, but it is right up there. You could get a small bowl of mole as a side even if it did not come with the dish you ordered and it was good Mole. This is one of the things that really endeared this place to me. Not every Mexican restaurant has something called Mole (but they should). In Oaxaca and in my extended family, Mole is a dark, complex dish thicker than most sauces and not as thick as most puddings and it is dark black. I had the joy of seeing my in-laws make Oaxaca Mole in the mountains of Oaxaca over an open flame, on a ceramic camal, in a mud-brick house. It took 2 days to make and included at least 26 ingredients not including the chicken running around the porch that disappeared shortly before dinner was served. I know Mattito's did not take two days to make their Mole, but there are pastes and powderes that will make a creditable mole and So many restaurants dole out Mole like it is the finest caviar topped with white truffle. Mattito's are generous with their mole and I really liked this restaurant.
TaMolly's If you are going to name your restaurant chain after a specific food item wouldn't you try to excel at that food item? Do not accept that expectation is always true. I had the tamale dinner and they were not good. I am absolutely sure not a single person at TaMolly's had anything to do with preparing the tamales I ate unless you count microwaving them. Sadly for TaMolly's my standard yardstick for Tamales is the "Oaxaca Super Tamale" served in the same house mentioned above. The masa was made daily, the pork for the tamales had been butchered and split between four families that weekend, and the mole used with the pork was left over from the chicken mole served the previous day. I know that is a hard standard to meet and damn hard to beat but there you are. My wife had a Quesadilla and said it was quite tasty, had fresh vegetables and nice warm cheese. The place was clean and the service was a bit slow but adequate and cheerful. It was a disappointing experience. Nothing there was terrible or inedible but they could do better.
Momo Italian Kitchen Momo is located in a busy business district. My son discovered Momo's when he was working and living nearby. It is an open, clean and sparkling modern place with a busy carry out business and tables for sit down meals. Being in a business district they are good at getting you seated quickly and getting you order taken without feeling rushed. It was more a feeling of efficiency than haste. They have an interesting menu including Cream Peas with Prosciutto $3.50 and Handmade Spinach Gnocchi$ 5.00 for sides dishes. Both my wife and I had the Eggplant Lasagna. She had hers mild and I had spicy and for $11.50 it was a generous serving and wonderful. It was savory with a creamy mozzarella heated to perfection. This dish was vegetarian safe and the lack of meat made it a cleaner and crisper dish. I would go here again, and again. Next time you are in Dallas check Momos' out.
Casey Jones Village Once you get off the main interstates you can find the most amazing little "Nuggets" of America. We pulled into Jackson TN because we were tired and wanted a quick dinner and then bed. It was the last leg of our return to home and we wanted to get up early and haul ass for home. As we were driving to our Holiday Inn Express we passed this little time warp place called Casey Jones Village. It looks like Main Street on a small town from 1880. Then it has one of the largest steam engines I have ever seen anywhere smack in the middle of this "U" shaped pixie town. On one leg was a fairly large Casey Jones Museum and on the other leg was the Brooks Shaw and Son Old Country Store Restaurant and Catering. The front looks like the front of a general store if built by Walt Disney. Since it was less than a quarter mile away and nothing was closer we decided to go there no matter how ghastly it was. When we went in I knew we were screwed. You go in through the gift store based on what Walt would think a general store would look like. There was nothing "General" about the store. It was aimed straight at vacationers out for a lark on and a bender of impulse buying and souvenir collecting. Need a sign saying "Ain't No One Happy If Momma Ain't Happy? How about buying some old timey candy and chewing gum. You know, Necco Waffers, Sky Bars, Root Beer Barrels, Wax Lips and Zagnut bars. Or maybe you need some faux hand canned jellys made in a huge impersonal factory and camouflaged with what looks like a hand lettered label, then this is the place you need to go. In my horror I realized they had out Der Dutchmaned Der Dutchman. Yikes! Once we got through the pile and isles of the commercial dreck obstacle course, we were seated and found out this place was a buffet. I went up to look to see if we needed to run for the exit or if we could find enough edible offerings to get through to breakfast. I was surprised to see many items that not only looked good, but smelled good. We found out that for buffet food it was at the top of the heap. I tried two of the three chicken offerings and both the fried and the baked chicken were hot and good. They consisted of real cuts of chicken and not those chicken chunks where you aren’t real sure where that chunk was once located on a chicken. They had collared greens. These were correctly cooked with ham and were not reduced to green sludge or barely cooked and tough as grass clippings. That was a nice touch. So they had muffins, cornbread green beans and ham, mashed potatoes, gravy (Typical buffet canned gravy but no worse than the usual buffet fare), and dessert. My wife and I had a bit of peach cobbler and a bit of cherry cobbler. It was not bad. We enjoyed our experiencing and on the way out we bought some old timey candy.
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