A suprise meal

 Everyone knows about Eckert's farm and store and restaurant, right?  If not, here is a quick summary of what you have been missing: Long ago at a galaxy far and away, my grandparent's used to take my brothers and I, to Eckert's to go apple picking in the fall.  They would drive out and we would do the apple picking and then we would enter the country store, which I recall at the time, being nothing more than a large barn.  We would go in, get a wooden basket, go out and get apples, and then bring them back where they would weigh them and you would pay pennies for each pound of picked apples.  This was great.  Now, within the past few years, or year, they changed everything.   

This is what the Country store looked like a bit ago, with the restaurant to the left of it.  Then they did this:


You can tell that this farm is doing well when they can tear down their old store and make a huge one.  This store is very much on the inside, as high-tech as a Whole Foods or Schnucks.  As for the restaurant, it used to be tiny, country-style decorated and could sit maybe 50 people.  Now, the place is huge and can easily seat a few hundred.

Now, while the family is still running the farm and businesses, these 6th and 7th generation Eckert's have created a memorable and delicious menu for their restaurant to boast and surpass their apple and other produce picking.

My favorite item of all, is chicken and dumplings.  What I love about the chicken and dumplings at the Eckert's restaurant is: first of all, it is bottomless and second of all, it tastes just like my grandma used to make.  Well, first off, they call it "bottomless" on the menu and what that means is that if you have an awesome server, like we did, he will notice when you are remotely close to the bottom of the large bowl of chicken and dumplings and then he will come out with another large bowl and take the old one.  That's right, a wonderful server will come and replenish your ambrosia, before you can flinch, all for $10.  What made our time there even better, is that when I took what was left to go home, our cool server not only refilled my bowl and placed it into a to-go container, but then he filled up a second container for me.  Awesome.

Now, what about my grandma?  Well, she is of German ancestry.  Her parents came from Germany and started a horse farm near Sullivan, Missouri.  As time went on and she became older, her parents sold the farm for a flat in St. Louis.  Then, she went to work at a shoe company, on Washington Avenue.  Every day, her mother and grandmother (whom lived with them), would make their dinner, which I lust for because it was awesome German food.  Now, my grandmother made two kinds of dumplings:  One was a potato dumpling and then other was a spaetzle dumpling.  What I find most often called "dumplings" when paired with chicken, is the spaetzle ones, which are made with flour, water and some egg.  These are what proper dumpling became to be and as my brothers and I grew older, the spaetzle dumplings paired with chicken

So, the chicken and dumplings I ordered at the restaurant, tasted just like the ones my grandma used to make, which means, the original recipe they make to sell, must be similar in cultural or ethnic region.  Anyways; the famous fried chicken, which is also served and sold as an all-you-can-eat option, is also incredible and juicy and moist with a super crispy coating.

So, my thoughts?  Service, atmosphere and food, all get a 4 out of 5 stars for me.

Go there and give it a shot.

How not to run a restaurant, part 2...

Just like the original restaurant, that is not to be named, my family and some co-workers decided to check out the new restaurant in town and see how it is.  Located on Main Street, in Columbia Illinois, this new place wants to be known for their wine and delicious food.  We had a problem with what we experienced.

So, there are nine of us and we were looking to try the place out, ordering appetizers, kids' meals and foods for everyone.  The first thing that was tough was that we waited 5 minutes for them to clean off a table, which was right in front of us and just needed to be wiped off and a single cup had to be thrown away.  That was it and that took 5 minutes!

Secondly, after we were sat, it took about 15 minutes for a waitress to come to us and get our drink order.  After that we ordered food. 

Now, we have an hour for lunch at work, and we waited and waited and an hour later, we still had no food at our table!  Well, we had the appetizer which was a bad spinach dip and a bowl of Kraft mac and cheese and that was it.  One hour after coming in and more than 40 minutes later, no food for anyone else.  And I will point out that we went at about 12:30pm and there were no more than 15 people in there eating as well!  So, no one can tell me that they were too busy to get food to us.

It is now 1:54pm, my wife just brought in our food, as I had to leave after an hour of waiting and get back to work with my kids.  My wife told me that as soon as they brought the food out, she asked them to wrap it all up, and they complained saying that the food was only put in 20 minutes ago!  That is not a true statement as where was the order while we sat there for 40 minutes after we told the server. Not once did we receive an apologize or anything as they acted like it was our fault.  I am eating as I write and guess what?  Its not that good.  The steak and straw sandwich and chips is cold, fatty, flavorless and the chips have no taste to them at all, and one was even raw. The onion straws are soggy. The sandwich, as I did finally get it, 45 minutes later, is not good. 

So, restaurant, I don't want to tell people to not go there, as the Union is already doing that for me.  But step it up a notch.  At your current rate, your restaurant will likely be open no longer than a few months. I for one will not tell anyone to go there, nor will any of the other 7 adults whom went with me.