First time at Baxter's

Baxter's is a restaurant in Lake Ozark, boasting a huge lake view, which it does have.  Their website mentions that they are a restaurant the has a great bar and serves great American food.  That is the idea and it seems to be close to what is really served.  I went with my family and in-laws, we were seated at a table on the patio, overlooking the lake at sunset.

Now, first off, the food was good but nothing as interesting as other restaurants that hold the "fine dining" phrase in their name.  I ordered the "Baxter's steak burger" and to the heartbreak of my father-in-law, who loves the food there, the burger was slightly dry.  They describe it as "our special blend of striploin, ribeye and tenderloin freshly ground in house daily".

 The problem wasn't that it didn't have flavor.  The problem was that on a large bun with a piece of lettuce, slice of tomato and 3 rings of red onion, didn't add any moisture to the burger, which tasted like dry meatloaf in the center.  So, the outside was seasoned properly but the inside was arid like a desert and it actually took the moisture out of my mouth, like a saltine cracker.  Every bite I took, I had to take a sip of my drink.  So, here I am about 1/3rd of the way through my burger and my mouth is still dry.  I figure I would start to try some of my side dish. 

I had chosen to have the "roasted red bliss potatoes", which probably meant something poetical to them.  To me, it meant that they were steak cut fries, as seen in the picture, sprinkled with Kosher salt, dried parsley, and roasted in such a way that one of them could have a crispy outer shell and soft on the inside while another one could have a soft outside and be almost raw on the inside.  I ate another fry and it was cooked well.  It was like sticking your hand in a bag of black and white marbles and without looking, trying to pull out a black marble.  You win or lose and it was or seemed completely random.  I'd give the dish a 3 out of 5.

As far as service was concerned, the only thing that really stuck out was the fact that even the salads were dry.  There was a teaspoon of dressing on a giant salad.  So, when my wife asked for a little bowl of balsamic vinegar, to go on her salad, we were amazed at how quickly and nicely the waitress responded with a "yeah".  Then we never heard from her again.  Maybe she fell in the lake.  That waitress, actually never got back to us, she didn't even bring the kids their ice creams that came with their meals.  That was a different waitress.  Our waitress vanished and I had us all asking, out loud, "was that our waitress?" Pointing at a server in the corner, then wondering as another waitress walked by and another.  When a table loses their waitress and can't find her anywhere, then that is a problem.

Food okay overall, atmosphere was great with a great view.  Menu and restaurant was kid friendly.  It was a smoke free restaurant but there were people smoking on one of the lounge chairs while they were waiting for a table. But as I said, it was okay for the price.

http://baxterslakesidegrille.com/
2124 Bagnell Dam Blvd, Lake Ozark, MO 65049

(573) 365-2669

It was the dog days, on the lake

It was my second time there, but the first time that I had eaten on one of the tributaries from the main restaurant.  Dog Days is a restaurant, situated on the Lake.  Like other places, it has parking access for cars and docks for boats.  It is shaped like a long line, with the main restaurant, then an outdoor deck like seating and eating area, a bar then a another seating area and then another covered area with bar and seats for eating again.  It runs parallel with the shore of the lake and allows everyone who sits there, to see the lake, which is cool.  The place had live music starting up while we finished our meal, on Thursday evening and was really starting to get busy, but had a lot of families there as well.

So, besides have great food for the kids and treating them really well, they have all sorts of other kinds of American style foods.  I order a chicken burger, with avocado and bacon with a side of black beans and rice.

The last time were here, the rice was undercooked but this time, everything was perfect.  The rice was mixed with onions and peppers with the beans and everything tasted great and was cooked properly.  The burger was huge and with all of those fixin's, made for a filling lunch.  I'd give this dish a 3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars.

There are a lot of people here during the summer time and even though it was not very hot, probably in the high 70's, on this night, there was a lot of people getting drunk and a lot of kids having fun with their parents.  So, basically, it seems that this a great place for everyone.


1232 Jeffries Rd, Osage Beach, MO 65065

Some restaurants do it while others do not.

What I am speaking of, is how a restaurant handles their favorite, every day and regular customers.  I know from personal experience and managing a restaurant, that you want to treat your regular customers even nicer than you would a new customer but should refrain from doing so.  You still want the new customers to become regulars and because of that you need to make sure that everyone is treated fairly and equally.

This past Saturday, I went with my family to Schottzies Bar & Grill. I chose this location for our lunch, partly because it has always been there and I have never been in before and because Andrew was there for his show: Bizarre Foods America.  Although I know that the routine practice for the producer of shows like this is to call ahead or meet the owners and staff and set it up, so these restaurants look packed and everyone is so friendly and so forth, I still wanted to bring my family in and try some food.  So, it was my first time.

The building is easy to get to as it is across the street from Olive Garden and it is sandwiched between two streets so you can access it either way.  We opened the door and walked inside.  It was cold, dark and we noticed about 7-8 televisions all playing different channels.  There was enough going on that someone who was ADD would go nuts.  There were two visible servers: one sitting at the bar chatting with some regulars and another sitting on a chair by the far door.  The bartender was chatting with the 4 people at the bar, with the server and there were 4 other people at two tables ordering food. My wife and I picked a table and sat our kids down, ready to be served and try the food.  As soon as we sat down, the waitress who was sitting at the bar chatting, noticed us, got up and came over.  We ordered our drinks, which on the menu were 2 Sprites, a Mello Yello and an iced tea. What I think was odd, is that after seeing the bill, when we were finished, three out of four of the drinks we had ordered were not the drinks we had received.  I know it may sound like that big of a deal to some, but it leads way that not only is their website out of date, but the menu is also.  Instead of Sprite, we were given Slice and instead of Mello Yello, we were given Mountain Dew.

So, after our drinks came, which would put us at about 5 minutes after we had sat down, we had ordered our food.  I didn't have the guts to order a brain sandwich.  I'm sorry.  I know that this restaurant is famous for it, but just wasn't feeling like it so I didn't do it.  We ordered the Appetizer Combination Platter and the Fried Chicken Livers, we also ordered a pepper burger and a Buffalo Chicken pizza.  Then we waited, and waited and waited.  While we waited, we watched the table behind us get their food, eat it while chatting, pay, leave and then a father and daughter sit there and order and get their food.  We watched another table get their pizza, eat half of it, ask for a box and a check and pay and leave.  We watched a table of three come in, order food and get their food.  We watched a group come in of 3 adults and 4 kids, order their food and get it.  We also watched a man walk right in from the door, say hi to everyone as they all acknowledged him and chatted with him.  He sat down and within minutes had a pizza delivered to him so he could eat that.  We waited 40 minutes, with my kids complaining about how long the food was taking.  We had to flag a waitress down, ask her to check with our waitress, who was no where to be seen, and see how long our food was going to be.  It was quite apparent, that we were being ignored.  Everyone that was there, besides us, were recognized by one of the two servers or the bar tender.  They would chat for a few seconds and then get their orders done.  Now, 40 minutes after we had walked into the door, when I did flag down our server and she came over, I asked her how much longer our food was going to take.  She responded with "it will be out any second", which is restaurant code for "I screwed up and I have to tell the cooks to do it".

We got the appetizers, 45 minutes after we walked in the door and sat down.  Our appetizers, this Combination Platter, was so hot that the filling inside of the toasted ravioli had burned the inside of my mouth.  Having an appetizer tray, with mini tacos, chicken strips, cheese filled bread sticks, and toasted ravioli, come out that hot after 40 minutes from ordering, meant that someone forgot our order and just cooked it.  On top of that, everything tasted like it was frozen at one point and then just heated up.  A miserable tray. Nothing on the tray, in my experience, takes longer than 6 minutes to deep fry and cook.  The cheese filled bread sticks, probably take 5 minutes in an oven, the mini tacos, toasted ravioli and chicken strips probably only took 3 each.  I would give the combination try a 2 out of 5 stars meaning that it was okay, but I would not order it again.

My ordered appetizer, was the fried chicken livers and they came at the same time.  The first bite, if you could get to it, was tasty, with the white gravy.  The problem was that not only were these big chunks of liver, but they appeared to have been quadruple breaded and then fried.  I mean that the breading was so hard and crunchy that they were almost as hard as a jawbreaker.  They were no colored light like other people's pictures on websites and in their reviews, but ours were almost a mud brown, like they were over cooked.  I would give these a 1 out of 5 because after trying to eat the first one, I don't know how I would tackle eating another one.

Another 10 minutes after the appetizers came out, we finally had gotten our main courses.  Here is the thing, they were also piping hot.  A burger, drenched in black pepper and cooked to well-done when I had asked for medium, can be cooked well within 10 minutes.  The pizza, which was a 14 inch thin St. Louis style pizza and crust, should not take more than 10 minutes either, especially when the chicken was cooked ahead of time. So, we got our pizza, like it just came out of the oven and was so hot that if you held it at an angle, the cheese would drip off.  When cooled, it was okay.  The breaded and fried chicken, was a tad spicy, but seemed like it was frozen at one point.  So, the chicken was overly cooked, the pizza crust was just right and the onions were under cooked.  My wife and I thought it was a bit strange that when we had ordered the pizza, our server didn't ask if we wanted the chicken to be breaded or grilled, as indicated on the menu. However, we received the breaded chicken, which suggests that if the server doesn't ask and you don't tell them, you will get breaded chicken by default. I'd give the pizza a 2 out of 5 as it was okay and I wouldn't order it again.

The burger had some good flavors: the pepper crust was nice, the pat of butter on the patty was a nice touch, the onions were fresh, the thick slice of tomato was deep red and tasted like a real tomato and not a gassed one and there was a nice large leaf of crisp lettuce.  It looked good but do you know what happens when you mix a lot of pepper and a dry and well done burger together?  "Bleh".  I mean, maybe it wasn't entirely "bleh", but it was really close.  When you use the white gravy from the fried chicken livers and dip your overly peppered well done meat into it and it tastes better than before, then you don't have a very good product.  I understand that they had a little anecdote about the peppered burger stating that it was "Not for the faint of heart!", but it tasted of nothing but pepper.  You could have taken anything, rolled it in the pepper coating and placed it on a bun and it would have been like the same thing.  All I tasted was fresh vegetables and pepper: like a salad.  I'd give the burger a 2 out of 5 as well because while it was edible, I would not recommend it to anyone.

So, overall, the food wasn't what I was expecting.  I have always known that this bar and grill was there and thought that it had to have some decent food, in order to stay in business this long.  I guess it relied on the "brain sandwich" to keep it in business because from what we had of the other food, there is no way that food can keep this place afloat.  I can see that out of the online reviews currently existing, on Yelp.com, out of the 8 of them, none of them rated this place 5 stars.  They have some 2, 3, and 4 star reviews.  The reviews would suggest that if you come in the evening, you would have great food and service.  However, the original title of this is about regular guests and it is very true now.  You see that while we were there, we watched people, who were called by their names, by the servers, get their food faster than us, and get friendly service.  I mean, I actually had to flag the second server, not the one who was taking care of us, in order to have her check with our server and see how much longer our food was taking.  People who had just walked in, were greeted within seconds and then asked their food and drink order.  I kid you not: the people to our right, walked in about 20 minutes after we did and then before our appetizers had come out, they had food on their table.  My wife and I 100% agree, that had we been someone who had come before or even just once a week, we would have had excellent service.  In conclusion; I cannot honestly suggest or recommend that anyone ever go to Schottzies for food.  It was not kid friendly, the food was not fresh, it certainly took about 45 minutes to deliver us something that takes 6 minutes in a 385 degree fryer and the service was almost non-existent.  It was almost as if they would have been happier had we not eaten there. I'm sorry Schottzies, but you are a big loser in my book.  You not only pissed off a small family on their weekend but a food writer.  Good luck with that.

     

Best burger in a long time

(I think the last time I had a burger this good, was from the White Palace, downtown.)

I had my kids at the Science Center, for one last trip with me for their summer vacation and I decided to take them to lunch.  We drove down to the usual spot, which meant around the Wells Fargo buildings. There was a number of trucks there, but they were all ones I have been to, except this new one.  I saw a colorful looking food truck with a big burger painted on the side.  It was called the "Man that's good" truck.  Take a look at these guys as they have had this truck for less than 4 months!  And while the truck may not have as professional of a paint job as some of the others surrounding it, I would bet that the food on this truck, was phenomenally better than on the other ones.  There is some real love cooked with this food.

Here is the thing, burgers are their specialty and I ordered my youngest son the grilled cheese sandwich, which he ate half of on the walk from this food truck to our car parked about 50 meters away.  My other son had a cheeseburger which he inhaled when we had returned to my office and he had sat down to eat it.  I had ordered their big burger, which was a large burger with cheese, bacon and a homemade onion relish.  I asked for mine without cheese and they delivered this:

 Look at that above and tell me that your mouth is NOT beginning to water!  That looks absolutely delicious. They told me that while the fries were not homemade, the burgers were ground and seasoned and cooked by them.  That relish only exists on the big burger and it is so perfect with everything.  The buns, tasted as if they brushed them with butter and then after grilling them, sprinkled them with garlic powder.  They did that to the kids cheeseburger as well, which my son loved.  When I got to the office, I started to slice bits of this burger off and pass it around to people who just said "wow".  The burger is amazing.  An easy 4 out of 5, because not only was it really good, but it tasted different and so much better than the really good burgers I have seen before.

The thing is, if you see this truck, get the burgers!

https://www.facebook.com/manthatsgoodmobile

Welcome to the White Knight

Back in the early 1950's, a family opened a small diner downtown.  They called their small diner: The White Knight Diner.  The small diner, held about 16-18 people and was situated at a busy intersection of what is now near 18th and Olive.  From what you can see now, driving about, this was perhaps the only restaurant for many years downtown.  Unlike other restaurants that come and go downtown, this diner has been open, since the 1950's.  It wasn't closed down for a bit through the years, it wasn't closed down to remodel it and it doesn't even close down when the weather is bad.  The diner is there and looks just like it did, 60 something years ago.

What you have inside, is a large American Flag, lots of pictures and other memorabilia, white metal sheets on the walls and ceiling and a small cook's line behind a counter.  It looks like any other diner would. But while it may look like it has been stuck in a time warp for the past half century, the food is great and it has very reasonable prices.  They serve lunch and breakfast all day and even have a Facebook and Foursquare page, which is always a plus.

So, what did I order?  Well, it was 10:20 on a Wednesday morning.  My wife was at the dentist downtown and I had time to spare.  Whenever we are downtown, for one reason or another, we see this diner but have never gone in, much less I never knew that it was even there or had been there this long!  Basically, I walked in to look around, I was still full from my breakfast at 9:00 am and decided to try to order a burger and see how it was.  I mean, the burger was 1/4 pound and was only $2.59!  So, I ordered it and when I got it, it tasted great.  It was a simple but perfect burger, like the kind you would get at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries.  It was just a simple burger and cooked right and with all of the other things on the bun, it was just perfect for a mid morning snack, or second breakfast as my wife would put it.  

So, what did I think?  I would give the burger a simple 3 and 1/2 out of 5 stars.  Was it high tech? No.  Was it something new that I had never had? No.  Was it good and would I order it again?  Yes.  Would I suggest it and this place to others?  Yes.  It was actually so good, that even though I was still full and not very hungry, I wasn't expecting to eat the whole thing and I did anyway.  It was very good.  

If you are downtown, and looking for a good burger, don't go to TGI Fridays and don't go to Hooters: Go to White Knight Diner.  

https://www.facebook.com/Whiteknightdiner?fref=ts

Back to Fired UP! (BBQ Food Porn)

Last week, I had to run to the Ozarks for business and as such, only had one hour to eat lunch.  Where did I go?  Fired UP!  I haven't been to Fired Up in a few months and thought it was a good trip to see if anything had changed.  What was interesting, was that our server told us that there is a new, huge menu, coming out.  The new menu isn't just because it is summer time, but also because the restaurant is growing.  Good for them.

So, what should I get?  Fire Up is know for the smoker and BBQ, but if their other food was just as good?  "What if, their burgers were as good as their BBQ", I wondered.  Well, that is what I had ordered.  One of the guys I was with ordered the one pound of smoked sausage and that came out on a nice new plate.  No more plastic baskets here.

So, of course, this was delicious and we get it every time, or at least this time and last time.  If you like smoked sausage, a bit on the spicy side and cut on the bias for the best bite, then this is for you.  This is an easy 3 and 1/2 stars out of 5, so eat it up as it is Very good.

Now, what I had ordered next, just for me, I gave a 4 out of 5.  It is awesome, as in, go and try it at all costs.  I ordered a burger, I think it was called the Smokehouse Burger.  I then picked my usual sides of potatoes dripping in melted butter and cornbread.  The burger was a 1/4 pound burger, and was likely cooked and then placed in a smoker, because it did have a smoke ring around it.

This burger is freakin' delicious.  You want to see what makes it so good?

When you take the top bun off, you see this.  What is this?  That is chopped, smoked, bacon.  The burger, besides being perfectly seasoned and cooked perfectly, and smokey, has bacon all over the top of it.  How could you not want this?  Is your mouth watering yet?  Every bite was smack fun of smokey flavor, and then bacon goodness and then that perfectly salty burger.  Not overly salty, but enough salt that makes you realize that it is tasty beef, like how a good steak has a good amount of salt or how a good loaf of bread has some tasty sea salt on top.  The bacon was smokey, just that slight bit of crunch needed and then tender, not quite crispy or crunchy but almost.  The burger was heavenly.

So, make sure you go there, before they get too busy:

You can see them on Facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/FUTAPHOUSE/info