On a recent road trip across the western United States, my Mother and I stopped in Lubbock after a lengthy day of driving. After acquiring our lodgings for the night, we set out to find something to dine on, and we beheld an enormous fiberglass bovine looming on the horizon. The hand-painted flame job on the sign and the quaint wood siding beckoned us nearer. We found a spot (in the blissfully full parking lot) and, as they say, "moseyed in".
Once entering the restaurant, we headed down an inexplicable hallway past some even more inexplicable "art" (possibly purchased at a Hobby Lobby?) and to a sign that read:
"PLEASE"
Do not seat yourself before placing your order
All questionable punctuation choices aside, we walked to the counter where we were greeted by an especially chipper teenage girl and an astonishingly cheap menu. Never in my life have I been to a eatery that boasts a sirloin steak under 9 dollars. After recovering from the shock of such competitive rates on slabs of meat, we placed our order only to be even more shocked by the fact that they only accept cash and check. Wondering when we had wondered into the wormhole that transported us back to the 90's, we had the girl hold our order while we went to hold up the KFC that lies next door. After scaring the love of god into a few bewildered fast food customers and a very stoned cashier, we returned to Bryan's and picked up our salad plates.
As we headed to what may possibly be the most interesting salad bar I have ever crossed paths with, we noticed that there was a complimentary soft serve machine. Taking mental note of this, I gazed upon what I can only describe as "mushed things arranged in containers". The finely chopped iceberg was a bit mushy, and past the salad related end of the bar (see: carrots, tomatoes, croutons, and 4 different ranch-based dressings) was the what I will assume they call the "brick a brack" section where you could scoop up anything from nachos to pudding pie. I sprang for the cole-slaw, ambrosia and the pickled ocra.
We sat down with our bizarre salads and the steak and potato came in due time. I cannot say enough good things about the steak (cooked perfectly, appropriately tender, good flavor) but the "salad" and cole-slaw were controversial. The teenage staff was well trained and was very persistent about keeping our teas filled. After finishing the steaks, and giving the salad a college try we decided to grab our soft serves to go. The "milk ice" was almost hilariously sweet and we ditched them out the car windows as we rode into the sunset. read more