For years, I had passed by the Holiday Inn Express near the main downtown post office and thought nothing of any restaurant being in that location. Only recently did I think of any kind of eatery there after a friend had mentioned Fork Fantasy.
I stopped in one Saturday just as they opened. There was just the bartender who was working the front of the house. She informed me that I could sit wherever I pleased and followed me to my seat with a menu. Since I was meeting a friend there, I had a whiskey sour while I waited. I found out that the bartender made the sour using lemon and simple syrup. I kept wondering why the cocktail tasted way better than any sour that I had drunk before.
For our meal, we started with the soul muffins. These were miniature cornbread dressing muffins topped with turkey, greens, cranberry sauce, and gravy. This was nothing short of Thanksgiving on a platter. One thing I will note about this dish is that it could have been hot coming to the table. The other appetizer was the skewered bourbon chicken. Served over yellow and green bell pepper slices with purple onions, the colors screamed Mardi Gras, and the flavor screamed, "Eat me!" We wiped both plates clean.
The entrees were truth serum. My friend had ordered the Cajun salmon with greens and string beans. She was silently into the dish until there was mention of possibly trying dessert. The silence was all I needed to know that she was enjoying all of what she ordered. As to me, the mustard fried catfish with greens and Cajun rice was a dish I would have devoured in one setting, but I had to set some aside for later so that I wouldn't have regrets about eating everything like it was my last supper.
The finale was peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This was a real peach cobbler. There was no attempt with biscuits. There was no compote from a can. There was proper juice, homemade crust, and peaches that did not taste like they had been drowned in sugar. The bowl was not so large that there was a struggle to finish it all either. It was just blooming delicious.
The food was outstanding. The service was top, and this may very well be because the restaurant was not crowded. It was certainly an enjoyable experience for my friend and me. I definitely have to get back at some point in the near future. Their good cooking deserves and encore. read more