Once upon a time in a far far away place from where, I... live- I happened upon Joe's. My sister and I love the breakfast there.
However yesterday while out and about with my bestie, we decided to stop at Joe's and feast on a down home"Sunday Lur'nch". Yes I said it LURNCH. Dat's how we do it back in the dirrrty souff in Louisiana.
The church crowd was piling in but we were seated promptly. The Manager was very nice and so were the waitstaff.
I had a Hankerin' for some good old "Dirt food" as we call it . The interpretation of that is better known as southern veggies. Ya know thing's grown in the dirt. Man I cut my teeth on purple hull peas, chicken-n- dumplin's , butter beans, fried okra, cornbread, collards, well you get the point. So I guess I'm a "southern food snob " when it comes to down home cooking. I was long overdue for some good ole "Southern cookin" yesterday.
I looked over the menu and knew exactly what I wanted. Although I had a little angel on my right shoulder telling me NOT to do it. I did it anyway. I should have listened to the little angel but I ordered the Chicken-n- dumplin's anyway....
Now let me put it to you like this. My Grandmother makes the best DAMN dumplin's ever , she is known by many as the "Dumplin' Lady" back in Louisiana. So I think I had already set myself up for disspointment, but hey I was trying to be open. Trying to give Joe the benefit of my doubt.
I ordered the Chicken -n- Dumplins, mashed potatoes, gravy, okra.
My sidekick, she ordered Chicken fried steak , mashed potatoes and double okra.
Our food arrived about 10 minutes after we ordered.
Our waitress hovered above my head with the tray of my lur'nch fate.
She sat the bowl in front of me as my eyes focused on the poorest lunch choice of my life. Okay so that's a little dramatic, but it was bad!
My Chicken-n-dumplings were watery. Watery? Watery!!! Yes like broth and broken egg noodles. I thought this is a cruel joke..I didn't order Chicken noodle soup... Heeellllppppp!
Dumplin's are supposed to be fluffy- thick, in a buttery creamy, savory stock. This , was like someone opened a can of campbell's chicken noodle soup and poured it into my bowl. My bad- actually Campbell's soup would have been better and more satisfying. Not only was it unsavory, it was cold, bleh. I had to send it back. I guess they put it in the microwave and sent it back to me. I mean what was I thinking? I guess I thought the dumpling fairy would magically transform that bowl of slush into a bowl of heavenly goodness but it didn't happen. It came back as the same crap they served me the first time around , this time only warmer...How did I know this? I intentionallypoured pepper on the right side of my bowl in one place. When it returned, my pepper stain was there. Uh huh.
I left disappointed and HUNGRY. I ate my potatoes and that was about it. Nothing else is worth mentioning. Oh wait..... my diet coke was REALLY good!
I say stick to the breakfast and leave the lur'nch to the pros. Mr. Joe.
I won't be back... I'm sorry I tried.... read more