FOODIES

Brian and I got to try food at the the Hays House in Council Grove the other night. Hays House is where our department holiday party was held. Brian was grousing on the drive over because it took almost two hours to get there. I told him not to complain about the long drive or the location or anything else for that matter. Luckily, he was a good designated driver and did imbibe so he remained in control and in his best behavior.

I had never been to Council Grove before and when we arrived, all I could say was “Wow!” Main Street, where the restaurant is located, looks like it came out of the movies. Think Sweet Home Alabama. Actually, think of any movie featuring a small town. They even had a Farmers and Drovers Bank on the corner. I wanted to keep walking around and take pictures. The only thing that stopped me from doing that was the cold winter night and no coat. (I didn’t wear a coat to work that morning and Brian and I left straight from work. Brian took off work around 4:30 pm, but I didn’t get to leave work until almost 4:45 pm. We told Jan that we would pick her up at her house at quarter till and we still had to get gas so there was no time to grab a coat or freshen up.)

Several people were already there when we arrived. We had a pretty large group since spouses and significant others were invited. We actually closed down the main dining room. All other patrons were relegated to the tavern upstairs, which I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to explore and take pictures of.

Brian wasn’t too impressed with the restaurant or the food. I think the drive might have affected his attitude, though, because we had the same thing and I thought the food was great. I liked the ambiance, too. Of course, I may have been high from the magical experience of being in a small town downtown area. I have no idea. All I know is that I want to go back during the daytime, and stuff my belly with their delicious chicken and noodles. (Yeah, I skipped the salad in favor of the chicken and noodles, which was made just the way I like it: more chicken and more noodles and hardly any sabaw.)

Next time I go back, though, I’m going upstairs to check out the tavern. I want to see what a small town tavern looks like. LOL.

They must have done something special for our group because I didn’t see our entrees in their regular menu. Our options were prime rib, chicken, or shrimp. Carmen got the shrimp entree, but she was sitting at another table so I didn’t get a picture of her plate. No one at our table ordered shrimp. We sat with Pam and her fiance, Angie, and Jan. Everyone at our table ordered prime rib except for Brian and me. The picture of the prime rib plate above is Jan’s. It looked so good that for a moment I almost regretted ordering chicken. Although, after I had the first bite of my chicken I forgot all about the prime rib.

I try not to order steak whenever I’m with a large group of people because either they don’t ask how I want mine (they’ll just prepare all the steaks the same way) or they’ll ask and get it wrong, and I am inevitably disappointed. I think this is what happened to Pam’s because she asked for hers well done, and it had a lot of pink in the middle. There must have been some kind of mix up, and someone else got hers and she got theirs. I just avoid the whole dilemma by always getting chicken when I’m in these situations. Brian’s decided that he’s going to avoid red meat for a while — his reason for going with the chicken entree. He didn’t like it as much as I did, though. I think it might have been the mushrooms. I used to not like mushrooms either, but ever since Dallas (and Clayton’s delicious grilled mushrooms) I’ve had a change of heart.

Our dessert options were cherry or peach cobbler. I don’t like cherry pies or cobblers (ironic, I know) so I went for the peach and enjoyed it immensely. I’m not sure if it was all the sugar or carbs that I hadn’t had in a while, but I thought it was one of the best I’d ever had. I ate every bit of it. When the server asked Brian which one he wanted, he told her that he didn’t care which one because he just wanted the ice cream off it. True to form, that’s exactly what he did.

Someone at the table asked what the difference was between pie and cobbler and “pastry chef wannabe” Brian educated as all. He is such a wealth of useless information. LOL.

So anyway, that’s my first Hays House experience and hopefully not my last. Despite the long driving distance, I really want to go back. I hope I can get Brian to take me there again. Until then I’m going to focus my attention on the other 8 Wonders of Kansas Cuisine. I’ve been to two out of eight already: Cozy Inn and Hays House 1857. Which one should we visit next?

Thekansan.com (Newton paper) is conducting a recipe contest in conjunction with their holiday cookbook. This year, there will be four categories — appetizers and snacks, main dishes, side dishes (such as salads, veggies and breads), and desserts and sweets (which can include cookies and candy).

I’m not sure what the prizes are (check the paper or their web site for updates), but it’s always an honor to be included in a cookbook. I think that having your recipe chosen out of hundreds of entries is in itself is a worthwhile prize.

Any reader can submit recipes, but there is a limit of one recipe per category per person. So if you have dozens of great appetizer recipes, pick your best and send only that one. However, you can submit a total of four entries — one for each category.

Submissions need to include name, town where person submitting the recipes resides and phone number (the phone number isn’t published, they just need it in case there are questions about the entry). The deadline for submissions is Monday, September 14, at 5 PM.

Recipes should be sent to The Newton Kansan, Attn. Wendy Nugent, PO Box 268, 121 W Sixth St, Newton, KS 67114; brought to the office at 121 W Sixth St; or emailed to wendy.nugent@thekansan.com. For more information, call Wendy Nugent at the Kansan at 283-1500.

Good luck to all! [via The Kansan]

Brian and Aaron at the Hutchinson Conklin Cars dealership recommended Danny Boy’s Smokehouse for lunch. They said if we liked barbecue that Danny Boy’s was the place to go. Brian is huge fan of barbecue so, as soon as the word was mentioned, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Here are some photos of our dining adventure today.

The atmosphere was your usual barbecue-type environment, with styrofoam plates and plastic utensils. Brian and I ordered the full-slab dinner for two, which comes with four sides and choice of Texas toast or cornbread. We opted for both for a dollar extra because Brian wanted the cornbread and I wanted Texas toast. My two side dishes were coleslaw and corn on the cob. Brian had mashed potatoes and corn on the cob. The nice thing is that they give you the full corn on the cob, not a half or a third. We did have to mark them down because they do not have any French fries, which is what Brian really wanted. Instead he had to settle for mashed potatoes.

They do get bonus points for the variety of sauces they offer. In addition to the regular house sauce, which is my favorite out of all the options, they offer more than twenty different sauces to choose from ranging in levels of spiciness. If you are facing the bar, the sauces get sweeter and less spicy as you go to the right. As you move to the left, the sauces get spicier with the spiciest sauce at the very end on the left. They had Curley’s and Cattleman’s varieties, all sorts of smoke and hickory and probably everything in between. To say that the sauce selection is vast would be an understatement. There is definitely a sauce there for every taste bud.

After trying a few of the sauces, Brian and I agreed that we liked the house selection the best. Even so, I appreciated having the options available to me. I’m sure this works great for their patrons because not everyone likes the same barbecue flavors.

I’m no barbecue expert, but I thought the food was pretty good. Brian said it was the best pork ribs he had ever had. I’m not sure if I would call these the best, but they are pretty darn good. They were tender and fall off the bone.

Our server was friendly and helpful. We enjoyed the meal and our overall experience there. I got a kick out of the shirts that all the restaurant employees were wearing with the funny slogans on the back. One had “DANNY BOY’S SMOKEHOUSE” and then “HORRIFYING VEGETARIANS IN HUTCHINSON, KS” written underneath it. Another had, “GET SAUCED AT DANNY BOY’S SMOKEHOUSE.” There was a variation of this on a shirt hung on the wall that reads, “I GET SAUCED REGULARLY AT DANNY BOY’S SMOKEHOUSE.” I thought the shirts were pretty clever and wanted one to commemorate our first time at Danny Boy’s. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you view it), Brian’s pragmatism prevailed and I didn’t buy one. Thus, limiting our lunch expense to $30 instead of spending an extra $18 on a shirt.

Neither of us could finish our plates so it’s not like we didn’t come home with anything from Danny Boy’s. We took home our leftover ribs and some of the house sauce in a little to-go container. We really should have split a half-rack. I think that’s what we’ll do next time.

Jan and Brian and I went to Bagatelle for lunch yesterday and I found out that Bagatelle is now on Twitter (as of May 1, 2009). I normally don’t get too excited about these things, but I found a sign on their wall (at the checkout counter) that read something like “Join now for updates on daily specials and dessert coupons.” You all know that I’m all about discounts, coupons, and saving money in general. So yea, everyone needs to follow @BagatelleBakery for some good food at discounted prices. Try the baked tilapia. It is delicious! Even without discounts, their prices are great. Where else can you eat a good lunch for $7?

P.S. We ran into my dentist Dr. David Mendoza while we were there. He was just finishing his lunch. He is now on Facebook, but hasn’t joined the Twitter revolution yet. If he likes Bagatelle, I really think that he should sign up and start following their updates. =P

I got to try a burrito deluxe yesterday at the Greendoor ~ La Familia in Ark City owned and operated by the Ramirez family. It was delicious. I’m thinking I might take Brian there for his birthday so that he can get a free sombrero and fried ice cream. LOL.

The Winfield location might be a lot closer, though. Maybe we will go there instead. =P