One thing is for sure, whether I'm on vacation or not, I LOVE good food. Well, that may be a bit over-complicating it a bit. The truth is, it doesn't even have to be good. Average food has satisfied me plenty of times; given there is atmosphere, ambiance, entertainment, etc to compensate. Well, truth be told, an adequate volume of average food may suffice. Branson had plenty of all of it.
To start, we went to a place called Shorty Smalls. Now, this place does not have the best food I've ever had. Not even close. It's average for most of what I had (with agreement from my vacation companions) with a few exceptions that are above average to very good (notably, their onion loaf). What this place has is character. It's got a lot of charm in the decor, feel, etc of the place. There's also a pretty good value for the money. The food isn't spectacular, as I said, but the prices won't knock you over either.
Next, and up a few notches on the ratings scale, is Charlie's Steak, Ribs, and Ale. My understanding is that this is place is a HUGE favorite among regulars and locals for their ribs, which I can attest are FANTASTIC. This place had a mediocre atmosphere, very good service, great food and I’d recommend it in spite of their beyond-cheezy, totally Branson-esque, in-store serenading by Rebecca Dawn. She’s fine. She’s a pretty good vocalist and performer. But I’m SO not into the whole sing-to-me-while-I-gnaw-on-the-side-of-a-pig thing. Put her on stage and listen – fine. Put her on the other side of my salad plate – not so much.
An unexpected highlight of the week was McFarlain's. After a detour through the local emergency room, we determined we still had to eat. Since our original plans of eating at the Dixie Stampede were denied, we explored some other interesting places and wound up at McFarlain’s, located in a complex that housed an IMAX theater. This place was simply AMAZING. They have a HUGE menu of breakfast, lunch and dinner selections. We, unfortunately, were only there for dinner, but it was unreal. We started out with appetizers of fried green tomatoes and a side of sweet potato chips. OK, the tomatoes were very good if you like ‘em, but the sweet potato chips were flingin’-flangin’ awesome! They come with a little side of a coconut, honey, cayenne pepper and fine pineapple shreds.
My main course was a slab of a very well endowed turkey’s breast, mashed potatoes and rolls that were very, very good. Others at the table raved about their meals as well. Dessert was equally as good, and featured a number of hard-to-find specialties. I selected a slice of the strawberry-rhubarb pie out of my final choices of blackberry cobbler, a mixed berry cobbler, coconut crème pie, and more… Mmmm, tasty. Prices were very reasonable too.
The surprise of the week was Backyard Burgers. Yeah. I know. It's a common, run of the mill fast food place. But MAN! It's got great food. It’s unfortunate that I had to go to Branson to finally try this place that I’d seen more than a few times only to pass it by. My parents like it too. The really unfortunate part is that the local establishment just closed their doors a few months ago. Now, I’ll have to go a bit of a distance to get my fix.
Later