30 December 2009

Breakfast: wheaties and coffee

Lunch: at Casey's: a nice soup and grilled cheese sandwich and water

Dinner: boiled chicken, noodles, broccoli and water

advise from Higgins of "Magnum, PI"

There was an episode of "Magnum, PI" in which a villain, who had done something to Thomas Magnum and Higgins said "what are you going to do about it".

Higgins replied "I am going to write about it."

This was a serious threat as Higgins was a well respected writer and his writing about what the villain had done would cause said villain a lot of trouble.

If Higgins can write about something that has angered him, so can I!

No, I don't remember any other details about this show as it played about 24 years ago.

bad service

Bad service can be had from the "wait staff" and the kitchen (as well as the bar and the person doing the seating).

In the past couple of weeks, we have experienced first bad service from a waiter (and good kitchen service) and excellent service from a waiter and piss poor service from a kitchen.

Appleby's redeemed themselves to my wife and me last night with excellent service and won their way back into our hearts (and wallets). My report:

http://dying-by-fork.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-years-day-2010.html

First, there was our visit to Appleby's in Dodge City around 10 December 2009:

We were seated at Applebys and apparently we were at a table between waiters/waitresses. We started waiting and no one would wait one us! One waiter kept going past us and kept stopping at the table across us. After a while, my wife tapped this waiter on the arm as he went past us, completely oblivious to our presence. My wife asked "are we at a table without a waiter?"

He said "I'm your waiter. Are you ready to order?"

We said "yes" and we ordered. It took a while for a runner (not the waiter) to bring out plates.

The food was good and thus, the kitchen service was good.

I was thinking of ordering a second beer, to wash down the rest of my chicken fajitas (it was my turn to be the "DD" (Designated Drinker) and not the Designated Driver (I almost never drink at a bar or restaurant anymore).

However, I didn't get the chance to order that second bottle of MDG or to convince my wife we should order "shooter" deserts. "Our" waiter walked by, put the bill between Kathie and I and wished us a pleasant evening. This was so unlike Appleby's that we just looked at each other in shock.

We were hoping the Manager would come around but none did. (Another un- Appleby-like action).

We ended up paying but flagging down a passing waitress and she took our bill.

The problem was "our" waiter had an obvious GAF attitude. "GAF" is/was a US Navy slang term from the early 1970s and comes from "I don't Give A Fuck [man]".

Then, there was our meal last night at the Boot Hill Casino Restaurant:

First of all, we had a great waiter at the Boot Hill Restaurant! He was a young fellow who did a fine job and earned his tip!

We ordered the 14oz Ribeye steak with baked potatoes and water. It took a long time for the meal to come. In fact, our waiter dropped by the table, apologized for the wait and went back to the kitchen to check on our meal.

A couple of minutes later, a runner brought the food out, our waiter gave us the plates and we were ready to go.

Kathie took a small bite out of her potatoe and said "this potatoe is cold".

I touched my potatoe and sure enough, it felt as cold as if it had just came out of the refrigerator. I was pissed off!

We called the waiter over, told him both potatoes were cold (I repeated what I'd said about it feeling like it just came from the refrigerator) and he took the plates back to the kitchen.

Our waiter came back and said "it will take 20 minutes to cook more potatoes.

I said "put them in the microwave oven".

He said they could not and asked if we wanted mashed potatoes and brown gravy. We agreed to this.

No manager came around to apologise for the cold baked potatoes and in fact, we didn't see a manager at all!

I suppose the focus at Boot Hill Casino has been on the gambling and not the food. Well, I'm not much on gambling but do like a nice meal.

Last night was the third time we've eaten at the Boot Hill Casino and the first two time were excellent! We have heard people bitching about bad food at the BH Casino and we thought they had to be wrong.

It now appears the quality has moved downhill since the BHC restaurant opened and that has only been 11 days!

Events Have Consequences

We have not been to Appleby's since "our"waiter was so damned rude and GAF. We thought about going there may be a week ago but decided to have dinner at home. So. in a manner of speaking, that Appleby's waiter has helped us to save money! Thanks GAFman!

My wife knows one of the Boot Hill Casino Managers and sent him a strongly worded email today. Hopefully, this will help.

She made a point of telling this friend that our waiter last night was excellent and that we were quite pleased with the service that we got. I hope this young man doesn't get hurt in any blowback.

Update: 2 January 2010:

We went to Applebys last nigh, had excellent service, typically good food and heard "our" waiter from 3 weeks (or so) ago had actually been a cook sent out front.

My wife emailed an exec (friend of ours) of the Boot Hill Casino about the

• wait at the bar,
• piss poor service at the bar,
• long wait for dinner and
  
• refrigitator cold baked potatoe,
  

the last time we went there for dinner. We talked with folks at Applebys last night and one young man talked about being cut off at the Boot Hill Casino bar at 1:40 am. The normal cut off time, for Kansas bars, is 1:55 am. Perhaps he'd had too much to drink but he said the bartender had cleaned up the bar by 1:35 am and was clearly ready to leave early.

This was the wrong thing to do; a true professional would have stayed open and kept serving the drinks (and making money for the Boot Hill Casino bar).

28 December 2009

Breakfast: wheaties and coffee

Lunch: this was so unmemorable that I didn't remember the next evening...

Dinner: At the resteraunt at the Boot Hill Casino:

1. a veggie soup
2. salad
3. 14 oz Ribeye steak (a bit tough and overcooked)
4. a baked potatoe that felt cold enough that we thought it had been taken straight out of the refrigerator
5. mashed potatoes and brown gravy
6. two rolls
   
7. iced water
8. and a great choclate cake!

Pre-Bed Snack:gin and tonic

First of all, we had a great waiter at the Boot Hill Restuarant! He was a young fellow who did a fine job and earned his tip!

We ordered the 14oz Ribeye steak with baked potatoes and water. It took a long time for the meal to come. In fact, our waiter dropped by the table, appologized for the wait and went back to the kitchen to check on our meal.

A couple of minutes later, a runner brought the food out, our waiter gave us the plates and we were ready to go.

Kathie took a small bite out of her potatoe and said "this potatoe is cold".

I touched my potatoe and sure enough, it felt as cold as if it had just came out of the refrigerator. I was pissed off!

We called the waiter over, told him both potatoes were cold (I repeated what I'd said about it feeling like it just came from the refrigerator) and he took the plates back to the kitchen.

Our waiter came back and said "it will take 20 minutes to cook more potatoes.

I said "put them in the microwave oven".

He said they could not and asked if we wanted mashed potatoes and brown gravy. We agreed to this.

No manager came around to appologize for the cold baked potatoes and in fact, we didn't see a manager at all!

I suppose the focus at Boot Hill Casino has been on the gambling and not the food. Well, I'm not much on gambling but do like a nice meal.

Last night was the third time we've eatten at the Boot Hill Casino and the first two time were excellent! We have heard people bitching about bad food at the BH Casino and we thought they had to be wrong.

It now appears the quality has moved downhill since the BHC restaurant opened and that has only been 11 days!

The last time we went to the Dodge City Applebys, we had very poor service and haven't gone back since (this visit was around 10 December 2009).

Christmas Day 2009

Breakfast: Kathie's Big Breakfast: bacon, scrambled eggs, Serri Lee
coffee cake and coffee

Lunch: Christmas lunch of turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy,
rolls and water (we didn't remember to buy a pie...)

Dinner: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Grilled Chicken Marinara (Chicken
Tenderloins with Whole Grain Penne Pasta & Broccoli in a Zesty Marinara
Sauce) and water

I did have some brownies someone brought in...

Christmas Eve 2009

Breakfast: grits with two hard boiled eggs and coffee

Lunch: plain yogurt with strawberries and then later, two bierocks and a
bottle of Diet Pepsi. I also had a choclate cupcake...

Dinner: Boston Market Lasagna with Meat Sauce, a bag of Cheeze-Its, two
banannas and iced water

16 December 2009

Breakfast: two scrambled eggs, a couple of slices of beef sausage and
two cups of coffee (and I wonder why my stomach went south later this
morning?)

Lunch: At Casey's Cowtown: chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes and
white gravy, corns, a roll with some butter and iced water

Dinner: canned chicken, a can of white hominity, a bag of Cheeze-Its and
water

Snack: Grandma's Homestyle Choclate Chip Cookies (2)

15 December 2009

Breakfast: peanut butter sandwich and coffee

Breakfast #2: Wendy's cheese and scrambled egg bisquit, potatoe disks
and coffee

Lunch: little bowl plain yogurt with strawberries

Lunch #2: two bierocks from Dillions (one was overcooked) and a bottle
of DP...

Dinner: Boston Market Meatload (with Homestyle Mashed Potatoes & Gravy)
and water

6 December 2009

Breakfast: grits with two chunked up hotdogs and butter plus a big cup
of coffee

Snack: Cheeze-Its and some more coffee

Re: 5 December 2009

Breakfast: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Cajun Style Chicken & Shrimp and
coffee

Snack: Cheeze-Its and coffee

Lunch: At Mike Casey's "Delmonico's" (formerly "Peppercorns") a
hamburger with fries and bowl of tomatoe soup and "Diet Pepsi"

What is the difference between Peppercorns and Delmonico's?

First, the menu is the same, however, the food seems to taste better!

The layout of tables is better and there is no smoking at all! This is
a significant improvement. There were a lot of folks who
proclaimed/forecast that restaurant attendance in Dodge City would go
down if the smokers could not puff on their precious f***ing coffin
nails. Well, Delmonico's was crowded and more people were coming in as
we were leaving. I guess the nicotine addicts were surviving a meal with
out a fix.

Dinner: two hot dogs and a can of Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup.

To quote Vir Koto (and don't well all?), "it tasted so good going down
and not so good coming back up". Well, something upset my stomach and
dinner came back up a couple of hours after I went to bed...

Not that this is anything new for me...

5 December 2009

Breakfast: Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers Cajun Style Chicken & Shrimp and
coffee

Snack: Cheeze-Its and coffee

4 December 2009

Breakfast: from Burger King, Big Omlette Sandwich, potatoe thingies
(over cooked and way too crispy) and coffee

Lunch: A Burger King "Angus" burger, fries and a medium "Diet Coke"

Dinner: boiled chicken, boiled rice and water (I ended up with a decent
sugar level - 146 - in spite of the rice!