An Average Joe in San Antonio

Many times my friends have accused me of being overly optimistic in my reviews.  They can’t believe that everything that I eat is good, but I do enjoy most restaurants that I visit in the Alamo City.  Since I am not being paid to review restaurants, I typically go to places that folks recommend to me, so of course my reviews are going to be good.  How many of you recommend a bad restaurant?

This review, however, is for all those people who may be interested in where NOT to eat.

I have had my eye on the 410 Diner for a while; for the past three summers, I have played outdoor sand volleyball with the San Antonio Sports and Social Club and have driven past the 410 Diner en route to the courts many times.  I love the architecture and retro feel that the building projects.  I am a sucker for old 50s diners; Back to the Future must have something to do with this.

At any rate, the other day the stars aligned and I was near 410 and Broadway with my girlfriend and we were both hungry.  We decided to swing by the restaurant and give it a shot.

The inside of the diner was retro and pretty cool.  I liked the feel, the music, and everyone seemed friendly.  So far the experience was off to a good start.

We were both hungry and after viewing the menu chips and queso sounded like it would hit the spot, so we ordered that for the appetizer.  For my main meal I went with the Sonora Platter which is essentially a Mexican zucchini casserole that supposedly has a spicy tomato sauce.

I know what you are thinking, “Why in the heck did he order two Mexican food entrees at an American diner?”  Well, to me chips and queso are a pretty standard and the Sonora Platter was one of the few things on their menu that had a box around it.  I equate box-around-menu-item to mean that it is a house specialty.  Call me crazy.

This is probably the worse queso I've ever had at a restaurant.

The chips and queso came out and immediately I knew where this meal was going.  The queso was essentially Ricos Nacho Cheese with random stuff mixed in (tomatoes and peppers from a can no doubt) and was not hot at all.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love Ricos and am proud to have them as a business here in San Antonio.  I will eat the hell out of some nachos at a baseball game with the best of them, however, for an appetizer at a restaurant I expect a little bit more than that.  I basically didn’t eat much of the chips and queso; there was no way I was going to ingest all those calories for lousy food.

The only reason I wasn’t more disappointed in the Sonora Platter was that the chips and queso had already set the stage.  This is akin to seeing the third Jurassic Park after the Lost World; I mean, did you really think that it would be any good?  The spicy tomato sauce was not spicy at all, but did taste familiar.  I asked my girlfriend to try it and she said it reminded her of something from elementary school cafeteria.  I think that description is pretty solid; I said it tasted like stale Ragu sauce.  Either way, you get the picture.

Want a trip back to your Elementary School Cafeteria? Get the Sonora Platter.

Our waitress was sweet, and I never like to fault a good waitress for a crappy restaurant, so I did tip her well.  Because I didn’t want to be asked what was wrong with my food (I only took a couple of bites), I employed the age old trick of children ages 4-11 and moved it around on my plate to look like half of it was eaten.  Luckily it did the trick and I wasn’t pressed on what I thought of the meal; I only wish that this tactic would have been half as successful when I was growing up.

Value: 2/10 (with tip and no drinks, two people cost $25 for terrible food; that is a lot of McChickens off the dollar menu…)
Atmosphere: 8/10 (did have a cool diner atmosphere, but was really cold)
Service: 7/10 (waitress was sweet, but not very good at offering suggestions; it was like she didn’t want to really suggest anything and after eating the food I can see why she was hesitant)
Queso: 1/10 (normally this is the “Salsa” section for Mexican restaurants, but since the queso was so bad, I thought I had to emphasize it to you so you don’t order it)
Taste: 2/10 (the best I can say is that my side salad was good; there, I ended on a positive note)
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I was making my way up to Dallas for the U2 concert and decided to take the scenic route up 281 to avoid all the I-35 mess on the weekend.  I was meeting up a friend in Arlington, and she didn’t get off of work until 11:00PM, so I just decided to take my time, do some geocaching (I need to write a post on this later) and stop wherever I wanted (I also stumbled upon a ranch rodeo in Evant, TX later that night that was pretty cool).

At any rate, I was driving through Marble Falls and saw the Blue Bonnet Café; I was pretty confident that a café with an old school neon sign and a “Pie Happy Hour” was going to be good, so I decided to stop on in.

Wouldn't you stop at a restaurant that had a sign like this?

Randomly, I ran into a coworker and her family who was coming out of the restaurant.  She told me that the food was excellent and told me not to leave without getting a piece of pie.  Seeing that I have a sweet tooth, I wasn’t going to pass on dessert with a recommendation like that coupled with the “Pie Happy Hour” sign.

As I walked in, I saw exactly what she was talking about; there was a huge refrigerated case that held all their pies and I noticed that there was a constant stream of waitresses stopping by to get either pieces or the entire pie!  Now I was just wondering if I was going to get one or two pieces…

How can you turn one of these bad boys down?

I was greeted by a friendly waitress, and she told me that I could go take at the bar if I didn’t want to wait for a table (the restaurant was really bumping).  I went up to the bar and was promptly greeted by another waitress who was very friendly.  I told her that I stumbled upon the restaurant en route to Dallas, and that I needed to find out what the house specialties were.  She told me that most of the people get either the pot roast or the chicken fried steak.  I opted for the roast, and for my three sides I got mashed potatoes, fried okra, and tamale soup (per her recommendation for a final side).

The food came out REALLY quick, so if you are just passing through town, go ahead and stop on by; you will probably get your meal faster than at a fast food joint!  Now, I have never heard of tamale soup, but it was really good.  It tasted just like a tamale, and had a nice spice to it.  The soup was full of flavor, so I knew that I was in for something good with my main course.

I think I might have mentioned this before, but it is worth repeating again in this post.  I think that food is one of the best things that can “transport” you back to another time and/or place.  Old pictures are good and reminding you of what something looked like, and music can bring a flood of memories of events that you associate with the song.  Food, however, is something that can stimulate all five senses: (1) obviously you taste it, (2) you feel the smooth/gritty/lumpy/tender texture of the food as you eat it, (3) you smell the aroma of a chili simmering or cookies baking, (4) you see the bright colors of fresh produce or the dark grill marks, and (5) you hear fajitas sizzle, soups bubble, or the utensils clanking on the plates (not to mention conversation with friends and family over the course of the meal).

Several times I have lived away from my hometown for extended periods of time, and whenever I got homesick I would inevitably seek out a familiar food because of its power to make me feel as if I was at home.  Other times, I will be able to find a local joint that has some food that reminds me of a bistro along a side street in some faraway place I traveled.  And still to this day, when I whip up a bowl of my mom’s famous green chili queso (made with Hatch green chilis that I get on my pilgrimage every year (yes I check a cooler as baggage on the airplane)) I feel like I am with my immediate family watching a game.  Sitting at the Blue Bonnet Café and eating the roast, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy instantly took me back to my Grandmother’s kitchen on a Saturday afternoon.

This roast, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy were as good as my grandmother's; no, I don't give that compliment often.

She passed away 7 years ago, but eating this meal immediately brought back a flood of memories of growing up, of going to a tiny West Texas town for Sunday lunch, and of how important she was in my life.  The mashed potatoes were incredibly smooth and not lumpy at all, just how she made them.  I know that some people like lumpy potatoes, but I can’t stand having any lumps in my mashed potatoes.  The roast was tender and just melted in your mouth, and the brown gravy was just the right consistency, saltiness, and flavor.  It was really cool how I was brought back to her kitchen even though I was miles away from that tiny West Texas town and she is no longer around.

Anyway, it was time for dessert, so I again asked my waitress what she suggested.  She said that the peanut butter pie was her absolute favorite, and she liked to drizzle chocolate sauce on top of it.  That seemed perfect to me, so I ordered that with a cup of coffee.  The pie was extremely rich, but was so good.  I never have had peanut butter pie, but it has the same consistency as chocolate pie with the exception that there are small pieces of peanuts mixed in that give it a little crunchiness.  The crust was also amazing and really made the pie!

If you get the peanut butter pie, ask for some chocolate sauce on the side!

I am so glad that I stumbled upon Blue Bonnet Café and look forward to stopping by there any time I am heading through Marble Falls to either get full helping of food and small town hospitality or to just get a whole pie to go.

Value: 9/10 (if you order any of the specials or happen in during Pie Happy Hour you will get a really good deal, otherwise you are looking at $7-$8 a plate and $3 for a piece of pie; note this is a CASH only restaurant)
Atmosphere: 10/10 (old school diner with  a bar with open seating in the middle of the restaurant)
Service: 10/10 (super friendly staff)
Taste: 10/10 (do yourself a favor and don’t leave without getting a piece of pie!)
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