What do people do without the internet? Well they probably plan their vacations better than I did, that's what. But without proper planning, I used e-mail. Yeah, I e-mailed someone who I know carries a blackberry when he's not at his desk. In other words, a REALLY safe bet.
Oh and did I mention his family summers in Flagstaff?
One of his recommendations was Black Bart's Steakhouse. Not only that but, again, this restaurant is located very close to our hotel. Inside an RV park.
I don't know that we quite knew what to expect, but it was a kick in the pants. The food was plentiful and there were a host of things that tickled me throughout the meal:
• SBS and CS decided to order steak. STEAK. Ok! I was actually glad that SBS wasn't getting ANOTHER cheeseburger - that's his restaurant go-to selection, either a cheeseburger or cheese pizza. Pizza wasn't on the Black Bart's menu.
• Well with the steaks came.... salad! Now, these weren't just a little kid salad portion. They were the same bowl of salad that they brought the adults. "Lettuce and Weeds", carrots, radishes, red onions and croutons. Both boys ordered ranch dressing. And yeah, they ate their salads! CS just CHOWED down. It was adorable. I wish I could've taken a picture of that ranch dressing all around his lips, but he made it clear that I was NOT to take a picture and it wasn't worth ruining dinner to get a picture.
• When is MG going to learn that I'm always right?
Ok, FINE. I know that I do not want him to grow up to be a man who is easily manipulated by his mother. I know that. So let me rephrase the question:
When is MG going to learn that I do not lie to him and I do NOT manipulate him! HA HA!
He was in a royally bad mood because he was on a sugar low. And his stomach hurt. I told that boy: Your stomach hurts because you're hungry. I'd like you to please try some food. Well he couldn't find anything on the menu that sounded appealing to him. He started to warm up to shrimp kabobs but he was concerned that it would cost too much, despite my assurances that he could order it if he wanted it. For some time, I'd been telling him: You will like Shrimp Scampi. It's shrimp with garlic and butter and spaghetti. TRUST ME. But he resisted.
Let's face it: If I was trying to manipulate this child for my own selfish means, would I have told him to order shrimp scampi? Hell, no. I would have convinced him that the grilled chicken was manna from heaven. I would've steered him for a delightfully inexpensive children's menu item. DUH.
It was supposed to come with a salad. Now. MG loves him a caesar salad. It's the one salad dressing that he likes. (Well, ok, he's warming up to vinaigrettes, but the reality is that caesar is his favorite.) He opted for NO salad. And then ended up eating half of Daddy Doc's caesar. See me rolling my eyes?
And what happened when his scampi arrived? He grabbed a piece of shrimp, shoved it in his mouth, and promptly made some noise out of his mouth that indicated to anyone in hearing range that this was a very fine plate of food that had been set before him. This was taken almost immediately after that first bite:
Yeah, boy chowed down. Again, I ask, see me rolling my eyes?
• I had the... wait for it... Rack of Lamb. DUH. It came with mint jalapeno jelly. Now wasn't that a tasty choice? DD had filet and ordered the sauteed mushrooms.
Meanwhile...
• On "stage" there was a piano player who, except for one 15- minute break while we were there (he takes two breaks a night,) keeps the songs coming pretty much all night. They were mostly showtunes. Sometimes they'd be one waiter/waitress or busser, sometimes it would be a group of two to three, and at least twice we saw big numbers with no fewer than 8 servers at one time.
One of my favorites was Oklahoma. They did the whole chorus thing where the sopranos kick it up an octive and are singing "Okla-homa-okla-homa-okla-homa-okla-homa" while everyone else sings "We KNOW we beLONG to a LAND! And the land WE beLONG to is GRAND!" Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it was Perky Mommy's Overly Sentimental Emotional Moment of the Day! Yeah. MG and SBS just sat there staring into space. (DD and CS were in the "Outhouse".)
WHAT-EVER.
They also did a cute little version of "Be our guest" with everyone using a round tray prop. The final number we saw was a Vaudeville inspired melody. Too cute. They told corny jokes in the middle of the songs.
"What's fuzzy and green and can kill you if it falls out of a tree?"
"I don't know! What's fuzzy and green and can kill me if it falls out of a tree?"
"A Pool Table!"
"What do you call a fish without any eyes?"
"I don't know, what do you call a fish without any eyes?"
"A fsh"
"What did the snail say when it was on the turtle's back?"
"I don't know, what did the snail say when it was on the turtle's back?"
"WEEEEEEE!"
"Hey, Waitress! Why does my coffee taste like MUD?"
"Because it was GROUND just a few minutes ago!"
AH HA HA HA HA!
It was fun. It was weird and it was corny and it was random inside this RV park with this cowboy backyard barn decorated to be a restaurant feel to it, and it was just GREAT.
We'll see how tonight goes. It's CS's first time being the last to choose where he gets to sleep or as MG has dubbed this position: The "What's Left" kid. CS does NOT want to sleep in the sleeping bag and that seems to be his only choice!
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2 comments:
Here's my joke i heard it with you guys:
My father's name was Ferdinand, my mother's name was Liza, they didn't know what to call me so they called me "Ferd-a-Liza"
After watching the movie, we headed out to Black Bart's, and while the bumpy, almost gravel-like driveway and packed RV spots threw me a bit for the location of a restaurant. However, the person that referred us is very trustworthy, so I figured it had to be a unique dining experience - exactly the kind of thing you look for when you are on vacation! It was indeed a kick in the pants. On the bill board facing the freeway, I saw the phrase, "Musical Revue," and just didn't quite know what to expect, and as we opened the first set of doors, we could hear live piano music and singing. Once we were seated, I read in the menu that the servers were music students at Northern Arizona University. I think they provided a couple of the best renditions of "Happy Birthday" I have ever heard!
Food was good. Music was good. CS ate salad and steak! Perky Mommy got her rack of lamb. MG finally ate something and felt moderately better (for a few minutes, at least). All in all, it was a very nice conclusion to our third day.
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