Belated Birthday Dinner at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame

Wednesday night I met up with my friend and former colleague, JB, at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame, which apparently is really just “Cowgirl”. It’s funny, I had never really given this place any thought and then last week my partner in deliciousness told me that she would be attending a bachelorette brunch there in a few weeks time. And THEN, when finalizing my plans with JB, she suggested we go there for dinner, even though she had just been the night before. Jeeze Cowgirl! I can honestly say, before last week this place was a complete non-entity, then suddenly it’s the only thing I know how to hear about.

This place gets crowded really early, but luckily they were able to seat us pretty much right away. Walking in I noticed that we got the last available two-top – score! Shortly after being seated, we were served some chips with their signature black-eyed pea salsa. I really liked the use of the black-eyed peas, but I tasted a hint of yellow curry, which gives me horrible acid reflux, so I ended up just eating my chips plain, occasionally balancing one or two beans atop my chip. As I spent a decent amount of the day making brunch suggestions to Youthlarge over google chat (the sausage, biscuits, gravy and eggs look pretty tasty), I was already pretty familiar with the menu. I had basically already decided to get some sort of chicken fried something, but knew that I would probably just make a game-time decision. When someone is actually standing in front of me, ready to take my order, all bets are off!

To start, JB and I shared the onion loaf and fried green tomatoes. The onion loaf was colossal. Despite its being very crispy and delicious (not at all too bready as is often the case with this type of thing), I tried not to eat too much of it in an attempt to not get too stuffed. The fried green tomatoes were really tasty too. They were fried in a nice cornmeal batter and were impressively light and not at all greasy. My only beef was that they were served with what I think was a watery ranch dressing. I would have preferred a thicker blue cheese or better still, some sort of horseradish sauce.

For her main, JB ordered the fish tacos off of the Pride Week menu and I got the chicken fried steak. I definitely made the right call. Like I alluded to earlier, chicken fried ANYthing is probably going to taste great, and it did. My skin-on mashed potatoes were delectable (I love leaving the skin on – it’s easier and more delicious!) and my chicken fried steak smothered in creamy gravy did not disappoint. Though, the steak was just a little bit tough, but I think it always sort of is when prepared this way, so I gave it a pass. Next time I think I’ll try the chicken instead. Oh, and I did end up getting way too stuffed, causing me to ask the eternal question – why is this happening to me?