Ruby Tuesday

Your usual wordsmith is out of town this weekend to join his siblings in Kentucky. I am his son, Adam, who you may have read about in previous posts as the quiet one with opinions ranging from “fine” to “not bad”. I am not as verbose as my father, who has been reading and dabbling in writing longer than I have been alive, so you won’t see me using words like “wainscoted” or other such snobby language. He insisted my mother take pictures of our meal, so I decided to take the helm of this week’s blog. I have attempted writing before, but could never muster the motivation for anything extensive, so this might be a fun exercise.
The Place:
Ruby Tuesday, an old favorite. Well, “favorite” may not be the right word. This was one of the few places we dined at before starting this blog and escaping our rut. Our adventures in trying new places has noticeably expanded our palettes, most obviously with another classic, Bob Evans, growing just too salty for us these days. Quickly burning through established chains early on led us to lesser known locations, growing our taste even more and allowing us to see that, hey, there is some real quality food out there if you actually go beyond the usual. Perhaps this is why I had such a scathing review of O’Charleys recently, or, perhaps, they are just not great in general. Either way, our continuing return trips to Ruby Tuesday, what surely must be our most visited location at this point, show just how good it is. Or maybe it’s nostalgia.

The Food:
We were seated in a booth, which had a loose table rather than a bolted one. This is nice if you

 want to shift it around, but I much prefer a stationary surface. After a moment we were greeted by our waiter, an odd fellow. I didn’t catch his name, but he reminded me a lot of Otho from the movie Beetlejuice.
We put in our drink orders: my mother a sweet tea, myself a Coke. Their menu had changed quite a bit over the years due to an apparent initiative to become more than just a typical family eatery. This works for the better in terms of the food quality and creating a more focused variety, but results in me never remembering what they have.
A scan of the menu revealed some new features, most notably sandwiches and burgers being served on pretzel buns. This intrigued me. Local shop Cool Beans (which is currently remodeling! We will definitely be returning soon) feature pretzel buns, so I know from experience they are good. This time, however, I wasn’t quite that hungry, so I decided on another new option: a half rack of barbecue ribs and “southern” style hand breaded chicken

tenders, with a side of fries. My mother also chose a half rack of ribs, but with a request for a skewer of grilled shrimp. She then asked to have the salad bar as one of her two sides, but Otho had to decline. He apologized that, much to his disdain and continued protests, the salad bar can only be added on, not used as a side. She sighed but got it anyway, instead ordering her two sides as spaghetti squash and cooked zucchini. I’m unclear why she felt the need to punish herself by ordering these, but I didn’t pry. Otho headed for the kitchen and my mother went for her salad. Since I did not get a salad, she jokingly warned that I would not be allowed at her croutons. I scoffed at the idea, and recommended just grabbing extra. Several minutes later Otho returned with cheese biscuits, fresh out of the oven. They remind me of the similar biscuits served by Red Lobster, but since that place is otherwise terrible, Ruby Tuesday having them dismisses any chance of going back there. Warm, cheesy, soft. They were excellent.

Our meals arrived. I don’t usually order ribs, but these looked quite good. So much so that the lady seated at the table behind us ended up changing her previous order to the ribs. The meat fell right off the bone, much to my delight. I am not a fan of eating around a bone. Too much of a hassle. The meat itself was quite tasty, but not wonderful. Ribs are good, but I prefer other areas of the cow more, I suppose. As for the chicken, it was very tender, and the seasoning was quite… “southern” I guess you could say. A side of honey mustard made them even better. The fries were crispy but not crunchy, and seasoned well.My mother agreed about the ribs, which is all I rea
lly needed to hear, but then she commented on the slop she considered sides.
The zucchini, she says, was good, but the squash was not her cup of tea. No fault of the restaurant itself, just not something she liked. I acted surprised by this finding.

Summary:
Of course it was good. Ruby Tuesday is a constant in our new world of dining. Not spectacular, but never awful. Above average and with enough variety that our return trips never grow tiresome.
Otho was having a rough day, and I sympathize with him. I myself work in the food industry and sometimes have opinions about what management does. He regularly checked up on us, made sure we understood everything, refilled our drinks in a timely manner, and was otherwise perfectly friendly. He just needs a break.



Editor's Note:
If I must add anything from this meal, it is about the shrimp skewer. I wasn't there, but I certainly heard about it. The skewer cost $3 and had a grand total of 3 shrimp. Angel mentioned this several times, many, many times. (DCB)

Ruby Tuesday

1120 Shapiro Dr.

Festus, Mo

rubytuesday.com

It’s been three weeks since the last review. I was sick, busy, busier, and Angel was out of town last week. We’re all back now and ready to inform you, our loyal fans.

I was tired of burgers, I’ve had more than usual the last couple of weeks. Quick, easy, tasty, but ultimately, after a while, boring and heavy.

No one was in the mood to pick a place, so I just threw this out there.

The Place:

Once again, below Lowe’s parking lot on a hill above I-55. It seemed pretty busy, it was. We were greeted at the door by a young lady with cleavage. Not that that is a bad thing, nor do I admit to actually noticing it or leering. I’m just mentioning it to be thorough. The cleavage did not motivate me to order any more food or drinks than I would have normally, nor did I leave a larger tip than usual.

Those awesome biscuits

We were seated near the bustling bar. The booths are smaller in this area, and overhead are TV’s playing sports. Angel and I got a football game, Missouri vs. Syracuse, and Adam got a NASCAR race. NASCAR is curiously considered a sport in some places.

I didn’t mind the football, especially college games. A trend among university teams is to have brightly colored and highly stylized uniforms and helmets. If you take off your glasses and sit at a distance the action looks like a swirling 60’s LSD flashback.

We were handed menus, a plate of garlic-cheesy biscuits and gave the waitress our drink order, tea, sweet tea and Coke.

By the time our drinks came around we were all ready to order.

The Food:

The perfect salad

I found nothing really new on the menu, so I went with a favorite; Petite Sirloin, mashed potatoes and the awesome salad bar. The petite is a small nine-ounce cut, perfect for the taste of steak without the heft of a full sized serving, I was counting on the salad to be the bulk of the meal.  Angel went for the dry-rub Memphis ribs, asparagus and mashed potatoes, and of course, the salad bar. Adam took on the Prime Bacon Cheddar Burger, with fries and broccoli. Yeah, a burger and broccoli, go figure. The young man is disgusted by onions and tomatoes, but sides a burger with limp, slimy, disgusting broccoli. I blame his mother.

There was a long line at the salad bar, no surprise. Whatever else I might say about Ruby, she’s got the best salad bar in the entire tri-state area.

Angel's topped with pumpernickel croutons.

The plates seemed smaller than I remembered, Angel doubted it. My appetite was certainly larger than the plates though. Greens, all crispy and fresh, cucumbers, peppers, mushrooms, red onions, bright green lima beans, real bacon bits, boiled egg, cheeses,  thin sliced tomatoes, apple salad, potato salad, this time covered in a thin layer of Thousand Island dressing (my choice of dressing varies).  Angel had a slight variation, the main theme was those dark, heavy pumpernickel croutons that Adam would be swiping later.

Petite Sirloin

My plate was piled high, I dug in with the passion of a hungry guy with an awesome hand-crafted salad in front of him. “These biscuits mean we never need to go to Red Lobster again.” Adam chimed in. He was right, Ruby’s biscuits are to die for.

   Then they did it again. About halfway through the salad a mere few minutes in, the main courses arrived. Too soon, too soon!

Memphis Ribs

The table was too small to make room for everything and keep it all in reach. Ruby’s done this before, and pardon my Italian, it really pisses me off. What’s the big hurry? I can’t afford to take my family here very often, why rush us through like some cheap fast food joint? The salad bar is the draw to this place, why rush our rare pleasure? I made the salad, I wanted the salad, but you interrupted with a medium rare steak that loses freshness fast. I had to shove aside one third of the awesome salad to be able to savor the steak at its best.

I’ve griped about it before, I’ll complain about it again if they keep doing this.

This food itself was quite good. Though the plating was sparse and plain, the food was delicious. The steak was cooked perfectly to order, topped with butter and pepper. The mashed potatoes were fluffy and cheesy and only a little too salty.

Prime Cheddar Bacon Burger..with broccoli

“That’s a very pretty burger.” Adam said shortly before it disappeared.
I tried a bit of Angel’s ribs, and gave her a sliver of steak. She loved the spiciness of the steak, I was less impressed with the rib meat. It wasn’t bad, I’m just not much of a rib-guy, or a big dry rub fan. Angel in fact later said that the rib-rub could have been spicier. She said that however, over a plateful  of bare, gnawed bones. “The meat just fell off the bones.” She said, while smacking her lips.
I enjoyed my steak and potatoes, finished them off. Angel and Adam wanted dessert, to go, I didn’t. “You’re passing up the chance for cheesecake?” She was puzzled. “I already have a snack planned.” I responded, thinking of the graham crackers and fresh jar of peanut butter at home, the result of a recent craving. They each ordered a slice of pumpkin pie cheesecake. I don’t care for pumpkin anyhow.

Summary:

The wait staff was exceptional, they kept us refilled and cleared away. The only bad thing about the meal, and it’s not a minor thing in my book, was the rushed main course delivery.

Pumpkin Cheesecake

The tea was clear and fresh as it most often is at Ruby’s. Even Angel commented on it. The price for the meal and the two desserts came to just over sixty two dollars. Kind of pricy if you eat there a lot, but for a once every other month or so thing, probably not too bad. The food was, as it usually is, of high quality and prepared well. The most telling fact is that we keep going back. Ruby gets it mostly right most of the time. It’s dependable and predictable.

Another minor point though, The booths in the area around the bar are too small, stiff and lumpy.

By far the main draw for us is here the salad bar. It’s always well stocked with a huge variety of fresh produce. Next time I might just make a meal of the salad and the biscuits. That would avoid the recurring problem of being interrupted by a too-quick main course.

Ruby Tuesday

1120 Shapiro Dr.
Festus, MO

www.rubytuesday.com

This option pretty much chose itself. We’d been to Ruby’s a couple of times during the quest, but it had been awhile. It probably wouldn’t have been the choice had it not been for an email I received from the chain. “25% off your entire food purchase.” It said. That’s hard to pass up. I gave Ruby’s my (alternate) email address a few years back. I feel no conflict about this I’m not asking for any advantage at any restaurant that isn’t also offered to the public at large. Some places send out deals like this from time to time. I don’t always accept the offer, but it’s available to everyone.

The Place:

Above I-55, just below Lowes and the Waffle House. It had changed on the inside. Gone were all the sports-related knick-knacks, sleds, jerseys, oars, hockey sticks. The walls were painted a muted neutral color and a few, and only a few generic art prints were scattered about. The Large TV’s were limited to the area around the bar and muted. The background music was soft, and forgettable. The place was still dark, even with the large shaded lamps hanging from the ceiling. So dark that I immediately realized that any attempt at photographing the food with my flimsy phone would prove to be a disappointment. I could take my good camera, but in this place that would still require me to use a flash, and I don’t imagine those around me would appreciate that.

The wait staff was still ninja-like, black pants and shirts, though a couple of the young ladies had hems of bright red peeking out from beneath their overshirts. Our hostess reminded me a great deal of the Actress Stana Katic, who plays Kate Beckett on the TV series “Castle”. She  had those same slightly exotic Balkan features that are not Hollywood-template-pretty, more eastern-European pretty. (Katic’s parents, Serbian father and Croat mother immigrated to Canada and later Illinois, from Yugoslavia.) I do not know if our hostess was of similar lineage, I thought it would be rude to ask. I did note that the hostess carried more meat on her bones than Katic does. The actress can’t weigh more than seventy five pounds dripping wet and if you ask me is way TOO skinny, unattractively so.

We were seated in a distant booth pretty quickly though the place was filling up fast. Among the patrons were a dozen or so young ladies in prom-style dresses. Evening or party dresses I guess, I was not aware of a homecoming or prom in the area, though there was obviously something like that going on. I watched as small clutches of them would venture to the restroom together. Why girls want company in restrooms is of course, a complete mystery to me. When I go to a restroom I really am not about to do anything I wish to share with even my closest friends.

We read through our menus though I’d previewed it online earlier and was all but decided. We asked for drinks, tea, sweet tea and Coke.

The Food:

Ruby’s best feature is its salad bar. I’ve spoken of this before and it bears repeating. It is far and above the best salad bar I’ve come across anywhere. Well stocked, well managed, diverse and fresh. I knew this going in and planned accordingly. It’s very easy to overdo the salad and not have room for a big steak and potato meal. So I ordered from the salad/meal combination section. ‘Mini’s and Garden Bar’. Angel ordered form the same section, obviously aping my cleverness. Her choice was the Lobster Mac and Cheese & Garden Bar.  Adam, continuing and completing the aping ordered the Mini’s and Garden Bar as well. We were directed to the salad bar and Angel already had her plate half-filled before the various papers and napkins stopped fluttering in her wake. She loves this salad bar.

Three kinds of lettuce, spinach, peppers, onions mushrooms, cheeses, peas, bacon bits, potato salad, fruit salad, on and on and on. At least ten different dressings, I like to mix them up. A little blue cheese, some Thousand Island, a drizzle of Italian. . .

My little plate was packed, but I was okay with that knowing that the follow up, the little burgers, would still fit into my gullet quite nicely. Returning to the table we sat our plates down and began the pseudo-vegetarian carnage. The drinks had arrived, the tea was actually quite good. Ruby’s is kind of hit and miss on the tea, it was a good night though. And the biscuits. Ruby Tuesday’s luscious cheesy biscuits. Those little delights and a big sloppy salad are enough for a meal in themselves, All-you-can-eat, yummy goodness.

The arrival, a bit premature, of the main courses was almost a non-event. Adam and I were given our small plates with two sliders, a small dose of fries and a small tin bowl of ketchup each. Angel’s mac and cheese was cheesy, steamy, drippy served in a small, half-inch tall rectangular stoneware bowl. Chunks of lobster were prevalent. I almost hated pushing my awesome salad aside, but I was hankering for some meat.

The sliders were about the size and shape of White Castle’s but were a bit meatier and didn’t have whatever WC puts in theirs to make them both insanely addictive and violently diarrhetic at the same time. The tiny burgers were cooked medium well, no small feat as the patties were quite small. There was ketchup and a pickle on the top side, and the bottom of the small bun was coated with mayonnaise. Why mayonnaise? I have no idea. I think it’s a Canadian thing.

“Where do you get such small buns?” Adam asked, staring at his slider.

“Treadmill, lots of time on a treadmill.” I answered, adding: "and better DNA"

Angel oohed and ahhed over her chunky cheesy dish. “Lots of lobster.” She said with strings of melted cheese hanging from her chin.

As we slowed down for the final stretch the topic of haircuts came up, as I was going to get one the next day.

“I just grab a pair of scissors and head to the bathroom and start chopping off the parts I don’t like.” She boasted.

“I have to have mine done by professionals to maintain a professional appearance.”

“Are you saying I don’t look professional?” She accused.

“You’re a dog trainer, the frontier look works just fine for your profession.”

Oddly enough Angel took exception to this innocent and flattering comment. I spent the next few minutes trying to get her to understand that it was a compliment. She remained stubbornly unconvinced. I tried to steer the conversation to neutral ground by bringing up the Super Bowl. This didn’t work well since none of us are the least bit interested in football, we couldn’t even agree on who would be playing in it. Finally we started discussing evening entertainment and decided to stop at Blockbuster after our meal. Bullet dodged.

Summary:

All good. Ruby’s has disappointed us before, and yet they have been quite exceptional at many other times. This was a good night indeed. The coup de gras of course was that not only did we have a 25% off coupon, we, for once, actually remembered to bring it with us. Thus this great and satisfying meal only cost us about thirty five dollars. Sure we didn’t have big steaks or appetizers, but the meal was excellent.  The portions were intelligently chosen to accentuate the place’s strong suit, the salad bar. The main courses were small yet satisfying. Adam even mentioned that the fries were among his favorite. Angel’s dish over time seemed very rich, but since the portion was small, it was great. I found no fault in the food or the service and the price? Wow!

Highly recommended, but read the menu ahead of time and for the love of all that may or may not be holy or even just coincidental, get a coupon!