Silverwood Theme Park -- the continued quest for BBQ

While at Silverwood we FINALLY had our chance at BBQ after searching and hoping and wishing and dreaming for BBQ on the drive through Spokane (see post here)..

Moment to calm myself as I recall getting my first speeding ticket in at least 20 years.  Grrr....

Moment over.

After the monumental quest which led to finding the Centralia Ellensburg restaurant that was decidedly NOT BBQ but not too bad either we walked into Silverwood to find they have genuine authentic BBQ food!!!  And it's all you can eat!!!  I promised BBQ to The Critic and I hoped this wouldn't disappoint. 

One of the gals that worked there assured us this is the best food in the park.  And while we are cautious of fair-food, "the best you can get" is as good as we could ask for.

It is the best you can get, but not great.  But what can you expect?

Would I get it again?  Absolutely.  I would not pay extra for the ribs again but am glad we sprung for them to try them.  Most sides were not that great but a few were pretty good.  And while I can't remember the details I'm not too worried about it because if you're headed to Silverwood I would tell you to check it out.  And I myself am not likely to return for at least a couple years, and when I do who knows how similar it will be. 

So go!  Enjoy!  Just remember -- it's fair food.

P.S.  The pizza at the magic show that we ate was ok.  The coffee we had just past the train station was ok.  And the candy store?  None of us would miss the chance to go back to that candy store.  The stand-out from the entire day was the spiral spuds which were FABULOUS and the powdery flavor garbage they put on them?  Perfect.  Now that's disgusting fair food I can get behind!!  Would certainly order that again. 

Palace Cafe

As we were driving through Ellensburg (which I ALWAYS think is Centralia -- thanks Central Washington University) we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would not get BBQ.  I had really tried -- ever since Snoqualmie, to help The Critic fill his BBQ hankering -- to no avail.  One restaurant was closed, another only catered, another closed at 8:00 (which should just be against the law), and on and on and on.

So we decided on Palace Cafe -- which is decidedly not BBQ.  I was a big fan, The FIT liked it as well... Big Guy and Critic thought it was okay.

First off, this is our very first stop with The Dog.  We adopted her about a month earlier and learned as we would go on this road trip about dog-friendly places.  Of which there are none.  It is very hard to hear a million times to NOT leave a dog in a car yet not have an option to leave a dog out of the car (simultaneously we hear that we should NOT tie her up outside... um, okay?  So what are we supposed to do?).  We opted to leave her and check on her frequently, probably stressing her and us out way more than necessary.  And we ate in a HURRY as a result.

Bonus, coke.  Always a bonus.

I could have survived on the wedge salad alone but got some chicken alfredo dish without the mushrooms because The Big Guy of all people said it sounded interesting.

Oh!  Insert the rules for the roadtrip eating.  Rule number one, it must be some place that we cannot easily access from home.  Rule number two, try and order something you don't usually get.

So this fit rule number two for The Big Guy.

The Critic got a hot open faced prime rib sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy.  He was unimpressed.  I think that The Big Guy survived on his mashed potatoes and gravy.  

And the rest, well, I honestly don't remember because as you may or may not notice, we ate out A LOT in the next two weeks and it became increasingly difficult to write everything down.

Bottom line on Palace cafe is I would go back simply for the wedge salad and likely alfredo thing but would most likely be eating alone while the Guys all find something better.

And speaking of... on the way out of town we saw a Roadhouse!!!  While not BBQ it certainly beats the alternative and we will definitely remember to stop by on our trip to Moses Lake in a little over a week.

Old Country Buffet

We went here for The Big Guy's choice of a dinner when FIT was on his motorhome trip.  What is it with kids loving a buffet?  I remember doing so as a kid... There are a few foods I like here, but no matter what I leave feeling like I gained 5 pounds.  Anyway, the meatloaf is good (they didn't have it this time).  The cornbread stuffing is pretty good.  I like making "my salad" (greens, beets, tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, cheese, sunflower seeds, and thousand island dressing -- that salad got me through The Big Guy's pregnancy!).  I also enjoy a taco salad from here.  Mostly I'm just happy when it's time to leave.  The Big Guy likes the pizza (yuck), mashed potatoes and gravy, criss cross fries, and desserts.  This time around I got the collard greens and enjoyed them a lot!  The Critic doesn't like anything here, but he goes because he's a good dad and knows it will rock The Big Guy's world when we take him. 

El Torrerro

Had a great night celebrating a great year with a great team.  But the food?  Not my favorite.  It's ok.  We come for the margaritas (which, by the way, I'm not a fan of either... I come for the diet coke). 

The nachos were no bueno in my world and the carne asada was good.  Even the fajitas weren't that great.  There are better Mexican restaurants for me.

Qdoba

Q-doga!

We have a new wrinkle in the whole eating out realm.  We got a dog.  Guess what?  Most restaurants are NOT interested in having you bring your dog in to sit under the table.  So now we need to find places that are interested in letting us hang out outside.  There is a website called www.bringfido.com that tells you "dog-friendly" places, but I'm finding that most with outdoor seating aren't listed and most dog-friendly ones that are listed say that's fine, as long as you're outside.

Heading out of town for the first time with the dog we stopped by Qdoba.  First off, they took away my favorite burrito.  :-(  I liked the fajita ranchera something-or-other, which I guess I can make since they are now more Chipotle-esque (I've never in my life been to Chipotle... mostly due to the fact that I do not like the flavor of chipotle, though I'm told that's not what it tastes like).  And they commited the cardinal soda sin -- even worse than switching from diet coke to pepsi is changing from coke to the 100+ coke flavor cr@p thing that makes everything tastes like fake lime.  The kids love it.  What do kids know??? 

Anyway, I'd rather go to Baja Fresh, but Qdoba was a nice option to have our cute furry little new family member join us for dinner -- the company... she's not allowed to eat our food.  :-)

Joule

Here's my problem... I've been trying to use the Blogger app while at a restaurant, especially to get the "location" printed.  Which is ridiculous because 99% of this blog is so that I can remember what we ate at a favorite spot so when we go again we don't spend 3 hours saying, "Did we get that?  Was it good?" and so on.  Well...

This is our second time to go to Joule.  We LOVED it before!  I had all the notes of when we went, the pics of the food we ate, and so on... and when I went to open my draft do you know what it said?!?

Wonderful.

No date, no pictures, no food descriptions.  So no idea.  

So this is what we got this time and how we felt about them.  Quick!  Let me publish this before Blogger eats it up (ha ha!  Get it?).

By the way the occasion is Friday the 13th!

First up, shrimp cocktail 2.0.  It has pork belly and pickled ramps on it.  This is not the shrimp cocktail you're thinking of.  My verdict?  I could eat piles of that.

 

Next up, the spicy rice cakes.  This is the one thing we are sure we had before and knew we would always order again.  The rice cakes have these amazing crispy edges -- we think they may have been crispier last time?  It's still one of the best dishes out there. 

File this cauliflower dish under awesome new experience.  I should have had video on it!  I think I wanted to, but was running out of battery.  If you take bonito flake and put it on warm cauliflower, it moves around as if it is alive.  It is CRAZY weird!  This is a good dish -- can't go wrong with roasted cauliflower, but I like mine a bit better.  :-)

 

This is the grass fed hangar.  My only problem with this dish is every time I've ever had grass fed beef I've left thinking "cows that eat corn are delicious".  Personal preference, I suppose.  I am not a fan of the strong flavor that comes from grass fed beef.

 

Some day, some time, just once, I am going to remember to take a picture when dessert comes out.  I think by that time I'm in a food coma and I just don't care anymore.  This one was chocolate and, as you can tell, delicious.