Less than a week at the new gig and management announced they were taking the new talent out for lunch. By the way, I was fortunate enough to have four other folks start around the same time I did. It was our choice where we wanted to go. Since I was the new Texan (that STILL sounds weird to me), I let the fellow newbies know that I didn't care where we went just as long as it was some place indigenous to Texas. That's how they came up with The Ranch.
The Ranch is located just a few minutes from our office in Irving. They went out of their way to make sure to they were special to Texas. So much so that all of their food is homegrown right here in the state. Just in case you want them to get more specific, their menu lists the exact location of where the menu item came from. The exact town and/or city in Texas where it originated. I guess when I told them I wanted something indigenous to Texas they could not have been more literal.
Their menu was diverse enough to cover just about every Texas-style dish you could think of. That is if you were looking for chicken and beef. Even fish. Honestly, what else could you really want? It was all looking so good that I had no idea which direction to go. All I kept thinking was a restaurant of that nature would have me so full at lunch that trying to get thru those online courses the rest of the afternoon was going to be a huge struggle.
One of the fellow newbies who had been there before suggested the Kobe beef tacos. I could do a whole other post on the story about how I didn't know for the longest time that Kobe beef had nothing at all to do with the Kobe that I know. Instead, once I found out that it was actually high quality beef that is supposed to be some of the best beef around I figured it was right down my alley. Then they put it in tacos? Yeah, I could roll with that.
The problem I ran into was the Kobe tacos in question only came as appetizers. Three tiny tacos. Now I know I didn't want to get full at lunch, but that wasn't going to cut it either. The waiter was feeling my pain and suggested I get a side of tortilla soup. Now we were talking. The two complimented each other very well. Although to be honest, as good as that tortilla soup was I would have been perfectly fine with just getting a double order of the tacos. I'll know better next time.
Some of the managers said The Ranch was a little ritzy. They must have meant comparatively speaking. It certainly was no McDonalds. It reminded me of a Texas Roadhouse type flavor with its decor. Except thankfully no peanuts all over the place. I definitely have to try a traditional steak next time I go. Maybe I can squeeze in another visit before I head off to Boston for training for two weeks next weekend.
