Big Dude's Eclectic Ramblings: Two Restaurant Disappointments And New Mower

Friday, October 9, 2026

Two Restaurant Disappointments And New Mower

Real Mexican For Lunch

I didn’t ask why, but Bev has decided she wants to make some tamales which required buying the needed ingredients. The closest real deal Hispanic store that we know of is La Lupita Mexican Store And Restaurant in Maryville. I’d been thinking about eating there so after shopping for a new riding lawn mower, we headed to La Lupita for lunch and supplies – masa, lard, corn husks.

My old Kubota mini tractor was having too many issues so I bought this mower.

La Lupita

We got there about 11:15 so the place was pretty empty – here is a shot of Bev and a pic from the web in the other direction which was empty for our visit.

Unlike the Tex-Mex food served at most American Mexican restaurants, with lots of street food, La Lupita serves authentic Hispanic food and their menu actually includes a section called Mexican Street Food (tacos, burritos, quesadilla, etc). Since we are still eating light, Bev ordered a taco and a tamale.

And I had a beef quesadilla which was stuffed with just beef and cheese and we had accompaniments of onion, cilantro, salsa verde, and red salsa on the table.

Bev enjoyed her taco but the tamale was too spicy for her so I ate it for supper and it was fine. My quesadilla was underwhelming and I could hardly cut the thick tortilla with a knife. We now know why Tex-Mex was invented for the American palette and we won’t have to eat at La Lupita again although I now wish I had ordered an entrée just to have something other than street food.

In addition to the restaurant they have a Mexican store which includes a well-stocked meat counter.

Texas Road House For Lunch

We went to Maryville this day for a presentation on the changes to our Medicare Advantage Plan and decided we would have an early lunch while we were in town. For some reason, I had been wanting to go to Texas Road House for awhile to try their ribs and steak. We arrived about 11:20 am and were surprised by the number of cars already in their lot since just opened at 11.

We were seated quickly and the server showed up shortly thereafter to take our drink orders and ask about appetizers. The drinks arrived in the right amount of time for us to be ready to order.

Pat ordered the chicken fried steak with gravy on the side and a baked sweet potato.

It may be the biggest CFS I’d ever seen including those in Texas but Pat thought it was just okay and needed to be more tender.

Bev had the All American Burger.

She thought the burger tasted very good but with the thick meat patty, onion slice, and tomato she could not get it into her mouth. The burger makes for a petty picture and presentation but it is why we make all three of those items thinner at home. Since I went for steak and ribs and I wanted plenty of protein, I ordered the 8oz Beef Filet and Pork Ribs Combo along with green beans and sauteed mushrooms.

I was very disappointed in my meal as the ribs were way over done with a hard dry bark and dry meat – maybe leftover from the previous day. They advertise fall-off-the bone ribs and this is only achieved by overcooking. My steak was a filet of some cut of beef but not the tenderloin as it was tough and had a grizzle in it – I’ve cut up many whole beef tenderloins and know this steak was not from one. On the positive side, my steak was cooked just right for me and the service was very good – my total meal had about 1100 calories and I ate this lunch, supper that evening and two breakfasts from it.

These two experiences remind me why I don't eat out very often as we could have made all of these meals much better at home.

I had only eaten a couple of bites of the steak and mushrooms so I cut them both into smaller pieces, mixed them together and used half in two different breakfast meals with an omelet as first one (had a scramble the next day). Since both the steak and schrooms were very flavorful, they made for a very good egg dish.