We’ve been living in Texas for close to a year and a half now.  In that length of time, we’ve tried a number of barbecue places already.  Texas, you see, is almost synonymous to the word BBQ. :D  With the number of BBQ places around, it is very seldom that we go to the same barbecue place twice, except for 2 hands down favorites (County Line and Rudy’s).

Last Sunday, we had lunch at Pok-E-Jo’s.  It was our first visit.  And since Hubby and I couldn’t decide on what to order, we did the most logical thing…we ordered the 4-meat platter of chicken, beef brisket, baby back ribs and sausage. :D  These are the very same meats we order at the other barbecue places we’ve had the chance to visit.

Each BBQ plate order comes with 2 sides, 2 slices of toast, Pok-E-Jo’s barbecue sauce and condiments from the condiment bar (pickles, onions, etc.) .  For our sides, we ordered mac-and-cheese (for Abby!), mashed potato, plus an extra order of coleslaw (which Abby loves, too!).  We also ordered extra slices of wheat bread.  For the sauce, we got both the spicy and regular sauces.

It was a wise decision to order just the 4-meat platter for the 3 of us.  Abby, for one, doesn’t really eat much.  She was mostly after the side dishes and a few slices of chicken.  Hubby is still partial to Rudy’s moist brisket, but he preferred Pok-E-Jo’s baby back ribs.  We both loved the barbecue sauces, specially the spicy one!  The mashed potato was a little too sour for our taste, must be the sour cream. :)  Everything else was good.

There’s a very good chance the we’ll pay Pok-E-Jo’s a second visit.

Last Saturday, after coming from a children’s party, Hubby, Abby and I headed to Ikea to check out their Labor Day Sale.  We decided to have lunch there, too.  This time, except for Abby, Hubby and I both ordered something we haven’t ordered before.

Hubby went for the day’s special promo meal of 1/2 Baby Back Ribs served with a side of fries and corn bread.

1/2 Baby Back Ribs with Corn Bread and Fries

From the photo of the ribs, would you be able to guess if Hubby enjoyed his meal?  I don’t know if Hubby just got unlucky but the ribs he was served looked like it came from a malnourished pig.  It was all ribs and no meat.  It tasted ok, according to Hubby, but he wished there was more to taste.  Hee hee.

As for me, I ordered the Pasta Marinara and Side Salad combo.

Pasta with Marinara Sauce

Side Salad

I wasn’t very happy with my food as well.  The sauce was too bland for me.  I added a dash of salt (a couple of times at that!) but that didn’t quite work for me.  I grew more interested on the car insurance comparison conversation on the next table (which was a little too loud!) than on the food before me.  I was only able to finish half of my pasta. :(  Next time, I’ll stick to the Salmon Rice Pilaf.

Redemption came in the form of dessert, our usual chocolate cake.  That, I enjoyed.

I hope y’all had better meals this weekend.

Check out Shamu’s Happy Harbor, my other WS entry.  Visit more Weekend Snapshot participants here.

Have a great new week ahead!

When we went up to Mammoth in California last month, we had dinner at Roberto’s Cafe, a typical Mexican restaurant.  Hubby and I love Mexican food.  But we were not prepared for the size of Roberto’s Burrito Grande (or was it called Grande Burrito?  Whatever!)…

To say that it was huge is an understatement!  We haven’t seen a burrito this size in Tex-Mex food rich Texas (or we just don’t go out that much!). :D  It was my aunt who ordered it and even she was overwhelemed by the size.  When you are served food this size, you suddenly lose whatever feeling of  hunger you might have before.  Seeing it alone fills you up already.  My aunt ate only about a quarter of the gigantic burrito.  The rest, we ate over breakfast.  This is easily good for a family of four.  Hee hee.  That, of course, is an exageration!

I’m feeling giddy. I’m one of the two featured Weekenders for this week. It’s a first for me! Weeee! Hee hee.

Sunday evening, after again spending the day in San Antonio Sea World, we had dinner at a nearby Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant, Kim Phung. It’s our second time to eat at this restaurant this month. Too bad I wasn’t able to take photos last time. We ate Vietnamese noodles that time.

These photos are new, mind you. They only look recycled because whenever we eat a Chinese restaurant, we almost always end up ordering the same food.

We ordered a fresh Vietnamese spring roll (vermicelli, shrimp and vegetables) with peanut sauce for Abby. Hubby and I were still feeling a little full from the chips we ate on the drive back to Austin. Abby really loved the spring roll and finished one fat roll all by herself, except for the last bite.

We ordered Crispy Egg Noodles with Chicken, Beef, Shrimp and Vegetables. Sadly, it wasn’t love at first sight for Hubby and me, nor was it love at first bite. For starters, the serving platter was way too small for the crispy noodles, which made it next to impossible to mix the sauce with the noodles. We ended up making a bit of a mess on the table. Broken crispy noodles everywhere! *sigh* While it didn’t taste bad, we’ve had better….much better.

As if we lack carbo in our diet, we also had Shrimp Fried Rice. Hubby and I thought there was way too much green peas in the fried rice. It should have been called Green Peas Fried Rice. Tsk tsk. It wasn’t so bad, maybe a little too moist, but again, we’ve had better fried rice.

We brought home half of the noodles and half of the fried rice. I guess that’s proof enough of how much we liked or didn’t quite like the food. Anyway, we had suck a wonderful weekend that a minor food glitch wasn’t enough to ruin it.

I have photos of The Great White, here, my other WS entry.Visit other Weekenders here.

Cheers!

Chuck E. Cheese’s has become one of our favorite places to hang-out in.  For her birthday, Abby specifically requested that we have pizza for lunch.  She wanted to spend a few hours at Chuck E. Cheese’s as well.  We let her have her way.  The three of us had fun all right.  The only real challenge was making Abby sit long enough to finish a slice of pizza, that and to win loads of tickets we can exchange for prizes.

While CEC’s pizzas aren’t exactly gourmet, they are satisfying nonetheless.  I’d even say I like them.  :)  The atmosphere in the restaurant cum mini-indoor theme park probably adds to the pizzas’ likeability.

What I like best at CEC though, are the wings.  I can have an entire order all to myself.  But since I still have a bit of pride left in me, I shared it with Hubby and Abby. :D  Abby loved the celery sticks the wings came with.  She had no competition in that area.

With free refills, one won’t have to fear going thirsty at CEC.

CEC also has salads and desserts on the menu.  They hold parties, too!  In fact, Abby had her 3rd birthday party at CEC last year.

I still have some CEC coupons waiting to be used on our next visit.

Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich

Side-by-Side Milkshake: Vanilla and Coffee Mocha…because I can’t make up my mind.

Jr. Chicken Fingers ‘n Fries

Everything tastes even better than it looks.  You can quote me on that. ;) 

Busy bees here, my other WW entry. More WW here.

Enjoy the rest of the week!  Cheers!

Last Friday, after browsing through book after book after book at Borders (at least, I did!), Hubby, Abby and I had dessert at what I’d describe as a “posh”  dessert cafe cum wine bar cum chocolate shoppe.  It’s called Viva Chocolato.

This pic was lifted from Viva Chocolato’s website.  The rest are mine. :) 

The photo above was obviously taken during the day and I have to say that the place comes alive at night, when the air is filled with the laughter of wine and chocolate lovers and live music is played by a guitarist/singer.  Notice that brightly lit little room at the far end?  It’s where private parties are held!  A chocolat party!  That’s my kind of party! ;)  Viva Chocolato hosts parties for kids and adults alike. 

We sat at a quiet corner on a high table with matching bar stools.  I love the red and white thing going on with the lamps.

Abby, as usual, had strawberry ice cream!

Hubby and I shared a slice of Ebony and Ivory cake ($6.95 a slice!!!).  The “ivory” frosting tasted like cheesecake and the “ebony” was rich and moist.  I loved it!  At that price, I was determined to make myself love it!  Hahaha! 

I would love to come back to this place for a sampling of their truffles.  I just found out that they have happy hour everyday from 4-7pm and one can pair a glass of wine with a truffle for 4.95. ;)  How chic is that?!