Dykes with forks: I'm sick of Progresso Edition

I have cabin fever. After coming home from work early on Monday, I never made it out of the neighborhood on Tuesday. Oh sure, I got out to try and put ice melt on the driveway so I could drive to work. Which resulted in my falling.

But then, the mere act of waking up often results in my falling. I digress.

The weekend is upon us and I figure the rest of y’all have thoughts towards finally escaping the house, so I give you a very special Dykes With Forks, Dear God I’m Sick of Progresso Edition.

We’ll start with the bad news first. Usually, I give a restaurant at least two tries before I write it off entirely. This is not something I’ll do for Rivals Casual Grill on Glenstone. As the girlfriend says, “The food sure is bad, but at least it costs a lot.”

The girlfriend had ribs and I had a burger. We should have known we were in trouble when the ribs came out with a steak knife. Eek. Don’t know about y’all, but those of us what spent time in the South know ribs are supposed to just fall off the bone when you look at ‘em cross. These ribs darn near needed a chainsaw to separate them from the bone.

The bacon cheeseburger tasted a bit like barbeque-flavored sawdust with some strips of leather tossed on for color. The cost for our meal, with tip was about $35. As I said, I generally give a place two shots but given our waitress completely ignored us, couldn’t tell me what the beer specials were and seated us right in a draft despite the establishment not being too crowded … I’m not feeling too charitable.

The good news, Pan Asia on Walnut between Campbell and South rocks the cat box. The place is small, quiet and as yet doesn’t have a liquor license but the food is delicious and the prices are great. So far I’ve sampled the Ginger Chicken, the Chicken Pad Thai and the BoBon. All of which are phenomenal. The girlfriend has also had the Pad Thai and the Cashew Chicken. Her only complaint was the Cashew Chicken was a little too salty. We’re also big fans of their Crab Rangoons and California Rolls.

We’ve eaten there at least four times and the tab has never been over $30 with tip. Well worth the trip downtown and, given I’m getting old and crotchedy, the quiet atmosphere doesn’t hurt. Quiet that is except when I drag the lesbigaggle there … in which case there’s a racket.