Heather Lucier Stanley

Two years ago on business I dined at the Mimi’s Cafe in Columbus, Ohio and I was not crazy about it! I ordered salmon which arrived overcooked and dry. When a close Austin friend and her out-of-town guests decided to go to Mimi’s Cafe for dinner on the night that Alan and I could join them, I explained to my friend my first experience at the Mimi’s Cafe restaurant chain and added: I’m willing to try it again!

Not all restaurants in the same restaurant chain are created equal. See my blogs on the small San Antonio based chain, Paesanos:

Paesanos – San Antonio Italian Preview
Paesanos Riverwalk – Good
Paesanos Lincoln Heights – Disappointing.

The Austin metro area has two Mimi’s Cafes: one in Bee Cave and one in North Austin. The Bee Cave location is where we went that evening. Bee Cave is closer to both of our houses and traffic is lighter during rush hour on Highway 71 than on Mopac headed north! Austin has traffic issues during rush hour.

The food was pleasant. Before the meal, the restaurant serves a basket of bread. Alan and I shared a piece of banana bread, pumpkin bread and a roll. The banana bread had good flavor and consistency, the pumpkin bread was stale, and the roll had a nice texture!

For an appetizer, I ordered a green salad with balsamic vinaigrette. The salad was not particularly memorable in a good or bad way. For a main course, I ordered the Honey Dijon Salmon. The salmon came with mashed potatoes and asparagus. The entree and sides were cooked to perfection: the salmon was moist and properly cooked; the mashed potatoes were creamy, but not dripping in butter; the asparagus was slightly firm and fresh! For the dessert, I ordered the chocolate mousse with raspberries on top. I thought it was good for a skinny dessert; it did not taste skinny!

I typically do not go to a restaurant and order an appetizer, entree and dessert. But when I looked at the price of an 8oz piece of salmon versus a Just Enough dinner including a 4oz piece of salmon, an appetizer and a dessert, the 4oz piece of salmon, including an appetizer and dessert, ended up being either a $1 less or a $1 more! And I got more variety – a green salad and a dessert!

Would I go to Mimi’s Cafe again? Yes! With the exception of the stale pumpkin bread, I enjoyed the meal. Although Mimi’s Cafe is a chain which started in Anaheim , California, it is the type of American food on which I grew up: minimal spice, fish or meat, vegetable, and potato. For the comfort of my New England upbringing, without the hassle of cooking, I’d eat at Mimi’s!

I’m going to start writing about frozen dinners because I love them, really. I am using the term frozen dinners instead of TV dinners because I rarely watch TV while eating dinner.

I started eating frozen dinners as a child on the not-so-frequent occasion my parents did not cook something; my parents enjoy cooking. In college, I did not eat many frozen dinners; I ate at the cafeteria or roommates cooked or I cooked [surprise!] or I ate at the food service establishment where I worked or I ate out [I love eating out!].

By 1995, I started eating frozen dinners regularly for dinner. I was a full-time student at the University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA), studying accounting and business. My weekday routine was: for breakfast, a Starbucks muffin and double tall Vanilla latte; for lunch, a Subway sandwich and chips on campus or a chicken Caesar salad with the best foccacia bread ever at a locally owned restaurant [now closed] near campus; for an afternoon snack, a TCBY chocolate frozen yogurt with cookie dough; for dinner, a frozen dinner.

I remember this detail because I did the same exact thing most days! I drove to the Starbucks at I-10 and Huebner Road, next to H-E-B! UTSA had a handful of fast-food restaurants on campus and Subway was the healthiest and the cheapest for what I wanted to eat! Hard to forget! I drove to TCBY on Fredericksburg Road. San Antonio Memories!

From the ages of 24-26, I rarely cooked. I made chicken enchiladas and an occasional lobster, but that’s about it! I ate out for dinner too! Sound familiar? I have not changed. I did not like cooking in my 20s and I do not like cooking now!

Frozen dinners are one of the best inventions! When I was in my 20s, I ate Lean Cuisine frozen dinners. I had not discovered Amy’s or maybe Amy’s was not widely distributed in 1995-1996! People can get judgmental about frozen dinners: they are processed; they are frozen, etc. Here is an analogy of cooking macaroni and cheese from scratch or buying a frozen dinner.

Mac & Cheese, homemade: You buy the pasta [processed] and the cheese [processed] and make the mac ‘n cheese! People forget that pasta and cheese are processed foods; I’m not sure why.

Mac & Cheese, store bought frozen dinner: Somebody else buys the pasta [processed] and the cheese [processed]. You microwave the dinner. Some people argue that microwaving food is bad for you.

Leftovers? If you make Mac & Cheese from scratch, you may have leftovers which you put in the freezer. The frozen leftovers become frozen dinners. Freezing does not reduce the nutritional value of food from what I have read.

The moral of the story: It’s hard to argue that homemade Mac & Cheese is any better for you than Amy’s Mac & Cheese. I looked up Annatto, as I wrote this blog, and it is natural food coloring and flavor. Phew! [Sarcasm - I don't care! I love frozen dinners! Annatto or no annatto, I'm still buying this dinner!] I know that Amy’s uses higher quality and mostly recognizable ingredients; for those of you who put great importance on the ingredients’ list, it is a good argument for Amy’s dinners!

Amy’s Rice Mac & Cheese dinner is some of the best Mac & Cheese I have had; it is creamy and rich! It tastes like the real thing. I didn’t realize when I bought the dinner that it was Rice Mac & Cheese; I did not buy it because it was Gluten-Free. I just saw Amy’s and Mac & Cheese and put it in my basket. I’ll look harder for the real Mac & Cheese next time!

What about the environment? We recycle everything!

I love the Olive Garden! This is one restaurant where I could probably eat every day and not get tired of it.

My most memorable business trip for the Olive Garden? Richmond, Virginia. On a four night trip, Monday – Friday: for two nights, I ate at a local Italian restaurant and a local sushi restaurant; for the other two nights, I ate at the Olive Garden.

What makes the Olive Garden so great? The salad! The iceberg lettuce has a nice crunch to it. It is always fun to find a black olive in the mix – it becomes an adventure! Nobody fights over the pepperoncini pepper – not even me! The croutons add more crunch and the salad dressing is just enough, not too much. The grated cheese on that the waiter hand grates on top at request personalizes the salad.

Because, we all knew we were going to have Alan’s father’s pork ribs later that evening, we all agreed on a light lunch. We ordered salad for the table and three appetizers to share!

For our three appetizers, we agreed on: the Calamari, Smoked Mozzarella Fondue and the Sicilian Scampi. We all commented on how good the calamari was – the best that we had had. The breading in the calamari was lighter; this typically means that the oil which was used to fry the calamari was fresh; the calamari had a great flavor and a nice texture, not too tough or too soft. The Smoked Mozzarella reminded me of the Chile Con Queso appetizer that we have had at an Austin Tex-Mex restaurant called Guero’s. The Olive Garden appetizer had a subtle smoky flavor and an appealing stringy taffy-like consistency. The Sicilian Shrimp Scampi had firm bread and nice flavor. Everything tasted fresh!

Another positive Olive Garden experience? You betcha!

The Olive Garden consistently gets things right whenever and wherever I have been!

Dolores del Rio has character! On the Saturday night before the San Antonio Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon, after eating at Paesanos-Lincoln Heights, Alan and I wanted to go out on the Riverwalk.

The danger of a destination half marathon? Partying the night before the race! We heard the next morning that several people had dropped out because they partied too much the night before the race! That was not us!

Near our hotel, Drury Plaza Hotel Riverwalk, we saw a cute looking Italian restaurant on the Riverwalk. The restaurant advertised itself as Fine Italian Dining – Jazz – Belly Dancing Nightly. We thought, Why not? We could get a glass of wine and then call it a night.

We went up to the Maître d’ and asked: Could we get a glass of wine or dessert? The Maître d’ said that they were a small restaurant, did not have a bar and only did dinner. In recessionary times, the Maître d’ had some attitude! Alan said, “You are the most interesting looking place that we have seen on the Riverwalk.” Alan was totally sincere; the place looked interesting. The restaurant had a small Riverwalk footprint; only a small door lead up to the restaurant; it had a secretive, off limits appeal. We like quirky sometimes and tonight we were in the mood for quirky!

When the Maître d’ returned, he said he had made a table near the piano for us. The restaurant was packed with people. The jazz band was playing. As it was explained to us by our waiter: (1) there are no set hours for the restaurant, (2) no set schedule for the employees – people show up and work when they want to work, and (3) the jazz bands are formed randomly based on what type of instrument they need that evening. Sound pretty un-Amercian? Where is the structure? I am liking it already. The way the place is run reminds me of a Greek restaurant, Sun Ray Cafe , in KC that operates similarly: the owner opens the restaurant when he wants to cook! It has a huge following.

The table by the piano had a great view of the other patrons and the jazz band. Originally I had wanted dessert, but they did not have a dessert that I felt like, so I ordered a glass of wine. Alan ordered a glass of wine. The wine was Carlos Rossi – funny, I remember Carlos Rossi not being good, but this stuff was good. The guy brought us a third glass; he said it was because he had to open another bottle! That did not make much sense, but whatever. Now, we are running a half marathon the next day and we have more wine to share! It is OK; we have done this before! Not smart, but we’d be fine on race day.

We sat and listened to the band and I got some pictures of the quirky interior. The restaurant reminded me of Austin – it had a lot of funky, eclectic decor. Not the type of place I’d expect on the Riverwalk. This restaurant has apparently been open for 16 years. It was open in San Antonio when I lived there from February 1994 – May 1999. But, I never went to the restaurant. I rarely went to the Riverwalk!

When the belly dancer came out, another group of Austinites sitting near us started putting dollars in her skirt. Some of them were also running the half marathon the next day. We spoke with them a little while. They thought the food was good and worth the trip. The restaurant cleared out within a half an hour of our arriving. Now they had plenty of seating!

Dolores del Rio wins the prize for the quirkiest place that we discovered on this visit to San Antonio! Next time we will eat dinner there! If you get there before us, tell us how it is! This would be a great place to get a group together for a road trip to San Antonio!