ANOTHER MIS-STEAK
SKEETER BARNES BARBEQUE 9/17
Yesterday I went back to Kearney, Nebraska area so I thought I would review what had been one of my favorite restaurants in the area - Skeeter Barnes.
It's a barbecue spot, but I had great steaks there in the past. Last time was on my birthday almost a year ago this week.
It sits on Highway 2, off of 281, across from where the famed "Grandpa's Steakhouse" was. The sign is still there, across the road, in mint condition, but the building now houses a motorcycle dealership.
First time I went to Skeeter's I was delighted by the saddle seats at the end of the bar, to your right as you enter the restaurant.
Copyright @CClark 09/2017
I always loved the cow boyish interior. The artwork is well done and well placed.
This particular warm, sunny September day, I sat with my back to a lovely long portraiture of cowboys on horses riding the range. It's not quite pointillist, but is what I would call a "fuzzy" painting. A type of modern art, almost romantic, but conventional enough that its content is extremely recognizable. All the paintings in the restaurant embrace this style. Surely there is a technical name for it.
Copyright @CClark 09/2017
I looked at the menu. A friendly waitress came up and asked if I wanted bread. I remembered that their bread had been wonderful before, so I said "Yes".
The waitress brought me a small hunk of bread which looked like a crumbly bun. It was sourdough. I could smell it. But I was disappointed in both the size and the shape. It didn't measure up to the memories of the bread served here before.
The cinnamon honey scented butter was especially good, but I kept taking bite-size pieces to decide whether I liked it or not. I also didn't really want to devour the entire thing since I knew there was more food coming.
But every time I attempted to take a bite, the flaky bread fell apart. I ended up having to eat it with a fork. Maybe it was non-gluten since that is a fashionable food frenzy now.
I ordered a twelve ounce streak. They almost always shrink so I didn't want to be disappointed. And I ordered it medium-well, hoping to see enough pink to make the steak juicy. Then I sat and waited what seemed like almost half an hour for my food.
Yet there were only two other small sets of customers, couples in fact, in the place. That didn't really account for the slowness but I waited patiently, filled with glee, remembering the luscious steak I had here before.
Finally! The waitress sat their scrumptious pecan-Jack Daniels mashed sweet potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, along with two somewhat shrunken steak patties, on the table before me. (It looks a little larger in the photo because of the close-up shot.)
Copyright @CClark 9/2017
The "patties" themselves put me off. If steak doesn't present itself like a recognizable steak, but instead looks more like a flat chopped meat hamburger - my eyes say "hamburger", while my brain tells me "steak".
I took the first bite. Savoring the flavor of spices, I ignored the dryness initially, thinking "I'll just take another bite and see..."
Again, I was disappointed. Although I had ordered a medium-well -done steak, I was struggling to chew and swallow a dry, very well done piece of meat. Swallowing was accomplished only with difficulty.
The waitress was nowhere in sight for about fifteen minutes. Meanwhile, I concentrated on the mashed garlic potatoes, forcing myself to be patient and not frustrated. The portion size was fair. The taste was acceptable.
I held off on eating the mashed sweet potatoes with pecan, Jack Daniels syrup. They are so sweet that I saved them for last, as a dessert.
Finally, after what seemed like a long time but might have only been ten or fifteen minutes, the waitress came up to ask how everything was. I showed her. She agreed.
"The meat does look really dry..." she admitted. She went to go talk to the manager.
The dark-haired waitress came back and said, "We could offer you something else from the menu."
"I would really like to have another better steak, but I am hungry so please be so kind as to not take my entire plate away." I answered, knowing that in the past if I ever dared to complain, a restaurant would take the entire dish away and leave me sitting hungrily there with nothing for a good while.
So then the manager came out. She offered me another menu item.
"Or", she said, "we could make you another steak". I agreed to that.
So I waited perhaps another ten minutes.
I heard the lone female tourist behind me, who had meanwhile come in, and asked about the Skeeter Barnes' tee shirts for sale.
The waitress responded, "Yes, they are $15.00 each."
The customer responded "Oh" in a tone that sounded as though that price was a bit steep.
Then the new steak arrived. This time it was very pink, bordering between medium and rare. But it was juicy. I figured if I took it home and zapped it in the microwave, it would cook a little more and then be about perfect.
So I responded to the waitress's question about whether it was good this time by saying, "It's okay. But may I please have a box to take it home in?" She agreed to bring a container.
Memories of dinner or lunch at Skeeter's had always been pleasant. I was surprised by this experience. It shows what a big difference in quality one year can make.
The waitress and the manager were very nice. They even bring wet, warm tea-towels for you to clean your hands off after the meal.
When I paid I passed the big dessert display which had always caught my eye in the past. "Death by Chocolate" was a beautiful looking cake, but its name put me off a bit today. Besides, I didn't need dessert. The sweet, sweet potatoes had done the trick.
I exited the door sadly into the bright September day, thinking maybe it was just the delightful company I had been with before.
Surrounded by family, maybe they just made everything that much more pleasant than it really was.
Well so much for Skeeter Barnes. I am off to the Museum of Modern Art in Kearney. Catch up with you soon!
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