CombatCritic's TravelValue™: place

Showing posts with label place. Show all posts

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Washougal, WA: Peggy's Place Revisited - Lessons Learned? Nope!

Peggy's Place
3010 Evergreen Highway
Washougal, WA 98671
Phone: (360) 210-5500
Website: NONE
Prices: $$$$

I guess Peggy did not appreciate my previous 4-star (8 out of 10 bombs) Yelp review this past Easter - that review was selected, by the way, as Yelp Portland's Review of the Day, aka ROTD, on 6/23/19 - after having sent her the link via Messenger where we had been talking based on her interest in my assistance as a new restaurant owner. However, I never even got a thank you, FU, or anything else for that matter. Having managed large military organizations in my 20-year career and several successful businesses since, I foolishly thought that my 10+ years of experience could help a local business owner get on her feet as quickly as possible. Because I am a firm believer in supporting local businesses, I had offered my assistance last March and Peggy initially seemed very receptive, but when I returned with my wife, son and his girlfriend for breakfast last weekend to see what had changed, I was quite discouraged by what I saw.

The first thing I noticed was the chalkboard behind the cash register advertising Key Lime Pie for $25 (whole pie) or $6 for a slice as well as Cheesecake going for $45 per pie and $8 a slice. I had assumed that customers might get 1/6 of a pie for the quoted prices, but right beside the register is their dessert display case with rather small slices of key lime pie and cheesecake, likely 1/8 of a pie in size. Do the math. Apparently, she decided to blow off my suggestions as well as my concerns about her $8 biscuits and gravy in my first review.

The place is bright and clean, and we were seated right away. The menu is very much the same as last time and her prices on most items are spot-on, even lower than some other local eateries. My son ordered the classic breakfast - 2 eggs, hash browns, choice of meat, and toast for $9; his girlfriend, who is vegan, ordered a "vegan" Breakfast Burrito ($10) with "NO MEAT, NO EGGS, AND NO CHEESE, only hash browns and veggies"; my wife had her usual, the French Toast ($9) which came with 2 slices of bacon; and, finally, I asked for a Half Order of Biscuits and Gravy ($5), making it "A Meal" for $4 more by adding 2 eggs and 2 slices of bacon, and adding a side of hash browns ($2 more for a total of $11).

My son was quite happy with his classic breakfast, but the bacon was way too dark and crispy, likely because they were about to close and decided that they had to use the rest of the food that had been sitting around for God knows how many hours. The eggs seemed to be cooked as ordered - over medium.

His girlfriend's $10 VEGAN breakfast burrito was tiny for the price and it came with a big GLOB OF SOUR CREAM just a fraction of an inch from the burrito. She thought about saying something, but decided to bite the bullet. When people identify a special diet or food allergy to a server when ordering, a restaurant MUST ensure that the food is prepared as ordered with ZERO cross-contamination because that is what the customer wants and a simple mistake could result in death. Oops!

My wife's french toast was identical to our last visit and she liked it very much, but this time her bacon was also too burnt to eat, so she tossed the slices on my plate. Her coffee was bland and weak, a total disappointment after the Hawaiian blend they served on Easter.

When my biscuit (singular) and gravy, bacon, and eggs (over-medium) arrived in a bowl, I was a bit surprised and could not see the eggs until I realized that they were under the biscuit and gravy! Fortunately, for me and them, I like to toss my biscuit, gravy, bacon, eggs, and hash browns into a pile, cut them in to bite size chunks, and enjoy the enmeshment of flavors ... YUM! Alas, my bacon was the same as the rest, but I also do not mind crunchy on the continuum of bacon choices. My sole issue was that my over-medium eggs were served over-easy, a faux pas that a predominantly breakfast restaurant should not be making. Again, I am more flexible than many and it was not a biggy as far as I was concerned. As we say in the US Air Force: "Flexibility if the key to Air Power" ... HOOAH!

There is still no Peggy's Place website, no menu posted online (other than the one I posted last Easter and it was removed from Yelp for some unknown reason), no advertising, and zero social media presence, all things I recommended earlier this year. They have not even claimed their Yelp page and most likely have not read their negative (and positive) reviews.

If business owners neither listen to their customers nor understand advertising in this day and age, the likelihood is, ultimately, failure. Most new restaurants close their doors within the first two years and I hope that does not happen here, so I seriously hope Peggy's Place is prospering despite my serious concerns.

CombatCritic Gives Peggy's Place A Very Generous 4 Bombs Out Of 10 - A 4 Bomb Deduction From Last Easter - More Bombs Are Better!

Four Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "Bend Over, Here It Comes Again"

Monday, April 22, 2019

Washougal, WA: Great Service, Tasty Food, Healthy Portions and Reasonable Prices ... HOOAH!

Peggy’s Place
3010 Evergreen Way
Washougal, WA 98671
Phone number (360) 210-5500
Website: None
Facebook Page
Prices: $$$$

Peggy's has more traditional breakfasts and is a better value than the other breakfast and lunch (only) spot in Washougal. No metrosexual, foo foo menu options here, just good ol' traditional omelettes, scrambles, bacon and eggs, biscuits and gravy, French toast, and pancakes as well as burgers, sandwiches and a few entrees on their lunch menu. What you see is what you get.

I had the Classic Breakfast ($9), coming with two eggs over medium, hash browns, two slices of bacon, and an English muffin and a half-order of Biscuits and Gravy ($5). The eggs were perfectly cooked as was the bacon, but the hash browns, although plentiful, were not a crispy as I had asked for. The biscuit was large and tasty, and the gravy delicious, but, unfortunately, the biscuit was too large for the bowl, so there was not enough gravy and I ended up leaving almost half of the biscuit.

My wife ordered the French Toast ($8), arriving with four large halves of bread coated with a crispy egg batter, then grilled, and came with two slices of their yummy bacon. It also came with cups of fluffy, whipped cinnamon-honey butter and fresh maple syrup. My wife was one happy camper.

We even got complimentary bites (small squares) of their key lime and brownie cakes along with a pleasant Happy Easter after our meal. The service was excellent and the food came out post haste, quicker than I had expected for a new place with a decent size Easter Sunday crowd. The room is large, clean and open, and they have obviously spent a fair amount on renovations with four large booths, six four-top tables, and a lunch counter that seats about eight. They need some more stuff on the walls to make it feel more homey, but that will come with time.

I hear that their cheesecake is delightful, but at $8 per slice, I was not inclined to give it a try given the price and my satiated state. Their prices are fair for the most part, but at $8 for a whole order of Biscuits and Gravy and for a slice of cheesecake, I would say both are overpriced by at least a couple of bucks. I would also recommend giving a 10% Military/Veterans Discount and maybe a free meal for Vets on Veteran's Day, something no other Washougal restaurants currently offer.

CombatCritic Gives Peggy's Place 8 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Eight Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians: "What-The-Fuck ... Over!"

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Lyon, France: One Mother Of A Meal ... Thanks Jean!

La Mère Jean
5 Rue des Marronniers
69002 Lyon, France
Place Bellecour - 2ème Arrondissement
Phone number: +33 4 78 37 81 27
Prices: €€€€

It was a misty December night in Place Bellecour, the top of the brilliantly lit blue Ferris wheel that dominates the square barely visible beneath the low-lying cloud cover. I was thinking about our meal just a few nights before just around the corner on Rue Marroniers and how good it was, but little did I know that the dinner waiting just ahead was going to be even better. It is no wonder that Lyon is the culinary capital of France, if not the World.

We visited Le Mère Jean, which translates to "The Mother Jean", on our first night in Lyon, a damp, chilly Saturday night, but she was fully booked - "Complet" - so we reserved a table for the following Monday at 7pm. The proprietor, Jean perhaps, recommended Les Comptoirs de Marroniers just down the cobblestone covered road, having learned to cook there as we were told. They were kind enough to make room for us based on her thoughtful recommendation and the subsequent meal was outrageous, a Lyonnaise four-course meal that blew my socks off for just €36, but that my friends is another story altogether.

Le Mere Jean is a small place in an old building, long and narrow, seating only 20-25 diners in a rustic dining room with a tiny kitchen at the back. That small kitchen produced a lot of chow, very good chow, generating a fair amount of heat in the process. A tad warmer than we would have desired, particularly because we were dressed for winter, we quickly acclimated in order to focus on the task at hand. A three-course dinner was waiting for my wife (from the €16 menu) and I (the €19.50 menu) with a 50cl bottle of Cote du Rhone setting us back a mere (no pun intended) €12, a pittance comparatively speaking.

Our first course, or “entrée” as it referred to here, was the Salade Lyonnaise, a huge bowl of fresh, seasonal greens topped with chunks of hot, salty bacon, homemade croutons galore, and two perfectly cooked poached eggs sitting on top. There was more than enough for the two of us and was absolutely wonderful, a recipe I shall incorporate into my own repertoire when we finally get back home.

For our second course, or “plat”, my wife decided on the Chicken Fricasee, large chunks of de-boned chicken breast in a cream sauce that was both rich and flavorful. The Onglet de Bœuf Poêlè Sauce St Marcellin, a steak in a savory cheese sauce, was my choice, accompanied by potatoes Lyonnaise which are very similar to what many have come to know as potatoes au gratin. The steak was of a reasonable portion, about eight to ten ounces (500g), tender, and perfectly cooked to medium on the inside with just the right amount of char out. The cheese sauce that enveloped it was made from the local St Marcellin cheese, a savory, gooey concoction only the French could devise … MERCI BEAUCOUP!

For our third and final course, dessert, my wife had the local favorite, a praline tart. Lyon is famous for their pralines, a pink candy-coated almond I have only seen here. They make a variety of desserts with them, including a praline brioche and, in this case, a crispy, baked pastry filled with a praline cream that resembled a small strawberry pie ... YUM! I had a warm chocolate cake surrounded by a sweet cream that was rich and delicious.

An incredible dinner for two, both three-course meals, and a bottle of wine set us back just $65, the best $65 I have spent in a long, long time. I am sure that I will fondly reminisce about my many superb meals while visiting Lyon, but this was one that I will not soon forget … HOOAH!

CombatCritic Gives Mère de Jean 10 Bombs Out Of 10 And A Spot On My WALL OF FAME … More Bombs Are Better!

Ten Bombs Equates To:

Translation for Civilians:

HOOAH!: "Phonetic spelling of the acronym HUA, which stands for 'Heard Understood Acknowledged.' Originally used by the British in the late 1800's in Afghanistan. More recently adopted by the United States Army to indicate an affirmative or a pleased response." - Urban Dictionary

"The Department of Military Science and Leadership, University of Tennessee claim HOOAH 'refers to or means anything except no' ... Regardless of its meaning ... the term is an expression of high morale, confidence, motivation and spirit." - WarChronicle.com

"The U.S. Air Force stole 'HOOAH' from the Army because we were part of the Army until 1947 and rather than waste a bunch of time coming up with something new and unique like "ROO-YAH" or "HAL-A-LOO-YAH", we said 'screw it, let's go with HOOAH' ... thanks Army ... HOOAH!" - CombatCritic

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