Restaurant reviews

I've been to a couple pretty good restaurants lately that I wanted to tell everyone about.

LongHorn Steakhouse
First, when I got the good news about the job opportunity last week, I decided to go out and celebrate and headed toward this shopping center in Raleigh that a coworker showed me (another restaurant from this area will be mentioned below). I ended up at a place called the LongHorn Steakhouse. It's nothing spectacular - just your average steak chain (think Outback Steakhouse, but with a country-western theme, instead of the faux Australia vibe). However, it was pretty good, not too expensive and there were two things that really made it stand out. The best part was that when you order your steak, you have your choice of either a baked potato or a sweet potato. I chose a sweet potato and it was an EXCELLENT decision. They serve their sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon sugar, and it was absolutely delicious! The second cool thing was that on my way out, the host thanked me by name. I couldn't figure out if he did it because he remembered my name from when I put it on the list to wait for a table, or if they somehow do it with credit card information, or what. Frankly, I'm not even sure if it's something they do every time, but it was pretty cool. I don't think that's ever happened to me before...



Jason's Deli
I'm usually one of the last people to leave work and oftentimes my buddy Kary will ask if I want to go to dinner. We both live alone and both know that eating alone sucks, so going out just makes sense sometimes. We have our staple places, but we've also been trying some new places and one place he showed me the other day has become a new favorite. It's a pretty big chain (though there aren't any in WA) called Jason's Deli. It's always packed with families with small kids (one of my editors told me it's his kids' favorite place to go) and I think I know why...free ice cream! They have lots of good soups, sandwiches and a salad bar. And, like I mentioned, free soft serve when you're done. They know the key to my heart!

Backyard BBQ Pit
Move over Q-Shack, I've got a new favorite barbecue restaurant! Don't get me wrong, the Q-Shack is good and all, but The Pit has a lot of things in its favor. 1) It's actual North Carolina-style barbecue, not Texas style like the Q-Shack. 2) It's a lot closer to work. 3) It's cheaper (almost half the price). 4) Aside from the hushpuppies, all the sides are better. 5) Their lemonade has chunks of pineapple in it! 6) The guys that work there are awesome. 7) You can bring in a Sharpie and draw on / autograph the walls.

Other restaurant-related stories
• I told my editor that I had already gone to Mama Dip's and he told me that in college, he would always take girls there on their first or second date. If they didn't like it, they didn't get another date with him! Haha!
• One place I really want to try the next time Cheryl comes out is Sutton's Drug Store. It's a really famous place in Chapel Hill that hearkens back to the '50s with great burgers, hot dogs, fries, milkshakes and orangeade or limeade.