Repeats with a Twist - Texas Roadhouse, Stillwater OK

Last weekend, OSU was one of the host sites for the NCAA baseball regionals.  The other teams in the bracket were Arkansas, Oral Roberts, and St. John's.  I volunteered at the media/staff hospitality tent on Friday, but the rest of the weekend I was a fan. We won our game Friday night, so we weren't playing again until Saturday night.  The original plan on Saturday was to go to both games, but then those plans kind of fell apart.  Dylan and I were going to meet at Joe's mid-afternoon and then go to the game. But then that kind of fell apart too.  So eventually I made it to Joe's myself, about an hour before our game, and ran into my friends Lee and Steve. I was giving Lee lots of grief because they had been there all afternoon and hadn't texted me.  But spending all afternoon at Joe's wouldn't have been the smartest idea.  Lee makes friends with everyone everywhere, and he had friended Jimmy, an Arkansas fan who was there by himself.  We ended up hanging out with Jimmy the whole weekend, but that's another story.

After the game, Lee and Jimmy were really hungry.  I was kind of hungry myself, and Lee really wanted to go to Texas Roadhouse.  When they first brought it up during the game I wasn't super hungry, but by the time we walked back to the car my stomach was starting to talk to me.  So I agreed to go with them.  

I've been to Texas Roadhouse a few times.  I've never had to wait to be seated, but there have been times when we've gotten almost the last available table.  It's a casual dining steakhouse that features hand-cut steaks.  As you walk in, there's a display case showing all the steaks.  Of course, since I've eaten there before, I completely forgot to take a picture. 

Even though it was late on a Saturday evening, it was still really crowded.  Lee wanted to sit at the bar, but there weren't 3 seats together so we got a table. One of the staples of the restaurant is the buckets of peanuts

They've got a bucket with peanuts, and an empty one for the shells.  You can also just dump the shells on the ground, but I think they prefer if you use the empty bucket so it's less to clean up.  

Another staple is warm rolls with cinnamon butter

That butter is phenomenal.  I could seriously just eat the butter, but that would be gross. I was kind of surprised when I saw the small portion of butter, which is much less than you normally get.  And yes, we ended up getting more butter.  

I love how they display the menus and sugar packets against the wall of the table.  Very unique presentation

We all went with steak, and all went with ribeye.  That is by far my favorite cut, because it's well marbled and very flavorful.  Lee got the 20oz bone-in.  No chance I could eat all that, so I went with the 12oz, and Jimmy did as well.  

Fresh greens, cheddar, tomatoes, eggs, and made-from-scratch croutons

My house salad, with low-fat ranch on the side.  No matter where I eat I always get my dressings on the side (except Caesar salad), because they always go so overboard with it. The salad was really good, and the croutons were awesome.

Lee's green beans. I didn't taste any, but he said they were good.  

Jimmy's mixed veggies.  Again, I didn't taste any, but he ate them all so I'm guessing they were good too.

The sides for my loaded baked potato.  Again, I always ask for that on the side so I can determine how much to put on there.  Of course I put all the bacon; then only about half the sour cream & butter, and just a little cheese.  The only thing they need to add is scallions to truly make it loaded.

The potato looks really small next to the steak, and that's because it was!  I really like that they give you a small baked potato.  Because there's so much other food.  And I love that they coat the skin with coarse salt.  It adds so much flavor.  

Did I really need that big of a steak?  Of course not.  But it was really delicious.  It was actually cooked a little under my requested medium, but I was okay with that.  I would rather have it a little under done than overdone.  I made it through a little more than 1/2 of it, and gave Jimmy the rest. 

I noticed on their online menu that they have calorie counts listed.  I really wish more restaurants would do that.  And do it on their menus in the restaurant, not just online. People won't necessarily make healthier choices, but it gives them the option.  Speaking of healthier, in hindsight, I should have gotten the salmon. My dad has had it before and I've tasted it, and it's awesome.  I'll have to remember that next time.

You know, we really rarely ever go here.  Mainly because it's always packed.  I swear every time we drive by the parking lot is full and I often see people waiting outside.  But I do like it, and will definitely continue to eat here occasionally.