New places to eat this year

51. Restaurant firsts

I decided to lump all of the restaurant firsts, at least the ones I can remember, into one post, with some food critic editorializing thrown in for good measure. Here they are:

*Dogtown Coffee & Cookery in NLR- hopefully, by now, most NLR residents have had coffee or a meal here. It is run by the son of some friends of ours, Hank & Liza Godwin, and seems to have caught on VERY well, very quickly. They have great food, including a salad that I really enjoy. I haven't had coffee from there yet, but plan to soon.

*Brown's Country Store in Benton- I think I mentioned this one when Brian & I went to Arkadelphia to the Henderson House. HUGE buffet. Food was fine, but not necessarily a place that I will need to visit again, though I'm glad we finally ate there, as I have wanted to try it for many years.

*Trading Post Cafe at the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs- we had a fun outdoor BBQ dinner here, at Micah's recommendation. The food was good and the atmosphere was great. And, of course, the view all around the place is amazing!!!

*Houston's in New Orleans- dee-licious! Definitely want a "re-peat" of this restaurant, in N.O. or anywhere else we find it.

*Ed & Kay's in Benton- this was a recommendation from David Wallace and he was right about how good it is! David & Roberta & Brian & I went to a play at the Royal Theater in Benton and we actually got the "boys" to decide on the restaurant. Great home-cooking, with lots of choices, and AMAZING desserts!

*Smokin' Buns in Jacksonville- several of our friends at Trinity Fellowship had raved about this place, telling us you had to get there really early to avoid the crowd. We don't need convincing when it comes to restaurant crowd avoidance :) We went with Bob & Patsy Beatty and had a very good time. Food was very good and so was the "fellowship."

Those are the only ones I can remember at the moment, and, of course, I still have a little over 3 weeks to try more new spots. Recommendations are welcomed :)