Longhorn Steakhouse

There are those rare occasions when you must throw your taste buds to the wind, moments when you don’t have the time to seek out that new chic café and fawn over their fresh baked bread or time to search around for that culinary diamond in the rough. Moments, when all you have time for is a quick bite at a local chain restaurant (Gasp! Yes, I said it!). While the chain restaurant has received bad press over the years, there’s no denying that it is a good staple to have around, much like the can of soup in your cupboard on a wintry day when the grocery store seems miles away.

It was a day like this (minus the snow) that made us suck up our culinary snobbery and hit our local chain restaurant, Longhorn Steakhouse. We chose Longhorn due to its close proximity to the Fenway Regal Theater. We had a mission to see Mamma Mia! And we didn’t want to be late.

We arrived promptly at 6pm. The restaurant was not crowded yet and we were seated near the bar. The bar room does not have the best décor (drop ceilings punctuated by antler chandeliers) nor did it have the best smell (a distinct musty beer smell…just faint enough to remind me of those mornings after a big party in college). I should point out though that in the few other times I have been to Longhorn, the smell of the joint has never been an issue.

For the food, I ordered a cheeseburger with bacon (Medium was the rarest they could cook it). Adam ordered the steak tips, and Bob ordered the Sierra Chicken. After we ordered food, our bread arrived at the table, a nice healthy loaf sitting squat on a small cutting board with a knife stuck right through it. It was an amusing way to serve it and the bread was soft and chewy with a hard crust on the outside, just the way I like it.

My cheeseburger was cooked just fine and it tasted really good. It hit the spot (I’d been craving a burger all day). Adam’s steak tips were a bit bland he said as well as a bit rubbery, not the best he’s had but alright for the price and place. Bob’s Sierra Chicken was the most impressive in presentation. A large plump grilled chicken breast was presented to Bob smothered in a huge pile of tomato chunks (quite like the tomatoes on bruschetta). Bob said the chicken was fine, it tasted grilled but he didn’t have much else to say. Again, decent food but nothing to write home about (which is a bit ironic since I’m writing about it on this blog).

We had a few more minutes to kill and Adam and I decided to get dessert. Adam picked out the ultimate brownie sundae and I picked out the caramel apple goldrush. While the brownie sundae was indeed large and deserving the title “ultimate”, the winner of the evening was, hands-down, the apple goldrush. The menu describes the goldrush as:
Sweet, sliced apples tossed with cinnamon, butter and brown sugar, baked into a golden pastry shell. Served warm with vanilla ice cream and Maker's Mark whiskey-caramel and raspberry sauces.

Sound good? It tasted even better. Gooey, crisp, sweet, with a quick taste of whiskey at the end to round it all out, the dessert was worthy of the praises it received from around the table.
We were in and out of Longhorn in about an hour after everything was said and done. Our meals, including tax and tip, were all under 20 bucks. The food was just fine for the money and the price was too. Longhorn turned out to be a good place for a quick satisfying bite before a fun summer flick.