Of All The Gin Joints In All The World...

I had dinner with my 12 year-old son last night for a Valentine's Day-Mother-Son meal. It was just he and I for this outing and I let him pick the place after searching for options on the web. Based on the menu and the photo gallery on the website, he decided that we would dine at Rick's Club American in Congers, NY. I recently sat down with the 6th-grader in his home to talk about the experience. Following are excerpts from our one-on-one interview:

MOM: What did you have as an appetizer?

#1 SON: I had the Fried Calamari as an appetizer and I thought is was really good. Compared to other places we've had it, this was one of the best because of the way it tasted.

MOM: What about your main course?

#1 SON: I had the Tender Spare Ribs By The Rack. The first thing I noticed was that it had a little too much sauce for me. The individual ribs on the rack were pretty small, too, compared to other ones we've had. The meat was nice and soft and came off the bone easily. Some of the ribs had too much sauce though so I had to scrape some of it off before I ate it.

The cornbread was pretty good - nothing special but good. The French Fries were shaped like the ones you get at McDonald's. They were good and just crispy enough, just the way I like them. After eating everything, I wasn't really full. (Mom's Note: It has never been determined how much food would actually fill my son's stomach to the fullest. That experiment poses dangers we are not equipped to handle at this time.) The vegetable was beans and carrots but I only liked the beans because the carrots were a little soggy and too soft.

MOM: Now for the best part...what did you have for dessert?

#1 SON: For the dessert I had something that was soooooo good. It was three profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. They were like ice cream sandwiches with the sauce on top. I recommend getting this for dessert. At first I couldn't decide between this or Rick's Delight which was chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and praline pecan sauce. I made the right choice.

MOM: What about the restaurant itself? What did you think of the decor?

#1 SON: It wasn't too fancy and it wasn't too casual. The room where our table was had mounted animal heads (fake) and statues which I liked because some had you guessing about what kind of animals they were. There were some interesting information on the wall below most of them. On the tables they had a large piece of paper as a table cloth so young kids could draw on it with crayons. Overall I think anyone who reads this blog should try it.

So, there you have it folks. With an endorsement like that, it might be worth checking out.