CRACKER BARREL

 I never realized Cracker Barrel was actually a popular restaurant back East. It seemed to be the butt of parody and jokes of Late Night T.V. shows. My hotel in Harrisonburg Virginia was right across the street from said restaurant and it was time to experience a Cracker Barrel meal.

I walked through the door and immediately saw the appeal. This looked like a fun place. You walk through a gift shop and try to avoid all the kitschy items that you always wanted but do not need. I was immediately seated and given three menus to accompany the various small sign board advertisements on the table. My choices were chicken fried, dumplings, corn and peach cobbler ala mode. The service was friendly and quick.

      The cobbler was great. The chicken fried was decent but the gravy was lumpy as all get. The dumplings were an abonimation against mankind. A sour gravy/soup with lumps of wet flour that just did not float my boat. Overall, the food was pretty mediorce but I was hungry and it did the trick. (did not consume dumpling/gravy/soup conncoction at all).

Here is what I see the mass appeal of Cracker Barrel is; with tip my meal was thirty dollars. This is a fun restaurant. The service was great. The food was pretty pedestrian but you did get a lot of it. Thirty dollars might by you a pre-dinner cocktail in San Francisco. I was satisfied and fufilled a curiostiy itch at Cracker Barrel.

Edit; after re-reading my post, I forgot to mention the salad. The salad was fantastic. I usually do not get to excited about salads but this one was superb. Lots of fresh lettuce, with chopped vegetables, cheese and real honest to gosh bacon. Yes, I enjoyed it.