Thursdays with the mother-in-law

When I am in need of a big slab of beef, Malone's is the only place to go. They've got steaks down. They understand the difference between medium and medium rare, the steaks are juicy and full of flavor, and the texture is just like butter in your mouth. I have never had a bad steak at Malone's. They're very close to perfection.

Every Thursday, the Chef and I get together with his mother. She also works in food service, so she enjoys a good meal as much as we do. She understands when we go on and on about a sauce or a dressing or speculate on how a side was prepared.

Tonight she wanted to go to Malone's, and Chef and I were perfectly happy to oblige. But I was in the mood for fish. Lucky for me they had a fish special that sounded lovely-- red snapper stuffed with king crab and scallops in a lemon butter sauce. Chef got the bacon wrapped filet medallions with broccoli, MIL got a sirloin and asparagus. Included in your meal is the bottomless Lexingtonian salad--a chopped salad with a very light ranch-like dressing, chunks of bacon, and itty bitty diced tomatoes. The salad alone is worth dining at Malone's.

Chef steak was, as is the norm, prepared perfectly and promptly eaten up (hey, someone else was cooking. It would have been promptly eaten up regardless. Unless, perhaps, it was covered in cheese). The MIL had her sirloin with a side of Bernaise and massive, yet tender asparagus spears. It was a large portion of food and the MIL's large fluffy dog is dining quite well as I type.

OK. My fish kinda sucked. I think it was overcooked. The edges were tough, and the sauce did nothing to help the flavor. I picked at it and ate all of the scallops and king crap from the top. When something is described as "stuffed," I don't usually think this to mean that a few strands of crab and a scallop cut in quarters are lying on top of it.

I ask Chef if this is kosher. He says, "Eh. It should have been labled Oscar style. Or something."

He's watching The Office and pretty much ignoring me. Earlier in the evening, he told me my fish looked boring. It was boring. But the loaded baked potato made up for the boring fish.

Well, that and we got Graeter's.

Happy Thursday!