Unexpected, Unusual Restaurants: Tell Us About Your Experience Finding One!

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Have you ever found a really good restaurant that serves food you'd never have dreamed you'd find in the area in which you found it? I have! I found one of the best Mexican (not "Tex-Mex"--real South of the border food!) in the backwoods of Arkansas. Yeah! Arkansas! Bill, a friend took me there, & what a treat it was! Everything about it was unique & pleasurable. Here's how it was. At first, when I saw it, I was very puzzled. There was no name on the front, & it was an ordinary clapboard house. Never-the-less, Bill escorted me up the front steps & knocked on the front door. A young Hispanic woman answered the door, & we walked in--to a living room! Bill said to her, "We'll wait here." We took a seat in one of several comfy, cushy chairs, & the woman invited us to read anything we found in the modest library, if we liked, & said she's bring us water & a menu. This was late afternoon. Bill had told me service was slow, but worth the wait. He told me why it was slow later. Another woman returned with our menus & water, & left while we looked. I chose a chicken dish, & Bill chose a fish one. In a few minutes, the second woman returned to take our order. "Now, said Bill, "the waiting really begins." Always the reader, I chose one of the books, & dived in. A few other customers drifted in. I began smelling something wonderful, & it became harder & harder to read my book, it was so distracting. About an hour later, an older woman showed up & spoke. She invited us all to come & eat. As a group, we went into a large room adjacent to the parlor, where long tables covered with cloths were lined up, & chose our chairs. About an hour after that, Bill & I groaned at the feast we'd been served, & I was now privy to what had been going on. Mamacita's Casa--for so this place was called--was entirely run by the older lady, & her daughters & she waited on everyone (who knew there would be a long wait), because filling the orders was not begun with frozen or dried or canned anything, but picked fresh from their back yard garden, where there were also livestock & a fish pond! So she or one of her daughters would go out & pick veggies & fruit, catch some chickens or fish, & prepare them all from scratch! Her own home was a thriving business, & to this day I know why. Although the prices were dirt cheap--!--I'd have happily paid three times to get the best Mexican food outside of Mexico, with such warm & friendly staff! So, if you've ever found some unusually good restaurant crop up where you least expected it, where was your gem, what delectables did they serve, & what was your experience? I treasure mine! Maggiepie MERRY CHRISTMAS, & HAPPY 2010!!!