Good Eats on the Trip

One of the things we really enjoy on trips is finding good places to eat. We especially try to find places to eat food that we cannot find in San Angelo.

For years, we've enjoyed good Greek/Lebanese food in Shreveport at Athena's Greek and Lebanese Grill. I've written about this place several times before. However, the last couple of times we have eaten here, we were disappointed. Oh, it wasn't necessarily bad, but it simply wasn't up to its usual standard. We sensed that a change in ownership had occurred. We decided to give the place another try on this trip, but we were again disappointed. I really think we are convinced that it isn't going to return to its previous quality. On our next trip to the boats, we will probably go to Yeero-Yeero on Youree Drive. This was a favorite stop of ours for years while we lived and worked in the Kilgore/Longview area of East Texas, but when we discovered Athena, we found the menu there to be more to our liking. But Yeero is actually closer to the boats, so it will be more convenient. It specializes in Greek food. We look forward to renewing our taste buds with the food at this place.

On our trip to the boats in earlier this year, we visited a Bossier City staple, Ralph and Kacoo's, which is just down the street from the 'Shoe. I wrote about our meal there -- complete with pictures -- in an article entitled "Play Time at the 'Shoe" in January of this year. We really enjoyed our meal then, and we vowed to put it on our list of stops while in S/BC. So, on this latest trip, we made a return visit; again, we were not a bit disappointed. Everything about this place is good. We started with iced tea, and it was very good, not like the watery stuff served at so many places. We could actually taste the rich tea flavor. We were then served a nice basket of bread and hush puppies. This was really the only negative part of the meal, as I was not crazy about the hush puppies. Oh, they were quite good, and Donna easily put away a few dozen, but I thought they were a bit over cooked. The sour dough bread was wonderful, though.

Butter, tarter sauce, hush puppies, and sour dough bread. YUM!

Donna loves raw oysters, so she ordered half a dozen. I made the mistake of blinking when they were served, for they were suddenly gone. I guess the party girl liked them.

Raw oysters on the half shell for the party girl. She really enjoyed them.

Then our main courses were delivered. Donna went a bit light, choosing a wedge salad. I was tempted for I enjoy a good wedge salad as well. But we were in a place known for seafood, so I opted for something more fitting. I love a good po-boy sandwich, so I ordered a po-boy with boiled shrimp. Both of us really enjoyed this meal.

Donna's wedge salad.

My shrimp po-boy with red beans, white rice, and smoked sausage.

Yeah, we'll be visiting this place again!

Our next interesting meal was at a Lebanese restaurant in, of all places, Marksville, where we were staying and playing at the Paragon Casino. Habibi's Lebanese Cuisine is tucked away on a side street just north of the casino. We were surprised to find such a place in a small town, but these folks know what they are doing. The food looked so good that when we were served, I began eating before taking a picture. So, the picture below does not do true justice to the beautiful presentation.

For an appetizer, we ordered zaatar. During our days in Saudi Arabia, the zaatar there was served on thin baked bread, but the zaatar at Habibi's was on small, puffy, soft bread. It was quite good, and I would certainly order it again.

This is a stock picture from the Habibi Facebook page, but this is exactly what the zaatar looked like that we enjoyed. When the zaatar was served, I couldn't wait to dig in, and I forgot to take a picture.

For our main course, we both ordered the gyro plate, with hummus, rice, and salad. The gyro was, of course, topped with tzatziki sauce and red onions. This was the same meal we had a few days earlier at Athena in Shreveport, but the quality was much better at Habibi's. All in all, I found Habibi's to be the best part of our trip to Marksville.

Gyro plate with hummus, rice, and salad.

We ate at other places on the trip, but these were the ones that stood out. It's always nice to get away and enjoy something different, something a bit exotic.

Cheers!