Meal of the Week

Kevin and Joel's Meal of the Week: My Friend's Grill

Most of you probably thought we'd hold out on you without a District 2-5A game on the slate.

Rain or shine, lightning or snow, the Meal of the Week must go on. Case in point, the Permian lightning delay at San Angelo.

And maybe Crane doesn't have as many options to choose from as some of our Class 5A cities.

But you still voted.

We definitely still ate.

Located on the left side of Highway 385 as we drove into town from Odessa, shortly after we started slipping into the city limits, Kevin and I parked the car at My Friend's Grill to make sure we have enough sustenance for this Homecoming tilt.

Built in a building that surely must have been a house at some point, My Friend's Grill has a vintage, older feel that made me plenty happy to be working in a small town this week. For those of you who don't know, my high school, Stanley-Boyd (Wi.) would probably fall in Class 2A or Class 3A, and the area games spark at least a few feelings of nostalgia. Our own version of My Friend's Grill, Aunt Mae's, is carved out of the bottom of the old hospital.

From the start, My Friend's Grill was ahead of the curve. First of all, rather than bring out a side salad tailored to fit as many people as possible, My Friend's Grill allows the salad bar to qualify as a side. In a perfect world, every restaurant should follow this establishment's lead. And it was a great salad bar, too, avoiding the mushy vegetables that happen at some salad bars because the food sits out too long. My Friend's Grill has crisp, fresh vegetables, topped with any one of five or six dressings. Kevin, particularly, was impressed by the honey mustard dressing he chose.

For my part, the vegetables make the salad. And when I have my own choice, the ingredients are as follows: lettuce, sliced tomato, cucumbers, green peppers, a few cuts of broccoli and some cheese. Loved the My Friend's Grill salad. Again, every restaurant should take the cue.

For the main course, Kevin -- for the second week in a row -- chose the chicken-fried steak, with a baked potato loaded with bacon, cheese and butter. And his chicken-fried steak was impressive. Most chicken-fried steaks run a little thin, in my opinion, but I'd bet that the My Friend's Grill fare ran at least 10 ounces. You can bet Kevin was excited about that. And he was absolutely excited about the gravy, which included small slices of pepper that some places don't include. As far as the baked potato goes, the toppings were placed inside the potato, which meant that Kevin didn't have to do much mixing.

On my part, I chose the grilled Cajun catfish, putting a severe burden on the My Friend's Grill staff. Coming from 4 years in Missouri, I came to love catfish, which is easily found in the vast rivers that crisscross Missouri. But My Friend's Grill didn't disappoint. Lightly seasoned with a spicy Cajun series of ingredients, the catfish was absolutely excellent, spicy enough to make me keep reaching for the sweet tea. As a side, I chose the potato salad -- fits the Cajun food -- but My Friend's Grill makes their potato salad on the sweeter, tangy side, rather than the more mayo-based potato salad I like.

Kevin's Dessert of the Week

As an added bonus to the salad bar, My Friend's Grill provides soft-serve vanilla ice cream.

And OA dessert aficionado Kevin Buehler couldn't wait. Before he even got his main course, Kevin headed straight for the ice cream, and he didn't hold back. "The recommended portion is a little bowl," Kevin said. "I chose to use a full salad bowl." Not a bad idea. More importantly, My Friend's Grill provides Hershey's syrup, cherry topping and some nuts in case you need it.

Considering I chose the Cajun catfish, I waited until the end of the meal to head for the sweets. And I'll always have a special place in my heart for vanilla ice cream with Hershey's syrup smothering the ice cream.

When it comes to dessert, sometimes simple works just fine.

Final Analysis

My Friend's Grill is an instant area favorite.

Especially since they can pull off catfish. So My Friend's Grill carried the flag for Crane extremely well.

Small towns might have fewer choices.

But that doesn't mean they don't have good food.

Next week Joel and Kevin will be eating their Meal of the Week during the Permian-Odessa High game. They'll be making the rounds visiting tailgaters and trying their food. Comment below if you're going to be there and let us know what yummy food you'll be cooking.

Make sure you have an apple dessert handy tailgaters!