Kevin and Joel's Meal of the Week: Abilene

For my money, there is one meal that fits any occasion.

Football, birthday, holiday, random breakfast on a Sunday morning, it works. Steak is my favorite meal, especially done so well that I can leave the A-1 in its proper place. On the shelf.

But Kevin and Joel's Meal of the Week hasn't had a good, solid steak meal in a while, so I was absolutely excited to check out Lytle's Land and Cattle in Abilene. For those of you wondering why we left Joe Allen's off of the poll, there's one simple reason. If we have already reviewed a place, we can't hit it again, and Joe Allen's is the restaurant that started the Meal of the Week in the first place, way back at the beginning of the 2008 season.

As usual, though, the fans took care of us.

You voted. We ate. And you voted to send us to Joe Allen's sister restaurant, Lytle's Land and Cattle, a place that has free wireless Internet. Didn't need it this time, but it's a pretty nice little perk in the event of the need to do some work. Like after the game, or during halftime.

Under the OA's budget, though, the steak at Lytle's Land and Cattle is a little out of the price range we're looking for. So I compromised. Rather than opt for the big, juicy slab of meat I desperately wanted, I headed for the tenderloin medallions, medium-well, with a garden salad and cowboy potatoes au gratin.

Kevin, on the other hand, went for a barbecue burger, complete with fries.

To talk about the food at Lytle's, though, the discussion has to start with the bread. Our waitress, Breanna -- Bre, for short -- brought out a nice little loaf of hot, right out of the oven bread, soft and complete with a tasty butter that made it perfect. Gotta be honest here, and after all the talk about watching my waistline last night in Sweetwater, I caved in and devoured an entire second helping of bread.

As for the garden salad, Lytle's garlic vinaigrette is a tasty sauce, but the salad was missing something specific. Like vegetables other than lettuce. One tomato, one black olive. Other than that, it was all lettuce and croutons, but that's just me. I like my salad a little varied.

Now, I wasn't sure about the cowboy potatoes au gratin at first. To be perfectly honest, I was ready to go for the baked potato. But on the recommendation of Bre -- who loves those cowboy potatoes -- I decided to go out on a limb.

Bre knows what she's talking about. Lightly spiced with pepper, the potatoes are mashed together, with little chunks of potato, mixed with cheese and topped with more cheese and bacon. Tasted like a perfectly blended baked potato -- the elusive kind that's almost impossible to do with a fork -- complete with all the fixin's. Rumor has it that the cowboy potatoes even taste good for breakfast, and I gotta be honest, that sounds like a great way to start the day.

And I loved the steak medallions. Cooked medium well -- I don't like to eat anything that can still moo -- the steak had a spicy, tasty rub on the outside, and the portion was the right size for lunch. Not too big, nothing to make me sleepy, but enough to get me through the game. Or the first half. Sometimes I can get a little hungry.

As for Kevin's burger, the kitchen originally didn't put the barbecue sauce on the burger, but Bre corrected that mistake quickly. And although the burger was just a tad too well-cooked for Kevin's liking -- To me, it looked like a perfectly grilled option -- the barbecue sauce was incredible. Tangy, tasty, so good that you wonder if a rack of ribs at Lytle's would taste a little bit like heaven. And the fries were also solid fare, a variety that had a little bit of seasoning and plenty of taste.

One more thing. Lytle's makes a mean sweet tea. True, spectacular Southern sweet tea is the perfect fit for almost any meal, and I polished off two glasses without even blinking.

Kevin's Dessert of the Week

As usual, OA photographer and dessert aficionado Kevin Buehler was hoping for an apple-based dessert option. But Lytle's couldn't help him out there, so we both opted for the cheesecake. Kevin went for the New York version, taking both chocolate and strawberries as the topping.

For my part, I opted for the Key Lime Margarita Cheesecake. Once again, on Bre's recommendation, because I was a little unsure. Like I've written before, the purpose of the Meal of the Week is to step outside the lines sometimes. And Bre had already given me the right advice once, so I trusted her.

She wasn't wrong. Tart, tasty, with just enough whipped cream to balance out the incredible taste of the cheesecake, Lytle's exotic option filled the same role as a margarita. A little bit of relaxation, a little bit of vacation, without the buzz that follows.

And Bre, who told us she personally topped off our desserts, made sure Kevin was happy even without his precious apples and cinnamon. Kevin's cheesecake came drenched in strawberries and chocolate, prompting a single one-word response from the OA's dessert expert.

"Perfect," Kevin said.

Final Analysis

Gotta say, I think almost like Lytle's better than Joe Allen's.

Especially with the great, personable service -- Not only was Bre right on time with every request, she came up with a few extras -- and exceptional specialty items, like the cowboy potatoes.

Not sure where the car will turn the next time I come to Abilene.

But Lytle's is at the top of the list.