Yeah, Well . . .

Today I am sad to say, lunch was a complete failure.  I should say it was a failure on the food front but a success on the information front.  Why is that you ask?  Because now we know that Pepper Jack's sucks and we don't ever have to go back.  Today I dined with both Favorite Lunch Buddies.  We will call them FLB I and FLB II.  Choosing where to go was left to me and FLB II.  Recognizing that at some point we would have to try Pepper Jack's, a new place, we felt it would be best to just go and get it over with.  Plus Chungry is still out of town and he would have vetoed.  While the cat's away, and all that . . . 

The prior establishment was well known for its poor service and mediocre food.  Surely something new would be an improvement, right?  FLB I cautioned that it was still the same kitchen and didn't have high hopes.  or any hopes at all for that matter.  Turns out he was right.  It would seem that Pepper Jack's  changed some menu items and painted but otherwise it's the same crappy food and bad service.  I didn't get a photo of it, but the front of the PJ menu says, and I am not kidding, "Experience the Wow Factor"  I was wowed only by how disappointed I was and not much else.

Order was two gumbos labeled a signature dish, and a burger. Plain, Mustard Only.  Chips and salsa were brought to the table.  Sidebar: there is not much I like about Chili's but I do really enjoy their hot tortilla chips and salsa and if everyone served the same chips and salsa it would be fine by me.  The PJ chips were just meh.  No salt, not hot, not even like a Tostito level chip.  Lame  Pretty pathetic, honestly, for anyone purporting to be a Mexican Cantina.  Salsa was good.  Personal preference is for something chunkier, but flavor was good.

It also looks like they kept Cabo's glasses or got used plastic ones from somewhere else.  They are big glasses, which is cool.  But if you insist on having an insanely large glass get a bigger straw, and don't give me an iced tea spoon IN the glass that I have to fish out.  I don't really want to stick my fingers in tea to get it out and then use a wet spoon.  Come on man.   That's like Restuarant 101.  

Next we get the entrees.  I'll start with the burger.  So the order was plain mustard only right?  The server had specifically asked "so no tomato, lettuce . . . " etc?  Answer, "No, just some mustard."  Burger comes out with all the shit on it.  Food server is different from who took our order.  Not plain burger pointed out to food server who looks less than pleased and just stops what he is doing, says nothing and takes the burger back to the window.  Burger comes immediately back out plain.  They had just dumped the tomato, onion and lettuce off and put the bun back on.  No mustard in sight.  Waitress notices no mustard and says let me get you some mustard.   This is what she brings out:

I don't know if they aren't really open open yet or what, but who serves burgers and only has prepackaged condiments for dine in?  Burger was overdone and bun was supposedly a pretzel bun--a fact I am pretty certain was not disclosed on the menu.  It just says white or wheat bun.  FLB I says bun was hard as a rock too.  Personal opinion- if you are doing any prep of a traditional food in a non-traditional way that fact needs to be disclosed on the menu.  Even if its just the hamburger bun.  I wouldn't want a pretzel bun for a burger.  Those two things just don't go together.  I'd be a little pissed if I had not been afforded the chance to make a substitution.  Not to mention the overly well done burger which I don't care for.  If you are only making the burger one way--well well done-- then the customer needs to be told burgers come well done or asked "how do you want the burger done?"  Those are just some of my particular eating out nits.

On to the gumbo.  I love gumbo.  It's something that if I see it on a menu I always tend to get it to try it out.  That, and shrimp and grits.  Bad versions are still tolerable, but when you hit a good one it's worth the gamble.  I will save you the trouble and tell you to pass on this one.

The gumbo at Pepper Jack's comes in a big bread bowl.  A big, stale bread bowl that has been oddly toasted to try to hide the staleness, but just makes it more apparent the bread is not fresh.  Have you ever had dried out sourdough bread?  I don't recommend it.  This was almost like crouton level dryness.  Actual gumbo was tasty, but not hot which always makes me nervous (if I get sick later I will let you know) and the portion was tiny.  This was like a cup of soup in a stale bread bowl and then marked up 500%.  The "signature" gumbo put me back $8.29 (I won't get into what a random price that is) and I think it was seriously about 7 bites.  Maybe 8.  Bad food value.  I am all about value so I kind of felt ripped off here.  That is expensive soup right?  Especially for lunch.  And that's it.  No salad or anything comes with it.  It's just the gumbo.  FLB II was also not favorably impressed.

Additional irritations:  One, there were like 4 manager/owner types there all huddled around the orders making sure they went out but not mingling with the people.  If you're doing a soft opening then hello, you better be asking people if the food is any good or seeing if the pretzel bun is fresh.  Two, what is the point of having a restaurant if you are just going to heat up and serve food service food?  I think they actually made the gumbo but everything else was totally standard restaurant food service items.  You can't make your own french fries or find a local bakery for your buns and bread bowls?  And seriously, what is wrong with you that you can't have some better tortilla chips for chrissakes?  You are in Houston Texas surrounded by Tortillerias.  Come ON.  Make an effort.  I'm guessing that you put a lot of money into your little venture.  Make it count or you'll be out of business by Thanksgiving.  Just a suggestion.  And god help you if Gordon Ramsey stumbles into your place.

To make ourselves feel better we all tromped over to Corner Bakery for a cookie before heading back to the salt mines.  Although, FLB-I got to say "I told you so" the entire time we were eating so I think he already felt pretty happy.

I hate to do this, but I have to go with a 1 for Pepper Jack's and a NOT Recommended.  Unless you are just getting beer and no food.  Then I say it's ok.  Chances are those are the only circumstances I would be returning under.

Maybe Chungry is eating better out in Jersey.