If you must snack before your meal, some appetizers are available in smaller portions as sides. They are irresistible, and you don't want to spoil what's ahead. A $7.50 order is big enough for four, so beware. More compelling are fried mushrooms, seasoned with cajun spices for a touch of heat.
No matter, you can sit in the western-themed bar and sip the minutes away until some nice young cowpoke in a black hat guides you to your table, where you can munch on such interesting appetizers as Dang Bang Shrimp, the sort of lightly battered-and-fried treat dipped in a sweet chili glaze that you've seen before, but tasty just the same. Expect an extended wait if you failed, as did I, to make reservations. The restaurant does many things right – the wine list is respectably global, and bottles are half price on Wednesdays, which, just so you know, is very, very popular. Texas Cattle Company is more intimate, and the steaks get a boost from a wood fire, which not everyone cottons to but I happen to prefer. For some odd reason I still pine for their fried green tomatoes, which, as luck would have it, are plentiful and every bit as good at Texas Cattle Company.īut to compare the two restaurants would be a disservice to the memory of the Red Barn, which had oodles of honest-to-Pete rustic charm, something not easily duplicated. It has been six years since fire consumed Farmer Jones Red Barn Steakhouse, a Central Florida fixture for good beef done right.