T-Bone Tom’s
I heard about this place from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, the TV show with a searchable map on their website. I visited the restaurant a year ago but put it in my travel log’s “Don’t bother” category.
I think I must’ve had the green beans.
Green beans are almost always from cafeterias where they’ve been sitting in pans of boiling water for a minimum of a week. When they pass the four week mark, cafeterias shovel them into buckets and deliver to nearby restaurants that pass what’s left to their customers.
That’s what I had a year ago and apparently they were so bad I can’t even recall the entree.
This time, I had the grilled onions and a salad for the sides with the fried pork chops and, while the origin of the onions is the same as green beans, Vidalias do stand up better. They still had a bit of texture. No bite in flavor, mind you, but there was definitely some texture.
But the salad came first. Two pre-filled plastic tubs of ranch for my gustatory edification.
The plate on which it came was cheap, really cheap, plastic and I had to straighten two of the three tines of the fork before I could eat. Follow those indications to their logical conclusion and you will “know” the salad.
But, lo and behold, the pork chops!
They were big, thick, nicely coated and fried with a light batter, and done to the perfect degree. I did not hesitate to pick up the bones and use my teeth and tongue to pick out every morsel of meat and breading.
So the bottom line is this. They know how to fry pork chops and, from the take outs I saw from my front counter position, the beef and pork barbeques in slabs, slices or chopped, is extremely popular and, I presume, as good as the fried pork chops.
Get it to go and forget the sides. If you want, you can better the rest by adding your own can of nuked vegetables and a past dated head of lettuce with a squishy tomato. Swipe two packets of salad dressing at a Wendy’s and you’ll have a complete meal.
The pork chop was great. No question there.
Oh yeah, it’s in Kemah Texas. Expect a crowd.