Ubee's

Ubee's
521 S. Highland
323-0900

Saturday, after a jaunt to the Pink Palace, we found ourselves starved. We sat in the parking lot discussing places to go. Warren had his stomach set on a hamburger, so I suggested Ubee's. A menu had recently appeared in our mailbox and looked interesting, so I added it to my "Places to Go" list.

It took us a minute to find it, since it is set back off of Highland next to Lenny's. As we did a drive-by, the bar inside was quite noticeable. Warren wondered out loud if it was a place we could take the kids (Satchel, 6, and Jiro, 4). I replied, "You can take kids anywhere at 4pm on a Saturday."

When we walked in, Warren calmed down a little. The bar area was completely separate from the eating area. The interior was all blue and very "Go Togers!" There were TVs everywhere and I commented that it would be a nice place to watch a Tigers' game. Then, much to my surprise, I noticed that the Tigers were actually playing.

I hadn't retained the information I read previously in the CA's review, so another happy surprise was that burgers are one of Ubee's specialties. In fact they use the same grease as Dyer's since it is owned by the same person.

Warren and Satchel both wanted hamburgers and fries. (Warren opted for a double since they were pretty thin.) I added a "slurp" to save $2.25 as the menu instructed. Jiro didn't seem too interested in eating, but agreed to try some "fried right chicken tenders." The chicken tenders were an appetizer, so I didn't have the meal deal option. I figured Satchel would probably want water, so I decided to give Jiro Satchel's drink and my side.

Warren and the boys went to sit down and watch the game, read the Flyer, and play DS. Before leaving, Warren noticed a "Free chocolate cobbler with first order" sign and instructed me to be sure and get mine. Unfortunately, it turns out that this special is only for deliveries. (I did remember the write up of this "choc therapy" in the Flyer and wanted to try it!) I decided we'd order a slice if we were still hungry after dinner.

I panicked a bit when I looked at the menu, because for once I was the only one who didn't know what to order (and frankly their menu is just a little too cutesy and therefore confusing). There wasn't a line or anything, but we were all starving. I impulsively went with the The "French 101" which is a panini filled with grilled chicken, tomato, bacon, spinach and basil aioli on a croissant. Then I impulsively ordered tater tots instead of fries, added a slurp, and called it quits.

I was a little shocked when the dude told me I owed $28.00. And in my shocked state, I didn't know whether to tip or not, so I went ahead and added $4.00. Normally, I don't tip if I place my order and then sit down, but in this case I was glad that I did because the dude cooked everything himself, brought it to the table, and even checked on us a few times.

After paying, I was given four reusable plastic tumblers and headed to the drink machine. The booths are lined up in a way as to create a direct path to the drink machine from the checkout counter, so as I passed the boys, I said, "Let's get our drinks." Normally the monkeys are very enthusiastic about this part of the dining experience, but thanks to the DS, they could care less. "I'm not getting them all," I said in protest and I put their cups on the table and went to get my own drink.

On my way back to the table, I realized how strange the booth set up was. Although you could enter the booths from both sides, having four people in the booth made it so I had to walk in a big circle to sit down. (Had the boys saved me a seat on the inside rather than the outside, this wouldn't have been an issue.) As I was circling through the restaurant, I took a peek in the "soft seating area" and thought it was a nice touch. (It had chairs, a sofa, board games, and yet another TV.) The bar was full of college students (I presume) and they seemed to be enjoying the game.

Back at the table, the boys eventually got their drinks--apparently I paid for four drinks--and came back to the table. I'm pretty sure they both took advantage of me not going with them by getting caffeinated beverages.

When our food arrived shortly there after, we all pounced. Well, everyone except Jiro.



The hamburgers and especially the french fries looked really good. So good that I immediately needed to help myself to one. Yum! My sandwich looked pretty good, but now I was really mad at myself for ordering tater tots. I happily put them on Jiro's plate and proceeded to cut his chicken strips into pieces. He wasn't too thrilled with the chicken--it was extremely salty and not as crispy as I would have expected--but ate almost a whole one and most of his tater tots.

It was at this point that I realized we had ordered nothing that could be considered healthy! They do have salads on the menu, but I was too hungry for a salad. I also noticed edamame, but I have a strict policy of not ordering edamame in a burger joint.

My panini was pretty tasty, but it was really rich and rather greasy. So much so that I offered it to Warren. He ended up eating some of it, which left me to eat more than I wanted to. (I also ended up helping Jiro with his chicken which I later regretted!) Satchel only ate about half of his burger, which was unusual for him, but he insisted that he liked it.

The game ended about halfway through our meal. (The Tigers won. Go Tigers!) We packed up the few leftovers we had and made our way out. I'm not sure that I'll be rushing back to Ubee's anytime soon, but it was a perfectly fine place to go. If I do, I'll definitely opt for a salad and a piece of choc therapy.

(We never made it to the bathroom, but the whole restaurant was fancy and new, so I am sure they were probably nice.)

Los Comales

Los Comales
4774 Summer Ave
683-9530


I don't think it's any secret that Team Oster plans to eventually eat at every restaurant along Summer Avenue, so it shouldn't come as surprise to you that our latest meal was at Los Comales, a Mexican restaurant that is near Edo.

There were a ton of cars at 5pm on Sunday, which I took to be a very good sign. (Once inside, I don't think all of the cars belonged to the smallish, but still respectable crowd, unless each person had their very own vehicle or there were a lot of people back in the kitchen, again with their own individual car.) There's a newly constructed (but not necessarily finished), enclosed patio at Los Comales. Since it was one of those fabulous February days in the upper 60s, I suggested we sit there.

The patio kind of reminded me of Warren's multi-year patio project at our old house, save for the fact that Warren did actually finish his project. The Los Comales patio had some Christmas lights, plastic ferns, tables, and chairs. It was cute despite the unfinished walls and windows. (Warren also noted that the patio narrowed quite a bit from front to back.) Most of the tables were in need of bussing, so clearly we weren't the first people to ask to sit there.

The waitress cleaned off a table for us and took our drink orders. I noticed a refrigerator full of Jarritos on the way in and asked which flavors she had. Jiro (age 4) chose pineapple, and Satchel (age 6) chose mango. I got a Diet Coke and Warren went with water. Soon another woman brought us chips and salsa. "Where's the cheese dip?" the monkeys demanded. "I haven't ordered any yet," I said attempting to appease them. (We all skipped lunch.)

Once our drinks arrived, I put in our request for cheese dip and then attempted to figure out what Satchel wanted to eat. "Read me everything," he said. The menu was quite extensive, so I refused. (It also was NOT one of those standard numbered menus that you see at several Mexican restaurants in town like El Porton, El Mezcal, Los Compadres, etc.) I did read the kids menu (quesadilla, taco, or chicken nuggets) and a few highlights that might entice him. Eventually I was able to get him to agree on two steak tacos ($2 each), which is his usual. I didn't bother negotiating with Jiro, I just ordered him the quesadilla, which came with rice and beans.

Warren and I were both in the mood for something different. He happily announced that they had menudo on the menu. I smiled and secretly hoped that he would not order that. (He also noted that they had oysters on the half shell and whole fried tilapia, another one of our favorites.) Thankfully he decided on a pork huarache. The word 'huarache' literally means 'sandal' because of the oblong shape of the masa flatbread base. Before googling that information, Warren mentioned he thought that it was the same word as the shoe, but I told him I thought he was wrong. (Sorry, honey!)

I was torn between the deluxe nachos and the shrimp tacos so I ordered both. The tacos are really just side items anyway since they sell them a la carte. Besides, I fully expected to be sharing my nachos with Warren.

After the cheese dip arrived, the chips quickly disappeared. The monkeys demanded more, but our actual dinner arrived before I could request some. Everything looked really good (see pics) and we soon ran out of space on the table. "Where's my rice and beans?" Satchel asked. I offered him half of Jiro's but he wanted his own. They came out in a flash, moments before Jiro officially rejected his. Jiro looked at his lunch and said, "I only want to eat half of my quesadilla. I don't want that, that, or that (pointing to the other half of his quesadilla and his rice and beans)." He really just wanted more chips so he could commence with the cheese dip.

Warren offered me a bite of his shoe, and it was very tasty. He gobbled it right up. I ate my shrimp taco first. Warren and I both liked the added touch of radishes and grilled onion and a whole grilled jalapeno on the side, but the taco itself was just okay. There was way too much cilantro and it almost tasted like they added salt. My deluxe nachos on the other hand, totally hit the spot. Beef, chicken, beans, cheese, avocados, sour cream, tomatoes...yum!

While Warren and I were happily stuffing our faces, the monkeys were going crazy. They both had ants in their pants, couldn't keep their hands off of each other, talk in a normal or tone, or anything. I was really glad that we were on the patio. However, as the sun set, it cooled off quite a bit. I think the fact that both monkeys were "freezing" added to their squirminess. Had we not had so much food, I might have considered moving inside. To appease the monkeys, I let Satchel wear my jean jacket and I raided the "extra clothes" stash in the car for Jiro. (Sadly I could only come up with two short-sleeved shirts, but he happily put them on.) Once warm, the monkeys finished most of their dinners and then relinquished their leftovers to Warren. Warren and I absolutely stuffed ourselves. I tried stopping, but kept picking away until there was nothing left.

Our meal ended with two separate trips to the little boys' room. It gave me a chance to check out the inside of the restaurant. Upon entering there is a cute little bar (but no alcohol as far as I could tell) and to the left is a small dining room with a giant TV in the corner. It's painted a nice red and has a faux finish of some sort. There's black bead board and standard issue Mexican restaurant photos as well as some other random, but nice, decorations. The bathroom itself was a one top, but there was a visitor's chair inside, which was a welcome addition in my opinion. (I've spent my fair share of time trapped in a restroom waiting on one of the monkeys.)

Our final bill was around $34 ($41 with tip). The service was good. The food was even better. We'll be back to check on the progress of the patio, I'm sure.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods Market
5022 Poplar Ave
685-2293

On Friday, Warren and I took the monkeys (Satchel, 6, and Jiro, 4) to see Coraline in 3-D at the Paradiso. We bought our tickets about an hour early, worried it would be sold out. In the meantime, we walked over to Whole Foods to grab some dinner.

If I'm within a mile of Whole Foods, I usually have to stop and get some sushi to go. I'm completely hooked on the spicy tunacado roll. It's just tuna and avocado, but it's big, and it tastes really yummy. The monkeys have been to Whole Foods enough to know that they have really good pizza, free cheese samples, and Izze. So going in, three out of the four of us pretty much knew what we were going to get, which was good, because we had limited time. (We wanted front row seats!)

I haven't figured out why, but they stopped putting Izzes in the cooler for some reason (WHY??), so our only snafu was finding a drink. Jiro settled on a can of natural root beer and I'm partial to the $3 acai berry/blueberry juice they sell. (Satchel forgot to get a drink, but I didn't realize it until later.) Satch ordered a slice of pepperoni (they have HUGE slices, with equally HUGE yet super thin and not too greasy pepperonis) and Jiro ordered a slice of cheese. They pack the slices in triangle-shaped cardboard boxes (is that an oxymoron?) which I think are just precious, and make the pizza really easy to transport. I entrusted each monkey with their pizza and headed towards the sushi cabinet. I grabbed my roll and Jiro pointed to an avocado roll and said, "I want sushi too." I'm not going to deny my boy sushi, so I grabbed a box for him.

Our dinner in hand, we went in search of Warren, who was wondering back and forth. "Did you decide?" I asked. "I'm thinking about getting a rotisserie chicken," he said. "A whole chicken?" I clarified. "It's actually cheaper than getting a sandwich," he said pointing to some giant sub sandwiches. "Ok, get it," I said.

Let me just pause to say that Whole Foods has a really nice salad bar and hot food bar with all kinds of good stuff to eat. It's fairly common to see people with paper plates (made from recycled paper) full of "normal" meals. Team Oster clearly does not think in meat and threes.

When I reviewed Wild Oats, which was formerly in this same space, I was all ranty about the plastic plastic everywhere. I'm happy to report that most of the plastic is gone. The salad bar containers and nearly everything in the deli is recycled paper or cardboard (which is technically recycled paper). The only plastic remnants are, unfortunately, in the sushi section. I can see why cardboard wouldn't work here, but I wish there was an alternative to non-recyclable plastic. Oh, I know! How about a plastic container that is actually recyclable? (i.e. #1 or #2)

Ok, enough of that...

Chicken in one hand, jalapeno cornbread and an energy drink in the other, Warren joined us in the checkout lane. Our total was $33 (which included a .10 discount for refusing bags). This is less than we would spend in a regular restaurant, a little more than what we'd spend on fast food. After paying, I sent each monkey to the table with his stash of food. Satchel tore into his pizza and soon had his face covered in their yummy tomato sauce. Jiro popped open his root beer and downed half of it before instructing me to remove the green things (a.k.a. avocados) from his sushi. Once that was accomplished, I went in search of a knife for Warren. "Do you want a fork too?" I asked. He mumbled something which I took for a no. Upon my return he of course said, "Where's my fork?"

By this time, Satchel realized that he forgot to get a drink. After tasting everyone else's drink, he decided they were all too gross to share. Frankly, I was tired of running around, so I gave him $2 and said, "Go pick out your own drink." Then I instructed him to pay at the register about 5 feet from us. Surprisingly, the idea of venturing alone to the drink cooler was not too scary, and off he went. Two seconds later he was back pleading for me to go through the check out line with him. Begrudgingly, I obliged, but made him do most of the work, so that next time I could stay seated. (FYI Satchel refused a bag for his .59 soda and received a .10 discount.)

The rest of the meal was uneventful save for the split second that Warren almost popped a dollop of wasabi in his mouth thinking it was one of Jiro's rejected green things.

Southern (Monkey) Routes-Live(ish)

The segment for Southern Routes has been digitized and you-tubed for your viewing pleasure:



And yes, I'm sticking with writing.

Best Wings of Memphis

Best Wings of Memphis
2390 Summer Avenue # 102
458-7711

On Friday, I was charged with taking my 12 year-old nephew, Branch, to lunch. He was downtown for a music "camp" of some sort. (He plays the tuba.) Since I work downtown and no one else in his immediate family does, I happily volunteered to feed him during his lunch break. I wracked my brain all week, trying to come up with some place cool to take him. (He actually reads this blog, so he had high expectations.)

Even though there are lots of great places downtown, I needed to swing by my house (in Midtown) during my lunch break, so in true Dining with Monkeys fashion, I decided to take Branch someplace I'd never been before. I knew that he liked chicken wings and I knew that I liked chicken wings, so Best Wings of Memphis on (the most awesome) Summer Avenue seemed like a good bet.

On my way out, my coworker asked where I was headed. When I told her, she said, "You better hurry, there's usually a line out the door."

Luckily, Branch and I made it there just before noon, so although we had to stand in line, it wasn't nearly as long as it was by the time we left. There were actually two lines. I asked the woman in front of us if we were in the right line to order and she assured me that both lines were for ordering. It seemed the protocol was to place your order, pay, get a number, and wait. There was a small window behind the counter and every few seconds, a stack of styrofoam containers emerged. The cashiers bagged them up and called out the numbers. It seemed like almost everybody was getting theirs to go, but Branch and I planned to eat in.

As we stood in line, we stared at the menu board in order to figure out what to get. Obviously, we knew we wanted wings, but we had several sauces to choose from, including but not limited to: hot, mild, seasoned mild, honey glaze, hot BBQ, mild mild, and lemon pepper. (In addition to wings, there's also catfish, burgers, and even a veggie burger. Branch and I both snorted and commented that you'd have to be crazy--or obviously a vegetarian--to order a veggie burger.) We also had to decide how many wings to get. I pointed out that these were whole wings, but we both decided to get 6, because we knew they were going to be good. (I also planned to take Warren our leftovers since his office was just around the corner.)

While in line, we continued to read the menu and marveled at the fact that one could order 1000 wings for $735. We spent several minutes trying to decide who did this, what kind of party it was, and how on earth they got them all cooked. I think we both imagined the best Super Bowl party ever. We also discussed whether we should order a piece of the yummy pound cake that was individually packaged and ready to go. "I don't need any cake," I said as I patted my expanding belly and Branch nodded and did the same. "Me neither," he said.

Finally, it was our turn to order. We had both decided on wings and fries for $8.60. I went with mild and Branch went with hot. (I said, "Are you sure?" about a hundred times, and he assured me that he had just eaten the hottest sandwich on the menu at the Crazy Kanuck the night before and he survived.) The cashier asked if we wanted regular or seasoned fries. I went with regular and Branch went with seasoned. "And one tea and a water," I added. "It comes with a drink," she said. "Ok, cool," I replied, trying to appear cool.

I sent Branch to get a drink and a table while I paid. I got my own tea and joined him at a booth. We waited anxiously and listened closely for our number to be called. The place was really filling up, and it added to our excitement.

When I finally heard, "Number 63!" I practically ran to the counter. Check out our awesome lunch:



$8.60 for six whole wings, fries, carrots, celery, ranch dressing, two rolls and a drink was a really good deal. (For seasoned fries it's .40 extra.) Our total was $19.23. (Ed note: the free drink was a January special.)

About two bites in we agreed on two things: 1) We were definitely going to need more napkins. 2) Branch should not bring a girl on a date here until he's sure that she really, really likes him.


Not surprisingly, the wings were awesome. They were nice and big, and crispy underneath the sauce, just the way I like them. The mild was very mild and didn't cause me to sweat or guzzle water. Branch did some sweating and guzzling, but he seemed to be enjoying it. I dipped a fry in his sauce and it was hot, but not too hot. "It's got a nice sweetness to it," he explained. The fries were also good-crispy and just the right amount of salty. The sweet tea was also just about perfect.

Despite our best efforts, we could not eat all six of our wings. We both managed to eat four, but probably should have stopped at three. (There is a four wing meal deal that's in the $6 range. There's also a wing & catfish meal that I didn't notice until it was too late!)

I sent Branch to the bathroom to attempt to rid his face and hands of sauce, and packed up our remains for Warren. I fit everything into one styrofoam container and made it look nice and pretty for him. Had I not told him, he might never have known they were leftovers.

My only complaint about Best Wings of Memphis was the styrofoam actually. And the plastic bags. Both were flying out the door at record speed. (The packaging for "here" and "to go" does not differ, so there didn't seem to be any way to avoid these two items.)

Now, would I take my two little monkeys here? Definitely. It's buzzing with people, so their not-so-inside-voices would not be a problem. The restaurant is very casual with basic booths, so there's nothing to break or climb on. Also, the monkeys love chicken wings. (I didn't ask, but I assume you can get them without sauce.) Had they been with me & Branch, I probably would have given them each a wing and a roll and let them split my fries and carrots. The only tricky part would have been convincing them to share my tea.

FYI--Warren only ate two of the four wings I brought him. When I found the remaining two in the fridge, I immediately set about eating them. They were even better cold.