ribless? they done phuked up

every so often a restaurant will have what’s known as its “signature dish”…

…at threadgill’s (r.i.p.), for example, it was the chicken fried steak (which honestly wasn’t that stellar). at andiamo’s steak house in vegas, it’s the tomahawk ribeye. and at almost every texas bar-b-que joint, it’s the brisket, and at almost every proper tex-mex plate it’s the number two.

at the tap room, in san marcos, it’s the ribs. well, it WAS the ribs. past tense. it’s been taken off the regular menu. not to hide on some secret menu only we locals know about. no, it’s been relegated to just a special on (i think) thursdays. but the days of me going in, getting a half rack and a couple more beers off the punch card i’ve been working on since 2009 (shut up, shane) are gone. what most of us consider their signature dish has been removed, and nobody seems to know why.

i don’t care why. that’s a major fuck up.

it’s like the time i walked into a hooter’s in tulsa, oklahoma (on a weekend that yielded a whole lotta bits), and was told they thought they might be out of wings. you just CAN’T be. that’s your “thing”. that’s like a cashless bank!

(oh, wait…that’s actually a thing in san marcos, too)

so, i haven’t been back to the tap since i found this out and i’m not sure if i will. we go back a ways, all the way to the 90’s even, and on through the days of helping run a shop on the square for seven years where i would take whiskey and ribs as payment for running front of house. yeah, the fish and chips are pretty good, as are the burgers, but they ain’t the ribs. that was the seller for me. i’ve bragged to several that they were, hands down, my favorite baby back ribs ever and they still are. but pulling em off the regular menu doesn’t sit right with me. guess this card might make it a good long while before it’s completed…

(as if it’s current thirteen year age isn’t a “good long while” yet!)