here is your second chance. take it and fly.

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For lunch yesterday, I stopped in at the Jalapenos Mexican  Restaurant on Skidaway Road.  It was after 11:30 a.m. and for once the parking lot was nearly empty.  Usually when I pass this location, the parked cars have flowed out of the little shopping center parking lot and on into a large woodsy area next door.  I have always marveled at how many cars are packed into the areas used by The Driftaway Cafe and Jalapenos EVERY TIME I pass by.

I used to go to this Jalapenos quite often since it's on the route through the Isle of Hope to my mother's house; but one day during a slow lunch I was seated behind a short wall and forgotten.  Not one of the waiters who passed my table brought me a menu or silverware even though they were staring in my direction and jabbering to each other in Spanish, presumably about why they did not want to wait on me.  I was wishing I had some of my Spanish teacher friends with me so they could translate, kind of like Elaine's experience at the Asian nail salon on Seinfeld.  You know the episode.  Anyway, after 10 minutes of being ignored, I left and have not been back in more than a year.  I was not quite ready to put the flaming voodoo* on them, because the food is so good and so convenient!  I would wait and give them another chance.

Today Jen was helping me shop at Sam's and and run errands in the Sandfly neighborhood.  She is absolutely necessary when the Sam's trip has to be made.  I need help with my cases of Diet Cokes-- lifting from the shelf, to the basket, to the conveyor belt checkout, to the basket again, then into the Jeep.  Then out of the car, through the gate, into the courtyard, and up flights of stairs.  Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.  Any way, I had already eaten at Loc's (just catty-cornered or kitty-cornered or cater-cornerned from Jalapenos) once this week and had been craving Mexican food.  Or should I say American Mexican food?


I was immediately impressed that this Jalapenos had expanded since my last visit.  They've opened up into a new space to the right of the front door, expanding the bar, adding a much needed waiting area and banquette seating for 5 more tables.  New paint and attractive Aztec themed light fixtures created an ambiance that had been lacking.  This location, however, is always clean.

I was equally impressed that the waiter arrived even before we were seated and took orders for drinks, then just as quickly returned with the drinks and the obligatory salsa and chips.  The chips were hot, but not as fresh as usual.  The salsa, hotter than usual.  Drinks here are sized and priced to keep a crowd satisfied!

Jen settled on Lunch Special #9 with a chicken burrito, a cheese enchilada, and rice ($4.95) which she determined "delicious, but not enough cheese in the enchilada."  There were bite-sized chunks of chicken in the burrito, rather than shredded chicken.  I had the beef burrito ($3.95) with an order of cheese dip and sour cream, because I like my burrito as unhealthy as possible.  The burrito was topped off with a spicy ranchero sauce and cooked to perfection.  Jalapenos uses standard, but tasy flour tortillas for their dishes.

All in all, the meal was reasonably priced and tasted good.  Our check was $15.43 before tip and tax.  Although it has won awards for "The Best of Savannah," I would not go so far as to say it is the best Mexican American food in Savannah, but it is about the same as what you would find at LaNopelera, Carlitos, or Juarez.  Some reviewers think that this restaurant is too loud, but it's a great place to get together with friends or family.  And when friends and family are having fun, things do get loud.  Especially when you add frozen margaritas.  So don't expect an atmosphere of whispery quietness.

I liked the addition of fiesta ware and the new seating area at this Jalapenos.  Jen noted that the abundance of cute young male waiters.  Plus, they have a wall full of awards for "The Hottest Chili in Savannah" and the trophy for "2nd Place Peach State Slowdown Finals" in softball.  The Jalapenos empire has grown from just two restaurants when I first moved to Savannah to locations in Pooler, Whitemarsh Island, Bluffton, and Richmond Hill, so they must be doing something right.

Jalapenos at Sandfly gets a second chance and flies with more good than evil...no flaming voodoo this trip!

  
*I will need an entire separate post to explain my flaming voodoo, so stay tuned!

It's not THAT bad.

At 11 this morning, I decided to take Jen to a rather obscure breakfast spot. Although I've lived in Savannah just over eight years, this is only my second visit to this cafe.

PHOTO: Listening to the waitress at the table behind me describing Belgian waffles with maple syrup and pecan topping : "...that's with pee-kans and pray-leans on top." That's how they say it in Georgia.

Having parked in my favorite spot (it's free and it's a secret), we took the Bohemian Hotel elevator down to River Street and headed west. As we walked into the restaurant, we noticed several empty, yet unbussed tables and were told that the wait would be fifteen minutes. Thus, we waited outside in the alley where we were not allowed to smoke or to loiter.  Entering the restaurant (or waiting to enter) in an alley behind a seafood restaurant is neither appealing nor appetizing. 

We watched  two groups of two, then a group of six exit the cafe. We still waited; but we were ushered in to our booth in about six minutes. The interior is cozy and quaint; but I don't understand the Mediterranean atmosphere and the overabundance of flyers advertising Isaac's on Drayton. When you do slide into the booth, the first thing you notice is that the table is sticky. The book in which you write comments is sticky. All this stickiness is a good sign, though. It's all about syrup here.

The sign outside advertises breakfast all day and that's what is featured on the menu: frittata, omelets, waffles, French toast, The Hungry Man (3 eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes, grits and toast), and the standard eggs, toast, and sausage or bacon. I didn't even take time to look at the rest of the three-page menu.

Having ordered the Belgian waffle and the steak omelet, we opened the syrupy book of customer comments. The first comment is dated September 8, 2009 and the customers were not satisfied. They deemed their dining experience "overpriced, service slow, dingy, a little weird." They did not realize that this could describe most dining experiences in Savannah. Jen noted that many of the customers used the same descriptions as the first comment in their entries and that many of them were also on their 20th anniversary trips.  We also realized that if a customer read the book of comments before ordering, he/she would probably not order at all.

Our waitress was from Russia and did not understand half and half iced tea, yes refill, or how to process a credit card. However, she was friendly and the order arrived fairly quickly by Savannah standards. Jen deemed the omelet "made like an omelet should be made...proper ratio of egg to filling." My Belgian waffle lived up the waitress's description. It was covered with what appeared to be finely chopped "puh-cahn praw-leans" and generous dollops of real whipped cream--mmmmmm delicious.  I would have added butter, but it didn't arrive at the table until I was almost finished with the waffle.

Most Trip Advisor reviewers rate the whole experience at THE COBBLESTONE CAFE as terrible:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g60814-d437057-Reviews-Cobblestone_Cafe-Savannah_Georgia.html

Reviewers on Urban Spoon are not quite as severe in their ratings of the cafe:

http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/282/1229366/restaurant/Cobblestone-Cafe-Savannah

I can understand reviews by tourists being overly harsh; but I would rate it average, for Savannah (a balance of good and evil).

Side note:  As we walked out of the alley, I heard a teenage girl in a group wearing family reunion tee shirts point at the sign for Fiddler's (upstairs from the cafe) and exclaim:  "Look!  It's a crab house!!!"  Now what's up with that?