11 New Restaurants this Summer

Yes, it is a somewhat shallow goal, but that is the goal that Kelsey and I have set for ourselves this summer. It all started one day as Kelsey was driving us through Caseyville and I told her to turn right after the Happy Cow. Kelsey remarked as to how she knew right where that was, but had never eaten there. We decided then that it would be fun to try 11 new restaurants this summer. Why 11 you ask? Good question for which there is no good answer. We just thought it sounded like an interesting number.

Our rules for this quest:

1. Terri & Kelsey must both be present and neither can have eaten at the restaurant before. Guests are allowed (Yes, Joe is a guest).

2. We will not order the same thing. Joe can have whatever he wants.

3. Out of town restuarants don't count. Our goal is to try new places locally. And the MO side of the river is NOT out of town.

That's it! Sounds simple, doesn't it? We hope to keep a blog and let everyone know our review of the various restuarants we try.

So tonight we began our quest with the restaurant that started it all. Yes, tonight we ate dinner at the Happy Cow in Caseyville, IL. Joe joined us on our first excursion.

The Happy Cow is a small restaurant in Caseyville. I suppose it gets its name from the large collection of cows that were EVERYWHERE. It is a very down home kind of place with food that is fried and dripping with gravy and butter. YUM!

Kelsey ordered the Happy Cow burger with bacon and cheese and chose mashed potatoes as her side. This burger was huge - a whole 1/3 pound! She says it may be the best burger she's ever had (of course all she had to eat all day was a bowl of cereal so maybe she was just really hungry). It was covered with crispy strips of bacon and cheese, and was very juicy. The potatoes were awesome.

Joe ordered the meatloaf and gravy. He chose mashed potatoes and green beans as his sides. I tasted his green beans and they were very good. He says his meatloaf was really good.

I chose the chicken strips and my sides were potato wedges and corn. These were no fast food chicken strips! I was served two good-sized pieces of juicy chicken breast that had been deep fried. YUM! The potato wedges were really yummy too.

We really enjoyed our trip to the Happy Cow. And the best part was - the 3 of us ate for less than $25 including the tip. This place has very reasonable prices. We saw that they serve breakfast too, so we may be trying out breakfast one day. We would recommend the Happy Cow to anyone wanting a good old-fashioned meal.



~Terri (with a little help from Kelsey).