I LOVE to eat. I mean, LOVE it. Part of the reason I run, and keep running, is so that I can continue loving to eat.
I don’t really cook (more on that in another post, or 12) and I eat out more than I should. But for the most part I can probably count on one had the restaurants that I frequent each month. It’s not because I only like certain foods (I will eat just about anything), or have simple taste in foods, or live in an area without many restaurants. Mainly, I’m just a creature of habit. I find something I like and I stick with it. Even if I go to a restaurant with 47 things I love on the menu, I’ll usually keep going back to one thing. Right now the Three Cs are what determine where I eat:
1. Cost (I’m broke)
2. Coupons
3. Convenience
Over the past few months we’ve (the boy and I) have found ourselves at Smokey Bones on multiple occasions – probably more often than two people should eat at the same place. He is a creature of habit like I am, so we tend to end up there. Before I get into all the yumminess that is Smokey Bones, lets go over the Three Cs…
1. Cost – for the most part the prices are Smokey Bones are fairly reasonable.
2. Coupons – at least once a month there are 2 coupons in the Sunday paper (good for 2 weeks each) for $10 off $20 or more. If you sign up for their mailing list you get additional coupons… $5 off any purchase, free desserts, etc. Also, if you sign up for their rewards card you get $20 in free food for every $200 that you spend.
An example of the wonderfulness that is coupons: On our last trip to Smokey Bones we used a $10 off coupon and our total was $12 (and some change). That was for two meals (he had a burger and fries, I had a HUGE club sandwich and fries) and a drink. Twelve dollars. AND that meal purchase put us over the $200 mark and now we have $20 to spend on our next visit.
3. Convenience – there is one right by my place and right by the boy’s. And we usually don’t ever have to wait for a table. Bingo!
Smokey Bones’ menu is fairly simple – bbq, sandwiches, and burgers. They have some pasta and salads thrown in there, but the bulk of the menu is bbq, sandwiches, and burgers. Big burgers and big sandwiches are the thing we are drawn to most often. The boy usually, and by usually I mean always, gets the Loaded BBQ Burger (“A 1/2 lb Memphis-spiced burger, fire-grilled to your fancy, topped with melted cheddar, crispy onion rings and a pile of pulled pork, all smothered in KC BBQ sauce on a toasted burger bun”) and fries. It is pretty much a cheese burger with a pulled pork sandwich on top of it. If I tried to eat it I’m sure I wouldn’t even make it half way through the sandwich. But everything we go there is disappears from his plate. I’m fairly certain until this past Friday when we went to Red Robin (his first trip there), he hadn’t really found a good cheap burger that he really liked more than Smokey Bones. I guess Smokey Bones is lucky that the closest Red Robin is a 35 minute drive from my house 😉
For awhile I was getting the Smokehouse Burger (“A mouth-watering 1/2 lb burger fire-grilled to your liking, smothered with BBQ’d onions, peppered bacon slices, melted cheddar and crispy onion straws, all on a toasted burger bun”) or the Big Time BLT Burger (“A 1/2 lb of fire-grilled burger bliss smothered in melted Swiss, then topped with thick peppered bacon slices, crisp iceberg lettuce, tomato, garlic mayo, sliced avocado, red onion and pickles, all on a toasted burger bun”) with fries. I’d kinda go back and forth between the two depending on my mood. Then I decided that due to some stomach issues I was going to try and cut red meat out of my diet for awhile, so lately I’ve been getting the West Coast Club (“Triple decker toasted sandwich layered with slices of slow smoked turkey breast, hickory bacon, shredded lettuce, tomato, sliced Haas avocado and spicy chipotle mayonnaise”). I am a firm believer that avocado makes EVERYTHING better.
Also, I’m very particular about my burgers being done enough. I don’t want it cooked to death (ha ha), but I don’t want it to moo either. Just the tiniest bit too much pink and I lose my appetite. I’m happy to report that every burger I’ve got at Smokey Bones has been done exactly the way I’ve wanted. No sending burgers back for this chica!
As I mentioned above we always walk into Smokey Bones with a $10 off coupon, so that definitely fits into my cheap budget. For awhile they were even offering a free appetizer if you checked in on Foursquare. Now I think it’s every third check in you get a free appetizer (but with the size of their burgers and sandwiches, we really don’t need one). Most times we leave there wondering how they make any money with their $10 off coupons. But as long as they keep passing them out, we will keep using them.
Okay, so I covered the food, the cost, and the coupons – now what? Oh yes, convenience! Out of all the times we’ve been there we’ve only had to wait twice – once it was 5 minutes and the other time it was 25 minutes. Odd huh? But usually we just walk in and are seated right away. It is great!
So yeah, I give Smokey Bones two great big thumbs up. It is cheap, they have great coupons, and it is convenient. You add in that the food is tasty and I’m a happy Meghan.
