I’ve never been a “foodie”. And as Matt will tell just about anyone we meet, I tend to be picky. What I don’t think he realizes even after almost nine years of marriage is just how far I’ve come. I didn’t even eat salad until late in college and even now what I put on my salads is pretty scarce. Ham, cheese, and croutons with a side of lettuce anyone? Meanwhile, Matt will eat literally anything put in front of him except cucumbers. He will absolutely gag if he gets even the smallest piece. But Liam seems to be taking after Matt’s palette and that is just fine by me.
My mom tells a story of a time when she went to McDonald’s just after moving to St. Louis. She ordered a ‘ham biscuit’. She took a bite and went back to the counter to inform them she had received the wrong biscuit. It turns out that what she was wanting was a ‘country ham biscuit’. St. Louis’ McDonald’s did not have such a thing on the menu.
Years ago, I met a cousin from up north. He informed me he had never had grits before. I couldn’t wrap my head around that as I tended to have grits for breakfast every now and then at home and almost every time we went out for breakfast as a family. Even just a few months ago, I attended a wedding where one of the dishes was shrimp and grits (YUM!!). One of the ladies at my table was from St. Louis. As we were going through the line she asked what grits were. To be honest, I was stumped at first. I wasn’t sure what grits were…just that I’d eaten them all my life!
All of this is to say that different parts of the country have different types of food. And a lot of the food I am accustomed to is just ‘food’ to me not ‘southern food’.
On Friday, Matt, Liam and I tried out a restaurant called Roost. Fried chicken with a side of a lot of southern.
The white pepper gravy on the mashed potatoes was VERY good and can you really go wrong with adding bacon to macaroni and cheese? Matt got some deviled eggs as well. We missed out on the fried okra, collard greens, coleslaw and any of the homemade pies. One thing I haven’t had here in a while is some GOOD sweet tea. I got some ‘sweet’ tea at Roost but it wasn’t up to my southern very sweet standards. I needed some Ben Hall or Grandma Blevins tea to truly make my meal complete. Come to think of it, I have some tea packs and plenty of sugar here. Just might have to make a ‘whole mess’ of sweet tea this week.
Afterward, we went down the street to an ice cream place that had just opened. While the choices were nowhere near Jack Frost in Marion (nor were the prices!!!) it was just the sweet treat I needed. Liam was less interested in the ice cream and more in the magnets and the balloon he received.
I have to say, Bozeman has quite the assortment of restaurants to try out but it’s going to take us a while to get even close to tasting testing even a just a handful. Bring it on!