Dining Out - Indiana, Holiday Inn Express, Richmond, IN

We had driven from Mt. Pleasant to Addison, Michigan to begin our trek on the World's Longest Yard Sale. Along the way on U.S. Highway 127, we noticed a group of buzzards by the side of the highway having a meal. As we drove closer, I noticed that four of the five buzzards were flying up and away. However, one of the buzzards decided that into our truck was where he wanted to fly. Yes, he flew directly into the passenger side rear view mirror. The mirror which is next to the window that I had raised only seconds before. The mirror landed on the approach ramp 1/4 mile behind us....You don't want to know where the buzzard was.  

Anyway, as my grandmother used to say, I told you all that to tell you this:

By the time we reached the beautiful, clean and absolutely perfect Holiday Inn Express room in Richmond, Indiana, we had no desire to drive anywhere in search of a meal for dinner.

We were excited when the clerk told us that there was a restaurant on site. After a brief freshen up, we went back downstairs for dinner. We found a booth near the bar and were pleasantly surprised to find our own personal flat screen TV in the booth.  PERFECT!  The Presidential Debate was minutes away from starting so no need to rush dinner.  We could dine and watch at the same time.

Lunch had been snacks in the truck on the Yard Sale Route, so we were ready to rest and dine.  

We started with Baked Spinach Artichoke Dip, tortilla chips, a Gin and Tonic and a Lemon Drop Martini.  The drinks were strong and cold, the dip was hot and bubbly which equals a perfect start for the meal.  Right?  Well, this portion of the meal rocked.

Harold had his fill of fish from the Great North, so he chose the burger platter. Just a few minor "blips" here. He ordered the burger with pepper jack cheese, the burger had American. We certainly didn't want to wait while they cooked another burger. He requested mayo/mustard. It was never delivered to the table.  But, as mentioned above, the debate was blaring from multiple televisions and there was a lot of confusion, noise, and commentary going on in the bar area.  But still. Notice the green onion tree in his mashed potatoes, you'll read more about them later. Sorry for the blurry picture from my cell phone.

Now to my meal. I chose the special of the night: Chicken Piccata. 

I was given the choice of asparagus or broccoli. I went with the asparagus.  See picture below. That's some mighty squatty asparagus. Plus, a large portion of it was browned. And not browned like it had been sauteed in olive oil or butter. Just brown. To add insult to injury, the poor broccoli was slightly less than room temp.  

I appreciate the thought of putting the green onion tree in my mashed potatoes, but I would have rather the time they spent in frilling up that green onion been spent on actually having the potatoes served hot.

And, last but not least, the chicken piccata. It WAS hot, but the sauce was really thick and almost gummy. As an added surprise, their version included mushrooms. There was not a lot of lemony flavor to the sauce. In fact, no lemon flavor was detected at all. The chicken was tender and I was able to cut with a fork.  But because it was late and I was starving, I didn't re-order something else. 

I give them props for convenience and great appetizer/drinks, but they dropped the ball on the entrees.