Doody's - North Branford, CT

I'm a little late with this post but I still want to get it in.  On the day after Christmas, I got together with Judy and Catherine.  I wish that more could have joined us but three members out of the core is still pretty good, and everyone knows I need to get my quality time in with Catt before she heads back up to Boston.  (I'm hoping to head up there soon and add a Boston edition to my bites...)  I picked up the girls and since I was already out in that portion of the state, we decided to go somewhere relatively close by.  We were considering Supreme Seafood but they were closed so our next option was Doody's.  It's located right on Route 80 and just kind of pops up out of nowhere.  We parked on the side and walked in through the back door.  The back door leads into the bar/lounge portion of the restaurant.  We chose to sit in the "restaurant" portion which is located at the front of the building.  The lounge looked okay, but it was noticeably darker and I just wasn't in the mood to sit in those high, long booths that places have in bars.  We were told that we could sit wherever we would like.  There were quite a few people there but there were plenty of available spots.

We sat down at a table that was kind of in the middle of the room.  There were two larger parties sitting at two large tables near the side of the room.  Judy informed us that the room we were sitting in used to be a dance floor and continuation of the bar back in the day.  You could see the wood floor where the dance floor used to be.  The waiter was okay.  Nice but a little too much in your face.  We all had a nice gingie to drink.  I want to comment that there was no actual host stand.  They had the menus piled up on a little table and the hosts were sitting at a regular restaurant table cleaning the menus.  A few things I'd like to point out- 1. They should have a host stand.  The menus looked messy where they were and looked out of place.  2. The hosts looked like random people playing around with the menus and 3. I applaud the fact that they were cleaning down the menus.  I've read that the dirtiest thing you touch in a restaurant is the menu.  I've never seen a restaurant cleaning their menus.  I think it's a great thing because next time you go to a restaurant, take a look at the menu.  I guarantee the pages will stick together due to syrup, or there will be a blob of ketchup or the back, or it might just be greasy.  Knowing that Doody's cleans their menus makes me feel like some things are going right in this world.

Moving on to what we ate...  We had considered getting some apps but after days of ridiculously overeating we thought we should just slightly overeat.  To start, I ordered a cup of New England clam chowder (creamy).  It was DELICIOUS!  I enjoy NE clam chowder but I believe I've posted before that I prefer Rhode Island (clear broth) because of the general taste, sometimes the NE can be too thick, and I can suffer from some lactose issues.  This chowder from Doody's was fan-tas-tic!  It tasted like Chuck's Steakhouse.  The real and original Chuck's Steakhouse.  It wasn't too thick, there were plenty of chunks of clams and potatoes, and it just tasted good.  It was nice and hot and just hit the spot.  I do have to mention about the busgirl.  I was eating my soup and I just put my spoon down for a moment so I could tell Judy and Catt an animated story and the girl just grabbed my soup bowl and then said, "Are you all set?"  So  I am surprised that I actually said something because some times I just let people say whatever without a rebuttal.  But I said, "uh no, actually, I'm not."  There were only about two more bites but hey- I wanted them!  And she should have asked me before just taking the bowl, not to mention that I had my elbows up on the table while I was talking and the bowl was in between them.  I just thought it was rude of her to just reach in there and try to grab my bowl.

For dinner we all decided to order something very different from what we had been eating.  Christmas Eve is filled with fish, macaroni, veggies, cake, cookies and then on Christmas day I made lasagna and eggplant parm, so I needed some meat.  Judy and I both had the steak teriyaki wrap which consisted of tender thin sliced of banger steak tossed in a light teriyaki sauce and wrapped with american cheese, lettuce, tomato, cheese, grilled onions, mushrooms and peppers. The steak was very tender and was cut in slices. It was not like a thin sandwich steak but it wasn't like a big hunk of meat. It reminded me of smaller slices from like a London broil. It was very good. It is served with your choice of regular or waffle fries or sweet potato for a little bit extra. Judy and I both had the waffle. Catt ordered the steak and cheese sandwich which read, tender thin slices of sirloin steak, topped with your choice of melted cheese, lettuce and tomato mushrooms and onions. Catt's steak and cheese was very large. It was served on a sub roll. She only ate half and saved the other for a rainy day in Boston. We all liked and were pleased with our meals. After we were really finished, the waiter showed us the dessert menu, which looked pretty good but they were out of all the tempting desserts. Catt and I just got a coffee so we could chat a little more but no more food. It wasn't too expensive and we had a nice way to end our Christmas season with each other. In that area, there aren't too many restaurants so I was happy that Doody's was there. It's not the best place I've ever eaten but certainly not the worst. It was a nice spot where we could re-hash our holiday events. Not too busy and the food was good. I'm not thrilled with their waitstaff but then again this is more of a pub and not a fine dining establishment. They were young and it was the day after Christmas so I'll let it slide. Overall, Doody's is a good place that I will definitely go to again, especially with my core due to its location. DJ and I plan to go out for our anniversary so I will be back to post with a new bite in the near future. We were also given a lovely amount of restaurant gift certificates for Christmas so I look forward to having new topics! Until my next bite...