Adam & Eats: Eunice’s Country Cookin’

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for 10 years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

This week we’re going back in time to when I was a little boy.

Once upon a time there was a restaurant in a little house next to a fishing lure factory. One day that house burned down. But that little restaurant didn’t burn up in that fire, no sir, it moved in next to a fabric store where it lived happily ever after.

Located next to Hancock Fabric on South 74th, is the new (for 14-ish years) home of Eunice’s Country Cookin’. Despite not actually being in a house anymore, the place still feels like home when you walk inside. Handmade quilts, potato sacks, old cereal tins, medieval torture devices that turn out to be meat grinders, and other country style memorabilia line the walls of Eunice’s. It really is like walking into an old country home if that home consisted of one giant room filled with tables and chairs.

Like most smart country restaurants, the table tops have been leased out as advertising space. The odd thing about Eunice’s, and it has always struck me as odd, is that you walk in from a bustling parking lot on a busy street and as soon as the door closes, you feel like you are off somewhere in a small town’s only restaurant. It is truly magical.

As always in old-timey joints, the waitresses treat you as one of their own family. Service is a little slower here, but in that "prepared with loving attention" kind of way. Not in a "let me finish this conversation while your food gets cold in the window" kind of way.

Has Eunice’s got you covered if you’re craving country cookin’? Covered with delicious gravy. Overall, the food at Eunice’s lands smack dab in the middle of "good" territory. It is not bad food by any means, but it will never be awarded a Michelin star either. That’s okay though, because Eunice’s doesn’t want a star, they want to serve traditional home-style food. And they do so quite well.

I was a little disappointed to find out that their gravy comes from a mix (tsk, tsk) but the yeast rolls are most certainly handmade and you’ll be hard pressed to find any better around here.

If I were to recommend a few dishes to try I would always start with the chicken fried steak. Eunice’s is battered in the kitchen, not in a factory somewhere, and then smothered in delicious, albeit packaged, white peppered gravy. The meat loaf is also excellent here. It could use a pinch of salt, but other than that it would be perfect for the traditional next day leftover meatloaf sandwich. Another star is the chicken and dumplings. Thick, rich, savory, and creamy this simple dish is perfect for one our growing colder days.

And you can never go wrong with dessert here. Like I said earlier everything here is good.

If you haven’t ever been to visit Eunice’s, be sure to make a point of it. They’re sure to fill your belly with southern hospitality and they’re always happy to see new faces.

Until next week, good eating to you and yours.

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When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.