Happy Birthday Mama Dinner...Not At Gemato's

I've officially become older than my mom. How is that possible? Well she's been 35 years old for about 1/2 my life or so. Every year since forever- I'm going to guess 5th grade- its been the same question and answer:

"Hey Ma, how old are you?"

"Well I'm 35 now..."

Me with a raised eyebrow: "Okay..."

I suppose the saying "you're as old as you feel" applies here so who am I to argue? Happy Birthday Mama! Being that it was her birthday decided to celebrate by doing dinner by her choice of course. Funny enough she said either Gemato's or Riverside Cafe. Typically Gemato's is the go to place for all special occasions but Riverside Cafe won but I think it was because she didn't want to go far as it's only 10 minutes way.

Riverside Cafe is located in Montgomery, IL on Route 25 (http://riverviewdiner.com/). Don't recall when was the first time we went there but  do remember it was in an old pizza hut. Had the unique Pizza Hut shape and layout. Everytime we have gone there the place has been packed. This turned out good for them as they actually expanded by buying the property next to them and built a bigger more accommodating building.  Last night was no different as the place was pretty filled but we managed to get a table right away.

I started off with an appetizer none of us had ever tried at Riverside Cafe: Corn Fritters. These bad boys/girls were damn tasty. I thought maybe they were going to be like hush puppies - more bread like. These were not that. They inside was actually a cream corn filling while the outside was crispy. They also topped it with powdered sugar. Was totally something I would just go just to eat those.

Corn Fritters

Since it was the birthday girl's dinner, we'll start off with her choice. My mom, during her decision making on where to eat, was hyping Riverview's pork chops. Unlike other folks I know, she actually was very committed to getting what she was talking about. I didn't try them but they did looked and smelled delicious.

Birthday Girl's Pork Chop selection

Their menu is pretty extensive as most diners and offers a plethora of options from breakfast food to Mexican food. Being a last minute decider I closed the menu and waited for my turn. The winning choice- which was a new item to me- was the Chicago Clubhouse. It came with a side of soup- which I ended up picking French Onion Soup.

French Onion Soup after I remembered to take a pic

I'm not an expert on French Onion Soup but this one was very good. Not sure if its cause I've been having soup all week but this one hit the spot yet again. I would be inclined to come back and order a bowl of it on its own.

Chicago Clubhouse

The Chicago Clubhouse was a triple decker made of grilled chicken breast, avocado, lettuce and tomato. I'm not really sure I've seen that offered as a triple decker but it sure hit the spot. Highly recommend it if you're into chicken and avocados. Otherwise pick something else.

Karen was all over the place prior to decision time. She ended up wanting to go breakfast and ordered the Denver skillet. It comes with ham, green peppers, and onions.  It also came with a side order of pancakes. Karen got it minus the onions because they are her arch nemesis. Unfortunately they forgot and left the onions in it. I did try it and thought it was fairly tasty but my opinion does matter as it wasn't my meal.  What did Karen thing? (insert drum roll here) She liked it! Obviously she ate around the onions.

Karen's flapjacks

Denver Skillet

Lily went off the kid's menu and got a hot dog and fries. Really is hard to screw up hot dogs I think. That's like the ultimate safe option for kids.

Hot Dog and Fries

I will say their fries were pretty good. Thinking they were frozen and not freshly made, but that being said they held up pretty good. And as previously discussed in other blogs there are terrible fries out there. These weren't too shabby in comparision.

For dessert Karen actually made a homemade dessert bar called "Layers of Lemonly Love". She got the recipe off of a can of lemon filling . It's like a creamy version of lemon square. She had made the step-dad's dessert for his birthday a couple of months ago and didn't want my mom to feel left out...or she wanted to try the recipe for the first time. The jury's out on that one. Just kidding she wanted to make it for my mom out of LOVE as the name of the dessert implies.

Layers of Lemonly Love was truly lovely

Definitely will put it on the make it again list for Karen. Hits the spot and isn't too filling (no pun intended) after a good meal. Its safe to say it lives up to its name.

Outside of suffering from being sick and allergies dinner was fantastic celebrating my mom's birthday. Maybe we should do it again next year...

#FamilyTimes #NotUrkel,

Reef