Ruby Tuesday: A Restaurant on the Rise

Honestly, I wasn't terribly excited by the prospect of eating at Ruby Tuesday. Unfair or not, I had always thought of the place as another bland, sandwich-and-ribs kind of venue. I resigned myself to the idea of losing another ten bucks on a crummy meal.

But as I would soon discover, looks are, indeed, deceiving. Ruby Tuesday is undergoing a transition. From the outside, the restaurant chain looks like a sibling of Chili's, Applebee's, or TGIFriday's - a strip mall leech, or a stand-alone, small-town dining destination. Step inside the restaurant, and that first impression gains credibility. The orange and green, stained-glass light fixtures weigh down the ceilings. Heavily-lacquered tables carry a history of spilled Pepsi and greasy fingerprints. The interior is dark and reeks of "standard family dining establishment."

When the waiter quickly handed my dining companions and me our menus, those first impressions began to dissolve. The menus were clean, cream-colored, with a simple graphic image of silverware bundled in a napkin. As I opened the menu, my eyes bulged at the sight of $18 specials, premium steak dinners, and pasta dishes with unpronounceable names. The diversity of menu items - and by diversity, I do not mean blackened, grilled, sautéed, or deep-fried - indicated that, while the furnishings still bare that sports grille look, the food was Stage One of a much-need makeover.

As it was lunch time, my companions and I opted for the lunch time special: the Ruby turkey burger "minis" with unlimited salad bar. The salad bar was among the most impressive that I have seen. Egg salad, pasta salads, edamame, ripe tomatoes, and crisp, green lettuce - this salad bar would have been a perfectly satisfactory meal on its own.

The Ruby "minis," the restaurant's version of sliders, were delicious. Two perfectly cooked turkey patties, with onion and pickle, sat atop two rolls that were neither too doughy nor too airy. Nicely seasoned fries surrounded the burgers, with a small container of ketchup perched on the plate's edge. No messy Heinz bottles here. And the plates? Square! It is amazing what a plate's shape can do for presentation. Upscale restaurants, food television programs, and popular designers all have embraced the square plate. Ruby Tuesday was wise to do the same, giving their American classic cuisine an instant upgrade.

Aside from those classics, the menu offers plenty of other choices. The appetizers alone represent far-reaching ethnic tastes - everything from Asian dumplings to Wisconsin cheddar fries, with spinach artichoke dip thrown in for that health conscious illusion. Salads and soups are in limited supply; healthier poultry and fish options, however, are abundant. But sandwiches and burgers remain the Ruby Tuesday hallmark. The salmon BLT, bison burger, and crabcake sandwich are nice additions to the old standards - although those old standards are quite good.

Could these more "daring" entrees taste good, too? I will have to return and put them to the test. More importantly, I would return.