Southern Tart

Since Tart is on my route to Lindy Grundy, I've been meaning to stop for a bite, especially after looking at their menu of a protein and three sides for only $15.99. All their meats are grass fed, and they offer fish and vegetarian choices for those who don't want beef, pork, or chicken.

The restaurant is part of the Farmer's Daughter Motel, which explains the small print on the bottom of the menu which says they will give you half off your meal if you jump in the pool with all your clothes on, and fully comp your meal if you jump in with all your clothes AND your cell phone!

Although the interior space is comfortable and welcoming, I loved the outdoor patio, which had nice touches on the tables like these flowers.

The outdoor patio on a warm Southern California afternoon is the perfect place to retreat from the busy traffic and commotion of mid City.

They are famous for their chicken, so they combined their most popular protein with a contribution to support GLAAD (and to counter the negative attitudes and sentiments of that other place that is famous for serving chicken).

The cornbread was a generous portion, but a bit dry. The honey butter helped make it a pleasant side.

They have bottomless mimosas for $15 from 11am-4pm everyday, but I opted for a spicy Bloody Mary, which had a nice kick from the horseradish and the alcohol. If you are driving, I would recommend only ordering one!

Since this was my first time here, I had to get the Fried Chicken, and since this was a Southern based menu, I chose the collard greens (cooked with chicken stock and turkey hooks), confit garlic mashed potatoes, and simple salad with balsamic dressing. I was surprised that the fried chicken had a wet coating of slightly sweet honey glaze since I was expecting crispy skin, but the chicken was very juicy and had a nice slightly spicy flavor. Adding hot sauce to it helped it tremendously (since I like my Southern food with Tabasco). The collard greens were some of the best I've eaten, with plenty of flavor from the chicken stock and turkey hook, and not at all overdone with either time or grease. Even though I don't usually order mashed potatoes, I loved these, especially since the garlic confit added a wonderful depth to the side dish.

I wanted a bit of chocolate after my meal, so I chose the chocolate cake for $5, but it lacked both the chocolate flavor and decadence that I wanted. I ate two bites and left the rest. My server, Michael, noticed and asked what was wrong (it's always a good sign when a server in any restaurant sees a barely touched plate and asks why). I told him what I disliked and he offered a replacement, but I was full from my meal anyway so I declined. He promised that he would tell them and that the next time I came in that my dessert would be on the house. This is the kind of service that insures my return to a place, even if the food is not perfect, the fact that they care about their customers and want to improve on what they do.

The bill came with a twinkie :)

Even though it was about 90 degrees and humid out, I didn't jump in the pool this time (even though I wanted to), but I will dress in more "washable" clothes next time and try more of their menu!