I think Delta Burke would be pleased

Saturday was Roxey’s birthday (or for you 50 Cent fans, birfday) and after watching a bunch of Arrested Development episodes and taking a nice nap, I got all dolled up and went to fetch Rox and her best friend Adonna. We headed down to New Brunswick for dinner at Delta’s, which is located by the swanky new townhouse development. For those of you familiar with New Brunswick eateries, it’s right by Frog & the Peach (très overrated in my opinion).

Delta’s opened in 2000, and so it was after Rox’s and my time in the Bruns. Neither of us had been there before, but Adonna had been there several times and had recommendations. And before I go onto the menu, as an aside let me say that I was on. On! I’m not a typically funny person, but every once in a while, say two or three times a year, I will have an evening where I am on comedic fire. It’s never when I would want it to be and there’s no predicting it. On New Year’s Eve last year on the Circle Line to Hell with Wendy and her friends, I was unstoppable. One of Wendy’s friends said to her after the Death Trap Raft Trip, “I didn’t remember Megan being so funny.” That’s because I’m usually not.

Anyway, we arrived at Delta’s a few minutes late for our reservation, so we sat at the bar and had some drinks, while we waited for the rest of our party to show, and then for our table. Delta’s has a very nice long bar and a live band playing jazz – but not so loud that you couldn’t have a conversation. I had a Mango Tango Martini, which was quite good. Others in the group had pineapple mojitos, which were a big hit, and sour apple martinis, which were also quite good.

After punishing us for being late, the hostess finally seated us. The service in general was just okay. But the food more than made up for it. Delta’s is basically a fancy pants southern soul food restaurant. And while I would not say that Delta’s babyback ribs are as good as Indigo Smoke’s (because, while they were good, they couldn’t hold a candle to Indigo) I will say that the food was generally fantastic.

The fried chicken was excellent, though not as good as my dad’s. Seriously, though, no one can beat my dad’s fried chicken. The macaroni and cheese? Un.Believable. Seriously, in a class by itself. Better than Indigo Smoke’s. I didn’t have any candied yams, but Roxey raved. And the collard greens eaters at the table had similar kind words. And last but not least, the buttermilk biscuits. Truly great – crispy on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside. I’ll be dreaming about those biscuits. And unlike Indigo, which charges you for the sides, every meal came with two sides included.

Complaints – I really wished the mashed potatoes had come with gravy. And I wished I had room to try the red velvet cake, but the servings were enormous and I pretty much wanted to die by the end of the meal. The overall price was reasonable – there were 7 of us, and including our share of the birthday girl’s meal, it came to $35 a person. And remember – we were all having drinkie-poos.

Adonna raved about the oxtail, which she had on previous occasion. While she liked the smothered pork chops she had on Saturday, we both wished we’d had the oxtail. Oxtail is tough to find, and I definitely plan on having that on my return trip to Delta’s.

I really think it’s hard to beat New Brunswick on the drink and restaurant front. I wish it were closer.