Murphy’s Place is located along the Maumee River, in the Fort Industry Square. The building is wonderful (a friend from high school once dated the building manager, and he showed us around during a renovation.) Murphy’s is located in the basement on the corner of the building.

The Jazz: Well, I don’t know if I could call it great, but it was pretty good. The night we were there, the Cakewalkin Jass Band serenaded us, playing a more upbeat, New Orleans style jazz, a style that I rarely hear inside restaurants. It’s not exactly conducive to conversation over dinner with so much brass.

Our waitress was less than friendly to us, but our drinks came out quickly, and she kept them filled, and the food was relatively speedy. At the end of the meal, she asked us if we were planning on staying, and if we were, she was going to ask us to pay the $6/head cover. No thank you!

My beer was really great. It was called Murphy’s Irish Stout (I think?) This was possibly the best part of my dining experience. 

The menu was short. There was not a lot of variety, but enough that everyone at the table was served something that we liked. Most of the food was Cajun, and there was also a lot of comfort/homestyle menus items as well (mac and cheese, fried chicken.) There was little on the menu for the lite diner. My brother and I both got a chicken finger dinner, which, for a chicken finger dinner, was very good. The fingers weren’t the processed chicken fingers that many restaurants serve, they seemed to be made fresh, battered, and fried, right in the kitchen. Mom and Grandpa got the jumbalaya, Aunt Anne got blackened chicken salad, and I’m pressed for what Dad and Grandma got…

Judging the restaurant by their slogan, “Great Jazz, Great Food,” I’ll give them a B-. Based on our waitresses unfriendly demeanor, I’m bumping them down to a C+. Maybe it’s because I grew up going to fancy jazz places. Mom and Dad, you raised an elitist. So, go there, or don’t. Maybe check out their calendar and check out an act you really think you’d like.

Now, I will be the first one to buy a box of Girl Scout cookies from the little Brownie with a runny nose at my door on a cold January day, but I’m going to have to try this out.

That looks delicious! But, it would be something I would have a hard time eating.

Anyway, my soup guilt has started to subside. Not because I am better able to deal with my guilt issues, but because I have been forcing myself into liking it lately. At Trader Joe’s the other night I bought Sweet Potato Bisque (reviewed here by Heat Eat Review) which I will probably have to trick myself into eating.

Sunday my extended family got together to celebrate an award my grandfather won. My Aunt Becky is a wonderful cook, who I have learned a lot from, made a Southwestern vegetable soup that I forced myself to eat. And I liked it. I liked it a lot. It was wonderful. She sent me the recipe, and it’s pretty easy. Here it is:

Southwestern Vegetable Soup
6 cups water
1 large onion, diced*
1 large green pepper, diced*
1 can (~15 oz.) tomato sauce
2 cans (~15 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
2 cans (4 oz) chopped green chiles (drain and rinse lightly)
2 cans (~15 oz.) black beans (rinse and drain)
1 can (~15 oz.) pinto beans (rinse and drain)
1 can (~15 oz.) dark red kidney beans (rinse and drain)
2 envelopes chili seasoning mix (each should read for 1 lb. ground beef, if it says for 2 lbs, just add 1 packet.)
1 can (~15 oz.) corn (drained) OR 2 cups frozen corn+
1 can (~15 oz.) green beans (drained) OR 2 cups frozen green beans+ salt to taste (depending on whether or not you choose salt-free tomatoes and sauce)

Directions:
Chop onion and pepper. Place a large stockpot on burner, set temp to medium. Combine all ingredients in pot being sure to rinse and drain beans and drain chilies before adding. Add the frozen vegies last as the ingredients start to warm. Bring to a boil stirring regularly, then reduce to simmer. Continue simmering, stirring every now and then to avoid sticking, for 2 hours.

Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream, tortillas.

* If you don’t like to cut onions and pepper, you can usually purchase them pre-cut fresh or frozen.

+ The original recipe called for canned vegies, but I personally prefer frozen vegies and I’m really picky about green beans (there are only a few kinds that  like and I don’t care for canned green beans at all). When I make the soup I usually use Bondouelle brand green beans from DLM which are very thin, young, frozen green beans. I break them in 1/2 or 1/3′s as I’m adding them to the soup. I have also used a bag of mixed frozen vegies in place of the corn and green beans when that was all I had.