Restaurants I Want Yakima To Open – Riggs’ Top Five

When I lived in Idaho Falls, one of my favorite places to go was Texas Roadhouse. The food was killer - any place I can get a sweet potato wins in my book. One of the fun draws to the place were the complimentary peanuts. They encouraged you to eat the peanuts and just drop the shells anywhere on the floor. The floor was usually caked with peanut shells pushed up to the side so you wouldn't slip. The next day, the floors would be all clean again. Challenge Accepted!

I love fried chicken. It may be my favorite food. My favorite fried chicken in Yakima is the Wray's on 56th and Summitview in the deli case. KFC is good, too, but I'd love it if we had more of a variety in town. Popeye's has a nice little kick to their food. I'm not sure what that spice is, but it's a spice I've been craving since I was last there. The closest Popeye's chicken is in Puyallup and, trust me, I've been tempted several times to make a road trip just for their chicken. If we had one in town that'd about make me jump out of my socks.

This may seem a bit out of place on the list. We already have an Outback, and Applebee's and other themed restaurants. I don't know, there was something about the T.G.I. Friday's I used to go to where the atmosphere was fun enough with all of the decorations. For someone as ADD as me, all of those things hanging from the walls and ceilings kept me occupied for hours. The food was pretty good, too.

I lived in Casper, WY for a short 6 months. The time my family and I lived there, we frequented a place called Sanford's. I've never seen anything like it before or since. Wyoming-sized portions of food on gigantic plates, giant menus, even larger than average silverware. You felt like this place was built for Andre the Giant. There were enough items on the menu that you could order something different every day for several months and never order the same thing twice. This place was my first for rocky mountain oysters and deep fried pickles. I know that Yakima would love a place like this.

"But, isn't there a Famous Dave's in Tri-Cities?" Yes, there is, and it's not nearly close enough. There's nothing better than seeing everyone's eyes open when they literally brings you a trash lid, turned upside-down and filled with everything they have to offer. Chicken, Ribs, brisket, potato wedges, their awesome corn bread muffins and more. If they opened up a Famous Dave's in Yakima it'd be packed constantly.