Wynndales, Mr. Chen's, Homemade Pizza

Though I was a little under the weather this weekend, I got to enjoy some of my favorite Jackson hang out spots with good company, food, and drinks.  Thursday night I went with my hubbie's family to one of their favorite spots, Wynndale's Steakhouse.  This place is on Terry Road, somewhere in between the cities of Byram and Terry, in a converted gas station with an unmarked dirt parking lot.

Wynndale's is kitschy for a multitude of reasons, the most prominent probably being its wide variety of Elvis decor.  But the menu is also a pleasant blast from the past.  The main options are ribs, steaks, catfish, or shrimp, with a side (fries, baked potato loaded with large scoops of butter and sour cream, or baked sweet potato that comes with a plastic ramekan of brown sugar and cinnamon), and a trip to the "salad bar."  Salad bar is in quotes because it's a classic southern-more dressing then vegetable options-kind of salad bar.  If you're looking for a place to get a decent meal at an affordable price, and a place you can wear anything you want while eating a steak dinner, this is the spot.

Saturday night, Garrad and I went to Mr. Chen's, the restaurant within the Chinese market on the I-55 frontage road I've mentioned in the past.  I was thrilled to see the dining room was packed with people who were chowing down on some beautiful food.  Mr. Chen's is great because it has all of the Americanized versions of Chinese food we expect (like the fried cream cheese wontons we ordered, which I love), and more traditional dishes all on one menu.  So when you see the food Chinese families are ordering that you've never seen before, you can usually figure out what they got, instead of being totally in the dark.  The first time I went I got a noodle soup with shredded pork and pickled cabbage.  This time I got "Chens Crizy Spicy Chicken," which was not crizy spicy at all, it was just right.

Sunday night, we made our own pizza at home.  I am still trying to perfect a recipe and method for wheat pizza crust, and feel I got a little closer this time.  I prepared the dough, then let it rise just once instead of twice as most recipes suggest, which gave it a much softer texture than my other recent attempts.

Wheat Pizza Dough
1 cup AP Flour
1 cup Wheat Flour
1 tsp salt
.5 tsp sugar
3/4 cup very warm water (100 degrees F)
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 tbsp olive oil

Pour water into bowl of stand mixer, add yeast and leave it to bloom for about 10 minutes.   While the yeast is blooming combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl.  Add olive oil to water, then add dry ingredients and mix with dough hook on low speed for about 5 minutes until dough is stretchy but not too sticky (add more flour if needed).  Move to a floured surface and hand kneed for a couple of minutes, working the dough into a ball.  Put dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel, and let it rise for 2-3 hours until it has doubled in size. (Makes 2, 8" thin crust pizzas.)

We made a plain cheese pizza, and one with cheddar, mozzarella, swiss, onions, and bacon.  I topped a little section of the pizza with some mushrooms I sauteed in bacon fat and a little red wine.