Tuesday, April 30, 2024
Tricia Harris and Heather Gunn love trying out different restaurants but their homebody hubbies don’t.
The two friends found a way around that obstacle: they simply go out together and leave their spouses at home.
It is not unusual for the pair to leave a restaurant with containers filled with enough food to feed a family. They have been known to purchase several entrees.
Harris and Gunn have a valid reason for loading up when they visit restaurants together: they want to sample a variety of menu offerings that they can post a well-balanced review of the eatery online.
The women are the food fanatics behind Unchaperoned Appetite, which is the name of a Facebook page where they post photos of dishes they have sampled along with their opinions about those dishes.
They came up with the name Unchaperoned Appetite as a lighthearted poke at their we’d-rather-stay-home husbands.
Gunn, 40, is a manager at 1890 Marketplace on the Granbury Square and also at 1890’s Deep Ellum location in Dallas. She lives in Fort Worth and has a knowledge of “different spices, recipes and different types of food.”
Harris, 31, used to work at the Eighteen Ninety Grille and Lounge on the square, which is how she met Gunn, and also worked at other fine dining establishments while earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work at Tarleton State University.
She lives in Glen Rose and is a medical hospice social worker. Her territory includes Granbury.
Harris’ husband Daniel works at the Comanche Peak nuclear power plant as a security officer. Gunn’s husband Tony works for Allstate insurance.
The women visit restaurants in Hood County, Fort Worth and other areas such as Walnut Springs and Hico and then write about their adventures online. Shortly after the HCN published a feature article about Granbury’s new Restaurant Anise and owner/chef Megan Potts, the women paid the cozy establishment a visit and posted a glowing review.
Most of their posts are as “Unchaperoned Appetite” and don’t state whether the review is from Harris or from Gunn. However, Gunn included her name on a review of Potts’ Cucumber Mint Vichyssoise with Lump Blue Crab Meat.
“This was the first cold soup I have tried and OMG!” she posted. “It had the perfect amount of cucumber and mint. The lump crab meat was so yum!”
Harris and Gunn also visited another eatery recently featured in the HCN: Weatherby’s Bistro & Juice Bar, a food trailer on the parking lot of the Local Goat Distillery on North Houston Street.
They found the Tutti-Fruity smoothie had “a perfect balance of sweet and tart flavors,” the steak salad was “amazing,” the Turkey Panini was “to die for” and the Mardi Gras Flatbread was “scrumptious.”
Whichever woman posted the review of Weatherby’s artichoke and spinach dip with pita bread was taken straight “to heaven” upon sampling the appetizer.
Gunn and Harris said they enjoy boosting restaurants with their reviews, which they have been posting for about a year or so. However, Gunn said that if she and Harris have a bad experience, “we would be honest about it.”
One of the women felt that an appetizer of Scotch Eggs from Across the Pond in North Richland Hills wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
The dish “lacked flavor,” the review stated. “It was paired with mustard, but I didn’t feel it added anything to it.”
Still, though, the women posted positive reviews of the restaurant’s fish and chips and Shepherd’s Pie, including that they came in sizable portions.
For Harris, being critical doesn’t come easy.
“My own personal philosophy is, if you can’t say anything nice, I won’t say anything at all,” she said.
Both women said that restaurant owners sometimes message them on Facebook asking them to come review their establishment. So far, they’ve reviewed maybe 15 eateries, Gunn said. On Monday their Facebook page showed 324 followers.
Gunn and Harris like to invite other friends as well to join them on their adventures, and they even invite people who read their reviews.
They have posted an invitation for Unchaperoned Appetite fans to join them Tuesday night (Sept. 22) at Restaurant Anise for Potts’ first monthly wine pairing dinner featuring wine from Bull Lion Ranch & Vineyard.
Anise menu choices for this month include Chilled Melon Soup, Bacon Wrapped Duroc Pork Tenderloin and Chocolate Rum Cake.
Reservations can be made online, by email at reservations@restaurantanise.com or by calling 682-205-3376.
The women hope to meet new friends there. Fair warning: Anyone accepting their invitation should be prepared for a group photo.
“We have a lot of fun,” Harris said of their escapades.
After enjoying their meal and photo shoot, the friendly foodies will head home to their patient husbands.
“My husband, he just understands that I love to try new places,” said Gunn. “And he benefits from the perks of any leftovers.”
kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 267
