Beef is not part of my normal diet. I don’t consciously avoid it, but I find it less flavorful than pork, not as versatile as chicken and far less tasty than seafood.

I will often go a week or more without eating any meat. Despite having spent some time as one, I do occasionally feel bad for vegetarians. Sometimes it’s nice to have a big juicy steak and I had been craving one for a few weeks. With that in mind, I gathered a group and set out for a steakhouse.

Logan’s Roadhouse is a national chain, spanning 23 states. Its “signature” is the all-you-can-eat peanuts, the shells from which the chain encourages customers to toss on the floor. Despite worries that someone would slip on the shells and sue, and a Facebook group encouraging Logan’s to end the practice, Logan’s encourages the in-house “littering.” It’s a nice touch, and gives children something to do while waiting for the food to arrive without parents having to worry about the mess.

A basket of hot buttered yeast rolls arrived before we ordered. The light, fluffy rolls, coated in a post-bake helping of butter, were a nice treat. Before the appetizer order even went in, we had more food in front of us than we knew what to do with. Still, the loaded potato skins arrived piled with cheese and quite crisp, but not distinct from skins served anywhere else in town.

Likely influenced by the success of Outback’s Bloomin’ Onion, the Rockin’ Onion Petals were an interesting take on the old onion rings concept. The cut is similar to what the British refer to as “chips” – wider and shorter than shoestring french fries. The sauce is a spicy, though not hot, derivative of Thousand Island dressing. I found the hot wings to be quite tasty, even though the sauce was ordinary. A very light breading imparts a crispiness not usually found in ordinary wings, giving them a nice mouth feel.

For entrees, we chose three different cuts of steak – T-bone, top sirloin and ribeye. Logan’s does a decent job cooking steaks, but the quality varied greatly at our meal. The Onion Brewski Sirloin is an interesting concoction of beer-braised onions sandwiching a plump steak. The cooks delivered the steak at the requested medium temperature. The onions, strong black pepper and a bit of salt provided excellent and somewhat complex flavor. Logan’s did a fair job with this one.

The T-bone steak comes from the portion of the cow just forward of the top sirloin and actually contains two cuts of meat on one bone. On one side of the “T” is the meat often sold as the New York strip; on the other is the porterhouse. This dual presentation helps rank the T-bone as one of the higher-quality steaks. We ordered the steak medium rare, but it came out somewhat rare, reminding me that the best waitstaff always clarify what customers and the restaurant mean by cooking temperatures. Still, this was a wonderful dish. The meat was just slightly crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with a mouth-watering chewiness. The blue cheese crumbles lent a sharp saltiness to the very simple, direct flavor of the T-bone. Everyone at the table enjoyed their dishes, but continued to ask for “just another bite” of the T-bone.

Ribeye steak comes from just forward of the T-bone, is tender and a bit more “marbled” (a fancy word for “fattier”) than other cuts. It should, therefore, have more flavor. I ordered the ribeye and fried shrimp rare, but it arrived medium-rare. It had a distinct peppery note to it, but was otherwise unremarkable. In fact, I wished I had ordered the T-bone instead.

The fried shrimp had a light batter that was not at all crisp, but had some flavor apart from the shrimp. Our separate order of popcorn shrimp was quite battery, oily and mostly without flavor apart from the batter. But with popcorn shrimp, diners have to expect that.

In all, this dining experience was neither overly good, nor was it bad. While I probably won’t return to Logan’s anytime soon, we had decent steaks. But aside from the T-bone, nothing here was extraordinary. We did, however, get a lot of food for the price. And sometimes that counts more than anything else.

— Our anonymous food reviewer gives new restaurants a six-week grace period before reviewing. To comment, contact Managing Editor Andy Dennis at 783-3262 or at adennis@bgdailynews.com

LOGAN’S ROADHOUSE

2920 Scottsville Road

• 846-2771

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday

Price range: $9.99 to $25.99

Libation situation: Full bar

Smoking: Yes