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At Applebee's, superb food superbly prepared

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Foregound, the Bourbon Street Chicken and Shrimp, in front of Double Glazed Baby Back Ribs. Also pictured, Applebee's giant Margarita and a Knob Creek Old Fashioned. (The Lebanon Voice/Harrison Thorp photo)

Editor's note: This is the first of a weekly series reviewing restaurants in area towns that offer daily excursion opportunities for summertime fun.

DOVER - Nearby Dover, N.H., is home to the Woodman Museum, one of the few mounted police patrols in the area and famed Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson.

But for northern Seacoast foodies it is likely better known as home to the largest concentration of national franchise eateries this side of the Salmon Falls/Piscataqua watershed.

And so with one eye on grabbing a quick lunch and the other on becoming familiar with one of the franchises that might end up populating the Ridge Marketplace in Rochester, we opted to visit the Garrison City to check out the "As seen on TV" neighborhood eateries up close and personal.

Near the old Weeks Traffic Circle (who remembers that restaurant?) we found four such feed bags: Pizzeria Uno, The Ninety Nine, Chili's and Applebee's.

We chose Applebee's, and were surprised when the hostess burst out of the front door to welcome us. She took us straight to a comfortable booth outfitted with a tablet that offered menu selections, trivia games and a terminal from which you could summon your server or pay your bill.

Our server was there immediately and upon request fetched a gluten-free menu for us. After a couple of minutes he returned and was very patient as we parsed the gluten-free options, figuring out which ones worked with the daily specials.

We ordered a Margarita ($4.95) and a Knob Creek bourbon Old Fashioned ($8) along with our lunch, which included salads. For entrees she got the Double Glazed Baby Back Ribs, with french fries and cole slaw. Keeping with the bourbon theme, I ordered the Bourbon Street Chicken and Shrimp, with sautéed onions and mushrooms and crispy red potatoes.

It was a little disconcerting when the drinks arrived 30 seconds before the salad, but after all, this was lunch! Maybe they thought we only had an hour.

The salads came with our 2 entrees for $25 special. With it a couple can get two entrees and an appetizer or a salad apiece.

I got the house salad; she got the Caesar.

Both were outstanding. Mine had surprise bits of bacon and grated cheese, along with mixed greens and tomatoes. However, since they knew I was gluten free, they should've known better than to give me croutons.

Hers may have been swimming in a bit too much dressing, however, both salads were very generously portioned and overall quite good. And as far as she was concerned, the croutons were spectacular, not greasy but very crispy and flavorful.

The entrees were out within a respectable five minutes of the salads, and they were outstanding.

Mine came from the kitchen noisily hot and sizzling, the server noting, "Be careful, it's hot." (ya think?) The chicken was juicy and flavorful, the blackened shrimp were succulent with a hint of smoke and the red potatoes were crispy, crunchy and basically melted in your mouth. If every place I get breakfast had breakfast potatoes like these I'd be a happy man.

The sautéed onions and mushrooms were incredibly flavorful and perfectly complemented the chicken and shrimp, standing up to them bite for delicious bite.

Her ribs were tender, full of flavor and fell off the bone. The cole slaw was neither tart nor sweet, more to help you cleanse your palate between rib bites than a showstopper. The french fries were crispy, without being oily and tasted better than most, with a real potato taste.

With way more food than we could eat there was plenty of food left to take home for the next day's lunch plus a snack for the dog.

After finishing packing the doggie bags, we relaxed and got to enjoy our cocktails, basically for dessert. The muddled orange and cherry in my Old Fashion was kind of like a dessert in itself. Her Margarita, which came in a huge glass, was a king-sized disappointment, the mix somewhat vague and kool-aid like.

While we sipped and sat, we played with the table tablel, looking for a trivia game ... until it said "Add a dollar to your bill." Hey, restaurant CEO, lose the trivia game, or make it free.

I did, however, enjoy paying the bill on the tablet, except when it came to leaving a tip, it gave me only a choice of percentage of the bill, not a flat amount. I left our waiter 18 percent, a $6.84 gratuity.

Overall, at Applebee's, we found the food of a surprisingly superior quality, the preparation of the food outstanding, the service better than most and the price hard to beat.

Total cost for two entrees, two salads, two cocktails plus tip: $48.20.

Her rating: Three and a half out of five stars.

His rating: Four out of five stars.

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