Text 19805, 196 rader
Skriven 2009-01-18 04:09:00 av Michael Loo (1:18/200.0)
     Kommentar till en text av Dale Shipp
Ärende: chain food 86
=====================
 -=> Dale Shipp said to Dave Sacerdote <=-

 DSh> Red Robin:  Good Fish& chips, fair hamburger.
 DSac> Don't mind their burgers, but found them overpriced.
 DS> Many are these days.  However, for us the burger is usually free
 DS> (birthday club).

Pretty decent food at too high cost. I don't appreciate
paying for the schtick of AYCE French fries and AYCD sodas
when I don't care for either. If it were all the burgers
I could jam down my gullet, I'd be happy to pay a similarly
inflated price at the expense of people who eat French fries.
I think judging the price based on a once-a-year (or twice)
promotion gives the chain an unfair leg up on the competition.

 DSh> Lonestar:   one visit was enough.
 DSac> Never tried them.  We have another steakhouse chain called
 DSac> "Longhorn Steak House" though, which is probably the worst
 DS> I might have been thinking about Longhorn.  We have both in the area.
 DS> For us, Longhorn is next door to Red Robin.  Our one visit to Longhorn
 DS> was more than enough to say "No thanks".  The Lone Star is a bit more
 DS> expensive, almost trying to be an Outback, but not too great.  We
 DS> might have been twice -- don't think about them any more.

Not fond of the Lonestar - there are so many better ways of
getting one's meat fix, from Texas Roadhouse to the supermarket.
 
 DSh> Red Lobster:  It seems to have gotten a bit better.  

If the quality of the cooks is represented by the likes of
Kathy Pitts, it can't be too bad.

 DSac> My last experience there was over 5 years ago.  It was
 DSac> mediocre.  Haven't been back.  I can sort of understand why
 DSac> a RL would do well in, say, Iowa or Indiana.  Can't figure
 DSac> out how they stay in business in New England, though.
 DS> We had not been for at least that long -- but got tempted back by a
 DS> special they offered on shrimp combinations.  Some of the choices were
 DS> pretty decent, others not.

When I went, many years ago, for a crawfish promotion in Texas,
the food was pretty decent, though the crustaceans had been shipped
in frozen from some distant land.

 DSh> Five Guys: pretty good hamburger -- nothing else.
 DSac> Never been.
 DS> It is a rapidly growing franchise.  When we got introduced to them,
 DS> they had perhaps a dozen stores or fewer.   Now they seem to have
 DS> spread all over.  Closest to you is in Avon, CT (<20 miles).   You
 DS> would probably not care much for them -- no real choice in how done to
 DS> cook.  OTOH, they have free roasted peanuts, one of the good features
 DS> of Texas Roadhouse:-}}  We like them, but put them into a different
 DS> category from the thick, medium rare burger we might try for else
 DS> where. 

That's the thing: if you have a Hap-like craving for burgers and
don't care about the degree of doneness, it does the job well, as
the meat is of decent quality (though a bit fatty for some). Again,
I find the price a bit high.

 DSh> Wendy's:  used to be good, but not the same since Dave died.
 DSac> I agree, but no fair calling in fast food. [g]
 DS> Why not:-}}  A chain is a chain!

But then we'd have to lower our radar to include lots of
places that aren't worth much discussion. I agree about
Wendy's, which is now pretty nasty.

 DSac> I'd add to the list a former member of the RL/OG family: Smokey Bones.
 DS> Never been there.  There is one in Maryland, but fairly far afield
 DS> from our normal track.

Never eaten there, either.

 DSac> 99 - Edible clam chowder, good burgers, good service. Maryanne and
 DSac> I often skip the line waiting for a table by sitting at the
 DSac> bar.
 DS> First time we saw or heard of 99 was on our recent New England tour.
 DS> They were the default for two "on-your-own" dinners.  The coach
 DS> dropped us off, and then picked us up one hour later.  It was
 DS> impressive that they did not blink at "group of 22" when the tour guide
 DS> called it in. Sat us in four's and sixes, but did so quite quickly.  I
 DS> recall writing about them in our trip report.   If they were closer to
 DS> us, we'd probably go back occasionally -- but closest is in PA.

99 has perfectly wholesome food at a perfectly wholesome price.
The stuff is kind of industrial, but if you go with the burgers
or the fried food, you will do fine.

 DSac> Friendly's - Hated them for decades, starting when they were bought

Agreed, but ...

 DS> We haven't been to one in several decades -- and then it was just for
 DS> the ice cream.   Other dishes from them did not get above my radar.
 DS> They closed the only one in Columbia couple years ago.

My friend Ella Lou took her daughter and me to a Friendly's for
dinner a few years back, and I got semi-respectable seafood, much
to my shock and surprise. This I believe was shortly after Hershey
had re-spun the chain off. It was one of the greatest surprises
since the famous incident with fried scallops at Bickford's in
Enfield five years ago (the peculiarity being that the scallops
were excellent).

 DSac> It occurs to me that we could start a whole new echo conference just
 DSac> for discussion of bad chain restaurants. [g]
 DS> And/or the good ones, few though they may be.

Texas Roadhouse!

 DS> Add to a list for comment (good or bad -- we've been to some, but not
 DS> to all):

 DS> Denny's

Utterly nasty. One would be inclined to send the food,
so-called, back, if one had gotten it at a school cafeteria.

 DS> Cracker Barrel

Used to enjoy the food here - plain country heatin' up from
frozen, rather than cookin', bit it wasn't bad for that, and
the portions were fine. Friendly service. The places were
noisy as heck. I hear that the chain is way downhill, though.

 DS> Bob Evans

Haven't eaten at one in more than a decade, but the food I
recall was wholesome and largely fried. I preferred it to
Cracker Barrel even when Cracker Barrel was decent.

 DS> Applebee's

Surprisingly not bad on recent coerced visits. From a 2006
report of one in Arkansas: 
 Surprisingly, there were good things to be said about
 the place. The food was tolerable, the waiter pleasant,
 and Michelob Amber Bock $2.50 for an Imperial pint (12 oz
 are $1.50) ... despite the manager's bustling around, the
 table we got was dirty anyhow; the food came out at random
 intervals (it was hypothesized that the kitchen knew how
 to cook only one burger at a time) ...

 DS> Hard Rock Cafe

Won't set foot in one, general principles; Planet Hollywood
either.

 DS> Ground Round

Used to be okay (I think they were an offshoot of Howard
Johnson or some such, speaking of mediocre chains) but
then downhill, as there was a corporate decree on 1/1/2003
that burgers must be cooked medium-well or above; we used
to go to one anyhow for below-average burgers and average
beers as it was the only such place open after concerts,
plus it allowed dogs.

 DS> TGI Friday's

Horrid. Food preprocessed and rancid, this not made up for
by the fact that beer is served.

I'll add:

Chili's - about like Applebee's

Famous Dave's - mediocre and overpriced

Uno's - decent, if you like greasy cheesy pizza, and overpriced

Bertucci's - okay, but you can do better at a mom & pop Italian
restaurant for cheaper

Hooters - respectable burgers and wings and stuff. One could
do worse, and though the waitresses weren't substantially
cuter than the general population, they had scantyish clothing.

Ruby Tuesday - the worst of the worst. Absolutely. Down there
below Friday's.

 DS> Title: Scotch Eggs
 DS> Yield: 4 servings
 DS> 8    Eggs, hardboiled
 DS> 2 lb Sausage meat

I've posted various recipes for this dish, including this one
- I especially like this one for the irony, given the name, of
the quite generous allotment of protein per person. In reality,
it would benefit from two things: some additional seasoning for
the sausage and a breadcrumb coating for a crispy coating.
___ Blue Wave/386 v2.30

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