Bob W's Profile
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Actually, in some cases you can go to the BJ's freezer section and get EXACTLY the same dish! And you get it just like the chain restaurant gets it -- in a big bag. Example: TGIFriday's Crispy Green Bean Fries.
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
Not Queens Park Rangers gear? 8
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
I think the whining is due to the mediocre to poor quality of so many of them. At least this board can help separate the wheat from the chaff.
Thanks to the miracles of the internet, I always try to eat local no matter where I am, but after a long day at an amusement park, for example, with tired and hungry kids and wife, sometimes it's any port in a storm.
Which packaging scam annoys you the most
Blondie, May 26!
http://www.blondie.com/strip.php?month=5&year=2012&comic=2012-5-26
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Well, there is a wide range in the quality of chains, which would seem to be why this board exists. If you are simply going to take a no-chains approach, like mike, there's no need to even read this board, and just leave it to the business travelers, parents of young children or teenagers, college kids, children of elderly parents....
In fact, based on the hard line the mods take, I'm somewhat surprised mike's post is even still on here, given that it adds nothing to the search for hyperdeliciousness at chain restaurants (as futile as that search may be).
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
You might ask yourself why there is a Chains board on Chowhound at all, if it's beneath a chowhound to ever eat at any such place.
Why Yelp Sucks!
I have seen nom nom on CH too. I don't like nom nom, or sammies, or brekky, or nummers, or yummo. Perhaps I am just old. 8>D
A Trader Joe's Care Package
Yes, my apologies. I was at TJs today and saw they have two types of pineapple -- Vacuum fried chips and dried baby sweet pineapple. We have the latter and it is excellent.
A Trader Joe's Care Package
That pineapple is really good! But don't you mean dried and not fried? LOL
A Trader Joe's Care Package
Last time I was at TJ's I tried the Wasabi Seaweed Snack. Perfect for a vegetarian!
Tuesday Lunch Bangor/Waterville/Augusta
LOL Yay! Can't wait to bring my family. My wife is a big fan of lobster and ice cream, and has never been to Maine.
Extra thick coffee frappe for me!
This place looks interesting The Pig
But it's quite a departure in terms of how adventurous the menu is. I will be very curious to see how they do.
NB: I am friends with one of the owners of Eatwell DC, so I will not post any reviews of The Pig or any of the other places, but I encourage everyone to give them a try!
To anchovy or NOT to
For sure! The best pizza toppings are the saltiest -- chovies, green olives, capers....
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
Not to be nasty, but perhaps there is allure for people who are not in a position to, for example, buy meat from local farms.
Any new cheap eats discoveries around DC?
Thanks for the great tip -- that place is walkable from my office. I'll give them a try.
Why do you continue shopping at CostCo? I am underwhelmed. What do you appreciate about the warehouse store?
I have noticed a shrinking of the book section at our local Costco (Chantilly VA), but they give the book buyers plenty of space in the Costco Connection magazine.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
That may be true (your last sentence) but the mere presence of this board indicates that we do appreciate the chains that do seem to put forth a little more effort in serving food that is at least one step above mere sustenance.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
So sad. Mrs. W. served gnocchi to the kids last night; they are 7. My dad introduced me to capers when I was 4 or 5, as a topping for pizza (i.e., in 1964-5).
But that article certainly explains why OG is so roundly reviled -- they serve food that by definition sucks. Overcooked pasta is simply not good food.
good eats on the drive from DC to Rehoboth Beach, DE?
Update on Jimmy's. Jimmy, as many of you know, used to run the great Southern Grille up the road in Ellendale, then bolted to open Jimmy's, serving the same delicious food. Apparently there are now two new Southern Grilles in the area, one in Ellendale and one in Seaford. No one is exactly sure about the connections between the three restaurants. Seems to be the same sort of old-fashioned food served at all three. Don't think Jimmy is in the picture at any of them any more (possibly a resident of the Graybar Hotel, but don't hold me to that). 8
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Technically, that is second-hand information. 8
But no argument on the suckitude of OG.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Just did a little Googling. MAD # 106, October '66: "MAD Visits a Typical Johnson Howard's Restaurant." The artist was the great Paul Coker Jr., not the great Jack Davis.
Of course, in 1966 we didn't have Chowhound to tell us whether "Al's Diner" was any good or not.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Yes. It's "known" vs "unknown." Known mediocre trumps Unknown possibly great.
Of course, most people reading this do their research and avoid being faced with the unknown. But we are -- as somone reminded me on another thread -- a small percentage of the dining population.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
That is 100-percent correct. I remember a MAD Magazine spread that originally ran in 1966 (drawn by the great Jack Davis, IIRC). It involved a family on a road trip. The kids were starving, but Dad kept driving by local restaurants because he and Mom insisted on eating only at "Johnson Howard's." When they got to a Johnson Howard's, the parents had stars in their eyes.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
I think you misread my post or don't understand it. I referenced the catalog because it shows that not everything from Sysco is a "meal in a bag." As sunshine noted, you can also order fresh ingredients from Sysco. Most restaurants cannot go out to Farmer John's place to buy his daily harvest of microgreens.
You are claiming that the presence of a Sysco truck automatically makes a restaurant inferior based on some alleged work experience. Perhaps you need to work at better restaurants, some of which might also get stuff from Sysco. Your anecdotal evidence is not persuasive, sorry.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Hey, according to a story I read years ago, that's basically how fajitas got invented. They were originally made with a small piece of meat from the cow's neck that had been getting thrown out.
Similarly, the now-ubiquitous potato skins -- someone said hey, we're throwing out all these potato skins. Let's slap a little cheese on them, throw them under the broiler, and see if anyone will buy them. Of course, then they got turned into bloated monstrosities, but I remember the first potato skins I ever had, at a bar called Spats in Providence. They were crunchy and quite good.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
Agree with ferret and sunshine. I have actually perused the Sysco catalog. You can be a Sysco customer and go one of two ways -- buy perfectly good ingredients and actually cook, or buy precooked meals and zap them. Places that do the latter are the ones that should be reviled.
YOU GOTTA EAT HERE on the Food Network
LOL My kids went through a very short Doodlebops phase. The Wiggles phase was much much longer.
Road Trip up East Coast
"It's where the source is, and has colder water thus sweeter lobster."
There is a really long thread on the Food Media board that you might find interesting.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/560314
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
This is such eye of the beholder stuff. I've come around on Red Robin, whereas I think Ruby Tuesday has fallen way, way off. Chili's has great food photographers, but the actual food is great only if you like salt and fat.
Why is the Olive Garden so reviled?
It's particularly the Olive Garden because the food is particularly bad.
