Posted on 12/19/2015 6:06:11 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
In America, chain restaurants get a bad rap. We blame them for the spike in obesity and the death of the family dinner. We demonize them as “the core of what is wrong with our food system.â€
No wonder our bougie, West Coast friends shun Bloomin’ Onions and Big Macs in favor of meals from farm-to-table gastropubs and “undiscovered†ethnic food joints. And it’s not just them. Food — obscure, locally sourced, painstakingly chef-crafted — has become a defining obsession, a “measuring stick of cool,†as New York magazine put it. Today, a quarter of Americans eat organic products on a regular basis, up from 13 percent a decade ago. The number of Americans who regularly eat hummus has jumped 200 percent since 2000.
That’s all well and good. We love fancy fine dining; we love divey food trucks with “C†ratings from the health department. We pretty much love any place that offers things to put in our mouths in exchange for currency.
But we also love chain restaurants. And those elites who smugly dismiss them as disgusting or “insidious†ignore the very important role these places play in our culture and economy. Not to mention, a lot of them serve really good food. We make repeat visits to Chili’s for the famously jingled baby back ribs or to Carl’s Jr. for the Western bacon cheeseburger. Chains deliver unique and specific flavors, tastes you can’t get anywhere else.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
As with most “these are failures” stories I would LOVE to fail my business to the tune of being a multi million dollar company.
On that note, I’m off to find some chow.
In 2000, I didn’t know what hummus was. Now I make it from scratch about every week. As far as my household is concerned, it’s the bomb dot com.
Those are my favorites, too. I must be the only person in the state who does not like shrimp. I can eat them in egg rolls and certain kinds of dip but not shrimp by itself. I do not know if something happened when I was young or what. I love red velvet cake but my daughter can not eat it anymore. When she was just a kid, I made one and then she got a stomach bug and associates that with the cake.
Also, some chains are just plain stupid:
Claimjumper?
Really?
You're going to name a restaurant after a horrible crime just because it sounds 'westerny'?
No dice.
It’s been maybe fifty years since I ate in a restaurant anyone could call high-end. I figure it’s the rich people keeping them in business because to my end of the economy, those places might as well be on Mars. Nor do I yearn to.
How many people do you think live close to affordable, five star restaurants? Food snob Freepers should understand that "great" restaurants cost a good deal and don't always give the quality they're promised.
My wife and I go out West frequently and always try to find good non-chain restaurants. Some of the eateries are very good/excellent.
But we've also eaten at some non-chain places which promised great food but weren't much better or better than some chains.
We like a number of chains. On our trips half the places we eat at are chains. We know what we're getting.
Bottom line: I'd rather have very good at a decent price than great at an exorbitant one.
I eat at olive garden twice a year, panara every other month, Culvers once a month, and Chipotle once a month. Rest of visits are to local casual resturants.
Pizza Hut; Chick fil la; Taco Bell; Mickey D’s; Artic Circle; Burger King; Arbys; KFC oh I could go on and on...love the fast food places...
Once in a while I go to a China Buffet; or Chuck a rama or to Olive Garden....
Now I gotta go, made myself crave a Arbys French Dip with fries and a shake....
Well for those of you that can tolerate Applebees:
Do their MysteryValue promotion for the price of a stamped postcard. One a day. They send you the gift code entry via email.
I would eat there every day if I had one close enough until this promo ends.
Google it if you want to try it. Most of my free gift cards have been for $10 but I have gotten $5 and $25.
I will even do the get a free piece of chicken at Churchs for doing a survey.
What the chains do have going for them is their coupons.
I don't mind some chains, but when I travel, I tend to look for local restaurants. Most are very affordable and I like to sample the local cuisine. I figure I can go to Applebees or Red Lobster at home.
A couple of years ago, I was in Raleigh and tried a local joint called Big Ed's. The best homestyle southern cooking anywhere. Plus I had enough food left over for 2 more meals.
I love local places. When we travel, we do serious research on the local watering holes!
BTW, I lived in Canonsburg for about a year. I had the best Gyros ever there. Polish and Italian sausages and Pizza were the best.
Even better: no matter how fancy any beer is, you don’t own it just because you bought it, you just rent it.
But somehow IHOP gets it right every time - for years and years. :)
Hummus-about the only good thing to come out of the Middle East.
We’re in Steubenville, and while I’m not a gyro fan, my husband and kids are. With Greek fest each summer and an excellent down town place, they are spoiled. I’m more of a European peasant food fan, so our local Italian restaurants suit me more. When the grandparents have the kids though, it’s “don ton” Pittsburgh!
My son had to fast for about 26 hours before a medical test this week. I took him for a big Cracker Barrel breakfast an hour before he had to stop eating.
Sadly, the test showed he has Crohn’s disease. He’s still in the hospital.
Canonsburg...Sarris...nom, nom.
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