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 ...
I’d forgotten about Sarris Candies.
I like the hotdogs at Costco. Sam’s is good too.
At work those burritos that came in the pink plastic bag were great! It was 2nd shift and that can cause a shift in cuisine desire.
I have Crohn’s Disease too and remicade kept me in remission for a decade. Your son needs to get on remicade (or Humira) ASAP!
Been in Australia for over two weeks now, food is much better overall. From milk to eggs. Real thick creamy high protein milk, eggs are almost red, no bleached eggs, all are natural.
Common hamburger meat better than store bought steaks.
The leatherwood honey tastes like scotch whiskey, the orange juice is thick and sweet, i can go on and on.
America has to sterilize everything, or make it grow so fast it tastes like putty.
And the food is cheap.
Its going to be a sad day when my vacation ends.
Read # 44.
It’s never about the taste of the food in the chains...it’s the service that sucks.
Went to Cracker Barrel, TGI Friday’s, Applebee’s, Red Robin, Uno’s, Longhorn and Olive Garden while on vacation. The only place where the food was HOT was OG. The only place where the server was polite, OG. The only place that was clean, OG.
The rest, the food was cold, the servers inattentive, and in in all cases just plain a waste of molecules.
Writing “Some chain restaurants are good, some are bad” would say the same thing but wouldn’t fill as much space in the birdcage liner.
I love brio tuscan grill. It’s a chain
Like Cracker Barrel while traveling the highways. Food is consistent in quality, quantity and taste. Wife and I eat “lupper” ( late lunch, early dinner) and rarely need a late night snack. Out West we like Ted’s Montana Grill. For burgers, Five Guys is good but their fries are the real treat. For lighter and healthier fare, we like Crispers but their delicious gelato shakes can destroy any health benefit. As we live in a tourist destination, there is a high number of independent and good restaurants. Problem is trying to get in during season but that is offset by bargain pricing during the off season.
Hummus = chick peas and garlic.
Garlic is GOOD
Chick peas are like slimy sand.
No hummus for this yahoo, thank you very much.
Same goes for refried beans: If they weren’t any good the FIRST time you cooked them, why on G_d’s green earth would you cook them AGAIN?
I agree with the author. I’ve probably gotten sick from eating at a “mom and pop” half a dozen times, but never once from a chain.
And it makes sense. 10 people get food poisoning from a MacDonald’s, lawyers will be fighting each other to file suit - they smell DEEP POCKETS. 10 people get food poisoning at a Mom-and-Pop, and lawyers won’t touch them - no money to be extracted.
Bottom line - Mom and Pop’s have a lot more ‘latitude’ to screw up, and it shows.
It took the author a long time to get to the real reason chains are popular: consistency. Chain restaurants are a product of the automobile and the interstate highway system. Ray Croc discovered that you don’t have to be the best, but you do have to be good enough and consistent about it. If you are driving across the country and stop at a McDonald’s and are satisfied, when you get to the next town and see a McDonald’s, you already know about what you are going to get. In a choice between mom and pops unknown food, which may be great or terrible, and McDonald’s pretty good, people go with the known quantity. Chains lower people’s risk they take with their food money.
No refried beans? Come on. I love me a bean burrito.
I go there because they’re there. Good or bad still depends on the owners and management. Many times, good is enough. Good is what makes all those other places exceptional. Chain restaurants even serve a divine purpose: seriously, if we got rid of Little Caesar’s; church youth groups would be decimated.
Didn’t see a mention of In and Out Burgers but they are highly regarded in the areas they serve (Southern CA is my area). Fresh meat for the burgers (not frozen); ditto for French fries, and a simple menu that ensures fast service despite noon-time mobs.
Burger King also has Oreo shake. Mmm...
I have to admit, Cracker Barrel is about as close to home-cooking as you can get. Also the portions are generous.
I don’t like Olive Garden because I’m not a sauce, noodle and bread aficionado.
Haven’t been to a Red Lobster in years but what I remember was good.
Wouldn't want to eat the food from such places too often, but they do fill a tasty niche once in a while.
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