Oh God yes. I am just sitting here in awe of what 12 hours in liquid will do to a big-ass chunk of meat. Wonderful.
Yep. One particular food that came from the Quebecers and has gained currency solely because of how disgusting it is sure does get balanced out by McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Jr, KFC, Popeye's, In 'n' Out, Five Guys... Not to mention the mildly gussied up fast food that are all of your chain restaurants. I mean, Jesus, an American looking down his nose at another country's food is like a Greek calling another country lazy.
Music time! I saw Dylan when he came to Vancouver last month, and watching him perform this song absolutely blew my mind. Best lyrics ever.
Random question for the board - what's your opinion on chain restaurants? I treat chain restaurants, as said by Ghettoastronaut, as classier McDonald's. When I'm going out to eat with friends, I don't go to the absolutely wonderful sushi bar or local hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant unless I know that everyone likes sushi or Mexican food. Going to Applebee's or Olive Garden or Buffalo Wild Wings is much more likely get something that everyone is okay with, which is the point of going out to eat with friends. It's like the kind of beer that you have at a party. When I'm buying beer for myself? Harpoon, Sierra Nevada, Bass, or Anchor Steam. When I'm buying beer for a party? Coors Light. It's predictable, reasonably palatable, and most people will drink it with no problem. I guess it's just that I consider going out to eat to be less about the food and more about the people I'm going out with. As long as the food is decent and not ridiculously overpriced, I'm perfectly satisfied by Applebee's as opposed to the fancy restaurant a couple streets over.
Fuck Applebees, Olive Garden, TGIFriday's, Ruby Tuesday, all those shits. They're "American Food" at its worst. They take the simplest food and cover it in butter and salt. I literally can't eat that shit because it's too salty or straight up gives me the shits. Most of the time it doesn't even taste that great. I feel like they think that if they cover it in salt or butter, or make it super sweet, that you'll be fooled into thinking it is tasty. I would rather have a small amount of good tasting food. Even if it is more expensive, you also usually are at a nicer place to enjoy your meal.
I pretty much only eat fast food when I am on the road and have no other options. Otherwise when I eat out it is locally owned restaurants about 95% of the time, and usually will eat at a chain only if that is because the person I am dining with selected it. There are exceptions of course (Capital Grill is fantastic and this is coming from a Midwest person). But I would honestly rather eat at home than Applebee's
I'm spoiled because I live in a major city and have a giant wealth of food options of all varieties within walking distance of my apartment, but yeah. Why would I sit down and pay ~$20 for a plate of pre-cooked, re-heated shit? Not happening, ever. Also, I am a pretentious snob, so there's that. Capital Grille is hit or miss depending on location, but the one in Center City Philly is pretty solid. Steakhouses are an exception to the "No Chains" rule, because when a steakhouse really does it right, it isn't doing anything groundbreaking.
I agree with the rest, but how can you hate olive garden? I'll agree that it's not gourmet food, but I can't imagine how someone could hate everything on the menu. I'm not a big fan of the chain restaurants, but I give olive garden a pass. The best of the chains I've ever ate at is Ruth's Chris, but that's way too expensive to do on a regular basis. I refuse to pay money for that trash and when anyone voices a concern I tell them to buy their own shit. I would act a lot less like a beer snob if people didn't make jokes about what I drink and then tell me bud light has the best taste. How can it have the best taste when it doesn't even have a taste?
Chuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch. I mean I dig good food and have many friends that do. When Im with them we'll try the nicer places and experiment with new things. Not everyone is into that and you can't gamble on a new place every time. Applebee's though, is still over priced for the quality of food. Nothing there is really any good and it's semi pricey. Buffalo Wild Wings has good wings at decent prices, Olive Garden's food is tasty enough for the prices. Some of the issue I have with local places is either, one they try to be fancy and over charge the fuck out of you, or, two, have very inconsistent quality.
See, and I don't care for Ruth's Chris. Frankly I don't care much for steak so I judge steak restaurants by their other things (I like the fish, apps, and cocktails at capital grille). Ill admit to random cravings for olive garden's salads, but haven't been there in years. The most benign chain to me is Chilis. I don't mind Chilis.
I really wish I had a picture of the look on my face when I read that so you could see it. I would eat there five days a week if I was wealthier/lived closer to one.
All this talk of fast food is making my hungry. The only problem with eating the local fare vs a chain restaurant is that you never know how its going to be. Last week in Florida my brother and I tried to eat at as many local places as possible. It was a coin toss. Sometimes the food was good/great and other times it was "meh" at best or the server had a shitty attitude or the place was dirty etc. The last night there, we stopped at an Outback and the food was good, the server was nice, place was clean etc. Exactly what we expected/wanted. That being said, fuck Applebee's. I don't know how they're still in business. Same goes for Elephant Bar, Cheesecake Factory & TGIF's. Olive Garden is horrible. In every way except unlimited salad and bread sticks. Last time I was forced to go there I ordered the Chicken Parmesan. It tasted exactly like chicken strips from the bar with canned marinara on top. Ugh.
What the FUCK?! Chili's is the worst offender of all of them. Two of the worst meals of my life were there. Fake, over salted, fucked up, low grade plastic food. "this isn't Messican enough, add more cumin!" They even fucked up the 2 for 1 drinks. Everyone says "Yeah it sucks, but 2 for 1!" No you retard, there's barely enough liquor in those margaritas to get a fly sauced let alone you. Plus all that damn sugar in the mix, holy crap that hangs you over. Then they cover the rim of the cup in salt because that's so goddamn native. Two things piss me off royally. Bad Italian, bad Mexican. Both of those are so retardedly simple, cheap to make that it is an affront to god to fuck those up. You have to TRY to F it up. You have to have absolutely no talent in this world or the palette of a sorry biped that ate too much paste as a kid to cook those poorly. Yet here we are. Bad Mexican might piss me off more with the proliferation of dirt cheap taco joints. No, you're right. It's not a meal unless neon orange cheese is melted over a frozen hunk of chicken scattered with 4 pieces of tomato cubes representing salsa. Therefore, Olive Garden and Chili's can suck a burning load of magma cum in the hottest depth of hell. Somewhere in the ring of Dante's hell meant for userers and the avaricious, the founder of Olive Garden is having his asshole filled with endless breadsticks that he later eats as his only sustenance, and the only thing to quench his thirst is the over salted, burnt, gloopy marinara his shithole "restaurant" serves to the criminally stupid, lazy, fat.
I always get a salad. They don't have bad salads. Applebees, on the other hand, somehow manages to fuck up a salad. And I never really thought of Chilis as mexican.
That's because Applebees gets your salad in a bag from their corporate distributor. Then pass the savings on to you. Last time I went to Crapplebees I got a quesadilla burger because I self mutilate with my free time. Barely made it home before my colon turned inside out. Prison rape does less internal damage. STILL BETTER THAN CHILI'S.
I just realized after reading through this that I rarely go out to eat with friends anymore. Everyone comes to my house (at least twice a month) for home cooked food. Sometimes my friends come cook at my house, but usually I just make dinner and they bring the libations. I much prefer that to paying $12 for a shitty salad at some chain joint.
Clearly your expectatations were just too high with this whole Mexican restaurant thing you've dreamed up