Because of Mrs. Cad, I know exactly how far it is to the nearest El Pollo Loco (946 miles - Lehi, UT). When we are in Vegas or LA, she insists every lunch is at an EPL. To surprise her I find the marinade recipe online and so I get some split breasts and marinade it for 2 days. Get some charcoal going and voila, made at home EPL chicken. She’s eating it and I kinda expect, “Holy fuck! This tastes just like El Pollo Loco!!!111ONEONEONE” I ask her what she thinks and she was matter-of-factly, “You should have made this with tortilla, beans and salsa.” i.e. it did taste like EPL chicken but she was extremely unimpressed.
So what stories do you have of a recipe/meal that you were sure was going to get you accolades and despite every success got a lukewarm response from your audience.
Every year, my family expects to have this greasy monstrosity of a casserole called Cheesy Potato Bake for Christmas day. I’m not the only one who doesn’t like it, so when I inherited the job of cooking for Christmas I decided I was going to make a clean break and find a different potato dish.
I found a great recipe for “loaded baked potato” casserole made with honest-to-god mashed potatoes and sharp cheddar and bacon bits and other tasty things, and served it up to a rousing chorus of “we’re not having cheesy potato bake?”
ugly ripe tomato, I had that happen with Thanksgiving. My inlaws generally appreciate fine food, but really wanted the “classic” green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole.
I once_once!_made veal Marsala for a big family dinner. They all ate it, but my dad noted that he’d “improved it for me” by dumping tomato sauce all over his. My fault for even having tomato sauce in the house, I guess.
