# I ordered tacos today **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 12, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100 "2011-09-12T22:04:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/61 "2011-09-13T17:10:06Z")
> [@mnemosyne](#): > > Did this happen in Stittsville? Because I know for a fact that my sister put those employees through her meat-less burger training camp after a job interview there! šŸ˜› The Stittsville McDonalds is the closest McDonalds to my house, and yes, yes it did happen there. Wow. ETA: Does your sister live in Stittsville? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/62 "2011-09-13T17:13:43Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > ā€¦ > C: Great, Iā€™ll have the tuna sandwich, with cheese, and I want it grilled, and hold the tuna. > > W: Coming right up. And see Jack Nicholson in _Five Easy Pieces_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8) ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/63 "2011-09-13T17:17:48Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Hah! I went to a Burger King once and was told they were out of burgers. I amusedly asked how in hell they could run out of burgers and was told that a shipment of buns had been delayed and they ran out of hamburger buns and wouldnā€™t get anymore until the next day. This was at about 3:00 p.m. It was probably a long night for the evening crew. I went to a KFC at about 6pm and they were out of chicken. ALL chicken. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/64 "2011-09-13T17:25:59Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > My wife had the converse happen. > When we were in Florence (Italy, not Arizona), she ordered a ā€œlatteā€ at a cafe. The waitress looked at her strangely and said _just_ milk? We both laughed and said that ā€œlatteā€ was short for ā€œcaffe latteā€ in the US. I made the opposite mistake once in Milan in college - I was on spring break crashing on a friendā€™s couch there. I wasnā€™t a coffee drinker at all in college, but it was really late, and I was really tired, and I wanted to stay awake at the jazz club. And I didnā€™t really drink alcohol either then, but I wanted to drink \*something. \* I donā€™t speak Italian, but my friends insisted that I speak Spanish, so I ought to be able to figure out enough Italian to order my own damn coffee. So I ventured ā€œun caffe, per favore,ā€ and got an espresso. Which Iā€™d never had before in my life - to this day I drink my coffee very milky with a lot of sugar, and never past lunchtime. I choked it down at about 11 pm, and I think I was still awake for my 7 am train to Rome. ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/65 "2011-09-13T17:27:06Z")
Went to KFC around 7:00 pm and there was a sign on the door stating they were out of chicken but feel free to come in order something else. ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/66 "2011-09-13T17:34:58Z")
> [@Hippy\_Hollow](#): > > I doā€¦ is this an Austin Whataburger thing? FTR, it was at the one on Barton Springs & Riverside, and the other one was on Lamar just north of 2222. > > There was also the time that I ran into the same mentally challenged (autistic?) guy in different Whataburgers. He would talk about his Mustang incessantlyā€¦ I guess he traveled from Whataburger to Whataburger preaching about how bad ass his car was. Noā€¦but i do love Whataburgers! Just checked cus of your name. ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/67 "2011-09-13T19:22:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > The Stittsville McDonalds is the closest McDonalds to my house, and yes, yes it did happen there. Wow. > > ETA: Does your sister live in Stittsville? Hahahahaha! It was a shot in the dark! She lives in Kingston, actually, but had a job interview there just this summer. She often includes imitations of McDonaldā€™s employees when she tells us about any new place she visits, and I recalled that you lived in the area. To my knowledge, she has caused havoc in the brains of McEmployees in PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, QuĆ©bec, Ontario and Vermont. She takes a bizarre pride in getting her Big Macs her way! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/68 "2011-09-13T19:50:33Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > And see Jack Nicholson in _Five Easy Pieces_: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wtfNE4z6a8) Brilliant! ---
**Author:** ![Paranoid\_Randroid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paranoid_randroid/32/18_2.png) [@Paranoid\_Randroid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paranoid_Randroid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/69 "2011-09-13T20:18:15Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > Then I noticed what was odd about the enchilada sauce. It took about ten seconds to pinpoint their recipe: brown gravy from a powdered mix, with chili powder added. This reminds me of the time my SO and I went to Panda Express (of all things) for dinner one night. So ā€” I mean ā€” this is _Panda Express_, not exactly some exotic transport directly out of China. But the lady in front of us was nevertheless _baffled_; she had no idea what was going on. She wanted rice. With brown gravy. How ā€¦ how could they possibly serve rice ā€¦ without brown gravy!? That doesnā€™t make any sense!!! šŸ˜• (New to this part of the south, the brown gravy/rice thing was completely new to me.) ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/70 "2011-09-13T20:41:44Z")
> [@zeldarae](#): > > Went to KFC around 7:00 pm and there was a sign on the door stating they were out of chicken but feel free to come in order something else. I once walked into a generic London fried chicken place at about five to closing and drunkenly announced ā€˜I want to buy all your chickenā€™. Ok, it was all really shitty and I got it dead cheap as it was five minutes from the bin, but damn it felt awesome to say it. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/71 "2011-09-13T21:18:17Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > I once ordered an itlian sub at Dā€™Angelos: lettuce, onion and mayo. I got lettuce, onion and ketchup. Who the hell puts ketchup on an italian sub?! That place is awesome! Not sure how the ketchup got in there though, they usually let you tell them what to put in the sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/72 "2011-09-13T21:27:22Z")
Ignore my last post, Iā€™m dumb. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/73 "2011-09-14T00:14:53Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > I went to a KFC at about 6pm and they were out of chicken. ALL chicken. This happens far too often for a chicken restaurant. KFC has neen out of chicken (out, not in the fryer, but actually OUT) three or four times in the last ten years, at three different stores. Joe ---
**Author:** ![KinkiNipponTourist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9bcb4/32.png) [@KinkiNipponTourist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KinkiNipponTourist)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/74 "2011-09-14T15:55:42Z")
I was in a Japanese restaurant in CA last year. They had ā€œnasu dengaku,ā€ which is eggplant (nasu) with tasty sweetish miso (dengaku) on top. I ordered it, and was served lightly grilled eggplant with shaved bonito flakes on it. No tasty miso sauce! I told the waiter Iā€™d asked for dengaku, not fish flakes. ā€œThat is nasu dengaku. Dengaku means ā€˜eggplantā€™ in Japanese.ā€ No it doesnā€™t, dumbass. Apparently they copied the names of menu items from somewhere and donā€™t understand what they mean. Bummer. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/75 "2011-09-14T16:42:38Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > Thank god Peru and Bolivia are safeā€¦ Hey hey nowā€¦dont knock it šŸ˜‰ Chile actually helps me become less of a picky eater- it masks the taste/texture of things I wouldnā€™t normally be willing to eat if I could fully perceive them molesting my tongue. And it helps with portion control since some things are so hot its hard to eat too much of them! The only things I dont care for with chile is fruit/vegetables, as in pico de gallo (not the stuff they serve in restaurants, REAL pico de gallo). I dont mind fruit with lime juice, since it enhances many fruitsā€™ already mildly acidic tastes. But adding chile powder gives it a strange combination to me. Maybe because I didnā€™t grow up with it- my fiancee is like "Ew, how could you _not_ eat fruit with chile powder on it? šŸ˜ƒ Not everything is overpowering. If you ever had a good mole sauce (Mo-le, not a sauce derived from terrestrial mammals as I originally assumed) there are a very complex interaction of flavors that can taste quite good together in a way you wouldnā€™t assume could work. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/76 "2011-09-14T17:46:27Z")
[Chili (pepper)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_pepper) [Chile (country)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile) ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/77 "2011-09-14T19:12:45Z")
> [@Ephemera](#): > > [Chili (pepper)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chili_pepper) > > [Chile (country)](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chile) ā€œChileā€ for both in Spanish. And ā€œchilliā€ in Britain, India, and maybe some other places for the fruit. Itā€™s not uncommon for some foreign spellings to bleed into English, particularly when it comes to food. I believe ā€œchileā€ is fairly common in places like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/78 "2011-09-14T19:35:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > ā€œChileā€ for both in Spanish. And ā€œchilliā€ in Britain, India, and maybe some other places for the fruit. > > Itā€™s not uncommon for some foreign spellings to bleed into English, particularly when it comes to food. I believe ā€œchileā€ is fairly common in places like Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. I just looked through a number of my cookbooks (one Mexican, one Cajun, one Thai, one a general ā€œspicy foodā€ cookbook) and they all use the spelling ā€œchileā€ for the pepper except for the Thai one, which was written by an Australian, in which case itā€™s ā€œchilli.ā€ ā€œChiliā€ is the traditional spelling for the pepper in American English, so far as I know, but it seems to me that itā€™s quickly being supplanted by ā€œchile.ā€ I personally use the word ā€œchileā€ for peppers, and ā€œchiliā€ for the dish. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/79 "2011-09-14T22:21:38Z")
One of my best friends is from New Mexico and chile is practically a religion there, so I know chile and chili are fairly interchangeable for the pepper. I was just explaining what **6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast** was getting at, which **Incubus** either didnā€™t get or just ignored. If it was the latter, then I guess Iā€™m the one that got whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Atomic\_Mama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b5ac83/32.png) [@Atomic\_Mama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atomic_Mama)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100/80 "2011-09-15T01:11:40Z")
I will say that Alaskaā€™s ā€œChinese foodā€ is THE PITS. Egg fu yung (by which I judge ā€œChinese Foodā€ ā€“ OK, my palate is relatively uneducated, but I had missionary grandparents in Western China in the late 1890ā€™s ā€“ the genes should have passed down!) comes with flour-thickened, yellow fur-real GRAVY. Eeeecch. I never made that mistake again. Belfast, Maineā€™s EFY is passable to horrible. Depends on which ā€œChineseā€ restaurant you eat at. And a Brit filmmaker I met and worked with in ChiTown (it was a film about blues) was a vegetarian. He ordered a Whopper without the meat. I thought it was kinda strange. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-ordered-tacos-today/596100.md?page=5)