Panchos! Yow!
Cars do tend to break down at the least convenient places and/or times.
Where is this culinary disaster so I can be sure to steer clear of the area? Was just sticking with cold beer an option (after all doesn’t sound like driving was going to be a concern)?
Texas barbeque is great, I’ll give it that. I was surprised to learn that there’s barbeque joints in Canada! Some Canadian friends here have assured me that it’s popular there. They didn’t seem to be pulling my leg. One insists he grew up on the stuff.
The one we were at was along one of the SE loop roads between 45 and 10. It was actually during that tornado storm that blew in one Saturday about two years ago. The carburator got wet and we needed a place to wait while we let it dry out plus we were starving 'cause we were on our way back from a regatta down at Mud Lake. We figured, hey, Tex-Mex is always edible. Wrong. Lots of congealed queso and grease. The one redeeming thing was free sopapillos which I never see in Texas.
I agree, Applebees is awful. It is below mediocre, just blech. Once my SO and I went, only once mind you, and we ordered wings. They were practically raw and we had specifically asked for them to be cooked EXTRA WELL DONE. Yuck, nothing more disgusting than undercooked chicken.
You just reminded me of my favorite restaurant ever, the 1640 Hart House, in Ipswich. Yeah, I hit my head on every doorway (I’m 5’10" and the place was really built in 1640), but the food is divine.
You might remember that Pancho’s opened a couple of restaurants in the Austin area a few years ago, after having been out of the market for over 20 years. Both restaurants had lines out the door and around the building when they opened, with everyone reminiscing about how they loved Pancho’s in their youths. It didn’t take long for nostalgia to wear off and patrons to realize that there were about 5,000 other places to get better Mexican food around here. IIRC, both locations closed in less than a year.
You said you don’t see free sopapillas in Texas. Is it just the free you don’t see? Because I see cheap sopapillas all the time.
Ah. Mustard makes me feel pukey if I as much as smell it. Maybe this is just my problem. But I still think…mustard? Barbecue? WTF???
I took my kids to a Long John Silver’s fast food seafood once. On the way in, I was telling the kids that I had not eaten there in years (of course, now I remember why I hadn’t eaten there in years- the food is awful).
Anyway, it spawned a new game amongst the kids called “Let’s Describe Long Jonh Silver’s Food.” They then begin to call out adjectives: “Greasy!” "Gooey! “Slimey!”
“Stale!” “Chewy!” “Salty!” etc. It’s kinda funny how long this game can go on.
We went there once to try the place, and decided immediately that the patrons were too obese for us to be able to eat there again. That was before we even ate anything!
I have never gotten a decent meal at Don Pablo’s. My God, that place sucks. I would honestly rather be eating at Taco Bell, where at least I’m pretty sure my taco isn’t microwaved, and where I’m only paying $3 for the meal.
On the Border is a basic, bland sit-down Mexican place, similar to Don Pablo’s, but I still had good experiences with the one in Gainesville, Florida. The servers were all fantastic, a cut above the mediocre service we usually got in that college town. I love their jalapeno vinaigrette salad dressing, and once asked my server if I could buy a cup of it to go, to use on my salads at home. The guy went and filled an extra-large to-go styrofoam drink cup with the dressing, and didn’t even charge me since I had ordered a soda with my meal! Of course I left him a HUGE cash tip. Another time some friends threw a surprise birthday party for me there, and we were all treated like royalty.
Well, that’s an interesting way to rate a restaurant :rolleyes:
Except for salty, I’ve never encountered any of those adjectives with Long John Silver’s. Most of the LJS’s in our area have died out, but I think they had some pretty damn good fish (and chicken) for a chain seafood place (in fact, it’s often cited on the foodie boards as being an example of a very good fast food). Usually, the fish is perfectly crispy with the thinnest, yummiest, tempura-like breading on it. And those left over crumbs of deep-fried batter that end up at the bottom of your box, delish!
edit: Doesn’t your fish come made-to-order when you go to an LJS? If it doesn’t, then that’s part of the problem.
Colophon writes:
> Seems to me that if you want to eat out in most parts of America, you can
> choose between maybe a dozen different chain restaurants, most of them
> cruddy. Don’t you have real, locally owned restaurants anywhere?
This thread is full of wild exaggeration. The situation in the U.S. is very mixed. There are lots of good restaurants. There are lots of bad restaurants. Some places seem to only have chain restaurants, but other places have many good local restaurants.
No place has only chain restaurants. I live in chain-town (as far as retail, burger joints, service) and there are still plenty of local restaurants.
Applebee’s. The service sucks and the food is overpriced. I’d sworn off sitdown restaurant chains, but people keep buying me goddamn gift cards.
There are two local places my girlfriend’s school friends took us and they were utter crap. I can’t stand Italian restaurants. I can make spaghetti. It’s dead easy. It shouldn’t cost $12. One place the waitress didn’t speak English and must’ve taken a 30-minute break or a 30-minute dump, because that’s how long we didn’t see her for.
Absolutely true. Of course in my current location, you can find just about anything - within a mile of my apartment, I can get Italian in several different places, several varieties of Chinese (authentic), Thai, Laotian, Vietnamese, Swedish, Persian, Lebanese, Algerian crepes, Korean, Colombian, French bistro, various fusion things, Turkish, Japanese (multiple), standard American diner, Mexican (of course), and lesbian haute cuisine - all independently owned, most mind-blowingly yummy, and I’m sure I’m forgetting a few.
But I’ve also found amazing Jamaican food in a strip mall in suburban Florida in a neighborhood inhabited primarily by assisted living communities, and if you go to Bloomington, Indiana, you can have yummy Tibetan food cooked in a restaurant owned by the Dalai Lama’s brother. (I’ve neevr had a good Mexican meal in Florida, true, but I’ve had some amazing Cuban and some wonderful Argentinean food.) The key is following your nose and learning which people you can ask for recommendations in unfamiliar places.
(I did have some truly awful diner breakfast food in rural Ohio once - how can you screw up a scrambled egg and toast, for chrissakes? I can never seem to tell if any given diner in an unfamiliar place is going to be good, or awful)
Anyone who’s been in the Denver area for a length of time has been to Casa Bonita. It’s not the worst restaurant I’ve ever been to, but it’s in the top five. When you add in it’s popularity (admittedly, not due to it’s food), it takes the cake.
Applebee’s is like the French Laundry when compared to Casa Bonita.
Hold the phone, what does lesbian haute cuisine taste like?
And don’t tell me fish.
Well, I think they eat at the Y a lot.