# Spaghetti in restaurants **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 8, 2014, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178 "2014-03-08T06:55:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2014, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/101 "2014-03-10T23:52:13Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What do you suppose your purpose was in composing this part of your post? Free verse! Hey, I _like_ **Johnny L.A.**'s food comments. They give me inspiration and ideas for dinner when it’s my turn to cook. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/102 "2014-03-11T06:32:50Z")
Dirt? I pass. I like Parmesan cheese, though. Along with the Italian seasoning that comes in a shaker. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_Merton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Frank\_Merton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_Merton)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/103 "2014-03-11T08:11:50Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I worked as a dishwasher in a restaurant back when I was in high school. Spaghetti was cooked, drained, portioned out by weight into baggies, and put in the fridge. When a portion was needed, they’d dump the pasta (sans baggie) into a strainer and put the strainer in a pot of boiling water that was only used for this. Once it was warmed up, they’d just pull the strainer and dump it onto the plate. So, I can easily imagine the cook not waiting for it to drain completely or not giving it a shake or 3 to get rid of remaining water. And I can see it being starchy water too, as we didn’t serve a lot of spaghetti (it was more of a breakfast food place), so they probably only changed the water daily. Let me know where this is so I can put it on my list of places to avoid. Such spaghetti would taste like rubber bands. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/104 "2014-03-11T11:39:54Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Dirt? I pass. I like Parmesan cheese, though. Along with the Italian seasoning that comes in a shaker. Ah, a true gourmet! ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/105 "2014-03-11T12:11:25Z")
> [@Frank\_Merton](#): > > Let me know where this is so I can put it on my list of places to avoid. Such spaghetti would taste like rubber bands. No it wouldn’t. That’s pretty standard in many places that do a lot of pasta. You cook it to about 30 seconds shy of al dente, then finish it off just before it’s time to plate. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/106 "2014-03-11T12:59:25Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Dirt? I pass. I like Parmesan cheese, though. Along with the Italian seasoning that comes in a shaker. Much like your taste in movies - your taste in food has been summed up in a single thread. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/107 "2014-03-11T13:19:10Z")
> [@Frank\_Merton](#): > > Let me know where this is so I can put it on my list of places to avoid. Such spaghetti would taste like rubber bands. Rubber bands are the state pasta of Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![Frank\_Merton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Frank\_Merton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank_Merton)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/108 "2014-03-11T13:23:04Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > No it wouldn’t. That’s pretty standard in many places that do a lot of pasta. You cook it to about 30 seconds shy of al dente, then finish it off just before it’s time to plate. I avoid such places, although I will admit there are a lot of them who commit atrocities like that. There are clues (taking a look in the kitchen is one if the meal promises to be pricey), and spending an hour or so having to deal with bad food is pricey regardless of the amount of currency. I have been known to take one taste of the spaghetti, stand up, calmly ask for the bill, and leave. Of course that is just part of a good meal. There are good guides to the better places for decent and not overly expensive meals available for most cities so it isn’t that hard. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/109 "2014-03-11T13:32:50Z")
You have no idea how they cook your pasta. Based on your first post, I doubt you’ve ever even cooked pasta. It’s impossible to cook dried spaghetti so that it has the consistency of rubber bands. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/110 "2014-03-11T13:39:15Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > It’s impossible to cook dried spaghetti so that it has the consistency of rubber bands. Tell that to the lunch ladies at my junior high school! The memory still burns decades later. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/111 "2014-03-11T13:41:50Z")
My high school’s pasta was mushy. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/112 "2014-03-11T14:04:17Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > What do you suppose your purpose was in composing this part of your post? The post I quoted reminded me that I needed to make pasta. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/113 "2014-03-11T14:06:11Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > My high school’s pasta was mushy. Yeah, the problem with pasta is the mush factor when it’s over cooked. Rubber bands? Somebody is confusing pasta for calamari again. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/114 "2014-03-11T14:12:47Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I like Parmesan cheese, though. Along with the Italian seasoning that comes in a shaker. And hot red pepper flakes. Gotta have hot red pepper flakes! :o ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/115 "2014-03-12T04:42:26Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > And hot red pepper flakes. Gotta have hot red pepper flakes! :o You’re welcome to it. I don’t want my spaghetti to taste like Indian curry! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/116 "2014-03-12T12:23:15Z")
This thread gets weirder every time you post in it. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/117 "2014-03-12T13:00:23Z")
Hey–if it had salt in it, it would clearly taste like Mu Shu Pork, so what’s so weird about the idea that the utterly bizarre notion of putting Italian red pepper flakes in a standard Italian tomato sauce would suddenly make it taste like Indian Curry? You might as well express skepticism about the CLEAR FACT that putting peanut butter on toast makes it taste like Beef bourguignon. So let’s hold back with the “weirder” comments from a completely reasonable comparison like these and that one. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/118 "2014-03-12T13:19:40Z")
🙂 You’re so right. I’m not sure what I was thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2014, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/119 "2014-03-12T13:51:36Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > The post I quoted reminded me that I needed to make pasta. I have made fettucini alfredo before, and it turned out extremely well. That is not a random comment–I am telling it to you so that my own questions won’t seem to come from someone who just has something against people making their own pasta or something. In that sense, you can see that my comment about the pasta I made served some purpose in communicating something I thought it was important for my reader to know, and which I thought (rightly or wrongly) my reader might be interested to know. ---
**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:** [March 12, 2014, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178/120 "2014-03-12T15:45:42Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > You’re welcome to it. I don’t want my spaghetti to taste like Indian curry! :eek: Well, in an attempt to educate, let me introduce you to a common (and delicious) Italian dish called [Spaghetti all’arrabbiata](http://abc.go.com/shows/the-chew/recipes/spaghetti-arrabbiata-mario-batali). Although add some turmeric, cumin, coriander, and perhaps a little fresh ginger, then you’ll have something that tastes a bit like an Indian curry. Mmm…curried spaghetti. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spaghetti-in-restaurants/683178.md?page=7)