Toward the end of today’s Impromptus, I mention the judge in Florida who made a very unusual ruling: He ordered a man to buy his wife a birthday card and flowers — and then take her to dinner at Red Lobster, followed by bowling. My comment: “Hard to think of a more American evening . . .”
Thought you’d like the below letter:
Jay:
I used to work grading & buying seafood on a commercial pier in the state of Maine (the only state without a Red Lobster restaurant, I believe). From our earliest days, Maine children were taught that you get no decent seafood at a Red Lobster.
Fast-forward to a December evening in 1985. Spurred by tax considerations, my wife & I had gotten married in front of a judge in Southampton County, Va., on short notice, and taken off to the Blue Ridge and West (by God!) Virginia for our honeymoon. We planned a dinner in Richmond, and as I got off the highway my wife (from Newark, N.Y.) saw a Red Lobster and told me she had always wanted to eat at one. What could I say? Nothing, of course, so with trepidation I turned in.
It was a wonderful meal. Great service. Food good enough for the gods. Better than I used to get off the wharf.
Our reader goes on to say, subsequent visits, not so much. In any case, he says, “Nothing indeed is more American than the chain restaurant — an object of derision in sophisticated circles, but a godsend to folks like me who are frequently on the road.”
Legal Seafood, Chipotle, Bonefish, Baja Fresh, Ruth's Kris, and Mortons are all chain restaurants. Excellent chains. And two of them even qualify as fast food.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI've had thousands of steaks in my life, all across the country, in more states than I can count.
The second best steak I've ever had was at a small Wisconsin pub in farm country outside of Green Bay where I swear they raised the cow out back in order to deliver the beef to your plate.
The first best? Morton's. A "chain" restaurant that has always had outstanding food, impeccable service, and excellent atmosphere.
Expensive as all heck (especially compared to that Cheesehead steak!), but worth every penny.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI had one heck of a great ribeye steak at a chain called Texas Roadhouse recently. It was at least as delicious (and 1/3rd as expensive) as the ones I've had at Ruth's Chris (awesome) or The Capital Grille (even better).
None of them is quite as good as what I make myself on the grill, of course. I am so good at grilling perfect (thick!) ribeye steaks, my control freak father-in-law forcefully cedes his own grill to me when I visit.
(McCormick Montreal Steak Seasoning FTW! External Link
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Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis put me to mind of this I saw via Newmark's Door
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The crisis of the chain store invading the Upper West Side. No Americanism for the elite.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJay
I end up in MIchigan City, Indiana on a regular basis. One day a fellow was in a home improvement store check out line in front of me and his t-shirt read "Culinary Institute of America". I joked with him that seldom did someone from either CIA spend time in Michigan City.
So, I asked him at which of the big Chicago restaurants he worked? His reply was that 'oh no, I gave up the modest pay, long hours and limited benefits of working in private restaurants and went to work for the Michigan City Red Lobster over a dozen years ago'. His pay, benefits and ability to have a family life are all directly tied to working for this store in the Darden Concept company. Walking into his Red Lobster, you find energetic young people who take interest in a patron as they seat you, servers who are happy to have great positions and food that indicates someone behind the ktichen doors is caring about what you eat.
You might imagine there is often a waiting line at the Red Lobster before you are seated. All too often, I have overpaid in restaurants that certainly could take lessons from this Red Lobster manager and his staff!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe foundation of a chain restaurant's success is consistency. McDonald's and Burger King's success doesn't rely on them making the best burger possible (although they do strive for that at a certain price point). Their consistent quality is why they are successful.
As a frequent "road warrior", a chain restaurant allows me to know what I am going to get as I drive into the parking lot. I do frequent "local" restaurants for dinner (want the local flavor, so to speak) but lunch is usually reserved for a chain where I know what I will be getting (and how long it will take).
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRE: "a chain restaurant allows me to know what I am going to get"
On that note, I'd recommend people avoid the KFC in Bahrain. I don't know what the heck that was...Kentucky Fried Quail is my best guess.
Also, as it turns out that, unlike the rest of that island, they don't dig it when you haggle over the prices. Go figure.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSometimes the seasoning for the meal is sitting next to you at the table.
My wife and I took a cruise for our honeymoon, and the service was outstanding. Anything we wanted, they delivered. We joked often during the trip that if we asked the waiter to pour chocolate sauce on our broccoli, they would have done so with a smile. And do you know what? We likely would have enjoyed it. Somehow God figured out how to connect our taste buds with our hearts. That's probably where the idea for the chocolate sauce came from.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseChain restaurants are hardly the top of the food chain, so to speak, but they usually aren't the bottom either. There was an Onion article a couple of weeks back with a headline something like "Residents Hoping Paradise Buys Out Local Bakery." The article went on to mock the very thought that this might happen, yet I've been in a few "quaint, family owned eateries" where I'll bet the locals were thinking, "Yeah, I wish this would get bought out by someone who would insist on minimum standards of food, service, and sanitation."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBeing from Maine it might have been the first time he had cooked seafood.
I dunno.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDinner at Red Lobster is good. Getting married on short notice, "spurred by tax considerations," at a courthouse is good. No one's saying these things are bad. They're just not great. Not everyone get's great, but there's nothing wrong with wanting it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseMany, many years ago, my girlfriend and I went to dinner at the Boston Sheraton. We had lobster and it was expensive and only so-so for taste. The next night we went across the street to a small, basement restaurant that pretty much only served lobster. It was half the price and twice as good (at least)! Moral: I don't know, but price and glitz don't guarantee anything. Good or bad - I've had some very fine meals at Sheraton.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseFor a while I've not like the derision that chains have gotten.
There's a reason chains become chains, because they're good. We have an excellent barbecue place here in Columbus Ohio, City BBQ (my wife is a Texan and she agrees, so I don't want to hear any southerners saying we just don't know good bbq up in north). It started as a very small local joint about 12 years ago. There are now 20 all over the state and now branching out to neighboring states, and at least the 4 or 5 I've been to in Columbus, all of them are good. There's a local mexican place here with a very similar story (although they had an earlier start and I would only rate their food as good, not excellent)
However, that being said, I think there's a tendancy for chain restaurants to go downhill in quality. I do not like the food at Applebees, TGIFridays, Chilis, Ruby Tuesday, and quite a few others. Pretty much all of the old guard chains are no good anymore, McDonalds and Burger King included (though Wendy's is still good in my book).
Those that are taking their place now, however, are typically quite good; Red Robin, Chipotle, Buffalo Wild Wings (at least for wings), 5 Guys, Abuelo's, etc.
That being said, I do like to avoid chains as much as I can, especially when I travel, just to force myself to try new things.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseRed Lobster was our "payday restaurant" when I was in the Navy. We were a large group, so finding something acceptable to everyone was not easy. Good times.
Then again, according to the Left (*cough* F. John Kerry *cough*), the military is stocked to the rafters with rubes and unsophisticated types, so what did we know?
This does bring to mind, however, how the Left was gaga over John Edwards and his late wife eating at Wendy's on their wedding anniversaries. In theory, that should have offended them from all sorts of different angles. Oh, to have no principles...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJohn Kerry was in the U.S. Navy. He joined voluntarily during the Vietnam war.
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