Man Bites Dog: Serious Critic Reviews a Chain Restaurant
Photographs by Robyn Lee
Craig LaBan, restaurant critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer, recently reviewed the first Legal Sea Foods restaurant to open in Philadelphia. He liked much of the food he ate there (the raw bar, chowder, fried clams, fish and chips) but was left cold by other dishes (the "leaden" stuffed shrimp, desserts, "odd" "everything" tuna).
What's interesting is that he decided to review it at all. Serious restaurant critics in cities with vibrant independent restaurant scenes like Philly typically thumb their noses at chain restaurants and don't deign to review them. But places like Legal Sea Foods, Houston's, and The Cheesecake Factory, to name three, are in fact decent restaurants that should be taken seriously. I have had decent to very good meals at all three. That doesn't mean that there aren't loser dishes to be had at them, but chain restaurants don't have a monopoly on loser dishes.
I guess what I'm saying is that not all national restaurant chains are created equal. There are chains with pretty awful food (Olive Garden, Applebee's, Cracker Barrel), and there are chains with damn good food. We allow ourselves to glorify In-N-Out, Five Guys, and other burger chains because, well, they're burgers, reasonably fast food. And they are great, don't get me wrong. But chain restaurants cooking more upscale food are regarded as beneath contempt or at the very least unreviewable by fancy-pants local or national restaurant critics.
But eaters vote with their appetites and their pocketbooks. Restaurant critics should do the same.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
20 Comments:
The New York Times did sorta review Red Lobster.
Adam Kuban at 8:32AM on 07/26/07
Ed, I love your columns and insights, but I have to respectfully disagree, In n Out Burgers, in my opinion, are truly outstanding. Within 20 minutes of landing at Los Angeles International Airport, I'm dining on my favorite "double double" with extra grilled onions....heaven on earth!
CambridgeFoodie at 8:35AM on 07/26/07
There are some gems among the lot. I'll sit at Olive Garden and eat nothing but the breadsticks and salad ("Yes, kids, send all your olives and pepperoncini my way, dad doesn't mind ..."). And Cracker Barrel does offer rather nice rocking chairs in their stores! My mom recently replaced her ancient chair for rocking babies to sleep with a Cracker Barrel rocker. Around here, though, the one restaurant is refered to as "Crapplebee's". I tried one of Tyler Florence's so-called dishes at one of their local spots, and I can honestly say the frozen Bertolli version is better. I refuse to blame Chef Tyler for this as I seriously doubt that's how he intended it.
LunaPierCook at 8:48AM on 07/26/07
The truly upscale chain restaurant is a trend to watch. Don't know if you have an Oceannaire restaurant in Philly but if not, you should hope you get one soon.
Monica_Reinagel at 9:22AM on 07/26/07
My bad, CambridgeFoodie, I did not mean to dis In n Out, so I went back into the post and changed it to more clearly reflect what I think. The point I was trying to make is that critics accept the fact that burger chains can be good and bad, but they don't allow the same latitude for more upscale chain restaurants. I love In n Out, too.
Ed Levine at 9:49AM on 07/26/07
Although I agree that there are quite good meals to be had at upscale chains - I had a particularly memorable fried loup with a lovely half bottle of sancerre once at the legal seafoods in Logan airport - I don't think that these restaurants need to be reviewed. The entire point of these high end chains - just like low end chains - is that they are serving a predictable meal. You should be able to have the same experience at the Legal's in Faneuil Hall as the one in Philly as the one in Palisades Mall. What purpose would a review serve? Quality control? Yup - same as the one in Boston, check. Independent restaurants, on the other hand, are presenting a new experience and a review is necessary to interpret this experience and guide the diner...and the restauranteur.
HippoParade at 10:12AM on 07/26/07
the problem is wading through to find the few edible things on the menu. take the cheesecake factory, for example. there are about one million things on that menu. i have only been there a few times (under protest), have never had anything even close to above average, and cannot for the life of me figure out why people are willing to stand in line to eat there. if by "predictable" people mean "predictably so-so at best," then the "upscale" chains are serving their purpose. the kind of people that routinely eat at those places don't read serious restaurant reviews anyway, but i guess i would appreciate knowing what to order when i do find myself in a mall or an airport with no other choice.
carriebwc at 11:35AM on 07/26/07
I've always had a soft spot for chains (I recently wrote up my take on Five Guys and Bonefish Grill, which I was unwise enough to try on the same day). But I suspect that has something to do with living in NYC. Occasionally I feel the need to go bland and generic, maybe just to counter all the independent and varied dining options at my disposal. It’s not logical but there’s something grounding about chain restaurants.
Krista at 11:39AM on 07/26/07
I am very fond of Boston's local chain Bertucci's. Consistent quality and the margarita pizza is pretty awesome.
leilacohan at 12:30PM on 07/26/07
carriebwc..."predictably so-so at best" describes every chain restaurant I've ever tried..many times under protest. As I recall, Legal Seafood was in Miami about 5-10 years ago.. notice "was"...very so-so.
elaine at 12:52PM on 07/26/07
I like Bertucci's as well. I wrote about it in Pizza: A Slice of Heaven, a book I wrote about pizza all over the world.
Ed Levine at 12:53PM on 07/26/07
Amen. A good meal is a good meal is a good meal.
sawyerriley at 1:40PM on 07/26/07
Amen for The cheescake factory
64sqftkitchen at 3:23PM on 07/26/07
My distaste for large chains in general, be they restaurants,coffee shops or clothing outlets is the generification of America. Every place looks and tastes the same.No thank you!
gwcafe at 4:31PM on 07/26/07
when i lived in boston we loved legal seafoods in cambridge. so much so it was where i celebrated my graduation from schoo c. 94l. i at two (one in d.c. and one in nj) recently and it was absolute swill. awful. perfectly awful. you know, we didn't consider it a chain then. there must have been like 4 or 5 maybe in the boston area.
Dish at 9:23PM on 07/26/07
I'm sorry, but The Cheesecake Factory is not a "decent restaurant." I've eaten at several locations through out the country (normally when Christmas shopping at the mall) and I've never had anything there that was not a complete and utter disappointment.
SAMiller at 12:00AM on 07/27/07
Yup. In-n-Out totally rocks. It's one of the benefits of living in Southern California. As far as chains go, Applebee's has got to be one of the worst. My wife and I have tried it 2 or 3 times over the years and the food is just flat out inedible. I cannot imagine what the people we see going into these places are thinking. One chain that I will admit to liking very much is Claim Jumper. I've eaten about half the menu and only had one or two items which were not outstanding.
I also ate at a Legal Seafood 7 or 8 years ago in Boston and had quite an excellent meal. Couldn't really complain about it at all. Sure, it may not be as good as Red Lobster, but then again, what is! LOL!
FullOn at 1:09AM on 07/27/07
I've had a great meal at Legal at National Airport in DC, and an awful one downtown there. For those of us who review restaurants as part of our job, when we live in a city who's never had, for example, a Morton's Steakhouse, should we write about it? We get lots of inquiries about that kind of place from diners around town. Is it different when it's not as expensive as Morton's? A Cheesecake Factory? What about an inexpensive chain like In 'n Out? (BTW, what should I order when I next get to where they are? What's the off-the-menu thing folks ask for?)
It's easy to say "Don't review them," but the question them comes, "For whom are you writing this?"
lemons at 2:39PM on 07/27/07
Jeez, Cheesecake factory and Applebees....Americanized famous dishes in unreasonable portions. Though I must say, if you articulate your distaste and dissapointment in a letter witten to the owners (via the corporate website) you can definitely score some free food vouchers. I wrote a letter to Carraba's explaining that I am a Philadelphia native living in Savannah, GA, and that I wish hey could raise the bar from salty shrimp (delicious, local versions of hich can be found in the river) and Subway loafs of bread. I got a 50 dollar voucher and a personal tour from the kind chef at Carrabas. All I wanted was for them to think about raising th bar.
Richard III at 8:57AM on 12/24/07
I have to say, I like Cracker Barrel Breakfast. Their "mama's french toast" is the best french toast I have ever had and that what keep's my hubs and I going back. The lunch and dinner menu is mediocre, but I say definitely head back for the french toast, and then see how you feel.
mizzle13 at 5:44PM on 02/05/08