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In Videos: 'Chicho's Weak Sauce' Commercial Parody
Overexcited voice-over, in-your-face shots of steaks and chopped vegetables, smiley customers—at first glance it looks like a commercial for your local Southwest-themed chain restaurant, but after about 25 seconds you realize something is off. Way off. "Seriously, you might want to stay home and have leftovers because this sauce is really f**kin' bad," advises the commercial for Chicho's new Weak Sauce. Maybe I do want steak that tastes like my grandmother's bathwater. For only $29.99, how could I resist? Watch the video after the jump....The Healthiest Chains in the U.S.
The magazine Health has named its healthiest top ten sit-down chain restaurants, top five fast food joints, and the best all-around indie restaurants in the nation. At No. 1 in sit-down chains? Uno Chicago Grill. Say wha? Yeah, it has a load of good-for-you options if you forgo the deep dish. Top fast foodery? Noodles & Company. Best independent? Blue Hill in New York City, run by Dan Barber....Houston's Doesn't Suck: What's Your Favorite Slightly Fancy Chain Restaurant?
I was out with a couple of food writer friends a couple of weeks ago at a fancy-pants Italian restaurant when first one and then the other began to rhapsodize about the Houston's in Washington, D.C.'s tony Georgetown neighborhood. "That restaurant is really good," said one. "You're right," the other, a respected restaurant critic, replied. "Houston's is a really good restaurant." "If it's so good," I asked, "why haven't you ever reviewed or even written about it?" My friend hesitated before stammering, "I would have if a new Houston's would open up." A punt of an answer if I ever heard one. I quickly changed the subject. Let's face it. Chain restaurants in big cities like New York, Chicago,...The Myth of French Golden Arches Revulsion
The French hate McDonald's. The notion of "fast food" clashes with their belief that meals should be long and leisurely; that they should be cooked carefully, with prized ingredients. It couldn't be further from the notion of terroir. But mostly they hate it because it is as shamefully hip-packed and loud-talking as those god-awful Americans, and Americans don't know how to eat. Have you heard this before? Did you believe it? Well, then you might want to sit down for this one: In the first half of this year, combined sales at the chain's 6,400 European restaurants rose 15 percent, to $4.1 billion, compared with a 6 percent increase in the United States, where McDonald's has 13,800 restaurants and where...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...Cheddar Bay Biscuits of Self-Loathing
Rasa Malaysia confesses a weakness for Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits so compelling she keeps going back to have them despite her feeling very strongly that chain restaurants are wrong. Her guilt drove her to Googling recipes, and she ended up baking biscuits she says are "about 80% close to the original in terms of taste". Not bad, but I bet she'll still end up at Red Lobster! What are your chain restaurant guilty pleasures?...Dallas Trader Vic's Reopens After Twenty Years
Tina Danze visits the newly-reopened Trader Vic's in Dallas for the Morning News: "Sealed like a tomb for nearly 20 years after its closing in 1987, the lounge has been restored to its old Polynesian-pop glory. Mismatched lanterns and fishing floats hover over the dimly lit room; tiki heads and accessories salvaged from other closed locations abound; and the festive cocktails are back, along with vintage barware and over-the-top garnishes." Trader Vic's is so deliciously retro and camp in Dallas that even Tom Selleck, himself a legend of much the same stature, has visited in the last month! If like me you've never been to one, or you're yearning to relive an experience of old, their website lists all...Waffle House Grill's Cook's Cheat Sheet
Nick Gray recently posted this amazing photo of a Waffle House Grill Cook's Cheat Sheet—the position of each condiments on each plate are a code that allow the chain's cooks to visually keep track of multiple orders without having to refer to paper tickets. [via kottke.org]...Chain Restaurants and X-Treme Eating
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is pointing the finger at chain restaurants for the proliferation of X-treme Eating: "[The Cheesecake Factory's] Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake combines brownie, pie, and cheesecake into 1,380-calorie pudding. The CPSI says this is "the equivalent of eating two [McDonald's] Quarter Pounders plus a large fries - for dessert". "Since those chains make almost zero nutrition information available on menus, their customers don't have a clue that they might be getting a whole day's worth of calories in a single dish, or several days' worth in the whole meal," the centre says." One item mentioned in their press release is Uno Chicago Grill's Pizza Skins, but come on, if the menu says "We...Hot Topics: Technique of the Week | The Food Lab
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8 Delicious Chocolate Cakes and Pies for Valentine's Day
Some might say that chocolate on Valentine's Day is about as unoriginal as you can get. We all remember the first heart-shaped box of overly sweet chocolate bonbons from grade school Valentines. But chocolate gift-giving needn't be a cliché. This year, let's bake our sweethearts chocolate cakes and pies instead! Here are 8 delicious recipes perfect for celebrating your love (of chocolate.)
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