First of all, thanks to everybody who took the time to wish
MFO a speedy recovery from her hand surgery.
It must have worked because the pain is diminishing every day, and she
is able to do a few things. However,
somehow she apparently has strict doctor’s orders to NOT do any dishes for
quite some time. I need to check the
internet about this regimen..
Anyway on to other things, like food. Most Feeder Reeders know that I get a slew
of food magazines of varying complexity, from Southern Living to Art
of Eating. This month I got an unexpected new entry in the form of good old
Consumer Reports, that bastion of recommending some esoteric make and model of
a washer that out performs anything you can actually find. They also occasionally rear up and laud
things like “two buck chuck”, claiming that their $7.95 bottle of wine is
comparable to a first growth Bordeaux.
Anyway I was intrigued to see the cover story was:
“America’s Best Fast Food (and the worst)” always trading on American’s obsession
with what is “Best”. I guess they don’t
know the trendy term nowadays is not “fast” but “quick service” food. Supposedly the ratings are the result of “96,208
meals at 65 chains”; not 96,209 or 207 mind you, but exactly
96,208 meals. The results are reported by bunch of little tables headed by: if
you want… Healthful Choices; Regional Gems; Top Service; Clean Surroundings,
and so forth followed by a list of “favorites”.
I was a little surprised to see Subway head the “healthful” group (with
White Castle at the bottom), Chick-fil-A leads the top service category as well
as clean surroundings, with KFC being the anchor of that category. Regional gems included Burgerville (?), that cult
favorite In-N-out” and Portillo’s Hot Dogs.
They also list “taste champs” for Burgers, Sandwiches and Subs, Chicken,
and Burritos. The Habit Burger Grill
topped all 21 places for burgers; with good old McDonald’s in 21st
place. Hey! Let’s go check out that Habit
Burger Grill! Well, your choices are
the one in New Jersey or the other one in Utah.
Good job Consumer reports!! Chick-fil-A bested 7 others for chicken with
again the Colonel at the bottom.
Finally, they rate 70 “restaurants” grouped by burgers,
pizza, sandwich, chicken, Mexican, and Asian food chains; Burgers go from top rated In-N-out to
McDonalds; Pizza: Pappa Murphy’s Take N’
Bake (nearest location—Kansas) to Sbarro; Sandwich: Portillo’s Hot Dogs (don’t
think outside of Illinois) to Au Bon Pain; Chicken: Chick-fil-A to KFC;
Mexican: Pablo’s Fresh Mexican Grill (Cedar Falls, IA), Chipolte second, Taco
Bell last. Kind of interesting
reading. America’s love of that kind of
food never flags..
Who had the....
Another publication which I really enjoy comes from St.
Louis, called “Sauce” magazine. It’s
free in St. Louis, but for a fee they will mail it to you. If you are in St. Louis, I would recommend it
– a good source of comings, goings, and reviews. It gives me a chance to stay a little current
with dining there, so when we make a visit we have a little knowledge. It also doesn’t hurt that both FOJ’s have
pretty accomplished palates either.
Anyway, there were a couple of items in the latest issue that kind of
caught my eye. Or rather gave me a
little poke in it. Interestingly enough,
part of the issue was devoted to “Reader’s Choice”
Poke one: there is a
new place in Clayton occupying the now shuttered Chez Louis spot called “TheLibertine”. A small review carries the title
“Favorite New Restaurant”. The requisite
food shot is of a dish called “Three Little Birds”, which although apparently
adjusted seasonally is their trademark entrée.
Now, as readers are aware, I do like what some might consider froo –
froo food with elegant presentations, combinations of flavors, but darn it,
sometimes it can be overdone. Although
rather lengthy, I am going to quote the description of the Three Little
Birds: the dish exhibits.. “the classic
elegance of fowl, whimsically reinvented and roasted to perfection. Chicken, quail, and Cornish hen are deboned,
brined, stacked in layers, and finally topped with morsels of dark meat (from
which fowl is not mentioned). The
succulent casserole is gently CVapped for several hours, which caramelizes the
crispy skin before the Three Little Birds are laid to rest (interesting phrase)
upon a bed of tangy, old-school Carolina Gold rice middlins, cooked with milk and
pecorino. The ensemble is finished with
a sauté of local, seasonal vegetables…”.
I suppose the dish might taste okay, but I would doubt in a blind
tasting one could distinguish the chicken from the quail from the Cornish hen.. According to their menu, it is priced at
twenty one dollars. A lot of labor
apparently goes into the dish, a bit surprised at that price point. This is how they describe themselves: “The Libertine is a re-imagined neighborhood
eatery that serves (sic) accesible yet ingredient driven food to the
surrounding community and beyond.” Well, the place is located in posh
downtown Clayton, full of high rises and expensive condos, so “neighborhood
eatery” is a bit of a stretch IMHO. It
kind of gives me a little feeling of pretentiousness. BUT, I have not dined there. I might assign FOJTE the task of doing a
stringer report for me (on his nickel of course!).
Poke two: now a bit
agitated, I kept turning pages until I came to a similar type article on readers
“Favorite Cajun/Creole: Broadway Oyster Bar”.
I don’t argue with the choice, just the content of the article. It was couched as a series
of questions to, and responses from, their staff. “What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen
a customer do?” (eat a whole bucket of crawfish, heads, tails, shells and all),
and so on. Then I came to this: “Why is it hard to be a server here”? Answer by Bridgeman: “When you try to (serve) the food, and no one
responds to you. You ask: “who had the
jambalaya?” and nobody knows what they
ordered”. Excuse me???? What?? A SERVER,
who is employed by the restaurant, depends on the customers to tell HIM what they ordered?? Who took the order? What?, exactly, is your job? You’re fired. There are schemes for keeping
track… “blue sweater wants jambalaya, and on around the table.. or some position at the table is seat one, etc.
I don’t think it is hard. Even if there
are runners, a responsible restaurant has to be able to get the correct dish to
the right guest. Awful.. That behavior
is right up there with “are ya still werkin’ on thaaat dearie?” Arggh..
Read that a couple of days ago and am still “werked” up on that..
And so goes the battle for decency and reason in the food
world where we are all
DFD
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