I rememeber when the Orange , Sugar, Rose and Fiesta bowls where on Jan 1.

You're making me hungry.

My uni was D2 when I went to it and was usually in the D2 playoffs while I was there and it was great as a student / fan to have a proper play-off system. One year they had the case of team A had to win, B had to lose, and C and D and had tie for them to make the playoffs. With those bad odds they sent the players home for Thanksgiving. Well guess what happend. They ended up taking the D2 championship that year.

+1 - I'd love to see it, and I wonder if that will be possible in my lifetime.

Yeah. There's a reason why the dish tastes the same whether you're at a Fridays in Long Beach, Jersey or Long Beach, CA.

Most of the casual dining restaurants have the food mass produced at central kitchens and then shipped out to be finished and plated on site (boil / steam / nuke / grill).

I like to use Kent State in Dynasty Mode on NCAA Football 2008. Nothing quite like taking the Golden Flashes to a BCS Game. :D

I have a feeling there might be a change to the Embargo/Restrictions in the next four years. Though, perhaps not. It would require expending political capital at a time when it will be needed for much more pressing concerns.

Have faith that it will happen, probably sooner than you may think.

And to think one of the best NFL players from Kent State actually played basketball (Antonio Gates from the 'Bolts)

I did some research in Cheesecake Factory and according to their filings they said they make all the food fresh on premises each day. I was surprised since the food is so damn bland. The Cheesecakes, however, are made in an actual factory. :rolleyes:

I use to be naive enough to expect that the upscale chains did it differently, until I was eating at a PF Changs and the steamed dumplings (no ham) were frozen on the inside. :mad:

Making the food fresh does not mean the ingredients are not prepacked and delivered regularly from the corporation or a supplier like Sysco. It is almost impossible to keep prices down at chains without using prepared food in some part of the recipe. heck, even fine cuisine does the same with certain things.

Bottom line, labor is the largest cost of any eatery, so it is simply more efficient to use pre-prepared ingredients than have staff spending hours cutting veggies or making stock.

La Carafe sounds good to me too. What time? I should be leaving work in Beaumont by 4:30.

Though they will never tell you where from (I wish I was anointed enough to know), I do know that the entire Palm chain brings in that famous cheesecake and chocolate cake from outside. Probably the carrot cake too.

I believe that because you find inconsistencies in their products.

When I was in college, a worked in a (now defunct) chain family dining restaurant (I called it birth control) for a year and we said we made everything "fresh, on-site" and by golly we did. People were always pleasantly shocked at the quality of food they got.

That's not to say we didn't get quasi-pre-prepared stuff from our purveyor (Sysco I believe) but it wasn't boil in a bag like you find at TGI's, Slobster, Chili's or one of those.

Regarding the dumplings at PFFGH Changs I wouldn't be surprised if they're made in advance on-site then frozen. I could be way off on that.

I also worked for a Hyatt Resort (now flagged something else) for some time that hosted a regional Monarch convention and we were required, by the group contract, to use only Monarch products. Our regular supplier was Sysco and even though everything was "made on premise" there was a definite erosion in quality.

I went to a Dunkin' factory in SYR on accident once. It wasn't as magical as I had wished.

(Chains on the oompa loompas ;) )

Well, I'm Downtown after work, so will probably just head there after 5. I may run an errand or two and show up around 5:45 or so.