The restaurant's main selling points are that they serve huge portions and they have a menu that offers a large variety, the former being essential to the American market.

Baja Fresh, http://www.bajafresh.com Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Copelands isn't too bad

Voila. Just a day after I made the above statement I found another chain here. I went down near Grenoble for a meeting and next door was Le Bodegon Colonial. It was a colonial African theme restaurant. This has got to really upset all the Africans who are living here now. But I digress.

The menu showed about 16 restaurants in France. It was pretty strange for France. The waitresses wore colonial getup with pith helmets. The food was a bit gamy (drumshot), but OK in general. It seemed almost Disney-like. So I wouldn't recommend it unless you have kids who want to be entertained.

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a chain but there are a bunch of them in Florida (or there used to be a few years back).

TooJay's Gourmet Deli. When I was living in South Florida, there were restaurants in Jupiter, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Beach, Lake Worth, maybe a couple of other cities. I think they've since opened one in Orlando.

I loved almost everything on their menu, especially the pastrami and corned beef sandwiches, "specialized."

It's a chain NOW. But I went to Del Frisco's a few times when it was just a local Dallas place. Both the original location on Inwood (which is now Bob's Steak and Chophouse), plus the new location in far north Dallas on Spring Valley.

These days, I would not go to Del's. Dallas has several, local, non chain steak joints that are very, very good. My current favorite is Nick and Sam's.


In-n-Out rules. In the category of fast food burger, it reigns supreme. I wish they had them in Dallas. I don't have enough chances to eat at them when I am in L.A.

The Chesecake Factory appeal is one of two things. Massive menu with a huge, huge, variety of food. Anybody can find something on the menu that will be OK with any sort of weird dietary restrictions or any "weird" food hangups. That, and people like big desserts.

Blue Elephant (Thai). www.blueelephant.com

Enjoyed them so far.

I find Johnny Rockets good value for a quick and tasty fill -up.

Thanks for the web link. I've seen hundreds of Blue Elephant restaurants around the world but I never thought any of them were part of a chain. I wonder if these folks will try to get all the other Blue Elephant restaurants to change thier name?

One non-chain Blue Elephant that I rather like is in Antibes, France.

Thought of a couple. Fatburger. Green Field Churrascurria (one of those
words I am never sure I spelled right).

On places mentioned here:
Ate at the Keg in Burien, found the baseball sirloin quite acceptable.

Johnny Rocket's, the burgers are ok, but under no circumstances
should you get the chili cheese fries (called The Works). I'm not sure
which of the components was objectionable, but it was really horrid.

Not been overfond of Cheesecake Factory - the portions aren't all
that great (anyway, you don't get that much of anything you'd
actually want to eat); the service, well, I've gone with a large
Flyertalk party, so let's draw a discreet veil over that occasion,
and otherwise it's merely okay; the food mediocre at best (what was
that London guy thinking, or did he have olde English tastebuds?).

Copeland's isn't bad, if you order stuff that doesn't come with a
gloopy congealed sauce.

And I did, once, have a bad steak at a Ruth's Chris - the worst of
several in Vegas, the worst of several at R's Cs.

I have tried Copelands outside of New Orleans and it just isn't the same. It seems more pre packaged tasting when it is franchised. The orginal is right here in my backyard.

Al Copeland has come up with his own knock off of Cheesecake Factory, which I think is light years above the traditional Cheesecake Factory. His restaurant is called Cheesecake Bistro. There are two in New Orleans so it is a chain :D

* Pappas Bros (technically a "chain" with a location in Houston as well - part of the Pappas family that also includes Pappas BBQ, Pappadeaux, and Pappasitos) but the food is wonderful and the service is a 9.5 on a 10 scale.

* Bob's Steak and Chophouse

* Nick & Sams

Those are my three favorites. Have also been fairly pleased with Kirby's as of late.

Out of the formal chain, I've been to the Blue Elephant restaurants in Bangkok, London, Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Lyon, Dubai, New Delhi and Malta. I have not yet eaten at the ones in Bahrain, Beirut and Kuwait.

Someone should open a thread here regarding good Thai restaurants around the world.

Thanks for the suggestion for next time I'm in/around Antibes. Finding good Thai restaurants in some parts of the world is not always a piece of cake.

I have a weakness for IHOP's classic french toast.

Copeland's traditional downfall is when he can no longer be hand's on in the restaurant. Beyond Copeland's itself (which gets bad the further away from NOLA you get), Popeye's had the same problem -- great in NOLA, progressively worse outside the city.

Another "Find Dining" experience would be the Brennan Family of NOLA. With Commander's Palace, Brennans, The Palace Cafe, Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse, and one or two others, plus locations in Houston, LAX, and LAS for various restaurants.

Note: I know that there are actually two "Brennan's" out there with different oweners. The fact is that they both grew up in the same house, and they both are specialists in Cajun and French Cuisine.