Oh no you didn't :p

KC BBQ all the way. That is my favorite thing about going home...some good BBQ...I'm drooling :D

OK, I will confess: as much as I like talking trash about barbecue (and how KC 'cue is the greatest of all), I also love good Texas brisket and Carolina pulled pork sandwiches.

The problem is that none of these airport joints can really do it right. It's not like they can drop a proper barbecue pit out on the tarmac between a couple MD-80's. MCI has an Arthur Bryant's, but it's nothing like the original restaurant on the east side of downtown.

They need to discuss it with the rampers then, I've seen rampers out there cooking up their foods in a few cities :D

I normally humor the wife and take her out to lunch at Applebees, but absolutely refuse for dinner.

I think it's tolerable food but it doesn't "wow" me at all.

"Well slathered"
 

Applebees is one of those place I remember frequenting in college. In my area, they used to run really good happy hour specials, so for a poor college student, getting a couple of appetizers and a beer or two for under $10 was a steal. These days, they're on my list of places to avoid, along with most of the other chains in that price point.

I recently read a commentary on America (I can't remember the title), but the author devoted a few pages to Applebees and described their food as "well slathered." For some reason, that sticks with me and I think of it every time someone mentions Applebees. :rolleyes:

I remembered the place I think is worse than Applebees
 

Crackerbarrel. I had to have deep therapy get it out of the dark basement of my brain that my defense mechanisms had forced it into. Not at all surprised to see another thread in this forum that Applebees was at the bottom of the 10 unhealthiest places to eat list. "Well slathered" indeed. Im waiting for some of these places to cut to the chase and serve processed, textured, colored lard topped with corn syrup.

Perkins is evil Evil EVIL.



Didn’t browsing through the gift shop filled with quality, tasteful items make up for it?

Please stop...... ;)

Well, if anyone wants to find me a family owned deli in Tampa that's any good (I goto Jason's Deli, which is a chain) or a quaint Italian restaurant (I goto Bellas off Howard Ave, not a chain but part of a restaurant group - certainly not owned by some single woman) I'll be sure to check them out.

The reality is that the bigger cities are not where everyone lives nor are they any sort of real indication of what's available in most cities and towns.

Sure there are. For example, I know of an industrial zone near me that only offers KFC, pizza hut and McDonalds.

However, anyone who's got access to a car can drive to the town 5 miles down the road and choose from a very reasonable array of restaurants.

If you don't have a car, that's understandable (though I'm sure a bus passes 'round every so often). If you do, there is no excuse for eating that rubbish.

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You seem to be forgetting that this is a frequent flyer forum. In the last couple weeks I ate at several decent to excellent restaurants in freaking Borneo that weren't chains. I travel a LOT including once a year to Marco Island for the last 10 years. I even found several decent places there that weren't Applebees and that is a lot smaller than Tampa.

I'm aware Cheesecake Factory is a chain restaurant and it is no better than any of the others, possibly the most over-rated restaurant I've come across. I went once with a group of people for a birthday and the way people were talking about it beforehand was if it was the world's first restaurant to get four Michelin Stars!

Maybe I was a little cut and dry with my first post but I do think that if you spend a couple of minutes on the internet and don't mind jumping in a cab or car for 5mins you'd never need to see a TGI Chilipees in your life.

It's not elitist, or snobbery it is the fact the food is unhealthy and is often prepared offsite and just cooked at the restaurant. My point is that you go to a chain restaurant anywhere and it is exactly the same crap. If you ask your hotel concierge/front desk person/someone at your client site/a flight attendant on your inbound flight/someone on the street/WWW for a decent, local casual place far more often than not you'll find somewhere that'll surprise you. It has been a long time since someone said, 'well to be honest the best place here is Chilis!'. Sure the local joints aren't always winners but that's probably 1/20 where I feel I wouldn't go back.

My view is that with a little effort you can avoid the dull predictably of a forgettable chain restaurant night on night.

I do try local (simple affordable) places all the time, because often they are really good. However I am nowhere near 19 to 1 in success. Probably 40% at best in the New England states, and 70% everywhere else.

I've found in the NE some really hole in the wall seafood restaurants that are great :)

When I ask a hotel clerk etc. for a restaurant recommendation, I always phrase the question as "What's a good restaurant, not a chain, that you like to go to with your friends" or something similar. If I want a slightly more formal place, I might ask a young clerk "how about a place where you'd take your parents out for a special dinner"? More often than not, they'll have a place in mind, or will ask their fellow employees - the consensus often results in a good recommendation. :)

Maybe this thread has what you are looking for, if not, you might inquire on it@:-) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/flori...-bay-area.html

I found a great beer pub / steak place in my travels in PA. The beer was good, and the food was better. I stopped in a few times, and got to know the owner. One trip he was complaining that he wasn't going to make it. A new mega big box plex had opened a couple miles down the road and he was getting killed by The Olive Garden, Bennigans, and Outback. He knew and I knew that he provided much better value, but these were the first time these chains had entered the market, and the locals had seen it advertised for years, and in their minds, their town had "arrived" :(

and pretty soon you'll have an Old Navy and I'll have one, then we'll both have plenty of restaurants to choose from, an Applebee's, Chili's, TGI McFunsters, Red Lobster, Olive Garden etc etc.

UGH, shoot me now please.

Very good point. It is people accepting the mediocrity of these places that drives the small restaurants out of business. Interestingly, perhaps because of the stronger ethnic sense of community, or just a higher food consciousness or awareness, it happens to a lessor extent in some parts of the country. And not just big cities. My wifes family is from western PA and the local Italian and Polish places still do a good business with correspondingly fewer chains than in many other parts of the country.

You may recall an Olive Garden post I started a few years back. A neighboring town was snubbed when OG decided the local population did not merit a restaurant.

That changed eventually and one was built. It does a lot of business. In the 7 years I have lived here, 2 locally owned restaurants featuring Italian food have opened. The first closed within 6 months. I ate there once. The waiter was a 17 year old kid who showed up to take my order with a toothpick sticking out of his mouth. The service was slow and sloppy and the food was Chef Boyardee bland.

The second might not have lasted 6 months either. The menu was huge and featured Italian and Greek food. The portions were huge, prices were ridiculously low and the food was excellent. But everyone who ate there was cheated on the bill. Little things, like a drink not ordered or dessert $1 higher than the menu price or tax at an inflated rate. I cannot comprehend their business model and wish they had run an honest business and simply slimmed down portions and raised prices. I'll miss them and the likelihood that Greek food will appear on a local menu again in 10 years is minute. Someone else will try Italian. I hope they get it right. Meanwhile, we have a dozen chain restaurants. The other options are barbeque, Mexican and fried catfish places. Mrs BV and I eat dinner every Friday night at a locally owned Mexican place. The atmosphere is perfect, the food is good, the staff knows us and we spend less than $40 with drinks and a generous tip.

Every once in a while, we want something different and that doesn't mean barbeque or fried catfish. So far, we haven't gotten sick. The price is reasonable, the atmosphere is ok (maybe a little too crowded), the service is decent and the food and drink is ok. At least so far, the waiter hasn't belched the winelist or charged me $50 for extra bread.

My source for restaurants is chowhound.com, where I frequently post. Of course the big metropolitan areas are better represented, but when I had to work in South Carolina for several months I found very good recommendations.
The SC city in which I worked and lived had about every single chain restaurant in existence...except Cheesecake Factory. The non-chain mid-to-upscale restaurants would typically be a steakhouse, which can get boring. I would frequently overhear the locals excitedy talk about how there would be a Cheesecake Factory opening soon.
My favorite restaurant I found there (a $18-26 main dish type of place) was family run, small, great food with Southern influences, and used local produce. Unfortunately they closed due to the slowing economy at the end of last year, but I made sure to eat there as often as I could.

For as much as I agree with those who've mentioned the relatively indistinguishable characteristics of said BenAppleChilFridaginabees, it comes as no surprise to me that people frequent them whether they are at home or on the road. I always assume it is the "known quantity" element that comes into play. The fact that some people associate restaurants with the dish they always order goes along with why Applebees would be deemed by many as a decent choice for a meal.

My wife really likes their Oriental Chicken Salad. So, on occasion, she will want to go when we're traveling, but only for that dish. I would be willing to wager that when asked if she likes Applebees, she would say yes. I don't care for Applebees in general, but who am I to judge her for liking one thing at one place.

I've been to Applebees 3 times in my life. 10-11 years ago. Its reheated, boiled, microwaved food. You can taste that it is.

I love hole in the wall joints, but we do randomly eat Chilis TOGO (there is a dearth of good takeout near me), and I do like Cheesecake Factory, but I only would go during a weekday. Its never worth waiting the long lines.

I've only eaten in Applebees twice. Once in Virginia several years ago -- it was OK, not a treat, but better than fast food. Once recently in the San Fernando Valley -- I had a bogo from the Entertainment book, and this was the only location it was good at. That should have been a tip off. It was terrible.

These chains do vary in quality location by location. Here in the San Fernando Valley there is a Marie Calendars in Glendale that I would consider patronizing, and one in Burbank I will not.

None of these places are fine dining, but for a family on a budget its a nice break from burger joints.

As Compared Too What??
 

I consider Applepees to be about one degree better than the "choke n puke diners" they have at bus stations. But hey, I'm a food snob so what do you expect (-;

Applebees cannot cook a steak.
 

I have no idea how they cooked this thing, but it had the weirdest internal cooking pattern. One side was half rarish and half medium well and the same but opposite on the other. Its like they wrapped heat tape around the steak and cooked it. The meat was alright. But they suck at cooking meat.

Wait. Did anyone ever claim that a place like Applebees could cook a steak?

There's sooooo that can be said about Applebee's...

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Sounds like the cooking surface (grill?) had a cool spot, and your steak straddled this spot half-on, half-off as it cooked.

Their George Foreman Grill must need repair. :D

Yeah, Applebees is not really a steak joint.

Well, I guess I have an unrefined palate, or sometimes just get lazy and eat at chain places :D

I love finding a good local place, and when I want to find one I usually ask people who work at the site at which I happen to be working. I find if I ask at the hotel, they start recommending restaurants that are in the guide. I am on the road 90% of the time, and quite frankly sometimes am very tired of eating out and really don't care what I eat that night. When I am in that mood, Applebee's will do just fine. I know what to order there, and will order something simple like a sandwich rather than a steak. That being said, there are chains that I do really like, although Cheesecake Factory is overpriced and overcrowded, the food is OK. I like Outback to have a decent steak and stay within my allowance. Berns it ain't, but it’s not bad. There are some chains that I really do love though, Abuello's, Zio's, Brio's Tuscan Grill, BJ's Brew house (addicted to the fish taco's), Bonefish Grill, to name a few. If that makes my palate unrefined, so be it :p

Kind of funny you mention their ribs. Basically the beginning of a shift, they cook off a quantity of them while brushing them with a liquid chemical called 'liquid smoke' to give them flavor. When they get an individual order, they reheat and serve.

Ughhh! :eek:

I'd add a puke emoticon if I could.

And that is why most of this category of restaurant is utter and complete crap. Contrast that to say a Lubys Cafeteria, which at least when I lived in Texas had each store get local bought ingredients and base their daily, fresh cooked menu on that. Lubys had good food even though it was a cafeteria. It isnt about cost or snobbery, it is about having decent standards and holding places to that. If people wouldnt eat the slop there would be more places not serving slop.

Heston Blumenthal had this same theory.

He set about creating a menu for what sounds like the English Applebees equivalent (Little Chef -a place for reheated and microwaved slop), applied some decent standards and asked the chain to hold to those standards.
At the establishment he worked with, profits soared yet the menu prices were unaffected. Plan is to roll out these 'decent standards' across the country.

Since so many TV ideas make it to the US, perhaps someone can convince the French Laundry team to work their alchemy on an American chain...
http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/h...-chef_p_1.html

I’m not sure liquid smoke is really a “chemical”. It’s made from burning wood then condensed in water. It makes for a good non-sodium addition of flavor, but I’ll admit it’s no real substitute for meats grilled or smoked with real hickory or mesquite chunks.

As for a way of preparing baby back ribs, that process is not too different from how I do it (I make my sauce made from scratch, though). Marinade them overnight, bake in the kitchen oven for about an hour, then about 10 minutes on the grill to crisp the outside slightly. Mmmmmm!

+1

Most people don't realize that LARGE percentage of restaurants (chains and not) will precook/parcook many of the ingredients of the dishes ahead of time, and then when the order is called, fire it on the stove/grill/oven then plate the dish. A pure steak from a steakhouse might be an exception, but those bearnaise sauces, potatoes, and sides are made (ideally) earlier in the day before service.

Precooking/parcooking should not be looked upon as negative feature of a restaurant.

But freshly cooked slop and parcooked slop is still slop :p

Recently I went to a evening viewing and funeral the next day in West VA. I looked on the internet for a restaurant that would be open after 9 PM and have something palatable. I felt lucky to find an Applebees.