Things that I find mildly irritating v.2

[Stadler]

You going to be in NYC still on Thursday?

Nope.  Flew home today.

Next time you're in NYC, reach out.  I have an office on 54th and Lex; it'll be a great excuse for me to get into the City.   

[cramx3]

You going to be in NYC still on Thursday?

Nope.  Flew home today.

Next time you're in NYC, reach out.  I have an office on 54th and Lex; it'll be a great excuse for me to get into the City.

So Thursday?

[Stadler]

You going to be in NYC still on Thursday?

Nope.  Flew home today.

Next time you're in NYC, reach out.  I have an office on 54th and Lex; it'll be a great excuse for me to get into the City.

So Thursday?

Debating it.   I hadn't really felt interested in that show, but I like the music on the new record a lot and think it might be fun to see. 

[cramx3]

It will be fun to see and I don't even love the music, I'm curious on the turn out for this.  Gramercy isn't a big venue, but I'm looking forward to a fun night out.

[pg1067]

You going to be in NYC still on Thursday?

Nope.  Flew home today.

Next time you're in NYC, reach out.  I have an office on 54th and Lex; it'll be a great excuse for me to get into the City.

Will do.  My conference was right next to Grand Central Station.

[El Barto]

Does anybody remember when "street food" meant cheap, because it was cranked out by some guy with a wagon? Same thing with food trucks. The idea was that the lower overhead meant cheaper prices. I don't know if it's happening everywhere, or if it's because Dallas is the trendiest city on Earth, but both have simply become reasons to charge a massive premium. There was a stack of menus on my desk this morning for "Vietnamese Street Food." We're talking about notoriously cheap, but tasty food. I've been eating bahn mi for ages. These fuckers want $9 for one. No self respecting Vietnamese restaurant would charge more than $4.5 for one, and the gold standard in my neck of the world was incredibly apologetic when they had to raise the price from $3.5 to $4. It's just famously cheap food. Also advertised are "Asian Tacos," whateverthefuck that's supposed to mean. $9 for two. And this is a theme everywhere. Places are popping up all over the place selling some variety of "street food." Invariably, it's underwhelming food at an exorbitant price, when proper restaurants of the same cuisine are dishing out wonderful food on the cheap. This seems to me quite backwards.

Sadly this has been a thing with "street" tacos for quite some time. If the word "Street" is included (Mexicans just call them tacos) they're simply tacos for white people that don't have crunchy shells, and they'll run $4 a pop.* That's why "Asian Tacos" are thing at $4.5. The one saving grace is that Dallas is majority Mexican, so you can still get "tacos" for a buck-twenty-five a pop (.99 on Tuesdays) and they're great. It's actually kind of an interesting divide. Nobody at my new taco joint speaks a lick of English. You'll never see a white person in there. It seems to me gringos are paying a massive premium for English speaking cashiers and ingredients that sound fancier than they actually are.

*Strangely, they're always sold by places named after some form of venereal disease. There's a Rusty Taco a block from my place, and a Fuzzy Taco on every corner now.

[lordxizor]

I feel the same way about farmer's markets. I thought the original concept was buying straight from a farmer so you pay a little less and the farmer makes a little more. But now prices are generally double or more what I can pay at the grocery store.

[cramx3]

Street food is becoming very trendy.  The one night I spent in Portland, I realized there were permanant wagon spots with lots of food options and a cool environment.  But it wasn't street food that I was familiar with, it was a modern trendy thing now.  I've started noticing more and more of these places that act like they are gourmet but it's not the cheap food I typically want from a cart.  Luckily, there's still some good street meats in NYC that are "cheap" (nothing in NYC is cheap) and what good halal food that I expect from them.

Also, EB Bahn mi is new to me and really good. I should share some pics of my recent eats in the food thread since I've been learning how to cook recently including bahn mi.

[Chino]

Does anybody remember when "street food" meant cheap, because it was cranked out by some guy with a wagon? Same thing with food trucks. The idea was that the lower overhead meant cheaper prices. I don't know if it's happening everywhere, or if it's because Dallas is the trendiest city on Earth, but both have simply become reasons to charge a massive premium. There was a stack of menus on my desk this morning for "Vietnamese Street Food." We're talking about notoriously cheap, but tasty food. I've been eating bahn mi for ages. These fuckers want $9 for one. No self respecting Vietnamese restaurant would charge more than $4.5 for one, and the gold standard in my neck of the world was incredibly apologetic when they had to raise the price from $3.5 to $4. It's just famously cheap food. Also advertised are "Asian Tacos," whateverthefuck that's supposed to mean. $9 for two. And this is a theme everywhere. Places are popping up all over the place selling some variety of "street food." Invariably, it's underwhelming food at an exorbitant price, when proper restaurants of the same cuisine are dishing out wonderful food on the cheap. This seems to me quite backwards.

Sadly this has been a thing with "street" tacos for quite some time. If the word "Street" is included (Mexicans just call them tacos) they're simply tacos for white people that don't have crunchy shells, and they'll run $4 a pop.* That's why "Asian Tacos" are thing at $4.5. The one saving grace is that Dallas is majority Mexican, so you can still get "tacos" for a buck-twenty-five a pop (.99 on Tuesdays) and they're great. It's actually kind of an interesting divide. Nobody at my new taco joint speaks a lick of English. You'll never see a white person in there. It seems to me gringos are paying a massive premium for English speaking cashiers and ingredients that sound fancier than they actually are.

*Strangely, they're always sold by places named after some form of venereal disease. There's a Rusty Taco a block from my place, and a Fuzzy Taco on every corner now.

Yup. I bitch about this constantly in Hartford. First off, there are very few "food trucks" left. Most of those guys have been priced out because of the insane permit costs to sell in the city. The majority of the trucks around here already have established restaurants in the city. $5.99 for a plain hot dog, or $8.99 for a grilled cheese with bacon because it's on "artisan" bread..... drive me nuts. I hate it.

I feel the same way about farmer's markets. I thought the original concept was buying straight from a farmer so you pay a little less and the farmer makes a little more. But now prices are generally double or more what I can pay at the grocery store.

Farmers markets will deliver a far superior product than a factory farm produces though.

[jingle.boy]

I feel the same way about farmer's markets. I thought the original concept was buying straight from a farmer so you pay a little less and the farmer makes a little more. But now prices are generally double or more what I can pay at the grocery store.

Farmers markets will deliver a far superior product than a factory farm produces though.

Except when a lot of them go to the food terminal and sell the EXACT SAME FUCKING PRODUCE that the grocery stores sell.  I've even seen fuckers selling peppers with the 4-digit code/tag on them at the farmers market.  And cellophane wrapped cucumbers.  I'll pay a bit of a premium for fresh harvest, but not a large one.  And I'll never buy anything from the lazy fuckers that just get some of their inventory from the food terminal.

[pg1067]

Does anybody remember when "street food" meant cheap, because it was cranked out by some guy with a wagon? Same thing with food trucks. The idea was that the lower overhead meant cheaper prices.

I can't really comment on anything beyond food trucks (to me, "street food" means those amazing-smelling bacon wrapped hot dogs with onions and peppers sold out of makeship shopping cart grills that are ubiquitous outside of sporting events and concerts in DTLA), but in Los Angeles and Orange County, there are essentially two kinds of food trucks.  There's one that's basically a mobile 7-11 with a little more variety for hot food.  I don't know that I've ever patronized one (except for beverages), but they're very cheap.  The second type is the "trendy" variety.  At my office, the building management arranges for a truck to come and sit in the parking lot from around 11-2 every Thursday.  It's a different truck every week, although some trucks get in the rotation.  Every once in a while I'll get lunch there, and I have almost always regretted it because I end up paying about twice what I'd pay for equivalent food at a restaurant.  It seems that the prices are at a premium because of the convenience factor.

In other contexts, I kind of like food trucks.  For example, there is a joint forces training base near where I live.  Every year, they do a show called "Wings, Wheels and Rotors."  The local middle school jazz band plays, and they have a bunch of vendors and food trucks.  It's a little like a mini swap meet with airplanes, helicopters and other military vehicles.  They occasionally have a specialty food truck that has stuff you can't get anywhere else, and those are kind of cool.

$8.99 for a grilled cheese with bacon because it's on "artisan" bread..... drive me nuts. I hate it.

I basically refuse to consume anything that is "artisanal" or which has been "curated."  Those two terms are basically code for pretentious and overpriced (and I really cringed when DT recently put something on its website talking about how the set list was "specially curated" or something like that).

[Chino]

I feel the same way about farmer's markets. I thought the original concept was buying straight from a farmer so you pay a little less and the farmer makes a little more. But now prices are generally double or more what I can pay at the grocery store.

Farmers markets will deliver a far superior product than a factory farm produces though.

Except when a lot of them go to the food terminal and sell the EXACT SAME FUCKING PRODUCE that the grocery stores sell.  I've even seen fuckers selling peppers with the 4-digit code/tag on them at the farmers market.  And cellophane wrapped cucumbers.  I'll pay a bit of a premium for fresh harvest, but not a large one.  And I'll never buy anything from the lazy fuckers that just get some of their inventory from the food terminal.

That could actually be required by law depending where you live. When I explored growing and selling microgreens, even at a farmer's market, I needed a SKU, an approved clam shell container, and certain information displayed on the packaging via a sticker.

[El Barto]

I feel the same way about farmer's markets. I thought the original concept was buying straight from a farmer so you pay a little less and the farmer makes a little more. But now prices are generally double or more what I can pay at the grocery store.

Farmers markets will deliver a far superior product than a factory farm produces though.

Except when a lot of them go to the food terminal and sell the EXACT SAME FUCKING PRODUCE that the grocery stores sell.  I've even seen fuckers selling peppers with the 4-digit code/tag on them at the farmers market.  And cellophane wrapped cucumbers.  I'll pay a bit of a premium for fresh harvest, but not a large one.  And I'll never buy anything from the lazy fuckers that just get some of their inventory from the food terminal.

Yeah, our farmer's market is about half farmers selling very expensive produce and half Mexicans selling the same stuff I buy for cheaper at Sprouts. Ironically, it's in one of the trendy parts of town where food trucks and street food is ubiquitous. Except the street food is sold in store fronts that cost more than Jerry World to lease out.

I can't really comment on anything beyond food trucks (to me, "street food" means those amazing-smelling bacon wrapped hot dogs with onions and peppers sold out of makeship shopping cart grills that are ubiquitous outside of sporting events and concerts in DTLA), but in Los Angeles and Orange County, there are essentially two kinds of food trucks.  There's one that's basically a mobile 7-11 with a little more variety for hot food.  I don't know that I've ever patronized one (except for beverages), but they're very cheap.  The second type is the "trendy" variety.  At my office, the building management arranges for a truck to come and sit in the parking lot from around 11-2 every Thursday.  It's a different truck every week, although some trucks get in the rotation.  Every once in a while I'll get lunch there, and I have almost always regretted it because I end up paying about twice what I'd pay for equivalent food at a restaurant.  It seems that the prices are at a premium because of the convenience factor.

The only time I ever eat off of a cart is if I see a show in San Antonio, where one of those awesome bacon wrapped hotdogs will set you back $7. And Dallas has a middle tier of food truck between the two you mentioned. There are some that are mobile diners, American or Mexican, that really only cater to construction workers. I'm guessing they serve reasonable food at a reasonable price, since they're catering to blue collar folk rather than the trendy hipster fucks that equate cost with quality.

I basically refuse to consume anything that is "artisanal" or which has been "curated."  Those two terms are basically code for pretentious and overpriced (and I really cringed when DT recently put something on its website talking about how the set list was "specially curated" or something like that).

That's a good call, as it's the exact same phenomenon. For years my gold standard for a burger was at a place over in the gay part of town. Half pound of sirloin with nice, thick cut bacon and proper cheese, cooked to order. $8.49 w/fries. They "re-tooled" as a farm-to-table restaurant and suddenly the burger is $12 with no bacon. "But it's locally baked bread and artisanal pickles!" Again, farm-to-table should supposedly cut costs, but it's merely an excuse to charge a massive premium.

I guess the point of all of this is "huzzah for capitalism! Screwing the stupid since 3000BC!"

[Stadler]

THis is certainly a thing.  Down in New Haven, in Long Wharf, there are a line of trucks along the access road (they just did a major renovation of the highway, and purposefully paved an extra-wide shoulder for the trucks) and it used to be like El Barto said:  tacos for $1.25, good hot dogs with decent toppings for $3, $4.   Burgers with fries for $7.50.   Then you had the sort of "foodie" explosion and now almost everything is 50% higher. 

We also seem to have a fairly regular circuit of food truck events - I went to three last summer - and even a basket of loaded tots is $9.  If there's any meat, you're in the $12 - $15 range.   Fuck that.   I can sit and use real utensils for that much.

[ReaperKK]

Does anybody remember when "street food" meant cheap, because it was cranked out by some guy with a wagon? Same thing with food trucks. The idea was that the lower overhead meant cheaper prices. I don't know if it's happening everywhere, or if it's because Dallas is the trendiest city on Earth, but both have simply become reasons to charge a massive premium. There was a stack of menus on my desk this morning for "Vietnamese Street Food." We're talking about notoriously cheap, but tasty food. I've been eating bahn mi for ages. These fuckers want $9 for one. No self respecting Vietnamese restaurant would charge more than $4.5 for one, and the gold standard in my neck of the world was incredibly apologetic when they had to raise the price from $3.5 to $4. It's just famously cheap food. Also advertised are "Asian Tacos," whateverthefuck that's supposed to mean. $9 for two. And this is a theme everywhere. Places are popping up all over the place selling some variety of "street food." Invariably, it's underwhelming food at an exorbitant price, when proper restaurants of the same cuisine are dishing out wonderful food on the cheap. This seems to me quite backwards.

Sadly this has been a thing with "street" tacos for quite some time. If the word "Street" is included (Mexicans just call them tacos) they're simply tacos for white people that don't have crunchy shells, and they'll run $4 a pop.* That's why "Asian Tacos" are thing at $4.5. The one saving grace is that Dallas is majority Mexican, so you can still get "tacos" for a buck-twenty-five a pop (.99 on Tuesdays) and they're great. It's actually kind of an interesting divide. Nobody at my new taco joint speaks a lick of English. You'll never see a white person in there. It seems to me gringos are paying a massive premium for English speaking cashiers and ingredients that sound fancier than they actually are.

*Strangely, they're always sold by places named after some form of venereal disease. There's a Rusty Taco a block from my place, and a Fuzzy Taco on every corner now.

This is how charlotte is now. Taco food trucks will typically run $10-$12 for two small tacos, pizza food trucks will sell you a cold slice for $5. I'd rather just hit up Taco Bell for cheaper, better tasting tacos.

This is off topic but Charlotte has a real problem with every new restaurant trying to be trendy. The turnover for restaurants is crazy high and every new place has a seemingly new way to put pimento cheese on a burger. It just ends up being over priced and shitty.

[JayOctavarium]

We have a lot of boutique food trucks here (and several food truck events a month), which charge outrageous prices (most of it not worth it... But some are fantastic), but then we also have a shit ton of taco trucks around here. One on every other corner. Good, cheap, greasy, unhealthy food.  Mmmmm mmmm mmmmm

[TAC]

  Down in New Haven, in Long Wharf, there are a line of trucks along the access road

I know exactly where that is. Driven by it dozens of times. I always threaten my family with stopping there.

[Stadler]

  Down in New Haven, in Long Wharf, there are a line of trucks along the access road

I know exactly where that is. Driven by it dozens of times. I always threaten my family with stopping there.

If you ever get around there and are hungry, you're about three miles from some awesome food.  Just not those trucks. 

[Chino]

Does anybody remember when "street food" meant cheap, because it was cranked out by some guy with a wagon? Same thing with food trucks. The idea was that the lower overhead meant cheaper prices. I don't know if it's happening everywhere, or if it's because Dallas is the trendiest city on Earth, but both have simply become reasons to charge a massive premium. There was a stack of menus on my desk this morning for "Vietnamese Street Food." We're talking about notoriously cheap, but tasty food. I've been eating bahn mi for ages. These fuckers want $9 for one. No self respecting Vietnamese restaurant would charge more than $4.5 for one, and the gold standard in my neck of the world was incredibly apologetic when they had to raise the price from $3.5 to $4. It's just famously cheap food. Also advertised are "Asian Tacos," whateverthefuck that's supposed to mean. $9 for two. And this is a theme everywhere. Places are popping up all over the place selling some variety of "street food." Invariably, it's underwhelming food at an exorbitant price, when proper restaurants of the same cuisine are dishing out wonderful food on the cheap. This seems to me quite backwards.

Sadly this has been a thing with "street" tacos for quite some time. If the word "Street" is included (Mexicans just call them tacos) they're simply tacos for white people that don't have crunchy shells, and they'll run $4 a pop.* That's why "Asian Tacos" are thing at $4.5. The one saving grace is that Dallas is majority Mexican, so you can still get "tacos" for a buck-twenty-five a pop (.99 on Tuesdays) and they're great. It's actually kind of an interesting divide. Nobody at my new taco joint speaks a lick of English. You'll never see a white person in there. It seems to me gringos are paying a massive premium for English speaking cashiers and ingredients that sound fancier than they actually are.

*Strangely, they're always sold by places named after some form of venereal disease. There's a Rusty Taco a block from my place, and a Fuzzy Taco on every corner now.

This is how charlotte is now. Taco food trucks will typically run $10-$12 for two small tacos, pizza food trucks will sell you a cold slice for $5. I'd rather just hit up Taco Bell for cheaper, better tasting tacos.

This is off topic but Charlotte has a real problem with every new restaurant trying to be trendy. The turnover for restaurants is crazy high and every new place has a seemingly new way to put pimento cheese on a burger. It just ends up being over priced and shitty.

You'd be surprised how many places I've been to that don't have just regular fries on the menu anymore. They have to be some sweet potato, truffle, zesty, Parmesan variant. Just give me plain fries with my plain burger. I want to eat for $10. I'm sick of it costing $45 (including tip) for two people to get basic food and a beer. 

I went to Nardelli's (sandwich place with like 12 locations) recently with my dad, and sandwiches, water, and chips was $38.

Madness.

[orcus116]

I just checked the sandwich prices since I haven't been in awhile and jesus $11 for a full Italian combo and they also charge $7.50 for a half a sandwich? I'm not familiar with portion sizes so maybe you're getting a value in that but that's easily $2-3 more than most of the places around me. I always pass the one just off 84 near Waterbury but I typically end up at the halal place next door because their shawarma is off the charts.

[Chino]

I just checked the sandwich prices since I haven't been in awhile and jesus $11 for a full Italian combo and they also charge $7.50 for a half a sandwich? I'm not familiar with portion sizes so maybe you're getting a value in that but that's easily $2-3 more than most of the places around me. I always pass the one just off 84 near Waterbury but I typically end up at the halal place next door because their shawarma is off the charts.

I've never been to that one. I live near the one on Watertown Ave by Big Franks.

[Stadler]

Does anybody remember when "street food" meant cheap, because it was cranked out by some guy with a wagon? Same thing with food trucks. The idea was that the lower overhead meant cheaper prices. I don't know if it's happening everywhere, or if it's because Dallas is the trendiest city on Earth, but both have simply become reasons to charge a massive premium. There was a stack of menus on my desk this morning for "Vietnamese Street Food." We're talking about notoriously cheap, but tasty food. I've been eating bahn mi for ages. These fuckers want $9 for one. No self respecting Vietnamese restaurant would charge more than $4.5 for one, and the gold standard in my neck of the world was incredibly apologetic when they had to raise the price from $3.5 to $4. It's just famously cheap food. Also advertised are "Asian Tacos," whateverthefuck that's supposed to mean. $9 for two. And this is a theme everywhere. Places are popping up all over the place selling some variety of "street food." Invariably, it's underwhelming food at an exorbitant price, when proper restaurants of the same cuisine are dishing out wonderful food on the cheap. This seems to me quite backwards.

Sadly this has been a thing with "street" tacos for quite some time. If the word "Street" is included (Mexicans just call them tacos) they're simply tacos for white people that don't have crunchy shells, and they'll run $4 a pop.* That's why "Asian Tacos" are thing at $4.5. The one saving grace is that Dallas is majority Mexican, so you can still get "tacos" for a buck-twenty-five a pop (.99 on Tuesdays) and they're great. It's actually kind of an interesting divide. Nobody at my new taco joint speaks a lick of English. You'll never see a white person in there. It seems to me gringos are paying a massive premium for English speaking cashiers and ingredients that sound fancier than they actually are.

*Strangely, they're always sold by places named after some form of venereal disease. There's a Rusty Taco a block from my place, and a Fuzzy Taco on every corner now.

This is how charlotte is now. Taco food trucks will typically run $10-$12 for two small tacos, pizza food trucks will sell you a cold slice for $5. I'd rather just hit up Taco Bell for cheaper, better tasting tacos.

This is off topic but Charlotte has a real problem with every new restaurant trying to be trendy. The turnover for restaurants is crazy high and every new place has a seemingly new way to put pimento cheese on a burger. It just ends up being over priced and shitty.

You'd be surprised how many places I've been to that don't have just regular fries on the menu anymore. They have to be some sweet potato, truffle, zesty, Parmesan variant. Just give me plain fries with my plain burger. I want to eat for $10. I'm sick of it costing $45 (including tip) for two people to get basic food and a beer. 

I went to Nardelli's (sandwich place with like 12 locations) recently with my dad, and sandwiches, water, and chips was $38.

Madness.

Between formerly having a kid in high school in Wallingford (there's one there) and going to Ridgefield for concerts (passing the one in Waterbury) I eat at Nardelli's pretty often.  I generally stick to the sandwich; they're not cheap ($11 to $13 for the sandwich itself) but they are pretty good.

I'm with you, though; not everything has to be a winning dish on Chopped.  Especially burgers; I actually like a burger with "normal" toppings (lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo, salt, pepper), and maybe grilled onions.  You go to some places and it's aioli this and craft that and... we've been eating burgers like above for decades, it's fine.

[Adami]

Speaking of burgers, and I know almost no one will be with me on this one, but that's okay....but I hate what veggie burgers have become.

I'm a vegetarian. That just means I don't eat meat. It doesn't mean I want a whole wheat bun with arugula, bean sprouts, vegan mayo and no cheese. It just means I want the patty to be a veggie one and not a meat one. So every time I have to order some annoying custom version, which is usually just a normal burger but veggie instead. Keep the lettuce, tomato and onion. Keep the standard bun. I don't want every aspect of the burger to be some weird LA vegetarian dream. I just don't want meat.

Also, and this is becoming a bigger deal, and mostly just for someone like me. But the god damn impossible burger.

I have never eaten meat in my life, so to ME (and me alone) meat is absolutely disgusting looking. I totally get the appeal of the impossible burger and am glad it helps former meat eaters and gives them what they want. But I just want a veggie burger. There used to be some fantastic house made veggie burgers that have all been replaced with the impossible burger. So essentially, if I don't want the impossible burger, none of which are house made, it's almost impossible to find a veggie burger.

Again, I know it's just me, but it's mildly irritating.

[Stadler]

I tried the Impossible Burger; I eat meat, but am not a meat Nazi in that way.   As I was eating it, in real time and fresh/hot, it was good.  It did NOT taste like meat; so those commercials where the incredulous eaters are like "LIES!  This tastes just like a Whopper!" are staged bullshit.   

BUT... and hour or so later, i had the wierdest taste in my mouth.  Worse, I only ate half and tried a couple hours later to reheat it - something I do with burgers all the time - and it was inedible.  I took a bite and a half and tossed it, it was so gross.  I get that it's all "commonly used ingredients" in food, but that's not to say that the combination was pleasing.

[pg1067]

I'm with you, though; not everything has to be a winning dish on Chopped.  Especially burgers; I actually like a burger with "normal" toppings (lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo, salt, pepper), and maybe grilled onions.  You go to some places and it's aioli this and craft that and... we've been eating burgers like above for decades, it's fine.

Speaking of burgers, and I know almost no one will be with me on this one, but that's okay....but I hate what veggie burgers have become.

I'm a vegetarian. That just means I don't eat meat. It doesn't mean I want a whole wheat bun with arugula, bean sprouts, vegan mayo and no cheese. It just means I want the patty to be a veggie one and not a meat one.

I'm anything but a vegetarian, but I'm totally with you and Stadler.  The thing about all the extra crap on foo-foo burgers is that it hides whether the burger itself is any good.  The burger itself (whether it be a meat patty or a veggy patty) should be good enough to eat by itself, without any toppings.

I tried the Impossible Burger; I eat meat, but am not a meat Nazi in that way.   As I was eating it, in real time and fresh/hot, it was good.  It did NOT taste like meat; so those commercials where the incredulous eaters are like "LIES!  This tastes just like a Whopper!" are staged bullshit.   

There's one commercial that's been running a lot where someone says, "I was surprised I like it because it was Burger King!"  Translation:  BK is usually crap, but this was good.  Hard to believe they kept that in the commercial.   

[cramx3]

It definitely comes off that way (as someone who doesn't like BK at all) but I think the idea was that you can't believe it's not a real burger (not burger king as a whole).  Also I don't really follow the vegetation menu side of things, but if they are replacing veggie burgers with impossible burgers, that does kind of suck for those who really just want to veggie burger.  It's not the same other than both not being meat. 

My coworker tried the impossible burger from a red robin, said it was better than expected...but can't think of a scenario where he would choose that over a real burger.  He split it with someone else while they also enjoyed their own regular burgers.

[jingle.boy]

I was just commenting to mrs.jingle the other night as we ate at Subway.  The non-meat meatball sub is higher in calories than an actual meatball sub, and 60% more expensive.  Given how PROCESSED non-meat alternatives are... where exactly is the appeal of these items?  I once had a night-class in university with a guy who worked at Schneiders in one of their processing plants and his comment "I'll NEVER eat anything "processed"" stuck with me all my life.  Where ever possible, I avoid "processed" foods.  I don't know what "processed" exactly entails, and that is a conscious decision - I don't ever want to know. 

[Adami]

I was just commenting to mrs.jingle the other night as we ate at Subway.  The non-meat meatball sub is higher in calories than an actual meatball sub, and 60% more expensive.  Given how PROCESSED non-meat alternatives are... where exactly is the appeal of these items?  I once had a night-class in university with a guy who worked at Schneiders in one of their processing plants and his comment "I'll NEVER eat anything "processed"" stuck with me all my life.  Where ever possible, I avoid "processed" foods.  I don't know what "processed" exactly entails, and that is a conscious decision - I don't ever want to know. 

There's a non-meatball sub at Subway? Huh.

I mean, I guess it's processed in the fact that it doesn't exist in nature lol.

[Stadler]

So I'm actually on a work trip now, and one of the lawyers that I'm meeting with is no meat, no dairy, and, well, it just doesn't look fun to me.  She got lunch - a Mediteranean veggie pita or some shit - but it had feta cheese on it, so no go.  About eight of us went to a middle of the line seafood restaurant, and it was "so, does the guacamole have any cheese in it?"   "Are the veggie side dishes cooked in butter?"   "Is the sushi wrapped in this".  She was a sport about it, but there's no "Hey bring me whatever the chef recommends" with that.

[TAC]

Mild-ly irr-i-ta-ting
Med-i-ter-a-ne-an

Seriously, I'd be irritated just going to s Seafood restaurant for a work lunch. If I had a work lunch at a seafood place I have no idea what I'd get. Fish n chips? That doesn't seem like business lunch food. But I wouldn't be interested in anything else.

[cramx3]

Just get the most expensive thing, someone else is paying for it 

[TAC]

There's just nothing else I would like though.

[Lonk]

There's just nothing else I would like though.

I’m not big on seafood so I understand! The most I would do is fried fish or fish fillet with some sort of potato.

[El Barto]

I'm with you, though; not everything has to be a winning dish on Chopped.  Especially burgers; I actually like a burger with "normal" toppings (lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo, salt, pepper), and maybe grilled onions.  You go to some places and it's aioli this and craft that and... we've been eating burgers like above for decades, it's fine.

The thing is some of the fancy new burger trends are pretty good. Same with the fries. That doesn't negate the need to be able to get a simple burger and fries for a reasonable price. Thankfully there are enough old fucks like me that plenty of places continue to sling them. They're typically the places that have been around forever, though, and once the ownership dies off it's all over. The bigger problem is that trendy idiots in Uptown wouldn't be caught dead in a place that's been selling the same burger for 50 years. If it's not new and shiny they won't support it.

There was a Tex-Mex place in Oak Cliff that had been around since 1983. The family that started El Chico kept one location after selling the brand to Brinkers, or whoever the hell owns El Chico now, and re-opened as The Tejano. It kept selling great food for cheap for 30 years. The neighborhood became "gentrified" and suddenly nobody would eat there. If an enchilada plate only cost $7.5 how could it be any good? They closed for a few months, re-opened with a few new menu items and a 50% price increase and suddenly was the hottest place in town. The truth is that in Dallas all you need to do is charged too much for what you sell and people will assume it's great. So really, it's not the restaurants that are at fault here. It's a dumb society.

On a side note, the trendy Tex-Mex places that cater to dumb young people over-salt everything. Presumably to encourage more drinking, but if you don't want everything super-salty you're pretty much SOL.

[JayOctavarium]

Canceled my Valentines day plans to go into work last minute. Kinda annoying but 2 more days and I'm done so whatever. My GF has a tradition with her dad where they go to the same Chinese restaurant every year for lunch on V Day. My plan was for us to go walk old Town (down town), grab ice cream, just spend time together. Whatever. So she gets home, brings me some food (orange chicken and pork fried rice). I eat the chicken and bring the big ass container of fried rice to eat at work. Took me almost 3 hours to get to work (fuck LA traffic on a Holiday weekend). I was late... Okay whatever. Well I brought a single soda with me. Wound up drinking it in traffic. Figured it wasn't a huge deal... There's a vending machine at the site I'm going to and I have a buck and a quarter on me that I made sure to bring just for the vending machine. (I have water and Gatorade too but I really want a soda with my dinner).

I go and heat up my rice.. And then go to the vending machine. Put my dollar and my quarter in, and pressed the button for my selecting.

... It ate my fucking money and didn't give me my soda. IT. ATE. MY. MONEY.

I'm totally over tonight now. Lol