Text 37531, 127 rader
Skriven 2010-05-08 19:04:29 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
     Kommentar till en text av Michael Loo
Ärende: faster foods 111
========================
Hi Michael,

 RH> had supper at The Cheesecake Factory in Raleigh last night.  As I told
 RH> Hap, the plate of calamari was probably the best we've had since we
 RH> were in Monterey

 ML> Last night before my rehearsal I went to Fire Bull, where the
 ML> echo picnic stopped for dinner maybe a decade. It was just at

Always interesting to see if a place has changed, and if so, for the
better or not.  When we visited Swansboro in 07, one of our old favorite
places to eat was gone.  Another had expanded physically but still kept
the same quality of food/low prices.  A third, one that we didn't go to
very often because it was higher priced, had also expanded somewhat.
Our first apartment was in a converted hotel (since torn down); the
bedroom was probably less than 50' from their kitchen door.  We had no
air conditioning there so it was either have the window open and hear
the noise/smell fried seafood in summer or keep it shut and stifle.


 ML> the cusp of lunch (buffet) and dinner (rodizio or from the menu)
 ML> - I was given the choice of buffet or from the menu. Decided on
 ML> buffet @ 6.45/lb (7 something if all meat).


Generally you can do pretty decent at a buffet.  Sometimes it helps to
"cruise" it before deciding, or, after deciding but while waiting for
your turn in line.


 ML> Brazil-style rice - white with specks of meat and veggies, most
 ML> notably corn - salty but quite palatable

Not quite fried rice, Brazilian style?


 ML> Farofa dish - undercooked pink beans, undercooked shreds of kale,
 ML> little cubes of ham (used to be big pieces of sausage when I came
 ML> here years ago), egg clots, and grainy fried farofa (manioc) -
 ML> ditto, perhaps better than palatable

Sounds like this dish may have gone down hill over the years.  Was it
commercial cubes of ham or cubes cut from a ham in the kitchen?

 ML> stewed rib tips - weird sauce of beans, tomato, and undercooked
 ML> wine - I think this was meant to be a sort of feijoada

I wouldn't know. (G)


 ML> mystery meat stew - the meat had some boar taint issue, and I
 ML> wasn't certain whether it was pork, lamb, human, or some
 ML> species hitherto unknown to me

Alien stew?  Hmmmmmmmm, interesting. (G)


 ML> chicken salad - shredded chicken breast, succotash, mayo, and
 ML> fried potato sticks - better than it sounds.


Succotash with or without limas?  Sounds like it had some possibilities
there.


 ML> I piled this stuff on my plate and took it to be weighed, and
 ML> the guy said, want some meat? "What do you have?" Chicken,
 ML> pork, top sirloin, garlic roast beef. I asked for the fatty

Nice assortment, hopefully fixed in different ways so you're not eating
basically the same thing, just different meats.


 ML> bits of a top sirloin (picanha), and he gave me these bits of
 ML> two, another half pound of food, which brought my total to
 ML> 1 3/4 lb. The meat was overdone (what's next to the fat has
 ML> to be, by definition), and that of one of the picanhas was
 ML> incredibly tender and delicious, and that of the other was
 ML> tough and stringy, though flavorful.


Sounds like yu did better than 50/50 there, maybe 60/40.


 ML> Ended up spending more than I thought, but it was fun.

Isn't that the way it usually is?  We spent more than we should have the
other night but the calamari & cheesecake made it worth while.


 RH> One down side tho--only 2 pieces of tentacle in probably half a dozen
 RH> or so cut up squid.

 ML> Possibilities:

 ML> the restaurant orders just rings, and the pieces of tentacle
 ML> were mistakes;

The waitress said that they get the whole squid and cut it up only when
an order is placed.


 ML> the restaurant saves tentacles for (1) the staff; (2) patrons
 ML> who ask for them; (3) Asians. Not so long ago I went to Becky's

I suspect they don't serve tentacles as a matter of course, figuring
most people would be grossed out by them.  Guess if we go again, we'll
have to ask that they include more (but not totally) on our order.

 ML> Chinese Restaurant (formerly Eve's Hunan) for the salt-pepper
 ML> squid, and it was mostly tentacles: I was in fifth, if not
 ML> seventh, heaven. A fried eggplant dish, though, was extraordinarily
 ML> greasy, and a beef dish kind of tasteless.

Only one winner there. But, it beats not having anything decent.


---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... Yesterday was the deadline for complaints.

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