![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
I'll admit it, I occasionally patronize those big chain restaurants. Many of them don't stuck, but whole lot of them seem to be coasting and hoping the bar will lubricate the lameness. Maybe they're right, but I don't drink at such places.
I know when they have a microwave and they always have a deep fryer. Chances are, the best the place has to offer sees the deep fryer, but if it just misses the nuker I consider myself ahead. Based on the first rule, appetizers are usually the most satisfying. With this in mind, a few good appetizers and a small entree work pretty well for the Friday's genre eatery.
Today I saw such a amazing fail I had to share. It wasn't that the food was bad ( in this instance ), but the cunning method of cutting corners was so absurd. The victim of the fail? French Onion Soup. The criminal: Appelbee's.
French onion soup is usually pretty safe to order. It's popular, real easy to make, and so much cheaper to do so that even the nuker-rants often have some "from scratch" in it. Caramelize some onions, a little S&P, cover with water and you're there. Sure, some beef stock would be nice, or some wine, but with just the onions it's yummy.
French onion has the bonus of using day old ( or older ) bread. And the bulk of the bowl is liquid, it's soup. Of course, it's always topped with cheese; the fun part, but also the expensive part. Which is why the chain-rant presentation is a mystery.
The "soup" was well covered with cheese. It had bread hearty enough for a thick soup with real caramelized onions at the bottom. Overall, it was quite nice, maybe even a little too thick. However, it was a paltry two inches deep! The broth might have been called a gravy on which sat onions, bread, and cheese. It really didn't have enough liquid to call itself soup. The sering container had been constructed with essentially a false solid bottom, to make it look deeper.
Strange.
I know when they have a microwave and they always have a deep fryer. Chances are, the best the place has to offer sees the deep fryer, but if it just misses the nuker I consider myself ahead. Based on the first rule, appetizers are usually the most satisfying. With this in mind, a few good appetizers and a small entree work pretty well for the Friday's genre eatery.
Today I saw such a amazing fail I had to share. It wasn't that the food was bad ( in this instance ), but the cunning method of cutting corners was so absurd. The victim of the fail? French Onion Soup. The criminal: Appelbee's.
French onion soup is usually pretty safe to order. It's popular, real easy to make, and so much cheaper to do so that even the nuker-rants often have some "from scratch" in it. Caramelize some onions, a little S&P, cover with water and you're there. Sure, some beef stock would be nice, or some wine, but with just the onions it's yummy.
French onion has the bonus of using day old ( or older ) bread. And the bulk of the bowl is liquid, it's soup. Of course, it's always topped with cheese; the fun part, but also the expensive part. Which is why the chain-rant presentation is a mystery.
The "soup" was well covered with cheese. It had bread hearty enough for a thick soup with real caramelized onions at the bottom. Overall, it was quite nice, maybe even a little too thick. However, it was a paltry two inches deep! The broth might have been called a gravy on which sat onions, bread, and cheese. It really didn't have enough liquid to call itself soup. The sering container had been constructed with essentially a false solid bottom, to make it look deeper.
Strange.