Recent Comments
Re: “The Fur Flies Tonight as Chappy Faces Off With Gordon Ramsay”
I guess if you're gonna go down you might as well go down swinging and slinging what you know. But honestly, he's lasted a lot longer than I ever figured he would, especially given the way he seems to hang his toque on that BUTTER. That's the oddest thing ever! And honestly, every time I've been it was the best thing they served. Certainly the best value...
Re: “Prominent TV Chef Maneet Chauhan Opening Her First Restaurant: A Gastropub in Nashville”
FWIW, my meager understanding of the etymology of 'gastropub' had to do with the epiphany someone running a pub in England had in the 80s-90s, to go beyond being the butt of all food jokes and actually serve food worth eating on its own and not just as a post-session beer soak. So there were pubs and then there were gastropubs, and the latter meant the fish & chips would cost about double what they charged in the former, but they probably weren't out of a freezer bag and the malt vinegar would be in a nice serving bottle and not the stock bottle still with its label, etc.. Then they got into sourcing "heirloom" varieties of local food (produce and meat), and off they went waiting for their turn in Kitchen Nightmares when they got too fancy or lost their way with rarebit that took all day to fix. Sadly, a lot of their pint prices went up with the food costs, it seemed. (Some of us still just want a fresh 'best bitter' option on the hand pull with clean lines and a nice selection of Walker's crisps for later.) But that was the gastropub's invention. What it means here seems to be whatever you want, but almost always that extra tick up in prices is a given.
Re: “In Defense of Chains: Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q”
My secret reason for frequenting JNN was their queso, which was originally made with SMOKED fresh tomatoes. Gamechanger. Now I smoke tomatoes whenever I smoke anything else (all pipe and rolled product jokes aside). Whoever thought of that was genius. Alas, the last several times I've been the best chunky bits of that queso were nowhere to be seen, and the servers confirmed a change was made high up and the tomatoes were 86'd. What a terrible idea ! The problem with a chain is right there - someone makes a decision based on lots of centralized input and analysis, and immediately wipes out your potential favorite thing everywhere, and they may have made that decision based on some/few/several out of all locations failing to do it well. When they provide local stores no options to respond to their own direct feedback, those providing that feedback go back to feed elsewhere eventually...(I could even get over the large-plates-small-food thing if they just brought back the smoked 'maters in the queso!)
Chains on their own are not terrible. I miss Houston's. I wish we were on Lawry's list for their next Prime Rib restaurant. If there were 10 Blackstones or just the one, some would still say it feels like a chain and some of us would dance with joy at having other addresses to try. Sopapilla's is unique to this area but so familiar to fans of the genre that it can almost feel tired while sitting here in its very own space. Denny's used to be an oasis when you were on the road, now it's a joke. Shoney's could have saved itself 20 years ago by realizing the boomer nostaliga was a money maker and bringing back Big Boy, counter service and the old menu. Instead they have gone through a conga line of CEOs and perfected the lowest common denominator of buffet service and become the poster child - with all of their offshoots - of sysco-based chain dining at its best/worst. A chain or a one-off still has to know what they do and do it well to succeed. Or just replicate crap really well to people who are addicted to the familiar.
Re: “The Weekly Open Thread: Ramen Rage Edition”
Usually trolls exist in the comments section, but it seems Bites likes to give them editorial privileges. Thanks - as usual - for not only dragging a tired conversation back through the ringer but especially for so fearlessly drawing your own conclusions on my eating experiences and background based on comments that conflict with your personal POV. I stand by them all: traditional ramen is typically fantastic and exactingly well-made for far, far less in places not named Nashville, and when such is well-made is usually available on its own, without that pesky high-priced pickle course. If over-spending for it makes you feel good about yourself and/or your town, great! If being cautiously optimistic that having discovered real ramen the populace of this great town will now support additional, full-time options that don't require all the fluff of $30 pickles is my sin, then mark me as having so sinned.
and yeah, having had great ramen, eating bad ramen is indeed a travesty, and often worth a complaint. Nothing, however, short of seeing a flight attendant leave the door open as the jet-bridge grows smaller through the window is worth anything more than a grimace once you have boarded your flight, whether you're headed across the ocean or across the Mississippi.
Re: “Atsby Vermouth Launch Party Recap”
Their name is like one of those optical illusion complete-the-circle things you used to run into while trapped in the dentist's waiting area reading Hi-Light or whatever it was: I keep mentally adding a "G" to the beginning. Am I the only one ? Regardless, it sounds "Great", if you'll pardon the illusory pun !
Re: “The Weekly Open Thread: Who Has the Best Fries in Nashville?”
One of the great things about getting brisket tacos at Judge Bean's is knowing it will come with their fries. Sometimes your two sides are just destined to be two orders of those fries.
But nobody in town compares with an order of In 'n Out's fries well done. For the love of travel perks, why can't they expand their Dallas presence to include DFW ???
Re: “The Fur Flies Tonight as Chappy Faces Off With Gordon Ramsay”
The expose on the lunch versus dinner pricings for the same portions is probably unrecoverable, but Chappy made a total fool of himself by blaming Nashville tastes for his failures, and describing Nashville as burgers and barbecue. What a ridiculously ignorant and arrogant insult. The guy is obviously someone who got away with whatever he fantabulized through sheer intimidation in his Mississippi setting, and found the kharma chickens came home to roost when he moved here. The only other thing I wish GR had done was to take him to Bro's and then ask him how long they've been in Nashville, and how much he had to 'dumb down' his cuisine to suit Nashville's tastes. Or heck, he could have taken him to Prince's and asked Ms Andre how much she has 'dumbed down' her chicken to suit those same timid tastes. Clearly, that line at Prince's must just be for the fries and the pickle.
Flannel shirts and raw wood weren't what Chappy's needed, but a real chef would have helped. Not gonna happen in this lifetime...I am curious if any of the servers left (or were asked to leave) after the big showdown. That wasn't received well, I'm sure.
They should have burned the "clown pants" when they had the chance.