Originally Posted by Sparklehorse (Post 476274)

Is it a southern thing? My favorite pancake recipe, from the Ethan Becker version of the Joy of Cooking, has cornmeal as an ingredient.

Cornbread and cornmeal mush seem more to Southern to me than pancakes. I'm going on what my father used to make and he had North Carolina roots.

Originally Posted by J. Fred Muggs (Post 476275)

There are pancakes and cornmeal pancakes. Different creatures

Originally Posted by Flinty_McFlint (Post 476277)

Okay. So as a Southerner, when you think pancakes, do you think cornmeal by default or not?

Originally Posted by Flinty_McFlint (Post 476277)

Okay. So as a Southerner, when you think pancakes, do you think cornmeal by default or not?

Originally Posted by J. Fred Muggs (Post 476275)

There are pancakes and cornmeal pancakes. Different creatures

Originally Posted by Icky Thump (Post 476283)

It just occurred to me why people go to Outback when they could get a better meal somewhere else for a similar price. We look for validation.

They feel comfortable at Outback because that's what they know. They don't feel comfortable with the service at Luger or Smith and Wolensky because they don't feel like they belong. It's not somewhere, maybe, their dad felt comfortable bringing them to in the Pinto, feeling like people would be looking at them like they didn't belong.

The first time I hit big on a personal referral I went to Paul Stuart to buy a couple of suits. Keep in mind, coming from a hardcore blue collar upbringing, I didn't even know how to tie a tie until I was a grown up. And though I had worked my way up to outlet mall Hickey Freeman, Paul Stuart, at $1600 a pop, the dark windows and the adult salesmen, all intimidated me.*

But of course the next generation of Thumps know how to tie ties as youngsters, do not feel uncomfortable at an expensive restaurant, and can walk into a fancy place knowing what they want.

It's the same reason people lease an Explorer when they could get a BMW for the same amount of money. Self-perception.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 476284)

That and the fact that Beemers are fucking foreign cars driven mostly by small dicked asshats.

The little Greedies know stuff I didn't (though I'm not sure my son could tie a tie), but they also have learned a lot of vocabulary I wish they didn't know thanks to the beemer drivers of the worlds. What is it about that particular brand that attracts so many idiots?

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 476179)

Yes, I am Wonking.

TM

Originally Posted by Adder (Post 476195)

This is my issue with restaurants in that category. Steak should be a thing that is eaten relatively rarely, at least according to my tastes and beliefs about healthy eating. So if I'm going to do it, I want a really good one, which happens to mean an expensive one.



Because they don't know any better. Food at home was even worse, and there just aren't other options readily available.

Originally Posted by ThurgreedMarshall (Post 476206)

This makes inherent sense. I do the same. The best option is the best option, even if it sucks.

This one I can relate to, although I'm not necessarily talking about fancy restaurants. I didn't come from money, so my first experiences with nice restaurants were intimidating and I sure as hell didn't know what a sommelier was and often felt pressure to purchase wine when handed the wine list. If you don't know that world, it can be intimidating. Of course, a good Italian restaurant doesn't necessarily have to be a fancy restaurant, but I suppose if you're intimidated by New York, you may just assume that it does. Midwestern transplants who have lived here for awhile have no excuse, though.

In college (in the midwest), we traveled to an Olive Garden once to have a "nice" dinner. Compared to dorm food, it was definitely better. But after having eaten at average, neighborhood, inexpensive Italian joints, there ain't no goin' back.

Exactly! The point of traveling to New York is embracing the unknown, no?

There are restaurants near Time Square that make a decent business just on walk-ins who have a horrible experience and never ever come back. I went to a Brazilian place once (not a chain) on restaurant row on a whim after a show and it was the worst dining experience I've ever had at a sit-down restaurant. Waiters, owner, chefs didn't care. They knew they'd catch other walk-ins even if every single one of their customers yelped til their fingers were sore about it.

I can eat some Chilli's when I'm out of town, though. The fajitas are never as good as they smell when they parade them by, but they catch me every time.

I'll give you this. I suppose it's not that different than eating room service or at the hotel restaurant or going to the hotel bar instead of exploring a bit. It's just that there are so many decent options that almost any restaurant you walk into (outside of Times Square) will be better.

These people are stupid and I am glad they have someplace to be that I am not.

This is just lame. I recognize that it happens, but anyone can read the menu before entering the restaurant.

TM

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch (Post 476218)

If you figure this one out let me know, because I've never understood it. Maybe it's just that some people fear that any non-chain will be overpriced or bad or dirty, but even if that ever made sense it doesn't know with the ease of Yelp and TripAdvisor and so forth.

Once you figure this out, explain to me why people would ever go to Rainforest Cafe without kids.

Originally Posted by taxwonk (Post 476289)

Two simple reasons. Most of America lives in towns where the casual dining option is the Dairy Queen and the fancy place is Black-Eyed Pea or Ryan's Steak House. You have to drive 40 miles round trip to Fort Collins to find an Outback, so that is reserved for things like wedding anniversaries and high school graduation. And single people on dates go to Rainforest Cafe because they have big, fancy drinks that come in glasses that you can take home with you, it's dark inside (romantical), and again, it's the fanciest place they've ever been.

Originally Posted by taxwonk (Post 476288)

Remember the time you came to Chicago ane we met for lunch? This is the city where the hot dog has become a thing unto itself, in a way that no other place can lay claim to. You were staying four blocks from the best Italian beef in the city. Remember where you wanted to go?

Johnny Rockets.

Originally Posted by Greedy,Greedy,Greedy (Post 476284)

That and the fact that Beemers are fucking foreign cars driven mostly by small dicked asshats.