I know this blog has been ill-maintained, but I am determined to put all my food posts on this from now on. I think that to properly do so, I'd address an issue that I saw while on a chowhound thread. Chain vs. Local?
K, first of all, those who annoyingly generalizes that everyone who would prefer not to go to chains are all annoying food snobs, I have to say you are idiots. What is wrong with big chain restaurants that think they can rightfully charge you a shit ton (excuse my language, but I get fired up about my food) for some mediocre food? There are a lot of things. Yeah, I'm sure places like Maggiano's and Mac Grill and Cheesecake Factory have some pretty damn good dishes, but as a poor college student who also wants to eat delicious food, I have found the alternative. Take, for example, the dinner at Maggiano's that I had the other day vs. say...Neal's Deli (I'm on Chapel Hill, so Carrboro is my food town). T and I went to both together, and our Neal's Deli breakdown was a little more than 20 dollars total for the Chileanos Completos, Manhattan, Chicken Noodle Soup and Marinated Beets. All of that stuffed our bellies full, just like the dinner for two chef's specials did at Maggiano's with a Tomato Bruschetta, Braised Veal Pasta, Balsamic-Glazed Salmon baked on cedar paper and served with a Mediterranean orzo with pine nuts, and Mini-Desserts that included Creme Brulee, Tiramisu, New York Style Cheesecake, and Apple Crostada for 52 dollars (including tax and 20% tip).
Here's the taste breakdown for each:
Chileanos Completos: Avocado Salsa, Kraut, Chipotle Tabasco, & Mayonnaise on a Brezel roll--this is the shit. This might just be because my lack of experience with the hot dog, but this was by far the greatest hot dog I've ever had. Best. Bun. Ever. That bun was toasted until crispy and golden brown and the avocado salsa on top was nice and cool and made a great temperature as well as texture contrast with the roll. The kraut, I'm sure, they made because I know Neal's Deli does their own pickles and marinated veggies and slaws. Chipotle Tabasco has always been my favorite and it adds a nice spice (though I'd prefer more) and the Mayonnaise was unnecessary but I guess provided that rich, creamy taste in your bite. It was certainly too big for my mouth and definitely worth every penny of that $5.50. Just thinking about that hot dog makes me so happy.
The Manhattan: Pastrami with Swiss, slaw, & Russian dressing on rye--I am in love with the pastrami in this sandwich. It was nice and crispy on the edges and tender at the center and the cut was a nice thickness. The Pastrami was just layered on there, making up a significant part of this sandwich, but did not at all throw the carefully balanced ratio of slaw:meat:bread. The slaw was nice and sweet but had the added tang of the Russian dressing layered right on top of it. It tasted so fresh, and like any other slaw-on-top-of-a-hot-item at Neal's Deli, it was cool and provided a great contrast. You know that then the slaw inside the sandwich is still cool and the meat is still hot that it was made to order and served quickly. The slaw was not as good as the Muffuletta's olive salad, but it tasted to appropriate on that hot pastrami. Again, this was worth every penny of its cost, which was $8.50.
Chicken Noodle Soup: This tasted so fresh and the chicken was shredded to thick pieces (if that made any sense) and you can tell that it was house-made. The soup was light and seasoned well, which for people other than me might be a little under--I am fragile against the salt--but T didn't complain, so I assume it was good for her, too. Some chicken pieces were on the dry side, which made the chicken experience from this soup very inconsistent, but the taste of the broth had be spooning out every drop of it from that bowl. Worth the $4.50/bowl.
Marinated Beets: At this point, you're probably wondering, you have room to put away another item in your stomach? Yeah, yeah we did. We stuffed ourselves and made two huge food babies, but that's all worth it. Plus, we took a browse around Cliff's Meat Market and walked all the way back to my dorm anyway, so the extra energy consumed didn't go to waste. The beets were sweet like beets are supposed to be and I'm so glad that my love in beets has been reaffirmed. The tangy coating on the beets from the marinade/dressing/"Neal's Deli magic fairy dust" was a good contrast, but didn't take away from the beet's sweetness, which was exactly what I was expecting when I bought this. Bottom line, for $3.25, this is a nice side.
vs.
Bruschetta: Italian garlic bread toasted and topped with a tomato bruschetta relish made of diced tomatoes, balsamic vinegar and Kalamata olives and basil--This was really, really tasty. The tomatoes tasted fresh and I was looking for more olives the whole time. This was just...tasty, I'm not sure how else I can add to what the taste was. Except for the nice, toasty bread, I'm sure I can make this in my podunk dorm room after a trip to the farmer's market on a nice Saturday morning.
Braised Veal Pasta: Ok, this is where it went all wrong. The fettuccini was perfectly cooked to al dente and even though the veal was salty and even after the botched desserts, I was picking out the remainder of my pasta just to eat. The sundried tomatoes were so delicious and tangy, and I was looking for more with each bite to neutralize the salty veal and jus but the salt just got to be too much for me. I know I eat on the light side of the salt spectrum, but even when T tried my dish it was still agreeably too salty for her. The veal was in chunks and falling apart, but even though it was falling-apart tender, its texture was still stringy-tough, kinda like it's been dried out. It was fatty, though, and had a good taste to it, but for a braised meat, it lacked any flavor other than salt. There was no spice, no deeper flavor, no excitement that popped out at me. I found it a bit bland in that respect.
Balsamic-Glazed Salmon: The balsamic glaze on the salmon was very tasty but there wasn't enough. The salmon itself was cooked a little too much for my taste. I've made more well-cooked salmon following directions off of an internet recipe. The spinach was buttery and tasty, but under-seasoned so it was a bit bland overall. The orzo was nice, but there was nothing special about it, and i kept wishing the pine nuts had been roasted (since that's how I like my pine nuts) but it added a nice crunch to the dish. Except for lack of seasoning and the overcooked salmon, this was a nice dish. So I guess it wasn't *really* nice since those were the two most important thing.
Mini Desserts: as listed, it was the strawberry NY-style Cheese Cake, Tiramisu, Apple Crostada with vanilla ice cream topped with a bit of mint, and Creme Brulee. I could've gotten a much better cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory next door, so that part of the dessert was a bust. Tiramisu is one of my favorite desserts, so this particular one has a lot to be compared to since I order this almost anywhere I've been that serves this. One bite of the Tiramisu and I just gave up on the rest. It was bland, the coffee flavor was weak, the cream was light but bland and needed a bit more sugar, and the dark chocolate on top wasn't even memorable. Compared to the Tiramisu at Asuka (Morrisville) and at Tir Na Nog (Raleigh), this is waaaaay sub-par. Considering Asoka is a Japanese sushi restaurant and Tir Na No is an Irish Pub and that Maggiano's is supposedly focused just Italian fare, this is just sad. How can you ruin a favorite so badly that I don't even want to give it a second bite, much less a second chance. Gross. Moving on, we have the Apple Crostada, which was really.....sweet. The ice cream actually tasted nice, but I doubt they made the ice cream themselves, so I'm not sure what kind of ice cream I was eating. It was eh. The Creme Brulee was actually really tasty and rich, without being overly so, but the sugar crust on top was disappointing. It was not the crunchy crust I'd hoped for, but it was something that was cold and stuck to my teeth. Thanks, Maggiano's, thanks. Being a lover of all custard desserts, especially flan and creme brulee, this just added unnecessary sadness on top of the sadness I had after the Tiramisu.
Overall, taste-wise (even excluding desserts since Neal's Deli didn't serve desserts) and budget-wise, I would never go back to Maggiano's and I feel apprehensive about trying another big-chain restaurant. This isn't just from an animosity toward chains. Don't misunderstand. I've had Mac Grill's seafood linguine and on that night that I gave the place a try (I think Norfolk, VA, near MacArthur mall), the pasta was tasty. The scallops in the appetizer were also all perfectly cooked tender with a crust on both sides. I definitely don't approve of the price there, either, but for a dinner where your parents pay, it's not bad. With that said, and with my appreciation for Chipotle's steak burritos and KFC/Bojangles fried chicken, I think this was a very unbiased comparison of two self-bloating meals.
So I reaffirm the not-anti-chain-but-anti-spending-money-on-blah argument and say with conviction that anti-chainers are not necessarily "pretentious food snobs".
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Il y a 4 ans
