Cartoons

[dandymomma]

Ick, Waffle House.

The only one I've been to was in..... Alabama, I think? It was dirty and sticky, and greasy, and my husband was just raving, "WAFFLE HOUSE!!! I haven't eaten at one of these since Tech School!!!"

Blech!!!!

[kdfrawg]

IHOP is sort of like that here. That's okay, I don't eat at chain places too much any more. The food is often way below average and the prices can be much higher. Local places are usually much better.

[dandymomma]

I remember when IHOP was just that quirky little pancake house with the REALLY long name. There was one in Federal Way and that was the only one I knew of in the Puget Sound area. It was really good, and then everything got all "commercialized". Now they are EVERYWHERE and nothing tastes "homemade" anymore.

[kdfrawg]

Well, that, and if you sit anything down anywhere in an IHOP, it instantly becomes glued to the surface you put it on. I think those places are about 15% syrup. I often have a book with me when I eat, and I treat books better than that.

[flo]

I have found that any eating place, national chain or mom and pop operation, is only as good as the cook.

[kdfrawg]

But sometimes the cook can only cook what the corporation says he can cook, using only the ingredients the corporation says he can use. And that ain't good. Please see Rudy's chapter on the cook at his grade school.

[Diane Amberg]

    You mean "Freda Flyshacker"

[dandymomma]

True in most cases, but more and more, the sauces and gravies and such are produced in a factory, frozen and shipped to the individual chain locations. Or they come in powder form and all the restraunt does is add water. Old Country Buffet is one of those that uses powder mixes for thier desserts, and sauces; and all of the meat and side dishes are frozen. The only things that are fresh are the salad fixin's and the carved meat.

We don't eat there anymore.

[kdfrawg]

And the cooks in places like those don't get paid much more than the busboys. You can't make good food out of mediocre ingredients. All too often, it is just plastic food. Ask your local restaurateur about the difference between Lila's and Chiles, or Poplar Pizza and Applebees. And those are a couple of the marginally acceptable chain restaurants, where we'll eat in a pinch. If I were you, though, I would not ask them about Denny's and IHOP.