Mangolia? Is that where the mangolins dine on mangos all day?

Wow. And these aren't even that down-scale. I'd hate to see how these folks would react to the food in your average Diner.

That article is written by the person whom Maureen Dowd thinks Democratic candidates are.

Next: the NYT reviews Hardee's!

The thing about chain restaurants is, if you don't happen to live in a place with a plethora of really good restaurants, there's a decent chance that the chain is the best food you're likely to find.

I've had really delicious meals at both the Cheesecake Factor and P. F. Chiang's. But given that my sample size is 2 of each over the last 5 years, maybe I didn't sample everything.

But I'm not sure the writer was necessarily comparing adults who go to Applebees to children themselves.

It seemed to me the reference was to families -- i.e., a lot of parents find themselves in a tough situation when they want to go out to eat for a sit-down dinner, which may be fairly rare for a lot of people these days, and to be able to please the kids too.

Ah, the 'menu peuple' of White Plains.

we may soon be seeing more cupboards filled with econo-boxes of kraft's macaroni and cheese on manager's specials, than elegant decanters of olive oil.

the return of the velveeta years.

I second the deliciousness of Cheesecake Factory, though I'm definitely partial to Red Lobster.

Adults who like Applebee's are like particularly simple-minded children.

Well, in their defense, this isn't entirely untrue. I've been to multiple Applebee's and they have all been just terrible.

Outback Steakhouse is nice, though.

Everyone in my Manhattan office decided to go to Red Lobster on a lark. One of those "irony" adventures. We all spent way too much money for what was probably the worst food I've ever eaten and 2 out of the 6 got food poisoning. I hope to god that Red Lobster comment was a joke.

Reminds me of a classic article from The Onion:
"I'll Try Anything With a Detached Air of Superiority"

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/33176

Ezra,

Funny stuff!

"Everyone in my Manhattan office decided to go to Red Lobster on a lark. One of those "irony" adventures."

Oh man. I really don't know what to say about this without breaking multiple rules of blog etiquette, so I'll pass.

However I will tell say that I too have have been to a "Red Lobster" on a lark, and was shocked at the alarming ratio of proletarian mouth-breathers to sophisticated high-society types like myself. I even had to park my own car!

Mandatory Aussie disclaimer - there is NOTHING Australian about Outback Steakhouse.

Remember folks -- most people probably still think of the NY Times as "liberal". And this is how they get the idea that liberals are a bunch of effete snobs.

The outback steakhouse is owned by a bunch of hard-core republican donors... and my brother-in-law and a friend have each gotten food poisoning there (at two different locations).

The comment above about finding decent food (instead of the crap-shoot in an unfamiliar place) is spot-on. I have had quite good luck with Olive Garden, but that's just my experience.

Andrew, they at least have good Aussie beer: Coopers Red!

There are too many inexpensive family-owned Italian places nearby to bother with Olive Garden, but Outback and Cheesecake Factory are good. I readily agree that I can go to a better steakhouse than Outback, but the steak will cost twice as much and it probably won't be twice as good. Chili's is fine too, but should really never be mistaken for anything other than a good place to get boneless buffalo wings and a burger. The idea that most of the people who eat at chains don't know any better is just dumb. They eat there cause they like the food, and they like the price.

Cheescake Factory does, surprisingly, serve up some pretty good food, even for someone who used to live in New York and appreciates interesting and properly prepared food.

Have been meaning to ask: How does Specialized's cheese-fastener rack attachment perform? Does it work with soft and hard cheeses? Does it accommodate the small holes in Ementhaler, as well as the larger ones in Jarlsberg? Is the baguette attachment adjustable, to fit German and Italian breads?

I'd say there are 4 tiers to chain restaurants:

(1) Genuinely good food for people with at least reasonably sophisticated tastes. e.g.: Cheescake Factory.
(2) Good food, nothing particularly sophisticated: Outback, Macaroni Grill (IMO better and cheaper than Olive Garden).
(3) Solid places to go for a burger or the like: Red Robin.
(4) Sill pits: Applebees.

Sill = swill.

Wow. And these aren't even that down-scale. I'd hate to see how these folks would react to the food in your average Diner.

Well, Manhattan is full of diners, so they've probably reacted to them often.

Still, this article's crap.

One thing to keep in mind, the restaurant industry is so competitive in NYC that one can generally get an extraordinarily good meal for less than one would spend in one of the more expensive chain restaurants. Sure, you can easily drop hundreds of dollars for dinner at some of the top restaurant, but you can also get some really, really good food for less than you would spend at, say, Olive Garden.

My wife refuses to go back to Outback Steakhouse when, after ordering a medium rare steak, was allegedly informed by the server that they were all out of medium rare until they got a new shipment in the next day.

I will just say this: the Outback steak houses in Korea are very, very strange. So are the pizza huts. More strange than you would imagine either a pizza hut OR an outback steak house to be.

The nachos at Chili's are indeed good.

The pasta I had at Olive Garden the one time I went was awful. They served better pasta at my college's cafeteria, and that stuff was awful too.

I don't really see what was wrong with the article. It seemed mostly complimentary towards these chains. In general, I think chains should be a last resort, but they can be fun sometimes.

That NYT piece should have been a fat, juicy target, but maybe Ezra picked the wrong quotes or something.

First Petey, then Hillary, now Ezra with his post. I won't say they've taught me to appreciate elitist snobs. But they have taught me to appreciate anyone not currently trying to look all salt of the earth by finding some fellow member of the educated elite and targeting them for a game of cooties.

Adults who like Applebee's are like particularly simple-minded children. Christ. You're writing in public, folks. Have some manners.

For the record, there's something to be said for the claim that adults are acting like children. To whit: grown men and women who wear tracksuits and sweatsuits and/or sneakers while not engaging in athletic activity.

Incidentally, I had a similar reaction as the author when I went to DC's Five Guys Burgers for the first time: it was the sort of place you went if your tastes were that of a 9-year-old.

Disclosure: growing up, my family regularly patronized Sizzler, and I like the food at TGI Fridays.

Whoever wrote that tripe needs to be hauled out into the middle of the street and beaten with a rubber hose. I understand there are plenty of "foodies" in the world, but really, let's not pretend that there's some especially interesting psychological analysis to be made based on where people eat.

Though I do think there might be some especially interesting psychological analysis based of people who actually think such a thing.

No wonder the media continues to write about we working class types as if we're some native tribe living undiscovered in the dark recesses of some jungle.

Me, I want to know where to get the psychotropics that convince anyone that the Cheesecake Factory is "great" (the article) or "really delicious" (x2!), "good", "pretty good" or "genuinely good" (the commenters).

Me, I've been there a few times, at the mall when we lived in Minneapolis and that's where we were with a group of people. Each time, the drinks were awful and weak, the appetizers greasy and bland, and the food itself beneath notice. Actually, worse, but I am trying to be kind. I mean, it was absolutely awful. And while I am more elitist than any ten of your self-doubting foodie friends, I am the kind of elitist who knows how to enjoy food, period, and hence laments the passing of George's Orange (take that food reference, you snob manques).

No, the Cheesecake Factory and its friends is simply awful. I'll go to a dozen greasy-spoon, dishwater-coffee, mystery-meat diners -- and like them -- before I again set foot in that sulfurous hellhole.

If you're in the Twin Cities at a suburban theater with some buddies, you may have no choice. To think anyone prefers eating there to, say, Denny's simply astounds.

Stanfo, don't worry. Most of us are thinking what you're thinking. I, for one, am with you buddy.

Tyro: You're stuck up. Not everyone can afford to wear suits all the time. Hell, not everyone even wants to. People should dress to please themselves, not to please you.

Personally, I prefer the local restaurants. But I wouldn't eat the crap some of you eat if I was paid to. You generally like to eat the food you were raised on, so this is generally a class issue where people who are upper-class like to make fun of the way people who are not eat. Just like Tyro likes to make fun of how middle-class folks like to dress.

Oh, soullite, soullite, soullite. You generally like to eat the food you were raised on, so this is generally a class issue?

I have never read anything so patronizing in my life. And I like the food on which I was raised. But so should you. All food is good food.

And trust me, if I gave you twenty guesses -- hell, forty -- you would not guess which dish "the food you were raised on" brought to my mind.

Lord, save me from antielitism. It hurts my skin.

Went to Ruby's dinner in Palm Spring while visiting my mom. We sat outside and ordered burgers and fries.

I think the cook forgot to take the velvetta slice out of the plastic wrap before putting it on my burger.

The couple next to us left and abandoned a taco salad in a fried shell (I think) The birds in the area attacked while sqwaking and fighting over it. As the birds devoured the taco salad, they would fling bits of it around the patio.

At random, the staff would come out to shoo the birds away, as more birds swooped in to attack food on other tables.

Shitty food with a Hitchcock theme.

"But I wouldn't eat the crap some of you eat if I was paid to. You generally like to eat the food you were raised on, so this is generally a class issue"

soullite, 10 to 1 odds Ezra wasn't raised on artisanal cheese because it simply wasn't hip yet in the 80s.

Use your head.

wcw: Well, I live around Atlanta, and I had some very delicious meals at the Cheesecake Factory. I've also been to many more tiny, even hole-in-the-wall family-run restaurants carrying home recipes 2 or 3 generations old. I don't know -- maybe those couple of times I went there was some strange break in the space-time continuum in which quality food came through to my table alone.

If you don't like that, f*** you. There is simply no political or moral justification to take a sensible critique of corporate retail chain culture & their likely negative and wider effects and apply it as a vain technique of personal superiority claims. I really don't give a sh*t what your personal dining experiences or preferences are.

Just like Tyro likes to make fun of how middle-class folks like to dress.

Taste and maturity have very little to do with income, nor does it have anything to do with wearing a suit. No one is buying a $100 Juicy Couture velour track suit because it's all she can afford.

What I don't get is that the author must have grown up going to chain restaurants every now and then. I grew up surrounded by diners, and even I would regularly meet up with friends at the various Chotchkie's-like chains. I can't help but think that the author's tone is a bit of a put-on. Growing up to be a mediocre-paid feature writer at the New York Times is, after all, a rather middlebrow ambition.

Oh, if you think this was elitist, you should have seen the NYT review of New Jersey trailer parks.

I don't eat out anymore because I have a child in college. But in my neck of the woods, where there are tons of locally owned, inexpensive restaurants with excellent food, I rarely went to the chains. My favorite of the chains was Maccaroni Grill, which sadly is no longer open around here.

Our number one reason for going to the Cheesecake Factory: It's the only restaurant that we know of, chain or otherwise, that my husband can indulge in a favorite dessert. He's diabetic and they have creditable sugar-free cheesecake.

I'm amused, since I just went to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner on Saturday. Dinner was a little greasier than I usually eat, but still tasty. That was the particular dish, though - I decided to be daring and have something with fried shrimp, when I usually avoid fried foods.

I think the problem with the article is not the elitism (I mean, I won't touch Applebee's or Pizzaria Uno with a ten-foot pole... does that make me elitist?). It's the utter condescension, like it's one of the earlier anthropologists going to "Darkest Africa" to chronicle the "savages" they find there.

I mean, we all know Outback Steakhouse is cheesy and not really representative of Australia. It's just ambiance - heck, part of the reason people go to it is because it's entertainingly cheesy (post-modernism and irony - it's not just for the rich).

It might not be the best meal in the world... but if it tastes good, who cares about anything else?

BlazingDragon and Jeebus,

A friend of ours from the White Plains area (really) moved to Iowa City some 17 years ago. He said the same thing you did above.

We now call it "The Olive Garden Syndrome": An Olive Garden (or similar chain) opens and it's instantly the best restaurant in town.

Maybe if we send Alton Brown a list of these places he can go on his motorcycle and find some hidden gems. I'd like to think that everywhere has something good of its own.

The reality is that if you got a kid, these kind of places are your only real option. My baby is only a couple months old so he dosen't mind quietly chilling at places Maureen Dowd probably eats at, but when he get to the point we need a high chair and crayons to keep him happy, TGIF is out best bet.

There is a reason fast food joints have play areas. they suck parents in.

My experience with chains has been similar to Thresher where the chain comes in, is new, and is the best thing since sliced bread. To boot, the food really is good...for the first year or so. Then the quality suffers horribly. The Outback and Macaroni Grill in our area have been awful the last few times I've visited them. The Cheesecake Factory, I have to admit however, has been fine every time I've visited it. But in general, I stay away from chains because here in Portsmouth, NH there are so many damn privately owned restaurants that I still have been to a fair amount of them.

I moved to NYC from the west coast 20 years ago, and then to Westchester 3 years ago. I agree the chain restaurants are depressing. I've seen that Outback referred to in the Times article and the location at the base of a parking garage is really dismal. I noticed Mathew Iglesias is taking the Times to task for some sort of hypocrisy when there are chains a short distance form their own offices near Times Square. Well a chain is as depressing in Times Square as it is in Westchester or anywhere else. That's the sad thing about Manhattan these days — it's being overtaken by chains of all sorts — restaurants, coffee bars, clothing and so on. Why come to Manhattan when you can find the same thing in any other city?

Am I the only one who didn't find the article particularly condescending?

It seemed like typical food writing to me, and they were kinder to several of these chains than I would have been (esecially Chilis).

I'm going to call this elitist NYT snobbery, some of it in the comments, and raise:

As I've said several hundred times to people I overhear bemoaning cafeteria food, or "sub-par" food for any reason at all, "I don't think Americans should EVER complain about food."

The very concept is elitist and, IMHO, a fabulous example of why some cultures in the world should be looking down on us.

That was a funny post, Ezra.

Of course a batter can be insipid (tasteless), but if it is then it can't also be obscuring the flavor of something else.

Small nitpick: "ne plus ultra"?

The article is ridiculous, but I don't really get the chain restaurant thing.

It's not that I am anti-chain -- we eat out with three kids so I've been to Applebees more than a few times. What I don't get is why they are so popular.

Where I live, which is prime chain territory -- an outer, fast growing suburb -- you've got to expect a one hour wait at any of the chain restaurants on Friday or Saturday night. Better local restaurants have no waits at all.

Plus, I'm all for making fun of adults who like Applebees. I'm not anti-chain, but Applebees makes awful food. You can't even get an edible burger there.

insipid, a. (n.)

1. Without taste, tasteless; also, having only a very slight taste; without perceptible flavour or flavour sufficient to gratify the palate.

1620 VENNER Via Recta vii. 109 There are also some Apples that are insipid, or without taste. 1626 BACON Sylva §632 There be Plants that haue their Roots very Hot and Aromaticall; And their Seeds rather Insipide; As Ginger. 1756 C. LUCAS Ess. Waters I. 82 No water can be pure that is not quite insipid. 1774 GOLDSM. Nat. Hist. (1776) IV. 23 The tame rabbits are larger than the wild ones..but their flesh is not so good, being more insipid and softer. 1811 A. T. THOMSON Lond. Disp. (1818) 103 Good and recent yellow wax has a slight odour of honey, is insipid. 1822 J. IMISON Sc. & Art II. 87 The rest of the earths are insipid, and are scarcely at all soluble in water.

Five guys has a really awesome burger, though, that is consistently ranked the best burger in the DC area. It is also a fast food chain, so I really don't understand its relevance to a discussion on sit-down chain restaurants.

And you should be able to get fast food in sweats. That's what fast food is for, when you don't have time to be bothered with food.

Maybe that's the problem, you can't really compare going to Chili's with going to Bistrot du Coin because you're not going to Chili's INSTEAD of Bistrot du Coin, you are going for a different food experience, namely, reliable, cheap, and accessible.

I order a bottle of wine at Bistrot du Coin. I wouldn't do that at Outback.

Because of course we all COULD afford to live in Manhattan and frequent upscale bistros. We just would prefer not to.

i dunno, i get that the guy is a food critic, but:

good movie critics set out to evaluate movies not on whether they are "high art" or not, but rather: what do they set out to do, and do they do it well?

i'm not a huge fan of chain restaurants, but some of them serve their purpose rather well, and in many of them the food is far from terrible. no, it's not haute cuisine. but you get what you pay for, and no matter how well you're used to eating, it won't kill you to eat at one of them now & then.

but the whole "i have to show how much class i have by peeing on the middle-brow" is, to me, the essence of classlessness.

Oh, come on. Pretty much all food reviews are like this. They're like this in my town's major newspaper and even more so in the independent newspaper.

Come to think of it, pretty much all reviews of any kind are like this (movie reviews are the worst, I think.)

Give us a break, Ezra. Total non-story. Most of those reviews were positive and not even the least condescending. Some of them even were poking fun at themselves.

This wasn't David Brooks style writing.

I will agree with one thing, I chipped a crown on the PF Chiang lettuce wrap.

"Incidentally, I had a similar reaction as the author when I went to DC's Five Guys Burgers for the first time: it was the sort of place you went if your tastes were that of a 9-year-old."

Or, you occasionally like a burger to derive its flavor from the quality of its meat and the simplicity with which it is assembled, rather than the ornate spices and sauces a chef throws onto it to make you forget the fact that you're eating ground chuck.

Some of us like burgers to taste like burgers, not like New Orleans pepper mills. I've yet to have a burger at any TGIF as good as my local Five Guys. Also, some of us don't like to pretend that we are eating haute cuisine when we are eating burgers.

I will damn Juicy Couture and the emptiness of middlebrow taste as much as the next snob, but let's not pretend that we are too good for a plain bacon cheeseburger with fried onions. That way tyranny lies.

I don't know if this acts as a mitigating factor, but a lot of those chain eateries are MUCH worse in Manhattan then elsewhere. I've had some pretty good meals at Outback, Olive Garden, Red Lobster and Abblebee's out in the 'burbs and in smaller cities, but the ones actually in Manhattan are generally awful. I assume it is because of the higher costs of labor and plethora of other restaurants, combined with the snob factor.

"My wife refuses to go back to Outback Steakhouse when, after ordering a medium rare steak, was allegedly informed by the server that they were all out of medium rare until they got a new shipment in the next day."

Golly gosh Salvo. Some people cannot take a joke.

Hmmm . . .

You mean to say that people have different tastes, and everybody wants to look down on everybody else who doesn't share those tastes?

You enjoy Applebee's? You are commoner swine!

You don't like Applebee's? You are elitist swine!

Repeat until end of universe.

snippy writer. snippy article. You don't like a place, don't go. We know you have grand taste.

Lots of people go to such places because they can not afford the more expensive non-chain places. Simple as that.

I avoid chains, generally, but find diners just fine for food, price, atmosphere. And nice cold glasses of water and plenty of coffee refills.

Chains can be good IF you go to onewith a good chef. The ingredients are better grade than you'll find at a McDonalds or Wendys, but not as good as you'll find at a decent steak house.

The deciding factor is the chef. I've eaten in a number of military mess halls, and it constantly amazed me how much the quality of the chef mattered more than anything. Look at some of the meals Chef Robert Irvine (Dinner Impossible) makes out of standard, mediocre ingredients. Good cheffing is a talant that is all too rare.

ThresherK: I live near Iowa City and I can assure you, there are some great local gems of restaurants in the downtown area near the U of Iowa campus. Plenty of chains, too, of course, out near the mall.

Adrock: I moved from Portsmouh out here to Iowa (job-related.) I get back to the area any chance I can...usually about twice a year, and my friends and I usually end up at Molly Malone's for pints and then someplace near or on Ceres St. for dinner. No reason to visit the chains on Lafayette Rd. at all, is there?

I once went to a TGI Friday's in London. Over there, it's an America theme restaurant, which was kind of funny.

Look, if they're not going to do a good job seeing which restaurant does the best job getting the waiters and waitresses to wear more than the minimum amount of flair, why would I leave my favorite Chotchkie's?

Soulite, Actually White Plains, NJ and the rest of the places under discussion have plenty of excellent restaurants and, what's more, they're patronized by working-class people and people from working-class backgrounds. You see, in NY/NJ we have these people called "Italians" (Italian-Americans) and, well, we're really into food. Google us. You may be shocked to learn our food may be better than even what the "upper-class" folks in, oh say, St. Paul or Tulsa eat.

>

Perhaps your brother-and-law and his "friend" should learn to wash their hands after using the toilet...

Salvo wrote: "My wife refuses to go back to Outback Steakhouse when, after ordering a medium rare steak, was allegedly informed by the server that they were all out of medium rare until they got a new shipment in the next day."

If your wife ordered prime rib, this isn't as weird as it sounds- prime rib is slow cooked in large roasts for hours at a time, and individual steaks are cut off as needed (and sometimes cooked a little more on the grill or with a dip in hot au jus, if well done is desired). Sometimes they will run out of the less well cooked parts of the roast near the end of the evening, particularly because the roast will continue cooking throughout the day.
I hope that makes sense.

re: "DaveInIA"

Ceres Street is so just for yuppies. Newick's is for real New Hampshiremen, now that they no longer have whale at Yoken's.

Ezra, I think that you missed the obvious satire in the piece. In an era when a certain notion of snobbery is on everybody's minds (thanks to the Pennsylvania primaries), the *New York Times* sent food critics to suburban chains and wrote about them as they would write about "fine dining" -- analyzing the aesthetics as well as the food. And, to be fair, most of the writers seemed to have fun with the assignment. (And they find a lot of the food to be good, because it is.)

Also, for the record, I don't think that the Applebee's comment means what you think it means. Even as a dumb blue-collar guy, I can appreciate the fact that the menu at Applebee's is made up of comfort food that people turn to specifically *because* it's familiar. And, as anyone who has any experience with children knows, kids are very conservative when it comes to food.

If they make someone eat at P.F. Chang's they ought to offer hazard pay.

With all these trips to the hinterland to choke down barely palatable food, when does the NYT reporter have time to play the Graaannnnddd Piano?

Mangolia: another name for Chelsea. Also see Fudg^H^H^H^HMeatpacking district

While I agree with the sentiment, yes batter can be insipid.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insipid

If they consider White Plains to be the sticks, what would they think of somewhere really obscure, like Poughkeepsie? or Topeka?

Quote: 'Can a batter really be "insipid?" '

Considering that insipid means flavorless, yes.

I'm amused by pretty much anyone who equates "good food" with price or fashion. What's good is what tastes good to you, and there's always someone who can (and will) snicker at your choices. How fragile is your ego that you must feel superior about what you eat? There are objective measures like "healthy" that bear some weight, but I don't see how food choices make you superior or inferior.

I grew up in rural Kentucky, and summer suppers were often corn, new potatoes, broccoli and salad fixings all straight from the garden, cooked less than 30 minutes after picking. The side was corn bread made with corn grown on our farm, all washed down by milk from my great-uncle's cows. Most of our meat was "organically" grown on our farm too, or game from my dad's hunting trips. Were we morally superior because of it? I can't see how. Healthier, probably, not superior. We did it out of habit and preference.

I've also eaten sushi and vegetarian Indian curry in Manhattan, and made the rounds in Little Italy. Mighty tasty? Yes. Superior? Not hardly. Olive Garden stands up pretty well to them.

Gotta run, a bowl of Lucky Charms is calling me.

Remember folks -- most people probably still think of the NY Times as "liberal". And this is how they get the idea that liberals are a bunch of effete snobs."Effete snobs", perhaps. Certainly, though, it is where we get the idea that "liberals"--more accurately, urban faux-sophisticates--think that they are much smarter than they actually are. The person who wrote this article is clearly not a very intelligent person, and the country is collectively laughing at him today. That a person could marvel at the decor of an Outback steakhouse, enthralled by his surroundings as he dines, is quite ridiculous.

Robert:

"Ceres Street is so just for yuppies. Newick's is for real New Hampshiremen, now that they no longer have whale at Yoken's."

Ooh! Or, maybe, people who get to eat in Portsmouth once or twice a year. Yeah, though...damn shame about Yoken's.

"Wow. And these aren't even that down-scale. I'd hate to see how these folks would react to the food in your average Diner." - Posted by: Anonymous | May 4, 2008 8:06 PM

The put down is not that these restaurants are particularly "down-scale," as you also ascribed to some average diners, but rather that these are big box eateries where people partake in nonoffensive "familiar" comfort food created in corporate labs. These restaurants stand in for all that the bicoastal cosmopolitans believe of the lemmings-like "middle America" and someone paying $15 for a big salad entree or whatever at the Cheesecake Factory would be more "offensive" to the writers/intended readers of this article than a meal at one of the "average diners" that you mention. To go further, in fact, a corner diner in Bergen County operated by the old Greek couple who had been there for 25 years, serving bad burgers and gyro wraps would actually be embraced by the cosmopolitans for its "authentic" Americana cuisine and for being a mom and pop joint. In fact, the diner would be the regular hangout for hte LES/Brooklyn hipster contingency.

i've eaten in many of these restaurants and they're generally ok. in other words, they're more or less the way they appeared to be in the reviews. some of the reviews were more condescending than others, but i think a lot of people are looking for elitism where there wasn't much. and of course a batter can be insipid, the word means lacking flavor.

This article is in Anthony Bourdain's wheelhouse. I'm surprised he wasn't a guest reviewer. The places are not upscale enough to be tasteful, not downscale enough to be cool.

"Baguette and artisanal cheese" from the Farmer's Market?

Is the whole rest of your life a lefty cliche as well?

The whole experience makes you forget, for a brief time, that you’re sandwiched into a parking garage in downtown White Plains

I understand the fancy restaurants in NY (Paris,London..) help the rich diners forget they're ruthlessly condemning millions to poverty by their unchecked greed.

If one of the things on which you define yourself is where you go to eat, then perhaps it is tough to admit you like the food at Outback. Which does make you a snob, for better or worse.

And, doesn't the Cheesecake Factory have the world's largest competently-prepared menu? Even the snobbiest food critic has to give the place credit for that.

DaveS wrote:
That a person could marvel at the decor of an Outback steakhouse, enthralled by his surroundings as he dines, is quite ridiculous.

Of course it is, that's why the joke's funny.

See, here in New York, we effete snobs have restaurants run by people from all over the world. In some cases, these restaurants are pretty authentic and appeal primarily to people who are already familiar with the culture that the cuisine comes from. For example, a Turkish restaurant offering a more or less authentic Turkish dining experience may not appeal to everyone.

Restaurant critics usually make note of this sort of thing in their reviews. Rick Lyman knew that Outback Steakhouse didn't pretend to offer an authentic Australian dining experience before being assigned to review the restaurant. So did his readers. That's the joke. He was having fun with his assignment. No harm in that.

Wow,

I think the biggest problem is that elitist condescension is derived from the utter lack of care most of these chains show towards their customers and take it out on the consumers who do not know any better.

In other words, the article praises some of the food while picking on the people who eat there, which is why this is not an article on chain restaurants, but rather an article picking on middle-class culture, using the chain restaurant as the setting for picking on these people.

But then again, being someone from a granola and Birkenstock area (Burlington, VT), and having my patriotism as love of country attacked by people who are over-weight middle-class slobs eating blooming onions (all the while decrying the rise in health care costs), well – I say lets be even more condescending.

Just how can any self respecting French restaurant call itself French if it does not reside in the land of the Gauls ?

Face it: ever since the White Tower chain sent out of business (except in Ohio, which tells you something right there), it's all been down hill.

Oh for a another bag of those sodden, grease-fortified burgers!

I do appreciate Mr. Klein's umbrage.

Dining at a chain restaurant is just as adventurous and fulfilling as any open-for-2-weeks-and-closed bistro.

Heh. The Times's stock continues its long march to the sea; one day this writer will be whining, from his home in a cardboard box on a traffic island in the South Bronx, "I had an expense account. I dined in Applebee's!"

We should start a pool on how many workers they let go in 2008. I hope they don't let this kid go, though -- he promises many years of entertainment.

I would eat the other children, when I could catch them, and consider myself lucky.

You enjoy Applebee's? You are commoner swine!

You don't like Applebee's? You are elitist swine!

Repeat until end of universe.

Where there's a really good restaurant!

Okay, all you "this article isn't elitist!" people, here's the problem:

The author said the food at the chains was okay. What wasn't okay was the people who ate there.

Commoners. Uncreatives. Rural types who actually liked the decor.

If the people who shop at Wal-Mart suddenly began shopping at Whole Foods, that chain would instantly lose its snob appeal.

And that, in a nutshell, is urbanite elitism.

If the people who shop at Wal-Mart suddenly began shopping at Whole Foods, that chain would instantly lose its snob appeal.

Well I'd have to disagree. Mind you, I don't know for certain that people who shop at Wal-Mart shop at Whole Foods, but at least at my Whole Foodses, the people who shop there at least look like they could be Wal-Mart shoppers. They certainly aren't all terribly wealthy or even doing well. I think WF's snob appeal is largely a function of (a) how different they look than traditional supermarkets and (b) their product offering - not that it's organic, so much, as that they don't stock the big brands, and then people can feel like they're different/better - "I don't drink Coke, I drink San Pellegrino Limonata." Or whatever. But I don't think it's about who shops there. Similarly, I don't think the disdain for chains is who eats there, I think it's simply the fact that they're chains.

Funny stuff, thanks Ezra! (the phrasing of the first sentence's parenthesis is rather unfortunate though!)

man. i'd love to see their take on the waffle house...

ummmm... waffles....

Hey -- don't dis my Five Guys. Hard to find a better burger joint. It's my current guilty pleasure.

And on the whole subject, it's not news that food critics, or particularly, the NYT, looks down on the bourgeoisie. If I'm looking for good food, the last place I'll look is to the papers. Most likely I'll find it in my own kitchen. You're almost as likely to get crap in a 4-star restaurant as you are in a chain. Last night ate at a reputable downtown restaurant I've been to before, and the food was crap.

Too bad Dallas doesn't have Five Guys.

wcw, I refute your comments about the specific Cheesecake Factory of which you speak (at Southdale Mall (the first indoor mall in the US) in Edina, MN). I've eaten there about eight times, and I've never been disappointed. In fact, I'm always impressed and satisfied.

By the way, going to a "greasy spoon" with the sole intent of being authentic reeks of inauthenticity (i.e. the Onion article). To be authentic, just be yourself and don't be ashamed of it.

Lowbrow diners everywhere are clinging - bitterly! - to their potato skins as I write this.

Fatmouse,

We're talking about a collection of reviews by different authors (note the plural). I've read them, and I don't see anything that supports your contention that any of the authors (again, note the plural) took issue with the other diners.

The closest you'll find to that sentiment (if you actually read the reviews) is that a number of the restaurants were described as being very crowded, which impacted the service in various ways. (Particularly in the case of Bertucci's.)

None of the reviews actually say anything unpleasant about the other patrons. I'm forced to conclude that this is what you want the articles to say so you can go on hyperventilating about how the good rural people (like yourself) are being victimized by urban elites.

Pardon me as I stifle a yawn.

nice post... i enjoyed it... thanks...