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You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 / Reading the Room

Reading the Room

by | 189 Comments

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I just watched, in horror, an Applebee’s commercial welcoming everyone back to dining (with the theme to Welcome Back Kotter playing in the background). Don’t worry, though. They are focusing on safety during the pandemic.

Can you imagine risking your life or the life of your loved ones to eat at Applebees? As it is, the only way I can imagine eating at one is if I was traveling and it was the only place open wherever I was. But now? You could not drag me into one.

Although I do hear they have a mighty fine salad bar.

Reader Interactions

189Comments

  2. 2.

    Jeffro

    Hard pass on indoor dining out for oh the next year or so. Like so many other folks here, I whip up vastly healthier, tastier, less-saltier stuff at home five out of seven nights/week in under an hour for a quarter of the cost and get to rock out to better music while doing it.

  3. 3.

    Ken

    I am finding some of the commercials weird. They seem to fall into three groups:

    1. Like your Applebee’s commercial – “Sure thousands are dying, but buy our stuff anyway!”
    2. Those that acknowledge the pandemic and that it might be quite a while before things are back to normal. Generally the pitch is that you can buy from us online, or get curbside pickup or delivery.
    3. Those that don’t talk about the pandemic at all.

    In some ways the third group are weirdest.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    I forget who, but there was some conservative nitwit (and yes that’s redundant) during the real lockdown period screeching about her inalienable right to eat at Red Robin. Not sure which of the Bill of Rights amendments covered that.

  7. 7.

    MisterForkbeard

    Indoor dining anywhere is a hard pass.

    That said, if they offered their alcoholic mudslide to go I might consider Applebee’s. That thing was 3000-calorie monstrosity with cheap alcohol, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t love it anyway. In my 20s.

  9. 9.

    Ken

    @Baud: Sorry, the format buttons weren’t showing up so I saved and edited. You can appreciate my brilliance now.

  13. 13.

    Alison Rose

    I’ve always had an aversion to Applebee’s because even in the damn 21st century, they still seemed to have no idea that vegetarians exist, and all of their salads had like four kinds of meat and egg dumped on them. The one thing they had (and it’s been well over a decade since I’ve been to one) was a plate of steamed vegetables………which they would douse in butter. Like fuck you.

  16. 16.

    brettvk

    I’ve been trying to imagine what the fall and winter will be like. I can’t talk myself into believing that the virus will be any more contained or less dangerous than it is now. The idea of moving among crowds in enclosed, heated spaces give me the creeps. My family doesn’t celebrate the holidays to any great degree so I don’t have to contemplate Christmas shopping, thank the Goddess. But – schools disintegrating,  no sports, shopping depressed, mass unemployment, people still sick and dying as the year ends…

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud:  That was laugh-out-loud startle-the-cat funny.

    edit: I’m gonna beg that bastard who runs this joint to approve that as a rotating tag.  Speaking of which, have you seen him around lately?  :-)

  18. 18.

    Steeplejack

    @Baud:

    I have gotten curbside takeout from Olive Garden once during the pandemic. Really jonesin’ for Italian and couldn’t think of an alternative. It was pretty good, and the one I went to had the process well organized.

    Now I want Italian again.

  19. 19.

    Leto

    Speaking of disgusting things nobody wants, Trumpov has replaced Parscale as campaign manager. 

    President Trump announced Wednesday night that he is replacing Brad Parscale as his campaign manager with longtime political aide Bill Stepien as national and swing state polls show the president falling further behind Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, in the 2020 presidential contest amid a spreading pandemic that has greatly harmed the economy.

    The president wrote that Parscale “who has been with me for a long time,” will stay as a senior adviser. Parscale has been marginalized in the campaign for several weeks, officials said, with Trump angry about a botched rally in Oklahoma and his lagging poll numbers.

    Parscale did not respond to a request for comment.

    Stepien was the field director for the 2016 campaign and has worked for the president since the election. He’s known for a low-key style in Trump world and his knowledge of battleground states. He was formerly a top aide to Gov. Chris Christie.

     

    Edit: Shit, see janesays got there first!

  20. 20.

    JMG

    In my Cape Cod town there are two restaurants where Alice and I eat out regularly, but it’s always been to eat at the bar and pick up town gossip and meet new people as well as dine. We got takeout from one last night, and the wonderful bartender sent out a message with the kid who put it in our car that she missed us. I miss her too, but forget indoor dining, I haven’t even done outdoor dining yet. Just another part of life erased by 1. The virus. 2. American idiocy. My daughter in France is going out, dining with friends, drinking wine in cafes, traveling to other EU countries. In March, France was having it as hard or harder than NYC, especially in Paris. Three months of VERY rigid lockdown, as in cops once rousted my daughter for going outside her apartment to see if she could shoo the pigeons off her eaves, and they’re back to normal if masked life. We’ll never get there.

  21. 21.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    the only way I can imagine eating at one is if I was traveling and it was the only place open wherever I was

    Exactly how I’ve found myself eating Applebee’s. The surviving towns along I-80 in Nebraska don’t offer a lot of choices. One of the saddest things I’ve ever heard: “This is one of your nicer Applebee’s…”

    and all of their salads had like four kinds of meat and egg dumped on them. The one thing they had (and it’s been well over a decade since I’ve been to one) was a plate of steamed vegetables………which they would douse in butter. Like fuck you.
    If it’s any consolation, the non-vegetarian dishes, and the service, reflect the same “Like fuck you” attitude.

  24. 24.

    Ken

    @janesays: @dmsilev: @Leto: Anyone want to guess how many campaign managers he goes through between now and November?  Because no staffing change is going to fix the real problem with the campaign, and Trump is incapable of recognizing that.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @raven: That seems a bit harsh.  I had a similar thought/conversation with a friend earlier today.  To me, it seems like part of the process of coming to terms with the situation we’re in.  ?‍♀️

  28. 28.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    NBC-WSJ poll:

    Joe Biden 51%
    Donald Trump 40%

    In the combined 11 battleground states — Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — Biden leads Trump 52% to 40%.

    — Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) July 15, 2020

  31. 31.

    Martin

    I’ve never been in an Applebees. There are quite a few local cheap chain diner type places, so they’re a bit less common here. And we are blessed with a lot of really good restaurants that I can’t imagine anyone would go to one unless their out of town relative insisted on it.

    I’m sure there’s one not far from me, but you could put a gun to my head and I couldn’t tell you where one is. My guess is that they’re all around Disneyland.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack:  Yesterday I made the best pasta sauce I think i have ever had.  I used 1.5 jars of Fortuna’s Fra Diavolo sauce and meatballs i made from scratch.

    .5 lbs ground sirloin
    .25 lbs. ground chuck
    chopped onion roasted in olive oil
    garlic
    panic PANKO bread crumbs
    grated parmesan
    1 egg
    splash of milk
    splash of good olive oil
    salt
    pepper

    Mix the meatball ingredients and make 7 meatballs.  Bake the meatballs in the Fra Diavolo sauce in the oven.

    Truly the best meat sauce I have ever had.

    *Fra Diavolo is a lot like Arrabiatta sauce.

  34. 34.

    raven

    Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday extended Georgia’s coronavirus restrictions while explicitly banning cities and counties from adopting rules requiring masks or other face coverings, a measure that could bolster the state’s case in a possible legal battle.

    Kemp’s executive order — which was set to expire Wednesday evening — still encourages, rather than requires, Georgians to wear masks in public. The governor has called such a requirement “a bridge too far,” and his office has said local mandates are unenforceable.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: In the combined 11 battleground states Biden leads Trump 52% to 40%.

    See, that’s why I’d never make it as a political analyst. I see that, and I think “Maybe instead of blindly re-using the 2016 list, we should talk about the states that are close this time around.”

  38. 38.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @brettvk: I feel the same way. I’m trying to count my considerable blessings, but it really is so goddamn depressing – the more so for being so goddamn unnecessary.

    I really feel bad for my 17-year-old son, going into his senior year at a school where he just transferred in January. He hardly knows anyone and now he’ll never get to know anyone there, and he’ll miss almost all of the senior-year experience. I know that’s small potatoes compared to tragedy and ruin, but it sucks.

  39. 39.

    WaterGirl

    @Ken: I think 5.  Each one gets a 2-week honeymoon period.  Then they get a week when Trump trashes them, and then they are gone.

    Then we’re on to the next person.

  40. 40.

    NotMax

    Moving to opening is premature. Absitively.

    That said, in normal times they fill a niche and offer no illusions of being fine dining. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Especially as an intermediate step up in ambience for a night out in areas where the other alternatives may be limited to McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, the hot box display at 7-11 and/or Denny’s.

  41. 41.

    Sab

    @brettvk: Yeah. Thanksgiving has always been a huge deal for us. Divorced family so not always on Thursday, but at some point we would get all the siblings and half siblings and step siblings together along with their significant others. Huge and raucus and fun. Not gonna happen this year and probably not next year.

  42. 42.

    Keith P.

    @janesays: I figured it as soon as he took a week to “self-quarantine”.  Those of us in the IT field recognize mental health days when we see them, and DJT doesn’t strike me as one to care about any kind of employee’s health.

  44. 44.

    Martin

    @Ken: Depends on what you’re trying to show. If you’re focused  solely on the presidential race, once you 270, it doesn’t matter if you pick up others.

    If you are pushing for downballots (and we should be) then yeah, where is Texas and Georgia?

  45. 45.

    Steeplejack

    @WaterGirl:

    Jesus, yes, but sometimes you just want to have someone else make it, and with all the extras. And sometimes cooking for one doesn’t feel worth it.

  46. 46.

    Leto

    @WaterGirl: Avalune and I had Olive Garden shortly after we returned from overseas. We were like, “You know, we did like it before we left, maybe it’s not that bad?” They didn’t fail to absolutely disappoint us. We do have a really good mom and pop place that makes everything from scratch, but basically if we want anything Italian I make it.

  48. 48.

    Feathers

    There was an ad for back to school clothes yesterday on YouTube. I just cringed at all the cute little happy kids with their backpacks. Read the room!

    There is a local tavern that I was wondering if it was going to make it. It’s more crowded now, with half the tables gone than it ever was before. I didn’t care for it before, pricy for what it is and everything just a nudge over complicated. Don’t think I’ll ever go back after seeing everyone just hanging out maskless.

    I have been craving a Boston Burger Co. burger. My plan is at some point to go so that I’m there when they open, sit by the open windows they have, wear a mask until the food arrives, and then “chew and screw,” as they say. I’ll go alone, because I’m there for the burger, not to hang out. If I want to do that, I can go to the park or on a walk.

    That’s what really bothered me about the tavern. It just seemed to be treated as a magic zone where masks were unnecessary.

  49. 49.

    WaterGirl

    @Martin: That’s how I am with McDonald’s.  People use it as a reference point when giving directions.  I have no idea where any of them are.

    Except the one that has a turn lane that is too close to my turn and I always have to remember not to move over too early.

  50. 50.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @WaterGirl:

    Then we’re on to the next person.

    Given his cognitive deficits, which apparently extend to sometimes not recognizing his lesser/later wives and children, how soon can the campaign start rotating previous ones in again?

  52. 52.

    Kristine

    @Alison Rose: Not making excuses, but it’s been my understanding that they don’t cook at Applebee’s, they microwave premade food and assemble. So the kitchen doesn’t have a lot of flexibility.

    I just remember a steak that was so soaked with tenderizer that it didn’t taste like meat.

  53. 53.

    khead

    Parscale out as Trump campaign manager

    Edit – So, I guess I didn’t go far enough back in the comments.  Yikes I’m a dolt.

  54. 54.

    Suzanne

    Since the pandemic started, I have been referring to “going to Applebee’s” as the ultimate gross, pointless, self-absorbed activity one could do.

    A bunch of my professional network have gotten let go in recent days. I am worried for everyone, not least of all me.

  55. 55.

    zhena gogolia

    @Martin:

    We gotta make an all-out stand,

    Hey, yo, I’m gonna need a right-hand man.

    Guess which masterwork of musical drama that comes from.

  59. 59.

    WaterGirl

    @rikyrah: I know, it’s crazy.  Our nice restaurants are sending me email messages.  Our dining room is open!  Come for brunch!  Stay for the coronavirus!

    (Okay, that don’t say that last part out loud.)

    No. Fucking. Way.

  60. 60.

    MobiusKlein

    Can you imagine risking your life or the life of your loved ones to eat at Applebees?

    How has this changed since pre-covid?

  61. 61.

    Sab

    @WaterGirl: Thank you. I needed that.

    My husband has been talking wistfully about the spaghetti sauce made by the mother of some girl he dated in high school. He is almost 70. My family is not Italian. We are Brits and Irish. I can do miracles with butter as a seasoning. I need to up my game.

  63. 63.

    dmsilev

    @Martin: At some point, I expect him to go full King Lear on his children. Except that all of them turn out to be Goneril.

  65. 65.

    MisterForkbeard

    @NotMax: When I was in college I once took a hometown girl out to Applebee’s in a sort of “This is a date but I’m not sure how much I like you” situation. She told me she hadn’t been anywhere so ‘fancy’ in years.

    The date went well but we never went out again. Turns out she was secretly married, and this is why you don’t trust people who like Applebee’s.

  66. 66.

    zhena gogolia

    We’ve been getting delivery from our favorite Italian (run by ethnic Albanians from Montenegro) restaurant. One entree apiece lasts us two nights. It cheers us up. But we haven’t the slightest desire to go to a restaurant, even outside, even though CT is in kind of a lull right now.

  67. 67.

    Ken

    @Leto: They didn’t fail to absolutely disappoint us.

    With your permission, can I send this to Language Log?  They often discuss difficult-to-parse negations.

    Edit: Ha! I go check it out, and the latest post is on confusing negations – and it’s about Bari Weiss’s resignation letter.

  69. 69.

    Leto

    @WaterGirl: I will say this about McDonald’s: they’re absolutely consistent no matter where you are in the world. Cheese burger from MikkiDs tastes the same here in PA, as it does in Italy, France, the UK, the Netherlands… sometimes when we were visiting different places the food there wasn’t always the best. Wasn’t so much that we wanted to eat there, more that we were tired of trying  different things, being disappointed, and just wanted to eat something and not have to think about it too much. (Looking at you, Amsterdam!)

  70. 70.

    Salty Sam

    I had a first date with a woman years ago- her choice of where to dine was Applebys.

    There was not a second date.

  71. 71.

    zhena gogolia

    @Martin:

    I looked at their twitter thread, and apparently a favorite pastime now is watching it once to focus on the ensemble, again to focus on the lighting, again to focus on the props, etc., etc. I haven’t quite gotten there yet.

  73. 73.

    WaterGirl

    @Steeplejack: I know what you mean.  I am not even getting takeout, so I have made/cooked every single thing I have eating for 4.5 months.  Crazy!

    One of our jackals has a family member in the medical field who is seeing tons of COVID tests, and surely cases, from wait staff because they aren’t allowed to miss work unless they have a positive COVID test.

    So all these people are surely working side-by-side with people who are infected and are waiting for test results.  Not to mention the patrons being exposed.

    It’s appalling.  It’s beyond appalling.  I don’t even have a word for it.

  75. 75.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Leto: There’s this Greek place I like – Litotes’ – maybe you’ve heard of it?  ;-)

    ETA: also, months ago I told you to F off for completely unjustifiable reasons, and I apologize.

  76. 76.

    Martin

    @Sab: Don’t go too hard on yourself. Ms Martin is a wonderful cook (I’m not too shabby myself) but when she was pregnant with one of the children a friend of hers who was a chef dropped off like a gallon of bolognese and alfredo sauces, and I’m sure I still have dreams about them. Unfortunately, before I thought to ask for the recipe she died rather suddenly of cancer (late diagnosis).

    There are ringers in this world that you and I will never be able to match.

  77. 77.

    zhena gogolia

    A Russian friend sent me the line “Never stop despairing!” today, and acted as if it was a well-known quotation from somebody. I’m going to have to ask him who it was. Google didn’t help. But man, could there be anything more Russian?

  78. 78.

    Leto

    @Sab:

    I can do miracles with butter as a seasoning.

    are you sure you’re Brit/Irish? I thought you would’ve been a master of the brown sauce :P

  80. 80.

    Sab

    @WaterGirl: I briefly dated a guy from Manhatten when I was in college. NYC had one McDs at that point. He drove through my small city and told me that he had eaten at our McDonalds. I asked which one, since we had eighteen.

  83. 83.

    Barbara

    Applebees is a known quantity when driving through someplace, and their kitchen is open late. You can get plain grilled meat and a baked potato plus broccoli. I wouldn’t eat out there locally, but I don’t object to them. Yes, too soon to open, but without a national strategy we’re just going to see more and more ad hoc corporate decisions like this.

    And there’s Trump, still thinking the problem he faces is just strategy and tactics with the campaign. Everything is a matter of marketing. We are so screwed.

  85. 85.

    mvr

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: along I-80 in Nebraska

    Yes, that’s how I twice now have wound up in one in Sidney.  But not in many months.  Word is that our crappy governor’s family preserved one in Chicago so that they could eat there after they bought the Cubs. I grew up a Cubs fan in the 60s and this was hard to take.

  87. 87.

    Mary G

    @Martin: I was curious and looked – you were right, there’s one in Anaheim and one in Garden Grove in the whole OC.

  88. 88.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Comrade Colette Collaboratrice:

    That’s not small potatoes at all, it’s another small tragedy among a lot of small tragedies that could have been avoided by simple competent leadership.

    Your son (and my college frosh niece) is missing out on important social and educational opportunities and that comes with a real cost that should be considered on its own merit.

  89. 89.

    Marcopolo

    @Leto: Wait, you don’t think Trump’d welcome Bannon back on board if he climbed out of his coffin?

    Hell, he had 3 campaign managers in 2016. I think that’s the under starting point.

  91. 91.

    Sab

    @Leto: Isn’t that just Worchestershire sauce

    ETA I confess that I use that a lot.

    I am intending to get together a cookbook for time travellers. Sort of how do you make catsup or soy sauce or baking powder if you can’t get it where you are. All this stuff we take for granted.

  93. 93.

    WaterGirl

    @Sab: I will add that you need to start with a good spicy sauce.  I loved Elena’s and used it for years.  I would order a case once a year or so, and when you called, you got Elena!

    Then they just disappeared.  Their restaurant closed, they didn’t answer their phone, etc.  I tried every Arrabiatta and Fra Diavolo sauce I could find, and finally found Fortuna’s.

    I was amazed at how good it is if you cook the meatballs in the sauce.  You don’t brown them first or anything, so you get nice round meatballs.

  94. 94.

    Ken

    I’m another one doing all my own cooking, no carry-out. I’ve also been watching more Food Network shows, which has had an odd effect – I find myself mentally narrating as I cook. “And now I’m dicing the carrots, which will go into the wok with a little oil…”

    DOWNER WARNING: Many of those food shows feature interesting little restaurants, or young chefs who are trying to start their own restaurant. I find myself wondering how many of them have gone out of business in the last six months.

  95. 95.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @mvr: Wait: He’s a freakin’ billionaire (or at least his pappy is) and he bought an Applebee’s franchise in CHICAGO so he would have a place to eat? Saints preserve us.

    Is Ricketts still threatening to withhold state funding from any local gov’t that tries to enforce anti-Covid measures?

  100. 100.

    Martin

    @zhena gogolia: Yeah, that’s kind of what I’m doing. First run through was just soaking it in (never saw it before and only knew the songs from my daughter belting them out from her room), 2nd was just background audio, 3rd was watching the set changes, how the rotating floor was used, etc. 4th was background. Next time I pay attention it will be to focus on the bullet, which I thought was clever when I watched it the first time, but kind of lost track of throughout.

    I like musicals, and I like history, so I fully expected I would like it, but I was really taken aback by how cleverly done it is, and how invested the audience is in certain characters.

  101. 101.

    Leto

    @Sab: I will say that where we lived in the UK, there were a number of really good places to eat. Also we had a plethora of really good Indian places to eat. But among the older populace, HP Brown Sauce was still the go to item.

  102. 102.

    namekarB

    @raven: Kemp’s executive order — which was set to expire Wednesday evening — still encourages, rather than requires, Georgians to wear masks in public. The governor has called such a requirement “a bridge too far,” and his office has said local mandates are unenforceable.

    Governor Kemp, Walmart on line one would like a word with you

  103. 103.

    OldDave

    @Martin:

    (On Applebee’s) “I’m sure there’s one not far from me, but you could put a gun to my head and I couldn’t tell you where one is. My guess is that they’re all around Disneyland.”

    Apropos of nothing – I miss Belisle’s.  Back in the day it was a required stop when I was in OC on business.  Not that it helped my physique in any particular way, other than to expand it.

  105. 105.

    Jay Noble

    @Leto:

    That is/was the whole point of the chain restaurants as the US went travel crazy in the 50’s and 60’s. Didn’t have to rub elbows with the truckers or worry about those bad neighborhoods.

  106. 106.

    mvr

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I heard the preservation story from a friend who lives weekends in Chicago. usually a good source of information, though I think in the end it went under.

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Is Ricketts still threatening to withhold state funding from any local gov’t that tries to enforce anti-Covid measures?

    Not sure exactly what levers of power he has – Governors are weak here. But he did back our mayor off keeping bars closed for as long as she had originally wanted to.

    But now she is sounding like she may close them down again. We’d been lucky, I think because we closed a lot down relatively early and because while the governor did not give statewide orders he did a better job talking about staying home than the governors of ND and IA. But we opened things up when we should not have and despite being relatively lucky I see the numbers rising.  Just as they want us to go back to teaching in classrooms.

  107. 107.

    MazeDancer

    Paying taxes in semi COVID safe NY State, today, had feeling of “Mandatory 5%, not enough. Please take more. And thank you.”

    No doubt this will pass.

  108. 108.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Leto:

    with Trump angry about a botched rally in Oklahoma and his lagging poll numbers.

    Maybe, just maybe, letting 130K+ people die while doing  nothing* is a bad strategy.

    I kid!  They weren’t doing nothing.  They were stealing PPE like mobster shitstains,  because they ARE mobster shitstains.

  109. 109.

    Leto

    @Sab: noooooo

    HP Sauce has a tomato base, blended with malt vinegar and spirit vinegar, sugars (molasses, glucose-fructose syrup, sugar), dates, cornflour, rye flour, salt, spices and tamarind.[4] It is used as a condiment with hot and cold savoury food, and as an ingredient in soups and stews.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_Sauce

    @Marcopolo: Can’t wait for campaign manager Kanye West.

  110. 110.

    NotMax

    @Sab

    Nay, nay, nay. The secret of real Worcestershire sauce is the marriage of tamarind and anchovies.

    Trivia: The Lea & Perrins brand sold in the U.S. contains something like triple the amount of sugar and salt as the version sold in Canada and Great Britain.

  111. 111.

    Sab

    @Leto: British cooking is still suffering from an undeserved bad reputation from WWII privations. Also too good cooking from immigrants. I loved their food and had the pounds to show from it.

  112. 112.

    catclub

    @Leto: he is replacing Brad Parscale as his campaign manager with longtime political aide Bill Stepien as national and swing state polls show the president falling further behind Joe Biden

     

    I hope that is a regular occurrence.

  113. 113.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    I just watched, in horror, an Applebee’s commercial welcoming everyone back to dining.

    John, if not for this pandemic Applebee’s would be the perfect venue for Bari Weiss and Andrew Sullivan to throw themselves a pity party.

  116. 116.

    Leto

    @Sab: I’ll say that I need to try my hand at making my own mayo and catsup because I continually hear how much better it is than store bought. And I believe it, I just haven’t done it. Not like I have soooo many other things going on atm…

  119. 119.

    Comrade Colette Collaboratrice

    @Sab: Anchovies are delicious, and I’ll take all of yours, but I’m not committing bigamy with just one.

  120. 120.

    schrodingers_cat

    Applebee’s was one of the few places other than the 24 hour truck stop that was open late when I lived in Maine. But I haven’t been there in many many years.

  124. 124.

    HumboldtBlue

    @Ken:

    I find myself mentally narrating as I cook. “And now I’m dicing the carrots, which will go into the wok with a little oil…”

    If my cat is inside he gets a cooking show every time I’m at the stove.

    I think since March 13 I’ve had a Mcds burger and fries and the local taco truck. Other than that, it’s me cooking and eating what I cook. Lot of chicken, roasted or steamed vegetables and these black bean burritos made locally that are just so good. Not a damn thing special about them, just good with some Tillamook sharp cheddar.

    Speaking of food, here’s the Buttercream Dream speaking to Trumpers.

  126. 126.

    Jay Noble

    @mvr: What? You were at Applebees in Sidney and din’t give me a Yell?

    Our Perkins just closed permanently on Monday. The local sit-down place out there – Buffalo Point – closed earlier this year leaving us with fast food and 2 Mexican cafes

    Losing Cabela’s Corp continues to weigh heavily here.

  127. 127.

    Leto

    @Sab: I believe it. Our Italian friends were basically mournful when we told them where we were going next. To a degree we were too, but once we started exploring we discovered some really good places. We also learned when we arrived that chicken tikka had replaced fish’n’chips as the national dish. Personally I think that’s a great thing because after sampling a number of fish’n’chip places, just not a fan.

    Edit: regarding HP Sauce, you can find it on Amazon.

  128. 128.

    Mary G

    Now I know it’s serious – LA Times reports they’ve cancelled the Rose Parade for the first time in 75 years.

    “Like most people, having never lived through a pandemic before … our thoughts were that the parade was 10 months away and we would be fine,” Eads said in an interview with The Times. But as the months went on and the virus continued ravaging the state, “the reality of the pandemic set in.”

     edited to add quote and link.

  129. 129.

    Obvious Russian Troll

    The advantage of Applebee’s for me is that when I’m travelling I know I can get something that won’t make me sick. I have celiac and let’s just say I’ve had mixed luck at local places. (“Just pick the croutons out. It’ll be fine.” “Sure, we dredge it in flour, but other than it’s gluten free.”)

    I really miss the days when I could eat just about anything.

    It’s also one of the three or four places that my mother-in-law and I can both eat.

  132. 132.

    Wyatt Salamanca

    @catclub:

    Bill Stepien

    In the trial in September 2016 about the lanes closures (aka Bridgegate), federal prosecution witness David Wildstein said that Stepien was aware of the lane closures as they were happening.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Stepien

    Fuck Trump and his approximately infinite butthurt.

    I can’t wait until Inauguration Day when we can finally rid ourselves of Trump’s putrid, noxious doucheocracy.

  134. 134.

    Ohio Mom

    Ohio Family has a long tradition of eating out on Friday nights, which now is take-out on Friday nights.

    Last week it was Olive Garden, so you have company Steeplejack.

  135. 135.

    Fair Economist

    @Sab:

    Potato chips sold in Ohio have hugely more salt than chips in California.

    Really? If so, chips in Ohio must be really horrifying given how salty they are in CA.

  136. 136.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Ken:

    I find myself wondering how many of them have gone out of business in the last six months.

    A lot. PVD is a good food town, punches well above its weight. I like to eat, and like to eat out, so I’ve been to a lot of small creative places, am even on a first-name basis with some of the young chefs. It’s grim. Very grim.

  138. 138.

    Ken

    @Mary G: I would love to see every cancellation use similar language. “Well, we expected that after ten months the pandemic would be under control, as every other first-world country has managed, but sadly….”

  139. 139.

    frosty

    @Martin: One of my kids loved Applebee’s so it was our go-to place for “choose the place you want to eat” birthday dinners for him. Thankfully, he’s switched his allegiance to Buffalo Wild Wings.

  140. 140.

    Brachiator

    @Barbara:

    Applebees is a known quantity when driving through someplace, and their kitchen is open late. You can get plain grilled meat and a baked potato plus broccoli. I wouldn’t eat out there locally, but I don’t object to them.

    Never eaten at an Applebees, but don’t have a problem with them. I love coffee shops, diners, greasy spoons, especially 24 hour joints.

    A bowling alley near me had an all night coffee shop. Chinese American fusion.  Loved a breakfast of Chinese style barbecue pork, fried eggs and steamed rice, with toast and coffee.

     

    McD fries are still pretty good.

  142. 142.

    patrick II

    @janesays:

    Parscale was going to get canned any way it worked out.  Trump’s numbers were going to go down during a pandemic where his “policy” (denial) has totally failed in relation to any industrialized country in the world. The greatest campaign manager in the world couldn’t make Trump sound any smarter during his briefings (swallow some bleach — you’ll be cured!).

    And specifically with the Tulsa rally, if he had told Trump not to hold it because no one would show up — he would have been fired.  Instead, he told him it would be great and many people would show up — and he got fired.

    Parscale was terrible, but he’s been dead meat for a while now, from his point of view at least he got rich first.

  143. 143.

    NotMax

    @HumboldtBlue

    Other than that, it’s me cooking and eating what I cook.

    The Instant Pot has been an FSMsend.

    (Expect there will be a major sale on them via Amazon when the rescheduled Prime Day happens – maybe sometime in September.)

  144. 144.

    mvr

    @Jay Noble: @mvr: What? You were at Applebees in Sidney and din’t give me a Yell?

    I stop at Sidney a lot when I’m driving between the mountains and Lincoln. The Hampton Inn there has decent rates. It would be a pretty obscure place for an appropriately distanced jackal meetup. :-)

  145. 145.

    HumboldtBlue

    @NotMax:

    Money could not be tighter, but to make cooking easier is worth the expesne. I’ve heard nothing but positives about Instant Pot.

  146. 146.

    Fair Economist

    My mom likes Applebee’s – not a raving fan, but a chain she’ll happily go to, or, as her mobility deteriorates, order from. It’s not great, but not objectionable either. You can’t blame them for a fake “centrist” inventing a salad bar from them to invent a nonsensical reference.

  148. 148.

    Patricia Kayden

    Trump has had:4 Chiefs of Staff5 Campaign managers 4 National Security Advisors 3 Attorney Generals 5 Communications Directors He's been in office less than 4 years.— Doug Gordon (@dgordon52) July 16, 2020

  151. 151.

    Ken

    @patrick II: And specifically with the Tulsa rally, if he had told Trump not to hold it because no one would show up — he would have been fired. Instead, he told him it would be great and many people would show up — and he got fired.

    Proof that Parscale’s not actually good at what he does. An expert would have found a scapegoat.  Heck, this is Trump – it doesn’t take an expert, every dictator on Earth has figured out how to play him.

  153. 153.

    Bill Arnold

    @Sab:
    Along with the chopped onions, add finely chopped carrots and celery, and after sauteing a bit, add some chopped garlic (else garlic will burn).
    Also try adding a bit of nutmeg to the sauce, maybe a 1/4 teaspoon. Not for everyone, but nutmeg improves tomato sauce for many people.

  155. 155.

    Barbara

    @Mary G: The problem is that you have raise and commit money now to make sure everything is in place on January 1.  Think about what the parade entails — what high school and college marching bands are going to be rehearsing this fall and raising money to travel in January?  Even if the virus disappeared tomorrow, it would still be challenging.

  156. 156.

    Ruckus

    @Martin:

    I’ve been to Applebees. When you travel for work and there are no good places to eat, you take what you can get. Some places just did not have any restaurants that weren’t chains. And if that’s the area, they also usually didn’t have a decent chain place. Now I will say that Applebees was not the worst restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. Close though. I used to keep a list, but left that life a while back and the list was one too many reminders.

  157. 157.

    Sab

    @Bill Arnold: I did some of that for veggie soup this week, and spouse was in raptures. For a veggie soup( !??) Thanks. That should be amazing for spaghetti sauce.

  158. 158.

    catscot

    Hi…please be gentle..first time commenting…Originally from Indiana,now in Studio City,Ca( hi Bill in Glendale).  After reading the article as comments,
    NOW I understand why Applebees is always full when I visit Indiana…. fine dining for Indiana!

  159. 159.

    MisterForkbeard

    @HeleninEire: It has gone on my top 3 list of weird dates as a result. Not #1, though :)

    I feel like maybe we should have a open thread about bad/weird dates. That sounds like a fun time.

  162. 162.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:

    In a 3 month period traveling for my job I got massive food poisoning at 2 different McDs, in 2 different states. I have not set food in one since. I mean even before that I thought the food sucked but you are on the road, have to be at an event a 7am and need breakfast, whata ya gunna do? What I swore I was not going to do was ever eat at McDs ever again, I’ll go hungry, it’s safer. And yes I figured the first time was a problem but twice in two different states? Yeah that’s not food, it’s poison with too much salt.

  163. 163.

    frosty

    @Gin & Tonic: Just got the results and my cholesterol is low, and if it’s loud enough it drowns out the tinnitus, so I’m good!

    Glad it’s takeout now. I really hate loud bars and restaurants.

  164. 164.

    West of the Rockies

    @Feathers:

    Well, alcohol kills the virus, in, like a minute…

    So maybe we could inject the people as they’re drinking.  Has anyone looked into that?

  165. 165.

    TS (the original)

    @Martin:  on RCP Texas  is the only poll that is positive for trump on Jul 15. Trump is at +2  and this is an OAN/Gravis poll.

  168. 168.

    Patricia Kayden

    Brian Kemp is, if anything, consistent. He is tireless in stopping minorities from voting.And now, risking the lives of Georgia's minorities, who are most vulnerable to the pandemic, he's found a new way to suppress their vote — by killing them. https://t.co/DrrHwdBg6i— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) July 16, 2020

  169. 169.

    Peale

    @David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch: I think these are good news because we’ve had a few polls in a row now showing Biden at over 50%. I don’t think Hillary ever reached that level. But since neither Stein nor Johnson will be on the ballot, people don’t really have any known third party names to list in the surveys this time.  Like the Libertarian and Green Party candidates are real nobodies rather than semi-nobodies and I think that will help.

  170. 170.

    zhena gogolia

    @Martin:

    It never gets old, as far as I’m concerned. And that original cast is so superb, every single role perfectly cast.

  171. 171.

    Ohio Mom

    Obvious Russian Troll:

    I did not fully appreciate the Celiac lifestyle until my neighbor listed her many adaptations, including buying a separate toaster for her gluten-free bread, and keeping a separate butter dish from the rest of the family.

    She feels much better since her diagnosis but it was a steep learning curve and a big, and still ongoing adjustment.

  172. 172.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    Haven’t eaten at McD’s since 1971, when they served me a sewage burger. IIRC, in Falls Church, VA.

    Meat was so spoiled I immediately had to spit out the first bite immediately. They refused to replace it or give a refund, so said ta-ta forever.

    @HumboldtBlue

    Hear ya loud and clear on the money situation. Lots of us hunkered down in the same dinghy.

  175. 175.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:

    I found out last week that a banquet that I go to every year, for the professional sport I was involved in, which was moved from April to November has been canceled for the year. Which is a good thing, there are a lot of people older than I am that go, it would be like clearing out the warehouse for the next years crap.

  176. 176.

    Kay

    I’ve never been to Applebees but my middle son loves Cracker Barrel. You go to a restaurant with him you’re going to Cracker Barrel. It’s really pretty bizarre because he is the youngest person in there by like 40 years. He loves senior citizen dining. Just him and the seniors, having some sweet tea and hushpuppies.

  177. 177.

    NotMax

    @Kay

    “Solemn promise I won’t get a tattoo. But am seriously thinking about going for dentures.”

    :)

  178. 178.

    Ken

    @Patricia Kayden: Trump has had: 4 Chiefs of Staff 5 Campaign managers 4 National Security Advisors 3 Attorney Generals 5 Communications Directors

    Be fair. How many of those had to leave because of felony convictions? And has any other president had to deal with that problem?

  179. 179.

    Ruckus

    @NotMax:

    Having grown up in the land of In and Out, McDs just didn’t ever cut it. But when in Roam do as the Roamans do.

  181. 181.

    WaterGirl

    @Kay: Oh yes, Cracker Barrel!  When we had my -ex’s son with us, that was always his first choice.  Or pizza hut!  You have to go to where they like, too.

    They used to have a good fried chicken on Sundays.

  182. 182.

    NotMax

    @Ruckus

    The term In ‘n’ Out has always made me think of the sequence of events associated with food poisoning.

    ;)

  185. 185.

    RobNYNY

    @Ken:

    It might have been better as “Even with our low expectations, they still disappointed us.”

  186. 186.

    Sloane Ranger

    @Leto:

     

    are you sure you’re Brit/Irish? I thought you would’ve been a master of the brown sauce :

    Ah, brown sauce, the only condiment needed on a bacon sandwich!

  187. 187.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Jeffro:

    Hard pass on indoor dining out for oh the next year or so. Like so many other folks here, I whip up vastly healthier, tastier, less-saltier stuff at home five out of seven nights/week in under an hour for a quarter of the cost and get to rock out to better music while doing it.

    I’ve had many restaurant meals that I could not possibly duplicate at home – some I will remember for the rest of my life, like that wonderful crawfish etouffee I had in New Orleans, or a lobster ravioli at a restaurant in NYC.  So I’m a bit more likely to favor restaurant dining under normal circumstances than you are.

    But I’m still 100% with you on that hard pass on indoor restaurant dining well into next year.  I wouldn’t eat indoors around strangers, even for another plate of that divine crawfish etouffee.  Even that’s not worth putting my life – and the lives of my wife and son – on the line, which is exactly what we’re talking about here.

  188. 188.

    J R in WV

    @WaterGirl: 

    Yesterday I made the best pasta sauce I think i have ever had. I used 1.5 jars of Fortuna’s Fra Diavolo sauce and meatballs i made from scratch.

    Last night I chopped fresh tomatoes up into a skillet full of spicy local Italian sausage, onions peppers and garlic, served on plain spaghetti, was great. I’ve been using various bottled pasta sauces to speed meal prep since we can’t go out at all. The fresh maters made it great. And good parm on top.

  189. 189.

    J R in WV

    @zhena gogolia:

    A Russian friend sent me the line “Never stop despairing!” today, and acted as if it was a well-known quotation from somebody. I’m going to have to ask him who it was. Google didn’t help. But man, could there be anything more Russian?

    Thanks for sharing that line. No — nothing could be more Russian, or perhaps also Irish, who also have depression issues from the weather.

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