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NFL Offseason Thread 2013 - Here comes the wait

Spinluck

Member
Just got the update that Saturday is going to retire as a member of the Colts.

Pretty obvious news there. I liked Jeff, him and PeyPey had a good bromance here. He proved himself as an undersized and undrafted Center.
Although he was a good player and leader, he was way past his prime.

I almost feel obligated to apologize to Packers fans since he was practically useless over there, well, at least they got someone Rodgers could see over.
 
I'll bullet point this to keep it short:

- Olive Garden has this knack for running out of pasta, at least when I worked there. It wasn't just my OG either, it happened across several in the area. The fix to that was to send the bartender to the local supermarket and buy up as much pasta off of the shelf as possible. So a big thank you customer for paying 12-15 bucks for a plate of pasta you could have made at home - literally.

a friend of mine was an assistant manager at a restaurant like that and he said that the GM would send him out to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for dinner. He says you're often not paying for the food itself as it's just run of the mill shit, but the service.
 
a friend of mine was an assistant manager at a restaurant like that and he said that the GM would send him out to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for dinner. He says you'rE often not paying for the food itself as it's just run of the mill shit, but the service.
We're overpaying then. :jnc

Service is usually shit at places like that. I supposed it depends on how you modulate your expectations but I always feel like I'm being rushed out of the door so they can flip the table and get the next person in. It's never truly spoken to do that but it's almost like a silent understanding in the chain industry. Hey look! My entrée is here and I'm only half way through my salad.

I'll hit up locally owned "mom and pop" places or fine dining establishments if I want a proper balance of service/food. Not that I dislike chains outright. I'm far from a snob but I usually hit those places to feed a craving. Red Lobster's recent Lobster fest being an great example.
 
Yeah, best food experiences i've had are ones where my group was allowed to sit there for hours and lounge and drink and cajole. At a chain they just herd you in and out - no intimacy at all.
 
Red Lobster isn't bad. It is pretty cheap and they give you a lot of food for your buck.

Your city is probably too small to support a RL and OG.

My kids like eating there. I mean don't get me wrong it is nothing on a really good seafood place, but no that I am feeding four that shit is going to get expensive. Those places would cost more than a hundred for just me and my wife. Fuuuuuuck paying for that for a family of four.

I am not a fan of Olive Garden. Besides the salad (which I like) I really don't find anything else there to be that good. The tilapia is ok, but nothing to write home about.

I wasn't saying RL is bad, especially when that's typically all you can get, but I'm not going to pretend it's anything special either. It's the Chillis of seafood. I was saying we DO have OG which proves we have the population for RL. I think there has to be truth to the property feud with the city because any man that doesn't see making a killing out of installing RL in this town, should be fired immediately.

Agree on OG, I think the stuffed chicken marsala is decent enough to eat and I find it's the only thing I ever feel compelled to order there so they are definitely doing something wrong.

As for being a food snob, I'm only one if the restaurant has the prices befitting a higher end restaurant. If I'm paying 60+ for just myself (not counting alcohol), your food better back that price up. If it does, I have no qualms about paying that much. The only food I can get snobby about anyway is Steak, Crab, and Lamb but I've conditioned myself to enjoy lower end stuff as that's all that is available in this area. I have to drive out of town for the good stuff. So I can still enjoy a Bone-in Ribeye at Texas Roadhouse but it will never touch the cuts at Donovan's in Phoenix (swoon).
 

Talon

Member
a friend of mine was an assistant manager at a restaurant like that and he said that the GM would send him out to the grocery store to buy the ingredients for dinner. He says you're often not paying for the food itself as it's just run of the mill shit, but the service.
A friend's family owned a Chili's nearby.

Their desserts came straight from the Kroger that was behind the restaurant. Niiice.
 
We're overpaying then. :jnc

Service is usually shit at places like that. I supposed it depends on how you modulate your expectations but I always feel like I'm being rushed out of the door so they can flip the table and get the next person in. It's never truly spoken to do that but it's almost like a silent understanding in the chain industry. Hey look! My entrée is here and I'm only half way through my salad.

I'll hit up locally owned "mom and pop" places or fine dining establishments if I want a proper balance of service/food. Not that I dislike chains outright. I'm far from a snob but I usually hit those places to feed a craving. Red Lobster's recent Lobster fest being an great example.

To be fair, you typically go to a chain restaurant to get in and out reasonably quickly without resorting to fast food (before going out to a bar, club, movie, etc).
 

Talon

Member
The funny thing is that dining out is definitely cheaper in Chicago than Ann Arbor just because of the variety and density.

You can spend just $35 on yourself and pig out in West Loop at places like Avec or Publican.

Can't really justify eating out at a shitty Italian place out here when I can make better risotto or chicken marsala myself.
 

bionic77

Member
I've never been to Olive Garden.Dont really give a fuck about Italian food.
I can only eat really great Italian food.

So bland. I am a spice addict.

I hate fish.
Good fish is literally the best.

Bad fish is kind of shit though.

I am not a food snob or anything, I love fast food and horrible stuff that they only feed to poors like me (compared to you and ez anyway). Culvers, McDonalds, Whataburger, it's all good.

But Olive Garden is the most bland overpriced garbage I've ever had. I don't know if I just love some flavor and spice in my food but OG's solution to every dish is to add more butter and nothing else. Bland, overpriced, and a calorie bomb? No thanks.

Red Lobster isn't too bad though. Those cheddar bay biscuits are amazing.
Olive Garden sucks, but I do like their salad. Too bad it is the best thing on their menu. Even those bread sticks suck. How can you fuck up bread?
 

Talon

Member
I didn't understand why McDonalds and Wendy's pimped the hell out of its fish offering every March/April until I moved to the Midwest.
 

Cousteau

Member
Olive Garden salad rep here.
The texture of an Olive Garden salad mixed with tableside cheese grading is enough to make me go back every year.
I feel like an italian stallion when Im in that place eating salad.
 

WanderingWind

Mecklemore Is My Favorite Wrapper
You go to a chain when you're either just visiting an area or with a group of friends who can't decide what to eat. Purposely going to a TGIF or Olive Garden otherwise is a sign of a person for whom ketchup is an acceptable spaghetti topping.
 

WedgeX

Banned
Yeah, best food experiences i've had are ones where my group was allowed to sit there for hours and lounge and drink and cajole. At a chain they just herd you in and out - no intimacy at all.

And then there are the new tech savy, anti-customer restaurants that use customer tracking technology in order to herd customers who sit "longer" to uncomfortable seating areas.
 

bionic77

Member
Well, compared to eating McDonald's fish bites on the front lawn sofa, I suppose it would be.
:jnc

In other news Fire Emblem is even better than I said it was. Just upgraded Chrom. Bionic77 is close as well. Have like 15k so I can afford a few more master seals. Been saving the upgrade items. Always save those until near the end.
 

eznark

Banned
Only goofy middle class hipster clowns paying 16% interest to punch out of their financial weight class hate McDonald's.

And then there are the new tech savy, anti-customer restaurants that use customer tracking technology in order to herd customers who sit "longer" to uncomfortable seating areas.

I just worked with a guy who opened a restaurant and he bought chairs that had a memory foam type of seating that essentially gradually lost all support in about 40 minutes. Amazing.
 

eznark

Banned
I was at some really nice place in Columbus and ordered salmon because I never had it before, and it ruined all things fish for me.

Try a really good tuna steak or swordfish. It maintains some of the fresh, light seafood taste but has more of a beef steak texture. Salmon was my favorite fish prior to having those two.
 
@MikeGarafolo: Cullen Jenkins' visit with the Giants has wrapped up. No deal there. Will make other visits next week.
I was hoping he'd be signed right off the bat but apparently he wants to visit a few more teams before making a commitment.
 

Greg

Member
Try a really good tuna steak or swordfish. It maintains some of the fresh, light seafood taste but has more of a beef steak texture. Salmon was my favorite fish prior to having those two.
That sounds more my style, so I'll give those a try next time I'm out. Salmon made me feel like I was at sea.
 

tmdorsey

Member
:jnc

In other news Fire Emblem is even better than I said it was. Just upgraded Chrom. Bionic77 is close as well. Have like 15k so I can afford a few more master seals. Been saving the upgrade items. Always save those until near the end.


I plan on getting into this heavy this weekend. My first Fire Emblem and I don't know what I'm getting into. Hope I enjoy it. I love Advance Wars, so I'm hoping it translates.
 
My girl just texted me saying we're going out next Friday for sushi. Hot damn!

Salmon is my favorite fish by far, I had some smoked salmon at a wedding last August and almost convulsed in ecstasy.
 

bionic77

Member
I plan on getting into this heavy this weekend. My first Fire Emblem and I don't know what I'm getting into. Hope I enjoy it. I love Advance Wars, so I'm hoping it translates.
I suggest starting on easy but not casual.

If it is too easy after 6 chapters then start over on hard.

It's an awesome game. You will love it.
 

jakncoke

Banned
Seems we got John Parker Wilson, I dont recall him being particularly good at Bama. Oh well a warm body for the training camp
 

Tom Penny

Member
Who is more manly? Lord Brady or Punter Zoltan Mesko?

BEKJfKFCcAAvLnP.jpg

tom-brady-goat1.jpg
 
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