Cracked up: A follow up on the Outback story

I didn't want to leave people hanging.. I wanted to explain one of the weirdest dining experiences of my life. The Outback steakhouse--my first time at an Outback, and I like Texas Roadhouse, so I figured I'd like Outback, plus I had a gift card--that my wife and I went to was weird. Our bartender was nice while we waited for a table.. She said to us, "what would you like?" and we answered in kind. It was the way it should be.

Then came the table.. and "Nick" the waiter. He had a nervous twitch, tried to finish our statements before we said them, attempted to explain dinners we didn't ask about, and nervously wrote down our order with a wide-eyed gaze at us and his tablet. He ran away with a frightened look telling us he'd bring our bread. When he did, he shook his head and hands frantically and told us to enjoy. I have to say, though, Nick was a hell of a nice guy. He got our order right, got it out quick enough (a little too quick) and we left a decent tip.

The coke-head serving tables next to us, though, was a different story. He forgot something at everyone's table. He spilled things on people. He bumped his head off of the lights above their table. He was sweating profusely, and running around like a rabbit in traffic. He was dodging back and forth between other servers... And he even tried to take someone's plate while the guy was still cutting his steak!

I think the problem as I posted to this site while I was there was the fact that they were either nervous with the large Saturday night crowd, or there were on cocaine. I think either is a possibility. And also, it seemed that management was trying to use excessive speed to get tables turned. Which I understand. But management's decision to do that can really mess with the head of a nervous person, or for that matter a crackhead.

Would I go back to Outback again? .. maybe. But I won't want to.

As I said before, I like the Texas Roadhouse. For being a chain-type restaurant, the steak is exceptional, even better than some independently owned steakhouses. But it's not as great as a Mexican restaurant in Minersville, PA named Casa de Tellez.. If you're in the area, you have to try the steak.. It will be a little expensive at market price, and it will take some time for you to get your dinner, but it may very well be the greatest steak that is served on earth, and blows any steak from the Final Cut steakhouse or Ruth's Chris out of the water.

As for Outback, my wife and I left the scene of what appeared to be a future crime. One of those crackheads is gonna blow. From blow.

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Outbacked..

Too many people to be nervousness.. Crack is the only logical explanation.

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Blogging live

Eating at an Outback steakhouse where it appears the servers are either 1) nervous  or 2) crackheads

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Work cafeteria shocked no one wants to pay $7 bucks for lunch

..and I ask why..

While I don't want to give names, places.. faces.. spaces, I want to simply put a quick mention that the cafeteria at my day job is a little surprised that a recent price hike scared people away. $7 for a lunch special consisting of a meat, canned vegetable, and typically instant mashed potatoes.. $2.50 for soup that is nothing tastier than Campbell's.. $5 for a tuna sandwich that tastes like it was sitting outside in the sun for days..

And they are shocked..

I did however achieve a recent victory. I was able to convince a cook that include romaine lettuce with the mounds of watered down iceberg they typically offer. When I go there now, though, I feel that unsaid pressure to pick up the salad and get a little bit just to keep the guy happy. I do, too.. Never mess with a cafeteria cook!

But it just makes me shake my head .. I have so many ideas to make this place run better. But hence, by day I'm an office worker, pushing paper without a cape! On weekends I wait tables and fight with cooks. I may as well leave the fighting with food service professionals to weekends, even if I see their business falling through their fingers like sand on a beach..

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..when the trays go falling down..

A rather sad moment occurred this weekend, when a veteran waitress, carrying a tray of desserts, left the kitchen only to lose her balance and drop the entire tray in front of a large group of people. It was cherry pie, too.. and it was tough to clean, even off of industrial carpeting.

The saddest part was that she cried after it happened. She told me privately, "I never dropped a tray before."

I wonder if, for a server, that is a big instance.. a huge event..?

At least for her, it was. It was her Waterloo..

And I felt legitimately bad for her as she cleaned up the crumb..

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When the food police come knocking..

It's bad timing that a food inspector says you have to clean a kitchen, put new drywall up, and fix chips in a floor or the place gets a violation--within a week--the same week you have 6 different parties booked. This happened.. the kitchen was a mess with food and randomly placed pieces of new drywall and floor covering.. It led to a bad environment in the kitchen.

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Ireland's food..

I'm half Irish, but I wouldn't eat the muttin.

Potatos? A ok.

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I've always hated taxes on food...

...but a ban on salt in New York City being proposed (*and fines for using it*) is desperate and ridiculous.. Common sense MUST prevail! Food freedom in '10!

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FRESH SQUEEZED MILK

Chef in New York City using his wife's breast milk to make cheese.. ..

Chef Daniel Angerer told the New York POST: "It tastes like cow's-milk cheese, kind of sweet"..

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...avoid arena beef sandwiches

Went to a Celtic/Sixers game last night.. my team won. But my stomach didn't. I had a roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce.. Some of the worst, most expensive food I ever ate. The beer was cold but near $10 .. Why did I do it? Why..

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On the menu with the fries and burger: A health charge!?

No joke.. the Chicago TRIBUNE reporting that a new bill is popping up, and is sure to spread throughout the nation. The TRIBUNE reports,

The rationale for this one is to cover the employers' mandatory contribution to the City's "Healthy San Francisco" health-coverage system. The charge actually is levied on employers, but at least some restaurants are adding a few dollars or percentage points to each customer's bill to cover this charge.

The restaurants' excuse for assessing this charge separately is to let customers know how much they're paying for employees' health coverage. That's the same excuse hotels use when they add "resort" or "housekeeping" fees to unsuspecting guests' room bills. It's the same excuse airlines would use to exclude fuel surcharges from their advertised fares if the Department of Transportation would allow them. And it's sheer nonsense. Employees' health insurance is no less of a cost of doing business than rent, property taxes, food costs, security services and all the other inputs businesses require to operate. To single out health care for a separate surcharge is unwarranted.

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