Restaurant quality...

[Andy Griffith]

My wife and I have noticed the lack of good restaurants...or...the lack of restaurants serving good food in our area.

It seems that ever since we changed from a dry county, the places food quality has gone down, the alcohol selection has gone up. I do understand that the profit margin on alcohol for restaurants is much, much higher than that of food (if they have good people that won't overfill glasses that is).

Is it just us, or is it that most restaurants that begin to serve alcohol just stop caring about their food?

Let me say, that I will not drink alcohol with any food. I'm not a drunk either, but I do keep a bit of Geo. Dickel around for occasions and may partake about once a month- which is plenty enough for me.

I just like good food- it's my downfall.

 

[hatt]

I find crappy food at restaurants is the rule around here. No matter if they serve alcohol or not. It wouldn't surprise me that restaurants in recently freed areas would focus on alcohol rather than food. It's much easier to make drinks and pour beer than make good food.

 

[johnsonl]

Here in Virginia, a restaurant's total receipts must be a percentage of alcohol vs. food. Therefore, we don't have "bars". The restaurants that effectively function as "bars" do most of their food sales during the day.
Yes, the menu quality suffers when the focus is on alcohol. Alcohol has a higher profit margin than food.

 

[Smith357]

A lot of resaurants buy pre processed foods from large distributors to keeps cost down. The problem is 90% of these foods are barley edible. It's very expensive to buy fresh and pay someone who has a clue how to prepare it. It's much easier to grab a minimum wage student or illegal and have them man the deep fat fryers and microwaves. Someone who knows the difference between a bechamel and a berre blanc won't come cheap.

Alcohol is easy, any hot young thing can pack a bar full of horney drunks and sling buckets o beer or make shots.

 

[mac2]

dunno what it is, but I've never reeeeally been a fan of restaurants: the general rule seems to be the cheapest muck going is the tastiest and most filling...I don't understand why people don't like McDonalds or the local kebab van...

 

[BarbC]

You should try it over here on the Russian border. Alcohol is a food staple. The procedure is a toast, a shot of whatever, a bite of food, some talking. A toast, a shot of whatever, a bite of food, more talking. And so on for about five or six hours. This is whether you are in someone's home, chatting down at the local auto mechanic's garage, at a restaurant or party, or hanging around the house for the afternoon. The food seems to be pretty good quality but simpler. A plate of olives, a plate of cheese, a plate of cut-up fruit, a cut-up sausage, at least two or three bottles of vodka, and you are set for any occasion.

 

[oldman45]

Simple solution here. I am suprized that you have not thought of it yourself.

Go to the restaurant of your choice. Have 3-4 of the alcoholic drinks of your choice. Afterward, order your food. The food will not be nearly as bad as you previously thought.

Heck, with enough drinks in me, even my wife begins to look good. Well.....almost anyway.

 

[CJ]

..........Let me say, that I will not drink alcohol with any food.........

I'm very similar, though I will have the occasional sandwich accompanied by a single beer at home. I don't go to bars normally, but there are at least three "bars & grill" that quickly come to mind that I will go to because of the extraordinary food they serve. though I always order a coke to accompany the food as I am a bit of a fanatic about about drinking and driving.

 

[Porterb123]

Come to TX or Loosiana. I can talk you a gas station in Hammond, LA that serves the best sloppy dripping gravy roast beef poboys. Midendorfs on the Lake in Manchac that has the best thin fried catfish.
Now that I'm in TX, I make a pilgramige to those places when I go back home

 

[jimmyj]

A thought:
Could the Restaurant's cook and servers have become addicted to the newly acquired alcohol drinks?

 

[Andy Griffith]

I do know what our major problem is...

Me and my wife eat 98% of the time at home.

I would venture to say that we are in a very, very small minority of population that eats at home more than out.

Surmising that most people eat out all the time, or at least a majority of it...they have grown accustomed to the slop served at chain restaurants and independents alike, and have no idea of the quality it should be.

If people only tasted meat that has never been frozen, and fresh, unfrozen vegetables and no msg.

It's nearly impossible to get vegetables out in a restaurant anymore- because they don't keep very well.

 

[amazingflapjack]

N.E. Ga.?

Please don't tell me that an area with some of the best food in the world (Southern) has gone down hill? Dillard House, Maunys, La Prades, and that place in Clayton that used to have the best cabbage, served in a white sauce, in the whole world! Smith House? Why did they have to approve liquor in these places? Rabun County produces more Shine-and of a better quality, than anywhere worth mentioning, and all on Govt land!
I need to know, but I'll sit down before I read your response. Flapjack.

 

[Gun Smoke]

Well there's always the Dillard house up there in Clayton Ga pretty close to you....There aren't any cans in that place or since you're Andy Griffith you can always take Helen, Thelma Lou and Barney and head on over to the Diner for the special...

 

[Andy Griffith]

I've never cared for the Dillard House or the Smith House- their food ain't right- chicken overdone or not done enough. I think they try to run tourists through too fast to make a quick buck. LaPrades Fish Camp burned down nearly 10 years ago now best I can figure...and their food was ok- they served the brownest slaw I ever saw put in a bowl! I haven't been to the Smith House in at least five years, but we didn't like it too well- vegetables like beans and carrots that they served came from commercial cans- just like cafeteria food.

If they are going to serve food that they try to pass off as not coming from a commercial facility like everything else- it's unacceptable.

The worst is offender is an unnamed chain that markets "homemade jams and jellies" that has high-fructose corn syrup in it.

I may open my own place- the standards would be high, and likely I'd only be able to serve a set number of people- pay the staff well and keep everything fresh, or made ourselves- and no frozen meat or canned vegetables unless they came from a mason jar we canned ourselves.

It won't happen, but at least it's a nice thought, and it won't happen because I don't like, or like to deal with people.

The curmudgeon in me strikes again.

I'll shall quit pontificating...for now.

 

[617X10]

A couple of weeks ago I had the best tasting sirloin I've ever had. Then I got the check. My eyes crossed and she had to see what was wrong. Since she is a REAL tightwad, she asked the waiter why our sirloin special got so expensive. He straightened us out: I got the same thing as her, and she had said filet. There she goes again, letting her mouth get me in trouble. That old blues musician might be right, "It's cheaper to keep her." But sometimes I wonder.

 

[BarbC]

I may open my own place- the standards would be high, and likely I'd only be able to serve a set number of people- pay the staff well and keep everything fresh, or made ourselves- and no frozen meat or canned vegetables unless they came from a mason jar we canned ourselves.

It won't happen, but at least it's a nice thought, and it won't happen because I don't like, or like to deal with people.

What some people do is open their house to a set number of people once a week or however often you want to do it. The menu is set by you and the price is fixed per person.

Also, a popular thing is a group of people who get together, determine a meal theme, and then each couple is responsible for the appetizer, main meal, dessert, etc, rotating the house where they gather to dine.

 

[Cooter Brown]

A big problem is that the chain places have put a lot of independent restaurants out of business, particularly the diner type places that locals used to hang around in. This is even affecting Andy's area, which used to have a lot of these places.

There used to be some good food, particularly breakfasts, served in those places.

Just about extinct around here.

 

[18DAI]

I agree, good quality restaurants are few and far between.

For the NC members, try Salvino's on Battleground Ave in Greensboro. Family owned and operated. Mainly home made italian foods - but he also has fabulous steaks and seafood dishes.

Large portions and average prices. Great service and a nicely done out of the way place. You will be back if you try it. Regards 18DAI.

 

[amazingflapjack]

Well-nothin' stays the same I guess...

My memories of N.E. Ga eateries are now 30 yrs old, and from what I saw from the Sherif of Mayberry, it's all gone. Glad I was there when it was grand. Flapjack.

 

[ImprovedModel56Fan]

You should try it over here on the Russian border. Alcohol is a food staple. The procedure is a toast, a shot of whatever, a bite of food, some talking. A toast, a shot of whatever, a bite of food, more talking. And so on for about five or six hours. This is whether you are in someone's home, chatting down at the local auto mechanic's garage, at a restaurant or party, or hanging around the house for the afternoon. The food seems to be pretty good quality but simpler. A plate of olives, a plate of cheese, a plate of cut-up fruit, a cut-up sausage, at least two or three bottles of vodka, and you are set for any occasion.

That's per person, right?