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The first of my favorite restaurants bites the dust

dioxide45 said:
I wonder how Golden Corral will hold out. Where will we hold the annual Orlando TUG Get Together in January
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Maybe we can sign up for a banquet room at some other restaurant.

Of, if need be, we can hold the TUG event at 1 of the timeshares where people are staying in Orlando that week.

If no resort has a meeting room or board room they'll let us use, then everybody can squeeze into 1 of the timeshare units 1 of the TUG families is using.

Shux, the 1st January get-together of TUG people in Orlando that I can remember was a pot-luck event held in Marty Giggard's 2BR unit at Bonnet Creek 15 or so years ago.

Restaurants may come & restaurants may go, but TUG just keeps chugging along.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
b2bailey said:
I'm laughing at myself for not realizing this sooner. I've always enjoyed salad bars that feature some of my favorites that I rarely have at home -- beets, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm...
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I also enjoyed salad bars (depending on the restaurant)
 
We go to Sweet Tomatoes in Florida with my aunt every year when we visit. We all enjoy them, partly bc we sit and talk for hours and then finally have teeny ice cream cones for dessert. We will definitely miss them.
 
We used to go to Sweet Tomatoes many years ago when traveling to Florida. A couple of times we went, once right before a cruise, we got super sick with the common cold. While the source wasn't known for sure, we attribute it to dining at Sweet Tomatoes. It is awful to be sick on a cruise. We hadn't been back since except once when we stopped at one on the way back from Orlando late last year. We felt that the quality and selection had gone down. Their salad bar was still pretty good, but the other items were poor quality. We had anticipated never going back.
 
b2bailey said:
I'm laughing at myself for not realizing this sooner. I've always enjoyed salad bars that feature some of my favorites that I rarely have at home -- beets, artichoke hearts, hearts of palm...
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YES! So many items on a good bar you just don't have at home! Pickled beets, chick peas, cottage cheese, apple butter, I could go on! So many things besides lettuce, tomato, and onions! I already miss the salad bar!
 
I'm not with you on beets (sorry) but they sell the all of those things in little jars/cans so why not treat yourself? They keep pretty well in the fridge too. We have most on hand at all times.

Btw, I have discovered that those crunchy fried onions from the infamous green bean casserole are really yummy on a salad. It's my new guilty pleasure.
 
klpca said:
I'm not with you on beets (sorry) but they sell the all of those things in little jars/cans so why not treat yourself? They keep pretty well in the fridge too. We have most on hand at all times.

Btw, I have discovered that those crunchy fried onions from the infamous green bean casserole are really yummy on a salad. It's my new guilty pleasure.
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While I love salads, it is perhaps the one that is the most of a nuisance to make at home. You have to chop, wash, cut, dice, chop some more before you have your end result. A salad bar is great. Someone already did all the work for you. Still, I endure the pain of making a salad at home. Sometimes I make my own dressing. If I could just find a good blue cheese dressing recipe I would be set. I can't seem to recreate the base of the dressing. I love the Marzetti salad dressings in the produce case at the grocery store. I already have the perfect ranch recipe.
 
dioxide45 said:
While I love salads, it is perhaps the one that is the most of a nuisance to make at home. You have to chop, wash, cut, dice, chop some more before you have your end result. A salad bar is great. Someone already did all the work for you. Still, I endure the pain of making a salad at home. Sometimes I make my own dressing. If I could just find a good blue cheese dressing recipe I would be set. I can't seem to recreate the base of the dressing. I love the Marzetti salad dressings in the produce case at the grocery store. I already have the perfect ranch recipe.
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The saying in our family is that the best salad is one someone else made!
 
I also hate making salads. But I use the already washed greens, and grape tomatoes cut in half to make it faster. Olives come straight out of a jar, and feta comes already crumbled in the little package. And of course those little fried onions. You just sprinkle them on. Yum. Yum. Yum.

At any rate, what my *real* prep secret is, is having my husband make the salad :p He even makes homemade dressing!
 
klpca said:
At any rate, what my *real* prep secret is, is having my husband make the salad :p He even makes homemade dressing!
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My dh does the cooking and makes the salads. They are good. He makes the dressings as well.
 
klpca said:
I also hate making salads. But I use the already washed greens, and grape tomatoes cut in half to make it faster. Olives come straight out of a jar, and feta comes already crumbled in the little package. And of course those little fried onions. You just sprinkle them on. Yum. Yum. Yum.
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Dang, that all sounds good! Love feta cheese, olives, and yes, the fried onions!
 
Sea Six said:
It appears the salad bar is going extinct as well, at least around here.
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That's probably true, and very sad. I don't care about buffet's that much, but a salad bar allows you to make the salad you want. That's not easily replaced.
 
I am sad I never had the opportunity to try out Chuy's Fully Loaded Nacho Car!
 
I guess all those Chinese and Mongolian restaurants are now history.

Now I am upset with this Coronavirus all my Amish restaurants in Pennsylvania will now be closed.

No more Amish family styles meals, with family members, sitting at the same table
 
We went to sweet tomatoes a few times a year
one trip I remember was with three other ladies, on our way to the theater. They were all on the 17 day diet and holier than thou. They sucked any enjoyment out of that trip. They have been on variations of that diet in the 17 years I have known them, and are still unsuccessful about taking off weight, but sure tried to dietvshame everyone else
 
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We received the email from Souplantation yesterday. We had one location locally, and it was always busy.

Souplantation typically offered a deal each year shortly before Christmas. If you bought a gift card ($50, if I remember), you would get a voucher for a free meal. Since we liked the place, I used to take advantage of the deal. So this bankruptcy has several ramifications:

1. This is the end of one easy Christmas present that I was able to buy for my wife. Darn. Christmas gets more difficult.
2. We still have about $40 left on one remaining Souplantation gift card. According to the email, we are out of luck unless there is some remedy through bankruptcy court. As a result, I doubt that I will ever buy a restaurant or specific-store gift card ever again. VISA, MasterCard, or AmEx gift cards should be OK. But if you're holding a store gift card, and that store goes out of business, I suppose your gift card is toast.
 
pedro47 said:
I guess all those Chinese and Mongolian restaurants are now history.

Now I am upset with this Coronavirus all my Amish restaurants in Pennsylvania will now be closed.

No more Amish family styles meals, with family members, sitting at the same table
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I wonder if the Mongolian might benefit. The food is cooked after picked out. It still has the utensil and hand problem, but that can be fixed with some hand sanitizer. I guess it depends on how granular the consumer gets on risk. I try to stay away from buffets due to waistline issues, but do love me a good feed every once in a while.
 
b2bailey said:
My husband and I used to say that about coffee.
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Coffee is like sex.

When it's good, it's good.

When it's bad, it's still good.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​
 
klpca said:
I'm not with you on beets (sorry) but they sell the all of those things in little jars/cans so why not treat yourself? They keep pretty well in the fridge too. We have most on hand at all times.

Btw, I have discovered that those crunchy fried onions from the infamous green bean casserole are really yummy on a salad. It's my new guilty pleasure.
Click to expand...
My Commander in Chief, loved beets in her salad, and on the side of her dinner plate. Yes! I love beets in my salad. LOL.:wave::hug
 
dioxide45 said:
While I love salads, it is perhaps the one that is the most of a nuisance to make at home. You have to chop, wash, cut, dice, chop some more before you have your end result. A salad bar is great. Someone already did all the work for you. Still, I endure the pain of making a salad at home. Sometimes I make my own dressing. If I could just find a good blue cheese dressing recipe I would be set. I can't seem to recreate the base of the dressing. I love the Marzetti salad dressings in the produce case at the grocery store. I already have the perfect ranch recipe.
Click to expand...
Blue cheese - butter milk is the secret ingredient. You could experiment with adding mayo (not for me, thanks) or sour cream (also not for me). Once upon a time, I worked in a restaurant and made the dressings. Blue cheese is one of my favorites. Marzetti gets it right with CHUNKS.
 
geekette said:
Blue cheese - butter milk is the secret ingredient. You could experiment with adding mayo (not for me, thanks) or sour cream (also not for me). Once upon a time, I worked in a restaurant and made the dressings. Blue cheese is one of my favorites. Marzetti gets it right with CHUNKS.
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I had seen recipes with buttermilk and sour cream. I don't think mayo would produce the right "gloopy" consistency. It is a main ingredient in ranch and makes for a creamy consistency along with the buttermilk.
 
b2bailey said:
I won't drink bad coffee.
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And if you have to add cream and sugar to make the coffee drinkable, it's bad coffee. Good coffee needs nothing added. ;)
 
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