Comments on the Report: "Eight Restaurants that Get it Right."

US News and World Report did a piece on eight restaurants that are getting it right during the slow economy. Yahoo News had it as a lead story.  Following are my comments on their selections. I would love to hear yours.  I should mention that the "getting it right"  is related to growth, sales, and profit in a down economy and not necessarily the quality of food or service, although they are usually related.

I have never been to the first two restaurants mentioned in the report, please comment if you have.

Buffalo Wild Wings.  They have one location in Fort Worth, several in Tarrant County, and about 20 in DFW. All of them are pretty new, I think. Growing like mad at a pace of 60 restaurants per year. I haven't had the chance to visit one.

BJ's Restaurants.  I haven't been to this one either but the menu looks good. I think they are new to the area. They are building one at the NorthEast Mall near the Texas Roadhouse. The menu looks good and is hard to categorize. They serve pizza, burgers, salads, but also things like Thai wraps. If nothing else it shows you how broad the American palate is these days.

Chipotle Mexican Grill. I like them. My only complaint is not the taste of the food, but the temperature. Everything has that "sitting in the warm-up bin" feel to it. If they could figure out a way to serve the burritos hot I would eat there every day. I have the same complaint at Boston Market. Who likes luke-warm chicken and green beans?

Olive Garden. I think I have been to an Olive Garden once, many years ago. Everything about the place, from the commercials to the faux Italian decor drives me crazy. I was in a bistro in Italy once and the background music was Kenny Rogers', Gambler. Only Americans play Italian music in their restaurants and paint gondolas on the wall.

Panera Bread Co.  1,400 stores and growing at a pace of 20 per year. It's a good company that hires good restaurant people to run their stores. The bread is good not great, as are the sandwiches. I like the vibe of Panera and the managers' attitudes.

Peet's Coffee & Tea. As far as coffee goes, I don't quite get Peet's. I'll take Dunkin Donuts or McDonald's.

P.F. Chang's. A nice restaurant to take guests who have never been to a Chinese restaurant with a nouveau American flair. Personally, I think the food is overpriced and over-rated. Sorry. P.F. Chang's is growing fast as well.

Texas Roadhouse. Anyplace that lets you throw peanut shells on the floor is alright by me. As far as the food goes, not that great.

After rereading this it seems I am being critical of all six of the eight in which I have eaten. But I'm not, really. I frequent Chipotle and Panera, because for what they do they are good, the others don't appeal to me but they do appeal to many others. The growth of these companies is proof of that.

Charleston's

There is a temptation to leave unmentioned the restaurants that are good, consistent, and unchanging.  Charleston's is such a place. It has served good food and provided good service since being established, I'm not sure how many years ago (10?).

The Fort Worth restaurant is part of a small chain of about twenty Charleston restaurants in the southwest. The menu is traditional American: steaks, hamburgers, salads, seafood, and a few pasta dishes. Charleston's separates itself from other restaurants by serving quality food, prepared well, and served professionally. They have a niche: casual, quality, simple. The menu is small, which I like. It makes what they do possible.

Last night, four of us visited the Hulen Street restaurant. Entrees ordered: two grilled chicken salads, one chicken fried steak, and one plate of rigatoni's. All of them were good and the portions, substantial. We also ordered a chips and queso appetizer which was excellent. Additionally, every guest is served a signature, honey-dripped dinner croissant with the entree. At some restaurants the bun is a throwaway. Not at Charleston's. I look forward to getting the croissant as much as I do the meal. It's a good thing they serve only one per person.

Can you find a cheaper steak or salad in town? Absolutely. Charleston's is in the high middle range on prices, but for the money and for dependability, I don't think you can do much better.

Charleston's is the like the front page news headline, "Sun rises in the east. Again."  Last night, they did what they do always do. You just expect it.

Hardwood Floors

I am working on a house remodel.

One part of the process has been removing the blue, yes, sno-cone blue, wall-to-wall carpet, and refinishing the fifty-year old oak floors. I have to tell you that I feel like I am doing Western Civilization some good as I remove the carpet and expose these beautiful floors to the world once again. But to my point -- in order to refinish the floors, I had to visit various rental facilities for the refinishing machinery; to my surprise Home Depot had the newest equipment and the best service.

I had noticed an improvement in Home Depot in the last few years but did not expect that to filter through to the rental equipment, which was not known for renting good equipment. I was pleasantly surprised and thought the process was as easy as it could get both in the renting and returning.

I visited Lowes, which contracts their rentals to Sunbelt Rentals, an independent rental company, and Home Depot. Home Depot had the best combination of good equipment, price and service.

What's this have to do with food in Fort Worth?

Nothing really, but if you are looking to rent home improvement equipment in Fort Worth, I liked what I saw at Home Depot -- and those grilled sausages and brauts sold at the exit are pretty good, too.