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. 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. BJ's have nearly completed the construction of their new restaurant at the NorthEast Mall.

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.

A Couple of Words.

I was working on a house remodel the other day and noticed the word "plenum" on the central heater instructions. It is the box-like chamber that holds the hot air.  I knew what the plenum was, but for the first time it struck me as odd because technical description words are usually functional and self-explanatory, like screw-driver, or refrigerator. "Plenum" seemed like it may have a history, so I looked it up. Indeed, it is an old Latin word, used to describe a chamber that holds a gas with a positive pressure. Its opposite is "vacuum," as in "horror vacui", or "nature abhors a vacuum." I guess if nature abhors a vacuum, it's fond of a plenum?

Since it is Halloween, I have noticed a lot of candy advertisements, and the word "nougat" caught my attention.  It is a word that strikes me as funny. I looked it up also, knowing that it is the filling in a Mars bar, but not knowing that is usually made of sugar, egg whites and nuts. Nougat has French origins and is related to the word, "nut." Next time you are with friends, and after a few glasses of adult beverages have been consumed, just say the word. Nougat. See what happens.

I keep seeing the phrase, "man up," or its local cousin,"cowboy up." I don't know if this phrase is new, but it is to me. I like the "cowboy up" version. It has a nice local sound, and the "b" in boy and "p" in "up" work nicely together. I take it to mean, "quit your whining and get on with it," a sentiment I embrace for men. Not to put too serious a twist on an otherwise purposeless post, but I think the world could use a little re-appreciation for the traditional male virtues: Courage, Loyalty, Faithfulness. If that is the meaning of the phrase, I am all for it.

For now, anyway.

Thoughts on Shortcuts.

It had been a while since I have had to drive to Dallas in the morning -- and in rush hour traffic. No one likes it. I am glad I no longer do it. But as I was making my way today and the traffic locked up, I decided to take an exit and attempt -- the back road short-cut.

It worked. In minutes I was back to cruising and feeling good. Very good.

My father was the king of shortcuts. He had a shortcut for everything; whether he was washing dishes, cutting the grass, or driving me somewhere, eventually he would devise some way of doing it faster.

Americans, by nature I think, like to find a faster, better way to do whatever it is that needs done. Henry Ford did not invent the internal combustion engine, but he did find an inexpensive way to attach it to an automobile body. Michael Dell didn't invent the personal computer, but he did find the most profitable way to sell them. Google perfected (for now) the ultimate shortcut, the search engine. Faster, better, there is just something about it that we like.

A final comment on shortcuts and cars.

Boasting about shortcut prowess is not advised. The gods of shortcutting will soon cut you down by making the alternate route worse than the main route. I know. Unfortunately, shortcuts work best when one is driving solo, as if these gods kept watch to ensure we enthusiasts don't take too much credit for our success.

That's just the way it is.