jbraynolds
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Posts posted by jbraynolds
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Tell you what, come back in a couple of years and you'll have "evidence". The fast-food titans have dabbled in this sort of thing before and dropped it...I'd say it's a safe bet that they'll keep dancing with who brung 'em when this little campaign has run the course.
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What I'm saying is that anyone who thinks that RB or anyone else is going to get BK or any of the other mega-chain/franchises to move away from ultra-processed (read: cheap) foods to fresh, perishable, labor-intensive (read: more expensive to make, higher food-cost, requiring more than a robot to put out) dishes must be strung out on one of the couple dozen chemical additives that are in those chicken patties.
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Sure looks like more log-rolling. How many times do people have to be told that Valenti rescued the Upper West Side from being a culinary wasteland? It's as if much of the food press are working from the same boilerplate/press releases: Valenti and the lamb shank, Daniel and The Burger, Valenti saves the Upper West Side, Sirio is the consumate host, Sirio's kids have learned the art from their Dad, Danny Meyer, Danny Meyer, Danny Meyer, Patricia Yeo, Patricia Yeo...New York can seem like a really small restaurant town, sometimes.
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http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2001/0...10/11-salt.html
...for further reading by those who are following and not annoyed by the salt debate.
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"...the ten people in the country who are affected by sodium." Right. What do those idiots at Harvard and Hopkins know?
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You really believe that BK is stepping in the right direction? That they give a damn about serving anything that might compromise their bottom line? Hoo, boy.
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Don't miss Dirty's, Artz, Hilbert's or John Mueller's. I prefer Iron Works to Stubb's for in-town bbq.
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If it's still available, the black bean soup.
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...and have well-connected p.r. flacks.
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At the very real risk of keeping the log rolling past the expiration date...I don't think it's about blood lust. I think that, and this goes right back to the original points made: it's about Bayless being a hypocrite. He's made a career and created a persona around the promotion of regional, authentic foods made from sustainable ingredients grown by small farmers. Burger King has made a mega-business by doing exactly the opposite - selling processed, reformed, preserved, re-heated, artificially-flavored food products made from Frankencrops and served up by poorly-compensated employees who are treated by BK as so much chattel. And, much evidence suggests, the stuff is unhealthy for any number of reasons. You don't need to get into the subjective matter of how the sandwiches taste or lust for Bayless' head on a pike to see the disconnect here. I've been a happy patron of Frontera/Topo for, what, 10 years, and RB would have been one of the LAST people I'd expect to see shilling for an operation like BK.
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No offense to the minds at the U of Maine's Medical School (I assume that it was a med school that conducted their study) but here's a fairly recent release from Johns Hopkins, which has an, ahem, reasonably (couldn't resist) well-regarded med school:
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A reasonable person would think that getting 50% of your daily sodium from a single sandwich is okay? Your definition of "reasonable" is different than mine, then.
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You're right - numbers don't lie. The accepted daily maximum sodium intake for a normal adult is 2400 mg of sodium a day and the BK baguettes, at 1200 mg, give you half that, in one neat little package. I think that a reasonable person would look at that and say "hmm, that sounds a little bit salty".
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Okay, sorry for the smart-ass comment about sodium in mineral waters. But, the BK sandwiches that RB is pimping are flat-out SALTY. And I love salt, adore it and crave it, and there's a limit to all things good, even salt. These things hurt. If RB put something as sodium-riddled out at Frontera/Topo it would be sent back in a flash and replaced with an apology from RB, himself. I guess "real diners" shouldn't worry as he did imply in his lame-ass letter that those (unwashed) who would be buying these pieces of garbage were lucky that they weren't getting the usual crap that BK usually trafficks in. So BK is now on the right track...somehow? I'd love to sit across from RB, mano a mano, and watch him eat one of these things and explain, in detail, the worthiness of it. Any bets on how often HE picks some BK Baguette Sandwiches up for the kids on his way home from a rough day of getting his knees and palms scraped and bloody from servicing The Man?
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No, you haven't had mineral water that is 1200 mg of sodium per serving.
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If you're not going to make an impression on 99% of the people who don't know or care who you are, why would you want to piss off or at least look like a pimping dumbass to almost 99% of the people who *do* know who you are? Duh.
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Taste isn't important? Then why not just air pop a pound of popcorn and eat it without any seasoning? That will fill anyone up with no consequences.
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Tried the so-called/alleged BBQ sandwich and, it is even worse than the first one. The sauce is like that god-awful Bullseye stuff that they've used on their Ranch Burger or whatever it's called. It may even be the Bullseye stuff, I didn't notice. As an Oklahoma boy, Bayless should both know better and be ashamed.
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I ate at the original Pearson's and recently went to the one in Queens that some people say he sold his name to and found the meats to be utterly forgetable. No seasoning from salt, pepper, spices or smoke. They could have been roasted, unseasoned in a home oven. The texture of the brisket was an affront to all that BBQ stands for. Tough, stringy, dry...I am amazed at how desperate some NYers are for BBQ that they will settle for the lousy fare that's available here. At least Blue Smoke seems to be on the right track, to my taste at least.
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I hope that this doesn't sound like a spammy sales pitch...No association, personal or professional with any of the parties involved but I read about a Super Bowl event (February 1st) at Blue Smoke that's sponsored heavily by Gourmet magazine and it sounds like a great deal if you like their bbq and, especially, like to drink. $75 gets you in and there are supposed to be the usual demos and talks that come with this type of event (Food Networkers, etc.) which is a big yawn, to me. There is a beer/wine/spirits tasting that ought to be good if, like many of those things, a bit slow. Still probably worthwhile. The good part is that ticket price gets you all you can eat and drink for the duration of the event. They say they're having big-screen tv all over the place so I guess that means the food and drink will flow from 4:30 until the game ends. I don't watch pro footbal or even the Super Bowl so don't know for sure but I think that this game/event/media circus runs for over 4 hours? I know that I won't have much trouble knocking back over $75 worth of bbq, beer, wine and cocktails in that time. Hell, I spent almost that much on a couple of bbq selections, a pair of sides, a beer and a glass of wine the one time I went there! Given Danny Meyer's connections I'm sure that the quality level of the beverages will be high. As for the quality of the bbq, at least Kenny Callaghan will be present and trying to show off so this would be a good chance to see Blue Smoke at the top of whatever game they might have.
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Herbsaint is my favorite, I suppose. Peristyle is remarkable...get the crab/beet/horseradish salad. You can also have a few apps in the bar area. Very, very nice people and wonderful food. The new chef at Cuvee is doing a great job, by the way. And, yes, the Emeril's group is great if busy as all get out. Lunch at Delmonico is one of the best deals in the country and the wine lists at all of Emeril's places are excellent. If you do go to Clancy's, make sure that you try the smoked soft shell crabs.
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$300 for two at dinner gets you nicely cared for at Veritas, JoJo, Fleur de Sel, L'Impero, Cafe Boulod, Anissa, Babbo, Fiamma and countless other worthy places. For that tariff "cute" and "clever" in a cartoonish atmosphere simply doesn't make it in my book. Chop that tab in half and I might be with you.
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I hardly consider myself a curmudgeon and I think that ADNY is a remarkable restaurant, perhaps the best in NYC but I was really put off by the self-conscious cuteness and tongue-in-cheekiness of Mix. "Must de Mix", "Mix of Mix", the presentations...I also thought that Spoon was too cute for it's own good so maybe I am a curmudgeon.
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On the subject of how that BK chicken sandwich that Bayless is pimping actually tastes, get the Popeye's Crispy Chicken Strip Po Boy and compare it to that BK monstrosity. The roll is of a high quality, distinctly of the New Orleans variety and light years beyond the BK "baguette", the chicken is cooked (okay, fried) to order almost every time and is crispy to the point of tooth-shattering every time I've had one, the lettuce is crunchy and seems to be only recently shredded, unlike the BK condiments which are wilted, soggy and lifeless...and, at least here, it's $2.99 instead of the BK $3.29 tariff. Check out Popeye's to see what a fast food sandwich can be.
Rick Bayless and Burger King - Part 2
in Ready to Eat
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Both his books and his restaurants are a priceless gifts/resources for anyone interested in Mexican food. Or any food, for that matter...Frontera/Topo have been among the handful of great, national-class restaurants in Chicago for over a decade. Hence the dismay.