ProfessionalHobbit

I am saying that you should talk about both the good and the bad. Pretending that the chain is an upright corporate citizen with respect to the customers they purport to serve doesn't do anyone any favors when their actions don't mirror their policies. We know that Cracker Barrel is trying to be a good company that treats everyone equally but our community's memory is long and we don't forget. And we are watchful.

And Chick-Fil-A's owners donated to a hate group that supported Uganda's legislation which would have levied the death penalty against Ugandan LGBT. The chain's owners also regularly donate to many other anti-LGBT groups. It's out in the open for all to see. They're not social pioneers either. And when an outcry was raised against that restaurant chain, their corporate bullshit got trotted out for all to see. #sorrynotsorry if I don't exactly toe the line here. Or are you saying that we shouldn't talk about such things on eGullet, that it should be swept under the rug? That's also pathetic.

I couldn't care less whether they say their policies have improved. I don't trust them and their history only proves my point that they haven't changed.

Anecdotes aren't meaningful evidence or indicative of anything, unless backed up by documentary proof. So while that store may have had diverse staffing, we don't know for sure that Cracker Barrel has improved its practices that much. We may not know for certain for a while. That's ok; I'll never set foot in there. And if the company is saying one thing while doing another, that's ok too. The truth always comes out.

I'm not really willing to give them the benefit of the doubt based on HRC's so-called Corporate Equality Index. HRC is a fucking joke in the LGBT community. I have nothing but contempt for that organization. But let's say that HRC's reports are great. Even then, Cracker Barrel's score dropped 20 points from #55 in 2011 to #35 in 2013. Source: http://www.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/CEI_2013_Final_low.pdf.pdf That lawsuit occurred in 2006 which suggests that the company's practices continued long after CB's board took action in 2002. And the wikipedia article on Cracker Barrel has this to say: Robertson also made "comments likening homosexuality to terrorism and bestiality" in the interview, and expressed views about race which attracted criticism. On December 22, less than two days after pulling the products from its shelves, Cracker Barrel reversed its position after protests from customers.[71][72][73] You can check it out and read the footnotes, in case you have concerns as to the veracity of Wikipedia's information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_Barrel#LGBT_policies Yeah, a company's job is to make money. And my job as a consumer who happens to be LGBT is to ensure that companies -- whether they're restaurants or mom-and-pop-shops held together by tissue paper and glue is irrelevant -- that put profit at the expense of the LGBT community are hurt where it counts the most: their bottom line.

Did you want multiple meals or one meal? I typically cook multi-course dinners so that's my default mode. But if you need more than one meal's ideas, I'll see what I can do. Salad of spinach or rocket with a simple vinaigrette to start; Braise the chicken with cut up onion, wine and stock Slow-roast the tomatoes (slice, then season with salt and black pepper, and olive oil, and roast at 250 F for 4-5 hours; can be made in advance), and combine with roasted cauliflower for a vegetable side

As recently as 2006 -- 10 years ago, Cracker Barrel was in the news for living up to its name. http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2006/02/cracker-barrel-sued-discrimination-again You can't change a skunk from acting naturally.

Host's note: this post and the associated responses were split from the Cracker Barrel topic. A rank of #55th place isn't exactly something to crow about. As for the Human Rights Campaign, the LGBT community has issues with that organization which you can read more about here and here. A criticism of the way HRC compiles its Corporate Equality Index is that the data is a result of corporate self-reporting practices. Given that premise, it's not a sure thing that the ranking is 100% accurate.

You're not too far off. http://asianinamericamag.com/2014/07/how-to-make-menudo-filipino-style/ explains the Filipino angle. My family's version is radically different from Betty's.

I prefer no rules anyway. Roasted grapes (toss with olive oil, salt and black pepper; roast at 350 F for 45 minutes) Potage crécy Broiled chicken, Fuji apple salsa (diced apples, shallot, ginger, salt, chile pepper) The potage has 1 tablespoon uncooked rice which is not significant for your purposes, but I suppose you could omit that and sub diced potato although the texture will be different.

Clockwise from center: fresh bay leaves; diced carrots; tomato paste; 1 cup golden raisins; 1 diced onion; 1/2 lb. calves liver, diced; 2 cups Rancho Gordo chickpeas, cooked; 3 cups diced heirloom tomatoes; 1 lb. ground beef. It's not a terribly complicated dish to make -- warm oil, add onion and carrots and sauté for a bit, then add ground beef and liver. Season with salt and black pepper, add bay leaves. Cook for a bit or until meat browns. Add tomato paste, then raisins and tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper. Add a cup of water if it seems too dry. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and partly cover. Simmer for 45 minutes, then serve. I think Mom adds potatoes too, but I need to check with her. Menudo. I thought it came out rather well. It's very close to Mom's version; I used fresh tomatoes instead of canned, and golden raisins instead of the usual kind. We had that by itself instead of with rice. B and I are trying to eat less carbs. I miss my 20s and 30s when I could binge out on pasta, rice and bread. I've decided to start cooking more Filipino food. The only other way I can get my fix is by going to some restaurant in Excelsior and that's a bit inconvenient for me at the moment....

Crimson pluots, the kind you see in the picture. We're going to have them on hand for dessert. Next week though, we might make pickled peaches and put those up for later in the year.

3 pints assorted cherry tomatoes (Sungold cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, Juliet tomatoes, pear tomatoes), seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper, then roasted at 250 F for 2 hours and 200 F for 90 minutes. I've gotten my partner addicted to them...mission accomplished. Then combined with: roasted Romano beans (1 1/2 lbs., seasoned with extra-virgin olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper, and roasted for 20 minutes at 500 F), chopped assorted pitted olives (Kalamata, Castelvetrano, oil-cured, picholine), slow-cooked onion, San Marzano tomato paste and seasoned with kosher salt, black pepper, red wine vinegar, extra-virgin olive oil and basil. We served that with some orecchiette. Green salad on the side (Little Gem lettuces, baby spinach, arugula) with an anchovy vinaigrette.

today: cherry tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, pluots, peaches, nectarines, Little Gem lettuces, strawberries, escarole, shishito peppers, cranberry beans, Romano beans, garlic, herbs (basil, chives, rosemary)

Probably S&W Steakhouse. No raw meat this time.

Thanks @kayb. We're fans of most of Sam's recipes. It's essentially a Chinese version of braised chicken. Ignore the instruction to use a whole chicken cut up into 8 pieces. The key to making this dish work IMHO is dark meat. Old habits die hard.

Clockwise from top left: 1/4 cup soy sauce; 1 tbsp. sugar; 3 minced scallions; shredded ginger; 9 crushed and peeled garlic cloves; 1/2 cup rice wine; 3 tbsp. sesame oil. Not shown are 4 chicken legs and 4 chicken thighs. Warm sesame oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or wok. (Sam Sifton's recipe: http://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017456-three-cup-chicken has you do it in a wok but I've made this successfully in a Dutch oven.) Add aromatics and fry on high heat until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. I will get a wok eventually ... one of these days. Add chicken, skin side down. Reduce heat to medium and fry until chicken starts to crisp. Sam has you do it for 5-7 minutes, but I like to brown the chicken for longer than that. 15 minutes should do the trick. Add sugar, soy sauce and rice wine. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the sauce begins to thicken. Shut off heat and stir in a generous handful of basil leaves, then serve. Three-cup chicken. You'll note that the pic has the addition of crushed red pepper flakes. That's because my partner doesn't like spicy food so I omitted them from the recipe and added a pinch to my portion.

PS. The amount of food I shot pictures of is about 1/4 of the entire brunch buffet just to give you an example of the scale that we're discussing.

So, I want to show some of the brunch pix at the Encore. Take a look at the menu below. Enticing, no? One surprise was that I noticed way too many people lining up for standard American food like scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage and waffles. Why bother leaving home then? I'll never understand why people in this country gravitate to the familiar when they travel. It's kind of sad, frankly. Left to right: pierogies in cream sauce; vegetable tamales; Spanish rice; minestrone. Left to right: roast turkey; roast pork; roast ham (?) Left to right: nori pork rinds; marinated olives with herbs and poached garlic; edamame seasoned with sea salt and sesame oil. Left to right: cheesecake bites; yuzu lime bar; creme brulee; Thai iced tea custard cups; carrot cake; lime cones; coffee custard cake; strawberry cake; miniature cupcakes. I don't remember what these were, only that they're sugar-free. Left to right: vegan chocolate chip cookies; snickerdoodle cookies; magic bar (round and square); warm chocolate cake; strawberry rhubarb crisp. Pretzels, candied apples, cake pops. This was the only buffet we ate during our trip. It's supposedly one of the better buffets in Las Vegas for that price point.

Tea service. After a few days of this, I'm afraid every single restaurant I'll visit in the future will fail the bar set by the Encore hotel's restaurants' staff. Seriously.

Most of the restos were great. Special mention to Mercato della Pescheria in the Venetian -- excellent food, horrendous service so it kinda balances out. They opened two weeks ago so that's their excuse.

It's Wazuzu at the Encore.

Just a small sample of pix.... Marinated artichokes. Caponata. Grilled shrimp, fennel and celery salad. Fregola with mussels, clams and fish. Crepe stuffed with banana and hazelnut. Hazelnut gelato. Kitchen equipment from sometime during the 1930s. Lobster eggs benedict, potato cake Huevos rancheros, crema, avocado and black corn tortilla. Foie gras, bourbon bread pudding, orange cherry salad Porterhouse steak with onions and carrots Brown butter cake, blueberry compote, Meyer lemon curd, corn ice cream Pork khao soi at Lotus of Siam

today: cherry tomatoes, Sungold tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, arugula, upland cress, spinach, herbs (summer savory, basil, thyme, Italian parsley), rock cod, chicken, eggs, unsalted butter, strawberries, peaches, garlic, shallots, onions, bread.

1 cup assorted cherry tomatoes; 8 spring onions, peeled, trimmed and halved; and 5 garlic cloves -- seasoned with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper. Roast at 400 F for 45 minutes or until the tomatoes have burst. Next time, I will line the bottom with foil and parchment paper instead of just parchment paper. The foil prevents scorching on the tray underneath. Oops. Toast bread slices until golden brown. Smear roasted garlic on bread, then spread each slice with a thin film of ricotta cheese. Transfer tomatoes and onion to a bowl, then fold in torn basil leaves and 2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil. Mound roasted tomato mixture atop bread slices. Serve by itself or as you see here, with some soft-cooked eggs. Roasted tomato and onion crostini, soft-cooked eggs. There was also this: Zucchini galette with champignon mushrooms and bacon.