Personally, I have never been able to develop a taste for food that hurts. I like to TASTE my food and I like to ENJOY it, not to drench it in a gallon of cold liquid in my insides. Admittedly, if I were a dragon, it would be useful.

I have to agree with those who praised In-N-Out. We don't go out for burgers much, but when we do, that's one place we go, along with Wendy's. In-N-Out is another example of how, if you do a few things well, and keep your prices reasonable, you can succeed.

I'm assuming that when Mr. T refers to flavor dust, he's talking about monosodium glutamate, although there are a couple of other chemical compounds which can also be used as flavor enhancers. I agree that food is usually just as good, or better, without MSG and similar chemicals. What I especially don't like, is when restaurants load up their breading mix with "enhancers." I'm not an enthusiast for breaded food anyway, except maybe for veal, but when the flavoring in a breading mix ruins your enjoyment of whatever the stuff inside is, it's time to scrape off the breading and hope the chemicals didn't ruin the food that got breaded.

When you think about it, it's rather striking that every type of packaged food in a grocery store, has a label that lists everything of significance that's in it--while you never really know what's in the stuff you eat at restaurants. I remember an instance, many years ago, when an inspector found one pizza parlor putting dog food on some of its pizzas. I think the establishment was fined, but not closed down.

the Olive Garden is always really good with good prices too.

In defense of HOT - this is off-topic, but over the last two years, I've developed a yen for Tabasco Sauce. My breakfast every day for two years has included 3 oz. of Progresso dark tuna in olive oil, raw yellow onion at least a half inch thick, lots and lots of Tabasco - enough to cover the tuna and onion, and all this goes on Mestemacher's whole rye bread (actual whole rye, not whole rye flour) or on multi-grain bread toasted nearly black. Scrumptious! I'm salivating just to think of it! The key is the Tabasco Sauce.

Believe me, I taste this and I enjoy it.

At a local diner, I've trained them to burn my bagels (more than once, other customers have told me I should send it back) and bring out the Tabasco - also good on turkey or chicken. Once, while exercising my elbow on the Tabasco bottle, a woman at another table wrinkled her nose and asked if I was really going to eat that. Yes! I'm a Tabasco addict, and there's not even a Twelve Step Program.

The only connection to chain restaurants is the advisability of masking some of their fare.

I love tabasco sauce too, it really does make the meal for me. It makes plane old fried eggs sooooooo increadibly tastey. I make some of the best damn pork and beans and I use AT LEAST a quarter cup (when I cook for others) or a half cup (when I cook for just me) per one pot of pork and beans. The tabasco sauce definitely is the flavor that makes the meal.

DeaconBlues (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 23, 2008 1:33 am I love tabasco sauce too, it really does make the meal for me. It makes plane old fried eggs sooooooo increadibly tastey. I make some of the best damn pork and beans and I use AT LEAST a quarter cup (when I cook for others) or a half cup (when I cook for just me) per one pot of pork and beans. The tabasco sauce definitely is the flavor that makes the meal.

I've always firmly believed that spices should augment a food item, not overwhelm it. Such huge amounts of seasoning would cause food to be thrown out as unpalatable around here. And I do enjoy peppery and acidy foods. Unfortunately, acid reflux doesn't like them. Oh well, I'd rather have easy breathing...

Kristoff - it's a miracle: 36 posts in a row and were still on topic

Kristoff, some of us like a lot of food on our Tabasco Sauce, even if it does sometimes overwhelm the flavor of the Sauce.

Kidding aside, banal food can only benefit from strong addition. I'd never put Tabasco, or any other seasoning, on fine food. (I splurge more often than I should on outstanding restaurants.) But when the chef is me (I boil a mean pot of water) or a hairy guy in a T-shirt at the diner or a fast food assembly line, I don't apologize for trying to make the sludge more palatable.

Fast food and chain food can be fun. When I was a kid, I was thrilled when my parents took me to Dairy Queen or Carvel for soft ice cream, or to Howard Johnson's (remember that?) for mint chip ice cream, and I used to gobble bacon cheeseburgers. But a lifetime of sweet and fatty treats gave me diabetes and two people's waistlines, so now I mostly avoid them.

Re Mac's comment in Post #37--just testimony to the fact that everybody eats in restaurants, at least occasionally, and everybody has an opinion on them.

I was surprised that more people didn't comment on McDonald's and KFC. I guess people just consider them natural phenomena.

Beau Geste (imported) wrote: Sun Dec 28, 2008 6:42 pm Re Mac's comment in Post #37--just testimony to the fact that everybody eats in restaurants, at least occasionally, and everybody has an opinion on them.

I was surprised that more people didn't comment on McDonald's and KFC. I guess people just consider them natural phenomena.

McDonald's is a stomach rot and gas factory. Haven't done them in years. KFC is tolerable about once in 3-4 years. A pig-out followed by a possible barf-out, followed by a week of recovery.... Never mind...