Fast Food Archives - Page 34 of 36

Dine-In Chains That Serve Surprisingly “Gourmet” Food

Posted on08/08/202230/11/2022Author

Not every restaurant needs to win a James Beard Award in order to be considered gourmet. For many, the notion of what constitutes “gourmet” is a subjective opinion as wildly varied as bread baskets and drive-thru preferences. Sure, tasting menus take top billing when it comes to gourmet go-tos and special occasion meals—but you needn’t take out a loan and indulge in a multi-course degustation to experience something refined, comforting, and special. And that’s where dine-in chains come in for many Americans.

Despite having locations spread across the country, some dine-in chains ascend to gourmet glory for all kinds of reasons, be it nostalgia or culinary surprises. Even professional chefs can’t resist the all-American appeal of the comfort food served at some of these places. While certainly not all dine-in chains can be categorized as gourmet, just like fast-food guilty pleasures, these are certain brands that serve surprisingly above-and-beyond cuisine.

RELATED: The #1 Order to Never Make at a Steakhouse, According to Chefs

For Pace Webb, co-founder and founding chef at sandwich-slinging Daddy’s Chicken Shack in Houston, dine-in comfort is all about nostalgia. “I’ve always been a fan of House of Pies,” he says. “Growing up in Houston, it was a perfect late night spot. My order is always the same to this day: a slice of Bavarian chocolate mousse pie and a side of cottage fries.” Doubling down on nostalgia, Webb says he likes to actually dip his fries in the pie, conjuring memories of another iconic chain. “It’s kind of like dipping fries into a chocolate frosty at Wendy’s. I love that sweet and salty combo.”

According to Joseph LoNigro, executive chef and chief operating officer at Brine in New York City, his gourmet nostalgia skews a bit meatier. His pick? Hillstone, an upscale chain with a proclivity for steaks, burgers, and other burly American fare. “No matter where you are, the food and experience is always consistent, delicious, and special,” he proclaims, adding that his standard go-to order is the Thai steak and noodle salad. “They also make one of the best veggie burgers I’ve ever had—and I’m definitely not a vegetarian.”

Another steakhouse that can be even more surprisingly gourmet is the Longhorn Steakhouse. That’s per Zac Lennoxcorporate chef for the Houston-based Palacios Murphy restaurant group, who says the key reason is the wood grill.

“There is something that just jingles your DNA when you eat meat that has been cooked on a wood fire,” he explains. “For 99.9% of mankind’s existence, if your food was cooked, it was cooked on wood fire. When you get a piece of meat and the smoke is in the juice, it just takes you to another place. It is enjoyment on a cellular , timeless level. Steakhouses are all over the place. You can spend five times the price and not get a steak that is as satisfying as the Longhorn offering. I just think it is underrated, but I don’t mind because I can usually get it a table right away.”

Lennox adds that from a chef’s perspective, cooking over wood fire is tough—and should be respected. “You have to watch the food you are cooking, but you also have to watch the fire. It’s no joke keeping a fire in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’ of not-too-hot and not-too-low for a five-hour service. To keep that fire right and still hit temps on steaks every time? That takes a special kind of someone.”

Longhorn, he says, is that special kind of person, noting that the chain has a “wood grill school” that has been attended before they let employees send food out to guests. “Restaurant chains usually dumb it down to make it easier on themselves, ie broilers, gas grills, sous vide, planchas, etc.” Lennox says. “Super high-end steakhouses usually do not use wood fire because, well, its hard to find cooks who are competent and willing to endure the heat. Longhorn went for it. I applaud their audacity.”

As with other chain-loving chefs, Lennox says it’s important for him not to overdo it with his love for Longhorn, so as to retain the nostalgia and adoration. “I am afraid to go too many times and ruin it for myself. But if I do find myself in the ‘where do I want to go? I don’t know, where do you want to go’ spin cycle with my significant other and we just feel like a well-cooked hunk of meat with no reservation needed, I can’t deny it, Longhorn delivers.”

Matt Kirouac

Matt Kirouac is a travel and food writer and culinary school graduate, with a passion for national parks, all things Disney, and road trip restaurants. Read more about Matt

Kellogg, General Mills, Post cereal sales slow after the pandemic surge

Posted on25/07/202230/11/2022Author

Kellogg, the 117-year-old brand that started as a breakfast cereal company has since expanded to become one of the largest food companies in the world, has seen declining cereal sales over the past couple of decades.

The one-time category leader is now facing a number of setbacks, including numerous lawsuits over its products’ nutritional value amid a more health-conscious consumer base. And in 2021, the food giant sustained a damaging fire at its Memphis facility, and later that same year 1,400 workers went on strike to demand better pay and enhanced benefits. Workers eventually ended a three-month strike and agreed to a new contract in December, which included a $1.10 per hour raise for all employees.

In an effort to stimulate growth, on June 21, 2022, the company announced plans to split into three separate companies.

“Right now is the opportunity time to do this. We are coming from a position of real strength and great momentum. We have completely turned the business around from a top-line and bottom-line perspective. And we see the next step in our potential in unlocking three new companies,” said Kellogg CEO Steve Cahillane.

Watch the video to learn more about Kellogg’s move to split the company in order to try to kickstart cereal sales and regain some of its bygone glory.

Former MI5 chief warns food supplies are matter of national security

Posted on21/07/202230/11/2022Author

The UK should increase visas for seasonal workers as part of a drive to cultivate as much food as possible domestically, a former chief of MI5 has said.

Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller, who led the domestic intelligence service from 2002 to 2007, said in a lecture that security of food supplies would fit within the government’s own definition of national security. She said she believed this meant strengthening domestic supply.

“We need to acknowledge that we should produce as much of our own food as we can, with due regard to sustainability, and be able to export what we can,” the former director-general of the Security Service told members of the National Farmers ‘ Union.

“Several people [have] said that [food security] was about just getting a secure food line from somewhere else. . . I’ve interpreted it differently,” Manningham-Buller said.

“We have a hope that we will continue to get food from our nearest neighbors as we get energy from them. But I think the more we can be self-sufficient, the better chances we have of standing price hikes, spikes, shocks and so on — and politics.”

Manningham-Buller, who now runs a small sheep farm in Wales, added: “[We] clearly need a better visa policy so that these workers who are not available here can come here and help us.

“We must have visas for seasonal workers. And it’s not just about [the food sector], there’s a shortage of labor across the economy, whether it’s care homes, whether it’s doctors and nurses . . . It shouldn’t be beyond our wit to develop a visa system that deals with that.”

Manningham-Buller’s intervention comes as the UK grapples with its post-Brexit food policy and after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine brought supply lines into the spotlight by risking international grain flows. She said this constituted a “weaponisation of food”.

UK farmers are pushing for a larger allocation of visas for seasonal workers to pick fruit and vegetables, saying that the current 40,000 tally falls far short of the 70,000-80,000 needed. But a succession of home secretaries has pushed back against increasing numbers as they seek to keep overall migration numbers down.

The free market Institute of Economic Affairs think-tank, whose ideas inform parts of the ruling Conservative party’s thinking, has meanwhile argued that agricultural policy should focus on UK farmers competing in global markets. Parliament’s environment, food and rural affairs committee is holding an inquiry into food security.

Manningham-Buller’s comments align her with the farming lobby, which has pushed for a strategic move to increase domestic food cultivation — which currently provides about 54 per cent of the UK’s supplies — and for post-Brexit farm subsidies to recognize the role of food production alongside environmental improvements.

The former MI5 head said she had overseen a doubling of the security service’s staffing and a drive to broaden the thinking of successive governments on national security, pushing other public bodies to consider its relevance to areas such as food.