Things We Hate, Pitch

Texas toast should be kicked back to the Lone Star State

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 10:33:00 -0500

I'll start with a confession. I've never had Texas toast in Texas.…

Season creep means it's already fall inside your fridge

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 09:00:54 -0500

It used to be a big deal in my house when Cadbury creme eggs started showing up in stores. We watched for the first egg — eaten in the parking lot like an urchin in Oliver — and celebrated its arrival as the true coming of spring.…

Can I just eat in #%&*@ peace, please?

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:33:40 -0500

I was dining at a restaurant in Lawrence, Kansas, last weekend -- a mellow, Asian restaurant on Massachusetts Street -- and was ready to get up and leave after five minutes. Now, I usually don't care what kind of music a dining venue plays -- Muzak, Tubular Bells, old-school country and western, Lawrence Welk, Lady Gaga -- as long as it stays in the background and isn't dominating the dining experience.…

Tipping on to-go orders and that moment of regret

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 11:00:43 -0600

Money saved is money earned. And money tipped, well, that's money gone.…

Scarrots are a treat just asking for a trick

Robert Bishop — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 11:37:34 -0500

How would you feel about getting baby carrots while you were out trick-or-treating? What if they were scary carrots?

Meet Scarrots -- baby carrots in a Halloween-themed

bag.…

Patio interlopers

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 10:00:56 -0500

The sun is shining and diners are enjoying the chance to eat outdoors. But at restaurants across the city, servers are forced to shoo away people who are not dining out.…

National food holidays don't make sense

Jonathan Bender — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:00:48 -0500

While there are an endless number of food holidays -- today is apparently National Hazelnut Cake Day -- most of them have no real connection to the day on which they fall. It's time for that to change.…

Let's keep that line moving, alright?

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 20 May 2010 10:00:51 -0500

I spend time in lines every day. It's one of the few occupational hazards of being a food blogger.…

Fake cream with coffee? Spare us.

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:00:05 -0500

It's creamy, but isn't cream

Fat City reader Lorraine likes cream with her coffee.

Real cream, she says, not the little containers of unrefrigerated God-only-knows-what.…

Prom season: Corsages and bad tips

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 06 May 2010 14:00:59 -0500

Glamour night: Dinner at Red Lobster, then Prom!

When I look back on my career as a server, it seems as if I waited on more sweet, adorable young prom couples than bratty ones.

My favorite prom customer was the cocky Shawnee Mission East kid.…

What, you never got your dinner?

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 10:38:30 -0500

Hungry? Foo you!

Anyone who has eaten in restaurants with some frequency has probably experienced the phenomenon known as "the problem dish."

The problem what?…

Why doesn't Kansas City have more food trucks?

Jonathan Bender — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 10:00:35 -0500

Curbside service is not Chili's bringing pizzatizers to your idling minivan. Curbside service is walking up to a taco truck to get food that you can walk with and eat on the street -- something that doesn't much exist in Kansas City.

I think Kansas City only has one legitimate food truck in existence, the Jerusalem Cafe Truck (a 2009 Best Of Kansas City Extra for late-night eats).…

Things We Hate: Trying to buy Gatorade these days

Jonathan Bender — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 10:00:21 -0500

A friend of mine has a great story about buying wine in rural Kansas. When he went up to the bar and asked for a glass of white wine for his wife, the bartender paused.…

Things We Hate: Servers not writing down orders

Charles Ferruzza — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 13:06:21 -0500

Please use me!

The other day, I was eating at the new Blanc Burgers + Bottles on the Country Club Plaza and saw a waiter commit one of the most foolish follies in the service business. Two men were sitting at a deuce, and the server didn't write down their appetizer order.…

Things We Hate: $5 foot-long song

Jonathan Bender — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:00:22 -0500

I concede. You win, Subway.…

Things we hate: Spinach dip

Charles Ferruzza — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:00:18 -0500

It doesn't even look healthy

When did this gloppy mess -- traditionally a concoction of cream cheese, frozen spinach, sour cream and God only knows what else -- become one of America's best-selling starters? It's on almost every restaurant menu in town (sometimes with artichokes, sometimes in a bread bowl), and although the addition of the spinach evokes a healthy appetizer, it's typically loaded with fat.

True, most starters at popular dining spots are fattening and plenty of them are deep-fried.…

Things we hate: American cheese

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:15 -0600

The all-American processed favorite!

What does it say about America that the nation's favorite cheese -- its namesake cheese -- has no earthy, sexy aroma, offers very little flavor and has the texture of malleable plastic? More than half of all cheese consumed in the United States is processed American cheese -- not something you'll ever find in any "artisanal" cheese shop.
American cheese is still favored for grilled cheese sandwiches (it melts easily), cheeseburgers and some macaroni recipes.…

Things We Hate: Fingers on the rims of glasses

Charles Ferruzza — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:08:22 -0600

Stop the madness!

It's one of the first rules I learned working in the restaurant business: Never, ever, ever bring a glass to a table with your fingers anywhere near the rim. The first -- and last -- time I did that, a veteran waitress cuffed me upside the head.…

Things We Hate: Boxing up our own leftovers

Jonathan Bender — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:00:04 -0600

Too many times, a server spoils what's been a fantastic meal by bringing me a white styrofoam container to load up my own leftovers. I understand why restaurants do this: They want to let diners decide what to take home; they want to save their servers the extra effort; they might not have room in the kitchen to dedicate a space for boxing up leftovers.…