There were no children shouting at the lobsters in the tank; the lobsters in the tank at the Red Lobster I visited had divided themselves into sullen gangs, like residents of an aquatic prison yard. Instead, the only thing I heard, the only sound that jumped out, were voices of the Red Lobster waitresses, repeating with a flat cheerfulness, "Be back with biscuits."
Reading back over those last few sentences, I guess I'm making this sound more "Soylent Green"-esque than intended. On the other hand, the online Urban Dictionary defines Red Lobster as "a restaurant you order a meal at solely to get the cheddar biscuits."
Which is remarkable considering that Red Lobster is the nation's most ubiquitous seafood restaurant, the food is mediocre and entrees are far from chain-restaurant cheap — think $18 or more. And yet culinary history is partly a catalog of obsessions, those dishes that inspire slavish devotion, dragging in customers regardless of hunger. McDonald's french fries, Wendy's fries dunked into a Wendy's Frosty, the standard Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich.
The cult of the Cheddar Bay biscuit, however, seems special and intense.
Friday, August 19, 2011
SO IT'S BETTER THAN THE HONEY WHEAT BUSHMAN BREAD AT THE OUTBACK, IS WHAT YOU'RE TELLING ME: Christopher Borelli of the Chicago Tribune makes something I've never tried, at a chain restaurant I've never been to, seem awfully appealing:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)