Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, CaryThe Triangle Area
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Not for nothin' but all chains are crap. They are mediocre food designed by MBAs for mediocre people. I mean look at what the chain world has given us: Olive Garden, Five Guys, Panera....
I think that's being a bit pretentious, although I don't know if you're speaking from a standpoint of taste or the ingredients they use.
In the case of the former, I don't think a place being a chain necessarily makes it crap.. I mean, by that logic, any restaurant which was good previously would become crap the second they opened a second storefront.
To that end, assuming a place is good because it's a single storefront business is likewise flawed... Robert Irvine has a show called Restaurant Impossible, which, while I'm sure it's very dramatized, it really does a lot to dispel that notion. Gordon Ramsay also has a similar show, which I've only seen once and can't remember the name of, and that's a bit of a shame, because Gordon Ramsay is much more entertaining than Robert Irvine.
The advantage a local chain or establishment will have over a national chain is quite obvious.. they cater to a more localized populace and the regional flavors, whereas a national chain has to try creating a "one size fits all" product. Marketing a hamburger isn't a big deal... burgers are pretty standard fare, and you can market a good burger (or even a crap one... look at McDonald's) nationwide.. barbecue is a very highly contested and regional thing, on the other hand, and the "one size fits all" approach will not work. Get barbecue aficionados together from Texas, Alabama, Kansas City, Tennessee, Georgia, North Carolina, and two different areas of Kentucky together, and they're going to kill each other before they agree on anything. Throw a New Yorker into that conversation, and the rest of them will probably kill each other arguing over who gets to kill the NYer for stepping into that conversation.
I think there are good chains, from the taste perspective, and a number are cropping up which cater to those who look at it from the ingredients perspective.. emphasis on using whole foods, organic products, farm-to-table items, etc. Granted, people will go there, order a dessert, and figure, "oh, wow... this slice of cake has more sugar than Detroit's mayor has cocaine, but it's all organic, and it's unprocessed turbinado sugar, so that makes it healthy!", and these businesses will play it up. And they know they'll be successful, because this is America, and we're a nation of trendwhores and bandwagon jumpers (see: the rise and fall of Vanilla Ice/the multitudes of people who had no issues with gluten in the early 2000s and earlier, but now suddenly become "allergic" now that it's trendy/the whole "Kony 2012" thing, primarily by people who've since forgotten who he even is/and millions and millions of other examples).
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Now I like a Wendy's or Hardees burger or a Taco Bell burrito just fine. But they know what they are, we know what they are, and there's no pretense.
Oh, yeah... the sausage and egg bagel from McDonald's has always been a guilty pleasure of mine, although I don't go there for anything else, ever. So when I tried to get one my first week as a Colorado resident, and I found out they don't serve those here... I just said, "oh... nevermind then", but, in my mind, my reaction was more like:
Fortunately, Panera makes an alternative, although it does somewhat lack in that whole, "yeah, I know this is like practically eating Ebola, but I love to live dangerously" quality which the McDonald's one possesses.
I was born and raised in Memphis. Have been in this area for forty or so years. Although I have gotten used to the "BBQ" over here it just don't cut it when compared to what they cook up in Memphis. Whenever I get back to Memphis I fill up on good BBQ.
There are many "versions" of BBQ, not just one good one. It's like apples and oranges to compare Memphis BBQ to Eastern NC BBQ, etc.
Allen & Sons is the only BBQ I've had that I threw away midmeal. Absolutely horrible.
You either went to the one on 15/501 and/or don't have a taste for NC BBQ. Allen and Sons in Orange County is probably the best in the immediate triangle area. The one on 15/501 is not so bad it's unfit to eat, but is a far cry from the other location.
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