In 'n Out "in" to the Wasatch Front? (West Jordan: home, moving)

[dcisive]

Geez Zionide....is that really true? I heard that a few years back and was very disappointed. Hard to believe but I suppose they could make a cottage industry out of how to package pre prepared foods and warm them up simulating fresh cooked foods. I was never impressed with their salads that's for sure. I have also heard that Johnny Carino's is much the same, pre prepared foods reheated for the most part. I know their desserts are not prepared on site even. How sad. I'm beginning to think Chili's may also fall under this category. I happen to KNOW that virtually all of the Applebee's food is microwaved stuff. To me it tastes terrible. I have NO desire to ever darken the door of another one of those that's for sure. MacCools is one of my new favorites (one in Layton and South Jordan) as it doesn't particularly cater to the "family" thing, it's a Irish style pub with great food. Nice setting and you can actually hold a conversation with someone near you and be heard.

Places like Goodwood are fresh, but that's if you can tolerate the zoo it often is at nights, especially Friday nights. I can't even hear myself think let alone hold a conversation with the person next to you. That to me ruins the entire experience of going out. I happened to have discovered a piece of GOLD of all places up in Ogden. I will NEVER reveal what place it is as I want to keep it the quiet adult environment it currently is. It is an undiscovered gem, which as far as I'm concerned can remain so. If I told you I'd have to kill you, and I'm not into murder So just keep eating at all your "other" favorite places. I'll keep knowledge of this new fav for myself thanks....

[irman]

Originally Posted by dcisive

you can actually hold a conversation with someone near you and be heard.

I second that !!!!
Not that many places like that !!!!
I also detest places that advertise *Home Cooking*.
Geesj, if I wanted *home cooking*, I would stay at home......

Back to In and Out Urge ...
I only get in there, order my food and then get out and eat in the car, or outside on their patio ... except that most of them are located where the outside temps are in the *sweat your butt off* range ....
Oh well .....

[Zionide]

Originally Posted by markg91359

Zionide,

The food maybe as you describe at Olive Garden, but I still find it very tasty. The one in Riverdale and the one in Layton are always packed. I have no doubt that one almost anywhere but the South Pole would be very busy.

Tasty is one thing, nutritious another entirely. The two things are definitely not mutually exclusive, so the goal is to find food that is both. The Olive Garden is most certainly not both, but there are many restaurants that serve food that is. So why would you go someplace generic and corporate, further lining the pockets of corporate America, when they only offer half the equation? Particularly when a completely nutritious, tasty meal is available at locally owned restaurants? I'd much rather put my money in a business that will be spending its own money right here in my area.

[5280milehiguy]

I agree with Zion. Many local restaurants now are buying their veggies, meat, etc. locally grown, and it puts $ back into the local economy and you can almost guarantee it will be fresh everytime.

How many chain restaurants actually go down to the Saturday Farmers Market?

[irman]

Originally Posted by 5280milehiguy

How many chain restaurants actually go down to the Saturday Farmers Market?

Which ones, DO ???

[Zionide]

Originally Posted by irman

Which ones, DO ???

Quite a few, actually. From Slow Food Utah (you know, the opposite of fast food):
Rico Cafe
Cap.uto's Deli (the board is censoring the "p u t o" when it's strung together correctly)
Tipica
Pago
Red Iguana
Vertical Diner
Sage's Cafe
Squatter's
Takashi
Fresco
Les Madeleine's
Lugano
Log Haven
Metropolitan
Mazza
Martine
Red Butte Cafe
One World Cafe
Trio
Em's
Bevalo

And that's just the Salt Lake restaurants; they have listings for other areas of the state, too.

There's also this link, which lists restaurant members of the "Buy Local" organization. Not necessarily organic or as committed as those above, however.

[markg91359]

Tasty is one thing, nutritious another entirely. The two things are definitely not mutually exclusive, so the goal is to find food that is both. The Olive Garden is most certainly not both, but there are many restaurants that serve food that is. So why would you go someplace generic and corporate, further lining the pockets of corporate America, when they only offer half the equation? Particularly when a completely nutritious, tasty meal is available at locally owned restaurants? I'd much rather put my money in a business that will be spending its own money right here in my area.
.................................................. ............................................

One big reason I eat there is lunch. For around $7 you can eat your fill of soup (four choices), garden green salad, and breadsticks. The salad is full of green vegetables and if you eat the Minestrone soup its likewise full of vegetables. More importantly, it just tastes good.

I looked at the list of local restaurants you mentioned. I have eaten at some. I don't regularly eat at any of them. A couple like the Red Iguana are reasonably priced, but the bulk of the places you mention are rather expensive like the Metropolitan or Log Haven. In my experience, they mostly cater to a Yuppie crowd that can afford to drop $75 on dinner for two.

I'm all for "local" and "sustainable", but not if the price tag is so large it chases the middleclass out of the market.

[Zionide]

Originally Posted by markg91359

The salad is full of green vegetables and if you eat the Minestrone soup its likewise full of vegetables. More importantly, it just tastes good.

If those vegetables have been flash-frozen (which they have for transport at olive garden) then "revived" on-site, you're not getting much nutrional value from them anyway. Sure, they're better than a lot of things, but they contain less than half the nutrients they would at another restaurant.

Originally Posted by markg91359

I looked at the list of local restaurants you mentioned. I have eaten at some. I don't regularly eat at any of them. A couple like the Red Iguana are reasonably priced, but the bulk of the places you mention are rather expensive like the Metropolitan or Log Haven. In my experience, they mostly cater to a Yuppie crowd that can afford to drop $75 on dinner for two. I'm all for "local" and "sustainable", but not if the price tag is so large it chases the middleclass out of the market.

The bulk? I don't think so. The following places offer lunch selections for $5-8:
Rico Cafe
Cap.uto's Deli
Red Iguana
Vertical Diner
Sage's Cafe
Squatter's
Les Madeleine's
Mazza (dinner is more expensive, but not lunch)
Red Butte Cafe
One World Cafe (this place is actually pay-what-you-want/can, or you can do volunteer work to "pay" for your meal)
Trio

The following places have lunch selections for $8-12:
Martine
Em's

I'm not personally familiar with Pago, Tipica, or Bevalo, but the other five (Log Haven, Metropolitan, Lugano, Fresco, Takashi) are either not open for lunch or are indeed more expensive.

Regardless, slightly more than half of the restaurants I listed offer lunch meals at a price comparable to what you mentioned.

And, for the record, Olive Garden's prices are that low because they buy a crappy quality of food. The local places can keep prices low because they don't have to pay for food transport or the franchise fees and advertising fees that the chains do.

[irman]

Originally Posted by Zionide

Quite a few, actually. From Slow Food Utah (you know, the opposite of fast food)

Interesting to know !!!

Originally Posted by Zionide

There's also this link, which lists restaurant members of the "Buy Local" organization. Not necessarily organic or as committed as those above, however.

I personally am not convinced of the actual true value of *organic*.
Good to know that it is *locally* grown.

About fast food ...
When our kids were little, we actually *knew* the location of every McD' for the monthly trip to *grandma's house* .... (700 miles, one way)
The french fries, was the staple of food for those trips ....
Even when we lived in Europe for umpteen years, and the kids were little, we knew the same thing !!!
But we got a fork with our fries (!!!), and we could get a beer on the side !!!!!
What were we thinking !?!?!?!

Today, with grandchildren now, we haven't visited a McD for who knows how long ....
Their idea of *good food*, is the stuff *Grandma* makes now.

The idea of In and Out Urge, is more of a nostalgic thing, I guess.
When it gets *here*, we probably would go for *nostalgic* sake ...
Growing up in SoCal, it was *the thing to do* ...

[Chango]

Originally Posted by pw72

So the rumor is In 'n Out will open an Orem store soon. This CA/AZ/NV chain has a cult following, and has been slow to expand. Is this a real possibility, or is it just a smoke signal to scare off imitators in the SLC area? If they do expand, this will mark a major change for this CA chain. (I know they recently expanded into SW Utah, but close to their Vegas operations). What is up with this?

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet, but In 'n Out applied for a building permit in Centerville too.