McGriddles are indeed vile little things. I took one bite and had to fight the gag reflex until I could spit it out. I don't think that's ever happened to me, ever.

My own tale of woe happened yesterday at Great America. Wow, is there nothing to eat there. How can you mess up fries and chicken strips? Really, really bad. As I will likely be back there next year again, and you can't take food into the park, is there anything edible there? I think pizza is probably the best choice.

Marmish wrote:McGriddles are indeed vile little things. I took one bite and had to fight the gag reflex until I could spit it out. I don't think that's ever happened to me, ever.

My own tale of woe happened yesterday at Great America. Wow, is there nothing to eat there. How can you mess up fries and chicken strips? Really, really bad. As I will likely be back there next year again, and you can't take food into the park, is there anything edible there? I think pizza is probably the best choice.

Pack a lunch and eat it in the parking lot. It's what we've done for years.

Marmish wrote:I took one bite and had to fight the gag reflex until I could spit it out. I don't think that's ever happened to me, ever.

So...you must have never eaten
a McRib Sandwich. Don't get me
wrong. I'm all for a bone-less
pork sandwich. I thoroughly
enjoy (even anticipate) the
boneless rib sandwiches served
at a local Art Fair each summer,
but the McDonald's variety is the
least-barbeque-tasting amalgam
of gristle and spongy meat-like-
product I hope to ever encounter
(topped with pickles, WTF?).

Hi,

My Mother loves the McRib and the cute rack of ribs shape it sort of has. While we have to wait for it to be the special of the month, in Germany it is a standard offering.

One man's gag is another lady's yum! Or as Gary here has often said, "There is a reason why Baskin Robins offers 31 flavors." It's a useful illustration when someone doesn't like what you really enjoy.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:My Mother loves the McRib and the cute rack of ribs shape it sort of has. While we have to wait for it to be the special of the month, in Germany it is a standard offering.

I worked on the early stages of the McRib introduction (of course, there's little/no rib meat in the McRib). But the biggest disappointment was that management went with the "safe" name for the prouct. I had hoped they'd name it the Pig Mac.

I went to Sangria tonight... it pretty much was a let down, Cafe Iberico is still the best!!!

village pizza on the corner of chicago/western.

possibly the worst slice i've ever had (this includes the college dormitory slices). only 1 data point on how sickening pizza (mostly) remains in chicago.

With edk out of town for two weeks, a friend took pity on me and suggested going out to dinner, along with our respective toddlers. I was slightly curious about Connie's -- our phone number is one digit away from theirs and, on some days, the lunch orders really come pouring in ... to my phone. Also, the parking lot on Archer is always full.

Anyway, my friend and I ordered a pepperoni/mushroom "thin crust" pizza and it was terrible. The crust, which was at least a quarter of an inch thick, was leaden and utterly tasteless. The pizza was smothered in a thick layer of school-lunch quality mozzarella and the sauce tasted slightly sweet, like Prego spaghetti sauce (which is what I used to live on before I met edk).

It's definitely a place designed for those with kids; it's loud and they give you placemats and crayons. Our son Buzzy, who is a true food cretin, ate an entire piece of their cheese pizza. I won't be back.

Connie's is truly awful stuff.

It's not the worst pizza I've had in chicago -- that honor is held by Chubby's on 18th -- but it's certainly gunning for it.

Keeping up on the breakfast sandwiches theme -- I tried the new "healthy" breakfast sandwich at Starbucks this morning; a whole wheat english muffin with egg substitute, reduced-fat white cheddar cheese and reduced-fat turkey bacon. Mmmm -- sounds like something I'd make for myself at home. Except this puppy had ZERO FLAVOR! Hot, good mouthfeel, crispy notes, properly melted cheese, but no taste whatsoever, and I'm not suffering from a cold or anything like that. Anyone else tried these, and should I go for the black forest ham with real egg and cheddar next time?
>>Brent

Brotine, haven't you answered your own question?

I saw these sitting in the case yesterday. I was not tempted by them.

Marmish wrote:My own tale of woe happened yesterday at Great America. Wow, is there nothing to eat there. How can you mess up fries and chicken strips? Really, really bad. As I will likely be back there next year again, and you can't take food into the park, is there anything edible there? I think pizza is probably the best choice.

I miss the first few years when it was Marriott's Great America. Marriott's may not be the best catering in the world, but at least they were competent: Jewel/Chef's Kitchen pizza was OK, BBQ turkey legs, a couple places where you could sit down and be served, 5-cent root beer (with hourlong lines)

nr706 wrote:I worked on the early stages of the McRib introduction (of course, there's little/no rib meat in the McRib). But the biggest disappointment was that management went with the "safe" name for the prouct. I had hoped they'd name it the Pig Mac.

The McRib is, indeed, a vile product, which is why I file my love for it under "G" for "Guilty Pleasures". If it were named the Pig Mac (brilliant, BTW), I could at least claim to be enjoying it for the humor factor, but its current name exposes my adoration for the madness that it is. Though I imagine Pig Mac would be a big problem over the drive-thru speakers. They seem to have enough trouble differentiating between, say, "large fries" and "vanilla shake", much less between the P and B plosives.

SCUBAchef wrote:

Marmish wrote:I took one bite and had to fight the gag reflex until I could spit it out. I don't think that's ever happened to me, ever.

So...you must have never eaten
a McRib Sandwich. Don't get me
wrong. I'm all for a bone-less
pork sandwich. I thoroughly
enjoy (even anticipate) the
boneless rib sandwiches served
at a local Art Fair each summer,
but the McDonald's variety is the
least-barbeque-tasting amalgam
of gristle and spongy meat-like-
product I hope to ever encounter
(topped with pickles, WTF?).

Nope. And the McGriddle wasn't even mine. I restrict all McD's purchases to those under extreme duress and only order a cheeseburger, a yogurt parfait, or for breakfast, the sausage biscuit.

At one point in time, Great Beijing was a go-to spot for my family's Chinese food cravings. Last night, with my grandmother, aunt, uncle, and brother in tow, we went to Great Beijing (mainly out of convenience). To get me to return will take significant prodding with sharpened chopsticks.

Nearly every item we had came in a heavy sauce. If I were to guess the ingredients of this sauce, I would say it was mostly canned chicken stock with WAY too much corn starch and a dash of whatever flavoring that particular dish called for. These dishes, from the shrimp in lobster sauce to the ma po tofu to the garlic chicken, tasted exactly the same.

The only two items that didn't come in this gloppy mess were the "crispy" duck and the won ton soup. The duck was drier and stringier than I thought duck could get, and had a flavor more like beef liver than bird. My grandmother poured nearly a teaspoon of salt into her wonton soup, which was full of so much krab that I barely wanted to eat it.

Really a mess of a meal. I'm sure there are a couple items on the menu that keep their not-insignificant Chinese and Korean clientele returning, but it'll take a lot of convincing for me to eat anything from there again.

Best,
Michael

Great Beijing
6717 N. Lincoln Ave
Lincolnwood
847-673-5588

While battling a cold last week, I bought one of those protein energy bars from the convenience store - foolishly thinking it may be just what my healing body needed.
I barely managed to choke one bite down before throwing the rest in the trash.
These things are truly nasty.

There is an old-fashioned looking fast food place on W. Montrose that looks like it would have the best hamburgers. Strictly carry out. Some outdoor seating. The hamburger I got truly looked delicous. The bun looked great. It looked so promising. The beef patty, if it was that, was tasteless and inedible. It was pretty bad. I removed it and ate my tomato, lettuce and mustard sandwich. They should've just let the cow die in peace. What a waste.

07.02.06

The pizza at Vito&Nick's.

Three of us ordered two large pies.*

The finished crust/dough was impossibly (and disgustingly) chewy.**

We gave up entirely after consuming roughly half of one pie.

When I queried the manager, I was told that "humidity" was the certain culprit.

Wha..?

I have always loved Vito&Nick's, but after this fiasco I will be reluctant to return for quite some time.

E.M.

* We ordered one pizza with sausage and onions and another with sliced beef and gardiniera.

** The best comparison I can provide is microwaved bread; the pizza crust was nearly plasticized.

Sorry to hear about the above. We were at Vito and Nicks last Thursday and the pies were the usual first rate and well worth the 45 minute drive to get to V and T's. I did notice, upon entering, a sign in the window advertising "pizza makers wanted". Perhaps a new pizza maker went to school on you,

Erik M. - Wow. Sorry to hear that. I went there a week ago (June 25 -- coincidentally, we noticed this was the same day that 41 years ago the Vito & Nick family names were etched into the sidewalk in front of the joint) and had a fantastic pie. Still the best thin crust in Chicago. I have never ever had a chewy crust from Vito & Nicks and don't even know how that's possible given the thinness of their crust.

Don't let one bad experience sway you. If I did, I would never go back to any of the BBQ places in Chicago (all of my favorites have had off days, usually more than one, except for Uncle John's, so far).

G Wiv wrote:Not the worst thing you've eaten in your life, or even in the past ten years, but lately, as in the last month or two*.

I'm gonna violate Gary's guideline here, but the thread about the closing of the Andersonville Ann Sather's and the classy way they did it reminds me of one of the worst things I ever tried to eat.

Went to aforementioned restaurant and ordered a catfish dinner. The catfish was VERY raw in the middle and if catfish makes a decent sushi, you couldn't prove it by me. I complained to the server, who told me that the fish was cooked properly, that's how the chef makes it, and there was no reason for me to have a problem with it. Not even an offer to take it back to the kitchen and have it cooked more if I was going to be so ignorant about it. I nibbled at the more cooked parts of the fish and left the rest on my plate.

The next morning I called the restaurant to complain about the fish and the attitude of the server. I received no apology, no explanation, and, of course, no offer of any compensation.

Guess what restaurant I never set foot in again?

Giovanna

Salon.com launches its new "Food & Drink" column with Bad taste, a recounting by several food writers of their worst meals ever.

Contributors include Jane and Michael Stern, Regina Schrambling, Steven Rinella, Julie Powell, Michael Ruhlman and Robert Sietsema.

If you're not a Salon subscriber, you'll probably have to click through an advertising screen or two to read it.

Yu Chan, on Saturday night. Not really sure of its location, but it's near Big Bowl downtown. It was empty, and it turns out there's a good reason for that!! My family and I sat down to peruse the menu, and decided that nothing was really jumping out at us, and decided to hop on the train and eat somewhere closer to home. We ordered potstickers & crab rangoon to go. BIG mistake. The potstickers were thick, flabby, moist pieces of dough with flavorless meat??? inside. Blech. The crab rangoon had bits of mozzarella, I swear.

So then when we got off the train back home, we took the bus for a couple of blocks & then walked to Hub's, which is just a few blocks away from our apartment. We had eaten there twice previously and I'd ordered a gyros plate before. But this time I ordered a hamburger, which was a disappointing, too-thick piece of pre-made patty. Next time I think I'll stick to the gyros (no problem with that one).

I was hoping that I wouldn't have anything to post on this topic, but recently we ate at House of Blues (were there for a show). I don't expect unbelieveable food there, but we had their gumbo and it was truly awful. They garnished it with lemon peel!!??!! Yuck!

Saint Pizza wrote:Yu Chan, on Saturday night. Not really sure of its location, but it's near Big Bowl downtown. It was empty, and it turns out there's a good reason for that!! My family and I sat down to peruse the menu, and decided that nothing was really jumping out at us, and decided to hop on the train and eat somewhere closer to home. We ordered potstickers & crab rangoon to go. BIG mistake. The potstickers were thick, flabby, moist pieces of dough with flavorless meat??? inside. Blech. The crab rangoon had bits of mozzarella, I swear.

So then when we got off the train back home, we took the bus for a couple of blocks & then walked to Hub's, which is just a few blocks away from our apartment. We had eaten there twice previously and I'd ordered a gyros plate before. But this time I ordered a hamburger, which was a disappointing, too-thick piece of pre-made patty. Next time I think I'll stick to the gyros (no problem with that one).

Yeah, Yu Chan is notorious as some of the worst Chinese-American in the city. They also leaflet relentlessly.

Monday, October 9, Pork burrito at the Burrito Buggy in the food court at the northeast corner of Lake and Clark (across the street from my new office). The pork was almost unrecognizable as pork; just a 12-oz. jumble of tough, tasteless protein lumps, tossed in an excess of hyper-aggressive sauce (all heat, no flavor). A sauce notable more for its peristaltic facilitation than its epicurean aspirations. I made the mistake, I suppose, of asking for only onion and cilantro on the table-bending monstrosity; I guess if you load it up with rice, beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, waffles, Milk Duds, etc. that are part of the "normal" burrito order, it waters down the insanely spicy salsa to tolerable levels. Based on weight and volume (and price, about six bucks), it was enough food for two; based on spicing, enough for ten; based on flavor, well ... definitely the worst thing I've eaten lately. And a disappointment, too, because I used to get good quality pork burritos at the long-shuttered Burrito Buggy location in the grey bunker on Clinton south of Monroe, behind my old office building.

The fish burrito at the Burrito Buggy on Jackson may be the most vile concoction known to man. After downing 1/3 of it I went outside to throw up in a garbage can.

JimInLoganSquare wrote:Monday, October 9, Pork burrito at the Burrito Buggy in the food court at the northeast corner of Lake and Clark (across the street from my new office). The pork was almost unrecognizable as pork; just a 12-oz. jumble of tough, tasteless protein lumps, tossed in an excess of hyper-aggressive sauce (all heat, no flavor). A sauce notable more for its peristaltic facilitation than its epicurean aspirations. I made the mistake, I suppose, of asking for only onion and cilantro on the table-bending monstrosity; I guess if you load it up with rice, beans, lettuce, cheese, sour cream, waffles, Milk Duds, etc. that are part of the "normal" burrito order, it waters down the insanely spicy salsa to tolerable levels. Based on weight and volume (and price, about six bucks), it was enough food for two; based on spicing, enough for ten; based on flavor, well ... definitely the worst thing I've eaten lately. And a disappointment, too, because I used to get good quality pork burritos at the long-shuttered Burrito Buggy location in the grey bunker on Clinton south of Monroe, behind my old office building.

Tortfeasor wrote:The fish burrito at the Burrito Buggy on Jackson may be the most vile concoction known to man. After downing 1/3 of it I went outside to throw up in a garbage can.

Wow, I spent nearly 30 minutes honing the prose of my post, yet you have blown that all away (and artfully) with this simple statement of yuck. I bow down to you, tortfeasor. One day, all shall recognize and acknowledge the supremacy of your talents for summary disparagement.

Both the muses and your post inspired me

JimInLoganSquare wrote:

Tortfeasor wrote:The fish burrito at the Burrito Buggy on Jackson may be the most vile concoction known to man. After downing 1/3 of it I went outside to throw up in a garbage can.

Wow, I spent nearly 30 minutes honing the prose of my post, yet you have blown that all away (and artfully) with this simple statement of yuck. I bow down to you, tortfeasor. One day, all shall recognize and acknowledge the supremacy of your talents for summary disparagement.

I love this thread!