Turkey Bolognese from Trader Joe's. Terrible, vile stuff. It tasted like pure garlic juice, and the sauce was runny. I had to rinse perfectly good spaghetti squash because of it, and start over. Olive oil, romano, and black pepper saved the day.

Waari Muth from my slow cooker. Luckily Mr. Pie didn't think it was that bad, so guess what he's getting for lunch this week?

Pie Lady wrote:Waari Muth

I had to Google this, and it sounded potentially delicious
with fennel, ginger and cloves, until I went on to Google
another component, asafoetida; described thusly:
"a plant resin so foul-smelling that it is often known as devil's dung"

SCUBAchef wrote:asafoetida; described thusly:
"a plant resin so foul-smelling that it is often known as devil's dung"

Asafoetida is a major ingredient in good quality curry powder. You've probably had it without your being aware.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

SCUBAchef wrote:asafoetida; described thusly:
"a plant resin so foul-smelling that it is often known as devil's dung"

Asafoetida is a major ingredient in good quality curry powder. You've probably had it without your being aware.

There are regions in India (and, by extension, in local Indian restaurants) where it's used extensively in lieu of onions. The flavor's completely inoffensive when cooked.

I actually didn't use that. The recipe didn't call for it. Just garam masala (which may have had some in there, but I'm pretty sure it didn't) ginger, tamarind and fennel seeds.

Sadly - Jimmy's Place last night. Not a huge deal, mildly amusing, and the proprietor apologized to almost everyone because of the wait times. They were slammed. Not sure the reason, but on a Tuesday night around 7p, it was almost a full house. The baked clams I ordered came out not even browned, barely warmed, the bread crumb topping was wet glop all around, no crunchy bits at all. My father ate the first one, and immediately flagged the server down when he saw her again to tell her that if the clams for the bakers were the same for the linguini with white clam sauce that he had ordered, that he needed to cancel the order right away because the clam he got was bad. I ate the rest of the bakers, and they were not full on rotten, but they were easily past their prime - kind of a bleachy taste to them. Dad watched me in horror. Rest of the food was decent as usual, Dad conceded that his linguini with white clam was actually pretty good. I'll excuse the kitchen for the baked clams this time. I'll probably get them again.

The Japanese Teriyaki tofu and vegetables and Pei Wei Asian Diner. Honestly, the broccoli, snap peas and brown rice were cooked to perfection. The tofu was sliced very thin and the edges were crisp while the center was soft. But the sauce was like candy—it was so tooth-achingly sweet that I knew I'd be skipping dessert that night, and for me, that's rare. And the chai iced tea had this chemical-tasting vanilla syrup added to it that made it so funky I actually had to pour it out. I was about to call it an upscale, somewhat futuristic Panda Express and saw that someone else suggested nearly the same thing on the Pei Wei thread!

The boneless rib sandwich at the Aussie joint at the Broadway/Lawrence Ribfest. Some kind of processed yellowish thing that equaled a McRib for consistency and flavor. Why not try the actual ribs? Well, to tell you the truth I found the whole event to be sort of a "rib-off." With samplers (3-ribs) at $7 at all places, it would've cost me $28 to have a sampling that equaled a full slab (that's without any sides). Half-slabs were $12, full slabs $22, with a $5 entry fee for the privilege, so I went for the sandwiches (brisket, pulled pork, etc) at $7 in order to satisfy a fairly deep hunger. The heavily-sauced brisket at the Texas place was not much better than the boneless rib (although at least I could be pretty sure it was meat); I can't say that my hunger was satisfied, but I didn't feel like eating anymore after those two dingers.

Some gelati at Canaday's on the way home helped me get through the experience, and to finish on a positive note, he now has blood-orange; try it!

Ordered grilled marlin in a local mexican resturant the other night. First bite...I chewed and chewed until the "fish" became a cud...I couldn't even swallow it. Sent it back...and just really wasn't in the mood for anything else. BAH

The patty melt at Chicago Joe's on Irving Park.

If there's a worse restaurant in Chicago I would be shocked.


Haven't been in years because it sucks, but after hockey friday night my buddy suggested we head over there for a bite to eat since its a few blocks from the rink. So I thought maybe it got better so we gave it a shot. Big mistake. I had a patty melt that was without a doubt the worst burger I've ever had. Asked for it medium, it came well done. The meat had a funny taste, not rancid, but not like meat. The bread was so sooaked with butter that it dripped when I picked it up. Inedible. My buddy had blackened chicken tendors and he said they were pretty bad as well.


I don't understand how this place stays in business.

Perhaps because they actually serve good food and people like it?

The roast duck at the Lincoln Tavern on Waubonsia is my latest entry. The somewhat crispy skin covers a layer of unrendered fat and then stringy, overdone meat, all bathed in an orange sauce that is both super acidic and sickeningly sweet. Cherry sauce was available as an alternative, but I don't know how much better that would have been. It's accompanied by mashed potatoes that are definitely made fron real potatoes but are so dense that you could use them to set bricks. Take a pass!!

shakes wrote:The patty melt at Chicago Joe's on Irving Park.

If there's a worse restaurant in Chicago I would be shocked.


Haven't been in years because it sucks, but after hockey friday night my buddy suggested we head over there for a bite to eat since its a few blocks from the rink. So I thought maybe it got better so we gave it a shot. Big mistake. I had a patty melt that was without a doubt the worst burger I've ever had. Asked for it medium, it came well done. The meat had a funny taste, not rancid, but not like meat. The bread was so sooaked with butter that it dripped when I picked it up. Inedible. My buddy had blackened chicken tendors and he said they were pretty bad as well.


I don't understand how this place stays in business.

Their "buffet" brunch has to be one of my worst brunch experiences ever. I don't remember liking a single item, even the fruit (if it's visibly far from ripe, why would you even put it out?). They claim to have 50+ items!, which I guess might have been true if you count different muffin flavors or types of fruit as different items. A few card tables set up in a back room with subpar, tepid, hastily arranged food. You had to order the eggs benedict (one p/p), and the overdone egg perched atop a totally stale english muffin did not fulfill their claim of "da beast eggs benedict on Irving Park", even if I knew what that was supposed to mean. I live a block away, was really hoping this place could be a decent standby, but that brunch experience has kept me away for over a year now.

It may have just been a momentary thing, but walking through the Taste on a weekday mid-afternoon, every single stand I passed had at least a few people ordering, if not more. Chicago Joes: desolate, and looking like it had been that way for a while. When not even Taste attendees want to try your food, maybe it's time to reevaluate.

Swiss & mushroom burger and fries from the Aramark run cafeteria in my work building.
From the limp, mushy burger to the unsalted fries, all of the taste has been magically sucked out. Water has more flavor that this. Blech.

zoid wrote:Swiss & mushroom burger and fries from the Aramark run cafeteria in my work building.

I think any food item from any building cafeteria would make it to this thread.

I used to eat in Resurrection Hospital's cafeteria and the food was pretty tasty. Broiled scrod, mmm!

The "Under 55 Cafe" in the lower level of the 55 E. Monroe building is pretty decent.

Not worst; the taste was actually okay. Most confusing. Most disappointing. Biggest waste of money.
I ordered the small low-carb pizza from North Park Village Pizza. I was thinking the crust must be mostly corn, whole grain, some ridiculous chemical blend, whatever. When placing the order through GrubHub, I needed to meet a $10 minimum. The restaurant's page on GrubHub states a $7 minimum, but I couldn't check out until I had $10. Whatever. Hungry. This place had a low delivery charge and is one of three places that have small, individual pizzas.

What I got was a crustless layered casserole in a takeout tub that is loaded with grease. There was nothing on GrubHub that told me this would be crustless, nothing on their website, and nothing on the paper takeout menu the food came with. With delivery, tax and tip, this 4" casserole cost me $17.44. Unbelievable. This should also be on the bend-over thread, too.

I was thinking of complaining, but I'm torn. What do other people do when their expectations are not met but the taste is acceptable?

I sympathize and all, but really, what would one expect when ordering a "low carb pizza?"

Crust!

Yesterday I was rushing to make an appointment downtown, but was so hungry that I needed to get something quickly beforehand. As I was passing through State & Lake, I figured my two options were Potbelly and Halsted Street Deli. Since Potbelly is a known quantity of suck, I tried the deli. My sandwich, with sliced chicken breast, honey mustard, cheddar cheese, and pretzel roll sounded appealing...but was so bad both in its entirety and component parts that I just ended up eating the meat. The roll was stale, the cheese was not cheddar, not even American, but orange cheese a la Kraft. The honey mustard was the worst bit, though; it was extremely sweet and had an odd edge to it I couldn't identify. Cinnamon? Something that didn't belong and made the whole mess completely inedible.

And all this for just $7!

My entire lunch at Kow Kow last week. Both the egg roll and the wonton soup had an off taste, a little sour, like something was past its prime. The entrée was a combo of egg foo young and Chinese chop suey. First of all, I wasn't sure if I liked egg foo young in the first place; I just wanted to try it a second time as an adult, so I'm probably not the best judge of it. However, as cheap as I thought it tasted, it was the only thing besides the white rice that I could choke down, and then not even all of it. The chop suey was 60% overcooked celery, 30% gelatinous gravy and 10% fatty pork, all hidden by the rice, naturally. I knew why this rather sizable meal was worth $5.50—Dinty Moore doesn't come cheap these days.

foodmex wrote:Perhaps because they actually serve good food and people like it?

[ ] good point
[x] wrong answer

Never sweeten oatmeal with powdered sugar!

All you can eat sushi at House of Sushi and Noodles. Holy god, it was unbearable. We just stopped eating and went somewhere else.

Barbecue Brisket sandwich at Happ Inn, Northfield. Decent serving of brisket with no evidence of actually having been barbecued. But the worst offense was the covering of cloyingly sweet, gloppy barbecue sauce which quickly turned the Rosen-style bun to mush. By comparison, the factory-quality coconut creme pie was merely mediocre.

Waste of calories.

Pie Lady wrote:My entire lunch at Kow Kow last week. Both the egg roll and the wonton soup had an off taste, a little sour, like something was past its prime. The entrée was a combo of egg foo young and Chinese chop suey. First of all, I wasn't sure if I liked egg foo young in the first place; I just wanted to try it a second time as an adult, so I'm probably not the best judge of it. However, as cheap as I thought it tasted, it was the only thing besides the white rice that I could choke down, and then not even all of it. The chop suey was 60% overcooked celery, 30% gelatinous gravy and 10% fatty pork, all hidden by the rice, naturally. I knew why this rather sizable meal was worth $5.50—Dinty Moore doesn't come cheap these days.

Hey, now! Kow Kow egg rolls are the bomb!

The Italian Beef at Heavenly Bodies was God awful. Truly terrible.

The patty melts, OTOH, are awesome.

Scotty2Hotty wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:My entire lunch at Kow Kow last week. Both the egg roll and the wonton soup had an off taste, a little sour, like something was past its prime. The entrée was a combo of egg foo young and Chinese chop suey. First of all, I wasn't sure if I liked egg foo young in the first place; I just wanted to try it a second time as an adult, so I'm probably not the best judge of it. However, as cheap as I thought it tasted, it was the only thing besides the white rice that I could choke down, and then not even all of it. The chop suey was 60% overcooked celery, 30% gelatinous gravy and 10% fatty pork, all hidden by the rice, naturally. I knew why this rather sizable meal was worth $5.50—Dinty Moore doesn't come cheap these days.

Hey, now! Kow Kow egg rolls are the bomb!

See, I like their egg rolls but everything else is so bad that I'm not allowed to mention the name in Fifille's hearing. It's strictly a to go one item place for me.