aschie30 wrote:Hopefully, that's the worst thing I'll eat in a long time.

Nice sized portion.

I didnt know the airlines still served breakfast

Yesterday was a very good day with some very bad food.

It started as we were prepping for the sox game at Schallers Pump. Of course I love Schallers and will go there many more times but I always struggle each and every time when I hear their list of beers; Bud, Miller, Heineken, Michelob Ultra.
A couple few Ultras in we ordered some fries. Warm golden spears of mealy centered bland frozen limp imitations of fries. Terrible, no one ate more than two. Not yet beat we had the but steak med rare and hash browns - well done. Three charred, tough, and flavorless steaks came out, cooked to a med rare center with a nicely 'barked' exterior but with no flavor of smoke, meat or fat accompanied by a plate of hash browns with no onions, spice, or flavor to speak of.
No one complained and we were all happy to pay the 9 bucks for dinner served by the wonderful members of the Schaller family washed down with ice cold domestic swill. I normally order the prime rib, or meatloaf and will return to such in the future. While much of the menu is ok I wonder what they were serving 125 years ago and think it must have been superior.

Later in the evening on the way home and not yet beat I jumped of 94 at Roosevelt to try the Original Jims where I have not been for a couple years.

With exception of the beef polish Jims was just plain terrible. I asked three times for well done fries, no dice. The burger was dry, textured of some filler / beef product, and served on a stale bun. It reminded me of the soy product they used to serve in school cafeterias or communist countries but worse. The dogs were sorry and the fries had that textured unnatural coating of batter that has been discussed recently in other threads.

I can say honestly I will never eat at Jims again. Since I normally go right down the Maxwell Original at Independence just s of 290 for fresh cut fries to order and a decent polish I won't be inconvenienced and I don't imagine anyone who likes hot dogs or fries and would eat at Jims more than once. But I do have some sympathy for the tourists who might think Jims representative of a decent Maxwell and wonder what is wrong with all of us in Chicago.

Happy pseudo Independence day -Actual independence day would be June 21 1789 when New Hampsire became the 9th state to ratify the constitution. Article VII of the Constitution states, in full, “The ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this constitution between the states so ratifying the same.”

(sorry for the photo size - only way to see hamburgers, I mean stars )

I second YourPalWill's vote for Turkey Sausage Stromboli from Trader Joe's. Yuck.

Reggio's Pizza veggie, at Terminal 3, O'Hare.

Try to imagine how low my expectations for airport pizza were, then imagine them substantially undershot. They should have called it Elmer's Pizza, for the glue that tops it.

Unfortunately, it was a Home Run Inn pizza I had yesterday. It wasn't inedible, but didn't do it for me like it once did. Happened to be in Cicero, so I thought I would get my Home Run Inn fix after not having it for a while. Sadly, it was no longer the same and didn't deserve the excitement I had for getting a pizza. It saddened my heart but at least it will be one less craving I have throughout the week.

I know the pizza was only so terrible in my mind because of my high expectations but was greatly let down.

A chocolate malt at Windy City Fruit and Nut on Broadway last night. Not that it was terrible. Just that it wasn't as good as it should have been. And a chocolate malt that's not as good as it should be is a terrible thing to waste. This one was too sickly sweet, and the malt (while recognizably there) didn't really taste like malt. I have a feeling that either there was too much chocolate syrup, or that it was of an inferior sort.

So far this summer the chocolate malt ranking is #1, Cameron's (sublimely balanced; in fact, this may qualify as the best thing I've eaten lately); #2, the Baskin-Robbins at Diversey and Halsted (surprisingly good--I didn't expect much, given that B-R is a chain and all, but it was more than respectable, with good malt flavor); followed by Windy City at #3, disappointing enough to lower my estimation of the place. But maybe it was a one-off.

Giordano's "famous" stuffed pizza, we got the special with sausage, green pepper, mushrooms, and onions. Undercooked veggies, undercooked crust, sour sauce. We also got an x-large thin crust with sausage, and peperoni for the kids, it didnt fare much better. I was only able to force down 1/2 of a piece of the stuffed, and a couple bites of the thin crust. With 10 people there was about 1/2 of each pizza leftover. This last visit went against my typical gut reaction to try to deter out of town guests from dragging me to Giordanos. This time I didnt have the time or energy to talk them into a better option.

Heather22 wrote:Unfortunately, it was a Home Run Inn pizza I had yesterday.

I recently had a bad experience at a Home Run Inn too. I picked up a sausage pie at the Home Run Inn Express at 63rd and Ogden. The crust had a very similar taste and consistency to their frozen pizzas. I was thinking that they had found a more inexpensive way to pre-produce the crust instead of making it on site at the expense of the taste. I was also thinking that it might be an issue only at this particular Home Run Inn because it is an "Express". I haven't been to any of their other restaurants since to compare. I haven't found the motivation to shell out another $25 to test it out.

Big Willi wrote:

Heather22 wrote:Unfortunately, it was a Home Run Inn pizza I had yesterday.

I recently had a bad experience at a Home Run Inn too. I picked up a sausage pie at the Home Run Inn Express at 63rd and Ogden. The crust had a very similar taste and consistency to their frozen pizzas. I was thinking that they had found a more inexpensive way to pre-produce the crust instead of making it on site at the expense of the taste. I was also thinking that it might be an issue only at this particular Home Run Inn because it is an "Express". I haven't been to any of their other restaurants since to compare. I haven't found the motivation to shell out another $25 to test it out.

Home Run Inn hasn't been the same for the last several years. It's become mass produced garbage. Here are some interesting stories about HRI.

http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index. ... l#msg51590

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade ... 357-1.html

Falco's Pizza is my favorite. It reminds me of the old HRI.
http://falcospizzeria.com/

The worst thing I've eaten lately is a bite of a cookie from a "cookie bouquet" from Cookies By Design.

Obviously, the word "design" in their name referrs to the fact that the cookies look pretty and has no bearing on the design of the recipe.

The taste evokes hardened floor tile grout, covered in Elmer's glue mixed with sugar.

They should come with a warning label that says: "Cookies By Design recommends avoiding eating our cookies."

Best,
Michael

You know, we had some of those cookies a few months back, and I was surprised at how decent they were.

Not good, but certainly edible in a way those weren't.

I wonder if they do a bake once a week and we got some of the fresher ones.

This isn't timely, but about 6 yrs ago I had gotten some food poisoning and hadn't been able to hold anything down for two full days.I finally felt able to eat again and my wife stopped off at the store and brought me some...fat-free hotdog buns and turkey dogs. it is the most enduringly awful memory I have of eating. Cardbord-like bread, tasteless tube steak..now I suspect what soylent green must taste like.

dave4118 wrote: it is the most enduringly awful memory I have of eating. Cardbord-like bread, tasteless tube steak..now I suspect what soylent green must taste like.

Oy! And what is the point of fat-free hot dog buns? "Full fat" hot dog buns have an average of 1.5 grams on fat per bun. Is it really imperative to cut out that little fat?

Kim

Split pea soup at The Daily Cafe in Portland, OR

I would have bet that this cup had been dredged up directly from the ocean's floor except for the huge amount of tarragon (which grows on land) it contained. It tasted like dirty, desalinated, concentrated sea water . . . with lots of tarragon. It was absolutely awful -- possibly the worst thing I've eaten -- or didn't eat -- in 2008.

=R=

Swedish pancakes at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee. Rubbery, bland and cold. My wife ordered them, couldn't eat them; I tried them too and they were awful. My steak and eggs were OK, but the next day on the road I had steak and eggs at a Perkins off the freeway and they were far better, better steak cooked better, better potatoes and about five bucks cheaper. Lordy, when I worked at the Hyatt their food service was way better than what is supposedly the best hotel in Milwaukee.

ronnie_suburban wrote:It was absolutely awful -- possibly the worst thing I've eaten -- or didn't eat -- in 2008.

Nice sized portion though.

Italian beef from "Zack's... Hotdogs With An Attitude!" in Parkville, just outside of Baltimore.

I suppose it was unfair of me to hope for something good, and I realize there are certain limitations when it isn't your bread and butter product, but there's good under the circumstances, there's understandably disappointing under the circumstances, there's just plain bad, and then there's awful. The bread was way too soft and spongy. The beef (prepackaged Vienna) was rubbery and through some impressive process had all of the beef flavor completely sucked out of it. The fact that it was first slapped on the griddle, and then dunked in a microwaved pyrex measuring cup of juice didn't help. The juice was thin, overly salty, similarly devoid of beef flavor, and -- though I can't be sure -- I suspect it was "Italianized" by the addition of bottled Italian salad dressing. And as for the giardiniera, I've had airline food with more spice, it was almost devoid of both oil and flavor, and was nuked into mushy oblivion before going on the sandwich.

I miss home.

(To Zack's credit, they do a respectable Chicago-style dog.)

I've been fortunate enough to be able to claim that I have never eaten a McDonalds Hamburger or a White Castle Hamburger. Until today.

I had to know what I was missing. After years of hearing how wonderful White Castle was and my fathers love of White Castle being one of my few memories of him, I succumbed.

While it was without a doubt the worst meal I've eaten lately, it could be up for contention for my worst meal ever. I wish I could return to my naivety of this morning when I did not know what a classic White Castle slider tasted like.

I don't know who craves these but I've been, I've tasted, and I won't be back.

Heather22 wrote:I wish I could return to my naivety of this morning when I did not know what a classic White Castle slider tasted like.

If you're like me, it's the sliders themselves that return the next morning.

Personally, White Castle is absolutely disgusting except when that crave does hit (perhaps ever 12-18 months). Then, it's red alert, full speed ahead, ah-ooga-ah-ooga until I get some.

Normally, I'd say you can't contribute something to this thread if you have never actually eaten it, merely looked at the box.

I think you'll make me an exception in this case, however.

"Tastes Great or Your Money Back"

While this product may indeed be bad, I'm even more concerned, as the box suggests, that there may be other competitors in the pre-cooked bacon arena which are not even "100% real bacon."

gus wrote:While this product may indeed be bad, I'm even more concerned, as the box suggests, that there may be other competitors in the pre-cooked bacon arena which are not even "100% real bacon."

America's Test Kitchen was concerned too:
http://www.cooksillustrated.com/tasting ... tingid=357

Can any bacon really be evil?

I actually like to have these pre-cooked bacon products handy for breakfast sandwiches (fry an egg, shave some seaside cheddar, cracked peppercorns, english muffin, tabasco) and 5-minute carbonara (fresh pasta from Whole Foods, Freddie's, Buitoni if you must, lots of pepper, pecorino, crumbled bacon). They crisp up in the microwave nicely and while lacking the chew and substance of fresh-fried, have a decent flavor.

I'm mostly a scratch cook, but in a pinch, this adds a pleasant, salty dimension to dishes with zero fuss (or mess, or raising the temperature in your summer kitchen).

You have to give them credit for depicting a salad with three entire strips of bacon on it. No girlie crumbled bacon here, nossir. They should serve this salad at Ditka's.

I made the mistake of trying a raw clam at Chicago Joe's tonight. I went in for oysters (the only thing I'll eat there besides the chili) and they were out so they suggested clams. I've never eaten raw clams before, nor will I EVER again. It was by far the most wretched thing to have ever touched my taste buds. I couldn't even swallow it and I still have that rotten fish taste in my mouth. YUCK!

My fiancee had a work function at Maggiano's downtown and brought home leftover chicken marsala. To call that dry, tire-like skinless breast meat "chicken" gives the bird a bad name.

bella54330 wrote:I made the mistake of trying a raw clam at Chicago Joe's tonight. I went in for oysters (the only thing I'll eat there besides the chili) and they were out so they suggested clams. I've never eaten raw clams before, nor will I EVER again. It was by far the most wretched thing to have ever touched my taste buds. I couldn't even swallow it and I still have that rotten fish taste in my mouth. YUCK!

You're right to not eat them ever again. After not enjoying (to put it mildly) a raw clam once, I tried again another time and was even more revulsed. That membrane that surrounds the clam is downright hideous.

Clams need to be cooked, oysters need to be raw. The only preparation suitable for both is smoked.

imsscott wrote:Clams need to be cooked, oysters need to be raw. The only preparation suitable for both is smoked.

Or fried. Fried clams and fried oysters are both in my pantheon of near perfect foods.

Also, I love raw clams.

Best,
Michael