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Topic: The Chit-Chat Thread

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NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX I blame bimmy. I don't know how, but I'm positive it's his fault. I'm sure he can
(••) / ( ••)>⌐■-■ / (⌐■_■)
Get on board with that.

Arbys...you've never had an Arbys? You're missing out. Fast food chain - but good fast food chain. Sliced roast beef (of the lunchmeat variety), a special sauce - thick pepper bacon if you add bacon......spicy curly fries or thick wedges. Good place. Sadly, like Anti's location, all mine have vanished, and I think I mentioned here a while back that the one location that is accessible is about 2 minutes away from two other places I love (a legit 1960's burger & malt shop with the best hamburgers & shakes anywhere and an incredible pizza place that's very unique), so as much as I miss Arby's, any time I'm in that area, that's not where I'm going to eat.... But I do miss it!

Around me there's BK, Wendy's McDs....pretty much that. A few of those "better burger" places that, while good, end up being like $15 for a simple burger meal that's somewhat better than McDs (while that 60's shop is half the price and twice as good.) Plus Chipotle. If you want to dine.

NEStalgia

HobbitGamer

@ThanosReXXX Yeah, the LAN streaming is what I was thinking of.

#MudStrongs

Switch Friend Code: SW-7842-2075-5515 | My Nintendo: HobbitGamr | Nintendo Network ID: HobbitGamr

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Nope, no Arby's over here. All of that sounds good, though. What we do have here, nowadays, is several of those "build-your-own-burger" places, where you can LITERALLY compose your own burger, with any ingredient, and/or layer of your own choice. Often times FAR better quality meat and buns too. Not too pricey either.

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

ThanosReXXX

So... apparently, this is now a thing, since today for me:
Untitled

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

ThanosReXXX

@HobbitGamer Huh, what?

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX It's ok, @HobbitGamer is starting to get on in years and is starting to forget faces. He meant me.

The places I've seen aren't "build your own burger" as a gimmick though you can customize it however you want. They do generally have higher quality, but also high prices to match ($8 for a more special burger, $7.50(!!) for a shake. Fries are reasonable. Compare to the 60's place where it's like $13 for the super huge 1/2lb loaded mega burger WITH fries. Shakes are $4.75 but you get the entire stainless canister versus a little 12oz sippy cup.

These new chain "fast casual" places are charging through the roof for everything. Though I'm sure the area has a lot to do with it. Commercial real estate probably costs triple the national average minimal. You're not buying a burger. You're buying monthly real estate, and it includes a free burger. But funny, the old mom & pop places manage to do cheaper most of the tiem....

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Ah, okay, I was already starting to wonder if it was ME that was starting to forget what he was talking about and with whom.

As for the burgers: sure, they are more expensive, like a couple of euros more than say, a Big Mac or a Bacon Whopper, but the meat is fresh, and the bread and other ingredients too, so the quality is about quadruple compared what you get in any of those fast food chain stores, and personally, I'm more than willing to pay that bit extra, for the handful of times that I eat a burger in a year...

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX If it were the quality of my 60's place, sure. If it were the quality of the "better burger" type places (official nickname the media gave them - Five Guys, Wayback, etc.) it certainly is better than McD's, but I wouldn't call it great either. They're definitely higher quality, but they're not exactly restaurant quality either. Restaurant prices though. I like the food, but when you walk out from 2 people eating a burger, shake, and splitting fries with a $30 bill, something is wrong. It's supposed to be cheap food...for that money you could do better.

I'm a sucker for it anyway. I only go there once or twice a year and I hate myself for it.

No insulting Whoppers, though. They are amazing. Poison, but amazing!

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia Oh, don't get me wrong: I like bacon whoppers as well, but these build your own burger places, well at least the Amsterdam version of them, are miles better than any fast food chain that you could come up with. The meat is all like Greenfields or Black Angus, Irish cow beef and what not. Prime meat, none of that factory grinded, B-class stuff.

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

LuigibrineTheGreat

Yeah, where I live we have 2 Arby's in our metro area. We also got a Five Guys a couple of months ago. I do really LOOOOOVVVVEE Five Guys, I will take it over McD any day of the year, but man is it expensive. Even Wendy's beats McD for me, but we only have one (used to have two, one burned down)

Be yourself, no matter who you are!
For me, that's being madly in love with fictional characters. Plz don't judge.
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Switch FC: SW-0507-9503-1127 | 3DS FC: 1736-0165-7775 | Battle.net: Luigibrine#1151

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX Do you know what the difference is between Black Angus cattle and normal beef cattle? Hair color. (No seriously, I used to know some Angus farmers - raised Angus steer on one end, Holstein & Ayrshire dairy herd on the other end. They were thrilled the Angus stock commanded almost double the value on market. They fed in the same pasture. They didn't taste any different. ) I still buy "Black Angus Brand(TM)" at times simply because that's usually the more premium cuts ground in supermarkets, but it's all beef of the variety you make: Marketing

But yeah, I think your "build a burger" things aren't like the "better burger" chains here. They're still factory beef etc. Just not AS garbage as McD's.

Now, the 60's place grinds sirloin steaks every morning. Notice "progress" seems to always be of the "downhill" variety? Why can't do we with a billion dollar franchiser today what a mom & pop shop could do almost 60 years ago, and still do today?

NEStalgia

ThanosReXXX

@Andrew_R_2000 5 Guys making a burger... There's a joke hidden in there somewhere...
@NEStalgia So, basically, the American version of progress is... regress?
All kidding aside, though, there does seem to be a MASSIVE difference between American quality products and European quality products, at least as far as I can gather from the couple of times that we've now had food-related discussions. Greenfields and Black Angus really IS high quality, freshly ground beef over here, and it isn't allowed to be sold in stores or establishments unless it meets all the required, and VERY strict standards, so no unnatural additives or colorants, to name but a few.

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@ThanosReXXX "So, basically, the American version of progress is... regress? "

EXACTLY!!!

Somewhere along the line we took "new and improved", which always means "different and made worse, with less value" as a synonym for "progress" and ran with it as far as we could.

I suppose the easiest way to think about it is in the US "European style" is a marketing gimmick....and it always means "something really expensive and premium", and often times means "really expensive and styled in a premium visual appearance out of the same Chinese junk we were selling you last month." In food that often means emulating European format, content, appearance, product quantity, at a price actual Europeans would riot over (because it's European and therefore high end, it's something done for status here). Five Guys isn't European style though (much else in food, is)...it's a DC-originated chain (says it all, right?) that's SUPPOSED to be a throwback to 50's style. Except like everything we do it's the Disneyland themed streamlined corporate equivalent of 50's style in a polished, groomed, and manufactured ideal version without any of the reality involved, with automatic double price tags for the theme. And higher quality than the lowest quality competitors, but not close to the quality of actual 50's shops.

Or put another way, if actual Italian cafes charged what American cafes charge for Italian style coffee, Italy would be famous for it's tea houses.

Oh, Black Angus Brand(TM) absolutely has requirements and is a high quality product. But the only difference between Black Angus Brand(TM) and "the other stuff" is the company happens to be one with standardized quality control. The actual Black Angus breed cattle they hang their marketing on tastes no different and offers no advantage in terms of leanness or usable meat than any other market breed of cattle raised the same way. So yes, the vendor is a high quality vendor, but it wouldn't really matter if they were using Black Angus, Hereford, or Longhorn cattle. Better than Holstein - they're bred for dairy, not for meat attributes.

NEStalgia

bimmy-lee

@Anti-Matter - For me, the actual food at Arby’s is merely a vessel to deliver as much Arby’s sauce as possible into my mouth. Did you ever have a jamocha shake, or did you get different flavors? I think they were the place that had an orange creamsicle shake when I was young that tasted vaguely like kids vitamins.

@NEStalgia - Blame accepted. I’m sure I’ve done something. Just yesterday, I misjudged a green left turn arrow, had a chance to stop, but plowed ahead anyway and did a jerkish, holding up traffic left turn maneuver. I don’t usually pull those kinds of stunts.

Edited on by bimmy-lee

limby-bee was a jerk.

My Nintendo: RedNestor

ThanosReXXX

@NEStalgia I'm now suddenly visualizing a meat factory's conveyor belt, ground beef patties traveling over it, and then the alarm going off, and a manager coming in to scold the employee, telling him that he should have used the "European mold" to form the patties for this particular batch...

But in all seriousness, man... I'm sure as hell NEVER going to touch a Black Angus beef burger or steak, whenever I'll finally reach US shores again. Nothing of what you're telling me about it holds up in my local situation. Black Angus (which over here, is just a species/breed, NOT a brand) are a high bred, free roaming breed over here, vs the regular meat cows, that are just kept in cramped quarters, in which they can't even turn around. Black Angus cows have large pastures and eat specialized foods. Heck, even the grass in these pastures is of a higher quality than normal. I wouldn't even be surprised if they'd drink sparkling spring water, instead of regular tap water, like the normal cows...

Edited on by ThanosReXXX

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

ThanosReXXX

@bimmy-lee And let's not forget that snide comment about the ampersand...

'The console wars are like boobs: Sony and Microsoft fight over which ones look the nicest and Nintendo's are the most fun to play with.'

Nintendo Network ID: ThanosReXX

NEStalgia

@bimmy-lee Something tells me "coffee flavor" in the coffee growing paradise of Indonesia for which java was named wouldn't be a terribly popular product to offer. It would be like offering "corn flavor" in Indiana. Are people pretty much oblivious to the existence of coffee there at this point, @Anti-Matter?

@ThanosReXXX That's pretty realistic. The "European mold" would consist of 8 "premium" 3.75oz patties instead of 10 normal 4oz patties, and cost $4.99/lb versus $3.29/lb, and comes on a black styrofoam tray with a clever resealable package versus the regular one on a white foam tray with regular cling wrap. It may be sold in more exclusive stores such as Whole Foods instead of Walmart and Albertsons. Seriously, I'm only making up the details but the actual overall concepts are actually solid and real....it's one of those cases the joke is only slightly different from the reality.

I may have been unclear: The Black Angus Brand(TM) is more or less a certification vendor and distributor (probably same as there), and they do require the cattle to be Black Angus breed per their marketing, however, outside the company by that name having the requirement, I only meant there's no actual difference in the meat from that breed versus any other breed. If they renamed themselves "Super Beef Company" and started accepting any breed, it would be the exact same meat. But yes, regardless of whether they used that particular breed or not, the free roaming etc is still true. It's just that there's not an actual need for it to be that particular breed that's used. That odd distinction is pure marketing. If it were Hereford Brand(TM) beef with the same protocols using only Hereford cows it would be the same meat. But you can feel safe ordering Black Angus here, it should be the same product. In both cases it's raised differently. I only meant that the fact they raise them differently is what makes a quality difference - the actual cattle breed is irrelevant for that, despite the branding effort.

Feeding cows sparkling spring water? That sounds so European! I'm starting a beef brand, selling it in Whole Foods, and charging $15.99/lb!!

NEStalgia

HobbitGamer

@ThanosReXXX Sorry, it’s been a confusing day for me at work. I did in fact mean to tag @NEStalgia about the Surface LAN.

#MudStrongs

Switch Friend Code: SW-7842-2075-5515 | My Nintendo: HobbitGamr | Nintendo Network ID: HobbitGamr

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