Homemade

Along the lines of the "truth in advertising" thread, it always bothers me a little* when I see the word "homemade" on a restaurant menu when what they really mean is "made right here in this restaurant". There are sometimes exceptions. The Pelagos Cafe in Naples, Florida is an excellent Greek restaurant. Their Wednesday special is a moussaka that's simply to die for. This really is homemade. The grandmother of the owner's family makes a big tray of moussaka at her home on Wednesday afternoon and that's what's served in the restaurant on Wednesday night. It's so popular that you have to call to reserve your portion on Wednesday morning. By the time the restaurant opens, all the moussaka is already spoken for.

-Paul W.

* Peeves make terrible pets.

Don't even get me started with meaningless information that gets thrown at you in restaurants:
locally sourced
sustainable
free-range
grass-fed
farm-raised
But they never tell you whether the preparers/servers are:
disease-free
wears mandatory hairnets while working
doesn't sweat over your food
is clean/bathed
works diligently at not cross-contaminating surfaces
washes hands frequently and thoroughly between operations
won't 'spit in your food if you send it back.

[Jenise]

Jo Ann, since you and I live in the same region: aren't you glad not to see those Anthony's restaurants ads touting their "designer beef"?

You'll appreciate this one too: I just started taping a show called Seattle Refined that I'll probably discontinue. Refined they're not. Each episode is essentially a car commercial (seems to differ each time, today I saw a Toyota, yesterday a Honda Civic) wherein they go some place for fast-casual food and maybe tour a house for sale. Another 15 minutes of other commercials or product placement in squeezed in there too. Today they went to Bainbridge Island for ice cream at Mora. I laughed out loud when the camera was showing off the factory where a machine was filling cartons on a conveyor belt when the narrator used the word "artisinal". There's a word that needs to go, doesn't mean anything anymore.

I've seen Seattle Refined. It's very right leaning, which I don't mind. But the content is what I classify as Pablum. What happened to the right? I have a couple very close friends who identified as Republican (until Trump) and we had excellent intellectual debates. (I really miss those days!) Yes, artisanal, and all of the other terms that describe bread and wine! It's bread and wine damnit! I understand crust and crumb, depth of flavor, full-bodied and mild. Don't give a damn about artisanal and terroir!

[Jenise]

Hadn't noticed the right-lean there, but yes it's total pablum. And the host's fake-excitement announcer-voice is really irritating. I decided to tape it because I thought maybe I'd pick up ideas about things to do in your area, but I don't think that's going to work out.

I have to ask--what is "designer beef"? When I googled "Anthony's designer beef" I got a blurb from the restaurant chain that seems to imply that they mean their beef comes from cattle raised locally in the Pacific Northwest. Is that all there is to it?

I think we can add "heirloom" to Jo Ann's list.

"Disease free" actually has/had significance. During the Mad Cow Disease crisis, it became publicly known that some cheap hamburger was being made from downer cattle. These are animals too ill to stand up. The worry was that some of them may have had BSE.

-Paul W.

[Jenise]

Paul, there's no such thing. It's just the dream of some inept PR turd to make their steak sound special to people who wouldn't question the validity of the claim and tend to order steaks on special occasions. The PNW is full of people who only dine out on birthdays and anniversaries, and guess what they order. Btw, though, if you have to eat at a chain--Anthony's does chain really really well. I have nothing but respect for them.

Wow, what a bunch of whiners!

Just because some people abuse a certain term does not mean the term has no meaning. For example, "heirloom" is generally taken to mean any food plant cultivar in use prior to WWII. This is because hybridization -- grooming plant DNA to offer various commercially-desirable traits -- started in earnest around 1951. The new hybrids addressed important operational concerns but even Burpee admits that flavor was not a priority.

"Designer Beef" sounds like twaddle to me, but let's not tar all adjectives with the same brush.

Wow, what a bunch of whiners!

Just because some people abuse a certain term does not mean the term has no meaning. .

Well sometimes it does. I have seen the label 'home-made' applied to food in a restaurant and would be content of they had made it from scratch in the restaurant, but to find a large box of frozen portions with a label 'home-made' whatever it was sitting in the hallway as you head back to the washroom kind of dampens the enthusiasm!

I think that is the food equivalent to a bottle of wine with a Gallo Hearty Burgundy label (perhaps the exclusive Clos de Gilroy version?

Wow, what a bunch of whiners!

Just because some people abuse a certain term does not mean the term has no meaning. .

I have seen the label 'home-made' applied to food in a restaurant and would be content of they had made it from scratch in the restaurant, but to find a large box of frozen portions with a label 'home-made' whatever it was sitting in the hallway as you head back to the washroom kind of dampens the enthusiasm!

That still means they are liars not that the words have no clear definition.