I've been a regular at Swiss Chalet since my kids were little. Reliable, predictable, never great but always good, you knew what you were getting when you made a date at Swiss Chalet.
Almost as good as Red Lobster.
So we didn't have any reservations about taking Bubby to Swiss Chalet for Thanksgiving dinner. They've even got a "Thanksgiving Special!"
Little did we realize that Swiss Chalet has had a makeover. There's a big-screen TV in every corner, just like every sports bar in town.
The new booths have way too much distance between the bum level and the chin level. The ever-shrinking 89 year old Bubbinator found that the top of her water glass was actually over her head. She had to reach up for her water.
My 89 year old mother-in-law suggested to the staff they needed to provide booster seats for the elderly.
And what's up with the canned music? Is the management team trying to capture a new demographic? When we were having Thanksgiving dinner and the after-church crowd was just streaming in, the sound system was pumping out Run DMC and Aerosmith's Walk This Way.
Really?
In Owen Sound for Thanksgiving dinner?
They've also tampered with the menu items. One of the fixtures of a Swiss Chalet dining experience, at least for the forty years I've been a customer, is you get a decent Cesar at a decent price.
The Cesar is still a decent price, but the glass is thinner and taller, and get this; instead of getting a celery stalk in your drink, you get a pickle instead.
What the fuck is that about?
I want a piece of celery in my Cesar, not a pickle spear lying on top of it!
But that's progress, I guess.
Showing posts with label Red Lobster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Red Lobster. Show all posts
Sunday, October 13, 2019
Friday, May 31, 2019
Anti-Semitic health inspectors close Steeles Deli
Took a drive down to the city yesterday, the day a bunch of not very Canadian b-ball players were putting Toronto on the map, to have lunch with Junior. He's just finished his third year at U of T, and since I haven't had a face-to-face with him for some time I thought this would be a day well spent.
He lives downtown but subbed up to the Finch station, the last stop on the Yonge line. We headed for the Steeles Deli, which has for over thirty years been a haunt for the Jewish side of the family.
It was closed. We ended up having lunch at the Red Lobster on Yonge about a mile north of Steeles. That was something of a selfish decision, since Junior doesn't care for seafood, whereas I like a fix of lobster every now and again.
On the way back to the Finch subway station we stopped at Centre Park to let Boomer have a romp before our drive back to the boonies. Boomer is the last survivor of our hound pack. At fifteen she doesn't really "romp" that much, but she appeared to have an enjoyable waddle.
Across the park was a house with a for sale sign. We speculated as to what it might be worth. We guessed a million and a half to two million. We were a little light in our guesswork, as you can see in the link.
That property is obviously being marketed as a tear-down. Somebody will spend two and a half million to buy that house, rip it down, and then spend another million putting up a 3,000 foot McMansion. This has become the norm in that neighbourhood.
What's truly remarkable is that Yonge/Steeles is by no stretch of the imagination a "posh" neighbourhood. In fact, it was developed as a typical middle-class suburb, where teachers and nurses and the like might build their nests.
But Toronto is a "world class" city now. If press reports are to be believed, folks were paying up to $60,000 for a chair at last night's Raptors game. I assume those would be the same kind of folks who pay two and a half million for a house just to knock it down and put up a new build.
I don't mean to fire up a fresh conspiracy theory here, but has anybody else noticed what's happened to Toronto housing costs since the U of T lured urban planning guru Richard Florida to town?
It's obviously his fault...
When I got home the Farm Manager was keen to hear how lunch went at the Steeles Deli. When she heard the sad news, she had an immediate response; obviously the health inspectors on the north side of Steeles Avenue are anti-Semites.
He lives downtown but subbed up to the Finch station, the last stop on the Yonge line. We headed for the Steeles Deli, which has for over thirty years been a haunt for the Jewish side of the family.
It was closed. We ended up having lunch at the Red Lobster on Yonge about a mile north of Steeles. That was something of a selfish decision, since Junior doesn't care for seafood, whereas I like a fix of lobster every now and again.
On the way back to the Finch subway station we stopped at Centre Park to let Boomer have a romp before our drive back to the boonies. Boomer is the last survivor of our hound pack. At fifteen she doesn't really "romp" that much, but she appeared to have an enjoyable waddle.
Across the park was a house with a for sale sign. We speculated as to what it might be worth. We guessed a million and a half to two million. We were a little light in our guesswork, as you can see in the link.
That property is obviously being marketed as a tear-down. Somebody will spend two and a half million to buy that house, rip it down, and then spend another million putting up a 3,000 foot McMansion. This has become the norm in that neighbourhood.
What's truly remarkable is that Yonge/Steeles is by no stretch of the imagination a "posh" neighbourhood. In fact, it was developed as a typical middle-class suburb, where teachers and nurses and the like might build their nests.
But Toronto is a "world class" city now. If press reports are to be believed, folks were paying up to $60,000 for a chair at last night's Raptors game. I assume those would be the same kind of folks who pay two and a half million for a house just to knock it down and put up a new build.
I don't mean to fire up a fresh conspiracy theory here, but has anybody else noticed what's happened to Toronto housing costs since the U of T lured urban planning guru Richard Florida to town?
It's obviously his fault...
When I got home the Farm Manager was keen to hear how lunch went at the Steeles Deli. When she heard the sad news, she had an immediate response; obviously the health inspectors on the north side of Steeles Avenue are anti-Semites.
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
White folks like Red Lobster too!
This morning I came across this opinion piece by LZ Granderson at CNN.
Granderson recounts coming up poor and black in Detroit, and how a family outing to Red Lobster was a bit of a special occassion. He mourns the fact that the corporate entity now running the chain may cut it loose or even shut it down altogether.
That set me on a google chase for the possible causes for the demise of Red Lobster. Instead, I found this; Red Lobster and the Continuing Demise of the Black Middle Class by Dr. Jason Johnson. He too has all sorts of happy memories, and he too is a black writer.
Well, time to set the record straight; there's at least one white dude right here who loves Red Lobster!
Now, I'm a bit too old for Red Lobster to have been part of my childhood, but it was definitely part of my children's childhood. And it was a special occassion. You knew you weren't at McDonalds. At the same time it wasn't fancy to the point where you felt uncomfortable. It was the kind of place where a working class family could afford to go once in awhile to mark a birthday or an anniversary. You could order a drink and have something that was a bit exotic where we lived, lobster, without breaking the bank.
I have to agree though with the above writers as to why Red Lobster has fallen on hard times. There simply aren't enough decent jobs around for young working class families of any color. Some of them up and left to Mexico or China, some of them have been eliminated by advances in automation, and most of the rest have been re-cast as low wage subsistance jobs by greedy corporations.
The fate of Red Loster is just one example of the collateral damage that ensues when companies like Caterpillar decree that $25/hr jobs will henceforth be $12/hr jobs.
Granderson recounts coming up poor and black in Detroit, and how a family outing to Red Lobster was a bit of a special occassion. He mourns the fact that the corporate entity now running the chain may cut it loose or even shut it down altogether.
That set me on a google chase for the possible causes for the demise of Red Lobster. Instead, I found this; Red Lobster and the Continuing Demise of the Black Middle Class by Dr. Jason Johnson. He too has all sorts of happy memories, and he too is a black writer.
Well, time to set the record straight; there's at least one white dude right here who loves Red Lobster!
Now, I'm a bit too old for Red Lobster to have been part of my childhood, but it was definitely part of my children's childhood. And it was a special occassion. You knew you weren't at McDonalds. At the same time it wasn't fancy to the point where you felt uncomfortable. It was the kind of place where a working class family could afford to go once in awhile to mark a birthday or an anniversary. You could order a drink and have something that was a bit exotic where we lived, lobster, without breaking the bank.
I have to agree though with the above writers as to why Red Lobster has fallen on hard times. There simply aren't enough decent jobs around for young working class families of any color. Some of them up and left to Mexico or China, some of them have been eliminated by advances in automation, and most of the rest have been re-cast as low wage subsistance jobs by greedy corporations.
The fate of Red Loster is just one example of the collateral damage that ensues when companies like Caterpillar decree that $25/hr jobs will henceforth be $12/hr jobs.
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