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American beef is some of the best along with british beef but different flavors. The reason MCD tastes better in europe, which it does, is because mcd is usually the lowest form of food you can get there but in europe it's quite expensive compared to what you spend here.

This results in a cleaner mcdonald's with higher salaried workers who don't hate their job and throw you half assembled sandwhiches .

But it's not because of the beef. You want good beef go to peter lugers in NYC. So far no fancy european steakhouse has compared with all the sauces they try to add on their beef.

Maybe you could try some Florentine beef. I ate here a few years ago and it was a hell of an experience.

https://www.dariocecchini.com/en/
 

shamans

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I think it is all about what you are comparing. I bet if you compare Publix to its European equivalent the quality would be similar. The difference, for me, is when it comes to restaurants. The quality of meats (mostly talking about charcuterie here, not steak/chops/etc.) we had while dining out in Europe beat the pants off almost everything but the high end places here in the states.


Some things in europe are much better like service and cleanliness of a restaurant and that adds to the experience. There are also certain dishes thats just better.

Though I do wonder if you were dining out at better restaurants than "the average"? Things on vacation often taste better when we're treating ourselves to the more premier restaurant

Anyway all comes.to personal experience I wasn't that impressed with some of the steaks there. They serve it with sauces -- bad! .
 

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Some things in europe are much better like service and cleanliness of a restaurant and that adds to the experience. There are also certain dishes thats just better.

Though I do wonder if you were dining out at better restaurants than "the average"? Things on vacation often taste better when we're treating ourselves to the more premier restaurant

Anyway all comes.to personal experience I wasn't that impressed with some of the steaks there. They serve it with sauces -- bad! .
Possibly. 2 of those trips were work related, so my local colleagues likely knew the best places to take us on the corporate dime. Similarly, our trip to Ireland was part of a small tour group with a local guide and we only went to small family run restaurants.

The one standout thing for me in both France and Ireland was how much better the butter was. Weird thing I know, but man.....
 

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Everything tastes like actual food instead of processed rubbish. It's cheaper too. Even a burger at McDs tastes different here.
Burgers at US McDs are awful. Most US beef is corn fed whereas other countries do grass fed, which is usually the reason for a different taste and quality.
 

shamans

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Possibly. 2 of those trips were work related, so my local colleagues likely knew the best places to take us on the corporate dime. Similarly, our trip to Ireland was part of a small tour group with a local guide and we only went to small family run restaurants.

The one standout thing for me in both France and Ireland was how much better the butter was. Weird thing I know, but man.....
I have a weird thing like that. I thought milk all over europe tasted better. Probably no logic to it. Cheese did for good reason though .

Also all the stuff about french bakeries definitely isn't a myth. Incredible bakeries.
 

calodo2003

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Possibly. 2 of those trips were work related, so my local colleagues likely knew the best places to take us on the corporate dime. Similarly, our trip to Ireland was part of a small tour group with a local guide and we only went to small family run restaurants.

The one standout thing for me in both France and Ireland was how much better the butter was. Weird thing I know, but man.....
I’ve had some Irish butter that almost begged for it to be eaten by itself in spoonfuls. So amazing.

Agree on the meat in Europe being better, probably due to the fact that we tend to eat our meat in America at chain restaurants (even high end chains will still find the least expensive highest quality to serve which reduces quality). Some stand alone steakhouses are beacons of meat, Bern’s in Tampa was a regular, bi-weekly haunt of mine for years, but for every Bern’s, there’s a Longhorn.

If anyone wants to treat themselves to the best beef in America, try this. It is the DRC of beef, literally nothing better inside this country...

https://www.flannerybeef.com/

Priced like DRC as well, but worth the splurge.
 

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I’ve had some Irish butter that almost begged for it to be eaten by itself in spoonfuls. So amazing.

Agree on the meat in Europe being better, probably due to the fact that we tend to eat our meat in America at chain restaurants (even high end chains will still find the least expensive highest quality to serve which reduces quality). Some stand alone steakhouses are beacons of meat, Bern’s in Tampa was a regular, bi-weekly haunt of mine for years, but for every Bern’s, there’s a Longhorn.

If anyone wants to treat themselves to the best beef in America, try this. It is the DRC of beef, literally nothing better inside this country...

https://www.flannerybeef.com/

Priced like DRC as well, but worth the splurge.
Since we are way off topic right now did you ever eat at Ocean Prime? I know it's a chain, but probably one of the best chain steaks I have had and their sweet chili calamari is one of my top 5 favorite appetizers. We were at the Tampa locations both times, so maybe other sites vary.
 

Grinner

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I just bought a lovely fresh out of the oven loaf, still warm, that I ate with delicious creamy butter. The bread was 59 cents and the butter 1.79. Americans are getting massively ripped off for massively inferior produce.
 

calodo2003

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Since we are way off topic right now did you ever eat at Ocean Prime? I know it's a chain, but probably one of the best chain steaks I have had and their sweet chili calamari is one of my top 5 favorite appetizers. We were at the Tampa locations both times, so maybe other sites vary.
Complete fluffer of a chain, a spot for Rombauer Chard drinking wanna-be MILF socialites.

Quality wise, poor overall.
 

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Complete fluffer of a chain, a spot for Rombauer Chard drinking wanna-be MILF socialites.

Quality wise, poor overall.
Interesting, I guess I got lucky on my 2 visits. Didn't hurt that both were sales meetings and I was not paying :)

Edit: Not lying about that calamari, that is quality.
 

calodo2003

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Interesting, I guess I got lucky on my 2 visits. Didn't hurt that both were sales meetings and I was not paying :)

Edit: Not lying about that calamari, that is quality.
I’ve always hated calamari wherever I have managed. Rubber bands can be dressed up to go to the ball, but in the end, they’re just rubber bands. But, they do offer a good profit margin & they can be absolute nail downs on a menu for the restaurant.

Calamari typically is of the same quality level, not that much variance. If cooked properly & gussied up well with the sauce containing some acidity to assist in continuing to break down the meat, it can be a good dish. Often times, recipes shy a bit away from this & the toughness can remain.
 

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Just came across the Libertarian party presidential debate. Surreal and almost unbelievable.

The real question for these guys should be should you be required to have automobile insurance. The licence, as Gary Johnson rightly points out, shows you have a degree of competence behind the wheel. I get the feeling that most libertarians like to talk about personal responsibility but would be the first to run in the event of an accident if they didn't have a licence or insurance.
 

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The real question for these guys should be should you be required to have automobile insurance. The licence, as Gary Johnson rightly points out, shows you have a degree of competence behind the wheel. I get the feeling that most libertarians like to talk about personal responsibility but would be the first to run in the event of an accident if they didn't have a licence or insurance.


A personal favourite of mine.
 

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A personal favourite of mine.
Yep. I was a "Libertarian" when in my teens (as if a teenager knows anything, especially back in the 90's) . Then I left my comfy bubble and was like "whoa, this shit don't work".
 

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calodo2003

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Love it. Can I send them a Costco sized package of toilet paper?

The amount of confederate monument bullshit down south is nauseating. Should take a torch/sledgehammer to all of it. Let them have gravestones to mark the dead, but the rest of it should become dust.
Especially when considering the vast majority of all the confederate fetishizing statutes, etc. started multiple decades after the war ended.
 

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The real question for these guys should be should you be required to have automobile insurance. The licence, as Gary Johnson rightly points out, shows you have a degree of competence behind the wheel. I get the feeling that most libertarians like to talk about personal responsibility but would be the first to run in the event of an accident if they didn't have a licence or insurance.
Darryl Perry had the best answer.
 

calodo2003

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It is crazy how backlogged the system is. I am awaiting a date for my case that stemmed from an incident two full years ago.
 

Caius

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The system is so broken (or perhaps working as designed depending on how cynical you are). I have spent some time working on jail/prison reform issues in California and it frankly strikes me as a blatant constitutional violation for so many people, supposedly innocent until proven guilty, to be held in pre-trial detention for extended lengths of time. I worked with a fair few people who had been held in pre-trial detention for longer periods of time than they could have actually been sentenced to if found guilty at trial.

Another crazy thing California did was to start placing federal convicts in state prisons, due to overloaded federal prisons. Of course now the state jails are overloaded, while they also receive less money and offer fewer services to inmates than federal prisons. Additionally, I spoke with officers at the jails who told me it was normal for guards to pull 16 hour shifts, take 8 hours off, and then do another 16 hours, which obviously leads to more misconduct by jails officials. Despite working with the ACLU, who are court-ordered monitors of LA jails (as part of a settlement regarding previous jails misconduct), it was extremely difficult for us to get any information from the jails officials, and we pretty much lacked any effective recourse to getting the runaround.

Bail reform/elimination would be a big help for reducing the number of people held in pre-trial detention (which, again, seems like a clear constitutional violation), but even in super-liberal California, the recent ballot proposal to eliminate bail failed 44%-56%. I hold out even less hope for reform in states that have more actively disenfranchised convicts.

On a philosophical note, I believe that all criminal justice should be a matter for the state, and thus private prisons should not exist - if the state wants to lock someone up, they can do it and pay for it themselves. I feel like this is a pretty nonpartisan viewpoint that liberals and conservatives could understand and support - wondering if anyone has a principled disagreement with that notion.
 

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Amazing stuff


...

Seeing as how it is Cotton, I am going to assume what he really meant was that "we have a lack of black people in slavery problem".

The events of this last 12 months really does feel like the GOP has hit rock bottom. They no longer have any real policy positions, they are running further and further to the right to pander to their shrinking base.

It seems like an end is inevitable, hopefully to the GOP, but maybe to our democracy (such as it is)??
 

langster

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You lot are absolutely pissing all over my fireworks. I've long dreamt of, and planned a visit to the States where I visit various places I've always wanted to go (NOT Vegas, I can't think of anywhere worse, and as I had a gaming addiction for years, probably a wise miss).


I've got realtives and friends I want to see, but one place I've always wanted to visit is New Orleans for the culture and especially the food.


I've always wanted to try the amazing Southern BBQ's and also a crawfish boil. Top of my list until she sadly passed away was to visit Dooky Chase restaurant and enjoy some gumbo and chicken and meet the amazing Leah Chase.

You feckers just destroyed a mans dreams!
 

langster

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Back on topic. The Republicans are shameless and obviously shaken by recent losses. The question is, will they be allowed to get away with all this? They always have before.
 

shamans

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You lot are absolutely pissing all over my fireworks. I've long dreamt of, and planned a visit to the States where I visit various places I've always wanted to go (NOT Vegas, I can't think of anywhere worse, and as I had a gaming addiction for years, probably a wise miss).


I've got realtives and friends I want to see, but one place I've always wanted to visit is New Orleans for the culture and especially the food.


I've always wanted to try the amazing Southern BBQ's and also a crawfish boil. Top of my list until she sadly passed away was to visit Dooky Chase restaurant and enjoy some gumbo and chicken and meet the amazing Leah Chase.

You feckers just destroyed a mans dreams!
The food is incredible. Trust me. You should go on a south east all the way to texas tour eating BBQ all over and flaky biscuits as a palette cleanser with some cheer wine mmmmmm
 

calodo2003

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Back on topic. The Republicans are shameless and obviously shaken by recent losses. The question is, will they be allowed to get away with all this? They always have before.
Will the poll watchers be armed?
 

calodo2003

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Its shit like this where Trump’s appointed judges could really feck my country over for decades.
 

Grinner

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You lot are absolutely pissing all over my fireworks. I've long dreamt of, and planned a visit to the States where I visit various places I've always wanted to go (NOT Vegas, I can't think of anywhere worse, and as I had a gaming addiction for years, probably a wise miss).


I've got realtives and friends I want to see, but one place I've always wanted to visit is New Orleans for the culture and especially the food.


I've always wanted to try the amazing Southern BBQ's and also a crawfish boil. Top of my list until she sadly passed away was to visit Dooky Chase restaurant and enjoy some gumbo and chicken and meet the amazing Leah Chase.

You feckers just destroyed a mans dreams!

New Orleans is horrible. French Quarter is just loads of fat, pissed-up wankers walking around stuffing their faces and being obnoxious.
 

WI_Red

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New Orleans is horrible. French Quarter is just loads of fat, pissed-up wankers walking around stuffing their faces and being obnoxious.
All true, but who cares. @langster, you need to go just for the food alone. My only advice would be to stay off bourbon street unless you just want to walk it to see the sights. You can get far better food in the area by picking a parallel street and walking it. Lots of good local food.. I covered NoLa for 7 years and despised the place after my 3rd or 4th trip. Still loved going for the food alone though.

I usually stayed near Tulane Medical Center since that is where I was working, so most of my go to's were in walking distance from there.

1. Breakfast at Mothers (black ham on a biscuit with scrambled eggs and chicory coffee)
2. Lunch (if needed) somewhere near campus. There was a good place of po boys and a suprisingly good pizza place (Reginellis) on Poydorss
3. Dinner: Where to begin.
- Usually started off at Drago's for wood grilled oysters and cocktails. The rest of food was blah.
- Then walked down to Canal and picked a street east of bourbon (Royal, Chartes or Decatur) and just looked to find something good.

Usually finished the night in a jazz club.

Again, stay off bourbon and you can find some amazing seafood. Well worth a visit.

Market District has some great food too and you can take the trolly uptown from the Medical Center area.