Before we go any further, I have a confession to make. I like my local Applebee's, but not for the food. I've been there hundreds of times, yet I can count the number of meals I've eaten there on one hand. With the sole exception of the burger, I usually regret ordering anything there.
The real reason I go is simple: there are hardly any watering holes in Rego Park, Queens. Lest any of my fellow Slashfoodies, or God forbid my legions of fans, think me anything less than hip for bending my elbow at a chain restaurant, please be aware that such celebs as Joey Ramone's mother have been known to eat at the very same place. Really, it's true she hails from nearby Forest Hills.
So it certainly wasn't the Huge Flavor campaign involving Food Network star Tyler Florence that drew me to Applebee's last month. Although I must admit that that hearing that two dear friends of mine had sampled some items from the new menu sparked a torrent of conflicting emotions: sympathy, jealousy, Schadenfreude, and a sense of professional envy. Hovering above all of this was a lingering dread, since as a fellow gourmand and food writer I knew I would have to take one for the team.
The next thing I noticed, after Ty-Flo's huge leering form, was that the menu copy is hellafunny. This is largely because it's written in the first person. Take the description of the Crispy Brick Chicken: "I split a tender petite chicken and press it flat directly against a red-hot grill." OK, maybe that's not that funny, but the idea of our boy Ty-Flo working his butt off in the back is at once utterly ridiculous and impossible. I can just imagine the exchange; "Garçon, get Tyler out here. The bacon dressing for my chicken is ice cold!"
After perusing the menu, I settled on the Penne Rosa with Sweet Italian Sausage. This decision was informed by several factors: my Italian heritage; it actually sounded good; and a delusion that Ty-Flo was in fact actually sweating it out in the kitchen, personally making my pasta, waiting to "top it off with sweet Italian sausage." I got a good laugh out of the barmaid when I told her to make sure that Tyler made it al dente.
Apparently he didn't listen, the penne was a tad overdone, but as a whole the dish wasn't bad. Perhaps it's out of some form of professional embarassment that the food review part of this piece comes at the end. But I have to admit, the tomatoes in the cream sauce did taste fresh. So what if the peas were frozen, the sausage wasn't grilled enough to make it crispy and the black pepper wasn't thoroughly mixed in. It's still probably one of the best things I'll ever eat at Applebee's. Ty-Flo has helped them discovered simple Italian pastas. Bravo!
A quick word of advice to Joey's mom and others of a similar age. You may wish to take your heart meds before viewing the video of Ty-Flo on the Applebee's web site.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-09-2006 @ 11:42AM
T. Allen said...
The Applebee's where you live must be worse than average. Ours is not bad. Of course, I only eat there once, maybe twice a year. I tried some of the Tyler Florence menu not too long ago. I had the burger. First, it came without any cheese!!!! Can you imagine? Then, the kitchen argued with me. My server had to take the menu to the cook to get him to put mozzarella on my sandwich. That said, the best part of the meal was the fries. Love the spices.
Other than that, it was a pretty average burger. I was not wowed by the flavor-as in, what flavor?
If I have to eat at Applebees, I usually go with a steak, med-rare. Pretty easy, so they don't generally do too bad.
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10-09-2006 @ 12:21PM
K said...
in forest hills, you can check out the cajun place..."Mardis Gras" on austin st. the food (from what i recalled) is pretty good, and they have a full bar on the groundn floor as well.
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10-09-2006 @ 12:26PM
K said...
uggg, i didn't realize you needed a real email address...anyways...heres my comment again.
In forest hills, theres a place on austin st, "Mardis Gras" the food is pretty good, and theres a full bar on the first floor. save yourself from applebees =)
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10-09-2006 @ 2:14PM
RobynT said...
i ate at applebee's once, last year after moving from somewhere with no applebee's. i was so excited from the commercials but it was super gross. the healthiest thing on our table was buffalo wings. i would eat them to get a break from the grease.
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10-09-2006 @ 7:43PM
evan d. said...
There is an Applebees within 5 minutes of me, the last time I ate there was 1999. No other chain sit-down restaurant actually turns me off with their commercials.
"Yeah, our food is below average...but it's in a bowl!"
evan
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10-10-2006 @ 11:35AM
Laura said...
Ty-Flo, now that's hilarious!
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10-30-2006 @ 11:16AM
Jason said...
I sampled the Ty-Flo menu recently and found the food to be at least servicable. Apparently, the Applebee's execs are hell bent on emphasizing the taste of their food rather than the size of the portions. This would explain why they're bludgeoning us over the head with an absurd tagline like "huge flavor." At one point our waitress came by and asked us, "How's everything tasting so far?" Okay, I get it! Sheesh! How about a theme menu called "huge subtlety"?
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11-10-2006 @ 12:30PM
Tom said...
Tyler should donate part of his salary from Applebee's to a charity. He is stealing money if "his" bruschetta burger represents "his recipes". Why would you want to put cheese on the bottom of a burger. Melt the gd cheese on top of the burger so the topping sticks to the burger. You only put something on the bottom of a bun if you want to hide it. The stupid garlic parmesan cheese fries were lame at best. Toss the fries in a real garlic butter, not some manufactured bs mix, place the fries on a sizzler platter, spread liberly with real parm cheese not the crap that Applebees uses, melt the cheese and slide the fries off the sizzle platter onto the plate with the bogus burger. Don't serve the fries in a stupid ramekin with plastic parm cheese shaved over it. Totally lame product from a so called "tv chef".
Whatever
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12-04-2006 @ 3:41PM
sal scarcella said...
i have enjoyed tyler florence s cooking program i love to cook and would like very much to be on his show i am a senior citzen italian american and have been cooking since i was fourteen born and raised in nyc ill keep my fingers crossed keep cooking sal scarcella
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