Random Thoughts That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread Go Here

[Passacaglia]

How A Taqueria Connected To A Lincoln Park Gas Station Became Illinois' Top Taco Spot

[GrantDawg]

One of the oldest local Mexican restaurants (literally the first Mexican restaurant I ever ate at) decided they were no longer offering free chip baskets and salsa. That decision lasted one week. It has been a couple of months, and I still don't think they rebounded.

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[dubb93]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

One of the oldest local Mexican restaurants (literally the first Mexican restaurant I ever ate at) decided they were no longer offering free chip baskets and salsa. That decision lasted one week. It has been a couple of months, and I still don't think they rebounded.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

We had a bar and grill open here owned by Mexican owners with a Mexican name and it took several years for people to realize it’s not a “Mexican” restaurant. For the longest time I heard “they charge for chips and salsa!”

Yea, well, they also sell hamburgers and wings and have like 30 TVs to watch sports on. They are a sports bars.

Flash forward to today and they are one of the most successful restaurants in the area. They still sell mostly American food and charge for chips and salsa.

[Ghost Econ]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

A Chipotle opened in my town about 5 or 6 months ago. Since we're a small suburb of Lexington, we don't have a ton of newer chain restaurants. It's mostly BK, McD, Wendys, Arbys, Taco Bell, etc. So I want to support a new place that didn't have its heyday in the 70s. I haven't eaten at one of those fast food places since some point in 2023, at least (and I've never gone to the BK that's been open for at least a decade).

That said, the wife and I went to Chipotle for dinner and ordered 2 bowls with guac, a side of chips and salsa, and 2 drinks. $35 and change. WTF? Mexican is typically pretty cheap! I can go to Chuys in Lexington and eat a full meal with multiple free baskets of chips for about the same price, including tip. Or, I could go to one of the local Mexican places and pay even less.

That's insane. It was good, but at that price, they should just rename the place Mexican Panera.

Moe's is basically the Tex-Mex, Chipotle is the Tex-Mex Jimmy Johns. My daughter loves Chipotle (and Moe's) but it just does nothing for me at that price. Of course, she refuses to eat at the random taquerias in town because they generally don't have chips and salsa.

[cuervo72]

Bah, guac is the biggest upsell at places like Chipotle. (FWIW, I always call Cava “Mediterranean Chipotle”.) When we get it I get a chicken bowl (now 9.10), my wife the veggie bowl which comes with guac (also 9.10). No chips, no drinks. Always to go, of course. (There is no point in eating AT a fast casual place).

Now, that’s not all that often, mind you. We will usually just go to the Salvadoran place across the street from Chipotle or the Mexican palace essentially around the corner from our development. (And she prefers Cava anyway.)

[cartman]

Picked up a 12 pack of the 7UP Zero Shirley Temples. Not bad at all.

[Lathum]

Growing up my family never did Mexican food, like, ever. I never even heard of guac until I started working at TGI Fridays when I was 21.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

One of the oldest local Mexican restaurants (literally the first Mexican restaurant I ever ate at) decided they were no longer offering free chip baskets and salsa. That decision lasted one week. It has been a couple of months, and I still don't think they rebounded.

FAFO, restaurant addition.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by cartman

Picked up a 12 pack of the 7UP Zero Shirley Temples. Not bad at all.

Not yet at our Kroger.

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by cartman

Picked up a 12 pack of the 7UP Zero Shirley Temples. Not bad at all.

Isn't that just cherry 7-up? I saw it at the grocery store and was intrigued but passed for the Voo-Dew which is odd.

[cartman]

There is a definite pomegranate flavor that you get from it

[Ksyrup]

Right, it's the grenadine that makes it a Shirley Temple.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Growing up my family never did Mexican food, like, ever. I never even heard of guac until I started working at TGI Fridays when I was 21.

Us as well, at least sort of. We definitely would get the taco kits and make those at home. We just never went to a Mexican restaurant. My first time was as a teenager with a friend's family. I was scared to eat the chips because I was afraid they would charge me.

Same was true of Chinese. First time having Chinese was as a teenager on a double date. It was the "fanciest" place in town. No, it was not fancy. To us it was though. They had table cloths and cloth napkins!
I so grew up as a hillbilly.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

Us as well, at least sort of. We definitely would get the taco kits and make those at home. We just never went to a Mexican restaurant. My first time was as a teenager with a friend's family. I was scared to eat the chips because I was afraid they would charge me.

Same was true of Chinese. First time having Chinese was as a teenager on a double date. It was the "fanciest" place in town. No, it was not fancy. To us it was though. They had table cloths and cloth napkins!
I so grew up as a hillbilly.

I have a whole ... essay(?) ... about my first trip to a Mexican restaurant. A significant milestone event in my life, probably somewhere between 18-21.

Now you got me wondering about my first Chinese restaurant though. My murky memory says it was probably a lunch buffet joint somewhere around the time I was 23-25.

[RainMaker]

You are not a proper Mexican restaurant if there is not a bowl of fresh salsa and chips at the table.

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Growing up my family never did Mexican food, like, ever. I never even heard of guac until I started working at TGI Fridays when I was 21.

Growing up, there was literally one Mexican restaurant in the entire state (Maine). I remember going and it was a big deal. But I'm reasonably sure they did not have guac (it was likely a Tex Mex place, i.e. hard shell tacos and enchiladas, etc... we're talking over 40 years ago now, cut me some slack).

[Lathum]

I can’t believe there are people who do all their shopping at Whole Foods. I just got 6 cupcakes and 4 crowns and it was $20.

[stevew]

Are Meatloaf impersonators a thing? If not, they should be.

[PilotMan]

Does my wife's vegan meatloaf count?

[GrantDawg]

I was just watching an old guitar player reacting to the Spottily Top Global list. This was from a month ago, but what struck me (and him) there was no rap or hip-hop in the top ten. Also, how heavy the 70's and 80's influence was with all the songs. You hear it especially with Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Billie Ellish as well. Heavy guitar influences, and rock riffs. Of course I might be alone of the old dudes her, but I am really digging some of the new pop. It has been a while since I have said that.

[Lathum]

Being in the car a lot with an 11 year old girl I’m starting to enjoy Olivia Rodrigo and of course swift.

[Ksyrup]

I'm fortunate to no longer have kids in the house so I can't hear any of it. About the only song I thought was decent that I've heard over the past few years is that Watermelon Sugar song. I thought that song was a bit different than the usual pop song.

[Kodos]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Being in the car a lot with an 11 year old girl I’m starting to enjoy Olivia Rodrigo and of course swift.

Olivia Rodrigo is legitimately good.

[Ksyrup]

I see why Taylor Swift is popular and she's obviously talented, but I'm confused by how anyone over like 25-30ish relates in any way to it. It seems like 90% HS/20-something relationship songs. It's like adults who are obsessed with Disney. I just don't get it.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

I see why Taylor Swift is popular and she's obviously talented, but I'm confused by how anyone over like 25-30ish relates in any way to it. It seems like 90% HS/20-something relationship songs. It's like adults who are obsessed with Disney. I just don't get it.

You don't really need to relate to it, the songs are catchy and easy to sing along to

[flere-imsaho]

[Ksyrup]

When the lyrics are so out in front (as is the case with most pop music), it's impossible not to understand the context of the song. While I certainly appreciate catchy songs (see: Matthew Sweet, sadly in the news recently), there's got to be more. For me, anyway.

There is not a chance in hell I would be moved to sing along to a Taylor Swift song. But I generally don't like nice things, so that's probably the answer. *shurg*

[cuervo72]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I was just watching an old guitar player reacting to the Spottily Top Global list. This was from a month ago, but what struck me (and him) there was no rap or hip-hop in the top ten. Also, how heavy the 70's and 80's influence was with all the songs. You hear it especially with Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Billie Ellish as well. Heavy guitar influences, and rock riffs. Of course I might be alone of the old dudes her, but I am really digging some of the new pop. It has been a while since I have said that.

I was commenting on the top 100 recently on the LearnedLeague forum. I don’t really listen to new music, but it does come up in trivia. It struck me that there is a proliferation of songs “featuring” someone else; I think 9 of the 100 were billed as X featuring Y. I don’t remember this being a thing before. (Yes, artists would sometimes cameo - Sting with Dire Straits, MJ with Rockwell, etc. — but it wasn’t credited.) This isn’t including duets.

Something entirely missing from the charts? Groups of any sort.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by cuervo72

I was commenting on the top 100 recently on the LearnedLeague forum. I don’t really listen to new music, but it does come up in trivia. It struck me that there is a proliferation of songs “featuring” someone else; I think 9 of the 100 were billed as X featuring Y. I don’t remember this being a thing before. (Yes, artists would sometimes cameo - Sting with Dire Straits, MJ with Rockwell, etc. — but it wasn’t credited.) This isn’t including duets.

Something entirely missing from the charts? Groups of any sort.

"features" have been a growing thing - across multiple music genres - in the past decade (give or take). There's times when I've seen it approach half of the pop top 40 (and I only look at those a few times a year) and it can easily reach at least 10/40 in rock pretty regularly now.

[Ksyrup]

Yeah, and it wreaks havoc with my artist/album set-up in my car and on my phone because under "artist" it separates songs by "artist" and "artist featuring X," "artist featuring Y," etc.

It became a thing when MP3 singles became the primary selling vehicle. People didn't want albums anymore, they could easily buy singles, and it put a premium on name recognition.

[stevew]

Chappell Roan is kind of a turd but writes catchy bangers.

[Ksyrup]

That's a name I'd never heard until a few days ago and all of a sudden I've heard it multiple times. I dont know why.

[Ksyrup]

We've had the second-driest October on record - .22 inches of rain - and our first real chance of rain since Helene is going to be from 5pm to 10pm on Thursday. Plus 30-40mph winds. Of course. Prime trick-or-treat time here.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by GrantDawg

I was just watching an old guitar player reacting to the Spottily Top Global list. This was from a month ago, but what struck me (and him) there was no rap or hip-hop in the top ten. Also, how heavy the 70's and 80's influence was with all the songs. You hear it especially with Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan. Billie Ellish as well. Heavy guitar influences, and rock riffs. Of course I might be alone of the old dudes her, but I am really digging some of the new pop. It has been a while since I have said that.

Was it this guy?

https://www.youtube.com/@RickBeato

Sometimes I glaze over when he goes through some music theory but I enjoy his "lists".

[Edward64]

Reading about all the restaurants, brought back some memories. When we moved here, it wasn't near as developed. Only ethnic restaurant was Chinese with an Ingles and think the Kroger was just opening up.

Over the years, the ethnic food scene evolved

Chinese --> Mexican, Indian --> Japanese --> Vietnamese --> More Indian

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Was it this guy?

https://www.youtube.com/@RickBeato

Sometimes I glaze over when he goes through some music theory but I enjoy his "lists".

Yeah, I've watched some of his song breakdowns. He's good. And I think he also shares my opinion of Watermelon Sugar. I'm sure he has some sort of breakdown about why it's better-crafted than the typical pop song.

I also thoroughly enjoy Drumeo videos where they take a drummer from one genre and give them a song they don't know from another genre, without the drum parts, and have them create their own drum parts for it. And then at the end, they play them the original as a comparison.

Those videos are fun as hell and really give you an appreciation for how skilled a lot of musicians are even if they're more known for playing less than technical/challenging music. One I watched recently was the drummer from 5 Seconds of Summer playing a Megadeth song. He did well. He also made it clear he would absolutely not want to play at that effort level every night on tour.

[Edward64]

I'm not a musician but how do singers, guitarists, drummers etc. remember all that stuff when playing? I don't think they have sheets of music etc. when they're playing live.

I mean heck, even in my prime doing IT implementations, I still had to refer to documentation to remember stuff we needed to do.

Is it that they just play/rehearse it so much they remember?

[Ksyrup]

Yes. Although the older you get, the more help you need. I've seen older singers, especially, use monitors up front for lyrics. When I saw Judas Priest this summer, for every new-ish song in their set list, Halford was up front head down, wailing away. He was also very clearly reading the lyrics. The older songs he'd performed thousands of times for decades, he was freely roaming the stage.

On Drumeo, Greg Bissonnette was one of the drummers they featured. He's an older, hair metal drummer (performed with DLR, Joe Satriani, etc.), and the way he tackled his song on that show was amazing. He had a hand-held white board and charted out the sections in real time to try to figure out how many bars in each section and time signature, etc. I think he did a System of a Down song. It was fascinating to watch.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Was it this guy?

https://www.youtube.com/@RickBeato

Sometimes I glaze over when he goes through some music theory but I enjoy his "lists".

It was! It was the first time I have saw one of his videos, but I enjoyed his breakdown.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Reading about all the restaurants, brought back some memories. When we moved here, it wasn't near as developed. Only ethnic restaurant was Chinese with an Ingles and think the Kroger was just opening up.

Over the years, the ethnic food scene evolved

Chinese --> Mexican, Indian --> Japanese --> Vietnamese --> More Indian

Same here, but the varied explosion is just now happening. We had Chinese, Japanese and Mexican options, but just in the last 3 years we have gotten Vietnamese, Thai, Korean, Indian. The Indian place just in the last three months.

[Edward64]

Sorry, forgot Thai. So more like

Chinese --> Mexican, Indian --> Thai --> Japanese --> Vietnamese --> More Indian

[GrantDawg]

dola: Oh, and we had an Lebanese-Meterranian place open about 6 months ago. I think thy might have moved away from that, though. It was such a strange location for it, and the names made it sound more like a sports bar than a upscale restaurant. I think they have switch over to being a sports bar after people kept complaining.


Edit: Just checked. They still have the upscale resturant, but they have split the place and have the sports bar as other half.

[Edward64]

No thread for healthcare so putting this here ...

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dental-...ref=biztoc.com

Dentists are pulling healthy and treatable teeth to profit from implants, experts warn

In interviews, 10 experts said they had each given second opinions to multiple patients who had been recommended for mouths full of implants that the experts ultimately determined were not necessary.

I'm going through the extraction/implant process right now. A tooth has been extracted and I'll get an implant in Jan or Feb (not chewing very well right now). This implant was discussed like 5 years ago, I was hesitant, Dentist said I could try a root canal but would not guarantee it would "work" long term. It didn't so 5 years later, going with his original suggestion.

Several years ago, my daughter's dentist freaked me/wife out. Dentist said daughter needed to get a bunch veneers for her teeth. I forget how much but it was a LOT. We didn't mind paying if daughter really needed it but didn't sound right to me so got a second opinion from my Dentist who said it wasn't that bad. We never went back to daughter's dentist.

Bottom-line. If your dentist is recommending multiple implants, root canals, veneers etc. get a second opinion for sure.

[Lathum]

Dentists are shady AF.

We went to one for about 4 years when we moved back to NJ and spent well over 15K out of pocket for things we "needed" including veneers every time

I finally got tired of it when they told me my 9 year old had 7 cavities and needed 4K worth of work. We went to a dentist my buddy recommended and he said she didn't need any work and had a couple small cavities in baby teeth that were going to come out soon. Been seeing that dentist ever since and have spent literally $0 out of pocket.

[NobodyHere]

You're an anti-dentite

[Kodos]

You anti-dentite bastard!

[Lathum]

I just ordered this for my daughters catchers helmet

Sorry! Something went wrong!

[RainMaker]

I feel like the ratio of chicken to turkey meals we see is too big. We need more turkey options outside of Thanksgiving and cold cuts.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I just ordered this for my daughters catchers helmet

Sorry! Something went wrong!

Ha!

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

I feel like the ratio of chicken to turkey meals we see is too big. We need more turkey options outside of Thanksgiving and cold cuts.

Turkey kinda sucks, although I like it for cold cuts (I usually get peppered or smoked or what-not). But don't forget jurassic turkey legs at amusement parks. They count too.