OPINION: Can Specials be too Special?

One of my favorite joys in life is to go out to eat. Either at one of my favorite restaurants, or trying out a new place that has just opened up. Most restaurants will offer a special of the day or night, depending on your dining time. I like to hear what is offered as the special. Sometimes it is a fresh catch shipment of fish that was received earlier that day, or it's a one-time offering of the chef's favorite dish or new creation. More than half the time, I end up ordering the special.

Now there have been times when the server will start rattling off the specials, and they just keep going and going and going. I was at one Italian restaurant here in Seattle, and I swear the server listed half of the menu as the specials. Now like I stated earlier, a special should be something new, or a chef's favorite, or something that will only be offered for a limited-time.

This particular restaurant had two to three specials for each type of pasta they offered. The server was at our table for over five minutes going through the long, never-ending list of specials. Not only does a long list like that dilute the whole purpose of a "special", but the server had to waste so much time at each table describing each dish when they could have been helping other customers. The server could have just sat down and gone over the entire menu with us, because she basically did! I thought it was ridiculous that the restaurant had so many specials, and the so-called specials were just their normal dishes that are offered on their menu, so there really isn't anything "special" about them.

In my opinion, a good restaurant should only offer up to two specials on any given night. The specials should be something new, exciting and fresh! It shouldn't be something that is already on the menu. They are called specials for a reason. The next time I go to this Italian restaurant, if there will even be a next time, I will just politely tell the server that we do not need to hear the specials. We will just read them off the menu.

What do you think? Should a restaurant offer a huge list of specials, or are a couple just fine?

OPINION: Hey chain restaurants, stay off of my streets!! Leave Food Trucks Alone!

Some cities like Los Angeles, New York and Portland have rich food truck histories. Their food trucks are part of their food culture. In the past several years, the food truck craze has been spreading across the country. Seattle is a good example. The number of food trucks keeps multiplying each year. So much so, Seattle has been the host of several Mobile Chowdowns, which even featured food trucks from Portland. I'm a huge fan of food trucks and have attended a few of the Mobile Chowdowns.

Now some of the chain restaurants want to get in on the food truck action. Jack In The Box introduced its Jack's Munchie Mobile back in March in Southern California. Does Jack In The Box really need to get into the food truck business? Jack In The Box has over 900 brick-and-mortar restaurants in California alone! Do we really need a food truck like this showing up at food festivals, block parties and neighborhood blocks when you can find a Jack In The Box restaurant just about wherever you go?

Jack In The Box Munchie Mobile

Applebee's in Colorado rolled out its first food truck at its Colorado Burger contest. The Applebee's food truck is going to travel across Colorado. Yet again, do we really need an Applebee's food truck? Just like Jack In The Box, there are plenty of Applebee's restaurants throughout the country. In my opinion, any chain restaurant should stick to their brick-and-mortar restaurants. Chain restaurants and fast food chains make mass produced, processed, unoriginal food. Most of the food is bland and very unhealthy. It's bad enough that a lot of people drive to these places and eat this food, but now these chains are going to be driving through our neighborhoods trying to sell this slop to us? Most Americans are overweight as it is. Do we really need to make the access even easier to this fatty food? I think not.

Applebee's executive chef Shannon Johnson in front of Applebee's Colorado's new food truck.

Seattle has a lot of great food trucks: Maximus/Minimus, Marination Mobile, Skillet, Where Ya At Matt, El Camion, Pai's, Rancho Bravo Tacos, and many, many more! These food trucks offer fresh ingredients that are turned into amazing, original, and very tasty meals. Not to mention, they are all local businesses. Last month, the Seattle City Council approved a bill that allows food trucks to do business on the street. Previously food trucks were only allowed on private property. The bill also allows food carts to sell more kinds of food. This is all good news to food truck owners in Seattle. Hopefully this will spur on even more food trucks, just not already established fast food chains and other restaurants who have no business moving into town with their own food trucks.

Skillet

Maximus/Minimus

Marination Mobile