My comments on the dishes/restaurants, btw:
PF Chang’s - Am I the only one who doesn’t care much for that place? I admit they use better-than-average ingredients, and the meals I’ve had there were well-prepared for a chain restaurant. But I don’t get the heavy westernization of the dishes. It’s like Chinese food for people who don’t really like Chinese food?
Baja Fresh - never heard of the place, but I have yet to find a chain restaurant that could serve Mexican food as good as the honest-to-goodness Mexicans who run the taco stands and trucks in my area. Molettes, freshly made tortillas for the chile verde tacos, and so on.
IHOP- I gotta admit, that country breakfast looks mighty good. Everything is better with gravy!
I can make fried rice as good or better than any Asian restaurant. The secret is ginger.
I’ve never had gravy at a fast food joint that’s any good. I think they use corn starch and certainly don’t use pork fat.
Denny’s never seems fresh to me.