Why can't every restaurant have at least one Hamburger Helper dish on the menu?
I know, the boxed mixes with sauce that "thickens on standing" and the dried pasta to which one adds a pound of browned grinded up beef, are something of a blue-collar staple, at best. They're certainly not 5-star rated restaurant fare. In the first "Vacation" movie with Chevy Chase his poor relatives are seen grilling hamburgers with hamburger helper but no meat, just the helper.
Lots of people eat them at home, but why not elsewhere?
What can I say -- I love those things. There must be 40 flavors (click) not counting the tuna alternatives, which would make a great Friday special.
As young marrieds, my wife and I had them weekly, at least, when the kids were growing up because they were quick and good. When my kids got married and set up housekeeping on their own they introduced these things to their wives and kids who, much to their astonishment, liked them.
And so it goes.
But you never see them at a restaurant. You might see some sort of goulash thing, which is close, but that only rarely. Sadly, most restaurants these days serve food that is either grilled or deep-fried. Something that has to be browned, then simmered, must be too complicated.
There's a lot that's not on restaurant menus any more: baked apples used to be a staple, but no more. A while back my wife got a hankering for liver and onions -- think you can find that on any menu in Utah? Well, at Lamb's Grill in Salt Lake City you can, but almost nowhere else. If it's not deep-fried, it's not. Lamb's at least really cooks real food -- their menu includes Waldorf Salad, calf liver, trout (although not a whole trout that got boned at your table, like it used to be) and use to offer baked apples, but seems to have stopped those. The last two times we tried to order them we were told the apples were not in season.
But Hamburger Helper should be easy. The kitchen could make a couple boxes worth in advance and serve it up as needed. Run out? All you need to do is simmer it 10 minutes and there you are. And leftover are just as good nuked the next day.
How about a Hamburger Helper Restaurant franchise? Heck, I'd go.
An entire column of grousing that restaurants don't have hamburger helper selections on their menus? Good grief.... 'Tis rumored that retired folks, over time, may tend to grumpiness. But in one week?
ReplyDeleteP.S. The google registration insists on signing my posts here under a nom-du-post I haven't used in years. This is Bob Becker, who does not post anonymously.
ReplyDeleteAn entire comment grousing about my column. Everyone's a critic....say bob, aren't you retired too?