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tesg's guide to big chain road food consumption
CHAIN -- Huddle
House Wife #1 learned everything she needed to know in romance novels. One day, she read about Huddle House. "Hey dear?" "What." "Is there a chain called 'Huddle House'?" "Huh?" "It's in my book that I'm reading." "What is?" "Huddle House." "Hold, please." "Meow." "Go away, cat." "Wow. They have, like, 400 stores. They look like a Waffle House rip-off." "Really? Where are they?" They're in Waffle House territory, of course. John Sparks started the chain in 1964 "to provide a place for high school football fans of Decatur, Georgia to 'huddle up' and eat after Friday night games." The same page on their website that says this ALSO says the goal was to create a 24-hour restaurant that franchises. A banking group purchased the chain in 1994. "Huddle up", by the way, is a phrase used by servers to announce an order to the line. Huddle
House initially appears to be a total Waffle House rip-off, and in some ways it
is. It’s a similar layout, but
it’s bigger and has a more colorful décor.
The menu is more like Denny’s with multiple pages of breakfast, burgers, sandwiches, and dinners. On my first visit, 80's music played in the background as the cook spoke some of the words of the music out loud, then added his own twist to them as the song plays. Literally everybody eating here at this hour (5am) knew each other and the staff. They probably come here every day. I get the impression his isn't exactly a "fresh-made daily" type place. The first time I ordered chili, the cook went in the back, came out with some chili in a stained plastic container, stuck it in the microwave, heated it up, poured it in a bowl, and served it. It looked like something straight out of a can. And it was fabulous. Seriously...It was similar to Steak n Shake in flavor and texture, and Steak n Shake is my favorite chili anywhere. But I've since decided it's made in the restuarant becuase only once since has any Huddle House replicated that batch. I've also seen it prepped in different ways. Sometimes there's a warmer bin with chili always at the ready, and once that plastic container came out (different location), and the cook put the chili in a sauce pan and heated it up on the grill. If that isn't enough to say "your mileage may vary", I also had a bowl at a Huddle House in Indianapolis that was clearly made from a completely different recipe. It beared no resemblence whatsoever to Huddle House chili. It looked and tasted more like Wendy's chili, actually. Everything else I've had was okay...nothing terribly spectacular. Some burgers and patty melts have had really dry, overcooked, beef. They know how to cook eggs. They know how to make biscuits and gravy. Speaking of which....WOW do they use a lot of gravy. There must have been a ladle of gravy for each biscuit half. The chili is my favorite thing to get there. Nine times out of ten, I order nothing but a bowl of chili and a Pepsi. Anyway,
if you find yourself reading a reference to them in a bad romance novel, that's
who they are. I'm sure you'll sleep better knowing that, and have more
time to pet your annoying cat.
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