Chain restaurants as a comfort

I recently  had to fly down to Florida at the last minute (my grandmother died last week) and getting in the proper meals was something of a challenge because of the timing of everything.

The food at JFK was surprisingly varied.  The Ciba Express in the terminal sold alder smoked salmon for less than I can buy it at Price Chopper up here! The california rolls from the sushi bar weren't as good as the ones I get from Shaw's in Burlington, though (but then, I'm something of a sushi-heathen, I don't know if I've ever had what people would call 'good sushi').

When we hit Ocala (after an hour and a half drive from Orlando) we were starving and thirsty.  I hadn't really had time to do much research into local restaurants that would serve up good fare, so we tried Outback Steakhouse (first time in one).  We had Denny's for breakfast, and Chili's the night after that (which, it looks like, is owned by the same parent corp as Outback, and if they're not the same parent, someone should be suing someone over trademarks or something :).

My prime rib at Outback was decent and plenty filling for my protein hunger. The bloomin' onion was, well, eh, tolerable but I won't be ordering another one any time soon. My husband was a bit disappointed by the ribs he ordered there because the sauce was too sweet for his taste (and something else he couldn't  put his finger on), though they were well cooked and tender.  The fries were mediocre.

Breakfast at Denny's was exactly as expected. If a little bland.  Dinner at Chili's was decent and flavourful, and my Dad really enjoyed the salmon with citrus ginger sauce.

I've been thinking about these meals we had the last day or so, and realized that, even though they weren't outstanding as far as meals go, the restaurants themselves offered me a certain level of comfort.  I knew when we went to them that they'd manage to provide us with competent food that would do what I needed it to at the time. I didn't have to think about it too closely because even though different stores in the chains have differing levels of competence, the corporate structure does a lot towards minimizing that variance.

When your mind is full of emotional turmoil, it's helpful being able to at least rely on getting edible food that'll fill your tummy, if not your soul.

I really miss my grandmother's fried fish, though. *sigh*

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