Daily Loaf

There’s only one of Harold Seltzer’s (of Sam Seltzer fame) new Cuban sandwich chain concept, but it’s already good enough — and authentic enough — to put Tampa’s handheld icon on the map the way Outback popularized Australia’s traditional deep-fried whole onion.

4424 W. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa, 813-287-6662, finestcubansandwich.com.

Maybe you haven’t done it. Maybe you have. Or maybe you’ve never even thought about it.

I have been known on several occasions to turn my “to-go beverage” from Chick-Fil-A or Panera Bread into a traveling drink. It starts like this…

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How’d your Hallmark V-Day go? The only thing I learned out of the experience was that all-natural grape soda and low-end sparkling wine makes for a pretty snazzy little spritzer.

But, at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday night, Feb. 14, I happened to go online for a few minutes and noticed some alarming results on Google Trends. The hottest search term people were punching frantically into their computers at that point was “Olive Garden“. Also in the top ten: “Longhorn Steakhouse”, “Texas Roadhouse”, “Applebees menu”, “Outback”, “Red Lobster”, and “cooking lobster tails”. Really, if it’s 6 p.m. on Valentine’s Day and that’s where your at, just order a pizza and put a bow on the box.

Scarily enough, the Top 100 also included “venereal disease”, “how to lose a guy in 10 days”, and “1996 world cup of hockey”. Huh.

For the full list of Valentine’s Top 100 Google search terms, check after the break: Read the rest of this entry »

I have always thought the people who eat inside Sam’s Club, Target or Wal-Mart are a little….odd. (Like the people in this picture to the right. I don’t know who they are, but they appear to be enjoying themselves.)

It’s strange that these large stores have restaurants inside them in the first place. They aren’t a mall, we don’t spend all day there – why the heck do we need weird food there? My local Target has a Starbucks, Pizza Hut and their own branded food items in the store. Our local Sam’s Club uses their own brand for everything.

Probably the most unusual thing of all is that some people go to these stores just to eat at the “restaurant” inside. There is no atmosphere, no service, and the food is mediocre at best.

We are members at Sam’s Club and every time we pay and we’re waiting for our receipt to be checked my wife turns to me and says, “We should get Sam’s Club Pizza, it’s really good.”

In my brain I have always thought, “That sounds disgusting, there is no way in hell I’m eating pizza from Sam’s Club.” However, I usually say something along the lines of, “Oh, ya we should sometime” (very noncommittal).

Be warned, what I am about to tell you next may horrify and alarm you… Read the rest of this entry »

In the inaugural episode of Nosh Pit, CL food editor Brian Ries and Cl wine editor Taylor Eason talk about Barack Obama’s first meal as president, plus new restaurant openings in the bay area and the worst of the worst chain restaurants:

Download.