Twixlen wrote >>
Also - I asked about Mom & Pop places here... as a test (since we're eating at some place called "Cheddars" tonight - should be interesting... think it's a chain?), and he said that there were some around, but that they weren't open for supper. And never open on Sundays.
Yeah, in some places, a chain with enough backing for a decent operation represents a major raising of the bar. In other places (C-bus) that same operation sails cleanly (but safely) under the bar.
As far as chedders goes, it's interchangeable with a lot of other similar chains. You'll get a predictably average meal. Probably find something on the menu you easily recognize.
Which pretty much brings back the point I think the OP was making: The bar here has been raised. Nothin' wrong with going to chedders if that's really what you want, but we do give visitors the opportunity to try something nice they might not find elsewhere, for a similar price, that a local can recommend (like Basi, or Tip Top). It just always seems like it would be more FUN to take someone to experience something they can't get 'back home' instead of the same-old-same-old.
I try to find places like that wherever I go. But twixlen is absolutely correct; in some places that's just about as far as the bar has been raised. When I've been working out of town those "known safe" options are really welcome, especially after a long day when you just want to grab a quick bite and then crawl into a hotel and crash.