Popeye’s

The Definition Of Insanity

It’s often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. This has been most commonly attributed to Albert Einstein, but the quote is much more contemporary. Some research done by Michael Becker, an editor at the Bozeman (Montana) Daily Chronicle, discovered that it is really from the 80’s.

Neither Klamath Falls or Medford had a Popeye’s, but in our new hometown of Fairview, there are couple of them within 3 miles of us. In spite of our checkered past with the franchise we do remember their food fondly.

A couple weeks ago we headed over to Gresham to restock our cannabis supply and what was right next door, but a Popeye’s. It was a little past 11:00 AM, but we opted to head over and get our lunch to take home. Donna ordered a couple of chicken strips with a side of red beans and rice while I went for the chicken sandwich combo. Most of our troubles in the past with these guys was order related, but the drive-thru experience wasn’t too bad. Trouble came when we got home. While her chosen meal was good, but mine no so much, the chicken was obviously left over from the day before and dropped back in the fryer. The breading was very dark and the meat tough and chewy.

Today we decided to try the one that is actually 1/2 mile closer to our front door even though it was not a stand alone store, but inside a truck stop off I-84. We took it as a good sign when there were 3 people in line ahead of us and no one in line at the Subway it shared a spot inside with. The line moved fairly quickly and it didn’t take long to get our food. This was a dine in meal and we ordered a combo meal of popcorn shrimp (for me) with 2 tenders (for her), a side red beans & rice (for her) and a biscuit (for me.) The shoe was on the other foot today, my shrimp were hot and fresh while her tenders, not as dark as my sandwich from before, was either double fried or cooked several hours ago and bathed by a heat lamp for hours as the breading was rock hard and the meat tough.

Call us crazy, but in a couple weeks we’ll probably try the Gresham location again at lunch time and see what happens.

Rule #1

“Cardio”

Part of it is we have found other interests, part of it is time, part of it is age and when you get right down to it, all those are really the same reason. We used to ride thousands of mile a year, but now we are down to just hundreds. Now we are happy to get out at least on one weekend day and get in a 10-15 mile ride. There is hope that when the weather cools a bit we might stretch the mileage and maybe add a week day commute to the Valve Store. We still like to walk in the woods, but that pales in comparison to the cardio work out you get from bike ride.

Today we managed to get in a dozen miles surrounded by a biscuit breakfast at Popeye’s (whose service still sucks, even in the morning when you are the only customer in the joint.)

Started up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 783

Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez

We took this afternoon off and had intended to go home and eat lunch before heading out, but didn’t make it, we ended up eating at Popeyes. Longtime readers will know that Popeyes and the Bogardi have a checkered past and will wonder just what the heck we were doing there again considering our history there. The rest of you will now be able to ask that question the next time we eat there, which will probably be during a weak moment several months from now.

It was 11:45 and before the lunch crowd so I walked right up and placed an order. We decided to split a #9 meal, popcorn shrimp with 3 catfish strips, dirty rice, a biscuit and a medium drink. Donna filled the drink and found a table while I waited near the counter for our lunch. There was already someone there waiting for his lunch and soon we were joined by a number of other diners as the order takers were more efficient than the order makers. Well, really, order maker because there was only one of him.

If you ordered chicken you were in luck because that was ready, but as usual, anything else needed to be cooked. I could see our order half filled sitting there with the rice and shrimp as we waited on the catfish. Donna by this time had joined all of us near the counter to chat up the poor guy who was waiting when we walked in and still was. Turns out he was waiting on a couple of po’boys. After about 6-7 minutes more his sandwiches were done and the lady tossed an apple pie in his bag for having to wait so long.

We were next and she put a couple of pies on our tray too, but tried to hand us red beans & rice instead of dirty rice. She corrected that and we headed for a table. Once seated Donna had to go back up to get some of the promised tartar sauce and an extra spork for the rice. Wasn’t until we were done that we realized we didn’t get a biscuit either. By then we didn’t want it either. We split one of the apple pie things and gave the second one away to a fellow sitting behind us.

Dinner was also Naw’lins style but a much nicer experience. Then again we have never had a bad meal at Razzo’s in Concord, NC. Donna had a shrimp po’boy and I had my favorite Andouille/Red Beanz ‘N’ Rice. I wish this place was closer to Aiken as I’d like to eat here once a week or so. Probably get old after a while, but I’d like to find out how long that would take. Tomorrow we will drop in at Razzoo’s again to pick up an order of Rat Toes to go. There is someone back in Aiken (Hi Mark) who would be very unhappy If I didn’t bring him back some.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/08: 225

The 3 B’s

Tonight we (Donna) decided on a whim to head on down to HHI early, so we quick like a bunny packed the car and heaed southeast. We were already going to go down for the weekend anyway, but plan was to eat a breakfast of oversized muffins at the New Moon before driving down. With the tempuratures in the low 70’s at quiting time it seemed a waste to not start the trip with the top down, besides traveling two lane blacktop under a clear sky and moss draped trees is awesome.

A quick trip downtown to get cash from the magic wall and a loop around the busy part of town lead us to New Ellenton for dinner. Pickings are slim in this small bump in the road between Aiken and the bomb plant, heck even the Huddle House closed due to lack of business, which meant the only choices we had were hot dogs at a quick stop or Popeyes. We chose Popeyes hoping that the service here would be better than the one we have in Aiken. Nope.

I had a Catfish Deluxe sandwhich which was not realy as deluxe as the picture on the menu board would have you beleive and Donna had the Butterfly Shrimp Dinner. We split her french fries, bicuit and drink. After we finished she proclaimed, that was too much fried food. So told her for the rest of the weekend we wouldn’t have any more fried food, we would be sticking to the 3 B’s. Baked, broiled and….I didn’t have three. We both paused trying to come up with the third B but couldn’t do it. So I restated my position, “The 3 B’s, baked and broiled!”

A couple miles down the road I thought of the third, boiled.

Started down, went up, back down, up again, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 01/01/06: 41

Here’s A Couple Of Them

They are fresh, not really new experiences. They mirror my previous experiences with these same places, so you would think I would have learned my lesson, but I am dense.

The first is Wal-Mart. We were in Hilton Head and needed one item and wanted another, figuring we could get them both at Wal-Mart we went there. Hoping that it would be different, but it was not. It must be corporate wide, because it was Saturday night, prime Wal-Mart shopping time, they only had 4 checkout lines running and there were at least 8 people in each line. We placed our purchases on an empty conveyor belt and walked out.

Second was at my old friend Popeye’s here in Aiken. We have had the worst luck at lunch time during the week, but we figured it was Sunday, might be different. What do you think? Right, same old song and dance. Both Donna and I love the food, but it is such a pain to get anything. They had a total of 3 employees handling the Sunday lunch rush, 1 counter person, 1 drive-up person and 1 cook! Not only that, but the cook was deep frying each person’s order separately or something because it was taking a long time to get each person’s order to them. So long that they asked you to sit down and they would bring it to you. This is smart, now the time that would be better spent making or taking orders was spent delivering food to customers. I vowed never to return. Who am I kidding, I’ll probably go back, I think it makes the food taste all that much better if I have to suffer for it.

I’ve Been Framed

After Donna and I had lunch at our “favorite” place we walked over to Advanced Auto and I bought a nifty thin black metal license frame and the matching screw caps. Ever since I came home with the dealer plate on the back with it’s dealer black frame I kind of wanted a frame for the real plate. every time I went in a department store or auto parts place I looked. Today I found what I needed. Looks pretty good there.

The Miata plate is held on with only 2 screws at the top so the bottom holes are just there staring back at you. Well I fixed that. The screw covers came in sets of 4 so I epoxied the other two to the bottom of the frame for a more complete look. pardon me while I pat myself on the back….

The word favorite is in quotes up there because we have a love hate relationship with Popeye’s. The service is dreadful and the food is hit or miss, but when it hits it is great. Today, like a Vegas slot machine, they paid off with a hit, hot food. This minor success of a visit will make us forget all the other past failures and probably get us to go back again (when we will get cold food no doubt, and the cycle will start anew.)

Lunchtime Fun

I haven’t ranted about Popeye’s for a while (almost 2 years) so either I have gotten used to the crappy service or I’ve stop going and just don’t remember. Today we went for lunch there and there were only two people in front of us. Didn’t think it would take too long, but boy was I wrong. Customer #1 finished up in a jiffy, but No.2 was a little old lady. She couldn’t hear to well and probably wished for a translator as the counter person spoke mostly blacklish. If I hadn’t lived in the south so long, I would probably also had trouble understanding her. After waiting on those two people, the counter person went over to help dish out food. Donna and I stood at the register for the next 5 minutes watching her fill orders for these people and the drive-up ones too. All the while she never looked back to even acknowledge us. Finally we just turned and left. I guess maybe she was waiting for a longer line to form so as to make it worth her while to come over there.

We went up the street a hundred yards to Burger King. tired of getting burgers that have been sitting in the rack too long, we have a plan. When we order we always tell them to hold the mayo, this ensures that we get a freshly made sandwich. It has worked pretty good up until today. The sandwich was freshly made, but it was made with a patty that had been sitting around, it was just barely hot enough. Not only that, along with holding the mayo they skimped on the catsup making for a very dry meal. The only thing that remotely saved our lunch was that we had to wait a bit and got fries right out of the bubbling hot oil – mmmm.