Althouse: "Of course people are eating Thanksgiving at Cracker Barrel!"

November 24, 2014

"Of course people are eating Thanksgiving at Cracker Barrel!"

"Why wouldn't they? Why wouldn't everyone?"

40 comments:

Paco Wové said...: Made it as far as the fifth paragraph.; 11/24/14, 6:51 AM
LordSomber said...: For some of us, with family members too old to cook, schedules and relatives cast far and wide, a home-cooked Thanksgiving is no longer an option.
And sometimes Cracker Barrel is the only restaurant open in town.; 11/24/14, 6:57 AM
Deirdre Mundy said...: As far as chain restaurants go, Cracker Barrel is pretty good. The food is warm and filling, the quality is consistent across locations, it's kid-friendly, the bathrooms are clean....

I like Cracker Barrel. We eat there as a treat on road trips. I'd be a little sad to eat there on Thanksgiving, but, I bet it's a friendly place when you have no actually homecooked meal within reach.; 11/24/14, 7:11 AM
Unknown said...: He was on to something until he had to apologize to the New York Times crowd in the last paragraph,. "And the congealed gravy on the turkey looked like bile and the fried okra was cold and the apple pie was gluey and too sweet."
We southerners don't talk bad about somebody's cooking in public, even the guys at Cracker Barrel.
Southerners may be crazy, but we don't cotton to being disrespectful, especially on a Holiday.; 11/24/14, 7:18 AM
Paco Wové said...: I'm indifferent to Cracker Barrel — the one time we ate there, I was not impressed. It would rank pretty low on my list of chain restaurants. But anyplace would rank more highly than a meal in the company of this author and her relentless political tribalism. We get it, you're a liberal. You want a cookie or something?; 11/24/14, 7:56 AM
fivewheels said...: I wasn't a big fan of this, either:

"There's the whitewashed version of the South the restaurant sells, one that's about old-fashioned family values and traditions, never mentioning—let alone considering—that some old-fashioned traditions shouldn't be preserved."

What, are they supposed to include some self-flagellation with every order of chicken and dumplings? Have every server say, "Our biscuits are terrific, they're so flaky and racist!"

People who spit out the words "values and traditions" like they're swear words are just ... I don't know, immature? Progressives seem to believe that if anything bad happened in the past, then obviously everything from the past is bad. So you can't, say, teach math the way the bad people did it.

If you want to argue that they aren't that simple-minded, then what the hell is the problem with the freaking Cracker Barrel?; 11/24/14, 8:02 AM
MadisonMan said...: Another person paid by the word, apparently.; 11/24/14, 8:14 AM
Shanna said...: Made it as far as the fifth paragraph.

Seriously. You hate your family so you eat at cracker barrel? Because that makes sense. Does Cracker Barrel even have football?

At least they actually have turkey and dressing, so its not the worst choice.; 11/24/14, 8:18 AM
Shanna said...: we don't cotton to being disrespectful, especially on a Holiday

It IS pretty rude when you consider that those people had to work on a holiday to serve your awful family dinner.; 11/24/14, 8:19 AM
Eleanor said...: The year my mom died, she was too sick to leave home for Thanksgiving, and her tiny kitchen wasn't big enough to make dinner for 10. We lived too far away to easily cook dinner at our house and bring it to her. So we did a take-out Thanksgiving meal from Boston Market. It wasn't the best meal we've ever had, but it's right up there on our list of best Thanksgivings. It's become too easy to forget what the day is really for. Christmas has become about greed, and Thanksgiving about gluttony.; 11/24/14, 8:37 AM
CWJ said...: Althouse engaged in some misdirection with that title. Cracker Barrel is just a prop in what is otherwise a pretty good testimonial/confessional. I wasn't particularly interested in his family, but once I realized what the article was actually about I cut the guy some slack. He knows he's a class conscious private school ivy-leaguer, and much of his more rude comments flow from that. At least he's self-aware.

Indeed, the original website did its own share of misdirection as well when it said the article was part of a series about eating in chain restaurants. Kind of like saying Hamlet is part of a series about living in Denmark.; 11/24/14, 8:45 AM
Big Mike said...: I ate at a Cracker Barrel once, quite some time ago. Never going back.; 11/24/14, 8:45 AM
PuertoRicoSpaceport.com said...: I don't go to Cracker Barrel often, perhaps once a year if that. I always enjoy the food. Good comfort food, well cooked in a nice atmosphere and good portions too. Now that I think of it, I don't know why I don't go more often? Not for lack of opportunity.

I can think of a lot worse restaurants to go to for Thanksgiving.

I did not expect to but I did enjoy the article. She is a typical prog and that shows through but overall I still liked the article.

I forget now where I saw it yesterday, perhaps at Ace's? but there was a great Johnny Carson quote:

"Thanksgiving is when you get together with family you only see once a year. And then you find out that even this is too often."

John Henry; 11/24/14, 9:03 AM
Kelly said...: I was prepared to dislike the article, but by the end I liked the guy. It would be easy not to go, but he still goes.; 11/24/14, 9:06 AM
Birches said...: Even if you can afford to buy a turkey, even if you have the time to cook and are healthy enough to do so, even if you have a family large enough to eat all the leftovers, making a Thanksgiving dinner is still seriously a pain.

No. It. Is. Not. Seriously, why is America hell bent on outsourcing life? We outsource our children, making our food, cleaning the house, mowing the lawn, where does it end?; 11/24/14, 9:18 AM
JSD said...: Thanksgiving has become the day before Black Friday. It’s sucky holiday in Texas. No fall weather and lacking the Calvinistic/Pilgrim New England charm. Might as well be miserable at Cracker Barrel, which is a crappy restaurant.
My sister and I reminisced on 1960’s New England Thanksgiving. It was an extended family day and the Lowell-Lawrence football game, which used to get 10,000 people. I came across this entry on the legends of the rivalry game:
“(Jack) Kerouac was a running back and wore number “35” on Lowell High’s 1938 football team, when he caught the attention of scouts from Boston College and Columbia University. He eventually landed a scholarship to Columbia, and moved to New York. Football was Kerouac’s ticket out of Lowell.”
Unfortunately, he ended back in Lowell. My brother knew him not as a writer but as the bar-fly at Nicky’s, which was across the street from the courthouse. He married the Sampas daughter, a Greek immigrant family that owned the bar. They kept him fed, comfortable and drunk. Somehow they ended up with most of the estate.
There are some really awesome pictures of Lowell.
http://www.jackkerouac.com/home/jack-in-lowell/; 11/24/14, 9:31 AM
Original Mike said...: Man, that was depressing.; 11/24/14, 9:33 AM
Anonymous said...: JSD wrote about Kerouac, a favorite topic of mine, and his hometown of Lowell and the football game between Lowell and Lawrence. Did JSD know there is a Cracker Barrel halfway between both cities off I-495 and Rt. 133 in Tewksbury, Mass., which I always visited when traveling that corner of the state. There is nothing like a Cracker Barrel.

As far as different places to eat a Thanksgiving meal, after my mother died it was too much emotionally for my father to cook the traditional meal at his house. He suggested chinese so for two Thanksgivings the family sat at a table, in a faux schooner, in a Polynesian restaurant somewhat like in the classic film, A Christmas Story.; 11/24/14, 10:11 AM
Christy said...: I'm baking & freezing rolls today, doing buttermilk pies Tuesday, pumpkin Wednesday, turkey early Thursday. Twenty-four warring family members showing up with the ham and all else. I'm just giving thanks no one is especially mad at me just now.

I like Cracker Barrel. They introduced me to audio books decades ago. I would buy one (abridged, but what did I know?) at the first Cracker Barrel on a road trip and return it for a small refund at another. Cracker Barrel has a nice yoghurt, granola, and fruit breakfast if I want to feel virtuous, steak & eggs & biscuits & gravy if I don't. Mom & her sibs meet there for breakfast every couple of months.; 11/24/14, 10:31 AM
richard mcenroe said...: I prefer Cracker Barrel to, say, Denny's; the staff usually seems friendlier than than, say, the average Denny's.

We're eating Thanksgiving out this year because we're thousands of miles from my family and between the costs of setting up the new Texas spread and my little cardiac adventure, traveling isn't really in the cards.

We picked a great little new restaurant (Le Chat Noir, in neighboring Castroville) for Thanksgiving, but had it not been there we would not have been put out if we had to go Sammy's instead...or even a Cracker Barrel.

And yes, I have cooked Thanksgiving dinner before and will again.; 11/24/14, 10:33 AM
richard mcenroe said...: My baby sister is an ICU nurse. She has handled some of the most intimate (and disgusting) bits of a human body. (If you know a nurse who's worked on a surgical team, ask her what 'running a bowel' means. Then try to forget what you hear.)

For all that, she freaked out prepping her first turkey, and could not bring herself to reach up the bird and pull out the giblets bag...; 11/24/14, 10:36 AM
richard mcenroe said...: Of course, if you had to pull the giblets bag out of a cow, steak might be a little less popular...; 11/24/14, 10:37 AM
Shanna said...: They introduced me to audio books decades ago. I would buy one (abridged, but what did I know?) at the first Cracker Barrel on a road trip and return it for a small refund at another.

That actually is a great option.

For all that, she freaked out prepping her first turkey, and could not bring herself to reach up the bird and pull out the giblets bag...

I have never made a turkey. My dad tried to get rid of it a few years ago, because 'there is chicken in the dressing'. Not enough! So the turkey is back.; 11/24/14, 10:40 AM
JSD said...: Poker1one
We’ll do the Thanksgiving with my wife’s family, only HEB will do the cooking.
I loved the Massachusetts of the 1960’s. Lowell & Lawrence was its own world, exactly like “Ralphie” in the Christmas Story. My dad was a cop and my uncle was a bookie, which at the time seemed normal. We go to Maine every summer, and I always drive around the Merrimack Valley on the way thru. My wife loves Maine, but doesn’t see anything charming about Lowell or Lawrence.; 11/24/14, 10:50 AM
Known Unknown said...: Funny how so many people miss that this piece was written by a woman.

Here's a hint about Thanksgiving: it's not about the food.; 11/24/14, 10:50 AM
Joe said...: I have un-Thanksgiving with my adult kids. The rule was that none of the main dishes could resemble traditional Thanksgiving food. So we settled on Spaghetti (and Chinese food for #1 son.); 11/24/14, 11:03 AM
Original Mike said...: I'm always on the look out for good biscuits and gravy. Went to Cracker Barrel when I was told they had B&G on the menu. Unfortunately, they were not very good. My quest continues.; 11/24/14, 11:03 AM
Jason said...: I love Cracker Barrel! F*ck the haters!; 11/24/14, 11:39 AM
Deb said...: I agree with Original Mike: Depressing. The whole thing was just a sad story.

^Also agree about the biscuits and gravy at CB but they do have excellent pancakes.; 11/24/14, 11:41 AM
Shanna said...: The biscuits are decent. Not my grandmothers, but much better than most. The gravy is not good, though.

they do have excellent pancakes

True! I'm irritated that they stopped serving all maple syrup a few years ago. Almost enough to be one of those people who brings their own syrup.; 11/24/14, 12:17 PM
Original Mike said...: "The biscuits are decent. Not my grandmothers, but much better than most. The gravy is not good, though."

That's what I remember. OK biscuits, awful gravy.; 11/24/14, 12:19 PM
CWJ said...: EMD,

You're right. When I first read it, I thought it was a woman author. Then when an early commenter said "He" I clicked back through to find the author's name and even then somehow read it as male. I guess I suffer from reverse confirmation bias.; 11/24/14, 12:47 PM
Brando said...: As far as highway food goes, Cracker Barrel is one of the better chains (though I'm also partial to Steak n' Shake). It's not wonderful, but it's decent (though like any highway restaurant, it's going to be crowded and loud). The chain I could never understand is Waffle House--very nice service, but the food is indedible! One would think they'd at least do the waffles nicely, but no.

Making Thanksgiving at home is really not very hard, and it certainly beats having to travel.; 11/24/14, 1:15 PM
john said...: Cracker Barrel is the only place I can find Volomilks, the candy of my youth. So I stop there on long road trips and buy a couple. Then a half hour later stop for wet wipes to get the goop off my hands and the steering wheel.

The food? meh.; 11/24/14, 2:11 PM
ken in tx said...: The green beans at Cracker Barrel are from a can. Otherwise the food's OK.

BTW, I thought the writer was a guy until almost the end. Nobody grieves a father like a daughter.; 11/24/14, 2:35 PM
Sam L. said...: I don't know whether it's pain or anger speaking, or pain and anger, but there's way too much of each for me.; 11/24/14, 3:53 PM
MadisonMan said...: Cracker Barrel is one of the better chains

Culvers! Or Tim Hortons.

Don't know what I'd do if I drove down south.; 11/24/14, 4:30 PM
Anonymous said...: "Funny how so many people miss that this piece was written by a woman.

Here's a hint about Thanksgiving: it's not about the food. "

Yeah, I was reading it and thinking it was written by a woman. The third time someone here said, "He" I had to go back and take another look. The name looked feminine, but what do I know these days?

I googled her and turns out, she looks like a woman too!

Glad to see I'm not going crazy.; 11/24/14, 4:32 PM
John henry said...: Madison Man said:

Culvers! Or Tim Hortons.

Agree 100% about Culvers. Probably the best chain of its type. Certainly my favorite when in the midwest. I love the frozen custard. Best in the world.

If you go south, contrary to what someone else said, Waffle House. Limited menu and don't even think of sitting at a table if you are alone. Singletons must sit at the counter. Great food cooked where you can see it so you know it is clean.

The other things on the menu are all OK but my favorite meal is their hash browns (shredded, not chopped like in midwest) Scattered, smothered, covered, diced, capped etc. Just order them all the way.

That means onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, green pepper and some other stuff all fried in on a griddle.

Then add 3-4 eggs over easy on top and a side of raisin toast. Wash it down with their great coffee.

I've eaten at Le Cirque and many other fine restaurants. If I have my choice, Waffle House has them beat 7 ways from Sunday.

My wife and I spent a week in western NC in June, I think I turned in 9 receipts from Waffle House. Probably raised some eyebrows in accounting.

John Henry; 11/25/14, 8:44 AM
John henry said...: One other thing unique about Waffle House:

In many restaurants you can tear the bottom off the check as your receipt. In most restaurants they just tear it off and hand it to you blank. (In Millers, in the Palmer house, they used to come around with a tray of them asking if anyone needed a receipt, regardless of who was paying or how.)

They won't let you do that at WH. They will fill it out for you. I once tore it off myself and they asked me for it, filled it out and gave it back. They don't play.

John Henry; 11/25/14, 8:47 AM