Hello, Ruby Tuesday. Who could hang a name on you?

Apologies to the Stones.

Took a trip to Ruby Tuesday's today for lunch, after hearing about
their low carb menu here on a.s.d.l-c. My impressions of the menu:

1. Finally. I told my DW about a month ago that I wouldn't be
surprised to start seeing signature items being marked as "low-carb"
as well as a special "low-carb" section, similar to the low-fat
sections you find on many chain restaurant menus today. Ruby
Tuesday's is leading the pack with this one.

2. I counted about 16 choices for low carb items, including two
appetizers, a bunch of side dishes, burgers (in LC tortilla wraps),
several main courses, and LC Cheesecake (more on this in a minute) for
dessert.

3. Their carb counts are provided in a separate booklet provided with
the menu. This is printed as a high quality booklet, bound and in
plastic like the rest of their menus. What this tells me is that it
is here to stay, and not just a trial effort. They've invested some
money into this.

I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street Chicken (tm) low carb
style. This was a rather dense chicken breast coated in spices and
grilled, covered with sauteed mushrooms, two strips of bacon and a
slice of cheese (either white cheddar or provolone-- hard to tell with
all of the spices). The chicken was served with one jumbo piece of
broccoli (about 7 flowers), and a side of fauxtatoes (oops, sorry, I
mean mashed cauliflower).

The chicken was good, but was way too dense. It almost tasted like
processed chicken, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. The cheese could
have been a little more melted as well. Overall, the chicken gets a
B- for flavor, texture, and presentation.

The broccoli was served steamed and naked. Personally, I prefer my
broccoli with butter and a squirt of lemon juice. The broccoli was
also a little under done. They need to consider garnishing this as
part of the dish. The broccoli gets a solid C grade.

The fauxtatoes (there I go again) were excellent. They were a little
loose, but they were much better than my attempts at home. Strong
garlic and butter flavoring, garnished with a bit of parsley flakes.
The menu says "so good, you'll forget about potatoes." I wouldn't go
that far, but they were tasty. I give the fauxtatoes a solid A.

My DW and I then split a piece of the low carb cheesecake. On
inspection, the first slice they brought out was not the low carb
variety. When we questioned the server, she insisted that it was low
carb. One taste of, and closer inspection of the crust revealed that
it was graham cracker, and most definitely low carb.

When our waitress returned, we questioned again, and she promised to
investigate. A few minutes later she returned from the kitchen with a
piece that was about half the size of the original-- this one with a
nut crust. Our waitress was very interested in our opinion, as she
had not yet tried it.

Opinion? Very tasty. The cheesecake itself has a noticable vanilla
flavor, and what seems to be just a touch of lemon. The crust is
finely ground almonds with nutmeg and cinnamon. The sweetner is
definitely one of the "-itol" sweetners. My guess would be sorbitol
or malitol.

A word of warning however . . . I am somewhat intolerant of the -itol
sweetners, though my wife's cheesecake that uses a mixture of Xylitol
and Splenda has no effect, the RT cheesecake gave us both
"rumble-bellies" within about 30 minutes of eating it. So, if you are
intolerant, don't plan on having the cheesecake unless you are within
easy distance of a restroom.

Overall experience is a solid B+. There are two RTs within easy
distance to work, so I will sample more of their fare over the next
few weeks for lunch. Also, our RT has curbside takeout service that
I'm anxious to give a try on one of those nights where DW and I have
no desire to cook.

I am absolutely thrilled that RT is an early adopter of offering LC
menu choices. I will be sending an email today, and "voting with my
wallet" in the future for lunch.

Rob
318/241/230-ish (aw, hell. I'll stop when I stop)

"I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street..."

You ****ing ate... ATE!!! their Church Street yadda yadda yadda... quit
trying to pontificate.

PJ

--

"The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think
what we like and say what we think."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"To be loved is to be fortunate, but to be hated is to achieve distinction."
- Minna Antrim

"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken
seriously."
- Hubert H. Humphrey

"The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast
cereal--that you can gather votes like box tops--is, I think, the ultimate
indignity to the democratic process."
- Adlai Stevenson





"Rob S." wrote in message
om...
Apologies to the Stones.

Took a trip to Ruby Tuesday's today for lunch, after hearing about
their low carb menu here on a.s.d.l-c. My impressions of the menu:

1. Finally. I told my DW about a month ago that I wouldn't be
surprised to start seeing signature items being marked as "low-carb"
as well as a special "low-carb" section, similar to the low-fat
sections you find on many chain restaurant menus today. Ruby
Tuesday's is leading the pack with this one.

2. I counted about 16 choices for low carb items, including two
appetizers, a bunch of side dishes, burgers (in LC tortilla wraps),
several main courses, and LC Cheesecake (more on this in a minute) for
dessert.

3. Their carb counts are provided in a separate booklet provided with
the menu. This is printed as a high quality booklet, bound and in
plastic like the rest of their menus. What this tells me is that it
is here to stay, and not just a trial effort. They've invested some
money into this.

I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street Chicken (tm) low carb
style. This was a rather dense chicken breast coated in spices and
grilled, covered with sauteed mushrooms, two strips of bacon and a
slice of cheese (either white cheddar or provolone-- hard to tell with
all of the spices). The chicken was served with one jumbo piece of
broccoli (about 7 flowers), and a side of fauxtatoes (oops, sorry, I
mean mashed cauliflower).

The chicken was good, but was way too dense. It almost tasted like
processed chicken, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. The cheese could
have been a little more melted as well. Overall, the chicken gets a
B- for flavor, texture, and presentation.

The broccoli was served steamed and naked. Personally, I prefer my
broccoli with butter and a squirt of lemon juice. The broccoli was
also a little under done. They need to consider garnishing this as
part of the dish. The broccoli gets a solid C grade.

The fauxtatoes (there I go again) were excellent. They were a little
loose, but they were much better than my attempts at home. Strong
garlic and butter flavoring, garnished with a bit of parsley flakes.
The menu says "so good, you'll forget about potatoes." I wouldn't go
that far, but they were tasty. I give the fauxtatoes a solid A.

My DW and I then split a piece of the low carb cheesecake. On
inspection, the first slice they brought out was not the low carb
variety. When we questioned the server, she insisted that it was low
carb. One taste of, and closer inspection of the crust revealed that
it was graham cracker, and most definitely low carb.

When our waitress returned, we questioned again, and she promised to
investigate. A few minutes later she returned from the kitchen with a
piece that was about half the size of the original-- this one with a
nut crust. Our waitress was very interested in our opinion, as she
had not yet tried it.

Opinion? Very tasty. The cheesecake itself has a noticable vanilla
flavor, and what seems to be just a touch of lemon. The crust is
finely ground almonds with nutmeg and cinnamon. The sweetner is
definitely one of the "-itol" sweetners. My guess would be sorbitol
or malitol.

A word of warning however . . . I am somewhat intolerant of the -itol
sweetners, though my wife's cheesecake that uses a mixture of Xylitol
and Splenda has no effect, the RT cheesecake gave us both
"rumble-bellies" within about 30 minutes of eating it. So, if you are
intolerant, don't plan on having the cheesecake unless you are within
easy distance of a restroom.

Overall experience is a solid B+. There are two RTs within easy
distance to work, so I will sample more of their fare over the next
few weeks for lunch. Also, our RT has curbside takeout service that
I'm anxious to give a try on one of those nights where DW and I have
no desire to cook.

I am absolutely thrilled that RT is an early adopter of offering LC
menu choices. I will be sending an email today, and "voting with my
wallet" in the future for lunch.

Rob
318/241/230-ish (aw, hell. I'll stop when I stop)

The second definition of "partake" according to Merriam Webster is "to
have a portion", which is exactly what I did. Since I'm sure that you
don't believe that I was celebrating mass, I guess that you mean I
expressed my opinion in a pompous or dogmatic way. Since there's no
dogma involved in that particular sentence, I have to go with being
pompus. I don't see how having a basic knowledge of the English
language, and choosing a word a bit more interesting than "ate" is
pompous.

If the idiosyncracies of the way I push my pen enhance the muddlement
of your demeanor, than I humbly propound that you actively steer
clear, turn your face from, have no truck with, and give a wide berth
to any of my future posts.

If you need this to be in words that are closer to one syllable:

Put me in your kill file, dick.

-Rob


"PJ DiSanti" waxed eloquently:

"I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street..."

You ****ing ate... ATE!!! their Church Street yadda yadda yadda... quit
trying to pontificate.

PJ


---

For anti-spam purposes, my email address is
not the one you see above. Instead, use:
xinc 'at' Infinet.com, replacing 'at' with the '@' symbol.
I know it's a pain, but I really don't need any more spam!

Thanks for the update! Too bad there are no RT's here in the New Orleans
area! Folks down here rely on rice and pasta too much for LC menus...damn
gumbo :-(


"Rob S." wrote in message
om...
Apologies to the Stones.

Took a trip to Ruby Tuesday's today for lunch, after hearing about
their low carb menu here on a.s.d.l-c. My impressions of the menu:

1. Finally. I told my DW about a month ago that I wouldn't be
surprised to start seeing signature items being marked as "low-carb"
as well as a special "low-carb" section, similar to the low-fat
sections you find on many chain restaurant menus today. Ruby
Tuesday's is leading the pack with this one.

2. I counted about 16 choices for low carb items, including two
appetizers, a bunch of side dishes, burgers (in LC tortilla wraps),
several main courses, and LC Cheesecake (more on this in a minute) for
dessert.

3. Their carb counts are provided in a separate booklet provided with
the menu. This is printed as a high quality booklet, bound and in
plastic like the rest of their menus. What this tells me is that it
is here to stay, and not just a trial effort. They've invested some
money into this.

I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street Chicken (tm) low carb
style. This was a rather dense chicken breast coated in spices and
grilled, covered with sauteed mushrooms, two strips of bacon and a
slice of cheese (either white cheddar or provolone-- hard to tell with
all of the spices). The chicken was served with one jumbo piece of
broccoli (about 7 flowers), and a side of fauxtatoes (oops, sorry, I
mean mashed cauliflower).

The chicken was good, but was way too dense. It almost tasted like
processed chicken, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. The cheese could
have been a little more melted as well. Overall, the chicken gets a
B- for flavor, texture, and presentation.

The broccoli was served steamed and naked. Personally, I prefer my
broccoli with butter and a squirt of lemon juice. The broccoli was
also a little under done. They need to consider garnishing this as
part of the dish. The broccoli gets a solid C grade.

The fauxtatoes (there I go again) were excellent. They were a little
loose, but they were much better than my attempts at home. Strong
garlic and butter flavoring, garnished with a bit of parsley flakes.
The menu says "so good, you'll forget about potatoes." I wouldn't go
that far, but they were tasty. I give the fauxtatoes a solid A.

My DW and I then split a piece of the low carb cheesecake. On
inspection, the first slice they brought out was not the low carb
variety. When we questioned the server, she insisted that it was low
carb. One taste of, and closer inspection of the crust revealed that
it was graham cracker, and most definitely low carb.

When our waitress returned, we questioned again, and she promised to
investigate. A few minutes later she returned from the kitchen with a
piece that was about half the size of the original-- this one with a
nut crust. Our waitress was very interested in our opinion, as she
had not yet tried it.

Opinion? Very tasty. The cheesecake itself has a noticable vanilla
flavor, and what seems to be just a touch of lemon. The crust is
finely ground almonds with nutmeg and cinnamon. The sweetner is
definitely one of the "-itol" sweetners. My guess would be sorbitol
or malitol.

A word of warning however . . . I am somewhat intolerant of the -itol
sweetners, though my wife's cheesecake that uses a mixture of Xylitol
and Splenda has no effect, the RT cheesecake gave us both
"rumble-bellies" within about 30 minutes of eating it. So, if you are
intolerant, don't plan on having the cheesecake unless you are within
easy distance of a restroom.

Overall experience is a solid B+. There are two RTs within easy
distance to work, so I will sample more of their fare over the next
few weeks for lunch. Also, our RT has curbside takeout service that
I'm anxious to give a try on one of those nights where DW and I have
no desire to cook.

I am absolutely thrilled that RT is an early adopter of offering LC
menu choices. I will be sending an email today, and "voting with my
wallet" in the future for lunch.

Rob
318/241/230-ish (aw, hell. I'll stop when I stop)

"I don't see how having a basic knowledge of the English
language, and choosing a word a bit more interesting than "ate" is
pompous."

Yet you said this in the original post..

"I partook (partaked?) of..."

If you are unsure of the grammatical accuracy perhaps you shouldn't be
trying to write above your education, I'm not saying you're dumb for not
knowing, I'm just saying there were more effective ways to convey the idea,
but by choosing to use a word such as partake, unsurely I might add, you
were coming off as a pompous ass. *note: I'm not saying you are a pompous
ass, I'm just saying it appeared you were.* Also, I'm well aware the
previous was a run-on sentence... ;-p As well as this being a rather large
paragraph.

PJ

PS, there is no such word as partaked, it's partook or partaken, and partook
is accurate.
--

"The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think
what we like and say what we think."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"To be loved is to be fortunate, but to be hated is to achieve distinction."
- Minna Antrim

"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken
seriously."
- Hubert H. Humphrey

"The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast
cereal--that you can gather votes like box tops--is, I think, the ultimate
indignity to the democratic process."
- Adlai Stevenson





"Rob S." wrote in message
...
The second definition of "partake" according to Merriam Webster is "to
have a portion", which is exactly what I did. Since I'm sure that you
don't believe that I was celebrating mass, I guess that you mean I
expressed my opinion in a pompous or dogmatic way. Since there's no
dogma involved in that particular sentence, I have to go with being
pompus. I don't see how having a basic knowledge of the English
language, and choosing a word a bit more interesting than "ate" is
pompous.

If the idiosyncracies of the way I push my pen enhance the muddlement
of your demeanor, than I humbly propound that you actively steer
clear, turn your face from, have no truck with, and give a wide berth
to any of my future posts.

If you need this to be in words that are closer to one syllable:

Put me in your kill file, dick.

-Rob


"PJ DiSanti" waxed eloquently:

"I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street..."

You ****ing ate... ATE!!! their Church Street yadda yadda yadda... quit
trying to pontificate.

PJ


---

For anti-spam purposes, my email address is
not the one you see above. Instead, use:
xinc 'at' Infinet.com, replacing 'at' with the '@' symbol.
I know it's a pain, but I really don't need any more spam!

Which begs the question, do some resturants serve a specialty sized item
called Jumbo Gumbo?

PJ

--

"The very aim and end of our institutions is just this: that we may think
what we like and say what we think."
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

"To be loved is to be fortunate, but to be hated is to achieve distinction."
- Minna Antrim

"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken
seriously."
- Hubert H. Humphrey

"The idea that you can merchandise candidates for high office like breakfast
cereal--that you can gather votes like box tops--is, I think, the ultimate
indignity to the democratic process."
- Adlai Stevenson





"shutterbug" wrote in message
news:LQatb.721$zx.596@lakeread03...
Thanks for the update! Too bad there are no RT's here in the New Orleans
area! Folks down here rely on rice and pasta too much for LC menus...damn
gumbo :-(


"Rob S." wrote in message
om...
Apologies to the Stones.

Took a trip to Ruby Tuesday's today for lunch, after hearing about
their low carb menu here on a.s.d.l-c. My impressions of the menu:

1. Finally. I told my DW about a month ago that I wouldn't be
surprised to start seeing signature items being marked as "low-carb"
as well as a special "low-carb" section, similar to the low-fat
sections you find on many chain restaurant menus today. Ruby
Tuesday's is leading the pack with this one.

2. I counted about 16 choices for low carb items, including two
appetizers, a bunch of side dishes, burgers (in LC tortilla wraps),
several main courses, and LC Cheesecake (more on this in a minute) for
dessert.

3. Their carb counts are provided in a separate booklet provided with
the menu. This is printed as a high quality booklet, bound and in
plastic like the rest of their menus. What this tells me is that it
is here to stay, and not just a trial effort. They've invested some
money into this.

I partook (partaked?) of their Church Street Chicken (tm) low carb
style. This was a rather dense chicken breast coated in spices and
grilled, covered with sauteed mushrooms, two strips of bacon and a
slice of cheese (either white cheddar or provolone-- hard to tell with
all of the spices). The chicken was served with one jumbo piece of
broccoli (about 7 flowers), and a side of fauxtatoes (oops, sorry, I
mean mashed cauliflower).

The chicken was good, but was way too dense. It almost tasted like
processed chicken, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. The cheese could
have been a little more melted as well. Overall, the chicken gets a
B- for flavor, texture, and presentation.

The broccoli was served steamed and naked. Personally, I prefer my
broccoli with butter and a squirt of lemon juice. The broccoli was
also a little under done. They need to consider garnishing this as
part of the dish. The broccoli gets a solid C grade.

The fauxtatoes (there I go again) were excellent. They were a little
loose, but they were much better than my attempts at home. Strong
garlic and butter flavoring, garnished with a bit of parsley flakes.
The menu says "so good, you'll forget about potatoes." I wouldn't go
that far, but they were tasty. I give the fauxtatoes a solid A.

My DW and I then split a piece of the low carb cheesecake. On
inspection, the first slice they brought out was not the low carb
variety. When we questioned the server, she insisted that it was low
carb. One taste of, and closer inspection of the crust revealed that
it was graham cracker, and most definitely low carb.

When our waitress returned, we questioned again, and she promised to
investigate. A few minutes later she returned from the kitchen with a
piece that was about half the size of the original-- this one with a
nut crust. Our waitress was very interested in our opinion, as she
had not yet tried it.

Opinion? Very tasty. The cheesecake itself has a noticable vanilla
flavor, and what seems to be just a touch of lemon. The crust is
finely ground almonds with nutmeg and cinnamon. The sweetner is
definitely one of the "-itol" sweetners. My guess would be sorbitol
or malitol.

A word of warning however . . . I am somewhat intolerant of the -itol
sweetners, though my wife's cheesecake that uses a mixture of Xylitol
and Splenda has no effect, the RT cheesecake gave us both
"rumble-bellies" within about 30 minutes of eating it. So, if you are
intolerant, don't plan on having the cheesecake unless you are within
easy distance of a restroom.

Overall experience is a solid B+. There are two RTs within easy
distance to work, so I will sample more of their fare over the next
few weeks for lunch. Also, our RT has curbside takeout service that
I'm anxious to give a try on one of those nights where DW and I have
no desire to cook.

I am absolutely thrilled that RT is an early adopter of offering LC
menu choices. I will be sending an email today, and "voting with my
wallet" in the future for lunch.

Rob
318/241/230-ish (aw, hell. I'll stop when I stop)

I went to RT for lunch yesterday also. Although I had the cajun
chicken, I had the same experience with the quality of the chicken.
It seemed like all of the moisture had been sucked out of the boneless
chicken breast. The mashed cauliflower was good - slightly better
than DH makes. The broccoli was awful - slightly yellowed around the
edges. Since I also got the salad bar and was getting full, I didn't
complain about the broccoli. (The raw broccoli on the salad bar was
good, go figure).

Anyway, I also got the LC cheesecake. I haven't had cheesecake in so
long it tasted like 'the real thing' to me. The only way I could tell
was by the nut crust. Of course, keep in mind that I am in no way an
epicure :P

I would give the experience a B. It was definitely an expensive
lunch! $7.99 for the chicken/broccoli/cauliflower, $1.99 for salad
bar, $1.99 for diet soda, and $4.99 for LC cheesecake. I did take
most of the cheesecake home to share with DH.

Next time I will try one of the wraps and skip the salad bar and
cheesecake.

Kathi in Huntsville
247/203/150

On 14 Nov 2003 11:20:10 -0800, (Rob S.) wrote:
snippage
The chicken was good, but was way too dense. It almost tasted like
processed chicken, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't. The cheese could
have been a little more melted as well. Overall, the chicken gets a
B- for flavor, texture, and presentation.

Overall experience is a solid B+. There are two RTs within easy
distance to work, so I will sample more of their fare over the next
few weeks for lunch. Also, our RT has curbside takeout service that
I'm anxious to give a try on one of those nights where DW and I have
no desire to cook.

I am absolutely thrilled that RT is an early adopter of offering LC
menu choices. I will be sending an email today, and "voting with my
wallet" in the future for lunch.

Rob
318/241/230-ish (aw, hell. I'll stop when I stop)

PJ DiSanti wrote:

"I don't see how having a basic knowledge of the English
language, and choosing a word a bit more interesting than "ate" is
pompous."

Yet you said this in the original post..

"I partook (partaked?) of..."

If you are unsure of the grammatical accuracy perhaps you shouldn't be
trying to write above your education

you sure do have an underdeveloped sense of humor for a comedian.

the guy obviously knows how to write. just admit that his style flies
over your pointy little head and be done with it.

I have a distinct writing style, and I will often interrupt with a
parenthetical, such as the one I used, to lend style to my writing.
If I wanted to be bland, I would stick to a more technical style of
writing. Put simply, I knew it was partook, and even if I didn't, I
know full well how to use both a thesaurus and dictionary.

As I do not know your educational level, I cannot comment on how you
write. However, based upon your need to criticize, I can comment on
the fact that your emotional age must be somewhere in the teens.

As for me, I have an advanced education degree, and am a card-carrying
member of Mensa, which places me in the upper two percent of the
population of the world. Where do you rank?

Regardless (not irregardless, the use of which is discouraged in
prose), I am not sure why you decided to start this flame war in a
public environment.

Scratch that. After our initial discourse, I googled your email
address, and reviewed a sampling of your postings from the comedy,
diet, and poker newsgroups. I found all of them to be like eating
cotton candy: they had little substance, no nutritive value, and left
a bad taste in my mouth. Apparently starting flame wars is a hobby
of yours.

Rob

"PJ DiSanti" waxed eloquently:

"I don't see how having a basic knowledge of the English
language, and choosing a word a bit more interesting than "ate" is
pompous."

Yet you said this in the original post..

"I partook (partaked?) of..."

If you are unsure of the grammatical accuracy perhaps you shouldn't be
trying to write above your education, I'm not saying you're dumb for not
knowing, I'm just saying there were more effective ways to convey the idea,
but by choosing to use a word such as partake, unsurely I might add, you
were coming off as a pompous ass. *note: I'm not saying you are a pompous
ass, I'm just saying it appeared you were.* Also, I'm well aware the
previous was a run-on sentence... ;-p As well as this being a rather large
paragraph.

PJ

PS, there is no such word as partaked, it's partook or partaken, and partook
is accurate.


---

For anti-spam purposes, my email address is
not the one you see above. Instead, use:
xinc 'at' Infinet.com, replacing 'at' with the '@' symbol.
I know it's a pain, but I really don't need any more spam!

(Rob S.) wrote in message . com...
Opinion? Very tasty. The cheesecake itself has a noticable vanilla
flavor, and what seems to be just a touch of lemon. The crust is
finely ground almonds with nutmeg and cinnamon. The sweetner is
definitely one of the "-itol" sweetners. My guess would be sorbitol
or malitol.

A word of warning however . . . I am somewhat intolerant of the -itol
sweetners, though my wife's cheesecake that uses a mixture of Xylitol
and Splenda has no effect, the RT cheesecake gave us both
"rumble-bellies" within about 30 minutes of eating it. So, if you are
intolerant, don't plan on having the cheesecake unless you are within
easy distance of a restroom.

I concur with your review of the cheesecake. I had visited RT's a
couple days ago and was awe stricken at how good the cheesecake was.
I did feel a little gassy but come on - there is no pleasure without
a little pain! ;o)