We have a new food service here in our high rise. The company, which shall remain nameless, began providing meals last November. In their presentation at one of our dining forums earlier in the fall, they touted their service as being "like the Ritz Carlton" and informed us that they "make everything from scratch." Needless to say, we were impressed and early awaited their debut meals. We were not so impressed after a few dinners.
They are big on strange salad combinations: beet and onion salad (Yuck!), broccoli and raisin salad, and the outstanding pea and radish salad. Peas seem to be their go-to vegetable. They serve them a lot. They have some weird main dish combinations, too: fried shrimp in a burgundy sauce, halibut with lemon basil sauce (They must have been out of halibut because they substituted another fish) And HERESY! they stopped using BlueBell ice cream--that is a crime in Texas. BlueBell is practically our state ice cream. After many complaints they brought it back.
One of their tastier dishes is shrimp putanesca which is made with tomatoes, anchovies, capers and olives. It's pretty good, but since I'd never heard of that sauce, I googled it. Turns out the recipe originated in WWII Italy. It became quite popular with Italian prostitutes who, as you might imagine, were quite busy during the war, with so many soldiers around vying for their services. The sauce is quick and easy to make, so they could cook and eat between clients. The Italian word for prostitute is putta, so that's how the sauce got its name.
Anyway, there were many complaints about the food and so they've tried to improve. They did away with turkey breast and bought whole turkeys, hired a new pastry chef, eliminated some dishes that no one would eat, so now we think they're somewhat better, but, alas, we are still not eating like the Ritz Carlton.
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