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Restaurants - Page 238

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10 best athlete-owned restaurants
March 20, 2018

10 best athlete-owned restaurants

Whether on the gridiron, hardwood, diamond, or ice, athletes raise our expectations, and in crucial moments, dash our hopes or fulfill our dreams. Some of them cement fame and glory by following through on guarantees. Others fall, get backpage bullied, and live accepting that they never won a ring. Whatever their success in the record books, many gridiron heroes and ballpark messiahs have splashed their names on dining establishments that also serve as a shrine to their athletic glory. But there's not necessarily any correlation between winning and the ability to open a great restaurant. For the last two years, The Daily Meal has evaluated the best athlete-owned restaurants in America, looking at restaurants owned or invested in by boxers, golfers, skateboarders, hockey players, quarterbacks, and basketball legends. For most, the formula is pretty standard: generic pub food, lots of TVs, even more memorabilia covering the walls, and always, always, spinach artichoke dip. The only thing usually missing is the athlete himself. Don’t expect to spot Brett Favre greeting guests at his steakhouse in Green Bay. And what about say, for instance, Michael Jordan's The Steak House N.Y.C.? The website may claim that the restaurant was "designed to reflect Michael's sense of taste and style," but the way its representatives respond to the most innocent of questions about His Airness' basic involvement lead you to the conclusion that the only connection to him is a licensing one. But the reality is that whether or not the athlete is there, or even regularly involved, there are athlete-owned restaurants that put out popular food — and some of it's even good. On the West Coast, skateboarder Tony Hawk has invested in a restaurant that's kitchen is run by a James Beard Foundation "California Chef of the Year." Meanwhile, NFL quarterback Vince Young not only has a steakhouse in Austin, but also supplies his own brand of smoked meat to area grocery stores. To determine this year's champs we investigated reader suggestions, evaluated local reviews, tallied popular rating sites, and scoured menus for more than 35 athlete-owned restaurants across the country to narrow the list. This year's list includes steakhouses, Southern specialists, barbecue joints, sports grills, high-end dining, and Chinese restaurants that are owned, or partially owned, by athletes. 

World’s strangest McDonald's commercials
March 20, 2018

World’s strangest McDonald's commercials

While we're not positive that McDonald's is the first place you should visit when traveling internationally, if you did, you'd see some variations on the familiar burger and fries routine, reflecting a location's culinary traditions. Some offerings don't sound half bad, like Nicaragua's Mango Pie — their variation of our apple pie — and the Paneer Wrap in India, but among the more unusual offerings are Russia's McShrimps, Japan's Bacon Potato Pie, Turkey's McTurco with lamb meat, China's Chicken McMuffin, and Hong Kong's Rice Fantastic, a burger between two rice patties. And just as the menus vary around the world, so do McDonald's television commercials. McDonald's commercials in the United States have long been associated with energetic people enthusiastically crowding into a booth, happily devouring their paper-covered Big Mac. The tone is upbeat, the kids are wholesome, and everyone is thrilled to be under the bright McDonald's lights. We've been treated to jingles ranging from "We do it all for you" to "I'm lovin' it" over the years; we've even been assured that we deserve a break today. Even for those who don’t eat there, McDonald's advertising has made its way into our subconscious. The fast-food giant has trotted out beloved characters, most notably their red-haired mascot Ronald McDonald, for kids to grow attached to and further promote their family-oriented advertising. Sure, many of us think clowns are really creepy, but... well, wait — in McDonald's first TV spot, circa 1963, featuring Ronald, he really is creepy. He doesn't look much like the Ronald we've come to know, but has a more patched-together scarecrow look, with hay-like hair, a paper cup for a nose, and a large tray on his head. (The role was originated by Willard Scott, long before he became the TODAY Show's weather man.) Ronald has had many makeovers since those days, but has long since settled on the basic uniform of a yellow jumpsuit and red-striped socks. This character set the tone for the family-focused ads that we've become familiar with over the years. However, there is a whole other world of McDonald's advertising, several worlds in fact. Although McDonald's started in the United States in the 1940s and has been a fast-food standby ever since, it now has restaurants in 119 countries. And all those folks in all those countries need to be advertised to! Surprisingly, McDonald's doesn't always stick with the happy-go-lucky, cramming-food-into-your-mouth advertising we're accustomed to in the U.S. While some of the ads employ humor, certainly, and many do evoke an upbeat mood, it seems that other countries are not afraid to go off-theme and try different methods of getting a viewer's attention. A little darker, a little sexier, a little more offbeat — these commercials are not quite what you may expect.

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