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What I Ate: February 8, 2010 (Outback Steakhouse)
Posted 9 February, 2010 at 1:50am by Michael Chu(Filed under: Food, What I Ate)
Dinner: On the way back from buying wire shelves from Lowe's in Schertz (a town just north of San Antonio - the last remaining Lowe's in our area with pantry shelves in stock), we stopped at Outback Steakhouse in San Marcos twenty minutes before closing. We started with Kookaburra Wings Chicken wings tossed in a savory blend of secret spices and paired with our cool creamy Blue Cheese dressing and celery. We ordered "mild" since we hadn't had these before. Next time we'll go up to "medium" heat since these weren't spicy at all. As for the "secret spices", we tasted mainly ground cumin. I did enjoy these wings quite a bit and not a single one was dry, tough, or stringy. Way, way better than the KFC Fiery grilled wings from yesterday.
Next, we tried the Bloomin' Onion A true Outback original. Our special onion is hand-carved by a dedicated bloomologist, cooked until golden and ready to dip into our spicy signature bloom sauce. We had never had their Bloomin' Onion before (I've only been to Outback Steakhouse three times in my life including this visit), and, I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought the onions would be sitting in grease (with all that surface area, I just expected it to be overly greasy), but it wasn't. In fact, I thought it was better than most onion rings since there really wasn't all that much breading on the onions - just enough to add some flavor and crunch, but not enough to detract from the main ingredient - the onion. Surprisingly good. One Bloomin' Onion is too much for two people (unless you're not eating anything else).
Tina ordered the Crab Stuffed Shrimp Tender golden shrimp stuffed with succulent lump crab meat and drizzled with a light lemon butter sauce. I really didn't care for this dish - the breading/stuffing/crab mixture became soggy within minutes and the shrimp was overcooked.
I decided to order a Bacon Cheese Burger with a side salad for my main dish. The salad came first.
By the time the burger arrived, I had filled up on wings, onion, salad and shrimp. I took the burger home.
Lunch: I ate a sandwich of headcheese and deli mustard on rye/pumpernickel bread.
3 comments to What I Ate: February 8, 2010 (Outback Steakhouse)
Bob, February 9th, 2010 at 11:14 am:
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About the Bloomin' Onion –
One estimate I saw on its profit level suggested that the appetizer can be made for well under a dollar but sold for $5-8. Normal restaurant items have "only" a 3-times markup from the costs.
So for the 20+ years that Outback has been selling them, that's a lot of profit from onions.
Scott, February 9th, 2010 at 2:55 pm:
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Yeah, but of all of the places that sell them, I like Outback's the best. They can sometimes be greasy, but it's usually only when it's really busy. The oil cools off a tiny bit everytime something cool is dropped in, and when it's really busy, the oil can cool down to a point where some things come out less crispy and potentially oily.
Never had the wings, but they sound good.
I'm not generally a fan of their burgers, though. I know it's a bit sacrilegious to do at a STEAK house, but I usually get the Alice Springs chicken. It's bacon, mushroom and cheese-topped grilled chicken breast with fries and a honey-mustard sauce.
Michael Chu, February 9th, 2010 at 8:12 pm:
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If we're discussing profit margins on appetizers, then a normal onion ring appetizer from any other restaurant makes a REAL killing. It looks like you get the whole onion with a Bloomin' Onion. With most onion rings, you'd be lucky to get 1/4 onion.
For that matter, French fries are probably the highest margin items.
Also, I should point out that the 3x markup is usually just enough to keep a restaurant in business. Dropping below that mark usually results in restaurants going out of business. Besides the cost of goods, there is the cost of preparing the food, cleaning the kitchen, wait staff, administration, rent, and other expenses associated with running a business.