So here at Your Daily Cheesesteak, we do our best to bring you all that wonderfully weird Philly has to offer.  Subcultures.  Events that fall under the radar.  Cutting edge artists, performers and the tattooed freaks that give Philly it’s swag.  But we’re foodies at heart.  With over 30 years in the food industry between us, we’re suddenly realizing how little love we’ve given the “Philly Eats” section of YDC.

So we’re kicking it off this weekend with our newest contributor, a hot up and comer on Philly’s food scene.  Someone who works in the trenches, and isn’t afraid to write about it.  This little blurb, “If There’s One Thing I Hate About Restaurants”, punches to the gut with what’s really going on in some of those “higher end”  restaurants.  Rumors are that this may just be part of a larger expose to come…very exciting!

IF THERE’S ONE THING I HATE ABOUT RESTAURANTS

It Is When They Lie.

Two recent events have prompted this post, so I will focus on them.

Lie #1:  Probably one of the most offensive lies I have seen (based sheerly on the fact that it is so easy to disprove) is when a local CC juke joint showed me this:

SO instantly I thought “I’m pretttttyyyyyy fucking sure that only beef is graded on a “prime,choice,select” scale.  So I whipped out my smart phone and went straight to the source. THE USDA WEBSITE.

Pork is not graded with USDA quality grades as it is generally produced from young animals that have been bred and fed to produce more uniformly tender meat. Appearance is an important guide in buying fresh pork.

Anyway, I can imagine the droves of people lined up to get there porterhouse pork steak, and I’m here to tell you you’re pretty much just getting an expensive pork chop.  Does it really matter or hurt anyone, as long as you like it?  No.  But it’s just presumptuous and rude and weird.

Lie #2: This is the one that gets me, the one that REALLY gets me.  It’s the whole “we’re all natural and organic and free-range” lie.  Yes, it is a lie.  No, not always.  But I’m willing to bet based on the evidence I am about to present you with that this is not the only case of a restaurant doing this.

I know this restaurant in CC.  It’s a really popular lunch spot.  It isn’t the cheapest, but it’s cheap enough for people to justify the price because they’re getting high quality stuff.

Here is a quote from the owner:

we’re using only natural ingredients, minimal salt and sugar (honey when possible actually), meats are hormone and antibiotic free, and we work with vendors and farms that meet our standards of high quality in terms of taste, color, best practices, and yield.  Dressings and sauces are made in-house daily.

Or this quote from their twitter:

no frozen veggies, processed meats, and non homemade sauces

A sign right in their store claims that they:

take care in selecting meat and dairy products originating from animals not exposed to unnecessary antibiotics or hormones

I can tell you for 100% fact (yes 100%) that as of right now (10:02 a.m. on Friday the 24th of August 2012) many of those claims are false.  This restaurant has signs hanging in it that proclaim all of these things to be true, but if you were to mosey on into the kitchen you would find some disturbing things.

Things like: Pre-cut vacuum sealed carrots from Sysco (I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t seem very natural to me).

Buttermilk from Sysco (which says no where on its container that it is free of anything).

In the freezer: Frozen peas, frozen edamame.

On the shelves: Canned corn, canned bamboo shoots, canned hearts of palm, canned chick peas, and gallon containers of a certain sauce.  (They cut the sauce with other things but the pre made sauce comprises at least 1/2 of the finished sauce product).

Also in the freezer (or the walk in) you will find boxed of chicken, shrimp, beef, pork, and bacon none of which claim to be hormone or antibiotic free.

Dressings made in mass quantities that last at least a few days (certainly not made fresh daily).

croutons that are bought in from Sysco.

The list of atrocities could go on almost indefinitely.  Unfortunately, the more I write about this, the more fucked I become.  People in the business don’t like people who talk about the business.  But I can’t shut up and take it anymore because it’s bullshit.  A place that claims to be allergy friendly where cross contamination is occurring more than any other place I’ve seen to date is not something I can stay hush hush about.  People can die from that.

If this place and other places like it didn’t claim such high standards, it would be fine.  The food tastes pretty good and probably is better for you that lots of places (certainly Wendys or 5 guys).  It’s just the (false) claims of such morality in a time where people CLING to any scrap of hope that they might be getting real food that piss me off.

All I’m saying is that buyer beware.  Ask questions.  Demand to know what you’re eating, especially if you’re forking over a pretty penny for it.

And remember: “If you see me rollin’ by (yeah), remember that you don’t know me”

Always,

Sheepgo2heaven

you can read more by our Philly food vixen at http://caponshavemorefun.wordpress.com/

Enjoy and remember, if you’re out and about with your camera, shoot us some eats!