There’s one near me, I went once a couple months ago. I loved it. The food was pretty good for the price. I’d go again but haven’t been able to spare the time.
Unless they changed things significantly, there wasn’t really anything on the menu that was exclusively cooked in the microwave (apart from well-done steaks ordered ten minutes before close, and even those got grill marks first).
There were a lot of pre-packaged sauces and marinades. The alfredo came as a bagged “Alfredo base” that required a certain amount of “parmesan” cheese to be added into the base in a sauté pan, noodles were prepped earlier in the day and warmed in a pasta bath before being tossed in the Alfredo sauce. Adding pre-made “Cajun butter” to the Alfredo base along with the “parmesan” made the sauce for the Cajun Shrimp and Chicken Pasta.
The marinade for the chicken on the sizzling chicken and cheese or sizzling chicken and shrimp also came in a bag which was added to quarter hotel pans of chicken breast filets during daily prep. Same with the shrimp, they got their own marinade. Chicken was cooked mostly to order; spec was to never pre-cook, but that went out the window on weekend nights. If you didn’t drop at least a few orders ahead, then you were already behind. Shrimp sometimes got pre-cooked, but it sautéed quickly enough that pre-cooking just meant your sauté guy was lazy or under-skilled.
Anything blackened, which was usually only chicken or salmon, was heavily coated in blackening seasoning and cooked on a cast iron skillet.
Most of the appetizers came frozen and were thawed in the walk-in as part of prep. They were kept refrigerated on the line and deep fried to order. Potato skins stick out as slightly more intensive. I think the shells came frozen, they might have gotten miked to warm the shells, but the toppings were definitely added to-order and finished off in the salamander. Nachos were also assembled to order, with the prepped and portioned beef and beans heated in the microwave before being spread onto four corn tostada shells, heaped with cheese and two jalapeno slices per shell, and put into the salamander to melt. When they came out, they were cut in half and plated before the cold ingredients were added.
Garlic mashed potatoes came as a pre-cooked “potato base” with garlic and butter added during prep. They were kept in quarter pans on the hot line, cheese and chives were added to-order.
Veggies for sides were cooked during daily prep and portioned into bags, those were indeed reheated using a convection mike.
Steaks, bugers, and any grilled chicken were all cooked on the grill, and if the grill cook was solid (and the KM knew what they were doing) the grill was usually full for most of the shift on weekends. Most over-cooks happened because the plate was left to die in the window, either because servers were cherry-picking their own tables instead of running food or because sauté refused to pre-cook enough chicken to keep things moving.
Pot stickers were the other thing that often got miked. Spec was to cook them in a sauté pan to brown the bottom and heat the filling, quick was to convection mike them for a few seconds to heat the filling before browning them, super quick was to throw them in the deep fryer, lazy/shitty was to nuke them and send them out.
I know I’m leaving out chunks of the menu, but those are the high points that come to mind.
I haven’t seen one open for years, and assumed that they had already been taken by Covid
There’s one near me, I went once a couple months ago. I loved it. The food was pretty good for the price. I’d go again but haven’t been able to spare the time.
I guess you don’t have a microwave at home
Unless they changed things significantly, there wasn’t really anything on the menu that was exclusively cooked in the microwave (apart from well-done steaks ordered ten minutes before close, and even those got grill marks first).
There were a lot of pre-packaged sauces and marinades. The alfredo came as a bagged “Alfredo base” that required a certain amount of “parmesan” cheese to be added into the base in a sauté pan, noodles were prepped earlier in the day and warmed in a pasta bath before being tossed in the Alfredo sauce. Adding pre-made “Cajun butter” to the Alfredo base along with the “parmesan” made the sauce for the Cajun Shrimp and Chicken Pasta.
The marinade for the chicken on the sizzling chicken and cheese or sizzling chicken and shrimp also came in a bag which was added to quarter hotel pans of chicken breast filets during daily prep. Same with the shrimp, they got their own marinade. Chicken was cooked mostly to order; spec was to never pre-cook, but that went out the window on weekend nights. If you didn’t drop at least a few orders ahead, then you were already behind. Shrimp sometimes got pre-cooked, but it sautéed quickly enough that pre-cooking just meant your sauté guy was lazy or under-skilled.
Anything blackened, which was usually only chicken or salmon, was heavily coated in blackening seasoning and cooked on a cast iron skillet.
Most of the appetizers came frozen and were thawed in the walk-in as part of prep. They were kept refrigerated on the line and deep fried to order. Potato skins stick out as slightly more intensive. I think the shells came frozen, they might have gotten miked to warm the shells, but the toppings were definitely added to-order and finished off in the salamander. Nachos were also assembled to order, with the prepped and portioned beef and beans heated in the microwave before being spread onto four corn tostada shells, heaped with cheese and two jalapeno slices per shell, and put into the salamander to melt. When they came out, they were cut in half and plated before the cold ingredients were added.
Garlic mashed potatoes came as a pre-cooked “potato base” with garlic and butter added during prep. They were kept in quarter pans on the hot line, cheese and chives were added to-order.
Veggies for sides were cooked during daily prep and portioned into bags, those were indeed reheated using a convection mike.
Steaks, bugers, and any grilled chicken were all cooked on the grill, and if the grill cook was solid (and the KM knew what they were doing) the grill was usually full for most of the shift on weekends. Most over-cooks happened because the plate was left to die in the window, either because servers were cherry-picking their own tables instead of running food or because sauté refused to pre-cook enough chicken to keep things moving.
Pot stickers were the other thing that often got miked. Spec was to cook them in a sauté pan to brown the bottom and heat the filling, quick was to convection mike them for a few seconds to heat the filling before browning them, super quick was to throw them in the deep fryer, lazy/shitty was to nuke them and send them out.
I know I’m leaving out chunks of the menu, but those are the high points that come to mind.
Maybe I confused them with Applebee’s. They occupy the same niche.