I was in “foodie heaven” last night while attending an Outback SteakhouseTasting Event. While there, Outback’s Co-Founder and Head Chef Tim Gannon and Dave Ellis, Vice President of Research & Development shared about the company’s chef-inspired food at reasonable casual dining prices. It was obvious that both men love / are passionate about what he does.
They emphasized that “great food comes from great ingredients”. As such, everything in their restaurants is made from scratch. Since Outback was voted “#1 Best Steak” in a 2009 Zagat survey of National Full Service Restaurant chains, they must be doing something right! What impressed me the most (after eating various menu offerings) was that Outback has managed to serve such a variety of quality foods at such reasonable prices. (I’ve mentioned Outback’s new menu that offers 15 meals under $15, starting at $9.95 – with a steak meal for only $9.95 – on this site before.) I found out that the way that they are able to do so is because commodity prices are going down in this economy, so they can buy food at better rates. In addition, they have re-designed their menus to combine foods in order to be able to offer such competitive prices.
It was interesting to learn the “behind the scenes” information about this family-friendly company of restaurants. However, smelling and tasting the food made the event extra wonderful. For instance…in the past, I was not a fan of lobster. It tasted like “wet chicken” to me. After tasting Outback’s lobster, my mind has been changed. I LOVE lobster. (I leaned that the smaller the lobster tail, the better the taste. Maybe that was the problem in the past…) Anyway, take a glimpse of what I ate (click to enlarge):
And Dessert…
The room was dimly lit, so my photos are a little dark, but you get the overall picture. All I have left to say is that after chatting with my friends Beth and Issa and meeting fellow diners Aly and Jonathan, I “waddled” out after the tasting event! Oh yes, I do have one more thing to let you know. At the end of the event, Outback gave me a gift card for $100. My husband is not too happy with me about this, but I’m going to give it to one of you later this month. Stay tuned…