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The junk collector posted:It used to be common to have a free food bar during happy hour in the US but the practice has almost completely died out over the last 25 years. There were still a few bars in Chicago and Milwaukee doing the 'communal peanut bowl' in the early 2010s. That was pretty ridiculous to see at that time
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Feb 9, 2024 19:06
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Pham Nuwen posted:I encountered it in Madrid about a decade ago -- sit outside drinking crappy Spanish lager, occasionally the waiter drops off a little bowl of popcorn, a few croquetas, or (and I still don't really get it) a couple refrigerated chicken nuggets. That's what tapas was until American turned it into a specific style of restaurant where you order a dozen small plates and they just bring them out as they're read. Order a beer, get a couple of slices of ham or patatas bravas or something.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:17
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Phanatic posted:That's what tapas was until American turned it into a specific style of restaurant where you order a dozen small plates and they just bring them out as they're read. Order a beer, get a couple of slices of ham or patatas bravas or something. Then I guess the American style had trickled back in the other direction too because some of the locals I was visiting took us out to a great place in some medieval basement which served only American-style tapas.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:19
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adnam posted:There were still a few bars in Chicago and Milwaukee doing the 'communal peanut bowl' in the early 2010s. That was pretty ridiculous to see at that time I was a bouncer at a piano bar in the 2000s, and one of their gimmicks was having these barrels of spicy peanuts that people could grab out of (either directly or filling up a bowl for their table). The floor that place looked like a goddamned landfill every night after we closed. I don't know what ended up killing free happy hour food in the US, though. I suspect it was the dominance of fast casual chain restaurants like Chili's/Applebees/etc; crowding out the type of restaurant that would do that kind of deal.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:21
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LanceHunter posted:I was a bouncer at a piano bar in the 2000s, and one of their gimmicks was having these barrels of spicy peanuts that people could grab out of (either directly or filling up a bowl for their table). The Texas Roadhouse has bouncers and pianists?
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Feb 9, 2024 19:24
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Here in CA we have sketchy places where old Asian dudes smoke and play scratchers all day, usually have hostesses not wearing much clothing. The ones that try to pass as higher class might claim to have food but they definitely just get it from actual restaurants and pass it off as theirs.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:26
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I would guess something reduced their drink margins to the point where it wasn't viable. It's not like the restaurants were giving away food to lose money, so the drink profits need to cover those costs too. But if the bar around the corner does a happy hour where the drinks are a buck or two cheaper without free food, the first bar might start losing business. If they feel like they need to match the second one on drink prices, the food thing is no longer viable and goes away. Same general idea as what happened with airlines. As much as people complain about smaller seats, paid seat selection, paid food, bag fees, etc, we all kind of did it to ourselves. Most people shop for airline tickets pretty much exclusively on price. And it's not like the airlines previously did all that stuff for free, it was rolled into the price of the ticket. So when other airlines started selling cheaper tickets but with all those extras a la carte, people jumped at those (even as they complained the whole way). And then when the legacy airlines had to cut prices to catch up, they had to (or more specifically the finance people told them to) introduce fees to maintain margins.
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Feb 9, 2024 19:29
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The junk collector posted:It used to be common to have a free food bar during happy hour in the US but the practice has almost completely died out over the last 25 years. most of that was to just encourage people to stay and drink
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Feb 9, 2024 19:29
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:I would guess something reduced their drink margins to the point where it wasn't viable. It's not like the restaurants were giving away food to lose money, so the drink profits need to cover those costs too. But if the bar around the corner does a happy hour where the drinks are a buck or two cheaper without free food, the first bar might start losing business. If they feel like they need to match the second one on drink prices, the food thing is no longer viable and goes away. Does it cost the airline $60 in fuel and labor to heave my suitcase onto a cart, leave it in the rain for an hour, toss it into the cargo hold, and then dump it back out onto a conveyor belt at the other end? Because I kinda feel like they unbundled $5 worth of service and turned it into a $60 add-on. edit: and of course it also encourages people to cram everything into the biggest possible carry-on, and take a roller bag plus a big backpack plus an extra-large purse, filling up the bins and loving up the boarding / exiting process. It's why I always check Southwest first. Pham Nuwen fucked around with this message at 19:42 on Feb 9, 2024 |
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Feb 9, 2024 19:40
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My bar has free unlimited fresh popcorn. You can't go grab it yourself anymore, they moved the machine when Covid happened, but you just need to ask,
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Feb 9, 2024 19:49
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Pham Nuwen posted:Does it cost the airline $60 in fuel and labor to heave my suitcase onto a cart, leave it in the rain for an hour, toss it into the cargo hold, and then dump it back out onto a conveyor belt at the other end? Because I kinda feel like they unbundled $5 worth of service and turned it into a $60 add-on. Not everyone purchases that stuff though. If 12 people prefer a $5 cheaper ticket and leave the 13th person holding the bag (  ) for $60, the airline that offers the cheaper option is going to capture at least some market share. Then most of the rest of the airlines, because executives are nearsighted sheep, will follow suit. Those 12 people will just complain about how things used to be as they try to get two weeks of vacation things into a carry-on.Same deal with the drinks. If some people don't want or need the bar snacks and a cheaper foodless bar opens up, some of them will take that choice and leave the bars with the food with less traffic. AreWeDrunkYet fucked around with this message at 19:56 on Feb 9, 2024 |
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Feb 9, 2024 19:53
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LanceHunter posted:I don't know what ended up killing free happy hour food in the US, though. Look at what happened to American waistlines over the past few decades. I suspect 30 years ago, people snacking on free bar food generally ate a fairly reasonable amount and maybe stayed for a paid dinner. Now, a few people would post a review online mentioning free food, and people would come in, order a $6 beer, and just clean out the food as fast as it could be brought out. In summary, 
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Feb 9, 2024 19:58
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Also a significant amount of the population have been losing income between stagnant wage growth, inflation, and other economic factors over the last few decades and as people feel the squeeze on their wallets ever tightening, they're more likely and incentivized to abuse the poo poo out of anything free as a means of survival. This includes everyone from low income families to retired people on a fixed and insufficient income.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:13
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Pham Nuwen posted:I encountered it in Madrid about a decade ago -- sit outside drinking crappy Spanish lager, occasionally the waiter drops off a little bowl of popcorn, a few croquetas, or (and I still don't really get it) a couple refrigerated chicken nuggets. If I found a place offering free croquetas I’d probably want to go every day, assuming they’re as good as the ones I had in Boise
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Feb 9, 2024 20:17
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SpartanIvy posted:Also a significant amount of the population have been losing income between stagnant wage growth, inflation, and other economic factors over the last few decades and as people feel the squeeze on their wallets ever tightening, they're more likely and incentivized to abuse the poo poo out of anything free as a means of survival. This includes everyone from low income families to retired people on a fixed and insufficient income. Yes, I'm sure that free happy hour food vanished in the 2010s because of that decade's infamous, crippling ~1.6% annual inflation rate.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:20
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I’ve been in plenty of dive bars that still have free popcorn or peanuts or whatever. Giving away real prepared food has always seemed kinda strange. I mean, maybe it’s a tradition where you are and customers will be upset if it isn’t there, but otherwise… if you’ve got a kitchen, you’re probably trying to sell food, and giving it away is just undercutting that for no reason. You don’t need to bribe drunks to stay and drink more by giving them food; you just ask them if they want something to eat, and then they’ll buy some food and stay and drink more.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:33
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According to my wife, who has a few years on me plus a more worldly childhood (most of my pre-teen years were spent in the mean streets of Naperville, IL), Chicago tavern-style pizza is so named and formed because the small strips and pieces were handed out as dinner for drinkers at certain bars, or at least sustenance until you finished your fourth or sixth Old Style and drove home -- i.e., if you drank enough, you got some pizza gratis at ye olde watering hole, before it morphed into a ubiquitous north side dish that people for some reason paid good money for. Meanwhile, I think getting blitzed on a lovely beer like Old Style is the only way a reasonable human being could stomach that lovely pizza. Stuffed supremacy!
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Feb 9, 2024 20:41
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The free food at happy hour days were pretty good. But I think maybe people just decided to start going to places where the food was a bit better, even if you had to pay for it. And then it gradually become everyone charging for food, even the lovely food. I never got free food while betting on sports though, goddamn that sounds like heaven.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:48
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Baddog posted:
The thing that kills me is all the sports books getting rid of free drinks. Once upon a time if you put $50 down on a couple of games you could plop in the sports book, watch the games, and get loving lit on free drinks just tipping the waitress as she brought them. Now it's all these dumb drink tickets, and a lot of places are eliminating even that.
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Feb 9, 2024 20:56
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gambling in person is getting destroyed generally by gambling on the phone
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Feb 9, 2024 20:58
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There used to be a bar in Hollywood that had free hot dogs as of like 2014. It was a shithole and its very closed now
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Feb 9, 2024 21:25
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Hotel Kpro posted:If I found a place offering free croquetas I’d probably want to go every day, assuming they’re as good as the ones I had in Boise Yeah I would suspect the Spanish food is maybe even better in Spain than in Idaho
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Feb 9, 2024 21:46
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Something Else posted:There used to be a bar in Hollywood that had free hot dogs as of like 2014. It was a shithole and its very closed now was this somewhere along fairfax and melrose? I was stumbling around there during that time and vaguely remember being squicked out about this Admiralty Flag posted:According to my wife, who has a few years on me plus a more worldly childhood (most of my pre-teen years were spent in the mean streets of Naperville, IL), Chicago tavern-style pizza is so named and formed because the small strips and pieces were handed out as dinner for drinkers at certain bars, or at least sustenance until you finished your fourth or sixth Old Style and drove home -- i.e., if you drank enough, you got some pizza gratis at ye olde watering hole, before it morphed into a ubiquitous north side dish that people for some reason paid good money for. you take this back. pequod's for life
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Feb 9, 2024 22:27
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I think the Idahoians can figure out how to make a fried potato dish.
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Feb 9, 2024 22:29
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Sorry for the derail on Bars Without Food 
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Feb 9, 2024 22:52
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Bookies With Munchies
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Feb 9, 2024 23:02
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CellBlock posted:Bookies With Munchies No, without. They lack 'em.
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Feb 9, 2024 23:04
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AreWeDrunkYet posted:I would guess something reduced their drink margins to the point where it wasn't viable. It's not like the restaurants were giving away food to lose money, so the drink profits need to cover those costs too. But if the bar around the corner does a happy hour where the drinks are a buck or two cheaper without free food, the first bar might start losing business. If they feel like they need to match the second one on drink prices, the food thing is no longer viable and goes away. It's probably because everyone started getting all uptight about driving drunk
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Feb 9, 2024 23:30
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LanceHunter posted:I was a bouncer at a piano bar in the 2000s, and one of their gimmicks was having these barrels of spicy peanuts that people could grab out of (either directly or filling up a bowl for their table). Traditionally this was done because it's a great way to get oil into wooden floors: there's still oil in the peanut shells, and the floors need oil. Tell your guests to just throw the shells on the floor and they'll trample the oil out of it I'm not even sure it ever really worked and I suspect they still needed to actually oil the floors once in a while
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Feb 9, 2024 23:37
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knox_harrington posted:Yeah I would suspect the Spanish food is maybe even better in Spain than in Idaho You’re probably right. It was in the Basque district and they were loving top tier but I’m sure they’re as good in actual Basque country Also it introduced me to Tiger Sauce which is also pretty great
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Feb 10, 2024 00:09
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Hot take: food in Spain on average is worse than food in France or Italy.
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Feb 10, 2024 00:28
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Harsh but fair
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Feb 10, 2024 00:32
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Had a truly disappointing gazpacho in Madrid, I believe it
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Feb 10, 2024 00:43
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Residency Evil posted:Hot take: food in Spain on average is worse than food in France or Italy. Their snack game is terrific though. One learns to appreciate gas station chorizo as a tourist when you forget about the customary meal times and you want something to eat between 2 pm and 6 pm when every restaurant is closed.
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Feb 10, 2024 00:45
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Bubblyblubber posted:Harsh but fair
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Feb 10, 2024 00:47
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Hotel Kpro posted:You’re probably right. It was in the Basque district and they were loving top tier but I’m sure they’re as good in actual Basque country I wasn't aware there is a whole district, but it makes sense. My buddy moved to Boise, and I was trying to figure out what to do there if I visited, and discovered it has a Basque museum, which blew my mind. Why Boise, of all places?
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Feb 10, 2024 00:50
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Ham Equity posted:I wasn't aware there is a whole district, but it makes sense. My buddy moved to Boise, and I was trying to figure out what to do there if I visited, and discovered it has a Basque museum, which blew my mind. Why Boise, of all places? It’s Boise, so in reality it’s one block. I guess it was because of all the sheep herding in Idaho that brought them all there. Anyway if you do go there Bar Gernika’s is the place to go for amazing croquetas
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Feb 10, 2024 01:00
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Residency Evil posted:Hot take: food in Spain on average is worse than food in France or Italy. Just going by the national stereotypes, that feels like not exactly a harsh judgement.
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Feb 10, 2024 01:58
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adnam posted:was this somewhere along fairfax and melrose? I was stumbling around there during that time and vaguely remember being squicked out about this I want to say Western and Hollywood Blvd in the basement of a motel? But maybe this was a trend
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Feb 10, 2024 03:12
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DarkHorse posted:truly disappointing gazpacho
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