Marcus Aurelius

Eight Restaurants with the Right Recipe for Lean Times

Of the joints in the list above -- I have been to the Texas Roadhouse (not the symbol but I will henceforth use the acronym TR) once and when on the road for business (and can expense at least a portion of my dinners) I frequent The Olive Garden (not the symbol but I will henceforth use the acronym OG). I ordered ribs at the TR and found them dry and not very appealing (especially in comparison to DAVE) and have not been back -- though others tell me their steaks are great.

OG's menu is a bit limited -- they used to have one of my favorite Italian staples and shortly after I started frequenting the place it came off of the menu. However, the portabella stuffed ravioli is a great dish and usually what I order. Where I used to visit regularly they were usually pretty busy at dinner time, but the bar was usually open so I would sit at the bar order a couple of ginnentonics and have two three glasses of wine.

Famous Daves is a place my wife and I visit on a regular (but infrequent) basis -- mostly when the weather is warm. I've seen analysts complain the menu is static but I say, SO? I don't go there to explore new foods I go there for RIBS (which is the only thing I've ordered from all of my visits).

I have played DAVE in the past I bought at $4 and sold about two - three months later at $6. I played with it in a sandbox once -- shorting it and made out well on that (except for the fact it was a sandbox play).

Of late, $6.00 on DAVE seems to be the base and far deviations from $6.00/share need to be cause for further investigation.