You ARE knocking other's choices. I might not like restaurants you love. So what? Maybe some no longer have the restaurant in question in their area. Maybe the restaurant no longer makes a particular dish.

This is a recipe exchange. ANY kind of recipe. It's noone's business who likes what or why nor should they be told what they like is no good. That's subjective.

Why should it matter to you what recipes people want?? I happen to have a couple of copycat recipes from Cracker Barrel that we don't have here and I love to fix them.
MY choice.

Some national chain restaurants actually serve some tasty dishes. An individual (or their family) might only enjoy one or two items from a restaurant and might want to duplicate it at home for a variety of reasons, especially if the recipe is relatively simple with easy to find ingredients. Sometimes dining out is not easy due to diet restrictions, young children, budget, or physical liitations. The copycat recipes allow restaurant fare to be reproduced at home in a safe and secure atmosphere, keeping dietary restrictions in mind. I've made copycat recipes of Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup and Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana Soup. It was fun seeing if the copycat version tasted anything like the restaurant version. My family enjoyed the critiquing almost as much as the eating.

There IS a food snob in the house...........

I've copied the cheddar cheese biscuit recipe from Red Lobster. To each his own.

Shirley, those biscuits ARE good, aren't they? I still haven't had loaded potato skins as good as TGIF.

LOL!! Gardenlad, I got the same reception years ago when I asked why people used canned cream of something soup in recipes. I can't stand it personally, plus it has tons of MSG and other additives in it. People sure seemed to care about my food preferences then. ;-)

It's all opinions, folks, don't get your innards in an uproar over it, as my boss at a flower shop where I worked used to say.

Seems to me that it is Gardenlad that is concerned with what people might like.

I love copy cat recipes, but never can seem to find what I am looking for. I have been searching for a site that will give the recipe for Frontera Grill's Enchiladas Dulces, without a doubt one of the most interesting appetizers I have ever eaten. And I couldn't find the recipe for their roasted garlic dressing either.
I was, however, amazed to find the recipe for Cracker Barrel's Country Green Beans. Who would have thought to mix canned green beens onion and crumbled bacon. I made some and was amazed to find that it tasted just like the green beans at Cracker Barrel.
Now if I could only locate those recipes of Rick Bayless's I would be a very happy camper.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Cracker Barrel green beans

Gee, I would have thought you could recreate it since you normally don't need a recipe except for some baking.

Maybe you could invest in one of Rick Bayless' cookbooks to get the recipe, Linda? I have one, but unfortunately that particular recipe wasn't included.

Gardenlad, there are literally thousands of GW members who have access to this forum and if you look up top, it's simply The Recipe Exchange. People post recipes. Some you might not like but a couple of hundred members who read here may copy them down and cook them. All the restaurants you mentioned are still operating so obviously someone is dining there.

We don't engage in Swaps, Surcies or Conversations - just posting recipes. It shouldn't be a real complicated concept.

LOL, LindaC, that sounds like MY green bean recipe, but I use home smoked bacon and sometimes add a handful of almonds, rebel that I am.

I haven't found anything at any of the chain restaurants listed that I cared to recreate either, but my daughter Ashley vehemently disagrees with my assessment. Her favorite is Olive Garden, which I just don't like at all, especially that salad swimming in vinegar and oil. Thankfully, she's more than willing to eat my portion of that as well as her own. She'll also eat a deep fried Twinkie which I think is just evil and wrong.

Different tastes for different people, I suppose. After all, I love liver and hate chocolate ice cream and I think a lot of people would disagree with those food choices.

Annie

We live in a town of 350 with 2 bars that serve food and a town cafe. To go out for a special dinner it is going out for a 60 mile drive one way. I love going out but find the food is so overpriced considering I have a freezer full of home grown beef and pork that tastes better. So it is nice to have the ability to make copycat recipes at home instead of driving 120 miles. As for Red Lobster, except for Long John Silvers that is the only place to get seafood in land locked Nebraska:)

Stacie