Chain Me Up, Chain Me Down

Emack and Bolio's

Not all chains are out there flipping burgers and rehydrating pizza sauce. Bob Rook, a music lawyer in the ?70s, started Emack & Bolio?s in Boston as a place that musicians could go to after their gigs to mellow out and satisfy their munchies. To take things one step further, he let the rockers invent and christen their own flavors of frozen delights, leading to Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick and his I Want You To Want Me (passion fruit sorbet), Twisted Sister?s Dee Snyder and his Twisted Dee-Light (chocolate ice cream, fudge chunks and brownies), and Glenn Hughes of Deep Purple and his Deep Purple Cow (black raspberry ice cream with dark chocolate chips). Emack & Bolio?s also bottles its own line of soda, including one to benefit the cause of Tibetan freedom, crafts its own hot fudge sauce, and roasts its own line of coffee. Not too bad for a bunch of former metal-heads turned capitalizing entrepreneurs, as their five New York locations will attest.

Lemongrass Grill

No matter where you are in Manhattan, if you’re hungry and looking for an inexpensive meal you can always count on the Lemongrass Grill. Turn a corner in the East or West Village, and you’re sure to find one, but the closest to Columbia is a mere 20 blocks down Broadway. Lemongrass Grill is found everywhere, and for good reason. While it may not be the most gourmet Thai dining experience in New York, it’s certainly reliable. You can never go wrong with Pad Thai. For the carb-conscious, spicy Thai grilled beef salad dressed with lime, chili, and mint makes for a light but full-flavored meal. Don’t miss the duck basil, a tender cut of boneless duck with a crispy exterior infused with garlic, chili, and fresh basil. With fresh, vigorous flavors at pocket-friendly prices, the familiar façade of the Lemongrass Grill is a welcome sight at each of their seven New York branches, a bastion for the hungry and the poor—meaning college students everywhere!

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse

Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is not your average chain restaurant. Sure, it’s almost as omnipresent as Applebee’s, with locations in San Diego, New York, and just about every major city in between, but Ruth’s Chris boasts steaks that can go pound for delicious pound with anything Peter Luger’s has to offer and an ambience decidedly more sophisticated than the faux-wood paneling and track lighting found at most chains.

Though Ruth’s Chris offers chicken and seafood, the steak is obviously the main draw. All the steaks are basted in mouth-watering butter and are virginally tender. Of particular note is the rib eye, a thick, well-marbled cut of meat that absolutely sizzles with flavor.

The sides are almost as formidable as the entrées. The mashed potatoes bubble with zesty garlic and the creamed spinach au gratin seems to hail directly from New Orleans. At roughly $30 a plate, Ruth’s Chris is more expensive than your average chain restaurant, but, once again, it’s not your average chain.

Johnny Rockets

Walk into Johnny Rockets and be immediately transported to a simpler era of sock-hops and soda jerks, high on good humor and low on post-modern cynicism. Though you might expect to find Danny and Sandy sharing a Coke at the counter à la Grease, this chain restaurant is located in the heart of NYU territory, populated by purple-haired students and toddlers clad in Harley motorcycle jackets. The fare is classic American diner food with a McDonald’s slant, but there is table service and real (albeit plastic) plates. With a menu conceived before the advent of Atkins or rampant vegetarianism, Johnny Rockets offers decent fries and well-seasoned if slightly overdone burgers on pleasingly mushy buns. Other options include a variety of sandwiches, hotdogs, and “breakfast anytime,” but the main draw of Johnny Rockets is the ambience. Order one of their chocolate milk shakes that go down smooth and enjoy the chrome, the Roy Orbison, and the good old All-American kitsch.

Le Pain Quotidien

This perfect little café seemed like an ideal place to while away the hours with a few café au laits on a blindingly sunny morning in Nice. Little did I know what I was getting myself into; I have been carrying on a love affair with Le Pain Quotidien ever since that first rendez-vous. The joy of these increasingly ubiquitous cafés is that one would never assume any of them to be part of a chain. The experience is consistent from one to the next seems purely coincidental.

The salads are simple and fresh and big enough to share—the vegetarian is especially good, with organic greens, sun dried tomatoes, tiny niçoise olives, three types of cheese, and a pesto-like dressing. The open-faced sandwiches, called tartines, are not to be missed, nor is the hot chocolate—it’s served in the form of steamed milk and a silver pitcher full of oozing organic chocolate.

Unfortunately, all Le Pain Quotidiens close before dinner time—take this as an excuse to take a jaunt downtown between classes for an avocado nori tartine and an organic fresh lemonade. Looks like spring is in the air.

Chick-Fil-A

“We didn’t invent the chicken, just the chicken sandwich,” is the slogan for fast food chain Chick-Fil-A, the makers of the most delectable chicken sandwiches, chicken nuggets, waffle fries, and early-morning chicken biscuits that I have ever had the joy of placing between my Southern-born lips.

The only Chick-Fil-A in Manhattan is located in Weinstein Dining Hall of NYU (you don’t actually have to present a student ID to get into the building, no matter what the signs on the door say). Unfortunately for all of your deprived mouths, the branch is merely a Chick-Fil-A Express, meaning it is not open for breakfast and does not offer the majority of its usual items.

Though the Classic Chicken Sandwich and the nuggets are slightly more dried out and less flavorful than those you would find in generic Chick-Fil-A franchises, they are still delicious and give you a hint of the all-breast meat, delicately spiced and utterly greasy. The Chargrilled Chicken Salad is acceptably moist, and the fries and lemonade are as good as usual.

By all means test out NYU’s offering, but if you’re traveling, particularly through the Cincinnati and Atlanta airports, be on the lookout for the red-and-white-chicken logo in order to truly bask in the Chick-Fil-A experience.