James, OutBack does not use brine or any thing on there steaks they are seasoned & seard on a flat top ( just like you would cook pancakes )if ya don't like seasoning or just light just ask,also most ingredients are fresh and made in house all dressings etc.. I've been an employye 15+ yrs . Yes it's not as good as when we first started but hey pretty consistent anyhow just wanted to let you know .

No, this was white wine. Does it need to breathe?

I seldom order white wine in a restaurant but certainly never got it in a burgundy glass. Maybe there are varieties where that's the norm, though. Dunno.

And what is with this serving wine in a huge glass that they don’t even fill half-way? Precise measuring must be saving them some pennies somewhere, I guess.

That's how you're supposed to serve most reds, actually. You have a large bowl to allow oxygenation and never fill more than a third full. Typically, though, wine by the glass will come in a carafe and then you pour into the glass itself. At any rate, unless they're gouging you, you still get a quarter bottle in your gigantic glass.

We were very excited to see a Ruth Chris steakhouse open downtown Fort Worth right across the street from my husband’s old building. We dropped in on them one day for lunch after they opened, but found out they are only open for supper. And they recommend getting a reservation. So, we took a card, and waited for a better time.

Even though we had a reservation, we were sent to wait in the bar, and it was very crowded, and by the time the one bar-waiter got to us, we were tired of waiting. The bar chairs were none too comfortable.

They tried shoveling us into a teeny booth, but I did not fit. I was amused to see that they usually shovel six people into this booth. The manager sensed my discomfort and gave us a table. I have never had a manager rub me on the shoulders like that. It was creepy. The light was better at the table. We could actually read the menu and were shocked to see that some items did not even have a price. Buffalo, for example, was open-ended as far as what it was going to cost. Buffalo are migratory creatures, so I guess, it depends on how far and wide they had to go to procure said buffalo.

We were provided with one sad French roll and a tiny bit of butter to keep us occupied until the food arrived. It bothered me and I realized later that we could have eaten at Carrabbas THREE times for what this ended up costing us. And the Carrabbas bread is heavenly, and they keep it coming, fresh and hot.

I ordered medium well, which promised some pink. Good thing I did not order well done. Our steak-loving son does not like broccoli so he chose the broiled tomato. I don’t think I have ever paid seven dollars for a broiled tomato. No bread crumbs, no cheese, no nothing. Just a broiled tomato. My grandpa, who was a farmer, would find high humor in the city slickers being so dumb.

Disappointed with Ruth Crisp? That would be an understatement. We have listened to Sean Hannity brag about them for YEARS on the radio. I realize this Ruth Chris had only been open a few weeks, but the service was agonizingly slow, the manager too touchy-feely, they ran out of cheesecake, and the prices way too high. Give me Carrabbas any day. And what is with this serving wine in a huge glass that they don’t even fill half-way? Precise measuring must be saving them some pennies somewhere, I guess. And they gouge the silly rich folks selling bottled water, too. Please.

I like Indian Garden for a buffet. But for individual entrees I recommend Hema's Kitchen: Oakley & Devon (the original where you'll find Hema's daughter Pam) or in Lincoln Park (where you'll find Hema).

John, Devon Avenue (again, just a little farther than walking distance for me) east of McCormick is, according to Indian friends of mine, as close to New Delhi as you can get without actually going there. A favorite of mine there, Indian Garden, has two locations, one on Devon, one downtown. There are literally 30 good Indian restaurants along about a six block stretch of Devon.

And, of course, if you start walking down Clark Street south of say, Bryn Mawr, you'll run into a dizzying sequence of Turkish, Iranian, Japanese, Swedish, Thai, Ethiopian, Colombian, and who knows what all else restaurants, nearly all reasonably priced and most of quite high quality.

James, have you ever spent any time in Chicago? I can't speak for New York but one of the remarkable things about dining in Chicago is the high general quality of ordinary non-chain restaurants.

Dave, I've been a few times and had mixed experience. For example, the vaunted Gibson's steakhouse, which is highly touted and ridiculously overpriced, likes to "char" their steaks. Even though my wife gets hers medium rare, the outside tastes like charcoal. Ugh.

Similarly, I ate at one of the famous "Chicago pizza" places (a tourist trap, I'm sure, but a well known one) and found the service awful and the pizza worse than most frozen ones I've had.

Then again, we also had several very good experiences there, including a couple of truly outstanding meals.