Multiple customers at a Chili's Grill & Bar reported experiencing chemical burns Wednesday after consuming margaritas that had been prepared with an industrial cleaning chemical that was mistaken for sugar or salt.

The Foothills Health District said the incident unfolded at a restaurant in Forest City, North Carolina.

Three customers consumed the contaminated margaritas, while two restaurant employees also reportedly experienced symptoms after exposure to the chemical, according to the health district.

ROACHES CAUGHT CRAWLING ACROSS POPULAR STEAKHOUSE'S KITCHEN FLOOR IN VIRAL EMPLOYEE VIDEO

According to preliminary findings, the mix-up began Monday when an employee received an industrial degreaser from a contracted worker and placed it in an unmarked container.

The container was then brought inside the restaurant and left in the bar area.

Two days later, an employee preparing the bar for lunch service discovered the unlabeled container and, believing its contents to be sugar or salt, used the chemical to prepare the margarita station, the health district said.

Shortly after the restaurant opened, three customers consumed the contaminated beverages and "immediately experienced discomfort and chemical burns in and around their mouths."

After the customers alerted staff, two employees also tasted the substance and reported similar symptoms.

CHILI'S REVIVES ICONIC RED BOOTHS AND CLASSIC DESIGN IN NATIONWIDE RESTAURANT OVERHAUL

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Chili's said the company took immediate action to support those affected.

"We are aware of an isolated incident at our restaurant in Forest City, North Carolina that resulted in injuries to two of our guests and Team Members. Our team took immediate action to support those affected and avoid any further injuries. We are actively investigating the circumstances related to this incident as the health and wellbeing of our guests and Team Members remain our top priority," the company said.

The company’s account differed from the Foothills Health District’s preliminary findings, which said three customers experienced chemical burns after consuming the margaritas.

After the Foothills Health District launched an investigation, the restaurant's food service permit was immediately suspended.

It was quickly reinstated on Thursday after specialists determined the restaurant met all other food safety standards.

MORE THAN 12,000 POUNDS OF BACON RECALLED AFTER USDA ISSUES HIGHEST-RISK ALERT

The health district used the incident to remind all food service establishments in North Carolina that chemicals must be properly labeled and stored away from food-handling areas.

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"This incident highlights the importance of proper chemical labeling, storage, and handling in food service establishments, as required by the North Carolina Food Code, to prevent chemical contamination and protect public health," Jason Masters, the health director of Foothills Health District, said in a statement.

The Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division is investigating mysterious freezer and refrigerator malfunctions that spoiled food at military bases across the U.S. amid concerns the outages may have been caused by a cyberattack.

Army CID’s Cyber Field Office is working with the Defense Commissary Agency and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service to determine what caused the refrigeration failures at military commissaries in August, an Army CID spokesperson confirmed to Fox News.

Investigators are also working with French law enforcement to understand a series of refrigeration outages in Europe as authorities examine whether the incidents could be connected.

FRENCH SUPERMARKETS FACE MILLIONS IN LOSSES AFTER CYBERATTACK HITS REFRIGERATORS NATIONWIDE

The story was first reported by Reuters. 

In late August, at least six commissaries, on-base stores where military personnel buy food, suddenly experienced refrigeration malfunctions.

Fort Huachuca in Arizona said in an Aug. 26 Facebook post that its refrigeration units "went into defrost mode" overnight.

"ALL freezers went into defrost mode – ALL frozen food has spoiled," the base said.

AN AI CYBERATTACK COULD TURN OFF AMERICA'S LIGHTS BEFORE WASHINGTON EVEN UNDERSTANDS WHY

Other affected facilities include F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, Naval Station Newport in Rhode Island, Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi, Travis Air Force Base Commissary in California and Fort Irwin in California.

In at least one case, refrigeration units were set to higher temperatures overnight rather than simply turning off, Reuters reported. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

Several weeks ago, a cyberattack targeted hundreds of French supermarkets, with hackers manipulating refrigerators to reach temperatures of 122 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature spike spoiled large quantities of food and sparked fires across Europe.

The Paris prosecutor's office confirmed the cyberattack, describing it as a "large-scale" assault that affected several major food retailers across the country. 

Fox News Digital's Robert McGreevy contributed to this report.

Keira Callaghan says being prepared should be a public health measure, not a privilege, and Chris Rotheram is experiencing prescription anxiety. Plus five more letters in response to the Be Ready campaign

The Be Ready campaign may offer sensible advice in principle (Every Briton should stockpile water and food supplies, government advises, 22 October), but as a midwife working in Tower Hamlets, one of the poorest boroughs in London, I can see first-hand that its practical recommendations risk excluding precisely those families who are already most vulnerable.

For families living in a single room in a shared house, storing nine litres of water per person alongside three days’ worth of essential supplies may simply be unrealistic. When families are already struggling with the cost of food, heating and everyday necessities, buying additional emergency provisions may also be financially impossible.

Autumn has arrived at Vila Vita Biergarten in Porches, where a new Game Season menu is serving up venison, wild boar, partridge and plenty of hearty Central European comfort food.

The post Game season brings wild autumn flavours to Vila Vita Biergarten appeared first on Portugal Resident.

• DoorDash says its planned acquisition of Instacart will create new opportunities for delivery workers.
• The $17 billion deal would preserve both apps, DoorDash said.
• DoorDash also plans to start listing restaurants on the Instacart app.

Gig workers could see changes to how they make deliveries if DoorDash's $17 billion deal for Instacart goes through.

The companies announced the acquisition on Thursday after several years of considering a deal. It would give DoorDash, long one of the dominant names in restaurant delivery, a much stronger position in grocery delivery.

The acquisition would also bring together millions of gig workers who make deliveries for both companies.

Here's what we know so far about how the deal would affect delivery workers:

DoorDash plans to keep the Instacart app

If the deal wins federal approval, DoorDash doesn't plan to fold Instacart's brand into its own.

That means that the apps will continue to function on a stand-alone basis, DoorDash executives said on a call on Thursday to discuss the deal.

"I think Instacart has built a great brand, and it is a very unique brand where their audience is very loyal to that brand," DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said on the call.

Gig workers will be able to take both restaurant and grocery orders

DoorDash plans to cross-list merchants on the two different apps, CFO Ravi Inukonda said.

Restaurants represent one obvious opportunity, he said. "We are going to be able to list our restaurant platform on Instacart, which is going to drive top-line growth," Inukonda said.

Access to more kinds of orders means that gig workers will have "more choice over when and how they earn, whether that's grocery orders on a quiet day, restaurant orders at peak times, or both," the company said in its deal announcement.

DoorDash says the deal could mean 'greater earning opportunities'

Many of Instacart's grocery partners are looking to compete with bigger companies, Xu said on the call. Amazon and Walmart are both expanding their delivery networks, especially for same-day delivery and fresh food, and many smaller chains will turn to the combined company to offer delivery.

That could mean "faster delivery times, more affordable prices for everyone, greater earning opportunities for shoppers," Xu said, referring to gig workers who shop and deliver orders.

Whether those opportunities result in more pay for workers remains to be seen.

Instacart workers make about $13 an hour, while those working for DoorDash average about $11 an hour, according to gig worker pay data from analytics company Gridwise published in March. Both rates were lower than rival delivery services, such as Amazon Flex and Uber Eats.

Do you have a story idea about DoorDash and/or Instacart? Contact this reporter at abitter@businessinsider.com or via encrypted messaging app Signal at 808-854-4501. Use a personal email address, a nonwork WiFi network, and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

Gli agricoltori difficilmente si allontanano dalle aziende e dai campi. Se lo fanno è solo per ragioni molto serie. Pertanto, quando i contadini vanno in piazza, rovesciano in strada il frutto del loro duro lavoro, portano i trattori in tangenziale, stanno disperatamente chiedendo di essere visti e ascoltati. Quando la gente piange, angosciata perché non sa come fare a pagare i conti del mese, come sostenere la propria famiglia, pagare le rate del trattore, offrire un futuro ai figli, significa che il vaso è colmo. Trabocca. La trave nel piatto è che non si tratta solo del caro gasolio, non solo del blocco dello stretto di Hormuz, non solo della crisi climatica e ambientale, non solo della siccità, non solo della perdita di fertilità del suolo, si tratta di una crisi strutturale a cui finora nessuno ha saputo dare risposte.

I camion e i trattori bloccano gli snodi stradali spesso senza essere organizzati dalle sigle sindacali, ma spontaneamente: le storie che ne emergono sono autentiche e toccanti. Una tra tutte, quella di chi si presenta con l’asino invece che col trattore perché non ce la fa più a mantenere nemmeno quello: il fieno per nutrirlo costa ormai 45 euro a balla. Ma, più diffusamente, Cia – Agricoltori Italiani- certifica che mentre a settembre scorso, col salire dell’inflazione, i prezzi degli alimentari freschi per i cittadini sono cresciuti del 5,5% rispetto allo stesso periodo 2025, i prezzi riconosciuti agli agricoltori sono drammaticamente crollati: -50% per l’olio extravergine d’oliva, -30% per le susine, -25% per albicocche e uva da tavola, -24% per il latte crudo sfuso. E il delta tra i prezzi di vendita sul campo e al dettaglio è violento: le carote pagate 0,28 euro al chilo sul campo vanno a 1,46 euro al chilo sulla tavola (+421%); l’uva da tavola da 0,58 euro al chilo a 2,99 euro (+416%); le melanzane da 0,62 a 2,75 euro (+344%); le pesche da 0,74 a 2,88 euro (+290%). Allora quando ci si scandalizza di fronte ai sussidi pubblici destinati all’agricoltura – che comunque per la prossima PAC sono previsti in diminuzione del 15-20% perché si preferisce investire nella guerra – si deve anche aver chiaro che quei soldi continuano a fluire verso poche grandi aziende: l’80% dei finanziamenti va al 20% dell’agricoltura. Viene premiata l’agricoltura industriale fortemente meccanizzata, quella ipertecnologica che ha sempre meno bisogno di esseri umani, quella intensiva che non può permettersi la biodiversità perché la sua religione è “l’efficienza” della monocoltura, quella che genera paesaggi agrari semplificati, quella più diffusa in Pianura Padana dove secondo il “Bird Farmland Index” la popolazione di uccelli degli ambienti agricoli, al 2025, è diminuita del 50% rispetto al 2000, mentre la media nazionale si attesta al -33%.

Se ne avvantaggiano le grandi multinazionali e i grandi gruppi della distribuzione e dei trasporti che controllano semi, fertilizzanti e pesticidi di sintesi, meccanizzazione e logistica, lasciando le briciole, quel residuale 20%, all’80% dell’agricoltura italiana, fatta di aziende di piccola e media scala. Cioè a quell’agricoltura che realmente presidia i territori, che contrasta il dissesto geologico, quella più adatta alle terre collinari e montane che sono il 70% del territorio nazionale, quella in cui i contadini abitano sui terreni che coltivano e hanno tutto l’interesse che quei luoghi siano salubri e tutelati. Scrivono gli attivisti Slow Food dalla Campania: “Negli scaffali dei supermercati vuoti non c’è carne, pasta, verdure fresche, uova. Però, mentre assistiamo a tutto questo, nei mercati rionali si trova frutta e verdura prodotta localmente e una prima riflessione da farsi è sulla fragilità di un sistema logistico che può paralizzare un paese intero perché ‘totalitario‘, mentre la produzione e commercializzazione dei prodotti locali continua nonostante tutto”.

A distribuire i fondi pubblici in maniera così poco lungimirante sono le istituzioni politiche, costituite da persone che noi stessi scegliamo per rappresentarci. Alla politica chiediamo responsabilità: cioè capacità di risposta. Ma servono risposte lungimiranti, sagge, non solo emergenziali e non solo di reazione. Una politica che si accontenta del consenso ricavato dalle concessioni ottenute nell’immediato abdica al suo dovere di costruire le condizioni per una trasformazione diffusa della società tutta. Per noi è scoccata da molto l’ora di pianificare strategicamente un sistema alimentare che sia buono pulito e giusto per tutte e tutti. Per noi non esiste un momento migliore di questo per bandire la fame e lo spreco di cibo che, nel modello attuale, vanno a braccetto. Per noi era già ieri il giorno più giusto per iniziare a costruire, invece che inficiare, il futuro delle nuove generazioni!

Non serve far la voce grossa di fronte al disagio diffuso di tanta Italia: le rivendicazioni emergono da gruppi diversi – agricoltori, camionisti, studenti- ma è unica la domanda di cambiamento e come tale va letta. E come tale va trattata: trasformandola in un progetto collettivo. Quando una parte della popolazione percepisce la propria esistenza come una promessa tradita, quando si arriva a considerare il proprio futuro una sfida quotidiana di sopravvivenza, quando si sente di non aver niente da perdere, all’interno di una società che adotta diffusamente un linguaggio, un pensiero, un modello relazionale e una cultura violenta, l’espressione di quel disagio sarà a sua volta violenta.

Serve invece l’onestà di prendere atto, serve l’umiltà di ascoltare, serve la ferma volontà di capire e infine il coraggio di agire. Di cambiare finalmente strada, perché questa va verso il baratro, ormai è chiaro a tutti. Soltanto la biodiversità ci consentirà di adattarci agli effetti della crisi climatica: va sostenuta una produzione alimentare resiliente, in armonia con gli ecosistemi, non energivora, che tutela la salute degli esseri umani e del Pianeta. Senza una immediata transizione agroecologica e al contempo sociale, il nostro sistema alimentare sarà vulnerabile e sempre più in balia delle multinazionali e degli interessi del mercato. La nostra agricoltura perderà ma soprattutto noi perderemo definitivamente la nostra agricoltura. E la coesione sociale. I nostri contadini, e i nostri giovani, saranno sempre più disperati.

Ma la situazione attuale è il risultato di scelte e decisioni che possono e devono essere cambiate: tutte e tutti noi dobbiamo pretendere che ciò accada e che finalmente il bene comune a lungo termine, e non la legge del più forte che si impone nell’immediatezza, sia la stella polare che determina le decisioni che ci riguardano.

L'articolo Agricoltori in piazza, la crisi che va oltre il caro-gasolio. Serve l’umiltà di ascoltare e cambiare strada – La trave nel piatto proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Gli agricoltori difficilmente si allontanano dalle aziende e dai campi. Se lo fanno è solo per ragioni molto serie. Pertanto, quando i contadini vanno in piazza, rovesciano in strada il frutto del loro duro lavoro, portano i trattori in tangenziale, stanno disperatamente chiedendo di essere visti e ascoltati. Quando la gente piange, angosciata perché non sa come fare a pagare i conti del mese, come sostenere la propria famiglia, pagare le rate del trattore, offrire un futuro ai figli, significa che il vaso è colmo. Trabocca. La trave nel piatto è che non si tratta solo del caro gasolio, non solo del blocco dello stretto di Hormuz, non solo della crisi climatica e ambientale, non solo della siccità, non solo della perdita di fertilità del suolo, si tratta di una crisi strutturale a cui finora nessuno ha saputo dare risposte.

I camion e i trattori bloccano gli snodi stradali spesso senza essere organizzati dalle sigle sindacali, ma spontaneamente: le storie che ne emergono sono autentiche e toccanti. Una tra tutte, quella di chi si presenta con l’asino invece che col trattore perché non ce la fa più a mantenere nemmeno quello: il fieno per nutrirlo costa ormai 45 euro a balla. Ma, più diffusamente, Cia – Agricoltori Italiani- certifica che mentre a settembre scorso, col salire dell’inflazione, i prezzi degli alimentari freschi per i cittadini sono cresciuti del 5,5% rispetto allo stesso periodo 2025, i prezzi riconosciuti agli agricoltori sono drammaticamente crollati: -50% per l’olio extravergine d’oliva, -30% per le susine, -25% per albicocche e uva da tavola, -24% per il latte crudo sfuso. E il delta tra i prezzi di vendita sul campo e al dettaglio è violento: le carote pagate 0,28 euro al chilo sul campo vanno a 1,46 euro al chilo sulla tavola (+421%); l’uva da tavola da 0,58 euro al chilo a 2,99 euro (+416%); le melanzane da 0,62 a 2,75 euro (+344%); le pesche da 0,74 a 2,88 euro (+290%). Allora quando ci si scandalizza di fronte ai sussidi pubblici destinati all’agricoltura – che comunque per la prossima PAC sono previsti in diminuzione del 15-20% perché si preferisce investire nella guerra – si deve anche aver chiaro che quei soldi continuano a fluire verso poche grandi aziende: l’80% dei finanziamenti va al 20% dell’agricoltura. Viene premiata l’agricoltura industriale fortemente meccanizzata, quella ipertecnologica che ha sempre meno bisogno di esseri umani, quella intensiva che non può permettersi la biodiversità perché la sua religione è “l’efficienza” della monocoltura, quella che genera paesaggi agrari semplificati, quella più diffusa in Pianura Padana dove secondo il “Bird Farmland Index” la popolazione di uccelli degli ambienti agricoli, al 2025, è diminuita del 50% rispetto al 2000, mentre la media nazionale si attesta al -33%.

Se ne avvantaggiano le grandi multinazionali e i grandi gruppi della distribuzione e dei trasporti che controllano semi, fertilizzanti e pesticidi di sintesi, meccanizzazione e logistica, lasciando le briciole, quel residuale 20%, all’80% dell’agricoltura italiana, fatta di aziende di piccola e media scala. Cioè a quell’agricoltura che realmente presidia i territori, che contrasta il dissesto geologico, quella più adatta alle terre collinari e montane che sono il 70% del territorio nazionale, quella in cui i contadini abitano sui terreni che coltivano e hanno tutto l’interesse che quei luoghi siano salubri e tutelati. Scrivono gli attivisti Slow Food dalla Campania: “Negli scaffali dei supermercati vuoti non c’è carne, pasta, verdure fresche, uova. Però, mentre assistiamo a tutto questo, nei mercati rionali si trova frutta e verdura prodotta localmente e una prima riflessione da farsi è sulla fragilità di un sistema logistico che può paralizzare un paese intero perché ‘totalitario‘, mentre la produzione e commercializzazione dei prodotti locali continua nonostante tutto”.

A distribuire i fondi pubblici in maniera così poco lungimirante sono le istituzioni politiche, costituite da persone che noi stessi scegliamo per rappresentarci. Alla politica chiediamo responsabilità: cioè capacità di risposta. Ma servono risposte lungimiranti, sagge, non solo emergenziali e non solo di reazione. Una politica che si accontenta del consenso ricavato dalle concessioni ottenute nell’immediato abdica al suo dovere di costruire le condizioni per una trasformazione diffusa della società tutta. Per noi è scoccata da molto l’ora di pianificare strategicamente un sistema alimentare che sia buono pulito e giusto per tutte e tutti. Per noi non esiste un momento migliore di questo per bandire la fame e lo spreco di cibo che, nel modello attuale, vanno a braccetto. Per noi era già ieri il giorno più giusto per iniziare a costruire, invece che inficiare, il futuro delle nuove generazioni!

Non serve far la voce grossa di fronte al disagio diffuso di tanta Italia: le rivendicazioni emergono da gruppi diversi – agricoltori, camionisti, studenti- ma è unica la domanda di cambiamento e come tale va letta. E come tale va trattata: trasformandola in un progetto collettivo. Quando una parte della popolazione percepisce la propria esistenza come una promessa tradita, quando si arriva a considerare il proprio futuro una sfida quotidiana di sopravvivenza, quando si sente di non aver niente da perdere, all’interno di una società che adotta diffusamente un linguaggio, un pensiero, un modello relazionale e una cultura violenta, l’espressione di quel disagio sarà a sua volta violenta.

Serve invece l’onestà di prendere atto, serve l’umiltà di ascoltare, serve la ferma volontà di capire e infine il coraggio di agire. Di cambiare finalmente strada, perché questa va verso il baratro, ormai è chiaro a tutti. Soltanto la biodiversità ci consentirà di adattarci agli effetti della crisi climatica: va sostenuta una produzione alimentare resiliente, in armonia con gli ecosistemi, non energivora, che tutela la salute degli esseri umani e del Pianeta. Senza una immediata transizione agroecologica e al contempo sociale, il nostro sistema alimentare sarà vulnerabile e sempre più in balia delle multinazionali e degli interessi del mercato. La nostra agricoltura perderà ma soprattutto noi perderemo definitivamente la nostra agricoltura. E la coesione sociale. I nostri contadini, e i nostri giovani, saranno sempre più disperati.

Ma la situazione attuale è il risultato di scelte e decisioni che possono e devono essere cambiate: tutte e tutti noi dobbiamo pretendere che ciò accada e che finalmente il bene comune a lungo termine, e non la legge del più forte che si impone nell’immediatezza, sia la stella polare che determina le decisioni che ci riguardano.

L'articolo Agricoltori in piazza, la crisi che va oltre il caro-gasolio. Serve l’umiltà di ascoltare e cambiare strada – La trave nel piatto proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.

• I followed Ina Garten's recipes for pumpkin, apple, and pecan pie to see which I liked best. 
• The pecan pie tasted like a cocktail, and the apple pie was shockingly simple to throw together.
• I ended up with extra pumpkin-pie filling, but Garten's buttery crust was the real winner. 

I cook and bake a lot, but I'm not a huge fan of making pies. I sometimes struggle to create a buttery, flaky crust, and my fillings don't always have the right texture.

So, I decided to sharpen my skills using three approachable and delicious-sounding recipes from Ina Garten.

Here's how my day of baking went as I attempted to make Garten's pecan, pumpkin, and apple pies.

Before I could make each pie, I had to prep the crust.

I've followed a few Garten pie recipes before, and I remember liking her easy-to-make crust. That memory held true.

I needed to make four crusts: a bottom and top for the apple pie, and one crust each for the pumpkin and pecan pies. It only took me between 10 and 15 minutes.

Garten uses a food processor for her "perfect pie crust," which makes prep easy. I divided the dough into two batches, and I could already tell from the look and feel that the crusts would be buttery and delicious.

With all of the dough resting in the fridge, I was ready to start tackling the individual pies.

I started with the easiest recipe: the maple-pecan pie.

Garten's maple-pecan pie has just 10 ingredients, excluding the crust.

I was excited to taste the combination of maple syrup and bourbon with the pecans. And I liked that she included some fresh orange zest to cut through the richer ingredients, like corn syrup and honey.

The filling smelled incredible while it was baking.

To make the pie, all I had to do was whisk the filling ingredients — minus the pecans — together.

Then I simply added the nuts and gave it a final stir before pouring the filling into the prepared pie crust.

I put the pie in the oven for just under an hour.

To ensure I got an evenly cooked crust, I turned the pie halfway through the bake.

The process was easy, and I loved the enticing smells coming from the oven as it baked.

I was pretty impressed with my first pie.

The flavors of the pecan pie reminded me of an old-fashioned cocktail, thanks to the bourbon and orange.

But the pecans ended up a little chewier than I would've liked. If I make this pie again, I'd probably toast the nuts first for a better texture.

It tasted good, but I should’ve let it firm up in the fridge before serving.

Despite letting the pecan pie fully cool before slicing into it, the pieces fell apart on me.

Next time, I think I'd let it chill in the fridge before serving so the filling can firm up more.

Garten’s pumpkin-pie recipe included a homemade rum whipped cream.

I moved on to making Garten's pumpkin pie.

I was intrigued by some of the ingredients in the filling, like orange zest and rum, but most were pretty standard, including pumpkin purée, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.

I was most excited to make the accompanying rum whipped cream.

It sounded like a delicious, indulgent addition to the homemade pie, with ingredients such as crème fraîche or mascarpone and a dark rum.

For this pie, I needed to bake my crust twice.

First, I rolled out one of my crusts and placed it in a pie tin.

Unlike the other two recipes, this one required me to blind-bake the crust before adding the filling. I found some dried lentils and rice to use as pie weights to keep it from puffing up too much.

This first bake helped prep the crust for the liquid-y filling, but it also meant the edges got a little darker by the end than I'd hoped.

I ended up with way more filling than I needed.

The pumpkin filling was easy to make as I just had to whisk all the ingredients together in a large bowl.

I made way more filling than I needed for the pie crust, so I set it aside in hopes I could find a way to use it later. (My partner had a fun idea to use the filling to make pumpkin-pie custards in ramekins.)

The crust may have been darker than I wanted, but the pie was still delicious.

Despite the slightly overdone crust, Garten's pumpkin pie turned out great in terms of both taste and texture.

The filling was sweet but not too sweet, and the subtle hint of orange helped balance the custard's richness. The texture of it was smooth and creamy.

The pie had a perfect custardy texture and a sturdy, buttery crust

The crust was flaky and buttery, yet sturdy enough to hold the weight of the pumpkin filling. Each slice came out of the tin without crumbling.

The rum whipped cream was a unique companion to the pumpkin pie. I liked it much better than regular whipped cream.

Finally, I started on Garten's apple pie.

I saved the most intimidating pie for last.

I've made apple pies many times before, but I was still worried about whether the top crust would turn out right and if the filling would soften enough by the time the crust was done baking.

Garten's recipe for deep-dish apple pie calls for Granny Smith apples, which tend to be more sour and tart than sweet. The filling also called for both lemon and orange juices and zest, plus plenty of spices.

With all of those ingredients and only a ½ cup of sugar in the filling, I was worried the pie might not be sweet enough.

All my worries went away pretty quickly.

The filling was easy to make after I finished peeling, coring, and chopping what felt like 100 apples. The recipe called for 4 pounds!

The dough for my crust was very easy to roll out and transfer to the tin, thanks to the butter and vegetable shortening. It made easy work of assembling the pie.

I couldn’t believe how beautiful it looked, both before and after baking.

After adding my top crust, I cut slits for ventilation, brushed it with an egg wash, and sprinkled it with sugar, per Garten's instructions.

I let the pie bake for about an hour. Afterward, the top crust was golden and looked and smelled incredible.

The crust was definitely the tastiest part of this apple pie.

Garten's apple pie was pretty tasty, but the crust was by far the best part.

The extra sugar sprinkling on top gave it a sweet flavor and crunchy texture. It was so delicious I could eat it on its own.

However, I wasn't the biggest fan of the filling's flavor.

The filling was decent, but it had a little bit too much citrus for me.

I was glad the apples softened well without becoming mushy, but I think I'd precook them a little bit more next time. That would hopefully help concentrate the apple flavor and keep the filling from shrinking so far away from the top crust.

I also might sub some of the tart apples for a sweeter variety, as the combination of the Granny Smiths and citrus made for a pretty tart pie.

All of the pies were good, but I was actually most impressed by Garten's crust.

In the end, all of the pies I made using Garten's recipes turned out pretty good, and they were easy enough to make in one day without breaking a sweat.

I like that she adds citrus zest to each of these pies to really boost their flavors and give them a freshness. The rum whipped cream that went with the pumpkin pie was also delicious, and I think it would pair really well with the pecan pie, too.

However, my favorite part of all three recipes was the pie crust.

It was quick and easy to make, and it worked well with all the different fillings. I'll be using this crust for all my pies moving forward.

This story was originally published on November 19, 2023, and most recently updated on October 29, 2026.

• Meal options aboard Amtrak trains can be hit-or-miss.
• A dessert by a small Delaware bakery quickly became my favorite menu item while traveling.
• Frank & Louie's buttercake has an online cult following among Amtrak travelers.

I've spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours traveling on Amtrak, and, like anyone who travels regularly enough by train, I can tell you that the food isn't always particularly showstopping.

But one menu item during a recent long-distance trip wowed me more than some fine-dining desserts.

In fact, it made my nearly $1,000 first-class ticket worth it — and I'm far from the only one obsessed with the unique regional dessert.

I've traveled long-distance on Amtrak many times, and the food isn't always my highlight

Most of the time, I travel by coach, so I eat little else than whatever snacks I pack and maybe Amtrak's $5 hot dog that I find weirdly enjoyable aboard the train — perhaps the only time I would find a microwaved bun at all appetizing.

On the coach café, microwaved burgers and hot dogs offer a sufficient warm meal if you don't care for anything other than survival and perhaps the novelty of train dining.

On the other hand, the first-class dining car offers much better alternatives, though not particularly worth the $1,000 travel upgrade. While some routes offering flex dining allow passengers to buy a breakfast, lunch, or dinner pass for $20, $25, or $45, respectively, the upcharge isn't always worth it depending on travel plans.

The buttercake dessert on a recent trip changed my opinion on the train dining options

During a June trip from Washington, DC, to Chicago, while traveling in a first-class roomette, I enjoyed the better dining options in the first-class dining car.

After my lunch, the server asked whether I'd like to have dessert. The two options were a brownie and a buttercake. Having tried the brownie on a prior trip, I went with the buttercake, although I wasn't too sure what the name exactly described.

What arrived at my table was a warm, rich, gooey, very sweet, and buttery custard-filled shortcake. I was beyond wowed by it.

After a couple of delicious bites, I looked online to see if other riders felt as passionately about the dessert as I had.

They certainly did.

The dessert is only regionally available on certain routes and has an online cult following

As soon as I looked it up, I encountered an online cult following for the dessert, which is only offered on certain train routes and has limited availability off the tracks.

Frank & Louie's, the manufacturer of the buttercake, is a small family-run Italian bakery and retailer in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. Apart from the train routes and a couple of locations in Delaware, the business also sells the buttercakes online, although they can only be ordered by the case. The minimum order you can place is 60 frozen buttercakes, which comes to $299 after shipping and handling.

In May, Amtrak posted an exciting, all-caps message to all buttercake lovers announcing the dessert would now be available aboard the Northeast Regional route. Online users report that the cake is usually available on routes like the California Zephyr, the Crescent, and the Empire Builder.

Aside from the many grams of sugar in the dessert, the buttercake competes in taste with some of the best fine-dining desserts I've tried.

Next time I travel on Amtrak, I might have to plan my route around finding this regional dessert again — or maybe just plan a trip to Delaware.

Porto has been named Portugal’s best destination for plant-based food, narrowly beating Braga and Lisbon in a new national ranking – while the Algarve also performed strongly, with three destinations

The post Porto tops Portugal’s plant-based food ranking, Algarve claims three top-six spots appeared first on Portugal Resident.

I was on vacation in Chicago this past week, and while I try to stay up to date on current events as much as I can when I'm out, that usually just equates to me watching a ton of college football and forgetting the outside world exists.

Last week was no different, and when I got back home on Monday night and started to shift back into "OutKick mode," I saw the fine dining establishment known as the Cheesecake Factory was trending on social media.

I felt pretty out of the loop, but after seeing people pick a side of the aisle to fall on in the Great Cheesecake Factory Debate as well as rank some of their other favorite sit-down restaurants, I knew it was time to throw my hat in the ring.

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If there are three things you must know about me, it's that I'm passionate about sports, music and eating at restaurants.

That might come as a shock to anyone who has seen me in person, considering I'm about 160lbs soaking wet and looked like an emaciated child until I was 25 years old, but I am a chain restaurant connoisseur of sorts.

With all the commotion surrounding the Cheesecake Factory, and American eateries as a whole, I thought now would be as good a time as any to share my Mount Rushmore of fast-casual sit-down restaurants.

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This isn't just some slapped together list either (shout out to "Rolling Stone"), as this topic is something that I'm constantly revisiting and reevaluating.

This Mount Rushmore represents a good mix of four different kinds of food and dining experiences, with different menus, atmospheres, and themes.

With all the preamble out of the way, let's begin.

Olive Garden

We start this list off with a bang, and a somewhat controversial one at that.

I'm not sure why Olive Garden has this reputation as a classless knockoff (my dad calls it the McDonald's of Italian food), but I would never slander a place that offers endless breadsticks and pasta.

The soups are incredible, the variety of pastas is awesome, and the entrées are varied and filling.

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The vibes are immaculate too, giving me a classy place to "sample The Boot."

My go-to choice is the chicken parm (duh), but I've never had a bad meal at Olive Garden and I don't plan on it anytime soon.

Texas Roadhouse

If you're looking for good old American fare at solid prices, look no further than Texas Roadhouse.

Their steaks are some of the best you can get at their price point, and the ability to smother them in sautéed onions and mushrooms is underrated.

Texas Roadhouse isn't just a one-trick pony, though, as their appetizers — the cheese fries in particular — are immaculate, and their chili is some of the best in the biz.

I know what you all are here for, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention the bread rolls, which would probably merit placement on this list by themselves.

They really lean into their Texas themes here, too, and if you've ever had a birthday at Roadhouse, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

Can I get a "yeehaw?"

Chuy's

Maybe it's just because I lived in Dallas for six years, but TexMex is supremely underrated and should be more of a national delicacy.

Luckily, Chuy's is a national TexMex chain that is worthy of both Lone Star State natives and outsiders alike.

Their signature sauces go with just about any of their entrées, and although I'm not a big drinker, I have to say that their frozen margarita machines are worth the price of admission alone.

Whether you're into spice or just some good old-fashioned, hearty fare from the southwest, Chuy's has you covered.

The biggest selling point, to me though, is the creamy jalapeño ranch dip they give you with your chips and salsa.

Every great sit-down restaurant has a "gimmick," and this one is undeniably delicious.

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It's the perfect blend of creamy ranch and spice that will have you filling up on chips before your meal even comes out.

Chili's

For my money, there is no greater fast-casual sit-down establishment in this great country than Chili's.

The menu is insanely diverse. You can get seafood alfredo, steak, southwestern salad and traditional American fare all on a single page.

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Their lunch deals are also second to none, with the Three-For-Me and Three-For-$10 being go-to's for yours truly.

There is nothing better than sitting in the Chili's bar on a college football Saturday afternoon, ordering some chips and salsa and an ice-cold Coke and just soaking in the ambience.

My personal favorite has to be the Chipotle Fresh Mex Bowl, but I've been known to get a classic sirloin, the Margarita Grilled Chicken, or even the boneless wings, which are incredible even though I'm normally a traditionalist when it comes to wings.

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I could write an entire book on my love for Chili's, but this has gone on long enough and my mouth is starting to water, so if you'll excuse me, I think I hear a Triple Dipper calling my name.

• Wendy's was founded in 1969 by Dave Thomas, a former KFC employee.
• He named his burger restaurant after his daughter, Melinda "Wendy" Thomas.
• Some fans claim a secret message is written in the Wendy's logo.

Wendy's could be undergoing major changes.

When Wendy's opened in 1969, its menu had just five items: burgers, Frosties, fries, chili, and soft drinks.

More than five decades later, the chain has grown into the nation’s second-largest fast-food burger brand based on sales, according to QSR Magazine.

Now, Wendy’s could be headed for another major change: a potential acquisition.

On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trian Fund Management, which is owned by billionaire investor Nelson Peltz, and its partners offered $1.4 billion, or $7.35 per share, to buy Wendy’s and take the company private.

The proposal is still under review by a special committee, so no acquisition has been finalized, but it would mean a major shake-up for the burger chain.

Here are 9 things you probably never knew about Wendy's.

Wendy's founder, Dave Thomas, worked for KFC and the real Colonel Sanders before opening his own fast-food chain.

Before opening his own franchise, Dave Thomas worked as a head cook at a Hobby House restaurant, a chain that would eventually become Kentucky Fried Chicken.

During his time working for the company, Thomas helped improve brand recognition and encouraged Colonel Harland David Sanders to appear in more commercials.

This strategy, along with the design of the iconic red-and-white-striped fried chicken bucket, helped grow KFC's popularity.

Thomas was sent to Columbus, Ohio, to revitalize a few failing KFC franchises, turn them around, and sell them back to Sanders for a big profit, the Greensboro News & Record reported. He used this newfound cash to start his own franchise: a hamburger chain named Wendy's, inspired by his inability to find a good burger during his years in Columbus. 

The first Wendy's opened in Columbus, Ohio, in 1969 with just five items on the menu.

The first Wendy's restaurant opened at 257 East Broad Street on November 15, 1969. By that time, there were already two major players in the fast-food burger industry: McDonald's, which opened its first franchise in 1955, and Burger King, which was founded in 1954.

The chain still stands as the second-largest fast-food burger chain in the US.

Wendy's was different from the other two chains in that it served square-shaped burger patties and chocolate shakes called "Frostys."

Apart from the burgers and Frostys, there were only three other items on the first menu: french fries, soft drinks, and chili.

You might already know that Wendy's is named after Dave Thomas' daughter, but her given name is actually Melinda.

Melinda "Wendy" Thomas was just 8 years old when her father founded Wendy's, and he already had a vision for how she would become the brand's mascot.

Inspired by Sanders' success as the face of KFC, Thomas decided to create a similar image for his brand. 

"He wanted a character, because he worked for the Colonel at Kentucky Fried Chicken and knew how much that persona mattered," Wendy Thomas wrote in a blog post for the company in 2019. "He said, 'Wendy, pull your hair up in pigtails.' So, I did. He got his camera and took pictures of me and my sister and said, 'Yep, it's going to be Wendy's Old-Fashioned Hamburgers.'"

"That was it," Thomas continued. "There was no marketing research, no nothing. Just boom. That's it."

One photo of Thomas wearing a blue-and-white-striped dress with her red hair in pigtails became the ultimate inspiration for the chain's logo. While the logo has been altered slightly over the years, the overall idea has remained the same.

Wendy's restaurants used to have their own salad bars where you could completely customize your salad.

Salad bars were added to restaurants in November 1979, and they were popular among customers throughout the 1980s.

However, as more diners opted for drive-thru and carry-out service, salad bars were phased out in favor of more portable salad options. 

Wendy's serves about 300 million Frostys every year.

Wendy's chocolate Frosty is arguably one of the chain's most famous and popular menu items. Introduced as one of five menu items when the chain first opened in 1969, Frostys were only available in chocolate until 2006.

That all changed when the chain launched its vanilla Frosty.

According to a Wendy's press release from 2006, the chain serves about 300 million Frostys every year.

Wendy's changed the fast-food industry with the introduction of its pick-up window.

While other chains have claimed to have invented the drive-thru, Wendy's says it changed the fast-food industry when it introduced its own pick-up window in November 1970.

The window was originally referred to as a "drive-in window" but was renamed "Pick-Up Window" to better reflect the chain's quick-service model. 

According to Wendy's, "This innovation was so revolutionary that customers needed instructions on how to talk through the speaker to place an order."

Wendy's was the first fast-food chain with fewer than 1,000 restaurants to have its own national TV commercial.

According to the company's website, in 1977, Wendy's became the first fast-food chain with fewer than 1,000 restaurants to air a national commercial.

Wendy's now has around 6,000 restaurants nationwide.

One Wendy's advertisement from September 1976, presumably a local commercial, featured an animated Wendy and dancing hamburgers. In the commercial, the cartoon characters described how Wendy's "old-fashioned" hamburgers were cooked to order: "Your choice down at Wendy's, where quality is our recipe!" 

Clara Peller, who starred in Wendy's famous "Where's the Beef" campaign, was reportedly let go after she shaded the company in a Prego ad.

Peller became one of the biggest names in fast food after she began starring in Wendy's commercials, shouting out the slogan, "Where's the beef?"

The first advertisement, which appeared in 1984, claimed that Wendy's hamburgers had larger patties than those of the chain's competitors.

The campaign was so popular that it led to a 31% boost in Wendy's annual revenue, according to the chain. However, things took a turn in 1985 after Peller appeared in a Prego commercial that implied she had "finally found" the beef she was looking for. 

"I'm sorry that the company that I worked so hard for does not want to use me in commercials anymore," Peller said in a statement through her attorney, according to The Sun Sentinel in 2006. 

"The commercial infers that Clara found the beef at somewhere other than Wendy's restaurants," William M. Welter, executive vice president of Wendy's International Inc., said in a statement. "Unfortunately, Clara's appearance in the ads makes it extremely difficult for her to serve as a credible spokesperson for our products."

Peller died at age 86 in 1987, just two years after the dispute.

Some people believe there's a secret message hidden in the Wendy's logo.

After Wendy's introduced its newly designed logo in 2013, a website author claimed to have found a secret message hidden inside Wendy's iconic blue-and-white dress.

ABC News reported that a posting on the website StockLogos.com pointed out that the word "mom" appeared to be hidden on Wendy's collar. Another website agreed, perhaps prompting the chain to issue a statement clarifying whether the hidden message was purely a coincidence or a ploy to get customers to associate Wendy's food with "Mom's cooking."

"We are aware of this and find it interesting that it appears our Wendy cameo has 'mom' on her ruffled collar. We can assure you it was unintentional," Denny Lynch, Wendy's former senior vice president of communications, said at the time.

• Protein products have been taking over grocery aisles, from popcorn to cereal.
• Yogurt is naturally protein-rich, but some brands offer products with added whey or plant protein.
• I ranked 11 different high-protein yogurts and thought Chobani, Ratio, and Oikos were the best.

Protein has entered every corner of the pantry as consumers aim to build or avoid losing muscle.

There's protein popcorn, protein cereal, and even protein water. If a food product did not already contain protein, it does now, thanks to gym bros, social media, and Ozempic.

Yogurt is naturally high in protein, but some brands are taking extra steps to ensure their yogurts — or dairy snacks, as some are labeled — have as much protein as possible.

To see if they actually taste good, I compared 11 different high-protein yogurts from my local store's dairy selection and ranked them from least favorite to top pick.

I ranked the yogurts based on taste and protein content. I considered any yogurt with over 12 grams of protein per serving — the equivalent of two eggs — to be "high-protein."

Other brands, like Fage, also offer vanilla-flavored high-protein yogurts, but I only ranked ones I could find at my local store in New York City.

Do we really need to be this obsessed with protein? Probably not. But if you're looking for easy ways to help meet your nutrient goals — or you just want a delicious-tasting snack — here's how some of the top brands of high-protein yogurts compare.

11. Too Good Blended

Cost: $1.99 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 80 calories

Protein: 12 grams

Too Good Blended is marketed as a low-fat, low-sugar yogurt; it contains 2 grams of each. A container costs $1.99, an average for single-portion yogurts.

It has 12 grams of protein, equivalent to two eggs.

To me, Too Good Blended tasted chalky.

Upon opening the cup, it smelled tart, and I could see vanilla bean powder in the yogurt, suggesting the flavoring was on the more natural side.

However, I thought the taste seemed artificial. The texture was a bit runny, even though the yogurt had some separated whey that needed to be mixed in. Even though it was a bit liquid, this yogurt felt dry and had a grainy texture.

To me, it tasted like chalk.

Rating: 3/10

10. Too Good Zero Sugar

Cost: $1.99 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 70 calories per container

Protein: 13 grams

Also from the Too Good brand, Too Good Zero Sugar offers a similar yogurt, minus the 2 grams of sugar in the Too Good Blended.

With 5.4 calories per gram of protein, this yogurt is the best of the 11 I tried for people looking to increase their protein intake while staying low on calories.

I thought Too Good Zero Sugar wasn't much better than Too Good Blended.

Despite its favorable nutrient values, Too Good Blended was nowhere near my favorite in this ranking.

Compared to some of the other yogurts, it was tartier, runnier, and more artificial-tasting. Although I didn't love the taste, it was still better than Too Good Blended's.

Rating: 4/10

9. Chobani Greek Yogurt

Cost: $1.99 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 110 calories per container

Protein: 12 grams

My go-to before this experiment was Chobani Greek Yogurt, a staple nonfat Greek yogurt. While I enjoy this regularly, after comparing it to so many options, I was surprised to see it rank so low in my ranking.

The yogurt has one of the highest sugar contents in the experiment, at 9 grams per container, tied with Icelandic Provisions and Siggi's. It is also the least protein-efficient for those looking to stay low on calories while increasing protein intake. It has over 9 calories per gram of protein, which is higher than any other protein in this ranking.

Chobani's Greek Yogurt almost tasted like spoiled milk.

This tastes like Greek yogurt, big time. Intensely tartier than the rest, the combination of Chobani's Greek yogurt with its very mild vanilla flavoring almost tasted like spoiled milk to me.

It was also very runny, which I don't always look for when grabbing a yogurt for a stand-alone snack — as a granola bowl base, however, I do prefer to go for something a bit more liquidy. Of course, this comes down to personal preference.

While it used to be my go-to option, I think I'd rather go for some of the other options I tasted.

Rating: 5/10

8. Yoplait Protein

Cost: $1.79 for 5.6 ounces

Calories: 100 calories per container

Protein: 15 grams

Yoplait's Protein yogurt offering was the most surprising to me, nutrients-wise. Being the cheapest of all 11 I tried, the yogurt packs a solid 15 grams of protein while having 3 grams of sugar.

It's also a larger size, at 5.6 ounces per container, so in terms of volume, you get the most bang for your buck.

Yoplait Protein surprised me.

I was skeptical about how Yoplait's Protein yogurt would stack up — I typically consider it a traditional yogurt brand rather than a protein-focused snack. But I was pleasantly surprised.

When I opened the cup, I was instantly hit by a strong vanilla scent that reminded me of ice cream.

While the texture was both thick and airy, it was also a bit grainy, and I thought the yogurt tasted a little artificial and bland compared to some of the other brands.

So while I probably wouldn't seek it out over others on this list, it's still a good snack option.

Rating: 6/10

7. Oikos Triple Zero

Cost: $1.99 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 90 calories per container

Protein: 15 grams

Oikos' Triple Zero name tells you everything you need to know: The snack has zero sugar, zero artificial sweeteners, and zero fat.

It's the only one on this list with both zero sugar and zero fat.

It is also one of the more protein-efficient options at 6 calories per gram of protein.

Despite its nutrient values, Oikos Triple Zero didn't wow me.

Oikos Triple Zero had one of the most unique flavors of the yogurts on this list. When I opened it, I was immediately hit by a slightly funkier smell than some of the other yogurts.

After mixing the yogurt, which had separated a bit, the Oikos Triple Zero had a very rich and full texture. Its vanilla flavoring tasted different than some of the others on this list — it almost seemed smokier.

While I rated it the same as the Yoplait Protein, its nutrient values gave it a boost for me, hence why it's ranked higher.

Rating: 6/10

6. Siggi's Skyr

Cost: $2.39 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 110 calories per container

Protein: 16 grams

Another of my usual go-tos, Siggi's nonfat Skyr — a type of strained yogurt — had some of the highest sugar content on the list, tied with Chobani Greek Yogurt and Icelandic Provisions.

The yogurt is also on the more expensive side at $2.39 for a regular 5.3-ounce container.

Siggi's Skyr was very different from some of the less-yogurt-y options.

Flavored with a visible vanilla bean, Siggi's Skyr had the best vanilla flavor of all the yogurts I tested. While it was very tart and not sweet at all — which surprised me since it had 9 grams of sugar — the vanilla flavor still shone through.

In terms of texture, Siggi's reminded me a lot of ice cream, both in appearance and in feel.

I'll buy this again, but out of the 11, it didn't make my top five.

Rating: 7/10

5. Dannon's Light + Fit

Cost: $1.89 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 80 calories per container

Protein: 12 grams

Dannon's Light + Fit yogurt was my favorite discovery from this experiment. Having never heard of it before, I was impressed by this nonfat yogurt, which packs 12 grams of protein in 80 calories.

While it does have 7 grams of sugar, I found that the flavor in this yogurt justified it.

Even with very low calories, Light + Fit was still tasty, and I really liked its texture.

Dannon's Light + Fit's texture was one of the most memorable. As the name says, this yogurt is indeed light. It was much airier than all the others, which also made it a bit runny.

It was also very sweet, almost falling into the category of dessert-adjacent yogurts that I would put Ratio's in.

Rating: 8/10

4. Oikos Pro

Cost: $2.79 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 140 calories per container

Protein: 20 grams

Oikos' higher-protein yogurt offering, Oikos Pro, is a much more protein-dense offering, having 20 grams of protein in a 5.3-ounce container, or a little more than three eggs. The yogurt also has 0% fat and 3 grams of sugar.

It is also, however, one of the most expensive, at $2.79 for a regular 5.3-ounce cup. It's tied with Ratio for the most expensive in this ranking, being a full dollar more than some of the other options.

Oikos Pro is a perfect post-workout snack.

When you open a cup of Oikos Pro, you smell mild vanilla, which translates into a very tasty yogurt with a flavor that stays on your tongue longer than others.

The texture was also very rich and moist, while not being runny.

This texture also made it the most filling of the yogurts I tested, and it would make for the perfect post-workout snack.

Rating: 8/10

3. Icelandic Provisions

Cost: $1.99 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 130 calories per container

Protein: 15 grams

While not labeled as a high-protein yogurt, Icelandic Provisions' Skyr has 15 grams of protein, placing it in the medium-high tier among yogurts.

It's tied with Chobani and Siggi's for the highest sugar content, with all three at 9 grams.

Icelandic Provisions was one of my favorites.

Icelandic Provisions is a skyr yogurt like Siggi's. It is similar in taste and texture, but I found it a bit sweeter and less tart, with a nuttier flavor, which I really enjoyed.

This rich, full-flavored yogurt was one of my favorites out of the 11.

Rating: 9/10

2. Ratio Protein

Cost: $2.79 for 5.3 ounces

Calories: 170 calories per container

Protein: 25 grams

With a whopping 25 grams of protein — nearly as much as half a chicken breast — Ratio Protein had by far the most protein content of all the products I tested. It was also the most expensive, tied with Oikos Pro at $2.79 a cup.

The product, labeled as a "yogurt-cultured dairy snack" rather than yogurt due to the added vegetable-based fats in its recipe, is also the most calorie-dense, with 170 calories per cup.

While the Ratio recipe does not meet the FDA's definition of yogurt, its fermented nature, dairy components, and use of yogurt cultures earned it a spot on my list.

I will be looking to Ratio next time I need a quick protein-dense snack.

Ratio Protein differs from the others in this list. Its taste is much milder, and it lacks the signature tartness of Greek yogurt.

The texture was also quite unique — I could best describe it as gooey. It's runnier and smoother than the rest, and its taste stays on your tongue for much longer.

To me, this just felt like dessert, and I easily forgot that I was having a meal's worth of protein.

While I gave this and the Icelandic Provisions a 9/10, the protein content and unique flavor and texture made me rank Ratio higher.

Rating: 9/10

1. Chobani Protein

Cost: $2.39 for 6.7 ounces

Calories: 140 calories per container

Protein: 20 grams

Coming in at No. 1 is Chobani Protein, which has 20 grams of protein in a larger 6.7-ounce cup. While it's larger, its calorie content is in line with other yogurts in this ranking, like Oikos Pro, which has the same amount of protein. Like Oikos, Chobani Protein has about the same protein content as a 3-ounce can of tuna.

While the individual cup is pricier per unit, the larger size makes it cheaper per ounce, comparable to Dannon's Light + Fit.

Chobani Protein is one of three zero-sugar yogurts in this ranking, the others being Oikos Triple Zero and Too Good 0 Sugar.

Chobani Protein was by far my favorite.

I was a fan of Chobani Protein before coming into this test — the high protein content and name recognition frequently earned it a spot in my fridge — but I entered this experiment ready to find a new favorite.

I didn't.

Although some of the other yogurts I tasted were surprising and very enjoyable, I still found Chobani Protein to be the best.

It is rich, thicker, and very filling. It has a hint of the signature Chobani Greek yogurt taste while skipping much of the tartness. I enjoyed the taste it left in my mouth the most out of all of the yogurts.

The only downside to this favorite is its slightly artificial taste from the zero-sugar sweeteners used to keep its sugar content low, but if you can move past that, you'll have an amazing post-workout bite or on-the-go snack at your disposal.

Rating: 10/10

• The first Cheesecake Factory restaurant opened in Beverly Hills, California, in 1978.
• Its CEO and founder, David Overton, opened it to promote his mother's cheesecake business.
• Today, it's one of the top restaurant chains in the country.

The Cheesecake Factory is having an unlikely moment in political discourse.

Over the weekend, former President Barack Obama joked at a Cleveland rally that President Donald Trump had made the White House look like “Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory,” referring to the president's propensity for gold-heavy decor and the renovations he has overseen during his tenure.

The chain’s former vice president of design pushed back on Obama's comments in a CNN interview, saying the White House looks nothing like a Cheesecake Factory, while the White House’s X account defended the chain as “a great American institution.”

Trump also responded to Obama's comparison, telling reporters that calling the White House a Cheesecake Factory "just shows why you were a lousy president."

One of the top 40 restaurant chains in the US, The Cheesecake Factory is known for its extensive menu of cheesecakes, pastas, sandwiches, and appetizers, including its famed avocado egg rolls.

But fans may not realize that the publicly traded company, with a market cap of around $3 billion, was a family-run bakery business for years before it scaled across the US and abroad.

"Growing up, it was all about cheesecake. And we knew people loved it," Cheesecake Factory CEO David Overton said in a video on the company's website.

What started as a family recipe has since grown into a global business. Take a closer look at The Cheesecake Factory's early beginnings.

Evelyn Overton, with her husband, Oscar, started making cheesecakes for local restaurants in Detroit in the 1940s.

In the 1940s, Evelyn Overton found a dessert recipe in a local Detroit newspaper that inspired her to create her "original" cheesecake.

She tweaked the recipe and started making her own cakes.  She eventually opened her own bakery. 

"Everyone loved it," David Overton said. "It became famous."

In time, she gave up the business to focus on raising her two children, David and Renee. She moved her baking equipment into her basement kitchen and continued selling cheesecakes to Detroit restaurants.

"Growing up, it was all about cheesecake," David Overton said about his mother's cheesecakes.

In the 1970s, David Overton moved to San Francisco to study law. He persuaded his parents, who were then in their 50s, to move to Los Angeles so his mom's cheesecake business could get another chance in a bigger market.

With the last of their savings, Oscar and Evelyn Overton packed up their car and drove cross-country to Los Angeles. They had $10,000 to their name.

In 1972, at their son's behest, Oscar and Evelyn Overton moved to Los Angeles and opened a 700-square-foot commercial bakery in North Hollywood.  

"This was probably the size of one of our walk-ins today," David Overton said in the video.

His parents opened The Cheesecake Factory bakery in 1972 and began selling Evelyn Overton's cheesecakes to restaurants throughout Los Angeles.

They worked around the clock, attempting to turn her lifelong dream of owning a successful business into a reality.

David Overton, a musician in the late '70s, moved to Los Angeles to help his parents promote the business.

Evelyn Overton developed more than a dozen varieties of her cheesecake and other desserts. Her husband was the salesperson. He drove from Santa Barbara to San Diego, selling his wife's desserts to restaurants across Southern California.

While their business found modest success, the patriarch would get the same feedback: "No one needs more than one flavor of cheesecake." 

This frustrated David Overton, especially as some restaurant owners began switching to other suppliers that made less-expensive cheesecakes that he saw as inferior.

"Literally for $0.05, some of these restaurants would switch to another brand," David Overton said.

"We knew we had the Cadillac of cheesecakes," David Overton said. So he decided to showcase the cheesecakes at their own restaurant.

To prove the demand for his mom's desserts, he opened his own restaurant in Beverly Hills in 1978, despite having no restaurant experience. He named the restaurant The Cheesecake Factory after his parents' bakery. 

On opening day, he was so nervous he didn't open the restaurant until 2 p.m. to avoid the lunch rush. When the doors finally opened, the restaurant filled up within 10 minutes.

The first two-sided menu was light on options by the chain's current standards.

Due to his lack of restaurant experience, David Overton "created a simple and straightforward menu with generous portions," The Cheesecake Factory told Business Insider.  

The original menu was a single-page, two-sided document, and it featured 60 items, many of which he knew how to cook himself.

One side featured lunch and dinner options such as burgers, hamburger steak, quiche of the day, and roasted chicken. Salads, grilled meats, and open-faced sandwiches included classic American staples such as crab Louie and tuna salad. One dish, Oscar's special sardine sandwich, was named after his father.

Breakfast featured egg dishes, cereal, toast, and espresso drinks. 

Some of the cheesecake flavors were chocolate chip, peanut butter, mocha chocolate chip, and fresh strawberry.

The original dessert menu featured a variety of baked goods and desserts, including cheesecake, carrot cake, zucchini cake, strudel, whipped-cream cakes, chocolate-mousse pie, black forest cake, cream puffs, ice-cream sundaes, milkshakes, banana splits, and Belgian waffles topped with ice cream and whipped cream. The ice cream on the menu was billed as "extra rich."

Prices ranged from $0.85 for a dish of ice cream to $1.95 for the chocolate-mousse pie. A slice of cheesecake cost $1.25.

When The Cheesecake Factory first opened, it also featured a salad bar.

The Beverly Hills salad bar was called the Fabulous Factory Salad Bar. The cost of a build-your-own salad was $1.95 for a medium plate or $2.95 for a large salad plate.

Salad bars at this time were more closely associated with steakhouses.  The first four Cheesecake Factory restaurants had salad bars. It stopped adding them when the fifth restaurant opened in 1991 in Washington, DC.

The Cheesecake Factory filled the gap between fast-food options and expensive restaurants.

"There really were, in the area, high-end restaurants and then fast food, but there was really nothing in the middle," Alethea Rowe, the senior director of public relations and global branding at The Cheesecake Factory, told Business Insider. "And David purposefully created a restaurant that was very much in the middle."

It appealed to middle-class diners who, amid the boom of frozen and microwaved meals, enjoyed the restaurant's made-from-scratch cooking.

The service also helped. Hostess Linda Candioty (pictured) started working for Evelyn Overton in the bakery in 1977. She became the restaurant's first hostess and has held a variety of key positions within the company over the years. Today, she is the company's vice president of guest experience.

"She knew how to please the guest," David Overton said. "I loved operating. I love being in the background. She loved being in the foreground."

David Overton had no initial plans to open a second restaurant, but he soon grew to love the business. In 1983, the second location opened.

The new location was in Marina del Rey, an affluent Los Angeles-area coastal community.

David Overton immediately fell in love with the location.

"I went there, and I said, 'Wow, who wouldn't want to sit out here and have a wonderful meal,'" he said.

Candioty, in the company video, described the bay location this way: "On the water. On the beach. Palm trees. Volleyball. Windsurfers. It was amazing. And it was a zoo from the beginning."

The restaurant was packed full all summer.

"We became an instant hit. It took us about five years to recover from that opening," she said.

Original Beverly Hills servers wore café aprons.

After the success of the Marina del Rey restaurant, David Overton chose another coastal spot for its next location: Redondo Beach, California. 

After that, David Overton set a goal to open at least one restaurant every year or every two years.

"So we started to grow because of our success and because people loved our product, and our culture grew right along with it," he said in the company video.

The Cheesecake Factory's famous murals started with the opening of the Redondo Beach restaurant in 1988.

The Redondo Beach restaurant had a lot of empty wall space. So David Overton turned to employee Mary D'Astugues, who was known as an artist. He asked her to paint a ceiling mural and one behind the bar.

She painted while the restaurant was under construction.

"David really liked the aesthetic that Mary's artwork added to the restaurant, and from that point forward, as each new Cheesecake Factory opened in cities across the country, Mary painted custom murals for each location," the company told Business Insider.

The Cheesecake Factory went public in 1992.

David Overton, in a 2011 interview with CNN, said his parents were able to semi-retire as the restaurants performed well in the first several years. 

"Our investors were making a lot of money," he said. "In September 1992, we went public. The stock opened at $20 and went to $27.25 the first day." 

He became the CEO and chair of the board when the company went public. Before that, he was the company's president. He is the only CEO the chain has ever had.

Today, the Cheesecake Factory ranks 36th among US chains by sales on Technomic's top-500 list. Among casual dining chains, it's ranked No. 9.

In 2012, The Cheesecake Factory opened its first international location in Dubai.

The restaurant opened in the Dubai Mall under a licensing agreement with Alshaya Trading Co.

The Cheesecake Factory has over 200 domestic restaurants and over 30 international locations. None of the US locations are franchised.

International restaurants are licensed locations. This is an unusual tactic for a large publicly traded company, which typically grows through franchising. Other publicly traded chains that don't franchise include Chipotle and Shake Shack. 

In 2016, the first Cheesecake Factory in China opened in Shanghai.

Some of the 36 international locations have opened in top tourist destinations.

In 2016, the company opened its first restaurant in China. The location opened in Disneytown at the Shanghai Disney Resort.

The Cheesecake Factory's famous "brown bread" launched in grocery stores in 2018.

The bread was launched under the Cheesecake Factory at Home brand.

Other restaurant items sold in grocery stores include a handful of whole frozen cheesecakes, including the original cheesecake and the strawberry-topped original cheesecake. 

The Cheesecake Factory was one of the first national restaurant chains to work with DoorDash.

To gain market share, DoorDash went after large, established restaurant chains. Early partnerships included The Cheesecake Factory, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Wendy's.

While other restaurant chains have expanded delivery services to include other apps such as Uber Eats, Cheesecake Factory remains an exclusive delivery partner with DoorDash.

In 2019, The Cheesecake Factory expanded with the acquisition of Fox Restaurant Concepts, which owns the brands North Italia and Flower Child.

"It became evident that the combination of two of the most experiential and entrepreneurial restaurant companies could drive greater value as one organization," David Overton said in a statement. 

In 2020, the private-equity firm Roark Capital, whose fast-food empire includes Arby's and Jamba, invested $200 million in The Cheesecake Factory.

The April 2020 investment helped The Cheesecake Factory's "liquidity position" as it navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, David Overton said at the time.

In June 2021, The Cheesecake Factory reacquired most of the equity stake it had sold to Roark Capital in a transaction valued at $457.3 million, Restaurant Business reported.

Today, the Cheesecake Factory menu has more than 250 items across nearly 20 pages.

New items are rolled out twice a year, replacing lower-performing items.

In a 2022 Vox article, the writer Alex Abad-Santos called The Cheesecake Factory an "uncanny" chain whose success was built on defying standard industry rules.

The chain's massive menu is one of those industry-defying traditions. Most chains preach operational efficiency by providing a limited menu of dishes that are all profit generators.  

Not at The Cheesecake Factory. 

"The menu was seemingly written by someone who was hungry for everything they could think of but couldn't name what they actually wanted at that moment," Abad-Santos wrote. "The rules that govern regular restaurants have no power over The Cheesecake Factory. If there is one rule at The Cheesecake Factory, it's that the conventional wisdom of the restaurant industry — keeping costs low, concepts simple, and menus under 200 items — is meant to be ignored."

Many menu items are named after people. Adam's peanut butter cup fudge ripple, for example, is named after the founder's son, Adam.

This cheesecake favorite combines all of Adam's favorite childhood treats: Butterfingers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, caramel, and the chain's classic cheesecake.

The "Evelyn's Favorite Pasta" dish is named after David Overton's mom.

The dish is made with broccoli, zucchini, asparagus, peppers, tomato, onion, garlic, and fresh herbs. It's tossed with Parmesan.

It's one of 14 pasta dishes listed on the menu. 

Linda's fudge cake is one of the desserts that Candioty created while working as a test baker.

The fudge cake remains one of The Cheesecake Factory's most beloved desserts, the company told Business Insider.

The avocado egg roll, a top-selling appetizer, was inspired by David Overton's dining travels.

Avocado egg rolls are a top seller on the menu.

The inspiration for it came after David Overton tasted a crunchy avocado cheese straw while dining at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills. Avocado was also used as a garnish on the dish. 

It made him wonder whether The Cheesecake Factory could make an egg roll stuffed with avocado chunks. Experimenting commenced, and after multiple tries, The Cheesecake Factory's avocado egg rolls were developed.

Their exact debut is unknown, but they've been around since the late '90s or very early 2000s, the company said. 

Almost every item on the menu is made in-house from scratch, except for the chain's cheesecakes.

Business Insider got a behind-the-scenes look at how The Cheesecake Factory manages its massive menu, with chefs relying on coordinated prep stations, digital timers, and strict deadlines to keep orders moving.

Even though the menu hovers around 250 items, most are made from scratch. The one exception is the chain's cheesecakes, which are delivered frozen to each restaurant and garnished with whipped cream during service.

Staff prepare ingredients for hundreds of dishes before service begins, including more than 100 sauces and dressings at a single station.

Entrées are expected to be out about 15 minutes after they're ordered, while appetizers have a seven-minute goal.

Although the chain continues adding around 10 new dishes each year, executives say the menu is nearing its practical limit due to the kitchen's complexity.

The Cheesecake Factory isn't just famous for its food. The chain recently made headlines for getting caught up in a political squabble.

In October, former President Barack Obama joked that President Donald Trump had made the White House look like "Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory," a reference to Trump's gold-heavy Oval Office design and other White House renovations.

The Cheesecake Factory's former vice president of design disputed the comparison in a CNN interview, while the White House's X account defended the restaurant chain as "a great American institution."

Trump also addressed Obama's remark, telling reporters that the comparison "just shows why you were a lousy president."

• I followed cinnamon-roll recipes from famous chefs Alton Brown, Ree Drummond, and Sandra Lee.
• Brown's recipe was solid, and Lee's recipe required the least effort, but the rolls were just OK. 
• Drummond's recipe was my favorite, but was so messy I'd only make it again for a special occasion.

Imagine sweet, cinnamon sugar swirled into pillowy-soft dough, all dripping in glistening icing — is your mouth watering yet?

When that craving for cinnamon rolls kicks in, you could certainly grab a can from the grocery store — but there's nothing better than gooey, homemade ones filling your whole house with comforting smells.

In search of the ultimate cinnamon roll, I tested recipes from famous chefs Alton Brown, Ree Drummond, and Sandra Lee to see who has the best one. 

Read on to see how each recipe turned out, and which was my favorite. 

Brown's recipe calls for fairly simple pantry staples

Brown's recipe on the Food Network website asked for some super basic kitchen ingredients, many of which I already had on hand.

I needed ground cinnamon, light brown sugar, butter, eggs, flour, instant dry yeast, salt, and sugar for the dough and filling. For the icing, I only needed cream cheese, powdered sugar, and milk.

The ingredients are so standard that I happened to have enough on hand to make two batches, which later came in handy when I ran into some trouble with my first attempt.

These are meant to be prepared the day before, which makes morning prep easy

Brown's recipe is for "overnight cinnamon rolls," so I started prepping them the day before I wanted to eat them.

I like the idea of starting these rolls in the evening, letting them chill overnight, then finishing them in the morning. Splitting up the steps makes the process seem much easier.

However, it didn't make it any shorter. I made the dough the day before, let it rise for two and a half hours, and chilled it overnight.

For my dough, I used instant yeast that someone had shared with me from a larger package. I'd stored it in a clear, resealable bag — but it turns out that opened instant yeast should be refrigerated.

As such, my instant yeast was worthless. However, I didn't realize this until it was too late. 

My first batch was a bust, but I learned a few lessons

In the morning, I let my rolls rise further in a cold oven along with a pan of boiling water for 30 minutes. Then I baked them for 30 minutes.

The first batch was definitely wrong. As I foreshadowed, the rolls never rose due to an issue with my instant yeast. The dough looked rather dry from start to finish, and the cinnamon rolls stayed small throughout the process. 

They didn't rise in the oven and came out looking undercooked and dry — but at least they worked well as an air freshener.

The icing smelled sweet, but it looked thin with clumps of cream cheese. I wondered if maybe the cream cheese wasn't soft enough, even though I'd left it out for a few hours.

These cinnamon rolls were difficult to cut into and incredibly dense.

The taste was fine — buttery and filled with a sweet cinnamon flavor — but the texture was just hard and dry. The icing was also a turn-off because of the clumpiness. 

I decided to try Brown's recipe one more time 

After my failed first attempt, I made a second batch. This time, I tried using active dry yeast as a substitute for instant yeast by following the simple instructions on the yeast packet. It worked perfectly. 

I combined active yeast with warm water (I made sure the temperature was between 100 and 115 degrees Fahrenheit) and sugar and let it sit for 10 minutes before adding it to the mixer to make the dough, per the recipe's instructions.

The second time around, the dough definitely came out fluffier and stickier. It rose very well and was a bit harder to work with because it was so soft and sticky.

My first attempt was a letdown, but the second batch of Brown's rolls was excellent

These came out of the oven looking and smelling delicious.

The brown sugar in the filling leaked out more in this batch, causing the bottoms of the cinnamon rolls to become slightly overdone. 

Otherwise, the rolls were so soft. I wish the filling didn't leak out and pool in the bottom of the pan because I would've loved more cinnamon and brown-sugar flavor.

For my second attempt at the icing, I tried letting the cream cheese sit out even longer to soften, hoping it would be easier to integrate with the powdered sugar and milk — but it still got clumpy.

In the future, I might try topping these with whipped cream cheese instead.

Overall, this recipe resulted in soft, pillowy cinnamon rolls that could use more filling. 

Drummond's recipe featured unique ingredients in high enough quantities to feed a crowd

The Pioneer Woman is often whipping up recipes for a crowd on her cooking show, so it makes sense that her original recipe on the Food Network website yields 40 to 50 cinnamon rolls.

I cut the ingredients in half, and this recipe still produced the most cinnamon rolls of the three recipes I tested.

For this dough and filling, I needed a lot of the same basics, like flour, butter, cinnamon, active dry yeast, sugar, and milk. It also used baking powder and baking soda.

However, there were some more unconventional ingredients for the icing, including maple extract and "strongly brewed coffee." I used cold brew because I already had some made in the fridge.

Oddly enough, this is a one-pot recipe

Although some mixing bowls are needed for the icing, the dough is actually made in a single pot on the stove. This made for a pretty easy start, even if it seemed strange to me.

I made the dough on the stove as directed, then moved it to a mixing bowl to proof. It rose so well that I had a hard time getting it to stop rising.

The rising dough overflowed out of my mixing bowl, and it was very difficult to roll out because it was so fluffy and sticky.

I wrangled it as best I could and packed my dough strips with filling before putting them into the baking pans to rise further. 

Although they seemed far apart in the pan, I knew they'd rise even more once they began baking. 

The smell of these maple cinnamon rolls was unreal — and the taste was even better

Despite the mess and frustration, these rolls came out nearly perfect. They were golden with gooey centers, even though they looked a bit pathetic and misshapen going into the oven.

Drummond's maple icing was easy to make, but next time I plan to sift the powdered sugar to prevent it from clumping. 

The edges of the cinnamon rolls were just the slightest bit overdone. Aside from the slightly crisp edges, the rolls were perfectly soft with sweet fillings and ooey-gooey centers.

The first bite I took from the middle of one of these rolls was indescribably good, and the maple icing was so delicious I could eat it straight from the bowl. 

For just my partner and me, I don't think I would go through the nightmarish mess of this recipe again. However, these cinnamon rolls would absolutely impress a crowd.

Lee's cinnamon rolls were unsurprisingly quick and easy to make

True to her semi-homemade fame, Lee's recipe on the Food Network website calls for frozen bread dough. My grocery store typically carries one brand of frozen white bread dough, but it was out of stock when I went shopping.

Luckily, in a 2020 Yahoo interview, Lee said you can swap out the frozen bread for biscuit dough in this recipe.

I decided to use buttermilk biscuits because I figured the buttermilk flavor, which is a tad acidic, would balance out the sweetness of the cinnamon rolls

The dough was harder to roll out than I expected

At first, the biscuit dough felt tough to roll out because it's so dense. However, once I finally flattened it, adding the brown sugar and cinnamon filling was easy — and so was shaping the rolls.

The dough was easy to slice, and doing so created beautiful, nearly perfect rolls. This was a nice break from the other batches of cinnamon rolls I made, which mostly fell apart as I cut them.

I followed the recipe's instructions and left the cut rolls out for one hour to proof. They didn't appear to rise at all during that time, so I'm not sure how necessary this was.

In the meantime, I made the icing with softened butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Like with Brown's recipe, I found the simple cream-cheese icing I prepared to be lumpy.

The cinnamon rolls looked great, but the centers were too undercooked

These came out golden brown, and the lumps in the icing dissolved once they met the hot rolls.

Unfortunately, the dough was so dense that the centers didn't bake well and were too underdone and doughy. However, with more time in the oven, I predicted that the edges would burn. 

Next time, I might cover these with foil for a bit or bake them at a lower temperature so they don't burn but can cook through.

The buttermilk flavor did help cut the extra sweetness from the excessive filling, but otherwise, these tasted quite similar to store-bought cinnamon rolls.

As such, I'd probably skip buying a can of biscuit dough to make these rolls and just opt for a can of store-bought cinnamon rolls. 

I'd totally make Drummond's cinnamon rolls again, but only for a special occasion 

In general, making homemade cinnamon rolls can be a lengthy and messy affair.

Personally, I don't mind grabbing a can of cinnamon rolls from the store or buying them from a local bakery or restaurant. I'll likely continue to do so, but for special occasions and large gatherings, I'd make Drummond's recipe in a heartbeat.

It resulted in such decadently sweet cinnamon rolls, and the maple icing was such a unique touch that really made them next-level.

Check out the other celebrity-chef recipes we've put head-to-head so far.

This story was originally published on TK and most recently updated on TK.