Have I waited long enough?
In any case, here are the scores:
There really are not enough scores to rate Marnell's for some reason. Seems to be a consistently mediocre place - 5's across the board - but very few sheets were filled out.
Pop's/Chicago and Rosangela's both had decent atmosphere, earing a 6.2 and 6.6 respectively. Pops/Homewood in its spiffy new place was lower rated at 5.4, but none of these places were wonderful or terrible.
The Sweet Peppers were also decent, and roughly equal - Pops/Chicago, Rosangela's, and Pops/HW earning 6.6, 5.8 and 5.1 respectively. Of course, in the grand scheme of things a 6.6 for Sweet Peppers is a lot like a 9 for most other things.
As to Fries, opinions varied widely, based on one's preference in style of French Fry, I suppose (McDonald's versus handcut skin-on, I think). Pops/Chicago and Homewood were pretty close with their mostly McD-style - 5.1 and 5.7 respectively. Rosangela's had great handcut and scored an 8.
With the exception of Rosangela's toasted bread which scored a record 7.7, all of the rest is pretty much the same with the only difference being age, storage and sogginess. In those areas, Pops/Chicago did much better with a 5.7, versus Pops/HW at 4.8.
And now for the main event.
The gravy at Pop's/Chicago was pretty good, fresh, well-seasoned and just tasty, and got a 6.7; Homewood had less seasoning and trailed at 6.0. Rosangela's was close to that at 5.7, but had more canned broth notes.
The Beef at Pop's Chicago also stood out, well cooked, well seasoned and darned good, earning a 7.1. Pop's/HW trailed with a 6.0, and Rosangela's really was not Italian Beef, presenting more of a pure Roast Beef seasoning profile, and not cooked so well either. It earned a 4.7.
As often happens, when it is all put together a little magic happens and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Toasted bread, decent giardinera and gravy pulled the beef up at Rosangela's to earn a 6.0 - not great, but not really bad either.
Pop's/HW came in with a 6.8, which means the consensus is it was a good sammy. And Pop's/Chicago left the others in its dust with a 7.9, which means it is worth a little detour to get a pretty darned good IB.
Will begin a thread on Events to discuss the finals.
d
Feeling (south) loopy