Whatever happened to peeling potatoes?

Back in olden days, restaurants used to do that…and I appreciated it because my digestive tract really doesn't like potato skins. It likes potatoes but not the skins. When you got an order of french fries, they had but the faintest traces of skin on them. Someone had actually peeled them before slicing and frying. Then all of a sudden, it started becoming fashionable to leave a little skin on fries…and now many restaurants don't peel at all. Even Five Guys, where the fries are terrific, doesn't peel their spuds…which I guess is a good thing because otherwise, I'd devour an entire order. As it is, I just eat the ones with little or no skin. An order of french fries at Five Guys is large enough that you can do that and still get more than enough fries.

Skins on fries is bad enough but a few years ago, the disease began to infest mashed potatoes. Suddenly, mine were coming with little pieces of skin in them — usually red but sometimes other colors. I don't know about you but I don't want pieces of skin in my mashed potatoes any more than I want dung beetles in there. One of the great things about good mashed potatoes is the comforting, fluffy texture. Even lumps of potato spoil the effect.

The change seemed especially tragic at a chain of restaurants I used to often patronize called The Daily Grill. They had perfect mashed potatoes…the best I'd ever had anywhere. For some reason, their Head Chef decided to tamper with perfection. Well, actually I think I know the reason…

The first time I found hunks of potato jacket in my mashers, I complained politely to the manager. I didn't seek him out. He ambled by the table and inquired, as restaurant managers often do, "Is everything to your liking?" I thought, Well, he asked, and said, "No, the mashed potatoes are not to my liking," adding that the skinless ones were superb.

He apologized but said, "We found that many people prefer the mashed potatoes that way." Still being polite, I did not call him a liar. I merely asked, "Has even one customer said to you, 'Oh, thank you for leaving the skin on your potatoes when you mash them. They're so much better that way!'?"

He thought for a second and then muttered, "Well, not in those words. But you know, there are a lot of vitamins in the potato skins…"

"If people are interested in getting vitamins out of their potatoes, they don't order them fried or mashed," I said…and then I asked, "Is it possible you're just trying to save time and money by not having anyone peel the potatoes?"

"I didn't say that," he said.

"I don't hear you denying it," I said.

He chuckled, put up his hands in a gesture of surrender and said, "You've got me." It wasn't the kind of confession Perry Mason used to get but I accepted it as such. Not peeling the taters is cheaper and easier, and that's why I think restaurants are doing it. I don't think most folks prefer it. I think just not enough of them object or, like I did with the Daily Grill, cut back on their patronage.

But let's take a survey and find out if people — or at least, people who read this blog — really prefer it. This poll will be open for one week…and please note. Other blogs may ask you to vote on the soul and safety of the United States or the future of the environment or the true meaning of life. On this site, we get down to the important stuff…

Joe Conason on how the G.O.P. thinks it'll gain ground by encouraging Americans to hate Muslims. It starts with forgetting all that stuff the Bush Administration said about Islam being a "religion of peace."

From Robert Moore…

I noticed your link to Fred Fox's piece about Jumping the Shark. While I understand what he's saying, I think he misunderstands what the phrase "jumping the shark" means. It means a given show has peaked in quality, not necessarily popularity. What Mr. Fox is downplaying is that while Happy Days was continuing to draw big ratings, it was through stunts such as Fonzie jumping sharks and riding bulls. When the Fonz jumped the school buses earlier, it had been a stunt, but a well conceived one. It added dimension to the character: we learned his heart could be broken, that he could feel fear, that he could be hurt. With the shark jumping episode, the audience learned nothing. It was just a stunt.

I was the biggest Fonz fan there was back in the day. I had a Fonz t-shirt and a jacket. Not a leather jacket, no way my parents were going to buy me that, but a denim jacket, which the Fonz wore from time to time. I watched Happy Days every Tuesday, and also an hour of episodes each day in syndication. I can't remember the episode airing on ABC, but I distinctly remember watching it for the first time in syndication and shocking my parents by walking out halfway through the episode to go outside and play. I was only nine years old, so it's not like I had any sort of aesthetic standards that I felt were being violated. I was simply bored with the show.

I also wonder at how disingenuous Fox is being when he says he doesn't know who came up with the idea for the "Jump the Shark" episode. If I'm not mistaken, Fred Silverman was running ABC, and I know that he made Happy Days ABC's flagship show. Silverman has said that he almost killed Happy Days by counter programming Good Times against it when he was at CBS, and then had to do everything he could to revive Happy Days when he went to ABC. It was at that time that the gimmicks started: Fonzie jumps school buses, Fonzie jumps a shark, Fonzie rides a bull, etc. I was wondering, with your vast knowledge of the TV business (and I'm not being facetious, ironic, or trying to flatter you here) if you could shed any light on this. Could it have been Silverman or one of his assistants who came up with the idea? I know Silverman could be really hands on with TV shows. From everything I've read, he had a lot of input on Scooby Doo at the beginning, and took the show to ABC with him when he left to CBS.

Thanks for the excellent website and I hope this note finds you well.

P.S. Based on your many recommendations, I finally tried the Five Guys closest to me (Lexington, KY). You have given me the best culinary advice I have ever gotten from the internet. Bravo!

P.P.S. What do the put in those burgers to make them taste so good? I think I'm addicted.

I'm afraid I never watched Happy Days enough to have a lot of opinions on it. I do recall being less interested in Fonzie as the character became more human…but I suppose most audiences preferred that. I also thought Hawkeye Pierce became a less compelling presence on TV as they soft-pedalled his womanizing and drinking, and that didn't hurt the ratings of M*A*S*H either. My impression is that early on, Happy Days simply clicked with audiences who were thereafter willing to follow it anywhere until cast defections made it seem like a different show. The rise of its numbers at times might be partially explainable by weak competition. Once that Happy Days/Laverne & Shirley hour became a juggernaut, NBC and CBS often conceded the slot and programmed their more promising shows on other nights.

I doubt Fred Fox is being disingenuous when he says he doesn't know whose idea it was. I don't know Mr. Fox but on a show with a big writing staff, it's very common for ideas to sorta materialize in the room. One guy tosses out the germ cell, another turns it into something else and that triggers another writer to suggest something similar…and ten minutes later, it's impossible to trace the lineage. It probably was not someone at the network. Garry Marshall had a pretty powerful creative team then…and the clout to get the network to leave them alone. They might tell him when they needed episodes with extra heat but I doubt they'd presume to tell him what should be in them.

What I think I like about Five Guys burgers is the feeling of freshness. I know In-N-Out also uses beef that's never been frozen but it doesn't particularly taste that way to me. That may be because their patties are so thin. Both Five Guys and In-N-Out cook their meat to well-done but since the Five Guys patties are thicker, the entire burger isn't as well-done as the exterior…if you follow me. The meat in an In-N-Out burger often feels overwhemed by bun to me, as well. A lot of folks have written, by the way, to say they agree with me that In-N-Out isn't as good as it used to be. Apparently, they too jumped the shark.

It's been disturbing to see an insignificant pastor in Florida, the head of a church of no stature, holding the nation and media hostage with his threat of a big Koran bonfire. Is it now that easy for anyone to command the attention of the world and to do something that will change world opinion of America? If I get fifty friends together and threaten to torch someone else's holy books, do I get that much airtime and calls from important people? Wow.

I just saw our president's news conference in which he repeated the points that the proposed conflagration is (a) not what America is all about and (b) likely to endanger our troops. Both are valid but I wish he'd put a little more emphasis on (a) than (b). And of course, the big trouble with all this is that it is presently U.S. policy — started by Bush, continued by Obama and pretty much the last remaining justification for the Iraq War — that we are now trying to reach out to peaceful, reasonable Muslims. Burning their holy volumes and promoting Islamophobia might not be the best way to accomplish this.

And I find myself concurring with Glenn Greenwald that there's something amiss when we warn that this one wacko padre may wind up with blood on his hands but give a pass to so many who are dripping red and white corpuscles. We have this odd selective outrage in this country. It's been more than five years since the most important thing to some was that the heart of a woman named Terri Schiavo keep beating. How many other Terri Schiavos have died since then in like scenarios (or because they didn't have decent insurance) without any of those folks caring in the least?

If you love Harpo Marx, you're going to have a great time prowling around a new Harpo Site, kind of an online museum being operated by Harpo's son, Bill. Bill's a great guy and this is a great website and stop reading this message and go look around.

And if you don't love Harpo Marx…well, I really don't want to know you then and don't care what you do.

My friends in Los Angeles need to be aware of this. You know how if you parked at a parking meter and the meter turned out to be broken, you didn't have to pay? Well, you may not have known that but it doesn't matter. That's not how it works anymore. They're installing new, solar-powered meters and if you park at one and you can't put a coin in, you'll get a ticket. That's going to be real annoying.

I don't know how often this has happened: I'm going somewhere, fretting I'll be tardy for an important appointment…and there's no place to park. Around and around I drive, the level of fret increasing…

And then I spot an empty parking space!

I pull in, probably doing one of those time-consuming parallel jobs. I turn off my engine, unbuckle the old seat belt, gather what I need to gather, get out, head for the meter with coins in hand —

— and the meter's busted.

Now, I knew that in L.A. you didn't have to pay then but sometimes this happens in an outlying area like Santa Monica…and I'm not certain it's not different there. Sometimes also, I can't see why the meter isn't working and I fear it'll be fine once I leave my car there and go off…and I'll return to a ticket. Once in a while, I'll get back in the car and go off to find another space…and I realize that the reason that space was empty was because someone else either thought like I did or didn't know that it's ever legal to park at a busted meter.

Well, now it's not. So what's going to happen is that those spaces will be vacant and we'll all pull our cars into them, turn off our engines, unbuckle our seat belts, etc. — and then find out that the meter's broken and we can't park there. Like I said, that's going to be real annoying.

The anniversary of 9/11 is coming up. This weblog shall show its respect for the tragedy of that day by not doing a single thing here to exploit its memory to sway public opinion or raise money. Thank you.

Consumer Reports rated fast food burgers and here's what they and their readers decided. In-N-Out and Five Guys tied for first place followed closely by Fuddruckers and a couple of places I've never tried. McDonald's fared especially poorly, finishing well behind even Jack-in-the-Box, Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Jr and White Castle.

Not that anyone's opinion matters but yours on a topic like this but I much prefer Five Guys to In-N-Out. I used to really like In-N-Out but my last half-dozen visits have all been disappointing and I've been wondering if they've changed or I have. Since their sales seem to be higher than ever, I'm guessing it's me. I'm not a big fan of McDonald's except that there are times, especially at airports, when they're just plain dependable and convenient…and maybe unavoidable. I still prefer them to Burger King and Jack-in-the-Box by a wide margin…and the last two times I went to Carl's Jr were the last two times I'll ever go to Carl's Jr. I like Wendy's, and White Castle struck me as a fun place to eat…once. (In light of McDonald's low rating, I assume none of the voters were factoring french fries into their evaluations. Five Guys really leaves In-N-Out in the dust if you're taking fries into account.)

By the way: If you do have to eat at a McDonald's, the best hamburger I've found there is the Quarter Pounder without cheese. This requires a bit of explanation. Once upon a time, you could go to a McDonald's and order a Quarter Pounder with or without cheese and they had both ready-made and rarin' to go…and probably sitting there for five or ten minutes before you ordered. At some point, they stopped pre-making them without cheese so now it's a special order and if you're lucky, they'll grill up a fresh (i.e., frozen) patty just for you. Any McDonald's hamburger has its shortcomings but they're all a lot better in the unlikely event you get them hot off the grill.

Thanks to Vince Waldron for letting me know about this survey. The gesture of my friend Vince is all the more touching when I consider that he's a vegetarian.

Hendrik Hertzberg on the price of the Iraq War.

The last time here I wondered aloud about what the war had accomplished, I received two long e-mails from servicemen — one still in Iraq, one now over in Afghanistan, explaining Iraq from their viewpoints. They seemed to have been fighting completely different wars for different purposes and with different results.