Strip | Strawberry Shortcake

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Life has become a little complicated this month what with finding new jobs, moving, and being ill, so I've put my plan for a cross-country strawberry shortcake pilgrimage this summer on hold. Rest assured, these little setbacks haven't prevented me from gobbling up strawberry shortcake whenever I come across it.

My latest find is offered at Strip, an independent steakhouse in Avon Lake, OH. It's a unique version of my favorite dessert, featuring a large slice of angel food cake with a dollop of strawberry cream (strawberries whipped into cream until it's airy), a scoop of french vanilla ice cream, sliced strawberries, and whipped cream. It's not a light dessert, but it is so delicious that I thought of the biscuit version I had at Howley's in West Palm Beach only halfway through the bowl.

The verdict? I prefer an old fashioned biscuit base or even a chiffon cake base for my strawberry shortcake. The biscuit provides a more savory counterpoint to the strawberries' sweetness, but Strip's rendition is definitely worth eating again.

If you go on a weekend, call them or go to their website for reservations. The restaurant is housed in a restored barn in historic Olde Avon Village, a neat place to visit if you're in the area and would like a boutique shopping experience in a quaint, rustic setting.

Strip Steakhouse
36840 Detroit Road
Avon, OH 44011-1570
(440) 934-9900

Unfortunate Advertising

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Fail?

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Outback Steakhouse can be hit or miss with service and quality of food; the last filet mignon I bought there had a gruesome ribbon of gristle snaking down its middle, but at least the server was hospitable and on top of things.

In addition to questionable quality, Outback has achieved notoriety for featuring one of the worst, junkiest appetizers known to man, the Aussie Cheese Fries with Ranch. I Googled "worst food" and clicked the "News" tab on June 15th and found Outback Steakhouse featured as one of the sponsored links above my search results. The proof rests at the top of this post.

Google is telling it like it is: "If a web page appears in Google’s search results, it’s because Google thought it was a relevant result for your search, not because someone paid Google to put it there."

This is even more interesting:

"Advertisers decide which queries their ads should match, and then Google decides on placement, i.e., which ads to show and in what order. Google determines placement by an auction; the auction not only considers what the advertiser will pay for the ad, but also its click-through rate, i.e., how often users click on the ad. If users often click on an ad, Google will likely place the ad higher up on the results page. If the click-through rate of an ad falls below a certain level, indicating an ad isn’t relevant to the query, Google removes the ad."
-Googleguide.com

I don't know much about online advertising, but what I get from this is that somehow, "worst" appears to be a keyword for the ad copywriters at Outback Steakhouse. Kudos to them for embracing what they are, I guess!

*I searched "worst foods" today, and Outback Steakhouse wasn't featured as a sponsored link anymore.

Possible explanations:

1. People were didn't click on the ad.
   
2. Someone at Outback HQ hacked my blogger account and decided to sabotage this gritty exposé.