An ode to a corporate chain sandwich

Tejal Rao in The New York Times on the French dip at Houston’s in Pasadena, California, and the “smooth and corporate” feeling of the restaurants of the Hillstone group.

[T]he sandwich is pleasant, polished, a bit expensive and utterly generic on the surface. But you’d never mistake it for another restaurant’s version.

A lovely retelling of the nostalgia of a competent experience with a little nostalgia tucked in for good measure. (Gift link.)