• I took my first-ever cruise in February and realized cruising isn't for me.
• I had horrible weather and rough seas that left me feeling sick after the cruise.
• I don't want to roll the dice again, so I have no desire to go on another cruise.

I took my first-ever cruise in February and spent a week sailing around the Eastern Caribbean on the Royal Caribbean Wonder of the Seas.

Although I was hesitant to dive headfirst into a weeklong cruise, I figured a few days of sunshine in the middle of Minnesota winter would do me good.

Plus, cruises are as popular as ever — and I was curious to see if they actually lived up to the hype.

Well, my vacation wasn't so sunny after all, and I have zero desire to book another cruise.

The weather was awful — and we had to evacuate our first port

It rained on five of the seven days of my cruise, including all three port days.

So, we scrapped our plans to visit beautiful beaches on St. Thomas and St. Maarten and instead slogged through puddles to check out local shops.

We also had to evacuate early on our first port day at Royal Caribbean's private island in the Bahamas due to an incoming storm.

My friend and I got in a couple of hours of cloudy beach time that day, but we headed back to the ship when it started sprinkling.

On our way back, Royal Caribbean announced we were leaving the island early. I appreciate the cruise putting our safety first, but I was still bummed.

We had unusually rough seas throughout the entire cruise

Having never been on a cruise, I had no idea what to expect in terms of motion and whether I'd get sea sick.

My doctor prescribed a scopolamine patch as a precaution to prevent sea sickness, but I had a negative reaction to it and had to remove it. Still, I figured I'd be fine since Wonder of the Seas is a large ship, and I'd heard you don't feel as much movement on larger ships.

Well, I felt a lot of movement. And I wasn't alone.

Because we experienced some rougher seas, we felt more motion on the ship than is typical, according to conversations with seasoned fellow cruisers on board and comments from the captain.

One night it was so bad that many of us had trouble walking in a straight line down the hallway. Thankfully, other than a couple of hours of nausea I attribute to too much wine and not enough food, I didn't get sick to my stomach.

But that weird sensation of swaying and rocking got to me.

Motion sickness followed me home

Unfortunately, I could still feel some rocking and swaying after we disembarked. Even after returning home, the feeling didn't go away.

My brain knew I was on solid ground, but I felt like I was still on the cruise ship battling rough waves.

As it turns out, I'd developed "land sickness," also known as mal de débarquement syndrome, where you feel as though you're still swaying on the ship once you get off.

Although it's somewhat rare, it's a form of reverse motion sickness that can last for months or even years after a cruise (or other triggering event).

So far, anti-nausea medication and ginger ale haven't helped much.

As I sit and write this over two weeks later, I'm still rocking, swaying, and bobbing. Although I'm slowly getting better, it's definitely not fun.

I'm avoiding cruises from now on

I had some great laughs with friends on board despite the rough seas and lack of sunshine. A lot of what I experienced probably isn't the norm and maybe I was just unlucky.

But considering I wasn't even sailing during hurricane season in the Caribbean, I don't want to roll the dice again and try another sailing.

One bad experience culminating with motion sickness on dry land is enough to make me want to avoid any cruises in the future.

This story was originally published on March 22, 2024, and most recently updated on July 2, 2024.

• Donald Trump is using his broad new immunity powers to fight his hush-money conviction.
• A July 11 sentencing will be pushed back to a yet-determined date as both sides argue over a possible retrial.
• Prosecutors say Trump's efforts are "without merit," but they are agreeing to a brief delay.

Manhattan prosecutors on Tuesday agreed to delay Donald Trump's hush-money sentencing, saying that they need time to fight his efforts to overturn his conviction in the wake of Monday's Supreme Court immunity ruling.

"Although we believe defendant's arguments to be without merit, we do not oppose his request for leave to file" a challenge to the May 30 conviction, prosecutors wrote in a letter to the sentencing judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan.

The defense has asked Merchan's permission to file a formal challenge of conviction by July 10 — just one day before Trump's original July 11 sentencing date.

"We respectfully request a deadline of July 24, 2024 — two weeks after defendant's requested deadline — to file and serve a response" to Trump's arguments, prosecutors wrote Merchan on Tuesday.

A firm schedule for filings, and a new sentencing date, will likely be set soon, once Merchan agrees to let Trump challenge the verdict, a formality the judge may grant later Tuesday.

This is a breaking story; please check back for developments.

• Scientists have debated for years about what's going on with Earth's inner core.
• A new study offers compelling evidence that the inner core reversed direction and is slowing down. 
• The shift happened in 2010, but it's unclear what triggered it or when the core will change back.

One of the key questions plaguing Earth scientists this past decade is "What's going on down there?"

Below your feet, about 3,400 miles down, is Earth's inner core. It's nearly as large as the moon, as hot as the surface of the sun, and helps maintain the planet's magnetic field that shields us from cell-obliterating cancer-inducing space radiation.

In the last decade, scientists have been getting some unusual data about the inner core's behavior — data that suggests its rotation is going a little haywire.

The data implies that in 2010, the inner core reversed its rotational direction compared to the Earth's surface — a phenomenon called backtracking. Now, the inner core is rotating more slowly than before the shift.

There's no risk of a cataclysmic disaster of dead birds falling from the sky or skin-blistering sunburns in seconds, like in the 2003 blockbuster "The Core." The most we might experience on the surface is a minuscule lengthening in our days as rotation slows, but the change would be so small — we're talking milliseconds — that we probably wouldn't even notice.

New study may settle backtracking debate

Scientists aren't even sure what's really going on down there. It's not like we can crack the planet open and examine it.

Backtracking also hasn't happened in the last 40 years, so the possibility of such a massive object undergoing such an extreme change has been more a topic of debate than a scientific certainty.

But a recent study offers a new way of looking at the data that could help settle the debate. The research team behind the study even goes so far as to say they have the "most definitive evidence" yet that the inner core is, indeed, backtracking and moving more slowly.

"We're showing that it really does happen when about half the community didn't believe any of these studies for a while," John Vidale, a researcher involved with the study and dean's professor of Earth sciences at the University of Southern California, told Business Insider.

Proving the inner core is backtracking

The research team analyzed and compared seismograms from over 100 repeating earthquakes that occurred between 1991 and 2023 in the South Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.

Repeating earthquakes are seismic events with nearly identical magnitudes that occur in almost the exact same location, along the same fault. Seismic energy is one of the few ways we can study the inner core because the energy waves can travel from the surface, through the mantle, to the core, and back again, where scientists can detect and measure it.

Vidale and the team looked at how well the seismograms from repeating earthquakes correlated with one another.

"We can see changes in the waveforms of the seismograms as the inner core moves," Vidale told BI.

Their approach offers "the most definitive evidence so far," that backtracking is happening, the team reported in a paper published June 12 in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

Typically, scientists measure the time differences between seismic waves and how long it takes them to travel to the core and back. This can help map the core's position and how it changes over time. But it comes with a lot of guesswork around the inner core's structure, "and we don't really know the structure down there that well," Vidale told BI.

The team's new method doesn't require that kind of guesswork because they were simply looking at how well the seismograms matched up.

However, even if we can say with more certainty that the inner core is backtracking and slowing down, it's difficult to calculate an exact speed of rotation or what's causing the shift in the first place.

More likely than not, the inner core's behavior has to do with some sort of drag or friction with the outer core or gravitational influence from Earth's mantle, the researchers reported in the paper.

Whatever the reason, there's still a lot we have to learn about the massive object churning beneath our feet.

• A new report details how Biden had long been in a cocoon before his disastrous debate performance.
• Top aides reportedly have to be careful about what they tell Biden — for fear of setting him off.
• "It's very difficult, and people are scared shitless of him," said a top aide.

In the wake of President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance, top White House aides are starting to open up — albeit anonymously — about how things got to this point.

According to POLITICO, one key explanation is that the president is in a cocoon, surrounded by a tight circle of top aides who keep him isolated in an effort to manage public perceptions of the 81-year-old president.

That reportedly includes tightly managing the information that the president receives in his daily briefing in an effort to avoid triggering a negative reaction from him.

"It's like, 'You can't include that, that will set him off,' or 'Put that in, he likes that,'" a senior administration official told the outlet. "It's a Rorschach test, not a briefing. Because he is not a pleasant person to be around when he's being briefed. It's very difficult, and people are scared shitless of him."

"He doesn't take advice from anyone other than those few top aides," the official added. "It becomes a perfect storm because he just gets more and more isolated from their efforts to control it."

White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates denied that information was being curated to avoid upsetting Biden in a statement to POLITICO.

But the perception of a relatively restricted White House is apparently shared by other Democratic officials outside the building.

"I think the Biden team is pretty insular and doesn't really care what anybody says," a senior House Democrat told the outlet.

The report went on to detail how Biden's relative insularity developed in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was still raging when the president first took office. At the time, social distancing and relative isolation were simply unavoidable.

While many Democrats have been thrown into a state of panic in the wake of Biden's debate, the president and his team have largely hunkered down.

While there may be significant risks to continuing into the November election with Biden at the top of the ticket, there are also potential risks to replacing him, including the possibility of chaotic infighting ahead of the Democratic convention.

• Nvidia is on the cusp of being charged by French regulators.
• The chipmaker is set to face antitrust charges, Reuters reported, citing sources.
• Among regulators' concerns is CUDA, the software that makes Nvidia's hardware tick.

Nvidia has had a blistering ride in its journey to become a $3 trillion heavyweight in the AI industry. Now, authorities want to know if it has got there fairly.

French regulators are set to charge the Silicon Valley chip giant over concerns that it has engaged in anti-competitive behavior, a Reuters report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

It follows developments last month involving the US Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission that could see Nvidia and other AI industry giants, like Microsoft, face tough questions over how they use their market power.

A Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment to BI.

Nvidia has emerged as a dominant force in the generative AI boom as companies including OpenAI, Google, and Meta have all bowed before its billionaire CEO Jensen Huang to secure access to the chips — known as GPUs — that the company specializes in.

Demand has been driven by these GPUs' role in training hyped AI models. In May, Nvidia gave its latest indication of just how relentless demand has been after it revealed a 262% year-on-year jump in first-quarter revenue to $26 billion.

The company's dominance was further cemented last month after it briefly surpassed Microsoft to become the world's most valuable company, with a market capitalization of around $3.34 trillion.

But while Nvidia's hardware has attracted attention, regulators also seem keen to highlight the software part of its business: CUDA.

In its first opinion on the "competitive functioning" of the generative AI sector, published on Friday following the launch of an inquiry in February, France's competition regulator raised concerns over "the sector's dependence on Nvidia's CUDA" software.

What is CUDA?

CUDA, which stands for "compute unified device architecture," is a computing platform that Nvidia unveiled in 2006.

At the time, Nvidia's GPUs had been built to cater to the then-niche gaming market. They boasted an ability to process the graphics of games better than chips from rivals, thanks to a neat trick they performed called parallel computing.

But Nvidia was ready to expand the use of its GPUs to handle other kinds of computing tasks. That's where CUDA would come in. Nvidia wanted to create a software package that could allow its GPUs to handle a whole range of computing tasks.

It succeeded. CUDA's advantage today is that it effectively works as a plug-and-play system. No matter how varied or complex the workload of an AI company, CUDA operates in a way that makes Nvidia's GPUs useful to all companies working on AI projects. How has it managed this?

What makes Nvidia tick

After Nvidia's GTC conference in March, dubbed the "Woodstock of AI" by analysts, James Wang, general partner at Creative Ventures, a VC firm, wrote a blog explaining how Nvidia's reveal of new GPUs was less important to its success than CUDA.

He has a few explanations for this.

For one, CUDA is adaptable. The software "continues to be forward and backward-compatible," even when new GPUs come out, Wang wrote in a Substack blog.

Wang also noted it also has a bunch of "super pleasant tools," which are supported by a dedicated community of CUDA developers. Simply, these tools are designed and updated to make life easy for companies looking to use Nvidia's chips.

"The reasons for Nvidia's dominance are years and billions of dollars in investment in the CUDA ecosystem, evangelism, and education of the community that builds AI," Wang wrote.

While Huang has gained credit within Silicon Valley for building such a powerful software system that has given Nvidia a competitive moat, others have tried to build rival offerings.

For instance, Nvidia's chip rival AMD, led by Huang's cousin Lisa Su, operates a CUDA alternative called ROCm. It was, however, released in 2016, 10 years after CUDA, and has not gained a similar kind of traction.

For regulators now, the question is whether Nvidia has achieved its dominance by unfairly locking companies using its GPUs into CUDA.

As French regulators noted in their opinion on Friday, the software is "the only one that is 100% compatible with the GPUs that have become essential for accelerated computing."

• I've been a restaurant critic for 15 years, and I like using my air fryer when I eat at home. 
• I love to air-fry everything from Japanese katsu to Brazilian-style chicken thighs.
• The air fryer is great for crisping up frozen foods, from Malaysian roti to Korean corn dogs.

I've worked as a food writer, editor, and critic since 2008, so I'm usually too busy eating at restaurants to do much cooking at home. 

But when I'm not dining out, my combination air fryer and pressure cooker is the busiest appliance in my kitchen. It excels at reheating all kinds of restaurant leftovers, but also making food from scratch.

These are my favorite foods to cook (or reheat) in my air fryer.

Malaysian roti is fantastically flaky.

One of the best things about living in Northern Virginia is the profusion of excellent Asian supermarkets. My favorite of these is the Lotte Plaza chain.

Ever since I moved to the area three years ago, I've been filling my air fryer with frozen Malaysian-style roti or paratha. With oily laminated layers, it's like a flatbread version of a croissant that plays well with everything from curries to ice-cream sundaes.

I spray it lightly with avocado oil and air-fry it for seven to 10 minutes.

An air fryer is one of the best ways to revive pizza.

My husband and I make pizza in our Ooni Karu 16 about once a week. When we have time to reheat leftovers in the pizza oven, we do, but almost as often, we throw slices in the air fryer at the highest heat for about five minutes apiece. 

The circulating air is perfect for crisping up the crust and re-melting the cheese. 

My air fryer helps me make delicious katsu.

One of my very favorite dishes on the planet is katsu kare, or fried pork cutlets with Japanese curry. The dish has long been a staple in my house, and when I bought an air fryer, it was the first thing I made.

I dredge my pork chops (or pounded chicken breasts) in flour, then egg wash, and finish them in a layer of panko. I spray them with oil on both sides, then air-fry for about 10 minutes on each side at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

You can finish there and add tonkatsu sauce, but I use a prepared roux to make curry sauce. Serve with rice, sauce, and pickled ginger for a comforting Western-style Japanese (yoshoku) meal.

Chicken thighs are so dreamy in the air fryer.

As a child, I had waking nightmares about bouncy, connective tissue-riddled chicken thighs. In my early 20s, I became acquainted with Brazilian rodizio and discovered that there are few things better than a rock-salt-rubbed, properly crisped version.

I don't have a rotisserie like many restaurants who prepare it do, but I've learned how to make a version I think is almost as good in my air fryer.

All I have to do is season my bone-in, skin-on thighs, then cook for 20 minutes at a low heat (my air fryer only goes down to 300 F). I finish them with another 20 minutes at my highest heat, which results in a crispy armor of skin. 

Sweet-potato tots are so easy to air-fry.

When I feel like a little bit of lower-glycemic-index carb action in a casual meal at home, I grab my favorite sweet-potato tots from the freezer.

In the air fryer, they become far crispier than they would in the oven, and are ready in a fraction of the time. I don't even use oil — I just throw them in the basket for 13 minutes, then enjoy the piping-hot little bites.

Skin-on pork belly is an occasional indulgence.

I used to braise or pressure cook my pork belly before air-frying it, but I recently realized that using varying temperatures to cook it slowly at first works just as well. 

After seasoning the belly with five spice and salt, I wrap it in foil, leaving the skin to crisp up. I initially cook it for 30 minutes at 300 F then switch to 400 F for another 40.

I think the result can almost compete with dishes from my favorite Chinese barbecue spots.

Korean corn dogs crisp up like a dream in the air fryer.

I'm lucky because I have a sister-in-law originally from Korea who's skilled at making this fun fusion dish. She keeps my freezer stocked with these sweet-and-savory treats, which are half mozzarella stick and half sugary corn dog. 

My favorite version of this popular Korean street food is rolled in tiny cubes of potatoes. When reheated in the air fryer at 375 F for 15 minutes, each potato has a puffy crunch that makes biting in a textural delight.

You only need one appliance for toasted sandwiches.

For years, I relied on a George Foreman grill to act as a panini press. The mists of time have clouded what happened to that long-ago appliance, but my crispy-sandwich game has been strengthened with my air fryer.

I make the cheese-filled sandwich of my choice (ideally using some of my leftover brisket), then spray both sides with oil and air-fry for 10 minutes at 350 F. Sometimes, I skip the oil spray and spread mayonnaise or butter on the outside instead.

Chicken tenders come out well in the air fryer – and my favorites don't even include real chicken.

Yes, even restaurant critics crave kid-friendly food sometimes. My favorite tenders are a vegan version from Gardein that are close enough to the real thing to have something like muscle fiber but far enough away from it to make me feel a little bit virtuous.

Once again, I forgo oil and just crisp them up dry, then serve them with salad and Georgian tkemali (plum sauce) for dipping.

Broccoli is better in the air fryer.

I could include any number of vegetables on this list, but broccoli is my go-to. I either toss the cut stalks in oil or spray them with a bit of it before air-frying for between five and 10 minutes.

In the end, the vegetables are pleasantly al dente in the middle with caramelized, crunchy edges. Sometimes, I toss them with balsamic vinegar when they're done — other times, I just dust them with Tajín.

This story was originally published on July 6, 2023, and most recently updated on July 2, 2024.

• A consulting firm that recruits engineers provides detailed feedback to job applicants it rejects.
• Applicants receive information on how many people applied and what made résumés stand out.
• Forward founder Peter Berg said the aim is to improve the applicant experience in a challenging job market.

The job-hunting process can be brutal — applicants are told to tailor each résumé and often end up with radio silence from the dozens of companies they spend hours applying to.

Peter Berg, founder of Forward, a consulting firm that hires globally remote engineers for startups, wants to change that. About a month ago, Berg announced that Forward would provide data and context to every applicant once a role is closed.

The company now shares details like how many people applied and interviewed, what made résumés stand out, and any numerical data it collected from the application.

Berg told Business Insider that Forward does its best not to waste people's time during the application or interview process through lengthy exams or assignments. As a company that frequently recruits candidates for short-term roles, he said it's important for the experience to be positive and to keep in touch with applicants.

"What's good for candidates is ultimately good for you," Berg wrote in a post on LinkedIn. "Here's to a better tomorrow."

The cofounder said he decided to implement this new protocol because the company started posting roles on LinkedIn and saw a major uptick in volume of applications received. Each role now receives between 200 and 2,000 applications and the company usually sends two vetted candidates to the employers within a week of the original post.

While sending 2,000 rejection letters with detailed feedback sounds time-consuming, Berg said it's not. The company already keeps track of applicant data while scoring résumés and the email takes 10 or 15 minutes to write and is sent in bulk to applicants.

Berg told BI it's an easy addition for employers and he thinks it could make a "huge" difference for applicants — and for some, it already has.

Since implementing this new method, Berg said the company has received about 200 responses from applicants, with many writing back paragraphs about how positive the experience was and how it made them feel human.

One woman posted on LinkedIn about the experience and said Forward offered her the "BEST" rejection letter. The applicant, Melissa Bashur, said the rejection email included the number of applicants, the number of applicants with specific industry experience, top locations of applications, and median hourly rate.

She also said it provided context about what the company was looking for, how their criteria shifted, and how many people they spoke with. Bashur said they even summarized the experience of the person they hired.

Melissa Bashur told BI that the insight she received allowed her to better understand the current job market. It also helped inform her about which jobs she should apply to moving forward.

"I heard it was getting 'better,' but in the tech space, it still seems to be pretty flooded with available talent," Bashur said. "It helped me shift to more positive and productive efforts and be more selective with the jobs I apply to."

Berg said the new protocol helps give people a sense of what's going on in a job market that's tough right now. He said the tech industry is still reeling from pandemic-era overhiring and decreased venture capital funding.

"We know a lot of senior leaders looking for roles and they're having a really hard time finding one. They're looking for nine months, 10 months," the founder said.

He also said individual contributors who don't have experience with hiring tend to be more in the dark about the process.

"We want to provide feedback for that reason," Berg said. "Just to help people figure out why didn't I get picked for this."

• Three former Outback Steakhouse employees shared their favorite and least-favorite menu items.
• The chocolate-based desserts and the restaurant's wings are apparently top-notch.
• But a few of the appetizers and steak plates aren't always as enjoyable.

Outback Steakhouse is an American chain of Australian-themed restaurants that serve items such as surf-and-turf dishes, alcoholic drinks, and desserts.

Business Insider spoke with Eric Bush, who worked at an Outback Steakhouse in Texas, and Michaela Mutell and Audria Lee, who both worked at an Outback Steakhouse in New York. 

Here are some of their picks for the best and worst things on the menu.

One former employee said some steak dishes stood above the rest

"I don't think I ever ate a steak at Outback without the roasted-garlic-butter topping," Mutell, who worked as a server for four years, said. "Once you try it, you will never eat a steak there without it again."

The former employee also said the "king of steak" at Outback is the bone-in rib eye.

"I don't think I ever had a customer send one back for being too tough, too marbled, or being unsatisfied with it," she told BI.

She also recommended ordering the garlic topping, which costs $3, on the chain's mashed potatoes.

The Kookaburra Wings are a big hit at the restaurant

The wings are a signature "Aussie-tizer," or appetizer, that comes in mild, medium, or hot spice blends. 

"The wings are unlike any other wing I've had," Lee, who worked as a host and then as a server, told BI. "That isn't to say they are the best wings I've ever eaten, but they are the most unique, and they are delicious."

The former employee said she particularly likes how the wings have "a lighter fry and a butter-based sauce."

Mutell agreed, telling BI, "Surprisingly, Outback has some of the best wings I've ever had in my life."

She recommended dipping them in Outback's spicy-ranch dressing — though she's typically a fan of blue cheese.

You don't want to miss the chain's bread service

Mutell said the restaurant outdid itself with its honey-wheat bread.

The complimentary starter is served alongside whipped butter. 

The restaurant's side dishes were always a solid choice for customers

Outback's sweet potato topped with honey butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar always impressed Montell.

Lee is also a fan of the chain's side dishes.

"The loaded mashed potatoes are literally everything I've ever wanted from a baked potato," she said. "How can you not love having chives, cheese, and bacon piled on top of a mound of mashed potatoes?"

The former server highlighted the pecan-blue-cheese salad with a blue-cheese vinaigrette and cinnamon pecans as another great choice. 

"I've never had another salad like it — it's sweet, salty, and amazing," Lee told BI. 

Outback's rich, chocolaty desserts are worth it

Lee said the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under, a pecan brownie topped with vanilla ice cream, warm chocolate sauce, chocolate shavings, and whipped cream, was never a bad option. She also appreciates that it's naturally gluten-free.

Bush, who worked as a prep and fry cook, said he prefers an upgrade of the classic chocolate treat.

"The best dessert to order from the menu was Thunder and Lightning because it featured chocolate, strawberries, and more chocolate," she told BI. 

It's a mashup of the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under with butter cake and fresh strawberries. According to a representative from Outback, even if the Thunder and Lighting isn't on the main menu, people should still be able to order it on request.

Mutell also said the restaurant's salted-caramel cookie skillet left her dreaming of the divine

There's one dessert that Mutell always goes back to — the salted-caramel cookie skillet. 

"If you are in luck, it will arrive to you warm and chewy, with bits of pretzel and toffee, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and drizzled with some caramel," she told BI. "It truly tastes like angels are dancing on your tastebuds."

On the other hand, Outback's famous Bloomin' Onion was pretty difficult to make

"I didn't like the Bloomin' Onion because we have to take a whole onion, cover it flour, submerge it in soda batter, put more flour on it, and finally put it into the deep fryer and hope that it will come out intact," Bush said.

He explained that sometimes it would fall apart or come out burned. 

"Most of the customers ordered these three to five times during a shift," he told BI. "On the weekend we're pushing about 10 at a time."

Lee said she wasn't sure the Sydney Shrooms were worth it

Lee wasn't a fan of the marinated and deep-fried Sydney Shrooms

"The problem was that they were served in a dish way too large, so it seemed like you were paying $15 for three mushrooms."

A representative from Outback told BI that menu prices can vary depending on the location, which may have been the case in Lee's experience in New York. The dish is typically $9.

Lee said the prime rib was every server's nightmare

"Prime rib is such a specific kind of meat that should only be eaten by people who know what it is," Lee said. "Our prime rib was slow-roasted, which meant it never touched a grill. When you slice into a piece of steak that hasn't been seared, it looks raw even when it's cooked medium-well."

She told BI that most of the time, people sent it back to the kitchen. 

"It was a nightmare as a server and worse as a guest because getting a piece of meat that looks like raw meat sets a bad bad tone for the rest of the meal," Lee said.

The representative from Outback said guests who prefer a more "traditional" steak can order the Outback-style prime rib that's seared after being slow-roasted. 

The Toowoomba topping for the steak never looked great to Mutell

The $5 Toowoomba topping features seasoned shrimp, mushrooms, and a creamy creole sauce.

"I have seen the orange tone of the sauce range from traffic-cone orange to the color of a saltine cracker," Mutell said.

The Outback representative told BI that color variance is "rare," but it could be due to the fact that each location makes the sauce in-house from scratch.

This story was originally published in July 2023 and most recently updated on July 2, 2024. 

• Ahead of the Fourth of July weekend, I tested five popular cookout foods in a slow cooker.
• I thought the Buffalo wings I made in a slow cooker were among the best I've ever had.
• I also enjoyed Martha Stewart's recipe for pulled-pork sandwiches.

When planning a summer cookout, a Crock-Pot or slow cooker is a great tool to make prepping easier.

Fourth of July weekend is one of the most popular times for Americans to host cookouts. WalletHub and the National Retail Federation reported that US households will spend $9.4 billion on food alone for Fourth of July cookouts and celebrations this year, and roughly two-thirds of Americans will attend a Fourth of July picnic. 

Ahead of the Fourth of July, I tried making five different dishes that I would typically make for a cookout, but this time I made them in my slow cooker. I loved the ease of using the slow cooker and also thought it would be an ideal way to transport hot dishes to a party.

From Buffalo-chicken dip to wings and pulled pork, all of the recipes turned out perfectly — no stove required.

The first recipe I made was potato salad, something I make for every cookout.

I started by chopping up about a pound of baby potatoes and placed them in my slow cooker.

The recipe by Eating Well called for fingerling potatoes. My local grocery store didn't have fingerling potatoes, so I substituted them for baby gold potatoes.

I made the dressing by mixing whole-grain mustard and all-purpose flour.

The dressing comes together when you add it to the same pan you use to cook bacon and add in the vinegar. I whisked the dressing until all of the ingredients had combined.

I added the dressing, a chopped sweet onion, and three chopped celery stalks to the potatoes along with the mustard dressing.

After the potatoes and vegetables had cooked for five hours, I crumbled three strips of bacon on top and served it with dill.

While I definitely enjoyed the finished potato salad, I wasn't sure if it was worth the long cooking time.

It usually only takes me 45 minutes tops to make a standard potato salad with mayonnaise and celery.

Between chopping the veggies, mixing the dressing, and boiling the potatoes in the slow cooker, this method took much longer. However, I really enjoyed this lighter, mayonnaise-free potato salad, and I liked the flavor of the mustard and crispy bacon.

The next cookout food I made was Martha Stewart's decadent three-cheese slow-cooker mac and cheese.

The recipe, which is in "Martha Stewart's Slow Cooker," calls for three cups of white sharp cheddar cheese and one cup of Gruyere in the macaroni-and-cheese mixture. The third and final cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano, is later added to the breadcrumb mixture.

As well as the three kinds of cheese, the recipe calls for milk, yellow onion, and two cans of evaporated milk. The ingredients came together to make the most decadent, creamy, and delicious mac and cheese I've ever had.

One of the best parts about this recipe is that you don't have to sit around waiting for the macaroni to boil.

Instead, you simply throw it in with the other ingredients and it cooks in the slow cooker. The mac and cheese only took an hour and a half on high to finish cooking — in addition to being delicious, it was much quicker than some other slow-cooker recipes I've tried.

The cheese packed this dish full of flavor, especially the smoked Gruyere, while the onions made it even more delicious.

This was by far the most flavorful mac and cheese I've ever had, and I thought it was very easy to make in the slow cooker.

My only complaint was that the bottom layer of macaroni and cheese could have been creamier — it was a little watery compared to the top layers.

However, it probably would have cooked through more evenly with a little longer in the slow cooker.

I also made slow-cooked pulled-pork sandwiches.

The recipe by Martha Stewart calls for a halved, two-and-a-quarter pound boneless pork shoulder onion, oregano, bay leaves, chipotle, adobo sauce, crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes in puree, salt, and pepper. 

This isn't your typical barbecue pulled pork, but I was excited to see how it would turn out.

After cooking the meat on high for six hours, as the recipe told me to do, it still wasn't as fork-tender as I wanted.

I was able to break one piece of the meat apart with a fork, but the other was still a little tough. I would have liked to let the meat cook for another hour or two, but since it was already past dinnertime, I decided to just break it apart the best I could. 

If you wanted to make this for yourself, definitely wait until the meat is super tender before eating it.

The recipe recommends serving the pulled pork in a sandwich with coleslaw and pickles.

I made my own homemade coleslaw and served it on a white potato roll. The finished product was delicious, but I was craving a little barbecue sauce to make it even better.

I wasn't able to pull apart all of the meat easily, but the pieces that I did manage to tear off were tender and flavorful. The coleslaw and pickles also added freshness and crunch.

The next slow-cooker appetizer I made was a personal favorite for summer cookouts: Buffalo chicken wings.

While I had heard you could make Buffalo wings in a slow cooker, I was admittedly skeptical. I just couldn't see how they would turn out saucy or crispy enough. However, this recipe by Spend With Pennies called for putting the wings under my oven's broiler at the end, which intrigued me. 

I started by mixing Buffalo sauce, minced garlic, chopped yellow onion, and brown sugar. 

Then I added my chicken wings to the slow cooker and poured the sauce on top.

When you buy your chicken wings, make sure the drumsticks and flats are separated and ready to add to your slow cooker. I had to spend about 20 minutes trimming and separating my chicken wings, which took up extra time and energy since I had never done it before. 

The Buffalo wings cooked in the slow cooker for three hours on low.

After they were fully cooked, I removed them from the slow cooker and placed them on a sheet pan covered with foil. I then brushed a generous amount of the extra Buffalo sauce over the wings and put them under the broiler for about three minutes on each side until they were crispy and slightly blackened.

Once the wings were done, I served them with some blue-cheese dressing.

I was surprised at how easy these wings were to make. I loved how the slow cooker kept the meat tender and a quick finish in the oven gave them the crispy coating I crave.

The wings were some of the best Buffalo wings I've ever had.

They were perfectly crispy and flavorful on the outside, while the meat inside was beyond juicy and moist. They were honestly perfect — not too spicy and the texture was out of this world. I would definitely make these time and time again.

The last slow-cooker cookout food I made was Buffalo-chicken dip.

The base for the Buffalo-chicken dip calls for crumbled blue cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, and ranch dressing. I combined those ingredients in a medium-sized bowl before spreading the mixture in a single layer in the bottom of my slow cooker.

I then added a layer of shredded chicken to the slow cooker.

You can use rotisserie chicken or simply boil up some chicken breasts and shred them yourself with a fork, like I did.

Next, I poured Buffalo wing sauce over the chicken-and-dip mixture and added a layer of shredded American cheese.

I could already tell this dip was going to be delicious.

After cooking on low for three hours, the dip was hot and bubbling in the slow cooker.

I set the slow cooker to warm and began prepping my toppings. I added another layer of American cheese and put the lid on the slow cooker to allow the cheese to melt. Then, I chopped up one green onion and added it to the top.

The dip was perfectly creamy, spicy, and cheesy — another successful slow-cooker recipe that's perfect for a cookout.

The layers of the dip were perfectly proportioned. With each bite, I got a delicious mouthful of cheese, hot sauce, and chicken. This recipe by Taste of Home really impressed me, and I would definitely make it again.

• After dining at over 100 restaurants in Chicago, I've narrowed it down to my 11 favorites.
• My top picks are a mix of Italian, Mexican, Indian, Greek, and other cuisines.
• Two are Michelin-starred restaurants, but I'm also a big fan of two hole-in-the-wall eateries.

I don't cook, but I love eating out — so much so that I've tried over 100 restaurants in Chicago.

Some of the best restaurants in the city aren't ones I expected to fall in love with, and others are world-renowned.

Regardless, inflation has sent menu prices soaring over the last few years, so I'm not trying to waste money on a subpar dining experience. And you shouldn't either.

Here are 11 restaurants in Chicago I think you should visit if you're looking for an incredible meal.

Andros Taverna

A few years ago, I spent an epic summer island-hopping and eating my way through the beautiful Greek Islands. Since then, I've searched far and wide for anything comparable to the fresh meals of the Cyclades.

That is until Andros Taverna opened in Logan Square in 2021.

The restaurant pays homage to chef Doug Psaltis' linage with traditional Greek fare. His wife, acclaimed pastry chef Hsing Chen, masters the desserts on the menu (don't sleep on the baklava frozen yogurt).

Everything on the menu tastes fresh and transports diners straight to the Mediterranean.

Esmé

When I first walked into Esmé in Lincoln Park, I immediately felt like I was in an art gallery. The space is home to pieces and sculptures by rotating artists.

The whole place has character, and every dish is a true piece of art. The food's immaculate plating is also typically done in collaboration with the featured artists.

The experience begins with small bites at a standing table before moving to a spot in the dining room for a 16-course tasting. When I visited, one course gracefully descended from a moving fixture on the ceiling, and I painted a colorful placemat in between courses.

Esmé is certainly worthy of its Michelin star.

Indienne

I'm picky about Indian cuisine because it's my favorite. Although I was skeptical about a fine-dining Indian restaurant with a tasting menu, I was completely blown away by Indienne's flavors.

The menu at the Michelin-starred establishment in River North has a French flair — and don't even get me started about the beautiful presentation of dishes.

Although there's an à la carte menu, the six-course tasting menu is a steal compared to others in the city at $125 a person.

Duck Sel

Duck Sel is by far one of the most unique dining experiences I've ever had. After making a reservation, I was sent a code and an address because the dinner was hosted by Michelin-starred chef Donald Young at an undisclosed location in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood.

I wasn't sure what to expect. I entered a spacious apartment where a team was hard at work in an open kitchen. Rubber ducky memorabilia adorned the rooms, and I'll never forget the life-size inflatable inside the shower.

We dined at a communal table, and the entire experience was casual, fun, and whimsical. There were even games that were meant to serve as icebreakers for guests.

Duck Sel's incredible 15-course tasting menu was full of memorable, immersive experiences.

Sushi by Scratch

Sushi by Scratch was another "underground" and unique experience, but this one is also available in several other US cities.

Before my reservation time, I was emailed a location and a code.

I showed up at The Drop In bar and followed the directions of walking a few steps then turning to the right. But I totally passed the door and ended up thinking I needed to climb a ladder.

I backtracked and found the secret door, punched in the code, and walked down a set of steps before I was greeted and escorted to a super intimate room for a predinner cocktail.

After sipping on the libation, the group of 10 (there are only 10 diners per seating) was whisked even further down the stairs to a sushi counter where we began our 17-course omakase tasting.

Three sushi chefs were working in the space to calculatedly serve the incredibly fresh fish.

Café Tola

I crave Café Tola's empanadas at all times of the day, and I don't care if I just had them the day before — they're that good.

The casual chain has a few locations around Chicago and even recently expanded to New York City.

It serves a variety of fresh empanadas, from chicken tinga to chorizo with egg. Some of my favorites include spinach, ricotta, and mozzarella for lunch and guava and cheese for dessert.

The empanadas are absolutely stuffed with ingredients, always warm, and come with drool-worthy sauces.

Divan

Divan is a really cool supper club with nightly live jazz. The brick-wall interior and huge skylight make the place feel so lively.

The restaurant, located near the Mag Mile shopping area, even offers several special experiences from sommelier-led wine tastings in the cellar to Champagne service in the lounge. But all that is just supplementary to the incredible dishes in the main dining room.

Although the place is known for its chops, I can't help but be obsessed with its pasta, seafood, and veggie dishes. It's nothing like the heavily buttered steak houses we've all been to, the dishes here are refreshing and not uncomfortably heavy.

Divan will also serve caviar on literally anything, so that's a win in my book.

Tacombi

Chicago has a lot of Mexican restaurants to choose from, but Tacombi hits the spot every single time. It serves some of the best tacos, quesadillas, esquites, guacamole, and margaritas in the city.

Even though the spot isn't native to the city, it's absolutely worth including on the list.

The chain started serving food out of a "combi" bus (VW van) in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in the 1960s, which is where it gets its name (taco plus combi equals Tacombi).

It later expanded to food trucks and brick-and-mortar establishments in cities across the US. I'm a fan of the location in Chicago's West Loop, which is housed in a garage and has a colorful painting of the menu on the wall.

Terra e Mare

Terra e Mare translates to land and sea in Italian, and the restaurant showcases just that on its menu.

The modern Italian restaurant located in The Loop is casual with a simple interior, but the food is memorable. The pasta is always perfectly al dente, and there are unique combos I've never seen anywhere else.

One dish I still dream about to this day is a burnt-flour pasta with oyster mushrooms, egg-yolk jam, and frisée.

The sourdough pizzas are also made from scratch — even the mozzarella is pulled and made in-house. I personally like the restaurant's thin-crust pies more than the classic Chicago deep dish.

Mogadishu

Mogadishu on the Near North Side offers Chicagoans a taste of Somalian food.

The restaurant is small and casual, but you can expect to eat off colorful plates and be provided with unlimited sauces.

Whether dining in or ordering for delivery, the portions are incredibly generous. I recommend the spaghetti with veggies, grilled salmon with Somali rice, and chapati flatbread.

Rose Mary

It's not every day that I come across a Croatian restaurant, and Rose Mary is not one to overlook.

Some may recognize Rose Mary's chef and owner, Joe Flamm, from season 15 of "Top Chef." He took home the win, and it shows in his food.

The Croatian, Italian, and Midwestern fusion restaurant in the West Loop is an homage to Flamm's heritage, and the name pays tribute to Flamm's two grandmothers, Mary and Mary Rose.

The menu ranges from pasta and risotto to meats, fish, and fresh veggies. The CRIN risotto — a blend of squid ink, lobster brodo, confit squid, and tarragon — is a staple dish.

This story was originally published on May 20, 2024, and most recently updated on July 2, 2024.