Carver is your example of extraneous detail?

I always saw detail in his work as part of the setting and establishing narrative voice. There’s some writing you can’t just rip through.

I haven’t read why don’t you dance though, so whatever.

Your example sentence was a weird one to me because the brands, description of griminess, detail of syrup on the coffee table and inclusion of a rust belt chain restaurant all come together to paint a very vivid picture. That one sentence tells me about where and when your character existed and where he exists now. How he lives and how he sees himself, and in a more abstract vernacular establishes a particular type of dude.

Maybe it’s just hard to write badly.

It’s incredible how Mr Delicious sunk the company back in the day, but would probably be one of the most popular ad characters today.