French Fry Diary 670: Landscape of Flavors, Breakfast 2015

As we headed to Landscape of Flavors that first breakfast at the Art of Animation resort on our most recent WDW stay, I was not looking forward to it. Honestly I was thinking of sneaking across the bridge to Pop Century for the better breakfast. Landscape of Flavors hasn’t been kind to me in the past, especially with breakfast, and I am sooo staying away from those tandoori potatoes.

As I was looking for some sort of potato-ey thing for breakfast I spied these big baked red potatoes. Despite the accompanying image, they looked so good, but wow, what a disappointment. They also looked (and look) seasoned but they were quite bland, seriously needing butter, salt, or even cheese… and if I'm asking for cheese on my potatoes, you know I'm desperate.

The great bacon boycott of WDW continues, as I was provided with two whole slices of bacon. Two whole slices of bacon!!! There is apparently some terrible bacon shortage that Villa Italian Kitchen at the Philadelphia Airport is blissfully unaware of. Two slices per customers is ridiculous!

For breakfast, I also had two pieces of semi-warm challah French toast from under a heat lamp and just enough syrup for one regular slice. Let me be clear, if you're not an egg guy, either in omelet or sandwich form, you are going to be screwed by breakfast at Landscape of Flavors.

French Fry Diary 657: Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen

On our way to Florida for a much-deserved vacation, we arrived at Philadelphia International Airport early, and had enough time for a quick breakfast. Choices are limited, although places one wouldn’t expect to be open for breakfast were. Case in point - Villa Fresh Italian Kitchen.

They actually had a nice selection of breakfast foods, most of them in a sandwich, wrap, or omelet, so I ordered a la carte. I had a choice between plank-like hash browns (like McDonald's, but as with the ones on the Disney Cruise, vastly inferior) and breakfast potato chunks. Because they looked good, I went with the chunks, and bacon, because, well, bacon.

These were heat lamp potatoes in the worst way. When I say 'heat lamp,' I mean like they were under a heat lamp for a while. Yuck. They had red peppers, which was a plus, but were also only warm, looked old, felt dry, tasted stale. They were just not good at all. The image may look good but I assure they were not.

Of course they also gave me a huge serving of bacon, which was perfect and awesome. It's been a long time since I've had bacon this good. That's four stars for the bacon, but none for the potatoes. Also on the good side, they had Orange Crush, which is always great, even for breakfast.

For the record, in its traditional menu, which is only lunch and dinner, they don't seem to have the favorite fried food. Just sayin'.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #121

These Somebody Else's Fries come from my podcast partner Ray Cornwall. He had these "really good room service fries" at the Four Points Sheraton at Philadelphia Airport. Thanks, Ray!

French Fry Diary 179: O'Boisies Sweet B-B-Q

One last potato-oriented hurrah from my vacation to the Disney regions comes from Philadelphia International Airport, while waiting for our luggage, I found a snack machine that had these happy chips in it.

While not strictly potato ships according to the packaging, their official name is O'Boisies Sweet B-B-Q light and crunchy potato crisps. I am always suspect when the word 'crisps' is used. They are thick, and excellent for dipping, sort of a mutant cross between Munchos and kettle chips, with a subtle bbq taste, slightly addictive.

They come with a "Flavor Caution"... "Although we advise against it, O'Boisies Sweet B-B-Q flavor snack chips are so yummy, you might catch yourself hugging random strangers on the street." I'm really not sure what that means, and I wouldn't go that far, but these are good chips.

French Fry Diary 174: Johnny Rivers' Grill & Market, Orlando International Airport

Southwest Airlines always has their gates off the beaten track no matter what airport you go to. If you arrive at any airport, be assured that Southwest will be the furthest point from where you are. In an airport like Orlando, one so big that they need a train to get you to your baggage, Southwest is pretty far from any of the malls or food courts. What is close to Southwest's gates is a place called Johnny Rivers' Grill & Market.

This is a tiny little oasis squeezed between two gates with an unimaginably tiny seating area and an even tinier 'market' where you can order and purchase stuff like sodas, candy and peach barbeque sauce. It does smell really good, specializing in Cajun fare, with delightful pictures rather than a menu. Here I was, with lots of time on my hands, and a taunting picture of golden brown steak fries overhead. So I ordered fries and a Dr. Pepper (which was odd, isn't Florida the land of Mr. Pibb?).

Ten minutes later I got a very generous portion of shoestring French fries. They were very hot as they were made to order, and they were sprinkled heavily with salt and cracked black pepper that gave them quite a kick. Not bad for an airport snack, and I would have been more than satisfied had it not been for that teasing pic of golden brown thick steak fries on the menu.

This place really has no web presence. I did find numerous bad reviews of the food at this particular location. The chef Johnny Rivers (not the Memphis Secret Agent Man from the Poor Side of Town, it should be noted) is apparently also responsible for the menus at such myriad restaurants as Red Lobster, Bahama Breeze, the Hawaiian Tropic Grill and Prime Minister Steakhouse. I guess he didn't spend much time at the airport.

French Fry Diary 72: Sneaky Airport Fries

A postscript to my recent trip on the Disney Cruise, I came across these ‘fries’ at the Orlando airport waiting for the flight home. I saw The Bride approaching with this cup adorned with fries and got excited and hungry.

But no, base treachery, as Mighty Thor might say, these weren’t fries but pretzel nuggets. What a cruel trick!