French Fry Diary 533: My Gluten-Free Lunch at the Royal Court

While on the Disney Cruise, as I've mentioned before, I don't usually go ashore for excursions and the like. I really enjoy staying on the usually quiet ship to read, write, and people watch. The Disney Fantasy's stop at Grand Cayman was no exception. I was re-reading Stephen King's "The Shining" in anticipation for the release of its sequel "Doctor Sleep," as well as doing some writing of my own, so I stayed aboard.

Round about noon, I got the nibbles and decided to hit the Royal Court for lunch, partially in hopes of getting those terrific steak fries I had gotten at this main restaurant on other DCL ships. However, once seated, there was something weird afoot. I knew something was up from the get-go.

My servers brought bread and rolls to my table, then a minute later covered it up and took it away. Oookay. When the chopped Angus burger I ordered arrived, it had no bun. It did have those awesome rockin' steak fries though. I loved them, they were delicious, as was the bun-less burger. Having gotten the steak fries, and the breakfast potatoes that morning, the cruise was now aces in my book.

The server brought the dessert menu and told me there were some great non-gluten choices. That's when it hit me. I asked if I could just have a regular dessert instead, and that's when it hit him. They checked my room number, consulted notes, and asked, "Are you Charlotte?" Bingo. They thought I was my mother-in-law who's on a gluten-free diet.

I explained that I was not her, we laughed, and I had chocolate ice cream for dessert. The Bride and her mom had a good laugh when they returned from shore, we found out how diligent the Disney cooks are, and I got some terrific steak fries. It's all good.

French Fry Diary 530: Animator's Palate, Disney Fantasy 2013

We've talked about what happens in this Disney Cruise restaurant before, from the changing colors to the interactive characters. They lowlighted it a bit for our first meal there on this week long cruise. There was no big color changing dealie, but Crush the Turtle still made fun of me for being bald (the bastard). I have heard rumors that our return visit will feature some sort of new show. We'll just have to wait and see.

For tonight's meal, I had three different kinds of potato treats. As an appetizer, I got the bacon cheddar potato soup, which was thick and hot. It was good, but I didn't really taste all that much cheddar in it, and the bacon was just some crumble on top. Hot soup is always good however, and for me, not a soup person, that's really saying a lot.

It should be noted that these are all things I tried on my last cruise. With my ginger teriyaki dusted Angus sirloin, I got wasabi mashed potatoes and a side order of fries. The wasabi mashed potatoes were very hot, burn my mouth hot, make my eyes water hot. This was not the wasabi I love from Oh Yoko!.

The fries, while good, were not the ones I was expecting or wanted. The last few times at Animator's Palate I got the most delicious and hot steak fries with my meal. What I got tonight was the same old natural cut fries available from the snack counters upstairs and throughout the parks. The same old same old. Where were my steak fries from last time?

Food wise, this cruise was not turning out to be as wonderful as previous ones. I really hope that this is not a trend. Either way, we are still having a fabulous time. 

French Fry Diary 500: Zinburger

Zinburger at the old racetrack in Cherry Hill has been open for a while now, after seeing them set it up for several months. There was a lot of anticipation here, hearing about how good the food and service was even before they opened. And then there was the odd combination of a gourmet burger place with a wine bar. I couldn't wait to try it, and try it I did, four times before writing this review.

Every time I've been it's been busy, but the wait is always short, or else you are seated right away. The one time we did wait, they took a cell number and texted us when the table was ready. Nice use of cutting edge technology, well, cutting edge for a shopping center restaurant. In the times I have visited Zinburger, the crowd has ranged from dates and families to noisy teenagers and hipsters from the city, all depending on what time you go, sometimes it's loud, but always worth it.

The booths are very big, obviously built with larger folks in mind unlike the torture racks, ahem, I mean seats at Bobby's Burger Palace, also in Cherry Hill.

Our waiter the first visit, Marcus, and all waitstaff on later visits, were very very attentive. I was impressed with the customer service. They gave descriptive explanations of the dishes, and offered many off-menu choices, just like in 'real' restaurants. Marcus was particularly proud of the food (as well he should be) but he referred to it as 'product.' That kinda bugged me.

The prod-, I mean food, came very quickly, fries first. It should be noted that we were given a choice to have the fries come with our meal, or when they were ready. Duh, of course we wanted them when they were ready and hot - and did so on every visit. On the first visit, the fries were hand cut natural cut shoestrings, not hot, but just fairly warm. On visits that followed, they were hotter and better. As a matter of fact, everything about Zinburger got better with each visit. It's almost as if practice made perfect.

These fries were a good mix of crispy and hot, and not too greasy. The portion size would've been terrific had the menu not said it was enough for two. It really wasn't. And sadly they got cold rather quickly. And the colder they got, the less appetizing. They were like Elevation Burger fries on a bad day. But that was just the first time.

The second time we got the double truffle fries, with truffle aioli and truffle oil. They got just the right amount of truffle oil, which can be disastrous when there's too much, but buried the fries in Parmesan cheese. They were a bit soggier than before but stayed hotter longer. Notably, the last two times I went to Zinburger, the fries were perfect.

Speaking of perfect, the burgers, every time, were awesome. The entrees came very quickly after the fries. Great care was taken in asking how we wanted them cooked, and explanations were given for each choice. I can't say enough about the service or the staff, top notch. They even have a burger than caters to my catastrophically picky appetite, the Plain & Simple Burger. I got it Angus but they also have Kobe available. Next time. The burgers were very juicy and enjoyable, awesome.

On the second trip to Zinburger, and every one after that, we also got the onion rings. They were a little bit different each time, sometimes bite-sized, sometimes big, sometimes skinny, but always very crunchy, and always with barbeque sauce. Yeah, that's right, Zinburger knows that onion rings are awesome dipped in barbeque sauce - extra points for that. The sauce was hot but subtle, I even put some on my burger.

The restaurant's main thrust is that it is of course also a wine bar, and the wine has its own menu, and the regular menu indicates which wine would be best with what foods. There are soft drinks for the non-drinkers, as well as some absolutely awesome shakes, malts, and floats.

I love this place, and can't wait to go back. Bring your appetite, and your wallet - while it's not super-expensive, it's also not McDonald's either. Thumbs up for Zinburger.

French Fry Diary 324: 25 Burgers

Like Smashburger, 25 Burgers is mostly a North Jersey phenomenon, but with one location in my area, in Woodbury. The claim to fame of 25 Burgers is that you have at least twenty-five choices, including angus beef burgers, chicken breast burgers, and other specialty burgers. They've been around since 2009, and have expanded their franchise since.

The day after New Year's Day was a day off for most folks, so The Bride and her folks decided we'd make a road trip to 25 Burgers, as I had wanted to for some time. Over the last couple years I have gotten several recommendations for their fries, so I was looking forward to it.

25 Burgers, other than Boardwalk Fries, also offers cheese fries, chili cheese fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, and potato pancakes as sides as well. For this trip, I ordered the rather inexpensive Boardwalk Fries, along with my usual plain burger. Notably, this is a Pepsi place, no Coca-Cola products, but they did have Orange Crush on tap. Bonus points.

The restaurant itself reminded me of Five Guys in color scheme, very red and white and checkered. The overhead music was oldies and the walls were covered with pics of Marilyn, Sinatra, Elvis, and other icons of the 1950s and 60s. The staff was very friendly and helpful.

The burgers can be huge, depending on what you order. Mine was small, others were big, and all were (no choice) well done. And like Tony Luke says, it's all about the roll - and the rolls are fabulous. The burger, other than being a bit more than well done, was fairly good. The Bride got the Maui Burger, which she liked, but found unwieldy to eat. It might be better without the roll, and with a knife and fork.

The fries, very golden brown, were regular natural cuts, and very spicy. I found them similar to the fries at Checker's, spicy with the crunchy coating. The difference though is the size, these are shorter than Checker's fries, which are pretty long. That said, we might have just gotten to the end of a batch. Quite addictive, but have a drink close by as they have time delay heat. The mother-in-law liked them a lot.

All around, it was a good lunch with the family. I don't know if we'll be rushing back any time soon, but it was pretty good.

French Fry Diary 278: Whispering Canyon Café, Lunch 2011

The Bride and I had had a wonderful breakfast at the Whispering Canyon Café just a few hours before, but we previously had lunch reservations with Dom and Cindy and the kids for lunch, so here we were, back again. We were even joined by The Bride's second cousin who lives in the Orlando area.

I love this place, and not just for the bottomless milkshakes. It's interactive with the waitstaff and there's always a show of some kind, watch out though, you may be part of it. Ask for ketchup, ask for straws, and you'll see that's just the tip of the interactive iceberg here at the Café.

For the most part however it was a quiet lunch this day, as in not much interaction with the staff, but we all had a nice chat getting to know each other better. A rather tense moment was had for all in the dining room when news of an earthquake in Washington DC hit. You might remember as this happened in August, and the quake was felt as far north as New York. We had to call home to make sure everything was all right in New Jersey, all was okay though. It was a scary moment however, almost like 9/11, as everyone in the dining room was silent and on their cellphone, either calling loved ones or checking the news.

For lunch I got the Angus Chuck bacon cheeseburger sans bacon and cheese (I still had the bad taste of the bacon cheeseburger from Captain Cook's on my mind), fries of course, and the wonderful all-you-care-to-enjoy milkshakes (I had two). The burger was very good, and the fries were the Disney standard, natural cuts, good when hot.

It was a rather somber meal because of the earthquake, but good times just the same with friends and family.

French Fry Diary 172: Triton's, Disney Wonder

Day four brought us to both brunch and dinner at Triton's. For our late brunch I had the French toast, bacon and roasted red potatoes. At Triton's there were a bit better and hotter than they had been up at Beach Blanket Buffet, and in a much larger portion. Also the bacon was reasonably cooked, not crunchy like glass as it has been most mornings up there. I guess it is a matter of where you go.

For our last dinner on board the Disney Wonder I had the best meal of our cruise. French bread as an appetizer, aged Angus beef tenderloins, bacon (yes, bacon!) wrapped green beans and side order of French fries - because it's a French restaurant after all.

These larger than usual regular cuts were the exact same delicious and nearly perfect fries from our first aboard ship at Animator's Palate. Dessert was an old-fashioned ice cream sundae. This definitely made up for last night. Not just the best meal on the cruise, but the best meal - not to mention service, Stafford and Myriam were first class - I've had in a long time.

French Fry Diary 169: Triton's, Lunch, Disney Wonder

Lunch on board the Disney Magic, at Triton's twin, Lumiere's, was always marked by a terrific burger and some of the best fries around, so I was psyched to try the same at Triton's aboard the Wonder. After breakfast of Day Two (I know, the absolute last time I should be thinking about food) I passed the lunch menu for Triton's and saw the half-pound Angus burger with French fries, and I knew I would be back later.

And I was. Just not for the burger. When I came back and glanced at the menu my eyes were drawn immediately to something else - steak frites. Yeah, I hadda have some of that. I can come back for the burger. When in a fancy restaurant, go fancy, so I did.

The steak was very good, a bit tough, but that's my own fault for asking for very well done. I also got a grilled tomato, not my bag, and also, yeah, there were fries too. These were very tender natural regular cuts, good portion, and not crispy. Not crispy, but neither were they soggy or greasy. Their soft hot consistency actually seemed an excellent match for the steak.

Interesting side note - I was chatting with a fellow passenger while at that first lunch, who happened to be a chef himself. Being me, I talked about the French fries, and how I thought it was odd that I ordered 'steak frites' and yet did not get steak fries. He said that just because they are called something that doesn't mean that's what they are for. He further said the fries I got were appropriate to the meal I got. Ooookay.

I am reminded about what Freud supposedly said, "Sometimes a train is just a train." I guess the same goes for steak fries. Hey, at least they were good.