French Fry Diary 231: Texas Roadhouse, Bensalem PA

I had seen this place, the questionably named Texas Roadhouse, next to the Sonic on Street Road for a while but only started to get recommendations for it since one opened closer in Turnersville.

My first impression was the same that I had the first time I walked into a Lone Star Steakhouse - loud country music and peanut shells on the floor. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but both had vanished by the time we were seated. And despite it being dinner rush, and being warned by several folks of a long wait, we were seated quite quickly.

Catastrophically picky eater that I am, I ordered the Road Kill (chopped steak, better known as a hamburger sans roll), and the steak fries. First though we got the Cactus Blossom, their version of Outback's Bloomin' Onion. Much easier to pull apart, but also much less spicy hot than Outback's, the Cactus Blossom is a winner. The Bride, her parents and I decimated it.

Took a bit to get my order right, but it finally came after everyone else had already begun their dinner. I didn't want mushrooms so of course I got mushrooms. The chopped steak was terrific after I unburied it from the mountain of onions.

The fries were natural cut steak fries, not dissimilar from Wendy's new ones actually, only thicker. They had some light spices, and parsley, maybe rosemary thrown on them. Not the best I've had but then again not the worst. The waitress kept pushing folks to get cheddar and bacon on them - perhaps knowing they needed something.

Around the table, the ribs were about the same as the fries, not the best but not the worst. Real whiskey in the barbecue sauce it tasted like. Chili's ribs are better though, according to the Mom-in-Law. The beans were good as were the mashed potatoes. The service was a bit slow, but as always, it's amazing how quick a manager comes to your table when you start taking pictures of the food.

I took some of the fries home. They behaved predictably. In the microwave they became a soggy mushy mess, but baked in the oven, these fries became a bit more formidable. They were golden brown with a crunch on the outside, soft and hot on the inside - more like what they should have been in the restaurant.

For the record, more than one of our party had heartburn or was sick to their stomach afterward. All in all, I don't think we'll be back - if we did go back, maybe it would be for the chopped steak, maybe for the Cactus Blossom, but probably not for the fries.

French Fry Diary 162: Flame Tree Barbeque, Animal Kingdom

Flame Tree Barbeque is a place in Disney's Animal Kingdom that I have always wanted to try, but have been kept from doing by my hatred for Disney's Animal Kingdom. Sorry, guys, do not make a park where you have to walk a mile uphill no matter where you want to go. It sucks. Disney World likes to brag about how Disneyland could fit inside their parking lot, and they say it like it's a bad thing. Um no, that's called a good park, because everything is close together. Sorry, no one's ever going to convince me Animal Kingdom has merit as a place I want to go - simply because of how big it is.

And unfortunately, Flame Tree Barbeque did not change my mind much. The French fries are the Disney standard, more regular cut than natural cut, but they are the latter. The portions are very generous but that's because it costs $3.99 and it's a basket meant for sharing. There is a delightful barbeque sauce excellent for dipping, and the baked beans can be used for the same as well. But, good luck finding the barbeque sauce as their outside seating area (and where their condiments, napkins and utensils are as well) is within a jungle labyrinth.

They also have a similar sharing basket for the onion rings. They are gigantic beer-battered onion rings. Either one of these sharing baskets could easily be a whole meal for two or three or four. Also, Flame Tree is very green, so lots of rules about where and how you eat, and no plastics, and no feeding the animals. Also, ever notice how folks seemingly have to quack when a duck walks past? Weird.