French Fry Diary 749: Bobby's Burger Palace 2017

We recently flew up to North Jersey for the wedding of a friend, and with time on our hands, and empty stomachs from the flight, we went in search of a quick snack. The intent was to find some place that we had not been before so I could write about it, and also some place not readily available in our new home in Florida, for much the same reason.

Our search was becoming fruitless (and fryless) between the time restraint getting tighter and not finding anything in the Bergen NJ area, when suddenly we came upon a strip mall with a Bobby's Burger Palace in it. It was getting late, and I had always intended to give the place a second chance and also try the onion rings, so we figured why not?

We wanted just a snack so The Bride ordered the bacon cheese fries with scallions, and I got the buttermilk onion rings. We also got shakes. They were thick and good and small, but while there were some very interesting flavors, we noticed there wasn't a chocolate or vanilla on the menu, so I got a black and white. They were small, but expensive, and had real whipped cream that really could have used a bit more whipping, but there you go.

I should note that the seating did not improve at this other location. Be forewarned, the booths are small and the counter seats are tight. Whether it's Cherry Hill or the Bergen, Bobby Flay does not like bigger folk, which based on the menu suggests there are not many return customers. I guess a lot of people must 'outgrow' this place.

Based on our order the girl at counter asked if we were getting any food. Even if that wasn't rude, it did not instill confidence in our sides for snacks since they weren't food. You can see into the kitchen through the pick-up window, it should be noted, and I could see our 'food' there for quite some time. When it was finally brought to us, we got a tutorial on sauces while our food got even colder. Not cool.

My order of onion rings was big, in a misshapen paper cone containing five rings total, but they were huuuge (as the big dumb Ooompa Loompa might say), big and thick, with a bit of a spicy kick to the batter. They had a big onion taste and were very good, but I wish they had been hotter - and they probably were, just not when they were in front of me.

The Bride's fries were just as warm, natural cut fries with bacon, cheese, and an awful lot of scallions - probably more scallions than bacon or cheese.  Maybe they should have been called scallion bacon cheese fries?  

This was not a bad snack, but it could have been so much better. I might try Bobby's Burger Palace again, but they should keep in mind, three strikes and that's an out.

French Fry Diary 473: Bobby's Potato-less Ireland

This Food Network special starring chef Bobby Flay takes a look at both the traditional and the new wave of Irish cuisine. Predictably, Bobby puts the poo-poo on traditional Irish fare. In other words, meat and potatoes are bad.

Darina Allen, one of the most celebrated chefs in Ireland, head and founder of the Ballymaloe Cookery School, is one of the forerunners of the new food movement in Ireland. Early in the program, she makes Bobby pick potatoes (for his first time) on the farm that provides food to the school.

The whole farm to table concept is the core of the school. Eventually the potatoes Bobby picked were boiled in salt water and served as is with butter. What no fries, I mean chips? This is Ireland, right?

Next Bobby takes his daughter to the English Market in Cork where they look at blood pudding, smoked salmon, oysters, and artisanal bread. Yep, just about everything you could imagine - except potatoes! Could it be that the new food movement in Ireland is solely because they've run out of potatoes?

His food tour continues with pork from Cork, and a tour of a vegetarian restaurant, Cafe Paradiso, and the farm that supplies it. Guess what? No potatoes there either. They did batter and deep fry flowers (squash blossoms), of all things, but not the one thing you would think the Irish would deep fry.

Moving on to Dublin, with the help of Irish chef and food star Clodagh McKenna, Bobby explores some cafes and pubs trying out 'traditional' Irish foods like porridge, soda bread, sponge cake, and ice cream.

Finally in the last ten minutes of the hour long show, almost as an afterthought, Bobby stopped at a place called Leo Burdock Fish & Chips, because "you just can't leave Dublin without having some fish and chips." Leo's is apparently, based on the signage, Dublin's oldest chipper. I was surprised he didn't go to Cookes, but then again if the original Irish restaurant is slouching as bad as its WDW counterpart, that's a good thing.

For a mere 8.95, Bobby gets a huge cod and a healthy portion of chips. He goes on to say what a big part of Irish cuisine fish and chips are. If that's true, Bobby, why only a fraction of the show about them, eh? Well, if it's any consolation, beer only got a few more seconds airtime than fish and chips.

Bobby Flay's Grilled French Fries

It's barbecue season so it seems like a good time to show you this - Bobby Flay's recipe for his Grilled French Fries, as well as a variety of condiments to go with. Enjoy!



I have to wonder however why he does serve these at his Burger Palace...

National Grilled Cheese Day

Today is officially National Grilled Cheese Day, so why don't you make yourself a grilled cheese, or go out and have someone else make one for you?

Of course, if you want the best grilled cheese around, you'll have to go to the Pop Shop in Collingswood, New Jersey. Not only do they have dozens of variations on the grilled cheese, they went spatula to spatula with Bobby Flay over grilled cheese.

And as long as you're at the Pop Shop, don't forget to get some of their great Pop Fries! Happy Grilled Cheese Day!

French Fry Diary 345: Bobby's Burger Palace

Bobby Flay knows French fries, other people's French fries. His own, not so much. Remember those great fries from Balthazar that he talked about on "Best Thing I Ever Ate: Totally Fried"? Well, apparently he knows where to go for good fries, but not how to make them himself.

Bobby's Burger Palace opened up at the classy new Cherry Hill Mall a few months back. It is settled in between Bahama Breeze and Seasons 52, so it's dead center in the valet parking zone. In other words, if you're going to BBP, be prepared for a serious walk cuz you can't park anywhere near it.

This was a night out for The Bride and me, and we invited my buddy Ray to come along. Ray had been to the BBP in Eatontown before and was not impressed. In the words of my friend Ray, "It's not a burger worth waiting in line a half hour for." Well see. He also said the place looked like a 1970s Burger King threw up, and I gotta say, he's absolutely right.

So, stand in line, big menu on the wall, order, sit and wait some more. We sat at the counter, not much choice there. Notably Bobby's Burger Palace has Fresca. They get extra points from The Bride for that. But they also get minus points for the anti-bigger people seating. No chairs in the place are movable, in other words, no chair can be pulled out. I think for a place that sells fast food, gourmet or otherwise, that's a serious faux pas. Condiments included yellow mustard, ketchup, chipotle, jalapeño, and the mysterious burger sauce. Oddly the shakes came first. Isn't that dessert? Weird. The food came quicker than I thought though, but not all at once.

I got just a plain burger as usual, but I got it 'crunchified,' in other words with potato chips on top. Now I applaud the attempt, but I've been putting potato chips on my burgers since I was a little kid. Just piling them on doesn't work. You have to lay them on, cover the whole burger, not just the middle. Also Bobby just uses regular sub-standard store brand potato chips. You need to use flavored chips like barbeque and a quality brand as well. The chips on the burgers done Bobby's way was not a treat and will not bring new folks into the chips-on-burger family. I dumped my chips off after a few bites.

The burger was very good though. Well, mine was at least. Ray had complaints. He got the Bobby Blue Burger, which purports to have blue cheese on it. One would expect, as Ray would, it to have crumbled bleu cheese on the burger, but not the case. It's a bleu cheese sauce, not quite the same thing.

The fries on the other hand, were not good. The Bride suspected they were the last of a batch, very hard and stuck together. They were pretty terrible actually, like at the end of the night at Five Guys. Way too crunchy, overdone, and just bits and pieces. Looking at the fries of others, this seems to be the standard. Now when I asked our waiter if this was the way the fries usually are, he told me yes. Still, the website showed quite tasty looking fries, that bore no resemblance whatsoever to anything I saw in the restaurant the night we went.

The special BBP fry sauce was just some type of salad dressing. Ray had the sweet potato fries and described them as bland. Not good for Bobby so far. We did like what we saw when an order of onion rings went by - gigantic. They looked awesome. Maybe next time, cuz I will be back for the burger, but definitely not the fries.

I remain puzzled. If Bobby Flay thinks the best most perfect fries in the world are from Baltthazar in New York City, why not produce something similar at his own restaurant? Those at Bobby's Burger Palace are not recommended.

French Fry Diary 300: Wise BBQ Potato Chips

There are few that come close. Herr's are everyday good, and rule with the different with their honey barbeque and baby back ribs flavors. Michael Season's honey barbeque are healthy good and darned hard to get except by mail - do they have them in any local stores? But truth be told, Wise is the king of the barbeque potato chip.

Now I'm not a big fan of the Wise regular chips as I find them too thin, and are often spotty and greasy. This, happily, is not a problem that their BBQ variety has. Now this might sound stupid, but I like these chips so much that I remember when I first had them. I was… very young, and my enabling big sister had gotten a bag at one of the local neighborhood stores, Valenti's. The bag was white cellophane, about the size of a $3.99 bag today with the old trademark Wise owl on it and a price tag of thirty-nine cents. I was smitten. Wise BBQ Flavored Potato Chips are among my absolute favorites.

Some folks say that pretzels are what you dip in ice cream, that it is a natural match, so much so that they make cones out of pretzels. Now I'm not going to say they should start making potato chip ice cream cones, but darn it, chips are much better for dipping in ice cream in my opinion. And the best are the Wise BBQ chips, the hot and cold, sweet and salty contrast is terrific.

Even my old cat Badger thought so. He loved ice cream and Wise BBQ chips. Many times I would have a bowl of ice cream on the table, open a bag of chips, then get up to get something - didn't matter what - and Badger would hop up on the table and start lapping up ice cream, and then invariably stick his head in the bag of chips. When I would come back, he'd know he'd been caught and run - unfortunately the bag would be stuck on his head. He'd leave a trail of chips around the house before getting out of the bag. Man, I loved that cat, my buddy for seventeen years, but wow, he took a lot of ice cream and especially Wise BBQ chips from me.

And I know that Bobby Flay is famous for this now with his Crunchburger at his Burger Palace franchise, but I was doing this decades ago. For an extra crunch, and flavor, I put Wise BBQ potato chips on top of and under my burgers. I also use crushed Wise BBQ potato chips as a fried chicken coating much the way Planet Hollywood used to use Cap'n Crunch for their World Famous Chicken Crunch - and again, I think I was doing it before them. I also sometimes use Frosted Flakes, but that's a completely different story - and favorite fried food.

The Honey BBQ Flavored Potato Chips from Wise came out just a few years ago and quickly became a favorite of mine. They are sweet, and have just the right amount of honey. Sometimes I like a bit more, and when I do, I go for the Herr's Honey Barbeque, but far more often it's Wise. Even if you just lick the seasoning off these, it's good. Although these aren't as good on hamburgers as the regular BBQ, these are equally good for dipping, especially in ice cream. Whereas sometimes the regular BBQ get hot and you need liquid refreshment just to go on, these go down smooth and sweet.

Speaking of sweet, the Sweet Heat BBQ Flavored Potato Chips from Wise just came out, as you can see from the pic, they are brand spanking new. These chips seem innocent at first, with just more visible seasoning than the two types above. They're tasty and sweet, and just as addictive - you will have eaten at least a half-dozen before your mouth catches fire. Yeah, these are hot, but it's a good hot, similar to Lay's Tangy Carolina BBQ potato chips. And that's a good thing. These chips would be very good for dipping into ice cream, because the cold might put out the fire.

Now it should be noted that I can't really have most of Wise's various BBQ chips all that often because of the salt content and especially the MSG. Hey, Wise, isn’t it about time you start trying to make these without MSG? Please? I'll be your best friend...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #5

This is a ring of French fries created in "Battle Lamb" by Chef David Burke on "Iron Chef America." This ring was used as a cup for other vegetables. Unfortunately this innovation just wasn't enough to beat Iron Chef Bobby Flay.

French Fry Diary 153: Moules Frites

Burgers and fries, fish and chips, meat and potatoes. Sometimes there are foods that just naturally go together. In the world of the favorite fried food, there is one more variation on that angle, maybe one of the lesser known, but there it is - moules frites, or mussels and fries, and that's what we're talking about this Food Network Friday.

A recent episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" explored the topic a bit and spotlighted one of the best places to get this Belgian specialty, Granville Moore's in Washington DC, from Executive Chef Teddy Folkman.

The crux of each episode is that Bobby Flay attempts to beat a traditional favorite of an established restaurant and chef with his own new recipe. The results are usually mixed. Bobby usually wins, but here I will invoke the superhero fight rule - whoever's title the fight takes place in is the winner - that's why Bobby wins. When he does. In my opinion.

Here's the recipe Bobby put up against Granville Moore's: Steamed Mussels with Coconut-Green Chile Broth and Black Pepper French Fries with Smoked Red Pepper Aioli. Yeah, wow, what a mouthful. See the recipe here.

Teddy's moules frites won, on the show at least, kicking the superhero fight rule to the curb. Going on the fries alone, because I don't think mussels would be in my wheelhouse, I think I would choose Teddy's as well. Mmmm... fries...

Bobby Flay's Cheyenne Burger

This time with Food Network Friday we hijack a recipe from Bobby Flay. This is his Cheyenne Burger from his book "Bobby Flay's Burgers, Fries & Shakes" and was also featured on his show "Grill It! With Bobby Flay."

Wow, did you think I could get the name Bobby Flay into that sentence one more time? ;-)

Here's the recipe that also includes those great shoestring onion rings as well. Mmmm... enjoy!

Bobby Flay's Favorite French Fries

From the Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate," super chef Bobby Flay talks about his favorite French Fries at Balthazar in New York City. I'm gonna have to get there and try those... Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 98: Tony Luke’s, Philadelphia

This was a hard review to write, because I like Tony Luke, Jr., a lot.

Tony makes entertaining commercials, how to videos. He faced off with Bobby Flay on television and showed him up, he provided food for the folks making "Eye of the Tiger" a few years back, and of course I love his new grocery store miracle – the microwave at home cheesesteak – that actually tastes like a real cheesesteak. And that last bit is why I had to finally try the real thing. After weeks of loving the microwave version – I needed to do it for real – and while I was there, review the fries.

The night was frigid cold after watching the Philadelphia Wings lose (again) so I was glad that the area for the long line at Tony Luke’s was sheltered unlike other famous Philly cheesesteak places. It was in line however that we saw the sign. I had intended to merely try and review Tony’s fries, but this sign promised something far more exotic in the realm of the favorite fried food – “Frank Fries” - oh yeah, baby, you know we had to give those a try as well.

The cheesesteak was perfect, and the bread, which Tony always stresses is one of the most important elements, was more than perfect. I can’t rave about the roll enough. This is a damn good cheesesteak, one of the best in the city, period. The problem, unfortunately, was with the fries. As I said, I like Tony a lot, so I kinda wish this was Cheesesteak Diary, and not French Fry Diary, ya know?

The curly fries were just average, and worse than that, they were overdone. Maybe it was because they were busy (which they were, eleven o’clock on a Saturday night, and they were crazy hopping, the line filling the shelter and spilling into the street) and rushed, or maybe this is the regular state of the fries – but they really weren’t great.

The Frank Fries were... interesting. They fall into the realm of non-potato fries, so not really fries, but they were good. They sorta have that bubble gum flavor Jelly Belly vibe going on that this shouldn’t taste like this, but it’s good. They are more or less corn dog strips waaay well done with an onion ring batter texture. All in all, they weren’t bad, I’d get ‘em again.

Tony Luke’s is definitely the place to go for a cheesesteak, all aces there, but for fries... maybe not.