French Fry Diary 693: O'Lordan's Irish Pub

On a recent trip to see the in-laws, and especially see the nephew rock the house as part of his school's chorus, we stopped for a late night dinner at O'Lordan's Irish Pub. It being a pub and it being Friday night meant it was very loud, but we were seated behind the stage where the atmosphere was much quieter - and apparently less traveled by the waitstaff.

As the company was good we didn't mind the long wait time, much. I got my regular, a burger and fries, but what I really wanted to try was the Onion Cone. It's described as "Spanish onions in a seasoned batter and fried golden brown." However in my current altered diabetic state, those types of deep fried delicacies are certain death by carb, and calorie, and cholesterol. Maybe next time.

The burger, ordered medium well, was on the charcoal side of very well done, but still tasty on the inside, as long as one could get through the blackened exterior. On the plus side, it was on a sesame seed bun, which I usually prefer.

The fries that came as a side were waffle fries similar in cut and first glance to Chick-fil-A, but that's where the resemblance ended. If one took those great Chick-fil-A Waffle Fries, battered them, deep-fried them until they were crunchy on the outside and greasy on the inside, then over seasoned them... yeah, you got it. They were that bad.

That said, potatoey products purchased by other members of our party (how's that for alliteration?) were quite good, including the Bangers & Mash and the Potato Skins, the latter of which were made from huge Russet baking potatoes. The Irish Whiskey chicken Tenders also looked very good, maybe for next time. And I'm not adverse to coming back, they could have been having a bad night - not as bad however as the singer who was soundly butchering David Bowie and Tom Petty on the other side of the wall...

French Fry Diary 674: The So-Called KFC Rat

So it's happening again. Every once in a while, someone supposedly finds something in their fast food that is a deep fried something that shouldn't be there. Rarely is it true, usually it's a hoax, or an attempt to make money from a lawsuit. Check your Snopes to make sure. But always, always, these things go viral, and the powers that be, that don't like fast food, use it as a reason not to eat fast food.

Today, we have the rat from KFC. It's just a piece of chicken that may look like a rat, that's all. Just like clouds may look like Lady Gaga, I assure you, they are not Lady Gaga. KFC assures us this is not a rat, just as the man who got this chicken tender and posted it to Facebook will not come forward and let them (or anyone else) examine the 'rat.' It's just a tender with the shape of a rat. There's a reason that McNuggets are made in the same shapes all the time, and this is it.

This might also be the place to mention another ugly rumor. KFC is not KFC because they no longer serve chicken, but because of the Health Nazi stigma of the word 'fried.' They are still Kentucky Fried Chicken, as seen in the new commercials featuring Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders, and the less said about those commercials, the better...

So KFC is safe, they're not cooking rats. And furthermore, you should go to KFC today, and get some chicken tenders, and a side of fries too while you're at it.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #146

These were the mashed potatoes from this year's DIS Meet Weekend. They were pretty good, but much like last year, I found myself jealous of the kids who got chicken tenders and beautiful golden brown crinkle cut fries…

For more on the NJ DIS Meet Weekend, check out the Make Mine Magic Podcast's special episode on the event here.

French Fry Diary 486: New York J & P Pizza

We had this for pick up and go dinner one night with the in-laws in Maryland. New York J & P Pizza is just a standard pizza place down by the brother-in-law's, but they're pretty good.

I'm not big for pizza so I ordered the chicken tenders with French fries. Yeah, I know what you're thinking, but I just didn't feel like a burger either that night.

The French fries were great regular cuts, standard frozen and deep-fried, but quite tasty and not too greasy at all. The chicken tenders were good and they came with a terrific barbeque sauce that was excellent for dipping the fries as well.

Oh yeah, and I hear the pizza is pretty good too. ;-)

French Fry Diary 481: Burger King Loaded Tater Tots

My good friend and she-who-watches-for-fry-and-chip-stuff, Marni, hipped me to these just yesterday. Burger King's Loaded Tater Tots - after they changed their fries, I haven't really been back to BK all that much. But, knowing how much The Bride likes cheese, bacon, and tater tots, I figured dinner at Burger King might be both a nice change of pace, and a FFD field trip.

They were stuffed with bacon and cheese, and from all indications and advertisement images, some other stuff. They don't look like tater tots really. They're a little bigger and with a outside texture that is more similar to chicken tenders than anything else. They look

and taste very deep fried. The taste... well, they don't taste bad but I'm really not sure what they taste like. If you close your eyes and concentrate, you might taste cheese, bacon, and potato. It's anyone's guess what the green bits are.

The Bride definitely thought they were better than BK's old tots, which, I know, for shame, I never tried. That they were better than the old ones, which I haven't heard anything good - that's not saying a lot. Thanks, Marni!

French Fry Diary 426: Rustic Grille

I keep hearing good things about the Rustic Grille in Medford, not necessarily about the fries, but had never been there. I was out with friends looking for dinner in Medford, after being frustrated by the Zinc Café being closed again (this was the second time I wanted to show it off and it was unexpectedly closed). We saw the Rustic Grille and decided, what the heck.

We seated ourselves, and after getting our drinks, placing our orders, and talking for a while - we sat ourselves again, as the air vent over our heads in the ceiling was dripping on us. Not a good start to dinner.

When the food came I was pleasantly surprised. I got chicken tenders and fries. Very tender chicken tenders - very good, although I was a bit disappointed that the barbecue sauce that came with it were packaged, from Unipro Foodservice. Not cool. What is this, McDonald's?

The fries were steak fries, probably deep-fried, but with a texture that tasted baked. These are proof that simple and cheap can actually be really really good. I liked these a lot. Definitely thumbs up on these great steak fries.