French Fry Diary 783: Shake Shack Plushies

Now this sort of thing doesn't happen very often, but believe it or not, it does happen. Stuffed French fries, and no, I don't mean being stuffed with fries, I mean stuffed animal-ish things in the style of potato-ey products. One such occurrence included the tater tot superheroes at Sonic some years back.

Recently, a couple weeks ago at the New York Comic Con, a new plushy arrived that was just as cool - Shake Shack Plushes from Yummy World and Kidrobot. They have burgers, and fries, and they are adorbs. While I have yet to actually get to a Shake Shack, at least I can play with them. Seriously they are awesome.

Special thanks to friend Pixie for the signal boost and kind words when I was looking for images of these goodies, and to her friend Karina Hamalainen for the second pic seen here, thank you! You rock!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #239

Friend Ed Evans of All Things Fun! took this awesome pic at this year's Camden Comic Con. The GAR! Podcast recorded several episodes live at this year's con, including one with Ed.

French Fry Diary 171: Room Service, Disney Wonder

Whether you're in a fancy hotel or on a cruise ship, there is just something both amazing and enticing about the very concept of having food brought to you in your room. And the idea that they can bring you almost anything reasonable is good too. Whether it's bacon at a comic con in Baltimore or French fries at sea aboard the Disney Wonder - it's just magic.

Evening three of our most recent Disney Cruise I had a rather disappointing dinner so some time around two in the AM I decided that the magic of room service was needed. Macaroni and cheese, her favorite comfort food, was the weapon of choice for The Bride. I wanted, come on, what else would I want? If your answer isn't French fries, you haven't been paying attention for the last eight years.

I wondered what kind of fries would come. Last time, on board the Disney Magic, room service brought steak fries, a type I've yet to see on this trip on the Wonder. I know that so far on the Magic, I have seen regular cuts, natural cuts (on the top deck, at Pluto's Dog House and Pinocchio's Pizzeria, same as the Magic), slightly larger than regular cuts and something deliciously close to British chips.

What arrived were the less than satisfying natural cuts from the upper decks. Well, at least they were hot. Deep fried and unseasoned, these were good for the middle of the night munchies but little else. The mac and cheese satisfied as well. I honestly think if I hadn't been expecting steak fries - I might have enjoyed this more.

French Fry Diary 87: French Fry Gun

We don’t have Roy Rogers in South Jersey any more. Well, if you check the map, we do have a Roy Rogers in Cherry Hill, but you have to get on the turnpike to get there and then ride it out to the next exit to get back. A long trip and an annoying toll does not a quick lunch make, so Roy’s is a rare treat. Usually a trip down 95 and a rest stop is the only time I get to go to Roy Rogers.

The last time I went to Roy Rogers was on my recent trip to Baltimore for the Comic Con there with my friend Ray. While there, discussing the fries (what else?), the conversation went thusly...

Glenn: “What’s not to love? The fries come in a holster!”

Ray: “That’s why I’m surprised Roy Rogers never did well in the South. You could get a gun as a prize.”

Glenn: “Mmmm... Fry gun…”

Yeah, I’ve been doing this far too long.

French Fry Diary 55: Maisy’s, Baltimore

While attending the Baltimore Comic Con, we thought we would also do some fry hunting as long as we were also looking for a place to eat dinner.

My initial choice was a place called Tir Na Nog, as it had been recommended by a regular reader of this blog. When we mentioned it to someone at the hotel front desk, we were turned away because they were overpriced and had much too small portions. She instead suggested a similar Irish pub-like place around the corner called Mick O’Shea’s. Once we checked out the menu we found they alas had no fries.

On our walk back to the hotel we decided to try a place called Maisy’s, a cozy little bar/pub/restaurant that did, in fact, have fries. We were sold.

First came the onion rings, which magically were served in a French fry cone. They were only okay, breaded but greasy, but I have to give them points for presentation, just not for the food itself. The start of the meal however was ruined by a smoker just outside the open window by our table. Maryland outlawed smoking in restaurants and bars, but apparently not just outside open windows.

I was wildly original, being the catastrophically picky eater I am, and ordered the burger and fries. The burger was Angus beef and very good, juicy, so juicy it squirted my shirt – but it was so worth it. Very delicious. The fries were natural cut shoestrings sprinkled with parsley flakes – a little soggy (maybe from the burger) but quite tasty. Good friends, good conversation and good food, a great night out in Baltimore.

French Fry Diary 54: Comic Con Fries

I attended the Baltimore Comic Con this weekend and was surprised to see folks walking around on the con floor with cups of French fries.

Somehow a potentially greasy food is not something I would think would be sold at a convention dedicated to collectible pieces of paper of great value – especially considering what grease would do to them.

Nevertheless the snack bar was selling French fries. They were natural regular cuts and very greasy looking. Not surprisingly, I passed on these fries, for obvious reasons.