Random Tater Pic of the Day #285

I love when two things I love come together, as with this cartoon sent to me anonymously of the Legion of Super-Potatoes.

For those who know me, I'm a semi-regular writer over at the Legion of Super-Bloggers, dedicated to Legion of Super-Heroes fandom.  Links to some of my Legion reviews and articles can be found here, check them out.

French Fry Diary 715: The Vault

After South Jersey Writers' Group meetings we would sometimes all go out to a bar/restaurant for shoptalk and friendly chat. One place we had gone a couple times, but ironically I'd never tried the fries, was The Vault in Runnemede NJ. That said, I never thought I'd be surprised there, but I was.

Lured there by The Bride to have dinner with a couple I did not particularly like, I was pleased to find my friend, fellow writer, and President of the SJWG, Krista out front. I thought this was a happy coincidence until we went inside. Yeah, they got me, I was sooo surprised. With my upcoming move to Florida, the South Jersey Writers had planned a going away party. I can't believe so many folks got together to do this for me. I love these people.

I was so happy to see Amy, Jessica, Marie, Sarah, Gail, Erika and her husband, Janice, Kahlil, Shelley, Vince, Cassandra, Ewart, Jord, Tom, Bill and his wife, Gregg, Jennifer, Patti, even my brother-in-law Bruce, and friend and FFD contributor Marni were there. What a wonderful surprise! And if I forgot anyone, my apologies, but there were a lot of you there!

And there were cards, and Marie got me a wonderful Captain America mug, which I hope I won't get harassed for, and along with a very sweet and thoughtful note, Vince got me a little something I'll feature here on FFD very soon.

And then there were also fries (bet you thought I forgot this was French Fry Diary, didn't you?). I had ordered a serving of the crab fries. While not Chickie's & Pete's, these regular cuts were very hot and spicy, and covered in Old Bay seasoning. Delicious, and even better when crisped in the oven once I was home. Mmmm…

Special thank you to Krista, and everyone else in the South Jersey Writers' Group. I am going to miss you all so much.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #163

These steak frites were the special at Toscana in Cherry Hill a few weeks back. The Bride and I were going to go but family stuff kept us otherwise busy. We will get there soon though.

Added bonus, Gigio Longo of Toscana Cherry Hill also has a very cool comic out called Adam 12 that you should all check out. Fries and comics, always a good match.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #158

The cover of Nova #21 from Marvel Comics, due out in September. Special thanks to my friend and podcast partner Ray for hunting the image down for me.

Potato Tribute to Wonder Woman

This one comes from The Mary Sue, and through them, Kitchen Overlord.

This tribute to Wonder Woman is officially called Potatoes Diana, and you read all about it, as well as get the recipe, here.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #99

My ATF! Vidcast and Blog partner Allison sent this fry pic along to me via the Facebook.

The Somebody Else's Fries in question are her mother-in-law's from a great restaurant in nearby Medford that I can't wait to try - Top Notch.

Thanks, Allison!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #82

This one comes from my buddy Ray, a fellow comics fan. This is page 14 of Wolverine #5.1, where our hero has been, ahem, incapacitated by two cannibalistic baddies who are going to try to cook and eat Logan...

Ewwwww...

...on the other hand, whether you're cooking Boy Scouts or mutant superheroes, when you heat up the deep fryer, it does smell like French fries...

Mmmm... French fries...

French Fry Diary 428: Fictional Fast Food

Recently my friend Terry asked me if I was ever going to write about fictional fast food, specifically that of the DC Comics universe. I had never really thought about it, but there is a bit to be said about it.

Much like its cities, like Metropolis, Gotham City and Opal City, which are made up rather than part of the real world, there are many other facets that are fictitious as well like companies, sports teams, and yes, even fast food restaurants.

There's Big Belly Burger, which just made its prime time TV debut in the third episode of "Arrow." There is also O'Shaughnessy's, sort of a Denny's, named after DC Comics writer/editor Denny O'Neil's penname.

There's also Burgie, a major fast food chain. Burgie is a close cousin to real world counterpart McDonald's with its sideways Golden Arches forming a B. One or all of these restaurants probably served Soder Cola. Big Belly Burger appears to be similar to Bob's Big Boy, and is owned by LexCorp, for better or worse.

And nope, sadly I have no idea what kind of fries they serve...

French Fry Diary 418: The Justice for Potatoes League

Other than being a self-confessed (and obsessed) French fry freak, I am also a big comic book geek, so when I saw a recent Ore-Ida commercial featuring the Justice for Potatoes League, an obvious play on DC Comics' Justice League, they had me immediately.

Not superheroes in the traditional sense, the League is composed of one determined little blonde girl with a microphone and her younger sidekick Jackson with his camera who confront folks in the supermarket about how Ore-Ida French fries products don't have as many calories as they think they do. Because, trademark notice, "Ore-Ida may surprise you."

I like this new advertising campaign because all too often, the favorite fried food gets a bad rap. Nice to see fries getting some good publicity.

The Justice for Potatoes League has its own website on the Ore-Ida site, and even their own Facebook page. Don't forget to 'Like' them!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #57

More superhero spuds in Mr. Potato Head form, these are from last month's Previews magazine.

French Fry Diary 358: Denny's, Clifton Heights

Welcome to possibly the last Denny's on Earth, it's in Clifton Heights, PA. This was our second Denny's of the night. The first one, over by the Philly airport was closed for renovations. Going to any Denny's was actually a surprise as they seem to have left New Jersey en masse suddenly about six months to a year back.

They used to be everywhere. Then slowly they disappeared, not sure why, but they did. Maybe it was bad publicity from certain racial incidents, or maybe the bad karma from buying out Sam's, formerly Sambo's. I won't go into that, it should for just speak for itself.

The Denny's took forever to find, even with dual GPSes, but my friends Jeff, Marc, Judy, and the Dark Crystal held out and made it through the wilds of Pennsylvania after the Wings game to get here. Once there, I was overwhelmed by the menu, several pages long and full of upscale diner-y goodness. That part of the 24/7 Denny's diner hasn't changed since I'd last visited one.

Guess what I finally settled on. I know, too easy. Burger and fries. I had wanted breakfast, but I don't know when I'll ever see a Denny's again, so I wanted to get fries to review, just in case it's another decade before I see another Denny's again. My buddy Ray had actually recommended them a few months back as well, so I had to try them.

First thing I noticed was that Denny's still had the huge glasses of Coke I remembered. That's a good thing. The burger was huge which made the pitiful portion of fries even more irritating. The vertically crinkle cut fries, to add injury to insult, we're only just warm. The less than twenty fries were quite potatoey and would probably have been pretty good if they were hot. Also, you can see in the picture that they were very liberal with the salt. Others in our party got breakfast potatoes that were shredded and browned well. Burger aside (which was very good), I kinda wish I'd gotten them instead.

I was full and satisfied at the end of the meal, so that's a good thing. Conversation with good friends always makes for a good time. And that includes the conversation at the next table claiming that that Hawkeye brought nothing to the Avengers. But I wish there had been more fries, and hot fries. The Denny's rating for this venture stands at all stars for the company of friends, and most of the food, but not so much for the French fries.

French Fry Diary 354: The Sonic Justice League of Tater Tots

I had wanted to write about this ever since I found out about this, but as was mentioned earlier, most of the Sonic Drive-Ins in the South Jersey area have suddenly closed up. Why, I don't know, but there went my opportunity to collect some of my favorite super-heroes in the shape of some of my favorite fried food.

Luckily my friend Marni managed to pick me up a Wonder Woman Tater Tot. Sonic has been including in the kids meals, officially called Wacky Pack kids meals, plush tater tots dressed like DC Comics characters. What is most interesting about these 'super-tots' is the selection of characters included. Here's the rundown: Clark Kent (!), Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter (!), The Flash, Hawkgirl, Aquaman, Supergirl, Bizarro (!), Plastic Man (!), and Superman.

Of course this doesn't make Sonic Tater Tots taste any better, or reopen closed Sonics in the area, but it sure is pretty cool. More kids meal toys need to be this cool.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #39

Well, St. Patrick's Day weekend is over, and hopefully you got into Burger King to get your free French fries (if you even like their new fries, that is).

While the fries might not be free any more, I bet you can still find some of that green Heinz ketchup to dip them in if you look for it.

And as long as we're playing clean up from the big Irish weekend, here's something from comic book writer Gail Simone's Twitter: "Boxty on the griddle, boxty in the pan. If you don't cook boxty, you'll never get a man." Well, then.

Hope y'all had a good St. Paddy's Day!

French Fry Diary 275: Aquaman #1 2011

Anyone who knows me personally knows a big comic book geek I am. I've maintained a comic book review site, done monthly reviews of the Avengers family of comics, and I currently do a weekly vidcast about new comics. One of the most exciting things happening in the comics industry right now is DC Comics rebooting their line with fifty-two new number one issues. One of the most anticipated of those issues is Aquaman.

I love Aquaman, and I'm not the only one. If you don't believe me, check out my friend Rob Kelly's terrific website, The Aquaman Shrine. Joke if you like, non-believers, but the man's time has come, Aquaman is cool. Of course, I've always known that, and now that the rest of the world is catching on to that, DC Comics has given the king of the seven seas a brand new series, and brought on two of the industry's finest to produce it - Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis. Trust me, these guys are superstars in their field.

Aquaman #1 came out this past Wednesday, only days after the character's 70th anniversary, and in my opinion was the absolute best of all the new fifty-two comics. Of course, you might wonder why I'm writing about Aquaman here on French Fry Diary, besides my obvious passion for the comics and the character. Oh trust me, there is a method to my madness.

In the sequence pictured here, Aquaman visits a diner he and his father frequented when he was a kid. He orders fish and chips. Yeah, baby, that's right, Aquaman likes French fries. I knew there was a deeper reason I loved Aquaman.

And if you think that's odd, think harder about it. When Aquaman lived on land in his youth, he would've eaten the same things most humans eat, and that would include fish (and French fries!). And when he took on his destiny as King of Atlantis, really, what do you think Atlanteans eat? Of course they eat fish, there's only so much seaweed and kelp you can eat. Protein is needed, ya know?

Seriously, Aquaman rocks. Buy the comic. Visit the website. After all, the man likes French fries.

French Fry Diary 261: Enchanted Garden, Disney Dream

Day one of our vacation on the Disney Dream brought us to the Enchanted Garden for dinner. The Enchanted Garden is one of the new restaurants on the Disney Cruise, on both the Dream, and the new Fantasy. Its theme is that of a garden that changes from sundown to nighttime - the decor changes color and mood, and like the old Animator's Palate, it's a slow subtle visual treat. Most visually exciting is the sun going down at the rear of the room.

We also got to meet our waitstaff - Fitz (who we had had before and gave us wonderful service and care), Goncalo from Portugal, and Charlie from Liverpool. Excellent service is always one of the amazing features on any Disney Cruise, and they were no exception. The best part is that they will be there for us for every dining experience on board.

Charlie absolutely rocks just because he was trying so hard to be American and say 'fries' instead of 'chips,' but that was cool with me. And we also bonded as he's a big comic book fan too.

The potato selections at dinner were very good. The Bride had a twice-baked potato, which looked very good and she said it was okay. I had both the wonderful hot baked potato that came with my excellent steak, and the French fries (chips to Charlie) I special ordered.

Great baked potato, and steak fries - hotter than at Cabanas earlier in the day, and baked. Aces for the fries, as was the bananas foster for dessert. The bananas foster was another stepping stone first for this catastrophically picky eater, loved it.

French Fry Diary 222: Andy Capp's BBQ Fries

I have disliked these things for a long time. First of all, they're not even really fries, but a corn and potato snack similar to a cheese pug with neither the cheese nor the puff.

Originally created by Reg Smythe, Andy Capp was a bit of a misogynist, if still amusing, comic set in the north of London, and it ran for decades. In the early seventies the character became the spokestoon for Andy Capp's Fries. They came in many varieties, including the newly returned BBQ flavor.

The 'fries,' and I use the term loosely, are covered in a strong smokey barbecue dusting, but other than that they are very unflavorful. The cornmeal and processed potato score high on the bland meter. They truly lack even the you-can't-eat-just-one concept that even the worst potato chips have. These are really bad.

Iron Man 2... Sort Of...

I took this picture last Saturday, Free Comic Book Day, at my favorite comics shop, All Things Fun!. I figured it would be apropros for today, the American release of Iron Man 2.

That's right, it's an Iron Man 2 Mr. Potato Head. And I love the name - Tony Starch. Perfect. Although I have to wonder if the folks at Hasbro thought of maybe different armors as well as different faces, etc. That would be even more perfect, if such a thing was grammatically possible.

That's French Fry Diary for today. I'm off to see Iron Man 2, because if there's one thing I'm geekier about than French fries, it's comics!