Halloween at MoonDog Grill

Don't forget to get over to the Moorestown Mall Food Court to try MoonDog Grill's Walking Dead Dog, an all-beef Sabrett hot dog topped with chili, cheese sauce, spicy red pepper relish, atomic BBQ sauce, jalapenos, onions, and sriracha… oooh, hot and scary. They also have new Italian sodas in ten assorted flavors, but the real reason to visit MoonDog at any time, not just Halloween, is the fries, and now there's a twist.

You can not only get MoonDog's fabulous fresh-cut and twice-fried French fries, but you can get them as a Fry Bowl. They start with eight ounces of fries and come in four varieties – Chili Cheese: all beef chili, cheese sauce, and onions, Barbecue: pulled pork, shredded cheese, and BBQ sauce, Mexican: salsa, jalapenos, tomatoes, onions, and shredded cheese, and Buffalo: buffalo wing sauce, jalapenos, blue cheese dressing, and celery salt.

Stop in and check them out, some of the best fries and dogs in South Jersey!

French Fry Diary 688: Moon Dog Grill

I have to say it was refreshing to see the new food court at the Moorestown Mall, as opposed to construction area that was here last time I visited. This court has been redone several times, as a matter of fact, I think this may have been the first food court I ever visited, waaay back in 1985 - if I recall correctly, to visit a place that sold only French fries. Ah, youth. The latest remodeling is nice, with high tables including outlets for electronics being a modern improvement, but the real surprise and treat was seeing the MoonDog Grill.

Nestled amongst the other court restaurants like Subway, SaladWorks, Suki Hana, and Philly Steak among others, including the Yard House, is the MoonDog Grill. In case you've been under a rock somewhere and don't know, the MoonDog Grill is brought to us by the same wonderful folks who ran the much loved Cool Dog Café. I have been on a forced hiatus for the last few months, but when the new place opened in the Moorestown Mall on January 2nd, I was inundated with emails.

The word of mouth has been incredible, with so many folks telling me this is the crew from the Cool Dog Café. It's not everyone however as Shawn has moved out on his own, but Bernadette and Ira are still there, so it's the same great customer service, really the best service around, the type that makes you feel like friends, like family.

The menu is a little bit smaller, but still the same great food, and - wait for it - still the same fantastic fresh cut French fries. Always one of the best in South Jersey, these natural cuts are cut fresh and twice fried, so you know they know what they're doing. The paper bag to hold in the heat is an old school touch, and they still have all the special fry sauces from the Cool Dog days.

That's enough of my personal obsession. You're also going to be hard pressed to find a better hot dog or burger for the price. The Sabrett all-beef dogs have a great snap and are deep fried to perfection, and the burgers are 100% Angus beef, hand formed and never frozen. All the food is cooked to order and to your specs. This place is aces.

Most of tables in our area of the food court had MoonDog food on them, so they seemed to be doing a pretty brisk business the Saturday afternoon we visited. I wish the folks at the MoonDog Grill the best in this endeavor and it gets my highest recommendation.

Farewell Cool Dog Cafe

I woke up this morning, some 1200 miles from home, but still with the connection to Facebook, to some very sad news.

The Cool Dog Café in Cherry Hill NJ has closed their doors.

Here was the message on their Facebook page:

"COOL DOG IS CLOSED

"We are sad to inform all of you that today, Oct. 31, was the last day for Cool dog Café. As with many things, time can change people’s outlooks and desires. So it is with Cool Dog. Partners Shawn and Ira will be moving on to pursue their individual dreams. Shawn is now working with the Stephen Starr restaurants in Philly and enjoying his new culinary experience very much. Ira is working on a new venture in the area and will let you know when something is definite.

"We want to thank you for your loyalty, friendship and support over the past 5 years. A restaurant couldn’t ask for a better group of people as their customers and we’ll miss you. But we’ll be in touch. Meanwhile, have a wonderful holiday season and again, from all of us at Cool Dog Café… THANK YOU."

This came as a shock to me as it did to many folks. Not only was Cool Dog an awesome place for hot dogs, French fries, burgers, and fun - it was a place for family. And truth is that Ira and his wife in the front, Shawn in the back, and the entire staff - they were friends, and family too. Coming to Cool Dog was like coming home, like being welcomed by family.

They certainly treated us like family, through good times and bad, this was a restaurant that made everyone welcome. Every time we had friends from out of town, they always wanted to go to the Cool Dog Cafe. And I know many folks upset they won't be able to have one last dog at their favorite place.

That said, best of luck to Ira and Shawn in the future, looking forward to the next big thing from each of you. We will miss you, Cool Dog!

French Fry Diary 676: Cool Dog Cafe 2015

Friends came in for lunch from out of town, and looking for a great local place to eat, we of course thought of the Cool Dog Café, a favorite of friends and family. We hadn't been there in a while, but checking their website, I saw that one of the specials was the Cheese Fries Burger, I had to try it. I was happy to see they were doing a brisk business. Ira and the folks there are always nice, and customer service is the best.

The Bride got the Stuffed Tater Dog, with tater tots, bacon, sour cream, and scallions, which she really enjoyed, and why not, it had tater tots! Believe it or not, the dog had a real stuffed baked potato vibe. And we of course split an order of Cool Dog's famous fresh cut fries.

I got the burger of the week, which was the aforementioned Cheese Fries Burger. I have always loved Cool Dog's hand-formed Angus beef burgers, so this one with shoestring fries, bacon, and cheese sauce sounded good. I wasn't really in the mood for cheese so I got it sans cheese. Special orders are never a problem.

The burger had a nice thick roll, and the burger was great as always. The art of sandwiching is one I've talked about here before, and these guys do it right, and how can you go wrong with adding bacon?

The shoestrings were nice but I think I would have rather had yummy regular Cool Dog fries, and as a matter of fact, on my next visit to Cool Dog I did just that, sandwiched with those, awesome. Try it, you'll love it. As always, a great time at the Cool Dog Café, thumbs up.

French Fry Diary 613: Birthday Goodies

I have a pretty important landmark birthday coming up later this week, and I wanted to talk about freebies, specifically birthday freebies from fast food and chain restaurants. For the sake of the blog here, I'm on an awful lot of email lists for these restaurants so of course I'm on their birthday list as well. I should add that there's a substantial lack of the favorite fried food for free.

Denny's is the granddaddy of these bad boys with their free Grand Slam breakfast on your birthday. You get two eggs, two pancakes, two sausage links, two slices of bacon - but no breakfast potatoes or hash browns. Sad. IHoP goes one better with a free breakfast that might just include hash browns.

Friendly's will give you a three scoop sundae, Dairy Queen does a Blizzard, Chili's a brownie sundae, and Cold Stone Creamery, Baskin-Robbins, Rita's Water Ice, and Ben and Jerry's all have ice cream in a cone or cup. Also in the cold club are Smashburger and Zinburger with milkshakes, and P.F. Chang and Outback both get you free dessert.

Sonic, Charlie Brown's, Red Lobster, Famous Dave's, Moe's Southwest Grill, Qdoba, and Fuddruckers play it safe and mysterious by saying you're just get a free gift. Maybe it's a watch? Hmmm… all I wanted was fries… Don Pablo's goes right for the wallet with the lazy birthday tact of a gift card.

Red Robin rules with not just a free burger, but also a side of those bottomless fries. Houlihan's gets you a free entrée, Johnny Rockets a free burger, and my friends at Cool Dog Café are good for a free hot dog. Hmmm… I'm thinking Cool Dog for lunch maybe and then Red Robin for dinner…

French Fry Diary 608: The Competing Dogs at Cool Dog Café

While of course I'm rooting for The Bride's entry, Larry's South Philly Retro Dog to win Cool Dog Café's 3rd Annual Create-A-Dog Contest, it should be noted that there are some entries that may be of interest to readers of this blog.

Being voted on through this weekend are the Frenzy Fries Dog, which features crinkle cut French fries, hot sauce, cheese sauce, blue cheese dressing, and celery salt - and it's up against the Breakfast Dog which has pepper jelly, scrambled eggs, bacon, and hash browns.

Later in the month, the Snack Attack Dog with cheese sauce, crushed Cheetos, pretzels, and potato chips, faces off with the Stuffed Tater Dog with tater tots, sour cream, chives, and bacon. Wow, some interesting combinations there.

I'm still biased for Larry's South Philly Retro Dog, don't forget to come in and vote when it's time at the end of August!

Vote for Larry's South Philly Retro Dog!

Remember a little while ago when I told you about the 3rd Annual Create-A-Dog Contest at Cool Dog Café?

Well, The Bride entered the contest with a special hot dog in honor of her late father - Larry's South Philly Retro Dog, and made it to the finals!

She designed this special hot dog to be reminiscent of the legendary classic hot dogs at Levis Hot Dogs that used be in South Philadelphia, a favorite of her father's.

So get on over to the Cool Dog Café and get Larry's South Philly Retro Dog, try the others too, but vote for the Larry Dog, and don't forget the fries!

Can You Create a New Hot Dog and Win?

One of the best places locally for fries, and a friend of the site, Cool Dog Café in Cherry Hill NJ is having a contest. It's Cool Dog's 3rd Annual Create-A-Dog Contest! I'll let them take it from here…

"This is it... our 3rd Annual Create-A-Dog Contest! Have you ever watched the Food Network shows and thought, "I could do better than that."? Well now it's your chance to prove it. We're taking entries through July 24 and would love to see what YOU can come up with. So start those creative juices flowing.

Here’s how it all works:

- Design up to 3 Hot Dogs. Ingredients must be easily accessible and priced within our normal price range.

- 8 Hot Dogs will be chosen from all the entries. The 8 finalists will be chosen by a consensus of over twenty chefs, cooks and restaurateurs who volunteered to help.

- Starting Aug. 4th, 2 different finalists will be the Cool Dog Specials each week for four weeks.

- At the end of the four weeks, customers will have a chance to vote for their favorite.

- The winner will be determined by BOTH the votes it gets AND its sales volume for the week.

Drop off entries at Cool Dog Café or email them here. Entries should have the name of your dog, ingredients for your creation, then your name, phone number and email. Entries must be received by July 24, 2014. Limit 3 per person. We're looking forward to getting your entries... and trying them! Good luck!!"

Wow, sounds like it's going to be a great summer at Cool Dog, and while you're there, don't forget to get some of those great fries!

National French Fries Day 2014

Petite Abeille's Belgian Fries

This Sunday, July 13th is National French Fries Day. The best, and the easiest, way to celebrate Fry Day is to of course enjoy some French fries on Sunday. There are other ideas however.

Heinz Ketchup for instance is offering up recipes for Seasoned Ketchup and Idaho Fry Sauce.

If you're in New York City, there's a special deal going on at Petite Abeille with Sir Kensington's spiced ketchups. Petite Abeille is offering $4 cones of their Belgian Fries plus a choice of Sir Kensington's specialty condiments (Classic Mayo, Chipotle Mayo, Spiced Ketchup and Classic Ketchup). Wow, I wish I lived closer to one of their three NYC locations.

What will I be doing? I think I might try to visit one of my favorite local haunts for fries. I'm looking for the best, so it'll probably be the British Chip Shop or Cool Dog Café or the Pop Shop. Who knows, maybe I'll see you there. Happy National French Fries Day!

French Fry Diary 577: Charles Chips

I've talked about Charles Chips briefly once or twice before on this blog. They used to be one of my favorite potato chips, especially their barbeque variety. I remember grabbing a snack bag for lunch a few times a week when I worked Pennsauken in the 80s and 90s. At the time I started French Fry Diary however, they were pretty hard to find - only at Cracker Barrel or a mom and pop deli in the same strip mall as Cool Dog Café - and then they vanished altogether.

They're local, out in Pennsylvania, which in my time writing about potato chips, I've learned is where many chips come from. Started in 1942, with the ingenious business model of home delivery in huge cookie tins, they've been doing this for almost three-quarters of a century. The Bride fondly remembers getting those Charles Chips cans just like milk brought by the milkman. However, sadly, just like milk delivery, the chips stopped coming directly to homes in 1974.

The Charles Chips company began to have financial troubles in the 1990s as they were sold several times to various unsuccessful owners who often fell to bankruptcy and other problems. Recipes were changed, distribution suffered, and soon Charles Chips were gone or just about impossible to find. The Scardino family bought the company in 2011 with the intent of online sales and bringing the memorable tins back. So far so good.

Reminiscing recently about milk delivery, and home chip delivery as well, The Bride and I looked Charles Chips up online. We could have gotten three bags - Original, Barbeque, Waffle (rippled) - in a tin for roughly $25 or without for $20. We had no idea what we'd do with the big cookie tin when the chips were finished, so nostalgia aside, we opted for without. And being so close to the factory (in general), there was no shipping fee.

A little less than a week later, our package with. The three nine ounce bags arrived unharmed, marked fragile, and well packed. The bags themselves seemed a bit streamlined from what I remember, but that's okay, I hoped the taste was unchanged. Notably I'd never tried the Waffle chips from Charles before, and their Barbeque was among my favorites. I hoped it was the same.

The Original chips were very simple - potatoes, cottonseed oil, and salt being the only ingredients, so they're all natural and gluten free as it says on the bag. Honestly I remember Charles Chips being a bit bigger and thicker than these. Now they have more of a Lay's feel, but with a much better taste. Honestly though I remember them being great, but these are only just okay.

Next up, I tried the Barbeque chips, and expectations were high, but cautious after my experience with the Original flavor. While these were not the barbeque potato chips from Charles that I remember, these were still quite good. These chips were notably bigger than the ones in the Original bag, and possibly thicker. The flavor was similar to Wise Honey BBQ with just a tad more sweet and honey taste. I liked these quite a bit, but as I said, not the chips I remember at all. I think there's been a recipe change in the intervening years.

The Waffle chips are decidedly thick and excellent for dipping. They are comparable to Lay's Wavy, but better. Yes, it's another Lay's comparison but this one's a good one. I liked these a lot, so it's two out of three, not bad for mail order chips. Maybe next time we will get the tin, and maybe just the Barbeque or the Waffle.

French Fry Diary 539: Get Atomic at Cool Dog Café

You get LOTS more fries and rings than pictured here, but we were sharing.

The Atomic BBQ Sauce is one of three new sauces at the Cool Dog Café in Cherry Hill, along with TNT Mustard and Garlic Aioli, mmm. We had a friend visiting who had wanted to try Cool Dog because she'd heard so much about it, so what better time to go?

I ordered my regular, The Bride got hers, (isn't it great to have a local place with such good food where we can have 'regulars?') and our friend, who's a chef, caterer, and foodie herself actually got two different dogs, and the onion rings. She was very well impressed and would definitely be back.

With my required order of Cool Dog's award winning fresh cut fries, I also got an order of the Atomic BBQ sauce. It was sweet, but hot with a little bit of a kick, I loved it. The sauce was great for dipping, it was good on the fries, and the rings, and even on the dog (hint hint, if you're looking for ideas for future dogs, this is it).

And of course, the big news - is that the Hanukkah Dog will be returning to Cool Dog Cafe the week of Thanksgiving/Hanukkah, so get your appetites ready now!

National Hot Dog Month

July, besides having National French Fries Day on the 13th, is also National Hot Dog Month. So it's National Hot Dog Month, and really, other than grilling some frankfurters up yourself, the best way to celebrate the occasion (in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area at least) is a visit to the Cool Dog Café in Cherry Hill. And that's just what The Bride and I did this weekend.

A couple dogs and an order of onion rings were the weapons of choice. I was admittedly so hungry, I started on my dog before I remembered I wanted to take a picture. Mmmm... one quick and easy dinner at the Cool Dog right away.

Don't forget to get on over to the Cool Dog Café to celebrate National Hot Dog Month. And while you're there, get some of their terrific French fries too.

French Fry Diary 493: Cool Dog Cafe Onion Rings

After seeing onion rings and crisps featured as part of various special hot dogs and sliders at Cool Dog Café, I was pleased to see on my most recent visit to my favorite dog place, that the onion rings had officially been added to the ever-growing and changing menu. What a pleasant surprise.

We of course ordered them to see if they were as good as the other excellent fries products Cool Dog has. So along with the always-delicious hot dogs, and an order of fresh cut fries to split between The Bride, her mom, and myself, we also got an order of the onion rings.

Like everything Ira and Shawn do at the Cool Dog Cafe, they take the everyday, in this case beer battered onion rings, and they turn it into something special. These big thin golden brown rings are a great complement to any entree at Cool Dog (like the Texas Ranger, the Carolina Crusader, the Homewrecker, or make your own dog), sweet and crispy, and unlike most onion rings, not greasy at all.

Highly recommended. My only complaint? That we didn't get more. Get over to Cool Dog and try the onion rings, that's an order. And don't forget to follow them on Twitter and Like them on Facebook so you can see what new specials they have.

French Fry Diary 485: Lay's Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue Potato Chips

I love potato chips almost as much as I love French fries. And my favorite kind of potato chips are BBQ flavor. So when I see a new flavor like Lay's Sweet Southern Heat Barbecue, of course I have to pick them up and try them. And now I'm in tears.

What can I say. Call me a baby, call me a wuss. Call me a Northerner who doesn't know what real barbecue is. Call me whatever you like, but I'm sorry, these m-effers are HOT. My eyes watered after the second chip, and my mouth and tongue are still on fire. These are even hotter than Ruffles Ultimate Sweet & Smokin' BBQ or Wise Sweet Heat BBQ or even the Kaboom Sauce at Cool Dog Cafe.

Other than the heat, these are pretty standard Lay's potato chips - thinner than most, a bit greasy, crispy, and seasoned heavily. Checking the ingredients for where the heat might be coming from, I immediately noticed red pepper among the usual suspects. I'm guessing that's the culprit.

If you like hot, these are fully recommended. These are definitely hot, but I don't think I'll be getting them again.

French Fry Diary 451: The Hanukkah Dog at Home

As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, my mother-in-law got the very last Hanukkah Dog from the Cool Dog Cafe on the last night of Hanukkah this year. She really enjoyed it, and although we love her a lot, we were really jealous watching her eat the very last one.

Mom was so thrilled with Cool Dog's holiday special that she was telling everyone about it, and everyone was equally enthused about it. While we have all vowed to get to the Cool Dog Café earlier next year, we also determined to make our own when the family got together at Christmas.

So here is the homemade Hanukkah Dog. Makeshift and without the sautéed onions, Mom made a few of these on Christmas Eve night. I had two myself, and they were very good. Not that fries on a dog are an unknown quantity, Gene and Jude's in Chicago are famous for it, but I am ashamed to admit that this was my first time. It won't be my last. Thanks, Mom, and thanks to Cool Dog Café for the inspiration.

French Fry Diary 448: Cool Dog Cafe 2012

I went by my favorite hot dog place, the Cool Dog Café in Marlton, the other day, on the last night of the Festival of Lights. It was just me, The Bride, and her dad, and we were there for their seasonal specialty, the Hanukkah Dog.

Now special hot dogs at Cool Dog are nothing new. Ira and company usually come up with something new and spectacular every week or so, but this was something extra special, only available during the holiday. Last year they offered those terrific Hanukkah Sliders, if you remember. The Hanukkah Dog is a kosher hot dog (of course!) on a roll with sautéed onions and potato latkes - and that last bit is why you're reading about it here on French Fry Diary.

Also lately Cool Dog has been serving crinkle cut French fries as the base of several variations of specials. While we were there, I tried out a plain order. They are deep fried frozen crinkle cuts, but done perfectly. Pretty simple compared to the process done for Cool Dog's near perfect fresh cut fries, but still cooked with the same care. They were great.

The Hanukkah Dog however was another story. There was only one left. We made the ultimate sacrifice and ordered it to go for The Bride's mom who stayed home, while we ordered different choices from Cool Dog's amazing menu. Dinner was well worth it, and we made a great choice - Mom loved her hot dog, the final Haukkah Dog of the season.

And don't forget to get over to Cool Dog Cafe on Friday, 12-21-2012, for the Mayan End of the World Special - 20% off all hot dogs. What better last meal than hot dogs, right? And don't forget the fries!

French Fry Diary 380: Dirty Potato Chips Mesquite BBQ

This is part two in our series on the longest name ever on a bag of potato chips. It kinda gives new meaning to the phrase 'all that and a bag of chips.' Part one can be found here. Okay, let's do this, today I am reviewing (let me take a breath) "Dirty" All Natural Potato Chips Mesquite BBQ We Kettle Cook In A Premium Peanut Oil Blend For A Crunchier, Tastier Potato Chip! Whew.

I've done the regular dirty chips before and I was very unimpressed. I recall comparing them to communion wafers because of their lack of flavor and seasoning. These, being Mesquite BBQ, I'd hoped would be different. That's why I picked them up the last time I was at the Cool Dog Cafe for a to go order.

On the bonus side, they have no transfats, no artificial colors or flavors, no MSG, no preservatives, and are kosher and gluten free. Unlike their regular brothers these do have flavor, a nice hot barbecue taste. As a matter of fact they have a lot of seasoning. They also have a nice kettle cook, with wavy shapes good for dipping. Recommended.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #47

We stopped at Cool Dog Cafe recently to talk business about the Pineland Players, but more importantly we got dinner, and especially their great fries.

Since the last time we'd been there, they added a cheddar cheese sauce for fry dipping. This is some luscious cheese, perfectly melted, the kind you get in the best grilled cheese sandwiches.

Mmmm... Good stuff. Just one more reason to be going to the Cool Dog Cafe more often.

French Fry Diary 364: Select 7 Panko Breaded Onion Petals

I had a long day, I was hungry, and it was late so my options were few. So when I approached the 7-Eleven, like an oasis in the desert, I knew I would be stopping for a snack. I got a hot dog. It's easier to ignore how long they've been there and what they might be made of at that hour. And Cool Dog, the first stop for dogs, wasn't open.

I was still hungry and was aisle by aisle shopping the 7-Eleven, and I found these - the Select 7 Panko Breaded Onion Petals. 7-Eleven or not, I snatched them up. I have recently been on a Panko drive so I had to have them.

Once home I found they could be cooked three ways - microwave, baked, or deep fry. Deep frying is a lot of work, and anyone who's had supposedly crunchy food microwaved knows it rarely works, so that was out too. Baking it was. For the record, I gave them a few more minutes in the oven than they suggested. And the Aussie Sauce will be saved for The Bride and her salads. It is just salad dressing, is it not? I myself prefer barbecue sauce for my fried onion treats.

Baked they are quite crunchy and tasty, with more of a hint of Panko than the ShopRite Panko Onion Rings promised. And the portion provided by the small box is enormous. Despite the 7-Eleven store brand, these are very good. I like them a lot. I look forward to trying them deep fried, and maybe even microwaved.

French Fry Diary 331: Herr's Sweet Potato Chips

As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes. There are a few exceptions. I have really enjoyed the sweet potato fries at Cool Dog Café, for instance.

The Bride recently bought me a small snack bag of Herr's Sweet Potato Chips to try, and I was game. The bag says "Kettle Cooked," something that Herr's usually does quite well. In the spirit of full disclosure the bag also indicates they have sea salt, and no preservatives. These are all good things on the bag.

But it's the bag I'm finding fault with. The chips shown on the front of the bag sure look appetizing, but that's not what I found inside. The chips inside the bag were miniature shriveled up versions of the photograph. It reminded me of the orcs in "Lord of the Rings" - they were really elves who had been deformed and mutated.

Just by looks alone, I was turned off. I did not want these horrid orcish chips. Thumbs down, untasted. I'll pass.