Happy National Fast Food Day

Today is National Fast Food Day, have a good one, and don't forget the fries!

Fries - Deadly or Not?

Last week there was a bit of controversy, and several folks sent the articles my way, about how French fries can kill you. Can they? Apparently I'm still alive and kicking, but might I be gone by next week?

First there was this article from WSOCTV, a 'news' station in Charlotte, South Carolina. I put 'news' in quotes not because of any political 'fake news' nonsense, but because they got this article on fried foods killing us, with a title that includes key words like 'could' and 'suggest,' from a content farm, these sites are usually click bait and of low research quality and veracity. Just saying. The WSOCTV website also includes a 'news' story about people who believe chocolate milk comes from brown cows. I think that should say all we need to know about WSOCTV news and their audience. Again, just saying. Feel free to read the article (both!) and enjoy.

Then there's this article, almost a direct rebuttal to the first about how potatoes won't actually kill you. This one is from some magazine called Popular Science, for those unaware, it's a science and technology magazine/website/network that has been around in some form or another for about a century and a half. They don't say fries are great for you, but they explain how data can be manipulated as in the article they refute. Fries are delicious, and great in moderation, and in combination with healthy diet and exercise.

So don't panic, folks, science is still on our side, as long as the current administration allows it to be…

Random Tater Pic of the Day #260

Today's image is another place I miss from South Jersey. My big sister sent me this pic of her lunch at Donkey's, home of the best and most unique cheesesteaks in the area, as well as some darn good chicken tenders and fries too.

Happy Holidays!

French Fry Diary 726: Palo

One of my favorite treats when on board the Disney Cruise Line is going to one of the fancy restaurants. The first time I was stone cold against it because of the dress code, and I am not one to dress up. I hate it. But I did it for The Bride, because I love her so much. Once I had gone to Palo, the fancy Italian restaurant at the top of all four Disney ships, I was sold. The food is luscious and wonderful, a foodie's dream, even one with a catastrophically picky palate. The staff will adapt for you, and make you what you want. The Bride put that to the test on the most recent visit to Palo on the Disney Fantasy during the latest TCM Classic Cruise. But first, the normal stuff.

Another tradition I have when on board the Disney Cruises is I always try something new. Sometimes I like it, and sometimes I do not. For instance, arugula, ick, no really, serious ick. This time, at Palo, I tried something suitable for discussion on this blog, something I'm ashamed to admit I have never ever tried before - gnocchi.

This was potato gnocchi (that might seem like a no-brainer, but they do make gnocchi from other stuff), in tomato sauce, with cherry tomatoes grown on the side of a volcano. Even if I didn't like it, it still sounds cool. It was delicious, and I can't wait to try it again, although I suspect it might not live up to that of Palo.

When it came to the main course, I got the beef tenderloin, but asked that they leave off the spinach. Spinach is even higher on my hate list than new contender arugula. The waitress asked if I would like anything else in place of the spinach. The Bride spoke up jokingly, "French fries." After the waitress made a face, trying hard not to break her friendly smile in this fancy-schmancy restaurant, The Bride added, "It's his usual go-to," which was not untrue. Still I was embarrassed, but hoped there would be no spinach.

When my entrée arrived, also placed on the table was a big plate of beautiful, and out of place, natural cut French fries. I was shocked, as was The Bride, and the waitress only said that it was her job to make us happy. The beef was wonderful, and the fries were even better because they were special. And it was hilarious to watch several members of the wait staff come by just to see what kind of idiot had ordered French fries at Palo.

Dinner was fantastic, as always. They even brought us a plate with dessert to help us celebrate our move to Florida. I can't talk about Palo without mentioning the soufflé to die for. If you go, you must not miss it. And of course, this proves an old axiom about Disney customer service - if you want something, just ask, they will do their best to accommodate, no matter what it is. Just ask.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #255

A peek inside Doctor Strange's kitchen with Spider-Man and the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D….

If you'd like to see my reviews of the television series "Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." at Biff Bam Pop!, click here, and if you'd like to read my review of the Doctor Strange movie, click here. The above comic panel comes from the S.H.I.E.L.D. comic book, reviewed here.

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!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #214

French Fry Diary 680: West Coast Truffle Fries Potato Chips

Do Us A Flavor 2015 Taste Test #2 - West Coast Truffle Fries flavored potato chips, wavy style, submitted by Angie Fu:

I have to admit, these potato chips had me both excited and worried at the same time. On the one hand, it rocks to have a Do Us A Flavor finalist based on French fries, but on the other... while it's a grail seasoning for fries, one has to be very careful how much truffle oil or seasoning one puts on a fry or chip. Not enough and it's untraceable and too much you may get sick.

A nice feature this year is the finalist's name on the front of the bag, as well as a picture and quote on the back. I think this is a nice personal touch. "Every time I see Truffle Fries on the menu, it is the first thing I order... the aromatic flavor is mouth-watering." Angie Fu really likes truffle fries, good for her.

I also wanted to note that just like yesterday's Greektown Gyro's ingredients included "gyro seasoning," these chips include "truffle fries seasoning," although they actually tell us what's in them this time. Among other things, these chips include Romano cheese, Parmesan cheese, and actual black truffle.

Upon opening the bag the aroma was not overbearing and actually pretty pleasant and enticing. After The Bride tried the first one for me, proclaiming, "They're pretty good," I felt a bit better than I had with the Gyro chips and tried one of them. They were indeed pretty good. We only tried a couple each of the Gyro chips whereas we began to devour these Truffle Fries chips right away.

I tasted the Romano and Parmesan cheese right away, and after a few chips the truffle was there as well, as a cumulative aftertaste. Not too much, not too little, just the perfect amount of truffle. Somebody at the Frito-Lay labs really knows what they're doing. These are some really good potato chips, and as a bonus, they're wavy making them excellent for dipping.

So far, two finalists down, the Truffle Fries have made a high mark to beat. These were very good. There is one nagging question however... how are west coast truffle fries different from east coast truffle fries? 

Now to find the other two...

French Fry Diary 675: Mission Statement

Every once in a while we should all take a moment to establish and remind ourselves what we are actually doing. I started this blog, French Fry Diary, found here and here, because of the premise of 'write what you know.' I know French fries, and I love French fries, so I write about French fries.

French Fry Diary is one man's journey into everything you wanted to know about French fries, and more - potato chips, recipes, onion rings, fast food, and good food - all aspects of the potato and fried food, and especially where the two meet. Whether it's a French fry restaurant review to pictures of fries from around the net, to odd facts to fries in pop culture, I try to feature it here.

French Fry Diary can also be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, and fries are frequently a topic on my podcasts - The GAR! Podcast and The Make Mine Magic Podcast. Here's hoping you'll join me on my journey. Mmmm… fries…

Almost Harvest Time

Random Tater Pic of the Day #192

Kinda looks like French fries at first glance, doesn't it?

Look carefully, this giant fixture by the pool at the Finding Nemo suites of the Art of Animation resort at Walt Disney World is not what it seems... oh well...

French Fry Powered Trains

I might be a week or so late for Earth Day but I still wanted to share this one.



What do the trains at Disneyland have to do with French fries, you might ask, well, I'll tell you. They don't run on diesel fuel like most trains, they use recycled cooking oil, used to cook French fries and other foods at the Disneyland resorts. See, French fries aren't that bad, they're even good for the environment.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #190

Wow, that's a whole lotta fries…  and everything else...

Honey Butter French Fries

McDonald's in South Korea has relented to a craze going on in that country recently. Last year Calbee made huge sales with their honey butter potato chips.

These chips had the taste of sweet bee honey with rich French gourmet butter, which caused sellouts and one bag per customer policies at many stores.

And now, McDonald's has come out with Honey Butter French fries. Seems like a natural choice. You can read about it here.

How do you feel about Honey Butter French fries? Something you'd try, like, or ignore?

Cruiseable Fries

"Tuscan Grille's fillet with house-made fries provides a filling way to end your day aboard a Celebrity cruise." 

This is from the new Cruiseable site, a new website with a mission to "make it much easier to discover and book great cruise vacations — and to have a little fun in the process," as co-founder JD Lasica puts it. 

A quick look around shows an ambitious site that doubles as a travel publication and a "cruise discovery engine." We thought we'd share some of the things we spotted that might be useful to you in planning your next getaway:

Cruise discovery: Cruiseable lets you browse through thousands of beautiful images of ships and destinations — accompanied by trustworthy travel journalism instead of marketing hype.

Technology: The website's filters atop any page help you zero in on the cruise that fits your style and budget. Coming in early March: the Cruiseable mobile app for iOS. 

Photo sharing: Their team downloaded, organized and optimized more than 10,000 photos from the cruise lines and tourism organizations — and made them available to travelers to use or share through the Cruiseable Galleria. Any traveler can add her own images to the mix. 

Travel guides: Cruiseable's travel writers and editors have put together dozens of smart travel guides, port guides and ship overviews. "In creating these, we've drawn inspiration from Trip Advisor, Fodor's, Lonely Planet and Pinterest," Lasica said. Check out their guides on Cozumel, the Galapagos, Puerto Rico or Bermuda.

Bonus!

Readers of French Fry Diary can use this discount code — XH784 — for a $50 per stateroom onboard credit (the equivalent of shipboard spending money) for any cruise or land vacation booked on Cruiseable between now and March 17. Head to Cruiseable, read, discover, learn, plan, dream, create a wish list — and if you want to cruise, just click Book now.

Mythbusters Vs. McDonald's

Recently Grant Imahara of "Mythbusters" visited the McDonald's 'French fry factory' and was able to 'reverse engineer' what was really in their French fries.

You can read (and see) the whole story here.

Props to buddy and GAR! Podcast partner Ray for hipping me to this.

Fry High

Apparently there's a reason you can't just eat one fry or one potato chip.

Much like chocolate, or the more illegal addictive substances, French fries have a particular effect on the human body.

And no, Health Nazis, I'm not talking about obesity or transfats.

Apparently, French fries can get you high. 

Wow, man...

French Fry Diary 606: Farewell to Little Shanty

There's nothing more heartbreaking for a foodie like me than when a favorite restaurant closes. It's even worse when it's someplace that you can't get to on a regular basis to support them if they're not doing well, because hell, you would be in there every day if you could. Such is the case with Little Shanty in Warren NJ.

I love this place. I've only been there three times, and I love this place. You want the best onion rings and some awesome fries? Here they are. Great burgers, shakes, desserts, and terrific service? It's all here. And sadly they will be closing this weekend.

We played hide and seek missing each other the first two times I had been to Little Shanty, but the third time was a charm and I finally met the owner, Jonathan Lidz. He's a great friendly guy, full of enthusiasm and has his heart in the right place - and knows his fries (a big plus as far as this blog is concerned), but he just couldn't make it work at that location. Jonathan has hopes to re-open at a new location. Let's hope it's closer than an hour and a half away.

If you want to stop by in the next few days and experience great food and service, please do while you can. Little Shanty cannot be beat. Please check out the website, the Facebook page, and the Twitter for re-opening news, and look back on my reviews of Little Shanty here, here and here. Thank you, Jonathan, and hoping for the best for you.

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!