French Fry Diary 682: An Open Letter

I love you folks. You send me pictures, comments, and sometimes your own experiences at places I have reviewed, and I love it. But sometimes I get feedback on the French Fry Diary site that is mean, personal, or just downright insulting. Sometimes it's from folks who work for places I have reviewed negatively. I get that.

Sometimes it's from folks who I have termed 'health Nazis' who think fast food and junk food are among other such evils (and sometimes worse than) as alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. That's fine. I like French fries, so I'm going to write about them. My point is - you don't have to read about them.

I have often wondered why people who hate what I do would insist on reading my blog. I don't get that. If you think fast food is poison, why would you take the time to stop and read (and comment!) on a blog dedicated to the celebration of fast food??

I don't like broccoli, so I don't order broccoli in restaurants, and I certainly do not read about broccoli online. Why the hell would I be reading about broccoli? Seriously, if you're a reader, and you hate what I'm saying, why are you here? I would really like to know. Please, explain it to me.

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…

French Fry Diary 671: Yorkshire County Fish Shop 2015

Ever since I visited this place a few years back I have wanted to return. Considered a quick service on the Disney Dining Plan, this tiny little counter tucked away in the United Kingdom section of EPCOT's World Showcase is indeed a little treasure. And their outside dining area is the perfect place to see Illuminations, or just chill and listen the Brit Invasion bands across the way.

So I got my chips and sat down, as seating was at a premium I sat at a table with a couple from Wales. They immediately wanted to know why I was taking pictures of my chips with my phone. I explained about the blog, and we had a nice conversation about accents, and chips, and fries. The gentleman called up French Fry Diary on his phone and was reading some of the entries. It's true, he had notes for me.

These chips at Yorkshire, or Cookes of Dublin or Raglan Road for that matter, aren't authentic. They are just what Americans think British chips are. I'm the victim of a tourism conspiracy. Real chips come from chip trucks or holes in the walls. And as far as fish for fish and chips, real fish is cod or haddock. As I was getting schooled, an older Scottish couple joined us at the table. This is what is so great about Walt Disney World - you can make friends quickly.

The conversation turned to accents and language again, and the two couples teased me by speaking real Welsh and Scottish, proving that neither is anything like what Americans would call English. The new couple agreed about the chips, not authentic at all - quite good, mind you, but inauthentic. Next we talked about American food - what is American food anyway? It's all stolen from other countries. We have good bacon, of that everyone was in agreement, but let's face it, bacon is Canadian.

I had a wonderful afternoon eating chips and chatting with new friends. This was great. So if you want to talk authentic chips, the Yorkshire County Fish Shop is the place to be.

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.

French Fry Diary 542: Howard's Crispy Fried Chicken Skins

I love my friend Marni, I really do. And I love that wherever she goes, she's looking for new and interesting snacks for me to review here on French Fry Diary, but with this entry... I'm beginning to think she's mad at me for something. Something bad.

Marni got me these ...things. Howard's Crispy Fried Chicken Skins. Yeah, folks, these are exactly what they sound like they are. And not the tasty skin you can pull off your KFC and enjoy, this is just disgusting. I thought I was going to throw up.

Howard's Snacks also makes other yummies like pork skins and popcorn. From their website: "We knows all Fried Pork Skins..." I'm just guessing all our base belong to them too.

French Fry Diary on The GAR! Podcast

This week on The GAR! Podcast, a weekly nerd-centric conversation with Ray Cornwall and myself, we feature this very website - French Fry Diary.

We discuss the site, how it started, what it's about, and talk about various restaurants and their fries, many of the reviews here, what makes a good fry, and even French fry secrets.

And if you haven't been listening to The GAR! Podcast, you're missing out. It's an unrehearsed, unplanned, free form conversation where the topics go from comics to movies to music to video games to whatever happens to be on our minds, and eventually the conversation almost always turns to Prince, Breaking Bad, and French fries…

You can listen to the current episode here. Check it out.

French Fry Diary 497: Herr's Bacon Cheddar Cheese Curls

I was very conflicted over writing about this one. Herr's Bacon Cheddar flavored Cheese Curls. I saw them and bought them immediately, I had to try them. The question was, having zero potato content, did it really fit the website?

Granted, I have made allowances for onion rings, the adoptive stepbrother of French fries in the world of fast food, and through that onion snacks, so these are that out of the realm. Cheddar and bacon go great with potato products, and heck, Herr's makes darn good potato chips... so, why not?

Herr's makes pretty good cheese curls to begin with, and these are extra cheesy, but they also have a smokey bacon-ish flavor. No real bacon however. And the taste is closer to what you get with the various kinds of bacon salt, than actual bacon. That said, these are pretty good, and I would get them again.

Real French fries tomorrow, I promise.

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!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #77

Happy Holidays from Herr's, and French Fry Diary!

French Fry Diary 317: IHoP Breakfast

As I said the other day, Christmas breakfast was set for the International House of Pancakes, and we met the family there. I would rather have had a home cooked ham breakfast but everyone has gotten old and it's a hassle… so IHOP, being open on Christmas Day, has become the default meeting place for chat and gift exchange.

I spent a lot of the time talking with my big brother Warren because it's his birthday, and I kinda feel sorry for him cuz he's so old. That's not true. I mean, he is old, but I look up to him, he's a good guy, and he gave me a kidney as well. We talked about publishing, blogging, and how he thinks I never mention him on French Fry Diary. Hey, I talk about him on other blogs, but I guess he doesn't read those. ;-)

Now after last night's dinner, I was both a little full and also a bit sick to my stomach. So I wasn't very hungry and didn't order much, just hash browns (of course), and an English muffin. IHOP was hopping (pun unintended) being the only place open, and the service was pretty quick, but my food arrived last. Only my English muffin was hot. The hash browns not so much.

The hash browns were almost cold and they were a little burned, close to how they were last night when I made them for The Bride, burnwise, that is. They were of the shredded variety, and some were raw and greasy too. I only had a couple forkfuls and left the rest. That's how bad they were. These kind of hash browns are not my favorite, but as evidenced the other night, and at places like the Pop Shop, they can be quite good.

Still, the company was excellent, always good to hang out with the family. I really don't see them enough, especially my big brother, but then again, that's what Christmas is for after all - family. Happy belated birthday, Warren, hope you don't mind the ribbing. Still love ya, and you're still not getting your kidney back.

What Are Your Favorite Kind of French Fries?

If you look to the left, you'll see our current poll here at French Fry Diary - What are your favorite kind of French fries?

The choices are steak fries, shoestrings, crinkle cuts, potato wedges, regular cuts, with the skin on, tater tots, curly fries, waffle fries and the nebulous other. If you want to know the differences between these various types of fries, please check out this early FFD entry.

So far, in the voting, it looks like steak fries and shoestrings have lock tie on first place, with waffle fries and regular cuts trying for a second tie. There's a little less than a month to vote, and you can vote for more than one, so if you haven't already, vote for your favorite kind of fries. And if your answer is 'other,' please drop me a line here and let me know which other.

So what are your favorite kind of French fries?

National Grilled Cheese Day at the Pop Shop

January 20th, at least according to some folks, is National Grilled Cheese Day, and to celebrate, one of French Fry Diary's favorite restaurants, The Pop Shop, in Collingswood NJ, has one of the best offers around.

For every grilled cheese sandwich purchase you make, you get a FREE order of fabulous Pop Fries, so make sure you stop by for what is always a great treat!

And as far as what the real date of National Grilled Cheese Day is... well, the school of thought varies. But I think we can all agree on one thing - is it ever not time for a grilled cheese? Especially when they come with such great fries. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 181: Molly Pitcher Plaza on the NJ Turnpike

On the way home from the Funplex in East Hanover NJ we had to stop to rest as it's a long drive, so we took a break at the Molly Pitcher Travel Plaza on the NJ Turnpike. It was named for the heroine of the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Legend has it she fetched water for the American soldiers during that decisive battle in the American Revolution. For her trouble, she got a rest stop, but as you'll see, not just any rest stop.

We arrived just after midnight on a Saturday night, which is why it seemed strange half the place was closed up. I was especially crushed as three of the restaurants at the place were of considerable French fry interest. Nathan's and Roy Rogers have some of the best fast food fries around, and Arthur Treacher's used to as well, but I had not been to the latter since I began this blogging journey. There was also something extremely enticing called Dick Clark's American Bandstand Grill.

Had they all been open, and our stomachs empty, I imagine I could have eaten lots of the favorite fried food, taken copious notes, and pulled at least three, maybe more, entries for the FFD out of this experience. As it turned out, we had Roy Rogers and Cinnabon. That's not a complaint, by the way. It was a good snack and a good break, but it could have been much better.

Mrs. Pitcher, we'll be back. Please be open!

French Fry Diary Suggestion Box

Okay folks, here's your chance to tell me about your favorite French fries!

We're planning a trip to Walt Disney World in a couple weeks, and although this is far from our first trip, and I've done many entries on places down there to have the favorite fried food, I am looking for your suggestions.

Where is the best place in the parks for fries? Who has the best, or the worst? Is there some place I have missed in the past, or somewhere you all think I have mis-reviewed? Help me find the best fries in Walt Disney World!

And also, the same goes for my home territory in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area... who has the best, who has the worst, what is the next place you'd like to see me review? Tell me what's on your mind.

Please contact me here. Let's see what we can find!

French Fry Diary 152: Five Guys Cajun Fries

I love Five Guys Burgers and Fries. The burgers are better than most fast food places as are the fries, as a matter of fact, they are some of the consistently best franchise fries out there. One of the best things about Five Guys is the simplicity of the menu, including the fries - two sizes and two kinds - and I'd never tried the Cajun Fries, yet.

As friends and family converged on Five Guys for an August Saturday lunch, I felt brave and decided to try the Cajun Fries for the first time. We ended up with two orders as friends and family were game to help with the French Fry Diary experiment. The consensus was pretty unanimous.

The Cajun Fries at Five Guys are the same as the regular fries, natural cuts, but dusted heavily with Cajun seasoning. The seasoning includes, according to the manager on duty, salt, pepper, paprika, chili powder, white pepper, and 'spice.' These are hot, oh so hot. So hot I think I burned the tip of my tongue and the roof of my mouth, yow. I had to suck on ice cubes to cool off.

Thankfully we also got the regular style fries as well for those of us with milder dispositions. And as always, the peanuts and the burgers were terrific, but I doubt I'll be getting the Cajun Fries any time soon. They weren't bad just very hot. There's a time for that, and folks who love that, just not me. I still love Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

French Fry Diary 132: Champps Americana, Marlton NJ

There has been a Champps within throwing distance of my home for over a decade, but I had never been there until a couple weeks back with a couple friends, Ken and Marni, both old pros when it comes to accompanying me on French Fry Diary expeditions. We also received a gift card in the mail that day - probably the only reason we went. It was that or Red Lobster that night. I kinda wish we'd gone to the Dead Lobster now...

Champps Americana appears at first glance to be a downscale cross between a Friendly's and a sports bar, and at the time we visited, dinner on a weeknight, the crowd seemed rather sparse. But you'd never know it from the service.

Upon perusing the menu I saw, that while other plates passing by showed Chick-fil-A-like waffle fries, Champps in fact had a choice of either waffle fries or steak fries. After quizzing the waitress I was told that I could not get both, a half and half selection of the two different kinds of fries. Curious. It had to be one or the other. Were the fries cooked to order in specific side-sized portions or was the waitress just stubborn? You decide.

The waffle fries as I said resembled those at Chick-fil-A but maybe smaller and perhaps with a splash of seasoning - but I'll never know. I was extorted into choosing, or ordering two complete portions of fries. I, feeling almost at gunpoint, ordered the steak fries.

We also ordered onion rings as an appetizer. I figured, get as much done as possible, because at this point, I was probably not coming back. The rings were big battered slices with lots of thick onion, in different sizes and very hot, served with a honey mustard sauce. These were actually very good, and the large size of the onion was a nice change of pace you don't see in many places.

The stubborn waitress turned inattentive waitress as we waited for our main course. I had an empty glass for most of the meal. She eventually came through late late in the game. Maybe I had ticked her off by asking about the fries. She didn't seem to want to get me any refills on my Coke 'til the meal was almost over.

The steak fries were slightly slimmer than regular steak fries and also natural cuts. There were also only warm, so they definitely could not have been cooked to order. These fries were soggy, a little greasy and seasoned unevenly. Not spectacular, like the only adequate burger, which was also only warm. A big disappointment. What am I going to do with this gift card now? I'm so not going back...

French Fry Diary 124: National French Fries Day

From My Punchbowl:

July 13, 2010 is National French Fries Day. Oh how we love those deep-fried strips of potato we know more commonly as French fries (or "chips" in England). The Belgians claim to have invented French fries, but no one knows for sure.

According to a Belgian historian, French fries date back to the 1600s when the inhabitants of a region formerly known as the Spanish Netherlands (currently Belgium) had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish. When the river froze and they could not fish they turned to potatoes, which they cut lengthwise and fried in oil. The term "French" was introduced during World War I when soldiers arrived and tasted the fries. They called them "French" as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at the time.

Today, we have many variations of French fries. Waffle fries, curly fries, sweet potato fries, shoestring fries - what's your favorite? Whatever variation you prefer, chances are you'll be eating them away from home like most Americans. In fact, one fast-food chain's famous fries are so popular, they have their own Facebook page with more than half a million fans!

So hit up the drive-thru and super size your order to celebrate National French Fries Day!

Other ideas on how to celebrate National French Fries Day comes from eHow. Click here for their suggestions.

As for me, I think I'm going to make my own French fries. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 121: Lumpy’s BBQ

We had the day off and The Bride and I planned lunch with the in-laws. We had intended to go to Redstone, a favorite for all of us, but we were diverted by an ad in those coupon saver books for a fairly new eat-in take out bbq place also quite close by. The added bonus of the coupon led us to Lumpy’s BBQ in Cherry Hill NJ.

The first thing I noticed was the menu, or the hand-out that passed for a menu. One of my pet peeves glared out of the page at me. Apostrophe s is not a plural. Please get it right. If you don’t put the care forth on the little things, I have to wonder how much care they put into the actual food and cooking. But I didn’t go for the grammar, I went for the favorite fried food.

The fries were crinkle cuts, frozen grocery type, and deep fried, but not greasy. They were actually really good, and topped with salt, pepper and seasoned salt to add an extra kick. The burger I got with the fries (yeah, I know, the fries came with the burger, but this is my preference) was horrible. It was wafer-thin and tasteless, even the fantastic mild and hot bbq sauce provided, did little to help. The roll however was terrific, following through on the Tony Luke theory of the bread always being important.

Despite my bad burger, which notably was not the one pictured above the counter, everyone else had great food and gave it rave reviews. The ribs were extra excellent, perhaps I’ll have them next time. And yes, there will be a next time. The fries were worth it.

Summer!

Happy First Day of Summer from French Fry Diary!

French Fry Diary 118: Alexia Oven Crinkles – Onion & Garlic

Here’s another trip to the grocer’s freezer with Alexia. Their frozen Onion & Garlic Oven Crinkles are standard crinkle cuts, some quite long, and are also USDA organic and have 0 transfat. That ought to make the Health Nazis happy.

These fries are very aromatic when the bag is first opened - very aromatic. All things considered, this is a good thing.

The directions say to put ‘em in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 425 degrees, or until the fries have the desired color and crispness. I gotta say that mine were in there for a good 40-45 minutes. They might want to adjust those instructions in my opinion.


Now when it is finally time to take them out, the aroma from the oven is delicious. It smells like really really good baked garlic bread. To taste however, the onion and garlic flavor is much more subdued than one would expect. That could be because both ingredients were dehydrated. The white pepper does add a bit of flavor though.

As with all organic fry products these also had that freezer burn taste. I tried to mask it with some Famous Dave’s Sweet & Zesty BBQ sauce and that added a bit of a zing, but didn’t help the freezer burn much. Still the sauce was good.