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!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #270

Casey's Corner in Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom, where The Bride and I had a quick dinner before the Fireworks Dessert Party this past weekend.  And yes, they have changed their fries, new review forthcoming...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #268

From good friend Terry's dinner table: venison chili dogs with Nathan's fries.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #257

There simply are no words, other than... Merry Pringles...

Halloween Weenie Fingers, with Fries

From Heathers Hobby on YouTube, here's a spooky recipe for Halloween Weenie Fingers on a bed of French Fries, check it out.

French Fry Diary 689: Famous Nathan

I like documentaries, so there's that, but folks that know me know the real reason I watched Famous Nathan, the bio-doc about Nathan Handwerker and his restaurant empire Nathan's Famous. Yeah, for the fries.

Regular readers know that I count Nathan's Famous Jumbo Crinkle Cut French Fries among the best fast food franchise fries, so of course I'd like some possible background on them. While Famous Nathan is a doc on Nathan Handwerker, you never know, there might be some insight on the fries.

The first thing on that front that caught my attention were the old pictures of the original Nathan's at Coney Island. The price I saw for fries (although the potato chips were more prevalent, at least in the old days) was five cents, which is cool, but I also noticed something else.

Nathan's had a lot of stuff for sale like malteds, different flavored sodas, hamburgers, potato chips, and roast beef. Look close, you'll even see fried sea food, barbeque, and chow mein. Clam chowder, frog's legs, shrimp - what couldn't you get at Nathan's?

The bio-doc goes on to reconstruct Nathan's journey to America, his rise in his chosen field, include interviews with family and friends, as well as feuds. Everyone in the doc is a larger than life character who plays a part in the world of famous Nathan and his empire on that corner in Coney Island. This is a delicious treat full of wonderful stories.

Fries aside, Famous Nathan, while failing in the best way as a biography because Nathan Handwerker was a hard man to get a handle on, the film is an amazing look at the American Jewish experience in the 20th century. The home movies may be of a specific famous family, but the tales are that of every family. This is America. Highly recommended.

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.

French Fry Diary 680: Mayfair Boardwalk Grill

The last time we visited the Silverball Museum, we had the favorite fried food there, and it was really pretty good, but as we were leaving we passed a simple shack on the boardwalk, and I knew that was where we should have eaten instead. When we went back to Silverball for The Bride's birthday celebration, I fixed that oversight.

We arrived on the Asbury Park boardwalk early in the afternoon, and as I hadn't had breakfast yet, I figured a snack was in order. Yeah, hot dogs for breakfast, and me being me, I had to get fries too. I was given a number like at the butcher shop and asked to wait. This alone meant to me that I was lucky being the only one there at the moment, and that the lines could get very busy indeed.

The Mayfair Boardwalk Grill is an Asbury Park tradition, family owned and operated for over fifty years. As I waited and chilled on the park bench there on the boardwalk with bicyclists and kite-fliers and seagulls and dog walkers going by with the beach right there - I felt like I was in the middle of the opening credits sequence of "Three's Company."

The wait was short, and well worth it. The awesome foot long hot dog, cooked to splitting crispy perfection on a flattop grill was snuggled into a regular-sized roll. Sooo good. And it was accompanied by frozen regular cuts that were deep-fried. They looked burnt, really burnt, but that was just a look, these fries were perfectly crisp, and soft, fluffy and hot inside. This was a delicious meal, so simple, and highly recommended.

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 678: KC Steak Fries

When I write I usually have to have something on in the background. I used to have one of the 24/7 news channels going. My rage at them (all of them) being more opinion than actual news stopped that. Then I tried CourtTV, but once the Jodi Arias trial started, that too proved a distraction.

And then there was QVC, which worked for a while with its innocuous programming. While the recent Isaac Mizrahi moon-is-a-planet kerfuffle is typical of the channel, the foodie in me was soon seduced by their cooking shows. The Kansas City Steak Company sells their wares on QVC often, including their juicy Steakburgers and huge hot dogs, both tempting, but I never broke down and ordered anything until they sweetened the deal with... wait for it... French fries.

The package arrived just a few days later, a big styrofoam box with dry ice in it, along with three smaller black boxes marked Kansas City Steak Company. One box had the burgers, another had unusually large hot dogs, and the third - two big white label-less one pound bags of French fries. I couldn't wait to try them, and by them, I meant the fries.

From what I saw on television, KC Steak Fries (TM) are seasoned steak fries, long planks of natural cut potato, with a golden brown sprinkling of spices. They could be deep fried, but everyone knows that frozen fries are best baked. The reality of the situation was a bit different.

But first, a word about the other stuff in the package. The hot dogs are made from 100% beef, and are huge, approximately an inch longer and twice as thick. They will make most rolls seem puny. These dogs take a little longer to cook, but wow. The burgers, excuse me, Steakburgers, are also huge, and pretty good too, a five ounce patty of corn fed ground beef from western Kansas. Thumbs up.

At first sight, out of the blank white bag, they were natural cut steak fries, some coated in Kansas City's special 'old bay' seasoning, and some not, very uneven. I have to be honest, as excited as I was when I first saw them on QVC, I was a little disappointed when I opened the bag. We'll see how they cook. After all, the dogs and burgers were great, why wouldn't the fries be as well?

The directions were not quite right, so keep an eye on your fries, and cook appropriately. I had to keep cooking them for an additional five minutes. The crispier and crunchier these fries were, the better they were. The fries are certainly seasoned, but I have to say I wasn't getting an Old Bay vibe. They were good, but not that good. I would definitely get the dogs or burgers again, but maybe not the fries.

French Fry Diary 644: KFC's Double Down Dog

You've probably seen or heard about this. Available for a short time at KFC locations in the Philippines, and at a count of only fifty sold per day, the Double Down Dog is a cheese-filled hot dog, wrapped in a bun-shaped piece of boneless fried chicken, with a zig-zag of mustard on top. Mmmm… (well, except for the mustard)

People are shocked and outraged of course. These are the health conscious folks who would never go into a KFC anyway, so really, why should the rest of us care? The health Nazis are not in KFC's demographic. Do we tell them what kind of flavorless non-bread cardboard bread they should eat and not eat? No.

I could definitely see myself trying the Double Down Dog (which honestly is not so far off from KFC's original Double Down), sans mustard of course, at least once, but I can't see doing it more than that. It's a once in a lifetime (make of the pun what you want, Health Nazis) treat, and I think that's why it's a limited time item.

Despite the limitations, they are selling out crazy in the Philippines. If you're there, and planning on getting a Double Down Dog, don't forget to get fries with that!

French Fry Diary 630: Room Service - TCM Cruise Day Two

Room service on board the Disney Cruise is almost a tradition at this point. So after a late night seeing The Sea Hawk on the big screen (yeah, still on the TCM Classic Cruise on board the Disney Magic), both The Bride and I had the munchies, so we figured what better time to get room service, especially with the new limited hours of the restaurants and the no-go anti-self-service policy Disney had initiated on the cruise so far. If we wanted food or drinks, it was room service or we were out of luck.

I was hoping for steak fries but got natural cuts. That's okay, they were soft, hot, and good. While I had my usual room service fare of a hot dog, The Bride got her macaroni and cheese. The food came quickly, even by Disney Cruise standards, along with a fancy variety of condiments. We were pleased with out late night treat.

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!

French Fry Diary 599: Rutt's Hut, Clifton NJ

Rutt's Hut. I had seen this place dozens of times on Food Network shows, spotlighted as the place to get hot dogs, and not just hot dogs, but those fabled deep-fried hot dogs called 'rippers.' I had always dreamed of going there, but never thought it possible until recently when I found out that it actually was in New Jersey.

On a recent trip to see friends in North Jersey, it was early evening and we were kinda hungry, I noted that we were not that far from where I'd heard Rutt's Hut was. We loaded the address from their website into the GPS and we were off. We started driving through a wooded industrial park with hardly any lights, and the GPS startled us when it said we had reached our destination. Um, there was nothing there.

The Bride was sure we were lost, and that our TomTom was a DumDum (it wouldn't be the first time, remind me to tell you about the time in Baltimore it kept telling me to drive into the harbor). That's when I saw the silhouette of the building I recognized from all those Food Network appearances. There was no signage, and it vaguely looks like a biker bar, transformed from a small factory. I don't think we'll be trying to find it after dark again.

There were two doors. One led to a very small restaurant area - two tables and a counter, not counting the Attack from Mars pinball machine and Big Buck Hunter video game, and the other led to the taproom/bar. Neither of us are drinkers so we went to the restaurant.

We both ordered hot dogs (rippers of course), then saw the sign that said cash only. We're card people for the most part, so that cut us short and made us scramble suddenly. We had to be selective in what we ordered next. We shared a Pepsi, and ordered fries, that's all we could afford, but still that was a lot for $8.55.

We sacrificed the onion rings, as we couldn't afford them. I have also gotten strong recommendations for these rings as well as the dogs and the fries. The other people who were there had them on their plates. They looked a bit limp but were crispy-looking and thinly sliced. Ah well, next time we will bring cash.

When I ordered the fries the man behind the counter yelled to the back, "One Frenchie!" just as he had "Two rippers!" Yeah, I loved that. The service - just one guy at the counter, and at least one in the kitchen - was incredibly quick, efficient, and friendly. Our order was ready in minutes, and when I expressed disbelief, I was told if I ordered it again, I could come back and watch.

The rippers were true to their reputation, the absolute best - big dogs on soft buns, full of hot deep-fried goodness. The fries were frozen regular cuts, also full of hot, deep-fried deliciousness. They were not greasy, had a baked texture, lightly salted and peppered, and were the hottest fries I have had in recent memory.

The Bride thought they could have used salt, but what does she know? (kidding, kidding) She also loved her ripper, which she drowned in molten perfect orange cheese, and also used as a dip for her fries. For the price, this was a huge portion serving, and very filling. Good stuff here, we would definitely go back. Next time, we'll have cash, get more dogs, more fries, and try those famous rings. Serious thumbs up for Rutt's.

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!

French Fry Diary 545: 7-Eleven Hot Dog Potato Chips

Since I have known about them, I have been searching for Herr's Hot Dog Potato Chips, but after two summers I'm not sure I will ever find them (however if anyone has seen them in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area and wants to let me know where, I'm all ears).

That said, The Bride found these 7-Select Big Bite Hot Dog Flavored Potato Chips at the 7-Eleven near her office and picked them up for me. Big Bite, now there's a phrase that brings back memories. Having lived in a Wawa-centric area for the last couple decades, I had forgotten how important 7-Eleven was in my youth.

The Big Bite is the special name for the 7-Eleven hot dog, a late night snack on many a night back in the day. Big Bites could be good and fresh, or sometimes it could be a guessing game exactly how long said hot dog had been rolling under those heat lamps. That flavor however in a potato chip however is a whole 'nother thing.

I had to laugh at the picture on the bag, showing the chips next to a hot dog, declaring it a 'serving suggestion.' Nothing like a double shot of hot dogs, eh? Once the bag was opened, the aroma is interesting. Not surprisingly hot dog-like, but there is also a barbecue vibe going on here. No surprise there either as the ingredients show onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika.

The chips are thicker than usual ripple cuts. The Bride tried them first, saying they tasted just like a hot dog with mustard. That turned me off a bit as I'm not a mustard guy, but I tried them anyway. Yeah, she was right, she pretty much nailed it on taste, and in her assertion that I would not like them.

On the plus side, they are cholesterol free and have zero transfats. I can see the appeal of these, but honestly, they're just not my bag of chips. Heh, see what I did there?

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!

French Fry Diary 536: Room Service, Disney Fantasy

The last few times we've done the room service thing on board the Disney Cruise, it's been the middle of the night or early morning while chilling and watching one of the constantly running OnDemand movies on the cabin television. This time it was different. I'll tell you, as much as we enjoyed her company, bringing the mother-in-law with has thrown off our schedule completely (I kid, Mom, I kid).

This time we got room service after The Bride and her mom went ashore to Costa Maya to hang out with the dolphins, while I stayed on board, read, wrote, and had steak frites. When they got back, they were beat and didn't want to do anything but rest, so room service was the call of the day.

Among the goodies ordered for this in-room spur of the moment feast were hot dogs, chicken wings, macaroni and cheese, salad (some of us were being good), and yes, of course, French fries. The best part was not only did the girls share with poor embattled me (not easy sharing a cabin with two women), but the fries were the steak fries I was looking for earlier. How awesome is that?