Happy Friday!

My new favorite Bitmoji, for obvious reasons...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #220

Even Siri likes French fries... and she likes them with class...

French Fry Diary 663: Fries by State

Northern Spy Co. in New York

Flipboard is one of those apps that used to be cool, but then they upgraded, and shortly thereafter ceased to be useful. Sometimes new and improved is just not better. I rarely even use the app any more, and I'm unsure if it's even still on my iPhone, but I still do get occasional emails from them. The one that caught my eye yesterday was of course about the favorite fried food.

The article was about fries from every state, fifty-two pages of them, each with an image and a short blurb, compiled by Emmie Martin of Business Insider. Not that I don't love French fries, but wow, it must have been a slow news day for Business Insider. Either way, nice job, Ms. Martin.

Bourbon Steak in Florida

If nothing else, the list makes a good base for a French fries bucket list. I will definitely have to seek out the Burger Box food truck way up in North Jersey, which as I've pointed out before, is like a completely different state. I would say that Chickie & Pete's is definitely the best I know of in Pennsylvania, but I wonder if other fry places in Maryland and Idaho get tired of always hearing about Thrasher's and the Boise Fry Company?

I guess I will now update my recommendations and fry bucket lists. I especially look forward to trying Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming - but specifically Blue Duck Tavern in Washington DC, Northern Spy Food Co. in New York, and Bourbon Steak in Florida.

Again, you can check out the article here. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 596: Hashteroids

Denny's recently launched a very cool new campaign that harkens back to the good old days of home videogames. Why am I talking about here on French Fry Diary, you might ask, well, I'll tell you - it's all about the hash browns, or should I say, the Hashteroids.

In the "Greatest Hits Remixed" campaign, Denny's has partnered with Atari on their mobile app to create three new Denny's-centric games from three old classics. Centipede becomes Centipup, Breakout becomes Take-Out, and Asteroids becomes the breakfast potato-themed Hashteroids.

In Hashteroids, you fly a ketchup bottle shaped spaceship in the pursuit and destruction of asteroids shaped like and/or possibly made of hash browns. Actually they look more like spiky meteors made of fries, but it's cool, still potato. And yes, it looks like you're shooting ketchup at them.

The Denny's Atari Remix app is free on most devices. You can read the full story here.

French Fry Diary 537: Celebration Night at Enchanted Garden

After a night suffering from a thankfully 24-hour bug, and a special thank you to the newlywed couple who helped me out, especially the man who escorted me to the medical center, I was back on track aboard the Disney Fantasy. The kindness of strangers is a wonderful thing, and these two gentlemen were very caring and thoughtful. The next morning I awoke, fever broken, and voracious, diving right for those great roasted potatoes up at Cabanas. I was back.

Our final night on board was a good one, and not just because I was feeling better. First I was feeling good enough to eat. As an appetizer I tried the Grilled Potato with Goat Cheese Napoleon. Wow. The potato part was very good, but I'm not sure why they called that other stuff cheese. Nope, Tiggers do not like goat cheese.

Now all week I had been using the new app for my iPhone that only works on the boat called 'Disney Fantasy Navigator.' It was basically an electronic version of the daily schedule given out everyday on the boat. In the dinner menus for everyday I kept reading about this Golden Chicken Strips with Barbeque Sauce served with Steak Fries. As it turns out this was a kiddie offering, but by the end of seeing it all week, I wanted it, and ordered it. Sadly, they were out of steak fries. I guess the good fries go first.

For dessert, The Bride was sung to for her birthday, and we were both sung to for our anniversary. Combine that with a luscious dessert called Chocolate Decadence, as well as baked Alaska, and this was a very good night.

And remember, French Fry Diary is now on Facebook, come on over and join the fun and the discussion!

French Fry Diary 455: Smashburger 2013

Here it is, the report from the annual trip to Smashburger on New Year's Day. I had anticipated this year getting together a whole expedition to go from folks at the NYE party the night before, but it didn't work out. Hangovers do that. And the couple we had wanted to come with us passed because of vegan issues.

I countered with the argument that Smashburger had a wide variety of vegan and/or vegetarian offerings, including a veggie burger and several flash-fried veggies as sides. I was told that just going to Smashburger, and giving them their business, would be like saying what they do is okay, and for them - it's not.

I understand completely. No harm, no foul. We're cool. But it did get me thinking. I suppose there are a lot of folks who feel that way, and it made me wonder. Are the fast food burger outlets just wasting their time by making vegan/vegetarian offerings available, when those folks won't be coming in any way? I would love to hear the thoughts of folks out there in the foodie blogosphere.

Now, on to the regularly scheduled annual Smashburger visit. Unlike the last two years we had been here to the Riverside Square Mall location, the place was packed, and hopping for New Year's Day lunch. After placing our order and sitting down, The Bride and I busied ourselves on our iPhones playing the BurgerSmasher game. You can test your skills here making burgers the Smashburger way.

Our shakes came to the table first. I got a big thick chocolate shake, as thick as McDonald's used to have, and Sonic still does. The Bride thought her Oreo shake was very good. They come in a glass, with more in the mixing cup so you know they did it right. In hindsight, this was the best part of the meal right there.

After the last two trips here, I elected to skip the Smashfries this time, in favor of the delicious Haystack Onions. These thinly sliced and deep-fried onions are a bit greasy, but very good. I ordered my Smashburger plain, as usual, but piled some of those onions on top of the patty. Both the burger and the onions were awesome. The burgers are always good.

Of course, the burger and onions only brought to mind the lunch of the previous day, and I have to say, Smashburger paled in comparison to Little Shanty in nearby Warren NJ. Now I hope to get there sooner, but I think next year we'll have a new tradition, lunch at Little Shanty both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Sorry, Smashburger.

French Fry Diary 296: Zinc Café

This is where we went for The Bride's birthday this year. She had a late night at work and then a Pineland Players meeting so we had to schedule dinner in a tight schedule and also do it somewhere in Medford so we would have time. I got online with Urbanspoon with my iPhone and found the Zinc Café, a place with perfect timing and location that we all agreed on.

The Zinc Café is kinda tucked away on Stokes Road, so if you don't know where it is, you might miss it, but you'll also be missing out on one of the best local restaurants around too. This was a rare find indeed. It's a little small, but you can also eat outside. It's cozy, and a little dim, but it's great atmosphere. Small town meets fancy coffee shop, friendly and cool, I liked it a lot.

The menu has an amazing selection, both healthy and bad for you, both simple and exotic. No Coca-Cola products but they had Boylan instead. My cane cola was a welcome change of pace. They also had appetizers of thin crispy breadsticks that tasted like matzo, very addictive. I could have been happy just with the soda and the sticks.

The Bride and her mom got salads with some amazing add-ins, and we were all surprised by the crisp, fresh and colorful vegetables. The Bride got a grilled cheese sandwich (it's what she wanted for her birthday) with a few cheeses I couldn't pronounce. I got a burger (surprise), which was just terrific, and of course, with the burger were fries.

The French fries were natural cut shoestrings, another sign of high class, at least by this fry guy's estimation. They were very crispy, and had a certain kick we couldn't quite identify, but it was a good kick. All in all, it was a wonderful experience. I really think I have found a new favorite restaurant.

French Fry Diary 276: Whispering Canyon Café, Breakfast

Circumstances collided and we ended up hitting the Whispering Canyon Café for both breakfast and lunch one day of our vacation. Not a problem though, we like the place. We've been twice before on our two previous trips to Walt Disney World.

For breakfast they had a very tempting, very fattening raisin bread French toast with cinnamon icing, I had to have that. The Bride ordered some potatoes, and promised I could have some. I also ordered a Coke, as I'm not a coffee drinker and orange juice just doesn't wake me up. Check the photo to see what they brought. Even being almost all ice, it was still almost as much as a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola.

The French toast was to die for, even before the syrup, and fantastic when you get a raisin. It's not as good as say French toast made with raisin challah bread, or the Pop Shop's cinnamon roll French toast, or even the French toast my big sister used to make me on Saturday mornings for breakfast while watching cartoons, but it's damn good. The potatoes were roasted red potatoes, cut into wedges, and were gigantic -

Sorry, I had to stop writing on my iPhone notepad, someone other than The Bride needed the ketchup. And if you don't know what I'm talking about, ask for ketchup while you're here at Whispering Canyon.

As I was saying, before I got interrupted, the potato wedges are so gigantic that you have to cut them up to eat them. They are soft and hot on the inside like baked potatoes and have a nice seared outside. The maple syrup also adds a nice flavor as well. Aces on the potatoes. I can't wait for lunch.

French Fry Diary 227: More Than Ice Cream

These Somebody Else's Fries come from a place called appropriately enough More Than Ice Cream on Locust Street in Philadelphia.

"The fries were phenomenal." These are the words of my friend Crystal who got a chicken salad sandwich and an apparent 'autocorrect abundance' of fries for just under twelve dollars. Yeah, autocorrect, doing its duty by mangling my notes from my magical iPhone. Whatever the word was, autocorrect translated it as "nitriles."

Thanks, Crystal, for another great Somebody Else's Fries. Mmmm... fries...

French Fry Diary 219: The Brooklyn Diner

Here's another installment of Somebody Else's Fries from The Bride. She recently attended a conference in fabulous New York City and as always, when dining where French fries were around, she pulled out her iPhone and snapped those fries.

The Brooklyn Diner is at Times Square and outside has all the shine and glitz of the city that never sleeps, but inside it's just a diner - a good diner a step above most, but looking like a standard Jersey diner.

The fries she had were very good, natural cuts typical of diners, but with an extra kick. From the picture I can see there's rosemary in there, but maybe a few other mystery herbs as well. The Bride said it was busy and the waitress didn't come by much so she couldn't ask. Can any regulars to the Brooklyn Diner let us know?