French Fry Diary 731: Idaho Spud

On a recent trip to Rocket Fizz, the amazing nostalgia soda and candy store, I picked up a candy bar called Idaho Spud, thinking it would make a good entry for French Fry Diary.  I got rather concerned shortly after purchasing the candy bar on the ride home.  It was squishy.  Not surprising in the hot Florida sun, but I was hesitant about opening it when I got home.

Having never heard of the Idaho Spud candy bar before, I did a little research before opening what might be a melted mess when finally revealed.  Idaho Spud has been around since 1918, one of the most successful candy bars produced by a small company, and as promised on the wrapper, "The Candy Bar That Makes Idaho Famous." 

The Idaho Spud is a coconut flavored marshmallow, covered in chocolate, then covered again with coconut flakes.  It's odd shape resembling a potato is where the name came from... but should it be squishy?  Before I tear away the wrapper, I should mention I was unable to find the meaning of the word Owyhee on the packaging other than it's a river in Idaho.

The candy was squishy, but more of a spongy to match the marshmallow center, but the chocolate and coconut flakes were definitely crumbling apart. Now I'm not much of a coconut guy, but this was all right, better than meh, but not great.  No potatoes, and not really looking like any potato I've seen, but worth trying out. 

French Fry Diary 714: Burger 21

Burger 21, a chain with most of their restaurants in the Florida area, is now in New Jersey. They currently occupy the same place as The Doghouse in the Voorhees Town Center, opening there about two years back. Burger 21 offers a gluten free menu featuring burgers, shakes, and fries with a variety of dipping sauces, including sweet stuff for their sweet potato fries. All of their fries are cooked in soybean oil. I had been to the NJ location a few times and the quality of the food and service were wildly inconsistent so I was hesitant to write a review that would be on target.

Upon visiting Lakeland Florida house hunting, The Bride and I went to a Burger 21 there, and found it to be quite a pleasant experience. It was nice to see a familiar place in Florida where many things are much different, a good sign especially in the ninety-degree heat. I got a great thick burger on a grilled buttered roll and it was delicious. But it was the fries that were the stars.

The fries were frozen shoestrings deep fried, and were very good hot, but got cold fairly quickly. Not to worry, they were eaten quickly. As I said, the ones in New Jersey were inconsistent both in size and style, but these were near perfect. The Bride got cheese and ale as a side, and many other sauces were available at their amazing sauce bar, such as ranch, ketchup (both Thai and regular), ragin' Cajun, barbeque, mustard (regular and honey), chipotle mayo, apple cider, and toasted marshmallow.

To top it all off, the waitress who took our order was very friendly, and we found we had "Doctor Who" in common. She made a joke about our house hunting and to look for a home that was bigger on the inside. We took it as a good omen for that day of looking at homes. And we'd definitely come back to Burger 21, in Florida.