French Fry Diary 684: Post-Fantastic Four Denny's

If you're a regular listener to The GAR! Podcast, you know the dread and anticipation involved in the new Fantastic Four movie. The comic is my podcast partner Ray's favorite, and he's very protective of the FF. His feeling about the movie has the topic of many episodes (here, here, and here, including a recent one where he watched the trailer live on the recording. This past weekend, we saw it together, and then went to Denny's to record the newest episode.

Why Denny's? Because Denny's is currently featuring menu items that are Fantastic Four specific. There's the Fantastic Four Cheese Omelet, the Invisible Woman Slam (with hash browns), the hot Human Torch Skillet (with season red-skinned potatoes), the death by chocolate Doom Lava Cake, and the Thing Burger. Of special interest to readers of this blog is that last, as the Thing Burger not only comes with Denny's unique wavy-cut French fries, but also has crispy hash browns on top of the beef patty. Awesome. Like the Thing. …but what is in that 'Thing sauce'?

Anyway, the plan was for Ray and I to see the new Fantastic Four movie, and then record an episode of the podcast about it afterward… at Denny's. This is how it went right here. We both talked a good fight over a bad movie, but eventually ate none of the Fantastic Four food, although the Doom Lava Cake was darned tempting. And how come Doctor Doom gets an item and Reed Richards doesn't?

Either way, the fries were good, the staff of the Blackwood-Clementon Road Denny's was extremely cooperative, and it was a pretty good episode of the podcast too. Check it out here.

Meet the Small Potatoes

The Wolverine Burger at Red Robin

In anticipation of the upcoming The Wolverine movie coming out July 26th, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers have introduced a couple special food items in honor of everyone's favorite Canadian mutant superhero.

There's the Berserker Burger, called 'a flavorful combination of zesty aioli, Sriracha onion straws and spicy pickles topped with Cheddar on a brioche bun,' and the best part, 'served with Bottomless Steak Fries.'

And they are also offering the Red Tavern Double. It's made in new Kuzuri style, Red Robin describes it like this: 'Feed yur inner Wolverine. Samurai slaw, ginger garlic wonton strips and cilantro.' You can mix it up with the ingredients if you want.

They also have a deal where you can get a ticket to The Wolverine with the purchase of special limited edition gift cards - only at participating restaurants.

What ever you do, when it comes to Red Robin, don't forget the Bottomless Steak Fries!

Special thanks to GAR! Podcast partner, Ray Cornwall, for hipping me to this deal!

The 21 Jump Street French Fry Song

I hated the movie version of 21 Jump Street, but it did have one redeeming quality, a quick song about the favorite fried food. Enjoy.

French Fry Diary 370: T.G.I.Fridays 2012

After a movie with The Bride and her parents recently we went over to the Marlton T.G.I.Fridays to get a late night meal. It wasn't in my mind at all to be writing a review as I had done Fridays at some point last year. I guess I could have ordered and written about the crispy green bean fries, I suppose, but honestly it slipped my mind.

Anyway, I was surprised by new fries on the menu. I've complained about Fridays' ever-changing menu before. I'm a firm believer that if you do something well, keep doing it. Don't change it or do something else. I still miss their steak on a stick. Among the new menu items were sweet potato fries and Parmesan steak fries.

Now as we learned on our last trip to Fridays, what they call steak fries are not actually steak fries but potato wedges. I know I know, semantics, but it's important fry semantics.

These new fries are simply the old potato wedges with Parmesan and parsley on them. Notably there's too much Parm and pars if you don't like that stuff, and not enough if you do. Weird. They were okay when hot, and very potato-ey, although The Bride thought they were kinda dry. They microwaved well when we got home.

I'll save the sweet potato fries, and the crispy green bean fries for a future visit.

French Fry Diary 328: Outback 2011

Recently my buddy Ray and I were going to have a guys night out at the movies, and wanted to have some dinner beforehand. It wasn't as easy as we thought it would be. Our last resort after trying Applebee's, the Library II, and even McDonald's was finally the Outback Steakhouse.

How I've reviewed the Outback before and wasn't really all that thrilled. This time however, I found a meal I was quite happy with. But first, a few words about the Outback's signature appetizer item, the Bloomin' Onion.

The Bloomin' Onion is a wonder of culinary science. It's a one pound onion cut to bloom open, breaded and deep fried. Beautifully crispy, and the breading has that spicy extra kick most Outback food has. The kick is very hot, you will sweat, so have a beverage nearby. Being the catastrophically picky eater I am, I usually pass on the mayonnaise horseradish sauce, but other folks tell me it's good. This time it was a little underdone, but Ray and I still demolished it. Hands down, the Bloomin' Onion is still the main reason to come to the Outback.

The meal I found was the Chicken on the Barbie that comes with a delicious barbeque sauce, that was also very good on the Aussie fries. I'm not that much of a fan of the regular natural cut fries, but this barbeque sauce made them so much better. Good meal, good friend, and good customer service… unlike Applebee's…

French Fry Diary 326: The Aborted Applebee's Attempt

Let's be clear up front. Applebee's neither cares nor has any pride in their French fries. They are not included in their online menu as a side or an appetizer. You have to hunt them down to even see a picture of them on said menu. I guess if you're ordering online, fries just aren't an option.

It's been a long looong time since I've been to Applebee's. This is due to their always consistent customer service, which was bad. The last time I went to Applebee's was for my birthday about six years ago, and even then it had been a while before then we had gone. For my birthday I wanted a certain volcano fudge cake they had so we went, and from the way they seated us, to the food, to the wait time, to the getting orders just outright wrong, they assured us that their customer service was, as I said, consistent.

My memory insists that I have rarely had a good meal at Applebee's. I do remember once getting some really good onion rings, with Panko bread crumbs and shredded cheese mixed in, but I also recall the service that night being Applebee's standard. The fries as I recall are non-impressive salt and pepper natural cuts, nothing to write home about, and as I said before, Applebee's obviously doesn't think so either.

Further and much closer inspection of the online menu revealed that Applebee's also has crispy red potatoes, garlic mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, crispy onion strings, and fried onions, although I could not find these items alone, much like the fries. Now you're probably asking why wouldn't I just order those items a la carte, right? Well, those of you asking that question have obviously never experienced the fine, fine customer service at Applebee's. Good luck with that.

All that said, my buddy Ray came down for a buddy movie night. We were going to see the Hindu special effects spectacular Ra. One, and the only real restaurant near the theatre is Applebee's. At first I was hesitant, but seeing as Ray had just gotten back on to Weight Watchers, and Applebee's has a special WW menu, we went for it.

When we got there, it was packed, because it was a Friday night, of course. There was a thirty-minute wait. We weighed our options. Go someplace else, or wait a half hour for crappy service? Applebee's aborted this night, maybe another time. We'll try again.

French Fry Diary 318: Hanukkah for Christmas

Now while I spent the morning with my family celebrating Christmas, the bulk of Christmas Day was spent with The Bride's family celebrating Hanukkah, and also doing the usual - movies and Chinese food.

Most of the family went to see Chipwrecked, that the nephew was dying to see, while the brother-in-law and I preferred the solace of an action flick. After seeing some of, and sleeping through most of, Mission Impossible, we went back to the house to relax for a while, feeling that perhaps Alvin is a better leading man than Tom Cruise. All was calm and quiet until the nephew wanted latkes, so my ears and stomach perked up - potato products.

While not made from scratch, these potato pancakes from Old Fashioned Kitchen were still very good, crispy, and tasty. She served a bowl of applesauce on the side, the whole package completely blowing away my futile attempts as the non-Jewish husband to make the same meal unsuccessfully twice last week for Hanukkah for The Bride.

Despite the mother-in-law's claims to the contrary, she is a terrific cook. She actually cooked one of the best meals I have ever had, a wonderful steak dinner a few years back. Whether it's a fancy three-course meal or a simple plate of latkes, she rocks. Just look at that presentation! Thanks, Mom!

French Fry Diary 134: Loews AMC Cinema, Cherry Hill NJ

I hate the Loews AMC Cinema in Cherry Hill. I hate them. I have talked about this more than once on my Welcome to Hell pop culture blog. But unfortunately, sometimes, it's the only place to go to see a certain film, or a film in IMAX or digital 3-D or both. In those times I relent, grumble and take my place in line at the most hated of all movie theaters.

If it's any consolation, it's a movie theater that serves the favorite fried food, so why not kill two birds with one grumbling stone. I got two orders of fries, one with cheese, one without, a regular Icee and a small Coke. That was a twenty-dollar bill. Not counting the movie tickets, or even candy or even a hot dog - that was twenty right there. Then there was the size of the drinks. The counterperson insisted they were small. My jaw is still on the floor, but for the price that Coke better be damned big.

The fries came in cups with plastic forks (which were useless in the dark). The wait time for these fries was about ten minutes, which was weird because they tasted like they were only under a heat lamp for a while instead of fresh from a fryer. One can't see where they come from so there's no way to know which it is.

These natural cut curly fries are either overdone or underdone, and no in between, and fairly greasy. The cheese had an extra spicy kick that was nice at first but became a nasty aftertaste. And they got cold rather quickly. This was not a good fry experience and it got worse.

It's a good thing these Loews fries are meant to be eaten in the dark. After about twenty minutes into the feature I bit into a crunchy thing that was neither potato nor edible. I quickly spit it inconspicuously into a napkin. Good thing it was dark. I did not want to see what it was. Just glad I didn't eat it. That's it for me and fries at Loews. Not recommended.

French Fries - The Movie

"French Fries" is the story about a guy, his truck and a bunch of used vegetable oil. This funny and inspiring piece follows Charris Ford, "The Granola Ayatollah of Canola" as he makes the rounds in his veggie fuel powered rig. This film is very timely and unlike many environmental films, really makes you laugh. With Daryl Hannah, Dennis Weaver and internationally renowned physician, Doctor Andrew Wiel.

For more information, click here.


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