Random Tater Pic of the Day #202

Friend, fellow member of the South Jersey Writers Group, and occasional contributor to French Fry Diary, Mieke Zamora-Mackay sent this edition of Somebody Else's Fries to me from Ponzio's Diner. It's a burger called The Bundy, which comes topped with cheddar cheese, crispy onions and bacon, complemented with their honey BBQ sauce, and of course French fries on the side. Thanks, Mieke!

French Fry Diary 642: LongHorn Steakhouse

We've been here before. It might not seem like it, but we have. The deep fried breaded onion snack followed by beef is a gig we've done before, both at the Outback and the questionably named Texas Roadhouse. Even the Lone Star Steakhouse, sadly no longer in our immediate area, used to do that.

It makes me wonder if all three are the same restaurant, but no, each onion is trademarked. So each restaurant is just a competitive twin. Are those onion things really that good? Yes, decadent, but good.

My buddy and podcast partner Ray and I had been making an accidental tour of steakhouses lately, so the LongHorn Steakhouse seemed as good a place to go next as any. I was a bit tentative as the Cherry Hill location has gotten some bad word of mouth. I decided we should see for ourselves.

That is of course, once we got there. Ray set his GPS to the Lone Star Steakhouse, which as I mentioned is nowhere to be found around here. It took a while for us to meet, obviously. While the parking lot was full, the dining room was not. Not sure if that's good or bad.

The menu, supposedly brand new at the time, was huge, and thick as a textbook. The decor was very wooden and old school. There were some cowboy and western motifs, but the big attraction (or at least what my eyes went to) was the huge chandelier made of antlers. Don't know if they're real, but wow.

We got the Texas Tonion, trademark, but it doesn't need the trademark. It really doesn't need it. It's nothing like its counterparts, it's just a long plate of just meh onion petals. For the price, a little over seven bucks, comparative to the Bloomin' Onion, I feel ripped off. An order of onion petals, and only okay onion petals for that matter, is not worth the price of the exotic wheel of deep fried death and goodness I expected. I was not happy.

My chopped steak came with thinner longer onion straws. They were better than the steak. The fries were natural cut regular cuts, only warm but okay. The baked potato was very hot and very good. There's not much else to say about the food. The service was okay. There was nothing though that I would come back for, even though Ray said the LongHorn near him was better. That's too far though. And I'm still a little steamed about that Texas Tonion...

French Fry Diary 507: Texas Roadhouse 2013

The last time (and the first time) I went to the Texas Roadhouse, most of our party got sick. I'm usually willing to give a place a second chance though.

The Bride and I were in Maryland babysitting the nephew and we could not decide on where to go for dinner. There were a few things we were each in the mood for, but we couldn't decide, so we tried to be fair. All the restaurants in the unfamiliar (to us at least) area were put in a bowl, and the kid chose. Texas Roadhouse. It wasn't on the top of any of our lists, but it was fair, so off to Texas Roadhouse we went.

It should be noted it was a Saturday night at dinner. I guess I underestimated the incredible drawing power of the Texas Roadhouse. Not only was the parking lot completely filled but so were the two adjacent lots as well. I even watched one guy in a monster truck make his own parking spot on top of a grass island. The place was packed, and we were told we had over an hour wait. The kid wasn't taking it well, cranky, impatient, and we didn't go where he wanted. 'S all right, we love him.

We were committed though, so we waited it out, just a little under an hour. We got our appetizer right away - the Cactus Blossom, their onion appetizer. The covering is more of a hot chicken batter, almost like a tempura. I thought it was very very good this time. After the wait, we were very hungry, and this just about hit the spot. Sadly, we think maybe it made the kid a little sick. Maybe the place is cursed?

Extra points for them having Coke products, and being on top of refills when they were so crowded. We also got these great buttered rolls as we sat down. The same rolls were used for the kid's mini-cheeseburgers, which in hindsight would have been delicious, had I not gotten what I got.

In lieu of the chopped steak I ordered last time, I got the Grilled BBQ Chicken this time, a huge breast of chicken with terrific BBQ sauce, which was also great on the natural cut steak fries too. Best part of the meal was soaking up the sauce with the fries. The chicken was the best I had had in a while. I will definitely be back, to this location at least - well worth the wait. All in all, it was a terrific meal, and the kid recovered pretty quickly from his stomachache.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #105

My friend Marni took this pic of the new Red Lobster onion rings at the Deptford NJ restaurant. She said they no longer had the crisp straw ones. These were a bit thicker, full onions and not chopped up. And of course, they were good in the peach bourbon sauce.

French Fry Diary 440: Houlihan's

The original plan was for my buddy Ray and I to go to the new pub attached to Aloft up in Mount Laurel, called Miller's N.J. Ale House. Once we arrived and saw the ridiculous amount of people outside the restaurant carrying those fancy table-waiting beepers, we decided to look elsewhere. I drove around and around, almost driving Ray to madness (no restaurants there, unfortunately), until finally we settled on Houlihan's in Cherry Hill, in the Wegman's shopping center where the Garden State Racetrack used to be.

I really didn't know what to expect. The first and last time I had ever been to Houlihan's, was when it was at the Cherry Hill Mall, on a very bad double date from well over two decades previous. I'm going to guess that things had changed. If nothing else, Ray was a better dining companion.

This new Houlihan's was a bit of a maze once inside, and it was very dark. Restaurants that are dark always make me nervous. Is there something they don't want me to see, or worse than that, see clearly? I shouldn't have worried. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the menu however. It was as big as a Sears catalog. Seriously, sixteen pages. It not only could stop a frigging bullet, but it also would've made Chef Gordon Ramsey crazy, as he is always an advocate of a short, concise one page menu.

However on one of those sixteen pages was a wonder in itself - a frites bar - six different types of fries. Oh boy, says the fry guy. They had Disco Fries, more or less a Jersey specialty, but these sounded more like Canadian poutine. Also Parmesan Frites, Truckstop Fries, Pickle Fries (made from pickles, ick), American Fries, and Sweet Potato Fries, topped with cinnamon sugar. Hmmm… cinnamon sugar. I'll have to try that next time I make sweet potato fries at home.

The waitress was very nice, and said everything was made from scratch. So after I ordered my usual, the burger and fries, I asked for onion rings, not on the menu. I know, I was being a pain in the butt by doing that, but I was in the mood for onion rings. She said they didn't do onion rings, but offered up onion straws. That was cool, but… Is it just me, but if you make everything from scratch, why would onion rings be a problem?

After a relatively short wait (although it was kinda long considering how few people were in the restaurant, but they do make everything from scratch, so…), our food arrived. The burger was fairly good, and served on an egg washed challah soft roll, which made for an interesting contrast to your average burger.

The French fries were natural cut shoestrings, deep fried but not too greasy. The problem with them was the same thing I contended with at The TapRoom & Grill - pickle juice fries. There were two big pickles on the plate next to the fries. Just not my thing. The onion strings were really just very thin deep fried onion rings and strings for the most part. Tasty.

After a two decade hiatus, I would definitely come back to Houlihan's, if only to try the rest of their frites bar, but seriously, all kidding aside, it was a good dining experience.

French Fry Diary 422: The TapRoom & Grill

Spur of the moment, The Bride and I found ourselves with time on our hands together on the Sunday evening before Labor Day. We decided to take in a movie later that night so all we needed to do was find a nice place for dinner. We were on the road, so we pulled over and started Urbanspoon-ing. We had decided on going to The Pour House, a place I had heard good things about when we passed by The TapRoom & Grill.

We weren't exactly sure where The Pour House was, and were having a not so fun time making the GPS work, so we figured what the heck, and pulled into the parking lot of The TapRoom. It looked nice, and was empty for a Sunday on a Labor Day weekend, so we went in. It had a nice interior and décor, an old-fashioned bar restaurant. I liked it, so we stayed. We'll get you next time, Pour House, promise.

We got a cozy table, and we held hands, and watched the Jerry Lewis mini-Telethon Show as we had a spur-of-the-moment romantic dinner off in our own little corner of the mostly empty place. For an appetizer we ordered the crispy onion straws, but they never did come. No harm, no foul. The waitress, who was otherwise really good, had forgotten. It's cool, we didn't need the extra calories anyway, and she made sure we weren't charged. She did also forget to give us utensils though.

I got my usual, a burger and fries. The burger was char-grilled, and very good, except for the big pickle spear on the plate that soaked the plate, the fries and the burger bun with its errant juices. The fries were a cross between regular cuts and shoestrings, sized halfway between the two, and deep-fried. Pickle juice fries are just not my thing, accidentally or not. The non-pickle stained fries were the best part of the meal, that and the company of course.

I liked The TapRoom a lot, despite everything, and I think we'd go back. We had a really enjoyable time, and the food was pretty good for the most part. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 314: Doghouse Burgers & Fries

I heard about Doghouse Burgers & Fries from friends. The Doghouse is located in the Voorhees Town Center, formerly the Echelon Mall. Wow. I used to work at the Echelon Mall as a teenager, and let me tell you, the only things that are the same are the location, the escalators, and the Salvation Army lady incessantly ringing her bell. I do not miss holiday retail.

Doghouse is actually outside of the mall proper, or what used to be the mall proper. It has a variety of burgers and hot dogs as well as French fries. I got a burger combo with an order of the Cajun fries, mostly because an order of regular fries was unavailable. Other types included salt and pepper, garlic and parsley, sweet potato, bacon cheese, chili cheese, and onion straws.

It's an order and sit down and wait place. The wait was long enough for me to get a good long look at the place. Very very orange, with three folks behind the counter, and a large holiday shopping lunch crowd. They were doing good business so I don't blame them for the wait.

The burger was chargrilled and perfect, but the fries while hot and a good portion were only okay. They were regular cut natural cuts, and might have been good had they just been plain. They were tossed with some spices, nothing too hot, but enough to leave an aftertaste. I didn't finish them. I think that says a lot.

The onion straws are nothing of the kind. They are out and out onion rings, big thick crunchy ones with panko bread crumb covering. Easily the best onion rings I've had in a while. These were just luscious.

On this later visit, when we got the onion 'straws', we also got a couple other kinds of fries. the salt and pepper fries, which were pretty much plain fries, with really not that much pepper and far too much salt. The garlic and parsley fries weren't bad, if you like garlic, which I do, but it's a lot of garlic. And we also got the sweet potato fries, which is why the place was recommended to me in the first place. They were rippled potato wedges, and above average, very sweet and tasty. Not better than Cool Dog Café, but still they were very good.

I'll definitely be back for the burgers, and the onion rings, but not so much for the fries. I think this is a life lesson. If you're going to subtitle your restaurant "burgers and fries," they'd better be your two strongest menu items. At Doghouse, it's one out of two, not counting misnomer onion straws.

French Fry Diary 299: T.G.I. Friday's

A while ago I was seduced into reviewing T.G.I. Friday's by my buddy Ray raving about their new menu and especially their new Steak Fries. Now the prospect of a new menu at Friday's doesn't phase me so much as it seems like they change their menu every other week, but new Steak Fries, yeah, I had to see that. And so we went.

Usually T.G.I. Friday's is one of my favorite restaurants but the customer service varies and sometimes ends making us avoid the place for months at a time, until we get a craving for something there, or have forgotten how badly they treated us last time. They have a lot of meals I like, but also a constantly changing menu, so sometimes they don't stay around for a while. Notably, over the years, I have loved their steak on a stick, Jack Daniels chicken and burgers, and the onion rings. Half of those items are currently gone from the menu, for the record.

The night we went we had a very enthusiastic waiter, who was very eager to sell me on the then-new fries when the option of sides came up. He described them as "KFC potato wedges, only fresh." So, right out of the starting gate, before they even came - I knew they weren't even steak fries, but potato wedges. Talk about false advertising…

As encouraging as the waiter was, the service really wasn't. The salads came with uncooked bacon and no fork. We were not off to a great start at all. Of course all of the wait staff had vanished. We finally flagged down an employee in a dress shirt (a manager?) sans flair, who promised to fix things and after a short wait, did.

Friday's has a variety of fry options currently. The usual fries are of the natural cut type and really nothing special. When dipped in the Jack Daniels barbeque sauce, they are amazing, but as far as I'm concerned, anything dipped in that stuff is amazing - I love it. They also have the Crispy Green Bean Fries - flash-fried green beans - not really fries, but actually a nice interesting treat.

They also have less than satisfying beer-battered onion rings. Friday's seems to change their onion rings/straws once a week just to flummox me. They never have the kind I want when I want them. They used to have very crispy thin onion rings and onion straws that were to die for, but seemingly not anymore. I guess I'll have to wait for another menu change.

My meal finally arrived, and it came wrong. Instead of the Jack Daniels Chicken I ordered, I got the chicken and shrimp. Again, after a short wait, the right dinner came. Remember what I said about customer service? Anyway, on to the favorite fried food. The regular cut natural cuts came hot, and were salted and peppered, with way too much salt actually. And when I say too much salt, you know it's waaay too much salt. And then there were the "Steak Fries." Our waiter was dead on when he described them as KFC potato wedges but I would actually give KFC the win on this one. They were not hot, and as opposed to the regular fries, these had too much pepper. They also come with the option of parmesan cheese.

The customer service continued to drain me. While our waiter was friendly and cooperative, he was no so good in the execution of his job. He was not only slow with the utensils, napkins and drink refills, but hard to find when we needed him. And he spilled hot Jack Daniels sauce on me too, not his fault, but it didn't help.

Now my correct order came far too late for me to enjoy it with my dining party, so I ended up taking most of it home. The chicken and the regular fries are always good later whether nuked in the microwave or heated up in the oven. The potato wedges did not do well in either area, and were trashed.

A few more words on the Jack Daniels barbeque sauce - I love this stuff. I love it so much that I have tried on occasion to recreate it at home from online recipes. It's never quite the same. Our waiter was cool enough to give me two small containers of it to take home with my chicken and fries. It's darn good on other fries, burgers, steak, etc. as well. It's one of my all time favorite dipping sauces for the favorite fried food. Friday's, if you want to do something right, bottle that stuff.

French Fry Diary 231: Texas Roadhouse, Bensalem PA

I had seen this place, the questionably named Texas Roadhouse, next to the Sonic on Street Road for a while but only started to get recommendations for it since one opened closer in Turnersville.

My first impression was the same that I had the first time I walked into a Lone Star Steakhouse - loud country music and peanut shells on the floor. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but both had vanished by the time we were seated. And despite it being dinner rush, and being warned by several folks of a long wait, we were seated quite quickly.

Catastrophically picky eater that I am, I ordered the Road Kill (chopped steak, better known as a hamburger sans roll), and the steak fries. First though we got the Cactus Blossom, their version of Outback's Bloomin' Onion. Much easier to pull apart, but also much less spicy hot than Outback's, the Cactus Blossom is a winner. The Bride, her parents and I decimated it.

Took a bit to get my order right, but it finally came after everyone else had already begun their dinner. I didn't want mushrooms so of course I got mushrooms. The chopped steak was terrific after I unburied it from the mountain of onions.

The fries were natural cut steak fries, not dissimilar from Wendy's new ones actually, only thicker. They had some light spices, and parsley, maybe rosemary thrown on them. Not the best I've had but then again not the worst. The waitress kept pushing folks to get cheddar and bacon on them - perhaps knowing they needed something.

Around the table, the ribs were about the same as the fries, not the best but not the worst. Real whiskey in the barbecue sauce it tasted like. Chili's ribs are better though, according to the Mom-in-Law. The beans were good as were the mashed potatoes. The service was a bit slow, but as always, it's amazing how quick a manager comes to your table when you start taking pictures of the food.

I took some of the fries home. They behaved predictably. In the microwave they became a soggy mushy mess, but baked in the oven, these fries became a bit more formidable. They were golden brown with a crunch on the outside, soft and hot on the inside - more like what they should have been in the restaurant.

For the record, more than one of our party had heartburn or was sick to their stomach afterward. All in all, I don't think we'll be back - if we did go back, maybe it would be for the chopped steak, maybe for the Cactus Blossom, but probably not for the fries.

French Fry Diary 195: Red Lobster 2010

Everyone knows the real reason to go to Red Lobster. It's the bread things, the appetizer cheddar biscuits. At least now the folks at RL acknowledge this and are always on top of bringing more when your basket is empty. Unless you say otherwise, your basket will always be filled, and they even are cool about giving you a generous bag of them to take home afterward.

Now if only they would sell them in stores or to go. They could be rich. Bisquick has a biscuit mix that is similar (the Bisquick Complete Cheese Garlic Biscuits) and there are lots of copycats online, but nothing beats the originals. When you go to Red Lobster, don't forget the bread things.

My most recent trip to Red Lobster was for my dear friend Marni's birthday. Her birthday meal at Red Lobster has been a tradition for well over a decade, dating back to when the menu was completely different, except for the bread things. No matter, Marni and I are big fans of the bread things. She even brought me some when I was in the hospital after my kidney transplant - now that's a true friend.

Anyway, after emptying a couple baskets of bread things, like bringing a knife to a gunfight, I ordered a steak at a seafood restaurant. I ordered the steak mostly because of previous experience here (especially since they changed the menu). The RL folks find it impossible to deliver the maple chicken without the rice pilaf. It's like ordering a plain hamburger at Checkers - good luck.

Marni had told me about two items here she thought I would really like - the onion straws and the peach bourbon barbeque sauce. I got some onion straws on my steak. They were thin, lightly battered, and very good, just might have been better a bit crispier. It's too bad they are not officially on the menu as they are very good.

The current French fries at Red Lobster are natural cut shoestrings, a rarity but also very good when you can find them. I got a double order as I didn't want broccoli. I think it was a good choice. These were very good fries. I wish I could say the same about my raw steak, sooo not medium well. You can say I could have sent it back, but I'm paranoid and think it might have returned medium well, but also with an extra special seasoning as well.

The steak was saved however by the aforementioned peach bourbon barbeque sauce that came with Marni's scallops. This sauce had a very interesting taste, sweet and heavy on the peach, and managed to make the steak edible. Excellent for dipping with the fries as well. It should be noted it's also not on the menu. Maybe Red Lobster is working on its own secret menu a la In-N-Out Burger.

I was really kinda having a good time until the waitress spilled hot butter on my legs. I've been accused of being many things, but never a dead lobster. Hey, at least she didn't stand by while I choked like Winnie the Pooh did. Happy Birthday, Marni!

French Fry Diary 120: National Onion Rings Day

Today, June 22nd, is National Onion Rings Day.

Yeah, I know this is French Fry Diary, but onion rings run a close second to fries when it comes to most loved side dishes, and the rings get more popular every day. Now they will never surpass the favorite fried food, but they are still a favorite.

Some of the best onion rings in my opinion can be found in some odd places. Cheeburger Cheeburger has excellent rings, so does Sonic and Red Robin Burger. The Bloomin' Onion at Outback is amazing and the Potato Onion Web at Orlando's Rising Star has to be seen to be believed. Props also go to Arby's onion peels, Alexia's frozen rings and especially to Bahama Breeze's coconut breaded onion rings. And of course, once you learn the secret to making them at home, nothing beats that.

So what are your favorite onion rings?

French Fry Diary 111: Iron Skillet

After attending the Mid-Jersey Comic Con, we decided to truck on over to the nearby Petro truckstop and have lunch at the Iron Skillet.

The place near Trenton and Bordentown was surprisingly truckstop-ish, but then again what else would you expect from a truckstop? The air was filled with a mix of coutry and western music with a bit of rockabilly added just for fun. It was hard to imagine we were still in New Jersey, let alone close to Trenton.

I was kinda weirded out by the utensils in a paper bag. No Coke, but the Pepsi is served in not just a glass but an additional small pitcher as well. Lots of ice so it’s not as good, or as bad, as you would think. There was a little bit of a wait, but the company and conversation were good.

When the fries arrived, they were served on quite literally on an iron skillet. They were shoestrings, crispy but greasy, nothing spectacular really. These were grocery store frozen fries, deep-fried. Some were quite hard, so hard I couldn’t even stab them with a fork. Hell, I could make fries this crappy at home on a bad day all by myself.

Where were the onion straws that were so good the last time I visited an Iron Skillet? I didn’t see them on the menu. They would have surely made up for these sub-par fries. Iron Skillet – great for atmosphere, and for the soda, but don’t come for the fries.

French Fry Diary 41: Friendly’s Family Restaurant

I haven’t been to a Friendly’s Family Restaurant in quite some time, due to a difference of opinion regarding what constitutes a non-smoking section. In other words, the non-smoking section should not be a row of booths in the very center of the restaurant where everything else is a smoking section. That just doesn’t work. And considering that NJ restaurants have been smoke-free for quite some time – that should tell you how long it’s been since I’ve been to a Friendly’s.

Now onto what we’re here for today, the favorite fried food. In the past, maybe a decade or two back, Friendly Fries (and I believe they may have been trademarked at one point) were among the best available at family restaurant franchises. Thin regular cuts, but not thin enough to be shoestrings, were hot, crisp, tasty and quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, those days and those fries are long gone.

What Friendly’s now offers are what diners used to have before the advent of Invisicoat – greasy, sub-standard regular cuts. Adequate, but then again, often not. The quality and the consistency have vanished. Nobody who liked fries is going to Friendly’s for fries anymore.

Also in the potato arena, Friendly’s has the “Jumbo Fronions and Waffle Fries” with onion rings and seasoned waffle cut potato wedges. The ones I tried were overdone and the seasoning left an unwanted aftertaste. The onion rings were thick - but not thick enough to merit being called thick – and otherwise unspectacular. This again is sad, as twenty years ago Friendly’s had the best onion rings – thin and crisp, just right. And ten years ago they had the Frunions (sp?), which were tasty and spicy onion straws (gone as well). One serving of those was enough for a meal in itself – but this sampler is barely enough for one, and definitely not for two.

Friendly’s is not a complete disaster though. The ice cream is still excellent and they still have those great large (very large) Cokes, as long as they don’t over-ice the glass. But then again, what am I really saying if I say Friendly’s has really good Coke, ya know? The service was less than pleasant, but that’s true of many places. Suffice it to say, if you want fries, drive past Friendly’s.