Onion Rings at Square 1

Thursday (tomorrow!) is National Onion Ring Day, so Square 1, who every Wednesday has a $4 special on their fabulous onion rings, is extending that special through another day to celebrate. Well worth a visit, these onion rings are among the best I've had.

Happy Valentine's Day from New York Fries

Random Tater Pic of the Day #254

Cow Appreciation Day 2016

It's that time of year again at Chick-fil-A, Cow Appreciation Day! This year it falls on Tuesday, July 12th - tomorrow! So get yourself some sort of cow mask, costume, whatever, wear anything cow-like (you can find ideas here) and get on over to Chick-fil-A for some free chicken! And while you're there, don't forget to get some of those great Waffle Potato Fries!

Join the Fry Society!

Just in time for French Fry Day, if you join The Fry Society before July 12th, 2016, you'll get free fries at New York Fries. Details can be found here. Mmmm… fries are always better when they're free...

Cow Appreciation Day 2015

It's that time of year again, Cow Appreciation Day this year is July 14th.

 If you dress up in full cow costume, you get a free meal from Chick-fil-A. Details are here.

Don't forget the waffle fries!

Cruiseable Fries

"Tuscan Grille's fillet with house-made fries provides a filling way to end your day aboard a Celebrity cruise." 

This is from the new Cruiseable site, a new website with a mission to "make it much easier to discover and book great cruise vacations — and to have a little fun in the process," as co-founder JD Lasica puts it. 

A quick look around shows an ambitious site that doubles as a travel publication and a "cruise discovery engine." We thought we'd share some of the things we spotted that might be useful to you in planning your next getaway:

Cruise discovery: Cruiseable lets you browse through thousands of beautiful images of ships and destinations — accompanied by trustworthy travel journalism instead of marketing hype.

Technology: The website's filters atop any page help you zero in on the cruise that fits your style and budget. Coming in early March: the Cruiseable mobile app for iOS. 

Photo sharing: Their team downloaded, organized and optimized more than 10,000 photos from the cruise lines and tourism organizations — and made them available to travelers to use or share through the Cruiseable Galleria. Any traveler can add her own images to the mix. 

Travel guides: Cruiseable's travel writers and editors have put together dozens of smart travel guides, port guides and ship overviews. "In creating these, we've drawn inspiration from Trip Advisor, Fodor's, Lonely Planet and Pinterest," Lasica said. Check out their guides on Cozumel, the Galapagos, Puerto Rico or Bermuda.

Bonus!

Readers of French Fry Diary can use this discount code — XH784 — for a $50 per stateroom onboard credit (the equivalent of shipboard spending money) for any cruise or land vacation booked on Cruiseable between now and March 17. Head to Cruiseable, read, discover, learn, plan, dream, create a wish list — and if you want to cruise, just click Book now.

Fries for Keeping Away the Vampires

If you go to Red Robin tomorrow for Halloween until 5 PM you'll be able to get $3 off your lunch if you upgrade to their New Garlic Herbed Fries. Restrictions apply, and at participating restaurants only.

Free Fish and Fries!

If you get on over to participating Long John Silver's this Sunday, from 11 AM to 3 PM, you can get free fish and fries. Looks like lunch is all taken care of this Sunday by America's fish fry!

French Fry Diary 583: The Mystery of Burger Chef

I've been doing this French Fry Diary in one form or another for over a decade. And even before then I considered myself something of a connoisseur of not only French fries but also fast food. I have always known the ins and outs and even the arcane knowledge of the fast food joints in the area. Imagine my surprise when I found out about a local chain that I not only never heard of, but I had also been inside of, and dined at. This is the mystery of Burger Chef.

AMC's "Mad Men" has brought this specter back to life recently in their final season, as Burger Chef is actually one of their potential clients. The weirdest part for me is that the local Burger Chef was a stone's throw from where I live now. Burger Chef in Marlton NJ was right behind where Kohl's is now. The big store was formerly a Bradlee's, a Jefferson Ward, and at the time of Burger Chef - a Two Guys. Man, the nostalgia is killing me.

Burger Chef started in 1954 in Indiana, and from there expanded throughout the United States until 1982 when General Foods, who owned the chain, sold off all the restaurants to Hardees. They had a very distinctive sign, stylized like McDonald's or In-N-Out Burger, instantly recognizable. They created the first fast food combo meal, and before Roy Rogers did it, they offered a bar where you could dress your own burger. They had their own animated mascot called, what else but the Burger Chef, and his sidekick Jeff. They had a ball at Halloween, and engineered some great promotions with properties like Family Circus, King Kong, and Star Wars, among others.

Apparently blocked out of my memory is the fact that I had actually been to the Marlton location, and perhaps the Hammonton one on the White Horse Pike as well, as a little boy. My big sister and her husband/then-boyfriend used to take me. Even then I was a catastrophically picky eater, and Burger Chef offered a burger called a 'Plain Jane.' It was as you may have expected, a plain hamburger that you could (if you wanted) dress at The Works Bar. I don't remember it at all, but I wish they were still around.

You're waiting to hear about the favorite fried food though, aren't you? Well, it's hard to say, as I don't remember. From fuzzy images online and even fuzzier ones on video, they look to be either shoestrings or regular cuts, and while they look good, who knows? This was several decades ago. Below is a YouTube montage of some of the Burger Chef television commercials, and if you're interested in the Marlton NJ location of Burger Chef, click here for an entire website about it, cool stuff.

Cow Appreciation Day 2013

Chick-fil-A has had some bad times in the last couple years. As I have said before, just because the owner is a twisted misguided man, doesn't mean that everyone in the company agrees with his opinions. There are some very cool Chick-fil-A franchises locally that fully support gay marriage and are in fact owned by gay families with gay employees. So, don't believe the hype.

Anyway, tomorrow, July 12, 2013 is the annual Cow Appreciation Day. Go into your local Chick-fil-A dressed as a cow and you get free food. And whatever you do, don't forget those great Waffle Potato Fries!

And as long as we're talking free, don't forget that today is Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven…

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 Name's the Thing at Sofa King

Seriously, I can't be the only person who wants to know what liquid nitrogen milkshakes and Aretha Frankenstein's onion rings are like. I wonder what kind of fries they have?

French Fry Diary 341: Wendy's Vs. McDonald's

Wendy's is very proud of their new (are they still new at this point?) sea salt natural cut fries. They are/were so proud that they reached out to the online food blogger community several times to have us try them, compare them, and write about them. On occasion they even sent gift cards so we wouldn't have to pay for the fries and got a free meal of it. For the record, I am not always so swayed by the promise of a free meal and stay honest in my reviews. If you recall, I am not so fond of Wendy's new fries.

Quite some time ago, Wendy's ran a promotion and again reached out, this time to have folks compare their fries to those at McDonald's. They also asked that we take several folks along for the ride and compare them too. Now I ran into a problem. Most of my friends are fairly health-conscious. Me, I do it for love and so you don't have to. So it was very hard to find enough people to not only have one order of the favorite fried food, let along two. The gift cards, and the pending blog entry sat undone for some time.

Recently I decided, in the spirit of "I do it, so you won't have to," I decided to do something about it and do the comparison. I used the cards and quickly found out they had expired - not a problem, I completely understand. Wendy's probably thought I was a deadbeat for not doing the review - it's cool, I would have done that to me too. But anyway, I got my butt in gear and did the comparison. As I thought, Wendy's did not do all that well.

Here are the results...

Staying hot - The Wendy's fries get cold when they get old, and by old I mean about ten to fifteen minutes. McDonald's fries stay hot for some time, and even taste good warm, or cold. Win McDonald's.

Crispiness - While a few limp fries sneak in to both, for the most part they are both crispy. Wendy's do have a more potatoey taste, probably just because they are wider in shape. It's a tie on this one.

Dipping - This where the new Wendy's fries fail miserably, and their old fries would have beaten McDonald's easily. The new fries break and bend when you try to dip them in a shake or Frosty. Mickey D's don't do either, even in the extra thick Frosty, but of course, Wendy's older fries, being bigger than either contender here, could hold more shake. McDonald's for the win.

Sandwiching - McDonald's fries are always good for this type of sandwich planking, but Wendy's fries being flat and steak fry-like are perfect for sandwiching. Win Wendy's.

Reheating - McDonald's fries will reheat once in the microwave, and also bake pretty well in the oven once you've gotten home, and they have gotten cold. As I've noted before the new Wendy's fries, unlike their old ones, and their competitor here, do neither. Win for McDonald's.

That's an overwhelming win for McDonald's French fries over Wendy's new sea salt natural cut fries. Sorry, folks. It would be a whole different story if you had not changed your fries...

French Fry Diary 304: The New Burger King Fries

New Burger King French Fries are coming, or perhaps I should say they are already here.

I guess they didn't want anyone to compare and contrast the old and the new fries like Wendy's did when they switched fries last year. The new fries were already in most restaurants even though they weren't supposed be introduced until December 5th.

My good friend Marni hipped me to the change so I made arrangements to check out the new fries. This was a weird experience as I haven't ordered all that many fries at BK since they changed to the Invisicoat battered shoestrings that I hate so much.

Again I was surprised to find the change had already gone through, and that no one had the old fries any more. Other than one poster advertising a free fry day later in the month, there was no promotion or fanfare about the new fries. Quite honestly I didn't even think the employees were aware of it. When I asked about it at the counter, the clerk had to get a manager and ask her. No old fries left, good riddance, on to the new ones.

The new BK French fries resemble Roy Rogers regular cut fries actually, only they still have that crappy Invisicoat coating although not as much of it. I have to say they do taste a little better, as long as they are hot. Notably once I got some of them home, they did not nuke or reheat in the oven well at all. They are good for dipping but too thick for stacking in a sandwich.

Now, according to Burger King, these new fries are low sodium (despite how salty they appear to be and taste as well), and there's nothing wrong with that, if it's true. The problem is they also claim that the coating makes them not only crisper, but also stay hotter longer, and I know for a fact that that is just not true. Things like that make me wonder how much else is true or not. But then again, it's been so long since I've had BK fries, perhaps the old ones were even worse at staying hot.

It is an improvement over the old ones, but not much of one. I am glad they didn't go the route of Wendy's and go natural cut. Everyone is doing that these days and there are just not enough regular cut fries out there. If BK was going to change their fries though, why not go back to their original shoestrings though? They are sorely missed. Well, at least if I go to Burger King now, fries are at least a possible option now.

If you want to try out the new fries for yourself, BK is offering folks a free taste on December 16th. I've told you what I think, let me know what you think.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #6

It's that time of year again when Herr's Potato Chips become His Potato Chips. Happy Father's Day!

Free FryDay

Tomorrow, March 4th, isn't just Friday, it's also FryDay - Chick-fil-A Free FryDay!

Celebrate the national launch of Heinz' new Dip & Squeeze ketchup at your local Chick-fil-A restaurant!

On Friday, March 4th, 2011, from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM, get one free medium order of Chick-fil-A Waffle Potato Fries when you mention you're there to try the new Heinz Dip & Squeeze ketchup.

French Fry Diary 176: Wendy's New Fries

After a very busy week, I finally got around to trying Wendy's new French fries this weekend. The Bride and I checked out the Mount Laurel Wendy's on Route 73, the same one we tried for the old fries a few weeks back (but posted yesterday).

I was surprised to see all the promo material for the fries already up. I had visited Wendy's more than a few times in the last couple weeks and had seen no evidence that there was even a change in the wind, especially not in the TV commercials currently pushing the new dollar menu. One might think new fries would be big news. Finally it was here inside the restaurant.

At the counter we were greeted by a gentleman, a real charmer, perhaps new, who wasn't the most pleasant person, I'm sad to say. I'm sure he'll learn. I got the number one, which was a Single Combo, not always the best choice for me as I like my burgers plain and sometimes the employees can't grasp that concept. It worked out fine this time.

Between The Bride and me, we had a large and a small order of Wendy's new fries. These were, as advertised, natural cuts, but with a distinctive shape. At first glance they appeared similar to the old fries, but closer inspection proved them flatter, almost like miniature steak fries. The signage proclaimed 'with sea salt,' which I looked forward to, but I barely tasted it. The bottom line is that yes, these new fries are very good, and would even be better if they were a bit crispier… but Wendy's old fries are still superior to them.

Speaking of the salt, an odd fiasco happened while we sat eating the new fries and watching Michael Vick and the Eagles tear up the Giants. A woman with a service dog got into it with our friendly counterperson about the fries. She wanted fries without salt and he pretty much refused to drop a new batch. From what I heard he was insisting that he could refry them and the salt would burn off. I don't think the woman fell for it, but I couldn't be sure as Vick scored again for the Eagles.

But back to the fries… One area unfortunately where Wendy's new fries definitely fail is in the Frosty dipping department. This is vital, and a major reason to go to Wendy's (at least for me) over other fast food places. These new fries are so thin/flat that they break or bend when you dip them into the thick goodness of the Frosty. Dipping is no longer an option. This is not a good thing.

I also ordered a small order of the new fries for the road. Hot and crispy and good for car-munching on the way home, but alas, once home - these fries did not reheat well in either microwave or conventional oven. For the record, the old ones did, just like their burgers and chicken nuggets still do.

Final verdict - these new fries are good, but not as good as the old ones. Extra points come off for the Frosty problem. Perhaps Wendy's might decide to offer both kinds of fries? That would be a good solution.

Gino's Grand Opening

Just a reminder, folks, the recently reviewed Gino's Burgers & Chicken is having their official Grand Opening tomorrow - Sunday, November 14th at their King of Prussia PA location.

Come on down between noon and three in the afternoon and get the new Gino Giant at 1970s prices (that's fifty-nine cents!), limit one per customer. And there's a ribbon cutting at 1:30 PM. Check it out!

French Fry Diary 158: Chili's

It's been years since I had gone into a Chili's but The Bride and I were lured in recently by their two-entrees-plus-an-appetizer-for-twenty-dollars promotion. The ad was playing, and still is, non-stop on television, and the food just looked too good. Never say that these kinds of promotions don't work, because now Chili's is a regular dinner destination.

For our appetizers, on the recent visits we have gotten both the Texas Cheese Fries with Chili, and the Crispy Onion String & Jalapeno Stack. The former is an order of Chili's standard Homestyle Fries but topped with cheese, chili, jalapenos, onions and best of all, bacon. Not my style, but not bad, and bacon always makes things better. The latter are some terrific onion straws with a small handful of batter-fried jalapenos thrown in. The few jalapenos are easily identifiable for those (like myself) who aren't fans and the onion straws truly rock. Recommended.

For my entrée I have always gotten some form of the Chili's Chicken Crispers. These are larger than usual chicken tenders with just enough crunch and just enough tender (for me anyhow) and served with a killer smooth barbeque sauce. For my sides I usually get the juiciest sweet corn on the cob I've had in a while, and of course, the fries.

Chili's Homestyle Fries are very crispy natural cuts sprinkled with salt and pepper. Crispy on the outside but they are still hot and soft inside. These are fantastic fries in their subtlety. You won't stop eating them, and the barbeque sauce goes even better with the fries than with the chicken crispers. And best of all, because the portions were so big, I took them home, and all reheated well when baked in the oven.

To top off the meal, Chili's has these one dollar wonders called Sweet Shots. These are shot glasses filled with all the goodies to make any of the following flavors - key lime pie, red velvet cake, warm cinnamon bun, and warm double chocolate fudge brownie. Wow, ultimate dessert.