French Fry Diary 718: Waffle House

On our most recent trip to Florida house hunting we had to stop for breakfast, and rather than something easy and predictable like McDonald's or Chick-fil-a, we opted for somewhere we'd (or I'd) never been before, and a staple of our new chosen place to live - Waffle House.

My expectation was something franchise-y in line with maybe Denny's or IHoP, but that's not what Waffle House is like at all. It was really more diner-ish than anything else, and filled to the brim with southern charm and hospitality. I loved it.

The menu showed an interesting take on hashbrowns (how they spelled 'em on the menu), disc-shaped, almost as if by cookie cutter or burger maker, but that's not what we got however, and honestly, while I was intrigued by the menu pics, I was not disappointed in what was served.

These were shredded potatoes, well cooked, but still moist and soft within. I got them plain, while The Bride got them with melted cheese. I have to admit they did need something, I at least salted mine. It's a good thing they have a variety of hashbrowns toppings like sautéed onions, chunked ham, diced tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, chili, and gravy. Or in the vernacular - smothered, covered, chunked, diced, peppered, capped, topped, or country.

I also got ham, but before I could order, I had to ask - what is the difference between city ham and country ham? Our waitress Stacy, full of wonderful truck stop charm, broke it down for us. City ham is sweet and country ham is salty. I got the city ham, which was awesome, and washed it all down with some Mister Pibb, mmmm…

The Bride also got a waffle, because really, you can't go to Waffle House and not get a waffle. And I loved ordering with Stacy, it was a great negotiation as what could work as a special or a meal deal. "Just tell me what you want, hone, we'll make it work." I loved it. We will definitely be going back to Waffle House.

French Fry Diary 258: Homemade Sweet Potato Fries

I was at Trader Joe's (yes, again), and I saw these sweet potato spears in the vegetable section. Now while the packaging said, "Premium Sweet Potatoes Peeled, Cut and Ready to Cook," my devious mind thought, "Wow, I bet I could deep fry those!"

The Bride thinks that's a cry for help, but I think it's culinary creativity. Let's just not think about the fact I think about deep-frying most food. The directions on the back of the bag want you to bake them, but I'm just obsessed.

Of course, if these really were 'homemade,' as I say at the top of this blog entry, you would have to peel and cut the sweet potatoes - so just for our purposes, we'll just pretend we skipped a few steps.

I popped them in the deep fryer thinking I'd just do 'em like I always do my fries - par-fry, shock-fry, drain, then munch. After giving them the first fry, it occurred to me I wouldn't known when the sweet potato fries were golden brown, after all they were already orange at least! I went until they were almost black and looked crispy - but test-tasting determined they were not.

I decided enough was enough and plated them. The Bride thought they were way overdone but pronounced them good. Yeah, I made her try 'em first. They were done and pretty good, but I thought they needed something, but I wasn't sure what would be appropriate. Sugar or salt? Barbecue sauce or something sweeter? Thoughts?

French Fry Diary 46: Nifty Fifty’s

The first thing that strikes one about the French fries at Nifty Fifty’s is the variety. Their fries come in cheese, spicy, spicy cheese, chili cheese, spicy chili, BBQ beef, BBQ beef cheese. I’m guessing you see a pattern here and I know there could be more if they tried, just based on the listed combos. Their chicken nuggets have similar varieties. On first impressions it might seem like they are trying to cover something up with these elaborate toppings – and they are.

The fries are natural regular cuts, nothing spectacular, while similar to Five Guys in appearance they are nowhere, I repeat, nowhere near as good. I got just regular fries with none of the toppings but there was still a hint of seasoning, maybe just bad preparation. The fries were lukewarm and soggy, from both grease and condensation. These were just really bad fries. No wonder they offer so many toppings to cover the fact up.

Nifty Fifty’s also has onion rings. These are big thick chunks of onion rings, obviously ‘home-made’ as advertised and evidenced by the haphazard way they have been battered – and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. These were more onion than batter and had a pleasant Italian seasoning to them.

The rings were cold when I got them home (less than ten minutes in a closed bag), much as the fries had been just moments after I ordered them. One just assumes food should be hot when you order at drive-thru. I’ll give NF the benefit of the doubt and say the rings had time to cool. Onion rings rarely nuke well so I put them (seven of them in the one order) in the oven for a few minutes. They’re pretty good, not great. In all honesty I think I could make ‘em better myself at home.

So the rings are okay, and the fries bad, and the chicken nuggets questionable. If any of those are on your stomach’s agenda, I suggest you steer clear of Nifty Fifty’s.