French Fry Diary 658: Logan's Roadhouse

We had a late night dinner option open on our first night in Celebration, Florida, and we had a few choices. We tried to pick something from Urbanspoon, FourSquare, and traveling up and down the Irlo Bronson Memorial Highway. We could go back to Steak 'n Shake, maybe go to a real, open, Ponderosa Steakhouse, or try something new. We went with the third option and ended up at Logan's Roadhouse.

I at first I thought this was the only one, but quickly realized this was a chain, not that there's anything wrong with that. It was certainly the happening place to be the Friday night we went, parking lot packed, neon lights everywhere. Just like the old Lone Star Steakhouse, which has sadly moved from our South Jersey/Philadelphia area, there were peanut shells all over the floor. A bucket of peanuts was at our table, and we were subconsciously encouraged to throw our shells on the floor. Allergies be damned!

The menu and atmosphere was pretty typical for the Lone Star, LongHorn, Outback, Texas type restaurants, which was fine with me. We got the tower of onion rings, which is actually a call back to Red Robin or Chickie & Pete's but still terrific. The Southern Onion Tower, as they called it, was a tower of onion rings on an upright stick with two sauces, southern dipping and ranch. These were big, thick rings with a crunchy bread crumb coating. They were delicious and we ate them all.

Of course, that would have been better with utensils and especially napkins. We had to finally ask for them. Our waiter was not the most attentive we have ever had. It was quite a long wait for refills on our drinks and water. When we finally got them, he was not endearing himself to us. The Bride said 'thank you,' and he replied with a huffy and dismissive 'mmm hmm.' It was almost a verbal finger snap.

I ordered the chopped steak, medium, but it was more rare than anything. If that was medium, I should have asked for well done. The fries were natural cut shoestrings, very crunchy and good. The fries I liked a lot. I would have liked more of those, but because of the huge portions, we took most of our meal back to the hotel.

Our room was equipped with a microwave, so we had leftovers for lunch the next day. The nuked chopped steak was perfect, but the fries did not take so well. That said, I am sure they would have been better reheated in a conventional oven. All in all we liked the food very much, but the customer service not so much.

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 296: Zinc Café

This is where we went for The Bride's birthday this year. She had a late night at work and then a Pineland Players meeting so we had to schedule dinner in a tight schedule and also do it somewhere in Medford so we would have time. I got online with Urbanspoon with my iPhone and found the Zinc Café, a place with perfect timing and location that we all agreed on.

The Zinc Café is kinda tucked away on Stokes Road, so if you don't know where it is, you might miss it, but you'll also be missing out on one of the best local restaurants around too. This was a rare find indeed. It's a little small, but you can also eat outside. It's cozy, and a little dim, but it's great atmosphere. Small town meets fancy coffee shop, friendly and cool, I liked it a lot.

The menu has an amazing selection, both healthy and bad for you, both simple and exotic. No Coca-Cola products but they had Boylan instead. My cane cola was a welcome change of pace. They also had appetizers of thin crispy breadsticks that tasted like matzo, very addictive. I could have been happy just with the soda and the sticks.

The Bride and her mom got salads with some amazing add-ins, and we were all surprised by the crisp, fresh and colorful vegetables. The Bride got a grilled cheese sandwich (it's what she wanted for her birthday) with a few cheeses I couldn't pronounce. I got a burger (surprise), which was just terrific, and of course, with the burger were fries.

The French fries were natural cut shoestrings, another sign of high class, at least by this fry guy's estimation. They were very crispy, and had a certain kick we couldn't quite identify, but it was a good kick. All in all, it was a wonderful experience. I really think I have found a new favorite restaurant.