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 641: Trader Joe's South African Style Potato Chips

A recent trip to Trader Joe's I discovered something new in the snack section, a mysterious black bag of potato chips I had never seen before. Officially titled Trader Joe's Potato Chips with South African Style Seasoning, the package promised 'classic potato chips with an exotic smoked flavor.' Well, I'm down with that, into the cart and home they went.

A glance at the ingredients and the back of the bag hype revealed they weren't all that far off from standard barbecue chips. They had paprika, chili powder, garlic, sea salt for a little extra something different, and then things got interesting as they also had seasonings like basil and parsley. This seasoning mix is usually used in fish or poultry when grilled, called in Afikaans, the braai, as barbecues are a social custom in South Africa, much like it is here. How exotic it actually is, I guess we'll find out in the tasting.


Upon opening the bag a not unpleasant aroma rushed out, not unlike barbecue flavor potato chips with maybe some (surprise) basil and parsley thrown in. The actual taste is quite different. I expected a barbecue chip but that doesn't quite come across. It's a big thin crisp chip but the flavor is overpowered by the basil, parsley, and paprika, with just a slight after burn. These are excellent dipping chips for cold dips like ice cream.

These are good chips with a big unique taste, and certainly more palatable than many of the Do Us A Flavor contestants the last two years. Interesting, tasty, and even a bit addictive, these South African potato chips are definitely worth trying.

Toy Story Toons: Small Fry

Bacon Hash Browns

These Bacon Hash Browns come from the Gourmet Traveller blog.

Bacon Hash Browns, makes 12

Ingredients: 3 medium potatoes, 1 small onion, 3 rashers streaky bacon, chopped, 1 tbsp self-raising flour, 1/2 tbsp milk, 1 egg, freshly ground black pepper, vegetable oil (for deep-frying), sea salt

Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and onions and place in a large mixing bowl. Finely chop the bacon and add to the same bowl, together with the flour, milk, egg and a good grinding of black pepper. Mix well to combine.

Heat 3 inches of your oil in a deep pan and place heaped tablespoonfuls of the potato mixture in to fry – you will need to do them in two batches. Deep fry for 2 minutes until the edges start to turn golden then flip over and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Drain on kitchen towels and season liberally with salt.

Eat immediately, or keep warm in a low oven until ready to serve.

You can see the full recipe here

Random Tater Pic of the Day #182

Friend and frequent French Fry Diary contributor Cindy sent this one along from The Keg Room in New York City.

"Hot homemade potato chips at the Keg Room across the street from our hotel in NYC. Total yum. Not at all salty with a spicy blue cheese dipping sauce. Awesome. They totally smoke the Friars Nook."

The Albert Bartlett Rooster Potatoes Commercial Revolution

Recently potatoes have taken front and center place in television advertising. Actress Marcia Cross, the flaming redhead best known for her roles in "Desperate Housewives," and a decade before that "Melrose Place," is at the center of this ad campaign.

Albert Bartlett has introduced a new (well, not so new, but new here) red potato to the United States, neither Red nor Russet, the Rooster Potato is one of their prizes and they're pushing it hard, on TV. They also market the Anya, Blonde Bella, and Sundance Potato varieties.



The above was the introductory ad of this campaign, and the full commercial, looking every bit like it's selling conditioner, is here. Enjoy.

French Fry Diary 640: Ponderosa Steakhouse

There was a time when you couldn't turn a corner in this area without running into a Ponderosa restaurant. They have all gone away. I think I'd have to drive all the way to New York state or Virginia to find one now. I don't know what we did to offend them, but they're gone. One particular old girlfriend and I used to go there all the time, we loved it.

Ponderosa was part buffet, part cafeteria style, part self-serve, and part service restaurant. They were not as classy as, say the Rustler Steak House or the Bonanza, the latter of which is owned by the same company, but it's not like a Burger King either, ya know?

I would always get the same thing, the two grilled chicken breasts and a side of fries, sometimes the chicken would even come with a barbeque sauce. And when I wasn't in the mood for fries (it does happen), Ponderosa made absolutely awesome baked potatoes. As crazy as this must sound, and as many times as I was there, I don't think I ever once got a steak. Or if I did, I went right back to the chicken, I liked their chicken that much.

The fries at the time, this would have been waaay back in the 1980s, were simple regular cuts, and as I remember you got a pretty good portion. Looking at their current menu online, the baked potatoes look just as awesome, and the fries are pretty much the same, just natural cuts with the addition of some pepper as well as the salt.

From all indications, Ponderosa seems to be more of a buffet type place now, as opposed to what it once was - more Golden Corral than Rustler. Maybe someday I'll get up to NY or down to VA, or maybe on the next trip to Orlando because I saw one there too, and find out.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #181

French Fry Diary 639: A Double Shot of Martin's

My friend Marni does a bit of traveling regionally, and when she does she is always on the lookout for new and different potato chips. A recent excursion brought two different kinds of Martin's potato chips to my attention.

Martin's is local to the south central Pennsylvania area, and make a variety of salted snacks, but that's not unusual, this area is hot with chip companies, especially those created after the Second World War. Martin's has a certain distinction as being a Presidential favorite, served on Air Force One several times.

The first bag was Martin's almost redundantly named Kettle-Cook'd Hand Cooked Potato Chips. Their claim to fame is that they're done the 'old fashioned way,' slow cooked one batch at a time. Very crunchy, they have a clean taste, which was refreshing. Great for dipping. Thumbs up.

The second bag was Martin's Bar-B-Q Waffle Potato Chips, which were, according to the packaging, 'bursting with flavor.' In this case, waffle is just another word for simple ripple cut chips. They are flavorful though, a nice heat with a bit of an aftertaste bite.

These chips also appeared to be slow cooked to that same crunch mentioned above, making them, with their ridges even better for dipping. These are awesome dipping chips.

This was a good delivery from potato chip Pennsylvania, thanks, Marni!

Random Tater Pic of the Day #180

For the last day of the TCM Classic Cruise, at breakfast at Lumiere's, my luck finally ran out. We still got that terrific grilled ham, but they were all out of the roasted red breakfast potatoes. Here come those big ol' hash brown planks. It's cool, the ham was great, but I am sad the cruise is over. Maybe we'll do the next one...