Midge Ure's Breakfast in America

Friend and French Fry Diary contributor Robin Renee brought this one to my attention.

Midge Ure, formerly lead singer of new wave eighties band Ultravox (among others) posted this pic to his Twitter, saying, "Breakfast in America. Serious health kick when I get home....!"

Thanks, Robin!

And just because, here's "Sister and Brother" by Midge Ure, featuring the amazing Kate Bush. Enjoy.

French Fry Diary 526: Trattoria Cafe, Holiday Inn

This was the first time we had stayed off property on a trip to Walt Disney World, and in truth, it was only the first stop on a lengthy but sweet vacation. While The Bride did her charity thing with Give Kids the World, we stayed at the Holiday Inn, Main Gate East, in the midst of an amusement complex.

We were across the street from not only a Red Lobster, but also a huge rainbow lighted tower that we could see from quite some ways away before we arrived. That would be the world's tallest SkyCoaster at Fun Spot, for those wondering.

The first morning, after a hellacious night of delays and driving aimlessly while the GPS was trying to find its way, I went to breakfast. In the Trattoria Cafe/Food Court there was a choice between Continental Breakfast and the Complete Breakfast. Anyone who travels often knows that Continental is code for cereal and do it yourself toast. I went for the Complete with hot food, 'cause you know, I wanted breakfast potatoes.

In this case, the breakfast potatoes were large diced natural cut potatoes. They were nicely golden brown though not crispy or crunchy as they might appear, but soft and succulent, with a slightly hot seasoning.

The problem was, while they were fried, and probably delicious while hot, these were only just warm, and that from the buffet style heat lamps that were on them. The good news is that they were buffet style, and seconds were hotter.

The bacon was good (but then again when is bacon not good?), and the waffle station provided a hot breakfast treat. All in all, not a bad breakfast. On a morning where I was not feeling my best after some rough travel, it was enjoyable.

French Fry Diary 519: Plum Crazy Diner

Usually on the agenda for Sunday mornings with the Maryland in-laws is breakfast at Bob Evans. But just for a change of pace, we tried the Plum Crazy Diner in Westminster, a place our hosts had not been to in some time.

The outside has a very bright pop modern look but inside it's a pretty typical looking diner - only bright pink and purple on the outside. I really dug the sign near entrance that read: "If you are grouchy, irritable or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge for putting up with you." Although, it should be noted, my mood that morning dictated I owed them at least twenty dollars, maybe more.  I'm not really a morning person.

I wasn't very hungry either, so I just ordered one piece of French toast, and of course, home fries. They were large diced natural cut potatoes, just warm, as if they'd been under a heat lamp rather than baked or deep-fried. The French toast wasn't bad at all, but like the potatoes, only just warm.

The brother-in-law as usual got his home fries well done. They looked the same except that they had probably been in the deep fryer for a flash fry. They looked well done, which they were, but also looked greasy, which they were not.

We pretty much all agreed the breakfast was at best mediocre, but like the night before, the company was good, so the food wasn't all that important. Maybe next time we'll come down for lunch or dinner, as the Plum Crazy's claim to fame seems to be steaks and shakes.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #61

This one comes from my good friend Andrea via FourSquare, hash browns from Waffle House, that she described as "Diced and covered and awesomely tasty."

French Fry Diary 405: Pepper Market Breakfast

One of the last mornings of our family Walt Disney World trip this March I went with the parents-in-law to breakfast at the Pepper Market, the home restaurant at Coronado Springs. I already told you about dinner there here, and couldn't wait to try their breakfast.

Now while the entrance to the Pepper Market is guarded by a creepy giant pink rabbit, the dining area is watched over by, among others, a giant Latin American bird god. The décor of Mesoamerica is thematic to the resort so it fits, but let's be real, these giant sculptures kinda freaked me out a little. The bird god especially. It was like the sensation of being watched while you eat, only a hundredfold. Creepy.

It's a good thing the food was really good. Much like dinner, there are numerous serving and buffet stations where different types of breakfast were available. This fine morning I was able to get both wonderful red potato wedges with onions and red and green peppers, and the same terrific diced breakfast potatoes that Disney always does so well. These were steaming hot and near perfect, as were the strips of thick bacon I got to go with them. This was a great breakfast, and an excellent coda to another wonderful WDW trip.

French Fry Diary 394: Chef Mickey's, Disney's Contemporary Resort

When it comes to the infamous Character Breakfast at Walt Disney World, one place comes immediately to mind, and is the great granddaddy of the event, because they do it the best, and they do it right. I'm talking about Chef Mickey's in Disney's Contemporary Resort. You all know the Contemporary, it's the giant A-frame hotel near the Magic Kingdom with a Monorail station right inside the hotel. The characters that come right to your table there are the big ones - Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip and Dale, the A-team. And from what I can remember, the food was pretty good too.

As it was the nephew's first time at WDW, we just had to do the Character Breakfast at Chef Mickey's, no way around it. The way it works is you sit down and the characters (just the big five now, I guess having Chip and Dale was a little too much like having rats begging for scraps, I guess…) come to you. One at a time, Goofy, Mickey, and the whole gang come and visit you, with or without kids, and cavort. Cavorting includes dancing, pantomiming, posing for pictures, and even signing autographs. The nephew was thrilled, smiling like it was crazy town. He loved it. He even broke into dance himself spontaneously. Now that's some kind of happy.

The food was buffet style. Our waitress was Melinda, who handled drink orders, explained everything, kept the party going, and basically saw to our every need. If you could tear yourself away from the Mickster and friends, there was a generous selection of breakfasts, some Disney exclusive, at the buffet to choose from, and that also included some decadent desserts.

In the favorite fried food category there were more than a few choices, but before I get there, it should be noted that we had real bacon that morning as opposed to the shredded bacon pieces we were served at Sunshine Seasons over at The Land in EPCOT. In the potato department they had those planks of processed potato that look similar to McDonald's Hash Browns but are sooo not. The sign over them called them 'potato crisps,' which was kinda appropriate because they tasted like bland cardboard Pringles. I took one, had a bite, and didn't have any more, that bad.

Luckily there were other types. I also tried the creamy breakfast potatoes which were shredded hash browns baked in a creamy cheesy butter sauce and had a crispy top. Not bad, not my cup of tea, and besides they also had the tradition Disney diced and cubed breakfast potatoes. Lightly seasoned to a golden brown, soft and potato-ey and hot, and mixed in with chopped onions and peppers and fried. Disney breakfast perfection. On the menu a 'cheesy bacon potatoes' was listed but could not be found.

Café Mickey's is still one of the best breakfasts in WDW. All this and a show too, what a deal. And of course, the nephew had a terrific time. That made it all worth it right there.

French Fry Diary 392: Sunshine Seasons, The Land, EPCOT

The Bride gets very overzealous when it comes to Disney World. She got it in her head that we had to be at Epcot at god awful o'clock in the morning. Extra magic hours, she called it. It just meant they were open earlier for resort guests. So we rushed out, no time for breakfast, mind you, although I had been Jones-ing for that trademark Disney breakfast potatoes and bacon, and we got to EPCOT when they opened.

After doing Test Track several times (the family, not me, I have a heart condition, remember?) we were all pretty hungry, but we started to realize there wasn't any place to eat for breakfast. After consulting various apps on our iPhones and asking real human Cast Members, we were directed to the food court at the Land. The Land, on my first visit to WDW, and on my honeymoon, had terrific fries but they have since changed them. Same thing with the mac and cheese The Bride used to love. No matter, we were there for breakfast, not lunch or dinner.

The Disney Dining Plan is a wonderful thing. When you are going out to restaurants where you sit down, it rocks. It is highly recommended, especially for those experiences, I love it. However, when trying to decipher the mysteries of what constitutes a snack, or a counter service, and what you are entitled to on each… I swear you need a slide rule. What I eventually got from the Plan for breakfast I don't actually know, but I do know I walked back to my table carrying a tray with bacon and breakfast potatoes.

I was a tad disappointed in the bacon, and the bro-in-law really hated it, but since I had been waiting for bacon for nearly four hours, it was good enough for me. I received a good-sized cholesterol-threatening lump of bacon on a tiny paper plate. No real strips of the wonder food, but more like shredded pieces of it in a big mound.

The favorite fried food came in the form of diced red potatoes with just a bit of onion and pepper, served on the same sized plate as the bacon. They were soft and delicious with golden seasoning. The serving I received was quite small compared to the giant helping of shredded bacon I got, but it was still quite good. Looking at other folks' plates who got the full breakfast, I felt better as I still got much more bacon and potatoes than they did.

Still, all things considered, the family had a good breakfast, and we were all re-energized to go take on Soarin' and the rest of EPCOT.

French Fry Diary 367: Helsinki Street Fries

I just recently was writing again about my trip to Finland in 2007, this time for my new gaming blog (The Non-Gamer's Gamer's Blog, shameless plug, clicky-clicky), and it got me thinking about the night of the 2007 Eurovision Final, and my encounter with Helsinki street fries.

The Bride and I went to Helsinki, Finland in 2007 to see Eurovision, as I said. There was only one ticket so I sent the wife to see it live while I watched on television with a group of friends. We agreed to meet up at the gigantic train station in the middle of the city and rude back to the hotel together.

Well, Eurovision is a big deal in Europe, especially in the city where it happens so afterwards the streets were full of people celebrating and having a good time. Picture New Year's Eve in Times Square at midnight, but without the crime, the attitude, or the confetti. The train station and the street outside it were packed, so walking was slow.

As we shuffled slowly past a food cart, we decided to get a snack, mostly because the aroma was so tempting. The Bride, brave thing that she is, got some sort of mystery meat on a stick. I suppose she liked it. I saw what I wanted right away - you guessed it - the favorite fried food.

Gloriously they came in a small paper cone with a plastic fork. These were skinless diced potatoes, cut into one inch by one inch cubes and deep fried. Best of all, they were very hot, almost too hot to eat. They were very good and made the rest of the walk to the train a treat - more than any walk hand in hand with The Bride usually is, you know. Wink wink. I would love go back to Helsinki again someday, and maybe get some more street fries.

Photos by my friend John Donges, who also took the trek to see Eurovision, thanks, man!

French Fry Diary 306: Burger King Onion Rings

When Burger King changed their French fries for the worse several years ago, that left me in a quandary. I loved Burger King, loved their burgers and their chicken sandwiches and especially their shakes, and sadly their introduction of Coca-Cola products over Pepsi coincided with the crappy fries. So much to enjoy, but no sides to enjoy them with.

Fear not, unlike many of its major competitors, Burger King also has onion rings, and they're not bad. These aren't traditional onion rings however as they're composed of diced onion and shaped into rings approximately the size of a half-dollar and deep fried with a crunchy breaded coating. Over the years the size has varied, getting smaller at times and now the sizes go from dime to half-dollar size in one offering.

As a bonus, because they are cooked at the same station, sometimes a fry will find its way into an order of rings and vice-versa. This is known as a 'ringer.' Once again, like the FryPod, much thanks to Burger King for adding to the lexicon and vocabulary of the mythology of the favorite fried food.

It should be noted that the BK onion ring is also excellent for dipping in milkshakes (although fries and burgers are preferred), and also for stacking in sandwiches. Great stuff. I would rather have had the old original BK fries but their onion rings are a great substitute. Thumbs up.

French Fry Diary 97: Reflections for Breakfast, Harrahs, Atlantic City

Reflections is one of the main casual restaurants at Harrah's in Atlantic City. Again, as with any trip to the casinos, there is the problem of when any given restaurant is actually open. The hours are so sparse and confusing that each restaurant has a sign in front of it with its hours for that particular day. I kid you not, it’s that bad. I have an image in my head of a monkey with a hat full of numbers and that’s how the opening and closing times are chosen.

I’m beginning to think that there is really only one dining and kitchen staff here at Harrah's because when I called the concierge to find out what was open for breakfast – Reflections was our only choice. And when confronted lightheartedly with my monkey analogy, the man at the end of the phone became Queen Victoria with a "We are not amused" attitude. Gotta love Harrah's.

Breakfast, I ordered pretty much my regular, including home-fried potatoes and bacon. These breakfast potatoes were diced potatoes, well cooked and not greasy, and soft and tasty. Actually very good breakfast potatoes for this type. There were mystery strands of grass throughout them though that I could not identify. Harmless but unidentifiable.

The bacon however was mostly inedible, crispier than kettle cooked potato chips. That’s the petrified bacon to the right of the potatoes there in the pic. After mentioning it to the waiter, these charcoal crisps were replaced by slightly less crunchy bacon. Sigh. This must be how the chef cooks bacon I suppose. If I come back for breakfast, maybe I’ll just ask for my bacon raw and see what I get.

Speaking of coming back, I probably should, though for dinner or lunch next time. The menu mentioned something that made me perk up immediately – 'endless fries.' Next time, friends, next time.

French Fry Diary 89: Bob Evans Home Fries

When we visit in-laws out in the wilds of Maryland, we usually will hit Bob Evans for breakfast one morning. It’s just about tradition. They always have good breakfast food – bacon, hotcakes, French toast, and breakfast potatoes. And of course, free refills on Coke.

Beside hotcakes and bacon (and Coke) I also ordered a side order of Bob Evans Golden Brown Home Fries. These diced and fried red potato chunks have been quite good on previous visits, but were only semi-warm this time. Still they were good. Someone else got them well done and they looked good (almost blackened, but not burnt) as well, and were reported as tasting that way too. Bob Evans knows how to do breakfast potatoes.

Based on previous trips to this Bob Evans I recommend the home fries, especially when they’re hot. Good stuff.