French Fry Diary 573: Don Pablo's Mexican Kitchen

Don Pablo's is one of The Bride's favorite restaurants, but we don't go together that often because I'm not really much of a Mexican food guy. That said, the few times we've been to Don Pablo's I have been very happy. The chicken is quite good, and they have fries, so I'm happy.

The inside of Don Pablo's is like a Mexican town square... if a neon tequila bar exploded in it, that is. Dos Equis and Corona are kings here, there's a fountain in the middle and the constant overhead music is neon and appropriately flavorful too. None of these are bad things, I kinda like it, but I suppose if I was here for more than a few hours I might go insane. But for a dinner, it's cool.

We were started off with the corn chips and salsa that we always get as an opener. Again, I'm not a salsa guy but the corn chips were good and warm, could've had more seasoning, but I'm guessing that's the point of the salsa. Any chip that is warm is a plus, and these were, pardon the pun, double plussed.

I navigated the menu, which was worriedly different from the last time I was here and I found some mesquite chicken and got fries as well. The food came very quickly, crazy quick, standing applause for customer service quick.

The topping on chicken was hot, very hot, so I scraped it off (I am a picky eater still) but the chicken breast was very tender and good. The natural cut fries that came with were warm and good but surprisingly underseasoned for a Mexican restaurant. They were very good with the mesquite flavoring on the chicken though.

The Bride got something called El Matador, which seemed like it was a little bit of everything. It was a lot of food, for her, and even for me, and I ended up bringing mine home. It reheated well in both the nuke and the oven. Good meal, both at dinner and later. Thumbs up for Don Pablo's.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #133

This one completely perplexed me. Nathan's was the only counter in the entire food court that had a tip cup. Yes, a tip cup. I couldn't figure out for the life of me what they were doing at Nathan's that was different from anyone else in the food court, let alone any other counter service restaurant of this type. And they certainly weren't very friendly or helpful either - so why tip them?

A Battered Tartan - Temporarily Closed

Shame, but looking forward to going back when they're back in business. You can check out my review from 2012 here, and their website here.

French Fry Diary 522: The British Chip Shop 2013

For our birthdays, and especially our anniversary, The Bride and I planned a Disney vacation - a week long Disney cruise on board the Fantasy, bookended with shorter stays in the area and at the parks. Therefore we weren't really going to do anything big for our anniversary this year, which was the night before we left for vacation.

After getting an email saying they were open again (we were unaware they had been closed) we joked about an anniversary dinner at A Battered Tartan. It had started as a joke because when we had gone before, the thing that had struck us most was how small it was. But the more we thought about it, the more we actually did want to go. We wanted to go so much in fact, we went earlier than our anniversary, on the weekend before.

We should have called, as they actually do suggest on their website. Of course the reason suggested for calling first is to make sure they haven't run out of food, not because they were power washing their kitchen. Yep, that was what the sign that greeted us at their door said when we drove all the way out to Moorestown. We really wanted something edible from that realm, we were off to the British Chip Shop in Haddonfield.

They were open, no problems there, and they were happy to have us. As an appetizer, The Bride got Curry Cheese Chips. These were the near perfect chips (that's French fries for us Americans) that BCS always has, but slathered in curry and cheese. The cheese was Irish cheddar as is only right, and the curry was more in a BBQ sauce vibe, and overpowered the cheese, and the chips were awesome. I'm not one for putting stuff over fries, but this was delicious.

For my entrée, I got my British Chip Shop usual, Chicken and Chips. They were golden brown to perfection. As I said on The GAR! Podcast recently, when I used to be asked who has the best fries ever, I would always say Cookes of Dublin in Downtown Disney, but the quality has gone down the last few times we've had it. Now if you ask, it's the British Chip Shop hands down.

These chips are near perfect, if not perfect. Golden brown crispy shell on the outside and soft and hot, almost mashed potato-ey on the inside. Not too greasy, if at all, always hot, these thicker than usual regular cut natural cuts are the gold standard for fries as far as I'm concerned. The chicken was also terrific: battered, crispy, and succulent. To wash it down, not only has BCS added Coca-Cola products, but also RC Cola, which is what I ordered.

I really have to remember to come to the British Chip Shop more often, it's the best.

French Fry Diary 511: Nathan's Cheddar Cheese Crinkle Fries

These aren't the great French fries that Nathan's has at their restaurants (except for the one at the Moorestown Mall food court, which is inexplicably always staffed but never open when I've been there recently), these are corn meal snacks. I took a pic when I first saw them at Shop-Rite, and finally got around to buying a bag.

They also come in Honey Mustard and Chili Cheese, but I opted for the Cheddar Cheese Crunchy Crinkle Fries, mostly because those first two flavors really didn't grab me. The bag has both the great story and history of Nathan's as well as the ingredient list that verifies that potatoes had nothing to do with these fries.

Basically these are mediocre cheese curls but a lot of effort was put into making them look very close to how regular Nathan's French fries look. It works to a certain extent. The flavoring is uneven on the fries so you get a lot of cheesiness on some and hardly any on others. These are pretty good, but not great. If I want cheese curls, I think I might go for the real thing rather than these.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #107

This one comes from a brunch The Bride and her family attended, including the nephew. The Healthy Garden Café, in Voorhees, also with a location in Moorestown, is a terrific small town restaurant with a mind toward health and gourmet.

The pic is the nephew lunch, the kids platter, Chicken Fingers and French Fries, featuring battered regular cut French fries. Mmmm… fries…

French Fry Diary 492: Perkins Restaurant & Bakery

Flashing back to a few months ago when my friend Ken came into town for a few days, here is yet another Ken entry. As I've mentioned before, not many of my friends are non-health-conscious enough to go on FFD excursions with me, so these trips are usually rare or done solo. Ken, while on vacation, is unofficially also off diet, but don't tell his wife that, wink wink.

We had one lazy day where we both slept in and then worked for most of the afternoon, he telecommuting and me writing at my desk. Around three Ken decided he wanted breakfast. Breakfast at three in the afternoon. If that's not a screaming definition of 'on vacation,' I don't know what is. We went off in search of breakfast.

I had an errand to run up in the Moorestown area so we were in the neighborhood and decided on Perkins. Perkins Restaurant & Bakery is IHoP's biggest competitor in the we-do-mostly-breakfast-but-we-really-want-to-be-Fridays-or-Applebees business, and I had never been there before, so it seemed like a worthwhile place to go. I knew they had to have potato products of some kind.

We were served very quickly, mostly because it didn't really appear to be anyone else in the restaurant. It should be noted that the service was also very courteous and friendly, as well as very welcome and refreshing compared to how Ken and I had been treated earlier in his trip.

Everything on the menu looks good, everything. It looks delicious, water watering, and stomach growlingly tasty. But it's like a rearview mirror, some things look a bit different than they really are. The onion rings for instance, are very different from the only onion ring-like item on the menu. What I wanted was the crunchy little Onion Tanglers they put on their burgers. What I got was big old greasy beer battered onion rings, I was not happy.

I did not try the fries, which were regular natural cuts. They also had standard shredded hash browns, but I opted for the breakfast potatoes instead, another decision based on the pictures in the menu. They looked glistening and hot, but what I got was big chunks of potato with a very crunchy outer skin, almost like batter fries. They came in a large portion, most of which I took home. For the record they also have standard shredded hash browns as a breakfast option.

Lesson learned, know the menu, and know the difference between the picture in the menu and what really comes to the table. Also, either bring a big appetite, or a big doggy bag, because the portions are huge. We'll be back again, maybe this time more prepared.

French Fry Diary 381: A Battered Tartan

I have been dying to come here to A Battered Tartan since I first heard about it. First, it's quite small, a quaint storefront off the beaten track on Mill Street which is right off Main Street in Moorestown. Four tables and a counter, thats it, but it was enough. Not what I expected at all, the British Chip Shop in Haddonfield, this is not, but it is authentic and heartfelt.

As we ordered the man behind the counter wrote our order down and brought out some fresh cut potatoes, drying them. This told me right there and then he knew what he was doing when it came to the favorite fried food. We watched as he made our order from scratch, battering the cod, wrapping the cheesesteak spring rolls, dropping the chips, etc., all in plain view. Oooh, the magic of cooked to order.

While we sat, The Bride and I perused the menu, so many options and possibilities for a next trip, and we knew there would be a next trip. I got an orange Irn Bru (very sweet) and The Bride got a Diet Coke despite the fair selection of UK soft drinks. There were also Flake bars and Mars bars on the counter as well.

The Bride's cod was very good, as was the tartar sauce, and the batter was perfect. The cheesesteak spring roll was even better. Great start. I love this place. There is some contention on their menu in that "we're British & we don't serve fries," I might argue that. While cooked exquisitely, these were natural cut fries. Very hot, very good, served on brown wax paper, and wonderful with the Heinz Gourmet Malt Vinegar on the counter - but let's be kind, these are chips in name and attitude only. And notably, these were not the regular cuts depicted on their website either.

So much to eat, we took some home, and were even told how to reheat it for later. An excellent and enjoyable experience and meal. Also very very reasonably priced. Highly recommended.

French Fry Diary #321: The Boxing Day Expedition

The night of Boxing Day, the day after Christmas here in the States, The Bride, her folks, and I decided to go out to dinner. No one could make up their minds as to where to go, except for me, who had an ulterior motive, so it was left up to me to decide.

I wanted to try a fairly new restaurant in Moorestown that had been recommended to me called A Battered Tartan, a good old-fashioned fish and chips shop. I wanted, you guessed it, fries - or in this case, real British chips. We figured it would be like the last time we went blindly into Moorestown with a GPS, if we couldn't find it, we could always go to Elevation Burger.

I tried calling first, but got an answering machine. We had made up a secondary plan to go to Maxx's, but it seemed that their website was down and phone disconnected, shame, I really liked that place.

We did find A Battered Tartan, but they were closed. We'll be back, as the menu has me excited. As somewhat planned, we ended up at the Moorestown Mall Elevation Burger, having their terrific (this time) natural cut shoestring fries. All in all, a good Boxing Day.