French Fry Diary 678: Smashburger 2015

I must confess I have not been impressed with Smashburger the last few times I'd been there, and although several have opened in my area recently, I have not really checked them out.

As our usual Sunday night take out dinner has been disrupted by Casa Carollo's becoming the much inferior Marlton 73, so we're taking suggestions and shopping around. Smashburger just opened up within throwing distance right around the corner, so it was in the running. Since we could order online and pick it up, we gave it a shot.

What a surprise! First the order was perfect and on time. We'd always eaten in so I've never seen their packaging. The fries and haystack onions came in cup-like holders that actually stand up on a flat surface, something most fry containers can't do, so props for that. Now the shake and burger were terrific, and I of course sandwiched the onions and fries. Mmmm... good stuff.

Now I have to mention the Smashfries were different. Rather than the usual frozen shoestrings, these were natural cuts smaller than shoestrings but not quite as thin as matchsticks. Quite good. Recommended, will definitely be going back more. Looks like I got my wish.

French Fry Diary 676: Cool Dog Cafe 2015

Friends came in for lunch from out of town, and looking for a great local place to eat, we of course thought of the Cool Dog Café, a favorite of friends and family. We hadn't been there in a while, but checking their website, I saw that one of the specials was the Cheese Fries Burger, I had to try it. I was happy to see they were doing a brisk business. Ira and the folks there are always nice, and customer service is the best.

The Bride got the Stuffed Tater Dog, with tater tots, bacon, sour cream, and scallions, which she really enjoyed, and why not, it had tater tots! Believe it or not, the dog had a real stuffed baked potato vibe. And we of course split an order of Cool Dog's famous fresh cut fries.

I got the burger of the week, which was the aforementioned Cheese Fries Burger. I have always loved Cool Dog's hand-formed Angus beef burgers, so this one with shoestring fries, bacon, and cheese sauce sounded good. I wasn't really in the mood for cheese so I got it sans cheese. Special orders are never a problem.

The burger had a nice thick roll, and the burger was great as always. The art of sandwiching is one I've talked about here before, and these guys do it right, and how can you go wrong with adding bacon?

The shoestrings were nice but I think I would have rather had yummy regular Cool Dog fries, and as a matter of fact, on my next visit to Cool Dog I did just that, sandwiched with those, awesome. Try it, you'll love it. As always, a great time at the Cool Dog Café, thumbs up.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #149

We recently visited Jake's Wayback Burgers again, and The Bride got the Extreme Burger, a burger with French fries on it. She said it wasn't bad.

McDonald's After Midnight, and More

McDonald's has been doing breakfast for over four decades, and for the most part, the rules have always been the same - breakfast is served until 10:30 AM. Then things changed, and McDonald's started going 24/7 and things got blurry with exactly when breakfast really started. Depending on where you went, it was either five or six in the morning. Recently though, the rules changed yet again.

Do you want fries with that Egg McMuffin? Or better yet, the rarer, cooler treat - would you like a Hash Brown to sandwich on top of your burger? Some of the McDonald's, including the one nearest me, started making breakfast available from midnight on, but still ending at 10:30 AM. The After Midnight Menu was a hit, and so it has made the chain consider further action. They're now doing it all over the place.

So if you're hungry after midnight, and your McDonald's is one of those participating, get in the car and go wild!

French Fry Diary 514: Burger King's French Fry Burger

Burger King announced yesterday that they were coming out with a new burger next week, called the French Fry Burger, it's a burger, (you ready for this?) with French fries on it.

Perhaps Burger King thinks it's reinvented the wheel here, but really, putting French fries on your burger is as old as burgers and fries themselves. I've been doing it since I was a kid, and know dozens of other folks personally who do it. It's officially called planking (no, not that planking) or sandwiching, and I've talked about here on the blog many times before. What is ironic is that Burger King's new fries are as conducive to sandwiching as their older fries. Too little too late, BK.

Now there may some novelty in having someone else do it for you, but that doesn't work for everyone. A catastrophically picky eater would never be able to order this burger plain at Burger King. The clerk's head would explode. It's hard enough getting just a plain hamburger, I can't imagine trying to get one with fries on it…

And it's not just customers who have been doing the planking, some restaurants are also getting into the act besides BK. Rally's/Checkers have been doing it for a while with their Fry Lover's Burger, and fancier places have been doing onion rings and strings on burgers for decades. There's nothing new under the sun, or ahem, under the bun.

Special thanks to my GAR! Podcast partner Ray for hipping me to the BK news.

French Fry Diary 455: Smashburger 2013

Here it is, the report from the annual trip to Smashburger on New Year's Day. I had anticipated this year getting together a whole expedition to go from folks at the NYE party the night before, but it didn't work out. Hangovers do that. And the couple we had wanted to come with us passed because of vegan issues.

I countered with the argument that Smashburger had a wide variety of vegan and/or vegetarian offerings, including a veggie burger and several flash-fried veggies as sides. I was told that just going to Smashburger, and giving them their business, would be like saying what they do is okay, and for them - it's not.

I understand completely. No harm, no foul. We're cool. But it did get me thinking. I suppose there are a lot of folks who feel that way, and it made me wonder. Are the fast food burger outlets just wasting their time by making vegan/vegetarian offerings available, when those folks won't be coming in any way? I would love to hear the thoughts of folks out there in the foodie blogosphere.

Now, on to the regularly scheduled annual Smashburger visit. Unlike the last two years we had been here to the Riverside Square Mall location, the place was packed, and hopping for New Year's Day lunch. After placing our order and sitting down, The Bride and I busied ourselves on our iPhones playing the BurgerSmasher game. You can test your skills here making burgers the Smashburger way.

Our shakes came to the table first. I got a big thick chocolate shake, as thick as McDonald's used to have, and Sonic still does. The Bride thought her Oreo shake was very good. They come in a glass, with more in the mixing cup so you know they did it right. In hindsight, this was the best part of the meal right there.

After the last two trips here, I elected to skip the Smashfries this time, in favor of the delicious Haystack Onions. These thinly sliced and deep-fried onions are a bit greasy, but very good. I ordered my Smashburger plain, as usual, but piled some of those onions on top of the patty. Both the burger and the onions were awesome. The burgers are always good.

Of course, the burger and onions only brought to mind the lunch of the previous day, and I have to say, Smashburger paled in comparison to Little Shanty in nearby Warren NJ. Now I hope to get there sooner, but I think next year we'll have a new tradition, lunch at Little Shanty both New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Sorry, Smashburger.

French Fry Diary 431: The Sandwich King's Hand Cut Fries

It's Food Network Friday, so here's another entry and recipe from the Sandwich King Jeff Mauro. In the episode entitled "Hot Diggity Dog," Jeff visits Gene's & Jude's in his hometown of Chicago, where they specialize in a very special kind of hot dog - one smothered in fresh cut French fries.

If I was local to Chicago I would have checked Gene's & Jude's out, but since I'm not, I'll have to depend on Jeff via the magic of television. As per usual on "Sandwich King," after learning how to do it at the restaurant of choice, Jeff heads home to create his own version of the sandwich. Including the fries. Mmmm… fries…

Here's Jeff's recipe for Hand Cut Fries with Celery Salt:

Prep Time: 15 min, Cook Time: 15 min, Level: Easy, Serves: 4 servings

Ingredients: Vegetable oil, 4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed, peel-on, Celery salt, for sprinkling

Directions: Fill a 6-quart heavy pot or Dutch oven two-thirds of the way full with oil. Heat the oil over medium-high heat until a deep-fat thermometer registers 375 degrees F.

Cut the potatoes lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick sticks. Fry the potatoes in batches, until golden brown, 8 minutes per batch. Transfer the potatoes with a slotted spoon to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with celery salt and serve immediately.

Check out the full recipe here. "Sandwich King" airs new episodes on Sunday mornings.

French Fry Diary 416: Herr's Potato Chips with Old Bay Seasoning

Frequently in potato chips circles, the various Herr's products are identified by color. The regular chips are blue foil, barbecue are gold foil, ripples are pink foil, and so on. Today, we're talking about the rare silver foil, Herr's Potato Chips with Old Bay Seasoning.

Old Bay is a frequent seasoning for the favorite fried food and sometimes for chips as well. What many folks don't know is that it's a brand name, and marketed by McCormick & Company. It's a blend of various herbs and spices mostly used for cooking seafood and specifically crabs. That's possibly where the crab taste comes from. It's good stuff. Sometimes I put it on my fries at home.

Here we have it on potato chips. It's a bit stronger than I would like but it does keep you from eating one right after another, just like, well, just like potato chips. That's not a complaint by the way, it's an advantage. A bag of chips lasts longer that way.

These chips are good for sandwiching as well, more fun on a burger than just putting Old Bay seasoning itself on it. I like these a lot for a change of chip pace. Rock on, silver foils with the red crabs on the bag. Thanks for bringing the taste of Maryland to the Philadelphia area.

French Fry Diary 402: Pepper Market, Coronado Springs Resort

I remember this place from my previous stay at Coronado Springs in Walt Disney World for one main reason. The Pepper Market is guarded by a creepy giant pink rabbit. Oh yeah, it looks harmless now, but just wait until you go to sleep.

Pepper Market is at best peculiar. It's a sit down restaurant that doesn't count as such on the Disney Dining Plan, and if you argue or question, they will haggle with you. No, really, this happened. Twice. The ordering and paying methods inside the realm of the giant pink bunny are more than a little confusing. You get tickets from each food station you stop at and then it's totaled at the end of the meal, or the start of the meal, depending. See what I mean by confusing?

And the napkin is a dishtowel. No, seriously, it's a dishtowel. A paper napkin would be both so much more useful, and really, a whole lot less icky.

When I figured out how the place worked, I ordered my usual. The burger was very good, big and thick, and chargrilled while I watched. The woman next to me, with the Fargo accent, was having trouble figuring out the system and I tried my best to help her, but she just couldn't be satisfied. As the cook heard everything she was saying, I have to wonder how her burger tasted.

The burger came with French fries. They were deep-fried shoestrings, probably from the grocer's freezer, and worst of all, they were sitting under a heat lamp for who knows how long. I was not enthused. Luckily I got a fresh batch, and I was amazed to see them toss salted in a bowl (just like Belgian frites!) as they made their way to my plate. That and the huge serving saved them in my eyes. They were hot, crisp and tasty. I even sandwiched some.

The Bride had heard bad reviews of the Pepper Market, and passed on coming with me. From what I saw, I can believe it had bad reviews, but my personal experience that night was very good. I know Ms. Fargo was less than happy, but I did all right with my dinner.

Introducing the Fry Lover's Burger

Whether you call it sandwiching or planking, putting French fries on your burger has now hit the big time. At Checkers and Rally's they will now do it for you with the Fry Lover's Burger.

"What do you get when you take a perfectly seasoned Checkers & Rally’s burger and top it with our famously seasoned fries? You get flavor awesomeness ... that’s what! Introducing the Fry Lover’s Burger. This bold burger starts with a 100% beef, hand-seasoned hamburger patty, then we top it off with Checkers & Rally’s fries, a slice of American cheese, pickles, ketchup, mayo and mustard. After that we toss it on a toasted sesame seed bun and serve it up to you hot and fresh. Getting hungry? Swing by your favorite Checkers & Rally’s and order one from our money-saving, flavor-craving Cha-Ching menu today!"

French Fry Diary 362: Checkers Rally's Famous Fries

I was surprised and delighted to find these in my grocer's freezer section as I like Checkers quite a bit, and with Checkers Rally's Famous Fries, now I can have them in my own home without the run through the drive-thru. Props to the Checkers folks.

Now the directions offer the option to either bake or deep fry these spicy batter coated babies, but let me tell you - don't deep-fry them. Just chalk that one up to I did it so you won't have to. These are not good deep-fried.

Now baked is a whole other thing. Not only is there less grease than deep frying (or even from the restaurant if I'm being honest), but these large shoestrings are near perfect from the oven. You can regulate the crispness, and they are always soft and hot in the inside. The seasoning on the outside make any additional seasoning pointless. These are just great baked.

If you're making dinner, these pair well with a burger, and the fries are skinny enough to stack on the sandwich, and also add that great seasoning flavor to it as well. Thumbs up for Checkers Rally's Famous Fries.

French Fry Diary 361: Checkers

Checkers and Rally's are the same place, and essentially the same food, but here in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, we only have Checkers.

Checkers is predominantly a drive-thru and/or walk-up restaurant, even though there are a few tables outside, I don't think they get much use - its not Sonic. The lunchtime I visited the place was dead, no drive-thru traffic even - which is a shame because the food is pretty good. And notably, the customer service is also very quick, and usually pretty accurate too.

The burgers are big and tasty, although this time it did take some effort to get a plain burger. Speaking of Sonic, I think the shakes at Checkers are thicker and better, and excellent for fry-dipping. They also have the usual fare of chicken, fish, and hot dogs as well, but it's the favorite fried food we're here to talk about.

The French fries at Checkers are long (sometimes very long) regular natural cuts with a thick crispy batter coating, salted and black peppered. This orange colored spicy skin gives them an extra zing and crunch that contrasts the soft hot potatoey insides. These are darn good fries, but make sure you have a beverage handy to balance the heat. It's a good heat though. They're also great for sandwiching and, as I said, shake dipping, which will also cool some of that spicy fire.

The Checkers fries also nuke well in microwave once you get home, at least twice, sometimes three times, making them an excellent drive-thru fry that can be had later. Recommended.

French Fry Diary 341: Wendy's Vs. McDonald's

Wendy's is very proud of their new (are they still new at this point?) sea salt natural cut fries. They are/were so proud that they reached out to the online food blogger community several times to have us try them, compare them, and write about them. On occasion they even sent gift cards so we wouldn't have to pay for the fries and got a free meal of it. For the record, I am not always so swayed by the promise of a free meal and stay honest in my reviews. If you recall, I am not so fond of Wendy's new fries.

Quite some time ago, Wendy's ran a promotion and again reached out, this time to have folks compare their fries to those at McDonald's. They also asked that we take several folks along for the ride and compare them too. Now I ran into a problem. Most of my friends are fairly health-conscious. Me, I do it for love and so you don't have to. So it was very hard to find enough people to not only have one order of the favorite fried food, let along two. The gift cards, and the pending blog entry sat undone for some time.

Recently I decided, in the spirit of "I do it, so you won't have to," I decided to do something about it and do the comparison. I used the cards and quickly found out they had expired - not a problem, I completely understand. Wendy's probably thought I was a deadbeat for not doing the review - it's cool, I would have done that to me too. But anyway, I got my butt in gear and did the comparison. As I thought, Wendy's did not do all that well.

Here are the results...

Staying hot - The Wendy's fries get cold when they get old, and by old I mean about ten to fifteen minutes. McDonald's fries stay hot for some time, and even taste good warm, or cold. Win McDonald's.

Crispiness - While a few limp fries sneak in to both, for the most part they are both crispy. Wendy's do have a more potatoey taste, probably just because they are wider in shape. It's a tie on this one.

Dipping - This where the new Wendy's fries fail miserably, and their old fries would have beaten McDonald's easily. The new fries break and bend when you try to dip them in a shake or Frosty. Mickey D's don't do either, even in the extra thick Frosty, but of course, Wendy's older fries, being bigger than either contender here, could hold more shake. McDonald's for the win.

Sandwiching - McDonald's fries are always good for this type of sandwich planking, but Wendy's fries being flat and steak fry-like are perfect for sandwiching. Win Wendy's.

Reheating - McDonald's fries will reheat once in the microwave, and also bake pretty well in the oven once you've gotten home, and they have gotten cold. As I've noted before the new Wendy's fries, unlike their old ones, and their competitor here, do neither. Win for McDonald's.

That's an overwhelming win for McDonald's French fries over Wendy's new sea salt natural cut fries. Sorry, folks. It would be a whole different story if you had not changed your fries...

Random Tater Pic of the Day #30

Today's random pic come from the webcomic Toothpaste for Dinner by Drew and Natalie. It speaks the truth.

Special thanks to the Dark Crystal and her Tumblr for hipping me to this. Rock on, girl.

French Fry Diary 322: Smashburger 2012

Smash. Sizzle. Savor. That's what it says on the windows at Smashburger, and it pretty much says what the burgers there are all about. They are fantastic. And after re-reading my first review of Smashburger last year, the burger, and the Haystack Onions, are why we came back.

Like last year, The Bride and I were in North Jersey for New Year's Eve -good friends and good fun- and we decided to again hit Smashburger in the Riverside Square Mall in Paramus for lunch. It was just the two of us and we were hungry, as opposed to exploring the menu or writing reviews (although you knew it was coming, I couldn't let you folks down), so we just got the usual fast food staples.

However, remembering the grease factor of our first visit, I ordered the Haystack Onions over the Smashfries, although The Bride did get them. The fries - shoestrings with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic - were as bad as last time. The burger on the other hand was better, an almost perfect roll too, and it was less greasy than I remember, as were the onions. I wished I had remembered to sandwich them though, that would have been great. The Bride still held on to her opinion about the greasy burger while I was thoroughly satisfied with mine. We also shared a terrific vanilla Butterfinger shake.

I walked away from this visit much happier than I did last New Year's, and anxious to try it again. I think perhaps next year we'll make Smashburger an official annual tradition, and invite some of our party mates along as well. Maybe I can convince someone to try the various flash-fried veggies next time.

French Fry Diary 308: The Original Burger King French Fries

When I was a kid, fast food was slow coming to my hometown. In fact, even today, Atco has no fast food restaurants in its city limits. The first to show up in the area was Gino's in Berlin, the next town over, which I've talked about before. We'd had McDonald's up in Lindenwold and down in Hammonton, but that was it as far as choices until the mid-seventies. That's when the McDonald's opened in Berlin, and everything changed.

Where there was McDonald's, there was Burger King, because the burger wars always escalate, and Burger King opened right across the White Horse Pike from the McDonald's. Taco Bell, Wendy's, Arby's, Roy Rogers, etc. all followed in Berlin, but when it comes right down to it, it's always about the big two.

Today, we're talking about Burger King however, the Burger King of my youth, and their original French fries. Burger King recently changed their fries, ending a reign of crappy fries they had had since the early nineties, but before that, they had really good fries, really good fries. When I first encountered BK, I fell in love with their charbroiled burgers, so much better than McDonald's. This is also where I started dipping my burger in my milkshake, BK being best for this practice, and notably best with a plain burger and a black and white shake. This remains the case to this day.

Burger King is also where I started stacking or planking. Those two words might mean something else these days, but to me, and in reference to French fries - stacking and planking, also known as sandwiching is the act of putting fries on your burger, creating a layer of potatoey goodness across your burger. In my years of doing this blog, I have happily found I'm not crazy, and I'm not the only one who does this, or shake dipping for that matter. BK's original fries were perfect for sandwiching.

About those original BK fries, they were shoestrings, similar to McDonald's, only less crispy and slightly more greasy. They were just short of a limp shoestring French fry, but unlike Wendy's new fries, BK's were substantial enough for dipping in shakes without breaking or bending. They were also delicious, and addictive. Whereas the old BK fries, I could barely eat one or two, the originals I would sometimes finish off two orders in a sitting. They were that good. They are still very much missed. I wish they'd bring them back.

Unfortunately, the original Burger King fries, being pre-internet, are extremely hard to get images of, so I have compensated with this blog entry. Find below a vintage BK commercial from the 1970s, plus above a glass featuring the old animated and much-less-creepy Burger King, as well as one of the BK ashtrays that everyone in my high school had snatched from the restaurant and had one in their bedrooms - smokers or not. Enjoy the nostalgia.

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 175: Wendy's Flashback

After my reports on Wendy's changing their fries and then my initial review of Wendy's former fries, I was contacted by someone who worked with the Wendy's company who urged me to re-try the old fries, and then when the new fries came out, try them as well, and compare and contrast. Well, let's be serious here, no one has to twist my arm to eat the favorite fried food, so I went back to Wendy's.

I like Wendy's old fries, heck, I love 'em, regular cuts that simply rock. They're good for sandwiching and especially for dipping in your Frosty. I'm really not sure what else I can say. I could note that over the years, if I had to complain, I have noticed that sometimes they either come too salty or with no salt at all. That could be a complaint of any fast food place but I have noticed it consistently more at Wendy's. But again, I really like Wendy's fries, saying otherwise is just looking for a problem. Even gold bricks are heavy, you know what I mean?

Rather than belabor the point I will instead bore you with a vivid memory of Wendy's from the past. In the mid-nineties I spent a year unemployed. Too picky when looking for work, and too stupid to think I could make a living writing, I took to delivering flowers for a very generous local florist who paid me under the table. It was good work, hard work, and I learned to use a map (in the days before Mapquest and GPS) better than anyone should ever need to.

In all my deliveries criss-crossing two counties to make secretaries and birthday girls and boys happy, I kept passing the same Wendy's restaurant, the one on the Route 38 circle, over and over again. It became a haven, especially around lunch time, for both bathroom breaks and a snack. Strapped for cash (I was still unemployed), I would always get the same thing - a small Coke and a small fry (yeah, I was addicted even then).

A dollar and seventy cents - I still remember that to this day because I got it so much. My stop at Wendy's was always a highlight, an oasis in an otherwise lousy day. And the fries from this one Wendy's were always perfect.

I'll be back tomorrow with my review of the new French Fries at Wendy's. See you then.