Random Tater Pic of the Day #106

Here's one of fellow writer Patti O'Brien's meals while she was in Valencia, Spain.   She got the McPullo, but she didn't order those fries.

You can check out her travel blog, A Broad Abroad, here, and follow her on Twitter here.

French Fry Diary 483: Authentic Irish Food

Friend and fellow writer Patti O'Brien recently took a trip to Ireland, as chronicled in her terrific travel blog A Broad Abroad.

Despite knowing what I write about here almost every day, she absolutely refused to take any pics of potato products, even though Ireland, as we all know, is all about potatoes and chips.

She talks about the Irish chips, but we don't see them. She does offer up some pictures of the food here, but no chips.

However, if you look very closely at the second image, up in the left hand corner, three fries.  Months in Ireland, dozens of pics of food, many many pubs, and only three fries.  Hmmm...  

All that aside, Patti is a terrific writer, and I urge you to check out her blog here. You can also follow her at Twitter here.

French Fry Diary 312: Burger King Chicken Fries

Running around holiday shopping, I needed a break, and decided to kill two birds with one stone - I went to Burger King. I was hungry, wanted to give the new fries a second chance and I also wanted to give the Chicken Fries a review. I went through the drive-thru and got a #7, the Chicken Fries meal.

The henhouse (my term) the Chicken fries come in was designed at the same time as the FryPod, and comes with a built-in slot for the dipping sauce - but its bottom is square so it doesn't fit all that well in the cup holder.

Speaking of dipping sauces, Burger King offers buffalo, barbeque, zesty, honey mustard, ranch and sweet and sour varieties. That said, I prefer the dip of my choice for most BK foods - the black and white shake. Your mileage, and flavor, may vary.

The fries themselves resemble mini mozzarella sticks more than they do fries, and while they are tasty, they have more breading than actual white meat chicken. The breading also has a bit of a spicy kick to it, not unlike the breading on the chicken sandwiches I love so much at Burger King.

That brings up another point. I wouldn't normally order these as BK has so many other great offerings. The Chicken Fries are great for a snack, a side, or to share. My assessment of the new Burger King fries however, has not changed. I wish I had gotten onion rings instead.

French Fry Diary 234: Mon Ami Gabi, Las Vegas

Today's Somebody Else's Fries comes from the Bro-in-Law who recently went to Las Vegas on business.

He took this picture of his steak frites at the impressive Mon Ami Gabi restaurant at the Paris Hotel. He pronounced these fries as "Amazing!"

French Fry Diary 233: Philly Steak & Gyro Co.

This one is sort of a Somebody Else's Fries entry. The family was on the northeast extension, the Allentown Service Plaza, coming back from the Poconos. This isn't the greatest rest stop in the world, a food court surrounded by a handful of tiny counter restaurants. Among them were Roy Rogers, Cinnabon, Starbucks, Auntie Anne's, Basset's Original Turkey, Hershey's Ice Cream, Famous Famiglia Pizza, and the Philly Steak & Gyro Co.

The Philly Steak & Gyro Co. has over a dozen locations including this one, but surprisingly no website, so I can't give you one. Perhaps that's a good thing. Cheese fries were ordered and shared by The Bride and the mom-in-law. Just based on the amount of time they (and all the food for that matter) took to prepare, they should have been perfect. Such was not the case.

The cheese was very watery. I didn't try them, because they really didn't look so good. As you can see from the picture, they were regular cuts, deep-fried and dropped into a Styrofoam pool of that cheese water. They were hot, and had "genuine" cheese on them, but the mom-in-law said she didn't taste much cheese. I'm glad I had Roy Rogers myself. After seeing these, I think I'll stick to Roy's.

The French Fry Holder

Truly, 'tis a thing of beauty.