The Fast Food Strike

The big story today in the world of fast food, predominantly realm of the French fry, is the fast food strike.

Workers at many of the major fast food outlets - including McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC, Taco Bell, and many others - are choosing to protest and/or walk out today as a measure to gain higher wages.

Fast food restaurants unfortunately are notorious for their minimum wages and low pay rates. Some workers cannot afford rent or to take care of themselves or their kids. Think about that next time you order fries at your favorite fast food place.

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.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #114

 

This one was sent to me by friends Dom and Cindy and their family while on vacation in Walt Disney World. Coming soon, they also sent proof that Friar's Nook does in fact actually open sometimes. Look for it, and thanks, guys! :-)

Random Tater Pic of the Day #113

Both my friend Marni, and Patti O'Brien, sent this pic my way, the fanned baked potato.

It comes with a very simple recipe: peel the potato (or not), cut almost all the way through, drizzle with oil, butter, sea salt and pepper, then bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes. Enjoy.

French Fry Diary 513: On the Border

Mexican food is just not my thing. So when friends suggested we go to On the Border for a late meal, I was concerned. I didn't think I'd find anything to eat there, but I did, and that's not counting the French fries on the kids menu. I just wasn't in the mood for the reaction of the server if I ordered off the kids menu, so I adjusted.

There were Avocado Fries on the menu. Hmmm… not tonight. We did in fact get chips as a table appetizer, not of the potato variety. These corn (?) chips for salsa dipping were to start the meal off. The chips were warm, I liked that, but I didn't dip. Like I said, I'm not a Mexican food guy. I ended up getting a grilled chicken dish, minus the massive chunks of hot cheese. It came with some sort of potato product at least.

These red garlic potatoes, sliced and spiced, were served under a sizzling grilled chicken breast. It sizzled for a good couple minutes, awesome. The potatoes are quite crisp in places, very hot, in temperature and spiciness. I really wish there were more. If that's the worst complaint I have - that's not really a complaint, is it?

All in all, it was a very good dinner, and a fun night out with friends. Maybe next time I'll get those kids meal fries and see what they're like.

French Fry Diary 512: Barcel Chips A la Diabla

I like spicy. I like barbecue. I like a bit of heat. Unless of course, it gets too hot. That's why I was afraid of these potato chips.

As is sometimes the case with potato chip products, it has a looong name. The full name of the item is Barcel Chips by Papas Toreadas A la Diabla Kettle Cooked Potato Chips. If subtitles count, and they do here because the words have so much power, they are 'Red Hot Pepper flavored.' Somehow I don't think they're talking about Anthony Kiedis or Flea. These are made in Mexico, where they know heat.

Despite the bag's visual and literal bravado however, chile is just one of several ingredients listed under flavoring. We'll see. Upon opening the bag, there was an aroma of heat, but nothing to knock anyone out. What struck me first was how dark the seasoning on the chips.

I let The Bride be my guinea pig and she took the first chip. I wasn't throwing in front of a bullet, mind you, she volunteered, and does have a higher tolerance for hear than I do. She didn't think they were that hot, but she did forbid me from giving any to my cat Spooky, so they had to have some kick. She compared the heat to chip dipped in heat rather than the heat actually being on the chip, if you know what I mean.

My turn. The Bride thought they might be too hot for me. They were very crunchy, and after the second chip, I thought maybe I was worrying about nothing. After the third however, the burning began. Again, by only eating one chip, The Bride proved her intellectual superiority over me. These are HOT.

These chips are very hot, so have something cold to drink nearby. That said, I think these would be great for dipping in ice cream or a milkshake. If you like heat, you will love Barcel's Chips A la Diabla.

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.

French Fry Diary 510: Olive Garden Parmesan Potato Chips

On a recent dinner outing to Olive Garden, I found something really cool on the menu. Parmesan Potato Chips. Called a favorite in Italy, these are thin potato slices, lightly seasoned, with a creamy Italian cheese dip. The Bride, my cheese expert, proclaimed it tangy, pretty good, and offset the chips well.

I liked them, very tasty. They were thin enough to be chips and thick enough to have some potato meatiness to them. Near perfect chips. And as much as I like Olive Garden bread sticks, these chips were nowhere near as, as in not at all, as greasy as the sticks.

If I had any complaint it would be there wasn't enough. but this was a 'small plate,' they need to make it a large plate. These were really good, thumbs up.

National Potato Day 2013

August 19, 2013 is National Potato Day!

Potatoes have been popular parts of diets around the world for centuries.

Did you know that more than 45 billion pounds of potatoes are harvested in the U.S. each year?

We use them to make baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, home fries, French fries—the list is endless!

Potatoes are not only tasty - they’re good for you!

They contain high levels of important vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin C, potassium, and iron.

Today, enjoy potatoes prepared your favorite way to celebrate National Potato Day!

How will you be celebrating today?

Source: Punchbowl.com Reason To Celebrate Daily Mailer, and the Just Potatoes Yahoo! Group.

Random Tater Pic of the Day #112

Everyone loves French fries, even America's favorite serial killer. Dexter and date enjoy peanut butter and Nutella fries on the latest episode of the Showtime series.