French Fry Diary 684: Post-Fantastic Four Denny’s

Glenn Walker burgers, customer service, denny's, fantastic four, gar podcast, hash browns, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, movie, ray cornwall, vertical cut, wavy

If you’re a regular listener to The GAR! Podcast, you know the dread and anticipation involved in the new Fantastic Four movie. The comic is my podcast partner Ray‘s favorite, and he’s very protective of the FF. His feeling about the movie has the topic of many episodes (here, here, and here, including a recent one where he watched the trailer live on the recording. This past weekend, we saw it together, and then went to Denny’s to record the newest episode.

Why Denny’s? Because Denny’s is currently featuring menu items that are Fantastic Four specific. There’s the Fantastic Four Cheese Omelet, the Invisible Woman Slam (with hash browns), the hot Human Torch Skillet (with season red-skinned potatoes), the death by chocolate Doom Lava Cake, and the Thing Burger. Of special interest to readers of this blog is that last, as the Thing Burger not only comes with Denny’s unique wavy-cut French fries, but also has crispy hash browns on top of the beef patty. Awesome. Like the Thing. …but what is in that ‘Thing sauce’?

Anyway, the plan was for Ray and I to see the new Fantastic Four movie, and then record an episode of the podcast about it afterward… at Denny’s. This is how it went right here. We both talked a good fight over a bad movie, but eventually ate none of the Fantastic Four food, although the Doom Lava Cake was darned tempting. And how come Doctor Doom gets an item and Reed Richards doesn’t?

Either way, the fries were good, the staff of the Blackwood-Clementon Road Denny’s was extremely cooperative, and it was a pretty good episode of the podcast too. Check it out here.

French Fry Diary 683: The Tot Cart

Glenn Walker bacon, beer, cheese, cook from scratch, deep fried, disney, food cart, frozen, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, make mine magic, Ore-Ida, philadelphia, sarah hawkins miduski, south jersey writers, tater tots, the tot cart, Uncategorized, voorhees

While I’m very close to the city of Philadelphia, I don’t get into the city all that much, so there’s a whole world of food – specifically the favorite fried food – that I don’t get to talk about all that often. I’m talking about food trucks and carts. Unfortunately for the most part they are a city thing, but every once in a while, one will amble over t this side of the bridge.

National Night Out is one of those times. As part of the event, the powers-that-be tried to get everyone to go to what’s left of the Echelon Mall, or as they like to call it, Voorhees Town Center. Face-painting, an outside viewing of Cars, and a variety of food carts and trucks were part of the bait. The food cart in question was The Tot Cart. Their motto is “Gourmet Tots, Straight to You” Come on, how could I resist?

In what is already a flustercluck in parking at the best of times, the powers-that-be made parking into a nightmare by blocking off most of what is usually an empty lot. Is it any wonder the Echelon Mall no longer exists? Malls aren’t passé, but inept mall management is. Enough about what used to be a viable mall, we’re here for the favorite fried food, in this case, tater tots.

I was joined by friend, fellow South Jersey Writer, and sometimes FFD contributor, Sarah Hawkins-Miduski. She had visited The Tot Cart before at another location, and had been impressed. Sadly that was not the case this night.

The signboard in front of the truck offered such goodies as Boardwalk Tots, Drunk Tots, New Bay Tots, Half-Loaded Tots, and Cowgirl Tots, all under the banner of Gourmet Tater Tots. Lots of promise here, most including The Tot Cart’s famous Drunk Cheese. I ordered the Just Tots with the Drunk Cheese on the side, while Sarah got an order of the Half-Loaded Tots. We were prepared for the best, but should have done the opposite.

I had asked if the tater tots were made from scratch, and although the woman in the cart seemed pretty well versed in the making of tots from scratch, she admitted that these were frozen Ore-Ida Tater Tots. I was shocked, and sadly, they tasted like the worst deep-fried frozen tater tots you could imagine. Add in that I suspected they had been cooked quite some time before our arrival, these were pretty bad tots, a solid disappointment.

I did like the Drunk Cheese however, a secret beer cheese, or so they say. The cheese had a thick deep flavor, very tasty and would have gone well with fresh tots, had they been available. This added frustration made me less happy. Sarah was not as unhappy but admitted her previous experience was much better, and she wished she’d had those tots. She also thought the bacon, which was a bit too salty, didn’t add much to her tots. It wasn’t all bad, we talked about upcoming Disney trips as Sarah is a regular listener of The Make Mine Magic Podcast

I was very excited about this outing, and wished the tots had been better. I hope to sample them again at another time, when circumstances might be different, but as for now, I really can’t recommend The Tot Cart, sorry.

A Moment of Silence

Glenn Walker bob lucas, camden, cheesesteak, donkey's place, medford, obit

With great respect, I’d like to ask for a moment of silence for Bob Lucas, the owner of Donkey’s Place in Camden, who passed away on Friday after a battle with lung cancer. In recent years, I have discovered and been blown away by the food, the fries, and by all rights, the best cheesesteak ever, at Donkey’s. The Philadelphia area, and the world, has lost a legend.

Details about the man and his life can be found here, as well as my reviews here. Condolences go to the family, and we’ll see you soon as always.

French Fry Diary 682: New York Reuben Potato Chips

Glenn Walker 2015, caraway seeds, deli, do us a flavor, gyro, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, ingredients, new york, potato chips, rye, sandwich, the bride

Do Us A Flavor 2015 Taste Test #4 – New York Reuben flavored potato chips, submitted by Jeff Solensky:

I have to admit up front, that much like the Gyro, this catastrophically picky eater doesn’t actually know what a Reuben is either. I know, I know, but that’s what Google is for. According to the internet, a Reuben is a hot sandwich composed of corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese on rye bread. It can also include mustard or Russian dressing.

Uh huh. None of that sounds good to this catastrophically picky eater, but The Bride was very excited to try this one, a New York Reuben being right up her alley. And again, the ingredients offer no help whatsoever – Reuben Seasoning tells me nothing. Aren’t there laws that say they have to tell us exactly what’s in stuff?

I was intrigued by this one myself, as this was the only flavor submitted by a restauranteur, and notably one whose place was a deli. When I opened the bag, my eyes almost watered, the smell was so strong and overwhelming. I was not going to enjoy this and I hadn’t even taken a bite yet.

The Bride immediately smelled the sauerkraut and tasted the caraway seeds they put on rye bread. She liked them and said they definitely reminded her of a Reuben. She had more than a few before I even tried them.

All I can say is this was not my thing at all, and did not like this chips one bit. The Bride is solid evidence that some folks might like them, but I did not.

If I put these in last place, Gyro in third, and Biscuits in second, that leaves Truffle Fries solidly with my vote. Which ones would you vote for?

French Fry Diary 681: Southern Biscuits and Gravy Potato Chips

Glenn Walker 2015, biscuits, chicken, do us a flavor, gravy, http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008/kind#post, ingredients, southern, the bride, waffles, walgreens

Just days after I found the first two Do Us A Flavor potato chips from Lay’s, The Bride found the other two, also at a Walgreen’s. So I guess there’ll be no great chase after the final flavor this year, and also, if you‘re hunting them down – Walgreen’s should be your first stop.

Do Us A Flavor 2015 Taste Test #3 – Southern Biscuits and Gravy flavored potato chips, submitted by Hailie Green:

As silly as this might sound coming from someone who likes potato products so much, I’m not a gravy guy. So no gravy on my mashed potatoes, no gravy on my fries, and certainly no gravy on my biscuits. This is why poutine scares me so much, gravy. It’s also why I was annoyed at a friend for a while back in the nineties when he put gravy on my fries. Hey, fries are serious business to me.

Biscuits and gravy however, like a Do Us A Flavor finalist from the past, Chicken & Waffles, is a Southern favorite. Although I actually like both chicken, and waffles, I was willing to give these a chance. Then I saw the bag, with that weird white stuff on the biscuits. That‘s gravy? I thought gravy was brown. Wow, this year’s Do Us A Flavor contest is a learning experience…

Once again, the ingredients reveal very little, as the vague and mysterious “Biscuits and Gravy Seasoning” tells us nothing really. The quote from Hailey Green does imply this is her Grandma’s recipe however. The aroma when the bag was opened was not bad, but I was stymied by The Bride’s reaction after a bite. She wanted to see the bag, “So what are these supposed to taste like?”

I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or not. The Bride concluded that they didn’t taste like they were supposed to, or maybe she’d never had Southern biscuits and gravy done right. I tried one and got the biscuits taste right away, that flavor was flawless, and then a bit of sour cream. This was a very heavy flavor for a chip.

I would definitely put the Southern Biscuits and Gravy potato chips solidly in second place so far. They are definitely better than the Greektown Gyro, but nowhere near as good as the West Coast Truffle Fries.

Tomorrow – New York Reuben!