Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers: Every since they opened up a location near my work, I have been itching to go eat at Freddy's. Today I finally managed to do it.
Early inquiries to others that had already been there generally garnered responses that were something akin to: "It's a lot like Steak & Shake."
It's not.
I personally find Steak & Shakes burgers to be pretty mediocre. So much so that on the rare occasion that I do end up at a Steak & Shake, I don't order one. [1]
Freddy's burgers are nothing like Steak & Shakes. Which isn't to say that they are better (or worse really) but more to say that they are a completely different brand of mediocre.
The meat in my burger had been smooshed so thin as to be essentially non-existent. I didn't pay attention to exact amount of meat promised me, but whatever amount it was they got every millimeter of surface area out of that they could. Much like the picture on the menu promises, the meat did hang over the edges of the bun by a substantial amount. I'd rather they had taken that extra inch in circumference and added back onto the burger proper.
The fries at Freddy's were very similar to S&S. Personally I am not a fan of shoestring fries. So, I didn't find them to be that enticing, but if you do like ultra thin fries, these seemed to be of a serviceable variety.
Near the counter where you pick up your food, they had dispensers of "Freddy's Fry Sauce". It is a vaguely pink/orange color that tasted to me like mayonnaise with a very small amount of ketchup in it. Much less ketchup than your typical "special sauce" or thousand island dressing. So it was really kind of just mayonnaise. Which was okay. But then again I like mayonnaise a lot. However, it certainly wasn't anything that I need to rush out and get again.
I opted to switch out my drink for a shake made with their much touted frozen custard. I got the chocolate variety. When it first arrived, it was so thick that even the straw provided was insufficient to get any of it to my mouth. And that is saying something as the straw they give you is nearly half an inch wide. [2] A half hour later, after my meal, when I got back to my place of work, it was just starting to be drinkable.
The ultra-thickness of the shake was not itself necessarily a negative. I'm fine with eating my shake by using the straw like a spoon if needed. But the flavor was again, nothing to right home about. It was completely ordinary. Which given the rest of the meal was what I thought might save the entire Freddy's experience. Because let's be honest, the real reason you go to Steak & Shake is the shakes.
The atmosphere at the restaurant wasn't great. Nobody looked like they were having a good time or enjoying themselves. This includes the employees and the patrons. [3]
As for the price, it was pretty high. I got the number 1 combo, swapping a shake for the coke and it cost nearly $12. For $12 I could have gone to Cheeseburger Bobby's and had a fantastic burger, great fries, a drink and a shake/sundae that was superior as well.
Freddy's slogan is "The taste that brings you back."
Not likely. [4]
Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers: C-
[1] - I often get a patty melt.
[2] - And yes, I measured it.
[3] - It was kind of like what I imagine the waiting room to purgatory is like.
[4] - Alternate ended to this post: Freddy's slogan is "The taste that brings you back." Add the words "to Cheeseburger Bobby's" to that and it's true.
Showing posts with label Dessert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dessert. Show all posts
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Disney Food
Here, in one giant post, is a grade for all of the food we ate on the Disney trip.
Each entry tells: the food I ate (what restaurant I got it at/where that restaurant can be found) a brief review, and then the grade.
Day 1 Breakfast:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pop-Tart, (the box of pop-tarts/my hotel room): cheap breakfast for the win.
Pop-Tart: B-
Day 1 Lunch:
Reuben Stromboli w/ Caesar Salad, (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): I like a Reuben [1]. I like a stromboli. Seems like the two together should be a pretty tasty combination. The crust had a few random holes in it, so that when you bit into the stromboli, thousand island dressing would come oozing out the holes like some kind of food world gunshot wound. It made things kind of messy, but overall it tasted fine. The Caesar salad was awesome. [2]
Reuben Stromboli: B-
Caesar Salad: A
Day 1 Dinner:
Buffet (Crystal Palace/The Magic Kingdom): The food was okay and forgettable. I had several different things, but all I can remember is boiled shrimp w/ cocktail sauce, some kind of roast meat [3], paella and a cucumber salad. There was more but like I said, it was forgettable. There was a buffet full of desserts too: chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, lemon tarts, key lime tarts, tiny cheese cakes, apple cobbler and more. The best part was that they had Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger walking around and meeting folks. You could get your pick with them and such. The Bear gave Piglet and Pooh a hug. He gave Eeyore and Tigger a wide berth.
Buffet Food: B-
Buffet Dinner: B+
Wandering Pooh Characters: A- [B if you're the Bear.]
Day 2 Breakfast:
Same as Day 1
Day 2 Lunch:
Fish and Chips (Yorkshire Fish Shop/Epcot Center [UK pavilion]): The fish was fully covered in greasy fried goodness. The chips [4] were fat and hot. There was tarter sauce, but no cocktail sauce. [5] For dessert you got a giant sugar cookie. There was also a squad of ducks pandering for castoffs. They got quite a few chips from us before we noticed the "Don't feed the ducks" sign.
Fish: A+
Chips: A-
Sugar Cookie: B+
Day 2 Dinner:
Roasted Chicken w/ Potatoes (The Chefs de France/Epcot Center [French pavilion]): Though we arrived early, we got seated pretty quickly. There were only about four options and while I'm not too particular, my actual choices that I was willing to choose from were pretty small. French Onion Soup for an appetizer. It was awesome. As good as the French Onion Soup I had in Paris. [6] The Pook and I debated asking if we could cancel our main dishes and just have more soup. Baked chicken with potatoes and a smattering of gravy and broccoli. The chicken was fine. It was pretty good for chicken, but then it was chicken so, meh. The potatoes were actually quite tasty. I'm not one to go gaga over potatoes, but I actually quite enjoyed these. The gravy was great, but like most "fine dining" restaurants you didn't get nearly enough of it. The broccoli was whatever. For dessert I had profiteroles. Basically, small puffs of pastry with vanilla ice cream between them, doused with chocolate sauce. I seriously debated getting the chocolate mousse but the waiter recommended these. They were quite tasty, but I really love me a chocolate mousse and afterward I wished I had gotten it. [7]
French Onion Soup: A++
Baked Chicken: B-
Potatoes: B+
Broccoli: C+
Profiteroles: A-
Day 3-5 Breakfast:
Cherry Cheese Danish (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): It was the size of a 45. [8] And so awesome I had it every morning for the rest of the trip. The Bear got a Pain au Chocolat, which is essentially a flaky croissant type of roll with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce in it. He took the tiniest of nibbles and declared he didn't like it. [9] So the Pook and I finished it off for him. [10]
Cherry Cheese Danish: A
Pain au Chocolat: A-
Day 3 Lunch:
Barbecue ribs (Flame Tree Barbecue/Animal Kingdom): I know, there's something contrary to eating ribs in a park all about animals, but hey they were right tasty and I really appreciated them. Our guide book told us to eat here and it was not wrong. The ribs, as stated, were excellent. It came with some coleslaw that was sub-par, some baked beans that were awesome and for desert the Pook and I decided to split between us a Chocolate Mousse and a Key Lime Pie [11]. However, after we each had tasted both, I ate all the rest of the Mousse and she had all the rest of the Key Lime. Which wasn't unusual at all for me (cause Chocolate Mousse is awesome) but was strange for her since she usually is anti-tart desserts in general and anti-Key Lime Pie in specific.
Ribs: A-
Coleslaw: C- (I didn't even finish mine.)
Beans: A
Chocolate Mousse: A+
Day 3 Dinner:
African Buffet (Boma/Animal Kingdom Lodge): I will admit from the outset that I wasn't really looking forward to this meal. I wasn't dreading it or anything, but I had a strong suspicion that I wasn't going to enjoy it too terribly much. The restaurant "Boma" has a buffet of various dishes that are supposed to either be African in origin or at least African influenced. There were four different meats. I found two of them (chicken and something else that I've already forgotten) to be just meh. The beef was okay and the pork was quite tasty. There were four different soups, but I only had one of them. It was essentially a spicy chicken soup akin to chicken tortilla sans the tortilla. The other three soups were non-starters [12].
Then there were a variety of side things. I tried a little of this and that. The guide book recommended the watermelon rind salad, so I took some of that. But the one bit I put in my mouth didn't stay there very long. It tasted nothing like what you would think watermelon rind salad should taste like and everything like bad. I tried to spit it out without the Bear noticing. Nothing else was memorable enough to remember.
There were again a bunch of desserts. The highlight for me was the Kenyan Coffee Tarts and as I usually can't stand coffee that was odd. The Bear ate chocolate chip cookies and wished for ice cream.
Boma buffet overall: B-
Watermelon Rind Salad: F
Chicken Soup: B+
Kenyan Coffee Tarts: A-
Day 4 Lunch:
BBQ Hot Dog (Casey's Corner/Magic Kingdom): There was a bun. It was much bigger than your average hot dog bun. There was a giant pile of coleslaw and there was a giant pile of pulled pork barbecue. I suppose there must have been a hot dog in there somewhere, but you certainly couldn't taste it. Don't get me wrong, the barbecue was right tasty, but I was craving a good dog. I should have got the chili cheese dog that the Pook ordered. It was the same giant bun but with a lake of chili and cheese. Either way it came with a pile of fries too. The fries were average.
For dessert I got a brownie which was prepackaged and okay in its own prepackaged brownie kind of way. The Bear and the Pook got cotton candy. [13]
BBQ Hot Dog: B+ [14]
Fries: B
Brownie: B
Cotton Candy: A
Day 4 Dinner:
Chili Nachos (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): Our dining plan only paid for five dinners, so we had to slum it for one dinner. We decided to go cheap and eat at the hotel. [15] I had the nachos even though they looked kind of weird. But the menu board said the were homemade chips so I gave them a try. They came with ample amounts of the usual assortment of nacho toppings. When I got to the table I found that they were not nacho chips at all, but instead homemade potato chips. Which was strange but okay. The biggest problem is that they were seasoned with something that made them taste like barbecue potato chips. That was kind of off putting. So once I ran out of nacho toppings, I quit eating the chips. We may have had some kind of dessert, but I'm drawing a blank.
Chili "Nachos": B-
Day 5 Lunch:
Pizza Bread (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): Just as we only had five prepaid dinners, we also only had five prepaid lunches. So after spending a hot morning/early afternoon at Disney's Hollywood Studios we went back to the hotel for lunch. Judging by how often everyone else ordered it, the hot dish at the restaurant was the Pizza Bread. It came from the same line that my Stromboli from day one did. It was pretty standard french bread, sauce, cheese and pepperoni. As an added bonus, it came with the same Caesar side salad as the Stromboli as well. Only this time the salad was not nearly so good. The service however was just as bad as the first day. This time there were two ladies, one of which was leaving and thus couldn't be bothered to do more than a minimal amount and the girl just coming on shift who clearly didn't like the girl leaving telling her what to do and thus took it out on us customers by sucking at her job.
On the plus side, after lunch we got giant ice cream sundaes from the ice cream counter. Mine had mint chocolate chip and chocolate ice cream, toffee, chocolate fudge, cherries and two gummy worms that I have to the Bear.
Pizza Bread: B
Caesar Salad: B-
Ice Cream Sundae: A
Day 5 Dinner:
Ohana Dinner Buffet (Ohana/Polynesian Resort): You start off with a salad that has honey-lime dressing [16], pork dumplings and chicken wings. Then for the main course you get some noodles, stir-fried vegetables and all you can eat pork, beef, chicken and shrimp that have been cooked on their giant grill. The waiters bring the meat around on skewers much like a Brazilian restaurant and give you all you want. The salad was okay as were the wings. But as I didn't want to fill up on them, I didn't each much of them. The dumplings were awesome, even though they had honey drizzled on them. I think I ate four. The noodles were no good, too much of some seasoning for my taste. The Pook said she thought it was ginger. The vegetables were standard. Of the meats, the first round of meats we got were hot and juicy and awesome. The second round were mostly overcooked and not so awesome.. The shrimp are giant and unpeeled. I must have eaten twelve or so.
For dessert there was a bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and a banana caramel sauce. I'm not usually a big fan of things with bananas cooked in them or of bread pudding. Nevertheless the Pook and I finished the whole thing and all of the Bear's leavings. [17] I contemplated pouring the remainder of the caramel sauce straight into my mouth, but ultimately restrained my self.
Perhaps the worst part of the experience was the "floor show". A Hawaiian lady gathered all of the kids and had them do a race around the restaurant with brooms and coconuts. Then she taught everyone a Hula Dance. Both of which were fine. Her condescending demeanor however made the whole thing seem annoying and interruptive. [18]
Honey-Lime Salad: B-
Chicken Wings: C+
Pork Dumplings: A-
Noodles: D+
Stir Fried Vegetables: C
Pork the first time: A
Pork the second time: B-
Beef the first time: A-
Beef the second time: C+
Chicken the first time: B+ [19]
Shrimp Every Time: A+
Bread Pudding with Ice Cream and Banana Caramel Sauce: A++
Day 6 Lunch:
Quiche Lorraine (Boulangerie Patisserie/Epcot Center [French Pavilion]): I got the Quiche Lorraine [20] and the Pook got a ham, cheese and bechamel on a baguette sandwich and then we went halfsies. The quiche was very good. The sandwich was okay. For dessert I got a chocolate tart. It was amazingly good. Though a tad large because by the end I was a little over done with the chocolaty goodness.
Quiche Lorraine: B+
Ham Sammie French Style: B-
Chocolate Tart: A
Day 6 Dinner:
Pork Chop (Akershus[21]/Epcot Center [Norwegian Pavilion]): The Pook had fond memories of this restaurant from when she had eaten here with her parents as a kid. Among other things was the memory of butter pats pressed into Mickey shapes. Sadly the butter pats were gone, but they've been replaced with a lot of princesses.
For an "appetizer" you can eat all that you want off of their appetizer buffet. The buffet has enough on it that you don't actually need to order anything else. I had salami, muenster cheese, salad, cucumber salad, and several other things that I no longer remember.
My main course was a pork chop with lingonberry sauce, potato casserole, and asparagus. The pork chop was the size of my head and a bit over cooked to my taste. When it is served anywhere else in the south, the potato casserole would have been called hash brown casserole, but nevertheless was pretty standard. The asparagus were grilled and as good as you could ask asparagus to be.
For dessert you weren't given a choice. Instead they brought you a plate with Chocolate Mousse Cake, Apple Cake and Rice Pudding. The Chocolate Mousse cake was as good as the words chocolate mousse profess it to be. The apple cake was a bit dry and thick. Even though rice pudding is evil, I dutifully tried a tiny bit. I think I only shuddered once.
The real draw of this restaurant is that it is filled with Disney Princesses. You get your picture taken with Belle when you first enter [22] and then Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Mary Poppins all wander around the room chatting with everyone and getting their pictures taken. The Bear wanted nothing to do with any of them. Pook got her picture taken with all of them. [23]
Appetizer Buffet: B
Pork Chop: B
Potato Casserole: B
Asparagus: B
Chocolate Mousse Cake: A
Apple Cake: C+
Rice Pudding: D-
Well there you have it. Way too much info on the food that we ate. If you bothered to read this far, give yourself a pat on the back. I'm gonna go see if I can find anything close to a chocolate mousse.
[1] - In case you don't know, a Reuben is corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing, usually on rye bread.
[2] - The service at the counter that prepared the food was horrendous. The guy taking orders had the short term memory of a goldfish. The next day I saw him cleaning off tables. Just sayin'.
[3] - The kind where a guy dressed like a chef (but who actually had nothing to do with cooking the food) slices you off a bit of the whole and lays it on your plate with his knife and two pronged fork thing.
[4] - French fries to you unwashed heathens.
[5] - There was ketchup too, but I'm not much of a fan of ketchup.
[6] - Actually I had French Onion Soup several times in Paris. Most days it was great, but on some days it wasn't that good.
[7] - When the Pook and I went to Paris, I had chocolate mousse just about every meal as well. Much like the French Onion Soup, it was a varied experience. The one I had the first night was to die for. The one I had the last night was no better than Jello Pudding.
[8] - The record, not the hand gun.
[9] - Leave it to my son to turn down chocolate for breakfast.
[10] - We went back to the room and got a Pop-Tart for him.
[11] - Technically it wasn't a "pie" but a cup of Key Lime Pie goodness.
[12] - Curry soup, coconut soup and butternut squash. No thank you.
[13] - Blue and pink respectively.
[14] - Probably would get a higher rating if I were to have it knowing to expect BBQ and not so much hot dog.
[15] - Which was good because dinner at the hotel was about $30. Dinner at any of the other places we went too would have been between $120 and $150.
[16] - The dressing doesn't sound right to me. I could have sworn it had pear in the name, but that's what the website says.
[17] - He just had ice cream with Mickey Mouse sprinkles. But he wasn't feeling very good and we could let the ice cream just go to waste could we?
[18] - Which is a word that I just made up and doesn't at all mean the same thing as annoying, except for a bit.
[19] - I didn't have the chicken a second time, but the Pook said it was just as overdone.
[20] - Ham and cheese quiche.
[21] - Gesundheit
[22] - They give you a big picture and several smaller prints for free. Well, not free but the price is included in your meal.
[23] - Later the Bear got his picture taken with some snails we found on a ledge. He was quite excited by that.
Each entry tells: the food I ate (what restaurant I got it at/where that restaurant can be found) a brief review, and then the grade.
Day 1 Breakfast:
Chocolate Peanut Butter Pop-Tart, (the box of pop-tarts/my hotel room): cheap breakfast for the win.
Pop-Tart: B-
Day 1 Lunch:
Reuben Stromboli w/ Caesar Salad, (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): I like a Reuben [1]. I like a stromboli. Seems like the two together should be a pretty tasty combination. The crust had a few random holes in it, so that when you bit into the stromboli, thousand island dressing would come oozing out the holes like some kind of food world gunshot wound. It made things kind of messy, but overall it tasted fine. The Caesar salad was awesome. [2]
Reuben Stromboli: B-
Caesar Salad: A
Day 1 Dinner:
Buffet (Crystal Palace/The Magic Kingdom): The food was okay and forgettable. I had several different things, but all I can remember is boiled shrimp w/ cocktail sauce, some kind of roast meat [3], paella and a cucumber salad. There was more but like I said, it was forgettable. There was a buffet full of desserts too: chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, lemon tarts, key lime tarts, tiny cheese cakes, apple cobbler and more. The best part was that they had Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger walking around and meeting folks. You could get your pick with them and such. The Bear gave Piglet and Pooh a hug. He gave Eeyore and Tigger a wide berth.
Buffet Food: B-
Buffet Dinner: B+
Wandering Pooh Characters: A- [B if you're the Bear.]
Day 2 Breakfast:
Same as Day 1
Day 2 Lunch:
Fish and Chips (Yorkshire Fish Shop/Epcot Center [UK pavilion]): The fish was fully covered in greasy fried goodness. The chips [4] were fat and hot. There was tarter sauce, but no cocktail sauce. [5] For dessert you got a giant sugar cookie. There was also a squad of ducks pandering for castoffs. They got quite a few chips from us before we noticed the "Don't feed the ducks" sign.
Fish: A+
Chips: A-
Sugar Cookie: B+
Day 2 Dinner:
Roasted Chicken w/ Potatoes (The Chefs de France/Epcot Center [French pavilion]): Though we arrived early, we got seated pretty quickly. There were only about four options and while I'm not too particular, my actual choices that I was willing to choose from were pretty small. French Onion Soup for an appetizer. It was awesome. As good as the French Onion Soup I had in Paris. [6] The Pook and I debated asking if we could cancel our main dishes and just have more soup. Baked chicken with potatoes and a smattering of gravy and broccoli. The chicken was fine. It was pretty good for chicken, but then it was chicken so, meh. The potatoes were actually quite tasty. I'm not one to go gaga over potatoes, but I actually quite enjoyed these. The gravy was great, but like most "fine dining" restaurants you didn't get nearly enough of it. The broccoli was whatever. For dessert I had profiteroles. Basically, small puffs of pastry with vanilla ice cream between them, doused with chocolate sauce. I seriously debated getting the chocolate mousse but the waiter recommended these. They were quite tasty, but I really love me a chocolate mousse and afterward I wished I had gotten it. [7]
French Onion Soup: A++
Baked Chicken: B-
Potatoes: B+
Broccoli: C+
Profiteroles: A-
Day 3-5 Breakfast:
Cherry Cheese Danish (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): It was the size of a 45. [8] And so awesome I had it every morning for the rest of the trip. The Bear got a Pain au Chocolat, which is essentially a flaky croissant type of roll with chocolate chips and chocolate sauce in it. He took the tiniest of nibbles and declared he didn't like it. [9] So the Pook and I finished it off for him. [10]
Cherry Cheese Danish: A
Pain au Chocolat: A-
Day 3 Lunch:
Barbecue ribs (Flame Tree Barbecue/Animal Kingdom): I know, there's something contrary to eating ribs in a park all about animals, but hey they were right tasty and I really appreciated them. Our guide book told us to eat here and it was not wrong. The ribs, as stated, were excellent. It came with some coleslaw that was sub-par, some baked beans that were awesome and for desert the Pook and I decided to split between us a Chocolate Mousse and a Key Lime Pie [11]. However, after we each had tasted both, I ate all the rest of the Mousse and she had all the rest of the Key Lime. Which wasn't unusual at all for me (cause Chocolate Mousse is awesome) but was strange for her since she usually is anti-tart desserts in general and anti-Key Lime Pie in specific.
Ribs: A-
Coleslaw: C- (I didn't even finish mine.)
Beans: A
Chocolate Mousse: A+
Day 3 Dinner:
African Buffet (Boma/Animal Kingdom Lodge): I will admit from the outset that I wasn't really looking forward to this meal. I wasn't dreading it or anything, but I had a strong suspicion that I wasn't going to enjoy it too terribly much. The restaurant "Boma" has a buffet of various dishes that are supposed to either be African in origin or at least African influenced. There were four different meats. I found two of them (chicken and something else that I've already forgotten) to be just meh. The beef was okay and the pork was quite tasty. There were four different soups, but I only had one of them. It was essentially a spicy chicken soup akin to chicken tortilla sans the tortilla. The other three soups were non-starters [12].
Then there were a variety of side things. I tried a little of this and that. The guide book recommended the watermelon rind salad, so I took some of that. But the one bit I put in my mouth didn't stay there very long. It tasted nothing like what you would think watermelon rind salad should taste like and everything like bad. I tried to spit it out without the Bear noticing. Nothing else was memorable enough to remember.
There were again a bunch of desserts. The highlight for me was the Kenyan Coffee Tarts and as I usually can't stand coffee that was odd. The Bear ate chocolate chip cookies and wished for ice cream.
Boma buffet overall: B-
Watermelon Rind Salad: F
Chicken Soup: B+
Kenyan Coffee Tarts: A-
Day 4 Lunch:
BBQ Hot Dog (Casey's Corner/Magic Kingdom): There was a bun. It was much bigger than your average hot dog bun. There was a giant pile of coleslaw and there was a giant pile of pulled pork barbecue. I suppose there must have been a hot dog in there somewhere, but you certainly couldn't taste it. Don't get me wrong, the barbecue was right tasty, but I was craving a good dog. I should have got the chili cheese dog that the Pook ordered. It was the same giant bun but with a lake of chili and cheese. Either way it came with a pile of fries too. The fries were average.
For dessert I got a brownie which was prepackaged and okay in its own prepackaged brownie kind of way. The Bear and the Pook got cotton candy. [13]
BBQ Hot Dog: B+ [14]
Fries: B
Brownie: B
Cotton Candy: A
Day 4 Dinner:
Chili Nachos (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): Our dining plan only paid for five dinners, so we had to slum it for one dinner. We decided to go cheap and eat at the hotel. [15] I had the nachos even though they looked kind of weird. But the menu board said the were homemade chips so I gave them a try. They came with ample amounts of the usual assortment of nacho toppings. When I got to the table I found that they were not nacho chips at all, but instead homemade potato chips. Which was strange but okay. The biggest problem is that they were seasoned with something that made them taste like barbecue potato chips. That was kind of off putting. So once I ran out of nacho toppings, I quit eating the chips. We may have had some kind of dessert, but I'm drawing a blank.
Chili "Nachos": B-
Day 5 Lunch:
Pizza Bread (Pop Century Restaurant/Pop Century Resort): Just as we only had five prepaid dinners, we also only had five prepaid lunches. So after spending a hot morning/early afternoon at Disney's Hollywood Studios we went back to the hotel for lunch. Judging by how often everyone else ordered it, the hot dish at the restaurant was the Pizza Bread. It came from the same line that my Stromboli from day one did. It was pretty standard french bread, sauce, cheese and pepperoni. As an added bonus, it came with the same Caesar side salad as the Stromboli as well. Only this time the salad was not nearly so good. The service however was just as bad as the first day. This time there were two ladies, one of which was leaving and thus couldn't be bothered to do more than a minimal amount and the girl just coming on shift who clearly didn't like the girl leaving telling her what to do and thus took it out on us customers by sucking at her job.
On the plus side, after lunch we got giant ice cream sundaes from the ice cream counter. Mine had mint chocolate chip and chocolate ice cream, toffee, chocolate fudge, cherries and two gummy worms that I have to the Bear.
Pizza Bread: B
Caesar Salad: B-
Ice Cream Sundae: A
Day 5 Dinner:
Ohana Dinner Buffet (Ohana/Polynesian Resort): You start off with a salad that has honey-lime dressing [16], pork dumplings and chicken wings. Then for the main course you get some noodles, stir-fried vegetables and all you can eat pork, beef, chicken and shrimp that have been cooked on their giant grill. The waiters bring the meat around on skewers much like a Brazilian restaurant and give you all you want. The salad was okay as were the wings. But as I didn't want to fill up on them, I didn't each much of them. The dumplings were awesome, even though they had honey drizzled on them. I think I ate four. The noodles were no good, too much of some seasoning for my taste. The Pook said she thought it was ginger. The vegetables were standard. Of the meats, the first round of meats we got were hot and juicy and awesome. The second round were mostly overcooked and not so awesome.. The shrimp are giant and unpeeled. I must have eaten twelve or so.
For dessert there was a bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and a banana caramel sauce. I'm not usually a big fan of things with bananas cooked in them or of bread pudding. Nevertheless the Pook and I finished the whole thing and all of the Bear's leavings. [17] I contemplated pouring the remainder of the caramel sauce straight into my mouth, but ultimately restrained my self.
Perhaps the worst part of the experience was the "floor show". A Hawaiian lady gathered all of the kids and had them do a race around the restaurant with brooms and coconuts. Then she taught everyone a Hula Dance. Both of which were fine. Her condescending demeanor however made the whole thing seem annoying and interruptive. [18]
Honey-Lime Salad: B-
Chicken Wings: C+
Pork Dumplings: A-
Noodles: D+
Stir Fried Vegetables: C
Pork the first time: A
Pork the second time: B-
Beef the first time: A-
Beef the second time: C+
Chicken the first time: B+ [19]
Shrimp Every Time: A+
Bread Pudding with Ice Cream and Banana Caramel Sauce: A++
Day 6 Lunch:
Quiche Lorraine (Boulangerie Patisserie/Epcot Center [French Pavilion]): I got the Quiche Lorraine [20] and the Pook got a ham, cheese and bechamel on a baguette sandwich and then we went halfsies. The quiche was very good. The sandwich was okay. For dessert I got a chocolate tart. It was amazingly good. Though a tad large because by the end I was a little over done with the chocolaty goodness.
Quiche Lorraine: B+
Ham Sammie French Style: B-
Chocolate Tart: A
Pork Chop (Akershus[21]/Epcot Center [Norwegian Pavilion]): The Pook had fond memories of this restaurant from when she had eaten here with her parents as a kid. Among other things was the memory of butter pats pressed into Mickey shapes. Sadly the butter pats were gone, but they've been replaced with a lot of princesses.
For an "appetizer" you can eat all that you want off of their appetizer buffet. The buffet has enough on it that you don't actually need to order anything else. I had salami, muenster cheese, salad, cucumber salad, and several other things that I no longer remember.
My main course was a pork chop with lingonberry sauce, potato casserole, and asparagus. The pork chop was the size of my head and a bit over cooked to my taste. When it is served anywhere else in the south, the potato casserole would have been called hash brown casserole, but nevertheless was pretty standard. The asparagus were grilled and as good as you could ask asparagus to be.
For dessert you weren't given a choice. Instead they brought you a plate with Chocolate Mousse Cake, Apple Cake and Rice Pudding. The Chocolate Mousse cake was as good as the words chocolate mousse profess it to be. The apple cake was a bit dry and thick. Even though rice pudding is evil, I dutifully tried a tiny bit. I think I only shuddered once.
The real draw of this restaurant is that it is filled with Disney Princesses. You get your picture taken with Belle when you first enter [22] and then Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Mary Poppins all wander around the room chatting with everyone and getting their pictures taken. The Bear wanted nothing to do with any of them. Pook got her picture taken with all of them. [23]
Appetizer Buffet: B
Pork Chop: B
Potato Casserole: B
Asparagus: B
Chocolate Mousse Cake: A
Apple Cake: C+
Rice Pudding: D-
Well there you have it. Way too much info on the food that we ate. If you bothered to read this far, give yourself a pat on the back. I'm gonna go see if I can find anything close to a chocolate mousse.
[1] - In case you don't know, a Reuben is corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and thousand island dressing, usually on rye bread.
[2] - The service at the counter that prepared the food was horrendous. The guy taking orders had the short term memory of a goldfish. The next day I saw him cleaning off tables. Just sayin'.
[3] - The kind where a guy dressed like a chef (but who actually had nothing to do with cooking the food) slices you off a bit of the whole and lays it on your plate with his knife and two pronged fork thing.
[4] - French fries to you unwashed heathens.
[5] - There was ketchup too, but I'm not much of a fan of ketchup.
[6] - Actually I had French Onion Soup several times in Paris. Most days it was great, but on some days it wasn't that good.
[7] - When the Pook and I went to Paris, I had chocolate mousse just about every meal as well. Much like the French Onion Soup, it was a varied experience. The one I had the first night was to die for. The one I had the last night was no better than Jello Pudding.
[8] - The record, not the hand gun.
[9] - Leave it to my son to turn down chocolate for breakfast.
[10] - We went back to the room and got a Pop-Tart for him.
[11] - Technically it wasn't a "pie" but a cup of Key Lime Pie goodness.
[12] - Curry soup, coconut soup and butternut squash. No thank you.
[13] - Blue and pink respectively.
[14] - Probably would get a higher rating if I were to have it knowing to expect BBQ and not so much hot dog.
[15] - Which was good because dinner at the hotel was about $30. Dinner at any of the other places we went too would have been between $120 and $150.
[16] - The dressing doesn't sound right to me. I could have sworn it had pear in the name, but that's what the website says.
[17] - He just had ice cream with Mickey Mouse sprinkles. But he wasn't feeling very good and we could let the ice cream just go to waste could we?
[18] - Which is a word that I just made up and doesn't at all mean the same thing as annoying, except for a bit.
[19] - I didn't have the chicken a second time, but the Pook said it was just as overdone.
[20] - Ham and cheese quiche.
[21] - Gesundheit
[22] - They give you a big picture and several smaller prints for free. Well, not free but the price is included in your meal.
[23] - Later the Bear got his picture taken with some snails we found on a ledge. He was quite excited by that.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Birthday Cake
Birthday Cake: I went to my niece's birthday party today and it got me thinking about Birthday Cake. This is the dessert that is supposed to be the piece d'resistance of the birthday celebration. The culmination of a party full of activities. The final capstone of the event. And yet generally speaking birthday cakes are, simply put, bad.
Here are the usual suspects in the birthday cake line-up of offenders:
Sheet Cake of Doom: This was usually bought from a grocery store bakery. The cake itself is totally unremarkable and forgettable. In fact, if you stop right now and try to think about what the last giant sheet cake you ate tasted like, I suspect the answer you'll come up with is "????" [1] It has a thin layer of icing on it that also tastes like nothing. Of course this monstrosity has two big upsides. The first is that it is large enough to play a decent game of football on and will feed 900. The second is that the store will gladly air brushed your tot's favorite TV or movie character on it. [2]
Mount Icing: The cake part of this one could taste fine, it could be great or it could be horrible. You will never know because it is buried under enough sugar icing to send Paula Deen into a coma. The cake to frosting ratio is roughly: 1 to infinity. Unfortunately the icing doesn't taste like anything except sugar. And because there wasn't enough on it already, it is adorned with letters made of clear colored icing with the textural consistency of snot and the flavor of more sugar. [3]
Ridiculously Expensive Boutique Cake: Whoever paid for this one will be sure to mention where they got it about 60 times. Of course, you've never heard of the place so even if you are paying attention it won't matter. It's covered in fondant that is probably adorned with icing flowers, edible beads [4] and other overly fancy decorations. However while it may be beautiful and look like the cover of a magazine, it has the flavor of the inside of that same magazine. Also it is as dry as the Sahara. People will line up for cake, but will rapidly disappear like a David Copperfield trick [5] once they see the faces of the lucky people who were first in line. [6]
Ridiculously Expensive Boutique Cake That is Overcompensating for the Mistakes of the Previous Cake: This cake looks exactly like the previous cake except that the cook evidently soaked the inside in a flavorless liquid. Taking a forkful is akin to biting down on a damp sponge. [7]
The Ice Cream Cake: This cake attempts to wow you by taking out of your hands the presumably tricky game day decision of "do you want cake, ice cream or both?" Hopefully the purchaser of this delight picked flavors you can at least stand. [8] But you actually don't have to worry, because regardless of what flavors they say it is, the end result is relatively flavorless ice cream on completely flavorless cake. If your lucky there are some Oreos crumbled between to two layers so you can discern the difference. As an added bonus, the cake starts out extra dense so the ice cream doesn't melt straight into it and then the whole thing was put in the freezer for the last 48 hours. Result? It's all hard as a brick and requires a chain saw to cut.
The Tasty Cake: This is a myth and doesn't exist. You may think you remember once having a delicious cake at your cousin Lucy's 14th birthday, but it's really a fantasy you keep in the corner of your mind to keep hope alive.
There are other cake miscreants out there that I haven't mentioned [9] but I believe I've covered the main offenders. And you can get cakes that aren't bad, but they aren't the great birthday finale that you want either. For the record when my birthday comes around and the Pook asks what dessert I want, I usually go with non-cake choices. To me there's something more special about a Cannoli or Seven Layer Dessert than yet another entry in the faceless parade of bad birthday cakes.
Birthday Cake: C-
[1] - Meaning, "I can't remember."
[2] - So you are trading off flavor for being able to argue over who gets to eat Superman's face.
[3] - Later all anyone will remember of this cake is the spelling errors. "Hapy Birtday. Dog."
[4] - That are "not food".
[5] - But with less smoke and scantily dressed women.
[6] - If you are serving this one, expect to end the party with a lot of uneaten cake or a lot of full dessert plates hidden around your house.
[7] - Depending on what you used the sponge to wipe up, the sponge probably has more flavor.
[8] - What? Everyone loves Pistachio Ice Cream with German Chocolate cake.
[9] - Like the one with the strawberries or cherries on top that are covered in a syrup evidently made out of Vicks 44D.
Here are the usual suspects in the birthday cake line-up of offenders:
Sheet Cake of Doom: This was usually bought from a grocery store bakery. The cake itself is totally unremarkable and forgettable. In fact, if you stop right now and try to think about what the last giant sheet cake you ate tasted like, I suspect the answer you'll come up with is "????" [1] It has a thin layer of icing on it that also tastes like nothing. Of course this monstrosity has two big upsides. The first is that it is large enough to play a decent game of football on and will feed 900. The second is that the store will gladly air brushed your tot's favorite TV or movie character on it. [2]
Mount Icing: The cake part of this one could taste fine, it could be great or it could be horrible. You will never know because it is buried under enough sugar icing to send Paula Deen into a coma. The cake to frosting ratio is roughly: 1 to infinity. Unfortunately the icing doesn't taste like anything except sugar. And because there wasn't enough on it already, it is adorned with letters made of clear colored icing with the textural consistency of snot and the flavor of more sugar. [3]
Ridiculously Expensive Boutique Cake: Whoever paid for this one will be sure to mention where they got it about 60 times. Of course, you've never heard of the place so even if you are paying attention it won't matter. It's covered in fondant that is probably adorned with icing flowers, edible beads [4] and other overly fancy decorations. However while it may be beautiful and look like the cover of a magazine, it has the flavor of the inside of that same magazine. Also it is as dry as the Sahara. People will line up for cake, but will rapidly disappear like a David Copperfield trick [5] once they see the faces of the lucky people who were first in line. [6]
Ridiculously Expensive Boutique Cake That is Overcompensating for the Mistakes of the Previous Cake: This cake looks exactly like the previous cake except that the cook evidently soaked the inside in a flavorless liquid. Taking a forkful is akin to biting down on a damp sponge. [7]
The Ice Cream Cake: This cake attempts to wow you by taking out of your hands the presumably tricky game day decision of "do you want cake, ice cream or both?" Hopefully the purchaser of this delight picked flavors you can at least stand. [8] But you actually don't have to worry, because regardless of what flavors they say it is, the end result is relatively flavorless ice cream on completely flavorless cake. If your lucky there are some Oreos crumbled between to two layers so you can discern the difference. As an added bonus, the cake starts out extra dense so the ice cream doesn't melt straight into it and then the whole thing was put in the freezer for the last 48 hours. Result? It's all hard as a brick and requires a chain saw to cut.
The Tasty Cake: This is a myth and doesn't exist. You may think you remember once having a delicious cake at your cousin Lucy's 14th birthday, but it's really a fantasy you keep in the corner of your mind to keep hope alive.
There are other cake miscreants out there that I haven't mentioned [9] but I believe I've covered the main offenders. And you can get cakes that aren't bad, but they aren't the great birthday finale that you want either. For the record when my birthday comes around and the Pook asks what dessert I want, I usually go with non-cake choices. To me there's something more special about a Cannoli or Seven Layer Dessert than yet another entry in the faceless parade of bad birthday cakes.
Birthday Cake: C-
[1] - Meaning, "I can't remember."
[2] - So you are trading off flavor for being able to argue over who gets to eat Superman's face.
[3] - Later all anyone will remember of this cake is the spelling errors. "Hapy Birtday. Dog."
[4] - That are "not food".
[5] - But with less smoke and scantily dressed women.
[6] - If you are serving this one, expect to end the party with a lot of uneaten cake or a lot of full dessert plates hidden around your house.
[7] - Depending on what you used the sponge to wipe up, the sponge probably has more flavor.
[8] - What? Everyone loves Pistachio Ice Cream with German Chocolate cake.
[9] - Like the one with the strawberries or cherries on top that are covered in a syrup evidently made out of Vicks 44D.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Cheeseburger Bobby's
Cheeseburger Bobby's: Here's a simple rule that you can always use. It will help you throughout your life over and over again. Ready? Here it is:
Never believe advertising.
That's it.
Now I'm not saying that sometimes advertising isn't right.[1] But if you want an honest true opinion of something the one place you shouldn't be looking is from that same person, company, product, etc. Advertising is there for one reason and one reason only, to sell you something. And really how much can you rely on the person who is trying to get you to part with your hard earned cash to tell you the unadulterated truth?[2]
If you aren't completely blind and you pay attention at all you're bound to see some of Cheeseburger Bobby's advertising. They feature prominently the line, "Voted Best Cheeseburger."
Excellent! You tell yourself. I'm in the mood for a cheeseburger and if I'm going to get one, then I should probably get the "Best" one. Shouldn't I?
Well before you dash off and hand Bobby some of your moolah, lets take a closer look at that line and ask a few pointed questions.
First question: Voted Best Cheeseburger of where? Best in the the city? The county? The state? The entire United States? The whole world? Or maybe it was just voted the best cheeseburger you can get at a Cheeseburger Bobby's location.
Second question: What was the competition? Did they compare all cheeseburgers available? Presumably we are saying best cheeseburger of some sizable location. Did the judges have at their disposal all cheeseburgers available in that area? Or maybe it was voted the best cheeseburger in a taste test between Cheeseburger Bobby's, a McDonald's cheeseburger[3] and a Krystal.
Third question: By who?[4] Was it a blind taste test of the public? Is there some official American Cheeseburger officiating body that we've never heard of in charge of these things? Or maybe it was voted best cheeseburger by the employees at Cheeseburger Bobby's.
Person in Charge of Taste Testing [PICoTT]: Okay, now that you've all signed the forms, I want you to tell me which cheeseburger is the best. Bear in mind that if you say anything other than Cheeseburger Bobby's you are fired.
Employee 1: Cheeseburger Bobby's
Employee 2: Cheeseburger Bobby's
Employee 3: Cheeseburger Bobby's
Employee 4: Five Guys
PICoTT: Right it is unanimous. Cheeseburger Bobby's is the best!
E4: But I voted Five Guys.
PICoTT: And you're fired.
E4: Nevertheless, it's not unanimous.
PICoTT: Actually if you read the small print of the form you signed it says that saying anything other than Cheeseburger Bobby's retroactively fires you before the testing began and thus invalidates your opinion. Thus unanimous.
Fourth Question: Best by what standard? Best tasting? Best looking? Best beef? Best toppings? Best burger to smear on your ex-boyfriends car windshield on a Friday night after he's broken up with you?
Anyway you get the point. Advertising = Lies. Don't believe it.
Having said all of that, I found Bobby's to be okay. Better than McDonald's for sure, but by no means the Best.
UPDATE: As it happens I've been to Cheeseburger Bobby's several more times since this was originally posted. Lest you think my opinion of their burgers has changed, I still think they are adequate but not the best. However, they have a chocolate dipped frozen custard cone that is unbelievably good. It's just a simple ice cream cone covered in chocolate. Except that it's frozen custard and not actually ice cream. And then it's covered in chocolate. The cone itself is a cheap "cake" cone you can buy at any grocery store for a pittance. But never mind the small details, it is awesomely good. To make matters worse, they give away coupons for a free cone all of the time.[5] So if there is a ballot out there somewhere, marked me down as having voted it, "Best Chocolate Covered Frozen Custard Cone".
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Bobby's has grown on me. Part of it is that you have to find the right combination of ingredients. Trying to put everything on the burger is not the way to go. For me, I usually get a double cheeseburger. Then I put a ton of onions on it, a ton of jalapenos on it and slather it in BBQ sauce. It is downright amazing.
Bobby, I recant my earlier doubts. Please forgive me. You are in fact the best.
Cheeseburger Bobby's Cheeseburgers: A
Cheeseburger Bobby's Chocolate Covered Frozen Custard Cone: A+
[1] - The rule isn't, "Advertising is always wrong."
[2] - The answer is, "Not Much."
[3] - Not a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder but a plain little cheeseburger.
[4] - Or is it, "By Whom?" Truthfully I don't care. imho, grammatical errors that over half of the people are making are not errors, they are now acceptable usage.
Never believe advertising.
That's it.
Now I'm not saying that sometimes advertising isn't right.[1] But if you want an honest true opinion of something the one place you shouldn't be looking is from that same person, company, product, etc. Advertising is there for one reason and one reason only, to sell you something. And really how much can you rely on the person who is trying to get you to part with your hard earned cash to tell you the unadulterated truth?[2]
If you aren't completely blind and you pay attention at all you're bound to see some of Cheeseburger Bobby's advertising. They feature prominently the line, "Voted Best Cheeseburger."
Excellent! You tell yourself. I'm in the mood for a cheeseburger and if I'm going to get one, then I should probably get the "Best" one. Shouldn't I?
Well before you dash off and hand Bobby some of your moolah, lets take a closer look at that line and ask a few pointed questions.
First question: Voted Best Cheeseburger of where? Best in the the city? The county? The state? The entire United States? The whole world? Or maybe it was just voted the best cheeseburger you can get at a Cheeseburger Bobby's location.
Second question: What was the competition? Did they compare all cheeseburgers available? Presumably we are saying best cheeseburger of some sizable location. Did the judges have at their disposal all cheeseburgers available in that area? Or maybe it was voted the best cheeseburger in a taste test between Cheeseburger Bobby's, a McDonald's cheeseburger[3] and a Krystal.
Third question: By who?[4] Was it a blind taste test of the public? Is there some official American Cheeseburger officiating body that we've never heard of in charge of these things? Or maybe it was voted best cheeseburger by the employees at Cheeseburger Bobby's.
Person in Charge of Taste Testing [PICoTT]: Okay, now that you've all signed the forms, I want you to tell me which cheeseburger is the best. Bear in mind that if you say anything other than Cheeseburger Bobby's you are fired.
Employee 1: Cheeseburger Bobby's
Employee 2: Cheeseburger Bobby's
Employee 3: Cheeseburger Bobby's
Employee 4: Five Guys
PICoTT: Right it is unanimous. Cheeseburger Bobby's is the best!
E4: But I voted Five Guys.
PICoTT: And you're fired.
E4: Nevertheless, it's not unanimous.
PICoTT: Actually if you read the small print of the form you signed it says that saying anything other than Cheeseburger Bobby's retroactively fires you before the testing began and thus invalidates your opinion. Thus unanimous.
Fourth Question: Best by what standard? Best tasting? Best looking? Best beef? Best toppings? Best burger to smear on your ex-boyfriends car windshield on a Friday night after he's broken up with you?
Anyway you get the point. Advertising = Lies. Don't believe it.
Having said all of that, I found Bobby's to be okay. Better than McDonald's for sure, but by no means the Best.
UPDATE: As it happens I've been to Cheeseburger Bobby's several more times since this was originally posted. Lest you think my opinion of their burgers has changed, I still think they are adequate but not the best. However, they have a chocolate dipped frozen custard cone that is unbelievably good. It's just a simple ice cream cone covered in chocolate. Except that it's frozen custard and not actually ice cream. And then it's covered in chocolate. The cone itself is a cheap "cake" cone you can buy at any grocery store for a pittance. But never mind the small details, it is awesomely good. To make matters worse, they give away coupons for a free cone all of the time.[5] So if there is a ballot out there somewhere, marked me down as having voted it, "Best Chocolate Covered Frozen Custard Cone".
UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: Bobby's has grown on me. Part of it is that you have to find the right combination of ingredients. Trying to put everything on the burger is not the way to go. For me, I usually get a double cheeseburger. Then I put a ton of onions on it, a ton of jalapenos on it and slather it in BBQ sauce. It is downright amazing.
Bobby, I recant my earlier doubts. Please forgive me. You are in fact the best.
Cheeseburger Bobby's Cheeseburgers: A
Cheeseburger Bobby's Chocolate Covered Frozen Custard Cone: A+
[1] - The rule isn't, "Advertising is always wrong."
[2] - The answer is, "Not Much."
[3] - Not a Big Mac or a Quarter Pounder but a plain little cheeseburger.
[4] - Or is it, "By Whom?" Truthfully I don't care. imho, grammatical errors that over half of the people are making are not errors, they are now acceptable usage.
[5] - I've found them on my windshield at the theater, lying in the parking lot outside of Target and today I got one at Cheeseburger Bobby's after I bought my meal. Silly Bobby, I was going to buy one anyway.
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