Fool Me Three Times…

It probably wasn't the smartest idea to grab a beer after eating some ice cream. But it was only fair to M that he got something after I dragged me out to Delmar for dessert. I casually mentioned what the beer of the day was over at Brown's, and it piqued M's interest.

I can't even remember the last time we were at Brown's... well over a year ago. The reason for such a stretch between visits was because every visit has been lackluster. I don't even want to say mediocre, because that's kind of mean, and because the last visit was so long ago. Issues with the beer, issues with the food, issues all around. So I haven't been jumping at the opportunity to go there - hell, I've passed up invitations from co-workers to go there because of those past experiences.

But that's just me, and I obviously have no idea what I'm talking about because people still go there in droves. I'm just a girl with limited understandings of beer and finicky tastes who also has a food related blog. I absolutely have no idea what I'm talking about.

M ordered the heffe, which according to him tasted off. Strong sulfur smell. Dominant hop flavor, as it should, but still off. He ordered another in case that first one was a fluke (and it was the beer of the day). Tasted just the same - off.

"Why do we still keep going here?" he asked after finishing the second beer.

Nothing really sounded appealing, but I decided to get a couple of sides anyways. The coleslaw was alright, but as you can see it was pretty soupy. Liquid aside, I liked that it wasn't mayo-heavy as slaw can be. I also got the potato wedges with rosemary and sea salt. I'm guessing it was baked, which was fine, but do yourself a favor and pass this up. 

The Hobo Sandwich

So there was all that talk recently about the egg and cheese sandwich. Hell, there was even a tour, which I sadly could not attend.

And while I do enjoy the occasional ECS, it is not my favorite breakfast sandwich. But it’s almost there. Almost.

It just needs a little spud love.

Taco Fail

I had a hankerin' for some Taco Bell Crispy Soft Tacos, the other day. But instead of putting on pants and driving the 7 minutes to the nearest one to delight in their $.89 goodness, I decided to make my own.

Subway Breakfast

You too can get a morning meal for under four dollars.

French Fries

I could really go for some right now. These were from Off the Hook, double order. $5. They need to invest in a ketchup dispenser because I went through a ton of ketchup packets.

Five Guys...Again

I went back to Five Guys. I pretty much had to after all these guys told me I got the sissy burger. Friday was the perfect day too- absolutely everything that could go wrong did and by the time I drove off campus, the only thing that would calm me down was a burger. A double.

And here it is. The double. Double doozy. With cheese. And ketchup, pickles, and grilled onions. It is the onions which explains why it was glistening. It was a good glisten. A tasty glisten.

No joke, I killed that burger in three minutes. I took some breaks here and there to not look like a slob, but I inhaled that thing.

These potatoes were from Idaho. They came right out of the fryer, and I happily ate them with malt vinegar. I see where you vinegar on fries lovers are coming from... it was pretty good. I really didn't need to order a large, but since I ordered the double doozy, I figured I'd go all the way. I ended up eating about half of the cup and bringing the rest home. They aren't bad reheated, btw.

Not that it's much to get excited over, but I love the fry spillage. It's a nice surprise.

Not feeling the greasy bag look though.

And AJ, I didn't touch the peanuts.

Breakfast of Champions Pt. 2

I am a hash brown freak. I love the formed shredded potato patties so much. There is at least one package of them in the freezer.

Cooked in the toaster oven. Salt. Ketchup.

And it sure sounds good right about now.

Five Guys (Nanuet, NY)

This was only my second visit at this Five Guys since it opened. On a Friday no less... during Lent. It was alright, but nothing extraordinary. I may pop in again for a burger, but I could always make one myself.

I ordered a single cheeseburger and a large order of fries. I don't remember where the potatoes came from that day, but it was a funny sounding place. Annnnnnnnd... there was some dude there that went to all the boxes of peanuts and kept dumping them into his bag. I thought those were for snacking on when you eat there... not for take out as well.

I convinced a classmate to join me and we dined in purgatory together.

Tasty Thursday - Potato Leek Soup

Leeks purchased at the Tuxedo farmers market. Kind of forgot that leeks are in the onion family, and they too like to make me cry.

Somewhat uniform diced potatoes. Five pounds of somewhat uniformly diced potatoes. How I had the patience to peel and cut all of that, I have no idea. Definitely more than I needed, and ended up using half of the potatoes to make corned beef hash.

What it looked like after cooking for about twenty minutes.

Adding the chicken stock. Of course at this point I stopped taking pictures, but it was some good soup. May have to add this to my winter soup line up.

Muza (Troy, NY)

NOTE: Here's another long forgotten post!

Do you ever get that "corner of your eye" catch when you're out driving? I was heading up Rt. 2 one day when that happened. M had told me about it last summer, and I was reminded again after Celinabean did her review. But it wasn't until that drive up Rt. 2 that I finally decided that I had to try it out. M had been there before and didn't like it, but I made him go anyway.

On the outside, the restaurant looks like it takes up three storefronts. On the inside, however, it looks like a small house that was converted into a restaurant. As you walk in, to the left is a small room that looks more like a sitting area than a dining one. As you walk through on the right, you pass up the kitchen, and into a somewhat larger dining area with stairs leading up to another dining level. More like half a level. We chose to eat upstairs, where it was nice and empty.

I didn't really look through the menu because I already knew what I wanted- golompkies and pierogies. I picked the Polish sampler that had those two plus potato pancakes. M went with the croquettes, and we split another order of pierogies.

Croquette (as per Wikipedia):

A croquette is a small fried food roll containing usually as main ingredients mashed potatoes, and/or minced meat (veal, beef, chicken, or turkey), shellfish, fish, vegetables, and soaked white bread, egg, onion, spices and herbs, wine, milk, or any of the combination thereof, sometimes with a filling, often encased in breadcrumbs.^[1] The croquette is usually shaped into a cylinder or disk, and then deep-fried.

And the Japanese version (once again Wikipedia):

Generally patty-shaped, it is mainly made of potatoes with some other ingredients such as vegetables (e.g. onions and carrots) and maybe less than 5% meat (e.g. pork or beef).

That is the version I am familiar with. A mass of food in the shape of a patty, breaded and deep fried. So when our croquette came out, I was a bit confused. M had to point it out to me, that yes it was the croquette, and not some mistake. Actually, they had given us the wrong type of croquette, but M ate it anyways. It was alright, but nothing spectacular. And it was a bit greasy.

Since when is a potato pancake supposed to be flattened mush? What happened to shredded potatoes held together with a binder and fried to golden brown? Isn't that what a potato pancake is supposed to be? The consistency was such a turn off that I gave it to M to finish. The pirogies were good. It's a good thing I got another order of them.

The glompkies were... fine. Perhaps too meaty. I really had to force myself to finish it. If I didn't have so many pirogies, I may have thought differently.

How Long Will This Last?

A new food stand has opened up in the Palisades Mall. The name of it?

Cup It!

I thought it was a little weird, but when I mentioned it to M, he immediately thought of a very guy oriented thing. As did my friend S, when I mentioned the name.

You can order a cup of corn, or a cup of potatoes, or a mix of the two.

WTH. Is this really necessary? Who would buy a cup of corn?

I would, that's who. You can too, but it looks like they're only open on the weekends.

So Apparently It's Called Poutine