Evaluating Wendy's New Fries

Here's the thing, I'm a fan of freshly-cut fries as much as any other food fanatic, but the thing is, when I go to a fast food restaurant, I want what you expect, pre-cut and salty and delicious. If I wanted fancy fries I'd go to Cafe Lalo or some place of the sort. Having said that, I still really love Wendy's and it's the place I go for fast food 98% of the time.

I'm content with what they gave me yesterday in terms of fries, I think they did a pretty good job of it actually for a massive chain like them. They tasted like real potatoes and looked the part (with the skin on and everything). They however, do not satisfy my search for poutine in New York, I might just have to go back up to Quebec to get some (that would be a pretty crazy post wouldn't it?).

Ultimately, they were good fries and Wendy's should be proud however, I do have a few criticisms. "Sea-Salt" doesn't mean under-seasoned. They needed more salt; I really only tasted potato, which isn't bad, but does get a bit mundane after a while and would cause me to slather them completely with mayonnaise. As well, I'm not sure what "natural-cut" means; I have a feeling that they say that so they don't have to lie and say "fresh-cut" which they weren't (they were too thin). Those were my only two problems.

I'm still satisfied as always with Wendy's and I'd like to congratulate them on their new fries.

I'm Alive and Recovered from Thanksgiving!

It's been a long time since I got back here to post and I meant to write about all of the stuff I ate on Thanksgiving, however I think that for myself, I may have gone a bit too far...

First of all after weighing myself before and after the meal, I found that I shockingly managed to gain one and a half pounds in one sitting. I started to feel like Adam Richman for a bit. Even though I admire what he does, I'll leave the competitive eating to him for a while.

Second, for the first time ever in my family's Thanksgivings, I volunteered to make the fresh pasta (because what's Italian Thanksgiving without a first course of pasta?) since my uncle who normally rolls out the dough was just coming back from a vacation in South Africa and did not want to cook under any circumstances for that massive meal. I was originally going to make 3 pounds of fettucini, however, I made 2 and we still had leftovers. Overall the pasta was a success but a tiring ordeal considering that I haven't done it in a while. I would do it any time again because it is fun and that's one of the things that I'll do for fresh pasta.

Now let's talk about eating 1.5 pounds of food. It's remarkable to me because I didn't even notice it, yet, there was a lot of food in front of me and I kept shoveling it in without any point to stop myself. First course, my fettucini with a heavy mushroom sauce, I must have eaten about a quarter pound which isn't that much but there was still an entire dinner to go.

When the main course came my plate was filled with and emptied of: large amounts of turkey and homemade gravy, cranberry sauce, Italian stuffing (rice, provolone, mozzarella, and sausage), traditional stuffing and corn pudding. Then came dessert which was a bounty of desserts made by another uncle of mine including: pecan pies, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cake with cream-cheese icing (that was my favorite).

Now its a bit obvious that it wasn't too hard for me to gain a pound and a half. However, I was so frightened by the fact that I gained that much so fast and jumped on the elliptical machine to start working it off.

The Stanton Social

I can't believe it took me so long to post about this. Saturday, we went out for my mom's birthday at Chris Santos' restaurant, The Stanton Social. The ability to sample so many things off of the menu was vast and amazing. We were able to share many dishes amongst ourselves and all of them were fantastic.

The six dishes we shared were:

1. The Potato and Goat Cheese Pirogies with truffle creme fraische.

I'm not the biggest fan of goat cheese, though, I have to say that I've never had any pirogies like that before. The creme fraische and the caramelized onions on top really sold them to me.

2. The French Onion Soup Dumplings

This is one of the restaurant's signature dishes and it just makes eating French onion soup so much easier. He makes the soup, "dumplifies" it, sticks a tooth pick in it, places them an escargot dish and melts gruyere on top.

3. The Lobster Pizzetta

I don't really know how to describe this one, however, it was really great. Truffles, lobster, bacon and herbs, it was just amazing.

4. The Beef Wellington

Another signature to the restaurant. It's a traditional beef wellington made with puff pastry, beef tenderloin, and fois gras mousse. Even though it was great, I can't seem to pick a favorite dish.

5. The Mushroom Risotto Cakes

I'm a big fan of mushroom risotto. To have it in a small cake didn't diminish anything about it at all, it just made it tapas style.

6. The Sweet Potato Ravioli

These were interesting, I only got a bite of them though. It was a combination of sweetness and pasta, really great flavor.

7. The Chicken and Waffles

This was a modern twist on a New York tradition. It had a lot of different flavors, like the spike of the balsamic vinegar.

AND THEN THERE WAS DESSERT

THE DOUGHNUTS!!!

These were some of the best doughnuts I've ever had and their going on the doughnuts of note page. They were warm, covered in sugar, and had three dipping sauces-raspberry, chocolate, and caramel. What else is there to say? They were great!

It was an amazing dinner and there were so many great dishes and you would think that I'd be full after that. I was, however, we still went out for cupcakes (just take a look at my previous post).