Port Royale Grill - Man v. Food

TIME TO STEP IT UP!  Although this happened a few days ago, I obviously didn't blog about this until now.  Once I saw the episode of Man v. Food where Adam Richman went to Long Island and took on the Davey Jones' Locker Challenge, I knew I had to make a stop here and give it a shot too.

So I sit down, grab a menu, and am ready to open that locker door and attack all the delicious seafood that's inside.  But then I see the price...  Probably not the best idea to charge a $95 meal on my company card.  In theory, if I beat the challenge it would have been free, but if there's one thing I hate more than failing an eating challenge it's failing an eating challenge and having to pay for that meal with my own money.  Instead, I decided to act like a normal person and I ordered the crab cake burger.

Again, my stomach got the best of me because I had a nice cup of shrimp/corn soup (actually called shrimp/corn soup because our waitress didn't know the proper name of it) and Ant ordered some great tasting buffalo wings that I politely helped him with, but they are not pictured.  Overall this was a pretty decent meal.  The crab cake was fantastic, the side red mayo spread was ok, and I went with regular fries because Jenn ordered sweet potato ones ahead of me.  The secret part about this meal was the maple mustard crazy hybrid dipping sauce that I got on the side.  Holy hell was that a good call.  It literally made everything taste 3x as good.  I would equate that to ordering buffalo wings and then getting ranch to dip them in.  Instant upgrade to the meal.

Mamma Mia!

Here we go again!  And no I'm not referencing that classic gem of a song by Abba, but rather the final family style dinner I had at Mama Sbarro's on Long Island for this travel season.  Just thinking about it brings a tear to my eye for a variety of reasons.  It was great food, even better service, I laughed uncontrollably several times during the meal for no reason, and because this was the birthplace of Jeeves Got Iced aka ALC Long Island.

This time around it was Ant, Jenn, Sam, and myself and we again went with the family style option of each person ordering a meal and us all sharing.  I would have pictures of the appetizers, but one thing led to another and when the food (mozzarella and corazza and fried calamari) was put in front of us, my mind went elsewhere.  As for our main course, it was more or less a Murderer's Row rather than a normal order.

Jenn led off with Penne a la Vodka which was a fantastic choice.  No words needed to describe it because it was just a solid dish.  Next up was Ant with a familiar favorite (I actually just order Chicken Marsala for lunch - it's 2:50 so it's a late lunch...) but with a twist.  Instead of going chicken because of what I ordered, he went Veal Marsala.  The only thing that comes to mind when thinking back on this meal is the word tender.  The veal literally melted in your mouth.  We'll throw my meal up next which was the always reliable, battle tested Chicken Parm.  What's awesome about Mama Sbarro's Chicken Parm was that I got a massive plate with two huge chicken cutlets covered in cheese and sauce.  A bonus was it came with a side of pasta and instead of going with a normal order or ziti or spaghetti, I threw a curveball and asked for my favorite pasta which is gnocchi.  Our waitress say it coming a mile away and told me it would be extra, but then came back and said no charge for the substitute... too bad that can't happen all the time, but it was well worth it!  And batting cleanup was Sam with a clam over pasta dish.  Do I remember the name of it?  Nope, but I do know when you bat cleanup you need to be ready to knock it out of the park and that's just what this dish did.  Mix in a glass of red wine and it was just a great way to close out Long Island travel.

EXTRA INNINGS!!!  I'm actually gonna take a moment here to apologize for all the awful baseball references.  I'm kind of stuck in my hotel for today and tomorrow and I've seen Sportscenter like 7 times and they keep showing the same highlights of the Giants winning the World Series last night.  Nothing I can do but watch that so yea....

Anyways, we go to the pen and hopefully close out this blog with a bang!  Ant ordered an espresso truffle that came with ice cream, I stuck to ordering classic Italian food and went with a canoli (not as good as Avventura's in Waterbury, but I'm biased), and Jenn and Sam split a little pastry/cake/thingy.  I feel like I always forget what other people order when I go out and eat with them and try and blog about it later, but I do remember trying a few bites and it was quite tasty.  In fact, all of those desserts were non-fat just like the frozen yogurt I had today.  Obviously that's a lie, but another round of strawberry for me and my friends!

Pumpkin Bread

I love it, i need it, and cant live without pumpkin bread. But, the pumpkin bread at Starbucks is sub par at best. There I was, trying to experience a nice supplement to my pumpkin spiced latte, and I got a mediocre slice of pumpkin bread. To say I was disappointed is an understatement. I was hoping for a nice, moist, delicious piece of pumpkin bread, but received a dry, almost brittle slice of grossness. Looks like I need to stick to the coffee...

A Nice Formal Dinner

I wish I read the title of this post before actually going to Baci, the restaurant that this post is about, because I might have classed things up a bit.  While staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Westbury, NY, I felt the need to go have a "nicer" dinner than the usual room service or Subway and Baci was suggested by the concierge.  Since this was a Friday night, all of my fellow road warriors from the field of Admissions had left for the weekend except for Rachel McAdams Sam, so we got together and walked down and around the corner to Baci.

We figured it was a "nice" restaurant, but when we walked in, we quickly realized that jeans and a T-Shirt didn't cut it.  Everyone looked a lot nicer than us and by comparison, it looked like we were members of the lower class who just declared bankruptcy.  Good thing neither of us cared and we walked right in and got a table.  Overall it was a really nice place and the food wasn't bad either.

Sam ordered something and I kind of forget what it was, but I'm thinking it was calamari over linguini with white sauce and a glass of red wine on the side.  Some would say that dish looks really boss, but that's because you haven't seen what I ordered!

BOOM.  Spinach and cheese raviolis.  I was hesitant to pull the trigger on this one, but I decided to switch things up from my favorite Italian dish of chicken parm and I'm happy I did.  I'll be honest, when my dish was placed in front of me all I could think of to say was "yeash" which was somewhat of a happy yes mixed with a simple acknowledgement of the food arriving.  I very rarely have pasta with a green sauce of any kind, but it smelt delicious, so I went for it.

All in all it was a pretty delicious meal.  If you're ever in the Westbury, NY area on Long Island, be sure to check this place out if you're interested in a "nicer" dinner than usual.  Just remember to stay in work clothes (if you dress business casual for work) and if you bring an umbrella, don't forget it in the restaurant.  To close this post out, I feel like ending with a nice homage to The Office and therefore bring you Lazy Sunday.  I'm hoping that this post is an A or an A+... but I completely forgot that there is an A++.  Enjoy!

Evolution - Admissions Style

Not gonna lie, I'm shaking uncontrollably while typing this blog. I do shake on a consistent basis (minor tremors in my arms... Thanks doctor for telling me yet not fixing the problem), but it's because I'm addicted to coffee now. I never liked coffee growing up and I still don't love it, but I find myself slugging down cup after cup of this stuff. Why? Because I'm an Admissions Counselor. Early mornings, late nights, long drives, and awkward gaps throughout the days force me to either sleep in my car or hang out at a Starbucks, Panera, or Dunkin. I don't know about any of you, but I feel guilty going to one of these places and just hangin out and mooching off their wi-fi so I always grab a coffee.

What's really funny for me is the fact my career and my addiction to coffee has evolved hand in hand over time. I started in this field as an Admissions Rep who knew little about the industry, but was willing and eager to learn and grow. I then was hired full time and evolved to the next level and became a full fledged Admissions Counselor. After 2 years I evolved again and became an Assistant Director of Admissions (not to be confused with an Assistant to the Director of Admissions). With each step up professionally I also stepped up my coffee intake. I'm not sure if there's a level beyond my current state and frankly, I'm scared to find out. See where you fall on the evolution chain for coffee addicts:

There Are No Words For This

Well, I have to use a few words. I went downstairs for breakfast in my hotel this morning and opened up the cover to see a magical sight. Normally it's eggs and homefries or some other combo, but this morning they had a full tray of bacon. No lie, I had a nice lil moment.

Pumpkin Spiced Latte for Halloween!

My apologies for not being as active on my blog as I should be! It's a lot tougher than I thought to keep up with this bad boy...

Anyways, I'm up early this morning and really don't feel like going to the gym so instead, I'm going to reflect on my pumpkin spiced latte and jack-o-lantern iced sugar cookie. Hopefully everyone is aware of Panera (I know Brian Baum is...) and how good some of their stuff is, but their seasonal pumpkin spiced latte rivals that of Starbucks. Was it better? Tough to say, but it was damm good.

What made this experience so great was the fact that the lady at the counter (Betsie Sue) thought I looked handsome and complimented me on being so polite. That made my day and then sitting down to drink and eat this really made my day. If you're bored and have time to kill, stop by a Panera and grab a pumpkin spiced latte and a cookie! It's worth it!

North Carolina Part 3

 

This is the final installment of my fantastic trip down south to North Carolina to take in the NASCAR race at Charlotte.  Again, what a phenomenal trip with great food, a cool race, and entertaining and overly nice people.  But it's time to get to it!  When I first landed I ventured into the heart of Charlotte at 2:00pm to get some down south BBQ.  You'd think whatever place we went to at two in the afternoon would be kind of cleared out, but not Mac's Speed Shop!

Mac's was also the place that had the fried pickles, but that was my appetizer for this meal and deserved a separate post.  Speaking of appetizers, I guess you could say I had two appetizers.  The guys I was with said we had to get the soup there.  I was taken back at first because down south eating to me means BBQ, BBQ, and more BBQ, but I agreed and ordered a soup as well.  Good thing I did because this is what was put in front of me:

Ask me what's in it and all I'll be able to say is that it was good and it had PULLED PORK IN IT.  Wow, this soup is delicious, but what can we add to make it better?  PULLED PORK.  Them putting pulled pork in the soup is like me putting bacon on everything I eat.  Not necessary, but it adds a nice lil somethin somethin to the soup.  Definitely a vegetable based soup with some nice texas toast on the side, but when I spooned up a big piece of pulled pork I almost cried.  I'll equate that feeling to the same feeling you get as a kid when you're pouring out cereal and the prize at the bottom of the box falls out in your bowl.  JACKPOT!!!  So that was a nice appetizer to go with my previous post of fried pickles, but let's take a look at the main course.

I'll pause momentarily so you can find a napkin or a paper towel to wipe the drool from your mouth.................. and good.  As amazing as that all looks, I ordered the "small" sampler.  The SMALL SAMPLER.  First off, I know that's a shock to anyone who knows me because I'd usually opt for the Large Platter, but I figured I'd take it easy since it was my first meal down there.  TO my surprise this hefty plate of meat and sides thumped down in front of me.  I almost did a separate blog of each of the sides because they were so good!

Cheddar Grits!  Come on now!  I can't even begin to describe the taste or even texture of these.  Just know they were bangin!

I mean if you're gonna twist my arm I guess I'll order the mac n cheese too!  Sidenote - I'm a HUGE fan of mac n cheese.  Anything from homemade mac n cheese to Kraft Mac N Cheese (shout out to the Spongebob Squarepants shapes and the Spirals) is delicious.  But this is how mac n cheese needs to be made from here on out.  You can't see it, but there was a layer of cheese melted on the top of the mac n cheese.  I made so many excited noises internally when I tried flipped the mac n cheese over and noticed everything was connected by cheese.  Such a happy moment in my life.  But enough about the sides, let's take a look at what I actually ordered for food.

Meat, Meat, Meat, and some MEAT.  We're talkin pulled turkey, pulled pork, beef brisket, and St. Louis style ribs.  What more can you ask for?  When I first learned that I was going down south I had a mission to find pulled pork, BBQ Beef Brisket, and ribs and I was able to eat all three and then some in one sitting.  One word keeps popping in my mind while I'm typing this up and it's "tender".  Everything was so tender and so easy to chew and eat.  They also had 4 different kinds of BBQ sauce at the table so it was great to mix and match sauces and meat.  My apologies about making your mouth water, but the world needed to know what I experienced.  The south treated me well and I can't wait to go back!

North Carolina Part 2

I love fried food. That's a sentence that I know I don't need to write, but I really love fried food. Everything is better when it's fried. Chicken? Oreos? Twinkies? CHECK CHECK CHECK. So why bring that up? Fried Pickles.

Fried Pickles are not new to me and my healthy diet, but these ones were so good I had to blog about them. Something that was a little different with these southern fried pickles was the kick that came with em. Instead of tasting a pickle with fried goodness, I bit into something that had a nice after taste. Apparently they like to mix in some tabasco sauce when preparing the batter to deep fry the pickles in. I'm not complaining because they were great. Dunk a few in ranch and you have yourself quite a tasty app.

North Carolina Part 1

As some of you know who read this blog, I just spend the weekend in North Carolina where I went to Charlotte and saw the NASCAR race.  I am in no way a NASCAR fan, but holy hell did I have an absolute blast down there!  The food was unreal, the people were so friendly, and I just couldn't have asked for a better time.  I already posted about one thing from my trip down south (Bacon Wrapped Shrimp), but let's pretend this is the official start of my recap of the trip.

Up first will be none other than Beer Can Chicken!  I've heard of this before and know plenty of people who have made it and even more who have eaten it, but I've never experienced it for myself.  Apparently you start with a few chickens all seasoned and prepared just the way you like em...

Once the fire is goin on the grill (the guys I was with were grilling with charcoal and soaked wood chips that smelt awesome), you get the chickens ready for their beers.

You then shove said beer inside the chicken and let it cook for however long it took for it to cook and then enjoy!

I wish I had a picture of the finished product, but at the end of the day I'm just a man.  I saw the grill open up and the last thing on my mind was to pull out my phone and take a picture.  Instead, I just thought about eating as much as I could as fast as I could before the rest of the guys got their hands on it.  So my bad on that one, but I can tell you it was unlike any chicken I've had before.  No idea what magic grill they used, but this chicken was out of this world.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

You heard me correctly.  Normally it's all about bacon wrapped scallops, rightfully so, but sweet mother of mercy are bacon wrapped shrimp delicious!

I'm down here in North Carolina for the weekend to watch NASCAR with my uncle (race was last night) and we grilled and ate legit all day long.  It was nothing but beer, BBQ, and NASCAR all day long and it was a once in a life time experience.  I'll be doing a few posts in the near future about this weekend and the BBQ that I indulged in, but the bacon wrapped shrimp that was grilled up stood out from the rest.

There were so many delicious things that I ate, but this one rises above the rest because I never expected it to be there.  We had the hot dogs, burgers, sausage, pulled pork. chicken, buffalo wings, and so on, but seafood at NASCAR?  Leave it to my Uncle Dave to pick up some shrimp at the grocery store before we get there!  I laughed at first, but am so happy he made that move later because these things were amazing.  Similar to bacon wrapped scallops, but better because there was more meat to eat.  Instead of poppin bacon wrapped scallops two or three at a time like I'm eating Skittles, I just needed to eat one bacon wrapped shrimp like a normal person.  Did I dunk one or two in BBQ sauce?  I think we all know that I did!  Although the pulled pork that I will blog about later was probably my favorite, bacon wrapped shrimp is what's really good!

Burger Shack - BURGER CHALLENGE

What you are about to read is why this blog exists.  I know I said that I wanted to talk about the food I eat and the cool things I try while traveling for work, but the reality of the situation is I wanted to attempt ridiculous food challenges in hopes of beating them and achieving eternal glory.  Looks like you're up Burger Shack!

I heard about this place from my coworker Dan who went here last year and had a normal sized burger.  He told me about the challenge when he got back to the office and I've been waiting to go to war ever since.  Before I really get into it, let me just make it clear that I thought this was a Burger Challenge.  I thought I was walking into a giant burger and had to eat it in a specific amount of time... WRONG!  The Burger Shack Burger Challenge is a 48 ounce (3 pound) burger that's complete with 2 buns and 12 pieces of cheese as seen here:

Sounds like a lot BECAUSE IT WAS.  You're looking at 6 1/2 pound patties (again, 3 pounds), with 2 slices of cheese on each patty (2 x 6 = 12 slices of cheese for those mathematically challenge readers) with a bun at the bottom of each massive pile.  The thing needed to be split in half and staked so it wouldn't fall over...

But, the fun doesn't stop there my friends.  I soon found out that I had to eat a large order of chili cheese fries in addition to that massive meat monstrosity.

Any competitive eater (not to say I am one) knows that the fries are the toughest part and this challenge came with plenty of them covered in meat and cheese and beans.  Good thing that was the only curveball I had to deal with.  OH WAIT, let's add something else!  How about a large chocolate milkshake?

I love me a milkshake, but not when I'm trying to complete a burger challenge!  So what I thought was a doable "burger" challenge soon turned out to be a full fledged death trap of a challenge, but I ordered it anyways and took a shot at taking it down.  Here's what it all looked like snuggled up together:

So again, I had to eat a 48 ounce burger (6 1/2 pound patties) with 12 slices of cheese and 2 buns, a large order of chili cheese fries, AND a large chocolate milkshake within an hour.  Sweet Jesus.  When this was all placed down in front of me I felt just like Michael Scott when he found out Toby was back.  NO GOD!  PLEASE NO!  NO!!!!

I gave it a shot, but in the end I came up short.  The food was delicious (until the end when I hated life) and I would absolutely go back to have a normal meal there, but more than likely try the challenge again.  Could I have eaten more when I tapped out?  Yes.  But I had a college fair to go to at night and didn't want to throw up on students.  Hilarious as that sounds, probably not a good look for me.  But this is what was left (2 patties) after I ate 4 patties, 8 slices of cheese, a bun, all the chili cheese fries, and the large chocolate shake.

In the end it was a failure, but I did get my money's worth in napkins.

I just want to point out that I did feel like absolute death afterwards.  Not a great feeling to have when you still have to go to work at night, but I did what I had to do.  And even though I failed and looked like an idiot, at least the girl at the front desk said I still look good to her!

Shock Top Seasonal

There's nothing like a pumpkin beer to top off an evening. I don't really have a favorite, but I'm really diggin the Shock Top Seasonal with all that delicious cinnamon icing around the rim. I feel like every restaurant or bar I went to while on Long Island had some kind of pumpkin special (duh), but this one gets my vote for #1. Shorter post tonight, but I have a HUGE one planned for tomorrow!

Pumpkin Spiced Latte

I feel like I'm making daily trips to Starbucks now which isn't something to brag about. Feels like I'm getting addicted, but it I'm okay with it. The main reason I'm okay with it is because of the limited addition Pumpkin Spiced Latte. SO GOOD.

What's really cool about what just happened to me is that I went in thinking Caramel Iced Coffee all day. I got there and saw the pumpkin spiced latte looking all glorious and I couldn't resist. Plus the manager was a BOSS and he told me he'd make it like he'd drink it (no idea what the difference is between the normal one and the manager's special) so hoop, here it is!

All American Fail

There are only a few things on this planet that I'm over the top passionate about: eating, America, football, friends/family, and competition. The list is probably longer, but that's the highlight reel. You could imagine my excitement when I decided to go to the All American Hamburger in Massapequa, NY on Long Island.

Best thing about this place are the prices. Everything was so cheap it wasn't even funny. I was prepared to order $15 worth of food which would have gotten me 4 double cheeseburgers, a grilled cheese, 2 hot dogs, fries, and a chocolate shake, but I soon found out the worst part about this place - cash only. DAMMIT.

Either way I was still able to get a double cheeseburger, hot dog, and fries with the money I use to tip people while traveling on the road. I'm sad to say, I was kind of disappointed with what I got. The food came out quick, tasted ok, but it was really nothing special. I would take Frankies from Waterbury over them and I'm not even a huge fan of my hometown spot. Oh well, still worth a trip to experience it.

Apple Cider

APPLE CIDER - That's what's really good! No lengthy post needed here. If you don't like apple cider, go see your doctor because something is seriously wrong with you.

Bacon Cookies

If the title of this post doesn't entice you to read, nothing will.  Bacon cookies combines the traditional awesomeness of chocolate chip cookies with the heaven sent deliciousness that is bacon into one Ultra Mega-Dragonzord type creation.  The sweetness of the cookie is balanced out perfectly by the saltiness of the bacon and it's truly a snack made for kings.  I'm fortunate enough to have tasted bacon cookies a few times in my life (shout out to Jenna P for a phenomenal birthday gift and the beer tasting that Abby, Rachael, Sam, Drew, and I went to) so if you haven't had the chance to sample one, I suggest scrapping your plans for the evening and baking a few.  If you do so, please let me know and I'll send a bacon cookie expert to your house in order to sample the cookies for a potential cash prize.

** I am the bacon cookie expert and the potential cash prize is actually me coming to your house, eating the bacon cookies, and leaving you a crisp $1 bill for your efforts **

A Friendly Face

I made it almost two full weeks of travel without going to a Friendlys, but I can only resist such heaven on earth for so long.  Seriously, LOOK AT THIS PICTURE:

 

I hope you clicked on it or zoomed in or printed it off and framed it because this was amazing.  It was kinda funny because I was literally the only customer at this Friendlys (I'm assuming it was because they knew I was coming and wanted to shut down the place for me).  What did I order?  Options of greatness are plentiful here, but I had to go with my classic order of Kickin Buffalo Chicken Strips, but instead of regular fries I opted for a double order of loaded waffle fries with a side of ranch.  Fantastic decision on my part.  My next Friendlys trip might be the same, but I also might go for the backup plan which is a Honey BBQ Chicken Supermelt, but instead of fries, get another Honey BBQ Chicken Supermelt.  What a meal!

Food at a Private High School

What can I say? Private schools know how to take care of ya. No chicken nuggets or pizza here. My fair last night took dinner to a whole new level. I'm not gonna sugar coat it, so let me cut to the chase. I've never been about beating around the bush. Not my style. I'm direct with what I want to say. I don't add fluffer sentences to drag things on and on and on. I do love fluff though. Speaking of fluff, I slapped my friend Gary with fluff in the face over the summer.

After that little run around, this is what I ate last night. Stuffed shells, chicken piccatta, veggie medley, rice, salad, and so on. I had a nice mix with my first plate and then went heavy on the stuffed shells for round two. In addition to that, there were like 10-12 different cheesecakes for dessert! In even further addition to that, it was an open bar for two hours with beer and wine. God I love my job!

Food at a Public High School

Tonight I have a college fair at a lovely private catholic school and I figured I would do a comparison of the food I eat tonight with food that I would eat at a public high school.  Don't get me wrong, I love the food at public high schools, but the food there is usually inferior to the food at a private school.  I went to a public high school (Kennedy High School in Waterbury, CT) and I loved eating there every day.

Chicken Nuggets - Big Pretzel - Nachos and Cheese - French Bread Pepperoni Pizza on Fridays - Ziti - Meatball Grinders - Buffalo Nuggets - All with Texas Pete Hot Sauce

Great memories there, but look what some schools are rollin out these days:

PIZZA VENDING MACHINES.  I don't know how the dinner tonight will be able to top this.  What's better than a Tombstone DEEP DISH pizza from a vending machine?  Hopefully you realize that I'm being a bit sarcastic because I'm sure these pizzas are gross.  Would I eat one?  Absolutely.  I kind of really wanna try one and see how awful/delicious they really are.  But either way, another win for America.

Most schools are not in the upper echelon of society where they have pizza vending machines in their cafeterias, so when I visit them, I usually get a wrap or a sandwich.  Nothing fancy or special, but it gets the job done.  Stay tuned tonight to see what this private school brings to the table!

Not So Majestic - Diner #2

One of my goals every travel season is to try and visit as many diners as I can while on the road for work.  Don't get me wrong, I love Chili's, Ruby Tuesday's, TGI Friday's, FRIENDLY'S, and so on, but I can have that any time.  So one night, a few friends and I went to Majestic Diner in Westbury, NY (this was also after failed attempts to go to Dave & Busters, grab sushi, or even go to the Cheesecake Factory) and sampled what they had to offer.

This is a warning that this post will be the longest one to date due to the amount of food that was ordered so hang in there, but then again, that's why you're reading this in the first place so you're welcome.

It was pretty late at night and the five of us (Ryan, Steph, Kat, C-Money, and Myself) were starving, so I figured I would get the ball rolling with a nice soup and an appetizer to share.  Kat and I both ordered the Clam Chowder and were so excited about it because we haven't had it in a while (I had it like 4 days ago, but that's a long enough drought in my world).  Something we should have noticed was the fact that we ordered "clam chowder" and not "New England clam chowder".  BIG MISTAKE.  Here's what came out way:

Manhattan... That's what happens when you don't pay attention folks.  I've learned that excellence is in the details and I should have paid attention to the absence of "New England", but Kat and I both made that mental mistake.  Irregardlessly (yes, I know that's not a word), the chowder wasn't all that bad.  I had my heart set on the better version, but this wasn't the worst thing that could have happened.  After all, I did order garlic bread with cheese as an appetizer.  Just look at how good it looked:

You might be reading this thinking "does he know that's an order of waffle fries?" and the answer is yes.  I ordered garlic bread with cheese and was presented with waffle fries with cheese.  Was I mad?  Tough to say because I can't recall ever being mad about waffle fries with cheese, but I was a tad disappointed about the lack of garlic bread.  Worst part about this was that I had to pay for them.  Our waiter messed up my order so you think the least he could do was give me the waffle fries FO FREE.  You had to of known that reference was coming and if you are reading this and don't know what I am referencing, then that's just plain unforgivable.

Moving on from there, I was thrilled to finally get my order of a french dip with cheese.  They loaded it up with an unnecessary amount of meat and cheese and gave me plenty of "au jus" to dip it in.

So I had a bumpy road to an "ok" meal.  If you asked me "What's Really Good" out of what I ate, I'd have to say the french dip was #1, then the "garlic bread" was #2, and rounding out the meal was the Manhattan Clam Chowder at #3.  But let's not forget about everyone else at the table!  Yes, everyone got some sort of appetizer or soup, but a lot of meals went unfinished this night and my heart wept for them.

Failure #1 was Kat.  I believe that's half of an egg salad sandwich left on the plate.  Do I blame her?  Nope, because I don't mess with egg salad or pasta salad or any salad that has mayo as a main ingredient.

I'm not sure what kind of big salad this was, but it was like two regular sized salads, but in a big bowl.  God I hope people that read this blog also are familiar with Seinfeld and The Office because I'm really gonna start injecting a lot of references into these posts.  Anyways, this was Failure #2, but C-Money did order Matzo Ball Soup which was a clutch decision.  If anything, she's a winner for side stepping the chowder.

I'm upset about FAILURE #3.  Not only is this my man Ryan, not only is this an unfinished salad, not only is he avoiding being captured in this picture, but that's my Michael Jordan Dream Team jersey!  How can you wear that jersey and have the word failure follow you around?!?!  It's outrageous, egregious, preposterous!

Last, but certainly not least is Steph.  She was the smallest one at the table, but actually ordered the most food out of anyone.  Granted, she might have eaten the least out of anyone, but that's besides the point.  Failure #4 was expected, but ya gotta give credit where credit is due.  She ordered a sausage egg and cheese sandwich, a pizza bagel, and an order of potato skins.  Gotta respect the heart.  What's that saying though... your eyes are bigger than your stomach?  Well crazy eyes went crazy while ordering, but she gave it her best shot!

I wonder how upset Steph will be when she sees that I posted this picture of her...  Either way, diner #2 is in the books.  Definitely could have been better, but at least I know to specify what clam chowder I want from here on out.

Dunkin Donuts v. Starbucks

I'm blogging this post from my phone because I'm so annoyed with what just happened. No idea if the picture will be embedded properly, but this debate needs to be put to rest. Thanks to the nature of my job, I now drink a decent amount of coffee. Would I say I'm addicted? No, but I find myself having a craving from time to time. In order to extinguish said craving, I'll go to either Dunks or Starbucks and order a large caramel iced coffee with light milk and no sugar. Not a complicated order by any means, but take a look at the pic of what D&D just threw my way.

 

I DIDN'T ORDER SUGAR MILK. I don't get why it's so hard to get that order right. I say it slow, am polite, and make it very clear what I want. Dunks has embarrassed itself time and time again while Starbucks keeps throwing wins. Although I don't want to, I might boycott Dunks. This fight was over before it even started. I'll take Starbucks every day of the week and twice on Sundays over D&D. Class it up Dunkin Donuts, you just got KO'd before the bell even rang.