Have you tried a Hot Toddy? Hot water, whiskey, lemon, and honey. If nothing else, it soothes the throat AND gets you ta little tipsy. Win-win.
The FOOD (& Drink) Thread
- Thread starter hanselthecaretaker
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Never heard of, but doesn't sound unappealing, if it weren't for all the whiskey I have being a little too good (and expensive) to use that way. Then again, one of my bottles is almost empty, barely a full drink left, and its kind of just taking up space, so maybe I should just finish it, make some room.
It's actually pretty good. The water and honey contribute little to the flavor, so just imagine a hot whiskey neat with lemon. Goes down like tea, but punches up like a UFC fighter with exceptional ground game. If you don't like it, meh, at least you get some booze in ya; drunk sick will always beat out sober sick, i.e.: "Do not go gentle into that good night."
I'm lucky enough to live in and have grown up in a city that has (or in the past had) a half dozen or so non-chain very excellent Italian restaurants. And that's how they all did it. I guess my whole life I just assumed that everyone knew that was the right way to do it. There's only 2 of those left, and I only go every other month or so. And for as much as it frustrates me, I don't usually order chicken parm. I'm more of a mushroom vodka rose linguini or spaghetti nero fan. But any time I go and there are more than 2 people with me... inevitably someone always orders the chicken parm. So I've seen it done that way a lot. And like I said, the first time I saw it done "wrong" it was Olive Garden, the very chain-iest of Italian places. I guess I am just assuming that means that is the traditional way.
But, maybe there's a way to test it. My brother lives in a small town a few hours away. About halfway between here and there a fairly new Italian restaurant has opened up at the edge of another little town. It is a farm-to-table type place and apparently really excellent. My brother says it is pretty good. And a lot of the "buzz" usually utilizes the term "authentic." There's a craft winery not too far away that I've never visited either. Maybe once it cools down from "scorching" I'll do a road trip and see how they do it "authentic" style.
True enough. Truly authentic would consist of a whole lot of seafood and ragu. I guess authentic in terms of a menu item on every Italian restaurant in the U.S.
Had a four pound wet burrito this evening. Was a new promotional thing for a hole in the wall joint that just opened. Started out decently enough with all the toppings but after that it wasn’t very good. I had something similar a couple decades ago when I was at school, called the Big Juan. That one was better. They used actual ground beef which kept it nice and juicy. This place used minced steak which made it drier, and the sauce did next to fuck all to balance it out.
Oh well. $28.50 + tax got me that and eventually a Tshirt. Didn’t really want my name and pic on their website for something stupid like this either but whatever.
Oh well. $28.50 + tax got me that and eventually a Tshirt. Didn’t really want my name and pic on their website for something stupid like this either but whatever.
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Thanks for trying it, so I don't have to. Although I probably wouldn't have gone garlic Parmesean. Or Wendy's for that matter. There is a Wendy's and a gas station across the street from my apartment complex. And I think the gas station probably has better food. Although that isn't the dig it sounds like. Due to the presence of "upscale" retail nearby, it is that convenience store chain's bougie frequently renovated version of their store.
But my issue with the sauced nuggets, kind of the same problem I have with the chicken parm. I'd rather have a sauce to dunk the nuggets in, rather than get home to open up a soggy box of nuggets with no crunch. A Korean fried chicken place just opened nearby me. Supposedly the rice battered chicken breading will keep its crunch, even when tossed with sauce before serving. I was intrigued and ordered some. I got the box home and opened it... the chicken was just SWIMMING in the sauce. Every inch covered, with about a 16th of an inch of sauce layering the bottom of the box. So garlicky and sweet that you couldn't taste chicken at all, it was just a texture. And that texture... no crunch. May as well have been shake and bake.
I'm not a huge fan of Wendy's either (or fast food in general,) but they have stepped their French fry game up in the past couple of years, so I stop a couple times a year and order some fries, but typically nothing else. The sauced nuggets just looked good, so I figured why not give them a go. I'll tell you why not, because I was burping garlic flavored oil for hours afterwards.
That sounds... gross. Do you think you'll go back and try something else, or has this experience robbed any faith you might have had in them?
Maybe. Maybe to do what I should have done in the first place and ordered the chicken with no sauce, and got a different (and much less sweet) sauce on the side for dipping. And they do have a kimchi flavored fried chicken dish that sounds interesting... if the smell of kimchi doesn't put you off (a bouquet of rotting cabbage with notes of poop) it could be tasty. And that isn't a joke, it kind of stinks but tastes pretty good... to me anyway.
But then again, maybe I won't go back. A local restauranter opened up an Isakaya style karaoke place and Korean fried chicken place last year and I tried it for the first time a few months ago. It's possible I just don't dig Korean fried chicken. The batter doesn't seem to just have rice flour base... but a sugar presence as well. And the sauce was overly sweet as well. And there was too much sauce. It just seems like to me that style of chicken seems to be more designed to be selfie-ed with on instagram than it is to be eaten.
Well that’s nifty -
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1M likes, 9,000 comments - thesistershoppers on September 1, 2024: "✨COMMENT LINK✨ and we’ll dm you the link to this super fun egg separator from Amazon! The basketball hoop works perfectly to separate the yolk from the whites quickly and easily!".
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It is (according to a prep service we use) National Cheeseburger Day. Kind of pointless to talk about your favorite places here online, because inevitably it isn't going to be a national chain but rather some local spot that has the best. But maybe this is a good spot to talk about the best "non-standard toppings" cheeseburger. I'm kind of split. My favorite local place has a burger that has one beef patty, topped with crumbled chorizo. And along with lettuce and tomato it also comes with slices of avocado. And that kind of ties with my other favorite, a place that has a cheeseburger that is one beef patty, a split grilled hot link, avocado, bacon, and a spicy mustard. Any other non-standard variations you guys like?
Hm, non-standard... no. I should experiment more. I am a basic chili-cheese burger guy mostly. My local (good) "burger artist" also makes a great burger with minced lamb and Feta (can't ever have enough Feta) I myself also often makes my burgers with a cheese mix (cheddar+gouda+feta). But mostly: Basic cheeseburger with some jalapenos and spicy mayo.
Same guy had recently a series of "too hot" burgers named after Doom-difficulties: I tried the "Hurt me Plenty" and "Ultra-Violence" but didn't order a Nightmare (even though that one is just 6.66€ and not 9.99 €. I wonder what he has cooked up now, haven't been there for a while...
I'm not sure if this quite counts as non-standard as a decent amount of burger places do have this; my favorite burger is a breakfast burger with an egg and hashbrowns on it (with bacon and cheese as well). It's pretty rare to find a place that puts hashbrowns on the burger though, the egg option is somewhat easy to find.
Those are non-standard enough. Even a chili-cheese would be considered non-standard where I live. I can only think of one local place that has a chili-cheese here. I didn't order it, but the same place's special is the poutine burger. Its... not great. The place has good burgers, and I like poutine... but somehow the combo doesn't work there.
Yeah, hashbrowns is fairly non-standard for a breakfast burger. Kind of like lots of places do have a fried egg breakfast burger, but there is a cafe here where their breakfast burger uses scrambled eggs.