A fling you won't feel guilty for in the morning?

Last night I went to Albertson's to peruse the bulk aisle for snacks, and on the way there almost ran into a display for Mars' new candybar Fling (It was originally introduced in Austrialia in 2007). Upon further investigation, and a tasting today with Kristi at Starbucks, I am not sure how I feel about this anymore. One of the companies marketing slogans is, "Your boyfriend doesn't need to know". Doesn't need to know what? That even though you claim to be on a diet, you're hoarding low fat chocolate behind his back? That you're having a torrid love affair with a "chocolate finger"? Does he care? Really? And what's with the term "Chocolate finger"? That raises all kinds of questions I don't want answered.

Mars new candy bar Fling.

Geared, retardedly at best, at women, the packaging is feminine and sweet, silver with a pink splash, that looks like it walked out of any emo kids deviantart account, and a cutesy script makes girls think twice as they run past it on their way to the bulk aisle. The picture on the package shows you it's kind of like Twix's second rate cousin that comes over and sleeps on your couch for a week and eats all your food without offering to so much as replace anything. From all the reviews I've read it seemed like it might taste the same, but I was slightly surprised.

Fling in Hazelnut.

On the outside Fling is drizzled with a milk chocolate layer that contains, of all things, sparkles. The initial thought was "ooh pretty" quickly replaced with the thought "OMG I'm eating glitter...". The "glitter" in question is mica, a tasteless natural mineral found in rocks and body shimmer, which is safe to eat, and geared toward women and fabulously gay men. The FAQ on the website also states; "The shimmer, is actually a [sic] FDA approved mineral called Mica, that shimmers and is used occasionally by specialty chocolatiers to add a unique and attractive sparkle to gourmet chocolate." Andy Wright of Mother Jones writes, "Popularly known as Vitamin S (for Sparkle), Mica is also used in makeup, and in toothpaste, where it acts as a mild abrasive that helps whiten teeth. Yum!" Indeed.

Choc full-o-glitter!

Kristi and I sampled 2 of their 3 flavors, Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut, (I omitted the Dark Chocolate in favor of Hazelnut). Each bar whops an 85 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, and 9 grams of sugar, and for a so-called candy bar, "diet" or not, it's not a bad deal.

The milk chocolate one was simply that, a milk chocolate "truffle" on a meringuey type wafer cookie, covered in milk chocolate, good but not anything to get too jazzed about. The Hazelnut one was much better, especially for all you Nutella lovers out there. Both bars were very rich and almost too much to finish.

It seems to me that the little wafer is basically a hard meringue cookie which replaces the normal caramel and butter cookies in most candy bars, by taking away the fat without replacing the crunch, leaving you feeling as if you've been satiated.

For those of you on diets who have those late night chocolate or candy bar cravings, Fling is perfect. It comes over promising to fulfill your desires, and you indulge, yet in the morning as you wake up, candy wrapper on the floor, you don't feel as if you cheated as much as maybe you could have. They might as well have named this candy bar "One Night Stand", but I suppose "Fling" is much more PC and romantic for the 20-30 somethings. You're more likely to brag about a fling, than a seedy encounter at a dimly lit bar that leaves you feeling bad in the morning. Curiosity got the best of me this time, and I think for what its worth, Fling isn't too bad, but honestly, if you plan to indulge in chocolate, I think Hortense over at Jezebel said it best, "...why have a Fling with a novelty bar when you can have a lifelong relationship with a Snickers? I mean, really." I know, right?

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza

So last week I met up with an old friend for lunch and catching up, and after hemming and hawing over where to go, one mention of Sammy's Woodfired Pizza and it was decided.

Becca and I enjoying our friendship.

Sammy's started in San Diego in 1989, but I wasn't privy to their delicious food until 2001 when I went to the downtown location with my friend Josh for dinner. I had forgotten about Sammy's until recently when my mom and I went to meet some old family friends there for lunch where I serendipitously found myself staring at their new revamped menu which included gourmet salads and an extensive tapas list.

Sammy's Woodfired Pizza
Various Locations in
Southern California and Las Vegas

Rebecca and I started off with some of those awesome tapas. We ordered the Lebni Mediterranean Cheese with grilled herbed flat bread, and an order of their Hummus, which came with the same bread.

Lebni Mediterranean Cheese with grilled herbed flat bread.

The cheese is sometimes a bit too much if you've never had it. It's almost like a cross between sour cream and cream cheese, as it's soft and a bit tangy. They have really good hummus, pretty smooth and not too garlicy.

Nomming on tasty cheese.

The best part of these, is that they are so big you will have more than enough for leftovers to take home for later. I had my left overs with my salad later that night with dinner. I just threw the flat bread into the toaster oven to warm and crisp up those edges again and it was perfect.

Hummus with grilled herbed flat bread.

I got a half order of their Chinese Chicken Salad. It's made with cabbage and bok choy and it's got lots of veggies and mandarin orange slices. Their dressing is light and flavorful and they order half and full sizes for sharing. The half salad is large enough for lunch or dinner, and I even had extra left over.

Chinese Chicken Salad.

Bec went with the Thai Chicken Pizza. It comes topped with Thai Chicken, Julienne veggies, peanuts, lime juice and a spicy Thai peanut sauce. I'm pretty much a purist with pizza, and I am not too keen on these fancy "gourmet pizzas", but I tried a slice of this and it wasn't too bad.

Thai Chicken Pizza.

Becca's friend is a waitress here and she gave us a free Messy Sundae since Becca told her I was going to blog and review the restaurant. It's not just a clever name.

Messy Sundae.

This big ol' Messy Sundae was pretty much the end all to be all of the meal and frankly we didn't think we could get through it until we dug in.

I can haz a messy sundae?

The monster is topped to the hilt with fudge, caramel , whipped cream and walnuts.

Bec and I dig in and indulge.

We ate a lot of whipped cream and toppings before we hit ice cream, but Bec is expecting and is due in May and the baby really enjoyed the sundae. You can create you own Origami Messy Sundae here.

Most Sammy's locations are in San Diego, with a few in the Los Angeles Area and a bunch in Las Vegas.

Saint Patty's Day

For as long as I can remember, every March 17th we've had the same meal; Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes and Carrots. Saint Patrick's Day is the one day of the year that my family let's it's 1/8th of Irish shine through.

Most of the year I won't even touch Corned Beef, I'm more of a Pastrami girl. In fact the only difference is the smoking process and some black pepper, but for some reason I prefer the latter.

The history of eating Corned Beef on Saint Patrick's Day is actually an Irish-American tradition that dates back to the late 1800's, while looking for a cheaper alternative to Irish bacon, some Irish Immigrants in the Lower East Side of New York sought advice of Jewish neighbors and the dish Corned Beef and Cabbage was born.

When we make it, we always start with a corned beef brisket, throw it in the crock pot and to that add some cabbage, carrots, potatoes, onions, garlic, spices and some water, let it cook and then enjoy it with some green beer.

Cabbage, Onions, and Root Vegetables.

Corned Beef Brisket.

I had some baguette on the side, along with some of Emeril Legasse's spicy horseradish mustard. Instead of butter on my potatoes I used the I Can't Believe it's not Butter Spray.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Genghis Cohen

Adam decided a few weeks ago to take me out for my birthday, I'm just getting around to blogging it now. Shame on me I know, but I'm so far back logged I'll be posting things that have long past happened for the next few weeks.

A few years ago I stumbled upon Genghis Cohen with an ex-boyfriend. He was a HUGE Seinfeld fan, and rumor has it that Jerry LOVES this place, so well we had to try it. It's been a favorite ever since. I took Adam there one night and he's a convert as well.

The best thing about eating out with Adam, is that he LOVES to try everything and we usually end up ordering more than we can eat, thank goodness for take home boxes! This night was no exception.

One of the best things about Genghis Cohen is the blatant Jewish references in the restaurant. They are kinda have that New York Chinese food thing going for them, and as far as I know are one of the only places you can get those big East Coast NY egg rolls in LA. They even have silly names for things like, Krispy Kanton Knish , Cohen Slaw & Pickles and my favorite of them all, Shalom Pork.

I ordered a pot of hot tea and a glass of water I had to beg for 3 times while we waited for all the food we ordered. The waitress, as she finished our order, had to mention what fat asses we were by saying "Ooh that's a lot of food."

Hot Tea.

We started off with some crispy noodles. They have the BEST crispy noodles, seriously.

Crispy Noodles, "Duck Sauce" and Hot Mustard.

For our Pork dish we got the BBQ Pork Fried Rice. I think fried rice is pretty hard to mess up, so this compares to most fried rices I've had, but it's still really freaking good.

BBQ Pork Fried Rice.

For our Chicken dish we got the Orange Peel Chicken with Broccoli. Amazing. I've actually had the Fried Tofu version of this as well, and it's the BEST tofu I've ever had to this day.

Orange Peel Chicken with Broccoli.

We decided to be adventurous and order the Crispy Duck, which we didn't like. I'm not a huge fan of duck and I keep giving it second and third chances for some reason and it always lets me down. Their No Name Duck comes with a plum sauce and is actually a lot better than this. I'm not much of a fan of that one either, but Adam eats it up.

Crispy Duck.

For the Beef dish we got my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE THING AT GENGHIS COHEN EVER; Mabu Beef in a Basket. It's yummy thinly sliced beef, tossed with some yummy sweet sauce and then cooked til crispy AND THEN! placed in an Egg Roll wrapper BOWL! YOU CAN EAT THE FREAKING BOWL! I always get this, it's a given.

Mabu Beef in a Basket.

Being pretty close to Hollywood, on the corner of Fairfax and Melrose, lots of celebrities eat here, so we felt we had to do the only thing left to do, Pose like the last remaining heirs to the Massengill fortune. We fit right in.

"Douche Chill!" - Tobias Funke

French Macarons

This week my project was French Macarons. These are not to be confused with Coconut Macaroons, those delicious haystack style cookies you get at Jewish Delis. These are French Meringue cookies and they are light as air, and sinfully addicting;

You have been warned.

When I lived in LA, my friend Andrea and I would go to the cutest little bakery near my house in Mar Vista called Hotcakes. It was always a treat to go there and get the delicious French Macarons, in fact this is where I first had them and fell in love. After we moved to Atlanta, and I would come back to visit LA for work, friends and family, I would still visit local bakeries and bring home treats. Andrea showed me a new bakery in Beverly Hills called Paulette's, and asked me to bring her some Macarons home, as they have all those fancy flavors like Rose and Lavender like she loves.

The only problem I have ever had with French Macarons is the price. I've seen them anywhere from $1.60-2.50 EACH people! EACH! For a tiny deliciously amazing cookie! Never, until I attemped making them did I ever realize the amount of work that went into them. Making macarons isn't DIFFICULT, they just aren't easy. It takes harder to find ingredients and a slow steady, patient, mind. I promise you, it's cheaper to make them yourself.

Essentially, French Macarons are a meringue cookie, made by folding almond flour and confectioners sugar (fancy name for *powdered*) into an egg white meringue, transferring it to a piping bag and slowly baking them in a hot oven.

Anyway, I made a video about how to make them, and you can find it here. It might be easier to watch after you read the recipe to get a good idea about what goes into them. Over the course of the week, I made 4 different types of Macarons; Vanilla, Chocolate, Pistachio, and Coconut. I made a ton of them, so I took them down to Starbucks to pawn them off on my friends and the manager of Starbucks, Josh, told me they were so good they could be "Pepperidge Farm cookies". I think I'll take that as a compliment.

Below you will find pictures and recipes. Happy baking!

The recipes I used were from the January 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living, and can be found in the article "Light as Air" as well.

What you will need.

Basic French Macarons;

dry ingredients:
1 cup confectioners sugar
3/4 cup Almond Flour

for meringue:
2 large egg whites, room temp
Pinch of cream of tartar
1/4 cup superfine bakers sugar

directions:

1. Pulse confectioners' sugar and almond flour in a food processor until combined. Sift mixture 2 times.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until foamy. Add cream of tartar, and whisk until soft peaks form. Reduce speed to low, then add superfine sugar. Increase speed to high, and whisk until stiff peaks form, about 8 minutes. Sift flour mixture over whites, and fold until mixture is smooth and shiny.

3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, dragging pastry tip to the side of rounds rather than forming peaks. Tap bottom of each sheet on work surface to release trapped air. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees. Bake 1 sheet at a time, rotating halfway through, until macaroons are crisp and firm, about 10 minutes. After each batch, increase oven temperature to 375 degrees, heat for 5 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees.

4. Let macaroons cool on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. (If macaroons stick, spray water underneath parchment on hot sheet. The steam will help release macaroons.)

5. Sandwich 2 same-size macaroons with filling. Serve immediately, or stack between layers of parchment, wrap in plastic, and freeze for up to 3 months. (they won't last long enough to make it to the freezer. I promise.)

The variations I did are below;

Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Macarons
with Chocolate Ganache Filling

Chocolate: Substitute 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder for 1/4 cup of the almond flour.

Vanilla Bean: Add 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped, pod reserved for another use.

Pistachio Macarons with Swiss Meringue Buttercream Filling

Pistachio: Substitute 1/2 cup finely ground unsalted pistachios (pistachio flour) for 1/2 cup of the almond flour, and add 2 to 3 drops forest-green gel-paste food coloring.

Coconut Macarons with Swiss Meringue Coconut Buttercream Filling

Coconut: Substitute 2 tablespoons desiccated unsweetened coconut for 2 tablespoons of the almond flour, and add 1/2 teaspoon rum; sprinkle with additional coconut before baking.

For the centers I used Chocolate Ganache, and a Swiss Meringue Buttercream.

Links to videos above, recipes below.


chocolate ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped (preferably 70 percent cacao)
1/2 ounce (1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, softened

Pour cream over chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add butter, then whisk mixture until smooth. Let cool, stirring often. Use immediately.

swiss meringue buttercream:

(makes 6 cups. I halved this and had more than enough for both the pistachio and coconut macarons)

6 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds (5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

Whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture registers 160 degrees on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat, and whisk on high speed until mixture is cool and stiff peaks form, about 6 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, on low speed, mixing after each addition. Beat until smooth, about 3 minutes. (Buttercream will keep, covered and refrigerated, for up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature, then beat on low speed before using.)

YouTube and Vimeo and some Epic Ganache

I joined YouTube and Vimeo to post videos of my how-to recipes and make my blog a bit more fun to read!

If you use either, you can add me;

YouTube

Vimeo

Every so often I'll embed one here as below. Enjoy!

Chocolate Ganache!



1/2 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 oz DARK chocolate
1 tbsp butter

Bring heavy cream to a boil, and pour over chopped chocolate in a heat safe bowl, add butter to melted chocolate mixture and whisk until melted. Let mixture cool and use to frost cookies (or anything else you might be using ganache for)

In-n-Out Burger

For as long as I can remember, In-N-Out Burger has been a fast food staple in my life. In fact, other than Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger is the only other fast food place I will make exceptions for.

In-N-Out Burger
Various Locations throughout CA, AZ, and NV
and now UT!

My mother introduced me to In-N-Out burger at a tender age, and my choice dejour was a cheeseburger, with extra pickles and ketchup only. She taught me that if you special order your meal, it will always be fresh. Over the years I have gotten a lot more adventurous with my choices and the freshness factor has never been an issue here.

Quality you can taste!

At every store I've been to, and they have LOADS of locations, it's always been clean, fast and efficient. Despite this fact, there is always a line, and always a wait. In my experience the typical wait time, be it through the drive-thru, or inside is around 10 minutes. Luckily everyone is there for the same thing, and everyone, in my experience have been very friendly. In fact, while I was there an older gentleman struck up a conversation with me about where I was from and told me about his experiences growing up with In-N-Out Burger.

Working hard to make my burger.

The menu is very straight forward and easy to read. Hamburgers & Cheeseburgers of various meat and cheese denominations, fries, soft drinks and shakes. If it seems too simple and plain to you, there is a special secret menu that the locals and loyals know by heart, full of variations of the staples, including grilled cheese, low carb options and the ability to customize your burger's meat and cheese factor expoentially.

The Basic Menu.

I, in fact, use the secret menu to order my food, getting a Double-Double, Animal Style (mustard cooked, with spread, and grilled onions), no lettuce or tomato, and extra pickles (somethings never change). I get my fries well-done, with a side of spread, yet sometimes, if I'm feeling particularly gluttonous I'll opt for them Animal Style as well, which comes topped with spread, cheese and grilled onions.

Double Double, Animal Style with well done fries.

If I steer towards a shake, its the Neopolotian one, consisting of equal parts vanilla, chocolate and strawberry yumminess in that familar palm tree adorned cup. Today I decided on just a plain ol diet coke with my giant burger and fries, yes *I AM* that person.

The familiar Palm Tree cup.

In-N-Out Burger tops many "Best of" lists and after having one it's pretty easy to understand the hype. It's the only fast food burger I will eat, and it rivals many more expensive burgers I'd had at well known restaurants. For the value, service and quality, In-N-Out truely is what a hamburger is all about.

Oatmeal in the SDUT

Yesterday mornings food section of the San Diego Union Tribune had a huge tribute to Oatmeal.

If you get the UT, check out the paper, if not you can click here.

I perused the recipes submitted by readers and have included some of my favorite variations below. Enjoy!!

FLUFFY FLAPJACKS

Easiest recipe ever. Follow recipe for Bisquick pancakes (healthy version) on the box. Substitute 1 cup of oats for one of the cups of Bisquick. Fluffiest, lightest pancakes!

– Harriet Wolpoff

FOR CHOCOLATE LOVERS

My favorite, almost daily, oatmeal routine is to cook a single serving of quick oatmeal, then stir in a small spoonful of almond butter and toss in a small handful of chocolate chips and cover for a minute. This is very addictive, but my justification is there is no added sweetener, salt or cream.

– S.L.

BREAKFAST PUDDING

Our favorite oatmeal recipe was actually from the Union-Tribune. It's Apple Cranberry Breakfast Pudding. I add coconut, which is obviously optional, but we like it. Also, I have made it with dried cranberries when the fresh were not in season.

– Andi Kosnar

Disneyland!

So, living in Southern California I have been to Disneyland more times than I will ever be able to count. I've owned multiple season passes throughout the years and have pretty much ridden every single ride, watched every single show, and eaten every type of food. I never pass up a chance to go to Disneyland ever, so when Jordan and Shaun told me that on Sunday we were gonna go, I got all kinds of excited.

I sadly had to work for part of Sunday but got off around 2 and drove down the 5 to The Happiest Place on Earth. Parking was horrific and it took me awhile until I was in the park. I met them and our friend Joanna in Downtown Disney at Tortilla Jo's for some pre-park nosh.

Tortilla Jo's is over priced, sub par Mexican food, served by bitter waiters. I had the Grilled Steak Torta with a side of guacamole, some nasty kind of slaw I didn't eat, but surely paid for and some black beans that weren't too bad. I washed it all down with an overpriced salty margarita that I asked for frozen, yet came on the rocks.

Grilled Steak Torta with slaw and black beans.

The guacamole wasn't that bad, but I don't know how fresh it was.

Wack guacamole.

Their saving grace was that of the familiar face of the Mariachi on my favorite hot sauce, Tapatio, on the table.

Tapatio!!

After I paid a little over $30 for my late lunch/early dinner, we went into the park. Luckily Joanna works for Disney so we were her guests and it didn't cost us anything to get into Disneyland.

We decided that we would start in Adventureland first.

Adventureland.

Now I know this is a food blog, so I'm going to stick to blogging about some of my favorite things in The Magic Kingdom. One will be hard pressed to find a better treat in the summer than the Dole Pineapple stand located just outside of The Tiki Room.

Dole Pineapple Stand outside the Tiki Room.

Here you will find the ever lovely Dole Whip and Dole Whip Float. I prefer the latter. It's all the wonderment of the normal Dole Whip, floating in a refreshing glass of pineapple juice.

Dole Whip Float.

Farther up the path into Adventureland you'll pass past a small trading post type store right next to the Jungle Cruise. It is here you will find the most delicious pickles in the history of the world.

Barrel'o'pickles!

These can be found at pretty much any fruit and water vendor in the park, in fact I know of a few location such as Main Street USA, Torrowland and Critter Country on the way to the entrance to Splash Mountain.

These suckers are huge, yes?

My other favorite thing at the park that we didn't get around to are their turkey legs. They are huge smoked turkey legs for only $7! Which seems rather expensive, but for the amount of meat you get, I think it's the best deal in the park.

Corndogs!

The last thing we ate were delicious deep fried corndogs.

Shown actual size.

The corn dogs at Disneyland are like a freaking footlong, dipped in a cornmeal batter and then deep fried.

"Heathier" options.

They come with an option of either a bag or chips, or sliced apples! Which is totally awesome that they have a healthier option, even if it comes with a huge deep fried hotdog.

Heaven on a stick.

All in all the best foods at Disney, are actually INSIDE the park and not in Downtown Disney. For the Dole Whip ($5), the Pickle ($2.75), and the Corn Dog and Apples, ($6.75) it was actually CHEAPER than the whole meal I got at that crappy Mexican place, which rounded out at $20 without booze, and stretching it out through the evening was a lot more filling than a sit down meal.

The Vortex

The original plan was to go to Ann's Snack Bar on Memorial drive because Raymond Sokolov of the Wall Street Journal claims it's the best burger in America, and it just happens to be in Atlanta. I will tell you that I have been to Ann's, twice, and both times it was really lovely and quite the experience. The first time I went I got yelled at by Miss Ann for not knowing what I wanted (the menu isn't very clear) and the second time I was more than prepared, but my friend got yelled at for the same thing.

Ann's is a tiny little shack off of Memorial Dr in East Atlanta and it's famous for "The Ghetto Burger", which is a double cheese burger piled high with chili and deep fried bacon and "The Hood Burger", which offers the same with the extra topping of Cole Slaw. Both sound nasty to me, so I have always opted for the basic cheeseburger.

I was hoping to take Brian here seeing how Ann's is somewhat of an Atlanta institution since the Wall Street Journal article, but sadly, it's also the reason for the sometimes upward of 2 hour wait and I had a plane to catch at 4:00.

I feel as if I can make the claims in this entry because in Sokolov's article, I have had 5 of the burgers listed. Ann's Snack Bar, The Earl (also in Alanta), In-N-Out, The Apple Pan, and The Vortex; which is where I took Brian instead.

The Vortex, Home of Atlanta's Best Burger! (or so they say...)
878 Peachtree St NE # 4
Atlanta, GA 30309

(404) 875-1667

The entrance to the one in Little 5 Points is through the mouth of a giant tripped out skull, which I find rather charming and is the main reason I go to this one.

Brian outside the entrance.

Inside is a mish mosh of Biker-esque decorum, vintage posters, and kitschy knick-knacks, hanging from every possible location.

Inside The Vortex's L5P location.

We sat down and got to staring at our menus. I recommend that you really read everything on it, as its good for a laugh.

The Vortex's Menu:Full of Lulz

One of the things they are famous for is their Double Coronary Bypass Burger. Brian asked the waitress how often if was ordered and she told us its a lot more often than you think. The thing is made up of a big sirloin patty topped with 2 fried eggs, 4 slices of American cheese, 5 slices of bacon, and a big fat side of mayo, with 2 grilled cheese sandwiches replacing the buns. It's something you would find on This is Why You're Fat. Sadly no one ordered it while we were there or we would have snapped a photo. (Luckily another Foodbuzzer blogged about it and I linked it above if you're curious!) In fact if you want, you can make your own!

Horrible and blurry attempt at Macro lens of The Vortex's Menu
showing Double Coronary Burger. This is just for proof.

We started off with the Fried Cheddar Bites. Deep fried balls of white cheddar, and served with a yummy horseradish sauce that to me was reminiscent of the stuff they serve with a Bloomin' Onion at Outback.

Deep Fried Cheddar Bites with Horseradish dipping sauce.

Serious, swear to you, these things were AMAZING. I had never ordered them before and Brian spotted them on the menu and the waitress concurred that they shouldn't be missed.

Brian, enjoying delicious Cheddar Bites.

I ordered the Vortex burger with American cheese, grilled onions and extra pickles, and a side of fried zucchini with ranch. Good luck finding much here that isn't deep fried or covered in cheese.

Vortex Burger with American Cheese and Grilled Onions and Fried Zucchini.

Brian opted for the Black&Blue burger. It's coated in Cajun spices with a HUGE (and I mean HUGE) glob of their Blue Cheese Spread. He got Onion rings as his side and I gave him one of my pickles.

Black & Blue Burger with Onion Rings.

He liked it, but these burgers are seriously huge. We could have easily gotten one and shared but we have different, discerning tastes. Neither of our plates we're even close to being cleaned, and Brian took most of the left overs home.

The Vortex Cheeseburger, scale to my face, and I have a HUGE face.

When I asked the unbelievably easy to please with cooked meat Brian whether or not the Vortex was one of the best burgers he's ever had, he replied with a simple and to the point "yea" and then he called me "newspaper lady".

I think that speaks for itself.