Graeter's® Hand Crafted French Pot® Ice Cream

I first noticed this ice cream near the Ben & Jerry's section at the local supermarket.  With the $5+ price I hardly gave it another look...until I saw how it was made on "Unwrapped 2.0" on one of the food channels.  Folks, this ice cream ain't messing around.

Basically, this ice cream has all good, clean, wholesome ingredients (like what you find in Ben & Jerry's).  Also the ice cream is hand crafted in small batches using a "French Pot" (not sure of the complete process, look it up!).  Most amazingly however, is that each container is filled by hand! No machine, just a person with what looks like a small metal paddle packs each pint.  Seeing all this piqued my interest, so I had to go get some.

The flavor of this ice cream was spot on!  Nothing about it was unpleasant (except the $5+ price, but well worth it I must say).  One cool thing about the chocolate chips is that at the factory a huge block of high quality chocolate is busted up by hand and the chips go in the ice cream.  So one minute you may find a small piece, but the next minute you may unearth a huge rock of chocolate.  This adds the element of surprise.

I look forward to my next pint as more and more flavors become available (hopefully in my area at least).  If you can swallow the $5 price tag, then this frozen treat is a must!  Check out their website and their coverage on Unwrapped 2.0.

New Miyoshi Japanese Cuisine

This is a local Japanese/Chinese Restaurant that used to be called "Miyoshi" when it had different owners.  Back then you got sweet carrots and a small salad with every entrée.  Now (to my knowledge) it has the same owners as another restaurant in the neighboring city; the menu is almost identical.

I haven't been too crazy about the Japanese food from this place, and the Chinese food is no better.  I tried the orange chicken dish and the chicken had thick crust, dark meat,  and tiny orange peels which made it bitter.  Fast forward to a month ago, I decided to order some Japanese from here for lunch one day.  However, this time I was surprised by how good it was!

A colleague of mine decided to try this place, and placed his order the same time I did.  We then went together to pick it up.  He did have a mishap with the workers misunderstanding what size shrimp sauce he wanted.  They actually thought he wanted 3 of the big cups of shrimp sauce...and charged him for them, even though he traded them out for the small cups.  Oh well, we got back to our workplace to wolf down our victuals.

Hibachi Steak

Cream Cheese Wontons

This food was very good and much better than the last few times I had it.  The cream cheese wontons were fried almost perfectly.  There was nothing I disliked about this dish!  I was able to get 2 meals out of my order too!  My colleague let me try one of his pieces of sesame chicken and that too was pretty good.  I will definitely be going back for my Asian cuisine craving fixes.  As for my rating:

Hardee's Classic Double Cheeseburger

After hearing about this burger and seeing the pictures, I decided I had to try one.  Since I have never tried an In-N-Out burger with the special sauce, I figured this would be a way to get close to seeing how it tasted.  At my local Hardee's location, I ordered the Hardee's Classic and asked for one slice of cheese.  Thankfully the employee who took my order obliged and I got my burger as requested.  Just like some food reviewers don't like pickles, or onions, or tomatoes ("red rings of death"), or lettuce ("crunchy water"), which are all fine to me, I myself am not a fan of the yellow squares of processed plastic.  However, I figured one piece would be necessary and enough to get the total experience.

The burger is simple, yet tasty.  It has two patties, two slices of cheese (or in my case, one), lettuce, and tomato.  However, the star of this star burger is the special sauce (thousand island-ish) with grilled onions on top.  Upon tasting this, my first bite forced the sauce and onions up through the middle of the top bun and into my nostrils. Yum.  So I had to clean my face before proceeding to enjoy this still enjoyable burger.  I was able to finish it with no further incidents, with some fries and some sweet tea.  I recommend a soda with this burger.

As for a rating for this burger, first of all, I would definitely get it again.  A rating scale based on 5 doesn't really describe this burger.  So out of 100, I give it an 85.  It would get a 90 grade, if the top bun didn't fail.  Another thought is that Carl's Jr. evidently has had this same exact burger, but from a video food review I watched it was obvious that the burger had a better quality bun. This is what my version desperately needed.  Otherwise, the burger was delicious and I will be buying another one before it goes away.

Burger King Mac n' Cheetos

Burger King, we can always count on you to come out with new things.  If your new product is a flop, there will be something new to try next month!  This time around, it is "Mac n' Cheetos.".. what??

Well they are Cheetos sized and shaped cheese sticks that are fried with macaroni and cheese inside!  First off, the only way I knew about them was a single poster on the outside window.  When you go into the location I went to, it's not even showing on the menu.  So I asked for them, and received.  Upon trying them, I was like "hmm not too bad."  I finished them, sharing them with some friends (that would try them).  However, they did what all successful foods do.  A week later, I was wanting MORE!

                                                  Photo courtesy of www.bloomberg.com

During a July 4th fireworks viewing, we were parked next to a Burger King (another location).  This one didn't even have the poster that I could see.  But the Mac n' Cheetos were calling my name the whole time.  This time around I would get some dipping sauce.  They don't offer it to you when you order it, but after watching some food reviews from KBD Productions' Ken Domik, and Ian Keiner from Peep This Out, I learned to get some sauce.  I got ranch and buffalo, as well as some barbecue for some chicken nuggets I was also having.  Guess which one was best?

By coincidence, I had the barbecue because I like it best with nuggets.  And what do you know?  I dipped a Mac n' Cheeto in the barbecue.  Flavor explosion!  Macaroni and barbecue sauce are dynamite together.  I never knew this or suspected it!  The ranch and buffalo were good but definitely try the barbecue sauce with the Mac n' Cheetos!  Unlike the Chicken Fries Rings which came out a month or two before and have too much pepper, these are a home run.  Have you tried them yet?  Go out and get some immediately!

Pal's Sudden Service Review

Hello all. Yesterday I went to Pal's at the mall in Johnson City, TN, excited about eating their food since it had been years since I had it last. I got the Big Pal with a small fry and small coke. The fries were awesome! Well seasoned and crispy. Also they were fresh, which always helps. The burger was a different story. It had everything on it that I like, except pickles; however, that's not a deal breaker. After taking a few bites, I realized that the burger meat was very bland... I was disappointed. The tastiest thing on the burger was the onion. I also got cheese on it, even though I'm not a big fan of cheese. I wanted to get the full experience. Adding insult to injury, refills cost 25 cents!!  It didn't matter that the tea costs less than the soda; they still charged for it. That blows, Pal's. Hey your service is excellent and I love what you all do, especially your philosophy of training employees well. But, the 5/5 rating I was expecting to give you is now barely a 3/5. If I go back, it will be to try the milkshakes or another menu item. Hey, at least I'll be excited for the fries and sweet tea.

FATZ changes menu

So FATZ has changed their menu. There are no more pictures. Plus the TC Cider Sampler is gone; it was my favorite dish because it has so many different things! I think this is a step in the wrong direction for sure. What do you think?