Tuesday, June 29, 2010

O'Steens Restaurant


O'Steens Restaurant
205 Anastasia Blvd.
St. Augustine, FL 32080
(904)829-6974

A bunch of us piled into the car on Saturday heading to St. Augustine to watch the USA/Ghana soccer match. Originally, I wanted to watch it at the Oyster Pub only to eat some oysters before this oil spill makes eating oysters impossible or too unaffordable. Gary wanted to watch it at a British pub to really get the great crowd feeling, so I agreed that would be good. Little did I know that oysters were still in my immediate future. Our group consisted of Gary, Gary Sr., Gary's brother Steve, Kelly, Frank and myself.

When we get to St. Augustine, Gary has to make a U-Turn in front of O'Steens to double back to the pub. As he does, he says that O'Steens has the best fried shrimp he has ever eaten. I notice there are people sitting in chairs outside the restaurant waiting to be seated inside. This is about lunchtime, so I don't see this as unusual at the time. We head into the pub and Frank asks the owner if they serve food. He tells us they don't, but we are welcome to order from O'Steens and bring the food inside. At this point, Gary Sr. steps up and decides to make a run for takeout. We all order our beers and get ready for the start of the soccer match.

When Gary Sr. returns about 15 minutes later he has about five shrimp platters and one oyster platter. Each comes with cole slaw, French fries, hush puppies and a wonderful dipping sauce. The oyster platter that I get is accompanied with tartar sauce. I open my platter and it is filled with goodness. O'Steens platters are stocked with seafood and we are all quite happy. They devein and butterfly their shrimp before cooking them, but what I notice the most is their batter. The batter almost reminds me of a tempura batter, but it is thicker than that, but not as thick as the batter you normally find on shrimp and oysters. It is just the right amount and I have to agree that this is the best fried shrimp I have ever eaten. The oysters are great as well. The fries are hot and crispy, the cole slaw creamy with a great flavor and hush puppies the size of golf balls.

This has to be one of the best seafood platters I have eaten in a while and cannot wait to head back to St. Augustine to dine in at this location. Upon our departure from the pub after that crushing loss to Ghana, I notice there is even a larger crowd waiting to get into O'Steens for their dinner rush.

If you are in the St. Augustine area and like seafood, I strongly suggest you check-out O'Steens. The feeling I got from seeing the people waiting for a table is that they are a favorite for people that return on vacation year after year.

For my first, but not last visit to O'Steens, I have to give them five Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Boston Market


I do 99.9% of the cooking in my house, but the other night, I had NOTHING! Absolutely no idea what to cook for dinner and quite honestly, was not that hungry. My wife must have sensed this as she just decided to make a stop at Boston Market on the way home. Usually when she goes to Boston Market, she brings me chicken with a side or two, but this night she brought home a chicken pot pie.

As a general rule, I am a huge fan of the pot pie. It has everything you need all packaged up in a tasty bundle. Plus, this one came as a total surprise to me so that was an added bonus. The first thing I notice is the huge, crust on the top of the pie. It is perfectly golden brown and I found it to be quite flaky when I applied the fork to it. Inside the pie was filled with chunks of juicy chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas and gravy. Everything was perfect except the gravy. I found it to be rather bland and it wasn't that hot. In fairness to Boston Market, it could have cooled considerably on the ride home or they don't serve pot pies right out of the oven to avoid a law suit from someone that is stupid enough to burn their mouth. I am one of those crazy people that likes to start getting after my pot pie when the inside is the same temperature as flowing lava. I need to go to a Boston Market location and order the pot pie to eat in-house. Then I'll have a better feel for this item.

If you like pot pies, I would tell you this is worth a try. It certainly comes through in the pinch when you consider most take about an hour and fifteen minutes to heat one up at home.

For my first pot pie experience from Boston Market, I am going to have to give them three Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Deluxe Sandwich


A couple of weeks ago I received an invitation to try the Chick-fil-A Spicy Chicken Sandwich before it actually went on sale. If you are on Facebook or Twitter, you probably saw the same offer from one of your friends or followers. I picked my date and time to pick-up my sandwich, but on the appointed day, something came up and I didn't make the trip. Yesterday, my friend Kelly asked me if I had tried the sandwich yet and when I told her I hadn't, she said, "You have to go get one." Since Kelly has never steered me wrong regarding food, I figured today would be a great time to give it a try for lunch.

After running my appointed errands late this morning, I headed to the local Chick-fil-A in Ormond Beach. Given today's heat index of over 100 degrees, my mind was made up that the drive-thru was the only way to go. You've probably read my comments here about my drive-thru experiences and know this decision was not taken lightly. However, I will tell you Chick-fil-A is probably the most reliable in the QSR industry when it comes to speed and accuracy of delivering your order. I was pleasantly surprised to see on the menu board that Chick-fil-A offers their spicy chicken sandwich in the regular format of their chicken sandwiches and a deluxe version. The deluxe version includes lettuce, tomato, and a slice of pepper jack cheese. I ordered the meal, which included fries and a Coke and headed home.

When I got home and opened my sandwich to put mayonnaise on the bun, I immediately noticed two things. The first was how buttery and soft the bun was and secondly, how incredibly green and fresh the lettuce was. I find it rare when you get lettuce from a QSR on your sandwich and it isn't light green or white in color. This was a refreshing surprise. I take my first bite into the sandwich and got another pleasant surprise. When you first bite into this sandwich you can taste the spice right away, but then suddenly, you taste the all too familiar flavor of the original Chick-fil-A sandwich. It seems as if Chick-fil-A has added spices to their original spice mix to achieve the heat level they want, but maintaining the integrity of their original sandwich. It reminded me of an old friend suddenly showing up at your house when you least expected them. It was great! The sandwich has great spicy flavor, but the lettuce and tomato add a nice cooling effect to counter the pepper jack cheese and the spices. It wasn't too hot while I was eating it, but I noticed a nice burn that lingered on my tongue after I had finished the sandwich. This will probably be my new spot for spicy chicken sandwiches forever. So long Wendy's!

If you like spicy chicken and you have always been a fan of Chick-fil-A, you have to try this sandwich. I promise you will not be disappointed. For my visit to Chick-fil-A today, I have to give them four very solid Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry! By the way, Lakers win!

Harry

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Mel's Hot Dogs


Mel's Hot Dogs
4136 E. Busch Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33617
(813)985-8000
www.melshotdogs.com

In 1982, I piled into a car with three of my fellow coworkers from Busch Gardens, Williamsburg, with the goal of reaching Tampa, FL safely. We planned to visit Busch Gardens, Tampa, party our butts off and chase a little Yellowtail at the USF campus. Unbeknownst to me, my future wife at the time was a 15-year-old high school freshman residing just down the street from my Bacchanalian shenanigans. Sometime during the week of our visit one of the young ladies told us she was going to take us to get the best hot dog we had ever eaten. She took us to a place called, Mel's Hot Dogs. Last September, my wife and I celebrated our 10th anniversary and I can tell you that Mel's Hot Dogs is still selling some of the best Chicago Style Vienna Beef hot dogs around. It is kind of funny how things come full circle.

I had to go to Tampa this week for an interview and one of the top things on my mind was hitting Mel's while I was there. I got there around 2:00 and found that the usual lunch crowd was long gone. In fact, there were only two tables occupied upon my arrival. Mel's has plenty of seating and is usually crowded during the prime lunch and dinner times, so I considered myself lucky.

I ordered a couple of Mel's chili dogs as a basket, which includes fries and cole slaw. Mel's has a very extensive menu with a dog to satisfy every one's palate. I sat down, checked messages on my phone and waited for my name to be called. My order came up within about five minutes and I couldn't have been happier. However, when I took my first bite, I found my chili dogs didn't have mustard or onions as described on the menu board. I guess I was supposed to mention that in my order, but if the menu board says that is what it comes with, I don't think the customer needs to specifically mention all of the elements they want on their dog. That's going to cost them a Stiffy for sure.

Anyway, Mel's serves all of their dogs on soft, steamed poppy seed rolls just like they do in Chicago. The hot dog had a wonderful snap to it and the chili was flavorful. I went to the condiment counter and put on my own mustard. The fries were hot, crispy and flavorful as well. Usually, I am not much of a cole slaw guy, but theirs was really good. Not too much mayonnaise and just enough crunch from the cabbage and carrot slices to make the slaw really solid. My meal was so tasty I had to celebrate it by purchasing one of their Mel's t-shirts.

If you find yourself in Tampa, you have to stop by Mel's Hot Dogs. If you like hot dogs, I promise you will not be disappointed. After I arrived I noticed a number of tourists that came in to eat. Mel's is located right next to Busch Gardens, so I am sure people from all over the world find this little piece of hot dog heaven.

For my visit to Mel's Hot Dogs, I have to give them four Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Doritos Third Degree Burn Chips


My buddy Nick shot me a note the other day and asked if I had tried the 2nd Degree Burn Chips that Doritos now markets. Nick had tried them and knowing my desire to eat hot-n-spicy foods, thought this would be a no brainer for me. He said I had to try them. Not surprisingly, I hadn't tried them given my position regarding Doritos.

As a much younger man living in Virginia, I used to spend some time each summer at a vacation house in Nags Head, NC. A bunch of us would go down there each year for a week at a time and do nothing but drink beer, lay on the beach and just have the times of our lives. I am going to show my age now and tell you that one summer Doritos brought out their new Cool Ranch flavor. In preparing for the long week, we bought numerous bags of this new flavor to check them out.

We spent the day on the beach drinking beer and having a good time before returning to the house for showers, dinner and more beer. For some reason I didn't eat dinner that night and settled in for a long night of Budweiser and debauchery. After plenty of both, I found myself hungry sometime around 1:00 in the morning and opened a bag of the Cool Ranch chips. After eating the first chip and finding it quite tasty, I told others they needed to try them. A couple of people got after them with me, but for the most part, I finished that entire bag myself as I drank more beer well into the morning. When the bag was finished, I turned in and called it a night. The next morning I woke up and the roof of my mouth felt like a hundred miles of rough road. As everyone knows, Doritos have sharp edges and should be eaten delicately. Especially, if you are drinking beer as if your favorite brewer is about to be bought out in a hostile takeover. The cuts on the roof of my mouth, mixed with the spice and coolness of the ranch flavor had me jacked-up for days. I don't think I had a Doritos chip since and that was when Tears for Fears ruled the airways.

After stopping for gas the other day, I went into the store and saw a display of Doritos chips. Immediately, I knew I had to look for the 2nd Degree Burn chips to try them out. Only, they didn't have any 2nd Degree Burn chips, but they did have 3rd Degree Burn chips. Now I am in a quandary because I cannot remember if the worst heat will come from 3rd Degree Burn or 1st Degree Burn chips. I figure I'll just check these out as 3rd Degree was all they had. Not until I finished my chips did I look on the back of the bag and see they were promoting their hottest 1st Degree Burn chips. Now I know I had the weakest of them all.

If you like hot foods and snacks, you have to try these chips. Even though these were the weakest, I found them to be quite hot. My lips immediately started tingling and my tongue got a little lit up as well. I have been looking for the 2nd and 1st Degree Burn chips, but haven't found any yet. I'll be sure to let you know my thoughts on them once I find them.

For my first foray back into the Dorito world, I have to give the 3rd Degree Burn Chips three Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry