P.F. Changs Frozen Entrees

Eating out all the time can get rather expensive as you well know, so I thought I would share with you a meal we had here at the house recently. My wife brought home some of the frozen entrees made by P.F. Changs. In the past these ready made meals have not been a big part of our purchases and diet, but that may change.

My wife bought the General Tso's Chicken, which is the one thing I usually get when we go to P.F. Changs. All of the contents are in the bag, which you just place into a pan and heat within about 15 minutes. We made some rice and spooned the chicken and vegetables to make an entire meal. These meals are incredibly similar to what you are used to being served in the actual restaurant. The General Tso's Chicken was quite spicy with some excellent kick to it. The vegetables had a nice snap to them and the sauce was very flavorful. I was more than a little bit surprised and pleased with how quickly and easily you can put a great meal on the table just by opening a bag.

If you are a fan of Chinese food and P.F. Changs for that matter, take a look in your grocer's freezer to see if they carry these entrees. My guess is you will be very pleased with these meals once you try them.

For my experience with P.F. Changs frozen entrees, I have to give them four Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

The $69 Hot Dog

I don't know if you saw this over the weekend or not, but an ice cream shop in New York City has created a $69 hot dog. The shop in question is named Serendipity III and is located midtown east in the city. It should be noted they also created a $25,000 sundae at one time. You may have heard of this place before.

Here's what I have to say about a $69 hot dog. ARE YOU CRAZY?!?!?!?!? For me, this speaks directly to the law of diminishing returns. I understand that the hot dog is made with truffle oil, duck foie gras and black truffles, but at the end of the day it is still just a hot dog. Don't get me wrong, gourmet food is an extravagance that should be enjoyed by everyone from time-to-time, but to do this to the most basic of American foods is pure blasphemy.

The beauty of the hot dog is its simplicity. When done right it starts with high quality beef, gets perfectly grilled and is served on a warm toasted, grilled or steamed bun. Adding just mustard at this point takes it to another level, which is still quite enjoyable. Most people like to take it to higher levels by adding onions, sauerkraut, chili and cheese, relish, bacon and even cole slaw. But again, all of these additions are simplistic in their nature, but add a wonderful flair of sophistication to the simple hot dog. The $69 Hot Dog makes it something it isn't even supposed to be and I would venture to guess the pretzel roll is far to dense and chewy to provide the typical hot dog eater with a dining experience they will enjoy.

If anybody that reads this finds themselves in New York City and is so inclined to try this hot dog, I would love to hear your thoughts on it. In the meantime, I'll continue to try some of the best hot dogs I can find in the $3.00-$5.00 range. You don't have to spend $69 to find the "best hot dog you ever ate."

Remember, you can dress a pig in a pretty pink dress, but its still a pig.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse

BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse
2514 W. Int'l. Speedway Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
(386)226-2005
www.bjsbrewhouse.com

Daytona Beach has its newest restaurant and I have to tell you it is a good one. My buddy Ryan hit me up a week ago saying we needed to get together and catch-up. I had been wanting to try BJ's, so we both decided this would be a good time to do it. Ryan had been there previously and had a beer, but hadn't eaten yet. I received an invitation to attend their orientation week where everyone was given one free entree, but I just couldn't make it work with my schedule. This did seem to me to be a great gesture by the restaurant to give them the opportunity to work out some kinks before opening and providing residents with a free meal. More restaurants should open in this manner. I think it endears them to the community.

The first thing I notice upon entering is that the place is big and really nicely done inside. It immediately reminded me of Vince Carter's in that there is a lot of dark wood and chrome with a very upscale feel to it. Ryan and I were meeting for lunch, so I spent my time at the table checking out the crowd while waiting for Ryan. I was quite impressed with how crowded they were for a Tuesday and noticed the restaurant was bustling. Our waiter came to the table to welcome me and take my drink order. He explained to me that they brew their own beers and also make their own root beer and a couple of other sodas. I told him I would wait until my other person arrived and he said he would come back. Ryan gets in and I order a Pepsi, Ryan gets an ice water, but tells the waiter he will try one of their beers later.

My second observation about BJ's is in regards to their menu. It reminds me of The Cheesesteak Factory. It is quite extensive with all kinds of food offerings. To make things easy, I decide just to order from the lunch menu, which Ryan decides as well. He orders Soup and Salad and I order Soup and Sandwich. Ryan's salad is a good size wedge of lettuce with Bleu cheese dressing and sprinkled with bacon. For his soup, he ordered the tomato bisque. I chose a half of turkey club sandwich with a bowl of clam chowder. The half of sandwich also came with a small order of fries, which you can choose shoestring or seasoned potato wedges. I chose the wedges.

Ryan and I chatted after placing our orders and were quickly approached by an expediter from the kitchen with two appetizers. We told her they were not for us and she took off. As we continued to chat, we were approached again with another order, but again it was not ours. In short order my sandwich and fries show up and the young lady asks if there will be anything else. I explain to her that I had ordered Soup and Sandwich. She says she'll be right back, so I just wait to see if Ryan's food is going to show up anytime soon. She brings my chowder to the table, but still nothing for Ryan. Finally, they bring his salad out and tell him his soup will be coming, but they had dropped his first bowl. Sometimes the less said, the better.

Ryan gets his soup, so we start eating once everything is on the table. The turkey club was a really good sandwich, but what blew me away were there seasoned potato wedges. They had a great crunchy outside, with a pillowy, creamy center. It was almost like mashed potatoes inside. As I have stated before, I am a big fan of clam chowder and this one will go down as one of my favorites. The chowder had a rich, creamy flavor and full of potatoes. The clams were plentiful, sweet and tender. If you like clam chowder you should give BJ's version a try. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Originally upon arriving, I thought I was going to have a burger given how hungry I was, but this Soup and Sandwich was more than enough. On top of how good the meal was, as a lunch special it only cost $6.95. Quite a bargain if you ask me.

Ryan and I were both very happy with our meals and I plan to go with some other friends for dinner this weekend. Ryan wanted to order his beer, but the waiter brought our check and stood it on the table. He shorted himself out of a bigger tip. As we were finishing our meals we got approached one final time with another two entrees that we obviously didn't order. We probably could have eaten all afternoon if we would have just accepted everything that was brought to the table.

We did eventually move to the bar and had a couple of their beers. They do have some good beers they brew themselves and I would guess about another 25 craft beers on tap. If you like beer, you will really enjoy a visit to BJ's. I hope they do well as we previously had a Hop's Restaurant right down the street with the same concept that went out of business. However, my feeling is that the food at BJ's is much better than what Hop's had. Only time will tell.

For my lunch visit to BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, I have to give them four Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Smoke Shack BBQ

The fun about writing this blog is not just that I get to eat great food at a number of interesting restaurants, but also the many anecdotes that come out of some of my visits. These anecdotes tend to range from the treatment I received from a particular waitress, my having to send soup back a couple of times because it isn't hot or just about one of my dining companions. This is one of those times.

My buddy Gary was in town from NYC and hadn't had any good barbecue since he left Florida, so we decided to hit the Smoke Shack in Ormond Beach. I have written about the Smoke Shack before, so this is less about the food we had that day and more about one of our friends that joined us. Just as I was getting ready to leave the house to meet Gary, I decided to shoot a note to our friend Dan to see if he could meet us as well. He loves barbecue as much as we do and I knew if he could swing it, he would be there. I was a bit worried as this was the Friday of the Coca-Cola 400 weekend at Daytona International Speedway and thought he might be jammed-up with the race, but he was able to meet for lunch after all. Looking back, I am glad he did as once again, he didn't disappoint.

It is here that I should really break you down on the legend of our good friend. And please trust me when I tell you, he is a legend. A few years ago, a number of folks went to lunch one day at P.F. Chang's. Somebody noticed that one of the menu items was the Spicy Dan-Dan Noodles. From that day on, Dan was known as "Spicy." I'm not real sure he has really liked the nickname, but sometimes you just can't fight it and I think he has given up at this point. One of the things I have noticed is that most of our female friends still call him "Spicy", but many of us guys just simply call him "Spice." Whenever somebody brings up something about Dan, inevitably somebody will reply, "The Spice is nice!" He's just a great guy that brings a smile to every one's face when you think about him and all he has going on. The Spice name has bled over into his family with many of us affectionately referring to is wife as "The Spice Rack", his triplet daughters are "The Spice Girls" and his father is "Old Spice." So you see that it all works out and makes perfect sense.

My best way to describe Dan is to tell you he is the Asian George Costanza. He always has something going on that has him jammed-up. Like the time he called Animal Services and told them he had raccoons in his attic he needed them to come remove. They told him they don't remove raccoons, only alligators. He said, "Well, it might be an alligator." Or the time he was driving home from work in the rain and did a 180 spin that left him facing in the other direction only to see a cop sitting at the light looking right at him. Then there was the time he hit a curb in his new BMW and jacked-up the rim on his tire. He called the insurance company to tell them this should be covered, only to find out he would have to pay since he said he hit a curb and not a pothole. "That will be $1,200 please." I think you get the idea of what we are dealing with here.

I get to the Smoke Shack to find Gary had just arrived. Spice hadn't made it yet, so we hang out and wait for him before ordering. Spice finally gets there and says to us, "You guys are not going to believe what happened to me. I'll tell you when we get to the table." He jumps in line in front of us and orders his food. He didn't realize we were waiting for him and hadn't ordered yet. Gary and I place our orders and cannot wait to get to the table to find out what has happened to Spice.

We sit down and he proceeds to tell us that he was a little late joining us because he car wouldn't turn off. Seems something was going wrong with his car's electrical system and it wouldn't turn off. He cut his engine off and removed the key, but the radio and air conditioning still continued to run. But, in typical Spice fashion, he came on into the restaurant to eat and just let it run.

Spice ordered pulled pork and Gary and I ordered some monster sandwich that was comprised of beef brisket, pulled pork, cole slaw, shredded cheddar cheese and jalapenos. I had the macaroni and cheese as well as the baked beans as my sides. Their mac-n-cheese is really good, but their beans have a surprise in that they add small chunks of pineapple to give the beans a sneaky, sweet flavor. They are really good. The sandwich I had was incredibly tasty and quite filling. Don't order this sandwich if you are not really hungry. You'll kick yourself for having to throw away all of that good stuff. The brisket and pork were tender and had a great smoky flavor. The jalapenos added a nice kick. This is by far, the best barbecue available in the Daytona Beach/Ormond Beach area.

I hope Dan is not upset about this post being mainly about him and I appreciate your taking the time to read it. For this visit to the Smoke Shack, including the great food and great company, I have to give them five Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry