Review - Firkin & Fox (Burton, MI, member of the Firkin Pubs Nationwide)

Firkin &Fox is your typical English pub (or at least what I imagine an English pub to be) but with better lighting. Their menu has all of the typical English dishes such as Bangers and Mash, Shepard's Pie, and Fish and Chips, along with American favorites such as burgers, chicken strips, and ribs. On Tuesdays they have a special on their tacos.

Since I had never had the tacos, I figured I'd give them a try. There was nothing special about them...except the shell. It wasn't deep fried like I usually go for, it was your standard corn shell, but the texture was different. This was the lightest, thinnest, crispiest shell I've ever had. If the meat were seasoned a bit better, I'd order them all the time, but for the $0.49 special I can't complain.

I really went there for the Fish and Chips. I'm not a big fish eater, but once in a while I get an overwhelming craving for fish and chips, and where better to go than an English pub? When they arrived they were piping hot, and smelled incredible. I of course doused them in malt vinegar and squirted a generous amount of ketchup (not catsup!) on the plate. The batter was crispy, the fish was flaky, and there wasn't any hints of grease anywhere! Each bite was perfectly balanced between the smoothness of the fish, the tang of the vinegar, the sweetness of the ketchup and the crunch of the batter. I couldn't have asked for better fish. The Chips (fries) were fresh, hot, and almost had a creamy texture. The perfect fried potato!

I don't know about other Firkin Pubs, but I like Firkin & Fox. Maybe someday I'll be able to go to a real English pub in Jolly Old England and then I'll be able to give an accurate comparison.

Anyone wanna sponsor a trip? :)

Review - Big Boy (Nationwide)

I hadn't been to Big Boy in probably 10 years, so I thought today would be the day I returned. I have been seeing advertisements for the soup and sandwich lunch deal and the food looked so good, I had been wanting to try it.

I walked into the restaurant (Grand Blanc, MI) and was met with chaos. So many people just standing around everywhere (I assume to pay), no sense of order, no definitive line for the register, no greeter, just chaos. I ducked into the bathroom to wash my hands and OMGoodness the smell! Wow! It smelled like something crawled up an animals butt, died, and was pooped out of the dying carcass! I won't be going back in there again! When I came out the chaos had dissipated, but there still wasn't any greeter, nor was there anyone at the register. I finally walked up to the little old lady in the blue big boy shirt that was straightening up the salad bar and asked her if I can sit anywhere or should i wait to be seated. I figured that was a reasonable question, but she looked like a dear in the headlights. After taking a few moments to process what I had asked she said I could sit anywhere and she'd bring a menu to me. Once seated and with menu in hand I set about the task of picking my lunch.

It's a pretty standard diner menu, but they had a few new items that sounded good. When the server arrived and asked what I would like I asked her about the soups. As soon as she said Cabbage Soup I forgot everything else as I started having nightmare flashbacks to the "Cabbage Soup Diet" that my mother forced me on when I was in high school (yes my mother has a sadistic side). I decided to skip the soup/sandwich combo and went with a Texan Jack BLT (one of the new menu items), fries, unsweet iced tea, and a hot fudge ice cream cake for dessert.

The sandwich was lettuce, tomato, bacon, Pepper Jack cheese, on Texas toast...if you could really call it toast. it was slightly brown, but mostly soft bread. I would have liked it toasted a little longer. The cheese was cold, and the bacon was pathetic consisting mostly of very thin bacon crumbs. The lettuce was the typical iceberg lettuce (aka: crunchy water), and I picked off the tomatoes. I like tomatoes, but I'm allergic so I don't eat them often. The fries were really good. They were fresh, hot, and lightly salted. I was impressed with the fries. The hot fudge ice cream cake was ok. The cake was dry, the ice cream was good though, and the hot fudge was amazing. It tasted like Sanders hot fudge. The hot fudge and ice cream would have been better by themselves.

Overall, Big Boy was pretty much as I remember...ok food, for ok prices. Typical diner. I think in the future if I want diner food I'll pick one of the little mom and pop places in the area rather than a chain with mass produced food.

Review - Logan's Roadhouse (Nationwide)

Well, what follows Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday. My mother drags me out of my warm, cozy, comfy bed into the hell that is a shopping mall. This year was no different, except that we went at noon instead of 4am (Thank GOD!). As part of the deal, she feeds me after the insanity is over, and this year we went to Logan's Roadhouse. I've been to Logan's before, the service is always good, and I've never had a bad meal there. This time I thought I'd try something different and ordered their new Roadhouse Steak Melt.

NOM! NOM! NOM!

It was FANTASTIC! I was so pleasantly surprised! I thought it was going to be like a Steak-Umm (do those even exist anymore) but no! It's an actual piece of steak smothered in sauteed onions and provolone cheese (you can also get mushrooms on it, but I opted out of those). The meat was flavorful and tender, but firm enough that you knew you were eating something more substantial than White Castle. I felt like a carnivore eating this thing, using my incisors to rip into it and tear it to shreds. I liked that feeling! Almost T-Rex like! I put just a touch of A1 on the sandwich, but it really didn't need it. The sandwich also came with your choice of sides, but I went with the classic fries. Pairing this sandwich with their Top Shelf Roadhouse Tea made this meal perfect.

I will definitely eat this again! Rawr! That's the animal in me coming out for dinner!

Review - Red Robin (Nationwide)

I've been thinking about a bacon bleu cheese burger for days, so I finally broke down and went to Red Robin and got one, and some other stuff.

I don't usually go to Red Robin. I prefer the hole in the wall kind of burger joints, but today I was out running errands and there was a Red Robin along the way. I like Red Robin just fine, I don't avoid the place, but it's usually not my first thought when it comes to eating out. There are usually a ton of kids, and it's really loud, and the decor is busy, and I get a little agitated there. But I got take out so it wasn't so bad.

I ordered the Gourmet Cheeseburger which comes with a laundry list of items. On mine I selected bleu cheese, bacon, lettuce, pickles, red onions, and yellow mustard. Of course the burger came with a heap of fries (when you eat in the restaurant the fries are bottomless). And I also ordered a Freckled Lemonade (Strawberry Lemonade) and a chocolate cupcake! I drank the Freckled Lemonade while I was there and they were kind enough to top off my to go cup before I left.

I got the food home (about 1/2 hour drive), and it was packaged in cardboard boxes. I prefer this method to styrofoam not only because the cardboard is biodegradable, but because the bun and fries don't get soggy due to condensation, double win! The food was still hot, and the burger was amazing! I recently discovered that I like bleu cheese and really can't get enough of it! The sharpness of the cheese the saltiness of the bacon, the savory sweetness of the onion and the sour of the pickle all came together and sang in perfect harmony! Each bite had a little bit of every flavor, and by the end of the burger I was almost sad to see it end! Red Robin is one of the few establishments that has steak fries that are perfectly crispy! Most places under cook the steak fries, but not Red Robin! The outsides are nice and crisp, while the insides are almost buttery smooth. These fries need only a dash of salt to draw out the flavor of the potato, no ketchup needed! In the take out container there were a mountain of fries. I have enough to snack on through the evening.

The Freckled Lemonade is a favorite of mine, my only desire with it is that instead of using Minute Maid Lemonade, that they use fresh squeezed, but I guess with the quantity of lemonade they sell, that would be unreasonable.

New to the menu (at least new since the last time I'd been to RR) are cupcakes! They aren't even listed on the website yet. I ordered a chocolate cupcake and it was fantastic! Lots of places make chocolate cakes and cupcakes that are dry, but not Red Robin. The cake was so moist I thought it was going to drip! The cake was soft, and it practically melted in my mouth. I don't like frosting, but the chocolate frosting didn't taste like a mouthful of brown colored sugar, it actually tasted like real chocolate fudge!

The food at Red Robin is excellent, and if you have kids it's kid friendly. If you can tolerate the chaos of the restaurant, it's worth the trip. Otherwise get a takeout, it's just as good as eating there, but without the insanity!