T.G.I. Friday's Frozen Snacks

I have been to T.G.I. Friday's restaurants four times. Once I had a very good pulled pork sandwich, but the other three visits were all terrible. Years ago, when I saw they were coming out with a line of frozen snacks, I shuddered and thought 'well, there's some food I will never try.'

My friend Elizabeth loves fried cheese, though. It's not only her favorite food in the world, it's probably her favorite thing in the world (other than her cat, which makes sense, and her framed Don Mattingly poster, which does not.) So one day I decided to get a box of TGIF fried cheese and see how it is. We both thought it was surprisingly good.

Last week Ralph's had most of the TGIF snacks on sale for $1.97 each (the normal price is about $4.99.) I decided at that price I should give several of the items a try and see how they taste.

The "Sweet & Smoky Popcorn Chicken" was my favorite of the bunch. The chicken was white meat, the breading was really tasty, and was actually both sweet and smoky. (I know that's what it's called, but I expected them to be lying; years ago my brother and I ate at TGI Friday's in Boulder, Colorado, and had items with their barbecue sauce that they proclaimed was "the best ever," and we both felt sick after lunch.)

The mozzarella sticks were again good. I like the marinara sauce that comes with it but Elizabeth does not like it at all. Every time we have had these cheese sticks together she uses Ken's Steakhouse honey mustard, which is also great.

The cheddar and bacon potato skins were also very good. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of them. I was making dinner for Elizabeth and my friend Tracie and I made them as a snack while dinner was cooking; I was so preoccupied with making sure I didn't screw up dinner that I didn't stop to take a picture.

The beer battered onion rings were lousy. They were mostly breading and little onion, and even though I fried them, the breading still tasted rubbery and not crispy. I will never eat these again.

The Mexican-style chicken quesadillas were good and bad. The chicken, cheese and salsa was all very tasty. But there was hardly any of it. If I had combined the filling out of both quesadillas into one, it would have been acceptable. But I had to put some barbecue sauce and cilantro in each of them so they weren't so dry and empty. These are definitely not worth the full price.

If Ralph's ever puts these items on sale again for such a low price, I will get more of the popcorn chicken and potato skins. And I will probably always get the fried cheese. But I will not have the onion rings or quesadillas again.

Philly's Best: Philly Chicken & Pepper

The other night I agreed to continue the search for a bridesmaid dress that I mentioned in the post about Jake's Roadhouse. Before that lunch we had gone to the David's Bridal in Duarte, which was a nightmare. Not a single person there tried to help us and there was not a single dress in my friend's size. So I offered to go with her to the David's Bridal in Burbank. Except it was pouring down that night and traffic was bad, so she did not want to drive home and then have to drive up to Burbank. I volunteered to meet her in Hollywood, where she works, and drive up to Burbank with her.

She offered to buy me dinner anywhere I wanted. I ran through all the options: Mozza? Hungry Cat? Ruth's Chris? But then I realized what I really wanted: a hot cheesesteak, fries, and to watch the Lakers game on the flatscreen TV at Philly's Best. What could be better than that?

Every time I have eaten at Philly's Best - which is getting more and more frequent these days - I have had the same thing: the Philly Pepper Steak with cheese. I had never tried the chicken. If ain't broke, don't fix it, you know? But I was curious.

It was fantastic. I added a few hot peppers, as usual. I gave my friend - who is also a huge fan of the steak - a taste, and she agreed it was great, much better than expected. Of course, it wasn't as good as the steak, but still a nice surprise. My fries were the best I have ever had there.

As usual, I only ate half my sandwich and took the rest with me, either to eat later that night or for breakfast the next day. This time it was the latter. Unfortunately, the chicken does not reheat as well as the steak. The steak sandwich is almost better the next day when toasted in the oven. The chicken is nowhere near as good.

The chicken sandwich was a one-time thing. It was really good and if Philly's Best only offered chicken sandwiches I would still eat there frequently. But that steak is just too damn good to pass up ever again.

Jake's Roadhouse

I've written about Jake's Roadhouse twice on my barbecue blog. I like the place a lot, although their barbecue is not great. Recently I took my friend over to Monrovia to look for a bridesmaid dress (for her, not me) and afterwards we wanted to get something to eat outside. It was a nice day, not rainy like the last couple days, so we sat at a sidewalk table. I wasn't in the mood for barbecue and the "Diablo" sandwich - buffalo chicken - sounded good to me. My friend went for the cheeseburger.

The chicken breast was very thin. It was probably a quarter-inch at most. But it was still good, because it was battered with a fresh beer batter and dipped in a tasty hot sauce. Not very spicy, but tasty nonetheless. My friend's burger, which she ordered well done, looked overcooked to me (I'm a medium-rare guy as long as the beef is decent quality) but she really liked it. We both enjoyed our fries, which I always do at Jake's.

I'm sure the next time I go to Jake's I will switch back to barbecue. I've never tried their tri-tip or hot link sandwiches. But this was a nice meal. Being able to sit outside on a February afternoon underneat a neon "B-B-Q" sign is always a good time.

Rocky Cola Cafe

I have been to Montrose dozens of times to eat since I was a teenager, but I almost always have gone to Zeke's. A couple times I have been to Black Cow Cafe, a few times I have had pupusas at the farmers market, and back when Havana Beach Cafe was open I used to eat there at least once a month. (I have been particularly missing their Cuban sandwich lately.)

But the one place I don't think I have been to since high school is Rocky Cola Cafe, which is funny because once upon a time I absolutely loved it. That was, of course, before I could drive and before I realized that 50s-style diners were more corny than cool. But still, when I was a teenager and my friend Dave lived just a few blocks away, we would often walk up there for dinner. In high school when we used to have Friday night basketball games, several of us on the team would go there for dinner afterwards. There are very few restaurants where I have had more fun.

When I became an adult, going there was just one of those things from the past that once was fun but that I never even thought about, like TPing houses or playing Street Fighter II on Super Nintendo. But the other morning my friend Elizabeth and I were trying to decide what to eat. She was hungry for breakfast and I wanted lunch, so we considered simple, cheap choices. And I mean really simple. At one point we just decided to go to Denny's. But then the subject of flavored Cokes came up and I thought of Rocky Cola. I looked up their menu online and saw that they served breakfast all day. Elizabeth loves diners so we decided to try it.

Walking in was surreal. I have not been there in at least a dozen years, but it felt like it had been several days at the most. I remembered every detail about the layout and most of the signs and posters on the walls. We were seated in the back of the restaurant, up a couple stairs and around the corner, underneath a neon Beatles poster. This is where my friends and I used to prefer to sit when we were 15 because we could cause trouble and none of the employees could see us. Now I liked it because I had a good view of the Lakers-Cavs game on TV and it was quieter, so Elizabeth and I could talk to each other without yelling. Life is funny.

She had the "kitchen sink omelet." I did not try it because it was full of avocados. I realize to most people this is a good thing, but I hate avocado and there was no way to take a bite of the omelet without getting a mouthful of it. She liked it, though, although there was no way she could eat the whole thing; it was huge. I ordered the popcorn chicken. I'm pretty sure that used to be one of my standard orders, along with the fried shrimp and foot-long hot dog. My chicken was outstanding.

We both got Cherry Cokes. I was considering a Vanilla Coke but went with the Cherry, which was great. A table full of kids nearby all got milkshakes, however, and I kind of wanted one of those (a milkshake, not a kid.) Maybe next time, although I wonder if another 13 years will go by before I eat there again. And, if so, will I still get popcorn chicken and a flavored Coke? Probably.

Buffalo Chicken Cheese Balls

More than almost anything, I am a sucker for something with "buffalo chicken" in the title. More than "pulled pork" or "cold beer" or even "live nude girls," if I see buffalo chicken, I want it. A restaurant could list "buffalo chicken dog poop"" and I would consider it.

So the other day while I was watching Food Network and the chef was making fried balls of buffalo chicken and cheese, I knew I had to give it a try. I grilled a couple breasts of spicy chicken and let them cookl, then rolled them into balls with cheddar cheese, hot sauce, and cilantro. I dipped each of these in flour, then egg wash, then bread crumbs, and fried them for just a couple minutes.

On TV the chef had made a dipping sauce of mayo and blue cheese, but I didn't have either, so I used sour cream, chevre cheese, and lemon juice. The balls were fantastic. I have become so sick of the reality and travel shows on Food Network the last few years that I forget that sometimes they come up with some really good recipes. They were very spicy - I added much more than the suggested amount of hot sauce - but that's never really a problem. I will definitely be making these again in the future, maybe even making a batch with a barbecue or Asian flavor.