Always up to something, and respectfully always prepared with his mobile technology devices, Black2oof from Las Vegas shows us the steps to creating a mean Jumbo Brown Mustard Dog.
As the photos show, he is becoming a leading artist in the medium of MOBI and we are proud to show his work here.
Our fine friend Frodo spotted this establishment in the Richmond International Airport in Virginia and snapped us a picture just for curiosity sake. We at the FPT have not seen one of these before, however another reader from the East has told us that it is an excellent place and they have like 40 different kinds of milkshakes.
Are you familiar? Please tell us your experience!
While we believe A&W was the first place to make these, here is a homemade example from our Las Vegas MOBI reporter. Pretty basic assembly - we have made these in the test kitchens ourselves as well. The Texas Toast is the kind that comes frozen and is thick and huge.
Think you can do better? Send us your pic for posting.
Wendy, our new front desk employee found these at 7-11 and promptly returned to the FPT test kitchens with them for us to see. This new offering from Doritos has a little flavor packet with spices that you sprinkle on the chips (see photos above).
We found them to be a little too flavorful with the packet spices added. However for those who just love full flavor and spice covered fingertips, these might be perfect for you. The staff here does give Doritos points for their continual innovations and new flavors.
Our friend, Brian GlickGlick sent us a quickpic of what he recommends for an appetizer before a nice long 4 hour powernap.
Awesome.
FROM ETATHED:
On a recent trip to Las Vegas I had the chance to dine at RM SEAFOOD, a restaurant located in Mandalay Bay. I was in the mood for some seafood and this place looked to be top notch.
This was a nice quiet place, though it was early and i hear the upstairs area gets jumpin later. The staff was very friendly and the service was fantastic.
I started with the Jumbo Lump Crabcake with chipotle mayonnaise, cucumber and pickled green papaya. This was probably the best crab cake i had ever tasted. A slight crunchiness on the top and bottom convinced me this cake was cooked to perfection. I also tried the papaya, which i was surprised by. It had a very strong flavor that i cant really describe, but it accented the crab cake wonderfully.
Next came the main course. I had went to RM Seafood specifically for the Lobster Raviolis that where on the restaurant's menu, via the Mandalay Ba site. Unfortunately when i got there the menu was different and the no longer had the Lobster Raviolis. I settled on the Blackened Catfish with sweet corn hushpuppies, and braised mustard greens.
I must say i was bit let down by the catfish, for some reason it seemed to lack the flavor i have come to love from other catfish dishes. As i was eating the fish i really thought i would have enjoyed a couple more crab cakes much more. However the hush puppies were out of this world. They had a cheese sauce baked into them that was fantastic. I didn't touch the greens. I also got a side of Cheddar Mashed Potatoes. These were very tasty and when eaten with the catfish, helped to liven things up a bit.
Over all it was a decent meal. Wonderful appetizer and sides, poor entree. I think my bill ran around 40-50 bucks, which isn't cheap, but isn't too outrageous either. They really do need to look into updating their menu on the Mandalay Bay site though. I was very disappointed when the meal i went there for was not available.
Feel the need for speed? Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants – in conjunction with Dr Pepper – are celebrating the highly-anticipated debut of the all new 2010 Chevy Camaro.
Starting now thru July 6th PST we are running a contest to giveaway quite the awesome ultimate car lover package prize!
Winner will receive the "Taste for Speed" gift pack, valued at nearly $200, featuring the following items:
-2010 remote control Camaro
-Meguiar's Complete Car Care Kit (includes Car Wash Shampoo & Conditioner, Gold Class Wax, tire protectant and the Quick Interior Detailer kit)
-Super absorbent ShamWow (8 count pack including a variety of sizes)
-Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s and Dr Pepper coupons for free food and drink
-And various other swag, including a “More than just a piece of meat” shirt, insulated coffee mugs, antenna toppers and baseball caps
HOW TO ENTER: We have chosen a number between 1-500. Please use the comments button below to post your guess. Closest to our magic number wins it all. In case of a tie, there will be a live playoff on the 7th. 2 guesses per reader and all posts must be signed with a recognizable email or nick. All comments will also be emailed to us as they are posted with IP's - so no shenanigans please.
If you prefer, you can email direct with your guesses to the link on the right column of this page.
FPT staff members are inelegible to participate.
EVEN MORE:
For a limited time, customers who purchase a large beverage or large combo meal at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s will receive a “Dr Pepper Camaro” instant win game cup. Each contains a unique game code printed on the cup that may be entered at DrPepperCamaro.com to reveal possible prizes, including one of six of the all new 2010 Chevy Camaro. After guests submit their game code, they have a chance to play a fun car game – Drive-Thru Derby.
Drive Thru Derby Game
One of our regular readers sent us an email that points to what has to be the strangest food item we have posted in a long time.
This item comes from The Black Widow Bakery and is very well documented on the link below.
The Meatcake by Black Widow Bakery
One of our favorites is back at Carl's Jr., and the timing is perfect. You are supposed to eat fruit in the summer and this burger helps carry that load.
This year the Teriyaki Burger is being promoted by a lovely bikini beach bunny who is as good-looking as this burger is.
We like this burger because the teriyaki glaze (not teriyaki sauce, which is bitter by itself) blends with the sweetness of the pineapple to make a 1-2 knockout punch.
The burger looks just like the photo above - something Carl's is always good about, unlike other fast food restaurants.
Heres the official stats:
The Teriyaki Six Dollar Burger Charbroiled 100% Black Angus Beef Patty, Teriyaki Glaze, Grilled Dole Pineapple, Two Slices of Swiss Cheese, Red Onion, Lettuce, Tomato and Mayonnaise on a Toasted Sesame Seed Bun.
CLICK HERE FOR ONE DOLLAR OFF COUPON
Etathed, our Eastern embedded reporter, recently stumbled upon something both snackable and interesting:
"Found this stuff at the store last time i was there. I am always skeptical of foodstuffs claiming to be "gourmet" but Popcorn Indiana Popcorn is indeed gourmet.
The package explains this popcorn comes from an actual town in indiana called Popcorn! Justly so as this is probably the best popcorn i have ever tasted. The first bag i got was the smoked cheddar. An amazing flavor that seemed to be baked into the popcorn, not sprinkled on top like so many other flavored popcorns. The popcorn was extremely fresh and seemed as if it had just been popped. This popcorn is very bender friendly, eating a whole bag will be no problem for most priders. This is not to say that the portion is small, to the contrary, these bags are quite full. It is simply a testament to the deliciousness of the product.
Handful after handful after handful, in the midst of it all, it seems so wrong to stop. When i did finally stop, once the bag was empty i was shocked to find a measly 2 un-popped kernels in the bag and none of those sharp little curvy kernel things that get caught in your teeth while munching. This product had what must be the closest thing ever to a 100% pop ratio.
The only down side to Indiana Popcorn is the bag itself. While it is very smooth, similar to most kettle chip style bags, it is prone to splitting thus running a long tear down the side of the bag. Another negative factor for some may be the high price point. At over 3 dollars i wouldnt blame anyone for passing these by, but if you got an extra few bucks, I GUARANTEE you will not be disappointed.
I just picked up a bag of the Buffalo Cheddar and the aged white cheddar flavors. I actually prefer Buffalo Chedder to the smoked cheddar i originally had. While i haven't yet tasted the white cheddar (my favorite of all popcorn flavors) i am sure it will be fantastic.
If you like popcorn, do yourself a favor... seek this stuff out and dig in!"
Skep, one of our loyal readers, contacted us over the weekend with information on something we have never ourselves and left us quite intrigued.
IncrEdibles, are frozen foods on a stick that you microwave and then push what you need out of the top of the tubes they serve them in. The two main items are scrambled eggs and macaroni and cheese - however they offer 3 'flavors' of each.
These debuted in 1999, 10 years ago, have they died out? Are they an East Coast only thing? Any info appreciated.
Our friend, the Oregon Coast Drifter, sent us some these pics of one of his latest personal creations. Excellent quality and presentation as we have come to expect from him.
Barnabus tells us: "The chicken was teriyaki, the beef was t-bone and greek seasoned. The shrimps were med-large 16/lb count. The limes freakin rocked the whole show. During the last 10 minutes the kebabs(sic) were basted with melted butter and lime juice they were incredible."
Recently, while the entire staff of the FPT test kitchens was on our annual 'team-building' corporate retreat deep in the backwoods, we did get some unknown food photos sent to us.
Photos above are unknown and we are asking for our readers help in leaving your comments as too what the foodstuffs are and whatever else you can share.
The one photo appears to be an old structure - however we cannot verify this and it could be something edible.
Two of our regular reporters - Etathed & Blak2oof - were fortunate enough to have the chance to do a meet and greet in fabulous Las Vegas. Etathed had never been to an In 'N Out Burger so Blak2oof knew what to do. Above are some live mobi pics from their visit and soon we will have commentary from them on the burgers.
The staff here found these on sale for 1.00 each. While we got 5, nobody can remember what they were like. It was a late night.
Anyone out there who can grade these for us?
Carl’s Jr. Carnivores Rekindle Love Affair with Mushrooms Award-Winning Portobello Mushroom Six Dollar Burger Lets Meat Lovers Embrace Popular Fungi!
"The Portobello Mushroom Six Dollar Burger is one of those craveable tastes that people can’t seem to get enough of," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing at CKE Restaurants. "Maybe that’s because we combine sautéed Portobello mushrooms, often referred to as ‘the steak of vegetables,’ with a big, charbroiled, 100% Black Angus beef patty. In fact, the burger sold even better when we re-introduced it than it did the first time, so this time around we’re making it a permanent menu item."
The Portobello Mushroom Six Dollar Burger features almost a half-pound of 100% Black Angus beef, topped with Portobello mushrooms sautéed in a garlic-butter sauce, Swiss cheese, red onion, whole leaf lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a seeded bun.
"This is a momentous day for mushroom fans," said Bart Minor, president of the Mushroom Council. "Portobello mushrooms are delicious, versatile and part of a nutritious diet, especially for young hungry carnivores. We know fun guys will really like this burger. Fun guys, fungi…get it?"
It is back and heres a link to a 1.00 off coupon.
CLICK HERE FOR COUPON
After seeing the commercial so many times - we had to give this new offering from Arby's a taste tester at the FPT kitchens.
Upon seeing the big sign before ordering, we thought this had potential. However, all of us were disappointed. The over-riding problem is the size of this sandwich - and the portion of roast beef is ridiculously small for a premium ($4.00plus) sandwich. The whole sandwich can be eaten in 6 bites - it is the size of a .99 cent value meal sandwich.
Overall, it was not a bad sandwich tastewise. However, we cannot get past the micro size portion for the macro sized price.
FPT Staff Rank: 6.4
(8 staff votes)
The photo above shows you what our team has found to be the BEST in-store bakery bagel you will find. After trying the bagels from all the major grocery chain stores that have an in-store bakery, we could not find anything like the bagels from Safeway.
They are toasted on the outside and chewy soft inside - our team preferred style (many would call this a New York style bagel.
As a bonus - these are priced nice everyday and are a max-value when they run a sale. Single bagels sell for only .69 cents!
Do you ever get tired of having the same old nuts? Perhaps you sometimes wish you had saltier and dare-I-say bigger nuts. Then you’re in luck.
Mr.Peanut has met the challenge by bringing out the big boys for his new "Big Nut Bars". These chewy nut and granola bars are indeed big. Big Nut Bars come in Double Peanut and Triple Nut varieties and contain 7g of protein per bar, for extra energy that will give smaller bars nut envy.
They are also very thick - no air/whipping bubbles - these are solid planks of goodness. The numbers tell the tale: 30% bigger than the leading similar bars.
We found these bars to be like a super compacted mini-meal. Tasty and filling. Not too salty or granoly (<-- not a real word yet). Excellent thing to have around the home or office when you want to a serious snack. Found them for sale as single bars as well as 5-packs at the grocery store.
Planters has been an American standard for peanut products for as long as anyone can remember. They have a long history of fine peanut products and this new offering was able to meet and beat our expectations.
From Oregon Coast Drifter Barnabus:
"While drifting on hwy 101 collecting bottles and cans for the deposit money, I most definitely smelled cooking going on and followed my nose to the scene shown in the photos above.
Turned out to be a "dry run" for a new cooking team that is set to take the world of grilling/smoking by storm. In exchange for a very delicious meal, I promised to pull some strings with the staff here at the FPT and put them at the front of the new submission list and scored the interview below.
BARNABUS: So, I understand that you are entering the world of competitive outdoor cooking. How did you get started in this amazing and exciting endeavor?
THIS BUTT'S FOR QUE: I was given a BBQ\smoker and I started playing around with grilling meat and using woodchips to add smoke flavor. My family and friends were very happy with the results. I started seeing BBQ competitions on The Food Network and it looked like they were having fun and there seemed to be alot of comerodery.
BARNABUS: Tell us a bit about your team, how did it come together? What do y'all call yourselves? How many grills are involved?
THIS BUTT'S FOR QUE: I had a few buddies that are into food like I am and they liked the idea of going to competitions. We have had a few "dry run" BBQ's at our home and they have gone well. The team decided on the name "This Butt's For Que". We are currently working with 3 grills with a plan for a 4th before our fist competition in July. I am always trying new dry rub recipes and a couple of us make sauces or glazes for the meat.
BARNABUS: What is your specialty and why?
THIS BUTT'S FOR QUE: I enjoy cooking brisket the most but I really havn't had time to develope anything that I would call a specialty yet.
BARNABUS: Any planned events we can look forward to?
THIS BUTT'S FOR QUE:
July 11th &12th Lincoln City OR - SMOKIN AT THE OCEAN
August 22nd & 23rd Salem OR - OREGON STATE FAIR
Sept 19th & 20th Seattle WA - EVERGREEN ST BBQ CHAMPIONSHIP
BARNABUS: What do you hope to achieve? Are there any certain trophies or awards you are shooting for?
THIS BUTT'S FOR QUE: We just want to have fun and make people happy with our food. We wouldn't mind getting good enough to get an invitation to the World Champion BBQ, Jack Daniels Invitational or Memphis in May competitions. Seeing the team on The Food Network wouldn't be a bad thing either.
