Your Favorite Burger

I've probably written on this blog more than once that food can be a highly personal thing.  We each have our own likes, dislikes, and preferences and certainly this blog is an outlet for my opinions on all those things.  However, if I ask you what you're favorite hamburger joint is and you tell me 5 Guys  you are objectively wrong. Sorry. Of course that's not really a slight against 5 Guys Burgers and Fries which I do enjoy. It's a slight against you for not going out and exploring your local restaurants and food scene enough to know what a truly awesome medium rare burger with perfectly crafted toppings (see: The Local) tastes like.  Ladies and gents burgers are NOT just fast food anymore.  Tons of local restaurants are elevating the concept to another level. Are there still problems with not cooking the meat to the right temp or even *gasp* using frozen patties? Sure there are, but explore what's around you.  You'll probably be pleasantly surprised that for the same 10 bucks you spent to get a burger, fries, and drink from 5 Guys will buy you a burger that is just a little more special and definitely more tasty.

McDonald's Oreo Cream Pie?

Maybe I'm late to the party, but I saw some Twitter mentions of this the other day and it piqued my interest.  I know that McDonald's recently featured the Strawberry Cream Pie, but this is the first I'd heard of the Oreo variety.  If anyone knows of a Mickey D's in the Indy area serving these let me know.

Qdoba's Top Notch Rewards Program

It seems as though every place you walk into to do commerce these days has some sort of rewards program. In all of these you spend money at their establishment and swipe your loyalty card. In exchange for both frequently coming back and giving up information about your buying habits the company gives you some type of reward.  At Kroger it's 10 cents off per gallon of gas once you reach a hundred points, some places might offer a free meal or softdrink, and I have no idea what it is at the Classy Chassis but hopefully some sort of psychiatric evaluation.  Most of the time these rewards may be somewhat of a waste of time, but I've found one I really enjoy taking advantage of: the Qdoba rewards program.

Up front you should know that Qdoba is one of my favorite haunts.  I'm a big fan of their BBQ burrito and nachos.  Once you sign up for a Qdoba loyalty card and swipe it every time you buy a meal you will eventually earn a free entree.  Truthfully though the free entree takes quite a lot of visits to get so that's not why I'm high on this.  The reason I like it so much is because when you sign up Qdoba sends tons of awesome offers to members via email.  For example I just took advantage of a Tax Day coupon that made any chicken entree (burrito reg $7.29) 5 bucks.  That's darn good. Also, in this case it was emailed to me last week and I got to use it multiple times between then and April 17th. 

If you're a fan of Qdoba like I am, and you are also a fan of getting free entrees, reduced price specials, free chips and queso I suggest you sign up next time you're there.

Image courtsey midtownlunch.com

ATTENTION RDERF READERS!!

As you may have noticed the last few months things around here have kind of slowed down in regards to how many blogs I've done per month.  I don't really have an explanation for it, but maybe I lost the fire a bit.  Also, lately we've been tending to stick to some of our favorite hangouts too often and not venture out to new places that make for interesting blog entries.  I'm not using this post as an apology.  I'm writing this post to tell you that that is going to change.  The whole reason I started this blog was to check out new places and give you my opinion accordingly.  That's what I'm going back to.  Make sure to come back and check for updates often because I'm going to try to update at least every other day.  Sometimes it may be more. Every post may not be a review, but hopefully we can use this space for food discussion or news. Happy eating everyone!

Enough Already: Social Media and Restaurant Self-Promotion

"Don't believe the hype." I'm quite sure that when Public Enemy had a hit with those lyrics back in the early 90s they most certainly weren't talking about anything I'm going to write about in this blog post. Nonetheless that doesn't mean the phrase doesn't apply to the phenomenon I've seen way too much of lately, relentless restaurant self promotion via Twitter.

As some of you may know I'm a big fan of social media and twitter especially. If you're so inclined you can even follow me via that little link over there on the right.  Twitter serves a great purpose.  It allows easy social interaction and conversation.  It is a source for humor. And it can be used as a cheap and effective way to promote something whether that be a political ideology, a specific candidate, a blog (ahem), or yes even a business.  I don't find anything wrong at all with any of this, but I'm a believer in the concept of everything in moderation (bacon excluded) but it seems as of late some restaurants aren't subscribers to this philosophy. 

I believe it's one thing for a restaurant to use twitter to interact with customers (Pizzology, Boogie Burger, Scotty's Brewhouse) and to promote special events or menu items (The Local), but a more disturbing phenomenon is using the medium to blowup followers' timelines to do nothing but inflate their own hype.  Let me give you an example.  If I eat somewhere and enjoy myself I might tweet and say "@XXXXX I had a nice meal tonight. Looking forward to going back." It would be proper for that restaurant to maybe send me something back saying thanks for coming out or we appreciate your business.  However, what I've seen is one place in particular continuously retweeting without comment EVERY remotely positive thing people say about them.  It's obnoxious and excessive, and having ate there (review to come later) an inaccurate representation of the quality of the experience.  After all I certainly don't see any "My food took forever to come out and you turned my steak to shoe leather" tweets.  I know. I know.  Why don't I just unfollow? That's true I could do that and probably will, but I shouldn't have to.  The point is that if you're making people unfollow you your social media strategy is a big wad of fail.

As you are my readers I have to assume all of you are poor judges of writing talent discerning diners or at least hope to be.  I do my best to give you my honest opinion and go into each restaurant and meal with an open mind. But while I can help be a guide as to where you might best spend your hard earned dollar I'm not trying to make up your mind for you. If you see a restaurant trying so hard it seems like they're almost trying to convince themselves you should probably beware. I mean look what happened to Huey Lewis after he tried to make us believe the heart of rock n roll was still beating.

Ok so this isn't Huey, but it might as well be.

Quick Food Thoughts: bbq

I was watching last week's Top Chef bbq challenge while I was writing my last Top Chef post and I had a couple bbq thoughts that I wanted to share.  People are sometimes divided on these so if you disagree or agree feel free to chime in with comments.

1. I prefer pork bbq.
2. I prefer a thicker sweeter sauce on most occasions (not always and there is such as thing as too sweet).
3. My preferred, no mandatory, side with bbq is coleslaw.  Has to be there...period.
4. As far as coleslaw goes I can enjoy it on the bbq or on the side, but I almost always prefer a mayo coleslaw with a citrus tang over a more vinegar based slaw.

Top Chef Texas: Thank God It's Time for Restaurant Wars

In past food tv posts I've done on this blog I've compared almost every other cooking competition show to Top Chef because I believe that over the last few years it has by far been the gold standard (No reason to get excited Ron Paul fans it's just a turn of phrase).  Top Chef has consistently had the most difficult and innovative challenges with by far the most talented competitors.  That doesn't even take into account so many of the interesting personalities they've had on the show as both judges and cheftestants.  However, it pains me to say that this season of Top Chef has been less than stellar. 

I can't really put my finger on what's different or what's missing (not enough Tony Bourdain!) but something about Top Chef: Texas just isn't the same.  It might just be a function of following last season's superior Top Chef: Allstars and we're just returning to the mean.  I think it's more than that though.   Every Top Chef season seems to struggle a little bit through the first few episodes where there are honestly too many contestants.  It's hard for anyone to stand out, and the show suffers from weaker competitors that really don't belong  in the upper echelon that have a chance to win.  However, we're far enough into the Texas season that this should not be an issue and still not a single competitor is sticking out in my mind as being particularly impressive the way Richard Blais and Angelo Sosa have been in the past.  Instead this season seems to have cheftestants that are more memorable for their appearance (the Chrises) or their grating personalities (Heather, Bev).  I'm honestly beginning to wonder if the producers have just struck out this season, or if the last few episodes are going to turn it around.

If there is going to be a turnaround this season for Top Chef I believe that has to start tonight with the obligatory restaurant wars challenge.  For fans of Top Chef restaurant wars is the one week we all look forward to.  The chefs divide up into two teams and come up with a menu and restaurant concept top to bottom.  It holds all the potential for what ABC Sports used to call "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat".  For every successful restaurant concept there has been, there has also been one that is the culinary equivalent of that ski jumper biting it in the most horrendous fashion imaginable.  I believe one season both teams did so poorly they were embarassingly offered a do-over the next day.  I don't know if we're going to be in store for that much excitement tonight (or last night for you readers late to the party), but I'm hoping for an old familar challenge brings some some old familiar feelings of viewing enjoyment.

P.S. Wild guess, but I'll say the person who does dessert has a good chance to go home tonight.

image courtesy twentieshacker.com

Commendable Service at Chili's In Noblesville

If you were to ask me how often I eat at places like Chili's or Applebee's I'd answer by saying almost never.  There are far too many restaurants with better food and better value that are locally owned to waste time eating at places like this.  The only time I will ever order anything from there is if I'm part of a larger party that decides that's where they want to go or if I have in some way acquired a giftcard for one of those places.  The latter was the case today when I tried to get some chicken tenders to avoid the bane of my existence, the grocery store, for one more day.  Unfortunately when I presented my giftcard to pay for my meal it was rejected due to not being properly loaded when it was purchased from a 3rd party retailer.  I was upset because I'd have to pay out of pocket, and The Girlfriend's grandparents who gave me the card for my birthday wasted their money.  Surprisingly, the manager offered to give me the food for half price despite the fact that she was under no obligation to do so.  If she hadn't done this I wouldn't have been upset.  After all the issue was not their fault, and they had prepared my food in good faith.  I thought it was very nice of the manager to do this for me without any needed complaining on my part, and I thought it was worthy of a little shoutout here at RDERF.  Moral of the story here if you are purchasing giftcards of any type from a 3rd party retailer for Christmas gifts beware that they might screw it up.  When you're buying Christmas gifts in a tough economy like this every dollar should count.

P.S. The food isn't really worthy of comment, but if you're curious the tenders in the honey chipotle sauce weren't bad.  The chicken was juicy.  The coleslaw wasn't bad, but definitely nothing special.  The fries were borderline awful as they usually are at Chili's.  No excuses for that.

A Fisher's BBQ Flameout

A bbq flameout sounds like some sort of awful entree or app that comes on a Chili's menu.  In this case though I'm afraid I'm talking about the closing of Bender's BBQ Pit in Fishers on the corner of 96th and Masters.  You might have remember my posting of a favorable review of it's cuisine earlier this Summer.  After my post I started noticing that a lot of people didn't view their bbq from Bender's quite as favorably as I did.  I made a couple of revisits that I never got around to blogging about, but keeping in mind that the restaurant recently closed after less than 6 months in business it seems appropriate to do so now.

I stand by my original assessment of the flavor of the food at Bender's.  I enjoyed my pulled pork, and when I later had the brisket I found it even better than the pork.  The sauce was good.  The coleslaw ranked among my favorite of all time.  The problem comes from the fact that little issues that I wrote off in the beginning as growing pains never really went away.  Bender's seemed to want to do too much too soon (moving to a bigger space, serving breakfast) and the details got left behind.  For example, every time I got a pulled pork sandwich from there the bottom bun was completely soggy to the point of being inedible.  I kept hoping they would solve that problem, but they never did.  One time the top bun of my sandwich was forgotten entirely. 

I think it's a shame to see any local restaurant close, but I really wanted an awesome bbq restaurant in that part of town.  From where I live, as it stands now, the closest bbq restaurants are either in Westfield or off of Binford, South of 465.  Not really close at all.  Hopefully someone will take up the reigns and not really try to run before they walk.

My Blogging Debut At PJ Lifestyle

It is with much pleasure that I get to announce that I was offered the opportunity to do some food blogging for the lifestyle section of Pajamas Media.  Today is the debut of my first blog: But I Love That Place: The 7 Most Overrated Fast Food Restaurants.  It was a piece that I had a lot of fun writing, and hopefull people will have fun reading it as well.  It's important to note that this doesn't mean Random Dude Eats Random Food is going on hiatus.  I'm still going to try to do reviews here with an emphasis on Indy/Indiana specific locations.  In the meantime come on over to PJ Lifestyle and check us out.  Here's a little taste.

French fries sizzling in hot oil. Fresh (at least at some point) hamburger searing on the flat top grill. Squeaky-voiced teen messing up our order and saying he’ll have to ask his manager. This is the fast food experience Americans are all familiar with. When we walk into a fast food restaurant we all have a certain set of expectations about the food and service based on our previous experiences. That’s why we continue to go back — no matter where in the country we are, we expect the same McDonald’s or Taco Bell meal.



However, it seems to be increasingly evident that fast food restaurants are trying new gimmicks marketing techniques to change both our expectations and perceptions of what they’re serving and how they’re serving it. If my business was being endlessly attacked by nanny-staters that want to dictate what I can and can’t serve my customers, I’d probably try almost anything to keep them coming in the door. But when you try to create the perception of better food and better value instead of actually giving it to your customers, you become a prime candidate for today’s list.

Weekend Food Preview

I haven't done one of these posts in a while, but I thought it was time.  This week has been really long and kind of rough honestly.  I need some good eats this weekend to make up for it.  Not to give too much away, but I was definitely thinking of having at least one more meal on the Random Dude Eats Random Food Summer of BBQ Love Tour.  If you have any non BBQ suggestions please let me know, specifically on the NW side of town.  The Girlfriend got a new job over there, and I planned on showing her the best/quickest way for her to get to work so she doesn't have to go by the GPS' crappy routes.  Also, are there any new grocery products or fast food items on the market that would be worth trying?  Also, let me know if you go or plan to go to anyplace cool this weekend.  Happy eatings!

No Reservations Hits A Homerun With elBulli Episode

The other day as I was flipping around channels on my TV I decided to stop for a second on No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain on the Travel Channel.  It's hard to explain how I feel about this show.  I really like Anthony Bourdain as his blending of both the eloquent and profane is something of pure majesty.  I really like shows about travel/food.  I really like the concept of a show that promotes enjoying street food as well as more fine dining offerings.  However, even though No Reservations is about all of those things every episode doesn't necessarily click for me.  Some episodes I just find endlessly boring.  That was not the case with the episode I watched the other night.

In this particular episode Bourdain was in Spain with his friend and celebrated chef, Jose Andres.  The goal was not just to travel the Spanish countryside however.  The goal was to allow Bourdain and Andres to sit down to their final meal at elBulli.  The restaurant, considered by many to be the best in the world, serves incredibly interesting, creative and intricate cuisine typically served in 35-55 small courses.  During this episode Bourdain puts on the chef whites and steps into the kitchen, and we as viewers get an up close look at just a little bit of the crazy stuff they were doing in the kitchen.  It turns out that was just a glimpse into the genius of the restaurant's owner and executive chef, Ferran Adria.

The kitchen at elBulli.  Courtesy of Wikipedia.

As Bourdain and Andres sit down for dinner at the restaurant with Adria the full measure of his brilliance is on display.  Some might call it "molecular gastronomy", but this is much more than just using some liquid nitrogen.  This was food that both looked delicious, and not only stepped outside of the box but destroyed it all together.  Obviously, I didn't get to taste the food so I can't comment too much in that regard, but I can comment about how fascinating it was to watch Adria comment on his own food and way of thinking.  The episode was especially poignant given that the restaurant is now closed.  I think the episode provided a good sendoff.  If you see a rerun on the Travel Channel I implore you to watch.  You'll probably find yourself as engrossed in food you'll never taste and people you'll never meet as I was.

Favorite Candy At The Moment

I'm not someone who is really into sweets, candy and chocolate specifically, but I did take a break from savory reviews a while back to give my thoughts on the new Hershey's Air Delights bar. That got me thinking about what candy bars I do really enjoy from time to time, allbeit seldomly. It fluctuates, but for a while my favorite has been the regular Twix bar. I love the chocolate, caramel and cookie combo. In second place is probably the regular Hershey bar. Simple and delicious. I also wish they would bring back Butterfinger BBs. Great Butterfinger taste without getting stuck in your teeth. Let me know what your favorites are or if there are any defunct candies they should bring back.

Wedding Reception Dinner Services

Just this last weekend The Girlfriend and I attended a wedding for two of our good friends. The ceremony and reception were both very nice, and without going into a lot of detail the food at the latter was quite good. I think part of the reason for that was the way the method they used for the food service. Too often at wedding receptions you stay at your table and are served a dry bland piece of chicken you'd rather not eat. In my opinion it's far better to do what are friends did and have a kind of tapas buffet instead. There was a nice mix of hearty proteins, vegetable items, starches and fruit. Also it forces the guests to get up out of their seats earlier and be a little more social. When you add in some adult beverages a good time was had by all. I want to end by saying congratulations again to the bride and groom.
P.S. Also, I wanted to issue my most sincere apologies for forgetting to get the bride and groom a wedding gift. Apparently I'm a total moron that can't remember to do simple things while having an entire week off of work. Anyway sorry guys and I'll be sending you something here shortly.

The Ever Expanding World Of Indy Food Blogs

When I started this blog last fall there were about 3 Indy food blogs I checked on the regular.  I was a little nervous when I started because others had been in the game so long I wondered if I could say anything that hadn't already been said.  With even just 3 blogs that I knew of was the Indy food blogosphere already over saturated?  I decided to go ahead and start writing anyway just for my own personal enjoyment.  I never thought anyone, outside of my friends really, would start reading anything I wrote.  It was much to my surprise that I actually got some positive response.  Since then it seems even more people have taken up the mantle of food blogger here in the Indy metro area.  In fact it seems like so many are popping up I have a hard time keeping track, though I try.  I think it's pertinent to ask the question again, how many food bloggers in one city is too many?

In my opinion I think the answer is that there can never be too many.  That is what makes blogging great.  Nobody is there to tell you that you can't.  Every person who writes brings a new style or perspective to whatever subject they're covering.  Even if some of the same hangouts or restaurants are covered by different bloggers it doesn't mean that the two reviews will look exactly alike.  While I try to boldly eat what no one has written about eating before, I think disagreements among writers makes for interesting reading as well.

I welcome all new food bloggers with open arms as long as they are having fun and doing it for the right reasons.  I myself read multiple blogs every day, and I'm guessing a lot of you do also.  Having readers is not a zero-sum-game.  I say take it all in.  After all if there are enough people writing blogs with new content then maybe there will be enough to read to avoid doing work entirely.  Cheers and happy eating.

P.S. Blogger is telling me the word "bloggers" is a misspelling.  Fail.

Curing the No Top Chef Blues

Seeing as my flip flops melted to the asphalt in the parking lot of my apartment complex when I took the dog out earlier today it's hard not to notice that Summer is here.  Along with thunderstorms, oppressive heat, and humidity we all know that Summer also brings a serious lack of good television.  My favorite shows like How I Met Your Mother and Parks And Recreation are in reruns and the best food competition show on TV, Top Chef, is on hiatus, but cable food shows are usually airing new episodes so typically it's not a bad place to go for a TV fix.  However, I've noticed something else this year.  The shows on Food Network are harder to watch than a Rosie O'Donnell sex tape. 

I know I've ranted on here before about various crappy shows on FN, but that was before they brought out television atrocities like Tough Cookies or Extreme Chef .  Tough Cookies is just another "reality show set in dessert shop run by a family in New Jersey" concept or as most of the world would call it "Cake Boss With Cookies Instead of Cakes Or Some Shit".  Aside from being unwatchable it's a pathetic attempt to capitalize on the already waning popularity of a show on a different network.  Extreme Chef is similarly stupid.  It's another chef competition show that some moron thought they would make better by throwing in twists every 10 seconds. I mean they are having the chefs pull such lame stunts as cooking on the engine of a muscle car.  The reason Top Chef works isn't because all of the zany twists and challenges.  It works because they have (mostly) talented chefs adapting to clever, sometime subtle, twists to produce great food.  With all this garbage you may be thinking there is no where to turn for some interesting Summer food programming.  You'd be wrong.

Master Chef is a program that debuted last Summer as an American adaptation of a British and Australian cooking competition series featuring talented amateur cooks.  It's currently in its second season, and I find it quite captivating.  The three judges are Gordon Ramsay, Graham Elliott, and Joe Bastianch. These are three guys with pretty heavyweight (in Graham's case literally) chops.  Even if you think Ramsay is an a-hole, when you watch Master Chef you realize he's  a different person than the character he tends to portray on other shows such as Hell's Kitchen.  On Master Chef the food seems to be of high quality.  The competitors are interesting.  The challenges and format are unique without being too gimmicky, and the judges are neither afraid to give praise or criticism when deserved.  Also, it's on twice a week in prime time. It works to fill  two gaps in your TV lineup.  Hooray!  If you're like me and can't stand to hear "culinary point of view" on Food Network Star one more time give Master Chef a shot.  If you don't like it come on here, and tell me how wrong I am in the comments. I'll go all Ramsay on you and call you a stupid donkey, but hey it's worth a shot.  Happy viewing.

Indy Jack In The Box Update

This blurb in the Indy Star today says that zoning has been approved for a new Jack In The Box fastfood restaurant here in Indy. It also says that the location where zoning was obtained was for 21st and Post. Strange location. I don't think I'll be visiting it any time soon. If they open up a store in a neighborhood where less kevlar is necessary I might check it out.

Update 8/8/11:  According to this new article at the Indy Star, Jack will be opening up 2 more locations in addition to the one on Post.  1 location on the near North side on Meridian and 1 on the Northeast side on 82nd.

Update 11/2/11:  Since this turns  out to be the most popular post in terms of views on my blog (for some reason) I thought I would post another update.  According to this Indiana Business Journal article JITB is opening as many at 10 locations all over the city with the first being opened on the South side at U.S. 31 and County Line Rd.  It also says they are getting some resistance to opening one on 82nd.  The 82nd St location would be most convenient for me, and I don't see myself traveling all the way down to the South side just to try it out.

Update 1/14/12 The first location is opening on Monday 1/16/12 on the South side.  Post about that opening here.

Chow Down Midtown Reminder

Hi everybody! (Hi Dr. Nick!)  I just wanted to remind you all that the Chow Down Midtown event is going on right now, and you should check back at their website for updates. They've posted several new menus since my last blog about it. Here's the link Chow Down Midtown. Right now I'm thinking Moe and Johnny's and The Union Jack look pretty good. Sahm's too.

Okay, so I'm not the only one that has those thoughts...

The great blog/webcomic The Oatmeal has a great comic up about restaurant websites, and how they can be...less than user friendly.  I know I've had some of these thoughts more than once, and it gave me a chuckle.  Enjoy.

(The above comic is the creation of the author of The Oatmeal.  Make sure credit is given where due)

Next Food Network Star: Should I cover it here at RDERF?

If you're reading this blog you have probably watched something on Food Network before.  You are probably also aware that some of their shows can be awesomely bad cheesy ripoffs. Their show Next Food Network Star (NFNS) encompasses all of these qualities and then some. For that reason, and the lack of other good tv, it's usually a weekly watch during the Summer months. I'm currently thinking of coupling my viewing with a little weekly recap here on the blog with plenty of mocking, snark and sarcasm thrown in.  Could be fun, but maybe you all aren't interested. Let me know what you think.