Fast Food Review: Hardee's Turkey Burger

Okay, I want to start off by saying that I know I've been slacking a bit on blogging lately.  I apologize, but some extraneous factors have gotten in the way.  No matter because the Random Dude is back with more vengeance than Maria Shriver. 

As you all know I've been trying to cut a few calories here and there and with Hardee's constantly touting their new under 500 calorie turkey burgers I figured it was a really good opportunity for a fast food review.  These burgers were designed with the assistance of Men's Health magazine and consist of a ground turkey patty, toppings and a whole wheat bun.  I decided to go with the Mushroom Swiss Turkey Burger because that was my favorite variety of Hardee's hamburger growing up and I want to see how it translated. 

When I have had turkey burgers in the past I found them to be rather dry so I have to say going in I didn't really have high expectations.  However, expectations aside this turkey burger was just plain delicious.  The patty was of a good size, the 2 pieces of Swiss were nicely melted, it had a fair amount of mushrooms and the wheat bun was soft and pillowy.  I found the burger to be adequately juicy with plenty of flavor.  The mushroom sauce and cheese really helped in that regard.  I got the burger only and skipped the fries.  This kept my lunch at a reasonable 480 calories, and to be honest with you I found it perfectly filling.  I would have no trouble ordering the turkey burger again over the regular burger even if I wasn't considering calories at all.

Taste 8/10  Not just above my expectations, but above average taste overall.
Value 5/10  I at first experienced a bit of sticker shock paying 4 dollars for just a burger, but I quickly  realized it's just a normal price for a specialty fast food burger.  I'm just not used to going the non-combo route.

Pre-Movie Eats Review: Saku Japan Grill

As I discussed in a previous post last weekend The Girlfriend and I decided to go see the superhero blockbuster, Thor.  I was pondering what exactly our pre-movie eats would be.  I thought now would be a good time to do a little update post/review.

I know this is a food blog, but I wanted to at least mention that I thought Thor was awesome!  It had an interesting story, good characters, humor, good writing and good action.  Go see it!  Anyway, what was really important is what and where we decided to do dinner.  Since we were going to a 7 pm show I thought it would be a good idea to grab something before the movie seeing both of us were really to hungry to eat at 9 pm.  We also decided that we weren't really feeling a sit down meal due to timing issues, but we also did not want to just grab fast food.  We decided to find a place to grab some good eats near the theater so we decided on Saku Japan Grill located in the Hamilton Town Center shopping mall.

Going in, I wasn't really sure what to expect.  I was somewhat in the mood for sushi which was indeed on the menu at Saku, but when I arrived I didn't see anyone making or eating it so I rightly or wrongly questioned its quality.  The Girlfriend and I decided to go with the special instead which consisted of a combo of orange chicken and chicken teriyaki, steamed veggies and white rice.  I readily admit that this was not the most exciting or adventurous meal, but I will say this wasn't really your typical mall food court Asian food.  The veggies had wonderful crunch and flavor that I definitely wasn't expecting.  The orange chicken was pretty much every orange chicken you've ever had.  It was sweet and slightly tangy, but I thought it had much better flavor and a fresher taste than say a place like Panda Express.  The chicken teriyaki was surprisingly grilled to order instead of just dished out from a pre-prepared batch.  My advice would be to skip the combo special and just get the teryaki by itself if you're into those sort of flavors.  The portions were also quite large.  Each of us had enough left over for lunch the next day.  One criticism is that having part of the name be "Japan Grill" is a little misleading.  Yes they are doing sushi (maybe?), but most of the dishes seem like standard Americanized Chinese.  Then again expecting authenticity at mall food court is like expecting Kirstie Alley to let you have the last slice of pizza.

Taste 7/10  Not really very sophisticated, but pretty enjoyable for mall food.  It was way better than grabbing burgers before going to see the god of thunder.
Value 4/10  I had a bit of sticker shock when our bill for our 2 "specials" and 2 drinks came to 22 dollars.  The food was good, but not better than I've had a my favorite Chinese takeout.  Also, when we get takeout we get egg rolls and a separate order of crab Rangoon and I still don't need a whole Jackson to pay the bill.  We did get 2 meals out of it, but pre-diet me would have easily ate it in one sitting.

Ale Emporium: Pulled Pork Review

I was to preface this review by saying how big of a fan I am of the Ale Emporium.  If you've never been there it's a cool bar/restaurant in a little strip mall on the corner of 86th and Allisonville in Castleton.  They often have live music, plenty of TVs, plenty of tables, a non smoking section, outdoor seating and good service.  I've also had several meals at the Ale Emporium and almost everything  I've had has been top notch.  I think that is what made the pulled pork bbq sandwich I had there such an incredible disappointment.

It was Friday afternoon after a long week and I decided to meet my buddy at the Ale Emporium for one or two or eight drinks.  On this front the bar met my every desire to a tee.  Beer never tastes as good as it does while sitting outdoors on a Friday after work.  However, to go with my barley and hops I decided to also order some food.  I passed up a few of my usual favorite sandwiches and pizza (the deep dish at AE is awesome!) and decided to go with an item on the menu with the ever-attractive NEW!! label next to it, the pulled pork sandwich.  The menu description sounded wonderfully enticing.  Slow smoked pulled pork bbq topped with creamy coleslaw with a side of pretzel crusted fried pickles.  That sounded like the perfect combination of drunk food and late Spring early Summer deliciousness.

When it arrived at my table it was not really what I had envisioned and not what had been described.  What was the first thing I see?  A striking absence of coleslaw and a horrendous  addition of melted cheese on top of my pulled pork.  For shame.  Maybe some of you out there have a preference for that and feel free to make your arguments in the comments, but I'll tell you right now you're wrong.  It added absolutely no flavor or texture and just made it visually unappealing.  The pork itself was also incredibly bland.  It had the appearance that it was sauced, but I was struggling to find any sweetness or tanginess. The pork also definitely seemed more shredded than pulled which isn't my preference and made it seemed more processed than fresh.  The bright spot was definitely the fried pickles.  Fried pickles are a somewhat trendy new item on several bar food menus these days, but these with their pretzel breading are truly unique.  They were the perfect thickness.  Crunchy and salty on the outside yet somewhat soft as you bit into them.  Very delicious, and I'm definitely going to get some the next time I'm at the Ale Emporium.

And speaking of going back let me say that I will be going back to the Ale Emporium and probably will do so with some frequency.  It's just a good bar with good food.  Everybody is entitled to a swing and a miss every once in a while.  I mean some of you are probably Cubs fans and you stick with them despite them being crappy for almost well...forever.  Anyway, my point is stop by the Ale Emporium for a bite and a pint sometime.  Somethings are worth a second ...or 100th chance.


Taste 3/10 The fried pickles were fantastic.  I'd mainline them if I could.  The sandwich on the other hand was one of the least flavorful bbq sandwiches I've ever had and it had cheese on it for Chrissakes.  I probably should have sent it back, but I was willing to give it a shot, and sending stuff back unless it's under or over cooked really isn't my style.  From now on I'm going to avoid bbq unless a place does that as their specialty.

Value 4.5 The value here would be just a little above average if my meal was more enjoyable.  The sandwiches are about what you'd expect to pay for bar food in Indianapolis.

Movie Eats

Tonight The Girlfriend and I will be going to see Thor in IMAX3D and I was trying to think of what we're going to do for dinner. Fridays are typically a takeout night for us so we'll probably stick to that and grab something before the 7pm show. I wanted to open it up and ask what you all like to eat when going to a show?  Do you do a sitdown meal?  Fast food?  Before or after the film?  Do you like to get snacks at the theater despite it being a huge ripoff?  As for me I think I'm feeling like sushi tonight, and no theater snacks for me thank you. As always happy eatings and have a good weekend!

Restaurant Impossible Filming Nearby

According to Indystar.com Food Network restaurant makeover show Restaurant Impossible will be filming within the next two weeks at a place in Nora called The Snooty Fox. I've never been to the restaurant so I can't speak to it's quality. I have, however, watch Restaurant Impoosible and I can tell you that I think it kind of sucks.  As I've blogged about in the past I think it is pretty much just a cheap ripoff of Kitchen Nightmares, but I do somewhat like Robert Irvine and I wish the owners of the restaurant featured on the show all the best.

Breakfast Review: Ginger's Cafe

Going out to breakfast on the weekends is one of the small pleasures in life that I enjoy the most.  I know that a lot of you might say that breakfast out isn't that special because it mostly consists of simple items you could prepare at home.  This is true, but sometimes dining out is as much about the experience as the food.  Knowing that I slept in somewhat late on a Sunday, went to an awesome diner  and had someone else prepare for me a hearty meal just really makes my day.  There are a couple of places near my residence that tend to fit that criteria and the one I visited most recently was Ginger's Cafe on Conner St. in Noblesville.

As I walked in on Sunday morning I noticed that while all the tables weren't full business was still brisk for being late morning and past time for the breakfast rush.  This is a true small mom and pop place.  There was no hostess so I grabbed a seat at a small table near the door.  The downside of this was that it took several minutes longer than normal to get noticed by the waitstaff that I was indeed there to eat and had just sat down.  The wait gave me time to look around at the interesting decor.  I found it really interesting that the tables and chairs in the restaurant are all mishmash and unique almost like they were donated or purchased at various garage sales.  Even though it meant my chair was slightly uncomfortable I was a fan.  The rest of the decorations on the walls like various old license plates and knickknacks gave it a very homey feel.  Eventually though I was noticed, and I was hungry and ready to order.

The difference between the biscuits is quite clear even in this picture.

I decided to go with the Ginger's Breakfast which was 2 eggs (over medium for me), home fries, 2 pieces of bacon, and 2 biscuits.  Absolutely everything I wanted and nothing I didn't.  This was not a sweet breakfast kind of morning.  My food didn't take long to come out of the kitchen and I was fairly pleased when I dug in.  My eggs were perfectly over medium, which I was most worried about.  The whites were cooked through and the yolks were the perfect combination of custardy and runny.  The home fries were nicely seasoned and tasted fresh.  I have had bad previous experiences were home fries so I was really glad these were a winner.  The bacon was good, but not outstanding.  It was just a little less crispy than I would have preferred and also a little thinner sliced than what I would consider really awesome bacon to be.  The part of the meal that confused me the most was the part I usually most look forward to, the biscuits.  The two biscuits I was served couldn't have tasted more different.  One biscuit was delicious, fluffy and fresh while the other tasted like a rubbery Pillsbury biscuit that had been sitting out a while then reheated.  One delicious.  One practically inedible.  I have no idea what accounted for the difference, but the lack of consistency was slightly annoying.  Really good biscuits are one thing that I can't make at home so I'm further disappointed when I get let down at a restaurant.

Overall though I have to say I love places like Ginger's.  They're local.  They're cozy.  They're kitschy and they're putting out some pretty good food.  Though there were a few problems here or there I definitely plan on going back and you should go try it out too.  Let's make like a Nascar fan's pickup truck and put some numbers on this bad boy.

Taste 6.8/10  I would definitely consider this place above average taste wise, but because of the biscuit I got and the consistency issues going with that I didn't feel like it deserved a full 7. 
Value 6/10  My meal was one of the bigger ones on the menu and it cost $6.95 cents plus an additional 2 bucks for the Diet Coke I ordered.  It didn't seem like either a really good or a really bad value to me.  It was an adequate price for an adequate meal.

Eating More Healthy/Butterball Smoked Turkey Sausage

The Girlfriend and I have both decided in recent days that we are both going to try to drop a few lbs over the next couple of months.  Lord knows I need to and I want to, but when you have a food blog and don't have a crazy metabolism dieting cannot always go hand in hand with interesting writing.  I might from time to time comment on my success or lack there of here, but I know most of you don't come to read a diet or weight-loss blog...I know I sure as hell wouldn't.   While the reviews or sweet treat commentaries may not come quite as frequently as in the past I assure you that I still plan to eat out at least once a week and maybe review a new fast food item or two if the opportunity presents itself.  I also plan on maybe doing some more grocery item reviews or opinion/commentary pieces on some the crappy new Food Network shows coming on the air this Spring/Summer.  April was a successful month here at RDERF thanks to all of you loyal readers, and I hope you all keep coming back. I bid you all good eatings and remember to keep twirling twirling twirling towards freedom!

Tonight's dinner consisted of a little pan grilled turkey smoked sausage and corn.  A lot more delicious than I thought it would be.  If you're a smoked sausage fan go out to the store and pick up some of the turkey smoked sausage by Butterball.  I promise you won't be able to tell the difference.