Place: Taco John's, Cherry Berry
Lunch: Four hard shells, small Super Ole (no tomato, no guac), Pepsi, fro-yo
Me: "Four hard shells..."
Mediocre Counter Guy: "Did you want the special?" pointing to the "Taco Tuesday" promotion where they charge $.79 for hard shells. There's nothing special you need to do and nobody should be charged regular price, so there's absolutely no reason to ask me this.
Me: "Yes."
Me in my head: "No. Charge me full-price. I DARE you."
Taco John's has always been by far the dominant player in fast food Mexican in this market, largely thanks to years of gross neglect of the market on Taco Bell's part. Taco John's has about as many units as all the other top players in town combined and they've been expanding lately.
The local TJ's franchisee has always tried new ideas to grow the business, including co-branding some stores with Noble Roman's Pizza for awhile. There was also talk they were going to co-brand some stores with Colorado's Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard (which would have been awesome), but that never happened.
Finally the self-serve fro-yo concept came along, and our franchisee is running with it. New TJ's are popping up on the end of strip malls (so they can still have a drive-thru). In the same strip mall? A Cherry Berry, also operated by the TJ's franchisee. There's at least five such locations in town set up this way now. In the case of this location, there's even a door between the two so you can just hop from one to the other.
This is working out very very well, as you might imagine.
It's practically mid-September and it was over 100 yesterday.
Seriously, Fall. Get here.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Thursday, September 05, 2013
International Dog
Place: Buldogis
Lunch: Chili cheese dog, Euro fries, Coke
In the days when I had a big fast food review guide on my personal website, I was asked on a few occasions what would MY restaurant be like if I opened one. I always said I'd never actually open a restaurant because I'm just not the type of personality who should be dealing directly with the public. Especially the stupid public.
But there was a very detailed concept in my head. A concept known as "the evil sam graham's international chili dog counter". It would be a long, narrow all-glass storefront right on the sidewalk that would look in at the all counter stool seating facing the open kitchen with the logo spanning the entire length above in an old airport-style font (something like a wide courier-type font in all lower case). Behind the counter visible to the exterior would be a large mural of a winged flying hot dog. The mural would be lit up at night so passers-by could admire it.
The menu? Probably not so international, unless I had Polish and Italian sausages and German brats, I suppose.
Leave it to somebody in Las Vegas to truly put an international spin on hot dogs. Buldogis, founded by former executive chef Boyzie Milner, resides in the old Quizno's space at Village Square. They just celebrated their second anniversary of serving up dogs topped in kimchi, pork belly, bulgogi, corn relish, Asian slaw, Banh-Mi slaw, and several other things you've never heard of. It's described as an all-American concept with an Asian influence. The influence is mostly Korean, I'm told.
Don't want a dog? You can get a burger with the same toppings. They also have a variety of topped fries, including these "Euro fries", topped with pork belly bacon, cheddar, garlic mayo, and an herb blend. There's chicken wings and tenders and other sauces (there's like a half dozen mayo sauces alone) and stuff. They even have a "Dragon Kimchi Dog" food challenge that involves eating a very very very spicy concoction in a limited amount of time.
Walk in and you'll immediately know by the aroma and the sizzle, crackles, and pops coming from the kitchen that you're not in any ordinary hot dog place. Even if that doesn't tip their hand, the bill will...mine was north of $14 for a chili dog, Euro fries, and a soda. But when you see what you get, you'll be fine with it.
The dog is a nice big premium all-beef dog similar to an Eisenberg. It was topped in a hearty but sort of plain beef chili, cheese, and green onions. The Euro fries were great with the toppings, but once you conquered the first layer, you really just had plain fries. But the portion is so big, you're already full anyway.
Anyway, people are loving them. The place was packed. Some people were new to the place and raving about their food. This wouldn't be my go-to place for a hot dog, but it's a nice diversion once in awhile. It's certainly an adventure I'd recommend.
It's the end-of-summer Vegas weekend.
A Barstow Taco run is a certainty.
Lunch: Chili cheese dog, Euro fries, Coke
In the days when I had a big fast food review guide on my personal website, I was asked on a few occasions what would MY restaurant be like if I opened one. I always said I'd never actually open a restaurant because I'm just not the type of personality who should be dealing directly with the public. Especially the stupid public.
But there was a very detailed concept in my head. A concept known as "the evil sam graham's international chili dog counter". It would be a long, narrow all-glass storefront right on the sidewalk that would look in at the all counter stool seating facing the open kitchen with the logo spanning the entire length above in an old airport-style font (something like a wide courier-type font in all lower case). Behind the counter visible to the exterior would be a large mural of a winged flying hot dog. The mural would be lit up at night so passers-by could admire it.
The menu? Probably not so international, unless I had Polish and Italian sausages and German brats, I suppose.
Leave it to somebody in Las Vegas to truly put an international spin on hot dogs. Buldogis, founded by former executive chef Boyzie Milner, resides in the old Quizno's space at Village Square. They just celebrated their second anniversary of serving up dogs topped in kimchi, pork belly, bulgogi, corn relish, Asian slaw, Banh-Mi slaw, and several other things you've never heard of. It's described as an all-American concept with an Asian influence. The influence is mostly Korean, I'm told.
Don't want a dog? You can get a burger with the same toppings. They also have a variety of topped fries, including these "Euro fries", topped with pork belly bacon, cheddar, garlic mayo, and an herb blend. There's chicken wings and tenders and other sauces (there's like a half dozen mayo sauces alone) and stuff. They even have a "Dragon Kimchi Dog" food challenge that involves eating a very very very spicy concoction in a limited amount of time.
Walk in and you'll immediately know by the aroma and the sizzle, crackles, and pops coming from the kitchen that you're not in any ordinary hot dog place. Even if that doesn't tip their hand, the bill will...mine was north of $14 for a chili dog, Euro fries, and a soda. But when you see what you get, you'll be fine with it.
The dog is a nice big premium all-beef dog similar to an Eisenberg. It was topped in a hearty but sort of plain beef chili, cheese, and green onions. The Euro fries were great with the toppings, but once you conquered the first layer, you really just had plain fries. But the portion is so big, you're already full anyway.
Anyway, people are loving them. The place was packed. Some people were new to the place and raving about their food. This wouldn't be my go-to place for a hot dog, but it's a nice diversion once in awhile. It's certainly an adventure I'd recommend.
It's the end-of-summer Vegas weekend.
A Barstow Taco run is a certainty.
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