Seen on the River/Road Trip 2010: Fry Sauce

You know you are in

or in my case, the intermountain West, when:

Your French fries come with a side of Fry Sauce instead of red stuff.

I almost picked up a couple of bottles of the stuff when I was visiting a traditional family stop in Ogden, the Rainbow Gardens.

This guy (and Grumpa Max) kept me on point. I only had 15 minutes to run around and get Utah-centric/specific food-related souvenirs for the office -- ones that had to be FAA and TSA and JetBlue acceptable.I grabbed honey for my sweet officemates, courtesy of a branch of Cox Honeyland. The Orange Creamed Honey is PERFECTION! Try it. Go ahead. You'll thank me.

As I was grabbing boxes of Great Salt Lake salt water taffy for the rest of the office, I saw this HUGE display of Fry Sauce, more specifically,Some Dude's Fry Sauce.As much as I thought about it, I couldn't see bringing a bottle back of that size. If I ate enough fries to justify a 12 oz. bottle, I'd be in need of an angiogram to check on my blockages.

Plus, I just saw how much the Some Dude's are charging, and minus s&h, I can get a bigger bottle for cheaper directly from their website.

Maybe I've been out of Utah too long, but fry sauce doesn't do it for me. I prefer to mix my barbeque sauce with yellow mustard. Or, to dip my fries in honey, mustard, or tartar sauce over redstuff. Or in hot fudge ...

Great. Now I'm hungry.

Subliminal Advertising

My name is Auntie Nettie and I am a victim of subliminal and “bliminal” advertising. Do you know how hard it is to see thousands of hours of ads for restaurants that are nowhere NEAR my locations? Say, like all the Sonics? And those burgers at Red Robin?

Curse you advertising agencies. Curse you cable channel ad buyers.

So, given my recent proximity of both of those chains, and hungry and famished family members, do you think that Auntie Nettie couldn’t NOT visit them? HA!

Red Robin (yummmmmm!)

Yummy burger. GREAT camp fire sauce. Excellent crayons and placemats for those that are young at heart. I have a feeling that this crew will be back for lunch very often.

Sonic

So I hit up the Sonic twice.

My first time through I was on a deadline, so I just grabbed one of the famous lime-aids. I highly recommend the Cranberry Lime-Aid, but man, seriously, that sucker was TART! Just be warned. They are TART!

Trip two was with was with a very cranky little person. We could have eaten in the car, as it’s known for being a drivethru, but it was a beautiful cool day (for the West), and Drew didn’t need to be cooped up any more.

I think that eating outdoors is a new experience for Drew. Given the opportunity to eat either in the car, or outside under umbrellas, I can see the appeal for families. The regular menu items are fine, but Sonic probably won’t be a family favorite like the Red Robin.


As for me, I’m seriously a victim of advertising overload. Next time out West, I have to go back to the Sonic, get another lime-aid, or try a shakes or slush. I DEFINITELY HAVE TO HAVE a Molten Chocolate Bundt Cake Sundae.

Darnit Sonic. Those improv actors have gotten me hooked ... on the ads, anyway.

Curse you advertising agencies.

Hey, um ... You want fries with that?

Food for Thought

Wednesday Update: Since the phantom fry-taunter struck the train I was on AGAIN last night, I had to have fries for lunch. Not the evil McD's fries, but fries still had to be had. YUMMY. Let's see if I can make it through my third commute home of the week, fry-odor free.

Last night I had a scrumptious four-course meal, complete with a pleasant shrimp appetizer, a gazpacho-esque soup, a luscious pepper-encrusted steak, and the BEST chocolate hazelnut Baci-inspired dessert I've ever eaten. I was full, but not unpleasantly so. Dinner was followed by a very brisk 15 minute power walk to Grand Central, with just enough time to make my train with 2 minutes to spare. I was in no way hungry, just warm, contented, and ready to go home and get my jammies..

Just as the train was about to leave, someone got on and rushed past me to get a seat -- trailing behind them the unmistakable and irresistible scent of McDonald's French fries. Suddenly I was completely and totally ... RAVENOUS!

Why is that?!

Dang it. Now I want French fries.

Curse you MickeyDees. Curse you.