FUDDRUCKER'S

That's damn right people, I'm doing a post about Fuddrucker's. Most of you know that above all, I want to know that when I pay for a meal, it has to be worth it. That means if I pay $5 for a meal, I know that I'm not going to get a whole lot for my money, and that's ok with me. I'll still enjoy my food. And if I'm paying $100 for a meal, then I'm going to expect more- better food and exceptional service. When I don't enjoy a meal iis when I pay $50, and end up getting food and service that was worth $10. So yes, I may love going to fancy restaurants, but I also like KFC fried chicken and biscuits.

So it was my co-worker Kim's birthday and she loves Fuddrucker's. A little while ago, we'd gotten some coupons for Fuddrucker's in the mail, and I handed them off to her, but she wanted to use them, so a group of us headed out for burgers.

So I'd been to Fuddrucker's as a kid, but it's been at least 15 years since my list trip, and I was actually pleasantly suprised by the settings. It was pretty early on a week night, so there weren't any screaming kids, big families, etc. It was really tame, the place was impeccably clean and they even refilled the BBQ sauce pump right away when I complained that it was empty. (more on that later).

But first, a photo of my soda (I got the Orange Crush for Tom and took it home with me) and the large roll of paper towels that they provide for each table:

One reason why my friend loves Fuddrucker's is for the free pump cheese. Actually, if you're unfamiliar with the chain, the whole idea is that they make a burger for you, and then there's this whole toppings bar when you can add all the free toppings that you want- tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, mustard, ketchup, bbq sauce, and for my friend, the glorious pump cheese, served warm and in two different flavors (plain or jalapeno). Behold the pump cheese:

Let me just say, this whole trip was worth it, just to see my co-worker order a Kobe beef burger, with bacon, and then dump orange pump cheese all over it. And yes, she finished the whole thing (though she felt kinda sick afterwards).

I was a little more tame and ordered chicken breast with grilled mushrooms and cheese. As you can see below, I topped it with tomatoes, onions, pickles, lettuce and bbq sauce:

And I gotta say, it wasn't that bad. The mushrooms were kinda dry and overly peppered, but apart from that, I'd totally rather pay like $6 for a burger here, than $10 for a burger at Barney's. I think it's got something to do with that all you can eat toppings bar- just makes it feel like you've got so much more control. So overall, I enjoyed by meal at Fuddrucker's and I truly wasn't expecting to. Maybe one day I'll go back and take Tom- just as long as he promises to avoid the pump cheese.

P.F. CHANG'S DOES NOT SERVE CHINESE FOOD

If you go into P.F. Chang's thinking this, you might not be too disappointed. Actually, we've had a few more crappy meals this month than we normally do. I don't think our experience at P.F. Chang's was as bad as Vong's, but it was pretty terrible. But let me back up a little. First, why were we even at a P.F. Chang's? I had managed to avoid this nationwide chain of "Chinese Bistros" for quite a long time. I just refused to eat at a place that'd put China + Bistro in the same title AND used funerary statuary as it's primary decorative element (I don't know, it just kinda creeps me out - kinda like having a sarcophagus decorate a restaurant). But they lured me in by sending me an offer for a free entree off their new grill menu. Well, if they were gonna give me free food, we may as well try it out.

So after a bit of shopping at Ikea, we headed over to the closest location, in the Emery Bay shopping mall. I was kinda of surprised that there was a wait for a table for 2 at 7pm, but we were given a little buzzer and wandered over to William Sonoma for a bit. After about 20 minutes, our buzzer went off, and we were seated. The interior of the place was quite expansive, with high ceilings and fairly modern decor. (but I repeat, the funerary statuary creeps me out). After we were seated with our menus, we were left alone for quite a long time, without anyone coming by to ask us if we wanted something to drink or if we had any questions. And as I looked around, I realized that the place was really understaffed. We weren't forced to wait not because there weren't tables available, the restaurant was pretty busy, but because there wasn't enough wait staff to serve everyone. (and not enough staff to even clean the bathrooms - toilet paper would've been nice).

Looking over the menu, I was not surprised to see the typical Americanized Chinese food being offered - like General Tso's chicken and Moo Shu whatever. But to my dismay, there was no sign of the new grill menu. I looked over the little card I was sent, thinking maybe they hadn't started offering the new menu yet, maybe we were too early. (Even though I'd seen it on the website) So we decided to order a few items off the regular menu.

When our waitress finally showed up, she took our orders. We decided to share two appetizers and each got an entree. Our appetizers showed up pretty quickly. One was a vegetarian egg roll, but I found it odd that they had rolled it in cornstarch of flour prior to frying, and there was a strange residue left on the exterior of the egg roll. Plus the serving was kinda wimpy. Our shrimp potstickers turned out to be a bit better. They were pretty plump and filled with ground shrimp, carrots and other stuff and tasted decent enough, though they weren't really that hot.

As for our entress, I got the Dan Dan noodle, which I didn't think were that terrible. Tom thought the noodles were kinda gummy, and my main criticism is that it was on the salty side. Otherwise, it was edible. Tom ordered their version of General Tso's chicken (below), which was basically pieces of fried chicken covered in some sauce. The sauce had so much corn starch in it, that as it sat, it kinda solidified, but the worst part of his meal was the brown rice. On the menu, they said they had steamed it, but the rice was so overcooked that it was bordering on the texture of porridge. It kinda reminded me of when I lived in Italy and didn't have a rice cooker. I didn't know how to cook rice on the stove (and I still don't) and so my rice would always come out overcooked and mushy.

My favorite part of the meal was the fortune cookie. It was actually pretty good, though I don't think they made it. Tom said he liked his Pellegrino. Maybe our experience would have been slightly better had we had better wait service that evenly midly showed interested in us, but that wasn't going to happen. I told Tom that I might email P.F. Chang's and complain about the lack of a grill menu, but he said why bother, we'd never be coming back, and I agree.