Out of all the fast food restaurants, Carl's Jr. probably changes -- or at least augments -- its menu the most often. There's always some newish, vaguely titillating, really-bad-for-you item advertised with a giant banner outside.
On this go round through the drive-in, the wind-fluttered photos were pushing the Mint Oreo Shake, Farmer John's Jumbo Chili Dog, Carl's Catch Fish Sandwich, Crisp Burritos and the Kentucky Bourbon Burger.
While we could have made this a multipart series entitled "Lissa Becomes Quite Hefty Indeed," I decided to restrict myself to the latter two choices, the burritos and the bourbon burger.
The marketing world is a-changing -- at least as far as fast food is concerned. These days, we've got Facebook apps suggesting that we drop friends for burgers, and now -- Carl's Jr. is curing common crabs.
There's one thing I think of when I read "common crabs," and it is not the cuties we pound with a mallet and eat. It's the itchies that reside in the lower hemisphere of some very unlucky people. While I'd be both shocked and (slightly) impressed with a company claiming crab curing as a marketing tool, looks can be deceiving.
From the press release: "When men don't eat between meals, they get hungry, irritable and crabby. Today, Carl's Jr. is pleased to announce that it has found the cure for these common crabs, the new Green Burrito Crisp Burritos." You know that crabbiness isn't the first thing anyone will think of with this campaign. Anyway, what will cure these crabby men? A burrito that "features a flour tortilla, filled with a mixture of ground beef, cheddar cheese and jalapeños, then deep fried to a golden brown for quick, satisfying consumption."
You can read the press release, which even jumps on the bandwagon of Christian Bale teasing, after the jump.
A run-down of the ever-tasty world of burritos in Toronto.
Lemons are the latest tasty thing to suffer soaring prices.
Imagine -- golden colored fat dripping off a pasture-raised chicken allowed to graze on alfalfa with the help of, get this, a mobile roof that travels through the pastures.
Cinco de Mayo is this coming Friday, and it's an excuse to indulge in more than our fair share of Coronas,
margaritas, and of course, food. But as many people may know, Mexican food isn't always considered to be all
that light and healthy. Heck, a basket of chips and salsa could put you well over your daily calorie needs in one
tequila-fueled haze. The American Heart
Association lists a few tips to keep your health in check when you're shouting out "Ole!"
Instead of flour tortillas, which are often made with lard, opt for corn tortillas, which can contain little
to no fat.
Choose grilled chicken, fish or shrimp over fried carnitas (beef or pork) or chorizo (sausage).
Rather than refried beans (this is always the killer for me), go for frijoles a la charra or
borracho (simmered in liquid).
Sour cream, cheese, and guacamole can be replaced with as much flavor from good salsa, pico de gallo, and
fresh chopped cilantro, onions, and japalenos.
Instead of a plain quesadilla, order fajitas and stick with the tips above for corn tortillas and salsa
If you get a "taco salad," resist eating the shell
After a trying
experience last week with microwaved food,
the Top Chef chefs again found themselves preparing food outside of
their element - both literally and figuratively. Instead of working in the kitchen, plating and serving, the chefs were
sent out to San Francisco's Mission District to peddle their wares as street food. In addition to mingling
with the people, the chefs had to focus on
ethnic flavors throughout both tasks in the episode and in doing so, found that they were further from their
comfort zone than they realized.
The quickfire challenge was designed to test the chefs' ability to recognize ingredients without seeing them. I
agree with the comments that Tom Colicchio, one of the judges, made on his blog - namely, that the challenge
was not really representational of their ability to recognize ingredients because the ingredients chosen were very
exotic. Guest chef and judge Mike Yakura, head chef at Le Colonial, a French-Vietnamese restaurant, choose ingredients
to taste that some of the chefs had never before worked with. Expecting that all chefs should know all possible
ingredients is unrealistic, if not impossible, and the competitors did not do terribly well. Out of the 20 ingredients
- which included longan, tamarind, hibiscus extract, chili paste, nopal, konnyaku, durian and nato - the chefs tasted,
Tiffani and Miguel only identified 1, LeeAnne, Harold, Lisa and Stephen identified 3, and Andrea identified 4. Andrea,
winning the challenge, received immunity.
So I forced one of my friends to snatch a copy of this past Sunday's edition of the San Francisco Chronicle with the knowledge that the Sunday magazine would have the
annual Bay Area Top 100
Restaurants. I got it in the mail this morning, and was excited to look through it, but the first thing that caught
my eye was the story about a Burrito Eater.
Charles Hodgkins is the Burrito Eater. His website, www.burritoeater.com, is basically a food blog in which he chronicles his quest
for the "nine mustache" (out of 10) rated burrito in the Bay Area, ranging from Baja Fresh to holes in the
wall. When he started, he thought he would have hit them all by the time he had eaten from 50 or 60 taquerias, but he
says that there are over 170 places to get a burrito from a walk-up style stand. His top two favorites are Taqueria San
Francisco and Papalote.
I wonder if Charles has ever pondered the idea of coming to Los Angeles.
A recipe for the perfect Chicken Burrito in a Crisp
Tortilla. The subheading is "How to keep those burrito-loving teenagers close to home." Which I find
hysterical for some reason.
It sounds odd - using cola in cooking - but I know that some Korean moms will use Coca Cola in galbee
marinades. Not only does the sugar in the cola add to the sweetness, but something about either the phosphoric acid, or
perhaps the carbonation itself (?) tenderizes the meat.
The best part of the post, of course, (well, aside from the mini rap in the intro) is the photo of The Chopper and
Mrs D. (the voices behind the blog) in their gangsta rapper gear eating their burritos!
Out of all the fast food restaurants, Carl's Jr. probably changes -- or at least augments -- its menu the most often. There's always some newish, vaguely titillating, really-bad-for-you item advertised with a giant banner outside.
After a trying
experience last week with 
A recipe for the perfect 
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