Table Mesa

Friday night the Grunion was staying with his auntie and uncle for a sleepover.  And since we had no kid, we just automatically floated down to Dickson street to see what was up.  We thought we had super-sweet luck cause we got a great parking spot and all the bars and restaurants were empty.  But then we realized it was a cold, rainy night and it was only 5:30pm.  Anyhoo, as we were standing in the parking lot, the uber-bright sign from Table Mesa beckoned us hither.  Do they have fries?

Table Mesa is in this huge condo building and describes itself as "a boutique-style bistro offering a delightful dining experience."  I ain't no fancy-pants, but I thought a boutique-style bistro would be a little more intimate and less cavernous with 50-bazillion foot ceilings.  Weird.

Since the menu is mostly Latin-inspired dishes, I thought it was funny that they had a Reuben sandwich.  Actually, a lot of places do this.  Why?  Also, they spelled it wrong.

Do they have fries?  Yes!  They aren't on the menu (at least not on the dinner menu anyway), but our server brought this:

Score!  A hefty portion of skinny-cut lightly battered fries.  Hot and fresh.

They're like a fancier version of McD's fries.

Very good.  But since they weren't on the menu I didn't know the price until...

Score (again)!  TWO BUCKS for this amount of really good fries at a semi-schmancy joint like this is a 10 out of 10.  DO IT!

Also, they have this HUMONGOUS mirror you can look at.

Deluxe Burger

The Grunion was driving us batty this past Saturday and we needed to get him out of the house.  Preferably to a public place where he could drive OTHER people batty and thus transfer some of the batty onto them.  Thanks to the Fayetteville Flyer we knew there was a new joint (opened super-recently on 1/4/14) called Deluxe Burger located in the old train depot on Dickson Street that was formally the Rowdy Beaver.

Standard setup.  Big open room with a bar at one end. 

Let's see...basket of hand cut fries for $2.95.  Let's do it!

GRUNION:  I dunno about this place fat man.  I can't find anything about it on Yelp.
GIBBY:  That's cause it's brand new.  They've only been open two days.

GRUNION:  I don't do anything now unless I see a review first.  I'll be having a milkshake only.

GIBBY:  Is he allowed to do that?
AMY:  (sing song)  Don't care....don't care....order me a beer....

Amy and I split the "Hot" burger.  It had a lot of hot stuff on it. 

It also came with some pretty good house-made chips.

The basket of fries arrived and...oh my!  $2.95 for this is definitely a bargain.

Here is a shot with a fork to show scale.  The basket is about 3 inches deep.

The skin proved the handcutedness (new word) and they were cooked very well.

There was a mixture of spices/flavors on the fries that I had never tasted before.  Soooo good.  I flagged down the "walk around to tables and ask how everything was guy" to ask him about the seasoning.  He told me that the seasoning had salt, pepper, celery salt, cayenne, and BACON POWDER THEY MAKE FROM PULVERIZED BACON!  WHA???

I'm not even supposed to be eating fries right now (weight loss, blah blah blah), but I nommed these things down to dust.  Very good.

The only problem with the fries is that the basket I got didn't have a single fry over about two inches.  I don't know if they do that on purpose, or if I got the bottom of the batch, but either way it was a bit off-putting (but not by much).  9.5 out of 10.

P.S.  The burgers are really good, but I don't care about burgers.
P.P.S.  The Grunion wanted me to deduct points because "Drops of Jupiter" by Train came on over the speakers while we were there.

The Grunion Teaches Z a New Word

The Grunion and Z met up for some pizza and sippies a while back.  Here is what transpired.

GRUNION:  You wanna learn a new way to drive the rents cray-cray, Z?
Z: I'm always down to clown.

GRUNION:  Here's the secret word: Poop!
Z:  That's it?  Just say poop?

GRUNION:  I'm tellin, ya.  By the third or fourth time, the rents start going bananas.  And the more ways you can work the word poop in to your speech, the better.  Watch this.  This drink tastes like POOP!
GIBBY:  Stop saying that.

Z:  Sweet!  Let me try.  POOP!  Poop-a-licious!  Poop.  Poop.  Poopety-poop-poop-poop!

Z:  I'M THE KING OF POOP.  THERE IS NONE HIGHER!  SUCKER MCs CAN CALL ME POOP-SIRE!

GRUNION:  Uh, yeah, okay dude.  You're kinda taking it to the extreme-

Z: Poop!  Wowow-oooo-ricky-ticky-tao-poopety-poop-poop-poop!  Poop truck!

MARK:  Well, it looks like you've had too much soda, Z. 
***takes away soda

Z:  Weak!  Total backfire, dude!

Z:  I'm outta here.
GRUNION:  Sorry, man, but you have to wield the poop power cautiously.

GRUNION:  Peace.
Z:  Word.

The Blue Canoe in Tupelo, MS

I have explained in past posts that we stop in Tupelo all the time on the way back from Daytona Beach cause it's basically halfway.  This last time we went through, we looked online and saw the highest-rated restaurant in Tupelo (The Blue Canoe) turned out not only to be a block from our hotel, but also had 35 or so craft beers on tap.  Win!  I was not expecting anything great fry-wise (cause I never do in Tupelo).

The building looks like it used to be an auto shop.

Here's the view from the front door.  It basically looks like a tavern inside.  And it is VERY dark.  Everyone loved the flash from my camera.

What caught our eye on the menu was the appetizer called "Crack Fries", which are fries covered with their signature "Crack Dip".  The concierge at our hotel had given us a coupon for a free appetizer, so we went for it.   BTW, it's $7.  Yikes!

These are the Crack Fries.  The dip is basically rotel/velveeta cheese dip with spicy breakfast-style sausage mixed in.

It's great, but at $7 it's not an amazing situation.

I got a burger that was 1/2 ground bacon and 1/2 ground beef.  It was AMAZING.  Amy got a burger that was 1/2 ground beef and 1/2 crawfish!  Incredible!  I made sure to get "regular" fries with my burger, though so I could do a proper review.

Fresh-cut for sure, but not double cooked.  Overall, the fries are weak.  6 out of 10.

It's a shame too, cause this place is DEFINITELY the best joint in Tupelo for everything else.
The Grunion was similarly unimpressed with the fries.

Some Trailer on the Beach

Was walking along Daytona Beach recently and saw this trailer.  As I got closer, I smelled fries.

"Pa's Super Dog", eh?.  Can't say the marketing is solid....  

$4.50 for a large order is kinda steep, but I am standing on a beach so....

The guy dropped them right when I ordered them so of course they were hot.

The cut out section of cardboard to carry them was a nice touch.

I don't know if I was hungry, or feeling nostalgic or what, but these fries seemed REALLY good.  There was nothing special about them.  They were straight from the costco bag into the fryer and onto the boat with nary a seasoning at all.  But they were hot, they were fresh, there were a good amount (even at $4.50), and walking along the beach popping one after another into my mouth made me happy.

9 out of 10.

Mai Tai Bar Daytona Beach

Mai Tai Bar is located in the entertainment mall next to the bandshell on Daytona Beach which is basically the center of the beach.  I was not expecting them to have fries at all, and if they did I was sure they would be a million dollars.

Whoa!  Not only do they have multiple fry offerings, but the regular ones are only $3.  Sweet!

Uh-oh.  Here we go again with the cones.  But still, not a bad amount considering the price and location.

Hot, crispy, nice.

Great view of the bandshell plaza too.

9 out of 10.