Tag: food

Expectations versus Waffle House

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: Atlanta-area Waffle House getting a 60 on sanitation score makes the news.

Yes, we’re all very aware of the importance of sanitation scores in general, but this is also Waffle House we’re talking about.  Everyone who’s ever been to Waffle House has their ironic stories about Waffle Houses; personally, I enjoy recalling the time I watched an elderly waitress set her cigarette down (this was obviously back when indoor smoking was still allowed) carefully at the end of the counter so she could take some patrons’ orders, before proceeding to pick it back up and take a long drag after submitting her ticket.

The thing is though, and this should all be taken tongue-and-cheek obviously, but it’s Waffle House we’re talking about here.  A Waffle House that scores a 60 is like the Capital Grille scoring a 100.  There’s really only so much quality that’s possible at a Waffle House, and expecting scores that are higher than a 60 is roughly the equivalent of wishing to win the lottery.

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The unkillable boomer

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Long story short: Woman on Georgia’s death row staves off execution for the second time, when the drug that would be used for lethal injection appeared cloudy and out of caution, postponed the execution – again.

Not that I’m rooting for this woman to be put to death by any stretch of the imagination, but this story has gained some traction, but it’s unavoidable for me to see as long as I make daily rounds through the local news circuits, and it’s the way it’s developing that makes me think that this execution is probably not going to occur.

But seriously, the drug that would be used to kill a person is deemed suspiciously cloudy, and the execution is called off, because of what?  A lethal drug might be dangerously cloudy?  To kill people?  I’m kind of puzzled to why caution is being exercised when ultimately the goal is to end up with someone no longer alive.  Sure, a quick and painless execution would give the boomer some dignity on the way out, but there’s kind of a contradiction of ideas about being humane when putting someone to death is ultimately the goal.

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The making of a real-life boomer

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Impetus: death-row inmate’s last meal request revealed.

I didn’t even know that Georgia was a state that had the death penalty.  I guess I shouldn’t really be that surprised.

Anyway, the following is the list of food that a woman on death-row has requested to be her last meal; it’s evident that based on her mug shot as well as the contents of this list, she has every intention of exploding into a disgusting, miserable mess of bile, viscera, gore and digestive matter, post-mortem, much like a boomer from Left 4 Dead:

  • Cornbread
  • Side of buttermilk
  • Two Whoppers with cheese (with everything)
  • Two large orders of French fries
  • Cherry vanilla ice cream
  • Popcorn
  • Salad with boiled eggs, tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, carrots, cheese and Paul Newman buttermilk dressing
  • Lemonade

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Still waiting on Frito Lay

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Short story shorter: Truck carrying tens of thousands of pounds of ice cream overturns on Metro Atlanta highway.

I don’t really know why these stories amuse me so much, but add ice cream to the buffet of carnage that has occurred on Metro Atlanta highway intersections over the span of the last 12 months.

With turkeys, hams, eggs and beer already accounted for, and dessert now added to the list, I still contest that the roads are still awaiting a good accompanying food, like some chips or maybe a produce truck full of potatoes or something, and then we can call it a party.

That being said, not that I want to hear about people incurring serious injuries or anything, but I think I’m going to subconsciously be wishing that any Frito Lay or snack company’s trucks I see on the highways, meet some unfortunate conflicts with physics and gravity within the next month.

Thoughts on Disney World

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

During the brog’s layoff, one of the things that I did was what’s apparently been somewhat of an annual tradition in recent years, which was a trip down to Florida to visit Disney World as well as Universal Studio’s Halloween Horror Nights.

It’s something I enjoy greatly, because I enjoy Halloween-themed events, roller coasters, and ultimately most of the evenings result being spent in Epcot’s annual Food and Wine Festival, which is pretty much one of the greatest events in the world to me, since by the time I’m done with it, I can typically claim that I’ve eaten the entire world, and lots of the countries’ kiosks brings out some excellent quality grub and booze to begin with.

Except for South Korea, which is pretty much the biggest disappointment since like the 2007 New England Patriots. Seriously, just about every booth in the park has people indigenous, or at least of the ethnicity of the country’s booth they’re working for, except for South Korea’s. Furthermore, the food is about as good as one might expect from a place that says “Korea” but has a bunch of white people working it. When your options are the disappointing “Asian” pork taco from last year, and a “Kimchi Dog,” it’s like offering a Mexican person visiting from Mexico, Taco Bell or Del Taco.

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Thoughts on New York

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Over the weekend, I went up to New York. The reason for the trip was to visit Yankee Stadium, and take it off of my list of MLB ballparks, which I can happily say that such was mission accomplished. Otherwise, the rest of the trip was more or less a whirlwind of cabs, trains, booze, chicken fingers and cash flying out of windows.

I guess it could be said that I had a pretty New York experience, and I have no regrets about anything. I look back at the weekend fondly, and naturally I’m writing about it now, which says something too.

As for Yankee Stadium, I’ll get more in depth of what I thought about the place as a whole when I write about it for my ballparks page, but when my friend and I had planned the dates out for this trip, we didn’t even think for a second about the fact that this was the start of Derek Jeter’s final homestand. Not that either of us are remotely close to being Yankee fans, I have to admit that is something cool about having been there for a little bit of what people are perceiving as somewhat historic. Needless to say, tickets were pricey and the crowds were massive, for what essentially were games between two non-contenders, and I thought the vaunted Yankee Stadium was pretty okay, overall.

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Thoughts on my first Yelp Elite event

~ dannyhong ~ Leave a comment

Not a lot of people are aware of this, but I’ve been writing reviews of things on Yelp.com for like five years now.  Primarily restaurants and the occasional business, but for the most part, it’s something I’ve done that conveniently acts as something of a chronicling of my dining experiences in my travels or general living, while indulging in my general enjoyment of writing.

Obviously, there’s often discussion about the ethics of review sites like Yelp and how there are always conspiracies of sites holding small businesses hostage with bad reviews, small businesses altering their behavior at the knowledge of known reviewers, etc, etc., but all that stuff doesn’t concern me, nor do I really care about any of it.  For the longest time, I’ve been content to keep my Yelp identity hidden, behind a faceless avatar, that wrote reviews of places completely anonymously, save for the customary first name and last initial.  Something about doing it like that made me self-righteously believe that there was more integrity in doing it that way, as I thought those people who revealed themselves and under the banner of “Elite status” felt subliminal pressure to pander from time to time.

I also thought Yelp was kind of cliquey in some regards, no more apparent than when someone writes a review of a place that’s literally no more than the phrase “omg I really luv this place <3 <3 <3 !!!!”  and it’s nominated as a city-wide “review of the day,” as voted for by local peers.  Doesn’t seem like there’s much integrity in “reviews” like such.

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