Citi Field - you might not get a good game, but you can get a good meal

A few days ago my cell phone rang. It was my good friend and loyal Chain of Food reader Brian calling. I must be psychic because I knew what he was going to say. I quickly blurted out, you have tickets to the Mets game, yes I want to go!

There it was, my chance to see how the other half lives. What do these lesser fools feast on while watching their team lose? The great debate could finally be put to rest. Which is the superior chain food stadium?

At Citi Field, there is your standard chain fare, like Nathan's and Carvel. I had some Nathan's fries that night and no surprise, they were delish, always are!

Of course, the big draw at the stadium is the famous Shake Shack. When I went to Shea, I mean Citi Field, I knew I had to try Shake Shack. I would wait on the ridiculously long line so I could finally see what all of the fuss was about. Brian explained I had to not just try a burger, but a shake as well. A burger and a shake? My little kosher fairy would not be happy with this move, but I am a food blogger, so I had to go all out.

At first sip, I really loved the vanilla shake. Then I realized, I don't think there has ever been a shake I didn't love. I just don't indulge in them all the time. Of course it is good, it is a shake, creamy and delicious!

When I sat down to watch the game, it was time for my first bite. The anticipation was killing me. Now, I know I am going to upset a lot of people when I write this, but I really don't understand what all of the fuss is about. Sure the burger is tasty and the special Shake Shack sauce is good, but the whole thing is rather greasy and I didn't find the actual burger that great. I like a thicker, more juicy burger.

The other famous chain option at Citi is Blue Smoke (now a chain bc of the 2 locations). I did not have a chance to try it at City yet, but I do like it in Manhattan. The menu is not that impressive at the field. There are only a few choices on the menu, no chicken, just pork, and I am not really a pork person.

Overall, there are a lot of impressive food choices at Citi Field, like Catch of the Day which has a Shrimp Po' Boy (I don't like my boys Po'), Box Frites (love me some French Fries, just not French people except the Roys and Carla Bruni) and El Verana Taqueria which has Steak Tacos and Chicken Mole Tacos. Now, all these choices are very grand and wonderful, but they are not chains. Therefore, due to actual lack of chain choices, I have to give my chain crown to that magical building in the Bronx, Yankee Stadium!

P.S. The Met obviously lost that day.

Whole Lotta Love

There has been a whole lot of interntal debate about whether Chain of Food should include Whole Foods in it's marvelous blog. Clearly, by reading this posting, you'll realize that a decision was made. Let's write about it. It is too good to ignore!

While primarily a supermarket, most Whole Foods also include giant premium hot and cold food bars and options like sushi, pizza and hot entrees. It is really a foodies paradise. Walking in, one might get overwhelmed with all of the options. Sandi Cheeks for example, never knows what to do when she walks inside and usually ends up with a tuna sandwich. Then she sees me eating my feast and is alway so shocked on how I was able to navigate this food jungle.

Because of all the options, I head straight to the hot and cold bar. I am really bad at making decisions like do I wear a one shoulder dress on friday night or my black tank dress? These types of decisions keep me up at night tossing and turning. That's why I love a food bar so much! So many options - you can get everything! Actually, what bar don't I love?

Some of my favorite items are the chicken masala, which is pieces of chicken in an Indian sauce, the cranberry cous cous, eggplant parm, pesto tortillini, hummus and my most favorite........... the seasame tofu! OMFG, it is fabulous! It is the reason I am so in love with tofu. It tastes better than chicken here, which is a lot coming from the chicken finger queen!

Persy Please

When one is in Cape Cod and sees a quaint restaurant that claims to have the largest breakfast and lunch men in all of New England, one seems to believe it. Well, one should not do that, because it is not true. There are a lot of things that are messed up about Cape Cod like the way they say scallop, the Barnstable cops, the traffic, and ...lying restaurants that claim to have the largest breakfast and lunch menu in New England. Now, I can't exactly tell you which restaurant in New England actually has the largest breakfast and lunch menu, but I am pretty sure it is not Persy's Place.

Persy's Place is, as I mentioned before, a quaint looking restaurant I recently dined at in Hyannis, Mass. There are a few other locations scattered around other parts of New England making it a chain. Sadly, the menu proclaims they are not a chain. Umm Persy, you're a chain. What are you so ashamed of? Craftbar, Nobu, Capital Grill, all chains. You are in good company. Persy, you should be more ashamed of your lying claim and sub par food.

So yes, the food was sub par. The menu, while large, really was not that diverse or interesting. Pretty much just standard diner options. Maybe a few unique omelet options but that is about it. I thought there would be fun wraps and salads, but no, just eggs served with Boston Baked Beans. Gross.

The one thing that did stand out on the menu was the corn chowder. It said it was grandmas secret recipe, and not that I ever met "grandma" but I figured I would give the lady a try. Well, maybe grandma should stick to knitting because the corn chowder was just ok. Hale and Hearty and Flavors in my building have much better chowder. I liked that it was served in an actual mug, but the chowder was rather oily and needs lots of salt & pepper.

For my meal I got a spinach and onion omelet which is pretty much my go to omelet. It was kind of greasy and not cooked very well. It was like a pancake with spinach and onions in the middle. The eggs came with home fries that were good and a HUGE piece of cornbread. The cornbread was definitely the best part. I don't think I ever had a bad piece of cornbread though.

The rest of the people I was dining with also did not seem too enthusiastic about their entrees. Maybe because we all were ready to get out of Cape Cod!

How Sweep It Is

Last night I was pretty sure that the headline of the Post this morning was going to be How Sweep It Is. I was wrong, but in honor of the 4 game Red Sox sweep this weekend I will be blogging about the Hard Rock Cafe in Yankee Stadium. I have been a few times now for drinks and on my most recent visit some chicken fingers (obvi).

The Cafe is located in the stadium near Gate 6 on the ground floor. You don't need a ticket to go in which is very nice. Most of the times I am here, I am surprised how not crowded it is. It is not a huge place, most other Hard Rocks are much larger, but I figure the rent in the most prime South Bronx real estate must be quite high. The bar has your standard drinks, which is nice because if so some reason you want a Malibu Bay Breeze before the game, you don't feel like a tool ordering it here as you might at Stan's. That being said, if you actually did order a Malibu Bay Breeze and you are not 55+, you are a tool, actually, who am I to judge, drink what you want.

I really like the ambiance here. The Rock N Roll memorabilia on the wall is all related to NY or the Yankess. For example, the picture above with 50 in his Yankee hat.

The last time I was here I was with one of my most loyal chain of food readers, Brian. After the game we decided to let the crowds get on the subway and have a post win cocktail. Even though I ate in the Stadium we decided to get chicken fingers with multiple dipping sauces. They were excellent! Much better than anything you could get in the stadium (well maybe in the Legends seats, but I am not that fancy). The buffalo sauce was hot and the honey mustard was delicious. It was also a nice sized platter. The only annoying thing about the place is that the calorie count is listed on everything. Seeing how the chicken fingers had less calories than all of the salads on the menu was enjoyable though.

Next time I am here I would like to have a full meal, probably a hamburger or chicken sandwich with Swisher. That would be fun!

Baja Fresh - Finally

Hola, so I finally did it. I treked on over to the east side from my office to check out the new Baja Fresh in ManHatTan. I know I should have gone sooner as I promised I would but at least I went! I am over the disappointment of the Post not using me in their Baja Fresh article and spoke to the editors to make sure that does not happen again.

One of Chain of Food's most loyal readers, Sarah, is leaving this great city to make her mark in DC. We met back when we were wee bit interns for Fox News (and one WWJD's roomate in college). Clearly, she is a smart girl because she loves da blog and da chain and was so enthusiastic about the Baja opening. To celebrate her big move we decided to get lunch at Baja Fresh, since DC is where I learned about its wonderfulness.

As expected it was awesome. Not too busy, boys with suits, and the amazing salsa bar. I saw a new addition to the bar, the mango salsa, very nice. I went with my old standby the Chicken Mexicano Burrito without the beans. Sarah got a Shrimp Diablo Burrito, very exotic. Both of us were happy and extremely stuffed after our meal.

Anyway, nice to have it in NY. More are opening soon so all New Yorkers can enjoy Da Freshness!!

Welcome to New York Timmy Ho!

Non-stop on the news this morning was talk of the Canadian based coffee chain Tim Horton's opening up in NYC! As your go to woman for all things chain, I had to go to one this morning to see what all the fuss was about. I brought my new co-worker Kelly along for the ride. Little did I know, she was a Tim Horton's expert. She was talking about their sandwiches, special names for things, etc. She got an iced cappuccino which is actually frozen. It turns out they were free, so I got one too! It was pretty good, I still much prefer Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, but it is nice to have another option for coffee in Manhattan. You can tell Tim Horton just really wants to beat up Dunkin Donuts. Really, they are both pretty similar. I am not sure which one I like better. My allegiance is with Dunkin I guess. I have too many memories to just turn my back on them.

I am excited to try more stuff at Tim Horton's though like their soups and sandwiches. I tried some sort of Apple Fritter Donut thing and it was rather delicious. I also want to sample all of their iced coffee flavors like Mint and Cinnamon Bun. I tried to today, but they weren't ready yet.

Only in LA

Only in LA would there be valet parking at Chili's. Whoever said that Chili's is not a classy establishment? I was lucky enough to check out the Chili's in Westwood and see it for myself after my very sweet clients invited me to their birthday shin-dig! I of course could not say no to margaritas and quesidillas.

The Airport Series - The Motor City

If you are one of my close friends or just read my facebook updates, you will know that I was recently stuck in the Detroit airport on my way home from LA because of Thunderstorms in NY. I wasn't really annoyed at the situation because I figured it would be a great excuse to explore the chains of an airport I would not normally go to. I have to say, I was quite impressed, they had Friday's, Caribou Coffee, Coffee Beanery, McDonalds and my choice for dinner, Ruby Tuesdays. Right off the bat, this is by far the best chain restaurant that I have ever been to in an airport. The menu is not abridged at all and they even have their famous salad bar. I was so happy. Check out my picture above, doesn't that look awesome! That is a glass of Sangria and it was on special for just $4.00! If you are ever in an airport and see a Ruby Tuesday go in, you will have a great meal!

Best Chain Choices EVA!

I am about to give an award for the Best Overall Chain Restaurant Mall in the South Eastern United States. That award is going to....drum roll please....The Galleria Mall in Fort Lauderdale. They have no bad chain restaurants at all, in fact they have four of the best. They include one of my all time favorites, Capital Grill, Olen family fav, PF Changs, Rori on a health kick fav Seasons 52 and Rori & SandiCheeks like to drink a lot of Martinis fav, Blue Martini. On my most recent trip to sunny and sometimes rainy Fort Lauderdale included two stops to this chain heaven. SandiCheeks and I decided to really take advantage of the 1/2 drink and appetizer specials at Blue Martini. Blue Martini is an upscale bar and lounge that features over 20 different fun martini varieties. My personal favorites were the Pink Passion (pictured above) and the Cantaloupe. If you ever are near a Blue Martini (they are mainly in the south) I really recommend going. The place is great! Even if the waitresses wear weird blue bustiers and sometimes you come across rather drunk Australians that decide they want to adopt your mom or couples that look like they could be on The Real Housewives of OC.

Breaking News!

Baja Fresh has finally opened it's first NYC Location on 45th and Lexington.
I will be going there soon. Leave a message if you want to join me.
This is huge and awesome!

From What I Remember, Heartland Brewery Was Pretty Solid

As a self proclaimed patriot, Memorial Day is a very special holiday to me. To celebrate the 3 day weekend I participated in pretty much a booze fest with my lady friends that are just as lady like as me. On Sunday I made my way to South Street Seaport and needed a hearty meal to get me through my marathon event. I decided that Heartland Brewery would be the best bet. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with my experience there. To start the meal we got the popcorn shrimp. They were very tasty and not too greasy at all. They were a great size to be shared with the group I was with. For my meal I got a big burger! It was cooked just the way I like it, medium and full of flavor. It was a very good burger. When I have been here before, the burgers were not as good. They also let me substitute mashed potatos for fries. The beers were also very good. I had to take a break to regroup a bit but my friends had some delicious ones, especially this raspberry flavored one. I had a sip and it was delicious. I really recommend the South Street Seaport location. With the opening of the new Water Taxi Beach down there, I have a feeling I will be down there a lot!

My Man is Mister Softee

It is a beautiful day in NYC and there is no better way to celebrate than indulging in a marvelous treat, Mister Softee!! After lunch I went and got some vanilla frozen yogurt from my favorite Mister Softee truck on 45th and 6th. He offers a delicous fat free(so it says, who knows if it is true, doesnt taste fat free) vanilla frozen yogurt in a small cup for the discount price of $2.50. On a beauitful day like today, there is no better way to celebrate.

Little Chrissy got Mister Softee from a competing truck on 48th street and his chocolate soft serve (not yogurt) set him back $3.00 and came is a smaller cup. Ha ha suckah, learn from your elders!

Friday's $5.00 Special - A Great Deal Any Day of The Week

If you are looking for a great food deal, here it is. Friday's is offering their entire sandwich and salad menu for $5.00. Yup just $5.00. At first I didn't believe it, but it is true, but I went and tested it out and it is.

I had the new Jack Daniels Chicken sandwich and it was delicious!!! It is a nice big, juicy chicken breast topped with bacon, onion straws, cheese and of course, Jack Daniels sauce. Friday's really perfected the Jack Daniels sauce, the same way I perfected being obnoxious!

They have expanded their sandwich and salad menu so there are a lot of great things to chose from and the portions are nice and big. I thought that the Shanghai Salad (it has dumplings on top), Strawberry Fields Salad, Chicken Parm Sliders (great idea!), and Thai Chicken Wrap all looked stellar. What I also love is that you can pick your side. I got a salad and it was delicious! Friday's - you are earning your way back to my chain of food heart!

The Chains of Dodger Stadium

On my most recent visit to LA I took a trip to discover the chains of Dodger Stadium. Of course the day I chose for my expedition just so happened to be the day it was revealed that Manny was on the juice as well and would not be playing. That sucked, I was looking forward to booing him and that trader Joe Torre.
I had no idea what to expect on my arrival to the historic field. It is in a very pretty location, close to the city, yet the surrounding make you feel like you are in a mountain park wonderland.

The first chain I saw when I walked through the old, vintage gates was, OMFG, Gordon Biersch. Can you believe it, I love this place, which is surprising because usually I am no a big fan of German things. Now, they don't serve the food menu really, just beer, I had one. It was a heffenwizen and it was delicious! They also serve garlic fries and they looked and smelled off the chain! Another chain I noticed was Carls Jrs. Carls offered lots of premade burgers, fries and chicken fingers as well as a hot dog. I refused to order my hot dog there because I wanted a grilled one, not a boiled one.

In addition Dodger Stadium offers Wetzel Pretzels (which looked delicious), Panda Express and a chain pizza ( I forgot which one, sorry - bad blogger).

All and all not really stellar. I guess I am spoiled with my Yankee Stadium grandeur!

Yogurtland Is My Happy Place

I know I wrote about Yogurtland already, but I am posting this picture to show my love for it.

I have figured out a way for me to move to LA. I am going to open a Yogurtland on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. It is a genius idea, hollah!

Maracas - Shake It

Ahhh, what a lovely weekend I had! I was graced with the presence of Red Headed Kate all weekend! Kate?? No, no, not my old roommate, my bud from the days of being an ASSt.

To celebrate her bday and Cindo de Mayo we decided to go to a fun restaurant in the Village called Maracas. Well I order my huge Margarita and much to my delight I look at my cup and discover, Maracas is a chain. Awesome! Besides their West Village location, there is also one in Ft. Lauderdale. That means when I move to Boca to become a gym teacher (a secret dream I have) I will be able to relive my wild times as a 20 something in NY right in Ft. Lauderdale!

To start the meal we ordered guacamole. I like mine spicy, most of the girls at the table like it mild, boo, boring. Anyway, my spicy guac was just Ok. I would say most of the other Mexican chains in the city have a better, more original tasting guac. I was pretty happy with my Marg. At first I didn't think it was that strong but by my second jumbo sized glass, I could hardly get it down. For $17 bucks a glass, it better be strong! For my entree I went with the Steak and Chicken Fajitas. For fajitas, it really was not a big portion but that was ok, because when your are throwing back margs, you get pretty full and I tend to over eat and then get sick and feel rather bloated in my cute going out attire (TMI - sorry). The fajitas themselves were just ok. I mean they do not hold a candle to Jose Tejas, but really, what does? Other menu items that I thought looked good were the Avocado Shrimp Salad and Pollo Limon. Next time I would probably get the salad. Of course they also have Mexican staples like burritos, tacos and enchiladas, so you could go that way as well.

Truthfully, you don't really go here for the food, you go for the atmosphere and the fun. You see, if it is your birthday, they turn the music up, get the disco ball and lights going, play Happy Birthday and La Bamba, put a Sombrero on you, give you a cake with this crazy candle coming out and take your picture. Its a hoot!

Le Pain Quotidien - Everyday Bread or Bread Everyday - I Don't Know

Not gonna lie I had to look up the definition of quotidien, I assumed it was French, but alas, I was incorrect. Le Pain Quotidien is actually a Belgian chain. Look at that.

Anyway, I apologize for taking some time off blogging. I have no excuse but I am back so...Hollah (yeah for some reason I say that a lot now).

So yesterday I met my buddy Alana for lunch here. Ah, how I miss actually having someone to get lunch with at work. I picked it because I have seen these opening up a bit and thought I should give it another try. You see the first time I ate here was when I was a wee-bit sales assistant who only ate things like chicken nuggets. When I went with some of my co-workers at the time they just loved it, I on the other hand was stuck eating bread with jelly. I believe the girls teased me about it and looked on in disgust. Perhaps that is why they would sometimes not include me on their happy hours. Whatevs, I can prob out drink them all now anyway. Ok, sorry for all the side stories, back to the food.

So yes, I totes eat more food now so I figured I would give it a try. The menu includes lots of sandwiches, tartines (just bread with stuff on top) and salads. Some that caught my eye were the Mozzarella di Bufala & Plum Tomatoes, Shrimp Salad (that has avocado and mango), Mediterranean Platter, Tofu Curry Salad Tartine and the Grilled Chicken and Smoked Mozzarella Tartine. But, the item that really caught my eye was the Black Bean Hummus Tartine and that is the one I went with. Overall it was pretty good but I found it kind of expensive for what it was. All it was, was 5 small slices of bread (that was actually a bit hard) with Black Bean Hummus and avocado on top. It it was more like an appetizer, not an actual meal. I wanted to get Mister Softee when I was done. My dining buddy said she was satisfied with her Turkey Tartine, I do not see how. I bet she was lying and probably could have gone for some Mister Softee too.

Also, the service here was not really that good. I had to ask for Sweet n Low a few times, they didn't have any, only Splenda, boo and our waitress got Alana's order wrong. Duh!

Besides the lunch items I mentioned this place has lots of teas, coffees and yummy looking desserts. I got a chamomile mint iced tea. It was just ok, nothing to write home about.

But the desserts look pretty awesome. They have this sweet Belgium Waffle (that should have probably given it away to me that this was a Belgian and not French place) thing that look amazing. They also had all sorts of tarts like a mixed berry one and a, hold on to your seats, a pistachio one. Those are probably awesome!

All in all, def not my fav place and I probably will not run back. Places like Urth Cafe are WAY better.

Nothing More American Than Times Sq, BBQ Food & Me!

It has finally opened, Dave's Famous BBQ, on West 47th St. Three feet from my office and three feet from the Sbarro featured in The Office.

I went yesterday with some co-workers to test out the place and overall, it was a hit! The first time I went to a Dave's Famous BBQ, I did not love, but this time, I was much happier.

To start the meal I got a huge margarita. I was just having one of those days that I needed a drinky at lunch. I think I am old enough to do stuff like that now. Oh, I should note before I start talking about food, that the decor inside is super fun. You can tell by the pictures, they did a great job decorating the place. The bar is huge and will make a great happy hour destination. I just hope they eventually offer happy hour specials. In this tough economic climate, they would be silly not to. Also, the drink menu is very large with fun twists on Long Island Iced Teas and many Margarita flavors.

Ok, back to the food. The cutest thing they did at this place was give you a little bowl of french fries to dip all the sauces in to try them before your meal. It was a nice touch that let you see which BBQ sauce was the right one for you. No shock here, mine was Rich N' Sassy.

For my entree I went very simple, a grilled chicken sandwich and mashed sweet potatoes. The sandwich was huge, two big chicken breasts. I only ate one of them and smothered it in Rich N' Sassy sauce. The mashed sweet potatoes were not very good. They were kinda bland and could have used more cinnamon. My co-workers seemed very happy with their meal. Chrissy of course got a huge brisket platter and ate like half of it. His came with corn, corn bread (that was awesome), garlic mashed and my favorite.....mac n cheese. I ate a lot of his mac n cheese because it was awesome. It had corn and jalapenos in it. I would have got it as my side, but it said it had 710 calories and that scared me. I figured if I ate it off someone elses plate the calories would not count. Just like how they don't count in margaritas. My other co-worker who is currently touring Italy (figured I would send him off with a good ol'American BBQ meal before he has to eat awesome pasta and wine for 9 days and then find me a nice Italian Stallion to bring home in his spare time) got a pulled pork sandwich that he seemed happy with.

All and all, Dave's is a welcome addition to my work neighborhood. This is not the best BBQ you are going to find in the city, but it has a fun atmosphere, great location (for me) and some decent food.

First Look - The Chains of Yankee Stadium

I was at the stadium all weekend getting pictures of all the chain restaurants.

According to Byron, the brisket at Brother Jimmy's is your best bet. I still need to have a meal at Hard Rock.

One very annoying thing, there are calorie counts on all of the items. Yup, that means every Miller Lite, you see that you are consuming 96 calories. A burrito, over 1,000. A foot long hotdog, 500 - that is a lean cuisine and 2 100 calorie snack packs (not so bad), mac n cheese from Brother Jimmy's, just 210!

The Great Debate - Which is Better for Chain Food Lovers Citi Field or Yankee Stadium

It is almost spring time and all across NY there is such a buzz in the air about the opening of the two new ballparks. I am very excited because I have an obnoxious amount of tickets to Yankee games so I will be able to feast on all the new food options there a lot. I have to say though, Citi Field is definitely delivering in the chain food category and giving the new Yankee Stadium a run for their money. Everything looks so good, I might actually go to a Mets game.

Therefore I decided that I would have a Great Debate on Chain of Food asking readers which stadium has the better chain food options. As the season progresses, I will update everyone on the chain items I try. Oh and P.S. - I am going to meet the whole entire Yankee team tomorrow (hollah).

Yankee Stadium Chain Food

Hard Rock Cafe - wow a whole chain restaurant with awesome burgers - they get points for that

Brother Jimmy's - gotta love that, I love BBQ
Johnny Rocket's - I will be skipping that unless Jeter is singing to me in that white uniform

Moe's Southwest Grill - I have never been but will def hit it up, I have always wanted to try it

Famous Familigia Pizza - eh I don't really eat pizza at ball games

Nathan's Hot Dogs - I like my hot dogs kosher, unlike my men, but I know there will be Hebrew National as well

Citi Field Chain Food

Shake Shack - wowzers, that is huge and really a good idea for a ballpark. I just hope the lines are not as long as they are in Mad Sq Park bc Mets fans will miss the game

Blue Smoke - (now a chain bc they are at the Stadium) very good BBQ, but I am just as happy with Bro Jim, especially bc I read they are cooking the food in Manhattan and driving it to Queens.
Nathan's Hot Dogs - same feelings as my Yankee comments

*editors note - Citi Field has a lot of famous Chefs from the Union Sq Group and Tabla, but they are not really chains so I am not going to talk about them on the blog but they have this steak dish that looks delish.

I also refuse to talk about Sushi, because you should not eat Sushi at a game.

I have yet to read anything about Carvel, Dippin Dots or Dunkin Donuts at the stadiums but I have to assume they will still have stuff like that.

Again, I will be updating as I go to the stadiums, to let you know my thoughts as I try everything.

Let me know what you think.

Yogurtland is My Kind of Land

Have you ever tried something or went somewhere and felt like you really found the place where you belong? I have similar feelings when I walk into Yankee Stadium, sip Sangria on a Yacht ( I have actually never done that, but I am sure I would love it) or stroll a sunny beach. The last time I was in LA I had this feeling again and it was when I walked into Yogurtland. Yogurtland is a chain of frozen yogurt shops located mainly on the West Coast. Thankfully they have one in Greenwhich Village so I can have my fix on both coasts.

I was talking about food in one of my meetings in LA (no shock here) and my lovely client told me about Yogurtland. I did not think much of it but when I had some time between meetings and passed one I thought I should try this place.

Wow, I am so happy I did. Yogurtland is a sweet heaven. They have a variety of frozen yogurt flavors that you can pick from, like Pistachio (my favorite), NY Cheesecake, Peanut Butter, Cookies and Cream, Mint, Vanilla, Chocolate, Pumpkin and some tart flavors that are similar to Pinkberry like Plain, Mango, Peach and Green Tea. The beauty is that it is self serve and you can pick whatever combination you like. That is awesome for someone like me who can never make up their mind on what they want. After you go crazy with the yogurt, you can go more crazy with the endless amount of toppings that they offer. Everything from mochi, cheesecake bites, sprinkles, oreos, lucky charms, granola, lychee, raspberries, bananas, chocolate chips, and gummi bears. Wow, it is a sensory overload for me in here. I love it, I can have a little coconut, a bit of strawberries, some mochi and lots of GRANOLA!!!! It is really an amazing treat and you can have as little or as much as you want because after you fill your cup, you just pay what it weighs. LOVE IT!!!!

Really, I can not sing Yogurtlands praises enough it has all I have been thinking and talking about since I got home. I have a feeling I am going to be here a lot in the coming warmer months. I just wish there more of these around and closer to my office or near my apartment.

Dunkin Donuts 100 Calorie Muffin

I hope everyone is done puking after watching the pathetic Bachelor and ready for a morning filled with chain food delight. I, unlike the Bachelor, am not a pathetic Seattle rainy dork balding loser. I am a woman of my word, here to serve the loyal chain of food readers.

Therefore, when I saw that Dunkin Donuts had a new 100 calorie muffin I had to try it. A 100 calorie muffin is music to my ears, as I am the princess of 100 calorie packs. I was a few minutes early to work this morning so I decided to stop at the underground Dunkin and pickup one of these bad boys. They are called Angel Food muffins, they must be from heaven. I heard mixed reviews so I was excited to try it. At first bite, I thought hmmm not bad. A bit chewy but the cinnamon on top is quite good. The more I ate it though, the more disappointed I got. The muffin has a very strange texture, almost like it is not actually food. Perhaps, a cardboard sponge. The only part that is really tasty is the top because it is sprinkled with cinnamon. I think it would be a bit better if they sprinkled cinnamon throughout the muffin. All and all, the muffin is a 2 out of 10. I would not get this all the time, but if you are really in the mood for a muffin and only want to eat 100 calories, I guess get it, but I think there are better low calorie breakfast options out there. I do commend Dunkin for trying though. I am drinking their coffee right now and that still rocks!!!

In Honor of Top Chef

Last night was the season finale of one of my new favorite shows, Top Chef. Everyone was saying how great the show was but I was afraid to watch because, 1 - I don't cook and 2- I do not eat 99% of the things they cook. For example, the thought of foie gras , venison and squab makes me sick. That being said, I started watching and am totally hooked. I was especially happy (spoiler alert) because my boy Hoosea won. He was my pick, I feel a special bond with him because he is a jew with a weird name, like moi. I do not like that he hooked up with that mess Leah though. I ate at Centro Venotecca and was not impressed. Sorry, raw egg ravioli is not good.

Anyway, in honor of the season finale where they had to cook their perfect 3 course meal, I have decided to create my perfect 3 course chain meal in 3 different categories - fast food, casual sit-down chain and high end chain. See below for my picks. This was a tough list to make and you might not agree, but alas, it is my blog and my opinions.

Fast Food

Appetizer - A Chicken Nuggets Mix from McDonalds, Chick-fil -A and Wendy's

Meal - Burrito from Baja Fresh with guac for the chips and a side of Nathan's French Fries

Dessert - Wendy's Frosty

Causal Sit-down Chain

A mix of breads from Cheesecake Factory, Texas Roadhouse and Joe's American
Appetizer - Jack Sesame Strips from Friday's

Meal - Mongolian Beef from P.F. Chang's with brown rice and extra sauce

Dessert - White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory

High End Chain

The bread basket from Capital Grill

Appetizer - Chicken Satay with peanut sauce from Tao

Meal - Filet Mignon from Del Friscos with their sweet potato mashed potatoes

Dessert - Creme Brule from Capital Grill

Free Pancakes at IHOP

Another free breakfast to announce. This time IHOP is jumping on the bandwagon and giving away free pancakes on Tuesday, February 24th from 7 am - 10 am. Unlike Denny's, they are asking for donations towards the Children's Miracle Network. I am all about charity, considering I do not do any myself anymore. What an embarrassment to the Key Club I am. I think tomorrow I will stop by the closest IHOP, have some free pancakes, play around with all the different syrup options, I love the real fruity ones (of course I do) and donate a 20 spot or so to the Children's Miracle Network.

Supposedly it is National Pancake Day - I will eat to that!

Yonalisa - thanks for the info