30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 10

A photo of your favorite place to eat.

My most favorite restaurant in the world is Coop's Place in New Orleans.  B and I were down in New Orleans when our friend Cecily who lived there recommended it to us and we were hooked.  Last time that B had an install in New Orleans, which was about two years ago, he went and got my favorite meal which is their cajun pasta and he packed it in a cooler and brought it home to me.  It is one of the sweetest things that anyone has ever done for me.  Below is not only a pic of the restaurant, but a pic from the meal he brought me home.  I had taken a picture and posted it on Instagram so I was able to find it.

Wendy vs Wendy

It must have been hard growing up as the face of her father's international corporation.  I don't know if I could handle have my childhood photos being in commercials, on billboard, on buildings, etc...  So my hats off to Wendy Thomas for that alone.  She's pretty, she's not a size zero super model, but she's a very pretty woman who you look at and you think you want to be friends with because she looks like she's a nice person.  Besides, haven't you ever heard the saying never trust a skinny chef?  She's not morbidly obese or anything, she looks like a normal person.  Her dad looked like a normal person and connected with their consumers because of it.  For a brief shining period, Wendy Thomas had taken over doing the commercials, just like her dad had done before her.  Again, she seemed nice and the commercials were refreshing because they had real people in them.  They were classy.  She talked about how great the food was, the importance of tradition, the mission and work that Dave Thomas put forward in both his business and his charity work.  Wendy Thomas was a class act...then she came.

This was who they choose to replace Wendy Thomas with, a fictional version of Wendy.  I find her obnoxious, snooty and fairly insulting in her words and mannerisms.  I am not blaming the actress, this is how she was told to act, I blame the company.  Rather than talk about how great Wendy's is, she puts down the competition's food.  I hate when any company does that, your product should be so awesome you should never have to mention the competition.  YOUR PRODUCT SHOULD BE ABLE TO STAND ON ITS OWN.  On top of that she puts down anyone else in the commercial for not buying Wendy's.  Tells them they are being dumb with their money and their taste buds, she is actually food shaming them in the commercials for not agreeing with her.  In another commercial a guy is very excited about the new bun and she food shames him for being too excited.  What is she?  A redheaded Goldilocks that wants everyone to be just right, which means exactly like her.  She continually talks down to everyone else, treating them all like idiots and literally laughing at them, all of this makes her a terrible spokesperson.

This Wendy doesn't make me want to eat there, which is sad because I do love Wendy's.  It's always been my preferred fast-food burger joint because of the better quality of food and healthier selection.  Why don't they bring back the gentler, kinder, ACTUAL Wendy and get the advertising back to being about the product and classy like it was when Dave Thomas was still around rather than this horrible self righteous child who they're writing to be as obnoxious as possible.  I actually feel bad for the actress in that role and hope that she's not actually like that.  Everyone needs the money and the break, I get it, but sheesh!  I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for her.  Wendy's used to be better than this.  I don't think this was his vision considering the change in advertising since his death.  Classic is classy, this is crap.

Pallookaville: From cart, to truck, to brick and mortar!

If you live in Atlanta and ever leave your house to take in one of the bazillion festivals around town through out the year you've probably at least heard of Pallookaville.  Famous for it's gourmet corn dogs, (as seen below on The Tonight Show) Pallookaville started as a converted vintage hot dog cart before evolving into an old US Mail truck that was given a new life as a food truck.   The star of the dogs was the Fryinstein Monster: part 100% beef frank, part Polish kielbasa, and part Italian Sausage dipped in Cornbread with your choice of pepper or cheese...seriously, this is a thing and it is amazing!

Whether or not you've actually gotten to eat this amazing food depends on your luck and/or dedication as it often found with a line around the block because the food is that good.  A once special occasion food can now be a part of your regular diet!  The most recent step in Pallookaville's evolution includes an actual brick and mortar restaurant!  No longer do you have to wait for a festival to get these delicious items and they've expanded their menu as well.  The menu of gourmet carnival food includes Reubens, foot long hot dogs, burgers, poutined fries, specialty syrups for amazing drink concoctions and boozy milkshakes known as Shaketails!

I sadly wasn't able to go to the soft opening on Halloween night since I was working at Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse, but you better believe I was there for opening day on November 4th.  I drug a few friends from school with me for lunch around 1pm and it was hopping!  We put our name on the list and after a surprisingly short wait we were seated and on our way to deliciousness!

After scoping out the menu Martha and I got Black Cherry sodas while Justin braved the Tiger's Blood.  (I say braved because we really weren't sure what Tiger's Blood was, but it sounded cool so he ordered it.)  For food: I got the Fryinstein Monster and Poutined Fries (Poutined is gravy and cheese curds), Martha got the 100% beef frank and cheese fries (she's boring and only eats 3 things ever so the fact that there was something she wanted was pretty amazing!), and Justin joined me in Fryinstein goodness!  (Funnily enough, Justin had already eaten lunch when I text him to go to Pallookaville, but he could not resist the siren call!)

Tiger's Blood turned out to be a fruit punch type flavor (who knew) and the Black Cherry sodas were delicious!  The food came out really quickly, which was impressive with how busy they were.  Everything was delicious, but I admit I was defeated by the fries and corn dog and had to take half of it to go.  I went to school right after and gave the left overs to Xander because he is Canadian and nothing makes him happier than Poutined Fries, seriously you would have thought I gave him a brick of gold he was so happy!

The staff was great, it does help me feel comfortable that I knew quite a few people that work there, however I did not know our waitress and she was super awesome.  They asked if we wanted to separate our checks when we went up to pay, that's so rare that somewhere will ask rather than you having to ask them.  Seriously, that little extra touch of awesome customer service already sets this amazing place ahead of many others.  Not to mention the super amazing atmosphere that is a cross between the old soda shops of the 1950s and the best carnival parts of Coney Island which includes lots of autographed photos up on the wall from many of Jim Stacy's amazing life experiences.  From his amazing hidden eatery show Get Delicious, to being a previous partner in the Star Bar and the Starlight Drive-In, Jim has always been ahead of the curve on what's hot just by being true to himself and what he enjoys doing.

So yeah, that was last Monday and I have a lunch date there with my bestie on Wednesday.  At about 2 miles from my apartment, I think that Pallookaville will be a regular stop on my culinary rotation.  Once I've tried everything on the menu maybe I'll do an update.  Did I mention there are seasonal items as well?

UPDATE 11/13/2013: Went to lunch there today and had the Pastrami Reuben, poutined fries (I may have a pouitne problem) and a Butterscotch Soda.  My bestie Andy had the B. Franklin with swiss fries and a butterscotch soda and Martha again had her hot dog and cheddar cheese fries with a coke.  The Reuben was AMAZING, with the fries I could only eat half of my sandwich  since it's a HALF POUND OF MEAT!  I traded a bite of my sandwich for a bite of the B. Franklin, it was also wonderfully delicious.  Everything is so much food, at well over 6 feet tall I can only assume that everything there is Jim sized!  Andy is the only one of us that made it to the clean plate club today.