Honey Mustard

Honey mustard is one of my favorite sauces. It's No. 2 on my list of sauces, right behind the king: tarter sauce.

I have purchased honey mustard in the store, but I usually don't like it. I usually find quality honey mustard at a restaurant.

I really enjoy the honey mustard at Applebee's. I think it is somewhat bland, but if you add a lot of salt, it becomes very good. It's tangy and I think the salt makes the flavors of the sauce pop.

Get the honey mustard with the chicken fingers platter at Applebee's.

Another place to get good honey mustard is at Red Lobster. You read it right, Red Lobster!

I don't have to add anything their honey mustard. It's tangy and strong in flavor. It's not too mustardy, which I like ... especially when it comes to honey mustard.

And when considering food, it's best to go with your gut instinct.

I know that sounds odd, but that's the way I feel.

Get the honey mustard with the chicken strips meal, which are on the lunch menu, or get the strips as an appetizer for dinner. You can also get the strips with the create-your-own appetizer. This is when you choose two or three of your favorites (from select choices) to create your own appetizer.

In this case, I would go with the crispy calamari and vegetables, clam strips and the chicken strips.

One key to ordering any sauce, if it's one of your favorites, is to order a lot of it. When I go to a restaurant, I always order two cups of sauce for items such as chicken strips or fish.

I don't always use the second cup, but it's nice to have. If you just get one cup, you are regulating yourself to an average meal, rather than a great one.

What's your favorite type of sauce? Leave a comment.

Posted by: Matt Suoja on 7/23/2008 at 9:29 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

A good hot dog

I just ate a hot dog and this question came to me: What makes for a good hot dog?

There are many different hot dog brands out there, but the one that I prefer is the Ball Park all beef franks.

They are well rounded in seasoning, stay juicy and are good sized. That is the definition of a good hot dog to me.

There is nothing unfamiliar about the Ball Park frank, which is usually a good thing for a hot dog.

What do I like to put on my hot dog?

I like some cheese and white onion. That's it.

Sometimes, when I put cheese on a hot dog, people look at me funny.

They say "What are you doing, we should put you in a straight-jacket."

I don't care what they think.

To me, it is good and I am not going to change my hot dog eating habits.

It is a beef frank. You can put cheese on a burger, so why not a hot dog?

The onion I put on it is white, because I feel white onion goes better with hot dogs and burgers.

Red onion is sweeter, which lends itself more to salads.

Leave a comment. How do you like your hot dog.

Posted by: Matt Suoja on 7/16/2008 at 12:45 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Sidewalk Days

Sidewalk days in downtown Duluth is a time to indulge in many rich foods.

It is just like going to the fair. They have many deep-fried delights.

I had a corn dog and a funnel cake at the recent sidewalk days. That was too much deep fried goodness.

I was really excited to get both items ... but once I was done, I regretted it. Sometimes your stomach has some bad ideas.

These treats don't come around very often. I have never eaten a funnel cake outside of a festival or fair.

I have eaten corn dogs outside of these events.

I actually hadn't eaten a corn dog in years. It was an incident many years ago that got me off corn dogs.

One of the last times I ate a corn dog, before recently, it looked good on the outside, but when I bit into it, the hot dog was cold in the middle.

Gross!

One of the worst food experiences of my life.

Thursday, the corn dog was better. The hot dog was hot, but it was sort of doughy in the middle.

It's probably the last corn dog I will ever eat.

The funnel cake was good, but too rich.

I would get one again, but not for a while.

Share what you like to eat at a festival (how about a deep fried Twinkie) by leaving a comment.

Posted by: Matt Suoja on 7/14/2008 at 5:35 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Chicken in a Biskit

I decided to go old school for lunch today.

I bought myself a box of Chicken in a Biskit.

Those crackers are nice. They are very hearty for a cracker and have a good flavor. Of what, I don't know.

The box says it has onion powder and dehydrated cooked chicken, among other things.

I say, it's possible it has those ingredients, I guess.

Dehydrated cooked chicken you say!

That's right, and it's tasty.

The only thing bad about the Chicken in a Biskit is the aftertaste. The flavor lingers in your mouth all day.

The Chicken in a Biskit cracker is a meal in itself. I don't think I could eat it with a soup. It's best to be eaten straight. There is some protein in it.

It is definitely a far-out-there cracker. It's by far the strangest flavored cracker I have had. Strange doesn't mean bad, however.

Another thing nice about the Chicken in the Biskit is that it's a club cracker.

It's buttery, but crunchy at the same time.

Share a comment with what your impression is of Chicken in a Biskit.

Posted by: Matt Suoja on 6/19/2008 at 10:00 PM | Comments (2) | Permalink

Smelt and strange ice cream

For me, this week was a strange one when it came to trying new foods.

I began the week trying some freeze-dried ice cream, the same stuff the astronauts eat. It had three different flavors, Neapolitan: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla. It was actually pretty good.

It had the texture of Whoppers (the candy) and had better flavor. It was the first time I have ever tried anything freeze dried. I would certainly eat it again.

Later on in the week at went to Mr. D's and had a burger (my editor Jana bought which was really cool). I also shared a smelt appetizer with some of my co-workers. It was the first time I have ever tried smelt. It's hard to believe, since I'm a Finlander from Two Harbors.

Back to the smelt. It tasted like herring, but fishier. It was OK. The tartar sauce was better, however.

Yesterday I talked with a friend and he had recently gone to Mr. D's. He said their smelt wasn't the best he's had. He said many times smelt is butterflied (at Mr. D's it wasn't). If it is butterflied, then the consumer will get a lot more crisp in their smelt meal.

This makes me want to try smelt again.

I thought it kind of tasted like pickled herring (which I enjoy thoroughly).

The burger I had was one with sour cream and green olives on it. It was very good and reasonably priced.

For some reason I have been getting a lot of burgers with olives on them lately.

Leave a comment on what your experience has been like with smelt.

Posted by: Matt Suoja on 5/16/2008 at 9:30 AM | Comments (2) | Permalink