Joe's Crab Shack New Coastal Steampots

Joe's Crab Shack announced this week a line of menu items for the summer at all 113 locations nationwide.

The line focuses around four new "Coastal Steampots", offering buckets of crab, shrimp and lobster representing all the coastal regions and their celebrated flavors.

Coastal Steampots include:

• Sunset Fire-grilled Steampot – Dungeness and Snow crab, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes, beachside bar-b-que style.


• The Orleans Steampot – Crawfish, shrimp, andouille sausage, corn and potatoes cooked in Joe's spicy boil.


• Bean Town Bake – Two whole lobsters, clams, shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes.


• Joe's Steampot – Tasty Dungeness and Snow crab, boiled shrimp, smoked sausage, potatoes and corn.

In addition to the Coastal Steampots, Joe's Crab Shack is adding new flavors to its Steampot collection and introducing a Go Green assortment of salads. New items from Joe's include:

• Crab in a Bucket – Adding new flavors to a traditional favorite, the Crab in a Bucket selections now include Fire-grilled and Smoked Chile offerings.


• Crab Cake Chipotle Caesar – As part of the Go Green line of salads, this yummy dish features Romaine lettuce, topped with one of Joe’s made-from-scratch lump crab cakes, black bean pico de gallo, tortilla strips and Chipotle Caesar dressing.


• Old Bay Steampot – Alaskan Snow crab, clams, corn, potatoes and sausage, flavored all the way with Old Bay seasoning.


• The Long Islander – Mussels, clams, shrimp, plus sausage, corn and potatoes.

Additionally, Joe's will be offering larger portions of its desserts, including the Crabby Apple Crumble, and the Coco Bread Pudding.

Find a Joe's Crab Shack location near you...
http://www.joescrabshack.com/

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Pacifica Breeze Cafe, Del Mar, Review

Pacifica Breeze Cafe is a trendy cafe in downtown Del Mar, CA, located right on the Coast Highway, with a great outdoor patio that overlooks the Pacific Ocean.

Last weekend on a Sunday, Lisa and I rode the motorcycle down to that area just to find some restaurant or cafe we never been to. And hence, we found Pacifica Breeze Cafe.

We got there around 11:15am, still technically the breakfast hour I suppose. I had the Sunday paper in hand, and looked forward to breakfast, coffee, and a read.

This place gets packed!

You'll want to sit in the outdoor patio, but it seems that locals have this all figured out. You task the wife with securing a table, while sending the husband in to order all the food. It's not a traditional restaurant where you get seated, and a waitress takes your order. Rather, you walk up to a counter, and order. But they do deliver the food to your table.

We made the mistake of both of us ordering at the window, and then discovering the two open tables we spotted earlier were snatched up as described above.

So we just ate inside.

The coffee is self-serve. They give you three different roasts to choose from, and these large sized cups.

I had the breakfast burrito, pictured below. It's packed with pinto beans, scrambled eggs, bacon and pepper jack cheese, swimming in a red tomato sauce, mildly spiced, with country style potatoes.

Lisa had the french toast, which comes with two slices of bread, but very thick slices.

Pacifica Breeze Cafe does lunch and dinner, and from the reviews I read, they churn out some pretty killer meals, quite posh from the looks of it. You wouldn't associate the words "junk food" with a place like this, but then again, we're still talking about breakfast burrito and french toast here.

A rose by any other name, smells just as sweet as they say.

Visit Pacifica Breeze Cafe online at...
http://www.pacificadelmar.com

Here are some photos of mine...

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Cracker Barrel - A Review

Last weekend, while my wife and I drove home from a trip to the Grand Canyon, we stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Kingman, AZ.

The Cracker Barrel is a chain of restaurants that serve the usual Americana fare of breakfasts, burgers, steaks, pretty much what you might expect to find at any family-style restaurant.

But they have a "country store" that sells candies, books, clothing, knick-knacks, toys, resembling something you might expect to find on an episode of the Andy Griffith show.

They're also known for selling wooden rocking chairs that sit on display outside the restaurant on the front patio.

But it's mostly their restaurant that attracts locals.

Cracker Barrel started in 1969 with a location in Tennessee, built around an "old country store" theme where travelers could get "home style" cooking, where kids could get some candy, and moms could shop for souvenirs. And then it just spread from there.

You typically find Cracker Barrel restaurants in towns where folks still hold on to "core values", where NASCAR is always on the front page, and where people still cling to their guns and their religion.

We don't have Cracker Barrel restaurants in California, but yet the chain claims to have locations in 41 states.

Awesome Pancakes!

Make a point to visit a Cracker Barrel for breakfast, and get one of their pancake breakfasts, which comes with three buttermilk pancakes, two eggs, and two sausage or bacon.

The pancakes have crispy edges. I think they fry them with lots of oil. In fact, I think they might fry them on the same griddle as with all the other food, because my wife's pancakes showed bits of burnt bacon. To a junk foodie, that only makes the pancakes better.

I've had pancakes at IHOP, and Denny's, and even at The Original Pancake House, and I'm sorry, but Cracker Barrel beats them out.

Here's photos...














Visit Cracker Barrel online for locations..

http://www.crackerbarrel.com

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Bob Evans Restaurant New Appetizers

The Bob Evans chain of restaurants announced today the launch of new appetizers to its menu...

• Blue Ribbon Apple Pie Fries, dusted with powdered sugar and served with caramel dipping sauce.


• Loaded Baked Potato Bites, stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon.


• Bob Evans Wildfire(TM) Chicken Quesadilla made with slow-roasted chicken and topped with Wildfire BBQ sauce, onions, green peppers, tomatoes and cheeses.


• County Fair Cheese Bites, filled with white cheddar cheese and served with marinara sauce.


• Itsy Bitsy Sandwiches, a trio of signature sandwiches with Bob-B-Q pulled pork, slow-roasted pot roast and Bob Evans sausage.

The new appetizers are part of Bob Evans' baseball themed "All Star Line Up" for summer, and the restaurant has launched a media campaign focused around baseball.

Appetizers start at $3.99 and will be available chain-wide.

The introduction of the appetizers also coincides with the return of Bob-B-Q, made with the restaurant's very own Bob Evans Wildfire Sauce. The Bob-B-Q includes Bob-B-Q Baby Back Ribs, Bob-B-Q Chicken Knife & Fork Sandwich, Bob Evans Wildfire Chicken Salad and Bob-B-Q Oven-Roasted Chicken.

The restaurant chain used TasteCasting.com, a service that organizes a group of Internet savvy consumers to review the new menu offerings, and then have them broadcast their thoughts and gather feedback through social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, et al.

Bob Evans restaurants have some 569 family restaurants in 18 states east of the Rockies, and also operate 140 Mimi's Cafe restaurants west of the Rockies.

Source: Press Release

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Chili's Debuts in India

The "Chili's Grill & Bar" chain of Tex Mex restaurants opened its first location in Bangalore, India, the company announced today...

The first Chili's in India opened in Bangalore and was developed by Jawad Business Group. This restaurant is part of a 15-restaurant, five-year agreement that will expand Brinker's presence throughout India. Jawad Business Group is experienced developing other restaurant brands in India and has been a Brinker partner for several years, franchising Chili's in Bahrain and Maggiano's in Saudi Arabia.

The menu at the Bangalore Chili's was developed specifically for the region, with more than 80% of the menu capable of being prepared vegetarian. Such items include...

• Tandoori Chicken Sandwich


• Paneer Bites


• Bombay Burger

All of the menu items are tailored to the Indian culture, but styled or flavored in Tex Mex.

Source: Press Release

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What Happened to Bob's Big Boy?

Bob's Big Boy announced today that they've brought back the "Super Slim Jim", a ham, swiss sandwich, witht their "special sauce", on a grecian roll.

Here in Southern California, there are some Bob's Big Boy restaurants still around, but not many. There used to be just many Bob's as there were Denny's here in the Southland. But then one-by-one, they all went away.

I know just a few of them are still here.

There's one in Baker, CA, which took over the old "Bun Boy". But this Bob's is nothing like the old Bob's. You set foot in there, and it feels like a "fake Bob's". The Big Boy statue may be outside, but the restaurant doesn't have that genuine Bob's feel to it. About the only menu item that has carried over from those glory days is that "Big Boy" double decker burger.

My wife and I used to go to Bob's in Laguna Hills for their breakfast buffet. I always found their bacon to be the way I like it, soft and dripping with oil. Let that oil drip down over the hash browns. Their hash browns was also the way I liked it, soft.

I just got news that a Bob's Big Boy is coming to Temecula, CA, just about 20 minutes from my home. It's taking over the old Ritchie's Diner. I'm sure my wife will be setting up a new home-away-from-home in there.

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Pizza Hut and Pasta Hut

TradeMork says today that the Pizza Hut chain filed an application to claim the "Pasta Hut" trademark for themselves. You can read their article here...

http://www.trademork.com/pasta-hut/

The name "Pasta Hut" is already in use by a handful of restaurants around country.

Will Pizza Hut open up a chain of pasta restaurants? The fast food pasta concept is not new, with many restaurants already doing well in this sphere, the biggest chain being Fazoli's.

It could also be that Pizza Hut is concerned an established Pasta Hut restaurant could gain a large enough influence to take away from their brand.

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Eat'n Park - Black Angus Superburger

Eat'n Park Restaurants today announced their newest burger, the Black Angus Superburger. The burger actually appeared on menus earlier this month.

It's comparable to their basic Cheeseburger, except this one has two 6oz black angus patties, instead of one.

It's also listed at 800 calories, which is "good", as most burgers of this size, with cheese, range between 800-1200 calories.

Eat'n Park is a family-style restaurant, with 77 locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Visit Eat'n Park online at...
http://www.eatnpark.com.

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Pizza Hut - Double Deep Pizza

Pizza Hut announced today a new limited edition pizza, "Double Deep Pizza".

Described as "the most incredibly topped pizza in America", it's basic premise is having double the toppings and 50% more cheese.


The world's largest pizza chain actually said that this new pizza has so many toppings, they had to utilize the "folded crust" design to help corral them all in.

"As we head into the holiday season, we know families will be busy entertaining, so our pizza chefs have cooked up a new delicious, flavorful pizza that's sure to please a crowd," said Brian Niccol, Pizza Hut CMO.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And if you thought it couldn't get any better, they're bringing in the Bee Gees to sing their hit song, "How Deep is Your Love" on the company's television commercials.

The new Double Deep Pizza will be available for a limited time beginning November 18 at a price of $12.99 with three recipes: Supreme, Meaty and Veggie.

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