Saint Lawrence Gridiron 2: Gridiron Harder

Food trucks making the jump to "brick and mortar" restaurants has become something of a trend lately.  I can think of four so far this year.  Unfortunately, about half the time they seem to junk the trucks when the restaurant opens, which surprises and saddens me.  I mean things are just starting to get more interesting for the truck scene, and we're losing some of the better trucks!  Still, there was one that I've known for a while now would not survive; the limitations of truck cooking were simply too confining for the imagination and ambition of the man running the show.  Since the title of the post kind of gives away who I'm talking about, let's just get on with it, eh?



Letting the food speak for itself. Mostly.

I've talked extensively about how badly I suck at this blog thing.  You might not agree, or may even never have noticed.  I do think I do a good job of faking it after all, and every time I say that I suck I invariably get at least one IM, e-mail or Facebook comment assuring me that it's not the case.  To those people, I'd just like to point out that I POSTED LESS THAN A DOZEN REVIEWS IN THE ENTIRE YEAR OF 2012.  And trying to maintain anonymity while snapping off a quick pic or two, often in less-than-ideal lighting, before digging in so I can actually enjoy the food at its prime means that those pics often turn out badly.  Still, I'd like to think that I'm gradually improving as time passes, and as we approach the fourth anniversary of this little project's life I've noticed a pretty drastic oversight on my part.  See, once I've written about a place, I'm kind of "done" with it.  I may still go there (though I mostly feel driven to move on to the next new eatery, I get sentimental about certain places), and even take a picture or two, and sometimes I'll even post those pictures on Facebook.  Well, it's occurred to me that a lot of the people who read my reviews here might never see those pictures (especially with Facebook's increasingly idiotic algorithm bullshit).  I don't often do follow-up reviews, so basically at this point I'm putting those pictures where a couple hundred people might see them if I'm lucky before they get sucked into the void and buried.  And unforgivably, I'm also guilty of this behavior in relation to events like the Food Truck Rally, where I've taken to just posting on Facebook rather than doing yet another website review and therefore have tried things from newer vendors there that I've never given the courtesy of writing up here.  That's just not fair to me, the restaurants involved, or the people who are searching for information someplace other than Facebook.  So, here's a bunch of pictures I've taken over the past year or so, all dishes I enjoyed, from eateries that are still in business, and captured in not completely horrifying images...

Wanna Cluck Around?



Bandido's Mexican Grill & The Gyros Factory...and maybe even Burrito Banditos?

5/4/14 UPDATE - Apparently they do have fries if you order a gyro combo meal.  Don't know if they were out the first time I went or if there was just some confusion.  They also have a new website now at http://www.bandidosmexicangrillidaho.com/.  And FYI, the Smoky Gyro is pretty freaking good.

I often bring lunch to work with me, but I don't always eat it.  Occasionally when the time comes, I open my lunchbox and have no desire for what it contains.  Usually at these times I'm craving something specific and end up going to get that instead, but every rare once in a while I have no idea what I want.  At times like this I'll get in my car, pick a direction at random, and take off driving.  It doesn't always work, sometimes I end up back at the office eating one of the protein bars I keep in my desk, but every once in a while I stumble across something amusing.  A combination Mexican and Greek eatery, for example.



Mythical Munchies

You may notice that I don't typically include a lot of background information about eateries and chefs in my reviews.  Unlike print publications and some of the other bloggers around, I value my anonymity, the primary reason for which is the fact that when I go to a place, I want to be treated like anyone else walking in off the street.  I don't want special treatment, free food, or extra effort put in on my account.  I want the same experience anybody else would have, it keeps things objective and fair.  So, I don't really ask for people's life story while they're making my food.  Still, sometimes the aesthetics of an eatery tells you something about the people behind the scenes...


Fanci Freez


Fanci Freez...what is there to say?  If you grew up in this area, as I did, you're probably familiar with them.  Hell, I've been going there since I was a kid.  In my opinion, they are hands-down the best drive-in fast food eatery in town.  Not for their hot food per se, but the desserts...I've been there so many times that I can't recall a specific anecdote to use as a framework for this review.  So, yeah...food.

Yard House (for reals)

I've been wanting to write up Yard House since I fell (mostly) in love with the place during their preview event back in October.  As always though, I bit off more than I could chew by wanting to do a nice, comprehensive review.  There are just too many menu items that I want to try, and it always seems to take longer than I would like to make return trips.  At this point I've got three visits under my belt, so I'm going to just call it good for now.  On with the show...



Island Kine Grinds

For a while there, I was really behind on my reviews.  I'm starting to get caught up now, but the places I've visited recently have had to go to the bottom of the stack while I wrote up restaurants that I visited weeks or even months before.  In one case, that backlog has allowed me to work through most of a particular eatery's menu, and I've decided I just need to write them up and get it over with.




Nothing gold can stay...

I've never been a big believer in fate, but I'll go so far as to admit that occasionally it seems that the Universe is really trying to tell you something.  I believe that the purest purpose any of us can serve during our short time on this planet is to experience, learn, and grow as much as possible.  I'm not getting any younger, and this blog is the kind of hobby that can take a physical toll on you.  As much as I hate to say it, for the sake of my own health (not to mention that I am responsible for myself and have to live with the consequences of my actions), it's time to make a change in my life.