Chains of Love

Horsey Sauce and More

Brooklyn’s first Arby’s is getting so close that I can almost taste the beef and cheddar. Sure, a “soft opening” is odd for a chain but I’ll still try and find a way to get there January 21 even though Thursdays are my busiest day of the week.

Based on the tiny rendering (pictured) on the Brooklyn Eagle’s site, this is going to be one classy Arby’s.

Waffling

Harlem's first Applebee's opened today but Uptown Flavor was lucky enough to attend an opening party this weekend. What caught my attention was mention of the restaurant serving items from local businesses such as Make My Cake just as Downtown Brooklyn Applebee's provides slices of Cake Man Raven red velvet cakes, and that "They will also feature a few Harlem specific dishes that are exclusive to the Harlem restaurant."

I'm curious what these hyper-regional dishes will be. All I can imagine is chicken and waffles, which has become so pervasive that the version served at Buttermilk Channel down the street from my apartment was on the cover of last week's Time Out New York. How do you interpret "Harlem specific?"

Name That Chain

According to Brownstoner, yesterday it was revealed at a Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable that two “nationally known” restaurant will be coming to downtown Brooklyn, 345 Adams Street, specifically.

Fast food? Casual dining? I don’t picture any upscale chains fitting in. The Morton’s in the nearby Marriott is about as much as the immediate area can handle. I predict a Red Lobster and Olive Garden. Nothing radical. I definitely don’t anticipate a Cheesecake Factory or P.F. Chang’s—those are way too massive and Vegas-y suburban.

Then again, I didn’t imagine an Arby’s on Fulton Street either.

Feeling Good in More Neighborhoods

 For better or worse, uptown residents can now get their riblets closer to home. The city’s latest Applebee’s recently appeared in the new mall at Bronx Terminal Market and according to this Craigslist ad, the soon-to-open Harlem Applebee’s is hiring.

I’ve been semi-seriously toying with the idea of extricating myself from office work, though I don’t neccessarily see myself as a server, cook, dishwasher, host, bartender or expediter (all available positions). I haven’t worked food service since 1990 when I was a dough maker in a delivery-only Pizza Hut.

Then again, the ad does say, ”experience is a PLUS” not a requirement.

First There Was Cake Batter Ice Cream

Photo from less apathy more cake

Yes, the internets have been abuzz over the Japanese Burger King’s Windows 7 Whopper. That’s an impressive novelty to be sure.

But why am I just now hearing about the Burger King cupcake shake? It appears that the cupcake trend has finally began to trickle down to the fast food arena. First, red velvet cupcakes quietly showed up in Southern California Taco Bells and now this.

When do you think fast food joints will start deploying food trucks? Northwest chain, Burgerville, already has a Nomad.

Giving Papa John's Dessert Pizza a Run For Its Money

Despite being new to me, Taco Bell’s caramel apple empanadas are apparently old hat. At a few select Southern California locations, the chain has been experimenting with cupcakes, smoothies and milkshakes. It’s only a matter of times before they start serving Korean tacos.

Los cupcakes actually do exist in Mexico, or at least chichi enclaves of the capitol city. And yes, they have red velvet. [Fast Food Maven via Eater]

Su Casa es Mi Casa?

What happens something I love: chains (duh) teams up with something that makes me want to cry: faux speakeasies? Inner turmoil.

Su Casa, the semi-secret bar above the kind of new West Village Qdoba, is serving appropriately freakish cocktails and a benign roster of burritos and such. Orange Kool-Aid and Patron? It’s a shame that I’ll be out of town on their official open date of September 10 because I could really go for a Satan’s Horse (raspberry liqueur, tequila, minced ginger and Red Bull).

Yerba Buena Perry

Would Yerba Buena Perry be a mere offshoot or a bonafide chain? It’s all in the eye of the beholder and for my nefarious purposes: chain.

I’m very much not a party photographer if that isn’t painfully obvious. Besides, I don’t really get off on the blogger role during events and openings and the like—I just want to mingle and enjoy the food and drink without making the poor servers stop and hold their trays still. Not that that was even possible at the new Yerba Buena (which should open today) because the food was literally decimated before the plates made it more than a few feet out of the kitchen.

I did snag a pretty, layered pisco mojito (pisco, bitters, lime and yep, yerba buena) and moved onto wine from there (and then dark chocolatey stout at Spuyten Devil after that—not so smart for a Monday night).

Breaded fried avocado slices were a hit (El Almacen has also been doing these—anyone else?) though I finally encountered the unthinkable: something breaded and fried that completely grossed me out, which isn’t to say the dish was ill-conceived, I just happen to hate melon more than any food on the planet. Yes, they’ve coated and crisp-fried slices of watermelon. Other “Latino Fries” will include more sensible hearts of palm, yuca, plantains, jalapenos and cactus.

Cheesey manchego croquettes, arepas topped with pork and a spicy fish taco were also promising. Of course these were all nibbles. I look forward to trying something more substantial. Maybe the parrillada?

Yerba Buena Perry * 1 Perry St., New York, NY

Fern Barred

People have really gone bonkers over this Union Square T.G.I. Friday's. It's a bit too late, I'm afraid. And by now we all know that TGI Friday's was born in NYC, more New York than most of the transplanted chain-haters.

Just think if Twitter existed when Olive Garden and Outback Steakhouse set up shop a block from each other on the edge of Chelsea back in 2003.

The Death of Cinna Stix®

 
I thought molten cakes had reached the masses when Betty Crocker started selling microwave versions (I hate to admit I picked up a two-pack of Warm Delights Minis last week at Wegmans. I’ve never tried these before but the 150 calorie per serving call out apparently spoke to my inner Hungry Girl that I never knew existed. Next thing I’ll be melting Laughing Cow cheese triangles and calling it alfredo sauce).

But now I realize it’s Domino’s appropriating the trademark Jean George dessert that is the true symbol of food democracy. Let’s see, it took approximately 20 years for this trend to trickle down so I’m seeing marinara foam on pizzas around 2030.