The Unvegan » Chains

Make Way for Cafe Rio

The Unvegan — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 16:00:30 +0000

The pearly gates of Utah.

I have a coworker who has a problem. The problem is she is a vegetarian. Gross, right? But not by choice. You see she is lacking the enzyme that breaks down meat in her body, so the simple act of eating meat makes her violently ill. It’s really the only acceptable form of vegetarianism, yet there is one place she will always eat meat, stomach be damned. That place is Cafe Rio. It’s a seemingly generic Mexican place that I have driven past many times in Manhattan Beach and brushed off. But little did I realize that Cafe Rio is huge in Utah. Like real huge. And it’s about to get even huger. There are currently 40-something locations, but they are planning an expansion on the scale of 100 restaurants. So when one opens across the street from you, remember you read about Cafe Rio on The Unvegan first. With my coworker in mind, we finally stopped at Cafe Rio to what all the meat fuss was about.

The place is set up in an assembly line format similar to Chipotle, but with a whole lot more options. Looking at the menu, apparently we made it pretty well-known that we had never been before. Suddenly, we were greeted by a guy working there who explained everything on the menu and offered us samples of any meat we wanted. And first he gave us a sample of their fresh-made tortillas to test out. It was delicious. The menu said their Sweet Pork Barbacoa was their specialty, so I tried some of that, their Chile Roasted Beef, their Fire Grilled Chicken and their Fire Grilled Steak. I was surprised to find my favorite to be their Chile Roasted Beef, which somehow beat out the Fire Grilled Steak due to some amazing flavoring. The barbacoa was my second favorite and another customer told us their secret: they cook it in Coke.

Have wet with my burrito.

So I went with the Chile Roasted Beef burrito for $6.75. In it, I had them add pinto and black beans, lime-cilantro rice, cheese and hot salsa. Then, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. This was to have them splash more salsa on top of the burrito, top it with cheese, heat it up and make it a wet burrito. Um, yes please. But I wasn’t yet sure how hot the salsa was, so I had them douse my burrito in medium. It was a beautiful sight and I couldn’t wait to dig in.

Best roasted beef ever?

And when I did, what I tasted was nothing short of amazing. Stomach aches? Weak. I would risk kidney stones to down a burrito such as this. The flavor of the beef is beyond comprehension, but all at once it’s semi-sweet, salty, juicy and meaty. The meat was definitely the centerpiece to the burrito and while the rice, beans and cheese were all nice, they had nothing on the meat. Which brings me to the salsa. I quickly discovered that the salsa within the burrito was not too spicy at all and could have easily been the salsa for the burrito to swim in. But, I’m glad I tried the medium salsa, because it was awesome. In fact, it was literally sweet. Coupled with the savoriness of the rice, beans and cheese, this salsa added a strange, yet delicious balance to the burrito. Next time, I’ll swap the salsas and get that sweetness on the inside.

And there will be a next time. And a time after that. And a time after that. Because Cafe Rio is awesome. From the amazing customer service (seriously, everyone there seemed to feel honored to work there) to the meat to the salsa, it was a burrito to remember. Move over, Chipotle.

Halo Burger: The In-N-Out of Flint

The Unvegan — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:00:38 +0000

A sign of good times.

With two of my parents hailing from the once mighty city of Flint, Michigan, I spent much of my upbringing in Flint and hearing about the mighty Halo Burger. My step-dad even celebrated his 60th at Halo Burger (although I was out of the country at the time). Yet, until my return home to Michigan last weekend, I had never once set foot into one of these fabled local fast food joints. But enter I finally did and was impressed by what I found.

Halo Burger began as Kewpee burgers way back in 1923, and the success of those first burgers spawned the eleven current locations in the Flint area as the company was built up by Bill Thomas. Clearly a burger that has lasted so long must be good. Like many fast food places, their burgers come with lettuce, tomato, pickle and onion. But people also love another veggie, olives, on their Halo Burgers. I wanted none of these and settled upon their Beefy Double Cheese combo. This burger had double cheese, double patty and even an extra bun bottom in the middle of the beef. I got mine with ketchup only and it also came with fries and a drink.

The fast food was ready soon enough, but I realized I had forgotten to order one of their Boston Coolers (like a root beer float but with ginger ale instead of root beer). Seeing as I was in Michigan, the home of the best ginger ale in the world (Vernors, invented in 1866), this was a travesty. But my mom came through in the clutch and I was able to taste some of her delicious ice cream drink.

It's meatier than it looks.

But back to the burger. This thing was brought out in a small styrofoam box that screamed, “environmental crisis” and when I opened it up, I found a burger of beauty. I bit in and tasted something familiar. Something similar to another somewhat regionally limited fast food burger chain. These weren’t some paper-thin terrible frozen patties with strange crunch bites in them. Why, this burger tasted a hell of a lot like In-N-Out burger, and that’s a compliment. Known throughout the west as a great fast food burger, In-N-Out has a hugely loyal following and Halo Burger has quite the following of its own. The difference is that In-N-Out is in the sunny, beautiful west coast, while Halo Burger resides in gloomy, depressing Flint. But make no mistake, this is a burger of the highest fast food quality predating almost everything in the west and is sure to please anyone in need of a good fast food burger. The little bun the middle was the only real noticeable difference, and after a few bites that thing squeezed down to being almost indistinguishable in the grand scheme of the burger. In fact, tucked under the bottom patty visible in the picture is another patty of equal size, making the burger plenty meaty.

Fries that taste good! What a concept.

It may not have a cutesy secret menu, but Halo Burger serves up something that In-N-Out is truly unable to compete with: fries that don’t taste like ass. Yes, In-N-Out fries are terrible, but Halo’s fries are actually quite good. Not only are they thicker than your average fast food fry, they also have a great crisp that makes you actually want to eat more rather than down a glass of pop after each bite.

These days, Flint may not have a whole lot to offer the world, but Halo Burger is still a shiny beacon of burger in a once-proud city. And if Halo Burger keeps churning out those tasty burgers, they will surely continue shining when Flint rises again. As they say, “Seven days without a Halo Burger makes one weak!”

Surfing and Turfing at Roy’s

The Unvegan — Fri, 27 May 2011 16:00:34 +0000

"Get your damn asparagus off of me," said the steak.

A steak is not an everyday meal. And even rarer than a steak is a little something called surf and turf. It is only eaten on the rarest and most special of occasions. Or when you have a gift card to Roy’s. Roy’s is a Hawaiian Fusion restaurant that I once discovered in the desert of Scottsdale, but that was long before unvegan came to be. This time, I went to the Roy’s in downtown LA with my lovely girlfriend to pay a visit to my friends, Surf and Turf.

Roy’s surf and turf on this evening was a petite filet and two lobster tails. Accompanying these were crab oscar, asparagus and their poblano mash. Only a fraction of these sounded good to me, namely the crab. I asked if there was anything mashed that didn’t include peppers and was told there were some regular mashed potatoes I could sub in. I was also told I could replace the asparagus, but before I could choose, the girlfriend said she would take them off my hands, so we asked to have them on her plate. I ordered my steak medium rare and then waited for the glory.

When my dish arrived, I was surprised to find those green asparaguses (asparagi?) staring back at me. While I can’t understand why someone would want to eat a food that makes urine smell even worse than usual, I really can’t handle being lied to about them being on someone else’s plate. I scraped these pee-tainters onto my girlfriend’s plate and a few minutes later she was brought additional asparagus on the side for a double dose of terrible-smelling piss.

With these disposed of, I moved onto the real food and what I found was beautiful. The steak, although small, was delicious. Seafood may be their specialty, but they did just fine by that petite filet. Of course, I would have liked it a little bigger, but I can’t complain when it’s called petite. The lobster tails were especially tasty and came with a spiced butter sauce to make them even tastier. This showed me why their seafood made them so proud. The crab oscar was a nice addition, although so miniscule that I probably wouldn’t have missed it if it wasn’t there. Finally, there was my substitute mash. It was mashed up good and well, but could have used a little more salt or flavoring to kick it up a notch in taste.

Yet, sides do not make a meal, and the main surf and turf of this meal were quite delicious. I’m pretty sure I missed the whole “Hawaiian Fusion” aspect of the menu, but the surf and turf treated me just fine.

Der Decent at Wienerschnitzel

The Unvegan — Tue, 24 May 2011 16:00:37 +0000

Just look at those colors.

Wienerschnitzel and the concept of a hot dog chain restaurant has always intrigued me. Since I was a little kid, I have loved me some hot dogs, and finally I got the opportunity to check out Wienerschnitzel when the bright yellow and red a-frame restaurant in Valley Village called my name loud enough. I had some strange expectations for this place, because it’s really hard to mess up a hot dog, but they can be messed up and it doesn’t matter what ingredients you toss on top if the dogs can’t hold their own.

It's a dog! Let's eat it.

With this in mind, it took me a while to figure out what to order. They have some good-looking dogs with chili, relish, Chicago-style and whatnot. They all looked good and could be upgraded to 100% beef for a buck more than their regular prices. I’m guessing this meant the regular ones were pork. After much deliberation, I settled on a good barometer for hot dogs: chili and cheese. I upgraded the dog to beef and also got a chili cheeseburger. These were both fit for an unvegan with no vegetable ingredients to order without.

Doesn't look half bad.

My food was ready almost instantly and I was ready to get down with some dog. What I found could best be described as decent. For starters, the hot dog had good beefy flavor, but little to no snap. There were a couple bites where I couldn’t tell if I had snagged any dog or not because of the lack of snap. Next was the chili. This added just about nothing. The flavor wasn’t bad at all, because you can’t be bad if you are nonexistent. I don’t know if it was simply browned water, but someone forgot to spice this chili. The cheese was good, but cheese is always good. Finally, the bun worked well enough as a dog-carrying conduit, but was spongy and just fit well with the rest of the dog.

Why did you do this to me?

As for the burger, this transcended decency, but in the wrong direction. The patty was slightly thicker than paper and every couple bites I would crunch into something. I don’t know what it was, but I knew I didn’t want it in my mouth. A burger should not be crunchy. Similarly, the chili added nothing to the burger and the cheese did its job. Once again, I was disappointed in the bun, because it was just too big for a burger of this size. Had the burger actually tasted good, the bun would have sapped the flavor. In this case, maybe it was there to hide the lack of goodness inside.

Sorry, Wienerschnitzel, maybe hot dogs just aren’t cut out to be the centerpieces of chain restaurants. Next time I’ll keep it real and head to Vicious Dogs.

A First Time for Olive Garden

The Unvegan — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:00:05 +0000

Mmm airy breadsticks.

Yes, you read that right: A First Time for Olive Garden. Somehow this Italian chain restaurant, which finds itself in every big or small city in the country, has evaded me for my whole life. But on Friday that all changed. I found myself at Olive Garden for the first time and I was eager to find out what all the fuss was about. It all started with bread sticks.

Of all the things I had heard about Olive Garden in my life, the bread sticks always seemed to stick in people’s minds. And with good reason. These light, fluffy bread sticks were seasoned with the perfect amount of butter, garlic and salt. Plus, they just keep coming until the real meal comes. Of course, by then you are so stuffed with these bread sticks you wish you had ordered the rest of your meal to go.

The chicken is a little scary, but the gnocchi is grand.

As for the main course, they all seemed to come with a soup or salad. Both of these were also unlimited and I chose the chicken and gnocchi soup. This creamy soup was the first time I had ever experienced gnocchi outside of a normal dish. I was surprised to find that those delicious potato dumplings worked great in soup, making it almost like gnocchi with a watery alfredo sauce.

Six cheese please!

And in order to get said soup, I first had to order a main dish. That dish of choice was the Five Cheese Ziti al Forno. I had a hard time making this choice because I wanted something meaty, but I couldn’t resist getting five cheeses in my belly. When the dish I arrived I added one more cheese to the mix – fresh grated parmesan. Then I went to work on devouring my dish. It was pretty delicious. The sauce was light and not overpowering, but still packed some great flavor. Although there was marinara involved, the cheese was definitely the dominant flavor. I would have liked some meat in it, but it was still a tasty meal.

So after holding out for 26 years, Olive Garden was definitely worth the wait. The unlimited bread sticks, creamy gnocchi soup and ziti were just what I would have expected from the place and although the main course didn’t blow me away, it still did what it had to do.

Quesoing at Qdoba

The Unvegan — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 16:00:50 +0000

The Q stands for queso.

On the fringes of the Mexican fast food world lies a restaurant chain called Qdoba, which I’m pretty sure is pronounced queue-doh-ba. Qdoba functions in an assembly-line vein similar to Chipotle and the food itself tastes pretty similar except for one special thing: queso. For those who understand the language Spanish, queso simply means cheese and it would be no surprise to you that cheese is on the menu of a Mexican restaurant. But, for those of you who are well-versed in the language of Qdoba, queso means so much more.

At Qdoba, the queso still means cheese, but instead of regular cheese it’s a cheese sauce. It comes on the queso burrito, along with pretty much any burrito topping you’d like. I ordered mine with pinto beans, rice, chicken, medium salsa and some additional cheese. All rolled up, the burrito looked like little edible baby that I was ready to eat. This thing was so stuffed I even grabbed a fork in preparation of my burrito baby overflowing.

When I dug in, my mouth was met with a ton of rice. And not so much in a good way, because rice is a bit of a burrito filler. However, the best way to make rice taste better is by adding cheese and the queso sauce was just delicious. The chicken tasted pretty good and just about everything came together nicely, but the rice was truly overwhelming. I would have preferred a smaller burrito with less rice just so the rest of the insides would have had stronger flavor not washed out by rice.

The queso sauce was a great twist on the burrito and really helped my burrito baby along. However, when it came to size, I would have preferred a bit more quality over quantity. Rice is good and all, but it shouldn’t be the centerpiece of a burrito.

A Quickie Dinner at Daily Grill

The Unvegan — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 17:00:31 +0000

More like Multi-Daily Grill

On our way out of town via the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, we were in need of a convenient place for a bite to eat. Across the street from the airport, we found the Daily Grill, an mid-level restaurant chain for American food that can found throughout California and a little beyond. As we needed to catch a flight, there was little time to dilly dally and I quickly scanned the menu and found their Penne Pasta with Chicken.

At $16.95, it was slightly pricier than my ordinary pasta expenditure, but they certainly didn’t hold back on portion size. The bowl of pasta rivaled that of C & O in size and I quickly forgot the price and instead concentrated on the sad fact that I wouldn’t be able to take the leftovers with me. Yes, I already knew I had no chance of demolishing this massive bowl of pasta.

I attempted to make dents in the pasta, but to no avail. Once I knew there was little I could do to tackle this beast, I concentrated on the taste. It was totally devoid of vegetables, which made me happy, and the pesto sauce was quite delicious. The grilled chicken was a great addition and not just some protein afterthought to make my people happy. There were also pine nuts sprinkled throughout the pasta, which were like little morsels of joy that just soaked up the delicious pesto sauce. My least favorite part of the dish was the penne itself. Although not bad penne by any means, it tasted like something I could have easily bought in a store and boiled myself. Perhaps it was made in-house, but to my taste buds it may as well have been store bought.

For a quickie meal, the Daily Grill treated us well, but it felt like that had leaned slightly towards quantity over quality. As though offering a gigantor bowl of pasta would make up for the just-decent noodles. Instead of bowling me over in size, it would have been nice to have some better penne and just enough food to fill me up. Yet as I said before, this was a quickie meal without much time to think and without an option of bringing home left overs, so the Daily Grill deserves the benefit of the doubt.

A Different Kind of Sharky’s

The Unvegan — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 17:00:54 +0000

Looks like a tasty burrito.

When I found out we were heading out to Sharky’s in Burbank for lunch, I was first a little confused. You see, for me, “Sharkeez” is the name of a college-style bar down in the South Bay, and they aren’t known for their food so much as they are for their happy hours. Little did I realize the difference in spelling, but as soon as we arrived, I knew we weren’t in for some drinking. Instead, I found myself at a counter with a bunch of different Mexican food to order. Sharky’s calls itself a Woodfired Mexican Grill, which is kind of strange to me because I really only think of pizza as being woodfired. But hey, if it can work for pizza, I’m sure it can work for Mexican. In addition to the wood fires, they also attempt to distance themselves from other Mexican food chains by claiming completely natural meats, non-GMO veggies and everything else you can think of that is associated with good old-fashioned food.

Because of this, the prices are slightly higher than you average Mexican counter restaurant, but the price difference is hardly noticeable. I stared down the menu for a while, but finally ended up ordering the first burrito on the list, called the Fiesta Burrito. At 7.29, it came with rice, beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and salsa verde. Plus, it came with the choice of chicken, Angus Steak or organic tofu. I was a bit bothered by this tofu option, but went ahead and ordered the steak. Then, even though it came with a salsa verde, I walked over to the salsa bar to grab a couple cupfulls of other salsas to try out.

The burrito was brought out sliced in half, which was kind of strange to me, but I just rolled with it and started eating. It ended up being a damn good burrito, with just the right amount of steak to go along with all of the other ingredients. The steak was nice and juicy and although I have no idea whether this had to do with being woodfired or just cooked correctly, it was a nice change from the dry steak you often find in burritos like this.

Even though I was quite happy with the burrito, I found one major issue. The guacamole they used had tomatoes in it. This is always a risk when ordering guac, but I had hoped Sharky’s would do better. Fortunately, the tomatoes slices they used were quite big and easy to pick out. In fact, in the whole burrito I think I only pulled out 3 tomato bits, which was a pain, but ultimately not as bad as it could have been.

So if you’re into avoiding antibiotics, GMO and other things hippies don’t like, Sharky’s is a great choice. Their steak was nice and juicy and although it wasn’t the best burrito I’d ever eaten, it did a nice job of combining “healthy” ingredients into a reasonable Mexican meal.

Pass Me Some Taro Pie

The Unvegan — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 17:00:11 +0000

This is how McDonald's does taro.

To some, the thought of eating McDonald’s in a foreign country seems just plain wrong. After all, when you’re in a different country, you should be experiencing their culture in all aspects, especially food. And what’s more American than McDonald’s? Yet, it’s hard to deny how much of this American fast food has become a part of other cultures. In Japan and China, a big bucket of KFC is now a Christmas tradition and all over the world you can find Burger King, Subway, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut. And these companies have not simply forced American food down people’s throats. Instead, they have adapted, and few have adapted as well as McDonald’s.

Step into a McDonald’s outside the US and you will see foods you never knew existed. In Canada, you can find Poutine, in Israel there are Kosher McDonalds’ that don’t offer cheese on their burgers. In Japan, the Teriyaki McBurger is like a regular burger, but with a teriyaki twist. These international options almost make McDonald’s a destination, rather than a place to avoid on vacation.

Just look at that purple. Look at it!

China has a few different unique offerings, but my favorite is their pie. Rather than forcing good old-fashioned American apple pie into China, McDonald’s has a Taro Pie. I’ve loved taro ever since I discovered the purple sweet potato and when I learned that McDonald’s had stuffed it into a pie, I jumped on it. During my year living in China, this pie and I had a delicious love affair. So when I returned to China, I was ecstatic to find the Taro Pie was still on the menu. I ordered one for 5 rmb and immediately fell back in love. The pie comes in a similar sleeve to the apple pie in the US, except that it is bright purple and covered in Chinese and English letters. Inside, the pie looks the same as any other McDonald’s pie. The crust is crunchy and delicious, while the inside is a nearly fluorescent purple color and loaded with these potatoes. The taro isn’t too sweet and is somehow very different in flavor from any ordinary sweet potato. The texture is grainer than the viscous apple pie and the thicker taro sauce inside adds a great dimension of flavor that isn’t overly sweet like it can be in other pies. Plus, it’s purple, which is pretty awesome and rare in edible food.

So next time you’re in a foreign country, don’t be too quick in dismissing McDonald’s. If you go for a Big Mac and fries, you might be doing yourself a disservice, but if you seek out a regional specialty, you could just discover something amazing and unique. Then you’ll end up like me, waiting for your next opportunity to crunch into your Taro Pie.

Currying Favor at Ajisen Ramen

The Unvegan — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 16:00:54 +0000

Curry in a hurry.

Not too long ago (at least in my head), Ajisen Ramen opened its doors at the Century City food court. I’m not sure where else this Japanese ramen chain exists in the US, but I do know it is a pretty popular and slightly upscale chain in the land of Asia. I decided to check it out to see how it held up against its Asian brethren and found that the menu was pretty similar to what I remembered from Asia. It had a variety of ramen options and some tasty-looking Japanese appetizers.

The prices were pretty on-par with the Century City food court, but a bit more than can be find at your average corner ramen shop. After looking at the menu, my decision was pretty clear: Beef Curry Ramen. But I didn’t think that would be enough (not in size, because I can never finish a bowl of ramen, but in terms of flavor variety), so I also ordered some gyoza. After about two minutes, the meal was ready and I grabbed it from the counter and brought it back to my table.

I demand more gyoza.

The gyoza was disappointingly small in size and number. There were only five dumplings and they were pretty tiny. It definitely didn’t seem to be worth the 3 bucks, but at least they tasted pretty good. The bowl of ramen, however, was huge. I knew that there was no way I could finish it, so I just set out to eat as much as I could. The noodles had a great consistency and the beef was pretty tasty. It had absorbed a nice curry flavor, which was strongest when drinking the broth. It didn’t bend any of the rules of ramen or try to do anything especially creative, but it was certainly what I expected and it made me happy. Better ramen can be had in the little Japanese pockets of LA, but if you have a hankering for good ramen around Century City, you really can’t go wrong with Ajisen.