Monday, October 31, 2011

Fast Food Mascot Halloween Costumes That Aren't For Kids

Shaw did some new illustrations for this guest post I wrote for The Pitch's Fat City last Halloween. Enjoy...if you dare.

Ronald McDonald is a friend to all children. Ronald McDonald with an ax? Not so much. Here are five Halloween costume ideas based on fast food mascots and how to make them.



5. Wendy the Roller Warrior: Rebelling against the wishes of her father, Dave Thomas, Wendy is trading in old-fashioned hamburgers for a life on the track. Who knew she was such a badass?

Dress like Wendy, and add elbow pads, knee pads, a helmet and roller skates. Or, to go a more traditional Halloween route, just be Slutty Wendy.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Lunch Blog in the UK, Part 1: The Jack Horner

Here we go, guv’nor.

So I got to go to London the other week for my job. I believe the official reason I was selected for the trip was because my agency wanted to send our foremost expert on both Doctor Who and British Alternative Rock of the ‘80s & Early ‘90s. (Who’s got two thumbs and is totally psyched for The Stone Roses reunion next year? This guy!)

And since I was going, of course I’d have to make a point of checking out some of the native cuisine -- even though it’s frequently described as “lousy.” Before I left for my trip, I figured British food had probably just caught a bad rap. But then I saw “mushy peas” on a menu and I realized they’re not even trying to make their food sound good.

Monday, October 17, 2011

Lunch Blog & 30 Rock on WGN America

As seen on TV!

If you’ve checked out our recipe for Cheesy Blasters, you know that we here at Lunch Blog are 30 Rock Superfans. As such, WGN America recently invited me to New York for a 30 Rock Superfans roundtable. While I was there, we filmed a bunch of spots and other stuff that'll be appearing in the next few weeks.

The roundtable was all kinds of awesome. I got to hang out with 30 Rock writer Tracey Wigfield, plus a couple of my fellow Superfans, Nancy Alligood and Michael Wandling.

And as you can see above, I also got to meet Katrina Bowden, who plays Cerie on the show. Just look at that picture of the two of us -- she’s so into me, it’s embarrassing.

More 30 Rock action is coming up here at Lunch Blog and on WGN America. Don’t you want to go to our Facebook pages and “like” them so you don’t miss any of the action?
Plus, you can subscribe to the 30 Rock Superfans YouTube Channel and be notified when new videos debut -- including a cooking segment with me and Tracey making the Buffalo Chicken Shake. Here's a preview.



In the meantime, take a look at some of Lunch Blog’s greatest hits over in the Popular Posts on the sidebar. I think we can all agree that Liz Lemon would be a big fan of Carny Surprise.

Thanks for visiting Lunch Blog!
________________________________________
Catch 30 Rock on WGN America! The show airs:
  • Mondays, with four episodes back-to-back starting at 7 p.m. CST  
  • Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays with two episodes starting at 7 p.m. CST  
  • Every night Monday through Saturday, with an episode at 10 p.m. CST
  • Sundays, with an episode at 6 p.m. CST
Big thanks to WGN America and Story Worldwide for flying me out to New York. I sure am happy this whole thing didn’t turn out to be an elaborate organ-thieving scheme.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Walsh’s Corner Cocktails

The shuffleboard is free. The beers aren’t much more.

The worst answer you can get when you ask what the night’s drink specials are, is that there aren’t any. Unless your server follows that answer with these four beautiful words: “It’s all pretty cheap.”

Excellent! A $1.75 Busch draw for me then, please, and keep them coming. And my good man Casey here feels like splurging, so he’ll have the Michelob Amber Bock for fifty big cents more, thank you very much.

Walsh’s Corner Cocktails was exactly what we needed for Guys’ Night this month, after fancy drinks at The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange our last time out. Adam, McHugh and Voytek were also in attendance on this Wednesday, and a good crowd was already at Corner Cocktails when we arrived.

Monday, August 8, 2011

QuikTrip’s Loaded Potato Rollers


The latest creation from the QT food Frankensteins is a garlicky monster.

About a month ago, I saw a sign at a QuikTrip for some kind of new mac and cheese something or other coming soon. First, I wondered if the rolling food geniuses had devised a way to make a Cheesy Mac Log. Second, I got frustrated that if they had made that breakthrough, they were just teasing me with it and I couldn’t try it right that very second. For the waiting, as they say, is the hardest part.

I kept checking back at the roller grill wonderland for weeks to no avail, when out of nowhere QuikTrip blindsided me with the brand new Loaded Potato Roller. While it wasn’t a Cheesy Mac Log, I wasn’t about to wait to try it.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange


They say “Drink like it’s prohibited” -- and prohibition tastes delicious.

You may remember my brother-in-law and “almost doctor” Voytek from previous entries on Lunch Blog. He’s the guy who tried to dissuade us on medical grounds from ordering the Suribachi Burger at Swagger, and later commented that “Medically speaking, the correct amount of Whatafarms is zero, for the duration of your life.”

Well, the good sir finally graduated from med school recently, and as such he could actually attend his first Guys’ Night in a while. No more staying home and hitting the books, playing Operation, watching old episodes of "Quincy" or whatever homework it is that med students do.

For his return, Voytek requested we class it up and get fancy drinks at The Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange. And with many intriguing options on the cocktail menu there, each of us had a hard time deciding what to get for our first round. Voytek went with the Pendergast ($9) -- made with bourbon, Dolin sweet vermouth, Benedictine and Angostura bitters -- and dug it quite a bit.

Friday, June 24, 2011

Dog Nuvo


Best in show.

I love hot dogs. My go-to lunch when I need something quick is two dogs from QuikTrip. I crave them more than burgers. So when Groupon ran a deal for fancy hot dog joint Dog Nuvo, there was no way I was passing that action up. For once, this guy was going to eat a hog dog that didn’t have packaged condiments on it.

Dog Nuvo is in the space formerly occupied by Souperman, which was another one of my lunchtime clutchtime standards until its demise. I’d actually been to Dog Nuvo a handful of times since it opened last September, although this was Robert’s first trip.

We selected three of the gourmet dogs to try from the menu, as well as some truffle and asiago potato chips that were pretty tasty. Here’s what we thought of the dogs.