Sonic Drive In - Hasbrouck Heights, NJ

We were just lazing in front of the TV, trying to figure out what to do for dinner on Saturday night when we saw a commercial for Sonic came on. Those commercials always looked so good! :P We have been meaning to check out Sonic for the longest time but we never really got around to it. Come to think about it, we don't even know if there was a Sonic near us. So, I went online to their website and searched for the nearest Sonic. It's located on Route 17N, in Hasbrouck Heights. Of course, of course it's on Route 17. You can pretty much get any fast food you want on Route 17. It's like a fast food super highway :P Hasbrouck Heights is just about a 20 min drive away from us, not too bad. So, off to Sonic we went!

As the name suggest, Sonic Drive In is a typical all American drive in, complete with carhops on roller skates and loud 50s music blasting from the outdoor speakers. It's actually quite a large chain, with over 3,500 restaurants all across the United States. For those of you who are not familiar with drive ins, here's how it works. You pull up, park and order your food. You will then be served by carhops (yes yes, just like American Graffiti and Happy Days :P) and you eat your food, while sitting in your car.
It was still pretty early for dinner ( I want to say, maybe around 6pm?) but Sonic was already packed. The drive thru line wasn't that long but almost all of the drive in spots were taken up. Thankfully, we managed to snag one of the last few remaining spots, right at the edge of the lot. Alrighty, time to order some food!!
Check out their menu! All kinds of yummy local favorites, combos, sides, desserts and drinks. They even have kids meals and a value menu. Everything on the menu looked so good, Kevin had a tough time deciding what to order. I, on the other hand knew exactly what I wanted. From moment I saw the ad for it on TV (that's what got us here in the first place :P), I knew I just had to try it!! Once we were ready to order, we just had to press the red button and somebody came on the speakers to take our order. After we were done ordering (and checking to see if he got our order right on the little green screen), all we had to do was slide our debit card into the slot beside the red button to pay. How convenient is that? :D
In about 5 minutes or so, the carhop brought our food to the car. Talk about fast service! Here's all the stuff that we ordered. Two combo meals, one extra side and two drinks. Talking about drinks, Sonic is well known for their drinks. So well known til their slogan is "Your Ultimate Drink Stop"! Why? Well, that's cos you have the possibility to add in flavors (stuff like vanilla, cranberry, strawberry, cherry, chocolate, apple...etc) to your regular soda. According to their ads, there are over 168,894 possible drink combinations that you can make. This means, you could have a new drink every day for the next 462 years! What did we pick? Hahaha, we are boring people. We just went with Unsweetened Iced Tea and regular Dr. Pepper :P
Kevin ordered the SuperSONIC Cheeseburger Combo ($6.89). That comes with fries (or you could choose another side) and a drink. The cheeseburger was huge. It was so huge til Kevin couldn't finish the entire burger, so he had to pack half of it home! Two pure beef patties with two slices of cheese, crinkle-cut pickles, chopped onions, fresh shredded lettuce and ripe tomatoes, topped with mustard, mayo and ketchup. Mmmm mmm good!
Now, THIS is what I came to Sonic for. I ordered the all new Footlong Quarter Pounder Coney Combo ($5.49). I got that with a side of onion rings and a drink. You can also order just the Footlong Quarter Pounder Coney (minus the drink and side) for only $2.99! Doesn't it look yummy? An extra long juicy blend of beef and pork frank, topped with yummy chili and melted cheese, in an equally long bun. All this weighs in at a whopping quarter pound! Boy, that was a looooong coney dog. It was so yummy and good. Just like Kevin, I couldn't finish my meal. So, I had to pack half of the dog back home.
This are the sides that came with our combo and we also ordered an extra serving of Ched 'R' Peppers ($2.99 for 4 pieces). Ched 'R' Peppers are basically jalapeno poppers, with a fancy name. They were good but a tad bit overcooked though. Would have been better if they took it out of the fryer about half a min earlier. Kevin said the fries were pretty good and my onion ring, well, my onion rings were so so so good! Seriously, I didn't expect it to be so good. Those handmade onion ring were so sweet and juicy in the inside and crispy on the outside. Yummers! The total bill came to $17.41. Not bad, not too bad at all. It's almost the same amount as we would spend on say, 2 combo meals and dessert from McDs. Of course, the food in Sonic is wayyyyyy better. I'm glad we tried Sonic and we will definitely be back! *starts to drool while thinking of her Footlong Quarter Pounder Coney :P~~~~

Sonic Drive In - Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
156 Route 17 North,
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ 07604
Tel: (201) 464 0400
Web: http://www.sonicdrivein.com/
Hours: 6AM - Midnight (Everyday)

Shake Shack - Madison Sqaure Park, NYC

One of the youth from my home church in Malaysia was visiting NYC a couple of weeks ago. He was in town for a few weeks, en route to Milwaukee, where he will start his 4 year degree at Marquette. So, we figured we will take him out to dinner and introduce him to some NYC good eats. We initially wanted to take him to the original Papaya King on the Upper East Side for some NYC style hot dogs, but I later found out that it's close for renovations this summer. We finally ended up at the original Shake Shack in Madison Square Park for some of the best burgers and frozen custards in NYC!

Madison Square Park is located at the northern end of the Flatiron district and is formed by the intersection of 5th Ave, Broadway and 23rd St. We took the 33rd St PATH from Journal Square and got off at the 23rd St station. From there, we just walked a few blocks and there we were. You can also get there by subway on the R or W train on 23rd St. That stop directly in front of Madison Square Park. When we arrived, we saw this crazy long line that circled almost all the way around the park. So many people, one would think that they were giving out free burgers or something!
We joined the line and patiently waited with the rest of the people, as we slowly inched our way towards Shake Shack. At this point, we were not even close to the actual building, let alone the order window. Something tells me that it's gonna be a long long night :P
After about half an hour or so in line, we inched our way around the park and Shake Shack was finally in sight! By then, the sun was already beginning to set and the lights all around the park as well as the fairy lights around Shake Shack was slowly coming on. It was quite a pretty sight actually. Just a little 411 about the Shake Shack. There are quite a few outlets located all over NYC (Upper West Side, Upper East Side, Theater District & Citi Field), at the Saratoga Race Course and even one outlet in Miami, Florida! However, this Madison Square Park outlet is the original outlet. Yeah, this is where it all began back in 2004.
Finally, after about 45 minutes in line, the order window was in sight! Darren looked quite happy cos he finally gets to try the much talked about Shack Burger and Kevin, well, Kevin just looks relieved that the wait was finally over! Actually, it wasn't all that bad a wait. It was a nice cool evening and Madison Square Park is a very beautiful park. There is actually a webcam (the Shack Cam!) on the roof of the building, streaming live feeds to the Shake Shack website. So, if you are standing anywhere around here and beyond this point, there is a high chance that you will appear on cam! :P
Once we got closer to the order window, we noticed that there are actually two lines. Here's how it works. The A-Line is the long line that stretches all the way around the park. You can order anything from the A-Line. Now, there is a way shorter line (sometimes there isn't even anybody in line) called the B-Line. That's the line for drinks, desserts, gifts cards and Shake Shack merchandise. Well, that makes a whole lot of sense. I mean, say you line up for an hour to get your burger and fries. Of course you would want dessert to go along with dinner rite? However, if you order your frozen custard or sundae together with dinner, it would melt by the time you finish your burger. We don't want that, do we? Also, it doesn't make sense to get back in line and wait another hour or so just for an ice cream cone. So, the B-Line is the perfect solution!
After about an hour in line, we were finally there! Getting here feels like winning the lottery :P The Shake Shack menu is pretty basic. They have burgers, flat top dogs, fries, frozen custards, shakes, sodas and alcoholic drinks (beer and wine). Nothing fancy, just your typical all American burger, fries and soda thing. Hey, it's simple but it works.
Once we have placed our order and paid at the order window, we were given a little device that says "When I'm shakin', come on up to the shack!". It would shake and buzz once our order is ready. Then, we could go pick up our order at the pick up window. Since there were so many people, we expected to wait for quite a bit for our food. So, we walked around to look for a table and sat down to wait. Actually, I was pretty surprised that it was relatively easy to get a table. I guess a lot of people either get burgers to go or maybe we were just lucky. Who knows...
After waiting for about 10 minutes or so, the device started shaking and buzzing. Woohoo! Looks like our food is ready! We went up to collect our order from the pick up window, all neatly packed in a brown box. There was also a large counter next to the pick up window, where we could help ourselves to condiments and stuff like that. The boys each had a Double Shack Burger ($7.25 each) and I had the Shack Stack ($8.75). We also shared two servings of Cheese Fries ($3.75 each) among the three of us.
Both Kevin and Darren each ordered a large Fresh Squeezed Lemonade ($3.25 each) and I had the Arnold Palmer ($3). The Arnold Palmer was really refreshing and pretty good. It's a combination of half Fresh Squeezed Lemonade and half Fresh Brewed Iced Tea. A very yummy combination! I also liked it cos it wasn't really sweet but it was just lightly sweetened. Nice.
Ahhh the Cheese Fries. Actually, the Cheese Fries were pretty disappointing. If only it tasted as good as like looks. The fries were soggy and it really tasted a little weird. It had some sort of a powdery aftertaste. We didn't even managed to finish the fries. Yeah, it was that bad. :(
However, whatever that lacked in the fries, our burgers made up for it. They were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! So so so so good! I didn't manage to snap a close up of the boys Double Shack Burger but they said that it was awesome. All of Shake Shack's Black Angus burgers are 100% natural, with no antibiotics or hormones. Also, they are ground fresh and hand formed daily. They are then cooked to medium and served on a toasted potato bun. The boys Shack Burger consist of two burger patties, fresh lettuce, plum tomatoes, American cheese and topped with their special ShackSauce. My Shack Stack (shown in the picture) has one burger patty, American Cheese, a Shroom (crisp fried portobello mushroom with melted muenster and cheddar cheese), plum tomatoes, lettuce and also topped with the special ShackSauce. Seriously, the burgers were so awesome. Sooo juicy and good. It was so juicy that you could feel the juices squirting out, with each bite! No wonder people don't mind lining up for an hour or so, just to get some. It's like a drug, you just want to come back for more and more! Shake Shack has one of the best burgers in NYC. There, I have said it!
After our burgers, the boys wanted to get some dessert (not me, I was too stuffed to eat anything more!). So, off they went to the B-Line (yes, thank god for the B-Line :P) to get some frozen custard. Shake Shacks frozen custards are made in a real custard machine, which spins the custard at really fast speeds, thus making it dense but soft with an intensely rich consistency. They each got a Hand-Spun Shake ($5.25) and added on a topping each (extra $0.75 per topping). Shown in the picture is Darren's Vanilla Hand-Spun Shake with Hot Fudge Sauce. Kevin ordered Vanilla too but with Bananas. I took a couple of mouthfuls of Kevin's frozen custard and it was yummy! Good stuff! :D Overall, I think that Shake Shack is totally awesome. Definitely worth the long wait! Come for the uber yummy burgers and stay for the frozen custards. In my opinion, it's one of the best burger joints in NYC!

Shake Shack - Madison Square Park
Southeast Corner of Madison Square Park
(near Madison Ave & East 23rd St)
11 Madison Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tel: (212) 889 6600
Web: http://www.shakeshack.com/

Omaha Steaks - Fantastic Feast Promo!

We have been getting tons of mail (both snail mail and email) from Omaha Steaks for the longest time. There is always some sort of promotion going on. Kevin said that his grandparents always ordered their steaks from Omaha Steaks back in the day and he remembered them to be pretty good. He said that we should try ordering from them one of these days but we just never got around to it.We received a brochure in the mail a while back and we thought that it was a pretty good deal. Their Fantastic Feast package was going for only $49.99! Usually, promotion price for Fantastic Feast would be $69.99 (original retail price is $170!) but it was $49.99 this time around! Not only that, you get a few free gifts too. So, we decided to give it a try.

At first, we were wondering how they would ship all that meat to us. We knew that it will come in a huge reusable cooler but we were not sure if the meat would stay frozen and stuff. When our order arrived, we were really pleased to find dry ice in the cooler! So, everything was still nice and frozen. Here's what it looks like inside the cooler.
Check out all the stuff that's inside the cooler! Yes...it was a BIG cooler! :P Everything was nicely packed and labeled in individual boxes. There was also cooking instructions and nutrition labels printed on the boxes. They also included a booklet filled with awesome recipes. :D
Here's all the stuff that's in the Fantastic Feast package. 2 x Stuffed Sole with Scallops and Crab meat, 8 x Gourmet Franks, 4 x Top Sirloin Steaks, 4 x Stuffed Baked Potatoes, 4 x Boneless Pork Chops, 4 x Chicken Breast and 4 x Omaha Steak Burgers. That's a lot of food for $49.99!!

Remember I said earlier that the Fantastic Feast also came with a free gifts? Well, the original package comes with 4 pieces of Omaha Steak Burgers. Omaha Steaks threw in another 4, making it 8 pieces in total! The burgers were awesome actually, we have been grilling them up over the past few weeks.....sooooo good!
We also got a 6 piece cutlery set and a cutting board. A chefs knife, carving knife, boning knife, utility knife, paring knife and a sharpening steel. The knives aren't the best quality knives but hey, they are free! :P Overall, I think that the amount of food that we got was worth the $49.99 (even if they didn't give us the free cutlery set and cutting board :P). Yes, the portion were kinda small but taking that into consideration, I felt that it was still worth it. We will be keeping our eyes out for more Omaha Steaks deals in the future!

Johnny Rockets - Jersey Garden Mall, NJ

We were out shopping in Jersey Garden Mall on Monday evening and before we knew it, it was already close to 8pm. We decided that we should get some dinner before heading back home. When it comes to food outlets, there isn't really much to choose from in Jersey Garden Mall. There is the food court, Chili's Too, Sbarros, Jeepers, Johnny Rockets and the brand new IHOP, located across the street. Since there wasn't a line in Johnny Rockets (there is ALWAYS a long line in Johnny Rockets), we figured we should just eat there.

Johnny Rockets is an international chain that oozes that feel good Americana charm. Stepping into a Johnny Rockets makes you feel like you are stepping into an all American diner back in the 50's, with checkered floors and table top jukeboxes. Even the uniform of the servers brings you back to the time when milkshakes cost only 5 cents!

Since it wasn't full that day, we had a choice to either sit up front by the counter or in one of the booths. We chose the booths (yes, we are anti social people :P). The servers were really friendly and even offered to take our photo for us! Check out the cool looking table top jukebox and classic diner style straw dispenser.

The menu is exactly what you would expect from a place like this. All kinds of juicy burgers, classic sandwiches and melts to hand dipped milkshakes, malts and floats. Mmm mmm mmmmmm, this is American food at it's best. Our server took our drinks order while we were looking at the menu. I ordered the Root Beer Float ($2.99) and Kevin got the Original Strawberry Milkshake ($4.29). When our drinks arrived, we knew that it was the start of a very good meal. Both the drinks were just super yummy! I can't really explain it, but my Root Beer was made just right. With the correct amount of froth and stuff. Sooo good! Kevin's milkshake was really thick and gyummy too. You see the silver shaker thing by the side of the milkshake? It was half filled with the leftover strawberry milkshake, which you could top up after you are done with the one in your glass. I think there is enough milkshake for two people! Really worth the money.

Kevin ordered the Smoke House Double Burger ($8.99). Two juicy patties with cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, onion rings and Johnny Rockets Smoke House BBQ Ranch sauce. Doesn't it look good? Kevin said that it was really juicy and yummy. It's pretty big too (so big til he couldn't even finish the burger). Good choice Kevin!

I got the Route 66 Burger ($7.49). This is what I would order everytime I go to a Johnny Rockets. It's really good! Two patties with melted Swiss cheese, grilled mushrooms, onions and mayo...all packed into a yummy bun. Mmmm mmmm good!

Both of our burgers come with fries, However, when our server first brought out our burger, he told us that our fries should be coming out shortly. Half way through our burger, he came over again and apologized, saying that he had already reminded the the kitchen and it should be out soon. We weren't actually complaining, since the burgers were so good, we were too busy eating to even worry about our fries. We could see our server getting more and more flustered as he kept on reminding the kitchen about our fries...hahaha! Anyways, to cut the long story short, he came back and said that he felt really bad to keep us waiting and he told his manager about this. His manager agreed to give us a 20% discount on our meal, cos we had to wait for our fries! Wow! We were not even bothered that our fries did not come out together with our burger, but I guess it bothered our server enough to go ask for a discount, on behalf of us. So yeah, we got a 20% discount off our meal! :D Overall, I would say that Johnny Rockets totally rocked! Cool decor, yummy food and awesome staff!! Two thumbs up!

Johnny Rockets - Jersey Garden Mall
651 Kapkowski Road
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
Tel: (908)994 0110
Web: http://www.johnnyrockets.com

Applebee's - 2 for $20 deal

We were out getting Kevin some new shirts in Jersey Garden Mall a couple of days ago and since there was a Chili's there, we wanted to go try out their new $9.99 deal promo. However, we later found out that the outlet in Jersey Garden Mall is one of the few outlets that wasn't participating in that promo. What a bummer :( We then remembered that Applebee's was also having some sort of promo. So, we headed back to Kearny to check out Applebee's instead. By then, it was already nearly 8pm but the restaurant was still packed! We were however lucky enough to get a table without having to wait, so all is well :D

We have seen the ad on TV for the "2 for $20 deal" just about a million times but have yet to actually try it. It's a pretty decent deal actually. You get to choose one appetizer to share and you will each get your own full size entree. There were four different appetizers and seven yummy entrees to choose from.

We chose the Boneless Buffalo Wings as our appetizer. We had a choice of Classic, Hot or Honey BBQ sauce. Since we both have a really low tolerance of spiciness, we stuck to the Honey BBQ. When the wings came, we were pretty surprised at the portion. It was pretty big! We figured that we would get a smaller portion, since it's part of a promo but no, it was a huge full sized portion. The chicken tenders were lightly breaded, with a little crunch and it was tossed in just the right amount of sweet honey BBQ sauce. Yummy yummy!

Kevin ordered the Bacon Cheddar Cheeseburger. The burger was nicely grilled, really juicy and nicely marinated. It came with some lettuce, onions, tomatoes, pickles and was topped with some gooey cheddar cheese and crispy bacon. Oh and it was also served with a side of fries. Good stuff!

I ordered the Riblet Basket and got to choose between the Southern BBQ, Sweet & Spicy or the Honey BBQ sauce. I went with the Honey BBQ and what a good choice it was! I just love the Honey BBQ sauce! :D The Riblet Basket originally comes with a side of fries and since I am not a big fan of fries, I asked if they would change my side to something else. The server rattled on a whole list of other sides and I went with the Southwestern Rice. It was a little spicy, not a whole lot but just enough to give it a nice kick. Pretty good actually. The riblets were good too.

I think Applebee's hit a home run with this new 2 for $20 deal promo. Our total bill came up to $26.56 (2 for $20 deal and two refillable sodas). For that price, it's really a very good deal. A nice two course sit down dinner at a restaurant for a lil over $25! The portions were just right, not too small and not huge either. Good job Applebee's. Two thumbs up!

Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar
175 Passaic Avenue,
Kearny, NJ 07032
Tel: (201) 246 0020
Web: http://www.applebees.com/

KFC @ Incheon International Airport

Remember me blogging about our 12 hour layover in Korea and how we had to wait for almost 2 and a half hours before the transit tour desk was open for the day? Well, to kill time, we went to KFC for breakfast. It was actually a toss up between KFC and McDonalds but KFC won because McDs was serving their regular breakfast menu and we wanted to try something different (something that is not on the US or Malaysian KFC/McDs menu).

Ordering our food wasn't an easy task. About 95% of the menu was in Korean, with tiny English words here and there. It took us quite a while to figure out what we wanted and proceeded to order by pointing at the pictures on the menu (you would think that the menu would be in English and that the workers would have a better understanding of English, since this outlet was in an international airport after all).

Kevin ordered the Tower Burger & Chicken set. The set consist of one Tower Burger, one piece of chicken and a drink. The Tower Burger was pretty big and looked really yummy. Spicy white meat chicken fillet (something like the Zinger fillet), hash browns, lettuce, some sort of sauce and melted cheese in a sesame seed bun. I didn't try it but Kevin says it's really good.

For his chicken, he had a choice between original, spicy or garlic (some new promotion that they were having at that moment). Of course we tried the garlic. I took a bite of his chicken and mmmm mmm mmmm. Realllly good! They should consider putting that on their regular menu! Crispy on the outside and juicy in the inside. Really well marinated too...awesome! The fries in the photo is part of my set. Nothing to shout about I guess, just regular fries :D

I ordered the Shrimp Burger set. It came with one shrimp burger, a single serving of fries and a drink. The Shrimp Burger was really good. One crunchy shrimp patty (with pretty big chunks of shrimp), lettuce and some sort of tangy sauce in a lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Very yummy indeed!

We also ordered an eggtart each for our dessert. The pastry was nice and flaky and the filling wasn't too sweet (which is a good thing). However, it was way too oily/greasy. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

So, what's the damage? The bill came up to KRW 14,100. I can't remember what is the exact breakdown of each item but KRW 14,100 is approximately US$12.50. I am not sure if the pricing is the same for all KFC outlets or this particular one is more expensive because it's located in the airport. I guess $12.50 is not too bad, it's about the same (maybe even a little less) as what we pay for a two person meal back in the States. Stay tuned for more about our transit tour in my next post!

Kevin's Mushroom & Onion Burgers

Kevin came home from work earlier than usual last Friday and said that he will make dinner for a change. Since it was the day before the 4th of July, he decided to make some hamburgers from scratch. This is Kevin's own recipe for mushroom and onion burgers.

First, he took out about 2lbs of ground beef and sprinkled some Montreal Steak seasoning on it.

Then he added a mix of Parmesan and Romano cheese.

Next goes in some breadcrumbs.

He then splashed on a few drops of Tabasco sauce, just a little for taste, not too much.

Lastly, he cracked in one egg to hold everything together.

Kevin then mixed everything evenly up in a large mixing bowl.

Next, he diced some fresh mushrooms into little pieces and added that to the mixture.

Then, add in one large onion that has been chopped to tiny pieces.

Mix everything together. At this point, do not be afraid to use your hands.

Kevin then split the meat mixture into 6 equal portions and shaped them into patties.

Set them aside once it's done. If the meat is too soggy from the egg, you can add in some more breadcrumbs. 2 lbs of ground beef should make about 6 large patties.

Now it's time to grill the burgers. Since we live in an apartment, Kevin had to use our George Foreman grill. It would have been so much more yummier if it was grilled on a charcoal outdoor grill :P Oh well...

While the burgers are on the grill, Kevin chopped up more onions and stir fried them in some butter.

He then added in some sliced mushrooms.

He cooked them up until they were nice and brown, then he set them aside.

Once the burgers are done, remove them from the grill and place them on a plate.

Scoop the mushrooms and onion mixture onto the burgers.

Place a slice of cheese on top and allow it to melt. You can pretty much use any type of cheese that you like but Kevin used Provolone.

You can toast/brown some Kaiser rolls in the oven and put on whatever condiments that you like. We just slapped on some mayo and a few slices of tomatoes.

Place the burgers on the Kaiser roll and top it up with a few squirts of ketchup.

There you go. Kevin's big and juicy mushroom and onions burger! We ate it with a side of red potato salad and some macaroni salad. Mmmm mmmm mmm....it was so yummy!

After dinner, we each had a slice of red velvet cake that we bought in the bakery earlier on. What a yummy dinner to kick off our 4th of July weekend! :D