Saturday, October 31, 2009

Chicken 22: Grand Finale

So it finally comes to an end, a month of chicken has passed. More people were following the chickens posted on the facebooks than I expected. Most aren't the commenty type I suppose.

So this month I've learned very little. With all the fried chicken I ate in this span, I'm probably that much closer to a heart attack or stroke. I really should eat some Cheerios or something to come to some sort of balance.

Next month will be subways for a long haul. There's Turkey Day towards the end of the month, so that gives a bit of a reprieve. Dunno what difficulty level I'm going to go for though.

My idea of 3 animals every lunch was shot down by my cohort. Apparently he wants to live.

Also for fun I'm thinking we should run the gamut on Duane Reade's De Lish products. That shold be fun and exciting.

Chicken 22: Bon Chon Chicken

Ah Bon Chon Chicken. What a way to cap things off. Originally we were hoping that the vegetarian place near us that close down and was turning into a Bon Chon was going to open in time for us to wrap up chicken month. Alas it was not to be, so we had to turn to delivery. The order to be was X-Large wings (36 total) split among the two of us, not spicy, with bread as the side.

It arrived promptly, and we started hacking away at the wings. The wings were crunchy and sweet, and the coating seemed more like a McNugget than traditional fried chicken the likes of which you would get at a KFC or Popeyes. Unlike the McNugget, there was an actual flavor to go with the food, and did not sicken you halfway through.

The wings were a little on the dryer side, a bit of a disappointment. It also wasn't as fresh due to the travel time it had to undergo. Disappointments, but such is the life of delivery. Here's hoping that that Bon Chon down the block gets it into gear right quick.

After all was consumed, it felt like there was a blanket holding the body down while walking. After a good hearty fried meal like that, a can of orange soda was in order, to break up all the grease. Orange soda and fried chicken just go so well together.

Oh and the buns were cold. Big whoop. They still tasted good, like the pork bun bread but obviously without the filling. Hopefully absorbed some of the grease in there.

Moving around sure was an arduous task with that much fried chicken. Not as bad as horsing all that Popeyes though.

So that wraps up chicken month. It was a good long haul, but now its finally over. Hopefully the damage done to my cardiovascular system won't be so permanent.

Really gotta get on the Cheerios.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Chicken 21: Thai

So I've mentioned the Windows 7 Whopper before, and I really need to build one of those. But an epiphany came today! The Apple Macintosh operating system is known as OS X. That X stands for 10. And now Burger King is selling double cheese burgers for a buck a pop.

Mac OS 10 cheeseburger.

Cheap and effective. I really need to get on that. Couldn't make it a OS 10 Whopper as that would just be pretty unoriginal, and excessively expensive. Also my coworker remarked that it would make more sense for the burger to come from McDonald's. An OS 10 Big Mac would make more sense, but damn that would be expensive, and less tasty. Plus McDonald's doesn't keep it real like the King does.

Chicken 21: Chicken Pad Thai

Second to last day, and it was time to hit up the Thai food place near us. Convenient as it was right by the Duane Reade, and I was in need of replenishing my wallet. The choice today: Chicken Pad Thai.

The Chicken Pad Thai was essentially not really Chicken Pad Thai though. When ordering, vegetarian Pad Thai was thrown into a plastic box, then chicken from a separate metal bin was thrown on top. It was then topped off by some bean sprouts and carrots.

The Chicken was sort of bland. It was cooked up with some eggs, and wasn't dry, but it didn't really taste like much. Well it did taste like chicken, but it needed something else. Far too plain. Luckily that bottle of sriracha sauce was still standing by to assist in the flavor department. Definitely added a dimension to some pretty plain chicken.

The Pad Thai itself was actually pretty full of flavor though. What really stood out was the sweetness and the tangyness, and how well it worked together. The carrots and bean sprouts gave a nice crunchiness to the soft noodles. Sriracha sauce mixed into the noodles really added a lot of flavor to the Pad Thai. It mixed really well, and added a great amount of heat to the food. Sriracha is totally cheat code for food.

I could have gone for a slightly larger portion though. If only I could have gotten a chicken pot pie or something...

Final chicken tomorrow!

Chicken 20: King

I wonder if there is any way for both teams in the World Series to lose. God damn this is the most annoying series ever.

If the Yankees win, woohoo for Jeter. Last real Yankee on the team that isn't out of their mind, untainted, and works hard. But then A-Roid gets a World Series win. That just disgusts me.

If the Phillies win, both Yankees fans and Mets fans have to deal with failure smashed into their faces. Especially if Pedro Martinez manages to get a win in the World Series. But another championship of any kind for Philly? Two years in a row? I'd only be okey with that if the city sinks into the ocean and somehow takes Pittsburgh with it.

Chicken 20: Chicken a la King

So today the weather was still awful, so traveling any distance outside was undesirable. Again we go check the diner for chicken pot pie, again we were disappointed to see that it was not there. However, their special for the day was chicken a la king. Wasn't sure exactly what that was, but it sounded promising. Plus the diner was right there.

So me and my coworker go to sit in the diner, chicken on the mind. We order up and within a few minutes our plates arrive. A dish with a base of yellow rice, large chicken chunks in a white sauce with peppers poured on top. Pretty simple looking dish, though not as noble as I would have expected from the name.

Chicken chunks were quite large pieces of white meat, with a consistency that kind of reminded me a little of tuna, though much firmer and chickeny. The sauce was a creamy, like a cream of something soup with peppers in it. The sauce also worked well with the rice, as the rice picked up the excess sauce and made good use of it. Overall a very tasty meal.

Also a very quick meal. We went into the diner, ordered, ate, paid the bill and got back up to work in less than 30 minutes. That has to be a new record or something.

Oh and I forgot to mention the bucket of pickles that was given to us shortly after being seated. Pickles are good, except these pickles didn't taste quite right. If you are given that many pickles, beware! Something just ain't right.

Almost there! Chicken!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Chicken 19: Go for the Gusto

What a miserable morning. Suddenly rain and suddenly no one knows how to drive. I hope whatever accident occurred was a good one.

Next month seems like its going to be Subways month. How exactly that's going to go down is going to be interesting. Easy mode is just a foot long sub per lunch. Hard is 6" for lunch, 6" for dinner, 5 days a week. Extreme mode is hard mode, but 7 days a week.

There's also Jared mode, which is his diet. He had a 6" turkey sub for lunch, and a foot long veggie sub for dinner. Veggie sub? Why even bother living?

Subways is healthy, which is partly the reason to take that on after this month. This may be one of my least healthy months ever. Also, its 5 bucks for a foot long sandwich. This month has been pretty damn expensive too.

Chicken 19: Chicken Paprika on Penne

Cafe Gusto was the destination of choice today, with chicken pot pie absent from the menu at our diner neighbor. Usually Gusto was only called upon for lasagna or rotisserie chicken, but we were looking for something out of the regular stuff. Lasagna didn't fit in the whole chicken week thing either being that it used beef.

Chicken came with the choice of being served over rice or over pasta. I picked pasta as I've had enough rice last week with my poultry. In addition to the choice between the carbs, there was yet another decision to make regarding the form of pasta. I chose penne over the linguine. I suppose his noodly appendages would have prefered the linguine.

Looking at the chicken paprika, I was expecting more of a sausage and peppers taste from it. It had the peppers cut up the same way and that greasiness that is oh so good. That's about all there similarities though.

The two chicken breasts in the meal were cooked very tender, and were still moist. Peppers that came with it were extremely soft and carried the flavor of the sauce. The sauce actually tasted like a vodka sauce, and the color matched for the most part. It did seem like there was more grease than a standard vodka sauce though.

The penne with the chicken had a bit of a mushy texture. It looked like it had some kind of sauce or something on it, as the color was a little on the red side while the linguine was much lighter in color. The pasta was not bad, it was just a bit odd. I would have picked it again. I regret nothing.

Good lightish meal. They had pork loin at Gusto that looked pretty good though. I'm not so much tired of chicken as I am desiring more options.

The final week goes on.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Chicken 18: Aloha

Holy God this is chicken month but there's just too much bacon everywhere.

Coming back from Giants Stadium after witnessing a miserable failure of a game (you gotta be kidding me running to the outside so damn much. Punch it up the middle. What the fuck!) and heading home, sirens lights and all that jazz appear behind us. A cop and a mobile command station both have their lights blazing and sirens blaring (BTW thanks New Jersey for the most annoying seizure inducing lights in existence). Must be some sort of emergency.

WRONG. They just wanted to get through traffic. Fucking layers upon layers of cars desperately trying to get out of their way as if it was some sort of emergency because they don't want to sit in traffic. We catch up to the finding them cruising when they got open road.

Hey bacon! You know why we call you bacon? Cause you pull shit like that. Why would anyone respect assholes like that?

Chicken 18: Hawaiian Super Atkins Meal

Back to our regularly scheduled program. Today was a big day, and as this is the last week of chicken, we have to start strong. So it was decided (after still no chicken pot pie) that we were going to hit up the Hawaiian place for our foodstuffs.

The choice meal was the Super Atkins Platter. Three pieces of chicken katsu or BBQ chicken and three pieces of another meat of your choice, plus three eggs. Of course we had to go chicken katsu and BBQ chicken, or else whats the point really. Food did come with some salad, but well who really cares about that.

Place seemed a lot more crowded than usual. Did not even take my order cause they were preoccupied. Poor form.

Getting back, it was time for food. Chicken katsu was not as crunchy as usual, but that helps out a little bit by making it easier to eat. The sauce with it was sweet, and the chicken was pretty thin. The breading was still pleasantly crunchy.

BBQ chicken was pretty standard. Savory and seemed like it was made of dark meat, no bones involved though. Juicy and large pieces, much larger than I though would be possible out of the tastier dark meat parts of the chicken. Just a bit on the salty side.

Eggs were over easy. Yolk was disappointingly solid. Otherwise they were good eggs. I hadn't had eggs straight up in a while now that I think about it. McMuffins don't exactly count I don't think.

Salad had that orange sauce on it. Leaves and tomatoes. Meh.

Big tasty meal. One of those meals that require some form of cola to burn off some of that excess grease that sticks to your insides. Orange soda and fried chicken are such a great combination.

Almost there. Chicken ahoy.

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Chicken 17: Tikka

This whole writing every (week)day thing is more tiresome than eating the same meat every day for lunch. No holidays to get me out of anything this month either. At least next month there's Thanksgiving so I won't be documenting all my meals for lunch. Whether next month will be worthy of documenting remains to be seen though.

Today I discovered something that made me a bit upset to be shackled to the chicken lunch theme for the month. Behold, the Windows 7 Whopper!



Explanation: To celebrate the launching of Windows 7 in Japan, Burger King (bless their souls) is running a promotion of selling Windows 7 Whoppers for 777 yen. Yeah, that is seven (7!) whopper patties in there. It's so beautiful.

Of course Whoppers are not chicken in any way. Had this been beef month, one would have been constructed this very day for the sake of glory! Unfortunately chicken is still the meat of the meals, and there's no way around that. I will have a Win 7 Whooper someday though!

Chicken 17: Chicken Tikka Masala

Still no chicken pot pies today. Chicken croquettes were on the diner's menu, which was a little intriguing, but ultimately did not sway either of us.

So Indian food was the choice today. There one Indian joint that me and my coworkers pass by when going to get Chinese takeout never looked all that appealing so we never actually tried it out. Today they got their chance to woo me. Chicken gave them the chance.

So the meal today was chicken tikka masala. Roasted chicken chunks cooked up in an orange, apparently tomato based, sauce. I had it served over rice.

One thing that always got me was how all these Indian foods look sorta like mud. The different forms of curry, tikka and what have you all have that gooey look of something you should be cleaning off than consuming. Doesn't really bother me in any way, taste is all that matters anyways.

One thing that my co-chickener observed was that the tikka was a little too soupy. He got his chicken with naan (bread) and thus his tikka came separately in a plastic container. As I said, I got it on rice so I didn't see or experience much of that, it just looked like dried orange mud.

The chunks of chicken were actually just a little on the dry side, though the sauce it was in kept that from being a problem. The savory sauce was lightly seasoned and had just a tiny little spicy kick to it, almost unnoticeable to me. Rice was a little harder than you would find at a Chinese place, but seemed par for the course. The rice did do a good job sucking up all the excess sauce.

Overall this meal gets a hearty "meh". Honestly, it didn't seem all that much different from the stuff I got at the fancy college food area at my Alma Mater. Prices weren't all that far off either, so I can't say I'm very impressed by their showing. I suppose it gives us an option in the future for lunch should we want something different, but this was just pretty underwhelming.

One more week of chicken to go! Victory tastes like chicken!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Chicken 16: Chinatown

It's been 16 chicken meals and today people ask me about it. The chickens are numbered for god's sake, pay attention.

This entire month has been much more expensive that it should be. So much chicken, so many forms. This month has also been exceptionally unhealthy. Easiest way to cook chicken is fried, so that form showed up in many meals. Also Burger King ended up in a meal at least 3 times thus far. The King has a special place in my heart with his artery clogging goodness.

Chicken 16: Chinatown

So today there chicken pot pie still was not on the menu. We're trying now that we know it exists right outside, we just don't know when. So off to plan B: Chinatown for half a soy sauce chicken (and rice). You would think after the large portions of food yesterday that it would be time for something smaller. Pif.

Good weather today so the stroll to Chinatown and back was a piece of cake. When ordering at Noodle Town, the woman behind the counter seemed surprised at what I wanted. Half a chicken? You betcha.

Opening up the plastic container, I realize that it is a lot of chicken. I've never eaten half a chicken in this form before, though I have eaten half of many chickens in a sitting before (I've done it this month already actually). Small rice came seperately in one of those white fold up containers.

The soy sauce chicken is about par for course when compared to other soy sauce chickens. Chicken is moist, all parts are greasy. Chicken is on the salty side, skin is soft not crisp. White meat sometimes seems a little dry, however the grease is everywhere and compensates. You can also use the soy sauce and onions in oil that they give you with the chicken to add a little something more to the meat. I used it sparingly as the chicken was good as is.

White rice is white rice. Yep.

The quantity was more anything else in this meal than anything. Disposing of the chicken handily enough, I still had to deal with a big chunk of white rice to finish off. Of course all was consumed. But damn that was a lot of rice in two days.

Well that was a lot of chicken today. I would do it again, though it's a terrible idea. Plus you need more variety when getting that stuff. I could sure go for some duck.

Chicken Month rolls on.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Chicken 15: Cuban

Man the baseball playoffs would be so boring and pointless were it not for the amazingly bad calls by the umpires. How many blown calls can the umpires get wrong. Every failure has also gone for the Yankees, making it look like every game is so incredibly fixed.

Probably is fixed for the Yankees anyways. World Series against the Phillies? Pfffttttttt.

Chicken 15: Cuban Food

So today we go by the diner again and hope that they have chicken pot pie posted up on the menu. Spinach pie today. Bah. I like spinach actually, but come on. Chicken pot pie shall be mine one way or another.

So instead of that, we head to Sophie's, a Cuban food place. Walking in there, I had no idea how their system worked. Menu didn't seem to match up with the walk up and point cafeteria type food displays. After looking around for a bit trying to figure things out I pointed and got my food.

I ordered spicy grilled chicken cooked with onions and peppers on rice with beans and a side of fried bananas. Came in one of those big round aluminum containers with a clear plastic lid. Pretty big. I noticed a lot of rice.

The chicken was a tad dry, but not distractingly so. Eating it was simple enough, and the large flat pieces were easy to cut up. Good flavor, good kick. The onions and peppers cooked with the chicken held more of the spiciness. Onions and peppers were cooked well, like on sausage and peppers. There was also a chili pepper in there that was plenty damn spicy. Fried bananas were tasty, slightly sweet.

There was a lot of rice with beans. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't amazing (how could it be, its just rice and beans) but damn they filled up the entire container with rice. Lots of rice. Dr. Atkins would be very upset with that meal if he wasn't dead. I wouldn't care either way though.

Good food, little pricey. I tell ya the pork and other stuff they had there look a little better than the chicken. Some other time, chicken must go on.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Chicken 14: Triple Threat

I still have very little semblance of what day of the week it is. I could have sworn that I had already worked two days already this week when I woke up, but would have believed that it was Monday again had someone told me. I may be losing my mind. Too much chicken on the mind maybe.

Options for chicken are thinning as we approach just a week and a half of chicken to go. Still at it though, and maybe even venturing out to new spots are in order. Chicken must go on, and it shall.

Also everyone is getting diseased now. That is pretty weak.

Chicken 14: Nuggets, McNuggets and Tenders

So while we were bouncing around ideas today, we initially figured it why not hit up the diner that we never go to but is attached to our building. That idea was dropped, which backfired cause apparently they had chicken pot pie today at the diner. Damn I wanted me some chicken pot pie.

Instead, I come up with the idea of chicken nuggets. Not just McDonalds McNuggets, not just Wendy's Nuggets, not just Burger King tenders (they're nuggets, just shaped different!), oh no. We're doing all three today.

So the plan was set. Me, my conspirator and the observer to chicken all agreed to the terms. We split up, each hit up a fast food joint and return back with the spoils to combine into an epic meal. We split up, make the purchases and return for greatness.

This meal consisted of 10 McDonalds McNuggets, 10 Wendy's Nuggets and 8 Burger King tenders for a total of 28 pieces of delicious.

Everyone knows what these things taste like, so lets just compare/rank them

Lowest on the ladder are the McDonalds version of chicken. Not greasy, no real flavor and this strange unnaturalness to them. The nuggets are the crunchiest of all the nuggets, but the chicken is in this strange shell encasement. Adding to the artificiality of the nuggets is the fact that the nuggets come in exactly two shapes and sizes with no variation, one of the shapes looking like a boot. Actually the nuggets do have a taste, grease. I am very familiar with that taste and this is actually the first time I've had any McNuggets since the NFL draft this year where I consumed 50.

Second place would go to the Burger King tenders (which I'm just gonna call nuggets). Not crispy at all really, but with seasoning that makes it taste like food, more so than McDonalds did. Burger King also shapes their nuggets like little crowns or, if you prefer, dinosaur footprints. The shape has a bit of a negative effect in that it compromises the structural integrity of the nuggets, making them come apart while dunking in your sauce of choice.

Little aside here. All nuggets I consumed were dunked in honey mustard sauce from BK and Wendy's. Both tasted fine for the most part, however there is just something weird about the consistency of the Burger King honey mustard. There were two different densities in the same container, making it just not stick to the chicken quite right.

Finally the best of the batch obviously is Wendy's Chicken nuggets. Nuggets are crispy, taste great (little on the salty side). Nuggets were roundish and looked like a nugget, as opposed to a footprint or boot. What can be said, they're the best. That was already a pretty well known fact amongst fast food aficionados though.

Might have gone a bit overboard with 28 nuggets. That is a lot of nuggets, and nuggets are not exactly the greatest culinary treat. Hooboy, today was quite an undertaking. The month is almost over though, the march of chicken goes on

Monday, October 19, 2009

Chicken 13: Tobasco Grill

I woke up this morning completely unaware I had work today. Whoops.

Woke up perfectly on time and got into Manhattan early. Early enough to pick up Egg McMuffins (the breakfast food God would eat if he ate breakfast) for me and the coworkers. Looks like I pulled a Homer.



Oh and despite the fact that the Egg McMuffins contain a slice of Canadian Bacon (or ham as we call it in the States) this food was a BREAKFAST food. Lunch is the focus of this month, meats for all other meals are free game. Plus breakfast at McDs is an automatic McMuffin.

Chicken 13: Burrito

Curious by the large burritos we saw when purchasing food from the South Street Seaport, we returned today to actually check it out. The Chipolte that is right next door to us was always good for a Tex-Mex affair, but it was decided to try new locals today.

So my chicken partner in crime and I head to the seaport food court and head to the Tobasco Grill. Burritos prominently displayed in from looking good with a sign setting a price for a burrito, chips and salsa at... $4.99? What seriously? Five bucks for a meal from the seaport? Everything there is overpriced. Maybe the burritos are smaller than advertised.

So we orders up and get it to go. I keep it simple, ordering the first thing on the list, a grilled chicken burrito. Watching others pick up their burritos before us, it seems like the burritos were as thick as the display models. Ours arrive, we head out. I notice that the container has a good heft to it, giving me high hopes.

Returning to the office, I open up the box and a split burrito, chips and pico de gallo. The burrito contained rice, black beans and chicken all contained in the tortilla. A very small plastic container housed a little salsa for the chips. Still impressed by the deal, I dig in.

Chicken was grilled properly, kept juicy, and pretty good. I would have wanted it to be a little more singed, but really no complaints. Black beans were black beans, and worked well. I don't know what people have against beans, and I sure didn't rip anything foul that caused any other objections. Rice is rice. Pico de gallo and salsa both tasted good, and scooping them up with the chips worked out well. Pico de gallo definitely tasted fresh, a good sign considering it was purchased in a food court.

A great victory today. The discovery of cheap burritos greatly adds to the depth of food choices at work now, especially being that they cost as much as a footlong from Subways.

Oh and unfortunately the burrito my chicken copilot ordered up contained bacon! Breaker of rules! He's gotta finish up this chicken month and start again with another month of chicken now! The damn cheater!

Friday, October 16, 2009

Chicken 12: Chickety China the Chinese Chicken

Congratulations everyone on making it to another Friday. To celebrate, I'm going to try to post on time today!

Damn it got cold in a heartbeat. It wouldn't be so bad if it were just a standing cold, but this windy rainy mess is just awful. Had to break out a jacket for the first time in months to deal with it, but if it means a winter with plentiful snow I'm all for it. Snowboarding season can't come fast enough.

Chicken 12: Chicken w/Tomatoes

So today we decided to take in some Chinese takeout, referred to by us folks at the office as faux-nese. Main chicken dishes considered were Kong [sic] Pow chicken, Paradise chicken, pineapple chicken, General Tso's, and sesame chicken. Orange chicken was off the menu for us as the previous Orange Chicken containing meal was memorable, but not in a good way.

When we arrive at the takeout place, I see that they have chicken w/tomatoes posted on their wall menu, but unseen on the paper menu we had. I do like me some chicken with tomatoes, which is odd as I don't really like tomatoes in the natural unmodified form. Its a little odd actually; I like cooked tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato soup, ketchup, etc. I can eat them sliced up and put in a sandwich or salad as well but if you just told me to take a bite out of one of those suckers (or even worse just pop a small cherry tomato) I gag on them. I can only take the tomato in it's unnatural forms.

Anywho, I order up the chicken and tomatoes and get it over white rice. Apparently it takes quite a while to cook something like that up, as I watch and wait as people come and go for a while before my food shows up in it's white styrofoam sarcophagus. Back to work, as last time eating out left an odor on the clothing.

Back at the office, I open up the container to see chunks of chicken and large slices of tomatoes all with a brownish sauce sitting on a large bed of white rice. No mistaking this for any other meal.

The chicken was moist and the sauce gave it a slight sweetness. This was all countered by the slight tang of the tomatoes. The tomatoes were just a little undercooked, and you could taste it as you ate one of the slivers. White rice sitting under the chicken and tomatoes graciously absorbed excess sauce, spreading the wealth of flavor to what would have been a plain tasting filler.

All in all a good meal, however there was something that threw me off a bit. A couple pieces of the tomatoes had a weird taste to them, something that made me think of turpentine. It was only the few pieces which was a little confusing, but not too concerning as the rest of the food tasted as it should. I have no illusions as to the cleanliness of ANY food vending area, and I've come to the place enough times without issue that this isolated incident won't entirely sway me. This is the first of three strikes, unless something happens that makes me instantly abandon the place. That would suck as it would reduce our already limited options for lunch. Do not fail me again faux-nese!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Chicken 11: Parm

Hoo boy today was a long day, but a gooden. I was considering ignoring this again tonight as I'm tired, but one must soldier on! Getting up early to go play an unreleased video game feels great, though not as great as skipping out on work a little early to do it again.

Chicken 11: Chicken Parmesan Hero

So the coworker was looking for a meal that was less based in Asian cuisine due to the combination of udon and orange chicken the last two days for lunch combined with his Chinese chicken foods at home. His resolve on chicken is waning.

Chicken Parm was as expected. Chicken, red sauce, cheese on bread. Its pretty hard to screw that up, though the sandwich could use a little more cheese. I did appreciate that extra sauce was given on the side, though the way I just dumped it on there made it a bit of a sloppier affair. No issues with the food, tasted as it should.

I did have issues with the pizza place I got the meal from though. One of the few times that me and my coworkers did not return back to work to eat and while there was nothing out of the ordinary while we sat there, the effects of the place lingered on our clothing. I really do not understand why the smell of grease lingered on our clothing after we left the place. What pizzeria does that? I can understand a Korean BBQ place leaving some kind of smell on your clothing, but the amount of grease in the air at the BBQ is so great that they put vents above all the tables. Pizza isn't even especially greasy, and I definitely did not smell anything like that in the pizzeria at the time either.

Good food, but hell if I ever sit and eat there again.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Chicken 9 & 10: Double Edition

Whoops, I missed a day of updates. I did it on Friday, but hey it's Friday. I feel a lil worse about missing it yesterday as I have to combine two days worth of info into one post. I did not expect to be consuming alcohol en masse on Monday and well things caught up to me.

Why am I taking crap for missing a day from others though? It's technically not even my blog!

Who's even reading this?

Chicken 9: Noodly

In a tribute to God this week, udon was on the plate. Actually it was more of an oversized styrofoam cup, but the container is not as important as the contents.

Udon noodles with chicken tempura were the main ingredients (though the tempura part of the chicken obviously didn't stay crunchy in the soup) supplemented by scallions, carrots and mushrooms. Spice can be added if you're looking for heat, but I decided not to test my gastrointestinal tract any more than I had the previous day with the combination of a lot of chicken and equally plentiful amounts of alcohol.

Noodles were chewy, scallions and carrots crunchy (making up for the tempura I suppose) and the chicken carrying a good flavor. The chicken was definitely not dry, nor was it only not dry because it was sitting in soup. The mushrooms had an annoying habit of floating to the top and sticking to the side of the container when the soup level lowered.

Seemed like it was just a step above something like instant noodle, with for real chicken parts. The soup was a lot less salty and full of msg (good for the lighter meal I was looking for) and well, everything was pretty unspectacular. I've had it before, I'll have it again.

Chicken 10: Bourbon

Oh boy today was not a good chicken day. Considering our options, we decided to venture to the South Street Seaport to take in the food court. Holy crap that place was crowded. Come on its a Wednesday, what the hell are all you people doing outside of your socially constructed cages? Moving to the back of the court, we come to the decision to get bourbon chicken from what I think used to be called Bourbon Street but was renamed to something I don't remember.

So me and my cohort order up the same meal: bourbon chicken, orange chicken and noodles. Totaled up to $7.99 and tax for the meal. Thought it was $6.99 but maybe the carry out containers have a surcharge. I didn't care enough at the time to argue the buck, and the women behind the counter didn't seem to have a strong enough grasp of English for me to effectively communicate with without getting frustrated.

Because the area was crowded up with chattering meatbags taking up all the seating, we step outside to consume our meals in the brisk fall weather. Opening the container showed the two types of chicken, noodles and a surprise fried drumstick sitting on top. It was all downhill from there.

The bourbon chicken was not bad; Moist, tender, slightly sweet with plenty of flavor. The fried drumstick was decent; crunchy outside, slightly on the dryer side and not overly salty. Noodles were just greasy for the most part. But then there was the orange chicken. Chicken chunks were overly breaded and basically soaked in an uncomfortably sweet and tangy orange sauce. The sauce actually got all over everything, other than the drumstick, and there was plenty of it. Way too much of it. All the breading on the chicken did not help in the least, making it a chore to chew and making it hard for me to discern whether I was chewing on chicken or breading.

Yeah that was no good today. I'm not tapping that well again.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Chicken 8: The Sailor Man

Okey so initially I had an idea for an intro about how pissed off I was about stepping in some rancid fish slurry on my way to the bus. But the evening was so awesome that I don't even give a damn about that anymore.

Lunch was good and tasty (full of chicken goodness). But it was after returning back Queens when the fun started. Me and my good friend head to Applebees, where we order whatever and get a healthy amount of beer. So far so great. We go to watch the New York Jets take on the Miami Dolphins, which should have been a one sided affair for the Jets.

Earlier in the day my friend had sent me a text message predicting a score of 13-0 for the Jets. That score was just unappealing to me. I retort with a prediction of 24-31 Chicken of the Sea victory, and of course mention that it was a prediction created to spite him.

We get to Applebees, go to the bar, watch some of the Rangers game (who scored a freaking touchdown against the Toronto Maple Leafs on their way to glorious victory) before the main event starts. Game starts, Dolphins get the ball and things get out of control.

Dolphins drive the ball down field in a drive lasting around seven and a half minutes, roughly half the quarter, ending it with a touchdown. Gone is my friend's prediction of a Jets shutout. But my prediction was still on the board. As I watch more and more of this game, I realize that neither team has shown up to play defense. It was a sloppy, stupid affair and the Jets fans in the restaurant were going through all their ups and downs, even cheering an injury to a Dolphins player as the clock winded down to the end.

After all the lead changes and gadget plays, fake punts and wildcat trickery, the Dolphins of Miami end up scoring one final touchdown leaving the jets with just a handful of seconds to respond. Jets fail. Final score: 27-31 Dolphins. I was a field goal away from being dead on with a spite prediction. My friend apparently sent his prediction to many people, and is going to hear about it. I rule. Now on to chicken!

Chicken 8: Popeyes

What can be said about Popeyes Chicken? It's delicious. It's crunchy. It has a jingle.

"Love that chicken from Popeyes
You'll love the way it's fried
Feels so good inside
Best you've ever tried!"

That was all from memory, so it may not be completely accurate. It should be pretty damn close though.

So the plan of action is to order an 11 piece meal, for the great price of $9.99, split between the two of us. Of course price really doubled once we put in for sides (cole slaw for me, fries for the coworker and an apple pie (really a turnover) split amongst us). Going for it all on Monday.

I consume 6 pieces: 1 breast, 1 wing, 2 legs, 2 thighs. All pieces were crunchy, moist, and full of flavor. The white meat was of course not nearly as moist and delicious as the dark meat but that's the trade off for eating healthier, though I don't think it would make much of an impact after essentially eating more than half a chicken.

Chicken was awesome, fries were bursting with flavor, and the cole slaw a good balancer. The apple pie was not bad, crispy outside covered with sugar/cinnamon and housed a goo with bits of apple in it. Better than McDonald's apple pies, but technically twice the cost (McD has two for a buck, Popeye's only yeilds one for the same price)

The meal was met with some quick approval on facebook. Popeyes chicken is better experienced than described.

Epically grand day to start the week. Also I still have alcohol in my system. Kick ass.

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Chicken 7: Eat Fresh

Whoops, I forgot to update a lot of things pertaining to chicken month Friday. At least I remembered enough to get it in. I'll have to think of something to post to facebook to show what I ate.

Chicken 7: Subways Buffalo Chicken Footlong

So after the previous day's epically delicious but immobilizing meal, it was agreed early and easily that Subways would be the meal of choice for the day. Plus its 5 bucks for a sandwich which is a good deal in the area.

So we go to Subways and I order the limited time only buffalo chicken footlong. Sandwich was constructed of wheat bread, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomatos, onions, jalapenos and of course the buffaloed chicken. Five and tax, lunch is served.

The buffalo chicken in the sandwich wasn't really very buffalo. Very light in flavor, not at all spicy really. Tasted like the oven roasted chicken breast, but cut up instead of just coming in big chunks. The rest of the ingredients tasted fresh enough for me to not really notice anything either way. Pretty plain lunch, healthier than what is usually gotten.

The lack of spice from the chicken prompted me to add srircha sauce to the half of sandwich I had yet to consume before remembering I had srircha sauce. I swear that stuff seems a lot spicier now. Could be the aging process, could be me eating less spicy things as of late making me less used to the burn. It did give the sammich the kick it needed though.

Good meal, not at all very memorable for a limited time affair. Probably why I forgot all about it. Yeah that's my excuse

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Chicken 6: C-C-C-Combo

After the disappointment that was yesterday, lunch today was a return to form and actually a return to the original idea to kick off the month of chicken (BK + chicken salad). A combination of forces to bring about a delicious and cost effective (at least theoretically) meal and almost seemed to have a resonating effect with other consumables.

A combination of Sierra Mist and orange juice was no big deal. Then the story telling coworker comes in and takes a sour belt and puts in into his coffee. Tasted like eating a belt with coffee, but the sugar came up and looked just awful on the top of the coffee. Adding a belt to the Sierra Mist/OJ concoction resulted in the same results, with different flavors other than sour. The belts ended up soft and mushy in the end in both cases.

Chicken 6 - Combo

The original idea today was to get chicken salad (caved on the price) and chicken patties from the local Super Associated Supermarket, combining the ingredients into a chicken salad within chicken patties sandwich. Who needs bread really. Well actually we did want some bread to take on some of the chicken salad so we checked out some loafs.

Me and the coworker caved on the price (still 6 bucks a pound) but were slowed by the fact that the chicken patties came in packs that were just a little too expensive. Chicken salad was a little pricey, so costs had to be cut somewhere.

Burger King to the rescue!

Two Spicy Chicken Crisp sandwiches instead supplied the "bread" for our main sandwich. The Chicken Crisps were deconstructed, chicken slab covered with chicken salad and topped with the other patty. The resulting sandwich: fantastic! The chicken "bread" was actually much more bread like than expected; it really felt like eating a chicken salad sandwich, but chickenier. The patties also showed a little more kick than you'd get eating them in original sandwich form. Both me and my coworker approved, this meal will return past chicken month.

The remaining buns were used to construct more traditional chicken salad sandwiches (ie with bread) and were tasty as well. Kudos Super Associated for making a good chicken salad.

Afterward I topped off lunch by finishing boss lady's meal (street meat chicken, what I had yesterday except GOOD this time). Boy did I disapprove of gravity's effect on me when that was finished.

Anywho, today was a great chicken based day. If you get the chance, hit that chicken sandwich up with some chicken salad. It's just like adding mayo but oh so much better.

And again, hail to the Burger King!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Chicken 5: Truckin

What a long morning. So tired that I didn't even remember to bring my phone with me when I left my house. Pictures are hard to take without any camera, but of course everyone has a camera in their phone now a days. Today was a yawner

Chicken 5 - New Halal Truck

A new Halal truck came into the area sitting just off Fulton Street and it appeared well stocked. It was big, it was clean (for a truck) and was untested, so today seemed like a good a day as any to try it out.

The guy at the truck was pretty unoccupied as there was no one around his truck when my coworkers and I arrived. It seemed like a bad sign as it didn't look like a very popular food vendor, but I didn't hold it against the guy as the usual truck we all visit can be pretty quiet at times as well.

Chicken on rice was the meal, which came with some lettuce and tomato, covered with some white sauce. Five bucks and we're off to the races.

The rice was soft, almost strangely so and did not carry much flavor. The chicken was kind of bland, and the onions that were cooked along with the chicken were also bland. The food was actually pretty remarkable for having very little flavor despite the heavy smell of onions that emanated from the Styrofoam container. Adding hot sauce (which seemed somehow spicier than usual) didn't do much either. There was just nothing there to taste.

This was a failed experiment (dude was stingy with the chicken too). A disappointment on all fronts. Don't be lured in by the shiny new trucks; all style and no substance.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Chicken 4: Dominator

I forgot the regular season for baseball ended. Yankees look like they've really just purchased the right parts to get themselves a championship, while the Mets seem to have done everything in their power to do anything but be competitive. I didn't even realize it but today's meal was a tribute to the massive failure of their season.











Chicken 4 - Domino's Pizza

Revelations of a Domino's that delivers in the area got us to send an order their way. Domino's doesn't accept orders till 11:30AM by the way. Thats kinda weak as there has to be some sort of market for a sausage, egg and cheese pizza.

Order consisted of one large thin crust pizza, topped with chicken (of course) and a chicken Alfredo pasta bowl. Pizza was all me, pasta was all the coworker. A third bread bowl pasta, three cheese mac and cheese, was ordered for the observer. Oh and an order of the chocolate lava crunch cakes for me and the other chicken man cause those things are intense awesome.

Despite being thin crust, the large pizza from Domino's was still a little too much. Not that I couldn't handle it as I downed that lava cake after, but still.

The pizza was crunchy and chicken applied very sparingly. Being that it was Domino's, I didn't expect all that much and that's just about what I got. By no means terrible, but nothing to write home about (oh the irony). I'd eat it again.

The chocolate lava crunch cakes, as usual, kicked ass. They're like small hockey pucks with a slightly crunchy outer cake layer which housed a gooey inner chocolate fudge. The cakes were also sprinkled with a bit of powdered sugar, but you don't really notice it. The cakes were slightly warm and incredibly rich, the choco lava making it hard to talk after taking a bite. Just the right size, and comes in a box of two making it a perfect way for a pair of folks to top of a meal.

So there you have it. Meh pizza and awesome dessert. Needs a little more chicken.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Chicken 3: Tres

Thank God hockey season is back. Let's go Rangers!

Chicken Day 3 - Tostada

Chicken Tostada today, and it was pretty good. Ordered from Taco House, who has a menu that looks pretty much like a Chinese takeout menu. Seriously, it looked like General Tso's chicken should have come from this place.

Ordered food at 11:50, showed up at noon. Impressive Taco House, impressive.

The Tostada came in a small white cardboard box that made it seem like it should have contained a cake or other sort of pastry. Fried tortilla with rice and veggies sat in the box, the chicken cooked up with onions wrapped up in aluminum foil nestled on top. Assembly required. Taco House also provided lots of little salsa containers and a few with sour cream. Everything was of course dumped in.

Veggies were fresh, chicken was tasty and the tortilla was nice and crunchy. Despite dumping all the salsa in, the bottom of the crisp bowl was not soggy or anything. Not bad, but need more chicken. Vegetables were plentiful but come on, I'm not here for vegetables.

This meal actually makes me wanna head to the Mex place near Stony Brook University, Green Cactus. They do things real big there, such as their foot long burrito that is nearly as wide as it is long. They also post signs that they don't have freezers or anything, everything is as fresh as possible. Good stuff.

Good eats today. Om nom nom.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Chicken 2: The Reckoning

Fire somewhere in the building today, so smoked chicken was on the mind. Apparently the news that the month of chicken has traveled around the office. Lets go chicken.

Great call into WFAN (sports radio station) this morning. Guy calls in sounding absolutely plastered. Apparently by around 7:20AM the man had already had 3 Screwdrivers. Also said his mother always told him not to start drinking until 6, (though I'm pretty sure mom meant 6PM) and he had to "catch up". To what? Who knows.

Chicken Day 2 - Rotisserie

So we set out in search of some tasty chicken salad at yet another supermarket in the area, only to find that it costs even more. Eight bucks a pound? Screw that.

Luckily the same supermarket had half rotisserie chickens for under 5 bucks. Sounds like a good plan B to me.

So the meal was half a chicken and a handful (if that much) of pasta that came in the same plastic container that housed the sacrificed bird. The pasta had an odd tangy/sourness that tasted fine initially, but lingered on the taste buds far longer than welcome, morphing into something less pleasant after a few moments.

The chicken fared better, but was nothing exactly special. The bird was lightly spiced, and the skin was crispy. The meat was a little on the dry side, even the dark meat seemed like it could have used a healthy dose of gravy. Overall, it was quite a mediocre example of a simple form of chicken. Edible, but not much beyond that.

I'd call it a successful day, though now I could really go for some chicken salad.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Chicken 1

So this month is Chicken Month™. Continual struggles at the office to make a decision on exactly what to eat have driven me mad enough to suggest that every work day, for the entire month of October, chicken is for lunch. Weekends are not included as no one really needs help deciding what to eat whilst out of work, as opposed to the constant indecision on what to eat during the midday reprieve. Only one of my cohorts is bold enough to take on such an endeavor with me, and who cracks first remains to be seen. So for 22 work days the only animal for lunch is the delicious chicken in all its forms, which started with today.

Chicken Day 1 - Burger King

Chicken Month™ started serendipitously on a Thursday, which all of you should KNOW means that the 2 for $4 King Deal was 2 BK original chicken sandwiches for $4.

What a great deal. Absolutely incredible.

Anyways, the original plan was to go big and get some chicken salad and combine it with the BK chicken. I mean after all, chicken salad is just mayo with chicken for the most part. It would have added a whole new dimension to the meal. Unfortunately, chicken salad prices at the locations visited started at $6 per pound and that just felt like too damn much for mayo and chicken.

As an aside, I'd like to thank Burger King for keeping it real in Manhattan. An actual dollar menu, daily deals, all that good stuff. A decent fast food meal can be had for under $5, which is damn near impossible at the other similar fine dining establishments. Oh but the Burger Shots suck. Burger Shots are lies!

Back to the point, instead of going bigger than I should have, I went a more conservative route. One Original Chicken Sammich (deal split with a witness to the glory rather than the partner in crime) and a spicy chicken crisp sandwich ($1 on the aforementioned dollar menu). Hit it with a bit of Sriracha and that makes for a tasty cheap beginning to chicken.

So I'm high spirits as the month begins. More chicken to come.