Fast Food Through a Photographer's Lens

OK so we all know that fast food isn't the most gastronomically nor visually appealing, but check out these pictures by photographer Jon Feinstein from his series "Fast Food", posted on Good (http://www.good.is/post/picture-show-visions-of-fast-food/#). He hasn't doctored the food in anyway - it really does look this bad. Hmmm, maybe I'll continue Breaking the Chain beyond 2009...

Halloween in September

In the writing world, you've got to do things a bit early. Which is why I'm working on a Halloween story for Metromix this weekend. In preparation, I got a sneak preview of Il Posto's, one of Denver's tastiest Italian restaurants, orange and black themed dinner last night. While orange and black probably aren't most people's top two color choices for food, Chef Andrea Frizzi did an excellent job coming up with an imaginative menu for All Hallow's Eve.

I don't want to spoil the menu surprise, but it involves (duh) pumpkin, squid ink and black sambuca. Not to mention some killer proteins. Here's a photo hint of what Il Posto will be featuring on their tasting menu in the month of October. Oh, and there will be an equally spooky (yet still delicious) cocktail in honor of Halloween as well.

Find!

There's nothing more exciting to me than discovering new, wonderful food. If it's cheap and nearby, even better. Yesterday morning I was craving something beyond my typical breakfast of chocolate chip Kroger waffles. Having recently learned that my stand-by breakfast burrito locale (Wall Street Deli) was actually a chain, I set out to find something new.

I walked the streets surrounding my downtown Denver office building, passing the obligatory bagel and fast food chains. Even in a dynamic, cosmopolitan city like Denver, chains rule. Want Chinese for lunch? Good luck finding something other than Panda Express and P.F. Chang's. And while we have no shortage of sub shops, places like Subway and Heidi's dominate the locals.

I've always been a big believer in street food. I don't need 4 walls and a solid foundation to be well fed. Lunch carts, or meals on wheels, often cook up more inventive, better-tasting food than the restaurants steps away. So when I nearly walked into the burrito cart (hey, it was early) on the northeast corner of 17th and California, I decided to give it a try.

I ordered my usual eating out breakfast choice - a breakfast burrito with potatoes, eggs, cheese and green chile - and was shocked when the very nice and vivacious cart proprietor told me it would only be $2. I brought the burrito back to my desk and unwrapped the warm aluminum foil. A little soggy, I thought. I bit in. Wow, this is pretty good. I poured my little condiment cup of green chile inside. Spicy! I loved it more and more with every bite. The potatoes were well-seasoned and thought obviously went into the egg-potato ratio.

I came close to going back for another one, but I lacked the motivation to clang down the street another time in my heels (again, it was early). But I will definitely be back.

Dim Sum

Besides cravings, convenience was a bit of a problem this week. We’re in the middle of remodeling our kitchen and had an electrician working pretty much all weekend. While he tore out the hideous fluorescent box that previously illuminated the room and replaced it with recessed lights, my husband and I drove back and forth to the paint store trying to get the ideal shade of grey for our kitchen.

Meanwhile, we got hungry. Amidst the fast food and chain restaurants we knew there to be a tasty, locally owned restaurant serving Japanese rice and noodle bowls. Independent, healthy and it wouldn’t take too long – exactly what we were looking for. We drove over to the lot, starving, only to find that they aren’t open on Sundays. We looked to the left and the right – fast food burgers had us surrounded.

I am not a patient person. I needed to eat within the next few minutes or something bad involving tears and biting was about to occur. Could this be the end? Would I have to break down and eat at a chain in order to save my husband from getting attacked by my hungry self?
But there, across the street, like the cooked-to-order omelette station at a brunch buffet, a restaurant jumped out, glistening, from the mundane chains – Dim Sum. Neither of us had ever had Dim Sum, but we had always wanted to try. If only we hadn’t waited so long.

For those unfamiliar with dim sum, first, my condolences. Next, I’ll explain what it is. It’s Chinese food, but not your sesame chicken/sweet and sour pork type of Chinese. The portions are much smaller, more like a series of appetizers. The soups, dumplings, buns, vegetables, seafood, noodles and desserts are wheeled around on little carts and you get to pick what you want to try. It’s a great way to sample dishes you normally wouldn’t taste, as the portions are small and the prices are low. The shrimp and pork dumplings that we tried were among the best Chinese food we’d ever eaten. And the Chinese donuts for dessert rank right up there with beignets in the race for my favorite nutritionally-deficient food item.

I will now refer to ages 1-27 in my life as the dark ages because I went through them without dining on dim sum. Note to years 1-18, aka the time before I tried Thai food – you will now be referred to as the darker ages.

I am so grateful that we tried the dim sum restaurant instead of succumbing to my oppressive hunger at a casual chain establishment. Had I not been doing this experiment we would have most likely ended up at Good Times, eating yet another fast food burger. Even if you don’t have the commitment or willingness to give up chains forever, try it once in a while and see what amazing new foods you discover. Your taste buds will thank you for it.

Hello my name is Allyson and I'm a Marcos addict

I don’t typically consider myself to have an addictive personality. I only smoke a drag or two of a cigarette when drinking, I check in on my MySpace page once, maybe twice a year and I’ve only seen Titanic once all the way through. And yet I can’t stop eating Marco’s coal-fired pizza (For my cherry-popping Marco’s experience, read Best. Pizza. Ever.).

I went again today. Got the usual - the lunch special of salad, drink and margherita pizza. I never order a drink, reluctantly eat the salad and spend the time not drinking and unenthusiastically eating greens waiting for the main event - the pizza.

And it comes. And it's glorious. Every time I bite into it I'm amazed by the artistry of the sauce/cheese/crust amalgamation. I anticipate the next bite like I still anticipate Christmas. And when there are no bites left, I feel disappointment like the Christmas I got a suitcase instead of rollerblades.

So what do I do? Do I try to break my Marco's addiction cold turkey? Or do I just indulge - it is a local, independent restaurant after all. But does Breaking the Chain count if I'm eating at the same place over and over?

My goal for next week is to not eat at Marco's. I work in the middle of downtown Denver; there are hundreds of restaurants within walking distance of my office building. But then again, what would it hurt if I had just 1 little pizza? Just 1 more. Then I'd quit. Yeah...

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve attached not 1 but 2 pictures of this crack cocaine of pizza.

Try Finding Pizza on Labor Day

I spent the weekend camping and playing at a lake in Nebraska (Note: I'm not saying which lake I was at because I can't spell it and am too lazy to Google it. But let's just say it's the last name of a Hollywood actor known for running around topless and playing naked bongos.). Of course with camping comes camp food - s'mores, burgers, etc. When we got home Monday night I wanted pizza.

My first choice was Original Pizza (http://originalpizza.us/Index.html), which makes a tasty New York-style creation. They don't deliver, but I was craving it so hard that I was willing to pick it up. My husband calls and they're closed for Labor Day. Next.

We looked at Double D's Sourdough Pizza (http://doubledspizza.com/), but I just can't resign myself to pay $26 for a 2-topping pizza. Maybe if it came with Antonio Sabato Jr., but it doesn't, so I ain't paying.

At this point we were running out of pizza options and I was running out patience. Proving why I married him, my husband dug deep and suggested Papa Frank's (http://www.papafranksbroomfield.com/), a local Italian restaurant whose pizza we had never tried. He called - also closed.

WTF independent pizza places! Why can't you be more like a heartless corporation and force your employees to work on Labor Day? I couldn't wait another minute to eat so we headed to a style of restaurant I knew would be open - our Little Vietnam. Sure enough, all the pho places were open. Now that's a work ethic.

It wasn't the pizza I'd been craving, but my pho and my husband's pork plate were delicious, as always. I can always count on Little Vietnam.

Damn you, Dairy Queen

This week I encountered the enemy C of Breaking the Chain: Cravings. Considering I have the will power of Rosie O’Donnell, whenever cravings arise, it means trouble.

I consider myself to be pretty stubborn and strong-willed. Anyone who has ever had to live with me would tell you the same thing. That’s why it doesn’t make any sense that my hard-headedness turns mushy between 5-10 p.m. while watching TV. Whatever the commercial that comes on, I want what they are selling. Pizza from Dominos? Order it up! No matter that I don’t even like Domino’s. Seeing it on TV during those 5 magical hours makes me wish I had them on speed dial.

I still don’t quite understand how prostitution and marijuana are illegal but dinner-time commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken still make the cut. I’m pretty sure that eating a bucket of saturated fat is far more dentrimental than a little sex or pot. Not to mention the ruined marriages due to your spouse eating the last drumstick, or, God forbid, the final biscuit.

I’ve had strong food cravings for as long as I can remember, and I can’t wait to see the havoc they wreak when I’m pregnant. In fact, I already have a list started of all the food we need to have on hand in the house when I’m expecting, so as to save my husband many a midnight trips to the grocery store. I’m so thoughtful. It’s a good thing we negotiated that second fridge and freezer into the price of our house.

This week the major craving culprit was Dairy Queen. Of the Big 3 ice cream sellers in my neck of the woods – Dairy Queen, 31 Flavors and Cold Stone – Dairy Queen would be a distant third. I’m talking a Kevin Jonas of the Jonas Brothers distant third. Yet a few days ago I got it into my mind that I absolutely had to have a Mint Oreo Blizzard then and there.

When I get a craving, my body has a hard time letting it go. If I don’t get it that first night when the craving begins, which I didn’t, it just won’t leave. I wanted that damn Blizzard all week long. And while will power may be able to win battles, it’s extremely difficult to win wars.

My husband generously offered to pick me up any premium ice cream I wanted from the grocery store, but it wasn’t ice cream I was after; it was the Mint Oreo Blizzard. Once the seal was broken on bad-for-me cravings, the floodgates opened. A character on a favorite TV show mentioned cookies; I immediately had to have a Doubletree chocolate chip cookie. A team on a competitive cooking show made truffles; I wanted a boxful from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

But I didn’t have the truffles, the cookie, or, sadly, the Blizzard. And mentioning those three things probably wasn’t a good idea, as it’s coming up on dinner-time and all sound fantastic right about now. To satiate my sweet tooth I’ve been drinking lots of chocolate milk and eating dark chocolate in small bouts. According to my doctor this is much healthier than making a run to the Dairy Queen, as I’m getting more calcium and antioxidants. Screw that, I still want the Blizzard.