Here To Eat: Ace Eats America 10 Plates at a Time

Price: $3.29
Rating: *** / *****

I could tell you that I frequent hip and zany chains like Friday's, but I'd be lying to you. I never quite understood the appeal of waiting in line so that you could be seated in a poorly lit booth where it sounds like there are amplifiers next to your ears. Friday's has to be the single most obnoxiously loud restaurant in the western hemisphere. I could slaughter animals in there and I don't think anyone would hear me. My friends and I actually learned a simple form of sign language to communicate while in the vicinity of the local Friday's. Sure, it made me feel intellectual, but the payoff was hardly worth it. To top it off, the food is overpriced and the waitresses are not scantily clad enough to make up for any other shortcomings.

Despite my incessant bitching, I must admit that they have some fun food on their menu. Personally, I would like to meet the person behind fried macaroni and cheese balls and green bean french fries. I don't even want to try them, I just admire the gall that it would take to pitch that idea to corporate. I am convinced that their test kitchen is run by people who smoke ridiculous amounts of marijuana. Their line of frozen snacks, however, are not quite as adventurous as you would think. Not at all adventurous like the Jimmy Eat World "World of Adventure" webisode where Tom joins a death metal band. No, they're just typical boring things like mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and jalapeno poppers. Luckily, the food itself is much better than the band's acting.

I was very happy to see that the sticks came with a large pouch of marinara sauce. Unfortunately, the pouch was not microwavable and had to be submerged in boiling water to thaw. Lame. The sticks themselves were put into a toaster oven where I proceeded to check on them 20 seconds too late and realized that many of them had bursted open. I salvaged them, but they were not the pristine beauties that they could have been. Unlike other mozzarella sticks that are fish-stick shaped, these are thin rectangles. I'm not sure of the reasoning behind this, but it made it harder to eat and generally messed up the cheese to breading ratio. There's too much breading for my liking, but it doesn't detract too much from the snack.

A problem I had was that the cheese didn't stay gooey long enough to enjoy in one sitting. I shared this with another person and noticed that the cheese would harden up after having about two sticks. I had to nuke it in the microwave another 2 times before finishing to get it to the consistency that I so desired. Stretchy, melty cheese is essential. Still, it was pretty good and there were a good amount of sticks to enjoy. It's a little pricey, but you have to pay extra for true gourmet food such as deep fried cheese.

Posted by Anthony Nguyen on Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 12:57 AM | Permalink