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I created a Fast Food in New York City blog to host all my entries on dining in New York City. Now I only need to return to posting content on this blog in the spirit of the old days!

Visited Location: 395 Hudson St @ Clarkson St

Dunkin' ... Deli?

That's right... It's the strange result of Dunkin' Donuts owning the Togo's chain of sandwich shops, which has free-standing locations on the West Coast. Here in the East, Togo's apparently was dual- or triple-branded with Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robins. In the late 1990s the name "Dunkin' Deli" replaced Togo's in these locations.

Dunkin' Donuts acknowledges the Deli brand's existence in the nutritional information section of its website, but otherwise makes no mention in its store locator or brand history sections.

Strange history aside, Dunkin' Deli's are extremely rare in New York City. Since not searchable on Dunkin' Donuts' site and not accurately separately listed on Google Maps and Yelp, it's anyone's guess to how many of these locations exist in New York City. I've personally been to over 50 Dunkin' Donuts in this city, however, and I know of only one: 395 Hudson St @ Clarkson St.

From the outside, apart from some Dunkin' Deli labeling, this looks like an average Dunkin' Donuts. On the inside, for the most part, this still looks like an average Dunkin' Donuts, especially now that practically all Dunkin' Donuts' offer hot food items. However, the menu board is extended to include the deli sandwiches, with selections such as a Chicken Bruschetta Sandwich and a Turkey and Bacon Club Sandwich.

There are multiple bread selections, such as white, wheat, and flat. Toasting appears to be the norm as do onions on sandwiches where you might expect someone to want them. Unlike Subway and Quiznos, personalization of toppings is not encouraged, with order reception taking place at the coffee counter, fulfillment in a separate area separated off on many sides by a solid wall, and delivery occurring from a window labeled "Sandwich Pickup".

I've had both the chicken bruschetta and turkey/bacon club sandwiches. Both had the hot toasted taste of Quiznos, and both were loaded with onions. The tomatoes on my recent turkey/bacon club had no flavor.

One important last item of discussion is price. Dunkin' Deli is not particularly competitive priced, with the small sandwiches priced around $4.99 and the large around $7.99. The small sandwiches come nowhere near in size to Subway's five-dollar footlongs, so lunch here is certainly not economical.

While not inexpensive, an occasion meal from Dunkin' Deli provides a welcome, more flavorful alternative to the suite of subs from Subway.

Manhattan: 271 W 23rd St @ 8th Ave (visited) & 885 10th Ave @ 58th St
Several locations in Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx, and Staten Island

Boston Market, with only two locations, is extremely rare in Manhattan. The location I visited was directly outside the 23rd Street Station of the 8th Avenue Subway (C,E).

For Manhattan fast food restaurants, this Boston Market was extremely clean, far more than I had expected. The presentation of the main dishes and sides was extremely appetizing. Granted, calling Boston Market fast food is almost an insult. It, along with chains such as Panara Bread, are positioned somewhere between that class and casual dining.

Boston Market, like many other chains, has recently lowered its prices, with many lunches and dinners now costing around five dollars. For a mere $5.23 (including tax), I received half a chicken sandwich, a decent serving of stuffing, and a medium beverage (free refills). However, a friend of mine, an experienced Boston Market guest, did note that the serving size has decreased over the years. Nevertheless, my lunch cost me a good three dollars less than I expected.

Boston Market also provides catering. This card on the table provided for some good laughs. Note the primary upsell item of the different packages is the level of dinnerware included. The Silver Package comes with disposable dinnerware, the Gold Package comes with "upgraded disposable dinnerware", while the Platinum Package comes with china. That's right, you can have your Boston Market on China!

New York City's only Chick-Fil-A is in the Weinstein Residence Hall of NYU, right off Washington Square. It is part of a food court near the entrance that is open to the public. To get to the food court, go straight in until you reach the dining area and then pass through a turnstile to the right. If you hit the Kosher area, you've gone too far!

While it's true that this is a heat-lamped "express" location, I doubt my sandwich was out for more than five minutes since I went during lunch time. The easily accessible items were fried and grilled chicken sandwiches, some kind of chicken nugget-style items in boxes, and waffle fries. There was also a sign to ask if you were looking for something else. My fries were made on demand.

The special sauces were passed out under the watchful control of the staff. It appeared the limit was two. I took one barbecue sauce an I thought it was plenty. Mints, mayonnaise, and mustard were on the customer side of the counter, so I took a bunch.

Since this is a college food court, all counters share the same beverage selection, as well as big ketchup and mustard pumps past the registers.

This was the first time I had Chick-Fil-A and I found the fried chicken sandwich quite tasty. It had rather thin breading, and lots of chicken, which was to my liking. I also like the fact that it's just chicken and a couple pickle pieces, allowing you full control of the rest. (It appears McDonalds and KFC have copied this concept recently).

Price: $6.12 including tax for fried chicken sandwich, waffle fries, and a medium soda. A trip to NYC's only Chick-Fil-A is definitely worth it.

So this is it! The last remaining Roy Rogers in New York City! Riese Restaurants also replaced Roy Rogers around the corner on 34th Street with more contemporary options, so I wouldn't count on this one lasting.

It's a real time warp walking into this place. Roy's classic photo is hanging there, as are many pieces of Roy Rogers memorabilia. There are two former heated oven-type things to keep food warm, but they're no longer in service and have "for display only" signs on them. Strangely enough there are aluminum wrapped sandwiches "on display".

It took five minutes for service to arrive. I could have walked over to the Nathan's counter, but I was curious how long it would take.  I ordered a Gold Rush Chicken Sandwich combo and was given the choice of several sides such as fries, cold slaw, and mashed potatoes. I chose fries. My soda was also served to me and I made my way over to the cashier.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A federal appeals court said on Tuesday that a new rule requiring New York City fast food restaurants to post calorie information on menu boards is effective immediately.

It's a done deal: NYC calorie-count rule effective immediately: court

I've already become used to these menu boards at Subway, which has had them for over a year because they have nothing to hide:

The slightly more-caloric chains fought the legislation since it might cause customers to reconsider their choice:

One of the claims was that adding the calorie information would the make the menu impossible to read. Here is what Dunkin' Donuts presented:

And here is how New York City responded:

Just another health-inspired law from the first major city to ban smoking and trans fats!

Photo Credit: Most of these photos are from Menu Board Calories Arrive in New York on "Weighty Matters" where they are licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada license.

It has finally happened. "The New Starbucks" has come up with a solution to the much-despised (especially by myself) "sippy cup lid." I can now confirm the availability of of a green plug with a rod that fits somewhat securely on the lid's opening.

Much in the fashion of Apple's Mighty Mouse, where the computer manufacturer came up with a two-button mouse that still technically is a one-button mouse, Starbucks obviously hasn't wanted to admit its lid's major shortcoming.

From my limited research, limited to one Starbucks location in Manhattan, the plug/rod device is only available upon special request. Upon my proclamation that this invention was long overdue and would have saved me several burns and cleanups had it come out earlier, one barista informed the other that "it's true, you can find complaints about these lids all over the internet."

Maybe this "New Starbucks" idea isn't so bad. They might have killed the breakfast sandwich, but this new lid and the new Pike Place Roast, which doesn't charcoal your mouth nearly as much, do represent significant improvements.

I can't believe this story is already over a month old (time flies), but it's still annoying me. I know that my recent posts probably make you thing I wander the streets with a crossed-out mermaid t-shirt, but come on...

Maybe this is Starbucks punishing me for increasingly defecting to Dunkin' Donuts for coffee. In that category, Dunkin' has caught up. However, their breakfast sandwiches are nothing to write home about and overly laden with cheese. This observation might be skewed by the fact that my sandwich of choice at Starbucks was the Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon Sandwich (with reduced-fat cheese).

Anyway, the removal of these sandwiches, to me, is one of those fanciful "we identified the problem" fixes. Apparently this decision will "restore" the smell of coffee at Starbucks. I've been to over 30 Starbucks in New York City, and not one smelled like a elementary school cafeteria during lunchtime. This decision will do nothing for Starbucks.

Of course, this move is coupled with ones that may actually make a difference: $1 coffees and free refills. Then again, wouldn't this just destroy the so-called "Starbucks experience" just like the breakfast sandwiches supposedly did?

My guess is that Dunkin' Donuts will continue to eat away at Starbucks. They already are in New York City. And, as we all know, they have a much better lid!

Kindergartners toss pizzas, learn about food pyramid

This "article" is ridiculous. Teaching kids about the food pyramid with pizza!? As one reader noted, a slice of Domino's pizza has at least 250 calories, and processed tomato sauce is hardly a serving of vegetables. This just shows what's wrong with our society today... We're teaching kids about nutrition with corporate-sponsored fatty pizza! The most ridiculous quote:

"The students learned about good nutrition and the food pyramid because pizza has many of the food groups that are included."

This is kind of old news, but nonetheless amusing:

McDonald's Germany decided that, after 36 years, Germans probably had figured out how to pronounce the chain's signature sandwich, and that spelling it phonetically in German would no longer be necessary. OK, well, officially it has to with "global unified branding"—The "FishMäc" has also become the globally-known Fillet-o-Fish.

Granted the above is probably not worth more than a shug. We're talking about Germany after all, the country that has invented more English words than hip hop.

More amusing about the Welt article that brought this post all about is a paragraph about the contents of the Fillet-o-Fish in Germany. Here's my translation, and trust me, it's better than Babel Fish's:

The rumor, that the [Fillet-o-Fish] consists of everything but fish, won't be laid to rest. In reality, three different kinds of fish are used in Germany: Atlantic cod, Alaskan sea salmon, Merlucciidae. The [choice of fish] is seasonally dependent. [PR Person Eva Maria Haas]: However, it is important for us that there is no noticeable taste difference." The balancing of the taste is enabled through an extra "spritzer" of tarter sauce.

Of course, the Fillet-o-Fish's taste is further balanced by the use of breading and a deep fryer.