ARBYS IN THE FULTON MALL (RETURN OF THE JAM!)

whoa. where have we been?
i have no idea.
oh wait.
we were JAMMING.

staffer and resident roast beef sandwich expert "NC" resurrects the jam with his visit to the newly erected Fulton Mall Arbys!

(image stolen from Brownstoner.com)

"First, it is the nicest fast food restaurant i have ever been in (move over, Naugles) and probably the nicest space in the whole fulton mall (though foot action looked pretty sick).

Second, it is Arbys. I can eat 5 regular roast beefs.*

Third, there is a bar that serves their crappy "healthy" lunches. But it made me think about an actual bar operating there and a chill went down my spine.

Fourth, there is a bell by the exit/entrance (a revolving door!) that you can ring "if you had great service." Rang it, because WE DID: It was nearly empty, there were 4 people for every task all talking about how they hope they dont lose their jobs because it is so slow, the woman who handed you your food called out your number and then made a rhyme like "189, hope your meal is fine" and there is a whole table of sauces. This guy I went with got a mysterious container of "Bronco Berry Sauce." It was jelly.

Fifth, when you ring it the entire staff by the registers bellows out some inane corporate slogan but its cool because IT RHYMES TOO. I think it is "Our guests are the best." No, Arbys, YOU are the best.

*=disputed."

WING BAR Jam

We snapped a picture of this place a week or two back when we heard it was opening in the old Paninoteca 275 space on Smith st:


Yesterday, after finding out it had opened last Tuesday, we made it over to close out a long day (that also involved the amazing Roberta's Pizza in Bushwick)

Frequent Jammer B was along for the trip and being an expert on these sort of matter I will let him do the jamming:
---------------------------------------------
The Wingbar

I've eaten more chicken wings than you. Way more. I'm a bit of a wing snob. This new spot on Smith St makes them well:


Not only that, but you can get pitchers of beer for $7.50:



I could probably ramble on about ambiance and the other menu items (one of our party had a BBQ tofu sub:



and I, in fact, enjoyed a gin lemonade) but honestly, the place is called wingbar. Good wings, cheap beer. Perfect.

Chapel Hill Mega Jam

Went down to NC for XXMerge last weekend and did some serious power jamming.
also forgot to take WAY to many pictures due to the relatively high temperature and need for power resting.

undocumented Highlights:
Exit 213 off of I85 in NC. COMBINATION BOJANGLES AND CHIK-FIL-A!!!
this is not totally true, but the exit does feature both restaurants in very close proximity so you can mix and match a meal. we got 5 chicken sandwiches from the CFA, and then went next store for some sides and beverages... Large Sweet Teas and PICNIC SIZE DIRTY RICE. so jammed.

Lantern restaurant in Chapel Hill - Gourmet goodness. Pickled plate rocked the mind.
Carrburitos - highly jammable
sunshine biscuits with chicken and neil's deli biscuits with pastrami(!?!?!) totally insane.

Wildest Biscuit experience goes to TIME OUT in chapel hill:


all told us to rock the chicken and biscuit w/ cheese. This means they take a full fried chicken breast, menacingly chop it off the bone in one shot, and put it on a biscuit. It is stupid and wonderful. The also offer a menu item called "bucket of bones" which answers the question of what happens to the rest of the chicken breast they just chopped up for your sandwich. also everyone there is drunk. also it was 3 am. but still we are talking intense blackout drunk in a fried chicken place that has TWO security guards on staff. impressive.

more fried chicken was consumed on something called the Picnic Plate at Carrborro's Crooks Corner.
impressive in scale alone, it was 3 pieces of chicken, 2 deviled eggs, a platter of egg/potato salad, loose tomatoes and Pepperoncinis, and a QUARTER of a watermelon. and i think a side salad. it was intense.
we jammed it:



and in the most jammable desserts ever category, special awards go to the astounding LOCOPOPS chain of North Carolina. I don't really even understand this place, but they just sell ice pops and they totally rule and they are crazy flavors like lime cherry and chocolate pretzel and lavender pancake and boysenberry unicorn and popcorn lithium rickey and laser fudge ripple and dr. house guest starring on CSI.

here are lots of them:


here is one of them:


thanks NC.
sorry we jammed you so hard.

juice'd

red hook ballfields agua fesca carts.
watermeon, mango, lime, cantaloupe (i have no idea what the 4th flavor was)



1 large agua fresca, ice, 4-6 shots vodka = 6 cocktails.

Return Taco Place Jam: B's Revenge

Sticking by his pledge to eat the entire menu, avid JIDYT reader returned to Yesterday's taco joint once more for further investigation.

B recounts:

Tonight I ordered the Steak Torta (Romaine, Pickled Onion, black bean
salsa on talera bread) as well as chips & guac & salsa.



The steak was much better than the steak in the tacos. It was cooked medium rare
and was much juicier which is impressive considering it appeared to be
just a thin skirt steak. My guess is this is due to the fact that the
steak destined for the tacos appeared pre-diced and therefore probably
simply dried out which seems like something that corrects itself with
increased business. The bread was good, though it could have been
toasted a bit more. The chips were a bit disappointing as they were
just generic tortilla chips whereas a lot of the mexican joints in the
neighborhood have fresh - or at least more authentic seeming -
chips...but then again, tostidos also kick ass. The guac and salsa
were both good. The meal, while good, didn't blow me away, BUT...I
heard the words 'soft opening' as I waited for my order, so I imagine
the few small negatives will probably be corrected.




Final verdict...I foresee myself eating this sandwich a number of
times in the future but ultimately I think this is going to be a taco
joint for me (until I try the other tortas which also sound good).
Considering I'm working from home tomorrow, and home is now
essentially Oaxaca, I'll probably test that theory out during lunch
tomorrow when I eat more tacos.

Tacos.

Whoa!! New TACO Place! Jam

You're walking down Smith St. and all of a sudden there is a taco place where there used to be half a trinket store? WHAT? who is this lucky?

"yo dude. I am your friend calling you because a new taco place opened.
No, i have no idea. It Just appeared, sick right?"

I am this lucky and am accompanied by B who lives above said taco place and saw it last night and got confused because he didn't think he was on his own block, but he was. WHOA. Dude, there is now a taco place right on your block. let's get tacos.

the kitchen - still doing work. place opened on sat. going to be a griddle where that oven is now (good idea)

Place is called OAXACA. Owner was in there serving the food and making sure all were happy. nice guy, seemed interested in everyone's opinon. gave us a free shot of Horchata after the meal which was delicious, and only seemed mildly suspicious of me photographing my meal.

went with the 3 taco rice and beans deal:
.
steak:

pork:

and chicken:


corn tortillas that will get better when they cook them on a grill top. Steak was big chunks, chicken shredded was my least favorite of the 3 and the pork was probably the best - shredded, pretty juicy and with a nice spicy kick from the sauce.

B, in a move that totally does not benefit this post, got the exact same thing.
they have Jarritos too, that soda pretty much rules, and I got the grapefruit flavor which also tastes like that awesome soda Ting. Ting is a seriously good soda.


Bite me Menupages:



verdict: jammed.
will jam again. tortas are intriguing. these guys are just getting started.

she's my berry pie

kz rocked two insane strawberry pies with toasted almonds and cream cheese/almond extract/vanilla filling for a family birthday party. bonkers delicious.



Family jammed.