Garlic Fries at Applebee's

First of all, let me just state for the record that I'm not the biggest Applebee's fan in the world. I've eaten there a few times, but for some reason I always leave with the feeling that I've just spent way too much money and didn't get the meal that I paid for. The food is all kind of generic and boring. And the pictures do way too much justice to the food that actually comes to your table. Now, as a kid I thought it was a very cool place to eat. I mean who doesn't love all the fake "local" memorabilia they have plastered all over the walls, right? I particularly remember loving the potato skins. And, let's face it, kids don't necessarily have the broadest pallets in the world. So generic and boring worked for me then. It still works for my kids today.

But today after church, I ventured out with my family for lunch, only after we discovered that Cracker Barrell, once again, had its typical 45-minute wait established as we arrived. So onward to Applebee's. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by my meal. And particularly by Tyler Florence's Garlic Fries. First off, let me just say that it was SO NICE of him to take time out of his busy schedule just to make my fries. You can't get better service than that, in my opinion. And. Oh. My. I am already regretting the fact that I ate the entire contents of the fry dish that was the size of my 9 month old son's head. But strangely enough, I didn't feel that way as I was scarfing them down. Each fry had this buttery, garlicky, rosemary and Parmesan cheese magic dust sprinkled all over it. I am certain that I've surpassed my caloric intake for the week. But, man, they were good. Apparently, good enough for me to blog about.