A Quick Check On Quik Chek

Gas station food does get a bad rap. It's known for salmonella laced sushi and hot dogs of questionable  origins.Yer one stands out for good food and a variety of all sorts of snacks.It's Quik Chek.It has some really good hot food and fun drinks for a summer's day.

There is a Quik Chek  down the road from me >It's attached to a gas station and place where you can also get your car vacuumed and free air from your tires. I;ts a great snack shop along with a quick meal.

Their soups are pretty tasty.They have a wide variety from chicken noodle to cheddar broccoli. 

It was very thick and creamy , not unlike something you;d make in you kitchen. It was loaded with broccoli and piping hot. Of course   got my Quik Chek favorite - frozen Coke. Who can resist this? They've changed their menu to be healthier with veggie heroes and three filling and tasty looking Caesar and  Italian  chef salads.I kn ow I'll be buying these for my next trip there.

Qik Chek is good food  that puts other gas station shops to shame. They have a wide variety of  hot fresh offerings. perfect for on the go people. Stop in for a bite to and enjoy.

OnThe Menu

 Has anyone ever taken a good read at their menus? Do you know what your favorite eatery serves?Or the font that it's printed in?what about the graphics and size?Well, there's a new survey that shows exact;y what's on those pages.

Regular contributors Priya Krishna. Tanya Sichynsky and Umi Syam wroteabout this fascinatingaspect of restaurant lif in today's New York Times food section. After dealing with the pandemic , plexiglass barriers, QR codes that brought menus to our phones , masked servers and curbside delivery menus are back, They've become works of art. Mses Krishna, Sichynsky and Syam looked over a whopping 120(!!!) menus and discovered some interesting trends that emerged.One is the Ceasar salad.There are dozens of varieties of it ,from a catfish Casar, redolent with fried green tomatoes ,boiled eggs and cheddar to a Thai one with puffed rice croutons to a Casar del jardin that is loaded with carrots.There is even a tofu Caesar that many places are serving.Another interesting point is that menus have literally shrunk in size. They're not as large as they used to be. Menu colors have become brighter too.  Some are a dazzling Barbie pink while others are a cheery canary yellow.

Restaurants have also become more creative with their fonts. There are many different types and they 've become smaller. They're now fiv points (in comparison to Times which is printed in seven to eight points)  . Another phenomena popping up on menus are mascots. They could be drawn by a creative employee or borrowed from Hnri Matisse and Jean Cocteau. Like fashion restaurants have become brands. Logos are too obvious but a mascot is a sublte way of advertising.A big trend  is informal. Most look likey they've been created by a design school freshman  .Cheesy fonts reign supreme as do wonky formatting and using printer paper.A more eco version is using an inkless embossing stamp to impress a restaurant's name on a menu. The anatomy is also changing. Restaurant employees are also getting salary increases thanks to their bosses cutting down on menu costs;There's also a service charge explanation also included as well as eateries telling  diners that they offer health benefits for their help. Also on the menu is having entrees explained as smaller or bigger along with listing mocktails with their sodas and teas.

Menus are the window to any restaurant. new innovations in them show new innovations in the kitchen. They are the bestway to introduce a new diner to great cuisine.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Salad Kits- Really?

Do you really need a salad kit to make a good salad? I mean it's the simplest thing in the world to make., All it takes is a good head of good lettuce, tomatoes and oil and vinegar. If you want some variation then add some rosemary or thyme. For more sophisticated salads then add tunas or a variety of meals, grilled or cold cuts along with hard boiled eggs, artichoke hearts and broccoli.
However I saw a salad kit at the A&P today and thought , well why not. It had everything I needed to make a good Casesar . I couldn't wait to try it.

The company who made the kit was called Et Tu, a humorous reference to Caesar 's murder at the forum. However there was nothing that funny about it. The dressing was a little bit too thick.It came out like toothpaste , too thick to even be poured. I even had to mist in some oil to make it a little more smoother.I then added the bacon bits and croutons and topped it off with the added packet of Parmesan cheese. These last three were fine and they added a lot to simple romaine. I don't know if I'll try this brand again however. I think in the future I'll make my own.

I'll take salad kits with a big grain of salt in the future. I thought it would be a fun and easier way to make a simple dinner. I realize that a great bowl of greens , doesn't start with a kit.It starts with an imaginative cook.