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March 20, 2018

The coolest Frappuccino flavors you’ve never heard of

Ah, the Frappuccino. A Starbucks commodity. A word that wasn’t even on our tongues just 20 years ago. The Starbucks Frappuccino essentially ushered in the second wave of coffee in America, with sugary sweet, frothy concoctions that consumers flocked to. And to look back on the story of Frappuccinos — and the crazy flavors made across the globe — is pretty fun. It’s hard to believe there was a time when Starbucks wasn’t ruled by Frappuccinos, but as CEO Howard Schultz explains in his book Pour Your Heart Into It, he wasn’t always a believer. Schultz writes that he resisted Southern California’s granitas trend in the 1990s because he believed the sugary, frozen drinks diluted the integrity of Starbucks’ coffee. Still, three store managers in Southern California experimented with making Frappuccinos beginning in 1994, using a powdered base (that everyone hated), and eventually using freshly brewed coffee. Eventually, the beverage director handed over the new Frappuccino recipe to a team of food consultants, who came up with a Frap made with low-fat milk. Eventually, everyone, customers and Schultz alike, saw the light — or should we say, saw the drink. The name Frappuccino actually comes from the former coffee chain The Coffee Connection, which Starbucks acquired back in 1994. (In fact, the founder of The Coffee Connection made his own cold, slushy coffee for sale, but Schultz noted that Starbucks didn’t like the drink.) Despite the hurdle of introducing Frappuccinos (and blenders) to the 550 existing Starbucks stores, the Frappuccino was immediately a hit with customers. In 1996, Schultz notes in his book, the first full fiscal year the Frappuccino was sold, Starbucks sold more than $52 million worth of the drinks. It was even named one of the best products of the year by Businessweek. What’s crazy to think is just how Schultz and the Starbucks team brought the Frappuccino to existence (Schultz writes in the book, "I was wrong, and I was delighted about it"). He writes: "Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this story is that we didn’t do any heavy-duty financial analysis on Frappuccino beforehand… No corporate bureaucracy stood in the way of the Frappuccino. It was a totally entrepreneurial project, and it flourished with a Starbucks that was no longer a small company. Even when I doubted it, it went ahead." We now know who to thank for such a drink (even if they’re, well, making it harder to fit into our summer swimsuits). Today, there are 17 Frappuccino flavors on the menu — but that’s just in the U.S. While Americans love their Caramel Frappuccinos (the number one selling Frappuccino in America), Starbucks customers across the globe have very different flavors to choose from. Most use local flavors and ingredients combined with the traditional Frappuccino coffee base that’s a staple in the Starbucks drink — and we sort of wish we could get our hands on them in the U.S. Click ahead to find the world’s most popular Frappuccino flavors, the flavors you’ve never heard of.

March 20, 2018

America’s top chain burgers

When you’re thinking inside the bun, when you deserve a break today, need to have it your way at a place where the fire’s ready, where you’re the boss and it’s your way, right away, what you want is what you get, and they love to see you smile, it’s a good time for the great taste. That’s right, face it, you need a fast-food hamburger. Maybe it’s one that takes two hands to hold. Perhaps it’s two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed bun. One thing is clear — if it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face. Whether it’s the best food for fast times, or you’re just loving it, there’s a time and a place for fast-food burgers, and at that moment, you don’t want to be wondering where’s the beef — you want one of America’s top 10 chain burgers. So what are they? Burger slogans aside, if you’re a burger snob in the mood for fast food, you likely won’t be screeching to the side of the road for any of the burgers served by the chains they represent unless it’s the only thing open. All the menu reinventions, commercials, and image rebranding by  McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and Carl’s Jr., doesn’t hide the fact that their burgers just aren’t very good. And it’s not as though good fast-food burgers can’t be made without prices being jacked to ridiculous heights. Sure, it may cost a bit more to make a better burger, but how much? And it’s not as though you’re going to expect a chain of Minetta Tavern quickie-marts serving $26 Black Label Burgers basted with clarified butter at rest-stops along the highway. A Double-Double at In-N-Out is what, $3.20? A double cheeseburger is $2.80 at McDonald’s? How many people would pay $0.40 more for an In-N-Out burger than one from McDonald’s? That’s one reason that recent years have seen the rise of burger chains like Five Guys, Umami, Smashburger, and Shake Shack that are doing better, higher-quality burgers. So surveying the fast-food playing field, which spots serve the bestburger? In the same way the best burgers are the burgers that established your essential burger knowledge, the criteria for your mind’s burger framework, your favorite fast-food burger may be regionally dictated. Maybe it’s In-N-Out because you grew up out West. Maybe it’s Whataburger because you grew up in Texas. These days, chains are spreading out and becoming increasingly less regional. That sets up potential fast-food showdowns where customers can evaluate their favorites against those they’d traditionally have had to travel to try. A national fast-food burger pecking order has never been closer to being established by Americans who don’t have to leave home, or go farther than nearby states to be the judge of who makes a better burger. Establishing this pecking order, a list of America’s Top 10 Chain Burgers was done as part of The Daily Meal’s 2013 report to establish a list of the 40 Best Burgers in America. Because of America’s great love for this simple sandwich, and the expertise that has been developed in making them truly great, it was a huge task to narrow America’s most iconic food, the hamburger, to a select group. We searched for burgers in both small towns and big cities, examined local and national best-of lists both in print and online, and reached out to a group of some of America’s foremost burger experts to collect a list of national and local favorites, icons and ideals that were voted on by an expert panel to come up with a list truly that represents a pantheon of burger heroes. To give even the smallest burger joint its fair shake, chains with 15 or more locations weren’t included in that list, but in their own for The Daily Meal’s esteemed panelists to vote on. Burger King, Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, and the other cookie-cutter spots along the highway — while nice things can be said about their onion rings, Frostys, french fries and Blizzards — were not considered for this category. For the chains that were considered, the quintessential, or signature burger from each was evaluated. The results were interesting. It’s likely that people from the West Coast will be outraged by the burger that edged theirs out for top billing. They can take consolation in the fact that it was a close call; voting was neck and neck, with the winner edging out the second placeburger by less than 5 percentage points. It’s a result that could be mirrored in the minds of the general population out West after the planned 2014 expansion of one burger chain on this list. Whataburger, Umami Burger, Five Guys — they’re all there, joined by the relative upstart of the crew, Iron Chef Bobby Flay’s Bobby’s Burger Palace. The truth is that wherever these burgers ended up on this list, you can trust that they’re a step above the rest, fast-food burgers worth eating.

March 20, 2018

Summer’s healthiest and unhealthiest coffee beverages

As summer approaches at a rapid rate, many of us are carefully watching what we eat, but what about what we're drinking? Everyone appreciates a nice morning caffeine buzz in the form of an icy coffee drink, but unfortunately, many of us are blind to the fat, sugar, and high caloric content of these drinks. Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. Most venues will promote their new sugary additions to the menu because they may be more summery or outlandish, but there are a few of rules of thumb that will help you avoid unwanted fat and sugar when ordering your iced coffee at your favorite restaurant or coffee joint. For one, we know whipped cream, flavored syrups, and crazy toppings like drizzles or cookie crumbles will add on calories and fat. Plus, they take away from the coffee’s flavor, and isn’t that the real reason you’re ordering your beverage anyway? Also, buzzwords like "chill," "lotta," "supreme," and "blast," can almost guarantee that your drink will contain more sugar and calories than you want to ingest. That iced drink isn’t going to be any colder by adding "frozen" into the name, but you can almost certainly bet it will be unhealthy. Not all hope is lost, though — you can still find plenty of cold coffee treats to satisfy your cravings without busting your diet. We did some research and found out everything you need to know about your favorite restaurants and the summery coffee drinks they offer. By taking a good look at the calories, grams of fat, and sugar content in each medium-sized beverage, we were able to find the best, the worst, and the downright craziest drinks for you to enjoy — or avoid — this summer.

March 20, 2018

How to eat healthy at 16 fast-food chains

When you’re trying to eat healthy, a fast-food restaurant doesn’t exactly seem like a great dining option. Burgers, fries, and milkshakes probably aren’t your best bet if you’re on a diet. But over the past several years, fast-food chains have taken major strides to offer menu selections that are decidedly healthy. So when we’re hungry and have nowhere else to turn, a quick study of the menu board at these fast-food destinations can show that it’s not all so terrible after all. Right off the bat, it would seem that the burger joints would have the least healthy options, but there are some items that, surprisingly, aren't filled with bad ingredients and tons of calories. You're never going to mistake these spots for a wheatgrass bar, but in a pinch you can get out of there with minimal grease. Salads may seem the obvious choice, but aren't very healthy if loaded with breaded, fried chicken chunks, and creamy dressings. And keep in mind that while some sandwiches and entrées are healthier, that's often without the add-ons that boost flavor appeal. But the healthy choices don't have to be completely bland: When possible, ask for dressings, sauces, and condiments on the side so you can control the amount put on. And don't rule out combos completely — a combo of two items can be good, as long as the total intake doesn't end up being more than one unhealthy item. Lean toward items with vegetables, and though they're often hard to find at these places, vegetarian items when possible. These dishes are usually more health-friendly, they're nutritionally adequate, and they're usually not (as) steeped in grease. And if items are offered grilled or steamed, those are obviously a better option than their fried counterparts. Aside from meals, beverage and dessert choices can also be made healthier. Of course soda is the mainstay beverage of fast-food counters, but it's easy enough to get water or unsweetened iced tea; add lemon to them if available. If you're watching your weight, you may be skipping dessert, but it's nice to have options if you've got a sweet craving. And even the fastest of fast-food places offer a fruit option; we won't pretend that it'll be as fun as a giant shake or sundae, but at least we have more choices now. Nearly every fast-food chain posts nutritional information on their websites and makes it available at their restaurants, so be sure to take a quick look if you want to get the inside scoop on what you're eating. We checked out the nutrition information for just about all of the leading fast-food brands in search of the healthiest items on their menus. Read on to learn what we discovered.

March 20, 2018

Surprising origins of the 10 biggest chain restaurants

It’s not easy to run a restaurant. It’s even more difficult to run a chain restaurant. For one, you need to serve food that people will want to eat, all across the region, country, or world. Then you need to keep the menu fresh and up-to-date, all while making sure that every single dish in every single location looks and tastes exactly the same. And after all of that’s been done, you need to launch marketing and advertising campaigns to fill the seats, and figure out what’s going wrong if they’re not getting filled. To repeat, it’s not easy to run a successful chain restaurant. Chain restaurants as we know them today only came about within the past 30 or so years, largely because that genre of restaurant, called fast casual, is only about that old. There were plenty of hamburger chains and diner chains dating back to the 1950s, but the whole concept of going to a casual restaurant with your family, having a beer and ordering inexpensive food that makes everyone happy, and leaving with a doggie bag is still remarkably new. In fact, when Larry Lavine opened the first Chili’s in 1975 in Dallas, people lined up around the block on a daily basis just to eat a bowl of chili and drink a margarita. In many cases, the origins of today’s most popular chain restaurants aren’t exactly what you might expect. Many of them had different names when they were founded, as well as different menus and concepts. With the exception of Olive Garden, which was invented by General Mills as opposed to a single lucky entrepreneur, most of the big chains got their start when someone opened up a restaurant that just happened to do really, really well. And if it happened to fall into that new style of fast casual dining, wealthy investors were waiting around every corner during the '70s and '80s to take advantage of this newest dining trend. Once a chain restaurant is well-funded and its concept and menu are fully in place, it’s amazing how quickly it can spread. Panera Bread, one of the youngest major chains, only got its start 20 years ago, but today there are more than 1,600 units and it’s rapidly growing. Whether it’s an Australian-themed steakhouse, an inexpensive wing joint, or a New England-style seafood restaurant, these chains are known and patronized by millions and millions of Americans, and they all have really interesting backstories.  

March 20, 2018

America's most expensive diner food

When we’re feeling a little flush, we’ll maybe bypass really crappy local takeout in favor of a slightly less crappy local takeout. Anyway, it turns out, some people are more than willing to splash a little cash around, not just on fancy dinners, but on diner food. We guess that eating huge piles of gold just isn’t as tasty as a slice. Here are 5 of the country’s most ludicrously overpriced (and not very good for you) meals.

March 20, 2018

Ridiculous restaurant commercials from the 1980s

Unless you’re a chain restaurant with a big marketing budget, odds are you’re not going to be doing too much in the way of television advertising these days. Commercials for non-chain restaurants, for one reason or another, always come across as dated and a bit tacky, because — honestly — how many ways can you say, "Come eat at my restaurant, it looks nice and the steak is good!"? From red sauce joints all the way up to high-end steakhouses, modern restaurant commercials tend to be a staid, low-res affair, with upbeat jazz, a voice-over, maybe some smiling patrons, close-ups of the food, and a snappy motto. But once upon a time — in the 1980s, to be exact — restaurant commercials were an art form. Back in those halcyon, pre-Internet days, when airtime was cheap and people actually tuned into public access channels, the airwaves were flooded with restaurants strutting their stuff, trying to attract as many customers as possible in any way possible. And in the flashy 1980s, nothing succeeded quite like a big, flashy commercial (or a big, flashy anything, for that matter). While independent restaurants are certainly guilty of going a bit over the top (for example, a commercial for Brooklyn’s Roll-N-Roaster is so outrageous that it’s entered into the New York pop culture lexicon and is still airing more than 30 years later), chains weren’t exempt from getting in on the ridiculousness either. There’s one from Bob’s Big Boy that hits all the essential notes of the '80s: close-ups of questionably appealing-looking food, children smiling perhaps a bit too broadly, and a vaguely creepy mascot. But one from A&W takes things in a slightly more unintentionally menacing direction, with a giant bear conducting an invisible band, someone tearing a whole head of lettuce in half, and nonexistent adjectives like "LOTSY," "NUMMY," and "TREATY" flashing across the screen, all against a black background. The bear makes a brief reappearance at the end of the commercial, playing a tuba. It's safe to say a lot of weird and awkward things happened during the 1980s, these commercials included.

March 20, 2018

How to make Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme at home

Nothing sums up the deliciousness of a Taco Bell Crunchwrap Supreme more concisely than the love letter to it on the daily humor website McSweeney’s. All of the Crunchwrap’s beauty is perfectly summarized in that piece: the convenience of not having to choose between a soft or crunchy tortilla, the patches of sour cream randomly placed throughout it, and a creamy, indulgent nacho cheese sauce that is the ying to the meat’s yang. And it’s all wrapped together in a soft tortilla shell that makes it easy to enjoy one-handed without making a mess.   As one of the most successful products in the history of fast food (until that Doritos Locos Tacos came around), the Crunchwrap Supreme is loved by many because of its south-of-the-border flavors and ingenuity in design. Because it's shaped like a hexagon, the idea of calling it a "Mexagon" was once thrown around, but in the end the three words that perfectly describe it became its name: it’s got crunch, it’s a wrap, and it’s supreme in flavor. There are many reasons to make a Crunchwrap Supreme at home. It once was a limited-time item on Taco Bell’s menu, and the fear of ever losing it again is still something we hold on to almost every single day. At 540 calories and with 21 grams of fat, it’s no walk in the park for nutrition’s sake, but by making it at home you have more control over what is going in the dish. And lastly, it’s a fast-food item, and there are so many of us out there who can appreciate good taste, but aren’t always willing to line up at the drive-thru for it. And so it is for these reasons and probably even more that we’ve decided to take on the task of making a Crunchwrap Supreme at home. While the Irvine, Calif., company was unwilling to help us with our endeavor, we think we have been able to create a do-it-yourself recipe successfully for the home cook. We examined every aspect of the menu item, from the consistency of the meat and the spices used to flavor it to the wrap’s exact construction so that it upheld all of the same tastes, flavors, and ease-of-eating qualities that the store-bought one has. We even added a few additions of our own (like enjoying it with taco sauce), to make it special, unique, and — most importantly — homemade. They can’t blame us for copying them; they’re the ones who told us to think outside the box (or is it bun?).

March 20, 2018

America's best hot dogs

The hot dog is one of the few foods that’s nearly impossible to screw up. You heat it through, tuck it into a bun, squirt on some mustard, and call it lunch. But there’s a big difference between not screwing something up and turning it into a paradigm-shifting, transcendental dining experience. And there are lots of hot dog stands, restaurants, and drive-ins out there that have the power to change your life. The perennial grill mate to hamburgers, the hot dog sometimes gets the short end of the stick, charring at the back of the grill while juicy burgers are snatched up as soon as they hit the right temperature. But there’s a science, if not an art form, behind constructing the perfect hot-dog-eating experience. That experience was introduced more than 100 years ago, when German immigrants first brought over their frankfurters and started selling them on the cheap at amusement centers like Coney Island, arguably ground zero for American hot dog consumption. Charles Feltman is widely considered to be the first person to have applied hot dog to bun, in order to avoid needing to supply plates and silverware to customers at his sprawling Coney Island restaurant. Employee Nathan Handwerker opened his own hot dog stand a few blocks away in 1916 and sold them for less than Feltman, and became wildly popular (and remains so to this day). The hot dog diaspora then began to take on a life of its own, as people began developing their own spice mixes and making their own hot dogs, and every region and group of people soon put its unique stamp on the snack. Greek immigrants in Michigan concocted a cinnamon-rich beef chili that came to be known as Coney sauce, but it has nothing to do with Coney Island, while ‘michigans’ are big in Upstate New York but have nothing to do with the state. In Chicago they top all-beef dogs with mustard, fresh tomatoes, onions, sport peppers, bright green relish, dill pickles, and celery salt. Spicy Texas Red Hots are popular in New Jersey, but not in Texas, and the uncured, unsmoked White Hot is popular in upstate New York. And the regional variations go on and on. According to a recent study by GrubHub, the country’s most popular hot dog topping is cheese, followed by chili, mustard, onion, and Chicago-style. Ketchup is further down on the list, and, surprisingly, sauerkraut is down towards the bottom.   On our quest to find America’s best hot dogs, we kept an eye out for drive-ins, restaurants, and roadside stands with a definitive style of hot dog and topping, one which embodies not only the region’s quirks but the particular tastes and culinary traditions of its people. We judged these hot dogs based on several criteria: the quality of the ingredients (sourcing the franks from well-known regional producers and using fresh-chopped onions, for example), the entire hot dog-eating experience, from driving up to placing your order to taking that first bite, as well as reputation among professional critics and online reviewers. In order to be included in our list, the vendor needed to have a trademark dog, with toppings that are unique and renowned. For example, Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C. doesn’t just have a trademark frank (the half-smoke), it has a trademark topping (chili), is well-regarded by locals and professional eaters alike, and eating there is a memorable experience unto itself. For those reasons, it’s high on our list. Sadly, there were some popular favorites that didn’t make the cut. While Lafayette Coney Island in Detroit ranks high, its modernized neighbor, American Coney Island, didn’t, because it lost much of its charm in the renovation. And while the pretzel dog at chain Auntie Anne’s has its loyal devotees, the experience isn’t exactly sublime. Our list runs the gamut from ancient stands that have been serving the same exact product day in and day out for decades to gastropubs putting their unique stamp on the hot dog to a place where people wait in line for more than an hour for one topped with foie gras. There’s one constant thread between them, though: they’re the country’s best.

March 20, 2018

America's top tater tots

There’s something magical about the humble Tater Tot. Some might even argue that it’s the perfect food: bite-size, salty, crispy, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, greasy but not overly oily, and a great vessel for just about any topping. Its abundant nooks and crannies allow for nearly limitless surface area (aka more crunch) and it boasts a pillowy interior that french fries can only hope to emulate — let’s just say there are many reasons why it’s one of our favorite childhood foods. "Tater Tot" is actually a registered trademark of Ore-Ida, the company that invented them in 1953. Founders F. Nephi and Golden Grigg (great names) found themselves with an excess of potato scraps after making french fries, and were sick of selling them off for a pittance as animal feed. So they chopped them up, added in some flour and other seasonings, and then sent the whole mess through an extruder and into the deep-fryer. And a legend was born. Tots straight out of the deep-fryer are certainly a wonder to behold (as many a cafeteria worker can attest), but one thing that makes tots great is their versatility. They can be eaten plain, sure, but why not top them with, say, pulled pork? In today’s no-holds-barred, the-fattier-the-better foodiverse, tots have taken off, most likely because not only does the humble processed spud serve as a great vessel for all types of toppings, it also takes us back to a simpler time, when all we needed to be happy was something deep-fried and delicious (come to think of it, that still applies). Recently, tots have been making their way onto menus, and in a big way. Plenty of bars and restaurants are topping their tots with some unbelievable stuff, and even high-end places like Bar Boulud in New York City and The Aviary in Chicago offer highbrow versions of this lowbrow treat. We’ve tracked down the best tots in the country, from pub grub utopia to fine dining whimsy, and ranked them accordingly. While some are made in-house, others are simply fried to perfection and topped with something great. The main criteria? All these tots hit that spot that only the perfect tot can hit. So loosen your belt, and read on for our list of the country's top tots.