Banquet Cheesy Rice and Chicken - Deal of the Day

Banquet is moving into the 21st Century with this light and tasty entree, Cheesy Rice and Chicken. On my rotating cheap office lunch menu is their Salisbury Steak and Turkey Dinner (click on the names to see my Deal of the Day review/ratings.) While these meals are not the best, the price is right at 99.99 cents (okay, one dollar.) But this turned out not to be the Banquet Deal of the Day I was dreading.

While frozen dinners were first introduced by the airlines in the 1940's, Banquet's competitor, Swanson, mass marketed them first in the 1950's. Banquet followed quickly.

When I saw the Banquet package it looked cooler that their typical boring packaging - pastel colors instead of garish bright red. The big "new" on the package was the main draw for me - I'm used to Banquet's same old, same old.

The ingredient list is short, compared to their old school frozen dinners. And the serving size is a couple ounces less than the above mentioned meals. Plus, I was still expecting an over-processed entree.

It's a small meal in one bowl - just rice, chicken, broccoli and cheese sauce. I micowaved it according to the directions. After mixing the hot ingredients together, I took a bite. Surprise, surprise, it tasted delish!

You first taste the cheese sauce. While cheddar cheese is listed in the ingredients, it was too mild - more like American cheese. This is fine, but if you are going to advertise cheddar, then make it sharper. That is a small quibble though. There is a good amount and it is satisfying.

You also get a decent amount of plump white rice and it's not mushy. Banquet does a good job on the rice.

You get plenty of broccoli, although it's mainly stem pieces, which I like. They were not overcooked; there was some texture left. I noticed pieces of floret, but those fell apart when I mixed the bowl. I would have preferred larger florets. But the taste was fresh frozen, so no real complaints here.

But the biggest surprise was the inclusion of real chicken breast - not processed cubes of chicken baloney, like I expected. You could actually shred it apart. Now the chopped pieces were small and the amount was miniscule, but, hey, what do you expect for a buck?

While the serving size is small the flavors are big. Overall I was quite impressed - it makes a light lunch.

So on The 99 Cent Chef's Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, I give Banquet's Cheesy Rice and Chicken Deal of the Day a 7! I look forward to more tasty bowls that Banquet comes up with, and I will definitely be adding this to my office lunch menu, . Check back and I'll let you know how Banquet's new designer bowls rate.

Cheap$kate Dining Video - McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Friday

The Penny-Pinching Cafe Critic dives deep into the fast-food waters and takes a bite out of McDonald's popular fish sandwich, the Filet-O-Fish.

Now, I'm not above eating a giant fast-food chain's meal from time to time, unlike local food newspaper critics whose taste buds have been so elevated as to be out of touch, like this condescending review by LA Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila's of a McDonald's Premium Wrap (a portion of the article's title says it all "Fast Food Virgin") just click here to read the tasteless prose describing the zombie-like clientele and food. Hey, if you can get a paid-for gig eating the cream of the crop, power to you, but don't look down on the palates of the pay-your-own-way teaming masses. That's right, I'm defending fast food cuisine, so read on to have your taste buds corrupted. (And check out my Cheap$kate Dining video review at end of this post.)

The price is right at $1.59 (plus tax,) when McDonald's brings back the Filet-O-Fish Fridays special - that's practically half price! (In Los Angeles the sandwich is normally priced at $3.19, and a meal is $5.19.) I always look for a banner or window poster on the facade that announces it's return. The Friday Special usually lasts a month at a time and returns a couple of times a year. (Usually during the Christian days of Lent in March and April.) But those are plenty of days to get my deep-fried flaky fish fix.

I've always been a fan of the Filet-O-Fish. It's certainly small but has all the ingredients that make fast food so addictive and palate-pleasing: white bread carbs, processed cheese, creamy sauce, and a well-prepared filet of protein.

The fish fillet is usually made of pollock, not tilapia, as the server mentioned at the start of my video.

And it makes a satisfying first bite. The bun is okay, but it's what's inside that counts. The fish filet is flaky and moist and the crust is not too thick or oily from deep frying. The coating is well seasoned and crunchy. And the filet has a pleasing mild taste.

I like the creamy tartar sauce too. They give you a generous scoop for the sandwich. And the mayo/pickle/vinegar mixture is well balanced and tart.

My one complaint is the small landing strip of melted American cheese. It's almost an afterthought - a thicker or larger slice is needed for better balance.

So check out The Bottom Feeding Chef's latest Cheap$kate Dining video to see how McDonald's Filet-O-Fish weighs in on a scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best.

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish Friday - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 1 minute, 40 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

99 Thanks to Greg for shooting the Chef under the Santa Monica pier.

Homemade McDonalds McRib Sandwich

Perpetually on it's final tour, the Frankenfood pork sandwich, McRib, is celebrated and reviled at the same time when it's reintroduced once or twice a year by McDonald's. For the latest outre entree The 99 Cent Chef rides to the rescue for those (with Job's patience) who love them. Well, the wait is over -- here's a cheaper Homemade McRib Sandwich you can make anytime!

For my cheap work lunches $1 (or 99 cent) Banquet and other frozen dinners are on rotation. Sometimes it's Salisbury Steak, Cheese Enchiladas or Turkey Dinners (it's not every day, as I have healthier frozen dinners I also find on sale.) I've recently added their Boneless Pork Riblet Meal. It was only a matter of time until I placed the Pork Riblet with it's barbeque sauce between two slices of bread, adding chopped raw onion and a few pickle slices. It didn't take long to put two and two together -- well, those are the ingredients for the McDonald's McRib sandwich.

Yeah, I know it's a cheat, but it's a lot of trouble to ground a bunch of mystery pork scraps to form a McDonald's McRib patty, so The Slothful Chef is taking the easy but tasty route! 

A McRib is relatively inexpensive -- but not cheap enough for The Frugal Forager. A McDonald's McRib sandwich cost almost $3, but with my chintzy twist, you can make your own for less than half that price, after the initial investment for a package of steak rolls, an onion and a small jar of pickles, plus a few Banquet Boneless Pork Riblet Meals. (Another homemade fast food entree I've done is an Egg McMuffin, that's also cheaper than the original, just click here to see my recipe video post.)

I always find all these ingredients cheaply, especially onion, pickles and bread at local 99c only Stores. They don't always stock frozen Banquet meals, but my local big chain grocery stores do for around a dollar each.

A McRib patty is pale white like typical cooked pork (because of extra chemical bleaches and dyes?) while a Banquet Riblet is brown, and it's fine ground, with a little more texture than a hot dog. The Riblet patty is thin and about the same size as a McRib, but still large enough to fill a steak bread roll.

And the Banquet Riblet barbeque sauce is passable, slightly sweet with a typical smokey ketchup flavor. And as a bonus the Banquet meal comes with sides of mashed potatoes and corn -- so take that, McDonald's.

The corn is the best side with a fresh frozen kernel flavor -- much better than canned corn. I've never cared for their frozen mashed potatoes. It has the flavor and texture of  powdery dried and reconstituted boxed mashed potatoes -- mainly there to soak up the gravy or barbeque sauce that comes from the meat container part.

I guess the main question is how does the Banquet Riblet compare with a McRib pork patty? Well the porkiness of a McRib is superior. While not objectionable, the Banquet Riblet is mild in comparison (it's made from mechanically separated pork and chicken, plus soy protein.) And the advantage of making a Homemade McRib Sandwich is you can add as much barbeque sauce, chopped onion, and sliced pickle as you desire (plus anything else you like.)

Click on photo to read ingredients -- if you dare.

So, on my Deal of the Day and Cheap$kate Dining Scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, this Homemade McRib Sandwich  gets a 6. While my Homemade McRib Sandwich is inferior to McDonald's, it will tide you over until the real thing washes ashore once again. So, keep on reading to see how I make a Homemade McRib Sandwich.

Making a Homemade McRib Sandwich
Microwave or bake the Banquet Riblet Dinner according to directions. While it's heating up, chop some onion and get out 3 pickles slices, and a steak roll.

When the TV dinner is hot, carefully remove riblet and place inside the sliced steak dinner roll. The heated barbeque sauce amount is more than what you get on a McRib, so slather on as much as you like.

Finally top with chopped onion and pickle slices. And serve with the corn and mashed potato sides.

Oki-Dog Cheap$kate Dining Review - VIDEO

A culinary car crash of cultures, the Oki-Dog is a true representative of diverse Los Angeles. Combining the all-American fast food standbys of hot dogs, chili, and American cheese, with the Jewish deli classic pastrami, and wrapped in a Latin street food Mexican blanket of flour tortilla, the only thing missing is an Oriental twist. Well, the Oki-Dog fast food joint is still run by a Japanese Okinawan native, Sakai "Jimmy" Sueyoshi - so there you have it. (And at the end of this blog post is my Cheap$kate Dining video review for your viewing pleasure.)

Now, each ingredient may not be top-notch, but when brought together, the Oki-Dog is a tasty hot mess of a burrito, and not for the faint of palate. Oozing hot cheese and chili with each bite, the two grilled hot dogs have a welcome thin-skinned snap, and the thick-sliced pastrami brings it over the top with peppery, corned beef-cured flavor.

The ingredients are fried on a flat-top stove. There are heating bins that hold boiled hot dogs and chili. The Oki-Dog is a 2 tiered construction. In the outer tortilla fold is a wiener and all the pastrami.

The center of the burrito is stuffed with chili, cheese, and another wiener. I haven't had the appetite to try an Oki-Bomb (sauerkraut, pickles, and onions are added) but can only imagine how huge that would be.

It really shouldn't work, but it does. For just under 4 bucks, it's a substantial meal. If you can finish one with an order of fries, you are one  hardy eater or a teenager. My own wolfing-it-all-down days are over, so half of an Oki-Dog is just about right for me - that's no problem, as this veggieless entree heats up perfectly in a microwave for a second go-round.

Oki-Dog is now located on Fairfax Boulevard near Melrose Avenue (since 1983), down the street from my favorite cinema, the Silent  Movie Theater, and even closer to Fairfax High School (where alumni, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, attended back in the day). Many young and impressionable teens have had their taste buds corrupted here. But that is all part of Oki-Dog's long and checkered history; you can read all about it here.

Click on any photo to see larger.

Originally in West Hollywood at Vista Street on Santa Monica Boulevard, in the back pocket of Boys Town, Oki-Dog was the place to be and be seen by LA's punk rockers in the late 1970s (punk rock facebook) Hundreds of mohawk-wearing, dyed, or shaved-headed, studded, safety-pinned, and ripped fishnet stocking-wearing kids would pack the joint at all hours of the night and early morning after punk rock shows. It's rumored to be the last place Darby Crash from the Germs hung out before he died - from the needle, not indigestion. A wild series of flyers of the punk rock scene in LA is here.

But don't let its history scare you off. The look of the place may be run-down, although I just consider it eccentric. All four walls are covered with enough flotsam and jetsam to fill a flea market, and the hand-lettered menu specials would make graphic designer and typographer Stefan Sagmeister envious. The clientele is all over the place, from high schoolers to too hip tourists, plus neighborhood old-timers playing video games. Oki-Dog could fit as a denizen's hangout from a novel by beatnik writer William Burroughs.

So what is The 99 Cent Chef's Cheap$kate Dining rating of 1 to 9, 9 being best for LA's famous Oki-Dog? Well, just check out my video below to find out. And be sure to stick around for the outrageous ending that features a 24-foot-tall "Bad Dog" sculpture by Richard Jackson!

World Famous Oki-Dog  - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 4 minutes, 19 seconds.

My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

And 99 thanks to Drew Redford for shooting the Chef.

Oki-Dog
860 N. Fairfax Ave.
Los Angeles, CA. 90046
Phone: 323) 655-4166
Website, click here.
Great Facebook page, click here.
Mon-Thur 8AM - 2AM, Fri-Sat 9AM - 3AM, Sun 9AM - 2AM

also on 5056 W. Pico Blvd.
Facebook link for info and hours: click here.

Video Small Plates - a Cheap$kate Storage Tip

This new series is a bunch of entertaining loose ends, first impressions, recipe tests, comedy sketches, fun outtakes, and video diary entries. Small Plates are just a few scraps that will eventually find their way into a full course video somewhere down the cooking line. 

The Cinematic Chef is improvisational by nature and sometimes it takes a while to figure out what to do with all my disparate culinary concepts.

The Video Small Plates series is just an appetizer. My blogposts can be over-stuffed with ad nauseam recipe prose, too many photos, long videos and jittery gifs. Your are now entering my culinary zen garden.

And it's just fun to make a simply shot video. Hopefully this video series will whet your appetite and keep you coming back for more of my easy to digest food antics.

A Cheap$kate Storage Tip  - VIDEO 

Play it here, video runs 41 seconds.

99 thanks to Pete Handleman for his camerawork.
My YouTube video link for viewing or embedding, just click here.

Cheap$kate Dining Video - KFC's Chicken Littles Sandwich

A chicken sandwich for less than a buck-fifty shouldn't taste this good. But KFC's Chicken Littles sandwich has a pedigree: it was first introduced over 20 years ago. Honestly I don't remember ever having one, but I suspect it was a larger sandwich. The present-day Chicken Littles sandwich is more like a slider -- it's small but still packs a lot of flavor.

If you were here last week then you saw my video review of Top Chef Master Ludo Lefebvre's fried Chicken Tenders from his Ludo Truck. Not the best bite, but just okay -- I thought Ludo could learn a seasoning lesson from the real masters of fried chicken, KFC. So here is my Cheap$kate Dining video review, which is at the end of this post.

The Chicken Littles sandwich is made using KFC's Extra Crispy recipe, not their Original one (which I prefer,) and the fillet is white breast meat. The coating is well seasoned, although, like all fast food, on the over-salted side. While the chicken tender is not freshly fried, the white meat is still moist and tender.

Like a stripped-down classic car in primer, there is no fancy pinstriping -- the presentation is simple: just a small hot dog-like dinner roll with a bit of mayo and a couple of pickle slices for a buck twenty-nine, plus tax. That's it.

If you have enjoyed KFC's Snackers sandwich (I made a PSA comedy video featuring one, here,) this is for you. Chicken Littles use plain tasting mayo, while Snackers had a spicier black pepper mayo, plus shredded lettuce.

For a tasty bite when you're on the go, I can recommend this sandwich. To see my Cheap$kate Dining rating of 1 to 9, 9 being best, just play the video below.

KFC's Chicken Littles Sandwich - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 1 minute, 30 seconds.

99 thanks to Bob McGuinness for his camerawork.
To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Ludo Truck Chicken Strips & French Fries - Cheap$kate Video Review

Bland Chicken Strips from Top Chef star Ludo Lefebvre? Say it ain't so, but when compared to KFC and Popeye's Fried Chicken, the Ludo Truck's Chicken Strips are just second banana. Fried chicken, when done right, has moist meat, with a brightly seasoned crunchy coating. While Ludo's Chicken Strips meet the first requirement, it falls short on the seasoned coating. Chicken Strips start with a handicap -- the skin is usually removed, so the crust has to be exceptional.

Every order is fresh fried which is a big plus. Each nice sized meaty fillet is as good as white meat chicken can be. And the finished product is surprisingly non-greasy for being deep-fried. But the coating is all black pepper with none of the spices that make other fast food chicken so addictive. So you end up with the raw flour taste front and center.

Ludo needs to bone up on Southern fried chicken seasonings, especially if Chicken Strips are your main featured menu item -- or take your fried chicken in a more original and delicious direction.

Now the white meat tenders are moist, and is a generous portion, even at $5.50 for two. While the coating is crunchy enough and not objectionable, it's just bland and boring. I expect more from a Top Chef contestant.

Chef Ludo has stepped into the too deep end of the fried chicken pool. He should visit more South L.A. Soul Food restaurants and take notes on the crunchy skin of Popey'es Fried Chicken. Even KFC's Original soggy coating is loaded with flavorful seasonings. For local purveyors of fried poultry there's lightly coated Dinah's Fried Chicken (my review here), big crusted Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles, or uncoated and succulent Korean fried chicken from KyoChon. These are chicken recipes that have reached fryer perfection.

On the plus side I enjoyed the dipping sauces of super hot Spicy Mayo and lemony Bearnaise. They were so creamy good I used my fries to mop it all up.

The another item I have tried from Ludo Truck is the French Fries -- and I hate to say it, but no improvement here.

You would think French Fries from Frenchman Ludo Lefebvre would be a slam dunk, but they are more like a tiresome foul shot. These fries are limp and under-seasoned. Maybe because I am more of a Belgian double-fried crispy fries type (Chef Ludo, you can checkout my recipe video for a better French fry by clicking here.) The Ludo Truck fries are fresh and thick cut, but again they are just okay. Almost any fast food burger joint makes better fries, even from frozen pre-cut spuds.

Hey, I have no beef with Chef Ludo, I enjoy his TV show appearances, the culinary prowess he displays and his fiery French temperament. But I know cheap dining and Ludo Truck's Chicken Strips and French Fries need to be improved for a return visit from this Bottom Feeding Chef. 

Chef Ludo Lefebvre

There is a glut of food trucking going on in L.A. and most are overpriced and gimmicky. I've done other food truck videos that show how to make delish cuisine served on four wheels -- just click on any name to see what I mean: Night & Day with the Kogi Truck, A Rainy Day at the Nom Nom Truck, Tacos Leo, El Sabroso Fish Tostada Truck, Border Grill Truck, and El Pique Taco Truck.

The Ludo Truck also sells Chicken Wings and Boneless Chicken Thighs. I recently tried the Chicken Wings, which I prefer over the Chicken Strips. Three large uncoated wings are deep fried and come slathered in a sweet garlic sauce. The wings are fried perfectly, and like dark meat are moist and tender.

The only criticism would be the sweet garlic sauce overkill, especially if you are going back to work after lunch -- the garlic pieces keep on giving... for hours. Chef Ludo's Chicken Wing sauce is similar to a typical Oriental egg roll dipping sauce, but loaded with garlic -- a little too sweet, but still quite tasty (click here for video of Chef Ludo making wings.)

Every time I've been to the Ludo Truck they are out of  Boneless Chicken Thighs. I'll update this post if I ever get to try them.

So check out my Cheap$kate Dining Video below to see the rating of 1 to 9, 9 being best. And the last shot of my Cheap$kate Dining video review features an outrageous ending where foul-mouthed Chef Ludo gets in the last word!

(Next up I'll be Cheap$kate reviewing KFC's Chicken Little Sandwich for comparison -- that's also made with a chicken tender. So hopefully Chef Ludo will check in for my video review next week, to see how it's done better.)

Ludo Truck Fried Chicken Strips & French Fries - VIDEO

Play it here, video runs 3 minutes, 18 seconds.

99 thanks to my neighbor Pete for his camerawork.
To view or embed from YouTube, click here.

Extra 99 thanks to the cooks and order takers on Ludo Truck. The food was well presented and everyone was quite pleasant. I saw many diners enjoying their chicken, so don't let my review cause pause -- give them a try and decide for yourself. Chef Ludo's Chicken Strips and French Fries are fine for fast food dining.

Jack in the Box 99 Cent Tacos - Cheap$kate Dining Video Review

The Provocateur d'Epicure is back with another video that's part of my Taco Month series. This is a cautionary taco tale. Yeah, knocking Jack in the Box's 2 Tacos for 99 Cents is too easy, especially living in Los Angeles, the capital of the taco. But I can't allow this fast food joint to soil the reputation of our most humble and quintessential Mexican street food classic. (The Cheap$kate Dining review video is at the bottom of this blogpost, which offers my most outre denouement yet.)

Now, I like gringo-style Mexican tacos. I've had my share of crunchy shelled Taco Bell and Del Taco ones. Their serviceable versions go down fine for drive-thru dining. Mitla Café, in San Bernadino, is believed to have first developed the hard-shell Americanized version: spiced ground beef topped with lettuce, tomato and shredded American cheese. Glen Bell operated a hamburger stand nearby and copied this recipe when he launched Taco Bell in 1962 in Downey, California.

For my own fast food version, using low-fat and cheaper ground poultry, (of course, you can use ground beef,) just click here to see the recipe.

I've been working right around the corner from a Jack in the Box in Santa Monica, and have dined on their 99 cent Chicken Sandwich and Jr Jack (for just over a dollar) every month or so, but I have to draw the line on the 2 Tacos for 99 Cents from their Value Menu. It's been years since I had one and now I remember why.

I guess you could say I really decided to get Jack in the Box's tacos to test the limits of my new video series, Cheap$kate Dining. The rating system is 1 to 9, 9 being best -- with any entree that's rated 5 or higher worth a try. There is an upcoming Cheap$kate Dining episode that will rate a perfect 9, so keep checking back. And now I have one that rates near the bottom.

After paying 99 cents (plus tax) I bellied up to the counter and noticed the cook with a fry basket tray holding a row of folded meat-filled tortillas that she dunked into a vat of hot oil -- not a good start..

I made sure to load up the to-go bag with taco sauce, just in case. Back in the office dining room I unwrapped one taco and dug in. The first thing you hit is the crunchy shell, then soothing American cheese and shredded lettuce -- not a bad start. With the second bite I got to the meat of the problem.

The middle of the taco was soggy from the mushy protein mixture. Unlike other American-style tacos with real gound meat, this version had no textrure - it was just a beef-flavored paste slathered with a bland taco sauce. (I found out later that the 99 Cent Tacos are a mixture of beef and soy - which is fine, expect that the tast is off.)

Well, the best thing I can say is you do get 2 Tacos for 99 Cents, but that is also the problem. Now I had to finish the second one -- good thing I packed extra taco sauce!

Things did not get better. Compared to Taco Bell or Del Taco, Jack in the Box's are scraping the bottom of the fast food barrel. But perusing some of the comments on my YouTube channel (click here to read them) they are liked. (No problem with that, we all have our guilty pleasures - one of mine is McDonalds Filet-O-Fish sandwiches; especially when they go on sale during File-O-Fish Fridays.)

You can probably guess the number grade I give Jack in the Box's 2 Tacos for 99 Cents. So, on a scale of 1 to 9, 9 being best, the tacos rate a... well, you will have to watch my video below for the rating during the wacky ending -- I think you will get a kick out of it!

 Jack in the Box 99 Cent Taco - VIDEO 

Play it here, video runs 2 minutes, 22 seconds.

99 thanks to Chad Reder for his camerawork.
To view or embed from YouTube, click here.