Take a bite out of this custom guitar. The texture is definitely hard and, if you bite vigorously enough, crunchy! Moe’s Southwest Grill is conducting Quesopalooza, a special day on which its restaurants will offer free cups of its tasty queso dip. To promote the event, the company commissioned Atlanta Props to make this fully functional electric guitar that looks like a giant tortilla chip—because it actually is!
Chris Durso of Foodiggity lays it out bluntly:
Sorry, jelly. Your reign as the ultimate donut-stuffing has come to an end. There’s always your complementary role within a PB&J, and whatever other work we can find for you now. Stay strong.
I would have been more gentle than that, but . . yeah. Jelly, your time is up. Clean out your office. Chef Thaigo Silva of Catch NYC has replaced the traditional donut filling with an entire cinnamon roll.
(Jelly, you can use me as a reference. Not sure about Chris, though. I wouldn't chance it.)
(Image credit: Darius Williams via Facebook)
A few days ago, Miss C brought you a treat that looked like a KFC dinner but was actually all cake. Now here's the opposite kind of delicious snack -one that looks like cake but is actually a whole dinner.
(Image credit: Bree Miller via Instagram)
Aside from the mashed potatoes, gravy and chicken visible on the completed masterpiece, these fanciful feasts also include fillings like collard greens, macaroni and cheese, and candied yams. And yes, that was a plural because more than one person has cooked up one of these fanciful concoctions.
The upper cake is a collard green and cornbread cake by Darius Williams of Darius Cooks. The recipe is in his cookbook Stories from My Grandmother’s Kitchen. The bottom cake is by Bree Miller of Bree’s Cakes. She tells us a little about it at Instagram.
Via Little Things
Moving clockwise, that's Pikachu from Pokémon, Umaru Doma from Himouto! Umaru-chan, and Yuki Takeya from School-Live! La Ricetta, a restaurant in Zama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, makes artistic pancakes that are so realistic that they look nearly photographic. Or, in these cases, animated. The restaurant specializes in anime characters, so order one of your favorite character and eat it--or frame it!
You can see videos on La Ricetta's twitter feed illustrating how its chefs compose these masterpieces. They draw the image in reverse with thin strands of batter, then fill in the interiors, frying at variable times in order to show contrast.
-via Twisted Sifter
My daughter made a pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting last week that was so rich that you had to cut the slices very thin. Yet it was gone in a day. That pumpkin/cinnamon/ginger combination makes a variety of foods taste like autumn, from breakfast rolls to dessert. With cream cheese? Yes, I’ll take two. You might prefer adding the taste of peanut butter, Nutella, Oreos, chai, rum, gingersnaps, yogurt, cocoanut, or chocolate. Pictured here are Pumpkin Chai Cupcakes from Baking a Moment. The other twenty recipes are linked at Buzzfeed.
(Image credit: Baking a Moment)
Australian baker Branka Njegich baked a few cakes and fashioned them into exact replicas of Kentucky Fried Chicken products. The only part of this spread that isn’t edible are the boxes and the soda can. These savory foods are made of sweet cake, fondant, buttercream frosting, and candy. The corn on the cob is made of jellybeans and melted Starburst candies. See more of Njegich's clever cake creations at Instagram. -via Buzzfeed
The Big Lebowski
There's nothing like something sweet and delicious with which to celebrate one's fandom. This collection of cakes based on popular films would please franchise fans young and old. While they are winning concepts on which to create great themed parties, these pleasing pastries are just as cool standing alone.
See more great movie-themed cakes here.
E.T.
Rocky Horror Picture Show
Gremlins
P.F. Chang's Orange Chicken
Not everyone has the time and money to go to their restaurant of choice when hit with a craving for one of their dishes. It can be a money saver in the long run to learn to approximate some of your favorite restaurant fare at home.
This article lists eleven "hacked" recipes for popular restaurant chicken dishes. Take your pick and serve up something fun for the kids. Or better yet, treat your date, partner or spouse to something restaurant quality while keeping the par-tay at home.
We love some crazy foods here at Neatorama, but I think even John would balk at some of the crazy fast food options available at restaurants around the globe. This TopTenz article featuring some of he most outrageous creations out there -like the questionable lobster burger and lobster and caviar sandwiches above that are from Wendy's Japan.
And if you think KFC's Double Down is crazy, just wait until you see the hot dog versions available in the Philippines that features cheese, honey mustard and a chicken and cheese hot dog all sandwiched in a fried chicken "bun." Then again, as crazy as this is, I expect to see it hit American stores any time now.
Reese's stuffed Oreos | Image and recipe: littlebitfunky.com
We've all been there. You're tired and it's been a long day, but tell that to your brain, which is insistent on something sweet... and not just something run o' the mill. What force will win? The lazy is strong. But so is the sweet craving. Maybe there are some solutions in this list of 18 sweet treats fit for the lazy. Have your cake and stay slackin'. It's the American way.
Teddy Graham s'mores | Image and recipe: pizzazzerie.com
Toasted Ravioli | Image: Timothy Boyd
Everyone has their food favorites, but do you know where and how the recipe originated? Sometimes we eat foods in our own corners of the world and are surprised when they are nowhere to be found when we travel. Conversely, we may be on vacation and stumble upon a delicious dish that we are unable to forget. The linked article mentions a number of beloved foods and explains their origins.
One of those foods is toasted ravioli. The delicious, slightly crunchy yet soft and chewy outside has a flavorful filling of beef, cheese, spinach/artichoke or whatever is desired. Toasted ravioli originated in St. Louis, Missouri, specifically at Blueberry Hill, a lively restaurant and bar that often features live bands. As the origin story goes, a cook at the establishment "accidentally" dropped ravioli into a deep fryer instead of hot water. Whether it was an accident or not, the outcome was savory.
Learn about the origins of more iconic dishes here.
Did you know last Saturday was International Bacon Day? You would have if you went to the San Diego Baconfest that we previously wrote about. While they didn't feature any of the utterly insane bacon treats we wrote about a few weeks back, there were certainly some that could match them. Here's my account of the magical even that was Baconfest.
Upon entertaining the event, we were greeted by sampling booths by Hormel's Black Label Bacon -the event's biggest sponsor. While their bacon is good (particularly the jalapeno bacon that strangely tastes a bit like beef jerky), it was still the weakest part of the festival -even if you could just get handfuls of plain bacon to munch on. After all, if there's one thing better than bacon, it's bacon with other yumminess.
The festival was a lot bigger than I expected it to be -and a lot more crowded. In fact, it actually sold out the morning before the event. Even with the long lines though, there was still plenty of bacony goodness for all. My friend even figured out that there was something like 40 food and beer vendors.
Of course, even with all those vendors and lines, not everyone could be popular. While there's nothing wrong with the idea of having fresh organic fruits and vegetables delivered to your door, a festival dedicated to greasy, cholesterol-filled meat might not be the best place to advertise it.
One of the first bacon treats we encountered was actually one of our group's favorites from the whole event. The maple bourbon bacon stick was actually a thick slab of pork belly with a maple bacon sauce over it. It was heaven on a stick.
Rocket News 24 tells us that creating 3d character bread loaves is becoming very popular on Japanese Instagram. Disney, Moomin, and Studio Ghibli characters are popping up, fresh out of the oven. In Japanese, they're called "chigiri-pan." Those featured in this post are by Instagram user @umi0407, who is amazingly skilled at the craft.
Image: Redditor Cheez4444
Dear reader, I know you were sitting around anxiously awaiting information regarding the latest entry on the fast food wars menu. Well, wait no longer. Taco Bell would like to introduce their strong-stomached customers to fried chicken taco shells, which they refer to as Naked Crispy Chicken Tacos.
According to FoodBeast, the only known locations serving this rare, crispy unicorn are Lost Hills and Bakersville, California. I can imagine an entire country of fast foodies on edge as they wait for extensive U.S. distribution. Via Uproxx
Image: Jonny Arguello, Foodbeast
Mark Rober taught us how to make a watermelon smoothie a couple of years ago. Now he’s got a neat watermelon party trick to impress everyone at this year’s Labor Day picnic.
I would add that it would behoove you to carry that watermelon in a cooler, tub, or at least put plastic under it until you get to the picnic, because it’s liable to leak a bit. And Mark, that potato salad would have been eaten up, and fast, if you had remembered to put mustard in it. -via Digg
See also: more from Mark Rober.
