nom (n.) The sound made when eating something (or someone). Can be referred to as "nomming" as a verb, and is often pronounced in the sentence "om nom nom".
-Urban Dictionary
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 KFC for the Cure  KFC Double Down From now until May 23, KFC is donating 50 cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure for each bucket of chicken sold. The ultimate goal is to raise $8.5 million. You can also donate to The Cure here.
In other news, KFC recently announced a new sandwich, the Double Down – “so meaty, there’s no room for a bun.” Between two pieces of chicken, you have bacon, cheese, and sauce. The sandwich contains 540 calories, 32g of fat, and 1380mg of sodium – Whoah! So in addition to helping fight cancer, the Colonel is peddling foods that increase the risk of all sorts of health problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Hypocrisy?
My advice: Skip the chicken and go donate anyway.
You may have seen my previous post on Pizza Hut vs Dominoes. After watching the polls for a bit, it’s clear that Pizza Hut (PH) is the victor, for now. For some reason, I keep getting the ‘Pizza Hut Combination Taco Bell’ by Das Racist stuck in my head.
So what makes Pizza Hut so good? Well, I broke it down into a few categories.
Crust
Two words. Stuffed crust. Pizza Hut’s stuffed crust is actually amazing, but not for the weak-hearted. I generally find that the crust also makes for an awesome breadstick to dip in marinara. Domino’s actually has a new crust recipe, and they brush it with a garlic-butter before it arrives at your house. Even with the new recipe, the crust can tend to be a bit dry and chewy.
Pizza Hut: 1, Domino’s: 0
Toppings
Both stores can hold their own in the toppings department, but PH comes out on top. Pizza Hut’s Lover’s Pizza is overloaded with choice toppings. While Domino’s also has some awesome topping selections, the sheer amount on the pizza just doesn’t compare to what PH offers.
Pizza Hut: 2, Domino’s: 0
Price
Pizza Hut is a bit pricier and Domino’s usually offers specials when you order more than one pie. The current deal with PH is any crust, topping, and size combination for $10. Dom’s is offering a 2-medium, 2-topping deal for $5.99 per pie. Domino’s just has more deals to help you get more for the money.
Pizza Hut: 2, Domino’s 1
It’s close, but Pizza Hut is the top choice between the two. There were a lot of things I didn’t include – such as the sides, desserts, and entrees offered by both competitors. I looked at the foundation of the two companies, which is really in the pizza.
I love Wawa. No really, I do. I love the hoagies. I love the coffee. I love how no matter where I am, I can find what I need at Wawa. You can now imagine how disappointed I was when I had a terrible experience at one. My faith in the chain has been shaken and bruised by a single incident at store #917. Here’s what happened:
My mother and I decided to hit Wawa for dinner, because their hoagies are THAT good. We ordered on the touch screens, paid for our sandwiches, and then watched as the help put the hoagies together. My sandwich was fine, but my mother’s…thank God that you can actually see your food prepared.
The manager-in-training making my mother’s hoagie was on the phone. Okay, no big, it’s not like we talk to them anyway – except the dirty phone was in his hand! We tried to keep our cool, and at one point we were even impressed that he was doing everything with one hand. The moment of truth came when he needed to cut and wrap the sandwich.
He shouldered the phone, and used his phone-hand to hold the knife. Still not touching the hoagie. We were holding our breath, waiting…and then it happened. After slicing the hoagie, he grabbed each end to place it for wrapping. Gross!
Kudos to my mom. She kept her cool as she asked him to put down the phone and make her another hoagie. Mr. Manager-In-Training had an attitude though, and slapped together a new one, missing some key ingredients too! He roughly put the new hoagie on the counter, and then skulked away like a child. If he hadn’t acted so rudely, a simple apology would have forgotten this incident.
Who to call? Board of Health? HR? Well, my mother emailed Wawa and of course, they sent multiple apology-filled responses explaining that they were fixing the incident. I’m actually surprised they didn’t include coupons because it’s going to take a while for me to venture back into Wawa after this.
This is for the manager-in-training:
Rating:  
My most recent journey to North Carolina has stirred up some memories from the days of family road trips – Cracker Barrel is undoubtedly the go-to place when you seek good cookin’ during those long travels. There’s something about the Southern comfort and nostalgia of this chain that keeps you coming back for more.
I remember going there with my parents and how good the food and service was. Even though it’s not uncommon to find a dinnertime wait, it goes by quickly when you’re able to browse the country store and maybe even stop to play a game of checkers.
The food is never a let down and with breakfast being served all day long, you can’t lose. Cracker Barrel never fails with consistency, the food quality and smiling service is always the same no matter the location. I honestly believe that my root beer tastes better because it comes served in a frosted mug.
As an overall chain, kudos Cracker Barrel.
Rating:
Houlihan’s chain of restaurants serves your typical all-American food with some added flair. I’ve heard some good things about the chain, but my latest experience at the Brick, NJ location was a catastrophe.
The evening went well…for about five minutes. The waitress knocked over a glass of water on the table and completely, COMPLETELY, drenched my mother’s lap – her jeans were soaked. My family is extremely laid back, so we understood that it was a complete accident and the waitress was extremely apologetic. The manager came over and, trying to fake sincerity, offered us a free appetizer, which was a bit lame considering the appetizers probably arrive frozen and cost them next to nothing. My dad suggested that a dinner on the house would be more appropriate at least got my mom a free meal. After the incident, our waitress avoided our table unless she had to take an order or bring out food, which was extremely unnecessary because none of us were angry, upset, or unpleasant to deal with. It took about 30 minutes to get our appetizer and another 25 minutes to get our entrees. To make it worse, Houlihan’s doesn’t serve any bread or crackers to snack on, so by the time our food finally arrived, conversation was halted.
Honestly, if the manager had been more genuine and the waitress hadn’t opted to avoid us the entire night, this experience could have been a lot better.
Service Rating: 
We got the ‘Shrooms appetizer and they were quite delicious. A very simple dish, the mushrooms are stuffed with an herb cream cheese, coated with large breadcrumbs, and then fried. Our ‘Shrooms arrived hot and we devoured the entire plate. The horse radish sauce was so-so and I think that a marinara or creamy parm sauce would have paired better with it.
‘Shrooms Rating:
My dad ordered the Baby Back Ribs. While the flavor was good, you can tell that the ribs aren’t slow-cooked because they didn’t just fall off the bone. Houlihan ’s utilizes heated plates so that dishes arrive hot, so it was a bit disappointing that the side of french fries arrived cold.
Baby Back Ribs Rating:
Mom ordered the 12 oz. Prime Rib, and she got the best dish of us all, even saying that it was the best Prime Rib she’s ever had. It arrived hot and cooked properly. The sides of mashed potatoes were quite good, but the veggies could have been more flavorful.
Prime Rib Rating:
I ordered meatless Nachos and the first round wasn’t very good. The nachos were cold, even though the plate was extremely hot. The cheese was just barely melted, and the side of guacamole was a small cup that was barely 1/3 full. I had to send the cold nachos back, only to receive another batch of cold, barely cooked nachos. By this time, I was so hungry that I ate what I could, but this meal was a major disappointment.
Nachos Rating:
I believe in second chances, so I will be revisiting this restaurant at least once more to test for a repeat performance. Because most of the issues were related to the service or preparation process, I’m definitely considering a different location for a Revisit piece.
Overall Rating:
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