New Friday's Favorites to tempt the philandering tastebuds

It can’t be helped; you can’t eat adobo (or steak) every day.” While the declaration is intolerable when applied to relationships by philandering partners, it is completely acceptable when it pertains to food. Sure, we all have a list of restaurants that we absolutely love, but when we’ve practically memorized their menus and can predict exactly how a meal will taste, it is justifiable that we explore other food joints to find new favorite flavors.

The information that there was something new to try at TGIFriday’s was a welcome development. We’ve always enjoyed the restaurant’s Jack Daniel’s glazed ribs, the fajitas and burgers. We appreciate that the serving sizes are generous enough for the heartiest eaters, and that the service is friendly and efficient. But “always good” tends to be unexciting, so we wander and we succumb to the danger of “bad.” Call it human nature but like Fyodor Dostoevsky writes in his Notes from the Underground, “Men, consciously, that is fully understanding their real interests, have left them in the background and have rushed headlong on another path, to meet peril and danger, compelled to this course by nobody and by nothing, but, as it were, simply disliking the beaten track.” 

Caribbean chicken wings: Spicy, with a tropical spiced rum sauce

This is what leads us to explore and test the mettle and the fortitude of our taste buds and gullets.

 But a homecoming to TGIFriday’s is always something to look forward to. What made it special this time is that there are 13 new items to sample. Fully aware that having everything in one go would be folly, we tried several dishes and resolved to visit the restaurant again for the rest of the new menu.

For starters, we tried the spinach and artichoke dip that was served with Parmesan cheese and crusty ciabatta garlic bread. Since we are partial to any kind of cheese, we knew that this would be a sure winner. We also had the excellent Jack Daniel’s triple chicken sampler with spicy buffalo wings, sesame jack strips and Parmesan-crusted chicken quesadillas. And when we ran out of bread for the cheesy spinach and artichoke dip, we slathered the remainder into the wings, strips and quesadillas. True cheese lovers can never have an overload of the stuff. The Caribbean chicken wings (spicy, with a tropical spiced rum sauce) were likewise delicious appetizer.

The new almond-crusted chicken salad was proof that healthier alternatives need not entail sacrifice. This could serve as a complete meal with crisp greens and crunchy almond-crusted slices of chicken breast. To add interest, color and variety, the dish also has sweet-tart cranberries, juicy and plump slices of Mandarin oranges and toasted almonds. But for me, what makes this salad stand out is the addition of creamy, crumbled blue cheese.     

TGIFridays’ fried ice cream: Dessert to cap an excellent meal

We were going for healthy eating that day so moving on to the main course, we opted for the Dragonfire salmon, a fillet that was grilled just right so it remained moist and tender and tasty. The fish was glazed with a delicious kung pao sauce that was sweet, spicy and aromatic. This went well with steamed broccoli and rice pilaf, which we used to soak up the sauce that found its way into the plate. Having already eaten quite a lot, we realized that we were close to having our fill. We then decided to wind down. Past experience has taught us that one danger of being too satiated is that the taste buds become numbed to the subtle nuances of flavor.

New dishes to try on another day would have to be the grand nachos (thin crisp nachos, barbecued chicken chunks, chili beef, lettuce, jalapenos, scallions, tomatoes); fruits and nuts salad (Romaine lettuce, spinach, walnuts, apples, dried apricots, cranberries and blueberries drizzled in pomegranate honey mustard; shrimp and chips; seven-spice seasoned honey pecan salmon and TGIFriday’s version of pasta puttanesca. Should the carnivorous cravings be too difficult to ignore, I will give in to the temptation of the New York strip and shrimp (eight ounces of strip steak with crispy Cajun-spiced shrimp or Texas rib-eye and Cajun fried shrimp.

But accepting that there was only enough room for dessert on this visit, we concluded the meal with fried ice cream and a classic carrot cake.

We’ve wandered and tried the new restaurants but we’ll keep coming back to the comfort food of Friday’s. After a hiatus, we always find that the food we love at TGIFriday’s is always better the second, third, fourth, etcetera time around.

Excellent trio: Jack Daniel’s triple chicken sampler with spicy buffalo wings, sesame jack strips and Parmesan-crusted chicken quesadillas