Today I was taking a leisurely stroll through my neighborhood with my children, trying to enjoy one last peaceful saunter before the beginning of a hectic new school year, when I discovered two new establishments right in my own neighborhood.  Precariously perched on the corner of Briarbrook and Valley View Drives, I happened upon Kaylee’s Kool-Aid and Lemonade Stands.  Sort of a Mark’s Carts kind of operation, right in my own neighborhood!  They were selling authentic, Caucasian-American suburban street fare, the kind of low-tech operation that seems to be thriving in today’s economy.  As an established food critic, I decided to do an on the spot review.

The first thing I noticed was that the two stands had a bright, open atmosphere.  Minimalist in nature, they offered no tables, no seats, and no frills.  Just grab a beverage and continue about your business.  A novel concept, but without a quality beverage all the conceptual creativity would be for nothing.  Sadly, Kaylee’s Kool-Aid failed miserably in the taste category.  Serving only Grape Kool-Aid (more on that later), I couldn’t help but be put off by the overall watery consistency of the beverage.  I fear that Kaylee is more concerned with her profit margin than with providing a quality product.  I will not allow the tender age of Ms. Kaylee to influence my judgement.  The Kool-Aid tasted like krap.  I was also quite dismayed by the lack of selection.  Only grape?  Everyone knows that cherry Kool-Aid is the best flavor.  This lack of managerial oversight spells impending doom for Kaylee’s long term success.

Another bad sign for Kaylee was the general lax employee standards.  Her “employee” was too absorbed in some kind of hand-held video game device to acknowledge us when we approached for service.  Also, it seems highly unlikely that Kaylee will survive a visit from the health inspector, as I counted no less than five critical violations when I first arrived.  When I told the young video game aficionado that I wanted to speak with his manager, he looked at me like I was the fool.  After I was finally able to speak with Ms. Kaylee, not only did she seem to have a complete lack of knowledge of the local health code, her haughty, off-putting manner made me feel as if I wasn’t a valued customer.

Bad service and lax food safety policy aside, I do have to spend at least one paragraph in praise of Kaylee’s lemonade.  One sip of this beverage made the whole unpleasant experience melt away faster than the Nazis at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.   It was as if she magically bottled the melted popsicle juice from a Flav-o-Ice.  At first, I detected what seemed to be an unctuous mouthfeel, but quickly this turned into a symphony of deliciousness.  The sour, tart flavor of the lemon, coupled with the sweetness of the light cane sugar made for an appealing and overall refreshing beverage.  I decided to seek out Kaylee again, to compliment her on the lemonade.

At first she thought I was stalking her, but after my daughter disarmed Kaylee with a compliment on her Hello Kitty shoes, Kaylee was receptive to a quick interview.  After gushing over her lemonade, I asked about the grape only Kool-Aid policy.  She danced around the subject, and even though she failed to admit as much I was under the impression that she was trying to appeal to an urban clientele.  I felt we were having a nice exchange of ideas, when she proceeded to blame her Mom for having only grape Kool-Aid in her pantry.  A sad state of affairs to say the least, I mean, does Eric Ripert blame his Mom when Le Bernardin has to eighty-six the foie-gras?

All in all, as much as I hate to give a local small business a negative review, and despite the luxurious lemonade, I cannot in good conscience recommend Kaylee’s Kool-Aid and Lemonade Stands.  The health violations, the surly, indifferent employees, the watery grape Kool-Aid.  Unless you are trying to be ironic, Kaylee, I declare your entrance into the refreshment business a complete failure.

If you find yourself eating French toast on a Saturday morning and it’s not at Beezy’s, you’re failing at French toast.  Serious French toast fail on your part.  Beezy’s is causing hard times for sucker MCs, cause they don’t make French toast like these.  Period.

This morning.. Carmel apple crunch French toast – Rich cinnamon vanilla custard soaked wheat bread base with slices of granny smith apples and pecan oat crunch, finished with apple bits and topped with house made caramel.

Seriously.

I wanted to write a little something about how delicious Cheddar Ale Soup is simply because I have had several good bowls of it lately.  I had the idea of doing one of my “way too much information about something you’ve never really wondered about” pieces, but there’s really not much information available on the stuff.  It’s popular in New England and Vermont?  See, not very interesting.

The soup is a perfect blend of creamy and cheesy, without tasting like a bowl of melted cheese with some milk added to it.  Good cheddar ale soup has a perfect blend of cheese, cream and spice creating a subtle, yet rich soup.  When I speak of this perfect blend, Grizzly Peak’s Cheddar ale soup immediately comes to mind.  Their soup is seriously killing the cheese soup game.  During my soup research, I actually found the recipe.  Goldmine.

Grizzly Peak's Cheddar Ale Soup

I’ve been on a Sidetrack soup kick as of late.  For some reason I never really got into their soups and I’m now realizing that was a mistake.  This past Thursday, they just happened to be serving Cheddar ale soup.  A little richer than Grizzly Peak’s, but good nonetheless.  I ate half of the bowl before I realized that I should probably document the experience with a photograph.  That’s what you call a compliment.

Cheddar Ale Soup at Sidetrack Bar & Grill

I end this semi-pointless tribute to Cheddar ale soup by requesting that you comment and tip me on where to go for Cheddar ale soup.  I need more of it.  Please, help.

I was incredibly sad to hear the news yesterday that John Sebestyen, owner of The Bomber Restaurant in Ypsilanti, had passed away on Wednesday at the age of 68.  Mr. Sebestyen bought the bomber in 1995 and brought it to local and national prominence, with multiple appearances on the Food Network.

I have been visiting The Bomber since I was very young, but only in the last five years have I really appreciated it as a special Ypsilanti business.  Every city should have a great breakfast joint, and The Bomber was our great breakfast joint.  I would always see Mr. Sebestyen working at the restaurant and randomly all over town.  He was a face I knew because I loved his business and he always seemed proud of his restraunt, his service in the military and to be a business owner in the city of Ypsilanti.

Even though I didn’t have much personal contact with Mr. Sebestyen, I respect and appreciate all of his hard work for The Bomber and our city.   His family will be in my thoughts and I hope you can do the same.

Thank you for reading.

I’ll admit it.  I’ve been a complete TupTim groupie lately.  I’ve eaten there several times over the last couple weeks, convinced my parents to order takeout from them, plugged them on my Facebook status, and tried to aid in a promotion they recently had.  Many have begun to question my motives.  Is TupTim paying me?  Am I secretly a part owner?  Do I own stock in TupTim?

The answer is no.  I just believe that they serve by far the best Thai food within a 100 mile radius.  I have yet to find a Thai restaurant that serves food that is anywhere close.  Plus, the owner is a cool guy.  I’ll just throw that out there as a side note.

Anyways, now that you know my motives are not for financial gain(although I would never turn down a free Massaman Curry), I thought I would take it a step further.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you a collection I have been working on for some time.  I give you……

Greatest Hits of TupTim. Sorry, I couldn’t think of a better name and Google Translate makes it way too hard to translate from English to Thai.

Ginger Julienne

Chicken Satay

Massaman Curry

How takeout should be done...

Chicken with basil sauce

Steamed dumplings

Chicken with Cashew Nut

Just in case you weren’t aware of this place and are currently putting your coat to run out the door, TupTim is located on 4896 Washtenaw Avenue Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108

Jessica French recently shot me an e-mail containing an invite to come and try their new Amtrak Double Decker Cheeseburger.  This excited me, of course, because Sidetrack has easily the best burger in the area.  They meet all the criteria needed to produce a delicious burger:  fresh, quality beef, a large selection of toppings, and an almost ancient grill top.  If that doesn’t get you excited, the fact that the burger made an appearance on Oprah should.  If you’re not an Oprah fan, it was also featured in GQ as one of the 20 hamburgers you must try before you die.  Still not excited?  Something must be wrong with you.

Instead of creating some enormous monstrosity, Sidetrack simply replaced Jesse’s Burger, an 8 oz. version of their standard 4 oz. burger, with the Amtrack Double Decker Burger.  The Amtrak Burger consists of two 4 oz. patties, so the size of Jesse’s Burger is maintained.  Don’t get me wrong, this burger is huge.  It may not be eating challenge material, but you’ll definitely be full after eating it.  In my case, this burger and a side of sweet potato fries is almost the perfect sized meal.  Especially with a Darkhorse Raspberry Ale or a Huma-Lupa-Licious to wash it down.  Most do not possess similar obese eating abilities, but honestly, I would recommend ordering this over the regular burger.

Even if the thought of a half pound burger doesn’t get you going, the amount of toppings, which are also doubled, should.  I topped my Amtrak Burger with goat cheese and caramelized onions, which are my sidekicks on every Sidetrack burger I order.  I should mention that I got it medium rare but there really shouldn’t be any other way to cook a burger.  That’s a dig at you, well done burger eaters.  You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Kudos to Sidetrack for making their already amazing burger even better.  I’m always impressed that my favorites remain on the menu but new items appear regularly.  Now if I could get the spinach, artichoke and crab dip back on the menu I just might be in food heaven.

For my money, La Fuente is STILL serving the best Mexican food in Ypsilanti.  If you haven’t gone there yet, get off your computer right now and go.  I recommend the Grande Burrito.