"fancy fast food" news and stories

What do you get when you mix fast-food with Erik Trinidad? A fancy fast-food creation (strange concept, highly inventive chow). You've seen Erik's masterpieces on FancyFastFood.com. Now, Slashfood takes a look at how he pulls off his Jekyll and Hyde routine to make meals that, at least in appearance, could be proudly served to someone you actually like. We also paired Erik with nutritionist Alex Jamieson, of Super Size Me, who offers insights on the product's vital stats: MSG, calories and fat content.

Find out if Erik can convince Alex (a vegan) to taste his creation ... and if Erik himself dares to try his insane concoction.

It's that time of the year again, when that jolly old fat guy sweeps down chimneys around the world, bearing gifts to those who are not naughty but nice. And for some, it's a Christmas tradition to leave an offering for Santa Claus -- typically a sweet treat of cookies and milk -- in an attempt to bribe him for the really good toys, like Mattel's Sing-A-Ma-Jigs and XBox Kinects, which elves apparently know how to make. This season, unless you're in an area were the local government has banned Happy Meals, like stuffy grinches stealing Christmas, you can follow this Fancy Fast Food mock recipe derived from McDonald's popular kids' meal, for a Christmas treat for Saint Nick made entirely out of fast food items. (Why not? He's obese anyway.)

Although the name Santa Claus comes from the Dutch "Sinter Klass" (an abbreviation of Sint Nikolaas, or Saint Nicholas), it's the German Kris Kringle who's inspired this regional treat: apple strudel. Sure we could just easily buy him McDonald's strudel-like apple pie (or their baked cookies for that matter), but where's the artistic integrity or fun in that?

Get the recipe and the how-to after the jump.

Ah, another Thanksgiving is here, and this year we have plenty to be thankful for -- most notably the return of the McRib! Yes, America's favorite processed pork rib sandwich is back! No need to wander the different corners of the country looking for it, like in that Simpsons episode where Homer and a band of "Ribheads" go on tour following their favorite pork sandwich's limited regional availability; the McRib is now available nationwide after a hiatus of a long 16 years! Let's celebrate the mechanically-separated Thanksgiving harvest!

Last Thanksgiving, we at the Fancy Fast Food kitchen teamed up with Wired to reshape a corn dog and sides into a traditional "Franksgiving Dinner." This year, we're going to celebrate our beloved national holiday in these United States by being inspired by the last, but certainly not least, state to enter the union, Hawaii.

With the overwhelming success of Slumdog Millionaire, Indian entertainers, from director M. Night Shyamalan to comedian Aziz Ansari, are moving beyond Bollywood and becoming more prominent in the American pop-culture scene. NBC even has a sitcom, "Outsourced," that takes place in an Indian call center--and it's been a controversial call for the network. (Some critics claim the show is rife with bad stereotypes.)

It's time to reciprocate, and take something from the American pop culture and make it Indian -- from a fast-food perspective, of course. White Castle already has associations with Harold & Kumar, so let's go get a pizza, after the jump.

In August, we announced that Burger King was launching yet another death-defying sandwich -- the NY Pizza Burger. This behemoth of a burger contains four Whopper patties, slices of pepperoni and mozzarella cheese with marinara and "Tuscan sauce" (which was indistinguishable from the marinara) on a giant sesame seed bun.

While we weren't able to attend the launch, we finally got around to trying it this week, and boy, was it worth the wait. Erik Trinidad of Fancy Fast Food joined us for the task and we were all in agreement -- this was one unforgettable fast food creation.

Coming in at a "whopping" 2,530 calories, 144 grams of fat and 3,780 milligrams of sodium, this burger is meant to feed six people. However, while we were there, we saw two people dig into this thing and finish it. We can't point fingers, but we were only able to get four servings out of it.

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