Domino’s Pizza, founded in 1960 by Tom Monaghan, saw its birth as a small pizza store in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Some 50 years later, Domino’s Pizza now stands as the second-largest pizza chain in the United States, laying claim over 9,000 corporate and franchised stores in all 50 U.S. states and markets across the world. For most of us, we’ve grown up with the brand, so it’s doubtful we often think twice about the brand…the people behind it, their creative process, the corporate culture, and the mass production of an individual product like a pizza. What better way to get behind the scenes than to jump in head first and check out their corporate head quarters in Ann Arbor, MI and one of their nearby production facilities? That’s exactly what we did.

Within the past year, Domino’s has taken some considerable risk in overhauling their core product…their pizza. The new recipe was coupled with some rather interesting and commendable marketing tactics consisting of bringing the brand’s taste problems and critiques to the forefront, voicing complaints about their “bland” tasting pizza of yester-year and subsequently responded with this brand new recipe. Results were reportedly fabulous, as Domino’s new recipe led the company into consecutive quarters of positive growth. During our visit, we got to learn more about their upcoming initiatives, some new products and technologies, as well as become a direct part of their goal of brand transparency into the future.

The day we spent with Domino’s consisted of learning about their product creation process, from initial conception, to taste testing, to mass production, to final delivery. It really begins to boggle the mind when you get to see how a product you’ve been accustomed to since birth actually comes to be on the development end.

Our first stop in the day was a quick drive a few miles away from the corporate building to their local Michigan plant to see how their new dough is created fresh every day. One of the most interesting things in this room, is the crazy X-Ray machine they have going to make sure there’s absolutely nothing in your dough…other than dough. While that rarely ever happens, if anything ever gets caught on the screen, the entire system gets shut down and no dough is processed until the source of the issue is traced. Pretty gnarly stuff!

After wandering their facility for a bit longer, we headed back to headquarters to learn more about their new ingredients, their marketing tactics, get familiar with a few of their campaigns coming out in the couple months, share some stories and of course…make some pizza in their test kitchen!

You might notice the jovial man in the red shirt as Sam Fauser, or “the chef in the Domino’s commercials”. Other people you will see scattered throughout this post will be in the video below, including our guide for the day Phil Lozen, head chef Brandon Solano and other Domino’s personalities. Brandon and Sam dove head first into helping us as we learned how to make our own pizzas with the new dough and the fresh new ingredients. Have you seen any of the recent national commercials from the Domino’s camp recently? Here’s one that should give you a good overview of what’s going on in the company, it’s actually an interesting watch as well:

We have a few more interesting stories from the trip and some good news reads, but we’ll scatter those into the week.

Let’s start this off. Myself (@taylorcorner), Elie, Marc (MK.com) and Victor (@vyanie1184) all wanted to make a trip up to LA to hit up Roscoe’s Chicken N’ Waffles. If you’ve never been to Roscoe’s you are really missing out on something unique and special. On the way we swung by our boy Rudy’s (@Rudeluv) warehouse party in collaboration with Wafeek. This was their third party in a series aptly named Bottomless Beer (III). Good friends, good drinks, good music; really what else could you ask for? Check after the jump for the massive gallery of our night!

I’d also like to give a shout out to Yon over at YGSVISION.com for making all the girls look fly in his glasses.
All photos: Taylor Corner

Looking for some good tacos in Miami? Ernesto’s is where it’s at! Part II’s stop of the adventure in Miami was this taco shop. As I said before, this place was cheap and had great quality food. What more could you ask for in life really? Check out the rest of the post to see how our visit to Ernesto’s Taco Shop all went down.

Spanish chips and candy

No taco shop would be complete without Corona

I had to get a picture of the “Submarinos”. Zombieland gets credit for that one.

Steak tacos

Steak Quesadilla

This massive burrito is called the Chihuahua. It has everything you could ever possibly dream of all wrapped up in a flour tortilla. This was especially recommended by our Miami local, Alex.

Candy…

and more candy.

Ernesto’s Taco Shop

8845 Southwest 107th Avenue

Miami, FL

(305)-412-7250

Yesterday a few of us took to a local IHOP in Irvine (shout out Unit #927!) while out doing a bit of photography and videography on our day off. We ventured in just wanting to steal some Wi-Fi, order a couple soft drinks and maybe nibble on a few appetizers. With a party of 7 at IHOP, most of which are Foodbeasts, things get out of hand real quick. Especially when our boy Geoff Kutnick decides to order 25 pancakes. And a side salad. Good thing Marc and Dominic had cameras rolling the entire time. Here are a few screen shots, we have video of syrup pour and eating that we’re saving for a later date. Stay hungry friends!

Great hot dogs in Miami, who would of thought. Miami is and always has been known for their hotels, excessive partying, and beaches. So a great place for hot dogs was something a little unexpected to say the least. This is the first of three posts for an adventure in Miami, Florida. No we didn’t get drunk and hit up loads of  clubs. But we did eat at some pretty sweet places and all of them, including Arbetter’s Hot Dogs, were cheap and served up some kick ass food. My friend Alex turned us on to these great local spots and they definitely lived up to their hype.

To start off I just want to say it was hot as balls and it was a good day for sunny Florida…

Chili Dog

Chili Cheese Dog w/ Onions

You know, Alex said these were the best hot dogs in Miami and after checking Arbetter out… he wasn’t lying!

Arbetter’s Hot Dogs

8741 SW 40th Street

Miami, FL 33165

(305)-207-0555

I think the name of this booth and the pictures pretty much tell the whole story, these guys will pretty much fry anything and everything! A heart going into a deep fryer, why not? Lets jump into this smoldering oil and cease to exist!

These guys know what’s up! They don’t care about F.D.A.,  D.E.A, or the C.I.A. All they care about is what their customers love, FUCK YEAH!

Just  Beasting on some bacon wrapped chocolate covered Oreos with my two companions friends Mike and Joseph! Mike was the our friend at “Heart Attack Grill” and Joseph was our trusty tour guide, much love!

Our little edibles were delicious and were a crazy take on fair food! They were served chilled and were a little hard to bite in to, but I loved them ether way.  Maybe some melted chocolate though for next year? What!!!

This little Foodbeast decided to take down a deep fried chocolate covered bacon dusted with powdered sugar, he was a champ!

Make sure to go and scope out the OC Fair in it’s last few days of 2010! “Heart Attack Grill” is a crazy joint and is worth clogging up some heart valves for! O yeah, and we all just do it for kids!

A few days ago my friend Marina and I decided to try out the new burger joint, Bomburger, in downtown Huntington Beach. Their burgers are sure to drop bombs on all our appetites. I was definitely satisfied with the taste, check out the rest of the post to find out how explosive these burgers are.

They had bombs falling from the ceiling which we found to be cute, a very nice touch, while the entire place felt like a hot rod garage more than anything else. I did enjoy the art they had scattered on the walls, a propaganda feel to the campaign they are trying to bomb their customers with.

The menu kept it simple, with the addition of chicken burgers and veggie burgers. I did enjoy the option to add chili or a fried egg to your sandwich and their simple combo 1, 2, and 3 which is basically  similar to In-N-Out’s menu.

Marina went wild with the Veggie Burger with some fries and onion rings. I tried a bite and let me just say, it’s really tasty for a healthy burger, although I would have enjoyed it more with a few strips of bacon, but that could be my OC Fair appetite talking.

These onion rings were heavy, definitely beer-battered to give them a taste. Marina wouldn’t let me try one because they were so delicious, but I had to steal one when she looked away.

I, on the other hand wanted to keep it ordinary, and ordered a Double Bomburger with bacon.

In the end, the burgers were tasty but nothing special, it’s just your ordinary burger joint. I definitely want to try it out again, perhaps put a fried egg and some hearty chili on a bombuger. Until then, keep on beasting!

Bomburger

200 Main St.

Huntington Beach, CA 92648

What is there to say about this picture that I haven’t already heard? How many times do you have a chance to devour a footlong corn dog? Not many! Our next stop in our food tour of the OC Fair was our visit to the over-the-top booth known as “Juicys“! They were the people who made this ridiculously large footlong corn dog and other monstrosities such as brick of fries, one foot sausages,  ”Texas-Sized” turkey legs and their massive take on funnel cakes! You thought this was a juicy picture? Take a bite out of this mouthwatering post and get down to the rest of the meat!

Juicys has a crazy selection of main courses, side dishes, and desserts! We tried almost everything they had to offer and got a thorough walk through from our hospitable tour guide. Our Juicy pictures will prove it!

Along side their famous footlong corn dog, they also had footlong sausages with your choice of toppings! O yeah, and half pound hamburgers… Not a BIG deal!

Not a beef or pork person? Who are you… Honestly. Juicys got you covered ether way with their “Texas-Sized”  turkey legs! Literally covered.

How could you top main courses that are this huge? With side dishes that are just as big as their predecessors!

All of their dishes are delicious because everything is fresh and hand made in the back! From their corn dogs, desserts, and even hand cut fries! Mr. Marc Spielberg Sarkis spoiled us with a video of the cooks in action!

This is their famous brick of fries, with your choice of plain, cheese or chili-cheese! This customer had to go big or go home and chose to do the chili-cheese brick of fries (So he went home!)

Enough messing around, let’s get down to juicy stuff. Time for dessert! Hands down, Juicys makes the best funnel cake around. The toppings include but are not limited too vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream,  fresh strawberries, fresh cherries, powdered sugar, chocolate syrup and whip cream. Get all of them! Check out the from scratch-to-mouth replay!

Real talk, we got everything on it like true Foodbeasts!

With all of the toppings it only comes out to 12.50 American, and seats five stomachs spaciously. This is one of Juicys top sellers alongside their famous footlong corn dog!

Real talk though, when you go to the OC Fair, stop by Juicys and handle anything on their menu. You cannot go wrong and will be stuffed like the bear you just won for your significant other!

Nippon is my favorite restaurant in my hometown, hands down. I’m not trying to brag about the place but…every time I go there I get great service and amazing food. Pretty much why it became my favorite spot in the first place. I love how Asian it is basically. Its one of those places that you can tell real Japanese people are cooking your Japanese food. It’s locally owned so it’s really laid back. I normally sit at the same table with my family on the ground crisscross. I know it’s cheesy and all but this is where we have our “family time”. If you’re ever in the Jupiter area and want some place chill with great Japanese food Nippon is it.

The brother going beastmode

Unagi (Eel) Sushi

Pork Katsu

Udon Sukiyaki

Ending a Japanese feast with Pocky. The only way to finish it right. Pocky=love

I could not resist posting this picture of my mom up. This is her contact picture. Got to love the Asian pose.

Nippon Japanese Restaurant

103 S. US Highway 1 #E3

Jupiter, FL 33477

(561)-743-0033

It has begun! The OC Fair is running on all cylinders and is not slowing down for anyone! From their enticing Las Vegas lights, stomach turning rides,  to their intense variety of edibles! They are not taking any prisoners, especially my brother from another mother Charlie! This man has one of the most impressive booths at the fair and is using it to its fullest potential! He’s muscling out any type of food your heart and soul desire. Whether you are on your healthy game, thats right, healthy foods at the OC Fair! Or you looking for the original comforting deep fried specialties like “Deep Fried Klondike Bars”! Charlie is the CHIEF at “Chicken Charlie’s”!

If you haven’t been to the OC Fair yet, you can basically enter in from multiple gates. Our tour guide Joseph lead us through Gate 4 which is where we found Chicken Charlie’s huge booth! As you can see by the impressive signs, he has anything you want! I asked our homeboy Joseph what we should taste first and he quickly replied with the “Deep Fried Klondike Bar.” He told me it was one of his favorite desserts at the fair, and I couldn’t agree with him more!

A Klondike bar is basically vanilla ice cream that is sandwiched between two chocolate wafers. Charlie steps it up by deep frying it and dusting it off with powdered sugar and chocolate syrup! The crunchiness of the fried skin combined with the melted chocolate wafers and cool refreshing ice cream is too much for words! Let Marc’s pictures explain!

The deep fried Klondike bar is one of Charlie’s top sellers, alongside his deep fried Oreos! We also go to look at some of his other side dishes like “Zucchini Bacon Jalapeño Cheese Fries!”

If you’re trying to watch your cholesterol and not die by 25,  Charlie’s got you covered. He is embracing his Lebanese roots and grilling up some traditional chicken and beef kabobs!

Charlie came up with these unique dishes by time tasting them over the years during his family cookouts! He would have a wide variety of dishes to taste which were voted upon by his family. The dishes with the highest  number of votes would be placed onto Chicken Charlie’s menu! He told me some of the dishes that were at his cookout for the future, they blew my mind! I promised not to leak any information, but it has to do with deep frying seafood with a very special ingredient! I guess you will just have to visit his booth at the OC Fair and see if he will enlighten you with his knowledge.

Chicken Charlie’s was just one of the first stops for Foodbeast at the OC Fair. Thanks to Charlie and his family though, we felt right at home. From his crazy deep fried creations to his healthy main courses, Charlie is making his family and the OC proud! Make sure to visit  the OC Fair and check out Chicken Charlies’, why wouldn’t you want to taste his totally hot fried creations?