Jetée

While some foodies love to cook, and others go to fine restaurants, NYC-based Erik Trinidad expresses his love of all things edible by taking fast food menu items from restaurants like McDonald’s and Taco Bell, turning them into gourmet-looking meals and posting the results on his site FancyFastFood.com. Originally just a joke with friends, his first creation was a McDonald’s Big Mac and fries combo meal that he turned into a fancy steak and potatoes dish. But his project got such rave reviews, that he kept at it. Today, his site it full of creative reinventions of fast food items and he's even writing a book, The Fancy Fast Food Cookbook: Mock Recipes with No Bun Intended. WD rounded up our favorites, so take a look at these 10 works of culinary art.


Osso BuKko (Burger King)

It’s unclear why Burger King started serving fire-grilled ribs in the first place, but leave it to Trinidad to turn them into a meal
fit for a king. To recreate Osso Buco, a traditional Italian dish made with veal shanks, browned and simmered with tomatoes
and vegetables, Trinidad made a reduction of Dr Pepper, barbeque sauce and ketchup, before adding in onion rings
(stripped of their breading), carrots and chopped greens from a BK garden salad. He then added the ribs and simmered,
after which he blended the French fries into a mashed potato consistency before plating everything and drizzling with sauce.

Spicy Chicken Sushi (Popeyes Chicken)

Using a Popeyes Chicken meal with two pieces of Bonafide spicy fried chicken, one biscuit, coleslaw, one large Coke, one
loaded chicken wrap, a side each of red beans and rice, Popeyes Louisiana hot sauce and wasabi paste to garnish,
Trinidad made the sushi rolls with white rice soaked in a coke reduction and stuffed with red beans and rice,
accompanied by chopped chicken atop cut-up biscuits to resemble raw sushi pieces.

Tacobellini (Taco Bell)

Creating his favorite dish to date, Trinidad says he “thought outside the tortilla” when he decided to turn Taco Bell fare into
the beloved Italian pasta tortellini. Using two Burrito Supremes, one beef soft taco, one large Sierra Mist soda, packets of hot
sauce and parsley, Trinidad carefully extracted the burrito and taco stuffing and mixed it in a bowl before rinsing each tortilla
and steaming to soften. After cutting the tortillas into small circles, he refilled with the stuffing before folding into a tortellini
shape. He then covered them in sauce and garnished with parsley, pouring the Sierra Mist into a wine glass for a classier look.


{Photos: courtesy of Erik R. Trinidad/ FancyFastFood.com}

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As human beings, our greatness lies not so much in being able to remake the world (that is the myth of the Atomic Age) as in being able to remake ourselves.

—Mohandas K. Gandhi