For today’s review, since neither April or I can/want to have alcohol, we decided to give Burger King's new menu options a try. You’ve probably seen the recent commercials, saying that “Exciting Things” were happening at Burger King. While “exciting” isn’t quite the word I would use, there have been some change-ups to their usual menu, many of which I am quite happy with.
To begin, let’s take a look at some of the new items on the menu. First off, we have chicken strips, not to be confused with chicken tenders. These are moderately-sized strips of chicken, which you can purchase in either a group of 3 or a group of 5. Another new menu option are the Ranch Crunchy Chicken Wraps, a crunchy strip of chicken wrapped along with cheese, lettuce, and ranch dressing in a flour tortilla. Also new to Burger King are the Strawberry Banana Fruit Smoothies. Wait a minute…
Is any of this sounding familiar to anyone else out there?
I plan on doing this review solely on the food itself, but it was kind of strange walking into Burger King and seeing a bunch of menu items taken pretty much straight from McDonalds. The BK that we went to was also recently remodeled, replacing their old back-lit overhead menus with the LCD screens that many other restaurants have started to use. Unfortunately, our nearby McDonalds was remodeled about a year before, and have had the new menu displays for just as long. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the new menu items or the new look of the menus themselves, but due to the timing it just seems like BK is resorting to copycatting to remain relevant. Some of my friends have joked that this is just BK struggling to get back into the Number 2 spot after being ousted by Wendy’s, but I’m guessing changes like these would have had to have been planned long before that news came out. Time will tell whether these changes help BK reclaim their former position.
Now, back to the review--
Due to the similarities between McD’s and BK, April and I decided to each get something similar to what we would normally eat at McDonalds. Her meal consisted of a BK Mushroom and Cheese Topper (analogous partially to the new-ish Angus and Mushroom sandwiches at McD) with onion rings, while I ordered a 3 piece Chicken Sele—I mean, Chicken Strips meal with fries. For what she thought of her meal, as always, you can visit her section.
Starting out with the fries, I would have to say that they are definitely an improvement of BK’s previous fries. Now slightly thicker, you still get the crunch from the outer fry, but it is now accompanied by actual potato inside the fries! I’m not sure if it’s just me, but whenever I had their fries before, the crunch was there but the fries were so thin it seemed like that was all there was. Another thing that I had noticed with the fries, as well as an onion ring that I had tried, was that there was a lot less salt than I’m used to from fast food fries. They actually reminded me of what Wendy’s was doing with their fries, albeit not “naturally cut”, with a lot less salt. I’d have to say that out of the Big Three Fast Food places, BK has now taken the prize of the Best Fries. Hopefully this just wasn’t a better than usual batch.
Moving on to the Chicken Strips. I had tried the Chicken Selects a few times in the past, and have never been happy with them. The McDonalds Chicken Selects always seemed really stringy to me, with gristle in each strip somewhere. Besides that, I always felt that they were overpriced for the amount that you were given. I’m happy to say that the BK Chicken Strips had neither of these problems. The Strips were actually served warm and (most shockingly to me) juicy. The price for what I got was also very reasonable. Still a bit more than if I had gotten Chicken Tenders, but the quality of the Strips made up for the cost difference.
Heading out, April and I each picked up a Vanilla Milkshake. I would have tried a smoothie, but having never tried one from McDonalds, I would have had nothing to compare it to. The milkshakes are spun with what I believe to be a mix of Vanilla ice cream and milk. Nothing shocking, I know, but when it comes to fast food, this could have definitely been something pre-made. We were actually able to see them mixing our shakes, though. Again, out of all three competitors, BK has won me over. The Vanilla Milkshake tasted great, and had a perfect thickness to it. You could still drink it with a straw, but it wasn’t watered down either.
Do I think that BK’s new menu will help them knock Wendy’s back into third place? Definitely. I would go as far to say that if it weren’t for McDonalds overwhelmingly strong popularity and cultural significance, Burger King could have a shot at reaching number 1. In my opinion, BK is now beating McDonalds in taste, and Wendy’s in cost. I love going to Wendy’s sometimes, but the prices there are way too high for me. I’m not sure what BK’s prices were before the menu change, but taking a look at them now, it seems like they are lower all around than other fast food restaurants.
To conclude, I love Burger King's new menu, and feel that they can give McDonalds and Wendy’s a run for their money. There’s still a part of me, however, that kind of wishes they could have done it without coming so close to copying McDonalds.
For this week’s review we took a look at four different gluten-free foods. Two of which were pastas, and the other two were chocolate desserts.
For the past few years, due to a family member being unable to have gluten, gluten-free foods have been a staple of nearly every family get-together I’ve been to. Because of this, I have grown to like foods that have no gluten in them. Not that I favor them over gluten-filled foods, it’s just that I have no aversion to the normal substitutions these foods require.
The first pasta that we tried out was one made out of corn as opposed to wheat flour, by Deboles. Once again, Will prepared us dinner, serving the pasta with a simple mixture of olive oil and garlic. Looking at the pasta, what I first noticed was how yellow it was. I thought that this may have just been the olive oil, but then realized what the pasta was made of. After eating my dish, the only thing I could think of to say was that this pasta was just plain unremarkable. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really shine either.
Next up was a corn and quinoa blend, brought to us by a company known as Ancient Harvest. (And as a personal side-note, I spelled quinoa right on my first try!) This pasta was a bit thicker than the corn-only pasta. April and Will both said that they could taste the quinoa in it, but I could not. I did notice that this dish had a bit more of a “chew” to it. During the test, Will mentioned how he was able to make this brand al dente, explaining what I was experiencing. He had tried this with the Deboles, but the pasta overcooked too quickly for him to achieve this goal.
I actually liked both of these pastas, and would not be opposed to trying either of them again. The olive oil and garlic really allowed me to get a sense of the pasta itself. Had we of gone with a thick red sauce, I don’t think I would have been able to discern a difference between the two pastas.
For the next part of our gluten-free review, we took a look at Udi’s Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Muffins and Amy’s Kitchen Organic Chocolate Cake.
Starting with the cake, we each had a thin slice. The texture reminded me of a brownie, and the taste of it was great. Seeing as how there is no gluten in chocolate itself, I wasn’t expecting the “chocolaty-ness” to be missing, but I know that some flour substitutes can have odd influences on flavors sometimes. This was one of those times.
My favorite part of this week’s review was the Double Chocolate Muffin. It wasn’t much to look at, though, and when I first saw it, it looked more to me like something I would find in a Tasty Cake box. The top of the muffin was almost completely flat, as if when the muffin had finished cooking it was immediately wrapped in plastic for preservation. Considering how the muffins were sold, I’m sure this wasn’t the case.
Biting into this muffin was one of the better experiences I’ve had all month. I think my eyes lit up while biting down and hitting an actual chocolate chip. (I get it now! Chocolate muffin with chocolate chips! Double Chocolate!) Without knowing beforehand that this was a gluten-free muffin, I would not have had any clue or reason to believe this wasn’t a normal muffin.
In the end, perhaps I’m not the best person to be reviewing gluten-free foods. I’ve been eating them on and off for nearly a third of my life, so to me there really is no distinction between gluten-filled and gluten-free. I’d like to think that I can tell the difference between good food and bad food, however, and I am happy to say that nothing that I tried with week fell into the bad spectrum.
This week, Will and I have chosen to review Fentimans Botannically Brewed sodas. Fentimans has a large selection of flavors, and we chose six of them to comment on. We’d have reviewed them all, but the store only had six.
One thing to note about Fentimans is the process of how the soda is made. Botanical ingredients and natural plant substances are boiled and fermented for seven days to create the beverages. Due to this process, there are trace amounts of alcohol present in the sodas. This added a bit of a challenge for me to this review, as I have never once tasted an alcoholic drink that I liked. Granted, there is so little alcohol in these sodas that the taste of it was barely there, but in a few of them the taste was noticeable to me.
The first soda that we tried was called “Curiosity Cola”. This may not have been the best one for me to start with, as it was the one that smelled and tasted most strongly of alcohol out of all six. Getting through that, though, the soda tasted very much like Coca Cola to me, and reminded me of the time that I had tried a rum and coke.
Our second soda was the “Victorian Lemonade”. I liked this one very much. The soda had an incredibly sour lemon flavor, which was great. There was also very little alcohol flavor to this one.
Third on our plate was the “Ginger Beer”. Right off the bat, I wasn’t too fond of this one. The soda smelled strongly of ginger, but not in the good way like other ginger ales. The flavor did remind me of ginger ale, but it was much more bitter than any I had tasted before. This soda also made me realize what people meant when they said that a drink was “dry”.
“Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger” was the next soda that we tasted. This one definitely tasted like an orange, but was so strong that I had actually recoiled when I tasted it. I know that April got a picture of my face when I did it, so I’m sure we’ll be putting that up on the blog somewhere. This was probably my least favorite of the bunch, just due to how strong the tartness of the orange was. The lemonade was sour, but this seems completely different.
Soda number five was the “Dandelion and Burdock”. I’ll come right out and say it, this was by far the best out of the entire bunch. As far as I’m aware, I had never tasted dandelion flavor, so I wasn’t sure what I was going to be getting into with this one. When I tasted it, it reminded me strongly of Bazooka Bubble Gum. It even had the same odor.
Our final soda to review was the “Cherry Tree Cola”. Out of all of the soda’s, this one had the lightest odor of the bunch. I had expected it to have a noticeable cherry smell, but if it was there I couldn’t sense it. Another thing that I had noticed was that this one did not seem to have any trace of the alcohol taste or smell. Either it wasn’t there, or I had grown acclimated to it from tasting all of the other sodas. Finally, this was the thickest of the sodas. Much like the Pepsi Next from a couple weeks ago, the “Cherry Tree Cola” stuck to my mouth like none of the rest. Fortunately, this tasted much better than the Pepsi Next did. (Side note: Since the Pepsi review, I have grown to like the Pepsi Next. Either that bottle was bad, or it was just something I needed to warm up to.)
Over all, I definitely enjoyed the Fentiman brand of sodas, and will probably have them again in the future. Definitely the “Dandelion and Burdock” flavor, at least. If you’re interested in finding out more about these sodas, visit www.drinkfentimans.com. There, you can see the other flavors available, and what stores nearby carry them.
For this week’s review we have chosen to eat scrapple. Here’s a little backstory to the evening this decision was first made.
A few weeks before we actually started the blog, we were hanging out with a couple friends, talking about what kind of foods we could eat that would be interesting enough to write about. Somebody then said, “Oh! I know! You guys should eat scrapple!”
The others all agreed that this would be a good idea. I then said, “Scrapple? What’s that?”
Then, almost in unison, the group said, “Nobody Tell Him!”
Well, that sure got me excited for the inevitable scrapple review. I went a few weeks playing along with the idea of going in blind. Every time I went to Google something, the thought of googling scrapple popped into my head. I remained strong for as long as I could, and refused to look into it.
Finally, about a week ago, Will told me that he had found a place to buy scrapple in the area. The scrapple was purchased, and a date was set for our review.
It’s not that I was worried about what I would be eating, but I have always been the type of person who liked having things spoiled. I keep up to date on all of my favorite TV shows to find out what’s going to happen later in their seasons. I have only played half of Mass Effect 1, and yet I know the entire plotline and ending for the trilogy. Plain and simple, I like knowing what I’m getting into before doing something.
Because of this, while on the phone with my mother a day before the tasting, at the end of our conversation I asked, “By the way, do you know what scrapple is?”
“Oh yeah, Grandma use to like it! It’s kind of a mixture of meat and fat, I think.” She replied.
Meat and fat? That didn’t sound too bad. What was the big deal about that?
The next day, I told April that I had discovered what scrapple was, and that it didn’t seem like it was that strange. She then told me that while yes, it was meat and fat, it wasn’t just any meat. It was organ meat.
Oh.
Again though, was this really information that needed to be kept away from me? I mean, I eat hotdogs, and who knows what goes into those. (Nobody tell me, I have a good enough idea.) Now knowing the full meaning of the word scrapple, I decided to go into the review with an open mind, as one always should.
For the actual meal, Will wanted to make a traditional breakfast consisting of eggs over-easy, hash browns, and fried scrapple. I have to say that the meal overall was excellent, with the eggs cooked perfectly (and only one accidently broken yolk, which wasn’t on my dish anyway), and the hash browns having a perfect crunch. I hate soggy hash browns.
The scrapple itself was a bit odd. It was fried, so it had the crunch that I really like in food, but besides that it didn’t really seem like anything that weird. In fact, while eating the meal, I had a hard time knowing if what I was eating was the scrapple or the hash browns. This is perhaps a downside to liking my food crunchy, as stuff that’s cooked that much starts to taste like carbon as opposed to their original flavor.
Focusing on a piece which I was sure was scrapple, I have to say that it wasn’t that bad. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t eat it alone, but it was a great addition to the eggs and hash browns. I’d go as far as to say I would rather have this for breakfast instead of bacon and eggs, mostly because it’s easier to mix the scrapple with the eggs than it is the bacon with the eggs. (I love mixing my food together.)
As a stand-alone item, however, I don’t think I would want to eat a meal consisting of nothing but scrapple. It tasted very iron-y, which was a consistent reminder of just what it was I was eating.
I guess it’s pretty telling that most of this review was more about the buildup of the scrapple, than the scrapple itself. It was made out to be this weird food that I wouldn’t eat if I knew the truth, but in the end it was just a decent breakfast item with nothing that remarkable about it.
For this week’s review, we decided to do a taste test of two new soft drinks that have recently come out, Pepsi Next and Dr Pepper TEN. We started the test with the Pepsi Next.
First thing I noticed about the subsequent Pepsi was that it didn’t seem as fizzy as normal Pepsi, or even Diet Pepsi. This may be attributed to the small serving we had poured ourselves, as pouring a full glass causes soda to fizz up more.
After taking my first sip, I realized that there could be another reason for the soda not being as fizzy as I had hoped. The Pepsi Next is incredibly sticky. Usually when you drink something, the taste fills your mouth, and when you swallow the taste goes with it. Sometimes, it takes a bit of time or a sip of water to fully get rid of the taste. With the Pepsi Next, after taking a sip, the taste would not leave my mouth. It was the same for April and Will as well. In order to cleanse our palates for the next soda, we had to drink some Ginger Ale, followed by water to finally get rid of the taste.
Looking into what made Pepsi Next special, I found out that it contained four different sweeteners: high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium. For something that claims to include 60% less sugar, it sure contains a lot of it. I can only imagine that they needed all four sweeteners to get the taste that they wanted, but it seems like they could have done without one or two of them.
The Pepsi also seemed to have some sort of after taste to it. I enjoyed it (which was a good thing, since the taste had no intentions of leaving my mouth), but I could not tell what exactly it was. At first I was thinking it was vanilla, but now a day later I’m starting to think it was more lemony/citrusy.
Well, after we washed the Pepsi Next from our taste buds, we moved onto the Dr Pepper TEN.
I hate to be negative right off the bat, but Dr Pepper TEN did not taste good at all.
First thing I noticed was the strong, cherry-like smell. It reminded me of the smell of Dr Pepper, but was almost offensive in its strength. I was equally displeased with the taste of the soda as I was with its smell. The taste of cherry was still there for me, but reminded me more of cherry-flavored children’s cough syrup than of anything I would normally ingest.
The Dr Pepper TEN wasn’t advertised as being cherry flavored (which is good, since I love Dr Pepper Cherry), so I can only assume that what I was tasting was some weird mix of spices that Dr Pepper is known for. Speaking of the spices, I noticed that the Dr Pepper TEN seemed to have a much stronger “bite” to it than normal Dr Pepper.
In the end, I think it’s clear that given the choice between these sodas, I prefer the Ginger Ale I used as a palate cleanser!
Thinking back though, I would be willing to give Pepsi Next another try, now knowing what to expect from it. Can’t see myself ever buying another Dr Pepper TEN any time soon, though.
To match the seasonal reviews of my compatriots, I’ve decided to do a review of my favorite Easter treats- The Cadbury Eggs lineup. For this review I will be trying the three different types. First will be the original Cadbury Crème Egg, followed by the Chocolate Crème Egg (which before this review I have never tried), and then finally, the Cadbury Caramel Egg. Also, this review will be completely “live”. I’ll be writing my thoughts down after trying each egg.
First up, the original Cadbury Crème Egg.
One thing that has always been an issue for me with these eggs is that if I didn’t eat them quickly enough, the chocolate shell would start to melt. You might tell me to use the foil wrapper as a protective holder, but I have never really had much luck with that in execution. Because of this, whenever I eat a Cadbury Egg, it’s always in one or two bites. This actually helps me to enjoy the treat more, though, since I feel if I ate one of these over a longer period of time, the richness of the cream would be too much for me.
As a side note, I knew one kid back in high school who could eat one of these and make it last for nearly three hours. I don’t know how he did it; if I had tried something like that, at the end of three hours I’d have a glob of melted chocolate and cream melted in my hand because 20 minutes in I’d be sick of the sugary richness of it all.
Next up, for my very first time, the Chocolate Crème Egg.
Huh. Not at all what I was expecting, really. When I think of chocolate cream, for some reason my mind jumped to something with the consistency of chocolate frosting. Not really sure why, but I am pleasantly surprised by the thickness of the chocolate insides. Actually, it reminds me a great deal of Nutella. I don’t know if it’s just my mind tricking me, but now I can taste hazelnut. Just checked the ingredients, and nope, no hazelnut.
Since we’re talking about the chocolate egg, let’s talk about the chocolate shell found on all of the eggs. I think the shell is the best part of the entire package. They provide a satisfying “snap” when you bite into one, as long as it hasn’t melted at all.
This was definitely much richer than the plain crème egg. Rich enough to make me take a short break before moving on to the caramel egg.
Okydoke, I’m back! Time to try the Caramel Egg!
And here’s something that always happens with the caramel eggs, and yet I always forget about it by the next time I have one. There’s always a little bit of caramel that leaks out of the shell and sticks to the foil wrapper. Whenever I’d open one, there’d be a little bit of foil left on the egg that I couldn’t pick off. This used to freak me out when I was much younger, but now I realize that even if I swallow a little bit of foil, it’s not gonna kill me.
Another surprise tonight. When I bit into the egg, there was a very audible pop (as in the expulsion of air). I understand why it happened, but have never experienced it before. The thing I love most about the caramel egg is that, to me at least, it isn’t rich at all. I still down them in two bites, but that’s just out of habit. I’m limiting myself to only one caramel egg tonight, but usually I’d eat these in pairs.
After trying all three eggs I can still say that the caramel egg was my favorite of the bunch, and I hope that I find a few of these in my Easter basket this year. Would I like them so much if they were a year round treat? I don’t think so, but their rarity is another aspect that makes them all the more special.
I had wanted to try the Doritos Locos taco ever since I had first heard about it online. Apparently it has been around for a few months now in select locations. (Toledo, OH, and Fresno and Bakersfield, CA). I felt that I would never have a chance to try these tacos, believing that they would not sell well enough in their test markets.
Thankfully I was wrong and this month Taco Bell released the Doritos Locos nationwide. As I sat down for my first taste, I wondered, would they be worth the wait?
First opening the wrapper, I was surprised by the thin cardboard holder surrounding the taco. The shells did not seem any weaker than normal taco shells, so I wondered what the need for this holder would be. After bringing the shell out a little to take a bite, I instantly realized that this taco holder had an important role to play.
The taco shells definitely reminded me of Doritos, orange powder and all. The cardboard holder was there, at least partially, to keep my hands clean. They also served another purpose, however. I’ve heard that eating slowly makes it so that you don’t eat as much, since your body takes time to realize that it is full. These holders made it so that I could only take small bites.
What did I think of the taste? I really liked it! The Dorito flavor mixed incredibly well with the crunch of the lettuce and the coolness of the sour cream. This was a combination of flavors that I had never had before, and enjoyed greatly.
So were they worth being excited over? In all honesty, I’m not sure. While I loved the taste, I have never really been too fond of the original Nacho flavor of Doritos. I have heard rumors that they will be adding a Cool Ranch version to their menu, so I want to try those out if they do.
Another detractor for me was the price. I did not get the Big Box meal, choosing instead to get the Three Supreme Taco meal. I changed two of those tacos to the Dorito version, adding $1.00 to the total cost of the meal. While I enjoyed the experience of trying the Doritos Locos, at $0.50 a pop, however, I don’t think that I will be ordering these again, except to try the Cool Ranch flavor.
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