February 2022

REVIEW: Jack in the Box Nacho Tiny Tacos

Marvo / February 8, 2022 / Reviews / 4 Comments

What are Jack in the Box Nacho Tiny Tacos?

The newest Tiny Tacos iteration from Jack in the Box takes 15 original mini tacos and dumps nacho cheese seasoning on them. There’s also the Bacon Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos, which involves dumping cheddar cheese sauce, bacon crumbles, ranch, and Spicy Good Good Sauce on Nacho Tiny Tacos.

How are they?

First, check out the photo above again. It looks as if Chester Cheetah sneezed on it.

With that thick layer of seasoning on the shells of most of the Nacho Tiny Tacos I received, I expected a cheesy flavor that would be on par with Taco Bell’s Nacho Cheese Doritos Locos Taco. But my taste buds could only detect a cheesiness that’s tinier than the tacos themselves, and they could easily be confused for the original version.

After eating a few, I ended up with cheesy dust on my fingers. And while it was a little cheesier when tasting it from my digits, it still had a weak flavor compared to what I experience when I clean my fingers after eating Cheetos or Doritos.

The Bacon Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos are, obviously, a more flavorful option. But any cheese flavor, which there isn’t much to begin with, is completely overwritten by the sea of sauces, especially the Spicy Good Good Sauce. While the bacon’s smokiness and the ranch’s tanginess come through, this really should’ve been called the Spicy Good Good Sauce Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos because the orange goo is what I mostly taste. And I’m okay with that because I love that sauce.

So, technically, you could get most of the Bacon Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos’ flavor for the price of the Nacho Tiny Tacos and a free dipping container of Good Good Sauce.

Anything else you need to know?

With the regular Nacho Tiny Tacos, there are some inconsistencies when it comes to the application of the seasoning. Some had a nice layer on one side, but others didn’t have any seasoning on the shell. However, extra cheese dust ends up at the bottom of the box. So I’d recommend giving it a few good shakes before opening it to coat the tacos better. Or maybe just put the less seasoned ones on the side and then use them later to scrape up the nacho cheese dust.

Conclusion:

Jack in the Box’s Nacho Tiny Tacos are disappointing. Despite all that seasoning, they lack a potent cheesiness. If you want a bit more flavor, dip them into a sauce, or get the Bacon Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos.

Purchased Price: $4.99 (Nacho Tiny Tacos), $6.99 (Bacon Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos)*
Size: N/A
Rating: 5 out of 10 (Nacho Tiny Tacos), 7 out of 10 (Bacon Loaded Nacho Tiny Tacos)
Nutrition Facts: Not available on website, which hasn’t been updated with new products in months.

*Because I live on a rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, things are a bit pricier here. You’ll probably pay less than I did.

REVIEW: Carl’s Jr. Hardee’s Bacon Beast Burger

Brandon / February 8, 2022 / Reviews / 4 Comments

When I was very young, one of my favorite fast food sandwiches was the simple, yet respectable Hardee’s roast beef. Later, in my early 20s, and with an accordantly sufficient metabolism, I would occasionally go to town on a Monster Thickburger. You know, the one with two 1/3 pound beef patties, four strips of bacon, three slices of American cheese, and a slathering of mayo. (I always appreciated how they didn’t put on airs by adding anything that came from a garden.)

I’m older now, and as such, I wouldn’t feel responsible ordering one of those if Hardee’s still made them. (There’s a smaller, tamer version, but it just isn’t the same.) Couple the lack-of-a-sideshow-aspect with the fact that the nearest Hardee’s just isn’t very near, and the bottom line is, I don’t get there all that often. So, when I heard about its rollout of the new “Bacon Beast” menu featuring a Bacon Beast burger, breakfast burrito, and biscuit, I wondered, will this be enough to work Hardee’s into my regular fast food rotation?

The answer, simply put, is no.

You see, the thing is, I’ve got three Burger Kings closer to me, and Burger King has a Whopper, and to that Whopper, one may add bacon and cheese. And that is, from a taste standpoint, a 98% match for this burger.

The Bacon Beast consists of “a 3.5 oz patty, tomato, lettuce, pickle, yellow onion, mayonnaise, American cheese, and four strips of Applewood-smoked bacon complete with a special sauce on a seeded bun.” (You can also get it with two or three patties; I ordered a single and was given a double.) A Whopper has a 1/4th pound patty, white onions instead of yellow, and ketchup instead of “special sauce.”

The thing is, for the life of me, I couldn’t tell how this special sauce WASN’T just ketchup. It was a little sweeter, maybe? But whatever it was supposed to be, it was nearly indistinguishable from ketchup.

The other thing, obviously, is that BK flame-grills its meat while Hardee’s charbroils it. Is it different enough to be noticeable? Not to me. Hardee’s patty seemed a bit saltier than BK’s, but it was tasty. Everything else was totally standard, and totally reminiscent of a Whopper. The vegetation was unremarkable but fine, the bacon was decently thick, the bun was bland, and the American cheese was waxy and what one would expect from fast food.

I had no complaints about this thing, but I didn’t come away with any compliments, either. It was a bacon cheeseburger from a top-10 fast food hamburger place. Better than a prepackaged one from a hospital vending machine, but much less desirable than one from Five Guys. And while I get that a place like Hardee’s/Carl’s Jr. isn’t in direct competition with a place like Five Guys or Shake Shack or Your Favorite Local Hamburger Place, if they’re asking me to pay close to that same amount, they’ve gotta give me something fun or unique. A Whopper clone with sad special sauce and a different kind of onion just won’t cut it.

Purchased Price: $6.79
Size: Single Patty
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 900 calories is the only nutritional fact available on Hardee’s website at this time.

Carl's Jr. Fast Food Hardee's

SPOTTED – 2/8/2022

Marvo / February 8, 2022 / Spotted on Shelves / 1 Comment

Here are some interesting new products found on store shelves by your fellow readers. If you’ve tried any of the products, share your thoughts about them in the comments.

The Original Cakebites Capt America Cakebites — *The Original Cakebites Capt. America Cakebites*

(Spotted by Amanda Y at Walmart.)

Chobani Sizzlin Brown Sugar Coffee Creamer — *Chobani Sizzlin’ Brown Sugar Coffee Creamer*

(Spotted by Hailey R at Hy-Vee.)

The Original Donut Shop Coffee Limited Edition Cookie Dough So Delicious K Cups — *The Original Donut Shop Coffee Limited Edition Cookie Dough So Delicious K-Cups*

(Spotted by Tamme at Walmart.)

*Signature Select Monster Cookie Ice Cream*

(Spotted by Carla at Safeway.)

*Quinn Plant Based Pizzeria Cheezy Filled Pretzel Nuggets*

(Spotted by Sarah R at Whole Foods.)

Nature s Path Envirokidz Cinnamon Bun Rhino Rolls Cereal — *Nature’s Path Envirokidz Cinnamon Bun Rhino Rolls Cereal*

(Spotted by Sarah R at Whole Foods.)

(Spotted by Sarah R at Sprouts.)

*Cascadian Farm The Farmland Fruity Crispy Rice Cereal*

*Cascadian Farm The Farmland Cocoa Crispy Rice Cereal*

(Spotted by Sarah R at Whole Foods.)

Pamela s Grain Free Graham Style Crackers — *Pamela’s Grain Free Graham Style Crackers*

(Spotted by Sarah R at Sprouts.)

REVIEW: Little Debbie Ice Cream

Ann / February 8, 2022 / Reviews / 13 Comments

Update 9/5/23: We tried the Turtle Brownie, Apple Fruit Pies, and Chocolate Chip Creme Pies ice cream flavors! Click here to read our review.

Update 3/8/23: We also tried the Fudge Rounds and Birthday Cakes flavors! Click here to read our review.

Update 9/2/22: We also tried the seasonal Pumpkin Delights flavor! Click here to read our review.

Update 6/24/22: We also tried the Star Crunch and Unicorn Cake flavors! Click here to read our review.

There aren’t many independently-owned companies with a brand as well-known and emotionally coveted as Little Debbie. Maybe it’s the vast and varied number of snack cake, donut, and bakery items. But I think Little Debbie has managed to package up some processed snack food magic in its little boxes, and when I heard it had collaborated to create Little Debbie-themed ice creams, my Cosmic-Brownie-loving heart did a flutter.

I realize there are a lot of nostalgic ties to Little Debbie treats. People have strong opinions about their favorites. My review aims to evaluate each ice cream for its overall representation of the snack cake and the total quality as a stand-alone ice cream. I purchased as many of the accompanying snack cakes as I could find but could not track down a Honey Bun or Swiss Roll IRL. (Supply chain shortages, UGH!)

I started my journey with the Nutty Bars one and immediately noticed the foil lid with a Hudsonville Ice Cream label. In my excitement to find these, I had missed the fantastic detail that these are all truly “ice creams” and not “frozen desserts,” “light ice creams,” or “soft serves.” The first three ingredients in every variety are milk, cream, and sugar (and then many other ingredients, but still, I was delighted and hopeful).

Nutty Bars Ice Cream

The Nutty Bars variety is a peanut butter ice cream with chocolate swirls and small Nutty Bar-type inclusions. The pieces were wafer squares covered in chocolate which had a more dense texture than the Nutty Bars themselves but were still pretty representative and delivered a wafer crunch. I was smitten. The flavors were clear and balanced, and the ice cream had enough flavor and texture elements to make it enjoyable while also definitely reminding me of a Nutty Bar.

Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 280 Calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

Zebra Cakes Ice Cream

Next up, I dug into the Zebra Cakes version, stopping to admire the zebra-striped lid and familiar graphics. It has a vanilla ice cream base with chocolate fudge swirls and vanilla cake pieces. The base tasted remarkably similar to the cake and frosting of the actual snack. The fudge swirl was a great addition, though I think it overrepresented the chocolate note compared to the snack cake’s decorative chocolate swirl. The pieces were more saturated than the Zebra Cake cake, which somehow made them better. This reminded me of the Christmas Tree Cakes Ice Cream, but with the welcome addition of the over-achieving chocolate swirl. Also, yeah, the only Zebra Cake I could locate was a Zebra Cakes ROLL, but the flavor, for comparison’s sake, was the same.

Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 220 Calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Strawberry Shortcake Rolls Ice Cream

After the Zebra Cakes, I went for the similar Strawberry Shortcake Rolls Ice Cream. This was vanilla-based with a strawberry swirl and vanilla cake pieces. This flavor made it clear that Little Debbie was an active participant in this collaboration because the strawberry swirl tasted IDENTICAL to the strawberry cream in the snack cake version. Like, WOW. There were lots of vanilla cake inclusions, and once again, the base had a bit of that vanilla cream flavor as well. In terms of tasting like the snack cake, this one felt about as close as you could get in an ice cream form. I’m not typically a strawberry ice cream fan, but there isn’t anything I don’t like about this.

Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 220 Calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 80 milligrams of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

Oatmeal Creme Pies Ice Cream

Having established a heightened level of expectation, I chose the Oatmeal Creme Pies one next. This flavor had a lot of pressure, as it’s one of Little Debbie’s most well-known and best-selling treats (according to the internet). The ice cream base was a nice clean vanilla, and the mix-in was marble-sized gobs of cinnamon cookie pieces that didn’t appear to have any oats. Still, they were certainly representative. My biggest qualm is that there were too few cookies since they were the only inclusion. They also tasted too heavily of cinnamon and ginger. They were delicious, yes, but they didn’t taste as close to the Oatmeal Creme Pie cookie as I thought they would. Once I found and ate the cookie pieces, I was left with too much plain vanilla ice cream.

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 220 Calories, 9 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 25 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Honey Buns Ice Cream

Honey Buns Ice Cream was next, and I have to say, I was really disappointed I couldn’t find an actual Honey Bun to compare. I did find a Hostess Jumbo Honey Bun, but that’s a different brand, and I was dedicated to the accuracy! When trying this, the first words out of my mouth were, “Holy crap! How’d they do that?” This delivers on the donut flavor. The base tasted exactly like a Honey Bun (again, maybe this is the magic of shared artificial flavors, and if so, I’m ALL for it!). There were cinnamon sugar swirls and sugar-coated fried dough chunks, which were slightly CRUNCHY like an old-fashioned donut. This ice cream blew my freaking mind. I will buy this again. The cinnamon might have been a tiny bit heavy, but those donut pieces, whoa.

Rating: 10 out of 10 with enthusiasm.
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 240 Calories, 13 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 95 milligrams of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 21 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Swiss Rolls Ice Cream

Heading back to the cake roll realm, I tried Swiss Rolls Ice Cream next. Again, pathetically, I couldn’t find an actual Swiss Roll to compare it with and had to go a bit on memory for this one. This featured a chocolate base which, again, tasted remarkably similar to the specific chocolate frosting found on Swiss Rolls. There were chocolate cake pieces and a white swirl to represent the sweet cream filling which had sort of a marshmallowy flavor. It might have just been my pint, but I thought the cake pieces were noticeably smaller than those in the Zebra Cake or Strawberry Shortcake varieties, and that made it hard to taste/notice them. When I did encounter some cake, it was dry and gritty. Overall, I still think this came close to representing a Swiss Roll, but as a stand-alone ice cream, the quality wasn’t as high as the others.

Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 210 Calories, 9 grams of fat, 5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 30 milligrams of cholesterol, 70 milligrams of sodium, 31 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fiber, 23 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

Cosmic Brownies Ice Cream

And to round out this crossover launch, there’s Cosmic Brownies Ice Cream. Bright-colored chocolate sprinkles and gobs of chewy chocolate brownie were scattered against a background of chocolate ice cream. I honestly think the base’s flavor could have been stronger, but that might have taken it closer to the taste of Cosmic Brownie frosting. Maybe they could have also added a chocolate swirl? The brownie pieces, however, were fantastic. Chewy, chocolatey, and plentiful, the only thing wrong with them is that I think I liked them better than an actual Cosmic Brownie, and that made me feel like a traitor. The vibrant sprinkles are a little bit lost and muted when submerged in ice cream, but I was surprised that they still did deliver a candy flavor of their own. A pretty decent match with the popular treat and not at all a bad stand-alone ice cream.

Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1/3 of the container) 230 Calories, 10 grams of fat, 6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 85 milligrams of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fiber, 22 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

I was pretty blown away by this lineup. I told A LOT of friends and family to go find them. I don’t think many other brand crossover launches like this have done this well at replicating flavor profiles, and I tip my hat to the ingenuity of McKee Foods and Hudsonville Ice Cream. I was particularly impressed with the quality, especially at a $2.50 price point. As mentioned above, the only disappointment was when I occasionally realized I might like one or two of these better than their bakery counterpart. Heaven forbid.