REVIEW LIGHTNING ROUND (STORE BRAND EDITION) – 3/26/2013

Here are some quick reviews of new store brand products we’re too lazy to write full reviews for:

Market Pantry 90 Calories Fiber & Chocolate Chewy Bars

Item: Market Pantry 90 Calories Fiber & Chocolate Chewy Bars
Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 5 bars
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Pleasant chocolatey flavor and aroma. Nice chewiness; a bit chewier than a Rice Krispies treat. Same amount of fiber and cheaper than Fiber One 90 Calorie Chocolate Chewy Bars. There’s a coffee-like flavor at times.
Cons: Bars are on the small side. Only 5 bars, so if you’re sharing a box with someone, you may have to fight for the last one. .02 ounces lighter and half a gram more fat and saturated fat than Fiber One version.
Nutrition Facts: 1 bar – 90 calories, 2.5 grams of fat, 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 85 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fiber, 6 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

Market Pantry Peanut Butter Crunchy Granola Bars

Item: Market Pantry Peanut Butter Crunchy Granola Bars
Purchased Price: $3.49
Size: 12 bars/6 pouches
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 5 out of 10
Pros: Edible. 18 whole grains per two bars. Crunchy. Easy to chew. Two bars per pouch so you can share or eat one and then smash the other on the ground while a starving person watches.
Cons: Weird peanut butter flavor. Weak weird peanut butter flavor. They kind of look as if they’re decomposing. Extremely awesome at making crumbs.
Nutrition Facts: 2 bars – 190 calories, 7 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 200 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar, and 6 gram of protein.

Market Pantry Fuji Apple Sparking Water Beverage

Item: Market Pantry Fuji Apple Sparking Water Beverage
Purchased Price: 69 cents
Size: 33.8 fl. oz.
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: So good that I could drink a lot of this. When well chilled, it tastes very close to Fuji apples. Inexpensive. Zero calories, fat, and carbs. Naturally flavored.
Cons: Contains no juice. Artificial sweeteners stand out when it gets a little warm. No caffeine, but that’s usually the case with sparkling water. So good that I could drink a lot of this.
Nutrition Facts: 8 oz. – 0 calories, 0 grams of fat, 5 milligrams of sodium, 0 grams of carbohydrates, and 0 gram of protein.

Market Pantry Mango Colada Fruit Smoothie

Item: Market Pantry Mango Colada Fruit Smoothie
Purchased Price: $2.49
Size: 8 oz.
Purchased at: Target
Rating: 4 out of 10
Pros: Pleasant pineapple flavor. Awesome source of vitamin C. Tastes not bad when water is used instead of juice. The sound of ice being crushed in a blender.
Cons: Not much coconut flavor. Not much mango flavor. Yogurt comes in the form of a powder packet. If you like thick smoothies, you’re going to have to add ice. Might go well with rum.
Nutrition Facts: 1/2 package (made with water) – 140 calories, 0 calories from fat, 0 grams of fat, 0 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 40 milligrams of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 26 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein, 20% vitamin A, 6% calcium, and 50% vitamin C.

REVIEW: Burger King Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich

Burger King Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich

You know what three things scare me regarding food?

Cilantro, balut, and Burger King drive-thrus. In that exact order.

And yes, I would rather eat a soapy-tasting weed or a bird embryo than deal with a Burger King drive-thru. Because it took two attempts and two different Burger King drive-thrus to get a proper Burger King Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich in my hands.

Now before I begin my foul-mouthed rant about my Burger King visits, I want to add that both were done on the weekend and before 8:30 am when the only person up is my neighbor with OCD who brushes the lawn so it is “straight.” Lastly, it was a rare cold morning in central Florida where the temperature was in the low 40s. So, basically, nobody was on the road except me, my wife, and my neighbor who ensures each leaf is pointed correctly on her tree.

My first attempt to get this sandwich was abysmal. You can get the Burger King Bacon Gouda Sandwich on either a comfy biscuit or stodgy, yet classy, English muffin. You Francophiles are also in luck; the menu indicates it comes as a Croissan’wich too. I didn’t want the bread to overwhelm the mild Gouda so I decided on the English muffin.

I’m also leery of fast food biscuits because biscuits are a Southern institution as my wife would attest. To me, fast food biscuits (for the most part) are clunky, flavorless and unpleasantly dense. Alas, as luck would have it, “We don’t have no English muffins” buzzed through the speaker.

(sigh)

Window jockey, can you at least feign a sorry?

Burger King Bacon Gouda Biscuit Sandwich

Annoyed, hungry, and not thinking clearly, I settled on the biscuit and waited six fucking minutes for it. Yes. Six…fucking…minutes in the drive-thru for basically a damn bacon and cheese sandwich. Needless to say, the cheese was not melted and appeared it was thrown on the sandwich like it was a discarded Band-Aid.

I felt like Michael Douglas in Falling Down. At least my wife got a good chuckle until I horse-stomped the sandwich in the bag on the passenger side carpet.

Sure, my behavior could be the result of the three hours of sleep I had after a marathon-gaming session, but I don’t think so because I’m still angry and want to choke slam the idiot that made my sandwich. Then I want to take that person’s teeth and put it in the sandwich so I can make them eat it too.

Boy, I need anger management.

My second attempt at another Burger King only reiterated their crappy drive-thru service in my area. I ordered the same thing with an English muffin which they actually had. Great, right?

No, because apparently I’m an asshole for thinking a drive-thru works as simple as:

Step 1. Place your order.
Step 2. Pay.
Step 3. You get your order.

I got up to the window and the manager goes (and I’m paraphrasing), “Uh, did you want cheese and sausage?” Why the hell did I order from the stupid speaker if I have to tell you again what I ordered? So, I repeat my order with disdain and in a minute she hands me the sandwich.

They were fast…almost too fast. My wife, of course, thought the whole thing was funny, but also reminded me to check my sandwich.

Hey! What do you know? It’s a bacon sandwich sans the herb spread and with orange American cheese. Not what I ordered!

After a half-assed apology and dealing with my outrage (I’m pretty sure there was spit in my sandwich now), I received only what I can say was close to perfection, but not enough to quell my anger.

Burger King Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich Top

The sandwich was warm and felt great in the cold morning. It radiated in my hands in its neat little package. Unwrapping the white paper, I smelled the buttery eggs embracing me. The English muffin was toasted, yet fluffy, and it was generously slathered with the rich herb sauce.

Burger King Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich Closeup 2

The nooks and crannies of the muffin created flavor pockets of butter and it carried the Gouda and eggs away to breakfast heaven. The herb spread and rich buttery flavor complemented each other well. The bacon provided a pleasant fatty saltiness that heightened the sandwich and made me ask myself, “Do I still want to make that person eat their own teeth?”

The melted Gouda was mild, but flavorful. The cheese immersed itself into the egg and buttery spread. The combined components of the sandwich created one lush flavor. I would order it again, although from inside a Burger King. Here’s a tip too, the Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich has 140 less calories than the biscuit version. So decide wisely.

Admittedly, it’s hard to beat the trifecta of a good breakfast — bacon, cheese, and eggs — but Burger King slightly elevated it with this sandwich. It was so good that I don’t care if a BK employee’s DNA may have been in it. In fact, if you put balut, complete with tiny feathers and beak, into that sandwich, I would still eat it.

(Nutrition Facts – 380 calories, 22 grams of fat, 9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 195 milligrams of cholesterol, 920 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of sugar, and 21 grams of protein.)

Other Burger King Bacon Gouda Sandwich reviews:
Man Reviews Food
Brand Eating
Grub Grade

Item: Burger King Bacon Gouda Muffin Sandwich
Purchased Price: $3.39
Size: N/A
Purchased at: Burger King
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: The muffin sandwich was buttery, salty, crispy, warm, and lush all at the same time. Horse-stomping things. The herb spread complemented the sandwich’s butteriness. The Gouda melded well with the eggs. Falling Down.
Cons: Burger King Drive-Thrus in my area are manned by imbeciles. This is a limited offer. Unmelted cheese on breakfast sandwiches is disgusting. My wife laughing at me. Cleaning up the car after my antics.

REVIEW: Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger

Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger

If I had a dollar for every time Burger King released a burger topped with their mediocre onion rings, I’d have enough money to buy a Burger King burger topped with their mediocre onion rings. But even though Burger King’s onion rings aren’t anything special, when BK combines them with one of their burgers, it usually creates magic. There was the Rodeo Cheeseburger, Angry Whopper, Western Angus Steak Burger, Western BBQ BK Toppers, Rodeo Whopper, and now there’s the Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger.

This new Burger King sandwich isn’t the first one topped with onion rings and it also isn’t the first one to have a beef patty stuffed with, um…stuff. In 2011, they attempted to burn our mouths with their Jalapeño Cheddar BK Stuffed Steakhouse Burger.

I’m now going to explain what’s in the Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger like I’m an overzealous marketing person and use more adjectives than I need to. The Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger is made up of a juicy and cowtstanding USDA-Inspected fire-grilled ground beef patty stuffed with yummy, swinesational hardwood smoked bacon and delicious, gooey cheddar cheese, topped with fresh-cut, crisp, and greenish lettuce; ripe, succulent tomato slices; red, vinegary, and stain-causing ketchup; creamy, white, and oozable mayonnaise; and crispy, golden brown, and bad breath-causing onion rings all on a warm, squishy artisan-style bun.

With the inclusion of onion rings, I thought the Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger would’ve followed in the footsteps of many other onion ring-topped BK burgers and come with barbecue sauce. But alas, I had to settle for barbecue sauce’s condiment cousins, ketchup and mayo. However, and this is going to sound strange, the ketchup and a few other ingredients, at times, made the burger taste as if it had barbecue sauce. Besides that, the ketchup and mayonnaise made my hands look like I turned into the Incredible Hulk and SMASH STORE CONDIMENT SECTION!

Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger Closeup

If you’re like me and complain regularly on a semi-popular food review blog about how I can rarely taste the bacon in most fast food burgers, then you’ll be happy to hear the flavor of the bacon in the thick patty stands out. Every bite I took from this burger had a nice smoky and swinetastic flavor. It feels a little weird to be biting on bacon bits instead of strips of bacon and it makes the patty taste even saltier, but who cares? I can finally taste the bacon in a fast food burger!

Let’s celebrate with bacon!

However, what didn’t stand out were the bits of cheddar in the beef patty, which was the same issue the Jalapeño Cheddar BK Stuffed Steakhouse Burger had. But the onion rings did somewhat make up for the cheese by providing a mild onion flavor that went well with the beef and gave the burger a slight crunchiness.

With Burger King’s limited time only spring menu, they’re giving you a lot of new sandwich choices — a turkey burger, a new Whopper variety, a new chicken sandwich, a veggie burger, and this burger. If you’re having trouble deciding what to eat, I think you can’t go wrong with the Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger.

(Nutrition Facts – 650 calories, 350 calories from fat, 39 grams of fat, 12 grams of saturated fat, 1.5 grams of trans fat, 70 milligrams of cholesterol, 1420 milligrams of sodium, 51 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugar, 23 grams of protein.)

Other Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger reviews:
Brand Eating
The Food Chain Review
Grub Grade

Item: Burger King Bacon Cheddar Stuffed Burger
Purchased Price: $4.99
Size: N/A
Purchased at: Burger King
Rating: 7 out of 10
Pros: Nice flavor. I can taste the bacon in a fast food burger. Thick patty. Onion rings provided a little crunchiness. At times, the burger tasted as if it has barbecue sauce. BK burger + onion rings = magic.
Cons: Cheddar in the patty didn’t add anything. Someone may have put too much ketchup and mayonnaise in my burger. Awesome source of sodium. Available for a limited time. Going adjective crazy.

REVIEW: McDonald’s Sweet Chili Premium McWrap with Grilled Chicken

Grilled Chicken Sweet Chili McWrap 10

I have good news and bad news for those of you thinking that McDonald’s new Premium McWraps are just the same old pathetic looking McDonald’s chicken snack wraps with a prefix attached to the front of their name and a whole bunch of marketing buzzwords thrown into their description.

The good news? They’re not.

They come in futuristic packaging, taste pretty good, and demonstrate a degree of wrapping that most men in this country will never be able to achieve when wrapping birthday and Christmas gifts.

The bad news? They still kind of look pretty pathetic, all things considered.

Grilled Chicken Sweet Chili McWrap

Each wrap, including my Sweet Chili with Grilled Chicken, comes in an oblong container that looks kind of like an unlit lightsaber. It’s been a while since I was required to read directions to open something with the prefix “Mc” in front of it, but I eventually managed to separate the top part of the container to reveal and handy-dandy and convenient oh-God-why-would-I-need-this base container that attempted to defy gravity in holding my McWrap upright (ultimately, it failed. For you teachers, consider it the next time you teach Newton).

Grilled Chicken Sweet Chili McWrap 5

As seen below, the wrap didn’t exactly live up to advertising expectations. With a good inch and a half of tortilla “dead space,” my first bite was about as disappointing as the series finale of Seinfeld. A lone cucumber stared me straight in the face like a cyclopes, but since I was eating something called a “McWrap” and not facing down an actual Cyclops, I didn’t exactly cower in fear. Like I said, it looked pretty pathetic.

Grilled Chicken Sweet Chili McWrap 9

The tortilla itself isn’t bad on its own, but for $3.99 I really expect something composed of more than just enriched flour and hydrogenated soybean oil in foldable form. Fortunately, a quick cut through the wrap’s abdomen yielded insides stuffed with chicken and other vegetation.

Grilled Chicken Sweet Chili McWrap 12

Regarding this vegetation, the McDonald’s website tells me that my McWrap may have contained some or all of a catalogue of designer greens including Baby Green Romaine, Baby Red Romaine, Baby Red Leaf, Baby Green Leaf, Baby Red Swiss Chard, Baby Red Oak, Baby Green Oak, Lolla Rosa, Tango, Tatsoi, Arugula, Mizuna, Frisee, and Radicchio.

Basically, I’m going to venture to say it just contained a little more than the standard iceburg lettuce that’s usually thrown in as an afterthought. I may not know how to pronounce Tatsoi, and the last time I saw Tango I was falling asleep watching Dancing with the Stars, but I think I’d know for certain if they were in my wrap. The greens add a little bit of flavor and bitterness, but mostly, they’re just kind of there like the third string quarterback on a football team.

The chicken is juicy and plump and has a nice faux chargrill flavor that could compete with most fast casual chains. Thanks to what I’m guessing is the “prepared with liquid margarine” part of the ingredients list, there’s a buttery and slightly sweet taste that conjures up images of meat basting on the grill.

Grilled Chicken Sweet Chili McWrap 11

The Sweet Chili sauce, while seemingly isolated in the wraps southeastern quadrant, was actually applied in just the right restraint. It’s not overpowering or cloying, although, as anyone who has ever drowned their sorrows in a 50 pack of McNuggets can tell you, it’s not very hot. Basically, they should call it Sweet Red Pepper Sauce.

While the wrap gets its name from Sweet Chili, it’s the Creamy Garlic Sauce which pleasantly caught me by surprise. It’s got a mild milky flavor with a certain lightness but also a sweet roasted garlic element to it. Think of it as yummier and healthier than mayo, but simple enough to not confuse your taste buds, maybe like an aioli-for-dummies or something like that.

Enjoyable, no doubt, but worth the 3.99 price tag? That’s where I’m going to have to say ‘no.’ While there’s certainly some heft in the 360 calorie, 27-gram protein McWrap, the truth is that it just doesn’t feel as substantial as a “Premium” sandwich. Sure, the tastes are all there, but the wrap itself leaves something to be desired in terms of the amount of ingredients offered, as well as their proportion. Too much Tortilla and not enough crunch set it back, as does a bells and whistle packaging design that screams trying too hard.

In addition, there seems to be something missing in terms of the vegetables offered within the wrap. Discounting wrap physics, I would have preferred a few chopped tomatoes or perhaps crunchy carrot or pepper strips to compliment the two sauces. As someone who had the chance to try the line of McDonald’s flatbreads the chain tested in the Baltimore region some three years ago, I can say I enjoyed those flavors — and price tag — much more, and hope that the Golden Arches hasn’t put that idea on the back burner and decided to replace it permanently with the new line of Chicken McWraps.

Click here to read our McDonald’s Chicken & Ranch McWrap review

(Nutrition Facts – 360 calories, 80 calories from fat, 9 grams of fat, 2.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol, 1030 milligrams of sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 10 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fiber, and 27 grams of protein.)

Other McDonald’s McWrap reviews:
Man Reviews Food

Item: McDonald’s Sweet Chili Premium McWrap with Grilled Chicken
Purchased Price: $3.99
Size: 9.1 ounces
Purchased at: McDonald’s
Rating: 6 out of 10
Pros: Bigger and better than a snack wrap. Good, ‘premium’ tasting grilled chicken. Excellent wrapping that doesn’t fall apart. Good balance of sweet and savory. More greens than just iceburg. Creamy Garlic Sauce is a great change-up from mayo. Eating a non-pickled cucumber at McDonald’s. Pretending to be a Jedi with the container. 27 grams protein.
Cons: Size doesn’t justify the price. Could use another vegetable crunch factor. Tortilla dead space. Doesn’t look as pathetic as a snack wrap but still kind of pathetic.

REVIEW: Nabisco Honey Mustard Wheat Thins

Nabisco Honey Mustard Wheat Thins

I oftentimes wonder if there’s some kind of flow chart that maps out how snack companies pick the next flavor for their brands. You know, the kind of simple-to-read document with the Microsoft Word-Art-inspired fancy arrows in bright colors that leads executives on a maze to the big pastel colored circle that says (in Comic Sans, no less) “Red Velvet Pop-Tart” or “Chicken and Waffles Potato Chips.”

And knowing how some flavors get the check-mark before others, I further wonder if the brilliant advisors to some of our nation’s finest food brands aren’t in fact the same whiz kids giving AT&T all that brilliant advice.

I bring this up because it seems a long-time coming that Wheat Thins would add Honey Mustard to their flavor lineup. Seriously, Nabisco. If “artisan” cheese, low sodium, and cinnamon sugar can get on the flavor list, then you’d think a flavor like honey mustard would have made the cut by now.

Well, better late then never.

The taste is classic honey mustard powder, which from my experience is different than actual honey mustard because it has all the benefits of the irresistible sweet-salty combination with a hint of tang and earthiness to go along with not having to deal with the annoyance of squeeze bottle physics.

Nabisco Honey Mustard Wheat Thins Closeup 1

There aren’t any particularly “artisan” notes that suggest a fancy-smancy Dijon or horseradish-type of honey mustard, which is great in my book because the last thing I want while snacking is making funny faces thanks to nasal irritation. The powder is applied liberally enough to allow for a finger-licking experience, even after a handful of crackers, which seem a natural fit for honey mustard given the crackers’ malted aftertaste and wheaty flavor.

Like I said, it’s a flavor that seems a long time coming.

The sweet and slightly tangy taste permeates past the powder though, which in this case makes the crackers all the more addictive. It also validates their ability to withstand plenty of the stresses of springtime events like watching opening day baseball on your couch with a cold one.

Yes, spilling your beer on Honey Mustard Wheat Thins will infuse the cracker with the triple hops brewed taste of fermented barley, but it won’t wash away the honey mustard taste. Should you not spill beer on your Wheat Thins and just be one of those weird people who insist on licking every atom of seasoning powder off your favorite snack before crunching down, you’ll still find the usual malted taste of the Wheat Thin melding perfectly with the honey mustard flavor.

Nabisco Honey Mustard Wheat Thins Closeup 2

Truth be told, I really can’t find noticeable flaws with the Honey Mustard Wheat Thins. However, a bit more seasoning as well as a hint of the kind of innate “pretzel” flavor that goes so well with honey mustard would have put these crackers over the top for me.

On that note, Honey Mustard Wheat Thins won’t be the kind of snack that inspires you to deplete your local Walmart’s stock before your tax rebate check arrives, but at the same time, they’re not something that disappoints. If only all flow-chart inspired snack flavor product decisions could accomplish so much.

(Nutrition Facts – 30 grams (About 15 crackers) – 140 calories, 50 calories from fat, 5 grams of fat, 1 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 160 milligrams of sodium, 85 milligrams of potassium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of dietary fiber, 5 grams of sugars, and 2 grams of protein.)

Item: Nabisco Honey Mustard Wheat Thins
Purchased Price: $2.50
Size: 9 oz. box
Purchased at: Safeway
Rating: 8 out of 10
Pros: Classic honey mustard powder flavor reminiscent of Rold Gold Honey Mustard pretzels. Sweet-salty-malty powder applied liberally enough for finger licking action. Not overpowering in the tang department. Avoiding squeeze bottle physics which rob me a good three tablespoons of honey mustard. Whole grains.
Cons: Snack food flavor flow charts. Lacks familiar “pretzel” flavor. Still waiting for a Beer and Honey Mustard Wheat Thins flavor.

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