Baby Ruth is probably my favorite candy bar. So, when I saw new Baby Ruth Crisp at the local Kwik-E-Mart, I was curious and hesitant at the same time. I didn’t want to be disappointed by a failed attempt to recreate a classic candy bar like I have many times in the past. I bought one anyway and am glad that I did. Although the crispy wafers make it a very different eating experience compared to a regular Baby Ruth, it still has the Baby Ruth flavor that I love so much. Some crispy-type candy bars are so light and airy that they don’t have enough substance to satisfy my generous appetite. I didn’t have this complaint with Baby Ruth Crisp. I think that the Baby Ruth Crisp is so tasty that I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s as good as the original.
Phoood rating: 
The Carl’s Jr. Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger attempts to combine two things I love, a grilled cheese sandwich and a hamburger, into one glorious cheese/bacon/hamburger sandwich. It pretty much succeeds, but not for the reason you may think. As a grilled cheese sandwich with a burger inside, it just doesn’t work. I find that grilled cheese sandwiches are so delicious because of their simplicity and how the buttered, toasted bread goes so well with the gooey, melted cheese. Adding a hamburger patty and bacon to a grilled cheese sandwich only distracts from the magic. However, part of the Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger is really good – the hamburger patty, two slices of bacon, and four slices of cheese (Swiss and American). Eating them reminded me of the nirvana that is the Ultimate Cheeseburger from Jack in the Box. The weakest part of the Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger is the grilled bread slices. They didn’t have much flavor and were soggy messes by the time I got the burger home to eat it (a trip of less than 5 minutes). The Grilled Cheese Bacon Burger would be better if it had a normal hamburger bun. It wouldn’t be a grilled cheese, but it would be a mighty fine hamburger.
Regardless of whether you like them or not, I think most people can appreciate the pretzel. They are easy to consume with minimal cleanup and are a foundation of the salty snack market. This widespread appeal has caused many pretzel brands and varieties to try to capture a segment of the vast market. Recently I tried one of these new varieties – well, at least new to me – and felt obligated to report the results on the premier snack review website. The product is HK Anderson Peanut Butter Filled Nuggets Original. This is not my first experience with peanut butter and pretzels. Peanut butter filled pretzel Combos were a staple of my childhood and although I enjoyed them in my youth, they're at most average peanut butter wrapped in their less-than-great pretzels, and so didn’t stick with me through the years. On the other hand, HK Anderson’s certainly will. The pretzel outside is of a perfect consistency with just the right amount of salt. Once you get through the pretzel shell, the moist peanut butter will simple melt in your mouth. Pop one in and suck on it until it dissolves in your mouth or grab a handful and throw them into your mouth – either way you can’t go wrong.
The whole business model behind Sun Chips has always seemed a little funny to me. They market themselves as the healthy chip, which is pretty much an oxymoron, but apparently an effective strategy seeing as how they have come to be a major player in the chip market. There has always been one thing that has stopped me from jumping on their bandwagon, and that is taste. It’s not that their chips taste bad per se, it is just that they lack the flavor punch of many of their competitor’s chips. One resulting benefit of this is that their chips don’t leave your breath tasting as bad as some of the more pungent flavors their competitors deploy. With all that being said, the new Peppercorn Ranch Sun Chips stays true to their theme of providing a healthy chip that might lack the flavor of a competitor’s similarly flavored chip. The Peppercorn Ranch chips have an initial mild ranch flavor that then reveals a hint of pepper and finishes with an aftertaste that is very similar to their Sun Chip Original chip. I think the best way I can describe its true flavor is to imagine the taste of a peppercorn ranch chip and then make it diet. For a guy that loves the flavor-packed punch of a Ruffles Cheddar and Sour Cream or a Doritos Cool Ranch, I can’t fully endorse Sun Chips' unusual new flavor.
The nice folks at Mom & Popcorn Company wanted me to try some of their popcorn. The only problem was that their store is in McKinney, Texas, and I’m in California. Sure, I like popcorn, but not enough to travel half way across the country to get some. So, they were kind enough to mail some samples to me. They sent a selection of flavors and all of them were very tasty. However, one item stood out as my clear favorite – Peanut Butter Covered Caramel Popcorn. Wow, is it good! It has the perfect balance of peanut butter and caramel covering crispy popcorn. I think it’s safe to say that it is the best tasting popcorn I’ve ever eaten. If you don’t live near McKinney, Texas, don’t worry. You can order Mom & Popcorn Company products through their website, www.momandpopcorn.com. Be sure to order some Peanut Butter Covered Carmel Popcorn. You won’t be disappointed, unless maybe you’re from another space-time continuum where delicious popcorn doesn’t exist. By the way, my second favorite flavor was Hot Cheese.
I've always been susceptible to advertising, which probably helps explain my love of fast food and candy. During this year's Winter Olympics, I have probably seen the McDonald's promotion for their new Sweet Chili Sauce a couple dozen times. The commercial mentions how this sauce is what all the athletes in the Olympic Village are eating with their McNuggets. I guess McDonald's wants to introduce a flavor with a bold and international appeal. So today I obeyed the ads and went out to try this sauce for myself. Now, McDonald's isn't really known for spicy flavors, and I was worried that this sauce was gonna be all sweet and no heat. Thankfully, all my fears were allayed after my first dip. McDonald's has made a sauce that tastes exactly like the sweet chili sauce semi-fancy Chinese restaurants serve with spring rolls; sweet, but with a very nice pepper/vinegar burn to it. It's a shame this is a limited time only item, because it blows every other dipping sauce out of the water. The only downside is the relatively small amount of sauce you're given, so make sure to ask for two. McNuggets have never tasted better. Congratulations McDonalds, this is a gold medal winner.
I like to read the list of ingredients on food that I eat so that I have an idea of what’s in it and to practice pronouncing words like phenylalanine and disodium guanylate. I read the ingredients list on a box of new Cheez-It Italian Four Cheese crackers that I bought recently and was surprised to find not four, but six types of cheeses listed: white cheddar, Monterey Jack, romano, parmesan, mozzarella, and Asiago. I guess “Italian Six Cheese” just wasn’t as catchy. In regard to the crackers, they are very tasty, with a cheese flavor that reminds me of, well, six different cheeses combined together. They are one of the better tasting types of Cheez-It, but they are not without a few small complaints. They’re very close to being too salty for my taste and are also covered with a powdery substance, which I assume is cheese powder. This means that your fingers get covered with the stuff as you eat the Cheez-Its, which I don’t like. Inevitably, the powder ends up not only on my fingers but also on my shirt, the couch, and the cat. Fortunately, there is a solution for this. Next time, I’ll just pour the crackers directly from the box into my mouth and bypass my fingers altogether.
Pepsi Throwback is Pepsi cola sweetened with real sugar, the way it used to be before the switch to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) was made. Most soft drink makers currently use HFCS and it is very controversial because of claimed health risks. Despite the possible health risks of HFCS, I wanted to know if Pepsi made with real sugar tasted any different than Pepsi made with HFCS (let’s call it “regular Pepsi”). So, I did a blind taste test of the two. Pepsi Throwback seemed to have slightly less carbonation than regular Pepsi. I don’t know if it really did or this was just an effect of the sweetener used, but I liked it. Because of the reduced carbonation, I thought that Pepsi Throwback was easier to drink and more of the cola flavor came through. The sweetness of Pepsi Throwback was smooth and tasted more natural. Regular Pepsi, on the other hand, seemed to have more carbonation and had a sweetness that was more pronounced than Pepsi Throwback. The differences between the two sodas were pretty subtle, much more so than I expected. So, which one did I prefer? Even though the taste of regular Pepsi was more familiar to me, I preferred Pepsi Throwback because of the slightly more pronounced cola flavor and a more pleasant sweetness. Pepsi Throwback is only supposed to be available for a limited time, so get one while you can.
I had such high hopes for this burrito. Taco Bell had been so successful in the past with incorporating a "hidden" layer of cheese in their products (the Cheesy Gordita Crunch is an all-time fave), but this was a real let down. I should have known from the ingredients listed that the burrito would be a disappointment: beans, beef, cheese, sour cream, and nacho cheese. There was nothing to give this burrito any kick or distinct flavor, instead the nacho cheese and sour cream combined to form an overpowering yet somehow bland mush that would be better suited at a senior center. At the excellent 89 cent price point, it's a shame this couldn't be a winner, as the burrito is quite substantial and would have been a valuable component in my under five dollar Taco Bell meals.
Domino’s Pizza recently made some changes to their pizza in an effort to improve it. They call it a “pizza turnaround,” pretty much admitting that their pizza wasn’t any good before. Although they have been the butt of pizza jokes for many years, I’ve never had a problem with Domino’s Pizza. No, it wasn’t the best pizza out there, but it tasted okay and was inexpensive. To find out how their new pizza tasted, I placed an order through their web site (I absolutely love ordering pizza online!) and got a large Hand Tossed pepperoni pizza for only $5.99 carryout. I could definitely taste the difference between it and their old pizza, but I’m not ready to say that Domino’s now makes a great pizza. The biggest improvement that I tasted was in the new garlic-seasoned crust. It has a lot of flavor, but was a bit too salty. And the texture of the crust, while perhaps better than the old version, still is not that of a high-quality pizza. There was hardly any sauce on my pizza, so it was difficult to tell if it had “a melody of herbs and a red pepper kick” as claimed. The cheese tasted good, but the pepperoni slices were paper thin, making them almost flavorless. With pizza, like many other things, you get what you pay for. With few exceptions, an inexpensive pizza just isn’t going to taste as good as a more expensive one. Domino’s doesn’t make the best pizza out there, but I would buy one again because it’s an okay pizza for the money.
I love preparing food that is quick and easy. Who wants to spend more time making something than it takes to eat it? And while it’s not hard to make pancake or waffle batter, you have to clean the bowl, clean the measuring cup, clean the mixing spoon, etc. Batter Blaster is the epitome of simple. Just hold the bottle over the griddle (or waffle iron), press the nozzle, and start cooking. It took a couple of tries for me to figure out how to make a nicely round pancake. In my case, the secret was to dispense the batter with a swirling motion. The pancakes only took a couple minutes to cook. They turned out to be on the thin side, whereas I usually prefer a thicker, fluffier pancake. But the flavor was very good. I could tell that Batter Blaster is made with quality ingredients, because the pancakes had a great flavor and a subtle sweetness. I was really hard to believe that I was eating pancakes that came from a pressurized can! If you’re the health-conscious type (but then again, why would you be reading this blog?), you’ll be glad to know that Batter Blaster is certified organic. Batter Blaster pancakes are so quick, easy, and tasty that I don’t know if I’ll ever bother using Bisquick again.
One of the quickest meals you can eat is to dump a can of Chef Boyardee in a bowl, microwave for a minute, and eat. If you’re in a hurry or are just lazy, you can eat it cold out of the can. Too sophisticated to eat straight out of the can? Not me. Anyway, I spotted Chef Boyardee Cheesy Burger Macaroni on the grocery store shelf recently and picked up a can on sale for a buck. I figured that it would make a good, quick, and inexpensive lunch. I think they were going for the flavor of a cheeseburger here, but it really falls short. There’s hardly any meat in it, and not much cheese flavor. The sauce tasted really familiar – similar to SpaghettiOs (oh yeah, another of my favorites). And the macaroni was, um … well, how good can canned, inexpensive, mass-produced macaroni be? For a buck, I wasn’t too disappointed but I’m not sure if I’ll buy it again. Overall, Cheesy Burger Macaroni tastes okay, but just don’t think that it’s going to be like eating a cheeseburger.
What sets Mountain Dew Throwback apart from regular Mountain Dew is that it is not made with high-fructose corn syrup, which is prevalent in soft drinks today. Some say that soft drinks made with real sugar taste better than those made with HFCS. I’m not here to debate that issue, just to tell you that Mountain Dew Throwback tastes mighty good. It’s just like I remember it tasting as a kid, drinking it out of a pull-top can or a glass bottle. Of course, the classic Mountain Dew flavor is there. And so is the smooth, pleasant taste of real sugar. The soda is not overly sweet like some soft drinks are. Honestly, I was surprised at the moderate sweetness that it has. That, combined with a low amount of carbonation, made it very easy to drink. I drank the soda on a cold and rainy day, but it would have been perfect for a swelteringly hot July afternoon in Sacramento. A liter or two of Mountain Dew Throwback on a day like that would go down oh so smoothly.
You’ve never heard of Bays English Muffins? I’m not surprised, as they are found in the refrigerated dairy section of the grocery store rather than the bread aisle with all the other English muffins. They are very easy to overlook. I’ve always figured that they are sold in the refrigerated section because they are special in some way and different than their competition. I read all about Bays and their English muffins on their web site, but I’m still not exactly sure why they are sold in the refrigerated section. However, I did learn that Bays English Muffins have a long history and were used by McDonalds for the original Egg McMuffin in the early 1970s. Bays should be commended for making English muffins since 1933, and I really wish I could recommend their muffins over their competitors. But, I can’t. The truth is that the Bays muffins that I ate recently tasted pretty much like other English muffins I’ve had. They had the “nooks and crannies,” crispy texture, and flavor that you expect from an English muffin. They were very tasty, like English muffins are, but they didn’t stand out in any way. I was kind of disappointed, not because they didn’t taste good, but because they tasted so ordinary. I didn’t have any other English muffins to compare the Bays to, and maybe I should have. I’ll consider having a Phoood Fight between Bays and Thomas’ English muffins in the future. But for now, Bays English Muffins are deserving of a Good rating.
Mountain Dew is a brand that is constantly trying to find the next big hit. They bring in new flavors what seems like every time I head to the store, with the hopes of finding one that grabs the market. I like the fact that they continually try to diversify and better their product line, but at times I think it can be a little excessive. The drawback to this business strategy is that some people might ignore the new flavors as simply a marketing strategy of “new is cool” and not as a serviceable soft drink desired for its flavor. That is one reason why I chose to review Mountain Dew Game Fuel. Someone needs to do this drink justice and separate it from the herd of other Mountain Dew novelty flavors, because this drink is simply delicious. This drink is similar to Mountain Dew Code Red (another new flavor favorite), but at the same time so different. They have the similar sweet-as-its-color cherry flavor, except Game Fuel’s is a touch sweeter and has a bit more of a fruity essence (it’s described on the can as a “blast of citrus cherry flavor”). Game Fuel seems to be smoother to drink, reminding me slightly of the drinkability of a juice. That may be because it has less carbonation--at least, that is what it tastes like. I don’t know how long Mountain Dew is going to keep Game Fuel on the market, but if you are a fan of fruit-based sodas or Gatorade, you need to try this for yourself. The only way this item should stay out of your refrigerator is if you don’t drink non-diet sodas or have an extreme taste aversion to either the original Mountain Dew or Mountain Dew Code Red products. If that is the case, I feel sorry for your taste buds, bud.