Sriracha + tomato soup = awesome

Want a quick meal idea? I was just eating tomato soup and had the idea to squeeze a little sriracha into it. Perhaps 3/4 tablespoon. Oh my god is it delicious.

Hot Pockets: Philly Cheesesteak

Little bit of siracha and we good.

I'm not sure if this is a regional option to our area- but our local grocer stocks a variety of hot pockets and lean pockets. I tried the Philly Cheesesteak flavor tonight. The amount of meat, combined with a gooey cheese and onions (possibly peppers?) gave it an authentic taste. This isn't a "real" philly cheesesteak, but it tastes pretty damn close to one.

On sale for $2.50 a box, I recommend this meal as a budget saving and/or quick meal option. No endorsement from Nestle here- I just like hot pockets. So good, might have to pop the other one in (laughs).

Rating: Double thumbs up (5/5)

Plamo's 2012 Pizza Classification Awards

I have been a pizza connesiour (French lesson needed) for 20 years, and I know what makes a good pizza. Every year since last year, I decided to host Plamo's 2012 classification awards. By no means am I an authority on the subject of pizza; I just have lots... of experience with it. There are a couple of factors that go into evaluating a good pizza.
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Ingredient Freshness- a good pizza must use fresh ingredients. You can obviously tell if the bacon is old, not real, or if something is dried out. Jalapeno's that are fresh have an immediate kick to them when eaten. The sauce must taste fresh as well.

Price- the price of the pie must not break the bank or take an arm and a leg either. The price of a decently sized Chicago deep dish should be no more than $25, and a flat crusted pizza should cost no more than $15. A good price is always a bonus.

Crust Texture- this element is fairly important. The crust has to taste good, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Some crust is chewey, others are crunchy, and some may be hard, or some may be delectable. A good crust should not be terribly hard, but "fall at the crumb" good. A very small application of butter or garlic is a bonus (I dislike garlic).

Zest- I want a kick, and I'm not talking about just toppings. The sauce makes the pizza, end of discussion. The sauce must have a zest to it, or at least a unique pull that makes me want to think of "your" pizza when I mull my options over for pickup or delivery. If the sauce is bland, you won't get far.

Consistency- A lack of consistency is one of the biggest reasons pizza can be a turnoff to some people. Too much or too little cheese not only makes the pizza look bad, but there is too much of one thing to eat. A fine balance must be acquired between toppings, crust, sauce and cheese, and it really isn't hard to please me with good consistency- I know it when I taste it.

The classes, or "grades" of pizza are as follows: S, A, B, C, and F. Self explanatory. If the pizza is B or below, it had better be at a good price. Remember, this is my opinion- some people will vehemently disagree with my choices, and that is fine.
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Lou Malnati's
Grade: "S"
Best feature: a tie between freshness, crust texture, and zest.
Worst feature: there's a worst feature?
Brief: a class S pizza that excels in every category, and maintains its S grade from last year. A must try. There deep dish sauce has a mysterious lure... combining secret recipe with fresh ingredients...

Rosati's
Grade: "S"
Best feature: zest and ingredient freshness.
Worst feature: there's a worst feature?
Brief: A class S pizza that excels in every category, and maintains an S grade from last year. A must try. Rosati's also features a signature taste.

Gino's East
Grade: "B"
Best feature: consistency
Worst feature: lack of zest
Brief: An "ok" deep dish that lacks power or zest compared to other Class S and A pizzas.

Pizza Hut
Grade: "B-"
Best feature: Price
Worst feature: lack of zest
Brief: A fairly good pizza at a good price. Not the best compared to other higher ranking pizza's, but not bad, either.







  

Papa Johns
*inquiring*
Brief: a brand I am not fond of, but for the sake of inquiry, will taste test again in the near future.

Domino's
*B-*
Worst feature: telling their customer's "no"
Brief: a company that tells there customer's "no" to customizing artisan pizza's, even when customers say they will pay for the added ingredients. DA decent pizza that has much improved over the years and has a hint of zest, but does not top other pizzas.

Antonio's Italian
Grade: "B"
Best feature: crust
Worst feature: price
Brief: A grade A pizza that is knocked down a notch thanks to a hefty price tag at a four star restaurant.

Giordano's
Grade: "A"
Best feature: crust
Worst feature: price/lack of zest
Brief: A good, excellent deep dish that is a must try if you see a Giordano's. Excellent crust and traditional taste, but it lacks a special kick.

Safeway Brand Pizza
Grade: "F"
Best feature: nothing
Worst feature: everything
Brief: A pizza that fails in consistency, has no zest, the sauce tastes bad, and the pizza isn't worth the cheap price tag. Crust is also horrible.

Red Baron Pizza
Grade: "B"
Best feature: crust and consistency
Worst feature: freshness and price
Brief: Red Baron is a favorite among many people, and it's a pretty good pizza, but there have been some health concerns regarding its fat content and sodium. Not bad, but not the best, either.

Buddyz Pizza and Bar
Grade: "A"
Best feature: A zesty kick in the bawls!
Worst feature: just improve a little of everything
Brief: Buddyz is an excellent pizza that gives you a kick in the mouth. They essentially scored flat through all of the categories, so all they need to do is improve a little of everything, which is difficult to do. If I had to pick one, crust texture. A fine pizza to eat locally within 30mins driving distance.

JJ Twigs Bar and Restaurant
Grade: "A"
Best feature: One of the best tastes for the dollar
Worst feature: crust improvement needed
Brief: An excellent local pizza that had proper consistency, tasty ingredients, and a very cheap eat for three to four people. Their 18-20" pizza wasn't over $25 if I recall. Crust is good, but could use softening. Sauce isn't a kick of zest, but has a unique zesty signature that isn't an overload. Comparable to Buddyz and a restaurant featured last year called "Fiore's".

Soda versus Soup

Today I requested at our local "go to the store" day that low sodium tomato soup be picked up. I then got this comment:

"You talk about low sodium soup yet a bottle of soda you drink has more sodium than one of those soup cans".

Uhuh. For someone that should be at the forefront of "being healthy", is that statement backed up by empirical data? We will see.

24oz bottle (and I drink cans, by the way) =80mg sodium
1 microwaveable can of regular Campbells tomato = 960mg of sodium

I rest my case. Somebody forgot to check their facts.

Mr. Frugal: What you can do with soda you can do with chips

A lot of the time, we buy groceries at the store without question for the cost- until cost becomes an issue. Applying the principles we did to soda, if you have a bad food habit- you can be smart about it and consider the options.

Chip manufacturers (and snacks) are sold by net weight, not by the volume of the bag. I think there is some science to leaving a pocket in the sealed bag, and people will call it "false advertising" because they think there are more chips in there then they actually get. I side with the manufacturer on this one- get real. Depending on the weight of the product inside, the volume will change as chips fall on each other as they go into the bag. I am confident that manufacturers put EXACTLY a certain weight into the bag that they say they do. Now with that addressed...

You can figure cost per ounce. There are more variables involved- such as taste, favorite brand, etc- but you will need to make those upgrades (or downgrades) after considering the cost per ounce.

Chip	Cost per bag	Ounces contained	$/Oz
Lays BBQ	$            4.39	11.5	$  0.38
Doritos	$            4.29	11.5	$  0.37
Andy Cap's	$            2.75	8	$  0.34
Store Generic	$            1.79	10	$  0.18

Here we can see that the Lays BBQ I like so much is 38 cents an ounce. Big deal? Look at the store generic; it is 18 cents an ounce. The store generic also carries a BBQ line- and they taste just as good as the Lays chips. In that case, I would avoid the Lays and go for the store generic. Doritos are up there too. I thought Andy Caps were cheaper, but they are also up there in terms of price. Sometimes you can get kettle cooked bags for a good price. I don't have data on one, so I won't list it and mislead people. If the kettle cooked are good, and you like them, and they are a cheaper $/Oz, go for it. On a tight budget, buying the yummy alternative can save you money.

Arguably the Best Pizza in the World

No doubt; Chicago is the pizza capital of the world. Tastes from all over the world come to Chicago to make the Windy City unique in its own right. I have been eating pizza for a good 20 years now, and I know what makes a good pizza. The key to correct pizza making is consistency and proportional ingredients: not too much; not too little. With that said, I am proud to recognize two very unique pizzerias for their excellent service and quality. Rosati's and Lou Malnati's.

In deciding my "favorite" pizza, going between the two restaurants is like comparing corvettes- they all look good, and only the smallest nuances will set them apart. The tiniest differences in taste, texture, and sauce had to be analyzed in both pizzas. It came down to a freaking side by side taste test because I was so undecided.

In overall appearance, taste, and texture, I am going to give my #1 props to Lou Malnati's pizza. The taste is just incredible- everything on that pizza is fresh. Rosati's pizza offers similar taste, and they really do COME CLOSE to Lou's. Overall, Lou's seems a little bit cheaper than Rosati's- but when we are discussing the best pizza brands in the world, who cares if they are two or three dollars off. I love Rosati's sauce- it is tomato-ey (to my dad's dismay) and it has flare. Lou has a more traditional approach to their sauce, and it becomes sensational near the end of the swallow. They are both delicious. But if I HAD to give an award for best pizza, it would go to Lou's.

Now I haven't had Gino's yet... so we will see who keeps the top position.

2011 Pizza Awards

Anyone can make a pizza, but it is an art form when making an excellent pizza. Sauce must be proportional, cheese must be properly melted, and the ingredients always have to be fresh. A good price also helps. Graded from ingredients, to taste, to price, and to service, I listed (from memory) most of the pizza shops I have been to, or a brand of pizza I have experienced. I haven't had all there is to eat in regards to pizza, and certainly I have forgotten quite a few of the places I once ate at. Let's get started:


Best Service: Buddyz Pizza (Lake in the Hills, Illinois)
Great service from this restaurant. Employees were generally interested in the customer and the quality of the meal. Even when you know you are good, the strive for perfection can be seen when you always care about the quality of your pizza. No doubt other restaurants on the list come close to Buddyz score, but they scored the highest. Small discrepancies let some pizzas lose out on this award.


Best Fast Food Chain: Pizza Hut
Gonna give this one to the hut. This award is based solely on fast food chains that have the best tasting pizza. Pizza hut has some pretty good specialty pizzas. That's not to say other chains don't have good pizza- but the hut will take this award.


Best Price: Infinito's Pizza
All you can eat and drink buffet: $8. Over 15 varieties of pizza. The value is enormous here, and eat until you are stuffed. Cici's does not compare to Infinito's this year. Grats Infinito's, you take home this award.


Best Ingredients: Rosati's Pizza
Stores that make it their mission to sell quality pizza use real ingredients that are fresh. This one is a no brainer... Rosati's Pizza. A few stores came VERY, VERY close: but Rosati's is going to take this one.


Best Sauce: Lou Malnati's
Lou and Rosati constantly battle it out in my book, and both have amazing pizza. When it comes to the sauce of the pie, Lou has it. Rosati's is close, but Lou has something very special in my opinion.


alright. The big one. All of this, by the way is a matter of opinion- you make like one pizza better than another. I have been tasting pizza for about 20 years now, so I would think my opinion would have some weight. I should really do some reviews sometime on particular brands. Back on topic. Best taste:


Best Taste: STALEMATE: Rosati's Pizza; Lou Malnati's
What the heck Rob? The thing is, I still cannot decide who should get this one. Rosati's and Lou's both have amazing pizza. They both have their unique tastes, unique sauces, and fresh ingredients. This one is going to be VERY hard to grade, and I will have to give the award at a later date. I need to sample more of both pizza's (yum!) before making a decision. Really, it is THAT CLOSE.

Rob's Chicken Sub

This isn't a new creation per se- things like it are sold by restaurants and Wawa/Sheetz country wide. This was also my dinner.(550 calories)

-Six inch sub
-Chicken Nuggets of choice (strips work too)
-Ketchup
-Spicy or Honey Mustard

There isn't much to it- I like to cook my nuggets at 425 degrees for 13 minutes (I checked, the meat is white). Given 2 minutes to cool off, insert the nuggets into the sub. Before that, I like putting the mustard and ketchup in. Put in the nuggets, put on a little more sauce, and dinner! (you can add as many ingredients as you like!)

Rosati's Pizza

I just arrived in Chicago maybe three days ago, so I am not a native here. For dinner, I was taken to an authentic chicago-style pizza joint, at my request. Rosati's Pizza has a couple of locations throughout Chicago, it seems. I forget which one I went to.

I have had deep dish pizzas before, but they weren't authentic Chicago style. It was alright, truth be told. I was looking forward to trying this pizza because I heard good things about it. We waited for the pizza, and I tried it. It was a cheese/pepperoni/bacon/sausage pizza. The cheese was melted just right, and the crust was absolutely amazing. The sauce was unique and incredible, and the bacon tasted fresh. My dad wanted sausage (I'll eat it) and that was some monster sausage. The pizza was excellent; I've never tasted a flavor like it before, and after about 5 minutes of careful analysis, I reached a conclusion: Rosati's earns #1 on my list of pizza. Sorry Franks.

So if Rosati's happens to find this blog post, or someone looking to read about it does, that was a bangin' pizza you folks make here in Chicago. I have yet to taste more of Chicago, but that pizza, from crust to fresh ingredients, was well thought out and delicious. There was nothing artificial I could taste about that pizza- I could tell the sauce was made from fresh tomatoes, but the tomatoes were not invasive to the pizza whatsoever. I almost had a tear in my eye it was so good.

Thumbs up here. I'll be looking to have this pizza again.

Tulley's

I went down to Tulleys today to get something to eat. I was in Jumbo China last night, and figured I would analyze the places I go to eat (Jumbo was excellent, by the way). Tulleys is the campus cafeteria for the Penn State Berks Campus. I have worked there as an employee, and eaten there as a customer. This review is from a customer's standpoint, from an employee standpoint, I have had excellent people to work with and a productive time at Tulleys (not bored with the work, food is always interesting!). With my history of page points, if you were searching for Tulleys in Google, you probably found this post.


Food Quality: * * * *
You either like the food at Tulleys, or you hate it. Most people will tell you that Tulleys serves above average quality food for a campus setting. I agree with this statement. The food isn't dynamite, but for the price that it is (if you are on a student meal plan), you might as well invest money to eat here if you are living on campus. For commuters- I would choose a different place to eat main entrees.

The best food for your money comes from dinner and breakfast. Since commuters are off the campus by night, your best chance at the best food comes from breakfast. The cook assigned to breakfast goes by the name Deb. For what she is given, she makes excellent omelets and other food items. The sandwiches prepared by the students, if they know what they are doing, are usually pretty good as well. Deb adds ingredients to her potatoes, making them a hit on campus. Her bacon is also of exceptional quality, as well as her pancakes. These pancakes are comparable to my mothers at home, and IHOP.

I have also had dinner on campus- if students are cutting some of the meat correctly, you can have an awesome BBQ beef brisquette (spelling?). The cooks working here take pride in their work. Although taken away, I thought the lunch chef made excellent pasta and chicken for the whirl-a-gate. He still makes good stir fry and especially good lo mein, primavera, and bean rice. He has passed knowledge on to a few of his assistants, and I am able to replicate (and sometimes surpass) the average quality we put out on our stir frys.


Price: * * *
The price depends on who you talk to. For students living on campus, or are at campus frequently, the meal plan is the way to go, with in house items at 65% off. I can get 20oz of fountain pepsi for 50 CENTS. For commuters, you may want to stay away from the more expensive entrees. The grill has some good combo values, though. This year especially (with Heather behind the grill), the burgers have increased in their quality.


Cleanliness: * * * *
I usually see someone, somewhere cleaning. I take pride in cleaning the chef's area near the end of my shift if I have time, and I always swing in to try and help. Today I saw employees stocking, arranging products, and cleaning the tables. Tulleys is usually very clean- rarely do I see some kind of mess, and if I do, employees take care of it.


Selection: * * * + .5
This is another touchy subject. During main business hours, where people are flooding the cafeteria, you will have a lot to choose from. For third party products (Frito Lay, Pepsi, etc) there is always a good selection. I always see fruit, and the deli station is almost always open. When I went in today, I saw nothing on the grill, very little pizza, and the main hot line was open for business. This is all cool, but it limits my choices. Never-the-less, I enjoyed the brunch I had today. Sometimes, late night classes hinder your food choice when you are hungry after class- either I eat before class, or I may not have "as wide" of a selection because business is slowing down.


Overall: 3.9/5 (Great)
Tulleys isn't a bad place to eat. They offer quality food for a cafeteria at a reasonable price. Be warned: some of the food choices are not health savvy, and alternative options do exist (the deli bar, fresh fruit (yum), salad bar). If I was on campus next year (which I will be, as a commuter), and I needed a quick lunch, I would probably head to Tulleys and pick something up. Power to Friday's chicken tenders! They are the BEST!


Recommended Food Items:

Breakfast
+Potatoes/Home Fries/Hashbrowns
+Breakfast Sandwich (Health conscious? don't order ham, sodium trap)
+ Egg omelette
+ Eggs (inspect to make sure student is keeping them fresh, I stir every 5-10 minutes)
+ Sausage links
+ Bacon (omg, the bacon is excellent. YES, I used "omg".)
+ Country Style Eggs
+ Turkey Bacon

Lunch
+Quesadillas (Chicken Especially)
+Vegetable Primavera
+Chicken Cordon Bleu (excellent, beware: sodium trap)
+Lo Mein
+Orange Chicken
+Chicken Stir Fry (Chicken, Mushrooms, Squash, Broccoli, etc)
+ Sloppy Joe (FRESH made, I have had to make these before, tasty!)
+ Flank Steak
+ Penne
+ Grilled Italian Chicken Breast


Dinner
+ Rotissery Chicken (beware sodium trap)
+ Salmon
+ Perch (delicious)
+ Beef Tacos (bring back the soft shell, teach employees to portion!)


Other meals
+ Deli
+ French bread pizza
+ Matt Huff or Sam's Pizza
+ Heather or Missy's burgers
+ Steak fries
+ French Toast
+ Bagels (excellent)
+ Coffee
+ Rice