Brothers All Natural Peach Fruit Crisps

This is definitely better than their freeze dried apple (makes sense, because peach is better than apple more generally), but it's still so very little content. Just totally airy peach bits, and you get like 5 of them. What the heck! Airy little cardboards that taste like peach. I know a better product is possible, but I'll still eat it 'cause it's tiny and it's there.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 [Only 1$ but only 30 cals]
Taste: 6/10

2015 Jean Marc Barthez Bordeaux Rouge

Wine! Fine! I opened this up to share with a friend during the Big Brother finale, which always makes wine taste better to me. Because it's scarcer I guess I appreciate it more. So I liked this one, thought it was a great, rich, drinkable red. I gave up on the food pairings, but this was solid to drink on its own anyway.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Mrs. T's 5 Cheese Pizza Pierogies

These were nice! I guess I like the pizza flavors and the broccoli flavors so far. I thought they were nice and cheesy, and not too potatoey. Filling and convenient as ever. Good when I'm starving and want to nap after eating. :) I didn't see these at the store this week though, so they might be defunct.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10

2018 RAW Rosé

I have to give this wine points for durability, because I had kept it in the fridge for literally months. I was worried it would taste super super bad, but even though my initial sips were very bitter, it actually held up well. The taste is decent, like a rosé but a little bit. . .pollen-y? I like the bottle screw top, although I don't like the "vegan"/"mystery ingredients" aspects, both of which are very odd. I want transparency! Anyway this was good. I might put more wines in the fridge now.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

La Perdrix Costières de Nîmes Rouge

Because DE changed their shipping regulations (or at least their enforcement), my wine-by-mail club has cut me off. So I'm suddenly finding more appreciation for my remaining stock, which was starting to get a bit banal before. Goodbye, alcoholism? In any case, this vintage was all right -- perhaps a bit puckery for my liking, but that's reds for ya. It did get smoother over time, as do they all. I know you aren't supposed to chill them, but for some reason the 2nd day of drinking always tastes better to me. Maybe it's just that I know I'm not allergic?




Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 6/10

Seneca Cinnamon Apple Chips

Hm! These were way better than I expected, which makes me wonder what all the other dumb apple chip companies are getting wrong! These were nice and crispy (like a chip chip) and had a nice sweet cinnamon flavor. Really nice work here. Would happily eat again.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Twinings Camomile Honey & Vanilla Herbal Tea

I believe Twinings is also good about allergens in their tea, and they're less likely than Bigelow to use stupid licorice/chicory/anise, so it's good safe option for me! Unfortunately I still don't much like tea, especially Herbal Tea. No caffeine! Pretty boring. But warm, nut-free liquid is always good, so I don't hate it. Tastes like chamomile, I guess.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 5/10

Dare Maple Creme Cookies

Wow, these were much better than I expected! After the not great marshmallow Dare cookies, I thought these would be a dud, plus I don't really like maple flavoring much. But these are good! 90 calories each, but good. The cookie bits are very buttery, and the inside is good too. They do smell very strongly of maple, like the Quaker Maple Brown Sugar oatmeal, which I don't love. But the taste is better than expected by quite a lot. Plus, the nut free security is really really nice. The bad news is, I guess I didn't seal the box well and mine got stale/soft after a few days. So store them carefully!

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Entenmann's Minis - Brownie Chocolate Chip

Bad news, these aren't as great as they look. They seem like they'd be amazing, like the chocolate chip brownie bars I make in the oven, but instead these are really cakey, like a Hoho and not like a cookie. Still sweet, of course, so that tastes nice, but the little cookies are better. Plus even though they don't mention nut allergens I got a little anxious (as you do) after some googling. Not worth it!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Yoplait whips! - Dunkin' Cinnamon Coffee Roll

Oh yeah! I officially tried all 4 of the Dunkin yogurts. I am a true Dunkin superfan/loyalist. Nice. Like the other whipped one, this was decent! It was cinnamony and sweet. Not really reminiscent of any Dunkin product I recognize, including the coffee roll, but it tastes good just the same.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Buffalo Wild Wings

Surprised I haven't reviewed B-Dubs yet! So many memories there over the last decade, like: my tragic friend calling it BBWs by accident, watching UFCs there with my roomies and exes, and awkward morning soccer games as a third or fifth wheel! But seriously, this place is great: unlike PJ WHELIHANS, they don't have a peanut butter flavor with peanuts on it, and in fact have an allergy menu online somewhere. I basically only get apps (the corn dogs are amazing, as are most of the apps unfortunately for the ol' waistline) or the Asian Zing classic wings, which are sweet and Asian, I guess. And a lil hot too! The snack size is plenty and you get nice celery with it. I will say, they don't post the prices for their drinks on the menu, which is super annoying. But they have lots of options.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Signature Select Mushroom & Onion Pasta Sauce

This was on super sale so I tried it out. I think I liked it, actually, although the price helped me think so. It wasn't as sweet as other jar sauces, it was thicker and a darker red, more like tomato paste with a strong tomato flavor. A few small chunks of tomato in there too. Reminds me a little of my grandma's homemade sauce minus the meat, which is a compliment. Also, tastes a tiny bit cheesy even though there is no cheese.

Overall
Cost: 7/10 [1.50 on sale!]
Taste: 7/10

2016 Band Blend Live

 This was like insanely smooth. I wasn't even really in a drinkin' wine mood to have this, but I was very impressed with this red. It wasn't nearly as acidic/biting as others. A bit of unspecified fruit flavor; soft and silky. I think I still like whites better (wine only), but for a red this went down very easy. Plus, a screw top! And the idea that this was based around a band practice is cute. I didn't make a recommended vegan burrito with this, but I will eat a regular non-vegan burrito for myself later on. :)

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Nature's Bandits Mixed Berry apple veggie fruit stix

These were really good! Mixed Berry is accurate for the flavor, and the texture is nice and firm without being too sticky or sweet or chewy. Very solid. And of course, the mascot is adorable.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Rey Azteca

OK, I can't really give this place a fair rating because it is not peanut free!!!! I went here with my parents, who were super excited to try a new Mexican place close to home. This is a nice looking resto, too, big and bright and cozy all at once. I ordered a fajita quesadilla with chicken, and it was good and the chips and salsa were good. But! I started to feel allergy anxiety midway through and asked about nuts. They said there were no nuts in the food. And indeed I did not die. But then a few hours later I got home and saw the response to the FB message I sent earlier asking about nuts, which was basically "yes we use peanuts for our mole sauce". Eek! I could have died!!! So I will never go back, but I bet my parents will, and if I had no allergies I would too. But you, dear reader, should not.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 5/10 (hard to be objective)

Made Good Soft Baked Mini Cookies - Chocolate Chip

I have MadeGood in my head as one of the 'tasty' allergy companies, since my first impression of them was a good one. But I am slowly wearing away that perception, thanks to things like these cookies. Sadly these were not very good. They have a gritty texture, which is very weird, and the choco chips kind of blended in and didn't stand out from the cookie mass. The one good thing is that these have chia in them, and I ate it and didn't die! So I got some good intel for myself, but otherwise: meh.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

LUCA

I'd been meaning to check out this place for a long time, since it has great reviews. Was happy that a group of people wanted to go! It was fun, but quite expensive. The waiter has chill about my allergies, which was good (but he was also a tiny bit snarky, which made me lol). The pizzas were really big compared to the pasta dishes, so I am glad I went with a pasta. It was homemade and you could tell; very fresh and tasty, and the tomato sauce was unobtrusive but good. Tasty stuff. Good wine too.

Norcia Pizza: Got this with my boyf's family, assuming it would be less messy than a pasta. And indeed, it was! Also bigger, so some leftovers available. Waitress was good about allergy, and pizza was decent - no red sauce, creamy garlicy white sauce instead. Crispy pancetta, some herbs(?), and mozz. Not amazing but solid. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 3/10 [over 100$ for two]
Taste: 8/10

Batdorf Restaurant

I came here with my parents for triv, and it was hoppin'! We got there like 30min early and just barely got a seat on their patio, which is big and nice. Everyone was really friendly and my food was great and I felt safe asking about nuts. I got a chicken sandwich with bacon, good times. They also have a decent drink menu. And I think we got 3rd in triv, which is respectable.

Chicken Fajitas: I picked street corn (good!) and rice (OK, but had peas in so not worth the trouble) as the sides; next time I'd get pico instead of rice because these were really dry. The peppers and onions and tortilla and chicken were fine, but there were rando sprouts on it and no moist sauce. It was OK but I think a sandwich or burger (or chips?) would be better. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Dare Pure Chocolate Whippet - Raspberry

I got these because they are nut free, which is great. But the cookies were not great. I am dumb. They're way too sweet, the textures are bad, they all melt together and there's no crispy or chewy or nuance. Unfortunate.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

SweetTarts Extreme Sour Chewy

SweeT(T)arts is such an ugly and confusing name! Ack! Anyway, I thought these tasted good, but they really tore up my mouth. Very cheap though! the colors were: Green and Blue, both super sour, holy crap. Red is my favorite and a bit less sour. Purple was very grapey and mildly sour. Orange is forgettable. The "extreme" moniker was pretty accurate.

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 6/10