Leinenkugel's Grapefruit Shandy

I know I already have a little entry about beers/alc I'm not allergic to, but that was from a younger me who didn't like drinking as much, so now I feel justified in giving alcoholic beverages their own entries. Unfortunately, even though its been five years, labelling on drinks hasn't improved much in the US. And there are more peanut butter beers than ever. Luckily, most companies are happy to answer questions via email.

Anyway, I always liked Leineys, even before I liked plain beer. The summer shandy is a classic. But this grapefruit version improves on the original quite a bit! It has a nice strong citrus flavor to it, a little sour and fairly sweet (but definitely not cider territories). For someone who loves sour beers and also likes citrus/wheat beers, this is a nice, mild, sweet treat. It's also only 4.2% alc so you don't get embarrassed at the club. Highly recommend! I'm not sure if this is seasonal or not, but I got it in the fall.

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10

Illy - cappuccino

This was OK, but ultimately disappointing because it had a very weird can flavor to it, like sour metal. I was hoping it would taste like coffee only, and not like can. It did have a little sugar added as well, which was nice, but the sharp can flavor was hard to avoid. I don't remember if the non-flavored one had this problem, but I don't think it was this strong. Sad.







Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 4/10

The Annville Grille

I'm liking this ille-ille symmetry! Anyway, I sought this place out because I wanted to play trivia when visiting my parents. It's in downtown Annville, but there was plenty of street parking. The inside is way bigger than the outside looks; there's a big dining room and a decent sized bar room with tables and booths. This is the location of the trivia (which was great fun). They have a decent drink list, and the prices were 2-4$ a pint, which is solid. All I got to eat was the nachos with chicken (no peanut oil there), but it was quite good, with lots of melty american cheese, chicken, lettuce, tomato and jalepenos. Super filling and a great bar snack. Hopefully I'll go back and get an actual food next time, since we won a gift card!!

Chicken Parmesan: This was good! Basically standard, but came with a salad (fine), two chickens and two breads. Super filling, two meals. Good if you're in a mood for pasta time. 7/10

Coffee: It's coffee. Small but also pretty cheap. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (Food was cheap for a bar, around 10 bucks/entree)
Taste: 7/10

Welch's Fruit Rolls - Berry

These fruit roll-ups -- I'm sorry, "fruit rolls" -- are not quite as tasty as the fruit-roll-up brand name, but the process of unfurling a long roll of foodstuffs is equally delightful, even as a so-called adult. Plus there's the bonus that fruit is apparently the #1 ingredient in these, before even sugar, so that's nice. I don't want to delude myself into thinking these are healthy, but they sure are fun. Pretty thick, sweet, tastes like berry (grape, apple, and blueberry/raspberry notes, maybe?), a convenient and portable option; what more could you want? Plus Welch's is pretty great about not having nuts in their stuff (even though I associate them with Grape Jelly of Death).


Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

Café Bustelo - Café con leche instant sticks

I love coffee, so this is super convenient for me -- just heat up some water and a mug, mix in this little packet (tube) and you're ready to go! It's only 80 calories, which isn't terrible, and it's very sweet/milky. However, instant coffee is actually like the 3rd ingredient here, which explains why it tastes more than hot chocolate than coffee. Don't get me wrong, it tastes really good, and there's definitely some coffee notes, but not nearly as much as I expected. I actually would prefer a little more coffee flavor because I love coffee and I might have a problem. Anyway, this is delicious, convenient, and fairly cheap, so I'm a fan.




Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 8/10

Kettle Brand Chips - Backyard BBQ

These were really nice! Very crunchy fun texture, a solid chip. The taste isn't super saturated, but they are a little smoky in a nice, BBQ-type way. Reminds me a little of a school carnival or some type of outdoor event; a bit sweet and overall a complex flavor for a BBQ chip. Not your sad indoor solo lunch chip, more of a party chip. Good vibes on this one. Plus, no nuts!






Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 7/10

illy caffé unsweetened

Coffee in a can? What will they think of next!

I like illy brand coffee-coffee quite a lot, so I was optimistic for this. And for coffee in a small, warm can, it's pretty decent. There's no milk or sugar or flavoring or anything, so it really is just some tepid coffee. If you want coffee on the go, here you go. There's a little metal aftertaste, and it's nowhere near as good as actual brewed coffee (of course), but I do like it much better than the starbucks/DD/etc prepackaged drinks I've tried, so there's that. Plus this is very stylin' and lo-cal.




Overall
Cost: 5/10 (about 2$ for 6.8oz can)
Taste: 7/10

Birds Eye Steamfresh Rotini & Vegetables

This gave me a crazy stomachache after eating, so it lost a few points for that. Anyway, this is a very easy to cook (just plop the bag in the microwave) side dish, with decent nutrition facts, but the taste is nothing special and the noodles are weirdly soft. The veg are fine and the sauce is a little too buttery maybe? They used to make a box version of this which I liked much better. Still, if you're hungry in a pinch, this is alright, although probably not my first choice. It's decent for 2 bucks though, for sure (minus the random stomachache).




Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 6/10

The Snack Artist Lite Butter Popcorn

I bought this popcorn because it was the cheapest (less than 3 dollars for 3 full size bags) and also not super unhealthy (the butter is, as they say, lite)! It basically ended up being what I expected -- no worse than any other butter lite microwave popcorn, although the taste was obviously less good than real ("real") movie popcorn or any heavy butter varieties. But I think it's not too unhealthy, either, so that's the goal with microwave popzy, isn't it? A clean canvas for any seasonings or candy you might want to throw in there. Cooking also was really straightforward, I ended up with a full bag every time and no burnt or unpopped kernels, which is pretty rare with some other brands. Good, cheap option!


Overall
Cost: 8/10 (2.79$)
Taste: 6/10

Stove Top Turkey Stuffing

A classic for a reason, stove top stuffing is so easy to make (add water, butter, and like 5 minutes of time) and tastes consistently good. Plus, it makes a lot. The downside is that you're eating a bunch of buttery processed carb, but hey, 'tis the season. It's obviously not as good as most homemade stuffing, but since you'll find it in Thanksgiving-themed foods ("the gobbler"[wawa], "the bobbie"[capriotti's]) around the globe, it's good that it's good. I made it with much less butter than recommended (1 tbsp instead of 4), which did have a big effect on the taste, but was still fine. This makes a great base for turkey, potato, corn, etc. Happy holidays! :)



Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 7/10

Giant Eagle Candied Yams

This is the pinnacle of candied yam. I'm not sure what my childhood yam brand was (I know it can't be these, because we didn't have Giant Eagle by me) but these taste just like it. Way better than Bruce's or whatever the common canned sweet yam is. This is the perfect holiday side dish. It goes great with ham, turkey, and rolls, and the sauce is so sweet and lovely but not in a gross way like some yams. The yams are so soft and dense and not really potato-y at all, which is what I want. You can smush them down into a little yam mush if you want. And they're so easy to cook! I really wish I had a Giant Eagle nearby just for these. The flavor is slightly pie-spicey, I suppose (cinnamon? nutmeg?) and a with a lot of thin, sweet sauce. It isn't syrupy or cloying at all. Long live these yams!

Overall
Cost: 7/10
Taste: 8/10

Jennie-O's Turkey Breast Tenderloin

After a solo Thanksgiving I was looking for some small turkey bits, maybe some thighs or cutlets or something, and besides ground turkey this is all my local Acme had. So, I bought the frozen loin, curious and optimistic. I decided to make it in the slow cooker, following the instructions online, and I added some Bell's seasoning as well. Sadly, this was a big letdown. The cooking was easy, and it came out as 4 nice size hunks, but the taste was really processed and not at all like real turkey. I know it contains "up to 30% water/filler/???" but you can really tell. Like a bad smokey lunchmeat chunk, or something. Very watery and bland yet bad at the same time, even when smothered with gravy and stuffing. Will not return down this road, even if it's the only option! I'll just get a ham slice!

Overall
Cost: 6/10 (on sale for 5$, which is good for meat)
Taste: 4/10

Rothbury Farms Buttery Garlic Croutons

These are basically all you can ask for in a crouton -- nice and crunchy, not too big or too small, nice butter/garlic/spicy bread taste, but not too overwhelming, a resealable bag, and no peanuts. Not very compelling on their own, but with greens and a nice dressing, you have all you need for a good time. No issues here.







Overall
Cost: 6/10 (Maybe $2.50)
Taste: 7/10

Brother's All-Natural Fruit Crisps - Fuji Apples

I know this is, like, a Halloween size treat, but it's seriously one of the smallest single-serve snacks I've ever had. There were like 5 slices of apple in here. That said, since I know there are bigger sizes out there, the taste and texture are great. These are just dried apple pieces, no sugar or anything else added, so they aren't too sweet, they just taste like a nice apple piece. They aren't chewy or especially crunchy either, it's like biting into a wafer but the wafer is apple. I like them a lot as far as dried fruit goes.




Overall
Cost: 3/10 (maybe 1$, but you get so little)
Taste: 6/10

Java Monster - Mean Bean

I don't really drink energy drinks, and if I did, I'd drink AMP as that's my initials (don't stalk me). However, I do drink coffee, and I like cans. So there's your background.

On first taste, this is pretty good: sweet, creamy, milky, coffee-y, but not TOO sweet like some bottled coffee drinks. On second taste/aftertaste, there's a weird sickly sour flavor, which I associate with regular Monster (maybe it's taurine)? That really brings it down. I did drink the whole can, but I wish they just made the "Java" first and not the "Monster" part, especially since I don't feel very wakeful afterwards and I wish I just had a coffee from DD instead. This is really convenient to carry with you, though, which is a plus.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (2-3$)
Taste: 5/10

Brianna's New American Creamy Balsamic Dressing

Brianna's dressings are always solid, and they have a very stylish bottle. Ultimately this has a little too much oil and sugar for my liking (both health and taste wise) but still, a little squirt of this baby on some mixed greens and you've got a nice, tasty, classy salad. I also really like the new cap, which is a standard squeeze bottle instead of the open faced pour. Easy portion control! Not much to say about this -- a bottle lasts a long time, but I'll probably use quite a bit of it, since it's a convenient way to make a nice meal (meal in the loose sense of the word, perhaps).



Overall
Cost: 5/10 (about 3.50)
Taste: 6/10

Fuddrucker's

My first experience with a Fuddrucker's was just OK! They don't have any allergy info online, despite being a chain, which is frustrating. It's also counter service, and you can order on a touch screen, which is cool but bad for allergy questions. Was able to ask an employee if they use peanut oil though, and they said no. The menu also appears to be nut-free except the desserts and some almonds on salads.

So, I got a custom burger combo (1/3lb) with mushroom and cheese and avocado. It came with a drink and a side; I picked a side salad. Turns out this cost 14$, which seems like way too much, but maybe I ordered dumbly. Anyway, the burger was good, definitely juicy and I liked the mushrooms a lot. They also have a little toppings bar for lettuce/tomato/onion/sauce if you eat in, which is nice and it looked very clean. The side salad was generous and tasty, although I didn't get dressing because they only have Italian and ranch types (no red or orange stuff!). We also ordered to-go and they gave us for-here, but I liked eating there so it worked out. Plus they just opened, so we'll give it time.

One other downside about the touchscreen ordering though: you can't customize the salads. So I wanted a Cobb salad with no bleu cheese but there was no way to order this! Otherwise the venue is chill.

Bacon Double Cheddar Burger (small): Ahh this made me so ill. They also had a PBJ milkshake on offer, which made me feel scared. On the other hand, they were giving out free bottles of beer, so that was nice. But yeah. The burger was extremely filling, but too fatty and almost too sweet. Plus this was just a plain burger with an extra slice of cheese and 2 sad looking bacon strips on it. And so wet with grease. I like that I can add infinite ketchup and tomato, but the whole enterprise was messy and sweaty. Would have got a salad but apparently the touchscreens are no more and the humans take your order now, and it's a lineup scenario, so there's time pressure. SIGH! 4/10

Overall
Cost: 4/10 (10-20$)
Taste: 6/10

Q says: Pretty good, I liked it. 7/10

Iron Hill Brewery

I've always liked Iron Hill; they have good, nice food and good fun beer. Whenever I tell them I have a nut allergy, they're responsive and comforting about it. But today I went with my parents and the waiter was like "OK but is it a serious allergy? Because we have nuts all over the place!!" and I was like "?????!!!!". But I didn't die and they also have an allergy menu and I think that guy might just be new or something. Anyway, don't let that deter you, me. I like the margarita pizza with mushroom and spinach. I tried the ribs but they were weirdly sweet (but very tender). I got a Belgian Blonde beer and it was a solid IPA, and a Witbeer is a good standby in general. Today, since my parents were paying, I got the Flat Iron, which came with fajita veggies and a chipotle sauce. I really like flat irons, and the sauce was pretty strong mexican flavor, but it was good. It came with smoked mac 'n cheese with breadcrumbs, which was obviously good, it's mac and cheese. Mmm. I ate all of it and was pleasantly full! A solid meal.

More foods:

Pulled Pork Sandwich (Carolina style sauce): I should have gotten the St.Louis style sauce! Anyway, I got this with green salad, which is a tasty heap of spinach and carrots and light dressing. The sandwich is big, comes with sauce on the side and a lil cup of cole slaw. The cole slaw is more creamy than zingy, sadly, but it passes here since there's sauce anyway. Overall this was good, but the sauce wasn't amazing. Too mustardy, maybe, not sweet enough? (I know that's what carolina style is, but I've had better!!) Last time I ordered they gave me both sauces, which was sweet. I used the St. Louis one and it was nice like a regular BBQ sauce. The pork is good and moist. 7/10

Reindeer's Revenge beer: This beer was a cool 9+%, so I don't remember much about it, but I got two so it must have been decent. Update: I still like it, one of their better beers. Goes down v easy. 7/10

Happy hour nachos: This is a ton of nachos! I got it with my idol Janey but I ate like all of them. Chips, cheese, guac (weird pasty guac but whatever), lots of sour cream, pico, lettuce. We got it without beans. It was good. However, not good to take home. Should get perhaps soup next time. 6/10

Happy hour pretzel sticks: Only 5 pretzel sticks! They were good. I love the cheese dip and eat it with a spoon. Didn't try the mustard. Good though. Second time we got them they had a ton of seeds, that I scraped off. Didn't die though. Eventually I tried the mustard, it's OK but really strong/spicy! Also they gave me like 7 sticks that time, with fewer seeds. Huh.

Tangaroa beer: Really good and fruity, like tangerine! Wasn't sure if the alc level is 5% or 2%, since I saw mixed info. But it was good. I think it's 5% based on my drunk level, but I'm not positive.

Pumpkin ale: This was really nice, normal ABV and a vanilla and pumpkin flavor. Dessert-y! 7/10

Castroville pizza:  I wanted to try something new, but I shouldn't have - the marg pizza is already flawless. OK, so this is lots of veg (spinach, artichoke, pepper?) and no red sauce, which I didn't realise. It's quite tasty, the crust and cheese is good, and I like the veg, but it also gave me crazy heartburn. Not worth it! Tasty but other pizza is even tastier. 6/10

Fole's Gold beer: This was fine, but not a super standout. I couldn't necessarily sense the plum flavor. I do like beer, however. 6/10

Santa's Little Helper beer: This was a nice yellow color, but surprisingly I didn't love it. It had a very strong type of flavor, kind of like the Iron Hill Witbeer (I think??) has. Not an IPA but like a malty IPA, or something. I definitely drank it still, but it wasn't my favorite. 5/10

Cherry Vanilla Porter beer: This is for valentine's day, which I resent. But it was OK. Definitely a dark beer, malty, which I guess is what porters are? 5/10

Chewie IPA beer: Got this as a pint, and it was nice and yellow, tasty and mildish. 6/10

Double Doink IPA beer: The name is pretty embarrassing, but it was good and solid. 6/10

Rising Sun beer: I got this by accident. It has coconut and dill, which is weird. I do not like coconut flavor in beer. No thank you. 3/10

Thirsty Boots IPA beer: My favorite IPA, nice and hoppy, goes down easy. 7/10

Sweet Leaf IPA beer: JK, this is my favorite IPA. It's sweet and tastes a little like a leaf, no joke. Not super duper hoppy, but a little bit. Very drinkable, I love it. 7/10

Mushroom soup: This is really good, just a small snack though. Tasty, warm, creamy, bits of mushroom in it. Nice. 7/10

Cherry Kalas beer: Sweet Leaf is gone, so this is my new pick. It's fairly low alc, and it's a nice red color. Strong cherry flavor. Super drinkable. 7/10

Brewski burger: This was good! I got it with the lil salad greens, which had good dressing but lots of bitter arugula. Still tasty. I added ketchup to the burger which really elevated it. Got American cheese, but it was white and almost tasted like swiss, so I might try the other cheesers next to compare. It was filling but not overly so. 7/10 edit: cheddar is good, swiss is less good

Clock Out Lager beer: I got this because it's new and Jane likes it, but it wasn't bad. Mild and a little malty. 6/10

Pub Burger (special): This had "pub sauce", which is mayo+lea+perrins which means it had fish but I still ate it. Oh yeah! It was good, juicy and had onions. 7/10

LeBruce beer: This beer is sad because it's an "In Memorium" namesake beer. I guess that's a legacy I'd want, though. It's a very high alc beer, and really tastes...peppery? I guess it's fine, but it got me too durunk. 6/10

Ribs (half rack): This sauce also had fish but I didn't die. But these were weird. Spicy and fruity. Like the sauce was fruity. WTF is that! The meat was tender but the sauce was too novel, I didn't like it even though it wasn't BAD, but not BBQ that I wanted. Also the Newark + Hershey Iron Hills don't have pizza anymore. What's the point of going there!!! :( 6/10

White Walker IPA: Yo, Lancaster got rid of pizza too! WTF. Just when I became a member, Iron Hill! It's like they are pivoting to steaks. Anyway, this was high alc, so in the mug it got me pretty loopy. Tasted like a standard mild IPA. 6/10

Chicken sandwich: Ardmore also got rid of the pizzas, RIP joy. Anyway this sandwich was good. Not burger style like I expected, but 2-halfs of a regular bread sandwich. The sandwich was good, I like bacon and the vibe was fairly moist, even if the chicken was a little dry/boring/tall for my tastes. The mayo didn't really taste like anything, and there was randomly yellow cheese but not bad. 7/10

Demeter IPA: I thought this was the Pink Boots one but I think I mixed them up. Anyway, this is something about women. It was fine, mild enough, but made me feel itchy, so I probably won't repeat it. 6/10

Margarita Flatbread: This was fine (it's an app), but not the same thing as their regular pizzas were at all. There's less "stuff" on it overall, and a little parmesan cheese?? Plus the crust is less crispy. Eh. 6/10

Voodoo Chicken Flatbread: This one was better! Reminded me of Kildy's BBQ Chicken Pizza. For some reason, the crust on this one tasted like sour cream & onion ritz thins. Odd. But I liked it, it was good and fatty and cheesy. 7/10

Jaeger Schnitzel: This was good! Now I know what Spätzle is (kind of?). The pork was good, the Spätzle was good. It was overall oily and meaty. I did not eat the green beaners. 6/10

Azacca Matata beer:  Good, smells nice and fruity and basically tastes like an IPA. 7/10

Philly Special beer:  Good, hoppy and citrusy and basically tastes like an IPA. 8/10

Lunchbox Ale beer:  This was bright orange like Sunny D! It was good and sweet, not really that sour either. 7/10

Oktoberfest beer:  I only had a sample of this (which I appreciate that they give), but that was enough. It really does taste like bread, bread and malt. Bleh. 5/10

Bramble On beer:  This was good! I could really taste the blackberry (which is rare in a beer) and indeed, the lactose, too! It made me super red faced but not allergic I don't think. Lol. 7/10

Maracuja IPA beer:  This was good! I had to look up what maracuja is, and it's supposedly passionfruit, a brazilian word (so the "j" is a voiced palatal fricative). Didn't taste much fruitiness, although it was a canonical IPA that I liked so I guess it must have been fruity. Super frothy. Very good, solid, filling, beer-y beer. 7/10

Char-Grilled Ribeye Steak:  I'm not a huge steak girl, but this was excellent! I think it's like 1500 calories but shhh. It was so, so tender, juicy, a little fatty but didn't feel gross. Big meat but not absurdly so -- I ate it all and didn't feel mad ill. Came with a few asparagus (standard/good) and some very buttery mashed potatoes (also good). Was nice to eat the whole plate. A good, huge meal, but it's 30$ so a real splurger. 8/10

Guacamole and Warm Tortilla Chips: This is a really big portion for one person! The guac is plentiful, which is nice. Good solid guac, some chunky bits of tomato and onion which I like. Not super spicy, mostly avo flavor, but that's OK. Chips are just "eh", they must be home made because my batch had a bunch of soft wet with oil chips, which is not great. But I didn't finish it all anyway so that's fine! 6/10

Dad's Favorite Blonde beer:  This was good! Super foamy. A nice yellow color. Very low flavor, just like a mild lager. Dad must be boring AF. But it's alright, it's beer! And 0 allergy fears. 6/10

Little Red Wagon beer:  This was really good! Very strong strawberry scent and presumably taste, but I was sick so it seemed just like juice. Might even be too much strawberry but I couldn't get a good read on it. I enjoyed this a lot, and it's low alc (3.7% or so) so you don't get schwasted. 8/10

Char-Grilled N.Y. Strip Steak: This was a solid steak, not too fatty or anything. The BBQ side sauce was good for the fries which were themselves just eh, kinda cold and tasteless. I loved the spinach side, nice and moist. Overall very filling and I would have guessed not too fatty, but apparently it was like 1500 calories? Um, OK, I should have eaten an entire pie instead lol. 7/10

Hipster IPA beer:  This was great! I had two special mugs of it. It was a nice hoppy IPA, no weird lemongrass or coconut flavors or anything, just notes of citrus and hops. Solid. I guess I'm a hipster at heart! 8/10

Brambleberry beer:  Is this the same as the former "Bramble on"? It seems like it is! I enjoyed it but it did indeed make me super duper red faced, honestly not worth the post-drinking anxiety even though it's otherwise a mild fruity wheat beer. 6/10

 

Saturday Morningz beer:  The bartender at Ardmore IH told me about this one because I like sours, and I do like it! It's a pretty red color, and it's a nice tart pear/cranberry sour, more tart and less lactose than the Lil Red Wagon. A good way to change it up in my sour lane. 7/10

 

Voodoo Chicken Pizza:  A very solid pizza! I think there's no red sauce, just cheese and BBQ, which I do like. It could use more of the BBQ though, since the saucelessness does seem evident. There's plenty of bacon on here, which is wild, but tasty! A fatty and delicious food, ideal to eat just half of it. 7/10

 

Homestead beer:  This was a really nice wheat beer, mild orange flavors and no weird flavors or me-redness or anything. Cool and refreshing and enjoyable. I got this on a bad first date and didn't even get to finish the whole thing, which I am unduly mad about (especially since I paid the check). D'oh, I should have just stayed there solo to drink more! More! 7/10

 

Chicken Tinga-Dilla:  Heck yeah. I was waiting to get this for months, and the payoff was good! It's 4 solid dilla wedges, nothing amazing, just chicken (a lil spiced) and cheesers, but comes with guac, pico, and sour cream, all are great, and the size is just right to be satisfying but not distressing. Plus 6$ at Happy Hour is an amazing deal. 8/10

 

Bedotter beer:  This was awkward to order because IDK how to pronounce it! Apparently it's Flemish for "Trickster" because of the 9% alc but smooth and light finish. Worked on me, it was delicious (tasted like banana and a tiiiny hint of bubblegum aftertaste) and definitely got me happy-drunk. 1 mug is more than enough. 7/10

 

Bumblebee Hefeweizen beer:  This was supposed to be a fruity honey-y beer, but to me it mostly tasted like a tire. Oh well, I still drank it (but didn't enjoy it). 5/10

 

Overall
Cost: 4/10 (about 15-20 a meal)
Taste: 7/10

MOD pizza

I was so happy that a MOD finally opened near me!!! It's only natural to give pizza the chipotle/subway/saladworks treatment, and I'm so into it. Mine also has shakes, salads, and random quinoa bowls (and charcuterie plates), none of which contain nuts (some are may-contains though). What a beautiful thing. The prices are also fixed no matter so many toppings you add, like Qdoba, which is good for a girl like me who loves toppings but wants to get the cheapest option always. Anyway, it isn't Jimmy-Johns fast, but for a pizza it's pretty fast (about 5 minutes). The price is about 8 bucks, which is OK. They have a ton of veg options, though, plus seasonal things, plus garlic!! Plus shakes!! God is good.

I thought even though I love the custom life I should try some of the premades too, so here goes:

Dillon James: This has garlic, asiago, and tomatoes. I love garlic but I think I don't love asiago, and something in this bad boy tasted a little soapy?? Hopefully the asiago and not the tomatoes or crust, but further eating will reveal the truth. Anyway, not into it, boring and too much asiag. Garlic is amazing though. And the basil was just "there" -- maybe that's the soaper? Hmm. 5/10

Kane (winter seasonal): A spicy pizza! Mostly tasted like roni, hot pepper, and maybe a bit of onion. Overall I really enjoyed it, but I made sure to get it without gorgonzola, which I dislike. Pretty solid and not at all soapy! 7/10

Custom: I got a standard red/mozz base with garlic puree too (amazing) and the seasonal cauliflower (good) and kale (spinach is better) along with classic standbys mushroom (good, needs more!) and brocco (fine). A solid pizza, super good. 8/10

Jasper: I got extra garlic on this, yom. Otherwise it just has mushrooms (classic) and sausage (yum). Tastes like the pizza you think of when you think of pizza! Delicious. Maybe a little stomachachey though. 8/10

Peppermint milkshake: Is there anything better in this world? If you have a nut allergy you know how nice it is to have a dessert. This is white mint cream vanilla-y shake goodness with little candy-cane chips in it. It's refreshing and decadent! Also like 800 cals but shhh. 9/10

Failure to get Lucy Sunshine: Went today and it was super crowded and they assumed everyone wanted a custom and also they didn't give out the pizzas in order once they came out of the oven and my boyf who ordered after me got his like 20 minutes before me and it was bad. But the pizza (brocco, garlic, mushroom, artichoke) still tasted good once it was re-heated.


Isaac (summer seasonal): I took a picture! It looks so pretty, right? Unfortunately, this was super dry and dumb and disappointing. This is partially my fault, because I got it with no balsamic since that is a may-contain peanut topping for some reason. They did as I requested, but they also didn't put on the garlic, and the pizza is already red sauce and mozz-less, so there was like, literally nothing there. Just dough, tomato, basil, onion, little ricottas. All those ingredients were good (basil too, so I think I just hate asiago) but it was just too dry. Also the ricotta at Marg's is so so so so superior to this one, which is fine but just kind of there (Marg's is like, sweet!). So, sorry Mod, try again later! 4/10

Kevin (fall seasonal): I took another picture! Not so pretty, but that's because of a Modemployee error, and not the pizza itself -- they put gorgonzola on it!!! Eughh!!! That's not part of the pizza description and it's not part of my diet, either, because gorgonzola is gross as heck. I tried my best to eat this pizza anyway but I really couldn't get it down. Luckily I think I got a good enough idea about the rest of the pizza anyway -- it's super weird. There's no red sauce, instead the sauce is pumpkin sauce, which is basically exactly like pumpkin pie filling. So it's good but it doesn't go with a savory pizza, at least not in my book. The canadian bacon smelled like bacon but tasted like ham - it was OK but again didn't go with pumpkin. Arugula could not be tasted over the gorgo, and the Mama Lil's peppers were good as ever but didn't seem to go with the pumpkin either. So, sorry Kevin Bacon, I don't think I'll try this again, even if it doesn't have gross gorgo on it. 3/10 

Ruthie (winter seasonal): Drat, I didn't take a picture! I might possibly get this again sometime though, it was good. Basically a regular pizza with roni and jalepenos. There's also arugula and parmesan, but they didn't stand out at all, and Mike's Hot Honey, which I didn't really taste much either (but which didn't kill me!). I thought it was tasty like a good pizza, but it also gave me a wee stomachache and is like 900 cals. So don't get this if you're on the go (or on a diet)! 7/10

Fred (spring? seasonal): I liked this, even though it wasn't quite what I expected! It was canadian bacon (aka ham, was fine but didn't really even taste it much), big red onions (also fine I guess), roasted pineapple (really good, but it was super sweet and not roasted at all??) and BBQ swirl on top, with mozz and red sauce. I never had most of these ingredients before, so that was fun, and it was all plenty good. But the main flavor note was definitely BBQ sauce, and it was sweet and smokey and good and all, but if you're looking for PIZZA flavor and not BBQ CHICKEN FLATBREAD (rip kildys) flavor, then you might want to look elsewhere! 7/10

Diego (summer seasonal): It's a pandemic, y'all! But there's still a new variety of Mod Pizza to try, and I finally got my grubby, weary hands on it. There were no substitutions needed on this for allergy reasons (or even grossness reasons, although I was nervous about how much I would dislike feta)! This is a standard sauce + cheese, with additions of roasted corn, onions, feta, chorizo, and cilantro. The feta honestly wasn't bad, and as soon as I bit into this, I realised that it's basically mexican street corn in a pizza! I really liked it at first because I like street corn, and feta+mozz isn't super different from cotija cheese or whatever it is. There's a little bit diminishing returns on this, especially re-heated, and it's 1000 calories which is a lot more than most of the Mod pizzas. So I don't think I'd get this on the reg, but it was fun to try, unique, and better than I expected. 7/10 

 

Bella (winter seasonal): Welp, the MOD by my house shut down. Thanks a lot, Covid! But I still got to try this new seasonal offering in PA, and it was super exciting because instead of red sauce, it has "mushroom pesto", but there's no nuts in this pesto! Oh yeah! The toppings are mushrooms, spinach, snausage, and maybe some herbs or something. It was tasty, a very good pizza. 8/10

Dominic: Not spring yet, so without seasonal pies we return to the classic lineup. This one is a white pizza (no red sauce) with sausage and onion. I got it with broccoli added (they finally have broccoli again!) so maybe I didn't get the pure Dominic flavor, but I thought it was pretty good. No weird soapyness vibes from the basil or anything. It was pretty heartburny though, so watch out! I don't know if i really love the sausage, but it's only 680 cals so not bad at all. I'd try it again, even without lovely brocco. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 6/10
Taste: 8/10
Ethos: 10/10

Q says: The girl* was bad.

*The girl doesn't mean me, it means the employee.

Suckerpunch Gourmet Pickles - Spicy Garlic Originals

Caveat: I don't like pickles. I never liked them, but they are a little more palatable than olives, so I've been trying to increase my pickle affinity by mere exposure. (It worked (too well) for coffee, alcohol, and avocado, after all). So far I'm OK with your standard circle of dill pickle that you'd get on a burger, but these are a little more interesting. The appearance of this jar is super stylin', and there's lots of fun peppers and seasonings and things floating around in the jar. It also states that there are "no allergens", which is a weird thing to say, but I assume that it means "no top 8 allergens" -- good enough for me. However, the taste isn't what I expected!! They are kind of sweet!! Yikes. I'm not sure if I'll be able to finish this (large) jar, but they are sweet, thick, crunchy pickles. They are also fairly spicy, though I'm not getting much garlic taste. If you are a pickle fan, check them out! If you aren't...stop fooling yourself and just buy a cucumber.

Overall
Cost: 4/10 (I think these are about 5$)
Taste: 4/10

Carrington Farms Organic Toasted Quinoa

I've had cooked quinoa a few times (only a few because it's so much work) and I really like it, but this is a totally different beast. Toasted quinoa touts its "nutty flavor" right on the bag, which sketches me out, but the ingredients here are 100% quinoa, so it is safe. You also don't need to rinse or boil or mess with this in any way. OK, cool. So right out of the bag, initially, I was like "this tastes like bird food, blech", but then I started to get hungry and I got into eating this by the spoonful. It is a little bit nutty (I imagine) and grainy. As you might expect, I suppose. But it feels healthy (ha ha) and filling and is very convenient. The actual balls are super tiny, but not so tough that you can't chew them (they aren't popcorn husks). I might try popping this in some yogurt or stuffing or something later, but even on its own I could probably eat this whole bag. I'm not really lacking for protein or fiber, but if you are veg, this could be super convenient to just throw in different meals.

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (It's like $7.50 dude)
Taste: 5/10

Vermont Nut Free Advent Calendar - Dark Chocolate

Aww, my parents got me this, which is super sweet of them since it's nut free and all. However, I don't LOVE dark chocolate enough to look forward to it every day (don't tell them). Still, the setup is super cute. At first I thought each day's choco would be identical, and while food-wise they are, each is wrapped in different color foil and the molds are different. They are all squares but one has a raised snowman, one a santa, one a wreath, etc. The taste is basically "standard dark chocolate", which is fine and I guess healthier than milk choco(?) but it's not exotic or salted or creamy or anything that makes me go "wow! a special treat!. Despite that, the conceit of one-a-day candy is lovely, and they do make a milk chocolate one which is probably even better.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 (about 15$)
Taste: 6/10

Seasons Pizza

Seasons Pizza is the diner of pizza places. I mean they really have everything, and it's at an affordable price. They are also a chain with online ordering/delivery/takeout/eatin, which I appreciate. What I don't appreciate is their total lack of allergy info, and their lack of response to my emails and messages asking for any allergy info. So I've only ordered things that I'm fairly sure won't have any nuts, which is quite limiting. But if you want a cheap, so-so Italian takeout chain, this is the place for you. The interior of mine is pretty chill as well; my friend Marie likened it to a nightclub.

I ordered today a cheeseburger with a side of steamed broccoli (it was a 7.50 lunch combo), and this was adequate. The broc was actually the star, since it was moist and heavily seasoned with salt and garlic and herbs, but still fresh tasting. The burger was OK, standard thicker burger with lettuce and tomato and I loaded on the ketch. I ate it all and didn't vom, so that's a win! 6/10

Overall
Cost: 8/10
Taste: 6/10