news you can eat

Blue Bell cake batter ice cream

2007-03-11T11:45:00.000-05:00

What's with cake? IE, why is "cake" a semi-popular ice cream flavor? Blue Bell is already heavily invested in cakey ice creams, yet here's one more, Cake Batter. what is the "flavor" of cake batter other than "sweet" and "fake"? this started out as a limited product, available at stores only, and maybe it shoulda stayed that way (and yet i bought the stuff. jeez).

btw: News You Can Eat is changing locations. (it sortof already has.) it's transitioning. for news on restaurants in dallas, go here. and for news on espresso drinks, ice cream, and other producty info, go here.

Sprinkles cupcakes

2007-02-18T08:51:00.000-06:00

Remember when this blog used to be updated every day? and when it had original material? jeepers. big plans for this wk, tho (ice cream prods to share). but onto cupcakes, a trend that hasn't really hit dallas but maybe will w/ the March arrival of Sprinkles, a cupcake co. from bev hills. cupcakes seize some people's imaginations; there are numerous blogs devoted to cupcakes. it's a visual thing and a miniature thing. anyway Magnolia came first, in 1996 (and got the SATC mention) but Sprinkles is the one coming to D (specifically, to preston center).

4020 Villanova Drive no fone yet

It's a Grind

2007-02-05T13:56:00.000-06:00

hell yeah it's a grind when you live in dallas and can't see driving all the way to frisco for a cup of joe. but if you live in frisco (and more & more people do), you'll welcome this new outlet of a small chain based in Long Beach CA, called It's a Grind. owner Marchand Froschheuser lived in cali and craved a change from the IT world in which she previously resided. the website claims that IaG's "upholstered wingback chairs, cozy fireplace, blues and jazz motif, and music" make it "an atmosphere unlike any other coffee house" which uh ok whatever. their main asset is that they are willing to bring the usual espresso-based drinks to the wilds of frisco, even as the paving of the nearby tollway continues apace

6959 Lebanon Rd. #100, Frisco 75034. (972) 782-2527. open 6 a.m. every day!

Coco Fresh Vietnamese*

2007-02-01T21:24:00.000-06:00

in the thick of the asian-fest that is Walnut Street in Garland, Coco Fresh Vietnamese stands out: a streamlined spot whose unique mix of goodies embodies a multi-culti fusion: turkey sandwiches + banh mi, espresso + Vietnamese coffee, tapioca-pearl bevs + fruit smoothies (incl. durian & soursop flavors), and super-creamy homemade ice cream in flavors from coffee to avocado. Coco Fresh was opened by Duyet Truong, who lists his studies at the French Culinary School in NY and the San Francisco Bacon Institute (which has no website; you suppose he studied bacon?).

4425 w walnut st #301 (@ plano rd), garland, 866-417-6493

*website seems to be down

cocoa via

2007-01-30T09:48:00.000-06:00

Cocoa Via is hardly new. It's so not-new, it's not worth listing all the Web sites who've mentioned it. The basic premise - "chocolate that's good for you" - never appealed. what's the point of that? but it showed up at SuperT and was thus easy to buy. anyway, made by Mars/Dove (and the color scheme is very similar to Dove), it brags about its "cocoapro process" (and they even ® it to let you know it's special). saying it retains flavanols "to help promote healthy circulation". hmf. take a look at the pic. there is 1. a cardboard box. and inside 2. a cardboard shelf. on which rest the five bars. over them lies 3. a piece of double-layered glued cardboard. MUCH packaging. and what do you actually get, chocolate-wise? 5 wee .71-oz bars. maybe the size of a single twix. a box of 5 costs $5.99. or $1.20 per stick. now, admittedly, this is no noka. but it's still a helluva lot of $$. as for the flavor - it's dark choc and not very sweet. but you have to wonder: what exactly ARE "soy sterol esters"?

Original Soupman/Crepe Maker at northpark

2007-01-24T08:49:00.000-06:00

While most of the blah-blah re: the Glorious Makeover of NorthPark Center has centered on Barney’sBarney’sBarney’s, there's news that may interest those w/ a culinary bent. Namely, that HERE NOW* is the la-dee-da first-in-TX branch of The Original Soupman, the now-franchiseable chain launched by Seinfeld cameo-ite Al Yeganeh (w/ corporate partner types), paired w/ a FL concept called Crepe Maker ("home of the handheld crepe"). Crepes, OKfinewhatever, but thumbs up to good soups, rare in Dallas. Hope they'll execute their menu - soups, salads, cold sandwiches, toasted paninis - in a quality manner; nobody seems able to do that in dallas. Their website’s good, the best thing being a pull-down "rules" menu that includes rules for press (e.g., "only some of the questions emailed may be answered") and rules for customers offered in 11 languages. (Dutch for "Pick the soup you want!": Kies de soep die u wil!)

8687 N. Central Expwy. 214-363-1950

*thanks to mr & mrs bk!

Hershey's with Corn Bits

2007-01-15T08:51:00.000-06:00

before posting this, i conducted the usual investigation to see if it really was news (it's not) and/or what other stuff might be out there. during this exhaustive search, i discovered an A+ blog, Candy for Dinner, w/ an admirably hardcore focus on breaking candy news (much more diligently than i have time for, altho said blog has such a plethora of hershey's scoops, one wonders about an inside hershey's connection). anyway C4D had this Hershey's with Corn Bits bar wks ago; but it's been foto'd here already and gets points for being weird. the corn bits are tiny, not sweet, and stick around on the teeth for a second or two. it's clever intellectually, in that it evokes nestles crunch but with a different grain. can't wait for the barley

Lu Cremes: choc-mint & ginger-lemon

2007-01-05T07:44:00.000-06:00

Already beloved here for its xlnt "Little Schoolboy" cookies (or as the frenchies would have it, Le Petit Ecolier), cookie maker Lu Biscuits appears to be undergoing some kind of renaissance w/ a whole wave of new prods. Here & now, a pair of sandwich cookies called Lu Cremes in two varieties: a so-so choc-mint and a solidly good ginger-lemon that aptly fits Lu's description of "spicy zing of ginger and tart-yet-sweet lemon cream filling". These, as well as Lu's new Cream Roulee Rolled Wafers, are notable since they represent a more revolutionary direction than its various-tho-satisfying Little Schoolboy spinoffs such as the one made w/ rice-crisp choc a la nestles crunch

Hershey's Limited Edition Coffee Kisses

2007-01-02T08:39:00.000-06:00

what a way to start '07: marc, the indian scout of NYCE, scrounged up what is perhaps the quintessential, the penultimate, the emblematic NYCE product: Hershey's ltd-ed coffee kisses. let us quantify (or is that qualify?): 1. limited edition + 2. coffee. these coffee kisses are the pinnacle in a flurry of elegant, limited-ed flavors intro'd by hershey's over the holidays (incl. dark-choc/strawberry & dark-choc raspberry). but coffee. the aroma when you open the bag bursts right out: more folger's than intelligentsia (props to chic coffee guru spinnakr) but still admirably dark & espresso-y, w/ a flavor similar to that Pocket Coffee stuff

Ghirardelli Limited Edition Peppermint Bark

2006-12-28T13:12:00.000-06:00

Damn, hope Ghirardelli Limited Edition Peppermint Bark is still in stores, even tho it’s post-xmas. Otherwise that makes NYCE obsolete. so no, pepp bark is not brand new. but it's still surging in popularity (which makes it newsworthy) and this new ltd-ed (w/ its A+ shiny ribbon-candy wrapper) does a twist. The usual formula izza 3-layered construction: 1. milk choc base 2. white choc layer 3. cracked pep candies. Ghirardelli’s has the pep candy mixed right in to the white choc. a radical departure + also easier to eat, as the candy shards don’t fall all over yr keyboard

Juice It Up!

2006-12-22T10:01:00.000-06:00

The topic of Smoothies offers endless fascination at NYCE HQ. but hey, it ain’t just self-indulgence: acc to Mintel, which does surveys of such things, smoothie sales rose 38% from 2003-2005 to reach $1.5 bil and will hit $2.5 bil by 2010. so this is important news, see. Thus stop the presses cuz a new chain hit dallas in aug: Juice It Up!, from cali (aren’t they all) (‘cept smoothie king = louisiana), w/ approx 120 branches in 7 states, and plans for 10-15 more in DFW over the next few yrs. a story in something called franchise wire says JUI’s smoothies have been picked as best in blind taste tests conducted by 3rd-party organizations, which surely sounds convincing; at the very least, it’s one of the good chains that uses unsweetened fruit (unlike evil you-know-who). of note: the store opened in lake highlands ctr next to the old shut-down WF, which has become an LA/Fitness

7215 Skillman St. (at walnut hill), 214-341-3661

Rush Patisserie

2006-12-18T11:29:00.000-06:00

Rush Patisserie is named after chef-owner Samantha Rush (vs. the ’91 drug film vs the snicker canadian power trio), who moved back to D from Vegas, where she made pastry for hotels such as the Green Valley Ranch Resort. At Rush, she’ll do cakes, pastries, and hello, croissants. She’s taken over the space in Deep Ellum that used to be sweet endings, on the corner of elm & Malcolm X. oh but "taken over" doesn’t even hint at the transformation. IE, goodbye pepto-bismol pink exterior, we won’t miss you. and "hi" to the new exterior painted café au lait. She’s changed the whole vibe, man, from quaint pastry shop to boutique. To go w/ the pastries there'll be hot coffee .. none of that cappuccino silliness

2901 Elm St. 214-749-4040, opening any day now

oreo chocostix

2006-12-15T10:45:00.000-06:00

note the strong little NYCE, bravely holding up the big new product. note also the 2 photos, one shot w/ light, the other w/out. feel free to cast a vote. anyhow, Oreo ChocoStix just arrived in plano tx but it turns out they're only semi-new (been out in australia a while; intro'd here in late oct). it's a choc-coated choc wafer w/ layers of choc & white "cream". you'd think they'd be an automatic 10, esp if you like wafers (which of course you should). but you know what? they're not all that. the proposition is that you get the oreo flavor in a wafer format. well, it's most definitely a wafer, but no sign of the "oreo flavor". i think the problem may be the choc coating. it tastes neither like choc nor oreo nor anything other than "wax"

Main Street Bistro & Bakery, Richardson

2006-12-11T07:26:00.000-06:00

Restaurant impresario Dale Wamstad got some more good folks to drink the Kool-Aid: A third branch of Main Street Bistro & Bakery has opened in his Shire center at the corner of the 190 (George Bush Freeway) & Jupiter Rd. This is the development w/ a branch of Wamstad's Silver Fox steakhouse as well as Ye Shire Tavern. A Richardson chamber of commerce newsletter quotes Main St. co-owner Yasmine Bohsali as saying that she & her partner Fabien Goury "love the architecture, the look and touch of the materials", calling it "very European", before giving a nod to the "whole, larger vision that Dale has." Whoa. But hey, anyone living on the east side of plano has to love the Dale not only for the development, but for bringing in some of the area's best breads and baked goods. Like the original in grapevine and the 2nd branch at legacy in plano, this Main St has breads, pastries, sandwiches, light entrees, & coffee drinks. service, however, is N.S.G.

3600 Shire, Suite 100, Richardson. 972-578-0294

5th Street Pizza

2006-12-08T09:50:00.000-06:00

Since when does every town get its own damn style of pizza? 5th Street Pizza claims to do it St. Louis-style: 1. thin crackery crust, 2. slices cut into rectangles rather than wedges (rectangles? whoo-hoo), and 3. a reliance on Provel cheese, which ain’t even real cheez but is instead what you call a cheese product. (this should tell you sumfin: you don’t gotta refrigerate it.) Here, from Wiki: "Fans consider Provel a delicious, mildly smoked flavor that is softer than mozzarella but that still maintains a cohesive consistency that doesn’t form messy strings when it is cut." IE, they like this cheese becuz it’s easy to eat. Dude, Styrofoam peanuts are easy to eat. Anyway, 5th street comes from a guy who previously owned upper crust, a mediocre pizza joint in plano which has since closed.

1223 W McDermott Dr. #85, Allen. 972-396-5557

Odwalla pumpkin super protein

2006-12-06T14:48:00.000-06:00

We’re so deep into pumpkin season (which truthfully runs from oct-nov) that this is almost too late, but it was purchased just last wk at the local smkt, so it’s still out there, somewhere. It has a couplo characteristics that make it A+ for NYCE: 1. it’s limited edition 2. it falls into that smoothie-protein-bar-meal-in-a-swallow category that fascinates some of us 3. pumpkin. Enough fanfare: limited edition Odwalla pumpkin super protein drink. Would you ever think pumpkin would make for a smoothie flavor? ("pumpkin puree" is like the 5th ingred; it was a bit chalky, tho not in a deal-breaking way.) Does this not seem like a reflection of the starbucks influence, specifically their recent pumpkin spice latte? Then again, doesn't everything

dallas threatdown: Jamba Juice vs Juice Zone

2006-12-04T11:21:00.000-06:00

As a long-term Jamba Juice cheerleader, it’s been a bummer to see it get taken over in March by a consortium of $$ guys whose corporate-driven efforts to leanify & profitize have resulted in less choices for me-the-consumer. (boo-hoo, they discontinued my fave, Cranberry Craze … cran juice is a hot item amongst the ladeez, so I’m not being selfish here.) on the other hand, those corporate-driven efforts are also resulting in more jamba juice outlets, incl one in east plano an area that, alas, isn’t slated for gentrification until 2010. so cheers to that. in dallas, there's now a jamba juice @ knox-central, in what used to be a Juice Zone. Juice Zone, HQed in Vancouver and an xlent chain in its own right, open a branch 6 wks ago in West Village w/ more on the way. One thing's for sure: both are way better than smoothie king

Juice Zone: 3839 McKinney Ave. 214-522-9663
Jamba Juice @ Knox/75: 3001 Knox St. 214-559-6113
Jamba Juice in East Plano: 1201 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Suite 180. slated to open Feb. 1

Zoe's Kitchen

2006-11-29T09:36:00.000-06:00

People always say they want to eat healthy. then the minute the waitress comes over, it’s, I’ll have the 22-oz ribeye w/ fries plz, and xtra dressing for my salad. The upshot: places that ID themselves as healthy haven’t historically done well. that won’t stop plucky Zoe’s Kitchen, founded in Birmingham AL in 1995 by an actual person named zoe. "Plucky"=clever cuz zoe does lotsa chicken. its logo used 2B a chicken. & the owner, who is son of zoe, sez his mentor is the guy who runs chick fil-A. also on menu: soups, salads, samwiches, wraps. It has about 2 doz branches, most in AL & TN, w/ big plans for expansion. Its first tx branch is on lovers @ the tollway. if such a place could survive anywhere in dallas, it would be the park cities

5710 West Lovers Lane, Suite 108. 214-357-0100 (opening this friday or next monday - how hot izzat)

C Rolls Sushi Cafe

2006-11-27T09:48:00.000-06:00

Damn, here’s an unfortunate attempt at a clever name: C Rolls Sushi/Café, a small family-run Japanese-sushi place at Preston & Frankford in No. Dallas. It appears to be an unassuming neighborhood place w/ a big menu of rolls (many of which they say are "on sale" -- a term you might use for clothes & other merch the day after thxgiving, but an odd one for food). But oh the name. the rest's website sez it has 3 meanings – it stands for 1. calif rolls, 2. rolls from the sea, and 3. rolls you want to see. Oh dear. Cuz, C, the first assoc I get is C-section

18101 preston rd #300. 972-447-4900

hershey's candy cane kisses

2006-11-22T07:14:00.000-06:00

pls forgive the presence of yet-another item on yet-another ltd-edition seasonal mint sweet, but it seems best to get them done w/ and this one's unique in its class: Hershey's Candy Cane Kisses, a white-choc kiss w/ crunchy candy bits mixed within. they're unique enough that it's easy to keep eating them, possibly even beyond the point where you still like them. but - and let me state the obvious here - they're good 4 people who like mint. anyway, see, that wasn't so bad, and now next wk can start fresh w/ fully-linked items on new restaurants (a new sushi place in richardson), ice creams (bluebell's doing French vanilla cappuccino), & maybe coffee drinks (dunkin donuts just intro'd a very starbucksian "gingerbread latte")

was there ever a product that begged more for the silly snowflake-frame photo treatment?

kit kat mint dark choc ltd edition

2006-11-20T11:14:00.000-06:00

Of all the kit kats that have cometh before, none surpasses this ltd edition mint dark chocolate. (which is why the kk sabbatical is broken yet again.) but this kit kat warrants it. It has the same piercing mint + dark choc you get from york pep patties & junior mints but not as sugary, thanks to the superior qual of kit kat's dark choc (which is also less "greasy" than the usual kit kat milk choc). And, as is evident in foto #2, the choc is thick. a superior seasonal prod and kit kat flavor too

starbucks grandma's turkey sandwich

2006-11-17T08:30:00.000-06:00

apparently, starbucks has intro'd products that aren't successful. i know i know: hard to comprehend (i can barely fathom it myself). but on a scale of great, greater, or greatest, this new holiday-edition Starbucks Grandma's Turkey Sandwich merits a mere "great". while nifty in concept - whole grain bread, "homestyle" turkey, stuffing, cran sauce - the um execution, not so much. there's just a ton of stuffing. and said stuffing is very-very moist; you hardly notice the turkey at all. and it's sloppy. it's a sandwich whose filling basically = wet bread. a bread sandwich, if you will. but let's put on a happy face (this IS starbucks we're talking about, after all). overall, its sandwich program is xlnt, and don't forget sbux' proclivity for intro'ing new prods thus keeping blogs like this afloat

Pepp Farm peppy crunch Geneva

2006-11-16T08:36:00.000-06:00

Following up on the ltd-edition holiday front: Pepperidge Farm Peppermint Crunch Geneva cookies which take a cookie that was pretty good to start w/ & merge it w/ an equally good candy, peppermint bark. the tragedy is that 1 + 1 does not = 3. combo-ing the two does not transcend the originals. It’s like-ok and a fun-ltd-ed-prod and certainly-worth-trying-if-you’re-a-pepp-fan, but one box is plenty. As an aside: pepp bark has surged. A few yrs ago it was just William Sonoma that did it. Then you (well, i) started to see it in cheaper versions at places like world market & whole foods. and may I say that, while WS's pepp bark is sublime, i note some new online-only pepp swirl marshmallows that seem also-intriguing

lucerne limited edition yogurts*

2006-11-13T10:07:00.000-06:00

last wkend, saw an entire section at superT dedicated to "limited edition" prods: special minty this & choc-coated that (news of which will be coming to a blog-near-you later this wk - hopefully w/ the same silly foto treatment). part of the explosion can be attributed to the holiday, but it still reinforced how huge ltd-eds have become. ltd-editioning has even hit yogurt: specifically Lucerne's seasonal limited-edition yogurts w/ half-a-doz flavors incl pumpkin, cranberry-orange, gingerbread, chai latte, caramel apple, and one-other-flavor-that-didn't-appeal-to-me-so-i've-forgotten-what-it-is-&-can't-find-it-on-the-internet. so far, have only tried cranberry, which was good; wish i'd known B4 buying that the blue containers = "lite" = evil splenda

*these just arrived at my local store, but hawaii had 'em first

flavored M&Ms

2006-11-10T06:49:00.000-06:00

While hersheys kisses & kit kats have gone off the deep end w/ brand extensions, staid ol' M&Ms have mostly stayed the course, w/ only a few spinoffs on the comfy/familiar original M, tho all have been good, from M&M almonds to dark M&Ms to mega M&Ms ('specially the mega peanuts). that makes these flavored M&Ms a pretty big deal. there's 8 flavors: raspberry, cherry, peach, orange, almond, mint, peanut, & mint cookie. the proviso is that they can only be ordered online and are hugely expensive: $49.99 plus $12.95 shipping for 24 oz, a price they justify as acceptable becuz you get a "premium collectible tin". possibly down the road, the most popular flavors will eventually turn up in stores

Avocado California Roll & Sushi

2006-11-08T12:03:00.000-06:00

look out for Avocado California Roll & Sushi, sweeping the remote suburbs like a … let’s see, what’s a non-trite metaphor? Hmph. Anyway, the point being, there’s branches galore opening in plano, denton, irving, southlake, & frisco, w/ richardson, allen, & houston on the horizon. owners are Natalie & Alex Lim, a Korean couple w/ an admiration for the franchising concept. Their chain being TX-based, they've worked to quell the locals’ fears w/ non-raw items including a "fried chicken roll". they have some trippy stuff on their website, including this puzzling entry: "12.2005: California roll and sushi research center established." Vot ees zees research center?

1501 Preston Rd Plano , 972-733-3388
8600 North Macarthur Blvd #132 irving, 817-633-3009
2600 E. Southlake Blvd. # 100 Southlake, 817-749-0900

Sushi Sakana

2006-11-07T11:23:00.000-06:00

Say what you will about the northern territories, but they are brimming w/ new restaurants, many of which seem to be asian. Like, for ex, sushi sakana, which took over what used 2b a place called café miso. sushi sakana is co-owned by sue cook, which is how she said to spell her name, possibly cuz she thinks the transcribers at NYCE are incapable of typing out a more complicated asian name and if that’s her concern, well, she may be right. Anyhoo, sue cook previously worked at benihana & shogun, but there are no cleaver-wielding show chefs, just plain old teriyaki, tempura, & sushi. The sakana roll has tuna, yellowtail, salmon, lettuce, and mango. no rice! go figure. (Sakana, btw, means fish. maybe the transcribers at NYCE aren’t so stupid after all, boo hoo)

3000 Custer Rd (at parker) 972-398-1790

Kuai Dumplings & Soups

2006-11-06T08:57:00.000-06:00

Fast-food dumpling places are a hot trend in other cities – and here comes Kuai Dumplings & Soups to bring dallas up to speed. Kuai is what they call a quick-service restaurant concept, serving dumplings, spring rolls, and soups for not-a-lot-of money. You can eat for under $10 (which has become the new $5), and nothing’s fried, everything’s steamed. Opened last wk in downtown’s underground, across from Sonny Bryan’s and not far from the similarly-avant-garde Noodle Nexus, Kuai's focus for now is lunch. it's by 3 entrepreneurial guys in their early 30s who went to UT and, inspired by dumpling chains in NY, Houston, Oregon, & Virginia, spent the last 2 yrs piecing together this deal. expansion seems inevitable; surely they'll head north?

325 N. St. Paul St. Republic Center Bldg, concourse level. 972-789-1199

Mocha Kit Kat ltd edition

2006-11-03T11:42:00.000-06:00

NYCE has been taking a sabbatical from kit kats. furthermore, this ltd-edition Mocha Kit Kat is not revolutionary. I mean, they came out with a not-dissimilar cappuccino flavor last year. But this merits mention for 3 reasons
1. A pic had been taken (see left). hate to waste a pic
2. It actually tastes pretty good. not too sweet. better than the capp
3. It provides the opportunity to write about a much more-interesting flavor which unfortunately is not available in the US: a PUMPKIN kit kat released in japan. Which sounds great but, the japan thing, weird; isn’t Halloween like an American holiday?

Geisha Steak & Sushi Lounge

2006-11-01T10:08:00.000-06:00

am mulling a theory here: that you can't get good sushi if the restaurant's too big (sq-ft-wise). (which conversely does not imply that all small sushi places have good sushi.) Geisha Steak & Sushi Lounge, up by CM in plano, has 4000+ sq ft., and it tries to do everything: sushi bar, robata grill, benihana/hibachi area. a coupla places have tried to do this very thing and failed, incl 9 Fish in frisco and Japon in plano, tho hibachi rock up in allen is still trucking along. do you think maybe out in the sticks, where rah fee-ish is still a challenge fer some folks, that they feel like they hafta offer multiple concepts in a single place in order to survive? But hey this should seal it for geisha: it has a VIP loft. cuz where else would you expect VIPs to hang out but a plano shopping ctr

3801 W George Bush Hwy, plano. 469-467-3944

Ye Shire Tavern

2006-10-31T11:21:00.000-06:00

Can you imagine opening a restaurant-bar and actually calling it Ye Shire Tavern? it takes a certain sensibility to go for such a goofy, faux-medieval name. a sensibility like dale wamstad, the colorful restaurateur whose ventures include III Forks. Ye Shire - may we call it Ye? - is casual/masculine, open lunch & dinner, w/ a big offbeat menu: chick breast, crawfish savannah (AKA etouffee), trout, fish & chips, RB sandwich, deviled eggs, and trifle, w/ most items about $10, the exception being the $25 prime rib. "Ye" is part of a wamstad-owned complex at 190 & Jupiter – not so far from NYCE HQ - which while-we-are-grateful is a kinda-weird part of town to do a development. Lemme put it this way: you don’t see too many starbucks over here. Not yet. But the center already has one of his silver fox steakhouses and there’s more places coming soon

3600 Shire Blvd, Richardson 972-881-7570

Starbucks: MAPLE

2006-10-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

What better way to end the week, w/ exciting news for New England natives or those who like new-england-type flavors: starbucks’ newest flavor is maple. It can be had as a maple latte, maple frappuccino, or – the drink that starbucks is pushing – a maple macchiato which, aside from its alliterative prowess, has a higher proportion of espresso, prob to help cut the sweetness that inherently goes w/ maple flavoring which they call "maple sauce". (doesn’t sound like 100% maple syrup, does it. which, while wholesome, has a subtle flavor.) us maple fans are grateful starbucks decided to roll out maple at all stores (it was originally intro’d last year in New England only)

Luna Sunrise nutrition bar

2006-10-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

Are protein bars a girl thing? Luna Sunrise nutrition bar, a relatively newish but not brand new product, certainly is. It’s not only targeted to women, it’s targeted to women for breakfast. so, what makes these bars - which come in 3 flavors, strawb cream, blueberry yogurt, vanilla almond - "breakfasty", you ask? The answer: "whole grains"and "omega 3". being a girl, I’m a total sucker for these. love the flavors, love that they’re magically good 4 U, love the drizzled icing. yet hate pop tarts; are pop tarts a boy thing?

braum's pumpkin ice cream

2006-10-18T10:05:00.000-05:00

braum’s pumpkin ice cream is not brand-new nor is it available everywhere. (apologies to the reader from carson, calif.) it’s not as if pumpkin is even innovative; lots of ice cream makers make it, along w/ other seasonal flavors like eggnog. But there’s so little good ice cream in the dallas area that why-don't-we-give braum's a shout-out. The co. has its own cows, processing plant, bakery -- it even raises the crops the cows eat, and it won’t open a store 300 miles beyond its HQ in tuttle, OK. I don’t 100% love all its flavors but in the pumpkin, "pumpkin puree" is listed as ingred #4 (1. milk 2. cream 3. sugar) and the flavor's very pumpkiny -- almost not even sweet -- w/ a little textural grit to affirm that it has pumpkin in there

on hiatus

2006-10-10T10:15:00.000-05:00

You are here: DELL USA
ORDER STATUS
Order Date: 10/6/2006
Estimated Ship Date: 10/12/2006
Status Details: In Production
Send Email when Order ships? Yes

Texas Palominas Buffet

2006-10-04T11:02:00.000-05:00

New in Richardson: Texas Palominas Buffet. Which you might say, oh, another buffet, thanks but I love golden corral too much to stray. But Texas Palominas Buffet promises to be different, good, better. it comes from a guy who used to be involved w/ the fadi’s chain, and they’re not so bad, are they? It’s described as a "las vegas style" buffet (i.e., big-big-big) w/ everything made from scratch, bakery on site, and daily-changing menu w/ 200+ items. Oh and it has theme nights. Tue = Tex-mex. Mon & Thu = BBQ. Wed & Fri = seafood. It’s $6.99 at lunch, $8.59 dinner. Two branches already exist in Arlington & Sherman; this is the third.

100 S. Central Expy (@ Beltline / Main), 972-479-1771

I Love Sushi*

2006-10-03T12:06:00.000-05:00

Do U love sushi? That’s what you call a totally lame lede. Lame, cuz it 1. cheaply echoes the name of the restaurant and 2. comes in a question format. If you ever wonder to yourself, "is the story I’m reading well written or izzit a piece o' crap?", just check and see if it has a ? lede, cuz that almost-always = piece o' crap. Anyway, I Love Sushi is a new place in no. dallas which offers all-u-can-eat sushi. all-u-can-eat sushi is another signpost, not unlike the ? lede. For some, "all-u-can-eat" provokes frenzied palm-rubbing and lip-smacking; for others, it indicates that the sushi might not be good. As ever, no personal testimony here, xcept to say that the presentation is said 2B eye-catching, w/ revolving trays in which you point to what you want; and that the brother-&-sister Korean owners, who have a same-named sushi spot in denton, seem very sweet.

18101 preston rd. #101, 972-248-2100

*doesn't the name seem like it should have a heart symbol instead of "love"?

Mug & Mouse

2006-10-02T15:54:00.000-05:00

Mug & Mouse, an independently-run coffee house, opened in aug in frisco, where it serves Lavazza coffee along w/ sandwiches, smoothies, shakes, slushies (made w/ fruit juice), and bubble tea (tho they’ll add the tapioca pearls to any cold drink). What distinguishes M&M from the usual independently-run coffee place is that it started out as a gaming clan of sorts, then evolved into an independenty-run coffee place. thus prevails a gaming vibe; for ex, it’s a LAN ctr so you can go and play vidgames w/ other customers. assuming you are 15 and semi-geeky-techy. being somewhat of a suburban kid thing, it keeps wild hours, from 5 a.m. to midnight on wkends. it's down a side street behind Ikea but a city rec ctr's going in across the street so maybe it'll do better than some of the other independently-run coffee places that seem to close almost as quickly as they open*

5995 Preston Rd. #105, Frisco. 1-469-362-8590

*which is why i'm sorry writing about a certain coffee chain is more gratifying than the little guys

le petit ecolier - white choc

2006-09-25T10:45:00.000-05:00

Le Petit Ecolier white choc cookies reveal what a strict taskmistress innovation can be. there was the little schoolboy, happy for 150+ yrs in his French milieu as a butter biscuit topped w/ a slab of milk choc. Then mkt forces intruded and he was forced to welcome a baby brother: a spinoff in dark c hoc. Not enough. So the parent co. spawned another sibling, EXT RA dark choc. Still not enough. so now: white choc. (there’s also been a couplo bastard cousins: hazelnut & crisped rice.) This white choc is pleasingly not too sweet; but all Le Petit Ecoliers are good - not too many ingredients and they use butter (vs. butter-flavored hydrogenated oil).

Kashi Go Lean - MALT

2006-09-22T09:59:00.000-05:00

my first reaction to Kashi Go Lean high protein & fiber bar in a malted choc crisp flavor was, there is a god. i mean, after all, malt. But it’s rather a chore to eat. Maybe this is a regular deal w/ these hardcore protein/fiber bars... but this mofo has 49 frickin carbs (and I am not one of those carb-counter people). also 13gs protein & 270mgs potassium - possibly good 4 U but holy davy jones’ locker, this 290-cal sinker knocks you out while simultaneously jacking you up w/ bogus alternative sugars (evap cane juice, honey, brown rice syrup, barley malted syrup, pear juice concentrate). plus the malt flavor wasn’t very strong. I guess it’s meant as a meal replcemt? in any case: back to my old agnostic ways

Fusion Cafe

2006-09-20T12:54:00.000-05:00

for those dallas-based malcontents who might not see the personal benefit of hearing about a place in plano, here’s a quick throw-away: some IL-based sub-sandwich chain called Jimmy John’s has opened a buncha branches in the dallas area (by SMU, @ preston-forest, Addison, Arlington, denton); they appear to be a beefier version of Subway. And now to the real item: Fusion Café, a coffeehouse (yo to the kneejerk "indie-is-better" crowd) in downtown plano in a site vacated by another indie, Coffee Haus (whose cousin across from SMU also closed. boohoo indies etc). Fusion faces a slight liability since it’s not on the main 15th st. drag but A++ to see it open in plano’s historic old downtown blah blah (which btw, the dipshits who run plano recently hired a task force to tell them that they need fewer antique shops and more coffeehouses. DUH)

Fusion Cafe, 1545 K Ave. 469-241-9099

tostitos multi grain

2006-09-15T08:24:00.000-05:00

Which is worse: that Tostitos multi-grain is a "whole-grain" version of a $&# tortilla chip? or that the premise of whole grains suckered me into buying a bag. "multi grain" has become another one of those catch-phrase selling points, like oat bran and, of course, dark choc. The absurdity of "whole grain" Tostitos is that Tostitos = corn chips. or at least they used to. can you have an ear of corn made out of wheat? Anyway the grains are: corn, oat, buckwheat, & wheat. versus frito-lay’s practically identical sun chips, which have: corn, wheat, rice, oat. Someone should do a side-by-side taste test.

nestle dark choc raisinets

2006-09-12T23:39:00.000-05:00

not sure if you've caught wind of the rumor going around – it’s about dark choc stopmeifyou’veheardit that it’s good for you. all those dark choc items you've seen aren’t even the tip of the iceberg. stats!:
$ one third of the new choc items this year are dark - up from 1/4 in 2005, sez Datamonitor's Productscan Online
$ new dark-choc prods have already hit 278 this year (279 if you count today’s blog item?) (and it's only sept!), compared to a total last year of 217
$ Sales of dark choc are up 40% this year, sez Ad Age, driven by reports that the antioxidants make it heart healthy
in that area, Nestle dark raisinets scores 2-for-1, cuz raisins have antioxidants too. this 11-oz foil package claims to have 7 servings, w/ 180 cal, 32 carbs, 8 grams of fat

dulce de leche Oreo, yawn

2006-09-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

Today's theme is "marginal"... after all, these ltd-ed dulce de leche Oreos are only marginally new (they've been out a while), marginally of interest (oh boy another dulce de leche item which i would've ignored altogether but these were on sale), & marginally edible (they taste way grossfakesweet). dulce de leche has many fans, but the flavor succeeds best in a dairy context. what IS of interest is how these underscore the importance of oreo's standard filling. you'd think most of the "oreo flavor" lay in the choc cookie, but no, for oreos to be oreos, they need the white goo

*note how cookies in photo mimic the ones on the box!

mint choc chip pop tart

2006-09-08T09:05:00.000-05:00

They were free-sampling these last nite over at nokia, thus providing me w/ an instant blog item: mint choc chip pop tarts. so what, right? except that the mktg campaign for these is all about eating them frozen; the pop-tart peeps were handing them out ice-cold (from a retro-looking fridge). other priorities prevented me from eating it on the spot, as served, icy-cold (and besides, it seemed vital to get it home unscathed for a pic); after sampling it at room temp, I just hope it tastes better cold. Talk about sweet. Yuck. But how clever to push it as a snack competing w/ ice cream/novelty items, potentially expanding the pop-tart audience past the breakfast crowd.

Pepperidge Farm Chocolate Delight

2006-09-05T16:24:00.000-05:00

Pepp farm duz so many new prods, they could star in their own blog. Most of it's just Another New Flavor of Milano, but the Chocolate Delight line is semi-unique cuz 1/2 the 6 flavors are avail at Target only. That includes Marbella, choc cookies w/ a "rich choc layer" & choc cappuccino "crunchies"; and 2 others, mint & amaretto. if you can’t get to target, shed no tears; the choc tastes fake, like frosting, and the "crunchies" taste like ash. Celebrate instead that the Choc Raspberry Rialto, another in the line with a choc sandwich & raspberry filling that's a little better, is avail everywhere

sonic peach smoothie

2006-08-30T10:59:00.000-05:00

This is prob one of those things that woulda been good to try first. But if you have to wait for it to be tried first, you wouldn’t get a blog item. Which is more important: A. a hot new blog item, or B. a lukewarm blog item w/ first-person testimony? I'm going with A. Sonic, which calls itself "one of the few drivein chains left in the U.S." carhops etc. has a peach smoothie, avail for a ltd time only (see? getting the word out ASAP is crucial) made w/ nonfat yogurt & "real" peaches (as opposed to artificial ones?) and providing 110% of yr daily calcium. The ingreds sound wholesome and sonic already has a good track record for bevs; its limeades, for ex, use real limes

NYCE buffet

2006-08-25T11:51:00.000-05:00

today: too much news to eat. yet it's all so garbagey that none merits a main course. so we're going buffet style and hold the links pls:
1. Having caught wind of this crazy "gourmet-coffee" thing, Folgers has a new premium line. in folgers world, premium = FLAVORS. except flavors = opposite of premium. anyway, free samples of dreck like "caramel drizzle" & "vanilla biscotti" here if you dare
2. Winestyles - "a new and easy way to shop for wine" - takes Best Cellars' make-wine-EZ concept and dumbs it down further by putting wine in categories such as crisp fruity mellow rich & bold. no need to worry about labels! just walk in & say, "i'd like something rich". snicker. it's sweeping the burbs w/ branches open in FW, flower mound, southlake, grapevine, lewisville, etc and a jillion more set to open in the next 6 mths.
3. remember when McD made a big frigging deal about offering salads? which consisted of 5 chunks of honeydew & 3 walnuts. well McDonald's is now shrinking its "meal-size" fruit salad to "snack pack" size. pretty soon they'll have it down to an airplane-size bag of nuts. they so suck

Waltrina Stovall estate sale

2006-08-24T11:19:00.000-05:00

Foodies & collector types should set aside some time this wkend (& next) for the estate sale of Waltrina Stovall, ex-dining critic/vintage columnist at the Dallas Morning News. Stovall, who remains alive, is a well-known collector of vintage memorabilia, w/ special emphasis on food-related items incl. prized glassware & pottery, aluminum trays, and the motherlode: a stash of 3,000+ cookbooks. An inveterate smoker, she also has a fascinating collex of ashtrays, lighters, & other incendiary gadgets. The sale's curated by Ralph Willard, one of Dallas’ best-known estate-sale gurus; for a sneak preview of the stuff, hit www.24-7estatesales.com

Aug 25-27, Sept 1-3 at 5614 Richmond Ave., off Greenville about 4 doors west of Dodie's. 214-826-2584

Olive Oil's Pizzeria: Richardson

2006-08-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

back in 1999 - when dallas was still a pizza hellhole, pre fireside pies + campania + coal vines – Olive Oil’s Pizzeria in garland seemed pretty damned good. Owner Frankie Funaro comes from a pizza-making family outside Pittsburgh (PA), and makes his crust, a-chewy-and-flavorful-thing ('least that’s how it seemed back in 1999). He even makes the bread for the subs. toppings are above average - fresh spinach, not frozen – and some pizzas have alternative sauces such as pesto or garlic (instedda tomato). The only prob was location: waay out at 30 & Belt Line, a hike unless you live in mesquite. Now there’s a new, second Olive Oil’s Pizzeria in Richardson, 1 mile W of 75. hoo-rah. And the pizza thing just keeps on mushrooming

581 W. Campbell Rd. #129, Richardson 972-480-9555

Quaker breakfast cookies

2006-08-21T08:30:00.000-05:00

as is visible in the adjoining photo, these droopy Quaker breakfast cookies don’t have much going on in the, how to put it, erection dept. but hey here’s a cookie for someone who likes ‘em xtrasoft & loaded w/ high-fructose corn syrup, currently being fingered for obesity in this country. There’s no way to fathom the thinking behind this thing. Maybe breakfast BAR sounded too healthy? It’s not even a great nutrition deal w/ 15% of various vitamins, 34 frigging carbs, & about 8,000 maltodextrins, modified wheat starches, propylene glycol diesters, etc etc etc. it’s depressing quaker even made this.

This is not brand new but since quaker’s blog-savvy publicist sent these out to a bunch of food blogs, nyce joins impulsive buy in a joint post today. Synergy!

Chicago St. Pizza: McKinney

2006-08-18T11:19:00.000-05:00

A gift for far-north fans of the Chicago-pizza thing: an offshoot Chicago St Pizza, opening in McKinney sept 1. the 1st branch in plano has earned the praise of sharp-eyed local experts, so mckinney-ites R lucky. (The chain headed north cuz that’s where owners Azir & Resmie Hani live.) DFW looks to be on the front end of a pizza explosion, w/ the fireside pies chain-lette expanding, plus 2 new chains coming to town in 2007: Garlic Jim's Famous Gourmet Pizza, a WA state outfit w/ "gourmet toppings" such as almond slivers or coconut (and why not, I say); and zpizza, kindof a CPK knockoff (and what better pizza to knock off, I say)

2414 W University Dr, Mckinney 972-548-7050

Quaker Steel Cut Oats

2006-08-16T10:26:00.000-05:00

it's so great/annoying when big corps accustomed to making $$ on less than healthful prods hafto kowtow to public demand for healthier stuff. McD’s is the biggest example, tho the one that bugged me bigtime was ocean spray who kept making crappy sugar-loaded cranberry juice until Northland succeeded w/ an all-juice brand & ocean spray finally gave in and followed suit. quaker steel cut oats isn’t quite the same since its regular rolled oats are good 4 U. come to think of it, these new steel cut oats prob represent more an expansion by quaker into the yuppie foodie realm. Hm; that makes my whole thesis somewhat flawed. Oh well. but surely quaker is responding here to the encroachment of McCann’s, right? I mean, I’m not all wrong.

hershey's choc truffle kiss*

2006-08-14T10:29:00.000-05:00

Haven’t visited kisses in a while (e.g., totally, willfully, arbitrarily skipped the special ed coconut-creme kiss) so let’s do Hershey a huge freaking favor w/ this puny blog item on their dark-choc choco truffle kiss. an ooey-gooey soft-centered version of their now-year-round solid dark-choc kiss. Dark choc wuz already a blooming flavor trend, but then a study decreed that its antioxidants make dark choc "good for you", and now it's off the hook, not so diff from the oat bran craze in the 90s. other pertinent examples: 1. How bout the fact that dark-choc M&Ms just got bumped up to the year-round team? 2. How bout carnation adding a new dark choc flavor to its instant-breakfast mix, which was a totally cool new product if you happened to be growing up in new England in the 70s.

*no links, sorry, back in the groove, blah blah blah

Back Yard Burgers

2006-08-07T10:17:00.000-05:00

Having not actually tried the food at Back Yard Burgers it’d be unfair to pre-judge this burger chain which just opened its first local branch. But conclusions can be drawn from the raw data, yes? Thus: Anything that seems like a + will be hilited in blue; negatives will be red. The chain was formed in Mississippi in 1987. the standard is a 1/3-lb made w/ black angus beef. they offer a smaller 1/8-lb option. they have a handful of themed burgers such as the Hawaiian "dipped in Hawaiian sauce" and topped w/, among other things, grilled pineapple. plus a choice of fries: incl waffle, seasoned, or chili. Also chick-breast sandwiches, hot dogs, baked potatoes, salads, & cobbler. There’s 175 Back Yard Burgers in 20 states. Some people like them; some don’t.

10930 N Central Expwy (@ Royal). 214-361-8544

Ben & Jerry’s MilkShakes

2006-08-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

Hm. Regard, if you will, the packaging on the new Ben & Jerry’s MilkShakes. Note the bottle's thick, stubby proportion. Its squat, flat cap. It seems – I dunno – familiar. So what lies inside this bottle? Why it’s a milky beverage. Hmf. Comes in three B&J ice-cream flavors: cherry Garcia (aka cherry), chunky monkey (aka banana), & choc fudge brownie (aka choc). And sold at grocery/conv stores. Coincidentally, this new line is part of a partnership between B&J and pepsi. The same pepsi that puts out Sbux' bottled frappuccino drinks. Howdya like that

*photo coincidentally has the same "shake it" slogan found on the B&J website

Yellowfin Tuna Florentine

2006-07-31T15:42:00.000-05:00

WARNING: NOT FOR CONSUMPTION BY HUMANS!!!
… tho you might be fooled what w/ the deluxe aqua can and the name of this prod for cats: Yellowfin Tuna Florentine in a delicate sauce w/ garden greens, part of a new line by Fancy Feast called elegant medleys. ball, my Siamese guy, is the fussiest diner on 4 legs (a condition for which I cannot be held responsible, since he was already that way when I adopted him from the shelter), so I’m always trying to find food that’ll please His Nibs. but doesn't this seem totally stupid? what cat gives a sh*t about whether he’s eating yellowfin or albacore?? yet here’s the sick thing: ball looooved this. loved its creamy sauce, its spinach shreds, ate all the #$& yellowfin in the bowl. but here's a surprise not: this stuff goes for .79 vs the .50 that regular fancy feast costs

Back to people stuff tomorrow

Ice Cream Ireland

2006-07-27T16:06:00.000-05:00

If someone sez something nice about you, then the thing to do is say something nice about someone else (once you stop preening, of course). So here it is: Ice Cream Ireland, one of my fave Other Food Blogs, written by one Kieran Murphy who seems to live a NYCE kind of life: He owns Murphys, a pair of ice cream/coffee shops in killarney and dingle (or is it an daingean? the controversy brews) where he makes his own ice creams, is diligent re: coffee, and blogs about it informatively.

dreyer's, new limited flavors zzz

2006-07-25T12:10:00.000-05:00

if at this point, it feels like, oh new dreyers ice cream flavor zzzz who cares, remember that ice cream is one of the foundations of this blog; and w/ summer on the wane, the new product stream is starting to dry up. (so there won't be many more new flavors to report, see.) Besides, these are so new, they’re not even on the website yet – how newsworthy is that? none of the 3 new ltd-edition flavors – cinnamon, coconut pineapple, and banana nut – are truly novel … dreyer’s parlor line (for 3rd party vendors who sell it by the cone) has coco pineapple and cinnamon. and HD has coco pineapple. and blue bunny has cinnamon. and baskin-robbins has banana nut. But these flavors are new-ish to smkts and that’s interesting, as is the fact that they’re all sorta light & fruity & summery

*foto is actually ltd-edition root beer cuz these flavors = so new, no fotos yet

M-Azing Minis

2006-07-21T13:14:00.000-05:00

It appears that the mgr of the Indian/pastry shop - which was gonna be today’s item - isn’t gonna call me back (doesn’t he realize how important NYCE is???), so this new prod is a last-minute sub-out, one sufficiently odd to make fun of: M-Azing minis: "individually-wrapped bite-sized choc candies w/ m&ms minis mixed in". How insane is this? 1. They take m&ms, originally devised w/ a candy shell so you could eat them out of hand. 2. Shrink them. 3. Stir into choc (a bar form exists of this). 4. Make that bite-sized and wrap in foil. Nuts! Maybe it’s to compete w/ the hershey’s kiss? Anyway, it comes in 2 flavs, PB & crunchy, and as long as we’re kissing m&m’s ass, they’ve launched (the previously special-edition-only) dark-choc m&ms as a year-round product.

NOW Restaurant

2006-07-20T10:05:00.000-05:00

Remember Johnny Orleans across from the Quadrangle? That place mysteriously lasted like for yrs. Replacing it: the new NOW Restaurant. Chef Heath Millett (good name for a chef!) and his financier uncle Mitch have basically cloned Never on Wednesday (=NOW, ya folla?), a place they had last yr in palm springs (which outtraveler.com called "campy and fun"). Haven’t tried the food but the menu comes off as generically upscale w/ pizzas, burgers, & entrees such as NY strip au poivre and the pretentious-sounding "French tilapia w/ sauteed spinach and mac&cheez" (whaddya spose makes it French?). It duz do a vegetarian wrap w roasted red pep, mushroom, & baby spinach, but it comes w/ fries, making one wonder about the insight into vegetarianism here. But hey, the wine's way cheap

ghirardelli intense dark gourmet choc bars

2006-07-14T11:34:00.000-05:00

now that the dark choc trend has about peaked, w/ everybody & his brother doing fancy dark-choc bars that are purportedly good for you, here's more of the same: ghirardelli intense dark gourmet choc bars*. ghirardelli is the pride of SF – its factory is a big tourist hang - but its choc's never been all that. but when everyone else started doing better-quality choc, it did finally cave in w/its worthy 60% choc chips. so rah rah for them. These bars come in 4 flavors: espresso, toffee, orange, & plain – and have G's signature square format, just fused in a bar form

*and btw, I know these aren’t brand new but I finally bought one and took a pic

Blue Bell Strawberry Shortcake ice cream

2006-07-10T10:42:00.000-05:00

between its predilection for making completely-average ice cream and its exorbitant prices (not to mention its unjustified rep as a font of greatness), it’s hard to resist any opp to take a swipe at blue bell. But one also hates to appear biased (har) or god forbid predictable, so let’s just lay this out there, judgment-free: Blue Bell Strawberry Shortcake ice cream, w/ vanilla ice cream (what else, for chrissake, it is, after all blue bell) blended w strawbs, chunks of pound cake, & a whipped topping swirl (not even "whipped cream", but effing cool whip, can you believe that shit). And again, without judgment, let’s list alllllllll the other strawb flavors BB already makes: banana strawb, choc covered strawb, strawb & vanilla, strawb chzcake, and of course plain strawb

frutzzo pomegranate acai juice

2006-07-06T11:38:00.000-05:00

F U consume food or drink at all, you’ve heard of pomegranate. F U stay up on sprouty healthy stuff, you’ve also heard of acai (which it turns out is pronounced AH-sigh-EE, not ah-KYE, as I’ve been mis-pronouncing it), made from an exotic Amazonian berry and said to have healing-nutritional powers. Acai is a bitter mouthful unless you doctor it up w/ sugar and-or other flavors. God bless ‘em, Frutzzo Pomegranate Acai gives it 2 U pretty much straight: pom+acai+pear juice. Frutzzo, a small co. outa MN, was a pioneer on the acai front and good 4 them; but even for someone who can do bitter, this is a stretch (tho irreproachably good-4-U). I did what jamba does: blended it w/ blueberries & froz bananas into a fmoovie

dreyer's slow churned, more flavors

2006-06-29T13:57:00.000-05:00

First, the disclaimers & acknowledgements: hoo-ha to Dreyer’s for trying to go lower-fat w/ its slow-churned light ice cream, w/ 5 more flavors being added to the 30+ list: almond praline, cherry choc chip, double fudge brownie, PB cup, & raspberry chip royale. And it's not the WORST sweet item out there. But I’m sorry: this slow churned crap is god-awful. It’s touted as a miraculous process that creates a creamy texture; but there’s something weird about it. Something fake. Worse, it provokes an unpleasant reaction, GI-wise. Seriously, there’s something funky going on. Unfortunately, there’s so little innovation in ice cream right now that everyone’s copying it and idiots such as the WaPo are crediting it w/ reviving ice cream’s sinking sales w/out acknowledging that sales were sinking becuz everyone’s too scared shitless to intro truly new flavors (cuz "cherry choc chip", "double fudge brownie" etc ain’t really NEW).

Starbucks tea frappuccinos

2006-06-27T07:21:00.000-05:00

this prob won't be the Best Blog Item Ever Written, but at least it'll be a blog item posted (rather than the desert this place has been ... very bizzy lately), and it is, of course, about starbucks: namely, new Pomegranate and Tangerine Frappuccinos made w/ fruit juice & Tazo tea. officially, frappuccinos should be coffee-based; if it's fruit, call it a $#!& smoothie. but they can't call it a smoothie cuz smoothie implies a certain degree of healthfulness i.e. fruit etc, and these are really just juice & ice. which makes them no less welcome - fruit-ish is an ok alternative to the usual coffee/dairy, and anything thick & icy is good. and lookit sbux, jumping on the pom wagon. really they could call it a slurpee but that name's already taken. (sbux vets might recall that they kinda had these last yr in mango & citrus flavors.) meanwhile, also new at sbux: Iced Cafe con Leche, made w/ coffee, syrup & whole milk

Hey, sorry to bog this item down w/ activist stuff but TODAY the Senate Commerce Committee is debating Net neutrality. If you're not up on it, here's a good summary. Make a quick call to these slacker senators and ask them to support Internet freedom via the Snowe-Dorgan Amendment:

Chairman Ted Stevens (Alaska): 202-224-3004
AZ Sen John McCain 202-224-2235. AR Sen Mark Pryor 202-224-2353. FL Sen Bill Nelson 202-224-5274. NJ Sen Frank Lautenberg 202 224 3224. LA Sen David Vitter 202 224-4623. MS Sen Trent Lott 202-224-6253. MT Sen Conrad Burns 202-224-2644. NE Sen. Ben Nelson 202-224-6551. NV Sen John Ensign 202-224-6244. NH Sen John Sununu 202-224-2841. OR Sen Gordon Smith 202-224-3753. SC Sen Jim DeMint 202 224-6121. TX Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison 202-224-5922. VA Sen George Allen 202-224-4024. WV Sen John Rockefeller 202-224-6472.

root beer float ice cream

2006-06-22T14:28:00.000-05:00

thanks to the pack mentality of the big ice cream makers, today is a 2-in-1: 1. A&W Root Beer Float ice cream from Breyers: vanilla ice cream w/ RB sherbet. 2. Dreyers Root Beer Float ice cream: vanilla + RB ice cream (as opposed to sherbet) (and a ltd-ed, btw). OK so here's the obligatory JITB nod: last summer JITB had a RB float. More precedents: If you’ve visited the folks in Fla, you’ve seen RB float ice cream by smkt chain Publix. Smkt-brand ice cream seems 2 B the last bastion of innovation. To wit: Dreyers’ other summer-’06 flavors are both candy-themed (nestles crunch & butterfinger), done forever already by smkt brands.

Bits 'n' Pieces shakes

2006-06-19T11:36:00.000-05:00

More idea-borrowing from JITB (altho this time the JITB idea isn't worth borrowing): Steak n Shake’s Bits ‘n’ Pieces milk shakes, wherein PB cups, cookie dough, M&Ms, and cookies & cream are blended into the shake. Steak n Shake is a decent chain which sells steaky burgers and makes the ultimate customer-service sacrifice by staying open 24 hrs. Its shakes, made w/ real ice cream, are already perfect. So why gum things up w/ a buncha straw-clogging crap? And get this: a "regular" 20-oz shake has 964 cals, 34 g fat, & 149 carbs which is 50% of your daily allotment

coke: run by graduates of clown school

2006-06-15T10:45:00.000-05:00

coke's trying to figure out how to salvage the fortunes of Blak. A survey found that 1/3 of consumers who got sucked into trying it found its $7/8-for-a-4-pack price was "too expensive". duh ya mean no one wants to pay $2 for a mini bottle of coke whose only added component is the flavor of bitter coffee dregs, like that which one would ordinarily leave at the bottom of a coffeepot becuz it is too undrinkable on its own? the survey showed "initial response" to be "similar to trends seen for Coke Zero." so that would be like an arrow that points directly down

roundup

2006-06-14T10:53:00.000-05:00

sumfin different today, hope the links work:

* Mcdonald’s just figured out that people are drinking bevs other than Coke, and is testing alternatives from coke’s competitors in some Texas outlets. (But don’t worry, they say; maybe if people come in to buy an iced tea, they’ll get a coke too!)
* Houlihan’s is coming back to Dallas, sez the Dallas Biz Journal. (Unfortunately, the CEO says the following: "it’s not your father’s Houlihan’s". a certain pompous, old-coot writer at the dallas morning snews uses that "it’s not your father’s blah-blah" cliche all-the-time. it's the ultimate in hackery. But I digress.) W/ this big "comeback" (snicker) Houlihan's will tout a "foodie-oriented menu": goat chz bruschetta, pan-seared tilapia, and mustard-encrusted salmon. whooHOO. & instedda golden oldies, the music'll be "indie sounds". (Not making this up) the D branch will be across from northpark.
* Whole Foods is trying to figure out humane ways to sell live lobster. by giving them little "condos". if that doesn’t work, they may stop selling them altogether. If you don't really give a shit about how horridly most supermarket chicken-pork-beef has been treated, then maybe you’ll respond to this: humane processing makes the food taste better.
* 1 cup of coffee a day cut the risk of cirrhosis by 20%, sez a study of more than 125K people. Four cups /day cut it by 80 %.

Tootsie Roll Mini Chews

2006-06-13T11:57:00.000-05:00

One benefit of blogger being a huge big fat pita lately: posting has been so impossible that it made time for a tasting on these new Tootsie Roll Mini Chews – choc-covered mini tootsie rolls. In a word: awesome (tho they may not be for everyone; a fellow taster found them to be too small). these nullify all of the liabilities of regular tootsie rolls (even the midgees), namely that they are 1. too big 2. too chewy 3. not chocolaty enough. The minis have a smaller chewy ctr so you don’t lose yr fillings, and the coating makes em chocolaty-er. (I say this fully recognizing that they are also pretty damn sweet, but the ingredient list includes condensed skim milk, so that makes em healthy, right?) This 4.5-oz box has approx 30 pieces, and 3 servings, 10 pieces per, 170 cals, 7 g fat, 27 carbs.

JITB vanilla malted crunch shake

2006-06-08T12:06:00.000-05:00

Lemme tell ya it's been tough times uncovering viable news-you-can-eat. (and not just cuz blogger has been a HUGE pain in the ass. too many new blogs, man) Oh there’ve been new prods. New prods that deserve a blog item. But tragically, none has been available at NYCE HQ. Thus no blog item re the new Dunkin Donuts smoothies (sold only in east & mid-atlantic). No blog item re starbucks’ breakfast samwiches (only in chic & seattle). No blog item re Pepsi Gold (only in india). But Jack in the Box comes to the rescue with its vanilla malted crunch shake. It’s part of JITB’s annual retro-deal (patty-melts-etc) and is really just a vanilla version of the extant choc malted crunch shake. But underestimate-not its greatness, which derives from two sources: 1. MALT. The all-time best flavor ever. 2. seems like it'll have a better balance than the choc which truthfully is a bit much.

UPDATE: Piece-of-shit alert (and no this is not about blogger, altho it should be) - have sampled this shake and THERE IS NO MALT. repeat, THERE IS NO MALT. it's a frigging vanilla shake. F JITB

Laloo’s Goat’s Milk Ice Cream

2006-06-05T12:25:00.000-05:00

Marc, the Indian scout of NYCE, suggested LaLoo’s goat’s milk ice cream as a blog item wks ago but it got (unfairly) dismissed as some kinda west coast boutique thing, cuz what’s the point of spotlighting a product most people can’t get? But then WF picked it up; CM, too. So now it’s still a boutique item but one-you-can-get-in-more-stores. "boutique item" in this case = $$$$, or more specifically $7.99 for a frigging pint. The rationale for this steep price izzat it takes 10 goats to produce the same amt of milk as a single cow. Goat’s milk iz said 2 B digestible for lactose-intolerant people so that’s a built-in mkt, altho the flavor of this stuff definitely has more of a tang than regular i.c. They have some interesting flavors: choc cabernet, pumpkin, cheesecake, molasses tipsycake, & mission fig which has nice little bits of seed

Hershey's Kisses Mini Cookies

2006-05-31T10:51:00.000-05:00

Perhaps addled by the success of its various ltd-ed kiss releases, Hershey’s seems to be under the impression that the so-called kiss shape (cuz it’s not exactly shaped like a kiss, it’s more teardrop, right?) is some kinda valuable commodity. A few mths ago, the co. issued kissables, basically an M&M in the "kiss" shape. Now: teeny-weeny Hershey’s Kisses Mini Cookies. * There's choc chip, Double Choc, & multi-colored Confetti Sprinkles. They’re so tiny that there’s lotsa crunch but not much going on taste-wise; the choc-chips are so small, they have minimal impact. It’s basically playing off the cute factor which makes you wonder how long they’ll last.

*brought to NYCE HQ by the "plano guy"

On the Wine Trail in Italy

2006-05-30T09:40:00.000-05:00

As a low-pressure way to get back into gear, how bout letting another blog do the heavy lifting today: On the Wine Trail in Italy, by A. Cevola, Italian wine director for a Dallas-based booze distributor & all-round bon vivant. OTWTII may not have very catchy initials but it duz have lotsa eenteresting eenfo about Ital wine (mostly) and la dolce vita, presented in an unexpectedly lyrical fashion, tho if you know alfonso – as do most food & wine people in dallas - that’s prob not such a surprise. He’s a renaissance guy and very plugged-in to shit before everyone else.

Social

2006-05-26T10:30:00.000-05:00

Becuz some wks are all about junk food, let’s do a restaurant instead: Social, a mid-priced mid-atmosphered mid-calibered place serving New American food. Prob the most interesting thing izzat it’s in Univ Park, across from SMU, in the Hotel Lumen, an ex-Ramada remodeled into a semi-boutique hotel. Breakfast is brought-in pastries & there's no lunch; but at dinner, they have a chef, Jon Schwarzenberger, formerly of the Crescent Club, who does steak, seafood, salmon and so on, tho the talker is mac&cheez, made w/ brie + gruyere

6101 Hillcrest Ave, Univ Park 214-219-2400

Dish Neighborhood Cuisine

2006-05-24T12:29:00.000-05:00

Unless you live in East Plano, you prob don’t care whether or not its quaint, brick-streeted vintage downtown area prospers. Fine. Be that way. Stick your head in the sand. Meanwhile, perhaps you’ll indulge this tiny bit of partisan cheerleading for Dish Neighborhood Cuisine, an "American bistro" opening at the end of the month (like, next week). You know how every downtrodden neighborhood begs for a Starbucks? Well E-Plano totally needs an upscale place like Dish, to offset the too-high proportion of old-lady places that dominate the 15th-st strip. Chef Blake Liles is a Serious Chef whose resume includes heritage ranch country club. His vision: "Jasper’s at half the price" ... steak frites, fish, and "cool" pizzas a la Fireside Pies a fine role model since it has the absolute best pizza in Dallas.

1022 E 15 th st. plano. 972-633-1200

POM Pomegranate Lychee green tea

2006-05-22T08:53:00.000-05:00

Re: POM's Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea: OPEN AT YOUR OWN RISK. in a safe place. The top doesn’t screw off or have any kind of easy opener or instrux. Yer just sposed to pry it off but if you do that at your desk, you’ll be turning & pulling & when it does abruptly pop off, a third of it will drench your clothes-lap-chair. pom makes dumb bottles; seems 2B company policy. What the package DOES say is, "keep the glass" - a lovely recycling sentiment but absurd. even an avid recycler (such as myself) might question the benefit of this artless cylinder. maybe ok as a vase. anyway it's newsworthy cuz 1. itsa branching out for POM 2. it's like-snapple-but-better, cuz its first ingred is TEA, not sugar (fructose is 3rd, after pom juice). other flavs include peach & blackberry but lychee is the best, and most exotic, peach-ish but more flowery. they call this 13-oz "glass" 2 servings, 70 cal & 18 carbs each

Haagen Dazs Mayan choc ice cream

2006-05-19T08:18:00.000-05:00

Haagen Dazs Mayan chocolate is better than the usual new prod intro cuz it’s at least original, not just a candy-bar-cloned deal but actually refs a concept reech weeth heestory: that the mayans were the first consumers of choc. HD's so behind the thing, it created this fairly silly 3D-ish graphics program that takes forever to load and duzn’t tell ya a lot. (Link only if you want to send your computer into a spiral of inefficiency.) anyway taste-wise the i.c. is "rich dark choc w/ a hint of cinnamon" and a fudge swirl. def more of an adulty thing - not sweet, little bit intense, good paired w/ other flavors.

new Cafe Brazil

2006-05-17T10:39:00.000-05:00

Among the things Dallas can congratulate itself for having, bohemianism isn’t one; there just isn’t much of it. Prob the closest it gets is Cafe Brazil, a mini-local-chain that serves semi-healthy food, breakfast all day, & bottomless cups of coffee, and even better, keeps late-night hours. Well a new Cafe Brazil on Greenville Ave opens tomorrow in the little strip next to Stan's Blue Note. This 7th branch basically replaces the veteran Lakewood branch, which shut down recently after losing its lease. Its opening reinforces the fact that Greenville is reasserting itself as the entertainment zone now that deep ellum's on the decline.

2900 Greenville Ave 214-841-0901

Banana Coconut Frappuccino®

2006-05-16T06:41:00.000-05:00

The fact that banana is Starbucks' summer '06 flavor: not news. But it was officially announced today, along w/ the fact that (and here's what prompts today's item) Starbucks will hand out 90K bananas to customers in 21 cities to kick-off the campaign... "to celebrate the season w/ the spirit of Carnival", whatever the F that means. No data yet on which cities get the treasured free bananas (let it please be us, dear god, let it be us). But while we're here, what say we go ahead & list the new dwinks, which reportedly use real banana puree & which'll be avail til aug 30: Banana Coconut Frappuccino®, Banana Caramel Frappuccino®, & Banana Mocha Frappuccino®, which i dunno, does that really sound like it'd be good? certainly not as good as malt

Wrigley’s Doublemint Kona Crème coffee gum

2006-05-15T13:57:00.000-05:00

Do you begin to get a sense that people are taking this coffee thing too far? To wit: Wrigley’s Doublemint Kona Crème coffee-flavored gum. Kona as you may already know is the sposed high-end coffee from Hawaii. Crème is the froufrou spelling of cream. the gum tastes at first like sweetened iced coffee. but as the combo of coffee + mint unfolds, it gets a little odd. in the + column: It has sugar (preferable to sugar-free gum which has phenylwhatsits, said to excite your brain cells to DEATH). And the coffee color is nice. But minus: tis neither refreshing, which is what you want from gum nor does it provide a dose of caffeine

Starbucks mud pie bar

2006-05-10T08:31:00.000-05:00

Boy talk about tailor-made for this blog: Starbucks Mud Pie ice cream bar. How can you lose w/ coffee + ice cream (not to mention sbux). itsa choc cookie w/ coffee ice cream coated in choc. But really it's just sad, in that it embodies the inevitable surrender to the American appetite. Cuz Starbucks did try a more moderate approach w/ its clever Frappuccino bar, like a coffee version of a fudgesicle and much leaner than the 350 cals this has. But unfortunately the demand is for more-more-more in ice cream prods. As an aside, these ice-cream-on-cookie things are a hot trend, w/ similar items by Dove, Nestle/Toll House, Kemp’s, as well as a big expansion of the Klondike line

note slight discrepancy between bar on box as opposed to real life

meta-blogging

2006-05-08T10:14:00.000-05:00

the options for today:
1. Spend 2 hrs writing about one of the many cool new prods & restaurants I know of (hate to gloat, but ha ha) 2. Pay the bills and skip the blog altogether today or 3. try something weird/new which is to spotlight a few blogs I’ve met lately. As opposed to the ones over on the right such as Cookie Madness and Tristram Shandy that you can always visit.

^The Fresh Loaf, "community" for bakers & bread fans
^All right Mr Gekko, part-time latte artist shares his pursuit of excellence. cool & quirky

White Choc M&M's

2006-05-05T10:20:00.000-05:00

Another white choc candy would ordinarily be BFD. But it is slightly more interesting that it’s M&Ms, specifically M&M's White Choc Pirate Pearls candies. Nevermind the annoying promotional tie-in to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; unlike some other candy, M&M's doesn’t do many spinoffs. (Ok they did do a ltd-ed dark choc last yr, to promote another $&# movie. And ok there is also now a mega. But really, not that many spinoffs.) These have pastel shells but since they won’t be out til May 12, can't yet describe them (unless you hit Toys R Us). Sure hope the white choc is firm, not gross & soft like reese’s pieces. Less revolutionary but also related to the movie blah-blah: M&M's Minis Sunken Treasure Mix, which sposedly change colors, and M&M's Peanut Chocolate Captain's Gold, all done in fancy gold tones

McCarty's Restaurant & Tavern

2006-05-04T14:16:00.000-05:00

If U ever drove on 75 near LBJ, then U saw The Golden Eagle Restaurant, opened by Jack McCarty in 1958. Jack died in ‘72, and tho the McCarty family still owned the bldg, other people ran the Golden Eagle. Its last owner ran it right into the ground, declaring bankruptcy and auctioning off the fixtures in late ’05. Well it’s been reopened by the McCarty family – specifically Jack’s grandson, Jason Brown, whose b.g. includes bartending. They lost the "Golden Eagle" trademark (named after the Golden Eagles football team at Richardson High) so they’re calling it McCarty’s Restaurant & Tavern; they’re reprising the good ol' American style menu with steaks, stews, sammies, & other family recipes.

215 North Central Expwy, Richardson. 972-234-2111. Opening approx may 17

bb chocolate covered strawberries

2006-05-01T08:43:00.000-05:00

mark the date cuz something nice is about to be said about blue bell, namely its new Choc Covered Strawberries ice cream. The description says "vanilla i.c., strawbs, choc-strawb hearts, & milk choc swirl." As a preface, bb already has a choc-covered cherries, one of their better flavors w/ cherry-vanilla i.c. and dark choc swirl (plus these "choc-covered cherry" things which aren’t cherries, more like "cherry goo"). that cherry version is good but its intense almondine flavor tastes almost fake. this straw version is better cuz 1. strawbs seem to have an intrinsically more natural taste, and 2. the strawberry & milk choc flavors combine nicely. But those "choc-strawb hearts" are just like the choc cov'd cherries: big puds that lack refinement.

Odwalla Soy Milk

2006-04-27T11:44:00.000-05:00

U R either into soy milk or U R not. If U R, U know it comes in A. a room-temp shelf-stable version or B. refrigerated-carton-like-milk version. The refrig case (Version B) has basically been swallowed by the domineering completely-average Silk brand. sad cuz more choices = better. so on that basis alone, hooray for Odwalla Soy Milk from the co known for bottled smoothies & nutri-drinks. Taste-wise, it's OK. For cappuccino, it doesn't foam nearly as well as Soy Dream, the foamiest soy milk of all (and, unfortunately, one of the soy milks knocked off the shelf by Silk).

The fine print: 1. this is being touted for its dose of a fatty acid called DHA 2. 5 yrs ago, Odwalla became a subsid of coke, but was left to function independently which is prob why it’s doing so well, tho the boneheads @ coke are threatening to mess w/ success by doing some odwalla promotion this yr

Take 5 choc cookie edition

2006-04-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

Intro’ing new prods, diversifying, taking chances, offering choices = all good things. So where did the Limited Edition Take 5 w/ chocolate cookie go wrong? It has, what, caramel, peanuts, PB, & milk choc. Hard to argue w/ that, right? Except what makes Take 5 Take 5 is the PRETZEL, i.e. the sweet vs the salty. The choc cookie is crunchy and offers a moderate contrast. But it ain’t no pretzel, man.

Dr Pepper frozen ice

2006-04-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

There’s a contingent of people who really-really like dr pepper, and they’ll be on board w/ this Dr Pepper ice tube whatcha pop-up thingie-doo. Popup tubes are a pretty funky category of ice cream novelty frozen confection but Dr P has a refreshing quality. just look at its history as an ingredient used in all sorts of desserts/recipes: Dr P ice cream floats, Dr P cakes, etc etc.

Voila!

2006-04-19T11:43:00.000-05:00

Bow down to Voila! a new bakery in Allen where they’re selling that most noble of foodstuffs: artisan bread. Baker Jean-Christophe Blanc, a native of France, has worked at Buckhead in Atlanta and Eatzi’s in Dallas, temples of bread both of them; he also oversaw bread for the Olympic Village during the ’96 olympics. Located in a new retail center in Allen – which is booming these days - Voila! also does salads & sandwiches CB-style. Allen's def a hike if you live in dallas (tho no-prob for those savvy urban pioneers in east plano) but his bread & croissants are worth the drive.

1201 W. McDermott Dr. Allen 972-747-1272. open 8 to 8 every day how cool is that

Activia lethal? frappio scary

2006-04-18T10:32:00.000-05:00

Despite oodles of new items to post, today’s theme is follow-up:

Frappio One 15-oz can of this new coffee-energy drink from 7-11 was consumed on Fri Apr 7 at 7 pm. (alertness was being sought for a work assignment.) Oh alertness was found; 12 hrs later, the teeth-grinding still hadn’t stopped. That stuff is scary. Admittedly, the can says "two servings"; but isn’t it stupid to put two servings in a flip-top can? It’s not the caffeine; I think the nuclear ingredient is the Indian ginseng.

Dannon Activia yogurt Have sampled this stuff twice: stomach-churning experiences both times. Has anyone else tried it? Would love comments and-or emails.

ben & jerry's etceteras

2006-04-12T09:33:00.000-05:00

In an effort to post something today ( no clever links... damn deadlines), here's a really advance note bundled w/ some new flavor news to make it look like you're getting big value
1. Free scoop day at Ben & Jerry's Apr 25. 12 noon-8 pm. The press release describes the 4-oz scoop as "3 inches across!" 3 whole inches of ice cream haha whoa
2. And say, there's a new (instore-only) flavor: Bananas on the Rum = banana + buttery rum brown sugar swirl
3. meanwhile, at the supermarket, The New 2006 Flavors (ta-da):
Turtle Soup (vanilla + fudge-cov'd caramel cashews + caramel swirl)
Vermonty Python (coffee liqueur + choc cookie crumb swirl + fudge cows)
Neapolitan Dynamite (cherry garcia+choc fudge brownie "side by side". lame)
and a buncha new sorbets mostly snoozy except for
Jamaican Me Crazy (pineapple + passion fruit swirl).
god knows B&J deserves praise for at least trying to intro new stuff (unlike the rest of the corporate ice cream dopes). and yet still, this all seems kinda zzz, duznt it

Cranberry Soft Chews

2006-04-10T11:29:00.000-05:00

Everyday Cranberry Soft Chews beg the question: Is it really so $!# hard to drink a glass of juice? On the other hand, chews do have a certain appeal (beyond the pleasure you get from chowing on something chewy & sweet). One nugget provides a day’s worth of this or that – basically a more indulgent form of a vitamin. And wouldn’tchew rather see pharmaceutical cos. invest in stuff like chews, rather than all the horrid drugs they’re pushing? Anyway these cranberry chews = 15 cals and the top-3 ingreds are sugar, corn syrup, & cranberry fruit powder ("Cran-max brand" which sposedly uses 34 pounds of cranberries to produce one pound of cran-max)

Frappio

2006-04-07T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hmmm. Frappio. Interesting product name. It’s a new bev from 7-eleven & yet has such a familiar name, no? altho pls: it’s not like "frappuccino" wuz original either: starbucks adopted it from a coffee chain which stole it from the locals’ weird name for a milkshake. Anyway, frappio = coffee-energy-drink hybrid w/ caffeine PLUS a "patented, all-natural herb" ashwangandha aka Indian ginseng, which has been used to treat rheumatism, leprosy, & arthritis and which 7-one-one claims will not only pep you up (in a "jitter-free" way) but suppress your appetite too sorta like speed, I guess

Ben & Jerry's the cone

2006-04-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

Ben & Jerry’s The Cone merits an item ONLY because it is new (as opposed to "because it’s worthy"). But first, the info: it’s a "unique waffle cone filled w/ ice cream". Cherry Garcia: cherry ice cream w/ cherries & fudge chunks. Choc-chip cookie dough: vanilla w/ cookie dough swirl & fudge chunks. one box = 3 cones $4. yikes Calories: 350 each, which seems high but I guess not much higher than the 280- to 360-calories for a measly standard half-cup serving of superpremium ice cream. Haven’t cone products always seemed kinda cheezy & low-rent? The "unique" aspect about the waffle cone appears to be that it’s lined w/ choc but isn’t that the case for most of these prefab cones? What IS distinctive about B&J’s izzat the ice cream's packed w/ nuts & stuff the same direction they’ve been taking w/ their regular ice cream

Banana Creme Filled Twinkie

2006-04-03T12:58:00.000-05:00

Already experienced in the ways of the limited edition, Hostess is issuing ltd-ed banana Twinkies filled w/ banana-flavored cream (which they of course spell crème). The impetus for this flavor is some DVD release (ape movie, don’t make me name it, even mentioning "DVD" is shillish as it is), and part of Hostess’ blah-blah is the sorta-interesting fack that twinkies started out banana but switched to vanilla cuz of wartime shortages. But more intweeguing (to me, anyway) is that there’s already been another product announcement this summer w/ the same flavor. All you need is one more banana product to make it an official trend.

Klondike: many flavors

2006-03-31T11:17:00.000-06:00

the klondike bar - basically an ice cream bar w/out a stick - is quaint cuz its stick-lessness rejects mfrs' current tendency to make food "easier" via holders, containers etc (for ex, the little spouts they put on milk cartons now. spouts which are unnecessary and add another bit of plastic to the landfill. all so that it's easier for morons to open the frigging carton. but i digress) the klondike originated in PA & OH; Unilever (now good humor-breyers) bought 'em in '93 and has expanded the original vanilla+choc w/ a dozen+ flavors: caramel swirl, choc, cookies & cream, dark choc, heath bar, hershey w/ almond, krunch, neopolitan, oreo, reese's, york pepp patty, planters caramel & peanut, strawb chzcake, & "whitehouse cherry" which of course isn't avail in the dallas area becuz after all it sounds GOOD
no "fun" links today pls forgive but this tells where the name came from; this guy has a small piece on the early history of the klondike bar. here's a discussion about the klondike bar amongst a bunch of astronomy nerds

starbucks update (part of a series)*

2006-03-30T12:23:00.000-06:00

1. Starbucks has 2 new spring bevs based on green tea ("real Japanese matcha ground green tea leaves"): green tea latte - green tea w/ steamed milk, and blackberry green tea frappuccino which is only semi-new, really just a twist on the already-existent green tea frapp. Green tea is a big seller for sbux, acc to sbux employees who don't know they're being quoted here. haha sbux pr dept.

2. Meanwhile, for 2006, its annual new summer flavor frappuccino will be ta-da BANANA. "fresh banana pureé blended w/ coffee, milk, & ice." banana + coffee = hmm. Remember last summer's flavor was mint mocha chip; but no flavor can ever compare w/ the late, lamented mocha MALT frapp. some sbux stores still carry malt powder but the drink's not on the menu, thereby dooming its prospects for those not in the know

Of course the photo here shows an entirely diff product, starbucks' new iced coffee which has been addressed here previously, is now in stores, & which tastes somewhere between the milkier bottled frappuccino & the stronger espresso DoubleShot.

*no links today but with such exciting news, who misses the links, right?

nestle stixx*

2006-03-29T14:19:00.000-06:00

A few months ago, Pepperidge Farm* came out w/ a "choc fudge pirouette" – a choc version of the cylindrical pirouette cookie but w/ choc fudge filling & a choc cookie wafer. It seemed almost-newsy but not really. But there must be some kinda market for those pirouette-style cookies cuz that’s basically what new Nestle Stixx is: wafer cylinder filled w/ flavored cream & coated in choc. Flavors: 1. milk choc 2. dark choc 3. butterfinger. They’re good, esp the dark choc, w/ the A+ contrast between crispy cookie & sweet choc. The lame thing is that they’re pitching these as 90-cal bars that are "good for health-conscious types" but try eating less than 3 at a time.
*Nestle & pepp farm's websites blow