I did however make a point to get mac n' cheese when I could. I was successful in my endeavors and ate mac out (same place, twice), made a homemade mac and found some mac n' cheese by association.
For the wife's birthday her friends and I plotted a surprise and they flew out for a long weekend of fun. After picking them up at SFO we got back to our place and we were all feeling that grumble in our tummies telling us that we needed to eat something for breakfast. We quickly decided on a local favorite of ours, Red Tractor Cafe in Dublin. They do all kinds of good southern style dinners and serve great breakfasts all day. While most of us had breakfast (there was a lone order of fried chicken) I decided that then was as good of time as any to officially review their mac n' cheese. Now I can't recommend that you eat mac n' cheese for breakfast instead of a bowl of cereal every day, but like cold pizza, I don't think anyone will mind if it sneaks it's way onto your plate once in a blue moon.
The Review
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| The sign that greets you at the Hacienda Crossing Plaza in Dublin |
Brand:
Red Tractor Cafe's macaroni and cheese
Price:
$??? The meals were paid for by others and they wouldn't let me see the receipts. Their menu mentions a kids meal ($3.99) and the option of it as a side. There is no individual side dish price listed on the menu. As this was a side dish I'd guess the cost was in the $2.00 - 3.50 range.
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| There it is, hiding as a "side dish". It really should be elevated to a higher place on their menu. |
Packaging Description:
None
Preparation:
*Walk up to the register after waiting your turn to order.
*Place an order for the meal of your choice. Many of the dinner meals come with side options, why not make this one of them!
*If your meal doesn't come with dinner sides, you can get it added on.
*Pay for your meal, take your number and sit down at a table.
*If you've decided to make this to-go they'll call your receipt number when your meal is ready.
*When eating in and your food is done, they'll bring it out to your table.
*Grab the rolled up silverware from the bucket on the table.
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| Friday's b |
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| Tuesday's |
*Commence with the nomming!
Taste:
You're greeted with a nice little bowl of piping hot mac n' cheese. The edges have that nice almost crunchy noodly and cheese combo thanks to touching the sides and being at the top of the bowl. There is a great cheesy smell that escapes when you dig into it. The cheese sauce is smooth and has a good cheesy taste and texture. The elbow noodles aren't over cooked and as already mentioned, the noodles at the top have a slight crunchiness because of the cooking in the oven.
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| You can see some of the cheese that's cooked onto the dish as well as the extra tasty part that's touching the top of the bowl. |
Final Score;
This is a good homemade style mac n' cheese. A nice thick cheesy sauce with a nice baked top on it. Being that this is a homemade mac however YMMV (your mac may vary). I had this on Friday and again on the following Tuesday. Both were at breakfast time so it wasn't like there was a big rush of these coming out of the kitchen but they did have some noticeable differences. The first meal was nice, but lacking some cheese in spots while the second one, despite it's almost burned top was very cheesy and very good (and didn't have any burned taste what so ever). I'm not sure of what kind of prep is done with the mac n' cheese before it's served (as a normal home style takes between 20-30 minutes to cook), but for waiting 5-10 minutes and getting a mac like this is a very unexpected but appreciated surprise.
Nutritional Information:
As this is a homemade style, I'm sure it's quite bad for you when eaten in any real quantity. As a side it's still probably bad for you, but when it's in a controlled portion size like Red Tractor is serving, they are removing any potential lack of will power we may have and limiting the damage to our mid-sections.
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