Knotts Berry Mac

Have you ever seen that Halloween episode of the Simpsons, where they're spoofing Stephen King's The Shining and Homer snaps because he didn't have TV and beer?  A refresher in case you don't remember it.

Woob woob woob woob!

Well, while I don't need TV and beer to function (though it may not hurt things), I have not, however taken any kind of extended vacation yet this year and that has helped bring me to the point where I could "go crazy".  A day here or half day there, to keep my hours down below capping just wasn't cutting it these past few months, so I finally took a week off.  Part of this much needed week off had me jumping in the car and driving down to L.A. where I hit up both Knott's Berry Farm and Disneyland.  I couldn't go and not look for mac n' cheese while I was down there, and fortunately I did find that both amusement parks had some ready and waiting for me to review.

Knott's Berry Farm, I learned was truly a firsts kind of place, that thanks to the success of the Knott's, the family steered how amusement parks would operate even today based on things they did first as they were just trying to keep people entertained while waiting to order a meal.

In 1927, seven years after the Knott's family settled on 20 acres in Buena Park on Highway 39, Knott's Berry Place got it's first building, which served as a five table tea room and berry stand to sell the farm's wares.  In 1932, Walter Knott created the Boysenberry (a hybrid of red raspberry, blackberry and loganberries) and named it after a friend.  By 1934, with the Great Depression firmly entrenched across the country, Walt's wife Cordelia reluctantly served to tea room customers her fried chicken, on their wedding china to make ends meat.  By 1937, they had greatly expanded the tea room, given it a full kitchen, dining room and parking lot for their customers.  That Thanksgiving in 1937, 1,774 dinners were served.  Soon, old west buildings were being bought and moved to the property to entertain customers waiting for tables in the restaurant, allowing Walter to create a whole new western town, 'Ghost Town' to occupy the minds (and wallets) of the those restaurant customers.  1947 saw the Knott's Berry Place get renamed, Knott's Berry Farm.

What started as an attraction to keep people busy who came for fried chicken dinners had converted to a full fenced in, admission amusement park in 1968. It's now owned by Cedar Fair, who own amusement parks all across the country, including California's Great America in the SF Bay Area.

Though the park has had some ups and downs over the years, it's still very much alive and kicking. The park has some great roller coasters including the massive wooden GhostRider, the non-inverted loop (you take the loop from the outside!) Xcelerator, the suspended coaster Silver Bullet and the Pony Express, where you ride like you're on a pony!

While the park is a great place to spend a day if you're in L.A., what I think is their best kept secret is still Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant. The restaurant is outside of the park to the left of the entrance and you can not only get food to go if you so choose, but park for free (with validation from the restaurant) and have some incredibly tasty chicken.

I had decided to make part of my visit to L.A. include Knott's because I hadn't been there in so long and because I knew that I'd need a good dinner after the long drive down.  When I peeked at the posted menu before going inside I knew I was in for a treat if the mac n' cheese that I saw on the menu was half as good as their chicken.


The Review

Brand:
Mr.s Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant macaroni and cheese

A little difficult to discern, but this was really the only angle I could (safely, while standing in the middle of the road) get a shot of the restaurant's name.

The best restaurants don't need flashy names to attract your attention. Direct and to the point.

Mac n' Ice Cream

During the offseason the Giants were doing another World Series trophy tour allowing fans to get pictures with both  trophies (and selling the photo op pictures making buckets of monies from the fans in the process) and like 2011, I had to get a picture.  Remembering the crazy line that had formed at the Lesher Center for the 2010 trophy I once again took the day off to make sure that I had time to get in line early enough and not lose my opportunity to pose slightly incredibly awkwardly with the trophy again.

After I had gotten my picture I decided to try out a sandwich shop that had been recommended to me and headed towards it.  Passing restaurant after restaurant I couldn't help but check to see if any had mac and cheese and would thus be added to my list of places to visit.  Without even trying I found three new places to stop and I ditched the sandwich shop for a restaurant I'd passed up far to many times that I didn't even know served meals won out.  I was further won over by the fact that even if the mac ended up poorly, I had fresh 'home made' ice cream to drown those sorrows away for dessert.

I've managed to walk past The Olde San Francisco Creamery Co. quite a number of times and have even told myself to make it down there when it's a hot day.  I'd never successfully completed that mission.  Heck, other than it being a very brightly painted building and knowing that there was a 'to-go' window for that drive by ice cream craving I didn't know a thing about it.  Did you know they've been featured on the Food Network's Man Vs. Food show because they've got a crazy huge gut busting ice cream bowl?  Me either!  If this was an ice cream blog I'd be reviewing up the chocolate peanut butter ice cream I had, but think I've got a good thing going with these mac reviews so I best stick to what I know. 

The Review


Brand:
The Olde San Francisco Creamery Co. Mac & Cheese

One doesn't normally expect to find mac n' cheese at an ice cream shop, but i'm not going to criticize (wait that's exactly what I'm doing), unless they make it a flavor of ice cream.

Yee-Haw!

I love cheese.  While most of us get out cheese from a grocery store, either buying store brands or the national brands like Kraft, Sargento and if we feel like springing for it Tilamook.  Some stores are have small sections near deli's with more craft cheeses in them and if you're in an area with a good dairy supply, you'll possibly be blessed with local artisan cheeses!  With the rise of the organic and explosion of local and specialty shops, there are a number of towns that now have specialty cheese shops springing up once again, selling local and fancy cheese varieties.  Here in the Bay Area, one of the bigger and better known producers of local artisan cheese is the Cowgirl Creamery. 

Located in Pt. Reyes Station (an hour north of San Francisco) the Cowgirl Creamery started making cheese in the early 90's and today sells cheese at two shops, the Tomales Bay Foods location in Pt. Reyes Station and at their cheese shop at the San Francisco Ferry Building.  They've also got a milk bar and cafe right next door to the SF shop and they've got their cheese in Whole Foods stores across the country and if you've got a local cheese shop, they may carry some of the Cowgirl varieties as well. 

As I had mentioned before in my most recent adventure in San Francisco that it was my second mac meal of the day.  This, was my first.

The Review

Brand:
Cowgirl Creamery's Sidekick Cafe Macaroni & Cheese 

That horse and rider silhouette sure doesn't look like any superhero sidekick I know.

Wait... This Isn't Sourdough

It seems that I have this strange ability to be in San Francisco when the local sports franchises are playing in REALLY big games.  Back in 2010, after seeing a foam Brian Wilson beard that had made it's appearance during the NLCS series against the Phillies I decided I had to have it, but couldn't find it online to order.  I had a dentist appointment a few days later and ended up taking the day off to accommodate the appointment.  By the time of my appointment the Giants were in the midst of the World Series and Game 5 was later that evening.  A trip to the Giants dugout store at the ballpark didn't net me a beard, but I came back with World Series themed merchandise.  I didn't stick around the park to see the victory at one of the many bars/restaurants exploding with fans, but they clinched their first title (as the SF Giants) that evening.

What does that have to do with mac n' cheese?  Not a thing!  However, I made my way back to the city and spent most of the day wandering and enjoying the highlights of the city on Superbowl Sunday, when the Niners were looking to make it win number six.  While they didn't win, I hadn't seen so many Niners jerseys in one place ever and despite the beating they were taking early, the fans were incredibly well behaved.  It was a site to behold hearing the entire restaurant or bar I was walking by let out with collective cheers and groans as the game progressed.  One positive of the game going on that day was that the tourist traps of SF were pretty empty.  While wandering, I made my pilgrimage to Boudin's massive bakery/shop/cafe at Pier 41 for some fresh sourdough bread.  While there, I took a gander at the cafe menu for a possible dinner and while I saw some tasty options I decided that a trip upstairs to the fancier Bistro Boudin was in order, especially after I saw that they had multiple mac n' cheese options on their menu.  I had initially planned on getting both mac n' cheeses, but due to the cost of one, I decided that I was going to have to make a second trip for the other option at a later date.  I just couldn't quite go for an evening of mac n' cheese meals that were going to run me over $30, especially when I've had as many backlogged reviews as I currently do and had also had mac n' cheese for lunch too. One was going to have to do.  Hopefully I made a good decision.


The Review

Brand:
Bistro Boudine's Dungeness Crab Mac & Cheese 

Sorry for the blur, this area also doubles as the host/hostess zone and I only had a few seconds to snap the photo before they were back in the shot and wondering what in the hell I was doing.

Back to homeroom

I think if you've read many of my posts, you'll have discovered (like I have) that consistently the best mac's I've reviewed have all been 'homestyle' macs. The freshness and quality of the ingredients, how they are prepared really highlights everything about them and how much fresh ingredients really trump packaged or previously prepared meals that are made on the stove or in your microwave. These other meals may not be bad, but they aren't the same and that's a big deal.

When i visited homeroom a few months back, we all had a great time when we took over a good portion of the communal table for our lunch.  We had really tasty food and we started to talk about making a return trip.  I knew I had left a number of options untried on their menu, including a few spicy and more adventerous dishes that wouldn't normally be up my alley. But I'm doing this blog for those 15 daily readers damn it and I can't let them down so I was more than game to head back. 

My friends and I finally all had a availability and another Saturday afternoon trip was scheduled back in the beginning of December. 

To my surprise the menu had changed (hello winter menu! which included a spicy Sriracha Mac, a Smokey Bacon Mac and a Truffle Mac that has real truffles in it and costs $15 bucks!) and some of those yet to try options were gone (darn, no Feta mac), but they had added the above new ones in their place.

While most of the party enjoyed what they had last trip, I made sure to try a new dish and this one was an easy choice.  It had bacon!


The Review

Brand:
homeroom's Smokey Bacon Mac



We're back!



Mama Mia!

Macaroni and cheese is a decidedly American dish I've come to realize.  I would think that this pasta dish would have worked it's way into (or out of) all kinds of Italian restaurants because of it's ease of making, when in reality it doesn't ever seem to be on the menu unless you're looking at the children's menu.  That means the planned Mac N' Steve's world tour of eateries (in Italy) that serve mac n' cheese vacation I had planned won't really net me any new blog posts.

While the lack of main menu mac's may stop some from trying to order the worlds best use of cheese and pasta, it doesn't stop me.  What's the harm in asking if I can order off the menu even if I don't come close to looking like I'm 12 (just because I may act my shoe size sometimes...)?

Just over a month ago I went to dinner with my parents for their birthdays (born just 4 days apart) and while Strizzis has an Italian flare with some American influence, I had no option for a mac and cheese on the main menu (I guess I shouldn't be surprised).  The waitress however was kind enough (or didn't care) that I asked if it was O.K. to order off the children's menu and she even told me that the potion was a pretty respectable size so I didn't need to worry about going hungry ordering it.

With that kind of reinforcement, I had no choice but to fulfill my destiny... erm order it.

The Review

Brand:
Strizzis (Kid's Menu) Macaroni & Cheese

One If By Freezer, Two If By Store

There aren't too many places that have their own lines of foods available in stores in addition to having actual restaurants that serve the same food stuffs. Often you're given the 'inspired by' route when you see that same meal at your local grocers, rather than the same exact thing that is in the restaurant.  To a degree the chain/company loses out if you're not in their establishment enjoying their food, but if they're smart, they make good money because of the licensing that they've got on those meals.  I really don't know how it all works out and I really don't care.  I care about getting at Mac N' Cheese, in whatever form it may come to me.

Boston Market a decade ago was HUGE (actually their rise started in the late 90's, man I feel old).  They had restaurants all over the place serving up all kinds of rotisserie chicken, turkey, meat loaf (barf!) and those other big dinner favorites that we Americans love in addition to sandwiches that had the same stuff in them.  That massive expansion did eventually catch up and McDonalds of all companies bought them up in 2000. They were originally bought for the real estate, but because McDonalds was trying to expand their image past the drive through / food in 30 seconds feeling their restaurants and menu's had at the time and because the Boston Market brand still was pulling in good sales, they didn't shut them down.  McDonalds sold Boston Market off in 2007, just a year after they had pulled out of Chipotle as well.

While Boston Markets are rare finds here in the Bay Area now, I had recently gone back to the city of my youth to drop some stuff off at my parents and the wife and I stumbled onto the fact that the one I ate at those many years ago that opened when I was a teen, was in fact still open.  Having a meal that was something completely different than the typical fast food lunch struck a cord and realizing that there was a mac waiting for me to review once we got inside, I was excited to see how it compared to their frozen variety mac & cheese.

The Review

Brand:
Boston Market Gourmet Side Mac & Cheese

I used to work across the street from this place and I ate a ton of their Carver sandwiches all those years ago.

A Pyramid Made Out Of Cheese

People like booze.  It's a pretty well known fact that a bar in a restaurant can bring in a sizeable chunk of the profits for the establishment on any given night.  Restaurants have begun to create a hybridization, teaming food and beverages together where both are created in the same place.  This has begun to happen on a mostly regional level over the last few decades and breweries have led the charge with alehouses and brewpubs.  Not only do they serve classic bar food, but often they've got some pretty fancy foods (that use when possible the beers made by them) that are served with their in house crafted beverages.  They leave the major booze making to their factories, but these smaller establishments do produce for in-house consumption. 

A mostly western region brewery, Pyramid has opened up a number of alehouses that run along the west coast of the US.  Being in the Bay Area, I've got access to a pair of these, with one in Walnut Creek and the other in Berkeley (which does do tours because of the amount of beer produced there).

Some of the early ideas for this blog were discused out during a dinner with coworkers at the Walnut Creek Pyramid alehouse during a spring evening in 2010.  While the mac I had then isn't the same as the one they have on their menu currently, it was about time that I got back there and gave them an official review and another recent group office lunch gave me that opportunity. 

Brand:
Pyramid's Bacon Mac & Cheese (as served at the Walnut Creek, CA location )

Snapped as I was leaving.  I wasn't able to take any other pictures of the establishment because I was trying to avoid including those in the restaurant just trying to enjoy their meals and not become internet famous thanks to this hip and stylish blog.



'Murica!

Living in the SF Bay Area, I've come to discover that we live in a foodie mecca.  Some of the best restaurants in the country are here or so I'm told (being a picky ass I tend not to be too adventurous with my food).  There are also lots of specialty places that have made niches out of excelling at one kind of food.  A few years back I read about a place in San Francisco that serves nothing but different kinds of grilled cheese.  As a person who loves cheese, I told myself I needed to get there.  Sadly I hadn't ever made that trip.  While SF is not far away, I tend to only go into town when there is something planned, like a Giants game or concert and just a grilled cheese sandwich hasn't carried enough weight for a trip.

During the 2012 baseball season, a coworker decided that it would be fun if we could get a group of us together for a game when his boss came in from out of town.  Since this coworkers boss lives out of state, we had to hope that the timing would be perfect.  One trip it just so happened that the Rockies were in town (and this bosses favorite team) and a group was formed for the game.  While walking to the park, the boss and I ended up going down 2nd street to get to AT&T (rather than my normal MUNI trip) and we walked right by a place called The American.  The grilled cheese place that I had read about!  I made a mental note at how close it was to the park and said that before or after some game that I would attend separately on a weekend, that a trip would be made.

A few months later after attending a different Giants game, I told the wife lets forget taking MUNI back to BART just walk up 2nd to the station.  Lo and behold, that walk took us right on by The American and we couldn't help but stop in.  To my complete surprise (I swear on my 16 year block of cheddar) they had a grilled cheese with mac n' cheese inside.  Oh how the gods have smiled upon me!

The Review:

Brand:
The American Grilled Cheese Kitchen's Mac Sandwich

Ten hut! Present arms!

I Went In For A Cheeseburger, I Came Out With Mac

So I just hit five years of employment at my current job.  I decided that eating a just add water cup of mac n' cheese, or the standard backup turkey sandwich just wasn't going to cut it for this anniversary.  Leaving a bit late for a standard lunch hour, I decided that Fuddruckers across the street from the office would do.  A nice burger and some sweet potato fries (a current vice) were my lunch plans.  What I didn't know was that as I stared at the menu trying to decide on the kind of burger that I have, that I would discover they also served mac n' cheese.  Karma.


The Review

Brand:
Fuddrucker's Macaroni & Cheese

Now if this sign said worlds greatest mac n' cheese my mind may explode.

What Happens To Vegas Mac, Stays in Vegas.

Las Vegas is a unique town.  With it's history steeped in organized crime and gambling, they've over the last few decades made themselves a vacation destination for people across the world (because why else would you want to come to the middle of the desert, where it's still 95 at 10PM in the summer).  Most people now focus on the strip hotels with their musical acts and amazing shows, but there are a huge number of other hotels that are "off strip", including a whole run of hotels that are centered around downtown Vegas and Fremont Street. 

Vegas is also known for it's cuisine. While some restaurants are serving up Michelin rated gourmet meals and others are giving it's customers everything a $7.99 steak buffet will afford them.  That also means that it should be a haven for mac n' cheese (both good and bad).  While I'm sure that if I looked, every hotel would have at least one mac n' cheese at one of their many restaurants, but having come out for a convention (yes a gaming convention) I only had the time to check the hotels near the one I stayed at.  Since our convention was at The Plaza on Fremont St. most of my time was spent near those hotels. 

The Plaza has a chophouse (a fancy steak house) on site called Oscar's and after spending two days with friends talking about wanting steak, having a sick spouse stuck in the hotel room upstairs, I did what any good husband would do.  Go and get take out to bring back to the room.  When looking over the menu for something for me to eat as I'm not a big steak fan, I noticed they had sides one of which was mac n' cheese.  I knew what was going to find it's way back to my hotel room.


The Review


Brand:
Shmuley’s Extraordinary Mac & Cheese at Oscar's Steakhouse located in The Plaza

Booze and ladies and steak!  It's what's for dinner!

Sweet Mac-atoes

Americans love food.  Americans love eating out.  What is the best way to capitalize on our mid-lines?  The buffet!  There is nothing quite like a buffet restaurant.  Warming trays of food, as varied as can be protected by sneeze guards going on for 50 feet... before you even see the dessert island.  While here on the west coast, buffet restaurants aren't as popular as they used to be, entrepreneurs have made a shift towards a "healthier" buffet based around salads.  What could go wrong with a salad buffet?  Leafy greens and cheese and croutons and bacon bits and more cheese and some ranch dressing. Oh look, 800 calories!  But we're not here to talk about how I make salads...

While the focus of these restaurants is the salad line, they offer breads, soups and some pasta dishes, including our specialty, macaroni and cheese.  Every time I'm at the local salad buffet, I see kids eating up the mac n' cheese.  Hopefully I find it as tasty as they do.

The Review

Restaurant:

Sweet Tomatoes (also known as souplantation in some parts of the coutry)



I wouldn't know if the tomatoes are actually sweet.  I don't really like tomatoes.  I guess that means you'll have to take it on good measure that their tomatoes are sweet, or take it up with their lawyers.

The C in KFC Stands For Cheese Right?

Fast food restaurants haven't seemed to really pick up on America's meal.  Maybe it's because it's very hard to fresh prepare quickly or maybe the cost to have ones that just need to be heated are just too high and the profit margins too low.  America's biggest chicken chain KFC however knows that fried chicken really benefits from a mac n' cheese side dish (and mac n' cheese with a breaded chicken is quite tasty) and as such they've provided an option for hungry Americans for years.

The Review


Product:
KFC's Macaroni and Cheese

Staring at this mac n' cheese for too long will lead to blindness.  The orange of it is just so damn (unnaturally) bright!

A homeroom That Should Be In Every School

This blog has really opened my eyes.  I've been simply stunned by the amount of mac n' cheese out there.  Frozen kinds up the wazoo, enough just add water varieties to make the state call for water rationing and so many stove top kinds that I could fill a grocery aisle.  Restaurant mac n' cheeses are something that we're sorely lacking in comparison.

When I first started the blog, I put out a call to friends on Facebook for places that I should try (if they knew of any) and between FB comments and coworkers, I had 8 people telling me that I needed to venture off to a place in Oakland called homeroom within the day I mentioned it.  If there was that much positive feedback I knew I had to get out there, and soon. 

This last weekend I finally got a group of friends and some of their family together (9 of us!) and we all went to homeroom for lunch.

Restaurant:
homeroom

Mac + Cheese?  I think we've got a winner here.

Something Something, Boston Accent

A mainstay in freezer aisles now are meals bearing the name or are inspired by some of America's favorite chain restaurants.  The Cheesecake Factory, PF Chang's and Marie Calendars (RIP sit down restaurants), among others all have selections in your local grocer.  While the meals aren't made in some kitchen owned by the restaurant directly, food processors (companies who make our 'prepared' foods that line our grocery shelves) enter into licenses with these restaurants to carry meals sporting their logos. 


The Review

Brand:
Boston Market Macaroni & Cheese

Mac N' Cheese, It's What's For Breakfast

Sorry for not having any fresh posts these last few days.  The Friday quickie post was trumped by a long birthday weekend full of out of town friends and antics & shenanigans in the SF Bay Area. 

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

The sign that greets you at the Hacienda Crossing Plaza in Dublin

Did You Want Fries With That?

I finally get to review my first mac n' cheese that was made heated up for me at a restaurant!  I don't mind cooking (and I tend to do a good percentage of the home cooking) but there is something nice about going somewhere and just having (hopefully tasty) food served to you on occasion.  Most places that I'm going to find mac n' cheese will only be enjoyed at the restaurant, but with today's option, I got to bring it home.  My dinner came from a chain restaurant called Panera.  Panera is a bakery/cafe that does their own bagels, breads, pastries and all kinds of cafe meals (soups, salads & sandwiches). These guys are located all over the country and are a franchise operation.  They also do all kinds of seasonal stuff so they've got different things pretty much monthly.  It's a higher quality 'fast food' chain and luckily for me, they've got a mac n' cheese that needs reviewing!

The Review

Brand:
Panera's 'Signature Pasta' Mac & Cheese