Tub O' Mac

You remember the darnedest things from your childhood.  We didn't buy it for our home, but I remember Shedd's Country Crock butter margarine.  I know friends who used it at their house, but why the brown tub stuck with me is a mystery.  Country Crock was heavily advertised and quite popular when I was growing up.  The brown tub and the butter churn were staples on TV and in grocery stores.  I don't know when I stopped noticing that brown plastic tub on the shelves of my grocers, but I was quite surprised to see that Country Crock had made a bit of a reprieve by adding side dishes to their lineup.  I'm not 100% sure why Unleaver (parent mega food corp who own Country Crock) has teamed up with Hormel for these sides, it doesn't really matter in the long run, because the fact there is an mac to review is what really matters.



The Review

Brand:
Country Crock Elbow Macaroni & Cheese

Packaging when purchased in the fall of 2012

New packaging as of January 2013

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.

Every Day Is Friday

I've been relatively lucky so far with this blog.  Not too many of the meals that I've had (or picked up and am sitting on for review) have ceased to exist.  I know we've lost the Four Cheese Hot Pocket and menu items have changed at homeroom recently (fresh review of new mac coming soon!) but the losses are much shorter than the new additions.  It's sad that things get dropped, but sometimes sales don't dictate keeping something around or that the costs to produce it have become too high.  But today, this is a blog first.  The return of a long lost friend.

T.G.I. Friday's has gone through some rough times of late and locally (SF Bay Area) has shuttered a good number of their restaurants.  One thing that they had on their menu for a number of years starting in the late 2000's, was a fried mac & cheese appetizer.  There would be six breaded wedges of mac and cheese that would come out on a long plate that was drizzled with some kind of cheese sauce and a little bit of parsley (for color!).  Sadly they disappeared off the menu probably two years ago.  It was better for our midlines that they weren't there, but the blog lost a potential review and I lost a tasty appetizer. 

At the store not to long ago, I did my check of the frozen food aisles and what did I see, with a *New* burst on it's box, but T.G.I.'s frozen appetizers had gained an old friend back, the mac wedges.

Brand:
T.G.I. Friday's Mac &Cheese Wedges - Three Cheese

Back from the dead. This calls for a celebration, the party starts at 8!

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.



Not Just Country Gravy

A few years back I went out to Ohio to visit some friends.  While there we discovered a chain of restaurants that seemed to be in every town. This restaurant was a mix of a number of other restaurants, Cracker Barrel, IHOP and Denny's all put together into a single place.  Bob Evans is a restaurant chain that focuses on the down home cooking and big meals.  We ate breakfast when we were there (they had some wicked biscuits and gravy among other tasty things!) and while this was before I was pondering bringing this blog to light, I didn't think about the possibility of mac and cheese.

During the summer (yes this review has been in 'limbo' for a few months) I was at our local Safeway, I was in the meats department grabbing some hamburger and other things for dinners when lo and behold, I saw a bunch of Bob Evans side dishes .  There were a number of potato options and our favorite staple  mac n' cheese.  It came home with the plan on it being a side dish for one of the meats I had just bought.


Brand:
Bob Evans Everyday Classics Macaroni & Cheese / Bob Evans Tasteful Sides Macaroni & Cheese

Picture of a farm seals proves farm fresh goodness.

The new packaging as of Nov 2012.  Also, these are still kept in the meats section for whatever reason...