Pages, Pucks and Pantry

Free Ice Cream

Guess Where We Were

Guess Where We Were?

Ah. Maze. Ing.

Free Ice Cream

It's Ben & Jerry's Free Cone Day. Around the world, Scoop Shops are opening their doors from noon to 8:00 pm, to serve up a free scoop of your favorite flavor. Please check with your local Ben & Jerry's for more info!

Get em while they're hot...er, cold!

Taco Bells Doritos Locos Tacos

Yes, we went there. Amid the Fresco Crunchy Tacos that were only 150 calories each and 13 grams of carbs...we bought the new Taco Bell Doritos Locos Tacos. You know the ones, where they replace the standard crunchy corn tortilla with a Doritos Nacho Chip tortilla.

This new taco, to celebrate Taco Bells 50th Anniversary (which was yesterday) is actually a "Taco Supreme® made with premium seasoned beef, crisp lettuce, diced juicy red ripe tomatoes, real cheddar cheese, topped with cool reduced-fat sour cream, in a shell made from Nacho Cheese Doritos® Chips". The regular Locos Taco is 170 calories, 13 grams of carbs. The Supreme version is 200 calories, 15 grams of carbs.

The surprising part to me, was the fact that there wasn't that big of a difference between the regular Locos Taco and the "healthy" Fresco Crunchy Taco.  They were close on calories and carbs and there was only 30 more mgs of sodium.

I kinda liked this. It really is just a regular taco in a Dorito potato chip coat. The flavor isn't as strong as eating a Doritos chip right out of the bag (and the actual shell is much thinner than a regular Doritos chip). I thought that it was saltier than a regular shell which worked for me (because lets be honest, it's a frigging potato chip and they have to be salty!). The bottom line is if you like Nacho Doritos, you'll like this taco. But if you like the regular Taco Bell taco shells, I think you might still like the Doritos Loco Taco, it's not that much of a huge taste difference to me.

Would I order them again? Probably. I go so rarely to Taco Bell these days, but if I get stuck and have to order something, I can see me ordering the Loco Taco. Mr. L? Not so much. But I do think, in general terms, the Taco Bell Doritos Locos Taco is a success.

Also Opening At The Plant

Also opening at The Plant is Pauly's Famous Franks n Fries. I tried finding out some info but nothing came up. Anyone ever heard of this place? It says its famous :)

Opening Soon at The Plant

The sign said opening in March on the outside of the building. It's March, so Guy where are you???

Hobee's Oscar Breakfast

The Kispy Kreme Burger at Mojo Burger

I've been hearing about a burger made with a Krispy Kreme donut as the "bun" for years. Also known as a Luther Burger, this treat has been on my radar for years. Alas, most of the Krispy Kreme restaurants closed around here during the low-carb craze. You can though, find Krispy Kreme donuts pretty much at every grocery store in the area...boxes of the cake or glazed or even donut holes sit on tables near the entrance of even gourmet grocery places around here.

But cold, old, glazed donuts don't do much for me. I prefer them warm right out of the oven. My favorite  donut actually comes from Stan's Donut Shop in Santa Clara. There is nothing like a hot, warm, glazed donut fresh out of their fryer. Seriously, if you are in the area, you need to check them out. But a Krispy Kreme donut? It's been ages since I've had one.

Cue to the end of last year when I saw that one of our local burger joints, Mojo Burgers, was having a special. $5 for a Krispy Kreme Burger. Really? It kinda helped that there was a Mojo's right near where we lived. A Krispy Kreme Burger? Of course we had to check it out!

When Mr. L and I placed our order, we decided to get just one Krispy Kreme Burger to split between the two of us. Because really, how good could it be? It's kind of like the old trick where when you cook something new for guests you have the number to a local pizza delivery place on hand just in case. Just in case the donut burger sucked, we ordered a second "normal" burger to split between us.

And then the Krispy Kreme Burger arrived. And it had cheese! Fer cryin out loud, cheese and donuts?  Cheese and donuts and bacon and hamburger? This was going to be awful! So we split the donut burger in half and each of us tentatively took a bite. Then we took another. Then another. Then we both realized the other should have bought their own damn Krispy Kreme Burger! Yep, Mr. L and I are indeed fans of this rather strange donut burger.

Now before you cry foul, think about it for a minute. The donut is just like having some maple syrup on your bacon or sausage when you get pancakes at your local breakfast place. Or say the sweetness of having caramelized onions on your burger. And the cheese? I think it's just in there to counteract the sweetness of the donut, though next time we'd probably get the burger without cheese. But the donut burger as a whole? It honestly didn't taste half bad. Would I get it again? Sure (of course maybe after I've run a marathon to work off the calories). But it was worth trying at least once, so if you have a chance, go for it.

Alas, Mojo Burgers no longer offers this amazing hamburger treat. But all is not lost to anyone in the San Jose area. You see, I hear a new Krispy Kreme will be opening up at The Plant soon (between Wing Stop and Five Guys)...which will give each of us a chance to make our own delicious Krispy Kreme Burgers! Parties at my house!

Denny's Baconalia - Everywhere

Let me start out by saying I have nothing against Denny's. I've eaten there many times in my life. Back in the day, Denny's was pretty much the best place to find halfway decent breakfasts when you were traveling. And lets be honest....at two in the morning when I was young and broke and I knew my hangover was only hours away? An 'open all night' Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast fit the bill.

And let me also point out that I don't care what people say, Bacon will never be out of favor. Bacon is not a fad, bacon is not the latest foodie craze, bacon has and always will be one of the four major food groups (along with butter, salt and cheese). I've rarely found anything with bacon that I haven't liked and yes, I do own bacon lip gloss!

All that being said...run, fast and far, away from Denny's Baconalia promotion. Ick. Yuk. So not worth the buildup and a perfect waste of bacon. I actually went there the first week the promotion was out and it took me this long to get over the experience enough so that I could actually blog about it. Yuk. Ick.

I started off with the Bacon Meatloaf. This is supposed to be meatloaf with "diced bacon baked right in" and "topped with hickory ketchup and more diced bacon for an additional layer of rich smokiness". Now, I've had meatloaf before at Denny's and while it wasn't close to Mom's or even school cafeteria meatloaf, it at least looked like meatloaf. This stuff looked like it had been shoved tightly in a large juice can, cooked, pushed out and then sliced into the perfect rounds you see above (in all fairness, this is exactly how the meatloaf looks in the ads too). But this meatloaf had shiny tops and sides. Seriously, when has shiny meat ever been a good thing? But I tried it anyway. It didn't taste like bacon. Heck it didn't even taste like meatloaf. Bland as could be. Then there was the "sauce" on top that to me, seemed like congealed fat. It at least had some flavor to go with the tasteless meatloaf hockey puck.  Then Denny's threw a few small pieces of bacon on top. And me, who can eat anything bacon...did not finish the dish. Yeah, it was that bad.

So I moved on to dessert. Now if you read about Denny's Maple Bacon Sundae, the description on Denny's website or look at photos of this dish, you will notice there are supposed to be layers. Lots of maple syrup on bottom, middle and top with a layer of bacon also in the middle and on top. Not what I got. There was barely a tablespoon of maple syrup throughout the entire sundae and only the bacon pieces you see scattered on top.

This didn't taste bad. Maple syrup and vanilla ice cream go well together and adding bacon gives it a nice crunch and smokey flavor. It's just that I really think it needed more maple syrup (and more bacon of course) to really make this ice cream dessert work. Again, it wasn't bad, but I wouldn't order it again (and I'm thinking I could make a much better version at home).

I might also add that I tried this at a Denny's local to me. The service was horrid. My mom had pancakes and bacon and it looked like they had cooked the bacon into nothingness. But, the coffee was actually pretty damn good. This is the second Denny's locally that has failed to wow me. Maybe I need to try a Denny's near a freeway??

But still. You so failed me Denny's, I've had bacon chocolate, bacon cupcakes, bacon donuts, bacon flavored ice cream...but this was the first time I tried something with bacon that I couldn't eat! That's just not right.