Loaded Grillers (A Taco Bell review)

Taco Bell has been going through an experimental phase lately, starting with odd (Doritos Locos taco), to the more sophisticated (Cantina menu), and even extreme (XXL Steak Nachos). Now, it seems, they have gone back to doing what they do best: cheap, tasty fare for the late-night crowd. Just recently launched (for a limited time only) are the new Loaded Grillers, which are being advertised as "appetizers for one". They come in three different varieties, each supposed to represent a specific type of appetizer you might find at a bar or pub. There is the Loaded Potato Griller (which is supposed to be like potato skins). Then there's the Spicy Buffalo Chicken Griller, which is supposed to represent buffalo wings. And last but not least, the Beefy Nacho Loaded Griller, which is very similar in style as the Beefy Crunch Burrito (my all-time favorite Taco Bell product), and is supposed to represent nachos.

Each of these Grillers is (at least at the location by me) 99 cents each, which isn't too bad. The difference in size, however, of each Griller compared to some of the burritos they've had for 99 cents, is fairly drastic. I ordered one of each, and asked for rice added to all three of them, and I even asked for extra Fire sauce. The bag, when handed to me, was a lot lighter than I anticipated. They weren't too shabby. However, each of the flavors has both its ups and downs.

The first one I tried, and I'm just going to use abbreviations now since they all have ridiculously long names, was the BNLG (Beefy Nacho Loaded Griller). I tried it first, hoping very much so for the taste to be even remotely similar to my beloved BCB. The BNLG has just beef, crispy red tortilla strips, and nacho cheese sauce, hence why I added the rice to it. The flavor was decent, standard TB fare. I added lots of Fire sauce to it which kicked it up a notch. It paled in comparison to the BCB, but I'm glad at least something similar to it is available. The rice definitely added a much-needed layer of flavor to it.

The next one I tried, SBCG (the chicken wing one), was, in a word, alright. Chicken, lava sauce, sour cream, that's it. You would think that sounds like all you need, but it was still merely decent, even with rice and Fire sauce added to it. The lava sauce tasted extremely mild on this, but maybe it was a cooling effect of sorts with the sour cream? Either way, it just seemed to be lacking something.

Last but not least, was the Loaded Potato Griller. Okay, this one has to be awesome, right? TB's delicious crispy potato nuggets, bacon, sour cream, and nacho cheese sauce. Should be a match made in heaven. I thought it was rather dry. In fact, a few bites were a little off-putting, because it was just tortilla and crispy potatoes, and it was dry and crunchy but not in the most appetizing way. The bacon, I thought added a lot to the flavor, since you know, bacon is amazing. The few bites I had with all the ingredients together was borderline delicious, but that was a few bites out of the whole thing. Still, who am I to complain about something that only costs 99 cents (initially)?

In conclusion, I thought all three were merely decent. For 99 cents it's not too bad, but compared to amazing deals like the Beefy Crunch Burrito (God rest its soul), it just seems to be lacking, not as good as they could be. The rice added to the flavor, but at the same time didn't seem to be adding much at all. I don't know, maybe I'm being too nit-picky about spending three bucks at a fast food taco place. But still, there's definite room for improvement. This has been a Foodventures In Michigan review, thanks again for reading.

Foodventures II: Back With a Vengeance!

I know it's been an incredibly long time since I last blogged here, but it's been a crazy month or so of nonstop shenanigans. I pledge, however, to keep on trying new restaurants and foods, and sharing them with you as often as possible! Michigan has a lot to offer when it comes to food, and I've had some great experiences in the past few weeks. Please read on and check out some of the places I recommend!

Much thanks,

Dustin H.

Beating the Heat, East Coast Style

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year in Macomb so far, with temperatures reaching close to a hundred, the humidity making it feel more like 107° I had just worked almost twice what I usually do, and since I'm a meter reader that means I got to spend almost nine hours walking nonstop in the heat. There was literally a time or two I thought I would end up passing out. When I finished work I was hot, tired, exhausted, and I just wanted something cold to drink and a little something to eat.

I decided to visit my brother over at the Penn Station over on Gratiot, just off of M-59, or what we Michigan people like to call Hall Road. Penn Station is well known for their "East Coast style" subs, which essentially means that the subs are grilled to order in direct view of the customer, and they specialize in the Philly Cheesesteak, which I was craving at the time. In fact, as I was driving there, I was deciding how I wanted my sub made, in my head, because that's normal.

All I knew at the time was that a Philly Cheesesteak sounded really good, but whenever I got one before I always ended up having teriyaki sauce cooked with the steak, or dipping the whole sub in honey mustard, which I know sounds strange, but it's actually really good.

Anyways, what seemed like would hit the spot would be a Philly, with American cheese instead of the usual provided provolone, as well as grilled onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and finished with a sprinkling of oregano. That's one thing I love about this place, every sub can be made exactly how you like it. I also got these jalapeno kettle-cooked chips to go along with it. I received my food, sat down, and opened up the wrapper, like a child on Christmas morning.

I almost cried tears of joy when I opened this. Not really.

My sub could not have been more perfect. The bread was crusty on the outside, soft on the inside. The veggies had been cooked along with the steak so their flavors balanced with each other nicely. And the cheese was melted and held everything all together in one perfect layer. I know I was pretty hungry at the time, but I'm pretty sure this was the best sub I've ever had in my life.

This picture was enlarged to make you hungry. If it didn't work, I don't know what's wrong with you.

The kettle-cooked chips were amazing as well. They had a kick to them, unlike so many other products that have the Jalapeno flavor but not the heat. They were perfectly seasoned, there wasn't a single chip that was lacking in that department. I could have easily eaten another bag of these at the time, but I decided against it.

So I got to not only be in a nice, air-conditioned environment, and have an ice-cold drink, but I got to enjoy one of the best meals I've had in a while, and the best sub I've ever eaten before. If you're in the Clinton Township area and are in the mood for a good sub, don't hesitate to stop by here, they deserve your business.

Central City Taphouse in K'zoo

This weekend I visited my friend Kelly in Kalamazoo, to celebrate her birthday (which as of now is tomorrow actually). The night after arriving, we're all dressed up and walking through the downtown area, looking for a nice restaurant to eat at that is not a chain place. Due to a suggestion by Hannah, one of Kelly's friends, we ended up settling on Central City Taphouse, which is actually the second half of a restaurant. The first half was a fancier (also: more expensive) bistro, whereas the other half was more of an upscale bar type with locally brewed beers and somewhat fancier versions of popular comfort foods.

My friend Kristina (whom I drove to K'zoo with) and I originally wanted to do restaurant-hopping, and go from place to place, trying out different foods and sharing what we got. We ended up deciding to just split what we ordered here instead. I'd been wanting to try a po' boy sandwich, so I thought I would splurge (and because it sounded freaking awesome) and get the blackened catfish po' boy with truffle frites (fries). Kristina picked out the margherita pizza. While waiting for our food, Hannah ordered these pretzel-coated chicken tenders, which basically was just chicken tenders with crushed pretzels as a breading. It was served with a house-made honey mustard dressing, which I found to be merely decent. Shortly after, our food came out, which looked very appetizing and delicious.

My po' boy and truffle frites, before being devoured. 

On the right is a sweet corn salsa which was delicious.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the above photo would keep me talking for quite some time. The sandwich was merely good, not great. The bread and toppings were average, the catfish had a strong fishy taste, which is not something I'm used to when it comes to catfish. It tasted better with the corn salsa on, but not by much. I still enjoyed my half, the other half which I gave to Kristina, which she basically had the same reaction, good, but not great. The truffle frites (fries), as awesome as they looked, seemed to have a pretty bland fry flavor to them. The truffle oil made the fries seem greasy, and the garlic aioli didn't have that strong of a taste. It was far from being a bad dish, but with the $12 price tag, I guess I expected more from it. 

The margherita pizza looked just as appetizing when it came out. However, it suffered from the same issue as my po' boy and fries, meaning Kristina and I both enjoyed it, but it was merely good, not great. The crust was soft and chewy, mozzarella cheese was applied fairly, tomatoes tasted fine, but I was not a big fan of the large pieces of basil; I prefer basil to be finely chopped and applied sparingly. I'm sure there's some that would really enjoy that much basil, but that person is not me. 

Altogether, the food and drinks were better than your average chain restaurant, and the service was great. The prices were decent, except for the three additional dollars I had to spend to get the truffle fries, which didn't turn out to be as great as I expected them to be. I'm not sure, maybe I just had all these high expectations due to all the good things I've been reading about po' boys and truffle fries lately, which resulted in being mildly disappointed. I'd probably return here but try one of the special brews and one of their burgers, since I've heard some good things about them. It might be a long time before I visit Kalamazoo though, so I'll definitely have to keep this place in mind just in case the occasion arises.

Brann's Steakhouse & Sports Grille

I promised my mom I'd take her out to lunch... quite a while ago actually, and I was waiting until I got paid so I'd have the extra cash to do so. Fast-forward a month or so, and I figured it would be the right time to finally do so, since she's been busy everyday doing stuff in/around/outside the house. I chose Brann's Steakhouse because I had a coupon for a free dinner I received when I celebrated my 22nd birthday there. This coupon should have expired this year on the 5th of February, but being the sneaky bastard that I am, I put a 1 before the 2, so it appeared that the coupon expired in December. Yeah yeah, I sound like a cheapskate, but hey, I earned this free dinner!

Originally this was supposed to be a lunch date, but since work took longer than anticipated, we didn't get to the restaurant until a little bit after 4. Ah well.

At this time they had a deal going on with certain dinners, which included the main entree and two sides, for only $7.99, which is a pretty good deal. Now I've been to Brann's many times throughout the years and I usually would end up just getting a burger, since that's my default order at any restaurant (and Brann's does make a delicious burger). As part of the $7.99 special, I could get a bacon cheddar burger and two sides. I took a look at the regular menu and saw they had a fried pickle burger, which just sounded ridiculously awesome. I ended up ordering the 1 lb. barbecue ribs, mostly because I've had them before and they're pretty delicious, and just so happen to be slathered in my all-time favorite barbecue sauce, Sweet Baby Ray's.

I picked a chopped salad and fries to go along with my ribs, and my mother ordered the 6 oz. sizzling steak, along with a chopped salad and a baked sweet potato. I'd never had the chopped salad before, but my mom recommended it and said it was very good, which it was.

We each ordered their 20 oz. beers that were on special, Miller for me, Bud for her. Then they brought out the housemade rolls with cinnamon butter (which are addictive) and salads. The chopped salad was, well, chopped salad, but with crumbled bleu cheese, chow mein noodles, chopped tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette. It was pretty good actually.

While waiting for our food I enjoyed my beer and the rolls they gave us, since I at that point was starving and just wanted some carbs inside of me. Finally, after not long of a wait, our food arrived, only something wasn't right. (Side note: I was busy enjoying the meal with my mother and didn't get to take pictures of the meal. I'll do my best to describe everything for you though.) My mom had ordered her steak medium rare, and it arrived, sliced butterfly-style, face down. This most definitely was not cooked medium rare. Our server/manager apologized and took it back, letting us know they'd have another one out very shortly. We waited probably another ten minutes and then he brought back another. This time, my mom cut into it, and saw the pink, so all was well. Until... she got about halfway done, and noticed, yet again, it looked like it was cooked medium well, not medium rare. She explained it was fine and she just wanted to eat, but also threw in:

"I don't know if you have new cooks back there or something, but they're a bit mixed up when it comes to cooking the steaks."

To which our server/manager responded: "Yeah, ahaha, I don't know about that."

Aside from that mix-up, our meal was pretty enjoyable. The ribs were very good, not fall-off-the-bone good, but very well seasoned and had plenty of Sweet Baby Ray's on them. The fries were fries, not anything too special. I had to add pepper and extra seasoning salt to suit my taste. They gave me a metal bucket to put the bones in, which I forgot about until I noticed my plate was getting crowded with rib bones.

I used my birthday coupon which took off my meal, and then the manager was nice enough to take an additional 5 bucks off for the little steak snafu. Altogether for two dinners and two 20 oz. beers, our bill came to just under ten bucks. Which pleased me very much so. (Don't worry, I left a good sized tip.)

This wasn't a typical review, that which I'm used to writing. Therefore I'm not going to give Brann's a rating, but just say that if you're in the mood for a decently priced lunch/dinner featuring a sports theme throughout the restaurant, this place might just tickle your fancy.

Travis Restaurant

As far as I know, Travis Restaurant is based solely in Michigan, with the most recent location being located right down the road from my house. It wasn't until a couple years ago that I decided to check it out with a few friends, and it was then that I fell in love with the place and its diner-like atmosphere.

This isn't the kind of place you go to when you want a nice, low-calorie lunch; they serve mostly comfort food, and pretty freaking delicious comfort food at that. The staff is always attentive and friendly whenever I go there, which only adds to the down-to-Earth vibe you get when dining here.

I came here the other day with my friend Olivia, on our way to the DIA. We wanted a quick lunch since we were both pretty hungry (at least I was anyways). Travis Restaurant is well known for their burgers, of which they have the Travis burgers, which are like sliders but just a bit bigger, as well as various other types of 1/3 pound burgers. I ordered two of the Travis burgers, a side of their amazing waffle fries, and a side of honey mustard, which is my favorite way to eat said waffle fries.

Doesn't that just look delicious?

Here you can see how big the Travis burgers are, not too small, 

not too big, just the perfect size to pick up and dig in.

The burgers come normally with just the grilled onions and pickles, I do believe, so I chose to add lettuce and tomato to mine. The taste of a Travis burger is just what you'd expect from a "diner", which is greasy, meaty, flavorful, and delicious. The onions are grilled onto the patty which makes them a tad bit crispy and salty. I could eat two of these as a snack, or three of them if I wanted to get filled up. The beauty of these burgers is that they're only $1.39 each, which is very reasonable for its size.

Travis also specializes in their pita wraps, of which my friend Olivia got the BLT wrap, and due to my suggestion, also got the waffle fries.

It was a VERY big size wrap.

Here you can see just how much bacon they stuffed into this wrap.

Don't forget to dip the waffle fries in that honey mustard!

Travis is probably the only restaurant that I can think of that serves legit waffle fries, and they're freaking addictive. I make sure to get them every time I come here. Sometimes I like to take the biggest one and put it right on one of my Travis burgers, since I'm American and I can do stuff like that. 

Olivia enjoyed her wrap, but it was so big she had to take the other half home with her. Both of our meals together with one drink (I always order water), only came to $15, which compared to other bigger chain restaurants, is very reasonable.

I know I've been going on about how awesome this place is, but I'd still like to give it a rating, which would be a 90/100. If you're ever in the Clinton Township area and are in the mood for some comfort food, make a point to stop here and check it out for yourself.

Michigan Foodventures Update!

Take a look at this picture right here.

Does that not make your mouth water or what?

Being I have a pretty hectic schedule this week, I'm not going to be able to post another review for at least a couple days. But when I do get to do so, I promise it's going to be worth the wait. The picture up there is a bacon cheeseburger from the famous Redcoat Tavern in Royal Oak. This place has gotten nothing but stellar reviews from all sorts of websites and publications. Many people even list it as the best place for burgers in the state of Michigan! I plan on going there this week, if not soon. I'm compiling a list as well of all the other places I intend to visit and share with all of you. So sit tight and I'll have some great new things to share with you very shortly!

~Dustin

Taco Bell and the Great Burrito Debate

As many of my friends know, I was a HUGE fan of Taco Bell's 99 cent Beefy Crunch Burrito. When they brought it back for the second time, I probably had close to thirty of them in the course of a couple months. Never before could I get filled up at a fast food restaurant for a couple bucks and some change. It's a shame that yet again, it was taken off the menu.

Now, after marketing their Doritos Locos Tacos for a while, they've brought a new addition to the menu (albeit temporary) that makes me forgive Taco Bell for getting rid of my BCB. Okay, almost makes me forgive.

This new item is known as the Beefy Nacho Burrito. Sounds/looks kind of familiar, no?

While the BNB has Fritos, cheese sauce, sour cream, and beef, the main difference between this and the Beefy Crunch Burrito is that instead of the BCB's Flaming Hot Fritos, the Beefy Nacho Burrito contains "Queso Strips", which are essentially Fritos with a slight nacho-like taste to them. Also rice is not included, but can be added for about 25-30 cents, depending on the location.

I wasn't able to take pictures when I first tried this Beefy Nacho Burrito, but I'll try to relay my experience as best as possible. First off, any time I get a burrito like this from Taco Bell, I always order it "grilled", which is basically them putting the burrito in a flat-iron type grill and pressing it for a few seconds. It's the same way they make their Grilled Stuffed Burritos. And there's no charge in having this done. The upside to doing this is that the outside is pressed and somewhat crispy, and it makes the whole burrito hold together better, and the fillings stay hot as heck, even on the drive home.

Like I mentioned above, I added rice, which cost me 50 cents to add to two burritos, which isn't too shabby. It's about as close as I'm ever going to get to... You know. :[

I used a few packets of the always delicious hot sauce and went to town. It tasted very similar to the BCB, but not exactly, since there wasn't that delicious kick that the Flaming Hot Fritos gave. There wasn't a very recognizable taste to the Queso Strips, it just tasted like seasoned taco chips. The cheese sauce and sour cream go well together, as do the rice and beef. I think it should be required for rice to be on this burrito, since it adds its own seasonings and texture that meshes with the other ingredients so well.

All in all, even though I'm biased and I didn't order these babies how they're supposed to come, I was still satisfied afterwards, and even was tempted to order a third. Which I didn't end up doing, but that's saying something.

Judging by the taste, price, and size (this things weighs about 7 whopping ounces) this is an excellent deal, especially for the 99 cent asking price. Adding rice is merely just throwing in some pocket change. I give this an easy 80/100, but in comparison to the Beefy Crunch Burrito, I'd have to go with a 70/100, since there's no reason why the BCB shouldn't be a permanent item.