Author: StingX2

StingX2

Hershey’s Chocolate Pudding

Does anything really beat having a snack of pudding? The pudding cup is such a classic snack that you can’t really do wrong by it. Actually I take that back, some people eat warm pudding because the grocer doesn’t refrigerate all brands. Don’t do that please, its inhumane to pudding.

What I really look forward in a pudding cup is that smooth taste that bursts with each bite, mainly because a pudding cup maybe has 3 or 4 bites in it. Just opening the cup you immediately get the The Hershey chocolate aroma to fill the air. Chocolate pudding tastes better than just branding, there is an actual difference here in flavor. Each bite has that rich taste of Hershey’s chocolate with that nice light bitterness bite to it at the end.

Verdict: A

StingX2

Harrison (Pop Shop)

chickentuscan

The Harrison is described as “Jack cheese, grilled chicken, and garlicky sun-dried tomato aïoli on crusty ciabatta”. It is a tangy chicken grilled cheese sandwich that just works in perfect harmony. From the crusty bread that isn’t too tough but just enough to give it the crisp that is the perfect opposite compliment to the soft thick cheese melted in there. The sandwich is not spicy but has a nice tang to its melt in your mouth bites.

Strongest Flavor: That aioli sauce! So good!

Weakest Flavor: Nothing

Final Verdict: A

StingX2

Cupcake Shake (Pop Shop)

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So when you think cupcake what comes to mind? For me its a vanilla cake bottom with some kind of icing usually done up to look more glamorous than it actually tastes. The Cupcake shake at the Pop Shop translates what a cupcake is better than my description. The shake has a kind of birthday cake flavor vibe to it as cake is broken up throughout the shake’s vanilla ice cream. It is a delicious thing.

That whipped cream you see at the top? It is actually a big glob of icing covered in sprinkles. This provides a genuine cupcake combination with the ice cream cake mix down below. The only downside is there is a lot of icing and if you don’t have a strong stomach for that amount of pure sugar you will be hurting later. You won’t regret it though.

Strongest Flavor: Cake + Vanilla ice cream

Weakest Flavor: Sprinkles, pretty but tasteless

Final Verdict: A

StingX2

Oreo Cookie Shake (Pop Shop)

poposhoporeoshake

It is hard to screw up a milkshake and luckily this one isn’t one of the few. The Oreo Cookie shake at the Pop Shop is a basic vanilla shake with chocolate syrup drizzled throughout with whipped cream sitting on top covered in crushed cookies. Basic doesn’t mean bad though as the shake is delicious it just doesn’t go in scary territory or have many exciting components to it.

Final Verdict: B

StingX2

Your Own Private Idaho (Pop Shop)

idahoyum

Your Own Private Idaho is described by the Pop Shop as “A Huge double heap of our shoestring hash browns covered with melted Cheddar and topped with two eggs sunny-side up served with choice of toast”. I like the Pop Shop but it is a busy place no matter when you visit. So I’m not going to hold it against them that I asked for white toast and got mullti-grain (gross). The real focus is the eggs and hash browns. The hash browns were cooked nicely not too raw or burned. The cheese really makes every bite melt in your mouth. Cutting the sunny-side up egg and letting it run through the cheesey hash browns is really heavenly.

I would order this again in a heartbeat. The elements of the dish were cooked well and together they were perfection. Again my only issue was the toast error.

Strongest Flavor: That perfect sunny side up egg

Weakest Flavor: That toast 

Final Verdict: B

StingX2

Pear Butter (Kitchen Kettle Village)

pearbutter

Went to September Farm Cheese with my girlfriend and they have lots of great samples of cheese, dips, and even something like Pear Butter. Well I liked it enough to buy some and here is why. The Pear Butter is a jelly consistency but it doesn’t have the issues a lot of jellies can have (see Apple Jelly). It has the sweet taste of pear without being too sweet or offensive to people that don’t even enjoy pears (I used to love them as a kid but I’ve cooled extremely).

If you like Apple Butter which you likely have had give Pear Butter a shot, its a less tart version of that. 

Strongest Flavor: Sweet Pears

Weakest Flavor: N/A

Final Verdict: B

StingX2

Cotton Candy Ice Cream (September Farm Cheese)

cottoncandy

Ignore the tacky receipt I forgot to move but the ice cream at September Farm Cheese looks like something out of a movie set. The flavors are all pretty vibrant and delicious sounding so after lots of indecision my girlfriend and I shared this bright and colorful cotton candy ice cream. You would expect looking at this picture that it would be a very flavorful ice cream but it really isn’t. I had to remind myself that cotton candy by nature is just pretty colored sugar that tastes like nothing. That is exactly what this is, which I guess could be kind of unsettling.

This is one of those cases where it is an appetite to your eye only. By definition it has no flavor and the disappointment that this is spot on is a weird conundrum. It should be what it is but you really really want more.

Strongest Flavor: Sugar

Weakest Flavor: Flavor

Final Verdict: D

StingX2

Grilled Stuft Nacho (Taco Bell)

Taco-Bell-Grilled-Stuft-Nacho
Taco-Bell-Grilled-Stuft-Nacho

Taco Bell’s new item they have come up with using the four or five ingredients they have in house is a stuffed nacho (Or STUFT Nacho). It’s pretty close on the outside to what it’s being marketed as but the inside is a different story. While I am lacking a picture the insides of the actual stuffed nacho is kinda disappointing. There isn’t much meat inside or at least it is overpowered by the incredibly bad tasting nacho cheese they use inside of it. The picture used in promotions is a lot better sounding than the actual product. I would have loved a meat filled nacho with the mozzarella cheese they use on tacos, and the pepper flakes they shown in the picture. Instead it’s a sloppy triangle of nacho cheese and meat that makes you regret forking over money to Taco Bell. Usually their limited time items are pretty good, not this one though.

The Stuft Nacho fails for me because it isn’t close to what was advertised and what you get is a revolting mix no one should suffer through. Nacho cheese is a tricky beast and it’s hard to tame if you don’t have something called a Nacho. Taco Bell tortillas are either soft, rock hard crumbling shells, or Dorito chips. None of them have the consistency you’d want with Nacho Cheese which is why their actual nachos are what you’d expect. Skip this mess of nacho cheese stuffed in a pressed tortilla.

Strongest Flavor: Nacho Cheese….ugh

Weakest Flavor: Pepper? I would have killed for any spice and I hate spicy food

Final Verdict: F

StingX2

Fried Oreos (Richman’s Ice Cream Company)

friedoreo

My girlfriend and I ended up down in Brigantine New Jersey for a day trip to the beach there and wanted Ice Cream before we made our way back. We had ice cream that was delicious but I had to try the fried oreo. I’ve never gotten a chance to so why not this time?

Going to be honest I have grown tired of powdered sugar over the years and this is no exception. The actual Fried Oreos were delicious. You really can taste that chocolate center but you can pretend the cream doesn’t exist because it just makes everything else sweeter. The rest of the little fried dough balls essentially tasted like funnel cake.

So this isn’t a knock against these but I’m not big on funnel cake. Its an ok sweet that I’ll have once a year but not something I’m knocking people over to get my hands on. The Fried Oreo falls in that exact category even though the oreo was the highlight. 

Strongest Flavor: Fried Dough

Weakest Flavor: Powdered sugar, yeah I know I’m a horrible person

Final Verdict: B

StingX2

AM Crunchwrap (Taco Bell)

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Taco Bell breakfast sounded horrible until you remember that breakfast burritos have been a thing for awhile and they are completely delicious. Taco Bell like most fast food is a you get what you pay for affair and it shouldn’t be shocking that the entire package here doesn’t look terribly appetizing. Fortunately the potato in the burrito really saves the item from being a complete wash. The eggs are bland, the sausage tastes like nothing, and the cheese is not enough to keep it together. At least they didn’t use nacho cheese.

The AM Crunchwrap shows that Taco Bell breakfast is just a bad idea. Instead of being a combination of ingredients that tastes good and makes you feel bad about yourself, it comes off as hospital food having Mexican breakfast. The entire thing is completely bland and best served to those recovering instead of those looking for a delicious way to start your day. 

Strongest Flavor: The potato

Weakest Flavor: The sausage

Final Verdict: F