Pizza Playoff Bracket

This is it everyone. We chose 8 pizza joints in town and randomly selected the slots at which they compete. It's not completely official though. We have to check out Pizza World and see if it is still in business. If it is, we will replace the least liked pizza place currently listed on the bracket with Pizza World. Check out the poll and cast your vote but do so soon because we start this thing this Thursday. Remember to check in regularly and follow our progress. Also, let us know what you want us to do next. We are going to start hitting this thing hard and get more restaurants and more challenges posted for your dining decisions. Have fun and don't forget, bon appetit.

Meal 16

Chicken w. Cashew Nuts

Rating: 4.5(Passable-Bearable)

Fortune of the day- Need some adventure and enjoyment? Take a vacation.

If you have read the previous post, then the contents of this one is pretty self explanatory. The chicken with Cashew Nuts was oddly similar to the Shrimp with Cashew Nuts. It beats all I’ve ever saw! Now if you have not been able read the earlier post or are just too lazy this dish contains a heaping amount of diced water chestnuts and celery. There is also baby corn and I think some cashews. The dish went as according to plan. The oodles of celery and water chestnuts made the dish more difficult to dispose of in a digestive sense. I am not a shrimp guy, but for this meal I believe it tasted better than the chicken. The chicken appeared to have been fried then set in the dish to soak up the juices making it extremely soggy. Not really appetizing for my taste buds. If you are a water chestnut, celery licking, soggy chicken kind of a person, this dish was meant for you. If not, I would steer clear of this 4.5, possibly going for a Chicken Lo Mein or Sweet and Sour Pork.

Meal 15

Shrimp w. Cashew Nuts

Rating: 5(Bearable)

Fortune of the day- A vacation to sunny shores is soon in store for you.

Where do I begin with this dish? Should I try to explain why there were more water chestnuts and celery than cashews or should I expand on the deceitful behavior of the texture. In the words of LeBron James, “What should I do?” In this case, it is rather simple, I’ll go with both. The dish’s name is Shrimp with Cashew Nuts so obviously those two items will be involved. It is also safe to assume that other ingredients will be sprinkled throughout the meal. In this case, those other ingredients (celery, water chestnuts, and baby corn) drowned out any chance the cashews had of any significant flavor. The dish should have been called Shrimp with Diced Water Chestnuts and Celery with a Hint of Cashew Nuts. If you haven’t noticed, water chestnuts appear quite frequently in these dishes and it got me wondering why they are so popular. I did a little research and stumbled upon some interesting facts. First of all, the water chestnut is not a nut but an aquatic vegetable. It’s widely popular because of its abundance and its submissive flavor. Also, did you know that some believe that water chestnuts can sweeten your breath? Tic Tac, there’s a new dog in town! The texture startled me as well. I know cashews are not the softest nuts to be chewing on but in this case they were abnormally tough. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it just means you will have to work a little harder consuming your food. The shrimp was cooked fine and the assorted elements made for an interesting taste but not one I will order again.  As I have said before, these are my opinions and according to my fancy, this dish did not tickle it achieving only a Bearable.

Meal 14

Chicken Lo Mein

Rating: 8.5(Ballzy-The Cat’s Meow)

Fortune of the day- Someone in your life needs a letter from you.

Most would think that the Chicken Lo Mein would taste very similar to the Roast Pork Lo Mein and I am here to tell you that they do. Unlike most other poultry dishes that had the consistency of chicken skin, this chicken was chunky and hearty. It too was fabricated in the same manner as the previous Lo Mein with onions, cabbage, and celery. Everyone knows that it’s the noodles that make this dish so special but what’s the difference between Chow Mein and Lo Mein. Most would assume that they are two different types of noodles when in fact they are the same but prepared differently. Both are parboiled Chinese egg noodles but the Chow Mein gets an extra stop at the frying pan giving it a crispier texture. If we understood the vocabulary we would know that because Lo Mein means “tossed noodles” while Chow Mein means “fried noodles.” I personally prefer the tossed noodles because it allows the flavors to soak in giving it a broader taste. Even though it looks like a can of Night Crawlers, this wormy dish “shore” brings the fishes, obtaining a whopping 8.5 on the Jaxon Scale!

Meal 13

Roast Pork Lo Mein

Rating: 8.5(Blazzy-The Cat’s Meow) 

Fortune of the day- You will always have good luck in your personal affairs.

The Roast Pork Lo Mein was simply savory. This meal is undoubtedly a good choice when looking for something to appease your hunger; it is such a filing dish best described as Chinese Spaghetti. Lo Mein is noodle based, which I love any kind of pasta. The onions, celery, and cabbage always give any feast an assorted array of flavors. The sauce that holds this character together is the key to the Roast Pork Lo Mein. I have done some research and I am not positive but I think it was prepared in oyster sauce. Oyster sauce is used in many Chinese dishes including noodle stir-fries. It is made of sugar, water, salt, oyster extract, cornstarch to give it a thicker consistency, and darkened with caramel. The noodles are heavy and fulfilling thus rising suspicion that they were cooked in this sauce. Some critics might agree that spaghetti should be left to the Italians but Jaxon Says no way, placing an honorable 8.5 next to its name.

Meal 12

Roast Pork w. Mixed Vegetable

Rating: 5.5(Bearable-Mediocre)

Fortune of the day- A distant friendship could begin to look more promising.

Once again, why was this meal not listed closer to Chicken with Mixed Vegetable? I think Heaven’s Kitchen was just trying to throw us a screwball. It’s possible that the restaurant intended us to believe that it was a totally different meal since it was not listed adjacent to the chicken. I am here to uphold the justice of consumer chow-down. These two meals were duplicates only varying in their meat products. The roast pork was more preferable but the sauce and vegetables overwhelmed any chance of originality. It too was cooked with all the vegetables known to China. Again, why not remove some foliage and allow the meal to flourish with its intentional flavor? This dish would work better as Roast Pork with Broccoli but until that time, it will be given a 5.5.

Meal 11

Sweet & Sour Pork

Rating: 8(Ballzy)

Fortune of the day- You will be called upon to celebrate some good news.

It’s hard to find anything negative to say about Sweet & Sour Pork. It is a standard meal that you won’t find much variety in. Every place generally serves the same dish. The only suggestion…I’m sorry, I caught myself writing the same thing for Sweet and Sour Pork as I did for Sweet and Sour Chicken! Forgive me but the meals were seemingly identical. I almost posted the same picture because I could not differentiate between the two. The appearance and the taste were carbon-copied clones. The only nonconformity the pork possessed was the texture. The chicken was doughy, sort of like dumplings but the pork was firmer. It reminded me of actual pork meat instead of deep fried skin! As the same with the other dish, the Sweet & Sour Pork could use some variety. The tangy sweet and sour sauce was delicious but some vegetables would be fine too. Eating just pork and rice was slightly boring but it tasted A-okay, rightfully earning an 8. Quite Ballzy I would say.

Meal 10

Sweet & Sour Chicken

Rating: 8(Ballzy) 

Fortune of the day- Your fortune is not something to find but to unfold.

It’s hard to find anything negative to say about Sweet & Sour Chicken. It is a standard meal that you won’t find much variety in. Every place generally serves the same dish. The only suggestion I would make is throw in some green! It was strictly nuggets of chicken fried with a bed of rice. You need at least three sections of the food pyramid on your plate to satisfy the stomach. As always, the sweet and sour sauce is what makes the difference. Without that bowl of scrumptious, sweetened dipping condiment, Sweet & Sour Chicken would just be…well chicken. I used to be hooked on this meal like House was to Vicodin so be careful.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you when you find yourself hiding leftovers in a shoebox in your closet. If Dragon City would have made it original, it would have gained a higher rating but since it was expected we could only grant it a Ballzy 8.

Meal 9

Beef w. Broccoli

Rating: 6.5(Mediocre-Succulent) 

Fortune of the day- You don’t get in life what you want; you get in life what you are.

Beef with Broccoli; where do I start? I guess I could start by suggesting to Dragon City that they place this as number seven on the lunch menu special allowing it be right below Chicken with Broccoli. These two meals were very similar with the exception of the beef. I hope we don’t stay on this trend of alikeness because it’s variety that we are in search for. Anyways, the meal was honest, tasting the same as meal 6. It too was prepared with broccoli, carrots, and bamboo shoots, leaving only the meat product with any originality. There seemed to be quite a bit more broccoli on this occasion but I don’t mind granted I can’t get enough of the "treelets". It was cooked perfectly as were the other meals this week. It doesn’t matter if it’s chicken or beef, I’ll suggest it to any customer looking for a relatively safe meal, tagging it a 6.5.

Meal 8

Chicken w. Pepper Onion

Rating: 7(Succulent) 

Fortune of the day: You will overcome many obstacles.

I could literally copy Meal 7’s description and paste it for the Chicken w. Pepper Onion, subbing in the chicken for the steak of course. The two meals were identical except for the farm animal they decided to throw in the wok. In the title they switched pepper with the meat product and produced the same dish. Don’t get me wrong, it was still quite pleasurable to consume, it’s just difficult to find something special in this dish that I have not already told you about in Meal 7. Just in case you missed Meal 7 (which you shouldn’t because it’s posted directly below this one) the dish was cooked with green bell peppers and onions. They too were prepared to perfection adding an important flavor to the meal. The soy sauce based sauce was once again salty but with the right quantity. Given that no factor put my taste buds into a Full Nelson yet it was effortlessly devoured, it gets the same as the previous meal, a decent 7.

Meal 7

Pepper Steak w. Onion

Rating: 7(Succulent)

Fortune of the Day- You have only begun to scratch the surface of your real potential.

Today’s meal was rather ordinary. The name literally says it all. Pepper Steak with Onion had green bell peppers, steak, and onions. It was cooked together in a soy sauce base. The sauce had agreeable ingredients making it slightly salty but who doesn't like salt?  The onions and peppers were sautéed to near perfection with a crunchy outer shell and a soft, semi raw interior. The casually cooked veggies brought a lot of flavor to the table. I would say the Pepper Steak with Onion is an American stereotype of Chinese chow but nonetheless was real enough for my fancy gaining a succulent 7 on the taste scale. 

Meal 6

Chicken w. Broccoli

Rating: 6.5(Mediocre-Succulent)

Fortune of the day- Rely on long time friends to give you advice with your present question.

As you may have guessed, Chicken with Broccoli was very similar to Chicken with Mixed Vegetables. The main difference between the two was the vegetables obviously. This dish was cooked the same, stir-fried with chicken, except there was more chicken and only broccoli, a few carrots, and a hardly any bamboo shoots. You might think it would have tasted the same yet paradoxically it did not. The only explanation we could come up with was maybe the absence of vegetables left room for our palates to expand on the flavors. No matter the reason, the dish was a delight and got a check in our book for a 6.5.  

Meal 5

Chicken w. Mixed Vegetable

Rating:  5.5(Bearable-Mediocre)

Fortune of the day- Life is a series of choices. Today yours are good ones.

Chicken with Mixed Vegetables, the traditional Chinese cuisine, at least the American interpretation that is. This plate had a harvest of vegetables. The carrots, broccoli, and onions would have sufficed in their attempts to overload a vegetable lover’s enthusiasm. Instead, they decided to turn a vegan straight by throwing in baby corn, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and red and green bell peppers. Some people might enjoy the plethora of foliage in a meal, but when it hinders the flavor of what people love the most (protein), then it becomes a little cumbersome. What little chicken existed tasted quite alright. It was stir fried along with the veggies making it slightly crispier than previous meals. The sauce had a quirky vibe to it; being salty and sweet at the same time. This could work if one component was sweet while another was salty but since it was mixed together, it threw my taste buds into a stupor, not knowing what to think. As it was stated, the only beef with that chicken, besides the abundance of vegetables, was that it was too sweet to be that salty giving it a total rating of Bearable to Mediocre.

Meal 4

Moo Goo Gai Pan

Rating: 5(Bearable)

Fortune of the day- You find beauty in ordinary things. Do not lose this ability.

Moo Goo Gai Pan was definitely a mystery dish. The only indication its name provided was the texture. As my friend Ethan pointed out, it was very Mooey and Gooey. The meal, like the Chow Meins from the previous explorations, consisted of boiled chicken along with water chestnuts, peas, celery, mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and carrots. One major difference in the Moo Goo Gai Pan that separated it from the other boiled beast from the east was the garlic flavor. That oomph of garlic gave the food a more distinguished taste and for that we thank Dragon City. I am personally not a fan of celery and water chestnuts. If these two items would have been omitted, the Moo Goo Gai Pan would have earned a higher rating but since they were not, we had to give it a Bearable 5.

Meal 3

Pork Egg Foo Young

Rating: 6(Mediocre) 

Fortune of the day- You are next in line for promotion 

The Pork Egg Foo Young was basically an Asian breakfast egg omelet. It consisted of two fried egg patties with onions, cabbage, and of course pork. The after taste was unfortunately better than the initial but it gave you reason to continue eating. With the Pork Egg Foo Young came a light and tangy sauce which was very delicious. It reminded me of the onion soup that you get as an appetizer at a Japanese restaurant. I wouldn’t say the sauce saved the dish but it did make it undoubtedly more appealing. I would place this as a breakfast meal but it did its job as a lunch special gaining a rating of 6 or Mediocre rating.

The New Challenge

     Well guys, the 37 Week Challenge is going great! We have heard a lot of good feedback from our friends. Some people have brought it to our attention that we need multiple challenges to do throughout the week. I’ll have to admit that waiting until Friday is too long and not to mention that I do not have the patience for it. My friend Ethan has come up with two easy and relatively cheap challenges that we can take part in and post on our blog. The first one is the Value Menu Showdown. That is where we take a certain number of fast food restaurants and try everything on their value menu and compare the cost and taste, giving our overall opinion of their true value. The second is the Pizza Playoffs. This is very similar to the Value Menu Showdown except it will be the same type of pizza from different restaurants. We also have a third option. This one will be another restaurant challenge where we order every meal of their lunch special and give our opinion of it. Don’t worry, we are still taking on the 37 Week Challenge. The other challenges are to go along with the current challenge so that we cover more options.

    Off to the side of the page you should see a poll. We have set this up so that the followers can decide on which challenge we should conquer first. Go ahead and click on the one you think would be more interesting or which one you would benefit most from. You all are the ones reading the blog and we want your input. So if you have any other challenges that you think might be fun, let us know about it and we will be more than happy to give it a go. Thanks everyone and bon appétit!

37 Week Challenge Amendment

Well guys, I know I said this was a 37 week challenge but I think I’m going to have to make an amendment to the deal. If you think about it, 37 weeks is 71% of the year or a little under 9 months. That is a long time. A lot of things can happen during that period, such as fall, winter, and spring break, and I don’t want to spoil my challenge. That is why I have decided to post 4 menu items each week, cutting the time frame to about 2 months. I know your next question and no, I’m not going to order 4 meals each Friday and try each one. That is where my friends come into play. Ethan Constant, Dustin Hundley, and Gustavo Sanchez are going to be my guinea pigs. We will all order a different meal, going down the lunch special on the menu, try each one and compare them. We will discuss the meals and come to a conclusion with an overall rating. This way every meal will be tested and evaluated in a shorter period of time. Thanks and don’t forget, bon appetit folks!