A small plug.

Le sigh. Well, I warned you.

So my friend, The Brownie Whisperer, has started a new blahg. And it advertises just what you readers have been looking for- unwarranted attacks against yours truly and brownies.

He's linked to my side. Visit him and poke him and encourage him to bake brownies for me so I can review them.

www.thebrowniewhisperer.blogspot.com

Google Analytics!

Got it a while ago, and I let it sit. Now, I'm going to show you some of my favorite search engines that you, the readers, searched for to get to my blog!

- are herrs baby back ribs vegetarian
Ribs are not vegetarian, and neither are the chips.

- skinny cow bad
Uhhh...yes?

- asian juice with the little bead things
Someone's obviously been reading my mind, because I have a review coming up for a drink with basil seeds in it. Unless you're referring to ramune. And don't drink the beads.

- bee curls
...Yes. The cheese curls with the bees.

- dick porn photo
Not here, pal. Unless you get lucky and find that I've done a hot dog review.

- foodfag
Who doesn't love the FoodFag?

- have free tine in mcdonald
Free tines come aplenty. I'm sure the forks are relatively breakable. Free time, though. Fuck if I know what to do. Play cards?

- is grape juice good for a cold
No idea. Ask WebMD.

- kill me if u love me
Great. Now the emo kids will be trolling my blog.

- pornpictures down
Not here. Not unless I do a Foodette Porno Shoot. Any takers?

- my chihuahua ate chocolate ice cream is that bad
Yes. Stop reading my reviews and get help.

- monster energy jello
Doesn't exist, but it's not a bad idea. It will definitely taste like pee.

- soy crisps gave me stomachache
WEBMD. I CANNOT HELP.

- where can i buy hanky panky dessert
Hanky Panky Snax, in your local sketchy vending machine. Hanky Panky Dessert...that just sounds dirty.

Foodette

Orillas Revisited

Wilmington's downtown Spanish tapas restaurant, Orillas, opened it's doors November 2008, and my initial visit was only a few weeks after their opening, which, admittedly, is too soon to judge. On that initial visit I noted a few things that needed changing, and it seems that with my most recent visit almost all of those changes have been implemented.Orillas revamped their menu, and even included a section listing vegetarian dishes. Before I had to quiz my server on what was and wasn't vegetarian. I still think there are some items not in the vegetarian section that can be easily made vegetarian, so don't limit yourself to this one section of the menu.

You can now order a cheese plate with just cheese on it. Before it was a cheese and meat plate, or at least that's how the menu read.

The uncut flat bread served on a curved ceramic plate that I struggled to cut with a butter knife, now comes pre-sliced on a wooden plank.

Servers are still a little odd. This go round, our server asked if we had heard of tapas before, and also explained each menu page. Um...my Mom was eating tapas in her podunk hometown before you even entered high school, and I'm quite capable of reading menu headings. Pleasant server, otherwise.

These marinated wild mushrooms were not the marinated I was thinking of -- tangy vinegar-- but were straight-up earthy with oil and balanced seasonings with a squirt of roasted pepper sauce.
The breaded and fried baby zucchini paled next to the accompanying sweet and tangy tomato mango salsa. Really can't fault the zucchini, it's just that the salsa was so vibrant. And the squirt of roasted red pepper sauce, while pretty, is unnecessary with such strong flavors from the salsa. Squirts of roasted red pepper sauce made appearances on many dishes, and is a bit overplayed.I tried the crema Catalana, a Spanish version of creme brulee. Light citrus flavors were nice, but the custard was grainy, and the caramelized top was thin and only caramelized in the center.

Sampled but not pictured:

Mushroom, roasted garlic, and Manchego Flatbread - great flavors, but melted cheese made for extremely greasy finger food.

Tomato salad with sherry vinaigrette and Cabrales - bright tangy flavors, but some of the tomatoes were grainy, and this should not be so in the middle of summer.

Patatas - roasted fingerling potatoes serving as fancy french fries. I thought they were seasoned perfectly, another thought they needed more seasoning. It's true, no one can agree on salt levels!

Rice pudding - Oh my god, this was the best thing I put in my mouth all night long! This warm, buttery, raisin and spice-spiked rice pudding might even be the best rice pudding I've ever had. Get it!

I enjoyed the food a little more than before, simply because I sampled more things. Chef Julio Lazzarini is cooking up some solid tapas, but nothing arrestingly sublime like Garces is doing in Philly with his every expanding tapas empire that currently includes Distrito, Amada, Tinto, and Chifa. It is unfortunate to be serving tapas in a town so close to Garces.

But like Garces, Chef Lazzarini will be giving Wilmingtonians more -- or so that's what he told us when he visited our table to chat. Hot off his appearance on the Food Network's chef competition show, Chopped (I missed this show in it's entirety, including Chef Lazzarini's appearance), Chef Lazzarini mentioned offering a weekend brunch at Orillas.

Yes, y'all! Brunch! In downtown Wilmington! I swear, if this happens and y'all don't go and support what will be one of only a few businesses open in downtown on the weekend, I'll stomp around and make a pissy face.

Chef Lazzarini also mentioned opening a Nuevo-Latino tapas restaurant in the future. I approve.


Update: Orillas has moved up the street to 902 Market St.

Orillas 413 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE 19801
Lunch: Mon-Fri, 11am-2:30pm
Dinner: Mon-Thurs, 5-10pm; Fri & Sat 5-11pm

Utz "The Crab Chip"

Mmmm. Utz. Just their name invokes tastes of homey, crispy, summers with days at the sprawling playground I called home for most of the season. Even plain, the chips are amazing. A really distinctly thin and crispy chip. No ruffles. Nothing fancy. Just good potato.

This particular chip worried me, as I am no connoisseur of seafood or crustacean-like delicacies. They remind me of bugs, quite frankly, and that fishy taste is just plain gross. But this chip, upon eating it, delivers a tasty smack of paprika and Old Bay seasoning that one might use on a crab instead of a fishy, crabby taste.

For starters, I have to applaud Utz on their packaging and resilience. These potato chips made it all the way from a grocery in Thurmont, MD, to my house in the middle of a large, stuffed backpack. And when I opened the package, not a chip was crushed! Imagine that. Of course, this might also be due to the fact that they're rather small in stature and uniform in shape, carrying the ability to stack one on top of another for the quintessential "chip sandwich."

Utz's chips are crispy and transparent, and this particular flavor boosts a healthy dusting of bright red powdering, with intermittently shaded flecks all across the chip. The first thing one tastes when eating this is paprika, and then a boost of hot flavoring and a sour, salty taste underneath. The ingredient list says there's honey, but I didn't taste any.

These are pretty hot for a crab chip. Having never had Chesapeake crabs or Old Bay, I can't tell you if they resemble either, but that it's a nice flavor. Were I to make a comparison, it would be to a barbecue chip, if anything. I still like them, though. After so many chips, your mouth does sort of numb to the entire experience, rendering taste buds useless.

7/10- CRABALICIOUS

TastyKake Limited Edition: Summer Berry Pie

Whoops. Almost typed "beery" instead of "berry". TastyKake might want to jump on that bandwagon. It'd probably sell a lot more pies.

I was dubious about these because back East, we have the Hostess pies and those are crap. They're nasty, lard-tasting pie shells barely a third full of pie filling and no chunks. Tasty Kake, though, I expected to be different, and it was. It's true. In the South, everything really is better.

The pie was thicker than I expected, and the crust was very soft. It was packaged in a nice little box with photos of the fruit on it and was nestled safely so as not to crush.

The crust was a sweet crust, not so much of a pie crust as a thicker, cakey crust, because it didn't flake and get icky. It surrounded the filling well and was consistently thick on all sides and made a nice ratio to filling.

I have a horrible confession, and that confession is that I like pie filling. I mean, I prefer it to regular plain fruit in a pie. I like the texture, the gooiness. I just like it. And in this pie, it has that delicious, gelatinous pie filling, but there are HUGE CHUNKS of real fruit. I even went so far as to take the other half of my pie and sort of comb through to see how many berries I could find. I got three blueberries, two cherries, and two pieces of apple- in half the pie! It was really impressive, especially for a small company to do that, and I think others could take a page from Tasty Kake's book.

8/10- GREAT

Bliss Candies August Nibbler Sampler Pack

A special announcement: I am extending the contest for another week! Comment now, or forever hold your peace, and let my two comments win! Yes, a total of two. No, don't laugh.

And another announcement- in just a few weeks, I will be MOVING TO A NEW ADDRESS. That's right, the Foodette is starting college at UMass Amherst, and gladly accepts care packages, ha ha ha. If you're interested in the address, as I am not wont to post it on the world woide web, do shoot me a line, foodette.reviews@gmail.com.

In the mail today I got a delightful selection of cookie bars and brownies from Bliss Candies, one of my regular bakers. There were seven in total, all with very different flavor profiles and textures, a real summer-beating treat! All the bars in the nibbler pack were chosen for their longevity in the hot sun, so these are a really great treat for a sugary craving that won't melt away!

The first bar I ate when I was in the car- an unrecommended practice for those with bad insurance! It was the toasted coconut and almond bar. This bar resembled an Almond Joy candy with a delicious brownie base.

I normally don't like coconut, but this was a really delightful brownie. The coconut was roasted on top, and had a layer of goo in the middle with an almond-studded brownie base. The entire thing could best be described as moist. I liked the moistness and the nutty crunch of the coconut and the flavor of the chocolate, very rich and deep.

7/10- TASTY

The next bar given to me was a "Not so plain Jane" butterscotch bar. Bliss advertised a hint of butterscotch, but with this car, it was more like a "Give me the money or I'll break your knees" amount of butterscotch. It was good, just not what I was expecting. The heavy bar was studded with chocolate chips, too.

The bar had a nice, deep brown sugary flavor, but was a little too dry for my tastes. Although I did enjoy it very much, I'd recommend eating this bar with a large glass of milk next to it, as it does get to be a bit of a desert dessert.

6/10- YUM

My favorite bar was this bar, the Oatmeal Fluffernutter bar. I'd never seen a bar, aside from a Rice Krispie treat, of course, incorporate marshmallows so seamlessly, making them a key player in the texture and flavor, but not overwhelming the gourmand with that quintessential marshmallow taste. This bar was so complex that I had to bite half of it, eat it together, and then dissect the individual layers to analyze how it all went together.

It starts with an interesting base that slightly detracted me from the overall appeal of the cookie bar. It was an oaty, more granola-y base that was crunchier than I expected. Upon taking the bottom part off and eating it separately, I found that I much preferrred the sum of the rest of the contents. The next layer is, I kid you not, a layer of homemade peanut butter filling, just like in a Reese's. This layer was malleable and soft and overall, delicious. After was a spongy marshmallow peanut butter fluff layer, which was just delicious. For anyone who has never partaken in a homemade marshmallow, this is the time. It's just incredible, and with the streusel and chocolate chips on top, this bar is just to die for.

9/10- INCREDIBLE

Another bar in the Nibbler package was a bittersweet chocolate meltaway truffle brownie. It was a very good treat, very moist, like Bliss's treats often are. I didn't taste any real hint of truffle, aside from a much stronger, almost like a bittersweet cocoa powder flavor, in strength, but nothing really reminded me of a truffle.

The brownie was very good. It resembled more of a bread, like a tea cake, because of its moistness but stood up to its topping and really did live up to its motto- a little bit of this goes a long way. I ate half of it and felt as though I was satisfied, and it was a small bar! It's very rich and yummy.

6/10- GOOD

An oatmeal turtle bar was a part of this selection. None can escape the delicious, gooey wrath of Bliss Candie's homemade vanilla caramel! Really. It's that good. Thisd bar was a little more dense than the others. Instead of providing that chewy texture, it crumbled a bit more. This was good, but did make it a little messy!

The flavor was quite good. Bliss does not skimp on chocolate chips for any of these. The oatmeal works well with the caramel's smoothness, taking bumpy and moving it to bodacious with this bar. The caramel was saltier than I expected, but still worked with the sweetness of the chocolate.

6/10- NUM NUM

Another bar that really utilized the homemade caramel and smacked its flavor home was the "Presidential" Turtle Brownie. I don't know why, but the two parts of the brownie had distinctly different textures, possibly from the caramel liquid seeping into the bottom part, but I loved it.

The bottom layer was delicate and moist and very fudgy, separated by the thick and rich homemade caramel layer. I love caramel. I love it when it's perfect. And this was some perfect caramel. The top layer of brownie was studded with pecans, and was a little more fluffy and crunchy than the bottom payer. My only complaint with these is that the pecans were too chunky and thus, the flavor was inconsistent, but that's always been my thing with pecans. Don't let it detract you from ordering these beauties!

8/10- MMMMM!

The last bar in the Nibbler package was an almond cookie bar with chocolate chips. This bar was very crumbly and very brittle, but the chunks of chocolate and nuts provided some softness that made it very tasty.

I liked the contrast of textures in this bar and think that it would make a very facile and portable snack for on-the-go decadence. A winner.

7/10- GREAT

Bliss can be found here, blisscandies.etsy.com!

Nestle Ramune KitKat

When I was in seventh grade, I had my first Ramune. I got it in Chicago, and made a huge mess when I popped the marble seal and Ramune went fizzing everywhere in my father's car. I've since improved my technique (hold the marble-popper down for a while after opening), but I don't drink Ramune much anymore.

In any case, while I don't have the same feelings of nostalgia about Ramune that someone who grew up in Japan probably does, some nostalgia is there. It's hard to describe the taste (citrus-y), but it's distinctively Ramune, and therefore easy to associate with memories.


This KitKat, a very pale blue in color, definitely smelled like Ramune. Of course, it was very sweet. The chocolate was a milder flavor, and the cream between the wafers packed the citrus punch.

It tasted a bit like bubble gum, but what it really reminded me of was a kids' fruity cereal like Trix or Fruity Pebbles. It had the same kind of non-specific fruity flavor and sweetness, so this added to the nostalgia (my childhood favorite was Fruity Pebbles). It was fun to try, but I didn't want to have more than one of this KitKat. For some other opinions, check out Japanese Snack Reviews, Jen's KitKat Blog, and Tasty Japan.

B

KitKat website