To honor 50 years of being in business, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has released its new limited edition Birthday Cake Ice Blended ($4) drink, out starting today and available until Sept. 2. We've seen a slew of cake batter ice creams and frozen yogurts, so we were excited by the prospect of a cake-flavored frozen beverage from the makers of the Original Ice Blended Drink. Keep reading to see our review.
Remember when popcorn was merely a treat to eat on weekends at the movies or curled up on the couch with a Blockbuster flick? Those days are long gone. In the past year, popcorn's proven itself to be the new bar nut as well as a luxurious dessert.
We first noticed the trend at restaurants, in every application: as truffled popcorn, alongside cocktails at the bar in San Francisco's Bourbon Steak; as a flavoring agent in popcorn soup at WD-50 in New York, and as the stand-alone star at Manhattan's Populence, an entire store devoted to flavors like ginger caramel, tangy raspberry, and sweet cinnamon.
But that's not all; the volume of artisanal gourmet popcorn bubbling up in supermarket chip aisles has astounded us. Minnesota-based Angie's sells Boomchickapop sea salt popcorn, prized for its simple list of ingredients and fresh-tasting flavor. Quinn Popcorn out of Massachusetts, with its Quinn Parmesan and Rosemary popcorn, has reinvented the concept of powdered cheese on microwaveable popcorn. And California's 479º Popcorn offers flavors like Fleur de Sel Caramel (trust us: kettle corn's got nothing on this stuff).
We're happy the puffed grain has hit the mainstream food circuit in a major way and have no qualms (yet!) about the exotic riffs in unlikely spots that we're seeing. But tell us; how do you feel about the burgeoning popcorn trend?
These days, food trucks are no faux pas when it comes to wedding catering. They're a cheap, trendy way to get good, fresh food out to guests on the fly, and guests are excited to see trucks they know and love at your wedding. However, this is a wedding — not a street fair — after all, so here's how you should do food trucks the right way at your wedding.
Last week, Starbucks announced it was launching two new Bavarian-style pretzels ($2) in its snack lineup, for people who tend to sway toward salty provisions over sweet options. Curious about the new additions to the bakery section, we took a trip to our nearest Starbucks. The pretzels, which come in asiago and cheddar and stoneground Dijon, looked a little dehydrated and sad as they were pulled out of Starbucks's pastry refrigerator. The Starbucks employee said the pretzels tasted better when toasted, so they took a short trip to the oven before we brought them back to the office to try. Keep reading for our thoughts and the review.
From left to right: Pepperidge Farm's Dark Chocolate Cheesecake, Boston Cream Pie Milano Melts, and Carrot Cake cookies
When our food team ripped open a package from Pepperidge Farm housing their latest — and hopefully greatest — cookie flavors, a collective "ooooooh" broke out among all members. Its new offerings include cookies inspired by dark chocolate cheesecake, carrot cake, and my personal holy grail dessert: Boston cream pie. As longtime fans of Pepperidge Farm Dark Chocolate Milanos and Chessman cookies, our expectations were high.
Dark Chocolate Cheesecake
These soft, doughy cookies looked scant on their promised dark chocolate element. Thankfully, our fears were eliminated on first bite. While some tasters docked points, citing their failure to resemble the promised sweet treat, most enjoyed the cookie's balance between chewy cookie, dark chocolate, and cream-cheese-flavored chunks. That said, we wished they had a more prominent cream cheese tang, and we'd have appreciated a more generous hand with the chocolate chunks. Still, as a whole, they satisfied our afternoon snack craving quite well.
We're fans of Philadelphia Original Cream Cheese, but we have been less impressed with the new members of its brand family, like Snack Delights and Cooking Creme (eek!). So when the company sent over Spicy Jalapeño ($3), a new flavor on shelves now, we had our suspicions. Would it really taste spicy? And would we really be able to detect a true jalapeño flavor?
When I first opened the cream cheese, it appeared watery and grainy, with large green jalapeño chunks — not a very attractive sight. A few stirs with a spoon reincorporated the cream cheese, but it still had an uneven consistency, as if the jalapeños had curdled the cream cheese. However, a whiff of the container quieted my skepticism that the product had gone bad. It had that signature, slightly tangy Philadelphia cream cheese scent, with a peppery kick from the jalapeño. But did it have the flavor and texture to match? See the star rating and our taste testers' surprising response when you read more.
Today, San Pellegrino and Restaurant magazine unveiled their annual list of the top 50 restaurants in the world. Considering their varied locations, highly competitive reservation spots, and steep price tags, it'll be a while before I cross most of the restaurants off my list — but hey, a girl can dream. Are you in the same tough spot? Then, in the meantime, take a virtual tour of the world's top 10 restaurants, where you can feast on all the avant-garde cuisine with your eyes.
Grandiose wedding cakes will always have their place at the reception, but more and more, couples are opting for alternative desserts to serve their guests. Cupcake towers, macarons, minidessert buffets, doughnuts, and cake pop stands are just a few trending wedding desserts circulating the American wedding scene.
It's hard to believe that baseball opening day is upon us. Something else that might also be hard to believe? That you can find a growing assortment of gourmet eats at stadiums across the country. That's right — forget peanuts and cracker jacks. These are foods you'll want to munch on even after you're done rooting for the home team. Without further ado, here are 10 baseball foods — some local favorites, others designed by iconic chefs — that we can't wait to get our hands on.
There's no denying the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, and the fact that the dishes taste so delicious is a major bonus. You might not be able to travel to the waters of Greece or Italy, but you can still get the yum factor right at home with these recipes rich in nuts, vegetables, beans, olive oil, and fish. You'll want to try them ASAP, since many are springtime staples.
