Olive Garden Mixed Grill Review

Olive Garden has been an old school favorite of mine for years now, although until recently it's been a long time since I had the chance to visit.  Back in the old days I pretty much stuck with the chicken parmigiana, but I knew going in this time it was time to branch out and try something new. 

Before the main course, I have of course have to mention the Olive Garden salad which has always been 5 star, and I also went with the appetizer sampler which I don't believe has changed much in the 15+ years I've gone to Olive Garden (and that's not a bad thing.)  The toasted ravioli and stuffed mushrooms were great as usual and a nice warm up.

A few months back I checked out an Olive Garden take out menu and the "Mixed Grill" caught my eye.  The Mixed Grill consists of 2 skewers, one with steak and the other with chicken, and I decided that was right up my alley.  The server brought the giant plate with 2 skewers, then removed the meat, peppers, onions etc. and onto my plate.  Great taste, tender meat, and served with a side of squash/zucchini and roasted potatoes.  This meal is definitely one that will fill you up, so if you go with it you may have to hold back on appetizers or you will end up with a take home box like I did (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.) 

I would highly recommend this if you are looking for something that isn't the usual pasta with tomato or white sauce, or if you are just a fan of a great skewer.  This had great flavor and provided a plentiful amount of meat, with sides that compliment the meal nicely.

Taco Bell XXL Chalupa Review

When I go to Taco Bell. It's always up in the air. Everything on the menu is good, and everything on the menu will end up giving me the soft serve poops later. But one thing I usually always end up getting is either a chalupa, or a gordita. And I usually always have to get two of them because one just isn't enough.

Enter, the XXL CHALUPA!

Holy crap, literally. All this is really is a somewhat larger wrap with maybe a tablespoon more of every ingredient. Little extra meat, lettuce, sour cream, cheese and tomato. No big deal. And yeah, it even feels like it makes me take a tablespoon more of poop after I'm done eating it.

But what I will say is this. It fills you up. No need to buy two single chalupas anymore. The XXL Chalupa does the job. If you like food that is awful for you but tastes good and you're a chalupa fan, well grab one of these big bastards.

Totino's Party Pizza

Party Pizza! This stuff is great. Look, we never said we were some high brow gourmet food elitists. The fact is, I would rather have a Totino's Party Pizza than some lame take and bake pie.

In the previous review of Papa Murphy's Take and Bake Pizza, our author said that when you want to cook your own pizza, a good frozen pizza is better. Ain't that the truth?

You know what else is better than a "Take and Bake" pizza? Not even a good frozen pizza. Even a very very bad frozen pizza is more enjoyable for me than a lame premade uncooked pizza. Which brings us to Totino's. This truly is a party in your mouth. The frozen Totino's Party Pizza is perfect for one person. And it's Cheap. My local Wal-Mart sells these frozen pizzas for $1.22, everyday low price. Kroger just had a sale- They were only $ 1 each. A buck for a perfect single serving pizza? Now that's good eating.

Look, I know these things don't even use real cheese. I don't know if they are technically even "pizza"- there might be some ongoing lawsuits over that. But you pop one of these bad boys in the oven at 450 degrees for 11 minutes ( here is your recipe/cooking instructions for this post), and you can plop the whole thing down on one standard sized dinner plate. It fits perfectly. Also, make sure you cook it directly on the rack. Some of the fake cheese will drip down to the bottom of the oven, but that's OK. it adds some quality smokey flavor to everything you cook. Sometimes the crust warps a little and gets stuck in spaces in the rack, but that is also good. It gives the crust a nice crunch.

Pair with a fine domestic beer and you have yourself a great Fourthmeal.

Papa Murphy's Pizza Review. Take & Bake??

Today, I wanted pizza. And I wanted it fast. So instead of just grabbing some Little Caesars. I saw Papa Murphys had opened up in the same shopping center. Never heard of it, never seen it, knew nothing about it.

So I stumble in there, as I was still half asleep. Just woke up, and it takes me a good couple hours to get my bearings on the day ahead. So I tell the girl I just want the large pepperoni. And she asked me to take a seat and it'd be right up. No problem.

I sit down, pop out the iPhone and start playing some Words With Friends when the man at the counter yells that it's done. As I walk to the counter I'm thinking "Wow! Fast just like Little Caesars, true its a bit more expensive but....wait a minute."

I saw an uncooked pizza in front of me. The man at the counter starts explaining the rules and regulations of going home and cooking the pizza. What the crap?! Go home and cook it myself?! Now I saw the "Take N Bake" sign but didn't realize that it was their only gimmick as they also had pictures of cooked pizzas all over the place.

What the hell kinda pizza place, or any food place for that matter other than a damn grocery store, only half way makes your food and then sends you home to cook it?! On top of that they asked if I had ever eaten there before and I said NO! So shouldn't they have given me a heads up?! Like a, "Hey bro you know you gotta cook this yourself right?"

Now I can KINDA understand the concept of this. Say you want some pizza for later on in the day and dont want to have it already made just to get cold. But isn't that what frozen pizza is for? Because Papa Murphys really isn't that much better than your good frozen pizza. Which is also better anyways. And even if you did want a pizza for later, why wouldn't you just wait for later to order it?

I really don't understand why a place like Papa Murphys exists. Its pretty much worthless and I won't ever return.

Little Caesars Hot-N-Ready? No Joke.

I am proclaiming Little Caesars as the fastest fast food around. Their big gimmick now is Hot-N-Ready. Meaning your food is hot and ready the second you order it. And they're not joking around.

I used to hit Little Caesars back when I was a kid when they had the Big! Big! pizza going on, but never went back until recently and I was pretty blown away. I think the only way they can possibly get your pizza to you faster is by having it loaded into a giant slingshot that is aimed at the door and have it release the moment you step inside. This is know exaggeration, I literally have never spent longer than ONE minute inside of a Little Caesars at a time. I walk in, tell them what I want, I pay for it and before I can get my wallet back into my pocket, my food is there on the counter waiting for me to grab and head out with.

Now on top of that, their prices are insanely low. Large pepperoni with a bag of crazy bread and sauce runs only 8 bucks. Now granted, Little Caesars isn't the best tasting pizza around, but for their price and the speed of it all, it is well worth it if you're in a hurry and just wanna grab something quick. You will get no quicker than Little Caesars.

Restaurant Review: Five Guys Burgers and Fries

Obviously we like a good goddamn burger here at Hungry Jerks... this has to be like the 5th burger post since we started... but I was sitting here listening to some a-hole on E! talk about In-and-Out burger being the best burger on the planet and it pissed me off. Clearly, this dude has no idea what makes a tasty burger. I promise you it's not frying the patty in mustard (the "secret" of an IaO burger.)

I wanna give you a rundown of some 5 Guys Facts, courtesy their website. Five Guys is a tasty burger establishment, while at the same time being as heart-health conscious as possible. They make sure there is absolutely 0% trans fat in their meals. Their delicious french fries are cooked in peanut oil to this purpose. They use only the freshest vegetables, and have used over 34 millions pounds of potatoes since they went in to business in 2008. That's a lot of fries!

Now don't get me wrong about the healthy food here..., a bacon cheeseburger from Five Guys still packs a walloping 62g of fat. Not to mention over 900 of your daily calories. Who cares though? It's delicious! You know what else is delicious? FREE TOPPINGS. That's right, at every Five Guys the toppings are free! All burgers are made my hand in each restaurant and their breads are baked fresh at local bakeries. If you've ever been to a Five Guys you know that while you're waiting on your made to order burger, they have an endless supply of peanuts for you to gnash on and then discard on the floor. I always love a restaurant that lets me throw my peanut shells on the floor. It's so liberating!

Like most big guys, I love a good cheeseburger, and for me it's gotta be Five Guys... otherwise I'd just cheating myself. I don't know what it is, but I think it's the combination of fresh toppings, fresh bread, handmade and then grilled burgers, crisp apple smoked bacon... what more could you ask for on a burger? What about you readers? Is Five Guys the bees knees for you too, or is there somewhere else you like? How do you feel about In and Out burgers? Also, I'd probably be writing a different article if there was a local Backyard Burger, but until then, I'm sticking with Five Guys.

Review: Pizza Hut Big Italy

The new Pizza Hut Big Italy pizza brings back a lot of memories, for me and anyone else that was a fan of the legendary "Bigfoot pizza" from Pizza Hut that was a staple of pizza ordering in the 90's.  Basically we're talking about a giant sized oblong pizza here, that is cut into square pieces just like the old Bigfoot.  When you order you can order the same toppings on the whole thing, or split it up and have different toppings on each side.  I went with the classic sausage/pepperoni/mushroom combo on the whole thing since that combo is usually a winner.  The delivery took almost an hour, but we're here to review the actual food more than anything.  What I got from this is that it's exactly like the Bigfoot pizza, except the crust has a salty flavor to it.  There really isn't much else different that I noticed.  Personally when comparing the two, I feel like Domino's is usually the better pizza overall, even though it's fairly pricey.  I do like the fact that Pizza Hut offers a specialty type pizza that sometimes just fits a certain occasion.  Sometimes you're in the mood to just order a giant pizza to add to a good time vibe, and the Big Italy gets the job done in that department.

While it may not be a totally new concept or anything wildly different, the Big Italy is a good choice if you want a change of pace and want to order a big damn pizza once in awhile, and the $12 price isn't too horrible considering the size.  If your just wanting a quality pizza without the party vibe, and don't need to feed an army or anything, I'd stick with Domino's.  But if Pizza Hut really wants this one to work, I think they need a great commercial campaign like this to get the job done: