Pop Goes the Bagel

Why do restaurants feel the need to take something that's perfect and try to make it better?

Bagels are a great example. They are a divine creation and nothing is wrong with them. Baked right and topped off with a satisfying cream cheese there is nothing like a fresh made bagel.

So why change it?

Einstein Brothers Bagels didn't think plain old bagels were good enough so they went ahead and invented Bagel Poppers, which are a cheap rip off of Dunkin Donuts Munchkins.

The poppers are basically tiny little bagel balls. The featured flavor, Pumpkin, has a coating of pumpkin icing on top of the popper to add a little extra sweet flavor.

In the spirit of trying everything Pumpkin, the last time I was at Einsteins, I ordered up some Pumpkin Bagel Poppers. Much to my surprise, they were served in a plastic cup with a lid, all stacked on top of one another.

The icing was good, but it was extremely messy.....it was all over my fingers, hands, face and clothes because I had to dig in the cup to get the little frosting covered popper. The other problem was that the popper was chewy like a bagel. Therefore, eating it was not a pleasant experience because you're holding on to the popper with your hand and it's slipping all over the place because of the icing.

A price point of $3 for some bagel balls in a cup also seemed a little excessive. At most bagel shops you can get an entire bagel and cream cheese for about $2.

Here's the deal. Einsteins serves awesome bagels, they don't need to take the left over dough and turn them into little bagel bits. What they should have done was just offer pumpkin bagels with that rich pumpkin icing on the side......now that would have been sweet.

If I was a Doughnut...

If I was a doughnut I would be a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

Krispy Kreme treats their doughnuts with such love and care. They gently baked them fresh every day, cover them in a warm glaze and then coat them in frosting and set them out to be purchased.

Ah, the life as a doughnut, it must be good.

Although I do love to eat doughnuts I usually don't venture away from my usual order. When it comes to Krispy Kreme, there really is nothing like a nice and hot good old fashioned glazed doughnut.

To make things seasonal and exciting however Krispy Kreme has come out with a Pumpkin Spice Cake doughnut.

On my mission to taste everything pumpkin, I visited my local Krispy Kreme and immediately was hit in the face by that oh so tempting Krispy Kreme aroma of fresh baked doughnuts.

As I was ordering I was already drooling waiting for my Pumpkin Spice Cake doughnut.

Upon my first bites it was just as good as I had imagined. Not too much pumpkin flavor and the "spice" was just right. The glaze coating was just sweet enough, but not overwhelming.

Until this moment I had forgotten how good Krispy Kreme actually is....I haven't had a doughnut from there in years. Not to mention a doughnut is extremely affordable....at just around $1 this is a perfect Fall treat that will definitely satisfying your craving.

So if I was a doughnut, I wouldn't want to be just a regular Krispy Kreme doughnut, but a Pumpkin Spice Cake doughnut.

What type of doughnut would you be?

Pumpkin Spice Frappuccinos are Evil

It's always bittersweet when Starbucks rolls out their famous Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino.

Like clockwork right after Labor Day everything in Starbucks stores gets converted to "autumn" themed to promote this appetizingly evil beverage. The way Starbucks advertises the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino really is sick.....how do they make it look so flippin delicious?

This year was no different and after driving by Starbucks a couple of times I couldn't resist my temptation any longer.

I went walking in to my local Starbucks with pride ready to make my annual Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino purchase and as I was preparing to order I was very clear with the Barista: "Listen, I know that you are extremely overpriced, and I probably won't be back this year to buy another one, so can you please make this Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino good!?"

She looked at me like I was a complete bubbling lunatic and graciously agreed to make it taste delicious.

Then she told me my total: just under $5. WAIT WHAT?! I order a Tall, a Tall! Not a "Venti" why the heck does it cost so much?!

She then explained that because the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino is "seasonal" there is a slight up charge from the normal Frappuccino price. An up charge at Starbucks? That makes absolutely no sense.

A little disgruntled I still paid and took my Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino back to my car.

Although I hate to admit this, it was completely delicious. The deep taste of pumpkin with a hint of spice blended together topped with whipped cream was simply extraordinary.

Even though it tasted so good I still couldn't justify it. $5 is a lot of money.....that's two loaves of bread, or 5 meals at Wendy's. I almost feel financially irresponsible for continuing to give Starbucks my money.

The already ridiculous price plus the unnecessary up charge for a "seasonal" item really irritated me. The Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino, may be "seasonal" when Starbucks decides it is, but as many of you may know, you can actually order it any time of the year.....with no up charge.

Simply said, Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino's are pure evil.

They lure you in promising the world only to disappoint you with an outrageous price, then they win you over again when the sensational taste hits your lips, then you're angry again when you start sucking every last drop through your straw.

It's sad, but I fall for the same Starbucks trick each and every year. Maybe next Fall I'll remember and change.....probably not though.

The Great Pumpkin Taste Off

Fall has finally arrived.

What a wonderful time of year....the leaves start changing, it gets a bit cooler, pumpkin patches start popping up, and Target pulls out the Christmas decorations (yes, Christmas decor in October).

Many restaurants like to celebrate the spirit of Fall as well by launching a variety of new products that all revolve around the pumpkin.

It almost seems like they can inject the flavor of pumpkin into just about anything these days as long as it helps them to drive sales.

Personally, for my entire life I used to hate pumpkin. My mom used to make pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins......and I wouldn't come within 15 feet of them. Can you imagine me actually saying no to a form of pie?

Last year however, as I finally broke my habits and gave pumpkin a try I came to find that I completely love it. Almost anything pumpkin flavored is simply delicious!

If you love pumpkin like I do, you're in luck because over the next several days I'm going to eat and drink as much pumpkin flavored food I can get my hands on and write about it here.

Below are the restaurants that I plan on visiting to try their featured pumpkin item:

Starbucks
Einstein's Bros. Bagels
Dunkin Donuts
Krispy Kreme
Dairy Queen
711 (not a restaurant, but they still have a pumpkin drink)

All of the products and experiences will be rated against each other and one will be selected as the winner of Great Pumpkin Taste Off!

Am I missing any restaurant that is featuring something pumpkin flavored that I need to go try?

The Big Sexy First Watch Photo Shoot

I often find myself in unusual situations, especially in restaurants.

For this reason, it may come as no surprise to you that my family and I were recently involved in a Photo Shoot for First Watch Restaurants.

About a month ago, we were approached by the Manager of the First Watch we visit. He told us that First Watch was looking for "extras" to participate in a Photo Shoot at their new restaurant location about 15 minutes away. They were planning to use the photos on their website, Facebook and through other PR outlets. The bonus was that we all received Breakfast for Two coupons for participating.

The opportunity to star in a photo shoot along with coupons for free breakfast was right up my ally, so on behalf of everyone in my family, I agreed.

Early one morning we arrived at a brand new First Watch location in Palm Harbor, FL. Inside the restaurant there were cameras set up all over the dining room along with a handful of photographers and other "artistic and creative" looking people.

Not to mention there were "models" in the restaurant as well. This, by far was the most entertaining part. The young male model playing the "server" was patiently waiting shirtless when we got there because they were ironing his polo. From the look on his face, it seemed he would have been perfectly content doing the photo shoot with no shirt on, after all he is a "model".

They took the less attractive non-model like extras and split us up into two tables and then tortured us by placing beautiful looking food (pictured above) right in front of us that we weren't allowed to touch, eat or breathe on.

Then, we sat there. Staring at the food. Staring at each other. And smiling when the photographer told us to.

About 45 minutes later we were done and handed our breakfast coupons. When we walked out I actually wondered if we would make it into any of the photos or if they would cut us out in editing.

Earlier this week I found out when First Watch posted a selection of photos from the shoot on their Facebook Fan Page.

Look closely at the photo below. The server in the yellow polo is the model who wishes he was shirtless that I mentioned earlier. I put a red circle around the smiling bald held of my father-in-law who apparently was attractive enough to leave in the photo.

Now, for my wife and I's big debut you'll need to look very closely at the server's armpits. In his left armpit is my wife's head with a gray shirt. In his right armpit is me with a blue shirt on. Unfortunately the server is blocking the best looking person of all, my daughter, completely.

So there is my big claim to fame: I'm the guy in the server's arm pit in the First Watch photo. Gosh I love being a model.

To view all the photos from the shoot, click here.

Fluffy Yeast Rolls

The free bread a restaurant offers is an extremely important part of the experience.

With a single bite, free bread can alter your view of the entire restaurant. Really amazing free bread, moves souls and makes us want to come back again and again.

Logan's Roadhouse offers life altering bread....

I walked into Logan's for the first time today and at first was rather startled by the atmosphere. Just beyond the host stand is a glass case full of raw steaks. Basically a butcher shop display in the restaurant. Right next to the butcher case is a glass wall with a full view into the kitchen so you can literally watch them prepare all of the food.

After taking our seats we were greeted by our server who told us all about Logan's (the fresh baked yeast rolls, fire grilled steaks, awesome mac and cheese, etc). Then, he made a promise: "this is your restaurant, we can do anything you want and meet any request, we value our customers and we will customize anything to make them happy"

That, is a very powerful promise. As a customer, it made me feel good...he was authentic and genuine and I believed him.

When he came back to take our order, we ordered the appetizer sampler platter, however we had one change. We wanted to add the Smokin Hot Grilled Wings to the platter and it wasn't one of the options for us to choose from. When we told our server that we wanted to add the wings to the platter, he promptly responded: "I'm sorry, we can' do that"

WHAT!?!?

You just spent 5 minutes blabbing on about how it's "our restaurant" and we can do "whatever we want" and now you're telling us no!?

Shocked, I challenged him on this statement and reminded him that he literally had just told us that we can make any change we want. After laying on more guilt than necessary, I finally convinced him to agree, but only after he said he would up charge us $1.

What started out as a great experience had turned suddenly sour.

Then, the free yeast rolls were brought to our table and saved the day.

R-E-M-A-R-K-A-B-L-E.

Light, fluffy, and piping hot the yeast rolls came out steaming and brushed with butter. The bread literally melted in your mouth.

Just a few minutes earlier we were upset, disappointed and irritated. Our server promised us something and then broke his promise moments later. However, the yeast rolls changed all this. Suddenly the chicken wings didn't even seem that important anymore when we had these glorious rolls in front of us.

Then I found out that Logan's offers mini burgers (or Roadies) on the yeast rolls. Clearly, you know what I ordered.

The Roadies were just as satisfying as the yeast roll and I'll be bold and say it was once of the best burgers I have ever had....juicy, flavored, and topped with cheese and a pickle. The yeast roll, however made the burger. Every burger should be served on a light buttery roll like this.

So at the end of the day, even though there was an awkward case of raw meat, and a slightly deceitful server it turned out to be a great experience. The free bread saved the day.....and I took a dozen rolls home.

[Free Offer: The manager stopped by our table and gave us two Free Logan's Roadhouse Appetizer certificates. The first two people who post on comment on this post about their favorite restaurant bread will get 1 of the Free Appetizer certificates!]