Foodenator

During the summer months, or hot months, the temperature rises, men and women alike are forced to drink beers that are refreshing. Foodenator selected myself to review such a refreshing beer on my latest trip to the Kalahari Desert, Africa. I knew I would have several hours to put back some beers during one of several horseback rides through hot sands. The Leinenkugel’s Summer Shandy [Pictured Right] was selected by Foodenator readers for the summer drinking review.

What did it drink like? Summer Shandy drank like a cold crisp refreshing lemonade mixed with beer. It is not overly sweet as you might expect, in fact it was surprisingly less-sweet and tasty. You can tell you are drinking a beer just by pouring it into your mouth. Make no mistake, this is not your fairy friend’s hard lemonade. Summer Shandy is beer. Unlike fruity malternative beverages, Summer Shandy will not give you heart burn nor will feel as though a mild to potent acid is passing through your internals. An average human could put back a dozen Summer Shandy’s and feel terrific.

What is a the buzz like? Smooth, clarity, refreshing. Summer Shandy breathes new life into the dead and resuscitates the mind.

Did you receive a hangover? No.

Whats not to like? If you are a man, you may feel as though you are drinking a girly drink. Make no mistake, it is a fruity tasting beverage. That said, you are at least drinking a beer, not a malt beverage or a glass of white wine.

How was the finish? Crisp, clear. Rejuvenation.

What type of event would Summer Shandy be a good fit for? Any event outside on a day with temperatures above 80 degrees sunny to partly cloudy with a less than 60% chance of rain.

How did the can feel in your hand? Good. The standard aluminum can is put to work here. The can itself has a tasteful design.

Does it come in bottle format? Yes. Summer Shandy’s come in bottles. The bottles utilize a brown glass. At time of print, whether the glass was hand blown or not could not be determined.

If you were stranded on an island for an extended period of time, would you pack a few in your cooler? Yes. Summer Shandy’s would be fitting for island stranding.

Would you recommend this to a woman? Absolutely, the female mouth would delight in the tastiness. Even non-fans of beers would luxuriate in Summer Shandy’s ability to refresh the human body.

Final Score:

*********1/2

9 1/2 stars out of 10

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Popularity: 18%

Aight my girl Emma gone show you what UP!

How to Crack an Egg With One Hand from Apartment Therapy: The Kitchn.

AIGHT GET CRACKIN!

Popularity: 2%

ShotCakes is a Food Source 3.0 restaurant offering up ice cream injected cupcakes at moderate prices. Located deep in Massachusetts, at the Burlington mall Food Court.

This reviewer was not intimidated by the heavy set people waiting in line to order this mall delicacy. Luckily by the time I made it to the front of the line, there were still a few ShotCakes available. Most of the time, when the over-weight crowd doesn’t get there before you do, there is a large variety of ShotCakes to be eaten, such as the Red Velvet ShotCake or the Golden ShotCake.

A ShotCake client can order any regular cupcake and get it INJECTED with ice cream (Vanilla or Chocolate), which transforms the regular cupcake into a ShotCake.

When I got to the counter, there was one Tiramisu cupcake available, just sitting there begging to be injected with ice cold cream. I said, ‘Gimme the Tiramisu cupcake and inject it with vanilla.’ The woman behind the counter said, ‘you. got. it’, and complied with my demand. She then demanded $3 and some change… close to $4 bucks. Being a Foodenator.com reviewer, I am well off… very well off… so I reached into my expensive alligator wallet and pulled out some cash. It took approx. 1 minute to find some ones amid my twenties, fifties, and tens. She accepted my money and I was off to the other end of the counter to pick up the mall delicacy.

After a less than a minute wait time, I had my ShotCake in my right hand, my spoon in my left, and also a napkin in the right hand as well. I could sense the Cupcake was cold, and the ice cream was saying ‘I am in you’ to the cupcake. Found a table really close by to devour the ShotCake…

Tiramisu ShotCake is not as light as a regular tasty tiramisu cake, but it had a good taste. The tiramisu and its vanilla ice cream companion combination was outstanding… it was almost like… eating cake with a scoop of ice cream. Unusual, but true, I ate the entire ShotCake, and enjoyed doing so. I was tempted to get another, but I held back since the line was filled with people having difficulties making up their mind.

I recommend the ShotCake experience.

******** 1/2 — 8.5 out of a possible 10

More Info:
ShotCakes

Popularity: 58%

People all over the world have been enjoying pizza for years. Although now it is considered a decidedly American food, it has origins in Europe and many national variations. Every war since the 19th century  has had an annual unofficial Pizza for Peace Day (or Pizza pour la Jour de Paix), where fighters lay down their arms and join each other for a hot slice. Genghis Khan probably would have succeeded in wiping out more than just Persia if it wasn’t for his becoming fat and lazy after discovering pizza in his attempted Mediterranean conquests. Anthropologists and archeologists are currently working to prove a theory that Pompeii only exploded because a group of Neapolitans operating out of Salerno tried to tap into the volcano to create massive pizza ovens.

Pizza consumption has seen explosive increases worldwide since the 1970s. Until recently, that is. In 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) saw a dramatic downturn in overall pizza sales growth, and since 2007 sales have actually been decreasing. What is behind this dramatic change? Some blame the liberal media’s obesity epidemic claims, others blame the influx of new franchises in abandoned Pizza Hut buildings, such as Chutney Hut. Foodenator’s own studies found quite another cause, however. In scientific polling, we found that people had simply grown bored with the “standard” pizza toppings. Working with grassroots and paramilitary groups, Foodenator activists began trying to stymie the pizza sales downturn by marketing new toppings: Buffalo Chicken, Pesto, and Margherita style pizzas. But this only slowed the bleeding. Fortunately, Pineappleope Research and Development teams got an early look at the data and were able to begin research on the next “Killer Topping” in the pizza world: fire. Later this summer, fire based toppings will begin to be offered alongside pepperoni and nutmeg at Bertucci’s and Dominos, and we expect fire-based toppings to be picked up independent pizza parlors across the world. PAO R&D shares went up an amazing 111 points this quarter, with further trading expecting it to cause a stock split and make investors jump up and down.

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Popularity: 13%

Foodenator now presents you with the user-voted most awful looking thing to eat ever. EVER.

Ever heard of geoducks? First of all, they’re pronounced gooey-ducks. The prehistoric-looking and, well, pretty ugly shellfish, are native to the Pacific Northwest and fascinating creatures. Though tough to raise (it involves hours of hunched-over farming), they’ve been called the prime rib of clams. Liza de Guia tried some for the first time on her recent trip to Washington state.

“I can honestly say as a seafood lover I felt like I had been missing out my whole life. I tried geoduck sashimi, geoduck fritters, geoduck in chowder and geoduck ceviche.” She visited Taylor Shellfish‘s geoduck farm on Stretch Island in Puget Sound, the largest growers in the Northwest, in this episode of Food Curated.

story from Serious Eats

Popularity: 33%

fried cheek of tuna is delicious!

Popularity: 9%

One of my favorite pizza places in Boston is Santarpio’s Pizza, located on Chelsea Street in East Boston. Unfortunately for many people, East Boston is a little out of the way unless you are making a trip to the airport. We really wish they would open a more central location!!!

They have been voted to the “Best of Boston” numerous times and have an endorsement from Rachel Ray on their website.

Their pizza reminds us a lot of the flavor that you might find in Regina’s Pizza because the flavors that you get in the pizza indicate it’s top of the line. We really liked their crust, it was a perfect combination of crunchy shell with softer dough on the inside. The cheese is bursting with flavor, we don’t know what kind they use but it is definitely a mix. The staff will drop your pizza down on a warped metal try but they still smile and are friendly to their customers.

We are giving Santarpio’s our first ever FIVE STARS!!! *****

This is worth a trip to East Boston to try this slice of heaven.

Popularity: 14%

This past weekend, two of the taste testers from Foodenator visited Ledo’s Pizza. This is a smaller chain, contained within the mid-atlantic region of the U.S. which offers square pizza slices.

Pictured below is the Large pizza, which is split between two different trays. We LOVE that you can order a half cheese/half pepperoni and not have to worry about your toppings mixing! They also use a unique pepperoni which is a thicker slice and each cut of pizza is sure to get pepperoni right in the middle of the slice.

The pizza is definitely loaded with grease and after eating the first 2 or 3 slices we did dab a little bit of it off, but the grease does add to the overall flavor. The first bite of the pizza is a combination of both salty flavor derived from the cheese and a fairly sweet tomato sauce. The crust is thinner with flaky and crunchy texture. The flakiness of the crust is best described as a buttery flake that will melt in your mouth along with the pizza. A large pizza is sufficient to feed a family of four, we had plenty left over for an afternoon snack.

The staff at our Ledo’s was fast and efficient…shout out to our brand new waiter!

We give Ledo’s 4 out of 5 stars!! ****

Popularity: 17%

This weekend, two of the editors at Foodenator ventured over to the Upper Crust located in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass.

Although the location is very small and the tables are close together, we were able to squeeze into a corner after ordering a “slice of the day” consisting of Pesto & Chicken and a slice of Cheese.  First let’s examine the traditional cheese.   They use a very thin crust that is cooked to the point where it is crispy but not burnt.  The crust is almost flaky.  For a sauce, they use chunks of tomatoes that are pretty sweet with a nice blend kick of tart seasoning.  They don’t make their slice with a tan of cheese but overall we gave their slice 4 out of 5 stars! ****

We also love that they deliver pizza’s on a bike, way to go green!

Our Second Slice, the Pesto Chicken pizza was also very good.  The crust was exactly the same as the cheese pizza.  We really liked the flavoring that we picked up from the pesto but we wish it was dispersed a little bit more evenly on the pizza.  The chicken was also very good but a little on the dry side.  Probably a result of buying it by the slice and re-heating.  We suggest if you like this type of Pizza to order an entire pie and ask for extra cheese which should help to hold some of the moisture into the chicken.  This slice gets 3 out of 5 stars!  ***

Overall we love this chain which has the feel of an individual restaurant.

Popularity: 33%

The Editors at Foodenator had the opportunity to check out some pizza in Midtown West, Manhattan recently. After searching the internet for a tasty piece of New York Pizza, we decided to check out Il Mare, located right by Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.

You can choose to purchase your pizza by the pie or by the slice and there are a variety of flavors to choose from as well. We decided to try the traditional slice of Cheese Pizza and a slice of the Tomato Basil.

First we tried the Cheese Pizza. The first bite was literally heaven in our mouth. There was a perfect amount of each ingredient and it almost melted. The crust is thinner and by the time you get to the end you just want to grab another slice before finishing the crust because the toppings are so good. The sauce used on the pizza is a little too sweet which was our only regret with the pizza.

The Tomato Basil pizza was also very good. They use several different kinds of cheese on the pizza including a fresh mozzarella. We liked that we had a variety of choices by the slice and the staff was very fast and efficient. The prices are very reasonable and you can be in and out of the restaurant in about 15 minutes.

Overall, we give Il Mare 4 out of 5 stars!! Work a trip to Penn Station to check out their pizza.

Popularity: 11%