Review: Bear Republic Brewery

Bear Republic Brewery
345 Healdsburg Ave, Healdsburg
bearrepublic.com

Wine Country visitors and residents: you MUST try Bear Republic's Brewers Mac and Cheese.

That's an order.

I had tried this mac and cheese once before with friends, but had a hard time mustering up the energy to truly judge it since we had just spent the day lounging by the pool and day drinking at Francis Ford Coppola Winery down the way.  Yes, hard life, I know.

So when I found myself eating there again this past Saturday, I felt compelled to try it again and give it a proper review.

It was great.  So great.  I love the flavors in this mac and cheese.  It has jack, cheddar, American, Parmesan, and a blue cheese bechamel sauce.  I usually don't even like blue cheese, but it really works well in this mac and cheese.  You can get it plain, or with bacon and/or jalapenos.  Since I tend to avoid super spicy foods, I went with the bacon.  Okay, I admit, I also just really love bacon.

The texture is very creamy and cheesy and I just love that.  The portion size is rather generous, as I remember from my first visit.  On this trip, however, a friend and I split the dish and it was just the right size.  We both felt full, but not stuffed.

With all that said, I have to explain why this mac won't be making it into my top ten, and I may get a lot of flack for it.

While AWESOME, I have a really hard time thinking of Healdsburg as part of the direct Bay Area.  It's a over an hour outside of San Francisco, and I tend to think of wine country in general as it's own entity.  I mean that in the BEST possible way.  I mean, I don't get excited about visiting another part of the Bay Area, but I sure do get excited about visiting wine country.  So, yeah, I guess that's my reasoning.  Sorry If that offends anyone.

So, again, if you are in that area of northern wine country, GO.  Go get yourself a mac and cheese.  Oh, and maybe some of their famous beer offerings as well.  Let's not forget that.

Review: ROCKS Lakeview

ROCKS Lakeview
3463 N. Broadway, Chicago
rockslakeview.com

This is a FIELD TRIP post!  :)

I suppose Disneyland was also a field trip post since it's not the Bay Area, but I get especially excited when I can try mac and cheese offerings across California state lines.

Recently, I visited Chicago for a long weekend, and when friends and I found ourselves at ROCKS in the Lakeview neighborhood, I decided I should probably give a Chicago option a go.

ROCKS has named their dish Mac & Cheesus!  Kind of a funny title.  It contains smoked gouda, jack and cheddar cheese, diced chicken breast and is topped with some breadcrumbs and scallions.

I wish I could say it was as tasty as a Chicago deep dish pizza (now THAT was GREAT), but sadly, not this particular version.  The cheese texture was a little dry and the chicken was pretty flavorless, so it just sort of added to an overall bland taste.  I think that if you added some kind of seasoning to the chicken, or even attempted a kind of BBQ chicken flavor, it would probably give this mac the kick that it's missing.

What is good at ROCKS?  Well, I didn't get to try too much while there, but the sweet potato fries sure tasted awesome.  Stop in for beer, catch a football game and order some sweet potato fries.  And if you want to attempt the fried mac and cheese option (sadly, I could only try one), let me know what you think!

Review: Disneyland's Cafe Orleans

Disneyland's Cafe Orleans
New Orleans Square, Disneyland
disneyland.go.com

This post is a little belated, but I definitely remember this mac and cheese experience fairly well, because unfortunately it was rather disappointing.

One of my favorite parts of visiting Disneyland is eating all the amazing food.  On average, Disneyland and California Adventure boast some of the best dishes and snack foods around, so it ends up being about half the reason I fork out the money for a plane ticket.

Unfortunately, the mac and cheese option at Cafe Orleans, located in the New Orleans Square area of Disneyland, was not very delicious.  The flavor was pretty bland and the portion size was rather depressing, even for the adult sized.  I suppose they try to make up for it with some veggie additions.  But really, let's face it.  If someone's ordering a mac and cheese, they are probably not looking to have half of the dish be made up for with vegetables.  That's just my two cents.

If you do find yourself at Cafe Orleans, this might actually be one of the healthier options, which makes me laugh.  For something really memorable and delicious, try the beignets, or if you are really hungry the Monte Cristo, which is basically a regular Monte Cristo but with beignet style fried bread.  AH-MAZING.

Review: Public House

Public House
24 Willie Mays Plaza, San Francisco
publichousesf.com

This past weekend I was at AT&T Park (home of the San Francisco Giants) for the annual Giant Race Expo and 10k.  It was my third year running the race and I always get a little excited for the expo as well.  Afterwards, I grabbed a quick bite at Public House.  I couldn't believe I had never been there before.

I was excited to see that they had a Baked Mac and Cheese on the menu.  Cheeses included Provolone, Cheddar and Gouda.

The size was pretty perfect for lunch, but probably not enough to share with another person.  It wasn't too big and just perfect for carb loading for my race the following day.

The flavor was okay.  Nothing really stood out, but you could tell there was a nice mixture of flavors.  For the most part the sauce was creamy, however, there was a significant amount of oil that had separated from the cheese in the cooking process.  That's probably one of the least appetizing things to see in any dish: an immense amount of oil or grease.

 

 

Leftover oil from the cheese... ew.

All in all, though, it wasn't too bad.  I probably wouldn't order it again.  There were several other items on the menu that looked delicious, like the fried chicken or burger.  There were even mini corn dogs if you are feeling like something fun.

For a baseball lover, however, you can't beat the location.  Public House is located within the AT&T Park's Willie Mays Plaza, just adjacent to the ballpark and dugout store.  For any Giants fan, this place is a real treat.  I enjoyed sitting outside with my Hunter Pence bobble head.  All the runners received an official race bobble head at the expo.

So next time you're at a game and want to pick up a drink or bite before a game, check out Public House.  Make your own determination on their Baked Mac and Cheese, and let me know what you think!

Go Giants! :)

Review: Absinthe

Absinthe
398 Hayes Street, San Francisco
absinthe.com

Yum! Look at that cheesy crust! Photo courtesy of Vincent Serritella

This past Saturday, I had the pleasure to try Absinthe, a chic little restaurant and bar located in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco.

While they had many appetizing menu items (I had the steak entree), there was of course one side I definitely had to try:  the Baked Mac & Cheese!

Absinthe has a baked version with Vermont White Cheddar and some really amazing herbs.  There's even a slight kick of spice, which reminded me of my dish at Fat Angel, but it's not quite so powerful.

The sauce texture was interesting, but it was redeemed by the cripsy cheese crust that's formed around the outside of the bowl.  That was definitely something I hadn't seen in most mac and cheeses I've ordered and reviewed.  The portion size felt like a large side, but would make a great small meal or lunch should you ever hope to order just that.

I can't finish this review without mentioning the highlight of the evening's dishes, however.  The most amazing treat we had at our table were the homemade pretzel appetizers.  That's right: Pretzels.

These bite sized pretzels came five to an order and were paired with the most amazing garlic, cheese sauce.  The sauce wasn't too thick, in fact it drizzled onto the tops of the pretzels quite nicely.  I could have eaten so many more of those, but alas... I had to share them... Next time, I'm ordering some just for myself!  They were so, so, so delicious.

All in all, I highly recommend a stop at this Hayes Valley treat.  My only regret is not ordering the Galapagos cocktail, which has been featured on 7x7's The Big Drink app for some time now.  Oh well, next time!  So go, my friends, and pick up some pretzels, some mac and cheese, and maybe some other bites and have a little small plate party.  Enjoy!

Happy National Mac & Cheese Day!

It's National Mac and Cheese Day!

The Gilroy Garlic Mac @ Homeroom

What a great day to celebrate by finding or making your favorite mac dish and enjoying with friends.

It's not too late to get your mac and cheese fix.  Some places around the country are really celebrating, like in Baltimore, Maryland, you can get a free small mac and cheese from Noodles & Co.

I went to Homeroom with a friend at lunch today and we weren't the only ones with the same idea.  Not long after parking, the line was already forming and by the time we had been sitting just a few minutes, there was already a small group of folks sitting outside the restaurant waiting to be seated.

But we were some of the lucky ones.  We got seated right away and I was so excited to get my mac and cheese fresh from their kitchen.  So fresh, it was actually bubbling hot!

It's so bubbly!!! @homeroom510 #dontknowmac #NationalMacandCheeseDay

A video posted by You Don't Know Mac (@dontknowmac) on Jul 14, 2015 at 1:38pm PDT

What are you doing for National Mac & Cheese Day?  Stumped for locations to visit or recipes to try?  Maybe this infographic will help inspire some ideas!  Happy eating and Happy National Mac and Cheese Day!

Fit Tip of the Day: How Many Minutes?

Since Mac & Cheese isn't my only love in life, I've decided to start featuring some fitness tips I pick up in my everyday journey of living a more active life.  Most specifically, I've taken up jogging and running races and what not, so most of these tips will probably be geared towards that.

Here's a tip about how much of a given exercise you'd probably have to do to burn off the calories from one serving of mac and cheese.  I'm going to use an estimate from the Homeroom Gilroy Garlic Mac since that seems to be a pretty popular choice and mention on this blog.

The estimated calorie count for the Gilroy Garlic Mac (based on Homeroom's Mac & Cheese cookbook) is 940 calories per serving.  For this entry, I won't be factoring in the fat/carbs/protein break down and how they affect digestion, nutrition, etc., but for anyone who is curious, it's approximately 59g in total fat, 58g in total carbs, and 41g in protein.

If a 150 pound person were to eat a full serving of the Gilroy Garlic Mac, they would need to complete the following times for the following activities to burn off the 940 calories:

Running (8-min mile): 63 minutes
Running (10-min mile): 79 minutes
Running (12-min mile): 94 minutes
Jog/Walk Intervals: 135 minutes
Walking (4mph): 157 minutes
Swimming (vigorous effort): 79 minutes
Swimming (moderate effort): 118 minutes
Stationary Bike (vigorous effort): 73 minutes
Stationary Bike (light effort):  135 minutes
Basketball: 94 minutes
Football: 86 minutes
Jump Rope: 94 minutes
Tennis: 118 minutes
Volleyball: 94 minutes
Golf: 188 minutes
House Cleaning (vigorous effort): 235 minutes


Interesting list, huh?  I love my mac and cheese, but I love it even more when I balance it out with an activity like running or jogging.  I thought I'd share this list with everyone in case there was anyone out there interested in doing the same.