Firehouse Subs - Smokehouse Beef and Cheddar Brisket Sub

New Sub Place!

So I guess there a new sub shop in town. Firehouse subs. Apparently its a chain, but its the first one in Illinois. This one happens to be in Danada Square West in Wheaton. It appeared to be there first days open. They had 12+ employees and 2 customers. As I walked in, everyone working at the time shouted in unison.WELCOME TO FIREHOUSE. I almost walked out, but i was hungry intrigued by the menu. I really cant stand when restaurants do that, I think its cheesy, and not in a good way. A simple hello will do. I scanned the menu. I decided to go with the Smokehouse Beef and Cheddar Brisket Sub combo. This sub is served hot with beef brisket, Cheddar cheese, mayo and deli mustard on a hoggie roll. It was about 9 inches long. I took it back to work to eat it there and when I dug in, all I tasted was the beef, which wasn't very good. It was kinda dry and had an odd taste to it. Super thin cut as well. I then realized they barley put any cheese on it. I had a hard time tasting any mayo or deli mustard either. I open it up and sure enough, there was hardly anything but beef. I am wondering if they made it incorrectly. I cannot say for sure. I would like to try this place again once they have been open a bit longer. As for now, not a good sub at all. I was kinda glad when it was gone. The total price for the combo was $7.88 which included chips and a drink. The sub alone was $5.89. A bit more than Jimmy John medium sized sub, but you do get it hot.

Menu Master Rating
Item reviewed - Smokehouse Beef and Cheddar Brisket Sub
Taste - 3.2 (beef was no good, very little topping added)
Value - 4.2 (no toppings, no good)
Total - 3.7

Buona Beef - Solo 9 inch BBQ Chicken Pizza

Solo BBQ Chicken Pizza

I wanted something lite for dinner, so what did I decide? Pizza of course! I decided to head over to Buona Beef for a individual size BBQ chicken pizza. The pizza is 9 inches and made when you order it. The pizza was brought to the table and it looked like the perfect size. It came with pulled chicken, BBQ sauce, red onion and cheese on top, all on a thin crispy crust. I must say it was better than I expected. The crust was perfect. BBQ sauce was great. It also did end up being the perfect size. I didn't have a hard time finishing it, but it didn't leave me hungry. The cost was $6.95, which I think is a great price for a 9 inch pizza with chicken on it. I will defiantly order this again.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Buona Beef BBQ Chicken Pizza
Taste - 9.1 (tasted awesome)
Value - 8.9 (great price for a quality pizza)
Total - 9.0

Adobo Grill - Pulled Pork Quesadillas

Wet Pork!

Last week I was made aware that an Adobo Grill was opening close to my workplace in Wheaton. I have tried Adobo Grill before at another location, but not in a few years. Adobo Grill is like Chipotle, but with a little more variety. I decided to order the pulled pork quesadillas. I noticed after I ordered that the employee grabbed a tortilla the size of large pizza! This pleased me. The quesadilla came with pulled pork, cheese, and salsa in it. On the side you get sour cream, fresh hand squashed guacamole, and hot sauce for no extra charge. I dug in and noticed something I didn't like right away. The pulled pork was wet and slimy. It didn't make it inedible or horrible tasting, but It made it a little unappealing. I would recommend ordering chips because they do give you a lot of extra quac. The good thing about this quesadilla was the size. This was one of the biggest quesadillas Ive ever ordered. It will defiantly fill you up. The price of it was $6.95. A little pricey considering you didnt get any sides, but you do get the sour cream, quac, and hot sauce with it. I would order this again, except with a different meat.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Adobo Grill Pulled Pork Quesadilla
Taste - 5.9 (wet pork wasn't very appealing)
Value - 7.5 (defiantly wont leave hungry)
Total - 6.7

Scoobies - Cheeseburger w/fries

Scoobie Doobie Dont!

I went hunting on my lunch break earlier this week. No not actual hunting, hunting for a new place to eat. I headed down Ogden road thinking there would be something i have not tried. I finally found a place called Scoobies. Scoobies is a hot dog joint in Downers Grove on Ogden. The menu had nothing interesting. I heard from a food critic recently that you can tell a lot about a place by ordering the simplest item on the menu. So I decided to just try the cheeseburger. I placed the order and unfortunately they had it ready in a matter of seconds. Did I mention it was about 11 am and no other customers were there? Obviously they hadn't just grilled the burger. The burger was dry, had no taste, and while the fries looked like good seasoned fries, they also had no taste. The roll the burger was on was about the only good thing about it. I got a combo for $5.39. Not a horrible deal, but you'd think for that price you would at least get a semi-fresh burger. It also wasn't that big of burger.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Scoobies Cheeseburger
Taste - 3.7 (when the roll is the best part, that's not a good sign)
Value - 4.8 (not a horrible combo price, but its never a good value when you get low quality food)
Total - 4.25

Portillos - Breaded Chicken Croissant w/ Cheese

Chicken Croissant!

I stopped at Portillos on my way to work the other day to pick up a quick lunch. I order the breaded chicken croissant with cheese. This item is something I have ordered a lot in the past, but I don't think many people order it when they go to Portillos. Its a thin peice of breaded chicken on a buttery croissant. It comes with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I usually order american cheese on it as well. Its one of my favorite chicken sandwiches, but its price keeps me from ordering it on a consistant basis. Its $4.19, plus cheese is .4o cents, which brings the price to $4.59. I doesnt really even fill me up all that much either.

Menu master rating
Item Reviewed - Breaded chicken croissant w/ cheese
Taste - 7.6 (Good quality croissant, chicken is never dry)
Value - 4.5 (chicken breast is small, not filling, high price tag)
Total - 6.05

John's Rib House - Giovanni Deluxe

I Don't Know Who Giovanni is, But I Like Him!

Thanks to Keri's hunger for rib tips Friday night, I was introduced to John's Rib House for some good BBQ. John's Rib House is located on Route 53 and Maple Ave in Lisle. I took a look at the menu at John's and decided what to order. I was pretty hungry, so I was looking for something heavy. John's has pulled pork, ribs, rib tips,chicken, catfish and even gyros. I then realized that there was only one guy working and he was preparing food for other customers while taking our orders. I was really having a hard time deciding what to get. Then I saw it. A sign made out of a white piece of paper hanging from the bottom of the menu, written in colored marker, Giovanni's Deluxe. What is the Giovanni Deluxe you ask? It includes: 3 rib tips ,2 chicken wings, 1 hot link, and 1 breaded catfish fillet. I tried the rib tips first. Awesome, meat was tender, not too much cartilage, BBQ sauce was thin with a little kick. I usually like a thicker sauce, but it was good. And as an added bonus, he gave me about 7 of them instead of 3! Next i dug into the chicken wings. Again, awesome. They had a crispy skin, but not over breaded. Meat again was tender and juicy. My only problem with it was that there wasn't a lot of meat on them. Next I tried the hot link. Oh boy, I was a big fan of this one. It was charred perfectly and it had a little heat to it. My only problem with this is that I didn't order another one! Next, the catfish. I don't order fish that often, but I do enjoy it. I wasn't the biggest fan of this catfish. The breading was soggy and greasy. It just wasn't very appealing. Overall it was the best BBQ I've had in a while. The price of the Giovanni Deluxe was $10.50. Not too shabby considering the amount of food. I did get the bonus rib tips, but even without them, I don't think a normal human being would be able to finish all this. Thanks to Giovanni for coming up with this collection of food!

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Giovanni Deluxe
Taste - 8.7 (everything reeked of awesomeness except the catfish)
Value - 8.0 ($10.50 for a ton of food, I like it)
Total - 8.35

Harry Caray's Lombard - Burger Bar

Cubs Opening Day Half Price Burger Bar!

Baseball seasons finally here, so some fellow Cubs fans (one sox fan) and I took a trip to Harry Caray's in Lombard, IL to watch the first Cubs game of the season. I wasn't planning on eating anything, I was just going to have a beer or two. That all changed when the bar tender told us that he would give us the March Madness special which included $2 bud lights and 1/2 price burger bar! It wasn't an actual burger bar, but it was more of a create your own burger type of deal. You choose the type of meat you want, then your seasoning, then cheese, then type of bun, then any other added toppings. I went with the regular sirloin burger with a cajun seasoning, gorzalany gorgonzola cheese, avocado, and hickory smoked bacon all on a pretzel roll. The burger came out and it was huge. I'm guessing it was a half pound, but it looked bigger than that. The burger was good. The pretzel roll could have been a bit more like a pretzel, a little too soft. It was cooked perfectly. My biggest problem with the burger was partially my fault. The gorgonzola cheese was really strong, and there was a lot of it. It overpowered the whole burger. I couldn't even taste the cajun seasoning because of it. I would suggest ordering it with a different cheese unless you like a lot of really strong cheese. Casey ordered a peppercorn crust and also said it was strong. The burger ended up being about $12.50, but since it was half price it came out to $6.25. A bargain for a quality 1/2 pound burger. The burger came with steak fries as well.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Harry Carays Burger Bar
Taste - 6.1 (partially my fault, but I feel there was too much gorgonzola)
Value - 9.1 (a steal for 1/2 price, a little pricey without the deal)
Total - 7.6

Taco Bell - Bacon Ranch Chicken Tortada

New Taco Bell Item!

I tried taco bells newest creation, the Bacon Ranch Chicken Tortada. Its Taco Bell attempt at a torta. Its a large tortilla filled with chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and ranch sauce. Its then folded into a rectangle and grilled. Its then cut into triangles. I took a few bites, it was OK, not much flavor, and it defiantly could use some cheese. I am a cheese maniac. I put cheese on everything. Yes, everything. I go through a can of parmesan a week. So maybe its just me, but I think if you added some cheese, this item could be good. I bought the combo they were offering for $4.49, which included the tortada, a taco, and large drink. Not a bad value, but they were charging $3.29 for the tortada alone. For Taco Bell that seems a bit over priced. I would order the Bacon Ranch Chicken Tortada again, but I would prob ask them to throw some cheese on it. I don't know if this is a limited time only item, but its worth a try if you want something new.

Menu Master Ratings
Item reviewed - Taco Bell Bacon Ranch Chicken Tortada
Taste - 4.8 (not much flavor, would have been better with cheese)
Value - 7.4 (if you get the combo, its a nice filling lunch for under $5)
Total - 6.1

Times Square Cafe - The Gyro

First Review!

Today I visited the Times Square Cafe in Oak Brook, IL. It just opened recently, replacing the horrible D's Diggety Dogs. They labeled themselves as casual American and Mediterranean. The menu had a lot to choose from. Burgers, hot dogs, gyros, Italian beef, salads, and even ribs. I went with the Gyro. The gyro was very good. Tomato's were fresh. Sauce was great. Pita bread was perfect. The only problem I had with it was the size. The gyro was $6, which is about average for a gyro. At most places the meat is piled up so high you have to eat some of the meat with a fork before you can eat it like a sandwich. I was able to fold this gyro immediately. The taste made up for the size, but was left a little hungry. The overall service was good. Nothing to complain about.

Menu Master Ratings
Item Reviewed - Times Square Cafe Gyro
Taste - 8.9 (Not much to complain about here)
Value - 6.2 (Could have added a lot more meat)
Total - 7.6