Adobo Grill - Ancho Chili BBQ Burrito

BBQ Burrito!

One of the few perks of working in retail is that other businesses like to bring you free stuff to let you know they are new to the area. As I mentioned in a previous blog (Adobo Grill - Pulled Pork Quesadillas) Adobo grill has put a new location in Wheaton. The manager brought over some free entree coupons just to let us know they are there. I have always said, the best food is free food. Since I tried a quesadilla last time, I decided to try one of their signature burritos. I went with the Ancho Chili BBQ Burrito. Now you can order this many different ways. I ordered it with grilled chicken,rice, pinto beans, hot habanero salsa, cheese, and sour cream. With this burrito you get the ancho chili BBQ sauce also. Its a very large burrito. The BBQ sauce is interesting, it defiantly isn't your average BBQ sauce. It isn't thin, but it isn't too thick either. It has a bit of a smokey taste to it. I enjoyed it. The salsa was not near hot enough though. If you have habanero salsa, I would expect something a little hotter. Overall though, It was pretty good. Not amazing, but it was something different. Normally the burrito was $6.95. $6 - $7 seems to be the standard price for an item there. I will base my score off that price, not the free price.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Ancho Chili BBQ Burrito
Taste - 7.7 (sauce was interesting, salsa could have been a lot hotter)
Value - 6.8 (you wont leave hungry, a bit more expensive than chipotle)
Total - 7.25

Anyways - Carolina Nachos

Pulled Pork On Nachos, Genius!

I went to my favorite restaurant on Friday, Anyways. Anyways now has two locations, one in Oak Brook Terrace on Roosevelt Rd and one in Bloomingdale on Army Trail Rd. I ordered the Carolina Nachos. The Carolina Nachos is a special item that is not on the main menu. If you don't see it, just ask one of the fine Anyways employees if you can order it. The Carolina Nachos have all the usual ingredients, but instead of chicken, ground beef, or steak, it has BBQ pulled pork! Anyways has great pulled pork and great BBQ sauce. The nachos are tri-colored for an American look I guess. You get plenty of all the different ingreiants. Some places like to skimp on the sour cream and quac. I don't know why more places don't have this on their menu already because its so good. Ever since this appetizer was created last year, I have probably ordered it 6 or 7 times. The Carolina Nachos are $6.99. Try it now!

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Anyways Carolina Nachos
Taste - 9.2 (a great creation, pork and BBQ are excellent)
Value - 9.0 (a great price for a mound of food)
Total - 9.1

Cheddars - New Orleans Pasta

Sausage, Chicken, and Shrimp in one dish!


A few Fridays ago I was headed to a friends house after a long day at work and I decided I was going to treat myself to a good meal. I stopped at Cheddars in Bolingbrook and ordered the New Orleans Pasta to go. This pasta dish consisted of penne pasta in a creamy cajun sauce with cajun spiced chicken, sausage, and shrimp. Onions and green peppers were also scattered throughout the pasta. It also included a piece of garlic bread. The pasta first off had a good flavor to it. It could have used a little more of the cajun sauce as a few of the noodles were bare. The pieces of onion were way to big in my opinion. The chicken was my favorite meat in the dish. The problem was I could only find two pieces. There wasn't too much sausage either, three small pieces. However there were about 8 pieces of shrimp, which seemed a bit overcooked. I would have liked it if they evened out the meat a little. Garlic Bread was a little soggy, possibly because it was in a take out box for a 1/2 hour. Over all I defiantly enjoyed it, there sure was enough of it, but I wish the chicken:sausage:shrimp ratios were better. The New Orleans Pasta was $9.99, a good price for a sit down restaurant pasta dish.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Cheddars New Orleans Pasta
Taste - 6.5 (had several things wrong with it, but still enjoyed it, has potential if corrected)
Value - 7.3 (good quantity, good price)
Total - 6.9

Taco Bell - Chicken Burrito

My Favorite Value Menu Item!


Ever since the Taco Bell Chicken Burrito was created and put on their value menu last year, it has become my favorite value meal item. For only .99 (some Taco Bells its $1.29) you get a small burrito packed with grilled chicken, seasoned rice, avocado ranch sauce, and cheddar cheese. The chicken tastes a little like rubber, but what do expect for something under a buck. Yes, its the smallest burrito Ive ever seen, but it fills your stomach up. When I do order it, I usually order two or get it with a chicken quesadilla and it is more than enough to fill me up. If you haven't tried it, do it now!

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Taco Bell Chicken Burrito
Taste - 7.5 (chicken is a little rubbery, all ingredients work together nicely)
Value - 9.5 (very filling, under $1)
Total - 8.5

Chcik-fil-A is Coming to the Chicago Area!

Yes, you heard me correctly, Chick-fil-A is headed to Chicago. They are planning to be put in Aurora, Orland Park, and Wheaton this summer. Chick-fil-A is known as one of the healthiest fast food restaurant chains in the country. I have never been to a Chick-fil-A before, they are mostly located down south, but the Menu Master is very excited!

Bonos - Meatball Sandwich w/ fries

New Menu Master Record!

I went food hunting again on my lunch break. I have been exploring Ogden road because its not an area I head to often, but its close enough to work. I drove past a place called Bonos. Bonos is located on Ogden Rd in Lisle. I'm not sure if its pronounced like Bonos name from U2 or Sonny Bono. If anyone knows let me know, including you Bo Jackson. This place doubles as a hot dog joint and a bar. I glanced at the menu, it was a usual hot dog place menu. Then I glanced at the specials. I decided to go with the Meatball Sandwich special. It came with fries and a drink. I ordered mozzarella cheese on top as well for $1 extra. A little pricey, but in my opinion you cant have a meatball sandwich without cheese. The kind lady brought my order out and set it on the table and man did it look beautiful. First off it was huge. Three meatballs stuffed into Italian bread covered in marinara sauce. On top was a thick layer of mozzarella cheese that looked like it had been baked in the oven. It was golden brown. I didn't feel so bad now paying the extra buck. I took a bite and it was delicious. Everything about it was just about perfect. It had the perfect amount of sauce and tons of cheese. Then I noticed the gigantic mountain of fries. My favorite kind too. Fresh cut fries with the skin still on em, greasy, but not to soggy. The price of the combo was only $4.99! The cheese brought it to $5.99, but still an incredible value. I finished everything except for a few fries and left extremely full. I will be returning for this again soon. Sorry, no pic right now, but I will add one next time I order this.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Bonos Meatball Sandwich and fries
Taste - 9.4 (both the sandwich and fries were near perfection)
Value - 9.5 ($5.99 for a combo that I almost couldnt finish, wow)
Total - 9.45

Culvers - BBQ Cheddar Double Butterburger

BBQCDRDBLBB!

I headed to Culvers for dinner last week. I decided to order a new burger they were offering, the BBQ Cheddar Double Butterburger. They do offer a single or triple as well. There is really not much to the burger. Its two patties with BBQ sauce and two slices of cheddar cheese. The BBQ sauce was not that great and there wasn't a lot of it. The cheese was cut so thin, I barely noticed it. It also wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. There was no price on the menu. I was figuring the burger to be at least over $4, but it was only $3.39. I would have paid a little more for a bigger burger or I just would have gotten the triple. Overall, I wasn't to impressed with Culvers new creation, in fact, I have never been impressed by Culvers at all.

*Added note - Burger does come with raw onions. Not a huge fan of raw onion, so I ordered it without.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Culvers BBQ Cheddar Double Butterburger
Taste - 4.6 (thin patties, thin cheese, bad sauce)
Value - 6.1 (reasonable price,skimped on the cheese and sauce)
Total - 5.35

KFC - Original Recipe Double Down

You voted, I ate it!

Thank you all for voting last week on what I should eat next. The KFC Double Down was a winner by a landslide. As you might know already the Double Down consists bacon, a slice of Monterrey jack cheese, a slice of pepper jack cheese and what they call colonel sauce all sandwiched between two crispy boneless chicken breasts. I was afraid this sandwich might give me a heart attack. When I opened up the box, it wasn't as big as I thought it was going to be. KFC defiantly uses smaller chicken breasts than normal. I took the first bite, and was pleasantly surprised. It was good! The chicken is juicy and has that classic KFC seasoned taste. There is so much chicken you don't really even notice the extremely thin cut bacon. The cheese melts into the chicken very nicely. The colonel sauce is hard to explain. It gives the sandwich a bit of a zesty taste. I finished the Double Down fairly quickly and didn't feel sick like I thought I would. It did hit me about an hour later, but it wasn't too bad. Would I order it again? I dunno. Its a pretty heavy greasy sandwich. Probably only in certain situations would I order it again. The price tag was $4.99. $5 seems to be the new staple price for a large sandwich. So its right there with all the other ones. If it was any cheaper it would be a great value.

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - KFC Original Recipe Double Down
Taste - 7.7 (i really had a hard time finding something wrong with it)
Value - 7.0 (average price for a large sandwich)
Total - 7.35

Patio - Beef Brisket Sandwich

Brisket Done Right!
I stopped by The Patio in Lombard for lunch last week. The Patio has several locations now and keeps growing every year. I decided to order the Beef Brisket Sandwich, something I have ordered several times before. The sandwich is piled high with sliced hickory smoked brisket and covered in BBQ sauce on a bun. The really great thing about this brisket is that it is sliced thick. Ive been to a lot of places and ordered brisket and its sliced too thin. The BBQ sauce at The Patio is amazing. They also put a bottle of it at each table. I recommend putting a little more sauce on it. The bun could be better, but its not bad. The sandwich is $5.49, not bad, not amazing, but it is quality meat and it defiantly fills you up. I would take this sandwich over a $5 sub any day.

**Bonus** - Order the cornbread, its only .79 and its huge!

Menu Master Rating
Item Reviewed - Patio Beef Brisket Sandwich
Taste - 8.8 (brisket and sauce are amazing, bun could be better)
Value - 7.2 (a tad pricey, but you get your moneys worth)
Total - 8.0

Coming Soon.....

Lots of reviews coming soon, including the KFC DOUBLE DOWN! Check back through out the week for several new reviews. New poll coming soon as well.