Au Bon Pain's FAIL

This Mac N Cheese was more like soup and tasted like it was made with chicken stock. Huge Faux Pas. Here are some stupid pics.

Abe & Arthurs, Chelsea NYC

Their Mac N Cheese Side is Excellent. Worthy of the pricetag.

I've Taken to Shorter Reviews

More coming every day this week. [EOM]

Mac N Cheese Dawg

I've been spending a lot of time re-reviewing a lot of places. I promise to do a bit more traveling and seek out the Mac N Cheese meccas of the world but I just wanted to take a moment and praise an establishment local to to Gainesville, FL. Gator Dawgs. When you are a gourmet hot dog hut it takes a willingness and dedication to want to whip up a batch of MNC for your dogs. Let me say that this Mac N Cheese is not good by any standards. BUT, when you put Mac N Cheese on a hot dog you take this shit to a new level. Put Mac N Cheese on evertything.

Ignore that "border dawg" smothered in peppers. it has nothing to do with this.

CRAVE Redux

I was at Crave again in Orlando but I needed a burger so i went with that. I asked for their Cheesy Penne as aside. I notice dthis time that it's not bread crumbs baked on top but parmesan! Huge ups on the side dish.

Grooveshark Mel's Mac N Cheese Roux

You may or may not know that one of my three day jobs requires me to work in the offices of Grooveshark.com. I'm there relatively often mostly because they have a team of Chefs working to cook 3 meals a day for us nerds. The food is generally delicious and occasionally cooked to order. Melissa (one of the chefs) made us some mac n cheese last week without knowing what she was getting into. She will probably read this but that won't hinder my honesty.

As most of you know by now, I love Mac N Cheese so I instinctively lean towards positive reviews. You really have to mess up the experience to get burned here. That being said, my goal here is to help people identify the characteristics that they love in Mac N Cheese and choose their meals based on that. There is surprisingly little critical literature on the subject and if I can add even a little bit to the discourse then I can rest easy.

Melissa's Mac N Cheese was a roux which I guess most Mac N Cheese is. A roux is a reduction that I believe (if I am not mistaken) uses butter and flour as the base. Go on, you say? I imagine the cheese to have been garden variety supermarket bought block or shredded (not an indictment of quality). It had a hint of black pepper but I could taste any other distinguishable seasoning. The pepper was enough. Not too salty. In fact I didn't taste any additional salt at all. It didn't sit like an average MNC. It was lobbed on top of standard elbow fare and the diner was tasked with mixing it in. Presented in a Dixie brand paper bowl and served with a plastic spoon, which is perfectly acceptable for MNC.

I can't say that I was dissatisfied with the dish. It was different than any I have ever had but not unwelcome. 4 Stars on level of Cheesiness.  I hope she makes it again (today).

Oh. I accidentally took video instead of pics of the "before".

Big Burger Now with Cheesy Side Dishes

If you are in the market for for a giant burger in Gainesville chances are you've already had a Big Burger. They recently expanded their menu to encompass a vast array BBQ favorites. I'm going to save the fried Mac 'N Cheese wedge review for later because it's really their traditional Mac 'N Cheese that steals the show. It's made primarily of hard cheeses, melted over elbows and served in an authentic styrofoam cup. It's no Cali Chix but it's good enough for a lunch break in the downtown Gainesville area.