Why does everyone choose to go out for a burrito? Well, there are several very good reasons - convenience being one, and what seems like a pretty fair price-to-effort ratio being another. In layman's terms, they're not very expensive, and they seem like a lot of work to make. But are they?
Related: The Best Burritos in America
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NEW YORK (AP) — Starbucks has a new way to wake up its customers: showing the calories in its drinks.
The Seattle-based coffee chain says it will start posting calorie counts on menu boards nationwide next week, ahead of a federal regulation that would require it to do so.
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By Mike Thayer
With the wife and kids still vacationing in Turkey, my Dad and Stepmom invited me out for some BBQ on Father's Day. They bragged up the Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon, a place they've frequented a number of times but I have never been.
It was nearly empty when we walked in at about 6:30pm Sunday evening, there were but a couple families seated, enjoying some BBQ.
It was 'Seat Yourself', so we did. The place was clean and presentable, with a decor nicely fitting the establishment name. We were quickly given menus and our drink order was taken by our waitress who had a nice smile. So far, so good. Reviewing the menus, some small talk and checking out the U.S. Open on the big screen passed the time..... and some more time..... we stopped looking at the menus a long time ago.......more time.... For as empty as the place was, our drink order took longer than it should have, two bottled beers and a margarita. When the drinks finally arrived our waitress took our dinner order. She wasn't real engaging, but seemed to know the menu pretty well.
I ordered the two meat platter, smoked turkey and brisket, with a side of sweet potato tots and pit beans. My Dad and Stepmom both ordered a brisket sandwhich and the sweet potato tots.
More small talk, saw Justin Rose win the U.S. Open on the big screen, watched some kids play on the vacant dance floor...... Like the slow service in getting drinks out, it seemed like it was taking a bit too long for our food to come out. If it was busy, I would understand, but this place wasn't busy and they certainly didn't look to be short staffed.
Our food finally came out. The sweet potato tots were hot, the beans were good, but the brisket and the smoked turkey were served cold. Not just mine, the brisket sandwiches served to my Dad and Stepmom were served cold too.
The flavors were spot on, the turkey, the brisket - both nice and moist and the smoke not overpowering. You know you're eating good stuff when you don't need the sauce. The sauce was nice though, I ordered their classic sauce since this was my first visit. No real heat to it, just nice mellow BBQ flavor. The next time I visit I'll kick it up a notch and try the sweet bourbon sauce. The sweet potato tots were delicious! They were crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, served with a nice marshmallow cream on the side. The pit beans were also quite good so the only real downer with the meal was that the meat was served cold. I don't know if it was allowed to cool because the timing on the tots was off, or if our waitress was letting our food sit instead of getting it out to our table in a timely manner.
Overall, even though the service was incredibly slow, inattentive and the meat was served cold, I'm chalking it up as an *off* day for the Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon. Both my Dad and Stepmom said they were surprised by what we experienced. I really have to knock the waitress here, she didn't check on us, didn't ask us if we needed any drink refills, failed to ask us the standard, "How is everything?" shortly after our food was served and we had time to taste everything. She didn't strike me as being a rookie. She didn't ask us if we wanted dessert and we had to flag her down to ask for the check. It wasn't busy, she had time to do a good job but for whatever reason, didn't.
Given the past enjoyable outings my Dad and Stepmom enjoyed and the local BBQ awards the place has won, I'll give the Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon 3 out of 5 stars.
They're located just off I-80 as you're heading east out of Iowa City to West Branch, take the Herbert Hoover exit to: 4919 Walley Dr. SE, Iowa City, IA. 52241
PH: 319-3338-2211
Chicken wings aren't just for the Super Bowl. Cheap, versatile, and tasty, they are the perfect summer party snack and easy to cook on the grill. "They are very social," John Stage, pit master and owner of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem, tells Yahoo! Shine. "Great to plop in the middle of a table and let people go at it." Stage says Buffalo wings are his best-selling appetizer year-round.
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By Mike Thayer
There's nothing quite like walking out to the garden in your backyard and clipping some lettuce for a side salad for dinner. It doesn't get any fresher than this! The entree was a bacon, lettuce, tomato and deli ham sandwich on flatbread. Delicious! The salad (Baby Romaine and Black-Seeded Simpson lettuce) was dressed with some carrot, tomato, black olives, croutons and ranch dressing. Tasty, tasty!
Life is good.
Ice cream bread is my new favorite baking project. It is SO easy and so much fun to make, especially with kids. To make my first batch the other day I followed the instructions I found on Taste of Home. It was so easy! I noticed that my bread didn't rise quite as much as the ones in her picture, but then I realized I baked mine in a bigger loaf pan then the one that was called for.
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What makes a product a hit or a miss? The unique nature of the concept perhaps, or that the product is better than all of its competitors. Or maybe it's an ingenious marketing campaign that resonates with the general public, and most often the company behind it the will help to predetermine the success of the product. However, in these cases, the grand success of the parent companies wasn't enough to save the products. Even the biggest and brightest come up short sometimes.
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Get your gear today at the Coralville Courier Online Store!
As part of its ongoing quest to spread the epidemic of obesity sweeping America to other, yet untapped markets of healthier folk the world over, fast food behemoth McDonald's is bringing the gastric pain to the nation of Japan today with the release of the McMega Potato - A 1,142 calorie (!) monstrosity double the size of a regular large fry.
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Step aside, apples -- avocado love is ripe for the picking. Fans have rallied around this once-feared source of healthy fat, and even better, recent studies have touted a positive trend between avocado consumption and overall diet quality.
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