REVIEW: Starbucks Summer Remix Chocolate Cream Cold Brew with Caramel Syrup in a Caramel Lined Cup

/ / Reviews

It turns out remixes aren’t just for songs. Starbucks is jumping on the remix bandwagon as summer winds down with three remix beverages. These are cold drink customer favorites with a twist, and one in the lineup is the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew with Caramel Syrup in a Caramel Lined Cup.

Chocolate. Caramel. Cold Foam. What more could you want? The existing Chocolate Cream Cold Brew swaps its vanilla syrup for caramel, and, as the name suggests, your friendly barista will line the cup with caramel sauce for an even bigger flavor punch.

Let me start with this: I love caramel and I love chocolate. I thought the caramel addition was nice but not a wow-factor. Because the chocolate is only in the cold foam, the caramel flavor muted it a bit. But that being said, the flavors paired well together, and it felt like I was drinking a Twix or a Snickers – something with that ingredient combination. The smell of the caramel was very apparent, and you’re paying for it too. In my area, the Chocolate Cream Cold Brew is $5.25 for a grande, and the remix added another $0.60 to the total. Just like the other cold brews in the Starbucks’ lineup, this one is smooth and the cold foam is creamy. I had no issues with the cold foam melting into my drink – it definitely stayed intact, which is a huge win for me.

One thing to note: Despite being advertised as available in the app, I had trouble finding it in mine. Turns out there wasn’t a specific pre-loaded beverage for these remixes; rather, I had to use this link. Find the remix drink you’d like at that link on your mobile device, and click the link when you get to the “Customers can order this beverage in the Starbucks app here.” That took me right to my Starbucks app, where the customizations came up automatically in my app cart. Then from there, it was easy to order.

The other thing to note is that you can create this remix version at any time by simply using the customize feature in the app. If you change the pumps of vanilla to caramel and add the syrup to line the cup, that’s all you need to create this all year round.

Purchased Price: $5.85
Size: Grande
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: Not available due to this being an existing drink with customizations.

REVIEW: Jack in the Box Breakfast Taco

/ / Reviews

Jack in the Box’s website says its Breakfast Taco contains a freshly scrambled egg, American cheese, taco sauce, and Jimmy Dean sausage in a crunchy taco shell. But after eating one, I wonder if I got a lettuce-less regular taco with eggs stuffed in it because it tastes like a typical Jack in the Box taco with eggs stuffed in it.

I thought the sausage would be in crumble form, but it looks like the same meat in a regular taco, which I guess could be sausage crumbles that were crumbled even more. Maybe the sauce and American cheese overwhelmed the sausage’s flavor, and that’s why it tastes similar to Jack’s original taco.

The scrambled egg had a slight butteriness, and while Jack in the Box’s description of the menu item says, “scrambled egg,” mine had an egg-normous amount of the yellow yolky product. So either mine was made with two or more, or Jack in the Box is purchasing some Flintstones-era eggs. There was so much in mine that when a large chunk of it fell out while I was removing the taco from its sleeve, there was still enough in it if I decided not to put that nugget back in.

Oh, and it wouldn’t be a Jack in the Box taco if it didn’t have that signature oil-soaked shell center that distinguishes it from others in the fast food world and is the reason why some folks hate Jack’s tacos. While that darkened shell section has a soft texture, every other area on the shell has a satisfying crunch.

I like Jack in the Box’s regular tacos but am slightly disappointed with this Breakfast Taco. Tasting like Jack in the Box taco with eggs is fine, and I didn’t hate it, but I wish something else was added to make it a little more egg-citing.

Purchased Price: $1.49
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 200 calories – no other nutritional information is available on the Jack in the Box website.

REVIEW: Jack in the Box Sauced & Loaded Potato Wedges

/ / Reviews / 2 Comments

Jack in the Box Loaded & Sauced Potato Wedges with cheddar cheese, cheese sauce, ranch sauce, and bacon crumbles.

Jack in the Box’s Potato Wedges are back!

(Sigh)

But only for a limited time and in the form of Classic and Spicy Sauced & Loaded Potato Wedges. The Classic version features my beloved potato wedges topped with shredded cheddar cheese, cheddar cheese sauce, ranch, and bacon crumbles, and the Spicy one also includes Spicy Good Good Sauce and jalapeños.

I tried to see if I could order my precious potato wedges without any toppings via the app and checked to see if I could swap the regular fries with them, but there was no option to get them naked. Look, I should be ecstatic about once again being able to stuff my mouth with these spud slices, and I am, but I really wish I could get them without all the other stuff. Or even better, I wish they were permanent again.

Am I sensitive about losing these potato wedges? Oh, heck yeah! I created an entirely new type of post on this site just so I could sing their praises. But then, a few months later, they were discontinued. Since then, I sometimes think to myself, “Maybe if I didn’t write that, they might still be on the menu.” I’m sorry, Jack in the Box Potato Wedges lovers. It’s all my fault.

Jack in the Box Loaded & Sauced Potato Wedges bacon and wedges close up

Anyhoo, I picked up the Classic Sauced & Loaded Potato Wedges, and not surprisingly, I loved them. I even scraped off the cheeses, sauce, and bacon from a few of them just so I could experience again what I lost and what Jack in the Box won’t give me.

Jack in the Box Loaded & Sauced Potato Wedges Ranch sauce

It tastes similar to the Bacon Cheddar Wedges that Jack used to sell. The ranch sauce provides some additional flavor on top of the other toppings, but it’s mostly a bacon and cheese show. And that’s perfectly fine because it still means I get to stuff my face with Jack in the Box’s Potato Wedges, which I thought were gone forever.

Seriously, Jack. Make your potato wedges permanent again.

Purchased Price: $3.50
Rating: 8 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 520 calories – other nutritional information is unavailable on Jack in the Box’s website.

REVIEW: McDonald’s Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry

/ / Reviews / 3 Comments

After years of having an occasional new McFlurry offering, there’s been a flurry of limited time McFlurry varieties over the past few years. There have been at least two annually since 2019. McDonald’s new Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is the second new blended treat this year from the Golden Arches. It follows the Strawberry Shortcake one that came out in the spring. So there’s a good chance we’ll have to wait until 2024 for a new variety.

The Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is described on the McDonald’s site as a crispy cereal mix and chocolatey peanut butter cookie pieces in vanilla soft serve. While that sounds delicious, if you look through the mix-ins’ ingredients list, there are “peanut butter creme cookies,” “fudge coated peanut brittle,” “chocolate peanut butter yummy chow” (no, fo’ reals), and “peanut butter cereal squares” listed, which makes it even more enticing.

And it’s not just appealing on paper. Looking at it from above, the dessert looks inviting, with a generous helping of cereal, cookies, and yummy chow floating on the white soft serve. If the image above doesn’t make you want to instantly dive in with a spoon, I don’t know if we can have a relationship. However, I will be the Snack Grinch here and say, as good as this looks in my photos and as intriguing as the ingredients list reads, this McFlurry is okay.

The cereal and cookie pieces were crunchy, but unfortunately, it’s not very chocolatey or peanut butter-y, even with a decent amount of mix-ins on my spoon. That’s fine if you want a treat that’s not too cloying, but I want a little indulgence here. I want something as enjoyable as a McDonald’s Hot Fudge Sundae, and I’m not quite getting that with this. Though, there were a couple of moments when the cereal, cookies, yummy chow, or a combination of the three sort of tasted like a waffle cone. Also, one last thing about the mix-ins. Like a good cereal, they maintained their crunch in the quickly melting soft serve after I took pictures.

McDonald’s Peanut Butter Crunch McFlurry is a nice change of pace if your usual After Mac treat is an Oreo or M&M’s McFlurry. It’s not going to knock your socks off. But if you’re wearing crew socks, it might make them slide down your calves slightly.

Purchased Price: $4.59
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 510 calories, 16 grams of fat, 10 gram of saturated fat, 0 gram of trans fat, 40 milligrams of cholesterol, 220 milligrams of sodium, 78 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 47 grams of sugar (including 47 grams of added sugar), and 12 gram of protein.

REVIEW: Papa Johns Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza

/ / Reviews / 17 Comments

Papa Johns Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza Whole

When Papa Johns showed up fashionably late to the stuffed crust pizza party in December of 2020, it may not have been timely, but it certainly arrived with a splash. The somewhat silly-titled “Epic Stuffed Crust” was no different than what Pizza Hut innovated in 1995, and yet, in my humble but experienced opinion, the Papa beat the Hut at its own game.

As a child of the 90s, the stuffed crust is an ever-shining beacon of culinary genius and one that will keep Pizza Hut in my heart forever. But its quality has gone so downhill in recent years that I never go there unless it’s to try a new unique item, unlike Papa Johns, which I keep on speed dial. For its third iteration of the Epic Stuffed Crust, Papa makes the pizza even more Papa-ified by incorporating the signature garlic sauce that makes it stand out amongst the other chains. It’s an Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza with a garlic parmesan seasoned and drizzled crust, original pizza sauce, melty cheese, and your choice of one topping, which comes standard as pepperoni.

Papa Johns Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza Crust

This review is pretty straightforward – if you like Papa John’s Stuffed Crust and its Special Garlic Dipping Sauce, you’ll like this pie. In fact, I only have two gripes with this pizza.

  1. I just moved to a denser and crazier part of the city where, for some reason, the one topping promotion is $20.99 instead of $13.99, so it cost more than I expected.
  2. I wish there was more garlic.

Papa Johns Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza Cheese

This is a cheesy, indulgent, downright delicious, and addictive pizza that very well might be my favorite iteration of Papa John’s best-in-class stuffed crust, but it isn’t all that garlicky. The seasoning on the crust is excellent and does very well to elevate the epic-ness of having tons of perfectly ooey gooey cheese in the crust, but it leans much more into the parmesan than the garlic for a nice crunchy umami bite that’s wonderful, but not garlicky.

Papa Johns Garlic Epic Stuffed Crust Pizza Slice

The toppings at Papa Johns have always seemed like the freshest and most abundant of all the mainstream chains, which is why it has been my favorite for over a decade. The sauce is sweet yet robust, the cheese has a nice dense flavor, and the pepperoni brings a nice crispiness and a hint of spice. Speaking of which, any time you’re ordering a pizza from a chain like this, make sure to get it well done. You’re very rarely, if ever, going to get a burnt pie, but these places crank out so many pizzas at such a fast rate they may pull it when it’s a touch underdone, and requesting well done, like I did, will ensure you get a properly cooked and delicious pizza.

While this could use some actual diced garlic like you’d find on garlic knots to really bring the concept home, it’s still an absolutely delicious pie that’s, without a doubt, my favorite new fast food item this year. Plus, if you’re getting this for $14 instead of $21 like my unfortunate metropolitan-dwelling self, it’s a helluva deal, and I’d grab it while you can.

Purchased Price: $20.99 (but should be $13.99 in your area)
Size: Large 1 Topping
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 slice) 420 calories, 16 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 35 milligrams of cholesterol, 990 milligrams of sodium, 39 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 4 grams of sugar, and 16 grams of protein.

Scroll to Top