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Review: Dickey's Barbecue Pit

We're finally done with all the Fancy Food Show coverage, so back to our normal Chompling!

I am so glad Dickey's BBQ Pit is here. Seriously, I started screaming when I first saw the bright yellow Dickey's sign go up. Ever since I moved here from Dallas, I have been unable to find unable barbecue anywhere. Before Dickey's, my only source for barbecue was Actual's Dad. Although he enjoys making us barbecue, I'm sure he's already tired of my constant pleading for tri-tip and ribs.

If I remember correctly I actually used to eat at Dickey's once a week back in Dallas. They had a location across the street from my place and I would stop there all the time to indulge in more meat than any individual should probably eat unless they are Michael Phelps. I eat more reasonable portions now. Promise.

And now, a Californian Public Service Announcement from Girlfriend Actual:
Dear fellow Californians, what is served here is Texan barbecue and not Californian barbecue. Californian barbecue has a highly seasoned dry rub and requires no sauce for consumption. Santa Maria tri-tip and the baby back ribs served at most Californian non-chain barbecue places are good examples of the Californian barbecue ethos. Texan barbecue has very little seasoning on the meat itself (except for the sausage varieties) and relies on the sauce for the flavor. Both are great in their own respects, but you need to realize which you're eating lest you be disappointed.

 
 

One thing to gleefully note up front is that Dickey's charges the correct price for barbecue. Their two meat platter is $9.50. I'm not going to name names, but I have tried more than a few barbecue places in the area. Most of them suck. Those that do not suck, instead decide to make me sad by charging INSANE prices for their products. If your food sucks or you're way overpriced, I'm not going to bother mentioning you on Chomple. I barely have enough time to tell our readers where all the good places are, much less spend time whining about crappy restaurants. 

Thanks to hitting the yumminess per dollar target dead on, Dickey's is the first and only recommended barbecue restaurant on Chomple. 

This review spans two meals, both lunches. First was takeout and second was dine-in.

 
 

We've determined that the Roseville Police Department has to have an entrance test for their officers to see whether or not they can identify delicious places to eat. We frequently run into the Roseville PD eating at the same places we do. This may sound silly, but I definitely feel safer knowing that the local police officers had a delicious and wholesome lunch rather than chowing down on junk food. We've actually discovered a couple good restaurants in town after we drove past and saw a bunch of police cruisers parked up front and decided we should stop and see where they were all eating.

So, seeing this out front of Dickey's was a great sign...

 
 

Here's their menu. Check out the completely reasonable prices. Not pictured is their special deal for January and February where every Monday you can get $1 pulled pork sandwiches. Also, kids eat free on Sundays with the purchase of an adult meal.

 
 

Freebie #1: soft serve. It's real soft serve too, not the crud that most people have to call "frozen treat". If you have kids, this machine is a godsend.

 
 

You sauce your own barbecue at Dickey's. Sauce choices are original, sweet, and spicy. This is a welcome change compared to other barbecue places as most of them tend to severely oversauce their products. The sauce is in a warmer so it's always at the correct temperature to go right on your food before you eat it. 

Right next to the sauce is Freebie #2: dill pickles. GOOD dill pickles too.

In the background to the right (not really visible) is the drink area, where they serve proper brewed unsweetened and sweet tea made from Luzianne tea leaves. I'm an unsweetened iced tea addict and Saucy loves sweet tea. We'd come here for the tea alone.

Note Girlfriend Actual feeling the "ooh warm" surface of the sauce area.

 
 

Do yourself a favor and get your drink in the $2 32oz Big Yellow Cup. These things are high quality and very reusable. I am willing to wager 1/3 of the households in Texas keep a stack of these things for general use. Plus they're nice and bold, and great to carry around when you want to tell the world "I had kick ass barbecue for my last meal, what bland, boring crap did you eat?"

 
 

This was our sauce and freebie collection from day 1 when we got takeout. 

 

My day 1 takeout. Clockwise from upper left:

Jalapeno beans- just ok. I don't really like jalapenos though.

Green beans and bacon- PHENOMENAL. This portion was probably 50% bacon. Go Dickey's! If you want something healthier, you can order this side "heavy on the green beans" like Actual does. More bacon for me!

Chopped brisket- AWESOME (Almost-Father-In-Law: it's not as good as yours. Don't disown me. Please. I love your daughter. Sometimes we have to get brisket from other people, okay? It happens. Carnivores have NEEDS.). This stuff is great in a sandwich, but I don't really like bread so I just eat it freeform. Dickey's chops their brisket to order. That is very important, as chopped brisket if left to sit just turns into a disgusting mess, no matter how good your starting product was.

Hot link sausage: just ok. Flavor was tremendous (Dickey's is well known for their stupendous hot link sausage) but I think this batch got overcooked. I think this was just a fluke though... will try it on the next trip. 

 

The above meal, after I covered it in Dickey's spicy barbecue sauce. OM NOM NOM!

 
   

Day 2. This is my pulled pork and virginia ham combo with fried okra and barbecue beans. Everything was amazing, but the okra really made me happy. Fried okra is hard to find here in norcal, and fried okra this good is hard to find anywhere. This stuff tasted like it came right out of the fryer.

 

Actual's platter. Check out the mac and cheese and the "heavy on green beans" green beans and bacon. She got the their old recipe polish sausage which was spectacular.

 
  

And here is her portion of sliced brisket that has been sauced with their original sauce. I didn't even get to try a bite of this. Thankfully I had the monster camera in burst mode so I got enough pictures taken before the brisket was happily consumed. 

 
 

And a word of warning: the residents of Roseville have all heard that Dickey's is now open. The lunch crowd can get huge. Don't let this dissuade you: it's the true sign that the food here is GOOD.

 

I am so glad a Dickey's opened in my neck of the woods. If you love barbecue, quit eating it at all the overpriced places in town and PLEASE stop eating it at the megachain restaurants where the only good thing about their barbecue is the catchy jingle.

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The 2010 Chomple Awards from the #NASFT Winter Fancy Food Show!

Every year, Chomple attends the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. You can relive our complete coverage of the show here: http://www.chomple.com/winter-fancy-food-show-2010/

The best products at the show receive the coveted Chomple Award. There is no trophy (although if you really want one, we'll make you one... email me at yod@chomple.com) but the award means you have the eternal adoration of Chomplers from all around the world.

Award categories change every year and are based on food trends that we notice and follow at the show. It's all about the trends. If it's a big thing this year and you were the best, you get a Chomple Award. Your product needs to be the hottest of the hot. You may make the best prune gravy in the world, but unless the hot thing that year is preserved fruit mashed potato toppings, you probably won't get a Chomple Award.

We also give awards for great booth experiences. The show is all about being excited about your products and showing retailers and the press why they should be too.

The NASFT has the sofi Awards, which are the awards you really want to win.  They have a way better awards ceremony (heck, they actually have an awards ceremony) and better (aka, existent) trophies.

Enough talking. On with the Chomple Awards!

BEST OF SHOW/BEST CHEESE/BEST HONEY/BEST ARTISANAL PRODUCT: Marcelli Formaggi

We were so overwhelmed at how good their stuff was that I was at a complete loss of words the first time I visited their booth. For those of you who still don't believe in the power of social media, please pay attention. These guys were in the Italian pavilion and I would have just walked past had they not reached out on Twitter and told me that the Chomple staff definitely had to stop by and check out their artisanal Italian products.

I would have kicked myself for months if I missed this.

You can read the complete story at their website, but the gist of it is that Bob Marcelli, an award-winning chef, decided that what he really wanted to do was import his family's artisanal cheeses from Italy. His sons are now in the business with him. The cheeses are made in Anversa degli Abruzzi, a town of about 300 people. They also import other artisanal products from the area.

I'll make my plea right now. These guys need nationwide distribution. They especially need West Coast distribution. If you are a buyer for any sort of food store, pick this product line up RIGHT NOW.

It's that good. All of it is. 

This is their booth with some of the cheeses they were tasting. One of these is their Pecorino Del Parco, which was by far the best dairy product that I've ever had. If you don't believe in terroir, this cheese will definitely change your mind. Those sheep are definitely living a charmed and delicious life in the hills of Italy. Seriously, this stuff was unreal.

 

Remember what I was saying about how they also import other artisanal products from their little pocket of Italy? 

These are their honeys. 

I didn't get to write down what the different varieties were, as I was too busy watching Designer Girlfriend about to keel over from how overwhelmed she was from the intense flavor of their honey. We were seriously considering distracting the Marcellis with my flash and grabbing the honey and running for the Moscone Center doors. 

 

Check out their products here: http://www.marcelliformaggi.com/home.html and hit them up on twitter @MarcelliFormagg!

I will make my plea again: buyers, please pick up this product line. I need it. NOW.  

Most Buzzworthy Product: Jumbleberry Syrup

The Waffle Lady was our Best of Show last year, and probably would have won it this year if it weren't for our rule disallowing repeat winners in the same category.

For the first day, I kept seeing tweets about "What is a Jumbleberry???" and others talking about how delicious Jumbleberries were. There were even people in the press room talking about this mystical product. Little did I know that this was something that my good friend the Waffle Lady had conjured up since I last saw her.

Turns out that Jumbleberry is something the Waffle Lady came up with as a blend of berries that she used as pie filling for her family. After many years she decided to share her creation with the world in the form of Jumbleberry syrup. A full half pound of berries in every bottle and absolutely no high fructose corn syrup.

I know I said this in my recap of the Waffle Lady's 2010 product line, but I fully expect all sorts of food manufacturers to license the Jumbleberry flavor for their own products. I've had plenty of berry concoctions, and none of them are remotely this good.

 
 

Best Condiment: Peter Luger's Steak Sauce

This is by no means a new product. Heck, it's not even a properly named product, as 90% of the regular patrons of Peter Luger's Steakhouse wouldn't dare put this on their prime dry-aged porterhouse. But they put it on almost everything else served there.

Over my lifetime, I have probably consumed 10+ gallons of this stuff at their Brooklyn location while waiting for my steak to show up. 

Products with famous restaurant tie-ins were pretty plentiful this year, but this is our Chomple Award winner.

Honorable mention: Rao's Specialty Foods. Your pasta sauce is pretty awesome. Call me petty if you want, but Peter Luger's wins because I can actually get a table there.

 

Best Low Glycemic Index Sweetener: Wholesome Sweeteners Agave Nectar

The while low glycemic index sweetener thing has been going on for almost a decade now. Many companies have been searching for something that will taste sweet but 1) not spike your blood sugar level 2) not have a horrible aftertaste.

There have been plenty of pretenders to the throne. Splenda came close, but has an aftertaste many people do not like. Stevia, in the opinion of the Chomple staff, just tastes yucky. Xylitol has that weird cooling effect which is ok for mints but not for other applications. And let's not even get into maltitol and the bad side effects it has on people (Google it if you care, but this is a food blog).

Agave nectar seems to be the real deal. Great flavor, and a much lower glycemic index than sugar. Most producers just sell agave nectar straight. Wholesome Sweeteners has a full product line of wonderfully flavored agave nectars for any application you can think of.

 

Best Pasta Substitute: Wildwood PastaSlim

A while ago, the Japanese figured out that you could make konnyaku potatoes into a sort of pasta substitute. It wasn't the same as real pasta, but close enough (and if you were a fan of ramen noodles, pretty close to the spongy texture of a product like Top Ramen). Except, these noodles, dubbed shirataki, were much better for you. Only 20 calories a serving and barely any fat.

Unfortunately, none of these producers bothered to try and make their product resemble anything approaching pasta. Wildwood decided to up the ante. Their shirataki noodles actually taste pretty close to real pasta. And with the very steep drop in calories, you'll definitely forget the slight difference in taste and texture. They were tasting their spinach fettucini variety at the show, and it was PHENOMENAL.

 

Best Booth Personality: Tony Stone for Stoats

Not a product award, but this bears mention. This strapping young lad was wearing a kilt in the Scotland booth and had a fabulous Scottish accent. I had to forcibly remove a few of the female Chomple staffers from his booth after the interview. 

The product he was pushing, Stoats, is pretty wonderful by the way. I don't like granola/grain bars much, but the Stoats bars made from whole Scottish oats are delicious and healthy.

 

Best Cheese Creation: The Cypress Grove Wedding Cheese"cake"

These guys have won so many awards that they don't need one from Chomple. But we're giving them one anyway. Every single one of their cheeses is a different but divine experience. Their Truffle Tremor cheese is one of the most decorated cheeses in the world and is a staple of any Chomple staff gathering. 

Their award from us this year is not about anything we tasted. They made a wedding cake out of their gorgeous cheese products. One of the best product presentations at the entire show.

 

Most Fan Adoration: Cowgirl Creamery

I was convinced that the Bacon Salt guys were going to win this award, but I was wrong. While I was tasting cheese at the Cowgirl Creamery booth, I was going on and on about how much I loved their products and their store in the Ferry Building. Thirty seconds later a couple ladies from a major specialty food chain came up and started screaming "WE LOVE YOU COWGIRL CREAMERY!!!". After them, a gentleman walked up and said that he was craving Cowgirl Creamery cheese so much that the day before the show he went to their store because he couldn't wait until the show opened. This continued until we moved on to the next booth.

 

Most Generous Booth: Haribo

Haribo. That name brings joy to gummy lovers worldwide. Haribo was at the show with a colorful booth that had samples of over 50 of their gummy creations. Nobody at the show samples that much of their product line. Designer Girlfriend was very happy about this.

 
     

Best Snack/Chips: Kilauea Fire/Hawaiian Chip Company

You may have heard about these before as the chips that Barack Obama has stocked in his vacation home in Hawaii. Although I disagree with a lot of the President's food choices, he's dead on with these.

Imagine if Terra Chips were less greasy and had megaton flavor. You would have these chips.

 

Best Sauce/Best Celebrity Spokesperson: Tyler Florence

We met Tyler on the second day of the show. He was extremely engaging and really went into the theory behind his new West Coast Cooking Essentials. Many celebrity chef products turn out to be pretty mundane, but Tyler made it clear he was determined to make his product line as spectacular as humanly possible. 

We'll definitely vouch for how good his products are. Our sauce expert pretty much freaked out when she tasted them. He had a classic pot roast sauce which our expert said made the meat taste like it had been stewed for days.

 
 

 
  

Best Kitchen Shortcut: Mia's Kitchen.

Wine reductions in a bottle. Divine, tasty, wonderful reductions. You could try a hundred times and it wouldn't come out this good.

I'm a big fan of products that make it easy to look like a kitchen hero. This stuff would make me look like a kitchen Superman.

Mia... we lost your card when we packed up. Email us: yod@chomple.com

 
 

Best Dressings: Pigtale Twist

Best salad dressing I've ever had. When people talk about blow you away flavors, they're talking about a product like this one. The three berry vinaigrette tasted like they had just mashed fresh berries to make the dressing before I tasted it. And don't get me started on their Ridiculously Garlic Blue Dressing. Oh my goodness. I don't know which cheese producer they are using for this one, but I want to taste their blue straight up. Amazing.

Their Buttery Caramel Sauce is amazing on fruit. This stuff would turn any fruit salad into rockstar quality food.

 

Best Thing We Photographed: Daddy Cakes/California Caviar Co. Double Bourbon Tower/Hackleback Supreme Cake

Daddy Cakes and the California Caviar Company were next to each other. Over the course of the show, they got to talking. Daddy Cakes made some blini sized pancakes out of their bourbon pancake mix. California Caviar topped it with their bourbon caviar. AH-MAAAY-ZINGGGG... except they ate it before I could get there with my camera.

Later on they made this thing: buttermilk pancake blinis with hackleback caviar. 

Of course, I didn't get to sample this creation. Come on, guys! What the heck?!?

 
  

Congratulations to our winners! I'm going to go make myself a Waffle Lady waffle now. Writing this while hungry was a bit too painful. 

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: ZIX Ravioli Cookies

There were about eleventy billion cookie vendors at the Fancy Food Show. This one was one of the best, and definitely one of the most creative.

ZIX's cookies are made in a similar process to ravioli pasta. That explains their unique shape. But what makes them so good?

Northern California makes them taste so spectacularly good.

One of my frequent rants regards all of the chefs like Alice Waters that go on and on about "eat fresh, eat local". Most of these chefs live in California. Let me tell you, as a previous resident of many other places in the United States, when you're talking about ingredients, California is where it's at. I don't care which ingredient you need--a best-in-class product is probably made in California. Saying "eat local" as a Californian is like saying "gamble local" as a resident of Las Vegas.

That being said, a lot of food manufacturers in California don't embrace this. I don't understand why. I guess it's probably easier to just buy prefab ingredients from your local wholesaler regardless of where they come from.

The people at ZIX realize just how lucky they are to be based in Northern California. Or, more likely, they started their business here because they realized what was available to them. ZIX tries to source as many of their ingredients as possible from the area around them. Especially the ingredients that really matter: fruit, butter, cream, and eggs, are sourced just miles from their bakery. Trust me, you can definitely tell the difference. All four of those ingredients are best-in-class already, much less when they make it to the bakery as fresh as humanly possible.

 

Chef Glenn makes them in original and gluten-free varieties. This is very much appreciated by the Chomple staff, as we have two staffers that have a gluten allergy. Having a gluten allergy means most cookies are off limits. The fact that these ZIX Ravioli Cookies are some of the best cookies we have ever tasted in the history of this website are available for them is absolutely wonderful. They hate having to miss out. Now they don't have to.

And check out how stuffed these things are. They are absolutely flowing with fruity goodness. These cookies were so good we chased down Saucy Girlfriend who promptly scooted to the ZIX booth to get a sample of her own.

 

ZIX Ravioli Cookies are available frozen so you can bake them yourselves, or baked and ready for your nomming pleasure. If you encounter these at your local store, buy them IMMEDIATELY. Then call me. I demand a 10% cookie tax for letting you know about how good these things are.

 

Want some? Order them right now at zixtreats.com    

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: Sweetfields edible flowers

Hands down the most beautiful product at this year's show.

I'll admit that I was powerblogging the Fancy Food Show and walked right past the Sweetfields booth. I usually find edible flowers to be extremely boring. They're flowers that you eat, right? Not very exciting.

The lady at the Sweetfields booth stopped me and told me that I needed to take a closer look at her products. 

I'm very glad I did. 

Before I go on about their flowers, let me show you some pictures I took of the samples she gave me. Now, I couldn't even use my pro camera for this as I don't have a proper macro lens. These are pictures taken by my point and shoot on a piece of printer paper on my kitchen counter, under the harsh fluorescent light, with my camera balanced between a pocket tripod and a pack of gum.

Despite all that, check out just how beautiful these things are. I can't even describe how awesome they look in person, much less how much better these pictures would be had I not run out of Velvia last month.

 
   

 

 

Sweetfields starts with real edible flowers. The flowers are then put through a super secret process than turns into what you see above. I tried to find out what the process was, but was told that I would have to be killed if they let me know the secret. 

Whatever the process is, the result is a product line that is completely unlike anything I have ever seen, and trust me, I've seen a great many food products. The flowers look almost unnaturally good and are definitely in that "too pretty to eat" category. I had to force myself to taste one of the samples after I was done shooting. 

The process also makes these products shelf stable, which is fantastic for their end users as fresh edible flowers are as perishable as regular flowers. Out of their packaging, you can place Sweetfields flowers on your final product (cake, cupcake, torte, etc.) up to 48 hours before serving as long as you keep everything refrigerated. 

Sweetfields has you covered regardless of what your application is. Their SweetCrystal line are made with their standard process. If you're thinking of a wetter creation, Sweetfields has a line named SweetGlaze. In addition to the "sparkly" layer, they add a thin layer of sugary glaze onto the flowers. This makes them shine and glow as well as makes them waterproof, so you can use them to top drinks and cocktails.

What got me the most excited, and what I feel is their most spectacular product line, is SweetDust. They take the SweetGlaze flowers and add a dusting of 24k gold  or sterling silver dust. These things look absolutely fantastic. I fully expect to see a SweetDust flower adorning my drink next time I pay $20 for a cocktail. If I don't, I'm going to be very disappointed. 

Here's their product line on display at their booth.

 

Sweetfields also does custom work and will create anything you can dream of.

Get some at www.sweetfields.com. Whatever you make, your products deserve to be beautiful.

I'm going to have to order a personal stash for my kitchen. All my desserts are going to feel ugly now without them.      

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: Activate Water

This fantastic product is better explained with video :)

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: Daddy Cakes

At this point you're probably wondering if the Chomple staffers are a wee bit obsessed with baked goods. Guilty as charged. Fully one third of the products we're coving this year are related to baked goods. We love our baked carbs. Heck, we even have a world-class cake baker on staff. And, of course, the infamous Saucy Girlfriend who loves bread more than I love nitrites.

Here's Dan with Daddy Cakes talking about his 2010 product lineup:

First and foremost, Daddy Cakes mixes are EASY. Even a baking idiot like me could make them. Everything is portioned out and most of their mixes are of the Just Add Water variety. Plus, the can lid doubles as a measuring cup. I'm definitely behind an idiot-proof product that makes me look like a baking pro. 

And you get a toy. This is VERY important. Fully 10 pounds of my heft are due to multiple servings of Happy Meals I have consumed just to get the toy.  

 
 

New for this year is their collaboration with Paul Frank. Gotta love monkeys. Apparently Paul Frank tried Daddy Cakes at a friend's house and just had to have a branded product with them.

 

Speaking of collaborations, something really funny but awesome happened at the show. The Daddy Cakes booth was right next to California Caviar. 

 

Daddy Cakes made some blinis out of their awesome mix. The California Caviar people topped the Daddy Blinis with creme fraiche and hackleback caviar. The result looked tremendously tasty. Alas, I did not get to sample this supremely divine creation. Oh well. Maybe next year. Hey NASFT... make sure you put these guys close to each other for the next show!  

 

Go check them out at www.daddycakesbakery.com!   

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: Wholesome Sweeteners

If you're a professional baker, you're very familiar with these guys as the importers of Billington's line of unrefined cane sugars. Cake Sister was with us when we tried these and even she was impressed. She is usually the skeptic on our tasting panels but she said that she completely understood why many professional cake recipes actually call for a specific Billington's variety. I have never described any sugar as "attractive" but the term definitely applies to Billington's.

 

Wholesome Sweeteners is about more than just sugar. The have several new products that are amazing and best-in-class. Saucy and Cake Sister were thrilled with their organic free trade raw honey that is imported from the Chiapas region of Mexico. It had an extremely rich flavor and a creamy smooth mouthfeel. Even the raw honey that I've been able to source from farmers markets in my area haven't tasted as "close to nature" as this one. 

 

They also have a grand line of agave nectar. Agave is all the rage these days, as it's a tasty natural sweetener with a relatively low glycemic index, which means it won't spike up your blood sugar like, well, sugar. And let's not even discuss high fructose corn syrup, which should just be banned in the food supply.

Unlike most companies, Wholesome Sweeteners has many tasty flavors of agave nectar. And trust me, they're all very good.

 
  

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: The Waffle Lady (Last year's Chomple "Best of Show" winner)

Last year, Waffle Lady wowed us with her spectacular waffles and awesome product design. We were awed with just how well designed and run her family business was--so much so that we gave them our Best of Show Chomple Award last year. 

So... what has Waffle Lady been up to this past year? She already makes the best waffle mix on the planet. Especially in this rough economy, has the Waffle Lady just rested on her laurels?

Absolutely not. Waffle Lady has been in the Waffle Lab creating new and amazing ways for you to have a better breakfast every day.

I'll be telling you about all of her new stuff, but you can get it straight from the Waffle Lady herself:

It took me until day 2 of the show to locate my favorite booth. On day 1 I was busy marshaling our full Chomple coverage team around the show. By day 2 I had a serious craving for Waffle Lady waffles. Being a man, I refused to consult the show directory to find them. Wandering the North Hall, however, I smelled the unmistakable scent of Waffle Lady's waffles. Smell-dar took me the rest of the way to the Waffle Family. Waffle Gentleman was out on the floor and not pictured here.

Note the big Q sign... Waffle Lady's products are now certified organic. Personally, I don't really care about whether something is organic or not purely for the sake of being organic. The bigger draw is knowing that actual real ingredients went into my food. Waffle Lady wouldn't let her products be any other way. I'm going to hazard a guess that Waffle Lady products were probably organic all along and they just didn't have the certification. You just can't create this kind of flavor using junk ingredients.

 
 

Probably the most famous and buzzworthy sign at the Fancy Food Show. Tons of buzz and many tweets around the "What is a Jumbleberry?" sign and question. The only thing I could glean from all the things I was hearing was that whatever a Jumbleberry was, it was very delicious and that everything should be Jumbleberry flavored. 

After laying on my Midwestern blogger charm (lol). Waffle Lady gave up the answer. Back on her ranch in Auburn. California, Waffle Lady would make a pie filling called Jumbleberry for her family. She would combine boysenberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries into the most divine berry pie ever made. 

Like her waffles, Waffle Lady wants to share her awesome creations with the world. Meet Waffle Lady's Jumbleberry Syrup. Boysenberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, pure cane sugar, and pectin. THAT'S IT. A full half pound of berries goes into every 12 ounce bottle. Not a trace of high fructose corn syrup. 

Many attendees of the show just refer to the Waffle Lady as "Mom". Your mother wouldn't feed you artificial junk, and Waffle Lady definitely won't.

How good is this stuff? Let me tell you what usually happens at a Fancy Food Show. People powerwalk the show: stop by a booth, grab a sample, and start walking off. There are too many exhibitors at the show to take your time moving through. If the sample you got was good, maybe you circle back later. If it's really good, maybe you go back to check out the booth.

The Waffle Lady booth was causing a crazy traffic jam in Aisle 1400. People were taking a few steps away and stopping dead in their tracks. They weren't even turning around right away. Just standing there, slowly chewing and savoring the Jumbleberry flavor. Then they would wander back to the booth. 

I don't even like sweets and I'm sitting here with my sample bottle of Jumbleberry eating it off my pinky. I wish I could invest in this stuff. I'm expecting that many companies will be beating a path to Waffle Lady's door asking to license Jumbleberry for all sorts of products. Someone make a Jumbleberry Jerky, please?

 
 

Maybe you don't like berries. Traditionalists always go for pure maple syrup. Waffle Lady has you covered. She decided that they needed a maple syrup for their customers, so the Waffle Family took a trip to Vermont to find a sugar farm that met their standards. Luckily for us, they found one. 

Now, most serious chefs will tell you that grade B maple syrup is the way to go. While grade A is nice and clear and has the look that consumers want, grade B has intense maple flavor, but looks sort of like muddy molasses.

I don't know where they found their syrup, but their grade A syrup has the clear look that consumers expect, but has the intense maple flavor of grade B. 

Also directly in front of the Jumbleberry syrup bottles in the next picture are Jumbleberry smoothies. Nothing but Jumbleberry syrup and plain organic yogurt. I had three samples of these. Remember, I don't like sweets. Or smoothies. Or yogurt, really. Until now.

 
 

In addition to last year's assortment, they have two new flavors of waffle mix: Maple Pecan and Cinn-A-Wonderful. The latter is based off of the cinnamon buns that she makes in her restaurant.

I need to mention here that you have to respect the mix and actually follow the directions. This means using actual buttermilk like the box asks you to. "Mom" told me that I'm in serious trouble if she finds out that I'm cutting corners in my kitchen with her mix. I believe her. I don't know what I would do if I got grounded from having Waffle Lady products :(

Also new is Brent's Perfect Brew. Brent is Waffle Lady's husband. I jokingly told her that they should have called it Coffee Gentleman. Brent is a coffee connoisseur and buys the beans from an award-winning grower in Kona, Hawaii. I believe it. The coffee was intensely flavored but with just a fleeting hint of bitterness. 

If this waffle thing doesn't work out, the Waffle Family should just get into the procurement business.

 

Also new to the Waffle Lady lineup are their granola and Daily Oats. The granola is amazing and kept me upright during day 2 of the show as my energy was flagging. One pouch kept me going until the end of day 2 when Actual had to cart me to a cab back to the hotel.

The Daily Oats are the epitome of what I call "cubicle stash". Any desk worker knows that hours can become highly variable and you can end up stranded in your cube for unplanned hours as urgent projects come up. Usually, by this point there are no convenient food sources and your only options are delivery food. 

This stuff is way better than the usual stuff I have stashed (read: ramen and uh, ramen). The bottom of the container contains organic oats. In the top there is a baggie that contains the toppings (in this case, raisins, walnuts, and brown sugar). You add water and cook the oats, then top the oatmeal. Instant oatmeals can't compare with Daily Oats, as these are organic whole rolled oats versus the crap in instant oats, and unlike the freeze dried artificial bits in instant oats, Daily Oats come with the same, real toppings you would you add yourself at home.

 

Really though, it's all about the waffles. Waffle Daughter-In-Law made me a whole chocolate chip waffle all for myself. Just look at this thing. I managed to eat 1/4 of it before other show attendees descended like Waffle Vultures and grabbed the rest. I don't blame them.

 
 

Waffle Lady products are available at wafflelady.com. 

If you are a retail chain, please stock these products. They won't let you down. This doubly goes for any of you with locations in the Sacramento area. I can order Waffle Lady stuff when I need it, but I deserve instant gratification.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make some Jumbleberry iced tea. 

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: Carmelina Brands

Carmelina Brands/Mangia had a huge multi demonstration kitchen booth at the show. Holding court at the center of the booth was Chef Giacomo. I believe that Chef G is one of their corporate chefs, and they made a very good choice bringing him to the show. He made great food, was very charming, and was happy to answer even the most silly questions from the Chomple staff. This picture makes it look like he was giving a stern look at someone... he was actually in great spirits, I just managed to snap the picture while he was doing his best Le Tigre impression.

 

Up front, Chef G was serving orecchiette with a marinara sauce that he made from Carmelina's San Marzano tomatoes. If you've watched more than one episode of Iron Chef, you know that San Marzano tomatoes are pretty much a requirement if you want a great pasta sauce. His creation was so good that Saucy Girlfriend did a U turn after leaving and went back to ask him some more questions.

 

The real superstar at the Carmelina booth, however, was not Chef G's pasta. In fact, it turned out to be their canned beans. The beans were not overly salty and were cooked al dente. I hate mushy beans. If they're mushy before I cook them, they will be paste afterwards. The Carmelina beans are perfect. I'm not buying any other brand from now on.

 
     

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010: Porchetta Primata

FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS PORKY!

It's rare that a pork product actually gets me to stop in my tracks, but this is one of them. I've lived a long porky culinary life. All sorts of prosciutto. Smuggled culatello :) Whole roasted pig in at least 10 states and 8 countries. Many, many BBQ cookoffs. Really, if you're selling a pork product, I probably will just shrug at you and say "I've had better."

Not in this case. Oh my porky goodness.

A little background: porchetta is a traditional Italian dish where you debone a whole hog and reassemble/roll it back together with stuffing and herbs. Then you roast it at high heat for hours until the outside becomes a nice crackly skin (think a perfectly roasted Chinese hog) and the inside is moist and flavorful. 

Sound like a ridiculously hard and labor intensive endeavor? It is. I've tried this three times and only the last attempt even resembled what is supposed to happen.

Now, what if you could let the experts do it for you? What if you could just reheat it and the end product would seem like you did it all yourself. You could get all the porky hero worship and your friends and family would love you forever. 

That day is here. 

Meet Porchetta Primata.

 

In the background is their whole porchetta. The foreground has their petite porchetta for smaller groups that might not be able to down an entire hog.

The skin is perfect and crispy. The meat is juicy and super tasty. I seriously don't know how they managed to do this but it's as good if not better as the porchetta I've had cooked by my Italian relatives (I hope they aren't reading this).

For this product, the hogs are from small farms in Kentucky. Nothing like a good Southern pig, let me tell you.  Everything after that is done exactly the same way it would be done for a traditional porchetta. 

This is a shot of the one they were slicing for samples. It really was THAT GOOD.

 

According to the website, their products are available at Costco. I'm going right after I get home. I neeeeeeed more of this stuff. Right now.