MacarOn Café, NYC

Macarons are high up there on the list of baked goods / desserts that I could care less about.  I don't actively dislike them, but I'd never, ever pick one over most other things.  But when people bring special things to the office, and have leftovers, I'm always incapable of not trying.  Even if they are macarons.  

"MacarOn Café was established to pay homage to the delicate French confectionery, the macaron. Our shops have been recognized as the connoisseurs of this delicious French pastry because of the wonderful variety of flavors from our master chef, Cecile Cannone."

 In this case, our macarons came from MacarOn Café, which I had never heard of before then, which is not a surprise as I never seek out these item.  No, I don't know why they capitalize the O.  They have two locations in Manhattan, one inside Grand Central, and one in midtown.  They get really great reviews in general, which also surprised me, given that Ladurée is nearby too.

Signature Box.

"From time-tested flavors, like Pistachio and Vanilla, to the seasonal and eclectic, such as Pumpkin Cinnamon and Cherry Blossom, Cecile Cannone and our pastry chefs are dedicated to pleasing your taste buds with our sinfully delicious gluten-free Macarons."

The macrons all come in attractive signature boxes with French motifs on them.  The macrons are all gluten-free and kosher as well.  All are $3.49 each or available in larger boxes for slight discount.

Macrons.

The shop seems to carry about 30 varieties at any given time.  We had an assortment, but none were labelled, so I sorta just grabbed two that looked quasi-interesting.  I later looked up a flavor guide and saw I had missed out on the pandan coconut, tropical guava, mango passionfruit, and other more fun flavors, but, alas.

I tried two, and was instantly impressed.  Some of the best macarons I've ever had, no question.

Lavender Honey.

"Floral infused buttercream which takes you for a trip in South of France Provence."

For some reason the color in this photo looks awful.  This was actually a lovely shade of light purple, and I hoped it would be ube (a girl can hope right?).  Alas, it was very clearly floral.  As my co-worker immediately identified, lavender.

Once my brain adapted to florals rather than ube though, I really enjoyed it.  Sweet but not cloying, floral flavor that wasn't too over the top, and lovely sweetness from the honey.  It all just worked really, really well.  And the macaron itself?  Flawless really.  I don't get excited about macarons, but, this shell had great chewiness, the buttercream was fluffy, the ratio was perfect.  

One of the best macarons I've ever had.  4.5/5 maybe?

Pistachio.

"Homemade pistachio buttercream. Rolled in pistachios crumbs. Nutty taste, less sweet, very subtle. Our best seller at MacarOn Café."

I knew this would be pistachio given the visible bits of nut on the outside, and I picked it as a clear safe option that would leave no guesswork. And I was kinda on a pistachio kick that month (and yes, they make a Dubai version too with chocolate shells).

This was very clearly pistachio in taste too.  Really no surprises here.  It tasted like pistachio.  Perhaps a bit fake, but relatively straightforward nuttiness.  I liked the extra texture from the nuts.  Great execution on the shell and filling ratio again.  Execution wise this was a 4/5, but I didn't love it, so only 3.5/5 for me.

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Goodie Girl

When she was a few years old, we found out my niece has a gluten allergy.  This was a first for the family, particularly one with a diet soooo based in gluten-full carbs and grandma (my mom) an avid baker.  My mother has embraced the challenge of finding her every available safe snack, breakfast item, baked good, brand of mac and cheese, etc, which is no simple feat in a small town in NH, and is slowy learning to bake with gluten-free flours too.

Her journeys into the gluten-free world have meant that I've of course gotten to try lots of snack foods that I'd never normally seek out, such as products from Goodie Girl, and entirely gluten-free and kosher brand.

Goodie Girl has a number of product lines, all packaged items, such as many styles of cookies and some breakfast bars.

Breakfast biscuits are available in just two flavors: blueberry or cinnamon brown sugar.  These are essentially the same as BelVita breakfast biscuits, which I've reviewed before, but, the gluten-free version obviously.  I found it amusing that they even take the same large oval shape.  Their other breakfast bar product line, softer breakfast bars, come in 4 varieties (blueberry and cinnamon brown sugar again, or strawberry or chocolate/banana/almond), again much like BelVita's soft baked line.  I tried only the biscuits.

Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits.

"Start your day with some blues! Goodie Girl Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits are sweet, crunchy morning snacks made with blueberries and whole grain gluten-free oats to help provide nutritious energy for your morning routine."

My package contained 3 of the biscuits.

Again, just like BelVita, they are crispy biscuits, akin to graham crackers almost but thicker, loaded with a bit more grains/oats to deem them breakfast worthy, and flavored. I found them very sweet after a few bites.  They are also pretty dry to just eat straight from the package, but they do soften nicely when you dunk them in coffee like biscotti, and I also like dunking them in yogurt.  The blueberry was minimal, but I did taste the little dried blueberries if I really tried.

So on their own, too sweet, too dry, but, dunked in coffee or tangy yogurt and they aren't bad if in the mood for a biscuit for breakfast (or perhaps a mid-morning coffee snack).  3/5.

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Sterns Bakery, NYC

Sterns is a kosher bakery in the New York City area.  It is a family run bakery, started in Hungary, but moved to the United States in 1949.

The bakery makes sliced breads and challah, buns, bagels, and pita, plus tons of cakes (roll cakes, bundts, layer cakes, babka cakes), all the pastries (donuts, danishes, muffins, cupcakes, cookies, rugelach), and cheesecakes.

In addition to the bakery fresh items, they have several more stable product lines: Pastry To Go is boxed family sized individually wrapped smaller (1 ounce) snack cakes (akin to Little Debbie/Drake's, etc), Munchbreak is individually wrapped convenience store style boxes of slightly bigger (3 ounce) items, and Fresh To Go is the larger (5-6 ounce), clamshell packaged pastries.  It is one of the Fresh To Go items that I tried.

Fresh To Go Packaging.

"In 2012, Stern's unveiled the Pastry to Go product line, a revolutionary moment in the cake industry. Individually wrapped for convenience, these pastries became a clean and delicious go-to snack, bringing taste and tradition into the hands of consumers."

I tried a Fresh To Go item, which is the style of something you'd find in a convenience store that is sorta trying to look like it has fresh bakery items.  This product line has muffins, danishes, turnovers, and a few desserts (classic black and white cookies, napoleon)

They make all your standard muffins: chocolate chip, corn, blueberry, plus some very dessert-like ones such as cappuccino, chocolate cream cheese, or cappuccino cream cheese.  All are 4", 5 ounce muffins, although they make minis too.

Blueberry Muffin.

"A 4” vanilla-based blueberry muffin that is crisp on the outside and moist on the inside."

The blueberry muffin is definitely a cake masquerading as a breakfast item style, sweet, vanilla cake base.  It was fairly moist, didn't taste overly full of chemicals or processing.  Fairly average.  It had some big blueberries in it, well distributed and not clumped together, but not nearly as many as I'd hope to see.  A tiny bit of streusel on top that I liked, but again, not as much as I'd want.  It was "fine".  3/5

They consider this 2.5 servings, and like many muffins, it was ~600 calories if you ate the whole thing.

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My Most Favorite Food, NYC

My Most Favorite Food.

Well, that is a business with a lofty name.  In New York no less.  It was previously called "My Most Favorite Dessert", but expanded the name to encompass apparently all food at some point.  And at some point, it actually was a restaurant serving food (and a bakery, and a catering company).  But it shuttered post-covid, and now remains only as a caterer / online ordering venue.  Their products are all kosher.

"Our bakery will continue to feature specialty cakes for any occasion, as well as the cakes, cookies, sugar cookies, brownies, pies, tarts, breads, challahs, gluten-free and vegan options that have graced your table for years. You can call us, email us, or order online to have your favorite baked goods delivered right to your door. "

I didn't seek out this business, but when groups at my office in NY hold small events, they often order a few items from My Most Favorite Food in addition to their regular offerings, so that there kosher guests can be included.  Inevitably, they have extra of those items in particular, so of course I was happy to try leftover desserts, even though I don't keep kosher.

Pecan Diamonds.
$27/12.

The first item I tried was a fairly average looking pecan bar, er, "pecan diamond".

This was actually very good. Pecan pie in bar form.  Sticky, gooey, sweet, exactly what I want in a pecan pie.  Lots of nuts on top, cut up but not too chopped.  Buttery shortbread base.  Nothing I'd change really.  4/5.

Assorted Cake Pops.
$30/12.

A few days later, someone else had goodies from this place, so I snagged a cake pop.  It turned out to be chocolate inside as well as outside.  

It was a highly forgettable.  The shell was just average quality milk chocolate, the filling sorta standard dense cake pop.  Nothing special about it.  3/5.

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Struesli

Granola.  Redefined.  That is the promise of Struesli, a relative newcomer in the very saturated healthy granola market.  Although unlike most, they actually do craft a fairly healthy product, not as laden with fats and sugars as most.

"Struesli is more than just granola; it's a commitment to health, taste, and quality. Our brand is dedicated to crafting delicious and nutritious granola options that cater to various dietary needs, including keto and paleo. We prioritize using natural ingredients to ensure that every bite is not only flavorful but also beneficial for your well-being. With Struesli, you can indulge in a guilt-free snack that's as wholesome as it is delicious."

It is unique in the market in that it has no grains and no sweeteners at all, not even healthy alternatives like dates or monkfruit or the like.  So it is gluten-free and keto and all that from the start.  It is also vegan as no butter or anything like that is used. And organic.  And kosher.  All the things some people care about.  

"Most conventional granolas are made with oats, not Struesli! We swapped the oats and the cheap fillers for organic tiger nuts, which are not a nut, bean, or seed. Rather, they’re a nutritious tuber, a type of root vegetable that’s a potent source of prebiotic fiber and adds a delicious crispy texture and natural sweetness to our granola."

The lack of grains of any kind definitely makes it considerably different from most granolas, not just in the nutritional profile, which they focus on, but actually in the resulting texture/format of the product, the key thing that makes it more streusel or muesli-like rather than granola.

Struesli is available in 3 flavors: Original, Savory + Seed, and Cacao + Coffee, the later of which I tried.  All use the same base of tiger nuts/pecans/walnuts, hemp/chia/flax seeds, and coconut flakes/butter/oil.  The "Savory + Seed" version adds in pumpkin and sunflower seeds, the "Cacao + Coffee" adds cocoa nibs, cocoa powder, and coffee.

They recommend using it on yogurt like you would granola to make a parfait, to sprinkle on toast with nut butter, or to add to smoothies or even baked goods (for the chocolate or original only). They also say you can just snack on it on its own, which is something I do regularly with normal granola, but didn't find possible with this product as it has no clusters or finger-food size bits at all.  You'd have to snack on it with a spoon, which isn't quite snacking in my head.  However, the idea of using it in place of a streusel on a baked good or fruit crisp/crumble does seem appropriate, or, for the savory flavors, they also suggest using on a salad, soup, cottage cheese, or avocado toast.

Cacao + Coffee.

"With hints of chocolate and coffee, this granola elevates your snacking experience while maintaining all the health benefits of the Original blend."

"A dark and delicious version of Struesli Original, this sophisticated blend features indulgent notes of cacao and coffee."

I opened this up and found ... wow, yeah, a product I myself might dub "the lovechild of muesli and streusel", e.g. struesli, indeed.  The product is very well named.  Rather than a granola with clusters, or even tiny bunches due to oats/flakes/grains, it is pretty much just little bits of rubble, like a topping you'd find on a fruit crisp or cobbler.  I grabbed a few fingers full (which is difficult!) and gave it a taste.

While it looked deeply chocolately with the dark brown color, the dominate flavor was coconut.  They use coconut three ways in all products (flakes, butter, oil), and it really comes through, for better or worse.  It was also exceptionally bitter.  With zero sweeteners whatsoever, the bitter cocoa and coffee, the bitterness from the seeds ... yeah, wow, this was bitter.  I knew not to expect a sugary sweet product, but, this was considerably more bitter than I anticipated.

I found myself disliking it pretty immediately.  It was bitter, I didn't taste chocolate, and the texture, while fascinating, was just annoying.  They could have at least left some nuts coarsely chopped, but even those were finely chopped, so there really just were no bits to enjoy.  Although I never tasted it, if you are wondering, it really is a caffeinated product, a 1-ounce serving contains about 18 mg of caffeine (~¼ cup of coffee).

It didn't work for me as a finger food or topping very well at all, but I did manage to enjoy it with sweetened vanilla soy milk, which added sweetness and made it less annoying to eat, since I was using a spoon and having with milk like cereal.  But overall, this was a letdown for me, as cereal format isn't really what I wanted.  Perhaps if you really want a health food feeling item, give it a try? 2/5.

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PLNT Burger

Update Review, August 2025 Visits

I visited PLNT 3 times when I was in NY this summer.  I ordered in person twice for shakes, and once online for a burger.  That time was only a quasi-success, as my order was ready at the expected time, but really, it was ready at least 10-15 mins earlier, and wasn't actually warm when I got it.  The times I ordered in person were fine, ready fast. 

Sweets

When I visited last year for my free birthday shake, PLNT used Oatly for the soft serve (and for the oat milk they blend it with).  However, Oatly has ended that product, so they had to find a new plant based soft serve to move to.  They went with Eclipse, which I've had in hard serve before (didn't care for the vanilla, but the cookie butter was good!).  I'm not sure I noticed a difference in milkshake form, since it is blended with the Oatly oat milk still.  

Banana Brulee Milkshake (Small). $6.69.
No caramel, add rainbow sprinkles (+$1), half banana.

"Try this limited-edition, chef-crafted collaboration between PLNT Burger and Cookies, while supplies last. Infused with love and 100% plant-based deliciousness."

I was again a bit stumped on what flavor milkshake to order.  I don't order milkshakes in regular life, and vanilla, chocolate, twist, or black and white just seemed ... boring.  And although I love strawberries, I don't care for strawberry ice cream /  milkshakes / yogurt at all.  Which left me with the mint cookies & cream (that I had last year, uh, sub chocolate sprinkles for Oreo) or this, the special banana brulee milkshake.  I was drawn to it because I saw photos of it, and it was supposed to have whipped cream and brulee sprinkles on top.  Whipped cream isn't even an option with any of the others, so that alone drew me in.

It is made with the vanilla soft serve (Eclipse), oat milk (Oatly), caramel syrup, bananas, and the aforementioned whipped cream and brulee sugar crystals.  Or at least, that is what all their materials say, and what the photos show. But it was handed over like this, sans any fun toppings.  I asked about this, and the staff member just shrugged and said, "Yeah, we don't make them like that no more.".  Well, ok then.  So, no whipped cream, no brulee topping.  

When I ordered, I had the option to include no whipped cream or no sugar topping (and no caramel, no bananas, or sub chocolate soft serve for the vanilla).  I did NOT take those first omissions, but it seems they need to update the menu and the app to reflect how they are currently making the shake.  I did opt to have no caramel added (I was worried about it just being too sweet), but added rainbow sprinkles to give it some sweetness and fun texture, as I had loved the texture the chocolate sprinkles added to my mint shake last summer.  You can add sprinkles (either color), caramel, chocolate sauce, or Oreo for $1 more.  I also asked in person (since not possible in the online ordering) to use only half the banana as I didn't want it over the top banana-y.  After all, I was mostly getting this for the fun toppings (alas!).

Anyway, my annoyance that they changed it to be more boring aside, this was good.  The flavor was definitely oaty, which I don't mind.  It had good banana flavor, definitely exactly what I was aiming for, and if that really was half, I think regular amount would have been way too much for my tastes.  It was perfectly blended, easily drinkable with a straw with some intentional suction, also possible to eat with a spoon with no problem.  It had only a small amount of rainbow sprinkles blended in, which did add a nice sweetness and a tiny bit of texture, but there wasn't much, definitely nothing like last year's copious additions.

So overall, this was enjoyable, and obviously free so a great value, but I wouldn't get this again unless craving banana.  3.5/5.

Vanilla Shake (small). $6.79.
Add chocolate sprinkles (+$1).

A week later, I was craving another shake.  An oat shake at that.  What had gotten into me? For my next shake, I went back to my mint chocolate chip inspiration, this time opting to create a chocolate chip version, so just a vanilla shake to which I added chocolate sprinkles.

It was prepared quickly, and served super full, which I was pleased by.  No skimping here!  It was well blended, a great consistency, and yeah, just a pretty decent vanilla, oat based, shake.  It was easy to drink with the provided straw, or use a spoon if I wished.  Nice sweetness level, no fake vanilla taste.  Just, good.  3.5/5 base.

Vanilla Shake: SPRINKLES!

And the chocolate sprinkles?  Fabulous!  It was much like my first shake that was absolutely loaded with them.  Very bite/sip had tons of sprinkles.  The base had tons of sprinkles.  So much texture, and it really made it eat like chocolate chip soft serve.

Approaching 4/5 really, although I'm still not one to really ever crave a shake, let alone a vegan one, this really is nicely made.

Chocolate Soft Serve.

I asked how chocolately the soft serve was and was offered a sample.  I'm glad I tried it, as I really did not care for it.  It tasted exactly like a fudgesicle (just a sorta oaty one) and I really, really don't like that flavor.  Something about that kind of chocolate flavor and the iciness.  Not for me at all. 1/5.

Burgers

PLNT offers 6 different burgers, ranging from simple burger to a double to a patty melt, plus a few other variations.  You can easily make a few changes to the burgers such as getting it as a swiss chard wrap (no extra fee) or on an actual gluten-free bun (+$3.59), switch out the cheese to pepper jack, get a bigger patty (+$2), change the patty to chik'n (+$1), or change it to their "actual veggies" patty (+$2), and ask for the sauce on the side as easy changes.  You can further customize by "adds" such as guacamole/grilled or fresh jalapenos, crispy onions, mushroom bacon, an extra patty, or "spicy dust" for varying upcharges, and have any of the base elements left out.  They also have 2 chicken (er, Chik'n) and one fish option.

Cheeseburger. $9.39.
(Sub Swiss Chard Wrap, Sauce on the Side).

"Plant-Based Patty, Caramelized Onion, Pickles, Stockeld Cultured Cheddar (V), Green Leaf Lettuce, Roma Tomato, PLNT Sauce, Potato Bun."

For my first actual burger from PLNT, I opted for the cheeseburger.  Since I'm not all that into buns, and I adore swiss chard, I got it as a swiss chard wrap rather than a bun, and asked for the sauce on the side in case I didn't care for it.  These were all predefined easy mods when ordering.

It came wrapped in a pretty large piece of greens, that actually seemed like collard greens, not swiss chard.  I didn't mind this, as I like collards too, but, take note.  The wrap was crisp, fresh, a bit awkward to eat, but a nice change from a bun.  I did actually just end up eating the contents mostly without it, and bringing it home to saute later.  4/5 for the wrap though, good, and a unique offering.

Cheeseburger: Inside.

Nestled within was the rest of the burger ingredients.  Everything was as expected, all ingredients included, although the tomato seemed to be a regular large round tomato, not Roma as the menu said (the third menu inaccuracy I found, after the lack of brulee milkshake toppings and the change of the type of green for the wrap ...).

The cheese was nicely melted, gooey, decent cheddar flavor, and really not distinguishable from regular dairy cheddar, particularly with all the other ingredients within.  The caramelized onions were chopped up bits and were very tasty, particularly with the cheese.  There were tons of them.  I loved these two components, along with the very tasty copious pickle slices.  4/5 for all of that.

The tomato was the only letdown.  I didn't care that it didn't seem to be Roma, but it wasn't very juicy nor fresh, and it was August, peak tomato season, so this was quite sad.  At least it wasn't mealy, it was just not ripe and tasted like nothing really.  2/5 tomato.

And then of course the burger patty.  This was a thin, fast food style patty, so not thick and juicy, but it was nicely charred.  It ate like a meaty style patty, e.g. Beyond or Impossible (although it is proprietary, not either of those brands exactly), not like an old-school traditional veggie burger (although they offer that too, the "Actual Veggies" burger).  With the excellent toppings, I barely cared that it wasn't beef, I mostly cared that it was a thin style patty, which isn't normally what I go for.  But very good for a non-beef burger, 3.5/5.

Put it all together, and particularly carried by the strength of the caramelized onions/cheese/pickles, this may be a low 4 star.

Original Review, August 2024 Visit

When you think of vegan food, you most likely don't think of burgers, fries, and shakes.  At least, I don't.  I think of generally more healthy cuisine, with a focus around whole plants and vegetables.  But ... it makes sense that vegans want indulgent comfort food too.  Enter: PLNT Burger.  Basically akin to Shake Shack or your favorite burger joint, but, entirely vegan.

"Our menu is 100% plant-based, kosher and delicious."

They aren't trying to be ultra healthy, just, tasty.  Now this I can get behind. 

The chain has locations in NYC, the Boston and DC areas, and Pennsylvania.  I wasn't aware of it however until I recently visited NY, and I kept walking by both locations.  I was intrigued enough to look it up, and the reviews were quite positive.  I was sold when I saw they were offering a free burger or sandwich just for signing up for the rewards club, and doubly sold when I saw I'd get a free shake on my birthday (which just happened to be that month).  You know I love my freebies.

Setting

In NYC, there are two PLNT Burger locations, both adjacent to parks, one across the street from Bryant Park, the other half a block off Madison Square Park.

Bryant Park Location.

The Bryant Park location had virtually no seating, just three seats in the window, and a few stools around the center island.  No outdoor seating.  Clearly a location for takeout, during the warmer weather, it is easy to cross the street and dine in Bryant Park.  I'm curious what people do in the winter however.

Ordering is done via several kiosks along the wall, online through your phone, or, in person if you wished.  I ordered online as I had a reward to redeem and that seemed easiest since I was logged in.  The staff at this location were wonderful, very friendly, welcoming, up for modifying things, and wished me a happy birthday (as I was there redeeming my reward).  I was the only guest at 12:30pm on a Sunday though, which seems a bit concerning for their business.

Burgers / Sandwiches

If you are curious, the burgers use Beyond Burger, the cheese is Follow Your Heart vegan cheese.  I'm not sure what brand the crispy or grilled chicken, fish fillets, or "actual veggies" veggie burgers are.  I still haven't tried one of the burgers, but I hope to next time I'm in NY.

Sweets

For desserts, PLNT has four offerings: soft serve, shakes, floats, and cookies.  All are obviously vegan.  

Cookies are your standard chocolate chip, or a healthy sounding carrot-oat-pineapple. The soft serve is oat-milk based, available in chocolate or vanilla, with or without rainbow or chocolate sprinkles.  I was pretty interested in that, as I adore soft serve in general, and really do quite like oat milk (and the common brand of oat based soft serve on the market, Oatly), but my birthday reward was for a shake only.  

For shakes, I had a lot of options.  Too many, really.  I was so indecisive.  The lineup started with the basics: vanilla, chocolate, or swirl, using the vanilla or chocolate (or both for swirl, obviously) based soft serve.  Then there was strawberry, which I think used syrup with the vanilla base.  Or black and white, which, my research tells me, is a fairly common type of milkshake, that uses vanilla base plus chocolate syrup (rather than the swirl, which is both the vanilla and chocolate bases).  So I think it is less chocolately than a chocolate shake (that uses chocolate base), but more chocolately than the swirl (since that has the vanilla mixed with chocolate)?  Next up is peppermint cookies & cream (vanilla base, peppermint syrup, Oreos). From there, the specials roll in, which during my visit was a banana creme brulee, with bananas blended in and a brulee topping.  You can add sprinkles (rainbow or chocolate), graham crumbs, Oreos, chocolate sauce, or caramel to any shake.  So if the peppermint cookies & cream isn't your thing, but you still want cookies & cream, just add Oreo to the vanilla base (or chocolate, if you want more chocolate flavor, etc).   No whipped (non-dairy) cream topping options.

Mint Cookies N' Cream OATasty Shake. $6.49.
(-Oreos, Sub Chocolate Sprinkles).

Even with all the customization options possible, I still wanted something a bit different, not from the menu.  See, I don't like Oreos, or strawberry shakes, but I wanted something more interesting than just vanilla or chocolate (or even either of those with sprinkles).  I loved the appeal of the mint, but, that was only available in the peppermint cookies & cream.  There was no option to remove the Oreos, but I asked anyway, and asked if I could sub chocolate sprinkles for the Oreos.  Both are priced the same as add-ins, so I hoped this would be allowed.  The staff member I asked said it was no problem at all, and she'd be happy to do it.  I told her I was basically trying to make mint chip, and she approved of my creation.

My shake was quickly prepared, and handed over with a smile.  She wished me a happy birthday.  I was really pleased with the service.

I was even more pleased when I took a sip of the shake.  It was good.  Very good.  The mint flavor was very strong (nearly too strong).  The shake was really well blended, the perfect level of soft and melty, easy to suck up with a straw.  It was loaded with chocolate sprinkles.  Again, borderline too much, but, I loved the texture from the little bits, and the pops of chocolate flavor.  Sure, actual chips would be better, but this definitely created the mint chip experience I was looking for.  The oat milk base was, well, oaty, but really quite enjoyable, creamy, rich.  I'm surprised they don't have a cinnamon/horchata shake available, as it seems like it would be a natural fit.

I absolutely loved it, and would get again without question, although I am also interested in trying others.  ****.

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Pop Mix by Marilyn

Oh snacks, I love my snacks.  I'm an avid snacker, mid-morning, mid-afternoon, all evening ... I have a particular weakness for popcorn (although strangely not for microwave popcorn).  I try any and all brands of popcorn I see.

Which brings us to Pop Mix by Marilyn, a artisanal small batch caramel popcorn line.

"Each non-GMO corn kernel is lovingly air popped to perfection by our gourmet artisanal chefs. Cascading rivers of caramel decadence coat the popcorn, ensuring a delicious balanced flavor profile to excite the palate. The caramel corn is then cooled & bagged at exactly the right temperature to capture that perfect crunch. Our mouthwatering experience will leave you craving for more! Handcrafted in small batches, our artisans only use the finest premium ingredients to create this addictive masterpiece."

Although this is caramel corn, it is vegan (and gluten-free, and kosher, if that matters for you), using plant based butter.  All varieties have the same base of brown sugar and corn syrup (along with the aforementioned vegan butter of course).  They currently make three flavors; I tried two of them.

Peanut Butter.

"Decadently doused with real, creamy peanut butter, this caramel-coated popcorn treat will bring back all the nostalgia you love from a certain childhood favorite. "

I started with the peanut butter flavor.  I was sooo excited for this popcorn.  I was on a serious peanut butter kick at the time, and couldn’t wait to try peanut butter popcorn, it sounded perfect to me.  

Like all the Pop Mix flavors, it uses a caramel corn base.  The pieces were all evenly coated, and decent size pieces.

But … alas, I didn’t really taste any peanut butter.  There were many bites where I didn't taste it at all, and mostly I struggled to detect any peanut butter vibes.  The caramel was definitely there, and these were a very candied type of caramel corn, but … peanut butter they were not.  Sadness. 2/5.

Classic Caramel.

"Lightly salted with flakes of real natural sea salt, this caramel-coated popcorn treat will give you that salty-sweet crunch you've been craving." 

Next I tried the classic caramel corn. It is a fairly sweet caramel corn, but relatively well balanced, not just cloying.  All pieces evenly coated.  Definitely something I need to be in the mood for though.  I don't find myself often just reaching for any bag of caramel corn - at least mixed with a salty kettle corn or cheese corn is more my style, or if opting for just a caramel corn, I use it as a topping on an ice cream sundae or something (which is what I ended up doing with this).  

So, good for what it was, but not something I'd naturally go purchase again.  3/5 as it was good for the style.

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Jackson's Potato Chips

Jackson's is a snack food (mostly chips) manufacturer with a slightly different approach to their products.  

"Super Snacks you can feel good about eating. We source non-GMO heirloom sweet potatoes and potatoes directly from the farmer and cook them low and slow in premium avocado oil. The result? Chips that are deliciously light and crunchy. Go ahead. Snack Super!"

Like many, yes, they are kosher, vegan, gluten-free (actually, free of top 9 allergens), non-GMO, care about their soucing, etc, but a notable difference in their products is the use of avocado oil.

"At Jackson's, we've mastered the art of crafting snacks with premium avocado oil, a better-for-you fat that puts other oils to shame. While other snack brands settle for cheap seed oils, we never compromise on quality. We even go the extra mile to rigorously third-party test our suppliers. Our commitment to uncompromising standards sets us apart from the Imi-Taters who miss the mark on delivering truly heroic ingredients."

They make three products lines: kettle chips, sweet potato chips, and veggie straws.  I tried just the basic kettle chips, and opted instead to focus on several flavors of their sweet potato chips.  I'm actually allergic to avocado, but somehow these didn't bother me at all, which was a great find, as their sweet potato chips now have a permanent spot in my pantry.  I haven't yet had the veggie straws.

Kettle Chips

The kettle chips are made with standard white potatoes.  They come in 3 flavors: sea salt, barbecue, and sea salt & vinegar.  I tried only one.

Classic Sea Salt.

"Upgrade your snack game with Jackson's Kettle Chips – a guilt-free indulgence that combines non-GMO potatoes, sea salt, and premium avocado oil for a crispy, golden bite that satisfies your cravings and fuels your body with antioxidant-rich, better-for-you fats."

Classic kettle chips.  Thin style.  Smaller size.  Good blistering.  Standard salt level.  Strong basic potato taste.  I usually go for flavored chips, and not kettle style like this, but they were absolutely fine for what they were.  My father devoured the bag when I handed it off to him, before his lunch even (instead of alongside as normal), so I'll take that as an endorsement.  3/5.

Sweet Potato Chips

The sweet potato chips are made from a base of orange sweet potatoes.  This is their biggest product line, and the chips come in both regular and a wavy styles, in a variety of flavors, including basic sea salt, a version of bbq, a style of ranch (vegan though!), and cheddar & sour cream (also vegan).

I tried only the regular (non-wavy) ones.  The form factor really is unique, thin slices of sweet potato, longer than standard chips.  They are folded over in a variety of ways.  And yes, they taste like sweet potato chips, very similar to the more common Terra brand (which I've never really cared for before).  They are crisp but not crunchy if that makes any sense, almost a bit soft, which actually works for them.  The base quickly became something I craved, and I really loved the fold over style. I ended up loving these, and tried several flavors.  I'd love to try the wavy ones next.

Carolina BBQ.

"Your taste buds are about to take a trip to Carolina BBQ country. We toss our already great tasting sweet potato chips with tangy, vinegary, Carolina mop sauce seasoning, building layers of flavor that'll satisfy any BBQ snack status."

When I opened these, I forgot at first that they were sweet potato chips, I just grabbed them as I was craving a bbq chip.  They didn't quite meet my craving needs at the time as the sweet potato base really is quite a different eating experience, so I went back to them the next day, this time, expecting the sweet potato base.

The main draw was the seasoning of course, as that is what bbq chips are all about!  And they did a great job.  Classic Carolina style bbq, so lots of vinegar, and some tomato/garlic/paprika notes.  Not a smokey mesquite style, not heavy tomato/ketchup.  I really liked it, and think the seasoning paired really well with the flavor of the base sweet potato.

These were a home run for me, something I really enjoyed when in the mood for a sweet potato chips.  High 4/5.

Spicy Jalapeño.

"Perfect for those who crave a kick with their crunch. Our Spicy Jalapeño sweet potato chips are kettle-cooked to crispy perfection in avocado oil and seasoned with an irresistible mix of real jalapeño and savory hints of onion and garlic."

Next up, I went spicy.

These had the same great sweet potato base that I grew to love.  The flavor was nicely savory (onion, garlic, paprika in these too), with a hit of spice from jalapeño.  They weren't so spicy it made me slow down in any way eating them, but there was enough there to appreciate.

Jalapeño isn't an everyday flavor for me, but these were good for this kind of chip.  3.5/5.

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Pounamu Protein Puffs

I love snacks.  I love crunchy things.  I love chips and puffs.  And, from time to time, I attempt to be quasi healthy when I munch on things.  And since I do weight lift, extra protein is generally a good thing.  And thus, I was interested to see a high protein based snack puff product line, by Pounamu.

"Meet your dietary goals and snack healthily when you are on the go with Pounamu's Protein Puffs. These delicious savory puffs are the perfect snack or healthy chip replacement to get you through your day or reinvigorate you after workouts. They taste delicious and are formulated with milk protein isolate to provide nutrients and essential amino acids.

Our Puffs are a nutritious and satisfying snack that is low in carbs and unnecessary sugars. With only 180 calories per bag, 1g sugar and 3g carbs, Pounamu Protein puffs can help support your keto, low-carb, or high-protein diet. Each serving contains 27g of dairy protein, with all essential amino acids to be easily absorbed by the body and enhance your active lifestyle; hit your protein goals with uncomplicated sports nutrition on the move."

These sounded pretty different from most other healthier styles of snack.  Dairy based ... but puffs?  Eh?  If you are interested, the dairy comes from grass-fed cattle in New Zealand, and although clearly not vegan, they are gluten-free and kosher.

They make the puffs in 4 varieties: Thai style ginger, ghost pepper salsa, rosemary thyme, and black truffle sea salt.  I had the later, because, truffle!

Black Truffle Sea Salt.

"Crispy and crunchy Pounamu Protein puffs are seasoned with gourmet flavors, including real truffles, herbs and spices, and complimented with natural flavors to create a flavor explosion."

These are weird AF.

I realize now looking at the ingredient list that they are basically milk protein isolate in puff form, so, what I tasted makes sense, but, wow, if you expect these to taste like any other kind of snack food puff (generally corn based ...), uh, change your expectations immediately.

Because these taste like milk.  Like, intense, concentrated milk.  But milk with a truffle aftertaste that is also salty.  Like I said, weird AF.

I like milk.  I like truffles.  I like salt.  I do not normally put them together.  There isn't much else to them either, just some oils for frying (sunflower, canola), a few scary things/binders/etc (maltodextrin, gum acacia, silicon dioxide, tricalcium phosphate) and a touch more seasoning (turmeric and annatto extracts).  So, yes,  concentrated milk with a salty truffle aftertaste. 

They were remarkably crunchy and yet kinda melted in your mouth, so the form factor works from a texture sense, but, yeah, wow.  So very, very strange.  **+.

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Fresko Fresh Kosher

Updated Reviews, 2022-2024 Experiences

If you keep kosher, there is a good chance you are familiar with Fresko, a specialty prepared foods company that serves many airlines, hospitals, food service establishments, and  airport concessions.  They hold Kosher and Halal certifications and pretty much dominate the industry the best I can tell.

"Freshness At Your Fingertips! Welcome to Fresko, Where innovation meets nutrition – offering an impressive selection of prepared foods for a wide range of tastes and dietary needs. Explore our comprehensive menu, from our gourmet sandwiches and salads to our hearty entrees and snacks."

Fresko’s product offerings include sandwiches and wraps, salads and sushi, side dishes, entrees, and baked goods.  They offer a surprisingly large vegan range as well.  Some are frozen and others are fresh.  Fresko is based in Hackensack, NJ, but distributes nationwide.  I've tried a huge variety of their products at this point, and in general, I find it just highly variable.  There are some dishes I've been blown away by how good they were.  Many that were average, "fine", but not something I'd seek out.  And then, nearly as many that were pretty horrible.  I haven't really identified a formula for predicting which will be hits, and which will be flops, and thus, I just keep trying ...

Chilled Lunches: Sandwiches, Salads, and Sushi

Fresko offers many chilled lunch items: sandwiches, salads, and sushi.  Sandwiches always come packaged with pickles, a small side of slaw, and two cookies.  Salads are nicely packaged with individual components separated out. I have mixed feelings on these offerings, as they never seem quite as fresh as I'd like, but, sometimes have some tasty bits.

Good Shiitake.

"Mushrooms are a powerhouse of flavor and nutrition. When designing this salad creation, we have incorporated the best of the fungi kingdom - Hon-shemji, Shiitake, and Portobello. Each mushroom is marinated and prepared to perfection. Mix in charred edamame, ancient quinoa and heirloom carrots. Top with our house made balsamic vinaigrette. This salad is elegant, sophisticated and scrumptious. "

Like all Fresko salads, the Good Shiitake salad was nicely packaged with different components separate.  It had a base of mixed greens, and then three kinds of mushrooms: roasted portabello mushrooms, shiitake mushroom "bacon", hon-shimeji mushrooms, along with carrots and charred edamame, and quinoa, plus balsamic viniagrette.

The base was good, fresh crisp greens.  Good quantity.  But the rest ... eh.

The edamame was quite shrived ("charred" I suppose), and the carrots were steamed but crunchy still, somewhat of an odd texture.  The big pieces of portobello mushroom were slimy, the hon-shimeji seemed pickled, or at least, had an odd taste to them.  The shiitake mushroom bacon nice chew I guess, but I wasn't into the flavor of it either, which is odd as I really do like mushrooms.  Quinoa and balsamic vinaigrette I never care for.

So, yes, fresh nice greens, but everything else, meh.  **.

Heirloom Tomato Salad.

Next up, a seasonal special: heirloom tomato.

I got this excited for heirloom tomatoes, but, these really didn't seem like anything special.  Just grape tomatoes with some marinade.  Also in the box was a few tiny bits of shredded carrot, strangely packaged alongside chickpeas, chopped red onion and non-specified cheese, and cucumbers.  The packaging said it also contained croutons, but mine did not.  

This was all fairly average.  Not much to say about it at all.  ***.

Salad Greens.

The base salad for the heirloom tomato was a mix of baby spinach and assorted baby greens.  There was also a container of dijon dressing under it all.  This was all fine.  ***.

Artisan Deli Salad.

Next up, the "aritisan" deli salad, which sounded a bit fancier than it was.

The toppings for this included cubes of turkey and turkey pastrami, along with a chopped mix of cucumber/red onion/tomato, some shredded carrot, croutons, and ... a comical amount of dried cranberries.  So, so many dried cranberries.

The croutons were fairly soggy from being in the fridge, the tomato/cucumber/red onion mix was pretty harsh.  The shredded carrots were fine, as were the cranberries, but, wow, so many of them.  The base was just plain lettuce, not particularly interesting.

The cubes of turkey were kinda meh, but I don't tend to like turkey.  The turkey pastrami was better, more flavorful.  Neither seemed particularly fresh however, a bit slimy.  Reminded me a bit of Lunchables, not that I've had those in many years.

Overall, a sorta different take on a deli salad, which I wouldn't expect to have the cranberries at least, but didn't seem very cohesive.  **+.

Taco Taco Salad.

"Impossible beef / black bean corn salsa / sweet potato crisps / shredded cheddar / avocado / summer crisp greens / chipotle lime dressing."

Next up, the "taco taco" salad.  Why double the taco?  I have no idea.  This one was fairly interesting - relatively well composed and thought out.  

It came with a small amount of Impossible brand beef crumbles, which was a bit odd to eat cold, so I wondered if I was supposed to remove it and microwave it first?  The crumbles were actually fairly tasty though, indistinguishable from say Taco Bell beef crumbles.  To add a bit more protein, there was also the "black bean corn salsa", which ... was really just some black beans and a little corn. I really wanted tomato and red onion in here somewhere. 

I had to ignore the avocado because I'm allergic, and the cold shredded cheddar was fine but not particularly interesting (cojita or something would be more Mexican-ish).  The little pieces of lemon were nice for a bit of acid, but, I kinda wanted lime instead of lemon to stay in theme ...

I did like the random two pieces of watermelon radish (yay crunch!), and the sweet potato crisps were quite tasty (and somehow still crispy, even though in the fridge).  The dressing I even enjoyed, sorta a zesty ranch (they called it chipotle lime, so I expected a vinaigrette, but this was definitely a creamy, mayo based style, and I don't generally like the precise flavor of chipotle, but I liked the zestiness here).

So, overall, some interesting bits, but I felt like they missed a few opportunities (tomato, onion, cheese type, lime, and even, it probably would be more cohesive with tortilla chips or strips, but I did quite like those sweet potato crisps, so, not complaining on that one).  Still, it really was tasty.  ***+.

Taco Taco Salad: Base.

The base of the taco taco salad I liked, big huge hunks of fresh bibb (?) lettuce.

Taco Taco Salad (2024).

"Impossible beef / black bean corn salsa / sweet potato crisps / shredded cheddar / avocado / summer crisp greens / chipotle lime dressing."

I had this once a few years ago, and kinda liked it, so I grabbed it again.  It was much the same as before, I think, but I did like it less. There were a few changes: fewer chips, no radish (even though the ingredients listed it), and the black bean corn salsa had far more corn this time, and the addition of all the peppers, rather than mostly just black beans.  But otherwise, much the same.  

The Impossible crumbles were ok, but not great, the cheddar fine but not exciting, and the black bean mix slightly more interesting, flavorful, and vibrant, but not really my thing.  I really wanted fresh tomatoes as a topping. Avoided avocado as I'm allergic. **+ toppings.

I again really liked the sweet potato chips, whatever brand they are, I enjoy them quite a bit, even though they get soft in here being refrigerated. **** chips.

Taco Salad Base, Chipotle Lime Dressing.

The base was good, just simple greens, but fresh enough, good size pieces.

I again liked the chipotle lime dressing more than expected as I don't tend to care for chipotle, but it was nice and zesty, mayo based, creamy. ***+ base and dressing.

Balsamic portobello mushroom & beef salad
w/ carrot-ginger vinaigrette.

Next up, a more hearty salad, the balsamic portobello mushroom & beef salad.

In addition to the expected hunks of portobello mushroom and beef, this also had lentils (boo) and shredded carrots, pickled red onions, and sliced almonds and candied pecans.

The shredded carrots and pickled onions were as expected, decent enough.  I quickly tossed the lentils as I don't care for them.  The namesake mushrooms were fine, I didn't taste balsamic, but they were soft and slimy in a marinated way, not a gross way, if that makes any sense.  These elements all pretty standard quality, ***.

The beef however was really not very good.  It was incredibly chewy, very fatty in places, and also didn't seem marinated in anything itself.  Very, very tough flank steak it seemed.  I did not like it at all.  *.

The base was fresh, crisp butter lettuce.  I like to have a mix of lettuces, but this really was quite good, and the salad had enough other ingredients it wasn't needed. ***+.

The carrot-ginger vinaigrette was reasonable - not the strongest carrot nor ginger flavors, but, flavorful overall.  It was however a vinaigrette, which isn't my thing for salads.  ***.

The nuts were a highlight for me.  The slivered almonds were great for adding crunch, and I adored the candied pecans.  ****.  I'm not sure they made sense with the lentils and beef, but, since I discarded those, they added to my salad nicely.

Overall, I had a nice salad base with carrots/red onions/mushrooms, and nuts, and enjoyed it, but the beef was a real letdown.  ***.

Mushroom Salad w/ Balsamic Vinaigrette.

This salad was a mixed bag.  Like many Fresko items, the ingredients on the label didn't match at all what it was (e.g. it said it would have pears, blueberries, and other fruit?). But it was a base of quite fresh and crisp greens, with mediocre grape tomatoes, two pieces of sorta sour cooked broccoli, way too sour pickled onions, mushy quinoa, a slew of slimy but flavorful cooked mushrooms, and a ton of cranberries.  I liked the base, tolerated the tomatoes/broccoli, and did enjoy the mushrooms (but not ALL those mushrooms), but overall, not really a winning salad for me.  I didn't try the balsamic vinaigrette as that isn't my style of dressing ever.  **.

Shaved Vegetables w/ Orange Vinaigrette.

Many of the Fresko salads come loaded with toppings.  This one had a rather laughable small quantity.  A few shavings of carrot, beets, radish, and fennel.  This was it for ingredients, besides the lettuce (all one kind).  No juicy veggies, nothing for crunch, no protein, nothing.  The label said it should have navel orange and candied walnuts, that certainly would have added to it.

The veggies were all fine, but being thin sliced with no other ingredients made this really have no textures at all.

Salad Base.

The base of both of these was very fresh crisp greens.  ****.

Egg Salad Sandwich Deluxe Box.

This is the "Deluxe" egg salad sandwich box, which came with packaged pickle chips (yay!), a *tiny* thing of cole slaw, and two cookies.  

The slaw I've had before as a full size side, and it was about the same - very dressed, lacking seasoning, but, decent enough.  ***.  The cookies I'll review separately below.

The egg salad sandwich ... well, the bun actually looked pretty good, soft, fluffy, lightly shiny, but it didn't taste like much, and was pretty mushy.  Lack of freshness was an issue here.  Meh.  The egg salad mix was as expected: eggs, mayo, mustard, along with onion powder, sugar (!).  It was very mashed, contained very little in the way of hunks of egg white, and seemed very egg yolk heavy.  Not very good filling either.  **.

Onion Crunch Roll.

I got adventurous and decided to try the sushi.

What is an "onion crunch roll"?  It turns out to be a vegetarian roll, filled with tempura onion, and topped with regular mayo.

It was not good.  The rice was hard and tasted, well, not fresh, the tempura onion was soggy and had no crunch, and the mayo was just regular mayo, not even Kewpie.  No seasoning, no furikake on it, nothing.  Really boring, and just not good at all.

*.

Spicy Kani Salad.

I gave another sushi roll a try when I saw a quasi-fav of mine: kani.  This one is the spicy kani.  The ingredients on the package said it had cucumber, which not a single piece did, and ginger and wasabi, which weren't included in my package.  It really was just shredded kani with a touch of mayo.  The kani was standard, nothing to say about it.  Rice was fairly stale, even though fresh that day.  Meh.

*+.

Sides

Side dishes offered by Fresko run the gamut of chilled or heated dishes, mostly all veggies and carbs.  Some have been major flops for me, but I've also really enjoyed some, so, very hit or miss, and thus I continue to try any that sound appealing.

Cole Slaw.

The cole slaw didn't look great.  It was clearly VERY dressed. Runny.  And mostly just green cabbage, a tiny bit of carrot.

As you could expect from so much liquid, the cabbage was not crispy.  It also had no real seasoning. 

But ... it was not bad actually. I did want more carrot, and prefer it crispier, but, the dressing was flavorful, and it went well on top of a salad.  All I needed to do was add a little pepper.

***+.

Cole Slaw #2.

A few weeks later, I got it again.  I again found it better than it looks - yes, it is very over dressed, and yes, it is basically just cabbage, but, I like it.  

***+.

Mashed Potatoes. (Vegan).

The mashed potatoes were ... lumps.

I took one bite of the mashed potatoes cold, and immediately felt a touch of nostalgia.  I knew these potatoes.  They tasted *exactly* like a staple of my childhood: Potato Buds.  Yes, the instant mashed potatoes.  It was uncanny.  They had that same kinda pasty consistency.  Wow.

Undeterred, or, perhaps just fascinated, I heated them up to see what would happen.  Yup, still Potato Buds.  I thinned them out, added salt and pepper, but, wow.  These were kinda gluey instant mashed potatoes.  Which, have a time and a place, e.g. my 10 year old self being very proud to make lunch of cheesy Potato Buds with hot dog slices and bbq sauce, but I was shocked that Fresko made these.  The ingredients list is just potatoes, margarine (and all its sub-ingredients), salt and pepper,  so I guess it was real potatoes, but no milk nor cream to make them creamy, which was quite obvious.    

Um, interesting and a bit shocking, but not actually tasty.  *+.

Scalloped Potatoes. (Vegan).

Next, scalloped potatoes.  Specifically, as I discovered, scalloped *sweet* potatoes.

This ... looked weird.  I was not expecting sweet potatoes, but clearly, given the orange nature of the base, this was sweet potato.  And ... it was mashed?  The other ingredients were equally odd - non-dairy creamer and potato flakes, along with salt, pepper, and garlic, and that is it.  What about ... slices of potato?  Actual cream?  Isn't that what makes scalloped potatoes?

It was actually considerably better than it looked, but, fairly different from what I expected.  Once I heated a hunk in the toaster oven, the top was actually my favorite part.  I think that is where the potato flakes were, and once lightly toasted, the top crisped up, and that was a rather unique very top layer (the top 10% of the dish). 

Under the potato flake top was indeed slices of white potato.  I guess these must have been some form of white sweet potato, although they tasted like regular potatoes, as the ingredients did not list regular potatoes.  There was a bit of non-dairy creamer in there making it lightly creamy as well.   Fairly average, and this layer made up about 50% of the dish.

The remainder was the mashed sweet potato, which was fine.  

Overall, three different styles of potato, and it all worked together pretty well.  I found it very under-seasoned however, and had to add a lot of salt and pepper, and onion and garlic powder.  I think sliced onion would have done wonders inside the layer with sliced potatoes.  

An interesting dish, but, certainly needed seasoning, and would have benefited from some cheese or additional cream component, e.g. not being vegan.  ***+. 

Broccoli & Cheese Casserole.

I moved on to one I was excited for: broccoli & cheese casserole.  I love a good casserole.

As this came, chilled, it certainly didn't look appealing.  And I did try a bite cold just to sample it.  I was immediately let down by how soft the broccoli was.  Heating it wouldn't improve the mushy broccoli situation.

This was basically elementary school cafeteria quality, a casserole of sorts with some roux binding it together, and a big glob of cheese on top (that at least melted nicely), but, it was mushy broccoli, and just not very good.  I did like the big hunks of broccoli, and the inclusion of stems, but it was far too overcooked for my taste, and needed seasoning (and perhaps a breadcrumb topping?).

*+.

Sautéed Mushrooms. (Vegan).

A simple dish, sautéed mushrooms.

These mushrooms were really quite good.  I think they were baby portobellos.  Sliced to a nice thickness, sautéed with onions, and, given how flavorful they were, likely lots of oil, along with basic spices.  Not too soft, not too firm, not too slimy, just right.  I was surprised by how enjoyable they were.

****.

Garlic Mushrooms. . (Vegan).

Fresko has had some really good mushrooms in the past, but these were pretty boring.  I only tasted a tiny bit (if any) of the garlic.  Just kinda greasy/oily.  Simple sliced shiitakes.  Eh. *+.

Wild Mushroom Gratin. (Vegan).

Another try at a mushroom side dish, this time the gratin.

This was not good.  First, it was named "wild" mushroom gratin.  I thought that would mean some interesting types of mushroom.  This was button and cremini mushrooms, all the same size, sliced in half.  Where were my hen of the woods? Enogi? Anything more than simple button mushrooms!  But that aside, the taste is where this got horrible.

The mushrooms were a slimy style. Ok, fine, not what I was hoping for but still, not the bad part.  The bad part was the gratin element, the sauce-like paste they were coveed in.  This was a vegan dish, so non-dairy milk was used, but it didn't seem to be something like normal soy milk, rather, a mix of corn syrup, soybean oil, soy protein isolate, and a whole pile of chemicals, plus margarine, almond milk, and way too much flour.  The taste was pretty bad, and the consistency was awful, just gloop.

Awful. *.

Creamed Corn (Vegan).

I really enjoy corn - fresh corn on the cob, creamed corn, raw corn.  Love it.  I grew up in a family that really took advantage of local summer corn, and I still greatly appreciate it to this day.  And when it isn't fresh local corn ... no better way to prepare than creamed corn (ok, corn cheese might be even better ... #iykyk).  

This creamed corn didn't look great chilled, but I still tried a bite, before warning it up.  It turned out, the chilled factor was the least of my concerns.  One bite and I was confused enough to look at the label.  Ah.  It was vegan.  Which is fine, except, that this tasted like almond milk.  So strongly of almond milk.  Not remotely creamy.  Thick, yes, and it had kernels of corn, but, wow, it was just almond milk.  And margarine, although I didn't taste that.  Too much cornstarch to thicken it too, and slightly odd spicing from star anise, paprika, and garlic.  I couldn't even muster a second bite of this.  *.

Baked Beans. (Vegan).

The baked beans were ... interesting.  Remarkably bland.  I really like more bbq flavor or something to my beans.  It was a vegan dish I think, so no bacon to add extra flavor.  I did like the few bits of soft onion in the mix.

But really it was the sauce that was bland and not really appealing.  I'm all for saucy baked beans, but this was oddly gloopy and murky, kinda like it had too much corn starch or something.  The beans were cooked nicely though, not too mushy.

So, I liked the beans themselves, but bland and gloopy does not an enjoyable dish make.  **.

Green Beans: Ingredients.

This dish was listed as "green beans".  The ingredients label said it had green beans and garlic, nothing more.  This label was lies.

"Green Beans".

I was pretty amused to open the package to find, yes, green beans, but actually, even more tomatoes than green beans, and it clearly was all sautéed in oil.

I didn't really mind the poor labeling however, as it was actually pretty good.  The green beans had a nice snap, the tomatoes were soft and juicy (they clearly had been lightly cooked), and the garlic level was high. I had some as a side with fish, and later I combined the rest with some leftover pasta, Italian sausage, shallots,  kale, and truffle parmesan sauce to make a lovely dish,  ***+.

Baked Sweet Potatoes.

Well, these looked boring. Yes, just baked Sweet potato hunks.

And that is exactly what they were.  Not too soft, not too firm, but just sweet potatoes.  No seasoning at all.  Fine for what they were I guess?  **+.

Sweet Potato Soup.

It was winter, I was craving comfort food, and was going through a sweet potato phase (generally, fries or chips, but hey, I could go for soup?).

I took my first bite and I was confused.  Why was there ... corn (!) in here.  Just a surprise, not a bad thing exactly, but surprise (although the corn tasted like simple canned corn, not particularly great).  The soup itself was thick, tasted I guess like sweet potato a bit, but was entirely devoid of any seasoning.  No salt, no onion, no garlic ... just, such a very, very, very flat flavor.  It seemed like what baby food sweet potato must taste like (and was a similar thick consistency!).  

The ingredients list red peppers, onion, celery, and garlic, but it really didn't have any of those things.  They also list cayenne, paprika, cinnamon ... which again, yeah, didn't tase any of that at all.  

Bland.  Just, bland.  And the corn really felt out of place. I added copious amounts of spices, and soy sauce, and red pepper flakes, to give it something, but certainly wouldn't recommend unless you were feeding to a baby. *.

Main Dishes

The variety of dishes for entrees is where Fresko really shines.  Many vegetarian and vegan options, comfort foods and heavy carbs, lighter proteins, seafood, red meat, and more.  I've really enjoyed a few of these.

Baked Penne w/ Vegetables.

Carby comfort food.  Mmm.

This was basically like a hybrid mac and cheese + baked ziti + cheese ravioli/manicotti/stuffed shells/lasagna all in one.  Let me try to explain that a bit better ... basically a dense block of mac and cheese, but with penne as the pasta instead of traditional elbows, so more like a baked ziti, but with cheese sauce rather than red sauce, and small bits of carrots, corn, and peas randomly integrated in. But then, amongst the noodles was a ton of ricotta, like you'd find between the layers of lasagna or inside ravioli/tortellini/manicotti/stuffed shells.  So cheesy, but not a classic mac and cheese sauce at all.  It had a unique blend of cheeses, with ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella, but mostly ricotta inside, and clearly, tons of mozzarella cheese on top.

At first, this seemed a bit plain (even with the random veggies in it), but, it actually was pretty tasty.  Once I heated it in the toaster oven, the cheese melted nicely, the ricotta gave it a nice consistency, the top got super crispy.  The pasta was cooked well.  

This was a huge, dense block though, and was easily two portions (with some side veggies).  I enjoyed it more than expected, particularly once I added a little bit of bbq sauce one night (I know, it sounds weird, but it worked) and sambal another night.  I expect that it would be good with a little marinara added too.  But still, a surprising **** overall.

Macaroni and Cheese.

"Experience Authentic Mac & Cheese. A crowd pleaser for both young and old alike. Rich, creamy and delicious."

Next I had the traditional macaroni and cheese, given the success of the previous cheesy pasta.  This used a blend of cheddar and American, and had dijon mustard, garlic, and onion powder to boost the flavors.

It was fine.  Not particularly remarkable - a nice blend of cheeses, the cheese melted well, the ratio of cheese sauce to pasta was about right, the pasta wasn't too mushy.  Reasonably creamy, reasonably cheesy.  Basically, decent enough, standard mac and cheese.  Not something to go out of your way for, but no reason not to eat it either.  ***.

Update Review: I had it again, another version, and felt much the same.  It was really decent enough mac and cheese, the pasta was well cooked, the sauce was relatively creamy, it was nicely seasoned.  I was happy to eat it, but wouldn't go out of my way for it.  Higher ***.

Mushroom Ravioli
w/ Sage Cream Sauce.

This was a bit of a mixed bag, but generally, a really nice surprise.  One part that let me down was the lack of mushrooms in the sauce, I had expected some sliced mushrooms.  I also didn't taste any of the promised sage in the sauce.  But the cream sauce was really quite good - thick, rich, exactly what you want from a cream sauce, with heavy cream, white wine, parmesan, butter, shallots, garlic.  I loved the sauce, sageless and all.  But there was so little of it.  So, sauce-wise, totally delicious, even if not really sage cream sauce as described, and woefully small amount of it.  **** for taste, but I'm docking at least half a star for lack of quantity.

The ravioli themselves were better than average.  Pasta cooked well, not mushy.  The filling inside was chopped mushrooms (portobello, cremini, and button), very flavorful and mushroom forward, which did make up for the lack of other mushroom in the dish.  ***+ ravioli.

The portion size was fairly small, only 5 average size ravioli, so not quite a complete meal, and it definitely needed side dishes to go with it (I made a veggie saute with green beans, broccoli, kale, garlic, shallots, and that was perfect pairing).

I enjoyed this, and would get it again.  I'd consider it average quality for an actual Italian restaurant, but considerably better than any airline meal, frozen grocery store dinner, etc. ***+.

Fettuccini Alfredo (frozen).

The ingredient list for this was pretty simple, as you'd hope.  Pasta.  Cream & parmesan.  Roux of flour and butter.  Milk.  Garlic, onion, salt, pepper, dijon mustard.  Technically, I think roux has no place in alfredo, it should be just the butter and cheese, and thus this was more of a mornay or cheesy béchamel.  It was tasty though.  The pasta was nicely cooked, not too soft.  None clumped together.  The sauce was good too - nice creaminess, properly seasoned, coated the pasta well.  Ratio of sauce to pasta was correct.

Basically, a pretty decent fettuccini alfredo.  It reminded me a tiny bit of Lipton Noodles & Sauce (which have been re-branded as "Pasta Sides"), which I mean in an endearing way, as I used to make that fettuccini alfredo for myself as a teenager as I learned to "cook" a tiny bit.  I was quite happy with this meal, particularly when I paired it with green beans, broccoli, and swiss chard to round it out. ***+.

Miso Chilean Sea Bass
w/ Black Rice, Cauliflower & Lemon Brûlée.

I got brave, and moved on to seafood.

This was a tasty entree.  I'm not really a rice eater, so the rice (blend of white and wild rice, not really black rice as advertised) was lost on me, but it seemed reasonably well cooked, not clumped together.  The dish contained no cauliflower, even though listed in the dish title, and in the ingredients.  The bruleed lemon was a nice classy touch, and I enjoyed drizzling it over the fish.

The fish was the main appeal for me of course.  A nice size piece of Chilean sea bass, with tasty miso-soy glaze.  It was well glazed.  The fish was cooked well - not dried out, and the fish was remarkably flaky.  It was quite buttery and decadent.  

Overall the dish did seem a bit greasy, I'm not quite sure why, as oil is not an ingredient, and I really wanted a green vegetable, but, the fish really was the star.  Not quite up to par with a similar nice restaurant dish (e.g. Nobu's famous miso black cod), but certainly better than expected or what you'd get on an airplane.  ***+.

I'd be happy to get this again.

Miso Chilean Sea Bass w/ Black Rice, Cauliflower & Lemon Brulee.

A few months later, I got it again, and this time, it actually was as described.  The rice was actually black rice.  There was actually cauliflower.  I still didn't really care for the rice, as I'm not a rice person really, but it seemed well cooked, not too mushy.  Cauliflower was huge hunks, a bit soft, but fine.

The fish was a very thick hunk, nicely moist.  Not quite as delicate, flaky, and buttery as last time, but still well prepared.  The miso glaze was again good, although not quite as flavorful as the previous time.  ***+.

Basically, this time it matched the description, and was overall enjoyable, but not quite as magical as the previous time.

Meatloaf w/ Garlic Confit Mashed Potatoes (Vegan).

The vegan meatloaf actually looked good.  Moist, with a touch of veg in it, some glaze.  The potatoes too looked significantly better than the previous side of what seemed to be instant mashed potatoes.  These had a slight rustic nature.  I was a bit confused by the random pickled radish, but, ok.  On looks alone, this seemed to be trending positively.

The meatloaf was made with real Impossible meat, or at least, they called it Impossible meat.  Impossible ground beef I do generally like, but I can't say I liked this.  I tried a bite cold (everything is pre-cooked, you just normally heat in microwave to serve), and it was pasty and really odd.  Like meat glue.  I was worried for a moment that perhaps this wasn't fully cooked, so, I put it in the oven to warm it up.  It didn't get any better.  The pasty nature sorta went away, but what remained was bits of very clearly fake meat.  The bits of carrot and pepper in it didn't help.  The glaze was fine, but there wasn't much of it.  But really, the texture was just all wrong, and it didn't taste very good either.  *.

The mashed potatoes were only slightly better than the instant mashed potato version I had before as a side.  Yes, these were a bit more rustic, they did have bits of potato skin, and lots of lumps.  Slight garlic flavor, but not much, and not nearly as much as you'd want from something named "garlic confit".  They weren't really creamy, and were fairly gluey themselves.  So, a touch more "real" seeming than the others, but, not actually much better.  **.  I really wanted more of the meatloaf glaze, and gravy, or something for them.

And then, yeah, why was there a random pickled, very sour, radish?  I don't know.

Overall, not a winning dish at all, one of the worst I tried. *.

Meatloaf w/ gravy
Roast fingerling potatoes, garlic green beans.

I had tried the vegan meatloaf previously, and that was not a success, but I had more hope for the regular meatloaf.  It came smothered in gravy, with a small portion of garlic green beans and fingerling potatoes.  It looked a bit blah.

I didn't try the potatoes, but gave them to my father, who said they were fine.  The green beans were fine too, a bit softer than I'd like, but not super soft.  Good garlic on them.

The gravy was fairly average brown gravy.

The meatloaf was a soft mushy style, with certainly a fair amount of filler.  It wasn't particularly good nor bad. Better once I put it into a toaster oven and got a bit of a crust on it.  I added ketchup to make it more my style.

Overall, an acceptable, but average, meal. ***.

Vegetable Rollatini
w/ Béchamel & Garlic Cauliflower. (Vegan).

Another vegan entree.

This dish sounded fine on the menu: vegetable rollatini with béchamel and garlic cauliflower?  Sure!  I opened the package to have one big question: where was the béchamel?  I'd by lying if I said that wasn't the main draw for me.  Hmph.  Also, I didn't realize it was vegan, which may have made the béchamel, if it had existed, not my style anyway, as the ingredients listed only almond milk and margarine as the likely elements.

So what did we have?  Very greasy/oily slices of yellow squash, rolled and stuffed with onions, red peppers, eggplant, and sundried tomatoes.  And ... dried cranberries.  And capers.  And olives.  What an odd assortment of items.  Sorta Mediteranean, but, uh, cranberries?  It was all just very oily and not appealing.  The two random pickled radish pieces from the meatloaf dish also showed up here, even more out of place seeming.

Oh, and the giant hunks of "garlic cauliflower"? No garlic to be found.  Just very big hunks of roasted cauliflower, with lots of the oil/sauce on it.

Not much positive to say about this one. *.

Lasagna (Vegan).

I saw "lasagna" and went for it.  I didn't realize at first that it was vegetarian.  Ok, not a big deal, I do like a great vegetarian lasagna (particularly a butternut squash one, and/or particularly one with a white sauce instead of red, and obviously full of ricotta and topped with melty mozzarella).  Then I saw it contained zucchini and summer squash, which I'll admit are rather low on my list of vegetable favorites, but did seem seasonally appropriate.  I used to love (way way way back in high school) the Smart Ones frozen florentine lasagna with those squashes, so, hey, maybe it would channel those memories.  It was only then that I realized that it was also lacking ... cheese.  Any cheese.  No ricotta inside, no mozzarella on top.  This was vegan lasagna.  Hmm.  In addition to the summer squashes, the ingredients also listed eggplant (fine), marinara sauce (eh, but expected as it was lasagna after all), and a bit of flour, white wine, almond milk, and margarine, I guess a vegan béchamel of sorts?

I opened the package and forgot to take a photo, as I was so confused / unsure of what I had in front of me.  I expected, well, a lasagna: layers of pasta, the aforementioned veggies, and I guess no cheese, but covered in sauce.  What I found instead was two separate roll ups, sorta like the rollatini but with pasta noodles as the outer layer.  It seemed to be a big long slice each of eggplant, zucchini, and summer squash, plus one big long lasagna noodle, rolled up in that order.  The pasta formed the outer 2-3 layers, the veggies the inside.  There was absolutely no marinara sauce, even though listed on the ingredients.  There may have been a tiny, tiny, tiny bit of a white sauce, but, not really.

Undeterred, I stuck one in the oven with foil on top, which is what you see here (this is actually only half of one of the roll ups).  I expected to hate this, and got to preparing a backup meal and some additional sides that could go with either (sautéed rainbow chard, fennel, and asparagus with garlic, balsamic roast sweet onions).  I pulled it out ... and it smelt actually really good.  Huh. I put it back in under the broiler to crisp it up a bit, and tentatively tried a bite (which, was harder than expected, as the big rolls of vegetables were a bit hard to actually bite reasonably).  This definitely required a knife.  The veggies were good - they were soft but not mushy, well cooked.  Skin on.  Seemed vibrant and flavorful, well seasoned.  The pasta was as expected, and did get nicely crispy.  I did end up sprinkling some cheese on top as I put it under the broiler, but I'm not sure I needed to. I think it would work great with a pesto sauce, or yes, a basic marinara sauce, or a white sauce.  But shockingly, it didn't really need it.  Well, huh.  With my reset expectations, this was a reasonable dish.  ***+.

Cauliflower & Fingerling Potato Gratin (Vegan/Parve).

"w/ breadcrumbs."

Beware of the vegan gratin!  I should know better.  When there is no cream (only almond milk) and no cheese, it really won't please me as a gratin, even if I really enjoy cauliflower and potato gratin normally.

 

Hmm.  The ingredients listed on this, and what I got, definitely didn't match.  The ingredients said cauliflower, fingerling potato, almond milk, and breadcrumbs, which, yes, all were there.  But it also said there was carrots, tomatoes, and quinoa ... (along with onion, garlic, margarine, flour, and rosemary, which I can believe were there even if I didn't taste them).  What it was a base of thinly sliced potatoes, just a single thin layer.  And then lots of big florets of cauliflower.  All coated with a bit of an odd tasting savory ... almond milk paste.  The breadcrumbs were dry and not toasted.  

The potato was cooked fine, not too soggy.  Same with the cauliflower, and I liked the big hunks.  I almost sorta kinda could like the potato with almond milk sludge, but not really.  I really didn't like the dry and way too covered in the sludge top part with the cauliflower.    

This was listed as an entree, but it really seemed more side appropriate to me.  

*.

BBQ Cauliflower Wings w/ "Arugula".

This was almost great.

It was very clearly lacking a dipping sauce.  Buffalo or BBQ wings need a dip, regardless of if they are the cauliflower or chicken form.  The entirely undressed greens on the side also screamed out for something to drizzle over them.  So, minus a point for no dipping sauce / dressing / etc.

But the cauliflower bits themselves were decent.  Nicely crispy, well coated in fairly flavorful coating.  There was a tiny bit of BBQ on a few pieces, but certainly no extra.  Without a dipping sauce, it ate too dry though. They mostly tasted like a generic grocery store frozen breaded item.  **+ cauliflower.

On the side was some not particularly fresh romaine.  It was floppy and dried out on the ends.  Also, it was clearly romaine, even though the dish name said "arugula", as did the ingredients listed.  It tasted strangely sour.  I discarded it. * greens.

Baked Goods

Fresko makes a variety of baked goods, mostly muffins and few other assorted breakfast cakes, along with cookies for dessert.  I've tried many, because I just can't resist baked goods, but for the most part, they just weren't very good, and tasted highly processed.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin.

This muffin had a pedigree I like - crispy top, pearl sugar on top, visible chocolate chips.  But the cake itself was just blah - not moist nor dry, just, eh.  Chocolate flavor was there, but, it tasted ... stale? Does chocolate taste stale?  I liked the top, but nothing else sadly.

**.

Corn Muffin.

The corn was the best muffin I tried.

This was not a bad muffin.  It was also not a good muffin.  It was about as generic of a muffin as you can get, of the highly processed variety.  It tasted like it could come from any grocery store bakery department, any hotel breakfast buffet, or the like.

The top was somewhat gummy, which I didn't mind.  It was overall fairly moist.  Not overbaked or burnt.  Slight grit from the corn.  If it wasn't for the very preservative forward taste, I'd even say it was a good muffin.  I liked it best topped with a touch of sugar (sorry, I grew up with sugar top corn muffins) or with a little jam slathered on, but I suspect warm with butter would be good too.

Basically, a very average, but not bad, mass produced muffin.  ***.

Corn Muffin. (2024).

Last summer, I tried a bunch of the muffins, and didn't particularly like any of them, but found the corn to be the best of the bunch.  So when I was craving a corn muffin one day, I tried another.

It was less good than I remembered.  There wasn't really any corn grit or corn flavor, it was quite dense, oily, and plain.  Very processed tasting.  Gummy top.  Eh.  **.

Chocolate Chip Muffin.

Do I learn?  No.  Not when there are options drizzled with appealing chocolate on top.  But sadly, even the chocolate was not very good.  It was somehow not creamy like milk chocolate, nor dark like dark chocolate, so I guess it was just mediocre semi-sweet chocolate.  The top of the muffins, like others, was gummy. *+ chocolate, sadly, just not very good.

Chocolate Chip Muffin: Cross Section.

The body of the muffin fared no better.  Yes, it was well studded with chips, evenly distributed.  But the muffin itself was strangely greasy and oily, tasted highly processed, and not fresh.  Like, well, all their muffins, and like I should have known it would.  Do not recommend.  *+.

Raisin Bran Muffin.

After the success of the corn muffin, I gave another muffin a try, this time, a bran muffin.  

The muffin was much like the others - slightly gummy top, that wasn't actually a problem, fairly moist inside.  It was fairly bitter though, which threw me off.  It had a nice grit to it, but didn't taste particularly wholesome.  Bran muffins usually trend healthier tasting, and this mostly tasted highly processed.  It was studded with a few scattered raisins, not many.  Meh. **.

Plain Muffin.

I still kept trying the muffins.  I had no idea what kind this was, but the best description I can give is ... plain?  Vanilla?  It really was like a cupcake, but not frosted.

And the cake?  Not very good.  Again, I did like the slightly gummy top with pearl sugar, but, the base just tasted far too processed and full of preservatives.   Must. Stop. Trying. *.

Lemon Poppyseed.

The lemon poppyseed muffin was exactly as I had come to expect from Fresko: pretty moist, nice crisp top, loved the pearl sugar on top.  Quite strong lemon flavor, great crunch from the poppy seeds.  A very reasonable lemon poppy muffin, but, like all their muffins, it did taste overly processed, and that was its downfall.  Flavor and texture were good though.  **+.

Apple Raisin Spice Coffee Cake.

Giving up on muffins, I moved on to another breakfast cake, this time, coffee cake.  It was a fairly moist spice cake, with one single bit of apple and some raisins near the bottom, and a slight crumble topping.

This wasn't particularly good nor bad.  The raisins had all clearly fallen to the bottom, but they were plump and moist.  I only had a single bit of apple, which was a bit sad.  Crumble top was nice.  Light spicing throughout.  Didn't taste quite as processed as the muffins.  I wouldn't want it again, but, better than most of the muffins.

**+.

"Assorted Danishes": Cheese Crumble?

It is hard to tell from this photo, but this was a massive danish.  The container it is in is the size you use for a big salad, not a side dish or pastry.  That alone was quite impressive ... or terrifying really.  The  label just said "assorted danishes" so I couldn't tell exactly what kind it was, but the answer seems to be cheese crumble?

It was actually quite tasty.   Maybe I was in the mood for it.  No, it wasn't a fresh, flaky, buttery, amazing pastry from a local patisserie.  It was more akin to a good grocery store pastry.  It wasn't stale, and although the pastry wasn't flaky, it also wasn't spongy as sometimes happens with mass produced baked goods.  The crumble was nicely sweet and had a great texture, the cream filling was, well, creamy and tasty, and the icing was super sweet but really did accent it all nicely.

It was an unhealthy processed sugar bomb, but sometimes, that turns out to be what you want, and at the time, I really did like it.  It reminded me of Kringle a bit.  ***+. 

"Assorted Danishes": Crumb?

Another day, another "assorted danish".  This one was nearly as large, but an entirely different shape, and actually very different, even though at first glance they were similar.  It too had icing drizzled over the top, and a crumb coating, but the crumb style was quite different.  This one had a crispy crumble made up of smaller bits, almost as if it was made of chopped up nuts, whereas the other was softer, sweeter, and blonder, more like you'd find on top of a fruit crumble.  I expected it to have a filling layer under the crumble as the previous one had the creamy cheese filling, but it did not.  I expected it to maybe have a filling within the center, between the layers of pastry, but it did not. No filling at all.

The pastry itself wasn't quite as good either, even less flaky and really quite firm, but I did still sorta like it.  I can't explain it.  I did wish for some kind of filling (apple, almond, chocolate, etc), but it was again better than expected.  ***.

Assorted Danishes: Chocolate.

Ooooh, a new one!

I hoped this was like a cream horn, perhaps even filled with chocolate cream.  But alas, it was not.  There was a thin layer of chocolate between the folds, and lots of folds, but no cream layers.  Just pastry and chocolate.  It ate pretty dry, and the pastry itself was not remarkable (not buttery, not flaky, not well laminated, etc).  The powdered sugar added to the dryness.  The chocolate drizzled over the top broke off easily, but was decent chocolate.  About what you'd expect in a hotel buffet. **.

Marble Soft Biscotti?

I picked this thinking it was chocolate babka.  I expected this to be light and fluffy, rich, broiche dough, rolled with dark chocolate.  When I looked closer as I opened it, it nearly looked like biscotti.  But it certainly wasn't crisp like one.

It was more like a cross between the two - not hard and crisp like biscotti, but, not airy and breadly like traditional babka.  Still not quite sure what it was supposed to be.

As for the taste, it was average.  Not particularly rich, buttery, sugary, etc.  The chocolate was visible, but didn't taste like much.  I did like the little pockets of sugar crust on top.  It didn't taste very fresh nor homemade.

**+.

Red Velvet Chocolate Chip, Sugar Cookies.

I didn't seek out the cookies, but, they came in a sandwich box as part of the "deluxe" meal.

The cookies were two different sizes, even though packaged together, which gave a homemade, mom packed lunch, kind of vibe to them.  Both were quite soft.

The sugar cookie tasted exactly like grocery store slice & bake cookie dough.  I was impressed by just how generic it tasted.  And not particularly fresh.  But, the softness was perfect.  **.

The red one I think was red velvet.  It had small chocolate flecks in it as well.  No particular flavor though, just, another sweet red cookie, slightly chocolate flavor.  Meh.  **.

Linzer Cookie

This wasn't bad.

The shortbread cookies crumbled nicely, clearly had TONS of powdered sugar, and the raspberry filling was tasty.  A decent version of a linzer, and I enjoyed it with an afternoon coffee.  Best baked good I've had from Fresko. ***+.

Black & White Cookie.

The black and white cookie was really quite large.  It was well glazed with both white and black icing.  The icing was sweet, sweet, sweet, and didn't have any real flavor besides sweet.

The cookie itself was the soft cake style I expected.  It too had no real flavor.  It was pretty dry.

Not a very good product on any level: dry, flavorless, too sweet icing.  *.

Original Review, December 2019

I have no reason to seek out kosher foods, but, sometimes it happens, like when I tried products made by Kosher Catering by Andrew, and found some truly delicious.  Fresko is another such company, although with a significantly larger distribution channel.

“The best in fresh, STRICTLY KOSHER & HALAL CERTIFIED, quality & delicious, Grab n’ Go."

Fresko was founded in 2003, and has grown considerably, providing catering to several airlines, partnering with hotels and schools, producing for convenience stores and grocery stores, and now operating their own stands inside airports.  I believe they are a dominant player in the Boston area Kosher food scene.  All Fresko products are certified Star-k and adhere to the highest Kosher standards.

The Fresko line up is vast, with ready-to-eat sandwiches, salads, wraps, entrees, side dishes, and desserts, over 100 products total.  I tried a few different items, all were ... mediocre.

Salads

Salads were the first item to catch my eye, as I was just looking for something simple for a flight.  Fresko makes a wide variety, most containing grilled chicken, so I had no choice but to select items that had a protein I intended to discard (I gave to others, don't worry, no waste!)

Herb-Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad with House Croutons.

First up was a Caesar, generally a fairly reliable choice, particularly when I can see the dressing through the packaging to ensure it is the creamy style.

This was a decent salad, although not really a traditional Caesar - it looked more like a garden salad, just without cucumbers, as it lacked any Parmesan, and had some unexpected toppings.

The base was torn chunks of romaine, plus a scattering of shredded carrots.   This was all relatively fresh and crisp, decent quality, although it didn't hold up even a day.  The two cherry tomatoes were mealy and fairly awful.

Croutons were separate to prevent them from getting soggy (good!), but were just a small style, moderately seasoned, not particularly good.  Highly generic.  I prefer larger ones, and less crisp.

I didn't eat the chicken, but it did look nice - white meat, tender, lots of herbs.  My mom enjoyed it when she had it later.

And finally, the dressing.  Good portion, creamy, nicely seasoned, but not particularly ... Caesar-y?  Again, lacking the Parmesan cheese, and sans anchovy for more depth.  I really liked the herb seasoning in it, but given the lack of cheese and fish base, it pushed it more in the ranch direction, which, was more fitting with the other ingredients anyway. 

I originally quasi-wondered if this was just mislabeled?  In particular, the lack of Parmesan ... but I was later informed by a friend that this is one of the key rules of keeping kosher - do not mix cheese and meat, so alas, the chicken in here prevented the cheese.  I wished they had left off the chicken instead ...

Once I discarded the tomatoes, picked off the chicken, and set aside the rest of the croutons, I did enjoy my salad, but it is hard to fully endorse it as a Caesar, if that is what you were expecting.

Japanese Sesame Noodle Salad with Grilled Chicken and Candied Nuts.

Next up, a noodle salad, Japanese inspired, according to the dish name, which is why I selected it (well, and because of the candied nuts!).

It also came with grilled herb roasted chicken, a generous portion of what did look like nice white meat, which I set aside and gave to my mother as well.

The noodles were ... fine?  Not too mushy, not stuck together, but ... just soba noodles.  They were tossed in a soy sauce/sesame oil mix, not particularly complex flavor, but at least not over-dressed.  Also in the mix were some bits of red pepper, and lots of sesame seeds (I guess the Japanese element?)  Pretty meh.

I did like the candied nuts (sadly all peanuts), but they were heavily candied, and I think would be kinda odd mixed into this salad.  I used them on an ice cream sundae instead.

This was not a winning dish for me, although I acknowledge the chicken looked fine.

Desserts & Baked Goods

Dessert.  Baked goods.  Now we were talking.

The Fresko line up isn't all that exciting to me in general, basic cookies, brownies, fruit salad (not a dessert), but I did find one to try.

Hand Rolled Chocolate Ruggulah.

The ruggulah though were fairly ... blah?  The chocolate was good quality dark chocolate, and they were decently chocolately, but the pastry itself was somehow both dry and moist at the same time, and was too dense, in a seemed-underbaked-but-not-really way.   Very hard to describe.  Perhaps just not very fresh, likely having been frozen, and not handled well?

Regardless, I didn't care much for these.

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