A Perfect Ten!

Date: So many times!!!
Location: Around Boston
Contender: Boloco Buffalo Chicken Burrito

My readers are always asking me "Jamie, will you ever give a perfect 10?  Will any buffalo wrap measure up to your persnickety standards???"*  And my answer is, "YES!  There's one that already has!"

So far I've told you about my first buff chix experience and the wrap that inspired me to start this blog, but I haven't yet told you my absolute favorite.  This is the menu item that transformed me from someone who likes buffalo chicken to someone who LOVES buffalo chicken!  It's the Buffalo Chicken Burrito from Boloco.  I've been eating it since college, when Boloco was still The Wrap in Harvard Square.  It's been 10 years (and probably hundred of burritos) since then, and it still makes me drool just to think about it.

The menu says "Spicy buffalo sauce, blue cheese dressing, celery, boloco rice."  You can get it with any meat you like, in a bowl or a tortilla.  One of my favorite things about it is that I love it just the way it comes!  Most places, I have to tell the restaurant not to sully my beautiful buff chix item with those slimy, seedy, red devils (you may call them tomatoes), but Boloco has got it right.  Buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and celery are the three toppings that should be on a buffalo chicken item.  Why mess with that???

This burrito is not for wimps.  The buff sauce is plentiful and spicy, and the rice soaks it up.  The celery bits provide a perfect crunch, and the blue cheese dressing is chunky and fabulous.  The chicken is great and the rice is...rice.  The tortilla is soft and heavenly.  I just love plain everything about this burrito.  It is the epitome of buffalo chicken, and I don't know if I'll ever find anything to top it!

Ratings:
Portion: Comes in 3 different sizes!
Spiciness: Wowza!
Deliciousness: 10/10


*OK, fine, maybe one person asked me.  It was probably Mat.  And he probably definitely did not use the word "persnickety".

Just your basic (wonderful) buff chix wrap!

Date: December 26th, 2012

Location: Lingo; Cambridge, MA

Contender:  Crispy Chicken Wrap with buffalo sauce and blue cheese

I met Jason for lunch at Lingo (or as I call it, Mango Tango!), which is a little cafeteria/restaurant in the building that he works in.  Fortuitously, today they had chicken wraps for lunch!  I'll overlook the fact that the first wrap they made me clearly had tomatoes in it, and when I inquired, they told me it wasn't tomatoes, it was just part of the buffalo sauce.  Um...excuse me???  Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!

Overlooking that, however, this was seriously divine!  The tortilla was soft but perfectly grilled, the chicken was nice and crispy and tasty, and the ever-important ratios of buffalo sauce:blue cheese:lettuce were spot on.  There was nothing super innovative about this wrap, but it totally hit the spot.  It was just a fabulous lunch with one of my fave people in the whole world.  :-)  

Ratings:

Portion: Just enough

Spiciness: Hot

Deliciousness: 9/10

Buff Chix Grindah!

Date: November 24th, 2012

Location: Westminster House of Pizza; Westminster, MA

Contender: Buffalo Chicken Sub

In the spirit of "Small Business Saturday", we stopped at this little place in Westminster after checking out a venue in Central MA.  This was definitely a small-town local joint, as the one employee there (maybe the owner?) seemed to recognize everyone who walked in (except for us, of course).   They had a pretty standard pizza and sub shop menu (or grinders as they're called here).  I ordered up a small buffalo chicken sub/grinder with lettuce.  And FYI, Mat enjoyed a nice steak bomb, which I also believe is a local phenomenon.  

The chicken was plentiful and very melt-in-your-mouth soft.  I can't vouch for the quality of the meat, but at least I didn't come across any bones/chewy mystery bits.  Nothing is a bigger turn-off!  I've already admitted my proclivity for shredded lettuce, so I was pleased on that front as well.  The buffalo sauce was excellent, and it was the kind of spicy that doesn't really hit you until after you've finished, when you notice that your esophagus is just a tad on fire.  The blue cheese (as you can see in the pic) was very DIY - just a couple of packets of Ken's dressing.  But I'd rather have to do it myself than be left with an unsatisfying amount of the stuff.  And the bread was actually delicious - it tasted fresh and toasty, and perfectly soaked up the sauce without getting too soggy.

Overall, a very pleasant sandwich!  

Ratings:

Portion: Artery clogging

Spiciness: Hot/Wowza!

Deliciousness: 7/10

Celebratory buff chix!

Forgive me, faithful readers!  I have been remiss in updating due to a certain piece of jewelry that was plopped on my hand that has resulted in a whirlwind of OMG.  But I'm back, and better than ever (or something).  And I've got some good stuff for you in the coming days, including some recipe reviews that I actually made myself!

Date: August 13th, 2012

Location: UBurger; Boston, MA

Contender: Hot Chick Sandwich (Grilled)

I could barely eat this one, but not because it wasn't delicious!  It was because less than an hour before I put this yummy sandwich in my face, the love of my life had proposed to me somewhat unexpectedly and very publicly!  See: http://www.boston.com/metrodesk/2012/08/15/sax-players-get-engaged-during-boston-public-garden-gig/cXMyYwvfwVPIMoX9Q3KS8O/story.html   However, this was not the first time I'd had this particular sandwich, so I do feel as if I can give an it an accurate appraisal.  

The menu says "Chicken sandwich (crispy or grilled) with bleu cheese dressing, hot sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes".  I opted for grilled and obviously I left off the tomatoes.  

Sometimes a buff chix sandwich loses something when it's grilled rather than fried, but that's not the case with this little number.  The chicken itself is soft and thin, and cooked perfectly.  The juiciness of the chicken blends with the bleu cheese dressing to make it nice and soupy and is soaked up perfectly by the shredded lettuce.  I'm a sucker for some good shredded lettuce, I'll admit!  There's a hint of hot sauce, but I could definitely use more.  Overall, though, the sandwich is delish and not super heavy, leaving room for a delicious mint oreo frappe!

Ratings:

Portion: Just enough

Spiciness: Mild

Deliciousness: 9/10

First pizza review

Date: August 8, 2012

Location: Milky Way; Boston (Jamaica Plain), MA

Contender: Buffalo Chicken Pizza

This was a special on the menu.  It was described as buffalo chicken, gorgonzola cheese, and shaved fennel.  So, I thought fennel was similar to green onions.  I don't know what it was, but it was GROSS!  The taste was pretty bland, but the texture was abhorrent.  It was kinda crunchy but also kinda chewy - sort of like those awful bamboo shoots that show up in Chinese food sometimes.  Well, it basically ruined the pizza for me, because they were woven into the pizza and not easily removable.

Otherwise, the pizza was OK.  The buffalo chicken itself was legit.  Gorgonzola was not as great a substitution for blue cheese as I'd hoped - not as intense a flavor and a bit stringy in texture.  The best part of the pizza was actually the crust, which was really quite delicious and baked to perfection.  I did go around and eat just the crusts after I finished the first slice and resigned to the fact that the fennel shavings essentially rendered the inside of the pizza extremely unpleasant. :-(   

Ratings:
Portion: OMG! (and I ordered a small...I would hate to see the large!)
Spiciness: Medium
Deliciousness: 2/10

Disappointment

Date: August 6, 2012
Location: Friendly's; Watertown, MA
Contender: Buffalo Bleu Chicken Sandwich

I could have sworn I had this same sandwich several months ago and loved it. But then again it was just a couple of days after my knee surgery and I was on pain meds so...maybe I don't remember so well.  Anyway, I was excited to find myself near a Friendly's and decided I'd stop in and enjoy the sandwich and then rave about it.  Boy was I disappointed.

The menu says "Tender, crispy chicken strips tossed in our spicy Buffalo sauce. Topped with lettuce and tomato and covered in Bleu Cheese dressing, served on a soft wheat roll."  I thought the wheat bun would be weird, but it actually wasn't.  The buffalo sauce was...non-existant.  The chicken had a hint of spice to it, but there didn't seem to be any sauce to speak of.  Now, I'm a gal who likes her blue cheese, and there was not much of that either!  

I struggled with exactly how to rate this.  It didn't taste bad, and don't get me wrong, I ate it.  But this is, after all, a buffalo chicken blog, so it's important that the sandwich fulfill the basic expectations of being, ya know, buffalo-y.  So I couldn't, in good conscience, give this a good rating.  Additionally, there was an automatic 5/10ths deduction for tomatoage (I've clearly been watching too much of the Olympics).


Ratings:
Portion: Just enough
Spiciness: Mild
Deliciousness: 3/10

The importance of ratios

Date: July 6, 2012
Location: Boston Burger Company; Somerville, MA
Contender: Buffalo Burger


This place has an enormous selection of burgers, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do my third blog entry in a week!  The menu says "Buffalo style with crumbled bleu cheese, diced celery, and Boney’s special sauce". I ordered it with a turkey burger instead of a regular burger.


I really had high hopes because of the crumbled bleu cheese and celery.  Well, I don't know who Boney is, but his special sauce was sorely lacking in the buffalo department.  There was a hint of buffalo flavor, but it was mostly just a little creamy.  


My other major complaint was the meat to other stuff ratio.  There was not nearly enough "other stuff" for the amount of meat and bread.  My friend Jordan asked me if I enjoyed non-chicken buffalo endeavors, and after answering enthusiastically in the affirmative I realized that for me, the chicken (or other protein) is really just a conduit for the buffalo/bleu cheese goodness.  So, I would say that a proper ratio is very important to my enjoyment.


Ratings:
Portion: Just enough
Spiciness: Mild
Deliciousness: 5/10