Buitoni Spinach Cheese Tortellini (9 oz.)

Item Purchased: Buitoni Spinach Cheese Tortellini (9 oz.)
Location Purchased: Dominick's / 3145 S. Ashland / Chicago, IL
Price: $3.99 + tax

Review: Two observations before I assess the pasta I just ate. Number 1: From a graphic design point of view, do you really think it is a good idea to put the "dated for freshness" logo on this package right next to the text that says "since 1827. Number 2: The first listed ingredient in this pasta is "extra fancy enriched durum flour." You can stop with enriched. You've got me. I'm not looking for fancy when I'm only spending four bucks on a meal.

This "fresh" pasta that can stay in the refrigeration section for months on end scares me sometimes. This is especially true when the pasta contains a foodstuff that caused an outbreak of plague-level sickness a while back.

My reservations shouldn't be so dire, but rather more down to earth. The fact is, though this pasta is just fine, I've had dehydrated pasta with grated cheese that tasted just as good as this stuff. Sure, the texture of the pasta is much fresher than your run of the mill boxed pasta, but if texture was the only thing I cared about while eating, I'd chew on Play-Doh all day long. Besides, this pasta didn't even cook evenly because of the bunched up and flattened edges.

Even the fine mix of cheeses inside of each tortellini doesn't make this product worth the price.

Spend less than a third of the money on a bag of dehydrated wheat pasta and throw some grated cheese on top. You'll be better off.

Rating: 2 / 5

Visit the Forum! / Watch The Consumatron Minute

Creamette Elbow Macaroni

Item Purchased: Creamette Elbow Macaroni (32 oz.)
Location Purchased: Dominick's / 3145 S. Ashland / Chicago, IL
Price: $1.99 + tax

Review: Creamette was the first company to develop quick cooking elbow macaroni. I only know this because it is the type of information one seeks out when they can't think of anything else to say about the macaroni they just bought.

As a child of not only the eighties, but also middle class America, I have eaten a crapload of macaroni in my life. Macaroni with powdered cheese. Macaroni with grated cheese. Macaroni with cheese sauce. Macaroni with ch... you get the picture. The point is, even though I try and look deeper into the everyday purchases we make, some things are so ingrained into my being that I can't successfully comment on them in an interesting manner. Macaroni just happens to be one of these things.

I can say that Creamette elbow macaroni doesn't develop the starch powder taste that many boxed pastas do. It cooks fast and tender and goes well with just about anything you have on your spice rack.

For a boxed pasta that isn't whole wheat, Creamette does just fine. Though, maybe I just need to pay more attention and contrast and compare. Tell ya what... Next time I buy macaroni, I'll be sure it is a different brand so I can delve deeper into my pasta subconsciousness.

Rating: 3 / 5

Visit the Forum! / Enter the Dec. 2006 Contest!

Linguine A La Carbonara from Lula Cafe

Item Purchased: Linguine A La Carbonara from Lula Cafe
Location Purchased: Lula Cafe / 2537 N. Kedzie Blvd. / Chicago, IL
Price: $13.00 + tax

Review: People praise the Italians for their pasta and their pizza, but prefer to point out another "p" that the Italians do well... Pancetta. I don't like to think of the prospect of eating any animal's stomach, but pancetta is the exception to the rule. Piggy belly that has been cured, spiced and salted was precisely the primary selling point that made me pick this dish. Everything else in this dish is what made me eat everything on my plate regardless of the fact that I wasn't that hungry to begin with.

In addition to the pancetta, the carbonara sauce used in this dish is also made with Pecorino Romano cheese and pepper so fresh that you can taste a slight spice with each bite. Tender white beans add a welcome texture to the pasta, as well as the price-driving hen of the woods mushrooms included (I even ate some of them despite my aversion to ingesting fungus). Everything tastes as if it were harvested and created in the half hour between the time I place my order and the moment my dinner was delivered. This is just one of the many reasons Lula Cafe is one of my favorite restaurants in the city.

Lula always offers affordable and unique dishes made from local, seasonal and organic ingredients. You can show up in a pair of ripped jeans (because they are old, not hip) and a t-shirt and your meal will make you feel as if you are dining somewhere that demands a suit and tie. Best of all, Lula's food is fantastic enough to warrant that kind of dress code, yet regular Joes like myself can walk in any time and get a top notch meal.

Rating: 4.25 / 5

Visit the Forum! / Enter the Dec. 2006 Contest!