Holy Nata

I'll admit, that prior to 2016 when I first visited Portugal, I don't think I knew that a *Portuguese* egg tart, e.g. a pastel de nata, was a different thing than say a traditional Chinese egg tart.  I think I always just thought some were eggier and denser than others, some had flakier or shorter crusts than others, some seemed burnt on top, etc, but didn't realize they were fundamentally different things.  

And then I visited Lisbon, and discovered pastel de nata in their natural habitat, and my understanding of this glorious treat was greatly deepened. Let me also say that I've actually had the Pastel de Belem from Pastéis de Belém in Lisbon, which is widely regarded as the best in the world (and, yes, wow, mind-blowing.  I described them as "life changing" at the time).  I also had plenty of average versions from other bakeries in Lisbon, such as A Padaria Portuguesa.  And of course, I've since had them from plenty in other venues around the world since (although the only other version that really was memorable was recently at BTWN, the restaurant at the brand new W hotel in Sydney where they source from a local bakery, Sonoma Bakery).

This is all just the backstory to say that I consider myself relatively educated about pastel de nata, and I certainly enjoy them, so I was excited to try the offerings from local San Francisco based Holy Nata.

"Come try the divinely delicious Pastel de Nata, at Holy Nata! The 100% artisanal Pasteis de Nata are crafted using a family recipe. Flaky puff pastry dough, creamy custard filling... Do we need to say more?"

Holy Nata is fairly new, it opened in August 2023, and is the only place I know of specializing in this treat in the Bay Area.

Holy Nata makes only one product, the egg tarts, and only the traditional flavor most days, but on Thursdays only, does a special flavor (currently Nutella).  Specialization, I have to respect that.

Pastel de Nata. $3.50.

The offering from Holy Nata has all the right pedigree and look: flaky crust, burnt top, sprinkled with cinnamon.  Besides being a touch small, at first inspection, this seemed very legit.

I tried a bite of it at room temperature first, and found the crust quite chewy, but once I warmed it up lightly in the toaster oven, it got crispier and was considerably better.  The crust was very layered pastry, very good.

The filling was remarkably smooth and creamy, definitely more in the pudding direction than custard, borderline even perhaps a bit too runny.  Basically zero eggy taste, just, sweet vanilla pudding.  It did eat far sweeter than most that I remember.  I didn't mind the sweetness, but this was pretty far in the sweet dessert direction.

Overall, it was good.  I like pastry, I like pudding, I like sweet things.  Worth going out of my way for though?  No.  And not really better than any other I've had since Lisbon.  But, enjoyable for sure.  ***+.

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Pizza @ Tony's Pizza Napoletana

Update Review, April 2024

Tony's Pizza Napoletana.  Probably the most hyped pizza place in SF.  And it has been that way for years now.  So many awards won.  Always lines.  Yadda yadda.  I visited back in 2012 and wasn't blown away, but after a dozen more years of living here, I finally tried it again (although for delivery this time, not dine-in).

Tony's has 11 different styles of pizza.  No, I don't mean 11 varieties of pizza, e.g. just topping differences, but, 11 entirely different styles of pizza.  Each style is cooked in a specific kind of oven (gas, wood, coal, electric, etc) at a specific temperature (535*, 575*, 900*, 570*, 1000*, etc, etc) with a specific style of crust (hand tossed rustic medium? Stone ground multigrain? Thin? Sicilian pan? Wafer thin and crispy?), type of sauce (vine-ripened, hand-crushed, slightly sweet, etc) and cheese blend (romano plus the mozzarella?  Brick cheese? With garlic butter?).  Oh, and they come in only one size per style, which can range from 11 inch to 20.  So many styles.  And frankly, even for someone who writes a food blog, with a dedicated pizza label on it, so much to wrap your head around.  

Once you pick your style, then you need to pick what kind of pizza toppings you actually want.  The choices are highly curated and opinionated, with some styles offering up only two or three options, others up to 8.  The topping configurations are not repeated between styles, and you can't just build your own.

Like I said, this is highly opinionated pizza.  I recommend checking out the menu, even just to satisfy your curiosity.

Our group ordered 3, of assorted styles.  One was a runaway hit.  I now understand the hype, and would seek Tony's out again.

Classic Italian Style

Craving pizza in the true Italian style?  Go for a classic Italian.

"Classic Italian pizzas have vine-ripened tomato sauce and a hand tossed rustic medium crust unless noted. All pizzas are finished with romano, oregano and garlic oil. "

These are further broken down into two categories, some are cooked in a 535 degree oven and are 12-13 inch, others are slightly smaller (11 inch) and cooked at a higher temp (575 degrees).  There are 4 in each style offered, we tried one.

Cal Italia. $32.

"Asiago, mozzarella, Italian Gorgonzola, croatian sweet fig preserve, prosciutto di parma, parmigiano, and balsamic reduction."

I didn't actually expect to try this pie, as the other two we ordered that we got sounded more my style, but when there was extra left, I went for it.  And I'm so glad I did!  It was my favorite of the pies I tried.

The crust was fairly, un, classic Italian style for lack of better description.  Good chew to it, not as thin as a "Californian" pizza, but not as thick as a New York style.  It was the least interesting part of this pizza, but it was good.

The toppings were well crafted, and each served to elevate the others.  When people make "the sum of the parts" sort of statements, this is what they mean.  Yes, each element was good, but together?  Magic.  The prosciutto was wafer thin and added a savory saltiness, the four cheeses all worked together harmoniously, and the sweetness from the fig preserves and drizzle of balsamic ... over the top.  Really excellent toppings, a fascinating blend of sweet, salty, and savory.  One of the best pizzas I've had in years.  I'd gladly get this again.  ****+.

Coal Fired

If you want to go big, go for a coal fired.

"19-20 inches • SERVES 2-4 • Topped with romano, oregano & garlic oil."

There were 8 choices in this style as well.  According to one of my co-workers, "coal fired is the best", so we doubled up on coal fired selections.

The New Yorker. $38.

"(Gold medal winner, Las Vegas 2013) Mozzarella, hand crushed tomato sauce, natural casing pepperoni, sliced italian fennel sausage, ricotta, chopped garlic, and oregano."

The crowd favorite was the award winning New Yorker.  It came topped with mounds of ricotta and slices of sausage and pepperoni, all in about equal parts, and all reasonably well distributed.  It wasn't the style of tidy toppings in even rows, and some slices had far more of one element than other, but most bites included at least one of the three primary toppings.

The crust was a highlight here - it had a nice flavor, was super crisp and lightly charred, and had a bit of grit to it.  The toppings were fine, but not particularly compelling to me.  The tomato sauce seemed fairly average, there wasn't much mozzarella, I didn't taste the garlic, the sausage was kinda ... bouncy (although nicely spicy).  The ricotta blobs were fine but dominated, the pepperoni was good, slightly curled up.  This just didn't seem particularly special, besides the nice crust.  ***.

New Haven Lou. $36.

"Mozzarella di buffala blend, ricotta, spinach, garlic, and crushed red pepper."

And finally, a vegetarian option, also featuring big blobs of ricotta.

I felt kinda similarly about it as the New Yorker, although this was better.  Good crust, dominant ricotta.  There was a good garlic level to this one, and more mozzarella.  I still felt the topping felt a bit flat, and frankly, the similar style cheesy garlic shroom I had a few days prior from Escape from New York pizza was better, topping-wise (the crust is no comparison though).  

Another ***.

Original Review, April 2012

Tonight, we finally made it to Tony's Pizza Napoletana, to try out the famous pizza.  "Everyone" says it is supposed to be the best pizza in the city.  They make 10 (yes, 10!) totally different styles of pizza, ranging from thin crust to New York to deep dish, using all different flours, sauces (sweet, chunky, etc), cheeses AND different ovens (coal, gas, electric, wood) for each type.  The owner has won all sorts of competitions, both abroad (including a win in Italy for his margherita pizza, of which they make only 73 per day and always sell out early in the day) and domestically (on Food network, he won for a pizza with asiago, mozzarella, imported italian gorgonzola, croatian sweet fig preserve, prosciutto di parma, parmesan, balsamic, no tomato sauce.  Apparently a great mix of sweet and savory and salty).

They don't take reservations, and the waits are known to be epic.  And since we knew they only make 73 of the famous pizzas per day, we tried to go early and hopefully get one of the pizzas and avoid the waits.  We arrived a little before 6pm, but still had an hour long wait (which is apparently fairly short), and they were out of the pizza.  Fail!  But, it was a beautiful day, and we spent our time waiting sitting in the park, enjoying the last of the sunlight.

The restaurant seemed like a pretty classic pizza joint, booths and all.  Smaller than I expected, with only 5 booths, a table, and 16 seats at the bar.  There was also additional outdoor seating on the sidewalk, and I think possibly more space next door?  I couldn't quite tell if it was part of the restaurant.

Service was fine.  The hostess takes you name and phone number, and will call you when your table is finally available.  Plates were changed out between appetizers and pizza.  When we were leaving, the hostess called out a thank you, including my name.  I was shocked that she'd remembered it, and it was a nice touch.

The menu is huge, literally.  They have a slew of pizzas in each style, along with a bunch of appetizers, salads, pastas, sides, burgers, even a kids menu.  But we were mostly there for the pizza!

The pizzas we got weren't that great (full reviews below), but I'd be interested in coming back to try some of the other styles, particularly the Italian and the New York.  Have you been to Tony's, and if so, do you have a recommended style?  We also didn't get to really experience the famous margarita, so I'd like to do that.  And I am really interested in the Cal-Italia pizza (the one with all the cheeses, fig, proscuitto, and balsamic that has also won awards).

Dipping oils: picante pepper, plain, pesto.

Complimentary bread and oil showed up almost immediately.  The oils used a good quality, flavorful olive oil as a base.  The picante pepper was fairly sweet, flavorful, and was pretty good. The pesto was garlicky and really good.  I enjoyed dipping my pizza crust into these as well.

Bread to go with oil.

The oils came with a tomato can full of bread, a cute touch.  The bread was not very good, fairly generic, and somewhat stale tasting.  I'm glad it was so bad, because I would have been way to tempted to stuff myself full of the bread and oil while waiting for the pizza.

MEATBALL GIGANTE: blend of veal, pork and beef.  Topped with burrata.  $13.

Tony's is known for their exclusive items, like the famous pizza.  And the giant meatballs, of which they make only 25 per day.  Luckily for us, they had some still available.

The giant meatballs are available with a variety of toppings: marinera sauce, marinera and burrata, wild mushroom, pancetta, and robiola, or farm egg and calabrese.  I'd read great reviews of the meatball, and in particular of the mushroom and cheese sauce version, but the mushroom and cheese sauce version included truffle, and we had a diner who doesn't like truffle.  We settled on the burrata version.

The meatball was made of a blend of veal, pork, and beef.  The meat was fairly flavorful and well seasoned.  It was surprisingly moist, and cooked very consistently throughout.  I actually would have preferred some variation in the cooking, perhaps seared on the outside to have a nice crust on it, or more rare on the inside, or something, as it got a little boring like this.  We all agreed it was decently done, but that it reminded us of meatloaf, just not as good as meatloaf since it was lacking the fillers that can add flavor and dimension.  By being this size and cooked in this way, it just seemed like you missed out on what can make a tasty burger or meatball, but didn't get any benefit from it.

There was tons of marinera sauce, which we weren't expecting, as it was listed as just "burrata with sea salt" on the menu, and marinera was a separate choice.  One diner doesn't care for marinera sauce, so she was disappointed by this.  The sauce was really tangy and slightly sweet.  Nothing memorable, but good, and it went well with the meat.

The burrata was my favorite part of the dish.  So soft and creamy.  Delicious.  It was almost melting into the meat and sauce.  They have some pizzas with burrata on them, I'd love to try those next time.

The meatball was indeed gigante.  It was kinda too much for only three of us to share.  It was good, but we were all ready to be done with it by the end.  I'm not entirely sure how big it was, but I've heard it was a full pound, which does seem about right.  That would mean that we started our meal with 1/3 pound of meat each, which is bigger than your average burger.  I recommend this, and would get it again, but I'd want to share it with more people.  I also really, really want to try the mushroom and cream sauce version, as that sounds fantastic!  $13, for that much meat, seemed like a good deal.

MARGHERITA: san marzano tomatoes D.O.P., sea salt, mozzarella fior di latte,  fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil. $16.

So, we couldn't get the famous margherita, that is made with a special flour and dough, but, we could get a similar pizza, with regular dough.  900 Degree Wood Fired.

The crust was ok, pretty standard tasting, with a nice chewiness to it.  I would have preferred it to  crisper, and more charred, which I think means I just prefer a slightly different style, as this seemed to be how it was designed to come out.

The sauce was very similar to the sauce with the meatball, tangy, slightly sweet.

The mozzarella was pretty standard fio di latte, a little bit rubbery.

The basil added some good flavor.

Overall, this was just a really standard margherita pizza.  Not a single dimension stood out.  I'm interested to try the really special version, just because its supposed to be so great, but I wouldn't order this one again.

HONEY PIE: North Beach honey, calabrese peppers, scallions, mozzarella,  piave cheese, fried caramelized onions, serrano peppers. $19.

This came from the California style section of the menu, meaning it was cooked in the wood oven, like the margherita.  We were kinda overwhelmed by the menu, and most of the pizzas I'd read about were not vegetarian, and we had a vegetarian with us, so we made a somewhat rush decision on this one.  In retrospect, I wish we'd picked one of the different styles, as this was really similar to the margherita.

This pizza was strange.  None of us liked it, but for totally different reasons.

The crust was exactly the same as the margherita, made using caputo flour, since we weren't able to get one of the special margheritas with the fancy crust.  Just the like margherita, I thought it had a decent chew to it, but I would have preferred a thinner, crispier crust, with some more char on it.

There was no sauce.

The peppers gave it a really nice spicy kick, I really enjoyed them.  There weren't nearly enough on the pizza!

The honey was from bees on their rooftop.  It paired surprisingly well with the peppers.  I liked the sweetness, but found very little of it in my slice.  One of the other diners really didn't like this pizza because he said it was far too sweet, and all he got was honey.  I think it must have been really inconsistently drizzled on, as neither slice I had had much at all.

The base layer of the pizza was melted mozzarella cheese, that I really didn't like.  There was tons of it, and it just totally dominated the other flavors.  I also just really didn't like the flavor of it at all.  This cheese didn't bother anyone else.

The shards of piave cheese were tasty and paired well with the onions, a nice touch, but each slice had only one on it.

The onions were really disappointing.  I read "fried caramelized onions" and just pictured something else.  These were tiny, tiny little chunks of onion, coated in batter, and fried.  I actually think many of the pieces were just fried batter.  It took us a long time to figure out that this was onions, we had to go remember the menu in order to determine this.  It really was just mostly little tiny oily chunks of fry.  Larger chunks of onion, more like onion straws, would have been much better, but really, I think I just wanted caramelized onions.  Either way, I would have wanted to taste the onions, rather than just oil.

So altogether, this pizza just didn't really work.  I didn't love the crust, and in most bites, all I tasted was the mozzarella and oily fried bits.  Would not order again.

Tiramisu.  $8.

I hadn't really read anything about desserts at Tony's, and wasn't intending on ordering any, but one person wanted the tiramisu, so we got it.  It was a pretty poor execution.  Generic ladyfingers, with a small portion of them soaked in espresso, moist enough.  Not much espresso or boozy flavor came through.  The cream was sweet, dominating, and just not good at all. I can't pinpoint what it was, but there was just nothing good about it.  Topped with mediocre shredded milk chocolate.

I'd certainly never get this again.

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Fresko Fresh Kosher

Update Review, 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.

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.  ***.

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.

****.

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.  **.

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.  ***.

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. *.

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.  ***+.

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.  ***.

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.

**+.

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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