Bullz-Eye tested the new Domino’s boneless chicken wings and regular chicken wings to see what all the hype was about. Our friend Phil over at Domino’s sent over a variety of different samples and we filled up on some good fair! Ever since the new Domino’s pizza hit the market last year we have been interested in the transformation at Domino’s and even took a trip to visit Domino’s headquarters in Michigan to get a behind the scenes look at what Domino’s did to change course with a vastly improved pizza.

Ok, This post is about the new Domino’s chicken wings so let’s get back on track. Domino’s sent over both boneless chicken and regular chicken wings in Hot, BBQ and Sweet Mango Habanero. The Domino’s chicken is billed as the next chapter in the Domino’s story of reinvention and we are happy to report this chicken is very good. My fellow chicken wing fanatics and I first noticed how tender the chicken was on the wings. Lean and tender was the best way to describe the new Domino’s wings and the flavors are vibrant and accurate. The favorite was the Sweet Mango Habanero and when dipped in the provided Ranch or blue cheese containers forget about it!

The new boneless wings are made with 100 percent whole white breast meat lightly breaded with savory herbs and they are simply delicious! The boneless chicken are not covered in sauce but rather they come with dipping sauces consisting of hot, BBQ and new Sweet Mango Habanero and of course ranch or blue cheese for dipping. All of the flavors were very good but again the new Sweet Mango Habanero ranked # 1 with our group.

Domino’s appears to have more winners on their hands (including alot of flavored sauce – ok just reached for a napkin and I’m good) and we look forward to getting our grub on with the new Domino’s all white breast meat boneless and regular wings while watching a good sporting event on the big screen. Hey, It’s the American Way!

Don’t forget to check out the Domino’s Pizza Bracket on Facebook. The company is down to the Final Four pizzas, competing to become the fan favorite pizza champion.

They don’t make pretzels like they used to. Pretzels you buy in the store either don’t have enough salt, are too bland or buttery or boring. And don’t get me started on soft pretzels, which Auntie Anne’s has pretty much ruined for all of America. However, there is hope, and there are still awesome pretzels sold in bags and in tubs. And the best of these is Utz brand pretzels. I found these in stores occasionally when living in New York, but hadn’t seen them since moving away from there years ago. But I found Utz products recently online, and bought a few different types of pretzels. Not only do they taste exactly as I remember, but they seem to be even better.

I bought a bag each of the rings, small logs and regular logs. Utz pretzels have very few ingredients so they taste fresh and not processed. And they don’t have that fake shine that most store-brought pretzels have. They are crunchy, generously salted, and just plain delicious. In fact, after going through the three bags rather quickly, I ordered two more large tubs of Utz pretzel rods. Yum.

Oh, and for good measure I also tried the 7-grain pretzels Utz carries. Amazingly, these are also delicious. With seven whole grains, meaning lots of healthy fiber, these are snacks you can feel good about eating and feeding your kids. It can’t be easy to make something healthy taste this good, but Utz delivers, again.

More Utz snack reviews coming soon……

I have what is probably considered an unhealthy affinity for Pringles. Sure, they’re not real potato chips, just chopped and formed potato crisps with lots of chemical enhancements. But it’s not like most junk foods don’t already fit that description.

Anyway, being that I love spicy food and I know many of you do, I was bowled over last week in the grocery store when I encountered Pringles Extreme, a variety pack with three new flavors of mini-Pringles. The flavors are Smokin’ Hot Ranch, Torchin’ Tamale and Buffalo Wing. And well, they are awesome…for the most part. Here is our take:

Smokin’ Hot Ranch–these tasted like a cross between ranch flavor Doritos and old-school barbecue potato chips. But they have a pleasant spicy kick that hits you in the back of the throat on a time-delay.

Torchin’ Tamale–these were my least favorite of the bunch. There is a salsa flavor with red pepper-y heat. But the onion aftertaste is pretty strong, kind of overwhelming in fact.

Buffalo Wing–nothing sucks about anything that tastes like Buffalo wings. And that’s true of these crisps, which have a nice salty kick akin to real deal wing sauce. These also have a somewhat weird aftertaste, but a pleasant one, keeping that nice authentic wing taste with you.

Overall, this product is highly recommended if you like Pringles or spicy food or both. Go check ‘em out!

Let’s face it guys….chocolate is usually the kind of treat reserved for the palates of women. That doesn’t mean we don’t like it, but we don’t crave it like we do, say, beer, or chicken wings. Mmmm, I’m getting hungry again!

Anyway, we were intrigued enough by a press release promoting Pure Dark, a brand of chocolate that is available both online as well as in retail locations in New York City, including the new distribution channel of Food Emporium stores.

Pure Dark is made from cocoa beans with a supposed “intense flavor profile.” I’m not sure how they choose them, but they are very right in that assessment. The flavor is bold and powerful, and almost has a coffee-like background flavor. This isn’t the kind of thing you can eat mass quantities of, but you could do far worse in choosing a snack.

We tried the raspberry acai rounds, which are dark chocolate discs that are coated in a raspberry/acai natural flavors. The chocolate balances with the bright flavor of the fruit in a big way, but this is one of those things that is clearly geared more toward women, because I’m not a fan of mixing fruit with chocolate.

I did, however, love the chocolate covered almonds, which were among some of the best I’ve ever had.

The caramelized nibs were a bit different, basically cocoa beans that were roasted and chopped. The flavor of these is more intense than any of the other Pure Dark products we tried, but a good intense.

If you’re a fan of chocolate, you need to find this stuff online…..especially if you want to impress your significant other!

For more information, please visit www.puredark.com

With all of the processed foods out there that have an ingredient list as long as a phone book, it’s refreshing that there are companies going in the opposite direction. One such company is Fresherized Foods, which has brought us the Wholly Brand of guacamole and salsa for a while now.

Well, now they have taken snacking to a whole new level, with the introduction of Wholly Queso dips. Wholly Queso is made with real cheese and vegetables, and you have to refrigerate it, which is always a good sign when you’re trying to put less junk in your body.

The fine folks at Bow Wow Consulting sent us an awesome cooler filled with these dips, as well as a few other Wholly Brand products and chips to try them with to boot! And the verdict is this….the queso is simply awesome and you should go find it now. Seriously! Here are some more detailed thoughts:

Wholly Queso Classic–This was the more orange tinged queso, and instantly you can tell this is restaurant quality stuff, not the kind of queso you find in a jar near the Doritos. The taste is fresh and has both a sharp cheddar bite and nice chili pepper undertone.

Wholly Queso Blanco–This one was my favorite. It was even more authentically Mexican and had more pepper flavor, and an even sharper cheese bite. Plus, it was spicier than the Classic, and spicier is always better.

Wholly Salsa–The salsa also comes in a refrigerated tub and is incredibly fresh tasting, just like the stuff you get in most Mexican restaurants. The tomatoes were abundant with just the right amount of onion and jalapenos, but the only thing that would have made it better was if there was some cilantro. Of course, you can always add your own.

Wholly Guacamole dip–If you don’t have time to make guacamole and are looking for something quick and easy yet healthy, this is the stuff. You cut open the pouch and squeeze it into a serving bowl and start dipping. It’s creamy and homemade tasting, and, like the salsa, it also doesn’t kill you with onions. The spicy version of the guacamole is even better, but only if you dig spicy food. If you don’t, you’ve probably stopped reading by now anyway.

Wholly Party Dip–This is the guacamole with a layer of spicy pico de gallo on top. The pico de gallo is really spicy, and again, not too onion-y. The combination of flavors is incredible and really works. And the best part is, all you do is open the container and start dipping!

So there you go. You can find Wholly Brand dips in most grocery stores and for more information, go to www.fresherizedfoods.com

It was a beautiful day at my house recently back when I received a package from Frito-Lay of snacks to try and review right here. I had already found their Doritos Burn Flavor chips locally and I’m craving them again as we speak. Anyway, I offered to review some other Frito-Lay snacks that I hadn’t tried. And here they are, in no particular order:

Funyun’s Flamin’ Hot Onion Flavored Rings–Another extension of the Frito-Lay “Flamin’ Hot” franchise, complete with the red glow that works its way onto your fingers as you eat them. I love Funyun’s, and I love spicy food, so this was a slam dunk for me. I could probably eat 10 bags of these right now.

Chee-tos Giant cheese puffs–If Eric Cartman were a real person, he would eat these. We’re talking balls that measure one inch (some more) around, that for some folks would require two bites. The novelty alone was worth trying them for, but it’s not like you’ll want to sit around and munch on these. They taste fine, but when you eat the smaller variety, you get more cheese flavor all around.

Chee-tos Mighty Zingers Sharp Cheddar & Salsa Picante–Unlike the Giant puffs, these are the “fried” variety of Chee-tos. The “sharp cheddar” flavor are indeed nicely cheesy with just a bit more sharp bite than regular Chee-tos. And the salsa picante ones, which are the same color as the Flamin’ Hot snacks, have a hint of cheese but a more prominent salsa flavor–and an authentic one at that, in which you can taste both tomato and a hint of onion and hot peppers. Together these two flavors in one bag go together like peanut butter and jelly. No joke!

Lay’s brand Kettle Cooked Jalapeno Flavor Chips–Well, I’ll admit I’m not a huge fan of kettle cooked (i.e. extra crispy) potato chips. But hey, if I had a choice, I’d still rather eat a chip than a stalk of broccoli. So I dug in to these, and while they have a super crunch and a nice jalapeno spice, there is too much onion powder in these chips that overpowers them. Not only that, after eating a nice handful, I had onion breath and dry mouth for the rest of the day.

Doritos Late Night Tacos at Midnight Tortilla Chips–If you, like me, are old enough to remember when Doritos first came out, this one will take you back. Back then (I think maybe in the ’70′s?), they had plain corn, taco flavor and nacho cheese. And my favorite by far was the taco flavor, which they stopped making after a while, brought back and then stopped making again. Now it’s back disguised as this “Late Night” version, which is every bit as good as the original Taco flavor and then some. In fact, you can almost close your eyes here and feel like you’re eating a fast food taco. And we all know how great those taste after a few beers, so the “Late Night” tag on these is an arrow through the hearts and taste buds of those who troll the convenience store aisles late at night. Seriously though, these chips are just awesome, even in the middle of the day.

I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did eating and writing. But I don’t know how that’s possible, so go try some!

When I first heard about Doritos’ Burn flavor chips, I thought it was a promotional stunt or something to sell more Pepsi, which was the focus of the radio commercial I heard.  But being a snack food junkie and a lover of all things spicy, I kept looking for this stuff in stores.  Finally, I found it, at a Walgreens here in Madison, Wisconsin no less.  And let me tell you, the First and Second Degree Burn flavors are positively awesome, and spicier than any snack food I’ve ever tasted.  Frito-Lay tells me Third Degree Burn was only available for a short time, and sadly I didn’t get to try it.  But here are the ones I did try….

First Degree Burn (Blazing Jalapeno)–These chips are hot and also have a strong jalapeno flavor.  And the heat, which I’d rate as an 8 out of 10, is subtle and somewhat pleasant, like a spicy food drug.

Second Degree Burn (Flaming Buffalo)--This chip has a tangier flavor, just like, well, Buffalo wing sauce.  And like first degree, the heat sneaks up on you, but this one is more like an unexpected kick to the groin, a 9 out of 10 on the heat index.  What’s more, they get hotter and hotter the more you eat.  But if you like spicy food, that’s one of the best parts.

Late Night Cheeseburger–Not spicy at all, but part of the new Late Night lines from Doritos.  These taste like a McDonald’s cheeseburger, but you taste onions first and foremost, and, like with all Doritos, the ones coated in cheese powder are the best tasting ones.  That’s especially true here, because otherwise the onion overwhelms the cheese.

We’ve been hearing and seeing a lot lately about the all new pizza at Domino’s. Well since we love pizza it was time to check it out for ourselves and give you our feedback.

I ordered a pepperoni, onion and roasted red pepper. When I opened the box it already looked better than the old Domino’s before I even took a bite!

For me the sauce and crust are equally important so I was curious as to all of the hype around both. First the sauce: Domino’s billed the new sauce as bolder and I have to say it is clearly better. There’s much more flavor and a it’s a bit spicy and sweet, so they made a big improvement here. As for the crust, it has a garlic seasoning and there is no doubt the flavor went up a few notches, but if you’re not crazy about garlic you could get turned off on this pie pretty quick. On the other hand a lot of folks love the garlic flavoring and combined with the new sauce it garnered my attention in a good way. I thought the crust was very good.

Finally, regarding the cheese, it was very tasty and the hint of provolone is right on the mark!

Overall I feel that Domino’s improved on a pizza that was middle of the road at best and now has a pizza that can compete with the more expensive chains and the local joints. The improvement is huge with the sauce, crust and cheese all scoring high, so for that I say “all new” means “much better” for Domino’s!

The new “Double Down” sandwich from KFC is getting quite a bit of buzz, so we had to try it out. You’re certainly not thinking about your waistline when eating it, so it better deliver on taste! In that area we were very impressed – it’s juicy, greasy and delicious! We’re guessing it will become a late-night favorite for the beer-drinking crowd (which includes most Bullz-Eye readers).

The “sandwich” boasts 540 calories, 32 grams of fat and 1,380 milligrams of sodium! It’s really not much of a sandwich as it doesn’t have any bread. Instead you have 2 slabs of fried (or grilled) chicken with bacon, cheese and more in between. Fortune calls it the “Colonel Punishment” while acknowledging it has created a media sensation. Jimmy Fallon recently featured it on his show.

It’s only available for a limited time, but we’re guessing this one will become a regular item. We can’t remember the last time a so called sandwich had so many people either offended or excited to dig in or stay away!