Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice Café Steamers
The show Top Chef on BravoTV is one of my favorite television shows. Recently, I have seen numerous ads on TV for the Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice cafe steamers and was curious as to how they were. I’ve had Healthy Choice café steamers before and they were good . . . would the Top Chef inspiration and influence make them that much better? Costco had a coupon in their February mailer for these frozen dinner entrees so it made it even more tempting to get some and try them out.
Microwaving the Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice cafe steamer entree
To give a little background on the Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice options, Healthy Choice has been a sponsor of Top Chef and in between television seasons Healthy Choice and BravoTV hosted a competition between four former Top Chef contestants and fan favorites:
- Casey Thompson
- Sara Nguyen
- Ryan Scott
- Tre Wilcox
The winner of the Top Chef styled competition would get to help Healthy Choice launch the new Top Chef inspired line of café steamers. In the end, the winner was Ryan Scott who edged out Casey Thompson.
The steamer tray right out of the microwave and the plastic cover removed - all ingredients looking hot and delicious
I’m not sure of the specific market segmentation details for frozen foods / TV dinners but I am sure I probably fall into one of their consumer segments. In my grocery runs, I tend to get more fresh fruits, vegetables and meat to make my own food. However, I will mosey into the frozen foods section occasionally to peruse what’s new and/or on sale and stock up on a few things for those occasions that I’m too lazy, lacking ingredients, or lacking the time to make a proper meal.
To prepare the Healthy Choice entree, you remove the tray from the box, pop it in the microwave, and heat the tray (this is all done with the plastic covering still left on). Once the microwaving is done, the steamed ingredients are placed into the accompanying sauce in the larger outer tray while the inner steaming tray itself is discarded. The ingredients and sauce are mixed together and the final mixed product is then ready for consumption.
The steaming tray is removed and steamed items are then placed into the accompanying sauce in the bottom tray
Similar to other frozen dinner entrees, I found that the portion sizes are pretty small compared to what you might get in a restaurant. But, that may be a reflection of how large portion sizes at restaurants in the United States have become, or how voracious my appetite! Realistically, it is probably the way that frozen dinners limit the caloric intake. Don’t get me wrong though, the café steamer portion size wasn’t skimpy but I could probably eat two steamers in one sitting pretty easily.
The Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice café steamer final product after mixing the steamed ingredients in the accompanying sauce
So, how do the Top Chef inspired Café Steamers compare to the other Café Steamers in Healthy Choice’s lineup? Well, I did think the ingredients used were of very good quality. Being that the preparation method was steaming in the microwave , the ingredients looked very appetizing once microwaved retaining their bright fresh colors. The steamed broccoli also retained a little crispy texture as opposed to having that soggy texture that can easily occur with vegetables prepared from other frozen entrees. The color of the final mixed together product seemed a little more yellow than I would have thought it would be (I expected more of a reddish tint since it was marinara sauce), but the taste was really good and I did enjoy my entree. I don’t know that I would say right off the bat that the Top Chef inspired steamer was necessarily much much tastier than a regular Healthy Choice steamer but I do think it was a bit better and definitely one of the better TV dinners that I have had. I’ll admit though that I wasn’t completely scientific in my testing since I didn’t have a regular steamer in the same sitting as the Top Chef inspired one. I guess I have a few more replicates to go in order to get an adequate sample size, not to mention some other flavors to try :).
Overall, I enjoyed the Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice café steamer and if I’m at the grocery store again and looking for some dinner entrees in the frozen foods section, I’ll be sure to look at the Healthy Choice options again. Without a coupon discount, I might think twice compared to some other options, but if I’m not penny-pinching and deciding based on quality, taste, and presentation, then the Top Chef inspired Healthy Choice options it is.
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FYI, I have not been hired to promote the Healthy Choice Café Steamer meals so l am not writing this entry or advertising on their behalf. As with all of my posts, I’m just sharing my thoughts and opinions. Cheers!
Bandolero Pop-up Restaurant Preview
LivingSocial voucher
After purchasing two tickets for the LivingSocial deal, I followed the instructions that I received and made dinner reservations for 7:15pm on Saturday February 18th for the pop-up preview of Bandolero Restaurant. Basically, LivingSocial, a Washington DC-headquartered online coupon company, was hosting Chef Mike Isabella’s preview of his upcoming restaurant venture in Georgetown to help kick off LivingSocial’s newly leased building in Penn Quarter where LivingSocial will host pop-ups, cooking classes, and all sorts of other activities in their new space.
I guess I don’t typically get to the Penn Quarter area at prime dinner time as I have never had any problems finding street parking in the area but this time we circled around the area a few times and could not find any street parking. So, as we were running out of time and wanted to make our reservation time on time, we bit the $16 parking tab and decided to park within two blocks at the E Street Cinema parking garage.
We walked into the LivingSocial building space (918 F St NW, Washington, DC) right at 7:15pm, had our IDs checked, and checked in at the lobby downstairs. We then headed up to the 2nd floor reception area where we each got a glass of champagne. Our table was already ready so we had only just sat down on the couches in the living area when our name was called to follow somebody up to the restaurant area on the 4th floor where we were promptly seated.
Michelada
Once seated at our table, before we had had a chance to get halfway through our glass of champagne, the accompanying first course drinks were served. The drink was the Michelada – milagro blanco, tomato lime, mole bitters, corona – essentially a tequila version of a Bloody Mary. The drink definitely served as a good appetizing drink. The first course came out shortly thereafter – warm chips and chicharrones served with:
- Guacamole – classic
- Sikil Pak – pumpkin seeds, jalapeno orange
- Salsa Roja – guajillo, tomato, garlic
The chips and dips were all very good but the chicharrones were definitely the highlight of this course. Light and crispy deep fried goodness just tastes so good!
Mmmmm . . . chicharrones
For our second course we went with:
- Albondigas – spicy pork meatballs, sofrito
- Sopes – lamb picadillo, chipotle goat cheese
This course was paired with a Margarita – milagro blanco, patron citronage, agave, grand marnier, lime, blood orange. I was tempted to select the blue crab taquito, but based on our server’s recommendation and the fact that I have Kiwi roots, I went with the lamb dish. For those who aren’t big lamb fans, the lamb was well made and did not taste very lamby. The sopes were delightful little pockets of flavor with the lamb topped with chipotle goat cheese and a little pepper slice. The spicy pork meatballs were also very good. Four of them came in a little bowl topped with some chopped veggies. The meatballs had good flavor but for my palate they could have had just a little more spice to them. In my opinion, the sopes edged out the albondigas.
Sopes – lamb picadillo, chipotle goat cheese
The third course was a selection betwen various tacos. We went with:
- Mahi Mahi – served with chipotle, avocado and lime
- Spicy Chicken – served with avocado, relish
At first we were a little surprised when the mahi mahi was presented – were we being served fried fish sticks?! However, after biting into the taco, it was apparent that we were having a delicious version of the classic “fish taco”. The mahi mahi was cooked perfectly with a lightly fried batter and flaky innards. My wife commented that perhaps the mahi mahi dish could have been better with corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas. I thought the flour tortillas were actually just right since the corn tortillas may have overpowered the mahi mahi. The spicy chicken dish, served on corn tortillas, was also very good. The shredded chicken had a great flavor profile in itself and went wonderfully with the topped lettuce, avocado relish, and little bits of cheese. I would say this round was a tie between both dishes. This course was paired with City of Gold – milagro reposado, cardmaro, St Germain, lemon.
Spicy chicken taco with avocado and relish
For our fourth course we selected the:
- Alahambres – hangar steak, chimichurri
- Mole Negro – pork ribs, sesame seeds
In comparing which dish was better in this round, the pork ribs definitely won. The tender meat slid off the bone with ease and tasted absolutely delicious with the sesame seeds and sauce. The hangar steak portions were extremely generous but perhaps this was the downfall of the dish. The hangar steak was served in a manner that almost made it look like three pieces of sushi/tuna sashimi on the plate with Chef Mike’s famous pizza sauce drizzled around it. The hangar steak was well cooked – I’d estimate they made it to be medium rare as it had a good dark sear on the outside with a reddish center. However, it just seemed the meat cubes were just a tad too large so it did take a little bit of chewing effort to polish off each piece of meat, even when cut into smaller manageable pieces.
Mole Negro - pork ribs, sesame seeds
The accompanying drink for the fourth course, Malverde, was comprised of sombra mezcal, cucumber, cilantro, agave, hellfire bitters. The drink definitely tasted cucumber-ry. Not being people that typically have such drinks, the drinks just tasted different. Perhaps it was due to the bitters in the drink that made it seem odd to the taste buds? The drink also seemed like an odd combination with the dishes in this course.
For our fifth course, aka dessert, we got to have both the Flan and Mexican Chocolate Pudding. The flan had canella and orange and was served with pickled mangoes, while the Mexican Chocolate Pudding was served with mezcal crema. Both desserts were good. The flan had a unique flavor profile, probably due to the canella. As such, the chocolate pudding edged out the flan in this round for me. Dessert was paired with a Sparkling Cocktail – el jimador blanco, prickly pear, and sparkling wine – a nice finish to a great meal.
Flan with canella and orange
At the end of the our evening, we didn’t see Chef Mike Isabella in the dining area chatting with folks like we had seen earlier in the evening so we asked somebody about it and instead we got to head down to the kitchen on the third floor to chit chat with Chef Mike Isabella for a bit.
Meet and greet with Chef Mike Isabella
What was our damage at the end of the night? Well, the tab came out and our sum was $0! Technically, that’s not quite true as I had been paid $119 apiece when I had purchased our tickets from LivingSocial. Was it worth it? Definitely! We ate and drank extremely well and we got to meet Chef Mike Isabella. Not only that but during dinner my wife and I both felt like we were on Top Chef during restaurant wars. The only thing missing from our popup restaurant experience was a feedback card! Thanks LivingSocial for a wonderful experience and I look forward to enjoying more such evenings in the future!
Overall, we had a wonderful dinner experience. If our preview is indicative of the dining experience at Bandolero, Bandolero will no doubt be a big hit. I don’t know what the final prices for the various courses will be, but the portion sizes were generous and if that carries over, I don’t see anybody complaining about Bandolero not being a good bang for the buck, or leaving hungry/thirsty! I must admit that I’m typically not the biggest fan of tequila but all of the drinks were good. I particularly enjoyed the Michelada and would definitely recommend that to start off your Bandolero experience. If I do make it to Bandolero after it opens, I’ll probably be trying the other dishes that I didn’t get to try but if I were going to have some of the dishes again, I would go for the sopes, mahi mahi, spicy chicken, mole negro, finishing it off with the Mexican chocolate pudding.
Below is a more comprehensive photo documentary of our experience:
Coming soon . . . Tacos and Tequila, Top Chef style – Bandolero Pop-Up Restaurant
Received an email from LivingSocial on January 30, 2012 from their gourmet division so I decided to click and read more about it. The deal was from their Washington DC gourmet section and there were a couple of things that drew my attention – tacos, tequila, and Top Chef 🙂 Basically, for tickets at $119 apiece, this included:
- Five Courses of Modern Mexican Small Plates
- Tequila-Cocktail Pairings
- Chef Meet and Greet
- Gratuity and Other Fees
At first, the deal seemed a little pricey, but after further contemplation and reading the fine print, I decided to go for it. After all, it did include a preview of a new restaurant’s food at a pop-up restaurant, the food and drinks, including gratuities and other fees, and a chef meet and greet with former Top Chef contestant (twice!) Mike Isabella.
This event is specifically related to Chef Mike Isabella’s newest venture, Bandolero, which will be opening soon in Georgetown. I’ve always been curious about pop-up restaurants and wondered why more new places didn’t take advantage of the marketing opportunity. I’m sure it’s a lot more additional work along with already having to open a new place, but it looks like Chef Mike’s marketing team is on the ball by having this preview event for his new place to get the buzz going (not that there isn’t a lot already since Chef Mike has garnered some definitely foodie celebrity status).
My dinner tasting event isn’t until February 18, 2012, but I’m definitely looking forward to it and look forward to posting my experience to this blog. After checking back on the deal, I’m glad I got my tickets when I did as it looks like it’s all sold out! FYI, Chef Mike Isabella’s other Washington, DC establishment is Graffiato which is a great place to go if you haven’t already gone yourself, or you can just wait until Bandolero is actually open . . .
Screenshot of Living Social Bandolero Pop-Up deal
Foodie Forays 