The Oink Cafe – Breakfast. Lunch. Bacon.

Hey friends,

I haven’t done a restaurant review in a while and I’m hesitant to do this one because The Oink Cafe is close to where we live and a review will just mean that more people will go there.  I’m kinda liking the place and not sure I want to share it with everyone in Phoenix.  But…I think you’ll like it and my mom taught me not to be selfish, so…here we go.

When driving down Cactus Road a few months ago, I noticed that one of the retail spaces near Paradise Valley Mall had a new sign outside.  This spot seems like a wonderful location, but has been somewhat of a revolving door in the past years, not retaining businesses for any length of time.  Hopefully, this will be the exception to that rule.

Anyway, you may remember that a few months ago I won a year’s supply of bacon so that treat has been forefront in my mind lately.  While driving by this new restaurant, the tag line made me do a double take. It reads “Breakfast. Lunch. Bacon.”   What!  A restaurant that features BACON!!! Wow! I’ve got to take my husband there!

This weekend we had the perfect opportunity to try it out.  We had family visiting from out-of-town and when we described it to them they were excited about the adventure.  So, our party of 5 headed there around 9:30 on a Saturday morning.  Phoenix restaurants can get pretty busy on weekends for breakfast, so we weren’t sure what we’d find.  We checked in at the hostess station, then moments later 2 more family members arrived, which increased our request to a party of 7.

While we were waiting we noticed all these amazing looking baked goods.  We didn’t get a chance to try any, but will definitely need to do that next time.  Take a look at all the bacon options.

The staff handled our larger party graciously.  And fortunately while it was already pretty busy, there were a few tables that cleared just minutes after we arrived and we were seated promptly.

We perused the menu and ordered a nice variety from our friendly food server.  Here are a few photos to enjoy.

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One item of note:  At the time of this writing, they have 5 different flavors of bacon (applewood smoked, honey cured, sugar cured, peppered, &  jalapeno).  I enjoyed the applewood smoked bacon with breakfast and someone else at the table got an order of the jalepeno and gave me a taste.  It was delicious, especially for those who like that extra little kick of heat in their meal.

We mentioned to the server that they should have a flight of bacon that people could order to try a piece of each different kind.  She said that they have it, but upon checking the menu we couldn’t find it.  Hopefully they’ll add it to the menu or maybe to the list of “specials” so folks can check out all the different flavors.  Plus even though their logo is a pig, maybe they should consider adding turkey bacon for those who want to try to be a tad bit healthier.

Overall, everything was very tasty!  From the time we ordered till the time we got our food was a bit long, but since we were busy visiting it wasn’t too bad.  We’ll chalk that up to being relatively new to the breakfast scene and hope the timing improves.  It’s definitely a place that we’ll visit again…maybe for lunch next time.

Hey maybe they should offer an ultimate BLT with all the flavors of bacon!  I’d order it.  How about you?

What do you think ?  Does it sound promising?  Do you think you’ll try “The Oink Cafe” if you have the chance?

Maple Bacon Cupcakes and more…

In my quest to find the best ways to use our year’s supply of bacon, I stumbled onto this recipe in Oprah’s magazine that sounds devine.

Gayle King says: “”Best thing I ate while judging the Vendy Awards—a cook-off among New York’s incredible street food vendors—this fall: the Cupcake Crew’s maple bacon cupcake. I knew I liked maple and that I also like bacon, but who knew how much I’d like them together?”— Gayle King

You can find out more about the Cupcake Crew and where they’ll be serving cupcakes (in the Big Apple only) on their website or Facebook page.

Cupcake Crew's - Maple Bacon Cupcake

Photo by: Molly Rundberg

And here’s a link to the recipe on Oprah.com.

Have you ever had a cupcake like this?  If so, what did you think? I’ll let you know our vote when we have a chance to try it out.

Oh, and did I tell you that my husband took Chocolate Dipped Bacon to a work potluck the other day?  It was a big hit!  Sadly, I forgot to get a picture of it.  I know, can you believe it!  I forgot!

It was super simple.

A pound of (Oscar Mayer, of course) Super Thick Cut Bacon, cut into thirds – cook until starting to crisp, but not overdone.  It will cook more after you take it out of the pan.

A container of dipping chocolate (this is what I had on hand).

Melt chocolate according to package directions.

Once the bacon is crisp and cooled and the chocolate is melted and still warm, dip as much of the bacon as you want in the chocolate.  We left about half of each piece of bacon exposed so the chocolate flavor didn’t overwhelm the bacon.  Set it on wax paper to cool, then arrange on a plate to serve.  Of course you could add sprinkles or nuts or whatever, but I prefer the pure chocolate and bacon flavors.

This photo from the Taste of Aloha website looks most like what we made.

Hey and next time you see a great bacon recipe, don’t forget to pass it along.

And the Bacon Winner is…

Thank you all for submitting recipes for the Bacon Contest.  The judge has reviewed the recipes and has determined that the most delicious sounding recipe is…

Green Beans with Bacon, Onion and Brown Sugar!

Congratulations to Cheryl Lohrke!

Please send your mailing address to my email at HannFamily[at]cox[dot]net and I will mail your coupon for a free pound of Oscar Mayer bacon.

If you’re at a loss for how to use it, check out the Oscar Mayer website to find a bunch more bacon recipes.

Thanks again for participating.

Enjoy your treat!

Last chance to win a pound of bacon!

Hey friends,

This is last call for the Oscar Mayer Bacon Contest and the odds of winning are excellent!  I will be away from my computer until about 6pm (MT), so I’m leaving the contest open until then.

Just to get your creative juices flowing, I thought I’d share a Dutch Oven recipe that I found in my November issue of Taste of Home magazine.  (FYI, This recipe and others can also be found online, but you need to “register” by setting up a login.  There’s no cost to join.)

Pumpkin Bisque with Smoked Gouda

Take a look at the first ingredient!  Ah yes, bacon!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Bisque with Smoked Gouda

• 4 bacon strips, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 can (29 ounces) solid-pack pumpkin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup shredded Gouda cheese
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
• Additional shredded Gouda cheese, optional

Directions

• In a Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove to paper towels with a slotted spoon; drain, reserving 1 tablespoon drippings. Saute onion in drippings until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.
• Stir in the broth, pumpkin, salt, nutmeg and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Cool slightly.
• In a blender, process soup in batches until smooth. Return all to pan. Stir in cream; heat through. Add cheese; stir until melted. Sprinkle each serving with parsley, bacon and additional cheese if desired. Yield: 9 servings (2-1/4 quarts).

Can’t you just taste that warm bacony, cheesy goodness?

I also wanted to clarify how we’ll choose a winner.  Since I can see the names of the people that submitted and I don’t want to show preferential treatment, I’m going to show just the recipes to my husband and have him choose a winner based on which one sounds the most delicious to him.  Good news is he LOVES bacon, so they’ll all be in the running.

And here’s a little clarification on the fine print.  I now have the coupons in my hot little hand and this is what they say:

FREE – One package of any OSCAR MAYER Bacon (up to $9.00).  Expiration 3/31/2012  

The images show Center Cut Bacon, Fully Cooked Bacon and Naturally Hardwood Smoked Bacon just to name a few.

Thanks for joining in the fun!  Keep your eyes open for more contests in the future.

What to do with a Year’s Supply of Bacon

What would you do with a year’s supply of bacon?

I’m so excited that I get the chance to find out, but I need your help.

Last week for my last session at the BlogWorld Expo I attended a workshop taught by Marcy Massura about how to be a Social Media Community Manager. I had no idea when I walked in the door that I would be walking out with a year’s supply of bacon!  Wow!!!

It turns out that Marcy works as the Community Manager for the one and only Oscar Mayer.  Can you say AWESOME!  AND she was able to procure a gift of 52 full value coupons each for a pound of bacon! Wow again!  I guess I don’t have to say much more…I won the raffle drawing!!!  Wahoo!  My husband was ecstatic when I told him.

Now, I need your help in discovering fun new recipes to fill the next year with amazing bacon-licious dishes.  I’ve heard of bacon ice cream, a bacon bomb, chocolate-dipped bacon, but what’s your favorite? Please share a recipe or a link to a recipe in the comments,then on Saturday, November 19th…as my thank you to you, I’ll share the love and award one of the coupons for a free pound of bacon to the most delicious sounding recipe. (contest over – maybe you’ll win next time)

THANK YOU MARCY and OSCAR MAYER and THANK YOU ALL for your creative ideas.  I’m looking forward to a very tasty year.

Want more fun with bacon?  Check out the Oscar Mayer Facebook page,but don’t cheat by using one of their recipes in the contest, o.k.?