2021 Food Olympics - Event #3 Frozen Appetizers

 

For Event #3 I bought and ordered some frozen appetizers from Omaha Steaks, Whole Foods and King Soopers.  We found 8 appetizers representing 6 different countries.  Then over the last couple of months we tried them out one at a time.  After we tried all of them, we ranked them 1-8 and awarded medals.

The first thing we tried were the 2 appetizers from Omaha Steaks both representing the US.  The Filet Mignon Pastry Bites were really good.  

They were like mini pot pies with beef and a few veggies in a little pastry cup.  These got out ahead on the leader board quick and weren’t about to move anytime soon.  Next was the Gourmet Franks in a Blanket these were pretty good as well.  

They were little all beef hotdogs with puff pastry wrapped around with a hit of Dijon mustard.  These were good just not as good as the filet mignon bites.

Then we followed up by eating the appetizers from Whole Foods.  The first one was another US contestant the Jalapeno Cream Cheese Small Bites.  

These were little triangles filled with a mix of cream cheese and other cheeses with diced fresh jalapeños.  It was similar to a jalapeño popper but with a different outside shell and diced jalapeños that were fresh and not pickled.  They Had a decent amount of heat.  These I thought were just better than the franks.  Next, we tried the Tres Latin Foods, Chicken and Cheese Pupusas.  pupusas are a typical food in El Salvador.  These particular ones are made in Boulder, CO.  

They had a chicken, bean and cheese filling inside a masa patty.  They tasted like a bland enchilada with no sauce.  They were much better if you added some salsa.  This was definitely the worst appetizer yet.  Next up was the Sukhis potato Samosas our Indian contestant.  

These were also triangles These had a crispy pastry like outside and filled with peas, potatoes, and Indian spices.  They were very good on their own. The box also includes a cilantro chutney that was kind of like a salsa which made these samosas even better and into the silver medal spot for now.

Next up was the Brazi Bites Brazilian Cheese Bread.  

These were bread balls with a lot of cheese.  They were pretty good and would go good with anything.  Not the best appetizer but also not the worst.  After this was the Spinach & Cheese Spanakopita representing Greece.

 

These had layered phyllo dough that kept breaking off with feta and spinach.  They were excellent, I really enjoyed them.  They just beat out the Indian samosas to get into solid medal position.  

Then we finished up with South Korea.  We tried the Bibigo beef and vegetable mandu that we found at King Soopers.  

These were basically like Chinese dumplings or potstickers but a little larger.  They were filled with a lot of bulgogi beef and a few veggies carrots, onions, cabbage, and a few glass noodles.

And as the last contestant the Bibigo mandu takes the gold dropping the Omaha Steaks filet mignon bites to silver, the Greek Spanakopita to bronze and the Indian samosas out of the medals.

Gold South Korea Bibigo beef and vegetable mandu

Silver United States Omaha Steaks filet mignon bites

Bronze Greece Whole Foods Spanakopita

Sam's number three - Aurora Colorado

Friday the 13^th January 13, 2012

It was Friday the 13th and we had another trip down to the Denver area for doctor appointments, and I had seen Sam’s number three on diner’s drive-ins and dives.  We were seated pretty quickly then our waitress came.  She set water and cups on the table, she asked if we still needed time, we did since the menu was huge; they have a whole Greek menu, a whole Mexican menu, a breakfast menu, and a sandwich menu all together to make one huge menu.  We did go ahead and order an appetizer which was cheese curds, but she didn't ask is for our drink orders which I thought was kind of weird.  When she came back with the cheese curds, we figured out what to order including drinks. 

The cheese curds were not the best, but they were good and so was the marinara sauce. They were just like the cheese curds we had had in green bay, which happened to be my least favorite of the cheese curds we had on our trip to Wisconsin. I decided to get the chile relleno with eggs (8.99)which came with home fries and toast, I had a choice of the bread/potatoes also could have had biscuits and gravy or pancakes. My mom had the chile relleno (8.99) that came with the rice and beans on the Mexican part of the menu with cups of sour cream, guacamole and salsa on the side. My dad had the chorizo and eggs. He thought the chorizo was okay but nothing really too great.

My mom really liked her chile relleno with the rice and beans. I thought everything was really good I thought my chile rellenos were good, but they were a little too cheesy and I actually almost choked on the cheese. 

 They were pretty good and were the crispy type l like, but what I really liked was the green chili.  It was a little spicy, but not really too hot and I liked that it had tomatoes in it which I thought was good and quite a bit of pork.  I thought my eggs and home fries were kind of boring and thought that more green chili on would've made them a lot better.  The next day I realized that I was supposed to have toast with my meal but I did not get it but that’s not the end of the world. Overall this place was good, but not quite great.  I had survived eating out on Friday the 13^th.

2580 South Havana Street
Aurora, CO