Chocolate Almond Butter Tarte (the "e" on the end makes it fancy!)

We had a very special guest reviewer help us out on this one – our friend AMEDEO who was visiting from Italy!  We served him pasta with our homemade pesto (he loved the pesto!!  A rave review on our pesto from a real live Italian, that made me proud.)

An out of town (out of country!) visitor meant we got to sight see in our own city - I love that!
Here are David and Amedeo at the Lincoln Memorial.

But we are not here to review our pesto, we are here to review Trader Joe’s Chocolate Almond Butter Tarte!  Here is what David thought:  “This tarte is very good.  It is chocolate-y, but it is not too chocolate-y.  It is not like a chocolate bar.  It is between the softness of mousse and the moistness of pudding (EDITOR'S NOTE:  It is chocolate GANACHE, isn't that fancy schmancy??).  It has a bottom that I like (I like my tarts like I like my women, with a nice bottom!) (Editor’s note again: he’s here all week, folks!).  It is flavorful.  It has a hint of nuts on it.  it is good for the end of a meal and would be good with an espresso.  I would give this a 4.5.”

Doesn't it look SO PRETTY on the box?

Amedeo thought: “E molto buona dopo cena (it is very good after dinner). I think 4.5 is good.”

It is just as pretty in real life!

My take on it:  I think this is GOOD.  I was worried it might be a bit too chocolate-y for me after eating a big meal, but it is not too much chocolate.  It is a light rather than strong chocolate taste.  It’s a nice dessert and pairs well with a red wine.  I personally could use a little more NUT taste.  We all liked the texture – it is a bit of a double texture when considering the chocolate part and the crust.  That’s nice!

Delicious!  

The box says there are 4 servings, but we all agreed that the servings would be too big to cut it into 4.  6 servings seems more reasonable.  Because we did not eat it all for dinner, we had some leftovers the next morning for breakfast and reviewed it again.  I preferred it for DINNER because it was so good with red wine.  I do not oppose eating it for breakfast, but I liked it better at night.  Amedeo agreed that it tasted better for dinner, the mousse part was not as good in the morning after being refrigerated overnight.  David thought it was delicious for breakfast and loved pairing it with coffee, so he votes to eat it for breakfast!!

We all agreed that whenever you eat it, eat it in one sitting for the best taste.  This one is a treat worth getting – try it!  The signage at our local Trader Joe's said it was a new product, so pick one up next time you are shopping. I think the boys got the rating spot on so I will agree with them – it gets a 4.5 from me, too.

This is very reasonably priced.  Recommended!

Price: $5.99

Rating: 4.5 (from all 3 reviewers)

Bonus photo - David and Amedeo with the Washington Monument behind them :)

Day 235 - Uncured Bacon Ganache Bar

Oh boy, this is a fun review!!!  This is the first review that comes with a VIDEO and an original SONG about the product (ok, it is about one ingredient in the product, but it is an awesome song!)!

Let me back up.

We saw this Uncured Bacon Ganache Bar at our local Trader Joe’s (Clarendon, VA).  It sounded good.  A TJ’s employee told us it was good.  And as we were deciding if we should invest in it or not, another person grabbed one.  So all signs seemed to be pointing to GET IT!  So we did.

They had a display of these up by the check out line.  Can you say, "Impulse purchase??" anyone?

But we did not eat it right away.  We had lots of other chocolate stuff to eat, it was a big bar, and I think deep down we wondered if it might taste yucky…

So I brought it to Indy with us!  I had to be oh so careful with it while traveling – you don’t want something as fancy as this bar to melt so it had to have special treatment!

Ganache.  Bacon.  What could go wrong?

But the bar traveled just fine and last night after midnight, near the end of a 2 week long theatre festival, I pulled that sucker out at the beer tent.  I offered it to several performers and one awesome photographer and asked them to help me review it.  Here is what happened:

Jeff the Clown:  The texture and the after taste are the best parts…  Overall, this is a NOVELTY chocolate bar.

Jeff, at the beer tent, looking a bit blurry.  

Les the Solo Storyteller, also a vegetarian who I did not think would try this product because, well, BACON:  Woah!  You can TASTE the bacon.  There were BURSTS of bacon. This was not worth giving up my vegetarianism.  I am gonna go RIGHT BACK to being a vegetarian now.  (I offered him another square of the chocolate).  Well sure, I will have another square.  THEN I will go right back to being a vegetarian.  This is a NOVELTY chocolate bar.

Les gave up his vegetarian ways for a short time to help test this chocolate bar - what a trooper.

Daniel the Photographer – There is a DISAPPOINTING lack of bacon in this chocolate bar.  This NEEDS MORE bacon.  And what the *&$% is “ganache”??  Is it “panache” with a “g”??  It is “panache” gone bad??  The dark chocolate itself is a quality chocolate.

I ran into Daniel today (after he tested this chocolate bar last night) and he is STILL bitter about the lack of bacon.

David, my partner and a Solo Performer – WOAH, that is TERRIBLE.  I mean, the chocolate is great.  The ganoche is lovely.  But what the hellll is going on with the BACON??  The actual chocolate part is very good though. 

It sounded so good when we were at Trader Joe's...

Let’s take a quick break from REVIEWS here to listen to an original song performed by Jeff the Clown and his co-conspirator Anna, also a clown.  Sadly, Anna could not taste the chocolate bar because she cannot eat dairy.  L  But she still agreed to sing this awesome song for us.  Watch it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFxGs22NZlU

Neil,  a Hybrid Musician and Actor – Ummm….  Huh…  There was a good bit of bacon at first, but now I am not so sure…  It could use MORE bacon.  Little bacon depth charges (this insightful line was applauded by many at the table).  There is not enough BACON and this sort of thing really needs to be a BACON EXPERIENCE.

Neil seriously considering the taste of this product...

Laura, a Clown – I would say that the caramel doesn’t know whether or not it is meant to be SALTY.  I don’t think they conched the chocolate right…  (Again, applause from the fellow performers for her fancy foodie words.)  The texture is a little brittle.  But I love chocolate.  I didn’t like the COLOR of the inside.  (Editor’s note – it was very dark outside, I am not sure anyone could accurately see the color of the inside J ).  This is a sad excuse for chocolate covered bacon.

Greg, a Hybrid Musician – I was AWARE of the bacon.  There was a brief moment of smokiness but it didn’t go anywhere.  It is kind of like “meh” dark chocolate.  I mean, it is fine, but it doesn’t GO anywhere…   Overall it is not there.  It’s not REPULSIVE.  I mean, it’s a fine thing to eat.  But…

Greg and Laura use foodie terms to describe their experience with this chocolate bar

And finally me, the director of a show, a sign language interpreter and the writer behind this blog – NOT ENOUGH BACON.  The chocolate is too brittle.  It is very messy to break into pieces to share and eat.  It’s all a bit bitter, too.  If the label says BACON, I want me some BACON.  This chocolate bar is just a tease. It goes in the same category as the Fireworks Chocolate Bar I reviewed on day 210 of this blog – fun for a novelty or to give people a tiny chunk, but not a bar I would ever want to just sit down and eat. 

Everyone thought this bar deserved around a 3 rating.  Well, Greg thought perhaps a 2.75, and I was tempted to go that low, too.  But I think the general consensus was 3, so that is what I will give it. 

Price – $1.99

Rating - 3