Ulysses' Folk House

Restaurant: Ulysses' Folk House
Address: 95 Pearl Street / 58 Stone Street - New York, NY 10004
Website: http://www.ulyssesfolkhouse.com/main.html
Name on the Menu: Brunch Buffet Option and Carvery Lunch Side-Mac & Cheese
Price: Included in Brunch-$20 or Included in Carvery Lunch-prices vary

This is my favorite brunch item at Ulysses', it has yet to disappoint. They use elbow macaroni that is perfectly tender. The mac is baked and the top has a crust of bread crumbs. The bread crumbs add the perfect amount of crunch to the mac. There isn't a lot of sauce, but it doesn't need to be drowning in sauce. Each piece of macaroni has the perfect amount of sauce attached to it. The color of the sauce is pale yellow and has a tangy cheese flavor. It tastes like a southern style Mac n Cheese. This is probably because they use a lot of butter. If you happen to get the bottom of the pan you will get the noodles that are soaked from the butter. Try to ask for a top or middle portion. A small bowl of this is quite filling.

I give this mac 4 wedges, it would have been rated higher if there was a little less butter.

Banquet

Name of Product: Banquet Macaroni and Cheese Meal
Website: http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/getBrand.do?page=banquet
Price: $2.00

I was looking forward to trying a new frozen Mac n Cheese entree. This entree was awful for many different reasons. As soon as I took the container out of the box I realized it was not going to be enough food. They need to remove meal from the product name and change it to light snack. The container itself was very flimsy and almost didn't hold up during the microwaving process. Though the box said the entree was made using cheddar and blue cheese, I couldn't taste it. The entree was tasteless. The only positive thing was that the elbow macaroni was tender.

I give this Mac n Cheese 0 wedges. I will never buy it again.

Yankee Stadium

Restaurant: Yankee Stadium Suites
Address: 161st St Bronx, NY 10451
Website: http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=nyy
Name on the Menu: Macaroni and Cheese

Recently I was fortunate enough to be invited to view a Yankees game from one of their luxury suites. It was a fabulous experience, but the Mac n Cheese on the buffet was slightly less than fabulous. Let's put it this way, it wasn't a home-run. In fact, it was barely a double. It looked ok. There was a little bit of crust on the top and it was made with elbow macaroni, but the color was weak. Instead of a nice yellow/orange, it had a very light yellow to white coloring. The consistency was a little soupy and the taste a little milky. I had hoped for a thicker texture and more cheese flavor. I believe that white cheddar must have been used and that would account for the light coloring. The elbow pasta was cooked just right, not too soft and definitely not hard. Hopefully, this Mac n Cheese doesn't have a long term contract.

I give this mac 2.5 wedges.

Wegmans 2

Name of Product: Wegmans Macaroni and Cheese Spirals Dinner
Website: http://www.wegmans.com
Price: 50 cents

I was a little wary of this product because my last Wegmans Mac n Cheese experience was awful. However, the price was right (it was on sale for 33 cents), so I figured I had to try it. I followed the instructions on the box, but I did not use all of the cheese powder for fear it would taste artificial. I used about 90% of the powder. The pasta was nice and tender, but the spirals gave it a bit of a bite. Strangely, it wasn't that hot so I didn't have to wait and let it sit. The sauce was orange in color. It definitely wasn't creamy nor was there a lot of it. The box says the powder is made with real cheddar cheese. The sauce was not that cheesy, there was only a light hint of a cheese taste. It probably would have tasted a tiny bit cheesier if I had poured the remaining 10% of the powder onto the pasta. I will try this the next time and see what happens. There was plenty to eat. My entire bowl was full and I was able to get two more spoonfuls out of the pot. This was enough food for one person, but if two people were sharing it they would need something else to help tide them over.

All in all it wasn't bad. I would eat it again. I give this mac 3 wedges.

Wegmans

Restaurant: Wegmans
Address: 240 Nassau Park Blvd Princeton, NJ 08540-They have multiple locations in a handful of states
Website: http://www.wegmans.com
Name on the Menu: Salad Bar-Macaroni and Cheese
Price: $7.49 per pound

This particular Wegmans location just added a salad bar. When I saw that one of the options was Mac n Cheese, I jumped at the chance to fill a container. The Mac looked incredible and I was extremely excited to try it. The price forced me to only put a little bit in a container. I put about two spoonfuls in a container and it came out to $2.34. The top of the Mac looked like the color of mustard from the baked cheese and the inside of the Mac looked almost like the color of Alfredo sauce. They chose cavatappi pasta for the Mac. Unfortunately, the Mac wound up looking better than it tasted. There was very little sauce, so the Mac was very dry. I could not tell what cheeses they used in the Mac because I could not taste cheese at all. The sauce really could have used some more milk. It was an expensive disappointment. The only upsides were that the pasta was tender and it was hot.

I give this Mac 1.5 wedges.

Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner Cheese Explosion

Name of Product: Kraft Macaroni and Cheese Dinner Cheese Explosion
Website: http://brands.kraftfoods.com/thecheesiest/parental-zone.aspx
Price: 99 cents

I was looking forward to this new form of microwavable mac from Kraft. I love their Easy Mac, so I figured this would just be a cheesier version of their Easy Mac. It wasn't. I followed the instructions except I took my mac out 10 seconds early so I wouldn't overcook the pasta. Barely any of the water had evaporated. When I poured the cheese powder into the pasta and stirred, I was left with orange soup. The sauce was way too watery and it tasted like water. I could barely taste the cheese. The pasta was hot when it came out, but I let it cool a bit in an attempt to let the sauce thicken. It didn't. The only thing I liked about the meal was the choice of pasta. The spirals were tender but had a little more bite to them compared to the long narrow Easy Mac noodles. The mac left me with a bad artificial taste in my mouth.

I give this mac 1.5 wedges. I would not buy it again.

Market Pantry #3

Store: Target
Address: Various locations
Website: http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=market_pantry
Name of Product: Market Pantry-Macaroni and Cheese Cups-Swift Mac
Price: 69 cents

I have been avoiding this mac for a couple of weeks because I did not enjoy my last Market Pantry Mac n Cheese experience. However, hunger got the best of me and I gave in to it. I followed the instructions and within two and half minutes I regretted it. I had filled the water up to the line just as instructed. However, it wound up boiling over in my microwave. Luckily, I saw that it happened and stopped the microwave. I cleaned up my microwave and put the mac cup back in to continue cooking. I took it out with ten seconds to spare like I always do for my Kraft Easy Mac. I only poured 75% of the cheese powder onto the noodles. That way there is less salt, calories, and fat, not to mention the fact it helps the sauce taste less artificial. I stirred the pasta and powder immediately to avoid powder clumps. The long narrow tube shaped noodles (also used in Kraft Easy Mac) were nice and tender. The sauce turned out to be orange in color. The pasta retained its heat for awhile, which was nice. There was a lot of sauce and it actually tasted like cheddar cheese. I decided not to add any cheese crackers like I do with the Kraft Easy Mac. It tasted good without it. I will definitely buy this mac again, but next time make it my way and not follow the instructions. It makes a perfect light lunch (it was a tad bit more filling than Kraft Easy Mac) or snack. I give it 3 wedges.