Marini’s Chocolate Covered Bacon

One of our first stops whenever we hit Santa Cruz is Marini’s at the Beach on Pacific Ave. Not only does Marini’s have the raddest selection of candy, salt water taffy and other assorted sweets on the planet, but now they also offer…ta da, Chocolate Covered Bacon.

That’s right, amigos, Marini’s has found a way to merge two of Christine and my favorite food groups into one. And though Chocolate Covered Bacon sounds awesome in theory, it pains me deeply to tell you that the actual result is a bit odd. That said, I am glad we sampled it at least once.

It’s not that it tastes bad, because, well, bacon never really tastes bad. But the biggest problem I had with this concoction is that is was cold. I know that’s the only way to keep the chocolate from getting all melty and everything…but, I’m sorry, cold bacon is just not the same as the warm stuff.

And though the chocolate coating is delicious, it also seals the grease onto the bacon when it chills, which is even more off-putting. I left my piece out for a while and I think it tasted much better at room temperature. True, the chocolate was all goey by then, but the bacon was much more palpable.

So, if you do decide to check out this strange marriage of flavors for yourself, I have two suggestions. One, call the folks at Marini’s up and order it ahead of time. They sells out of their Chocolate Covered Bacon every day, usually before noon, so, plan ahead.

And two, and this is a biggie, do not order more than one piece of bacon per person in your party. We got all greedy and ordered a half pound — which wasn’t cheap considering the whopping $9.00 per pound price tag — and that turned out to be way, waaaay too much for the four of us to consume. Seriously, one large piece of bacon is more than enough for a party of four. Hell, one bite per person would have been enough.

And while Marini’s doesn’t offer suggestions for accompanying drinks or anything, I recommend washing your bacon down with something nice and bubbly afterwards. We had a round of ice cold Cherry Dr. Pepper’s with ours, but, honestly, any carbonated beverage will fit the bill.

Um, you know, as long as it doesn’t have any bacon in it…

Cherry Dr. Pepper rocks!

As huge fans of all things new in the world of junk food, Christine and I were thrilled to learn that Dr. Pepper — always the classiest of the soft drinks in my book, I mean, hello, the dude’s a doctor! — was improving on a classic with the introduction of Cherry Dr. Pepper.

And yes, it’s as freaking awesome as it sounds. No, I take that back, this drink is ten billion times better than it sounds. Really, truly, this is the flavored soda pop we’ve all been waiting for. Well, at least at our house.

Christine has been a “pepper” since she was a kid and you know I loves me some cherry-flavored shit, so buying a twelve pack of Cherry Dr. Pepper the moment it was released was kind of a no-brainer. And though it tastes amazing on its own, this beauty of a soft drink also makes spectacular ice cream floats.

Even Ryan and Laura (who are no fans of soda to begin with) were left breathless in the wake of this gorgeous, surprisingly subtle concoction. We had a little tasting party at their house the other night and they asked us to leave the unopened cans with them when we went home. Yep, it’s that good!

So, if you’re in the market for a tasty-ass caffeinated beverage this summer, skip the sickly-sweet Starbucks Doubleshot Coffee + Energy and pick yourself up some of this nectar of the gods. Seriously, all punning aside, it’s just what the doctor ordered…delicious!