Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Boston Restaurant: UFood Grill

What: UFood Grill 
Where: 201 Brookline Ave in Landmark Center, Fenway
Honeys Heart: Unfries, turkey burger and froyo

Last night I had the pleasure of attending my first Boston Food Bloggers dinner at UFood Grill. (Look, Ma. I'm a real blogger now!)


UFood is a fast food chain that focuses on providing customers with "great taste you can feel good about." Essentially, they're serving your favorite fast food items like burgers, fries and pizza, but making them as healthy and flavorful as possible. They'll also get those items out to you in 3.5 minutes or less. Nice.


Now, you all know how I feel about chains. I'd much rather cook my own food (bleh!) then be dragged to Applebee's, Red Robin or, god forbid, McDonald's. But sometimes you really do just need a quick, cheap meal, and in that case, I'd definitely choose UFood over the other fast food spots here in Boston. (Sorry Ufood, if you ever make it out to CA, I'm still going with In-N-Out.)

Over the course of our evening with UFood, we were given the opportunity to sample several dishes from their rather extensive menu. I'll start with my most favorite, and work my way down.

#1 Unfries 


UFood bakes their fries ("unfries"-get it?) so you don't have to feel bad when you're stuffing them in your mouth one after another like I was. They were nice and crispy (not soggy like the baked fries I've tried to make at home) and not at all greasy. Definitely my favorite food of the night.

#2 Turkey Burger


UFood's Chipotle Turkey Burger is served on a multigrain bun with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, lite jalapeno jack and spicy chipotle mayo. I'm not usually a fan of chipotle, but I loved this burger. It was juicy and flavorful and I actually really liked the chipotle mayo. This burger with fries would be my meal of choice.

#3 Chocolate-Vanilla Swirl Froyo


Mmm... froyo. Can't go wrong with that. This fat-free chocolate and vanilla swirl was creamy and delicious. Lots of flavor going on there so you don't feel like you're eating something fat free. Already planning on popping over to the Downtown Crossing location for some of this when I need a break from doing hw at Emerson. Ufood also serves original tart and wildberry tart froyo.

#4 Smoothies aka "Smuuthies"

Oops, didn't take a picture of these but they were also a favorite. I think we tried Berrylicious, Stawbanilla, and Passionate Peach. All were very refreshing.

#5 Falafel Wrap


UFood's Fresh Falafel Wrap is made with baked falafel, roasted red pepper hummus, pickled beets, lettuce, tomatoes and spicy tahini sauce. I'm not a big wrap person but I did think the falafel was tasty and the tahini sauce had a nice hint of spice to it.

#6 Tofusion 


The Tofusion UBowl comes with organic tofu, veggies and a ginger-soy glaze. The glaze had a touch of sweetness and I really liked it with the tofu, veggies and rice. According to the vegetarians at my table, the tofu was very nicely grilled compared to what other restaurants often serve.

#7 Pesto Pizza 


The pesto pizza had just the right amount of garlic, but it's also simple enough that I could make something like this at home. 

#8 Bistro Salad


I also enjoyed the Bistro Salad with organic mixed greens, tomatoes, feta, walnuts, dried cranberries and blueberry-pomegranate vinaigrette, but like the pesto pizza, this is something that I could recreate on my own- and I rather spend my money on dishes that I can't make myself.

So, obviously lots of yummy options. However, there were some dishes that I can't recommend. Those include the Chicken Tinga UBowl (somehow the sauce tasted watered-down and extremely spicy at the same time), the Turkey Sausage Pizza (way over-seasoned), and the Better Bacon Cheeseburger (cardboard-y turkey bacon ruined that one for me). Can't win 'em all...

Overall though, I was impressed with the quality of food UFood produces and I really enjoyed sampling their menu items.

It was also great to share a table with the ladies of Foodies at Work, The Apron Archives and Frugal Foodista. Hope I can make another one of these blogger events soon!