Last fall me and the GetSconed chick were gifted with a large amount of goods from Higher Taste, a local company that is known for it's buzzitos and hippie-healthy (for real, they put a shit-ton of shredded carrots on them and use hearty whole wheat buns) sandwiches.
Included was the buzzitos, hummus, their deli salads, and one of their sandwiches, the Spicy TLC. The deli salads are served in various grocery store deli's and not available in the self-service area like the buzzitos and sandwiches.
Jess took the hummus and let me have all the deli salads. Unfortunately, I got all these goodies at a time where I was unable to get to everything before their expiration date. I don't remember what was going on, but for some reason I ended up having to throw some of the stuff out. But I did try at least a bite of it when I first got it. My favorite deli salad was the Vegetarian Chicken Salad. The only thing I didn't like about the (vegan) mayo based salad was the celery. I'm a hater of celery. It has to be very finely chopped or cooked to death for me to be ok with it. They use chunks of very firm tofu as the "chicken." I enjoyed the curry goodness of the Curried Rice salad. I'm a sucker for those curry rice salads that have a nice sweet kick that comes from the addition of raisins. The Spicy Yaki Soba is just that, spicy. But as a person who's a bit of a wuss when it comes to spice, it wasn't too hot. Also, it's labeled vegan, but technically not since it's got honey in it. I'm a honey-eatin' vegan, so I didn't mind. Then there was the German Potato Salad. I thought it was...ok. Nothing to write home about. I would eat it happily if served it, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.
The salads are sold at the following places:
1. Both Food Front locations (NW Thurman & SW Capitol Highway)
2. Zupan's (W Burnside, SW Macadam, SE Belmont) However, at Zupans they list them as "Zupan's insert name of salad here Salad"
3. Fred Meyer's Hawthorne
4. Ross Island Deli
5. First Alternative Co-op in Corvallis
6. The Kiva in Eugene
I don't have anything bad to say about any of the buzzitos I had. The standout was the new Ya-hoo BBQ. The yummy BBQ sauce, the soycurls....yum! If you still haven't had soycurls, you need to get to it! Like tofu, they aren't flavored so they soak up whatever flavor you give them and they have a delightfully shredded chicken texture. (If you know me at all, you know that I love going to Taqueria Los Gorditos and order a burrito, torta, taco, whathaveyou with soycurls. They do an awesome job with the soy curls...and everything. but i digress...) The thai and teriyaki ones are sorta strange b/c it's like eating a thai or teriyaki dish wrapped in a tortilla...b/c that's what it is. Good, just weird.
My favorite sandwich is still either The Golden Slice, a fried piece of tofu with the usual shredded carrots, vegenaise, whole wheat bun, or the Bhima Power Burger, a hearty sandwich consisting of a tempeh burger with the same extras.
You can go check out Jess's review here. Do you have a favorite Higher Taste product?
