This was an unplanned visit. Pat & Oscar’s… err, I’m sorry, O’s American Kitchen, is not really one of my favorite places to dine. But, they have really, really awesome breaksticks which does make me want to eat there once in a while, even though I don’t really like the rest of the food there. After Jake, T and I had finished watching Iron Man 3 at Parkway Plaza this weekend, we were on our way out to grab lunch when I spotted this sign:
“What? They put cheese on their breadsticks?!”
“We’re going to Pat & Oscar’s for lunch, aren’t we?” asked Jake.
I simply nodded and we tromped back the way we came to try these new breadsticks.
Since I didn’t want to just eat breadsticks for lunch, I also ordered us a salad. Something that looked new to me on their menu.
[bangkok chicken salad – lettuce, cabbage, carrots, green onion, mild peppers, cilantro, wontons, and chicken in a sweet chili thai ranch dressing – medium, $13.49]
I’ve been wanting to always eat Asian-type salads lately. I think I just really dig the wontons or something. This had a nice healthy mix of greens and veggies. The only disliked item in this were those crazy banana peppers. For some reason every time I got a scoop of salad, I had a crap-ton of them on my plate. The sweet chili Thai ranch dressing was also surprisingly nice and fresh – it had a hint of the sweet chili flavor and a hint of ranch, too. The combination sounds kind of weird, but I think it works here. It’s also not really heavy on the dressing, keeping things light and fresh. I loved the cilantro in this as well since I love that flavor. Makes everything taste bright to me.
[four cheese breadsticks – blend of muenster, mozzarella, cheddar and pamesan – 4 for $3.99]
There was an extra wait for the breadsticks since they had to prepare them fresh. They don’t just churn these out like they do with the regular breadsticks and these require extra prep work.
We had completely finished our salad between the three of us before the breadsticks arrived.
The kind of cool thing is that bit of cheese hanging over the end of the breadstick – it’s crunchy and pure cheesy goodness. As for the breadstick itself, it was much softer than the original breadsticks. There’s no outer crunch and no slather of garlic butter – instead you get cheese! The cheddar was the really predominant flavor here out of the four cheese blend.
[bacon cheddar breadsticks]
These are the bacon cheddar breadsticks. There are again some “crunchy” parts from the cheese. The bacon was not really crisp, more of a softer bacon sprinkled on top with the cheese. While I did like the flavor of the bacon with the bread, this breadstick seemed much heavier then the original breadsticks. These again are also quite soft on the inside and very soft all around. The cheese almost acts as a protector around the breadstick, keeping it soft.
Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with the new breadstick toppings. I’d prefer to just eat the original breadsticks with their glaze of butter and garlic and a nice outer crisp with a soft, fluffy inside. At $1 per breadstick, I just didn’t think they were worth the extra price and wait for a little bit of cheese on my breadstick. I really missed the garlic and salt from the original and I don’t think I’d give that up again just for these. These breadsticks felt a lot richer and heavier in my stomach as well.
Oh well, it’s nice to see them trying out new things – but sometimes you just shouldn’t mess with an original.
O’s American Kitchen
Multiple Locations
375 Parkway Plaza
El Cajon, CA 92020
