The Entré

1. The Chicken Bake –  Three words: meat, bread, and cheese, the holy trifecta. The bake is an essential part of any Costco run.  Both delicious in taste and in price. Caesar dressing can be combined in the consuming of the bake for a heavenly experience.  The bake is perfect after strenuous physical activity, when you just to carb load with a quick, delicious, 800 calories mass of dough and cheese.  The three dollar selling point can be a bit steep for some of us, so there is always ol reliable to fall back to… the pizza.

2. The Slice of Pizza – The pizza was barely beat out by the bake, both hold titles for best taste and best price.  For a two bucks, you can buy a slice of pizza, however it can considered more of a slab than a slice.  It’s a basically a quarter of the entire pie, it’s cheesy folds hang off the plate. The pizza is the perfect thickness with perfect proportions of cheese, bread, sauce, and toppings.  No flavor overpowers the other. Apart from the overwhelming amazing taste, there is something else that draws us to the pizza: the nostalgia. While chomping down you can almost taste your childhood, those summer evening pool parties, those movie nights, after that soccer game at Poinsettia park, the friends, the family. Any of the three variations of the pizza is a good, respectable choice, however some variations are better than others.

• Combo pizza – My personal favorite.  This is the classic brew of bell peppers, onions, olives, mushrooms, sausages, and peppers.  I despise olives and mushrooms, those are the two things I would never eat normally, however on a Costco pizza, I could eat these for days.  That should tell you something about the quality and taste of the combo.
• Pepperoni pizza – The pepperoni pizza is in a close second.  Honestly it’s all about the mood you are in. If you’re you feeling healthy? Go for the combo, there are vegetables. Otherwise, go for the pepperoni
• Cheese – Your boring, yet reliable friend.  You can never go wrong hanging out with him, but is it really worth it when you hangout with pepperoni or combo and have a way better time.  Cheese is a safe bet, he would never hurt you, but he would never excite you, scare you, or push your taste buds to their max.

Side note: the pizza also gains bonus points cause its just as delicious, if not better, cold.  Throw that leftover pizza from the pool party in the fridge when you get home and now you can get a slice anytime for a quick, cheap, delicious snack sesh.   Another plus from the cold pizza is that there is considerably less grease. When eating cold pizza there’s no need for unwanted napkins, plates, or hand washing

3. The Hotdog – The hot dog is a bold move.  If you are strapped for cash, it’s always a call to grab the dog and soda combo for only a buck fifty.  However for fifty cents more you could get the pizza. The dog is nice and wholesome. The meat itself is full of flavor and breaks away from that gross, boiled hot dog mentality.  The bun is also sweet and doesn’t overwell the mouth with too much starchy bread. You definitely won’t have as good a time as you would with the other foods listed above, however it wont let you starve either.

4. Turkey Provolone – Costco food can divided into absolutely divine and meh. This turkey, tomato, pesto, provolone, sandwich falls into the latter. It’s composed of many questionable ingredients, normally I would be fine eating tomato, pesto, etc., however the Costco food court simply doesn’t support it.  The sandwich is pre made and it goes through the oven, tomato, pesto, cheese and all. After the oven, it sits under the heating lamp until someone orders. The once juicy turkey turns bone dry. The once succulent tomato becomes inedible. While everything else becomes petrified in the Sahara desert, the massive mass of mayonnaise becomes an oily ooze that scalds the tongue and squirts out with every bite.   The Turkey Provolone is something to stay away from. With the staggering price of $3.99 and the lack of flavor synergy and quality, you should always choose something else.

5. Caesar Salad – I have never eaten the Chicken Caesar Salad nor will I ever.  Don’t go to the Costco food court to eat healthily.

6. The Cheeseburger – The unholy abomination.  The cheeseburger, follows it predecessor in size, coming in a at a whopping third-pound patty, however it falls miles short in taste.  For starters the price is outrageous, for five dollars you could just drive down Palomar to In-and-Out get a much, much better burger for half as much.