Comparing McConnell’s Ice Cream

A few words after recently sampling the newest McConnell’s location near Los Feliz, on Hollywood Blvd. What are we comparing it to… itself, of course. McConnell’s is McConnell’s biggest competition.

Why? What are they trying to accomplish in opening this one?

The one downtown is a tiny spot that allows you to have some of their flavors. It was their non-retail store opportunity to become public and it worked. GCM is a hub for these places.

The main location on State Street has everything. It’s a huge space… well, it’s a decent size but they highlight all of their products.

Why would you open a brand new location with such limited selection? It’s beautiful. It’s charming. It’s an enjoyable place to enjoy your ice cream, which is possibly the best pre-packaged product in the world. The problem is, I’d rather enjoy the ice cream sitting on a garbage can. Give up seating to allow the interior to host all the products you create.

I just don’t get it. Make it your flagship LA store. It only competes with the one in GCM, but it should obliterate it. It doesn’t even come close to State Street. If you’re going to drop that much capital, go the extra mile. In this case, go the extra dozen flavors and cookies.

And I won’t forget the original location, which is a landmark. It will, but it should never, change.

Very hangry.

The top picture shows the far from perfect sandwich at the new LA location, while the second showcases what you can get at State Street. The third is the beautiful, but unnecessary outdoor seating area at the new location.

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Are Subway and Chipotle Healthy?!?!

Who cares? They’re convenient and somewhat affordable, which are two of the most important factors that contribute to consistency. We all know consistency is key if you’re looking to achieve your goal of being a healthier person, whether that means losing weight or building muscle, or both.

You see, here in LA, there has been a growth in the past two years (probably even longer than that but it’s becoming absurd now) of restaurants/eateries/fast food places that have taken the Subway/Chipotle approach to serving you food. There’s a buffet on the other side of a glass window and for a relatively flat rate, you get to choose what you eat.

We now have at least three pizza chains (Pizza Rev, Pieology,  Pizza Press) and so many poke places (and a ton more are opening from Santa Monica to Hollywood) that are doing the same exact thing because apparently, it’s a good business model. You can’t blame them for trying to take advantage of the opportunity when Subway and Chipotle are billion dollar revenue companies, although 2015 might not have been the best years for them.

Getting back to the question that we’re addressing, the answer is yes and no. While Subway and Chipotle might be healthier fast food options than Burger King and Applebee’s, they’re not as healthy or as affordable as preparing your own meals at home. As always, if you can make it work for you then got for it, but at the end of the day nothing beats cooking at home for health and wealth.

The picture of poke (sliced or cut fish) shown above was taken at Sweetfin Poke in Santa Monica and cost nearly $15.

A Piece of Pizza

A piece of pizza on the street, waiting for someone to come and eat… it. A beautiful poem if I say so myself. It’s not entirely fiction as it is loosely adapted from a true story where we, while walking our dog at 5:45 am had to pull her away from two sad and cold pieces of cheese pizza laying on the ground.

I’m sure the three of us had the same thought; what cruel individual would ever do this? It’s one thing to waste food, considering the fact that there are people starving not only all over the world, but also within this very nation. It’s an entirely different issue when the food being wasted is something as lovable as pizza.

In the second most populated city in the country where there are estimated to be over 80,000 homeless sleeping on the streets, could you really fail to find someone willing to take it? I find that hard to believe. Maybe you needed to try a little harder. Maybe this is a summary of how you’ve lived your life. Maybe the title of your biography will be “Yup, I’m that Guy” or something equally self-deprecating.

Or perhaps, it wasn’t your intention or effort that caused these two slices to find their way to the poorly paved concrete walkway that we think of as a safe haven. Perhaps your intention was to devour both of the slices at once, stacking one on top of the other in the effort of making a pizza sandwich. Perhaps you, accidentally in your drunken stupor dropped these pieces on the ground by total accident. If this is the case, I only have one other question for you. Have you ever heard of the five second rule?

Stay vigilant, my friends.

 

The Best Month EVER!

As if the transition from Summer to true fall, and moving closer to winter, wasn’t already a satisfying enough time of year… here comes a loaded November to make life even better.

There has been a serious drop in our visits to the movie theater and purchases of new video games this year because it’s been on the quiet side, but in truth, everyone seems to have been waiting for this month. Without thinking beyond December’s releases of The Last Guardian and Star Wars: Rogue One, November brings an onslaught of top tier material for us to consume.

For three consecutive weeks, gamers will take sick days and push through sleepless nights to complete Dishonored 2, Pokemon Sun/Moon, and Final Fantasy XV. Moviegoers from three different but very popular universes will be treated to Doctor Strange, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and Moana. 

It’s all Greek to me as to how everything worked out this way since you wouldn’t think these juggernauts would want to compete against one another, but at the end of the day, I can’t even begin to think of how I could possibly ever fabricate a complaint about it other than what took you so long.

Throw in the fact that we have Disneyland and Universal trips scheduled for the next month and this has to be the BEST MONTH EVER! Let us know what you’re excited about for the remainder of 2016 and you can even be so bold as to tell us about 2017 if you’re thinking that far ahead.

Welcome to the Hangry Life!

A warm welcome to you! The picture above is a stock image, but I think it’s extremely peaceful and since there might not necessarily be a ton of that on this blog, I thought it’d be nice to create some balance.

As professional bloggers with multiple projects, we thought it’d be fun to use this as a source for some of our content that doesn’t make it to the bigger, more successful blogs and websites that need to maintain a certain standard of excellence.

Don’t dismiss this as some Jr. Varsity or B-Team effort, it’s just something a little different. You might get hear about some political, religious, or other controversial topics such as bad driving, but it could be a fun ride!

We’d love for you to be involved, leave comments, provide some energy, and share some of your hangriest experiences with us. If you’re not hangry, you’re in denial because calories are the solution for just about everything.