Cosi Restaurants and Coca-Cola hosted a blog event in Chicago on Saturday, that I was fortunate enough to attend. Cosi was introducing their fall sandwiches and Coca-Cola was demonstrating their Freestyle beverage machine. Both were interesting and fun to try!
Do you have a Cosi restaurant near you? There is one close to where I used to work on Michigan Ave. in Chicago and I loved going there for lunch. My mouth waters just thinking about the Cosi Signature Salad – Mixed greens tossed with red grapes, pears, pistachios, dried cranberries and Gorgonzola . Tossed with sherry shallot vinaigrette. Yummy! Add a piece of their amazing flatbread – an ancient Italian recipe, and it was a fantastic lunch. Makes me miss working… almost!
Cosi’s Executive Chef, introduced our group of bloggers to the seasonal, featured menu with samples of each sandwich. Yes, I fell off my Nutrisystem wagon, but did make an attempt at portion control, at least.
To my surprise, my favorite was the Turkey and Stuffing Sandwich. When I heard “stuffing” and “sandwich” in the same sentence, I admit, I was less than thrilled. Then I took a bite and I was so wrong! The Cosi flatbread is firm and dry enough that it doesn’t mush (a culinary term, hehehe) into the stuffing. It was delicious! Like a Thanksgiving-dinner-at-Grandma’s in every bite.
The Ham and Yam Melt was delicious and my second favorite. It was a very high quality of ham with a great smoky flavor that offset the sweetness of the caramelized maple sweet potatoes. The tamarind balsamic sauce was a perfect accent.
The Four Cheese and Fig Melt was delicious as well. The fig marsala preserves were complemented very well by the cheeses, especially the Brie. The other three cheeses were Cheddar, Swiss, and Provalone.
Have you seen or heard about a Coca-Cola Freestyle? I have to admit that before being invited to this event, I hadn’t. The Coca-Cola Freestyle is a touch-screen beverage fountain dispenser that offers 106 choices of beverage. Wow. The first screen gives you a choice by brand, ie, Fanta, Coke, Diet Coke, etc. The second screen gives you a choice of different flavors of that brand, ie Diet Coke Vanilla, Diet Coke Cherry. There are more options than I even knew existed! My favorite part is that there are an amazing amount of diet and caffeine-free choices. Normally, I see at most, one out of the eight choices at a beverage dispenser that is caffeine free. Then when you press to dispense your choice, you can choose as much as you would like, allowing you to mix more than one flavor in each glass. For example you can mix lemon, lime, and orange. Or coke, cherry and vanilla. Or peach, lemon, and lime. Or… well, you get the idea! It’s cool!
Disclosure: I was provided with free food and beverages, a Coca-Cola Swag Bag and a Cosi Gift Card. All opinions are my own.
Wow that coke dispenser sounds so cool! I’m glad they have so many diet options available now!