WARNING: secretly giving Pepsi to a loyal Coke drinker may result in violent behavior.

So we heard about this new Pepsi flavor coming out in Japan called Cucumber Pepsi. It's the sort of drink they will never release in these fine United States, so when Jona went on tour in Japan (1, 2) we decided to check it out and had him smuggle some back to us.

We decided that Steve Schroeder, being the most knowledgeable person about sodas that we know, was the right person to test it out. We set up the following blind taste test:

The results were, "Not crisp enough." and "Too sweet." After removing the blindfold, "The color is good."

So there you have it! Cucumber Pepsi lacks enough crispness to truly be a refreshing cuke-inspired drink and follows the Pepsi formula of being way too sweet.

Yep, it's July, and that means it's time to take my monthly trip to Sweet Tomatoes. It being the middle of summer it's the perfectly appropriate All-American BBQ month! Initially when I was told that the monthly theme was BBQ I was worried. How much BBQ can you jam into pasta, salads, and breads? Turns out, quite a lot!

With three new concoctions and six other theme dishes, BBQ month gives almost too many options! It was the first time I was very full after only one trip.

(Rankings - The ranking system follows the five-star Netflix formula. 1 - Hated It, 2 - Didn't Like It, 3 - Like It, 4 - Really Liked It, 5 - Loved It. One difference is that we will be using small lemons instead of stars.)

Chili Cheeseburger Soup NEW!

This is the dish I was most excited about. The idea that you could turn a Chili Cheeseburger into a liquid is very awesome! But, it was disappointing. It tasted cheesy, and I got a little of the chili (bit not really), but there was no way it tasted anything like a burger. Too much cheese, and there was a lingering hint of school lunch (maybe powdered cheese?).

BBQ Smokehouse Tossed Salad

This salad was really good. Nothing too crazy going on, just a good salad. The BBQ aspect seemed to be limited to the addition of bacon, but I'm a sucker for bacon.

BBQ Chicken Focaccia on Honey Wheat Crust NEW!

Bread covered in BBQ sauce! This was great. The chicken was totally secondary to the thick application of BBQ. It was like eating ribs. Fantastic!

Smoky BBQ Baked Beans NEW!

These were okay. When you label a food 'smokey' there is a minimum level of flavor smokey flavor you need to add that is above what these beans had. This was more of a "hint" than anything else.

BBQ Potato Salad

Fine as potato salad, but again, not enough BBQ flavor! What are you afraid of Sweet Tomatoes!?

Old-Fashioned Macaroni Salad

When food is labeled "Old-Fashioned" I think that is code for "boring". However, I really like a macaroni salad.

Carrot Raisin Salad

Solid and good and a nice way to eat a lot of carrot. They didn't call it BBQ or smokey, so I was able to enjoy a simple salad with reasonable expectations and it paid off.

Fresh Watermelon

We've all had this, and it's good. It was actually "fresher" than I expected.

Watermelon Gelatin

This should have been terrible, or at the very least, ignorable. However, it tasted so much like a watermelon Jolly Rancher and it was maybe the best gelatin I've ever had.

Weirdness

The 'Fresh Watermelon' is listed on table menu, but has no sign at the dessert bar. Likewise, the watermelon gelatin is listed at the desert bar, but there is no mention of it on the table menu. Odd. Also, Steve got some wonderful Apple Crisp, and I can't imagine why that isn't listed as an essential part of an All-American BBQ.

Conclusion

The average score is 3.33, which is not quite a Lemon Month, but clearly better than Pineapple. It was good. I guess I'd have to say it was very good, because I want to go back and that isn't something I normally feel after tasting the special flavors of the month.

Greetings from Los Angeles! Where Hot Knives are knee-deep in summer picnic season. Lately all of our recipe posts have been fixated on barbecues, pool potlucks and picnic fare. But the simple truth is that none of it — not perfect potato salads nor mystery meat burgers or even barbecued pizzas — beats packing a tiny cooler with a few choice ingredients and making a 30-second spread on a baguette.

When our friend Tom was in town last month we set our sights on the cheese store Alex helps run, picked out some condiments, packed said ‘tiny cooler’ and headed to the beach. Tom, who was on furlow from medical school in New York, kinda has a thing for baguette and cheese. He’s probably the only lactose-intolerant dude we know who eats double crème brie like its, well, non-dairy butter. The following is his evil concoction. Though it seems super simple, let us emphasis that tricky techniques in this case are replaced with the absolute necessity that the bread is perfect, the cheese bloomy and everything is fresh.

Dr. Tombo’s Sammy

Serves 4-5

1 crispy French baguette
1 avocado
4 Tbs. chipotle grain mustard
4 Tbs. butter
12 oz. morbier cheese (room temp.)
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. fresh black pepper

1. Slice baguette down the side, enough to open wide but still keeping it in one piece. Slather one side with butter and the other with avocado.

2. Cut open avocado, pit it, half it and slice into about 12 pieces. Distribute evenly on bottom side of baguette.

3. Using a huge ass knife, remove exterior rind of the morbier. Don’t worry the funky middle layer of ash has little to no flavor. Its there to keep an inner rind from forming between the two layers of cheese. Place small slices along bread. Sprinkle with a mix of sea salt and black pepper. Devour.

Beverage: Lagunitas farmhouse Saison
Soundtrack: Pavement’s Brighten the Corners