Starbucks rolled out their hot breakfast sandwiches a bit more than a year ago, and part of the rollout was equipping their stores with a high-speed convection oven that lets the employees heat up your sandwich in the same time it would take to heat in a microwave, but without the consequent loss of quality that happens whenever you cook something in a microwave. Given that Starbucks was already sensitive to the public perception that their food was crap, the hope was that this would help them shake that image. I’ve had a couple of their offerings and I have to say that they’ve still got an awfully long way to go, but those ovens sure are the cat’s ass.
But wait, there’s more! Now you can have that turbo oven in your very own kitchen. TurboChef, the company that makes the commercial ovens for Starbucks, is introducing a line of home products — single and double wall ovens that can cook a whole turkey in 42 minutes flat. They retail for about $8000, so they’re probably only likely to end up in those expensive kitchen makeovers in the homes of people who don’t cook. I suppose that’s perfect, actually, since now they can have the take-out experience right at home.
There’s a Starcrax right across the street from my office, but I never go there. I walk three extra blocks for my DD iced decaf fix almost every day. However, one of my orkers goes to the ‘bucks with some frequency and she’s gotten us all hooked on their breakfast sandwiches. I’ve only tried the “reduced fat” one (bleh) and the Eggs Florentine one, which I think is quite delicious. I didn’t know about the fancy ovens, but I knew those things could not have been microwaved ’cause they’re just too good.