{"id":23951,"date":"2019-12-22T14:11:46","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T20:11:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=23951"},"modified":"2019-12-22T14:11:46","modified_gmt":"2019-12-22T20:11:46","slug":"buona-beef-meatballs-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=23951","title":{"rendered":"Buona Beef Meatballs Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Buona Beef Meatballs Review<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-23957\" src=\"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/package-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"Buona Beef Meatballs Review\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/>Buona Beef is a local Chicago restaurant chain, started about thirty years ago. They have been on an expansion tear recently, and it seems like they are popping up on a regular basis. As well, they have a few of their products in the grocery stores now. The chain specializes in \u201cChicago foods,\u201d Italian beef sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, subs. I\u2019ve previously written about having the beef sandwich in one of their restaurants, as well as having the same product from the grocer. Quality stuff.<\/p>\n<p>They own their own manufacturing facility, where they not only make their products but also do private label business. Not sure if that\u2019s for restaurants or groceries.<\/p>\n<p>I spotted their meatballs in sauce, recently, and picked up a package to take home. It was around $7. The packages are hard frozen, so it\u2019s best (IMHO) to let them thaw completely in the refrigerator before heating (they are pre-cooked).<\/p>\n<p>The package weight is two pounds, and contains eight fairly good-sized meatballs and the marinara sauce. I did not weight the individual balls.<\/p>\n<h3>What&#8217;s in the Package?<\/h3>\n<p>Their own description of the product is: Authentic hand-rolled meatballs, seasoned with garlic, parsley, and Italian spices in a rich Marinara.<\/p>\n<p>The ingredients listed on the package are thus: <em>Marinara with Meatballs (Marinara Sauce {Fresh Vine-Ripened California Tomatoes, Sugar, Sea Salt, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Sunflower Oil, Modified Food Starch, Onion Powder, Garlic Powder, Spices, Natural Flavor, Naturally Derived Citric Acid], Meatballs [Beef, Pork, Water, Romano Cheese (Cultured Cow\u2019s Milk, Enzymes, Salt), Textured Soy Flour, Bread Crumbs (Bleached Wheat Flour, Salt, Dextrose, Yeast), Seasoning (Salt, Dried Garlic, Spice, Dried Parsley, Brown Sugar, Cottonseed Oil, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Citric Acid, BHA, BHT), Ricotta Cheese (Whey, Milk, Cream, Vinegar, Salt, Stabilizers), Caramel Color]).<\/em><\/p>\n<p>I was quite happy with the meatballs, they have the density, texture that I like, and great flavor. The sauce is good, but leans towards a little too much \u201csweet\u201d for my personal taste, for red gravy I\u2019m more in the heavy garlic\/fennel camp.<\/p>\n<p>My only real \u201cbeef\u201d is I yearn for \u2014 say \u2014 a 24 pack of balls with no sauce. I\u2019d be a regular. More than regular. I see their fresh (not frozen) Italian sausage in stores, as well. Haven\u2019t tried it, but will. I go through a lot of Italian sausage in my kitchen, both link and bulk ground.<\/p>\n<p>If you can\u2019t find their products in your grocer, some of them are available for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buona.com\/cart\/ship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">shipping on their website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I previously <a href=\"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/2018\/02\/04\/buona-beef-restaurants-review-chicago-area\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reviewed one of their local restaurants<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Buona Beef Meatballs Review<br \/>\nBuona Beef Meatballs Review<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Buona Beef Meatballs Review Buona Beef is a local Chicago restaurant chain, started about thirty years ago. They have been on an expansion tear recently, and it seems like they are popping up on a regular basis. As well, they have a few of their products in the grocery stores now. The chain specializes in&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=23951\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Buona Beef Meatballs Review<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,13,16],"tags":[68,946,2242],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23951"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23951"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23951\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}