An Open Letter to Muffins
Dear Muffins,
First of all, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for being such a loyal breakfast food to me over the years. You are, in essence, the perfect combination of delicious-breakfast-meets-healthy-cupcake and I am forever grateful for that. Your cake-like, moist-yet-crumbly, light and fluffy texture always leaves me wanting more. Sometimes I like to eat you with butter or jam, sometimes I prefer you plain, slightly warm and fresh out of the oven. Whether you are mini or 
ginormous in size, I just can’t seem to shove you in my mouth fast enough. Your abundance of variety always keeps me coming back for more.
I have some exciting news for you, muffin, on the front of muffin innovation. A new concept called Uno Dué Go has created some new and delicious variations on your sweet, delicious self. Basically, they have taken inspiration from the UNO Chicago Grill lounge cocktails that we all know and love so much. Yes, that is right, they have created muffins inspired by alcoholic beverages. They are so scrumdiddlyumptious, I instantly become intoxicated off their dazzling flavors, yet don’t have a drop of alcohol in them! There are three flavors of muffins that lend their inspiration from these delicious, classic cocktails. There is the Cranberry Pomegranate ‘Margarita’ Muffin, chock full of dried cranberries, lime zest, cranberry-pomegranate juice, sanding sugar and lemon syrup. Sombreros are not included. Next we have the Ghirardelli Chocolate Mint ‘Martini’ Muffin. This decadent delight is loaded with semi sweet chocolate chips, infused with the flavor of peppermint schnapps and topped with a delicious chocolate ganache. Our final
cocktail muffin is the Lemon Drop ‘Martini’ Muffin. This muffin is light with a fresh lemon flavor (lemon juice & zest) just like the popular martini and is topped with a mouth-puckering sour lemon glaze that will leave you licking the top of the muffin before you even sink your teeth in.
Of course I didn’t forget about your beloved traditional flavors. The loaded blueberry muffin is a throwback to the original Jordan marsh muffin that used to reside across the street from the Uno Dué Go location in Downtown Crossing, Boston. The Power Muffin is a monstrous creation, crafted with the desire to be delicious and nutritious and is chock full of bran flakes, goji mix, carrots, apple juice, molasses, raisins, dried cranberries and a tasty granola garnish. Finally, the corn muffin is a superb quality version of the traditional sweet corn muffin that has been around since the days of yesteryear.
My dearest muffin, are you excited yet about all this muffin madness? Like Elaine from Seinfeld, Uno Dué Go is striving to have the perfect muffin top. Our muffin tops will make the masses exclaim “Top of the muffin TO YOU!” (although we promise our “stumps” are equally as delicious). After all, “the muffin top is where the muffin breaks free from the pan and does its own thing.”
At the end of the day, my dearest muffin, you have kept me going through countless early mornings over the years. You are the Rhoda to my Mary, the Ying to my Yang, my true breakfast hero. I want to thank you for your many years of service and I truly look forward to eating your deliciousness for many years to come.
Your biggest fan,
Mary Muffins
Amidst the Food Revolution, A Menu Is Born
In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a food revolution in our midst. People all over the country are becoming better educated regarding the importance of embracing
fresh, naturally healthy and local foods. Food is, in fact, an ever-changing facet of everyday life. Gone are the days of spam sandwiches and TV dinners, canned peas and moxie. There is a newfound appreciation for foods of a higher caliber. Now, when I say higher caliber, I’m not talking about caviar and foie gras, I’m actually referring to foods that are accessible to the average person. People these days are craving foods that are fresh, natural, and wholesome. They want to know that they can sustain their busy lifestyle without compromising the integrity of their eating habits. Additives, preservatives and food dyes are out; organic, nutritious and all-natural are in.
During the development of the Uno Dué Go menu¸ we took all of these things into consideration. Not only did we understand the importance of being able to create a delicious menu that could evolve with the needs and wants of the health-conscious person, but we wanted to have fun with it too. Take, for example, our muffins. Muffins are a pretty standard breakfast item, and Uno Dué Go wanted to take the traditional muffin and elevate it to a fun new level. Taking cues from our full service Uno Chicago Grill, we created a line of Adult Muffins which are based on the popular beverages we serve in our lounge. Now before you get too excited, our Lemon drop martini muffin, Cranberry Pomegranate Margarita muffin and Mint Chocolate Chip Martini muffin do not actually contain alcohol but the flavors take their inspiration from these delicious cocktails that we all know and love.
The Uno Dué Go menu is going to be chock full of delicious surprises. We don’t want to inundate you with too many of the details, but our offerings will include wood-stone-oven flatbread pizzas, made-to-order wraps, sandwiches and paninis, fresh and unique salads and a breakfast menu that focuses on using natural and organic ingredients. In developing the menu, we took our commitment to awesomely delicious food to an insanely new level. In fact, we searched the country to find our inspiration for creating the perfect grilled cheese sandwich (more on that later). We use authentic flavors in our Thai chopped vegetable salad like Kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and galangal root (Indonesian blue ginger).
Using our woodstone oven for inspiration, we developed two artisan breads; an asiago cheese bread and a 7 grain version, both baked throughout the day. We get really excited when it comes to big, bold flavors. The menu is made almost entirely from scratch and we take great pride in being able to offer that to you. Most importantly, we are really striving to knock your socks off with super delicious flavors that will leave you fully satisfied, energized and in a state of euphoria.
We have been honing in on our offerings and flavors for the past couple of years in preparation of bringing them to Boston with our flagship restaurant. We are so excited about the menu we’ve created and we want that to translate to you. We want you to have to hold yourself back from licking the menu and/or drooling all over it. We want the aromas from our restaurant to seduce you in a way that you find yourself drawn into playground of foods where you are just dying to try our fresh baked breads, artisanal pizzas, fresh salads and all our delicious local ingredients. Are you ready to join the food revolution? We are.
