Product: Jimmy D’s Griddle Sticks
Purchased at: Grocery Outlet (Seattle – Madrona)
Price: $2.99 (box of 6)
Ben’s Take: I’ve always been a fan of breakfast foods that incorporate sausage, maple syrup, and pancakes. When I was a kid I would dip my hotlinks in maple syrup whenever my parents would take me to Denny’s for breakfast (thankfully for my health, a relatively rare occasion). The habit has stuck with me into my adult life, and when I found out that McDonald’s had come out with the McGriddle, I was there. Putting it all 600 calories of it in my mouth. Pancake and syrup bliss.
Through a fluke of marketing failure, I’ve managed to make it through the life of Jimmy D’s Griddle Sticks without hearing about the introduction. and apparent termination of the Jimmy D’s Griddle Sticks makes me both sad, and happy. Sad because these little guys are surprisingly good for what is, at least on the surface, a glorified hot dog. Happy because through the Jimmy D’s failure I was able to experience these through the wonders of Grocery Outlet.
Each Griddle Stick looks exactly like a fully cooked corndog, but when you handle it you’ll find that they are far slicker thanks to the pancakey exterior. Even when it’s frozen. The box recommends heating a single Griddle Stick for 55 seconds in an 850 watt microwave, or letting it bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. If the microwave instruction’s aren’t an indicator that these guys are fully cooked, I don’t know what is.
Being a lazy bum (I’d call this bachelor chow, but I’m not a bachelor. Bum-chow doesn’t sound particularly good either now that I’m thinking about it.) I opted for the 55 second microwaving option. Only I might have used the + one minute button. Twice. Whoops. When I opened up the microwave I was greeted with the sickly-sweet aroma of moist pancakes. There’s really no good description for the smell, but when you smell it, you’ll know.
I was just a little afraid that I had ruined my Griddle Stick but after draining the small puddle at the bottom of the bowl, and allowing my Griddle Stick to cool per the manufacturer’s instructions I found that my meal was just fine. For the most part. The pancake batter breading was a little leathery and the sausage was a bit rubbery but this was probably due to my excessive button pressing. Overall the flavor of the pancake batter was slightly sweet which complemented the flavor of the sausage quite well. The whole Griddle Stick would probably taste better with a side of dipping syrup and a slightly less heavy handed approach to microwaving.
Marisa’s Take: To be honest, I wasn’t as impressed with this product as Ben was, but he seems to adore syrup/pancake/sausage combinations. Even though it was only $2.99 a box, the novelty of eating a food on a stick seems like something that’s best left to food at the state fair, as opposed to your daily breakfast. At least they opted 
for turkey sausage that makes it a little bit healthier, right? There’s obviously worse things you can eat for your most important meal of the day.
I do like the change from “Jimmy Dean” to “Jimmy D’s” – good way to rebrand yourself with the youngsters these days that are so damn busy that they have to eat all their food off of sticks and spend all their time texting or googling or whatever with their friends.
If I were to eat one of these again, I would definitely prepare it in the oven. Microwaving it seems to just made it soggy and spongy (though that seems to be the trend with boxed, frozen products) with a harder inside where the pancake met the sausage. Hopefully, we’ll get to try another one of “Jimmy D’s” other prepared frozen breakfast products in the future for comparison.