After many years of stagnation, we have more innovation in the Churro Dog sector
When the Diamondbacks announced their new menu items for the 2024 season, they also announced that the Churro Dog was finally getting the respect it thinks it deserves by getting a full location, rather than the cart that it had been sold out of since its inception. Now long time friends of the program will remember that I have a long history with the Churro Dog, reviewing the original which was unveiled in 2015 (which I can no longer find), as well as the revamped Churro Dog 2.0 which they followed up with in 2017, which you can find here.
In that new full size stand, they are offering a Peanut Butter, Jelly, and Bacon Churro Dog. I’m honestly not sure when they put it on the menu, but as soon as I saw it, I knew it was time to dust off the old Fang Food section and subject myself to diabeetus once again.
I have always been a fan of the Churro Dog, in concept at the very least. The Original featured a chocolate covered long john donut as the bun, a churro as the sausage, then it was topped with vanilla frozen yogurt, whipped cream, and finished with chocolate and caramel sauce. I’ve never bothered to look up the nutritional facts, but I have to assume it’s about 1000 grams of sugar and enough calories to meet your daily requirement for a week. Seriously though, I do like it. It’s a fun concept, the original was pretty tasty, and it’s become something of an iconic offering at Chase Field.
The PBJ&B Churro Dog follows the same pattern. The frozen yogurt, long john, and churro remail, but the caramel and chocolate sauce is replaced with peanut butter and a strawberry jelly spread directly on the inside of the donut bun. The final, finishing touch a a strip of bacon, very roughly chopped and sprinkled over the whipped cream and yogurt. It’s a simple concept that has been done well countless times, though usually as a burger in my experience, not a dessert. I’ve enjoyed it else where, and I was looking forward to trying it here.
The first major positive I noticed actually happened while I was standing in line to order. I got a chance to observe the process of making a Churro Dog, and I learned that for the donut, they are using products from local chain Bosa Donuts. I love that the team is utilizing a local chain for some of their products. This has long been one of my complaints about Chase Field. There are so many great, local restaurants that they could theoretically partner with to provide concessions, but other than Hungry Hill Sangwich, their current partnership with Gadzooks, and their short lived offering of LoLo’s, there just hasn’t been much. Personally, if I were the Diamondbacks/Levy’s, I would be featuring this as a selling point.
Presentation wasn’t quite as good as it has been in the past. Slightly flat and deflated, compared to the towering whipped cream and yogurt of the past, but it didn’t look bad either. I do think it was missing the accent that drizzling the caramel and chocolate on top provided, losing out on that pattern and color. The bacon also could have been chopped smaller. Would have allowed for a more even distribution, helping both to make sure there was bacon in every bite, and also just appearance, instead of four or five big chunks of bacon sitting on top.
All of my previous issues were still there. The churro itself always seems stale, making it hard to eat with everything else piled on it. Frozen yogurt is such a mind-boggling choice to me. Just put ice cream on it. No need to get pseudo-healthy with it. Just not the time or place. Also, for the love of Corbin Carroll, have forks and knives at the concession stand. They only have spoons and that just doesn’t make sense for this thing. It’s like they actually expect you to eat it like a hot dog.
The peanut butter and jelly paid off as additions. They were subtle, but you could definitely tell they were there. The peanut butter in particular added a flavor that was less sweet, a much needed addition to the concept that is primarily dominated by the flavor “what if white sugar was somehow sweeter.” They go very light on the jelly, so you pick up the flavor, but it doesn’t add too much to the sweetness of the overall dessert.
But the bacon. Oh the bacon. It was terrible. I didn’t know it was possible to have terrible bacon, but I literally ended up taking it off and eating the dog without it. It was over cooked and chewy, the pieces were too big for how you have to eat it and worst of all, it just straight up didn’t taste good. It was less bacon and more dog treat. Highly disappointing reality from what should have been the highlight of the dish.
The verdict is complicated. I think it falls victim to the same faults as the original Churro Dog, but the peanut butter and jelly are positives and should be celebrated. However, making bacon bad is just a straight up culinary crime and the dessert should be docked accordingly. Additionally, the cost has just become straight up outrageous. I get that Jordon Montgomery was expensive, but $25 for a Churro Dog and drink is just a sight too far. As presented, I feel like I have to give it a 2 out of 5. The combination of the bad bacon and the original faults of the Churro Dog weight it down too much. However, if you view it as a PB&J Dog instead, that goes up to at least a 3.5 out of 5. If you are already intrigued by it, I would recommend it. If you aren’t, save your $25 and go to Cold Stone Creamery instead.