Munch Madness: The Flavorful Four

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We have arrived. Flavorful Four voting is underway and the reputation of Bryan-College Station's food scene is in your hands. Why are you trembling? Congratulations to our last four eateries standing who have enjoyed a lot of my own money over the years: Layne's Chicken Fingers, Fargo's Pit BBQ, Fuego Tortilla Grill, and Whataburger.

Updated Bracket PDF

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West/North Regions: Exquisite Eight Results

Voting is optional for each matchup, so percentages may not equal 100%.

Flavorful Four

Many of you have been with us on this Munch Madness journey from the beginning. I wanted to reward you for your dedication, so I reached out to Greg D. via Yelp messaging to ask him to break down our Flavorful Four. He didn't do that. Instead, to our delight, Greg D. was "First-to-Review" Good Bull Hunting on Yelp and made a mockery of Munch Madness. You can read his review by clicking here, but I'll also reproduce it below.

First, Greg D. gave us a street address of 275 Joe Routt Blvd. which is a CHASE bank branch as far as I can tell. I'm sure there's a message behind that.

Greg D. awarded us 4 stars which seems pretty good.

Good Bull Hunting is mass media (not in print and yes this is a Yelp category) with a presence in Aggieland which is currently focusing on a completely pointless non qualified and apparently random survey of restaurants. Why? Something to fill space?

At least they mentioned me.

Their Munch Madness fails to even scratch the surface of meaning anything about Aggieland food. The key players are missing. It's like football before Johnny Manzeil and just before he slinked off into being a non played and benched sheepish dick. Seen anyone with a #2 shirt lately?

Where is Mickey's Sliders on the list? That's a College Station original with the best chicken sandwich that slaughters Chick -Fil- A and I've never found anything like it nationwide.

Where is Republic Steak House? Where President Bush (41) eats? The exclusion of such on any voting list is such a blatant error that alone negates any reason for a survey to begin with.

Let's go with a theme. Let's say Good Bull Hunting is just plain Bullshit. Take a chain for example like What-a-Burger (for some reason people always love What-a-burger reviews, yet not in Texas...) .. Yeah, why not put a chain up against the best BBQ in Texas like Fargo's. It would be like a childish prank vs. the voters themselves as those don't even compare. It's like comparing a Ford Fusion to a Tesla in regards to how many recalls they had last week.

Thank God they have not made the mistake of putting Fuego (now a chain) up for a vote. Savagely over-rated place being now supplimented by Austin chain Torchy's. While Fuego is a College Station original concept by a San Antonio chain, I can not and will never again suggest it due to Brazos County Health Department actions which are public. And personal experience.

Where's the old skool Mexican? Jose's in Bryan on Texas Avenue has recipes dating back to the 1880's operated by the same family as originally Zapatos on 200 University Drive E in 1960 when Uni Dr E ended as a dirt road to the University. Why is this not mentioned? Lack of qualification to even compare foods. Editorial incompetence perhaps. Here is the REAL history of Mexican food in Bryan / College Station which is documented to the original Tex-Mex in Texas;

yelp.com/biz/joses-resta…

Oh Halloween.

So, thank you to Good Bull Hunting for giving me a shout out in your blog and Munch Madness (or May or whatever it is).

I think it's rude for mass media to conduct a nonsensical survey of unverified nor qualified voters. Unless any voter has eaten at just the very small and simple list of what I have just mentioned, they have no basis for comparison and are therefore unqualified to vote.

Unless the publication accepts results based on brand name recognition only.

THERE ARE NO BESTS!

The food of College Station and Bryan is way too complex in history and variety that comparison of wide variety means nothing. So thank you Good Bull Hunting for what I will call a lot of Bullshit.

Where is Veritas? In fact where is Restaurant San Jose in downtown Bryan? Real old Mexican food. Pure, local, authentic. What about Zand's and oh yeah what's that food truck that won America's Favorite on Food Network? Chef Tai's. And what about Paysito and the original taco truck on A&M campus since 1958? Did you miss my review of that?

Okay, so let's keep ranting then. Where is Sbisa? Sbisa Dining Hall has been serving hungry aggies for well over a century. Millions of meals served on Texas A&M University Campus. That's real Aggie Food. I gave it 5 stars years ago and still would.

The honest truth in my own experience in having eaten at every place that serves food in Bryan and College Station over the last 7+ years is that MAD Taco is #1 at present. Comparing food types which are not even similar is pointless and the coverage by Good Bull Hunting lacks any historical value. Thus being a waste of time, aside from stirring up this.

Greg AKA : The Taco Monster
(A College Station Original) ;)

I do not take exception to any of the slights toward my editorial competence or the intentions of this contest. Far more egregious is Greg D. misspelling "Manziel" and repeatedly calling me out for omitting restaurants that were actually in the bracket. Mickey's Sliders was a 3-seed that made the top 16 and Republic was a 2-seed reaching the top 8. Veritas, Payasito, and Sbisa all were included. Greg D. seems to have found an alternate GBH (maybe The Mugdown) with a completely different field of restaurants.

But if you're an avid reader of Greg D. as we are at GBH, you'll know this is not the first time his rating does not match the sentiment of a review and his statements have no basis in reality. Regardless, we like Greg D. and appreciate the time he spent FTR-ing Good Bull Hunting. A taco monster in his own right, Greg D. has conquered the food scene in Bryan-College Station and taken no prisoners (someone may want to check on Bush 41). I contend that the historical value of this Munch Madness competition is introducing Greg D. to a new audience and encouraging him to participate in something outside of Yelp, the website he hates and where he has posted over 3000 reviews and 35,000 photos. Now let's vote.

Voting: Flavorful Four

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