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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | APRIL 2020 25 THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! By Steve Benoff I'm back to exploring apps for local stores. This month it's Sonic and Pieology. But it's time to come clean. I don't frequent either establishment. I've tried Sonic burgers on two occasions and was disappointed both times. I just don't like the Sonic burger. But to give you a frame of reference, I don't like In-N-Out either. When it comes to burgers, in my view, you get what you pay for. I don't mind paying Vegas prices for a Vegas hotel burger. I love the burgers at Islands. For fast food, the Original one-third pound burger at Carl's Jr. puts Sonic and In-N- Out to shame. (Back when it was introduced, Carl's Jr. charged $3 and called it the Six Dollar burger. They've changed the name to Original now that they charge over $6 for it.) But regardless of how I feel about their burgers, the Sonic app is outstanding. Download and install the app and first thing it tells you is that you get half off drinks when you order ahead. Of course, to order ahead you have to register and enter your credit card information. Once you do that, you're good to go. When it's time to order, you're presented with 11 categories – What's New, Combos, Drinks, Burgers, Chicken, Hot Dogs, etc. I selected What's New and my first choice was a 1000 calorie Biggie Cheese double burger. If I select that or any other entrée, I'm shown each component of the item – bun, patty, cheese, etc. Except for a couple of essential components, I'm given the option of deleting each piece or adding sauces, toppings, and condiments. Sauces and toppings are shown with their calorie count from 10 for mustard to 80 for bacon. The Sonic app is an excellent example of making ordering quick and easy. If you like their fare, why not take advantage of half-priced drinks and use the app? I give it a strong A. I'm going to excuse the fact that it doesn't offer a delivery option because of the likely low price of the order. Pieology is another restaurant I don't go to. I tried it once and didn't like their pizza. Once is probably not a fair test. Maybe I'll try it again someday. Beaumont has any number of pizza places and many of us have our favorites. As for me, I go to Banning. I think Guy's pizza is the best in the area. They also have a best entrée salads in town. Enough. I'm not here to review restaurants; I'm here to review apps. And right off I can say the Pieology app excels in its design. What I love about it is the ribbon at the top of the screen. You can see your progress through the order process at a glance. You start by choosing a location (pretty easy in our case). Next you choose food. Here you are given a myriad of choices. The first of these is something new to me. Pieology has created a new protein style pizza. Instead of the normal pizza dough, they've come up with a new protein dough made of chicken, cheese, and eggs. You can choose amongst five sauces, six cheeses, 29 toppings, and seven things you can have added after the pizza is baked. With a few exceptions there is no charge for these ingredients. Of course, you can select a pizza with a traditional dough, although at Pieology that means one of five – thick, stuffed, thin, gluten free, and cauliflower. After you make this choice, you select oil (or no oil), sauce, cheese, toppings, meats, and after bakes. You can also choose from seven pizzas described as "chef-inspired." If you're not in the mood for pizza, you can order bone-in or boneless wings with your choice of seven sauces. They also offer two salads, sides and sweets, and beverages. I don't know if Pieology offers a delivery option. To find that out I would have to register, and I didn't feel like doing that because it's unlikely I'll be using the app at all. However, while it appears I can schedule a time for pickup, I see no evidence that I can arrange for delivery. Nevertheless, I give this well-designed Pieology app an A. Do you use an app you'd like to share with others? Let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. Sonic & Pieology Apps Reviewed

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