We had a problem. Too many nights, we had stumbled to SuperAmerica at 2 a.m., cup’o’secret booze in hand, nodding to the idle cops, with no clue which Tornado to choose from the roller grill. What flavor did we want our fried, spicy snack to come in? The only answer was to gather members of our staff, our confused roommates, friends and boyfriends and have a Tornado tasting.

We all gathered in Becky’s kitchen, with Sutter Home and some other $8 wine so that we could finally catalogue the “flavor notes” of each kind of Tornado. Unfortunately, the local S.A. only had three kinds, so … whatever.

Becky’s tasting notes:

Excerpt: “I felt like there was a piece of corn in there, which I had not expected from the name. This gave the tornado a salsa-like quality I enjoyed.”

Vote: Grilled Chicken and Cheddar

Jason’s tasting notes:

Excerpt: “Spicy, like a sassy maid or a certain reality show (Zoila from “Flipping Out.”)” “10 p.m.: First tornado burp!”

Vote: Cheesy Pepperjack

Michael’s tasting notes:

Excerpt: “I overestimated the size of my mouth-opening, as well as its capacity. Cheese overload!”

Vote: Grilled chicken and cheddar.

Kara’s tasting notes:

Excerpt: “Too spicy! I’m Norweigian!” “Taco in a bag”

Vote: “The cheesy one, duh!”

Soon, we had managed to approximate our usual Tornado-eating mentality with wine/ beer/ whiskey.

Jay’s tasting notes:

Excerpt: “Overly-sufficient crusty tip”

Vote: Grilled Chicken & Cheddar

Neil’s tasting notes:

Excerpt: “This tastes like peppers. I don’t like peppers very much.”

Vote: Ranchero Beef Steak & Cheese

Our good friend Amy popped over to say hello. We gave her some wine and ~1 Tornado tip.

In the end, the winner was Grilled Chicken & Cheddar, due to its “decent mouth feel,” “substantial crusty exterior” and controversial spiciness.

– Text by Becky Lang, GIFs by Jay Gabler