A Little Early for Trick or Treat: In-n-Out Anniversary Rumors No Treat

In-N-Out Burger is a great Southern California icon. Today, I received a forwarded email from Jennifer about specials that they were going to have to celebrate their 60th Anniversary. In my excitement to share this with friends and family, I forwarded this on. I should have done my research. Snopes.com anyone?

A few minutes later, I thought that I should check their site to see what the catch was with the offer. There is a catch indeed. The email was a fake. There is no special pricing in play for In-N-Out's 60th Anniversary. The info isn't prominent on the web site, but it is there:

October 22nd Discounting Rumors

You may be aware of a rumor about our menu prices being lowered for our anniversary on October 22nd. This rumor is untrue. We’ve always tried to keep our prices as low as possible in order to give our customers the greatest value. One of the ways we accomplish this is by not discounting and our anniversary is no exception. We’re sorry if this rumor has caused any confusion.

Moral of the story, check out offers that sound too good to be true before forwarding them on.

Local Hang Out with San Clemente Flair

Sonny's Pizza and Pasta is a local hang out in San Clemente, CA. When I first moved to the area friends took me here. It is in a difficult location to get, off of Palizada and El Camino, and making a left into the place can be very challenging. They also have very limited parking space. The restaurant has both indoor and outdoor seating. Be prepared to wait for outdoor seating if it is nice out.

You get excellent garlic bread with your order and their salads are great.

They make excellent pizza, and are especially known for their White Pizza. The crust is very thin and crispy and the base is a white sauce with three different cheeses added. A must try.

Last time I was in, I tried the Chicken Christina. The dish is a chicken breast stuffed with fresh spinach, mushrooms, garlic and pine nuts and baked in a marsala cream sauce. It is served with penne pasta. The portion was huge. My chicken was a little overcooked and the sauce was a bit on the bland side, but I did enjoy the combination chicken, stuffing and sauce. Overall I'd rate the dish a three out of five though.

Portions are large and very tasty.

Sonny's Pizza & Pasta
429 N El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672
(949) 498-2540

Technorati Tags: restaurant review, san clemente, italian, pizza

Vancouver Vacation Notes: Urban Fare, a Shopping Attraction

During our recent family trip to Vancouver, BC, we discovered a great attraction located near our hotel. It's not a place that most people would consider to be on their top places to see in Vancouver list, but for Foodies like us (my wife, Jennifer, brother-in-law, Scott and his wife, Wendy) we fell in love. Next time you are in Vancouver you should visit Urban Fare.

Urban Fare is a gourmet market that. . .

". . . offers the finest gourmet products from around the world and around the corner. As ambassadors for the love of food and a passion for gourmet, our goal is to be your destination for unique, sophisticated gourmet food and to introduce you to international flavours."

It was quite simply a feast for the senses. They had:

• the largest selection and variety of produce I have seen in one store.
  At the time we were visiting, they were featuring black apricots and the square watermelons, shown in the picture. Yes that is $99 for a watermelon.
  
• a full scale flower store with beautiful fresh flowers and very reasonable priced bouquets
• an in-house bakery and chocolatier with staff on to help you until closing time
• a wide variety of prepared foods
• a restaurant and coffee bar

It wasn't the largest store I have ever been in, but it didn't lack for variety of products or choices in manufacturers. Think of Urban Fare as very similar to a Whole Foods or Bristol Farms. Scott was so excited that he look to see if there were in back in the states. Unfortunately, there isn't, but we wish there were.

Technorati Tags: Vancouver, gourmet store

Burgermaster, More Like Burger"Average"

On our recent vacation, I read a review in a local Seattle magazine saying that Burgermaster was the place to go for burgers in the Seattle area. So my wife and I visited the one in Bellevue near where we were staying on our last trip. I was very underwhelmed I must say.

The cool thing about it was it had the old 50's drive in feel to it with car hops. You turn your lights on when you want service, and all. The menu was short and sweet - usually a good thing (think In-n-Out Burger). However, we weren't impressed.

Jen and I both ordered the Burgermaster with cheese, onion rings in place of fries and blackberry shake. Our verdict was that Carl's Jr. had much better hamburgers, the onion rings were average at best, but what saved them in this review was the very good blackberry shake.

You may want to go there to experience the eat in your car, car hop service, but don't expect great food.

Burgermaster
10606 Northup Way
Bellevue, WA 98004
(425) 827-9566

Technorati Tags: seattle, restaurant review, hamburger

If You Like Pick Up Stix, You'll Like. . .

Bamboo Bamboo is good fast Chinese food. The idea behind their food is similar to Pick Up Stix. In fact, someone told me that this company was owned by the founder of Pick Up Stix (let me know if you can verify that).

Anyway, we go there for lunch often. I really llke the house beef lunch special. You can get it with or without vegetables. It is a little on the sweet side though, so be warned. Like an earlier reviewer said, the lunch special includes salad, rice (steamed or fried) and a deep fried cream cheese won ton. It is a good amount of food and I am always happy with it.

The restaurant itself is a bit small and can be difficult to get in around lunch time. Take out however is very quick and efficient.

Bamboo Bamboo
1021 Avenida Pico Suite B
San Clemente, CA 92673
Tel: 949.492.1732
Fax: 949.492.1752

Technorati Tags: chinese food, restaurant review, san clemente

Polly's Pies - One of Our Favorite Breakfast Spots

Polly's Pies is a small chain restaurant. We like to go to the location near us in Yorba Linda, CA. The restaurant is built in a historic train station, now painted bright yellow, near downtown Yorba Linda. They bake their bread, pies, etc. right on property and the smells that come from there are remarkable.

My wife, Jennifer, introduced me to the restaurant after going there for dinner one time with her mom.

I am a big breakfast fan and they do breakfast right. I really love their Coach's Oats Pumpkin Pancakes. They have oatmeal, raisins and pumpkin in them are are really yummy. Jennifer also likes their chicken fried steak and eggs. All of their egg dishes, come with the option of having one of their REALLY BIG cinnamon rolls. These cinnamon rolls are big enough for two people.

I have also tried their Country Tater breakfast. I am a big fan of Bowl breakfasts, with everything in one bowl and you can work through layer by layer or mix it up. This one has a hefty portion of golden grilled hash browns topped with country sausage gravy, two farm fresh eggs cooked anyway you want, green onions, and melted cheese. Plus your choice of freshly baked breakfast bakery item. It was ok, but certainly not worth ordering again in my opinion.

Service here is always great, but you can wait in line for a table if you come on the weekends. 30 to 40 minutes is not unusual, but it is well worth the wait.

Claim Jumper Makes Me Want to Jump Ship

We went to Claim Jumper in Fountain Valley for my brother-in-law's birthday dinner. While the food was good, the service here was among the worst I have ever received. That is the reason for my poor review.

There were 12 of us and when we got there, we were told it was going to be about 40 minutes, So we went to the bar to get drinks while we waited. It took us about 15 minutes before someone finally came over to take our drink order. The prices were normal for a restaurant and they had a good drink selection. 40 minutes quickly turned into 60 minutes and we still didn't have a table. We were wishing we had picked somewhere else about this time.

Finally about 1 hour and 15 minutes into the wait, we were taken to our table. They tried to fit 13 of us around a table made for 10, especially with their very large chairs. In order to fit everyone in, several of us had to take smaller banquet style chairs. When we asked our waiter, Ryan, for these chairs, he acted like he was being put out. This should have been our warning that we weren't going to be happy with our experience at this restaurant. After 5 minutes of shifting everyone around, we finally were ready for drink orders. Several people at the table only wanted water - Ryan rolled his eyes at this each time. While regular drink orders were received promptly at the table, water didn't arrive until about 15 minutes after everyone else.

The food portions here are so big that my wife and I decided to share on entree, but get our own salads. This drew another eye rolling from Ryan, although we weren't the only ones doing it. The food was ok, not amazing. But overall for a birthday dinner experience, I have to say it missed the target entirely.

I have to say that if we had a choice between coming back here and going to McDonald's I would choose Mickey D's (and I really am not a fan of McDonald's).

The No-Duh File: Real Food Beats Energy Products

Courtesy of Lifehacker, can you believe it? It is better to eat real food, not so-called Recovery products after exercising.

I hope no serious athlete needed to be told this. There is nothing better for your body than the nutrition found in whole foods. Water will beat out Gatorade for hydration any day, except in a few rare occasions. A banana is great post workout snack to replace potassium and get needed fuel.

Technorati Tags: food, exercise

March Over to Marche Restaurante - Eugene, OR

Recently, I was in Eugene, OR for business. When I asked the people at the hotel which restaurant they would recommend, besides their own (the obvious answer), they recommended Marche in Eugene's 5th Street Market.

The restaurant was great. The ambiance was relaxing and similar to a hip bistro in any big city. The service was great. The food excellent.

The Marche menu focuses on local ingredients with exceptional preparation. Here is a quote from their web site

We support local farmers, ranchers and forages and are dedicated to using organic, chemical free and genetically unaltered products whenever possible.

The quality of their food was exceptional.

I had the romaine leaf salad to start with. It was their take on the more traditional Caeser salad. I truly enjoyed it. The dressing was lighter than a normal Caesar, but with much more flavor and instead of using Parmesan, they use large shavings of Pecorino Romano. I could have enjoyed a large version of this salad for my entire dinner.

On to my entree. I had the seared Oregon Black Cod with spring pea puree, roasted vegetables and fingerling potatoes. This was my first time trying Oregon Black Cod, so I did not know what to expect. What I can tell you is that I wish I could have this fish every time I wanted fish. The fish was the best prepared I have ever had. It was very moist and fell apart in perfect layers. The vegetables were under the fish and were a perfect medley to let the fish take center stage.

On to dessert. I am constantly in search of the ultimate bread pudding. I have to say that the Warm Chocolate Bread Pudding at Marche was right near the top of my list. Bread pudding can be heavy and overly sweet, but pastry chef at Marche found the perfect balance. It was absolutely sinful and I loved every bite.

In short, I'll be back next time I visit Eugene. The restaurant had a great bar with a knowledgable staff and featured local wines. They even have outdoor seating, but it was a little cold for that.

Technorati Tags: Oregon, Review

As the Portion Size Increase, So Does the Waistline

We've all talked about it.

Wow! Those portions at the Cheesecake Factory are huge.
If that's a small, I'd hate to see a large. We've all thought about it. . .

How can we possibly maintain or lose weight when all around us portion sizes are getting larger?

This post from Divine Caroline points out that portion sizes have increased, almost double of what they were in the 1970s, so has the population of obese people, up from 15% to 30%. Ouch!

Just take a look at the popcorn picture above. Twenty years ago, the image on the left was the size of a normal serving of popcorn at the movies, 5 cups or 270 calories. Today, we get the "Tub" which is 630 calories. Many would argue that we just shouldn't eat that left over popcorn, but the same post goes on to talk about a 1996 Cornell Study that showed that people who eat from a large container tend to consume more.

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association
found that Americans consume around 10 percent more calories than they
did in the 1970s. Given no change in physical activity, this equates to
around 200 extra calories per day, or 20 pounds a year.

I think we need to get back to basics and common sense here. No one needs a full Tub of popcorn or a 32 oz. soda. We need to reteach ourselves what portions are and we need to teach our children that they don't need the super size and if they are full they don't need to eat everything on their plate.

Fleming's Steakhouse - The Perfect Ribeye

Right off the bat, I have to tell you that I think I had the best rib eye steak ever at the Fleming's Steakhouse at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA. The taste was superb, the meat tender and it was served sizzling hot on the plate. I loved it and the guy sitting next to me loved his just as much. If I said nothing else about the dinner that would be enough for me.

The location is easy to find on the eastern side of the Fashion Island Shopping Center. There is plenty of free parking or you can valet park. The restaurant is very unpretentious in side, especially considering the neighborhood it is in. It is a more modern version of a steakhouse.

They have a great wine bar and for stronger drinks you are more likely to find martinis and vodka choices than tequila or frou frou drinks. I have to say our best service was at the bar. Our waitress there took orders and remembered drinks even when we came back after 2 hours at dinner. I was impressed as were the others in the party.

Dinner service was more lacking. Menus were set out prior to our sitting down for dinner. It was difficult to hear the server talk about the specials due to the volume in the restaurant and she stayed at one end of the table the whole time she talked. Also, as people were finishing their entrees, I felt rushed to finish mine as the wait staff kept asking if they could take my plate.

The food was a whole other story though. Fleming's menu was very straight forward. For dinner, I had the spinach and portobello salad with red onion balsamic dressing, pancetta and a crispy goat cheese crouton. More than one person at dinner eyed my salad with envy and asked what I had. It had a perfect balance of flavors with the acid of the dressing and the warm goat cheese. I could have had a larger version of the salad and been perfectly happy for dinner.

Well, maybe not. As I mentioned at the top of my post, the bone-in ribeye is the best I have ever had when dining out. I have tried other steakhouses, but no one compares to the flavor of my steak at Fleming's. I also tried some of the grilled vegetables that they brought out which included carrots, baby bok choy, spaghetti squash, mushrooms and asparagus. Very good and light.

I would definitely come back here and highly recommend it.

Fleming's Steakhouse

455 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach CA 92660
(949) 720-9633

Yelp Me! I am Looking for a Good Place to Eat

I was listening to the morning DJ, Joe Escalante, on Indie 103.1 and he kept talking about Yelp! I thought to myself, stop beating on that poor dog, but what he was talking about was a restaurant review site, Yelp.com.

Think of this as TripAdvisor for restaurants. They host reviews on other venues as well, but it seems that their real bread and butter is restaurants.

I created a profile and am going to share some of my reviews there. Let me know if you have a Yelp account. I'll check out your reviews.

Deep Fried Artichoke Hearts - Oh My!! Park City Grill

Have you ever had an appetizer that you love so much, you would order it is an entree? We did!

In February, Jennifer and I ate at the Park City Grill, the restaurant inside the Park City Marriott. The food was good, but one dish stood out way above the rest. The deep fried artichoke hearts.

I know, I know, who needs another batter fried food to clog their arteries? Well give this one a chance. The crispy batter was light and delicious and the warm tender artichoke hearts were divine. The restaurant served them with a mayonnaise based dip, but we preferred them plain or with some ranch dressing.

You should definitely stop by and try these after a trip down the slopes.

Chicken Fried Steak with some ZIPPP!

Chicken fried steak is one of Jennifer's favorite dishes. She tries it at just about every restaurant we visit. Last night we made it at home. I say we made it because I put the eggs and flour together for breading and she cooked it. What a TEAM!!

Anyway, I wanted more flavor in the steak itself. I remember Paula Deen saying that she added hot sauce to her fried chicken batter. So I tried something new. I didn't get any pictures and I wish that smell-o-vision and tast-e-vision from the 5o's and 60's had become a reality, until then you'll have to try this one on your own. Let me know what you think.

Chicken Fried Steak

4 cube steaks
4 eggs
1 cup flour
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic salt
ground black pepper
kosher salt
Tabasco sauce
vegetable oil

You'll need two shallow bowls or pie tins to prepare your breading.
In one bowl, crack your eggs, add tabasco sauce to taste and mix well.
In the second bowl, add flour, paprika, garlic salt, black pepper. Mix seasonings throughout flour.
In large skillet cover bottom of pan with vegetable oil and heat on medium flame.
Salt and pepper cube steaks on both sides.
One steak at a time, place it first into the egg mixture and coat well and then coat in the flour mixture. (TIP: To minimize mess, use one hand for the egg mixture and the other for the flour.)
Once oil is hot, place coated steaks into pan.
Cook til golden brown on each side (4 to 5 minutes).

New Year - New Posts

It has been a long time since I last posted. Sorry for checking out for so long, but I am back. Look for my review of RA Sushi at the District in Tustin tomorrow.

Besides just talking about restaurants, I will now start covering new recipes we try at home. This should make for some fun times and experiments while Eating Around!