October 2006:

BMH Italian Deli
7670 El Cajon Blvd
La Mesa
, Ca.

No. 124 (the 124th place we've tried out since we moved here):

I saw BMH's ad (and coupon) in the weekly entertainment section of the paper this morning. I'd driven by there numerous times before and had never noticed it other than the faded sign out front and it appears they touched that up as the colors are fairly brilliant now.

I had the coupon special, a torpedo with small chips and a soda for $6.00.

The wife had the hot pastrami with mayo, mustard, lettuce, onions & balsamic vinegar ($7.00) and our total was $13.53 with tax.

My sandwich had the same toppings and I'd hold the lettuce and balsamic vinegar my next visit...

They also make their own bread, sell a large selection of imported Italian delicacies and cater as well.

Overall, it was pretty good but make sure you pay when you order or you may have to stand in line a second time, especially at lunch time...

September 2006:

Entries to be added later (they were printed in our other newsletters or blogs and I need to pull them from there).

August 2006:

Entries to be added later (they were printed in our other newsletters or blogs and I need to pull them from there).

July 2006:

Entries to be added later (they were printed in our other newsletters or blogs and I need to pull them from there).

June 2006:

Entries to be added later (they were printed in our other newsletters or blogs and I need to pull them from there).

May 2006:

No. 125 - Brown Bag Deli in Point Loma

By now, most of you know that the wife has a new job in Point Loma (she's the Bar Manager at The San Diego Yacht Club) so I'm tasting over that way now, at least for a while, as there isn't a lot to eat over there (it's a small community).

I wasn't impressed with this place at all and don't want to get into the business of listing everything wrong with it (virtually everything).


No. 126 - Santana's Mexican Grill:

Even though we've been here 3 years on the 21st, I've never eaten at a Santana's despite the fact that the Boy eats there almost weekly as there's one close to his job (he doesn't care for much of their menu but likes the quesadillas and the bean and cheese burrito).

Part of it has to do with the fact that it's one of many small local chains, another part is that the cast members of MTV's "Real World" seem to have been food poisoned there (the Point Loma location) last year and the final part is because I've become increasingly jaded about low end Mexican food here.


It's all fairly good, it's all the same and even though this chain would probably make a serious impression in the culinary landscape of Northern California where shredded beef tacos or enchiladas are few and far between, it's just part of the background here.

I had the beef taco / cheese enchilada combination plate with rice and beans and the Pepsi came with the deal. The taco was acceptable although I'm not a big fan of cheese enchiladas, the beans were generic as was the rice and it was slightly less than $6 with tax.

They currently have 6 locations.

See their web site here:
http://www.santanas.com/


No. 127 - Red Sails Inn in Point Loma:

Spectacular view of the bay, lots of mediocre frozen & fried items, a great jumbo shrimp cocktail, mainly pointed at the tourists, our best guess.

We do have to admit the service was good and prices were semi-reasonable but that's just not enough...


No. 128 - Cancun Mexican Grill across the street from the Sports Arena:

This is literally the straw that broke the camel's back (see note below).

Anywhere else, this might be a hit but here, it's just one of literally dozens of places doing exactly the same thing and rather poorly as well.

Simply put: there are way too many of this kind of restaurant here and it's not fun to watch them all die a slow and horrible death.

Nothing is great, it's all very humdrum at best and it's only a matter of time until they eat each other (hopefully).


NOTE:

Finally, this is the last issue of this newsletter.

I've become increasingly bored with the poor service and mediocre food here and have much better things to do than chronicle it.

It's been fun but time to move on...

April 2006:

No. 121 - The Hamburger Factory in Poway - Please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles" (The Newsletter with Relish)


No. 122 - Nugent's Fishgrille & Market - Poway:

This was our third trip over there in pursuit of the elusive fiberglass weenie man.

This time we scored a matched pair - please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles"(The Newsletter with Relish) for details.

It was lunch time, it was raining out, I was out of gas and looking for a station when we saw the Wendy's next to the Fishgrille.

The wife didn't want to spend the money but I was buying and I generally don't do fish at lunch (she could eat it 3 meals a day) so...

I had the fish, shrimp and chips basket and a Coke (they were out of iced tea). The wife pointed out that she could make iced tea with a couple of tea bags and some ice yet they somehow ended up telling everyone that asked for it that they were out - no mention of making more soon...

The wife had the fried snapper, slaw, rice pilaf and hot tea.

We were impressed, service was almost lightning quick (it helped that we beat the lunch rush by a matter of minutes and the place was full by the time our order arrived at the table), the food was pretty good and what got me was the fact that they refrigerate the Heinz catsup until they bring it to your table. They also whip up some good tartar sauce (with fresh dill) and the cocktail sauce was good too, with just the right bite.

The fries were almost hot when they hit the table although the wife said her rice was cool and fairly generic.

Our total was $25 plus, make it an even $30 and we'd go back again.

Finally, they're just a few hundred yards off the freeway, well located for the traveler coming down I-15, which runs through LA to Las Vegas.

See their web site here:
http://www.fishgrille.com/

You can download the menu in PDF format.


No. 123 - Tioli's Crazy Burger in North Park - Please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles" (The Newsletter with Relish)





The Darla, Robbin & VI (left to right) at Bully's East

No. 124 - Bully's East (Mission Valley):

Bully's is approximately half the way from here to the ocean and it was chosen as a convenient-to-all destination for Darla to have lunch with a couple of friends from her time at La Jolla Country Club, Robbin and Vi. Robbin suggested it as it isn't far from her house, an added bonus...

We've heard conflicting reports about the place, everything from "...it's great..." to "...it's only so-so and way too expensive..." so it would also give us a chance to see for ourselves. It's a handsome place in the old dark wood and dim lighting kind of way (the great carved wooden bar is absolutely beautiful) and evidently there's another Bully's somewhere over on the coast (Del Mar, I think).

We got there fairly early but the hostess wouldn't seat us until everyone in our party was there. The entry way is drafty and fairly narrow so people coming in and out of the place virtually stand on top of you. I had first sat in a seat that got banged by the door to the side room every time someone went in or out of there. The place was fairly large and never did fill up at lunch so there was no real reason why we could not have taken a seat in the dining room to wait for Robbin and Vi as far as we could tell, except for the hostess possibly exercising her authority....

The Darla went for the calamari sandwich, soup (French onion, hold the cheese), rice pilaf and tea. Robbin had the almond encrusted halibut, steamed vegetables, baked potato and a Margarita (see photo above). Vi had calamari strips and drank water with her meal (she's almost a vegetarian and doesn't eat red meat). I ordered the open face steak sandwich, well done, with French onion soup, steak fries and iced tea.

What I got was a monstrously thick slice of underdone prime rib which I immediately sent back, despite my reservations (we all know what happens when you send something back). It was done enough when it finally came back from the kitchen but it still wasn't what I had ordered.

When the bill came, it confirmed that the waitress doesn't listen carefully as it says "prime rib sandwich" right on it (I don't do prime rib)...

Also, my garlic toast wasn't toasted at all (Darla's was done nicely) and I should also point out that the thick, rubbery layer of Gruyere on top of the soup hadn't been properly heated, a sore point with me (it's a peculiar cheese that requires long, low and slow heat to properly melt).

You may have seen that French Onion Soup recipe from the CIA we sent recently and they do it in a hot water bath surrounding the bowls and let it sit in the oven for as long as 45 minutes or so, enough time to do the job properly. Needless to say, this must be done well in advance.

On the positive side, service was fairly professional and my iced tea glass was almost always filled promptly, a very important factor as far as I'm concerned and especially since they were using 12 ounce water glasses (I just don't understand that decision at all)...

The total was $72 and change and the waitress apparently rounded it up to $73 as she only gave me $27 back (no coin) from a $100 bill (at least she didn't ask me if I wanted my change back, which recently happened elsewhere when I gave a waitress a $100 bill for a $45 check)...

Robbin and Vi left a very generous tip (double what I would have tipped out).

See Bully's web site here:
http://www.bullyseastsd.com/

March 2006:

No. 114: Rubin's Red Hots in Sherman Oaks - Please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles" (The Newsletter with Relish).


No. 115: The Wiener Factory in Sherman Oaks - Please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles" (The Newsletter with Relish).


No. 116 - Tony's Gourmet Hot Dogs in Fairfield - Please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles" (The Newsletter with Relish).


No. 117 - Joe's Crab Shack in Mission Valley:

I'd wanted to try this place for at least a year now despite what the Boy said about it from a visit with fellow co-workers a couple of years ago.

He really wasn't impressed but we'd been hearing their radio ads frequently, had recently seen something on the TV Food Network about crabs and hadn't had my yearly quota of Dungeness or Crab Louie yet so...

The first thing they do is bring around the large, shallow salad bowl (it needed more dressing), bread and corn bread (no butter).

I had the King Crab legs, grilled shrimp on a skewer, fries, corn on the cobbette and iced tea (I passed on the Crab Louie when I questioned them about how they do it*), while the Boy ordered the appetizer platter with chicken fingers, boiled shrimp, potato skins, crab dip & chips), and a Sprite and the wife tried the Fish & Chips (the fries were cold so we had them bring us a basket of hot fries), and a hot tea.

The food was mainly deep fried, something I no longer appreciate as much as I used to but even the wife had to admit that the King Crab legs were wonderful (she didn't used to like crab at all but she's slowly coming around to appreciate good crab).

Her fish was pretty good (I had a bite), my shrimp on a skewer weren't too bad and the Boy really liked the Crab & Cheese dip.

Which reminds me of a pretty fun piece of seafood humor from the late 60's, the cover of one of my underground comics (we also collect them):

A giant crustacean of some sort, in a 3-piece suit, is seated at a restaurant table and asks the waitress "Pardon me miss, do you serve crabs?"

She replies "Keep yer shirt on, toots, we'll serve anybody..."

Ambience & Decor: Like a lot of other so-called "theme" restaurants, this place had a lot of stuff hanging everywhere (we were seated under a life size fiberglass shark hanging from the ceiling). Exactly how this qualifies it as a "theme" restaurant somehow eludes me unless maybe it's an homage to the late, great Fred Sanford (Red Foxx) and his junkyard empire...

And there was a whole lot of merchandising going on; mainly lame posters for even lamer T-shirts advertising the place, apparently an almost national chain with locations almost everywhere except The Great Pacific Northwest (why bother?) and New Mexico, for some reason.

Remember when businesses used to give away stuff to promote their products?

So do I and now they expect YOU to pay THEM for wearing their advertising (it just ain't gonna happen)...

We would describe the decor as Early Chevys with the bare concrete floors, open ceilings, recycled wall materials, tables topped with linoleum and an insert for a bucket to throw discarded crab shells, etc into), a roll of cheap paper towels instead of the more expensive paper napkins and the music was too loud, the lights were too bright ( the fact that I wasn't feeling too well at the moment didn't help either).

Service: Our server touched the rim of my iced tea glass when she brought it to the table, a couple of sets of silverware wrapped in paper napkins were dirty and I had to ask for another salad plate as I could feel the gritty residue leftover from the dishwasher on it.

Our server was ahead of the curve with the refills, however.

The total was $53 and coin, make it an even $60 with tip, nice try but we won't be back - we were expecting something far more sophisticated, for some reason, something such as that Stone Crab concept (Joe's Stone Crab or something like that) down in Miami...

*A personal rant: I'm pretty much of a purist when it comes to my Crab Louie, ever since being introduced to San Francisco's wonderful Swan Oyster Depot in the gay district (Polk Street), in approximately 1972.

Swan's was a tiny little place (a counter with maybe 10 seats), was open only 5 or 6 months a year and specialized in local crab, oysters, etc.

After having it there, I can't seem to find anything even close to it anywhere else.

They served it on a wedge of lettuce, with maybe a sprinkle of chopped green onions or chives, topped with a generous portion of fresh crab and their own Thousand Island dressing. Unfortunately, I was told that they went out of business several years ago and recently discovered they're still there...

I do it at home mostly, nowadays as most places don't seem to understand that in this case, LESS is MORE and they inevitably throw it on a bed of several different greens with all sorts of garnishes, alternative dressings, etc, all obscuring the beautiful simplicity of the dish..

No, no no!.

Add a good glass of very cold and very dry Chardonnay, a little sour dough bread and butter on the side and it's a totally sublime meal...


No. 118 - Philly Frank's Cheesesteaks in San Marcos - Please see "The Frankfurter Chronicles" (The Newsletter with Relish).


No. 119 - BJ's (Restaurant / Brewery / Brewhouse):

Moon had visited one of their NorCal locations but we'd never been there and since he was taking us out for my birthday, it was his choice.

We started out with a few appetizers, chicken pot stickers with a light soy sauce for dipping and I sampled one of their beers, a Hefeweizen (not bad but a different after taste) and I ordered an iced tea and a calzone with pepperoni and mushrooms. I wouldn't order it again. There really wasn't anything wrong with it so much as it just wasn't anywhere near the best I'd ever had either...

The Boy had the blackened Cajun chicken sandwich with bacon & cheese, fries, side salad and a Pepsi and the wife had the halibut fish tacos with some hot tea. The bleu cheese salad dressing was too sweet and his fries were cold. He said he'd probably never order that again either.

The wife said they were some of the best fish tacos she's ever had (and she's eaten them everywhere since she first discovered them), the fire roasted salsa and guacamole were also pretty good (we all tried them)

The total was $59 and coin, I tossed in the $6 tip.

See their web site here:
http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/

There's a link for a faxable menu but it also says it varies by location so we can't tell you exactly what the names of the dishes we ordered are...


No. 120 - Point Loma Seafood:

We first saw this place on a Travel Channel program about San Diego that Chris Masterson called us up to point out early Sunday morning.

It's a bit out of the way for us (Point Loma) and their major claim to fame is that they hickory smoke their own fish. The wife didn't think she'd like it (but was forced to admit that she did) and it's more of a fish market than restaurant (there's also a fish processing operation in the back).

Seating is mainly outside but they added on a fairly drafty dining room (the roof is made out of canvas) with tables next door.

I had the jumbo shrimp cocktail, a sour dough bun and a 12 oz Heineken draft and the wife had the halibut with slaw and french fries.

See my rant above about Crab Louie, which is also why I didn't bother to order it here (and they were inflexible about the wedge of lettuce)...

The fries were generic frozen fare (and cold), the butter was hard little cubes wrapped in foil and the place wasn't very clean, even though a couple of attendants stood around talking while the condiment bar was a disaster, 10 feet in front of them (and a pigeon almost flew into my head while we were eating, so close it actually felt like it was going to land there), but it does have a great view of the marina, right next door.

The total was $26.50 (Jeff in Santee warned us that it was pretty expensive for what you get) and we probably won't be back ever unless it's for some of their smoked fish to prepare at home (it even looked good to me and I don't care much for fish).

February 2006:

Trattoria Di IV - No. 111*

We first noticed this place from a review in the weekly food section of The San Diego Union Tribune and as the location is rather obscure, we'd very likely never have found it ourselves.

They call it Italian Fusion (classic Italian dishes featuring traditional Mexican flavors) as both of the women who own the place are Latin (one is from Ensenada and the other is from Peru, by way of Mexico City) and it looked great in the review, let's go check it out!

We were celebrating the wife's 33rd anniversary so we got reservations as it was Friday night, and one of the few Friday nights she wasn't working in over 30 years of restaurant work (you always work the weekends). It's a good thing we did as it's a small store front in a strip mall but they were stacked out the front door waiting while we just waltzed in and sat down at the best table in the place, right in the front window.

We counted and there are only 20 seats in the place but there's still enough room to add a few more 2 tops and 4 tops, which they will need if the crowd there was from the review in the paper from the day before.

The article mentioned several dishes the wife was dying to try such as their Halibut wrapped in parchment paper and a seafood stew very much resembling cioppino but all of them were specials and none of them were on the menu that night.

For our drinks, the Boy had a Coke, the wife only had water (she rarely drinks with her meal) and I ordered iced tea. What I got was some sort of flavored iced tea and I was told that that is the only iced tea they serve (we'll have THAT discussion the next time we visit).

And I should point out that the refill issue was the only real problem we had with the entire meal; everything else was perfect.

For appetizers we had sautéed wild mushrooms with garlic and topped with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano.

They also brought us a small bread basket with thinly sliced French bread and olive bread with some fairly pungent garlic butter. Surprisingly, this was the hit of the meal as the Boy loves his garlic and we went through a second helping in no time flat...

Darla had the Seafood Special with Chipotle, from the Special Board. It had a fair number of shrimp and clams, was served on a base of fettuccine and seasoned with the essence of saffron and fresh basil. She says it was absolutely wonderful.

Her side salad (with red wine truffle vinaigrette, mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, Feta cheese, sliced mushrooms and onions) was very light and we all agreed it was a perfect compliment to the meal.

The Boy ordered the Classic Torpedo with ham, salami and pepperoni and fries on the side. It was served hot and the bun was easily the best we've had since we moved here.

I ordered the classic Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp. The sauce was close to the best, if not the best, that I've ever had, light and creamy and for the first time in years, I ate everything on the plate.

Everything we had was classic Italian, all done very, very well and maybe next time we'll get around to the more esoteric menu offerings...

Of course we all sampled everything and we agree; this is a first rate place despite the location.

Our total was $51 and change, with tip, rounded up to $60 exactly, thank you very much...

We will be back and next time I plan on trying out their pizza (it looked great when the next table's food was delivered).

And I'd like to try a few variations on their sandwich menu.

Some pertinent information:

Trattoria Di IV
8011 Mission Gorge Road
Santee
, Ca.
(619) 596-7499

Closed Sunday & Monday

* This is the 111th new place we've eaten at since we moved here.


Carvel - No. 112:

Carvel is an East Coast ice cream chain.

I'd never tried it before and since it's right next door to the recently opened Windy City Beef...


Their original product line was chocolate and vanilla soft serve, and they now also carry at least a dozen different flavors of regular ice cream.

It was $1.99 for a small cone of the vanilla soft serve, we'll try more flavors when we go back to taste test Windy City Beef

A few days later, when we checked out Windy City Beef, I tried their chocolate soft serve as well.

Both are fairly smooth and creamy but I'm not really a soft serve guy...


Windy City Beef - No 113:

See "The Frankfurter Chronicles" for our full report

January 2006:

21 January 2006 - Fix Me A Plate Cafe (Fine Southern Style Cooking or something like that...):

They were too busy at Red Lobster at Grossmont Center in La Mesa and the customers were lined up out the door at Souplantation on Fletcher Parkway, also in La Mesa, so we decided to check out the new place right next door.

That's what we get for going to dinner at the same time everyone else on the entire planet does, on a busy Saturday night.

While we were waiting for our food, the 7 adults at the next table were being served and their 2 boys in a separate booth were acting up when the 30-something mother looked across at me and asked if I'd go over to their table and make them behave.

"I can do it from here" I said, "EAT!"

The place got deadly silent for a moment, the boys looked at me like no one had ever dared to speak to them like that before in their lives and promptly got with the program...

A moment later, the place was at full tilt, volume-wise, when the rest of the customers came up to speed about what had just happened...

I had the fried chicken, corn on the cob, red beans, corn bread muffin and iced tea. The beans were horrible, the chicken was covered in some sort of spice which was way too blatant for me, the corn was room temperature and the corn bread muffin was too sweet.

I had a few bites of the wing and leg and Dog Boy will get the breast for his lunch tomorrow.

The Boy had the fried catfish with salad, dirty rice, corn bread muffin, and iced tea for a change. He said the catfish was good but didn't care for the dirty rice ("Popeye's is better"), or the muffin. He sort of liked the spicing on my chicken and ate the thigh.

The young ditzoid blonde waitress (a Tiffany, no doubt) was adept at ignoring us, one of only 2 tables she had.

We did everything to get her attention short of sending up an emergency flare.

This place can't have more than 10 booths and tables yet she never bothered to check back with us after the food was served and deliberately avoided eye contact even when she knew that we knew that she had seen us trying to flag her down.

The Boy had to wait until well after his fish was room temperature before we could get more tartar sauce (we had to ask the other waitress to send our waitress over to the table and I came within an inch of telling her to tell our waitress that she's very close to not getting a tip).

And the waitress obviously doesn't understand that it's "iced" tea as we never got more ice with our refills.

The total was $25 and coin, we left at total of $29 (she was lucky she even got a tip).

Horrible service, mediocre, over-priced food that we normally make for ourselves at home (only better), we won't be back...

December 2005:

Oggi's Pizza in Santee: No. 105

The Boy and I had started out going for the "Never-Ending Pasta" special at Olive Garden in Santee last night ($7.95 for all you can eat). Even though it was a Wednesday night and we got a relatively late start (well after 6:00 PM when we left), people were spilling out the front door of the place and we were told it'd be a 45 minute wait.

We walked next door to Mimi's and they said it'd be 10 minutes but since there's nothing on the menu there that does it for me, we decided to walk across the mall to La Salsa, where they make some pretty fair burritos. When we got near La Salsa, the Boy pointed out Oggi's and that I'd never eaten there. He had once before but I can't remember what he said he'd had.

The place is 1-part pizza palace, 1-part sports bar with approximately 2 dozen TV's all around the room and patio, including 3 large flat screens above the bar. They also brew their own beer but not on premises, at least at this location.

We ordered a traditional calzone, hold the ricotta, a side salad with extra bleu cheese dressing, ribeye steak and Portobello mushroom wraps

I also asked the waitress to find out what a pint of their beer costs as it wasn't priced on the menu. They make at least a half a dozen different beers so I was looking forward to checking out at least one of them.

The salad was mediocre at best, like eating a plate of weeds with cheap dressing, for the most part.

When the food arrived, it had obviously been sitting in the window for quite some time as my calzone was warm and when they had cut it down the middle, most of the cheese had run out onto the plate and congealed into a large rubbery mass. The Boy's wraps were also barely above room temperature but the fries were hot (meaning they had let it all sit in the window until the cook finally got the fries together).

The calzone had all of the usual stuffings (parmesan and mozzarella cheese, mushrooms, salami and ham) and would have been pretty good if it had been hot, I was less than impressed with the Boy's wraps but the fries were excellent.

The waitress never did tell me what the beer costs so I didn't get a chance to taste one.

Our total was $27 including a minimal tip (approximately 14%) and I will give them one more chance, when it's not busy and in some other waitresses' section. This time, I'll have the beer (it's $2 a pint during happy hour), the Boy will check out some of their appetizer specials for happy hour and we'll try the pizza as it looked pretty good.
They also serve a cheesesteak but I forgot to take a look at it when they delivered one to the table behind us.


Victoria's Mexican Food: No. 106

This location is on El Cajon Blvd in San Diego. It may be part of a local chain with at least one other location in the run down area of downtown El Cajon, always busy but the tag from the cash register says Silva's Taco Shop (also an El Cajon stand) but the sign says Victoria's so we're not exactly sure which one it is. And this location is new (I was out driving around aimlessly on a Sunday morning, etc)...

I ordered the Beef taco, cheese enchilada plate with rice and beans. It was a good taco (they invariably are down here), good beans, the rice was light and fluffy but the cheese enchilada was cold inside. I think it's from trying to zap it all at once instead of individually then building the plate. I had a Jarrito Mandarin Soda (Hecho en Mexico) to drink.

The total was $7.67



Pinnacle Peak Steakhouse in Santee - No. 107:

This place is situated in a funky old barn of a corrugated tin building, set way back in a dirt parking lot on the edge of town and from the looks of things, it has to have been there since sometime in the 50's, maybe even earlier...

Their gimmick seems to be that they cut off your neck tie and staple them to the walls and ceiling (not that there's anything wrong with that).

The engineer in the Boy came up with various ways to mess with this custom such as a sheet metal tie, carbon fiber tie or chain mail tie...

I wasn't feeling well so the Boy and I split the 15 oz Cowgirl (actual cut undetermined), mesquite grilled.

Our side orders were sautéed mushrooms (over cooked), corn on the cobbettes, a very mediocre side salad (think brown lettuce, etc) with easily the worst bleu cheese dressing I've ever tasted, spongy white bread and little thumbnail sized butter cups, cowboy beans with a good amount of cumin, hot apple cobbler (heavy on the cinnamon) with vanilla ice cream for our dessert, iced tea for me and a Coke for the Boy

Our total was $32 with tip.

And we watched some of their other dishes go by while we waited for our food and this is the kind of place that cooks their ribs over flame (we smoke them first and then bake them very, very slowly at low temperature) and then they slather sauce all over it before serving. We believe in serving the (optional) sauce on the side so we can taste the meat and even more importantly, the great hickory smoke that went into them.

It's a very limited menu with 3 steaks, a hamburger steak, chicken, ribs, a hot dog, approximately half a dozen side dishes to choose from and a couple of desserts, period (not that there's anything wrong with that, either). In fact, the menu is so tightly written that it all fits on one side of their brown paper To Go / Doggy bags. It's one of the few places I've ever said should have a larger menu, with low end and upscale steaks.

This place is a real throw-back to a lot of things I don't like about the restaurant business. I'd have gladly paid a few bucks more for a better cut of meat, the salad wasn't really what you'd call edible, the bread was only good for sopping up the sauce on your plate but that's about all, and I doubt I'll ever darken their doors again but the Boy kind of liked it (he's funny that way sometimes and hey, they have A-1 Steak Sauce)...


El Pollo Grill - No. 108:

We first saw this on a new local channel the satellite just picked up and decided to check it out.

To start off, the Boy and I shared an order of chips & salsa ($1.99). The chips were fresh, hot out of the fryer and thin but the salsa was not really impressive (bland, colorless, we do better at home). I had the beef taco ($1.99), 2 beef enchiladas ($3.99) and the Boy ordered the 1/4 Broiled chicken, beans & rice plate. I couldn't eat both enchiladas and gave one of them to the Boy. The (charro) beans weren't refried (although he could have asked for refried beans) and the Boy really didn't care for them. We had 2 Pepsi's and the total was $18.55.

We both agreed it was a nice little place and will be back again as well as trying out their new location downtown, when we get the chance.

The wife and I made a second visit a few nights ago and I tried the carne asada burrito and refried beans and we ordered a side of guacamole with our chips (of course the wife couldn't resist the broiled chicken even though we'd had chicken the night before). All was pretty good, the wife says she knows where she wants to stop for lunch when we make our monthly visit to Sam's Club in Lemon Grove and our total was $16.



No. 109 - Marechiaro's Fine Italian Food :

This was one of Wild Bill's favorites (Lee recommends it too).

It's right down the street from Tommy's Italian Deli but as you may remember, one of the waitresses there had a nasty habit of putting her thumb in my glass and the iced tea pitcher pour spout. I also watched her grab virtually every other customer's glass around the rim...

And the other, an airhead blonde, had me repeat half of my order 4 times before I walked out, my last time there, several months ago now...

Tommy's has a "Help Wanted" sign in the window now so I'll stop by again soon to see if either of those 2 dim bulbs are still there. The one who sticks her thumb into everything worked the dinner shift while the other one was there during lunch, effectively keeping me out for both meals and costing Tommy quite a few bucks in our business as I'd have pizza there at least once or twice a month and order my sandwich for lunch even more frequently (it is the best sandwich in town, IF you can stand dealing with that dumb blonde...).

Meanwhile back at Marechiaro's: The Darla had the Chicken Piccata (Sautéed Chicken with Butter, Capers, White Wine and a Touch of Lemon. Served with Pasta) which came with a Side Salad, Spaghetti with Marinara sauce and Garlic Bread ($13.50). She ordered hot tea for her drink.

She said it was excellent and we'll have to come back again.

I had the Personal Size Pepperoni Pizza ($7.50), ate the wife's Greek Salad (an extra $1.50 for feta cheese) and had several glasses of iced tea. It was a good pizza at a very reasonable price but I'm still undecided on it compared to Tommy's. And I do have to say that Tommy's has a better Greek Salad as this place doesn't put black olives or croutons on theirs...

And I will visit again soon as their sandwich menu looks promising...

Our total was $35 including tip

A couple of amusing notes: I was sitting in the local Coco's recently and realized I can now order off of the senior menu there.

The second thing was I heard another one of the waitresses at Marechiaro's ask our waitress if I was a "regular" and then made sure my iced tea glass was full all through my meal (I think she was actually flirting with me!)...

See their web site here:
http://www.marechiaros.com/


Marechiaro's II:

A couple of days later, the Boy and I dropped by early Saturday for lunch.

I had the 12 inch (One Size Fits All) Torpedo Sandwich ($5.95) and an iced tea. The Boy had the half order of Lasagna and Minestrone Soup for $6.95, and a Coke. He says the soup was generic but the lasagna was great (he liked it better than Tommy's, just down the street). My opinion is that he was spoiled by the chef's minestrone at Green Valley Country Club up north and measures them all against that...

I have no opinion of either place's lasagna as I've never tried them (I'm not a fan).

The roll my sandwich was served on was generic, the sandwich itself needed olive oil, vinegar, black olives. some thinly sliced bell pepper and perhaps a sprinkle of powdered oregano but they charge 50 cents more for each item (I only wanted a taste), so I won't be ordering that again.

It also needed a slice of cheese but the meats themselves were fairly good (ham, capicolla, salami, etc).

I like Tommy's sandwich a lot better (but hate the service there), I like Tommy's Greek salad better and it's sort of a draw when it comes to the pizza so I'll have to come back at least once more for a definitive answer.

Service was prompt and accurate and extra points for service when the server bought an extra glass of crushed ice when she refilled our drinks.

The total was $16 and change, make it an even 20 bucks with tip...


No. 110 - The Original Roadhouse Grill - Steakhouse & Saloon:

This place recently opened (4 days ago) in Santee. It's one of those places where they set bowls of peanuts in the shell on tables and bar tops and you're supposed to drop the shells on the floor. They also features line dancing waitresses who stand around the peanut barrel when they aren't busy, practicing their line dancing waitress moves, eating peanuts and then throwing the shells on the floor....

First up was a fresh baked roll with whipped butter and honey (a little too sweet for my palate and I will ask for plain butter next time). I ordered the Mesquite grilled ribeye steak sandwich with chipotle mayo, fries & iced tea (hold the chipotle mayo, add a side order of regular mayo).

When my food came, the fries were lukewarm, the sandwich roll was generic and the steak should have been cut thinner so it would cook a bit quicker and still be somewhat juicy (I don't eat bloody meat). I had also asked for a few sautéed mushrooms and onions (only a taste. not a full order of either) but ended up paying for full orders of both, I later discovered. My total was $17 including tip

The web site says they have a total of 47 locations but the menu only shows 9 locations in SoCal, 4 in Oregon and 1 in Burnsville, Minnesota, wherever that is...

See their web site here:
http://www.roadhousegrill.com/


Roadhouse Grill II:

On service: For the first 10 minutes or more, they essentially ignored us at the bar. And for most of the rest of the meal, service was virtually non-existent (the only reason the food ever actually arrived at our table is that they use the runner system in the kitchen - grab any available person walking by and have them deliver the order). And we really didn't get all of our order, just most of it (no bread, no 2nd appetizers, etc), the fries were cold when they delivered the rest of the food and then the replacement order was lukewarm at best, we had to ask for refills, ask for mayo, ask for mustard and then ask for the check as well. And after making them take off the items they didn't deliver, they overcharged us $10 for the wife's meal. Needless to say, we left a minimal tip (and I actually "stiffed" a waitress for the first time ever, recently!).

Mrs. Uncle Frank had the halibut steak which was mesquite grilled, with rice, salad, and water with lemon (but she never got the lemon either).

She says the fish was excellent (but expensive) and then there was the matter of the lack of service (at least someone in the kitchen was paying enough attention to get the fish out there at the appropriate time)...

Their bowl of chili was actually quite good, my bacon cheese burger was fair, but the Boy says his Cajun burger was only so so at best.

The side skewer of 5 shrimp with garlic butter ($5.99) were OK but we didn't get our other appetizer, the Texas egg rolls.


And it was fun watching the Boy go after the peanuts like an elephant on a diet and then his apparent conflict in dumping the shells on the floor (he was a busser for several years while he worked his way through college) and just couldn't bring himself to do it.

I settled the issue for him by reaching over and doing it myself...

And the whole disaster took forever (the dog no longer recognized us by the time we got home)...

Our total was $47 and change so we left them exactly $51 and that's what we get for going to a recently opened restaurant less than a week before Christmas, we should have known better...

November 2005:

8 November - Chorizo & Shrimp Quesadillas with Guacamole & Sour Cream:

We saw this recipe on Rachel Ray's "30 Minute Meals" on the TV Food Network yesterday and realized that we were going to have shrimp tonight; why not try something different? I'd also been promising myself to check out some local Mexican shrimp dishes for quite some time now and as an extra added bonus, this recipe also gave us a chance to do a little research on chorizo, something we've been meaning to do...

We didn't exactly follow her recipe but it's close enough to count.

We browned some chorizo in a pan, peeled the shrimp and then cooked them in a little garlic and peanut oil until they turned pink.

Then we piled the crumbled up chorizo, the shrimp and a generous amount of shredded Monterey Jack cheese on a flour tortilla in a pan, covered it with another and cooked it until the cheese melted and the tortilla browned on each side.

Slice into quarters or sixths, depending on the size of your tortillas (we use the fajita size, not the burrito size), serve with a little sour cream and guacamole and enjoy.

This recipe is a keeper; it's simple, quick and absolutely scrummy (we all agree)...