‘California’


Old Western Eating in Temecula

January 13th, 2012 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Like all those Old West burger places you hear about.

Temecula is a strange part of California.  Somewhere between LA, San Diego and Palm Springs, it’s essentially the middle of nowhere.  Except it’s not.  It’s wine country, it’s gated communities and it is the Old West.  Nowhere is the latter felt more than Old Town Temecula, which is a blend of truly old buildings and new buildings made to look like cowboys once had shootouts inside.  Front Street Bar & Grill sits in Old Town, but doesn’t try to look like a cowboy outpost.  Instead, it has the looks of colonial mansion, with a great outdoor patio. Continue Reading»


Sonic Good is Just Pretty Good

October 3rd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

So this is what all those commercials were about...

About 10 or so years ago, the world began to see commercials for a fast food burger place called Sonic.  These commercials were often both funny and hunger-inducing.  Unfortunately, though, Sonics were only in select locations throughout the country.  Yes it was annoying, but it was also genius, because it whet the appetite for Sonic with people who had never even seen the place.  The idea was that when they would finally see one, whether in travel or with a new one being built, they would want nothing more than to devour their burgers.  And it worked, at least on me.  When I saw my first Sonic years ago while driving through Independence, Missouri, I just had to try it.  I remember it being good, but this was pre-meat blog and in the middle of a cross-country road trip, so the memory is mostly blur filled with the knowledge that the meal kept my internal fuel running just as long as I needed it to. Continue Reading»


Frying Up the Sea at Parkers’ Lighthouse

September 7th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Ok, I guess I'll eat fish.

Parkers’ Lighthouse in the Shoreline Village of Long Beach is not an actual lighthouse.  Also surprising was the fact that during my time there I met not one person named Parker.  It is, however, a seafood restaurant overlooking the beautiful Pacific Ocean.  So, for the third time in just two days, I found myself staring at menu full of fish and finally I gave in. Continue Reading»


Por Ti Funghi, Volare

June 15th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Hole in the wall?

While in San Diego with a couple of runners the night before the Rock and Roll Marathon, we needed some carbs.  I wasn’t running, but I am never one to turn down a carbo-load.  Knowing nothing of Italian food in San Diego and not really wanting to go to Olive Garden (no offense to the Garden, but we wanted to support something local), we turned to Urban Spoon.  Yes, there’s an app for that.  This directed us to Volare, a sort of whole in the wall in a sort of sketchy part of town.  It looked perfect. Continue Reading»


The First Pizza Factory

June 6th, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Best sukkah ever.

While there may be 120 Pizza Factories in five different states, the original Pizza Factory has humble roots in the town of Oakhurst, just outside of Yosemite National Park.  And after a long day of staring at and walking through giant sequoias, very little sounds better than some greasy pizza.  I hoped Pizza Factory would be able to deliver said pizza.  Plus, with a tagline like “We Toss ‘em, They’re Awesome” it’s hard to go wrong. Continue Reading»


Low on Sauce at Todd’s Cookhouse Bar-B-Que

June 2nd, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Looks like brisket.

In the small town of Oakhurst, just miles from Yosemite National Park, there is but one BBQ joint, and it goes by the name of Todd’s Cookhouse Bar-B-Que.  Todd’s is one of your old-fashioned order at the counter type of BBQ places and the menu is quite staggering for being up in a small town of the Sierra Nevada.  From sandwiches to wings to jambalaya, everything looked great and well-priced.  But would it taste great? Continue Reading»


Triple Meating at Ducey’s

May 31st, 2011 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Ahhhh get that crap outta my burger.

Up near Yosemite National Park is a place called Bass Lake.  Bass Lake has itself a little village, and this village is dominated by a huge lodge called The Pines Resort.  Inside this resort is a fancy restaurant called Ducey’s on the Lake.  We wanted no part of this, so we found Ducey’s Bar and Grill, with a swanky patio and a much more reasonable and fun menu.  We grabbed a table outside and sorted out what to eat.  I had sworn a couple days off of burgers after tackling a couple bad ones in the last couple days, but there was a burger on this menu calling out the unvegan name and I couldn’t resist. Continue Reading»


Strange Strips at George’s on the Cove

December 15th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Where's the fried stuff?

For my last meal in San Diego, we headed to La Jolla.  I didn’t know much about La Jolla beforehand, but it ended up being a pretty cool little part of town.  We did a little walk around The Cove and saw some pretty tasty-looking live seals.  Sadly, these guys were not for eating, so instead we ate a place called George’s at the Cove.

George’s didn’t have a very unvegan-friendly menu (I should also make it clear that they had a burger on their menu that looked pretty good, but after the zoo and Hodad’s the day before, that was out of the question), but it did have an awesome view.  Which is great, but you can’t eat a view.  Because it doesn’t taste good.  Filled with vegetarded dishes, I finally found something I could eat on their “sides” menu.  It was called Cayenne Dusted Grilled Chicken Strips and this “side” came with arugula salad, fries and a parmesan garlic dipping sauce for the fries.  I don’t know about anyone else, but this was the first time I had ever seen a side dish come with its own side dishes.  This was strange to me, but I was okay with it because it meant I was really getting a full meal.  The one thing I wasn’t okay with was the arugula salad.  When I ordered I asked them not to worry about given me the salad and then I waited for my side meal to come. Continue Reading»


Bacon Patties and Burgers at Hodad’s

December 14th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

A sign for good burgers.

One of the hardest parts of being an amateur food blogger is that when people are struggling to decide what to eat, they look to you.  Never mind the fact that you don’t eat healthy, don’t like to spend too much money and are happier with a cheeseburger than foie gras.  So even though I was with family in San Diego, the only place I knew to go to was Hodad’s in Ocean Beach, a divey surfer burger stand. Continue Reading»


Cooking with Fire at Turf Supper Club

December 10th, 2010 Tweet Facebook Digg Stumble Reddit

Looks good enough to cook.

While down in San Diego for a weekend, a friend recommended a restaurant/bar called Turf Supper Club.  By the name of it, it sounds like an expensive and pretentious restaurant, but he assured me it wasn’t.  What makes the place special, unpretentious and surprisingly cheap is the fact that you cook your own food.  But these aren’t some thinly sliced Asian meat and veggies, these are full steaks, burgers, kebabs and fish.  Cooking food yourself doesn’t necessarily appeal to all people, but at Turf Supper Club it is more of an event than work. Continue Reading»


Beer Me Some Breckenridge Agave Wheat

The taste of skiing?

Colorado is definitely a beer state, and not just because Coors comes from the Rocky Mountain State.  No, it is also home to New Belgium (of Fat Tire fame) and seemingly countless other micro and craft breweries.  While in Breckenridge for a ski weekend, I decided I had to at least try one of these, and because it turned out to be the only one available at dinner, my choice happened to come from the creatively named Breckenridge Brewery.  The brewery, by the way, is actually no longer in Breckenridge, having expanded and moved to Denver in 1992.

Continue Reading»