The Unvegan

Recent Posts

10 Years of Unvegan
A Quick Bite at Burrito Express
Serendipity at Northern Waters Smokehaus
Twerks and Burritos at Casa Amigos

‘Sandwiches’

3/27/2009 San Francisco

Creping Out at the Squat & Gobble

So that's what a crepe looks like on the inside
So that’s what a crepe looks like on the inside

On a weekend in San Francisco, I found myself at the Marina and a restaurant called Squat & Gobble. Since the food I like to eat often squats and gobbles, I figured this would be a good place for me.

The menu was chalked onto the wall, and I felt awkward staring at it for such a long time before choosing. The main reason I took so long was because despite the name, many of the food items included food that neither squats nor gobbles (vegetables). The majority of the foods were crepe based, which I always like, but if a crepe is ordered wrong, it is extremely difficult to remedy the situation through picking out invasive veggies. After much debating, I chose the Chicken Pesto crepe. The ingredients listed were mozzarella, onions, chicken breast, pesto and sun-dried tomatoes. I got mine without the onions or sun-dried tomatoes, waited at my table with my number and hoped that none of the uninvited ingredients had made their way into my food.

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3/17/2009 Santa Monica

Eating Ostrich at Broadway Deli (CLOSED)

It looks good until you see the pickle...
It looks good until you see the pickle…

Conveniently placed in the Third Street Promenade, I decided to give Broadway Deli a try. For a deli, they didn’t have too huge of a variety of interesting sandwiches, and most of the menu items would have required me to remove vegetables. One item, however, caught my eye. This was the Fresh Ground Ostrich Burger. Always intrigued by new and strange meats, I thought this would be a good idea. I made sure to order without the lettuce, tomato and red onions, and to throw on some cheddar cheese for good measure. When the burger arrived, I noticed that Broadway Deli had committed the highest of unvegan treason. A pickle on my plate!

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3/11/2009 El Segundo

The Original Rinaldi’s Italian Deli

A sandwich of dreams
A sandwich of dreams

Conveniently located on Main Street in sunny downtown El Segundo is The Original Rinaldi’s Italian Deli. From the outside, you see that Rinaldi’s is a no-frills, old school deli.

Inside it’s no different, with plastic chairs and seemingly foldable tables. The menu on the wall has enough unvegan delicacies to delight even the most casual carnivore. Steak, turkey, bacon, sausage and more adorn the various sandwich descriptions, making it hard to decide the appropriate meat for the moment. As soon as I saw the Fatboy, though, I knew it had to be mine. The ingredients were sausage, beef meatballs, pepperoni, marinara sauce and (provolone) cheese. I ordered the 10″ rather than the mildly girlish 6″.

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3/4/2009 Los Angeles

Subway

Is there any meat in there?
Is there any meat in that mess?

A few years ago, Subway changed the name of the “Meatball” sub to the “Meatball Marinara.” I’m not sure why this particular change occurred. Maybe it was to placate healthy people who would be more attracted to the word “marinara.” I never felt this was a particularly bad thing, after all, rebranding to increase sales is a huge component of our capitalistic system.

That all changed when I went to the Subway at Pico and La Cienega. I ordered a Meatball Marinara sub on Italian herbs and cheese bread, with provolone and parmesan cheese. It seemed like such a great idea, until I started watching the man behind the counter make my sub.

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3/2/2009 Palm Desert

The Desert Willow

What the hell is that green stuff?
Why is there green stuff on the top left?

On the beautiful grounds of the Desert Willow golf course, there lies a happy little restaurant with an awesome view. The only thing that gets in the way of the view is the actual golf course.

The menu looked pretty good and I had a hard time choosing, before finally settling on the Turkey, Bacon and Avocado melt. I ordered mine without the “vine ripe tomatoes.” It’s like they couldn’t think of a good way to describe the tomatoes, so they wanted to make the customer feel as if being ripe from the vines would make the tomatoes taste slightly better than terrible.

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2/25/2009 El Segundo

Big Mike’s Philly Steaks & Subs

12 inches of meaty goodness
12 inches of meaty goodness

For a good, wholesome cardiac arrest, few food items offer such good chances as a Philly Cheese Steak. Although I have never had one of these in Philly, and may be ill-equipped to judge, I have put down a few of those sandwiches in my day. The most recent of which came from Big Mike’s Philly Steaks & Subs in El Segundo. Typically any restaurant that has “Big” in it’s name is a hit with me, unless it precedes something stupid like “Head of Lettuce” or “Fungus Lovers.”

Keeping things simple, I ordered a twelve-inch Philly Cheese Steak. The sandwich really should not be called this, as it comes with onions and peppers. I mean really, if you’re going to call it a cheese steak, I’m okay with it, just make sure it’s only cheese and steak.

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1/5/2009 El Segundo

Mandy’s Family Restaurant

You know it's family-style because the bread is crustless.
You know it’s family-style because the bread is crustless.

On a recent lunch excursion from work, I found myself at Mandy’s Family Restaurant in El Segundo. Off of the main strip of Main Street, Mandy’s is a little gem tucked away into the corner of a strip mall.

As I walked in, I saw a sign proclaiming the lunch special of the day, a hot turkey sandwich with mashed potatoes, gravy and a soft drink. I kept this special in mind as I sat down and perused the massive menu. Everything looked good, but I remained intrigued by the turkey sandwich. My friend had mentioned that the seasoned fries were amazing, so I asked my waitress whether they were better than the mashed potatoes and she agreed with my friend. I made the substitution and awaited my meal.

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12/31/2008 Los Angeles

Canter’s Deli

Who could ask for anything more?
Who could ask for anything more?

Another LA landmark restaurant that has managed to evade me since I have lived here is Canter’s Deli, located at Fairfax and 3rd Street. Canter’s is a good old-fashioned Jewish-style deli, heavy on meat and character.

Their menu is immense, but the best way I know to judge a Jewish deli is the pastrami. As goes the pastrami, so goes the deli. Canter’s offers a hot pastrami sandwich, which I promptly ordered after the waitress told me it was simply pastrami and rye, without any wasted add-ons.

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12/6/2008 Los Angeles

Cole’s Poker tips

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STRATEGIES

The basics of solid poker strategy involve many concepts that you must combine to become a consistently winning player. The following concepts are crucial to learning poker strategy:

  • Tight play
  • Aggressive play
  • Random play
  • Taking advantage of the mistakes of other players

Keep these concepts in mind as you develop as a poker player.

SOME POKER STRATEGY CONSIDERATIONS

DECISIONS FOR THE NEW POKER PLAYER
Decide whether you want to play poker to win or to play for fun. To play at a consistently winning level requires both time and effort. In other words, it takes work. There is nothing wrong with playing poker for fun, but there is no reason to plan to lose, even when you are playing for fun. However, deciding which type of poker player you want to be before you start will make your decisions and sessions easier. Test out these professional tips at Pkv Games online tables.

MAKE GOOD DECISIONS – THE RESULTS WILL FOLLOW
Even the best poker players in the world have losing sessions. Don’t make the mistake of expecting to win every time you play. Your goal should be to play to the best of your ability in every session. If you do, the cards and winnings will take care of themselves as you improve. Many players make the mistake of judging their poker playing ability based on the results of each session. Your goal should be to make the best possible play every time. The closer you come to this, the better your results will be.

THE MATHEMATICS OF POKER
Poker is a mathematical game, and it’s a game of incomplete information. That may sound complicated, but it really isn’t. On a very basic level, winning poker starts with the selection of which starting hands to play. If you enter the pot with the best hand more often than your opponents do, you will win more times than your opponents.

BEYOND STARTING HANDS
Starting hand selection is fundamentally important, but it’s only one piece of the poker strategy puzzle. Once you have mastered solid starting hand guidelines and understand how they change by your position at the table, the next area you should work on is your play for the rest of the hand. The area that separates professional players from amateurs is that professional players tend to play much better than their opponents during the remainder of the hand, after the starting hand decisions are made. This is especially true concerning the decisions made at the very end of every hand. These skills involve calculating pot odds, recognizing betting patterns, bluffing, and using position. The years of practice necessary to master the middle and end game play are well worth the effort, because even small improvements in a player’s abilities can have a tremendous effect on that player’s lifetime winnings.

AVOIDING TILT
Another meta-skill that should be part of a winning player’s poker strategy is avoiding tilt. Your opponents will use your emotions against you, but only if you let them. Emotional play results in poor decisions and lost money. Tilting and steaming can happen to anyone, and sometimes the only cure is a break from the game. That’s okay; the game will still be there ten minutes from now. In fact, it will still be there tomorrow.

11/25/2008 El Segundo

Quizno’s (CLOSED)

I couldn't make this look good, so I opted for the open-face look.
I couldn’t make this look good, so I opted for the open-face look.

Today I ordered Quizno’s for lunch. Quizno’s, a sub shop can be found just about anywhere in the country. Apparently in El Segundo, California, they have delivery and it’s quite fast. It had been a few days since I had some (good) red meat, so I ordered the Prime Rib and Peppercorn. On top of the prime rib, the sandwich comes with mozzarella cheese, sauteed onions and a mild peppercorn sauce. I made sure to get mine without the dastardly onions.

I’ve had Quizno’s before and it has never been spectacular, so when my sandwich arrived, my expectations were pretty low.

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