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Actually my weekend sort of started on Tuesday. After closing I rushed across town to The Mission for a happy hour sponsored in part by Yelp. I close at 4:30 it started at 5:00 and it is a 30 minute drive at the best of times. So much for best of times, I was going through the center of town in rush hour and managed to find an accident. I still made it in 45 minutes even after circling to find a parking spot I could fit my truck into. Met a whole bunch of new folks including the Yelp community director. I was going to try and make a run to Sweet Republic but after 3 beers and 3 hours I headed for home.
It turns out meeting the community director was a bonus in itself. I already had a good reputation on Yelp and she was suitably impressed that she nominated me for Elite status the next day.
Friday night was a birthday party for one of the Yelpers I hang with at Bomberos wine bar. About 20 people showed up and we had a great time. I was more than well received because I made chocolate covered strawberries. While there CP asked if I would like to be +1 at an Official Yelp Elite Event. It seems the woman she had asked before had to cancel so there was an extra seat but I would have to check in as and wear Emily's name tag. I have met Emily and she is much better looking than I am. :-).
Skip to Saturday. I had a change of clothes in the truck so I could take off early and go to the event at the Breakfast Joynt. I had two emails awaiting me: One from CP with the details of the event and another from Gabi congratulating me on being Elite. So I got to go as myself! Pigged out, had a great time.
I am behind on restaurant reviews. Two of the events I attended I have reviews for on my Yelp profile page if anybody cares to follow the link.
Oh, that sinking feeling. Slip into the work shoes. Pull up on the laces and snap, one end comes off in your hand. Take the utility shears and do the quick unlace on BOTH shoes. Open the spare set and find one of them is defective and has a bulge about an inch from the end that prevents it from going through the holes. Have you ever had the joy of lacing a shoe starting at one end? :-)
Comedy, 2005, Hillary Duff, Chris Noth, Heather Locklear (still a fox)
plot summary:
"Teenager Holly Hamilton (Hilary Duff) is tired of moving every time her single mom Jean (Heather Locklear) has another personal meltdown involving yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man.. an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her shaky self-esteem. When the virtual relationship takes off, Holly finds herself having to produce the suitor, borrowing her friend's charming and handsome Uncle Ben(Chris Noth) as the face behind the e-mails, notes and gifts. Holly must resort to increasingly desperate measures to keep the ruse alive and protect her mom's new found happiness, almost missing the real perfect man when he does come along."
I thought is was slow in parts but funny overall. Yes, it's a chick flick. It was also entertaining without any deep involvement on my part.
This morning I noticed while drinking my orange juice that there was a dark ring around my coffee in a white cup and it looked sort of oily on top. Sure enough the filter had folded over and the oil and some grounds had gotten in to the pot. Good thing I noticed it so when I filled my thermos I did it gently so as not to have a thermos full of grounds. I also splashed a bit of egg goo out on the stove top flipping my omelet this morning. Maybe I should go back to bed? :-)
10410 N. 35th Ave., Phoenix
Another Friday and now the 4th Vietnamese restaurant I have eaten in. I cannot get Craig to go out for junk food lunches but he jumps at the chance of a dining partner for Vietnamese. Both of us have flexible schedules on Fridays and we set this up earlier in the week.
The review:
If this were just about mango boba it would be a 4. First time I had a Boba drink. It was really good!
Had lunch with Craig W today. I ordered a Korean pork dish and it was ok, came with sticky rice, a sauce, some pickled veggies, something that looked and tasted like a Vietnamese quiche (really good), and some salad veggies. Craig's pho looked pretty good and he confirmed it indeed was.
Small store front but there were still plenty of tables open. Ordering was a bit confusing at first as I was led to believe a recent change was made to their level of service. If you are eating in they will now take your order at the table. All the employees were friendly and service was reasonable, neither of us was on a clock today. Total with tax and tip came to $13.11, as I have come to expect from Vietnamese restaurants it was a pretty good value. I checked yes for outdoor seating but it consists of one table and 2 chairs total.
5421 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale
I was hungrier Wednesday than the amount of food I had brought for lunch and had seen another location of the small (4 location) Arizona chain the evening before. Turns out the reason I was so hungry was I got so busy working I forgot to eat my mid morning sandwich. Korina, mentioned in the review, actually went there that evening and downgraded her rating to match mine. How about that for coincidence?
My Yelp review:
The previous time I ate here was like 13-14 years ago. I think this was the only location at that time. I had a spinach enchilada and a fish taco. I had already been introduced to 'bertos around the valley. Because they use 8" instead of 10" tortillas for their enchiladas I thought I didn't get enough for my money and they used cilantro, which I do not care for, in their fish taco. I removed this place from my list of lunch spots near work.
The other evening eating at Stir Fry Paradise I noticed quite a few customers at the Caramba next door. So I looked up the reviews for all the locations and didn't see any red flags. And Korina A doesn't care for cilantro either and she made no mention of it in her review. So I tried it out again for lunch. This time eating in instead of sending someone for take out.
I got the combination #4 (see picture), shredded beef taco, cheese enchilada, rice, beans ($6.65) and a small horchata. Total with tax: $8.54.It is still about a dollar more than a 'bertos and the enchiladas are still smaller. But it gets better. The meal comes with a bowl of fresh chips. There is a salsa bar with fresh made salsas instead of inedible hot sauce. They use the next grade up of cheddar cheese. The enchilada sauce is better. The beans and rice are a little better. And I can no longer eat all of a 'bertos combo any more anyway :-) I just barely finished this one.
It was a perfect day for the patio. Being on the North side of the building I can see it getting hot at midday even with the umbrellas during the summer.
It is still a fast food Mexican place but one that is worth a little more. It is now back on my list of places to go.
6661 W. Bell Rd., Glendale
This is where I decided to grab a bite to eat on the way home Tuesday evening. Plans originally were to meet another Yelper and his wife on Thursday and that wasn't going to work so I ended up going Tuesday night and they went on Wednesday. I thought it was an OK place and he thought it was a great place.
And on to the review:
Cheap, filling, edible.
This was my first time in a place like this. I was wondering if I made a mistake as I walked up around 6:30. Employees outnumbered diners 6 to none, and Carrambas next door had about 10 tables occupied. Having the full attention of the owner he explained how things worked. Start with a meat, add veggies, then noodles and pour sauce over it. Then hand it to the cook. While it was cooking I wandered over to the buffet table to see what they had. I think I would have preferred the rice I found over there to having loaded my bowl with thick noodles. Part of the learning curve. The sauce I made could have used more garlic, sesame and chili, it would have been easier to figure out if I had a small bowl to make the sauce in rather than just pouring choices over my bowl of food. The food was pretty good, some really good and some meh, none that I tasted was bad. I had a bowl of a spicy beef soup that I thought was very good. If you have teenagers or a 20 something son in law this is another choice of places to go, for $7.30 it is all you can eat. Add a soda and tax and it is still under $10. The owners were quite attentive. The place was very clean, the restroom could have maybe used a bit of attention.
By the time I left the place was half full on a Tuesday and several of he customers were regulars. Next door was almost empty so it must just be a different crowd drawn to the different food choices.
So this morning I am getting ready for work and feel a bit chilled in the apt.. I slip on a light flannel over my work shirt. A bit later I notice the temperature, 76°. I must really be acclimated to the desert.
4935 W. Glendale Ave., Glendale
Continuing with my current practice of going out to eat for lunch on Friday I tried a Gyro. Here is a copy of my Yelp review:
I saw this place out of the corner of my eye on the way somewhere else a couple of weeks ago. The reviews were old but positive. I got there early for the lunch crowd and by the time I left almost 1/2 the tables were occupied.
I had a lunch special gyro with fries ($7.99 including soda). Very good. Haven't had a gyro in 15+ plus years so didn't have anything to compare it to. The fries were hot, crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. The two women running the place pleasant and the service was good.
It turns out I became one of those folks who can't be taken anywhere, even by myself. I am paying attention to my gyro and keeping it together not noticing the paper wrapper was acting as a funnel to spray the juices from the meat and vegetables all over the front of me and my lap. By the time I realized what was happening I was covered! :-)
I have tried in the past to make eggs over easy. Now I know how to do it with a large pan and a spatula, one egg at a time. But it is much more cool to do all three eggs at once in an omelet pan. I season my pan before I use it so even though it is stainless it doesn't stick and normally I just slide sunnyside up or basted right out on to the plate and I save washing on one utensil. My previous attempts to flip the eggs in the pan have resulted in at least one broken yolk. I had noticed my touch on flipping omelets was getting better so for the first time in about a year I tried the eggs over easy again. Success!!! Now watch me screw it up the next few times.
A useless fact: If you put the flies in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour they are easier to catch and dispose of.
9832 N. 7th St., Phoenix
This is a fairly new breakfast, brunch, lunch spot in the Sunnyslope neighborhood of Phoenix. I went there on the way to work this morning for breakfast. I actually invited about 30 of my Yelp friends to join me and not one of them was willing to get up at what I consider to be a reasonable hour. Anyway here is my Yelp review:
Usually when the cashier informs you the menu is out of date it means what you wanted to order is no longer available or the price went up. Not so this time, they are still in the mode of adjusting to initial customer comments and the $9 omelet now includes one side AND a bread. That brings the price point in line with what I consider a regular breakfast choice instead of a special occasion breakfast.
None of that would matter if the food wasn't good. I had the western omelet with english muffin and bacon. The bacon is cherry wood smoked and a perfect firm but not crispy. The omelet had ham, peppers and grilled onions. And the muffin came with real butter. I almost forgot to take a picture before I dug in. All of the food and coffee was good.
I got there at 6:01 and was greeted with a smile. She did admit she has to work at being a morning person. I had the entire place to myself until just before I left. My food was out very quickly. Thanks to Donny T's review I remembered to grab my table service before the food arrived. I even found the place headed south without becoming a traffic hazard. Scramble shares the building with Il Posto. At the time of the morning I am about it isn't hard to get there and get to work. Even though it is a ways away I am sure I will find my way back again.
A couple of weeks ago the question was posed on the Yelp forum as to where to buy the best hummus to take home. Prior to that I had had hummus as part of an appetizer tray at Royal Gyros. It was ok. The general consensus seemed to be Trader Joe's or Fresh and Easy (Tesco). Better yet was to see if it could be purchased to go at a place where you liked it and best yet was to make it fresh at home. So I stopped at Fresh and easy and picked some up. I thought it to be rather thin and the strongest taste by far was lemon. Not at all impressed.
So I set out to make some. A couple of folks had posted recipes. I bought some dried chick peas and everything else I used what I already had. Those who follow my cooking already know I feel fine substituting a similar tasting ingredient. Soaked a cup of beans all night and day and then simmered them for about 4 hours in salted water. Tossed them in the blender with some sesame oil (instead of Tahini because I had it,now I no longer do so I 'have' to make a Lee Lee run *rolleyes*), crushed garlic, lime juice (again, because that is what I had). I blended that up and started adding EVOO until I got a paste. The point I stopped at is about halfway between mayonnaise and Skippy creamy. Learned a few things. Blenders are a poor choice for this task. It is easy to tell if you use olive oil instead of canola or some other lesser expensive oil because the hummus takes on a yellow tinge. I should have started with only a half cup of beans for a couple of reasons: I wouldn't have so large of a batch to use up and I would have been able to use my mini food processor which would have been a better tool.
The biggest thing I learned is what I was missing before. And maybe I just got lucky on my first try and I certainly will not attest to it tasting authentic but it tastes great! I can taste the beans and the olive oil and the garlic and the sesame and citrus are in the background. I have been using it instead of mayonnaise on ham sandwiches and making wraps using an 8" flour tortilla, spread some hummus, top with some fresh tapenade, nuke for about 30 seconds to slightly warm, sprinkle shredded cheese on top and roll. YUMM!! I prefer the tortilla to naan just because I like what is inside to be the star just like I prefer sliced bread to sub rolls for a sandwich. If I had diced onions or cucumber I might also add those.
I am definitely spoiled now. :-)
2005, Bill Nighy, Kelly Macdonald
I cannot remember why I even added this to my queue. It may have been a recommendation from a friend or Netflix. Being a made for TV movie it was only 95 mins including the scene not shown on TV. Set in England and Iceland. Sort of a dumb main plot but held together with all the sub plots around it. I enjoyed it.
8115 N 19th Ave., Phoenix
I seem to be doing a lot of Friday lunches out lately. This was my first time here. I hit 3 construction zones on the way over so chose a different route back. Turns out the lines I mentioned in my review are for modifications for the light rail extension which starts this summer so that 4 mile section of 19th will be a mess for about 2 years. For you folks that haven't dealt with sharing the streets with a train, you are not missing a thing.
On to the review:
Went over for lunch today. I was worried that getting there in the middle of the noon hour on a Friday it would be packed. Place was almost empty and everybody that worked there was out on the sidewalk enjoying the weather. Apparently their "lunch" crowd marches to the beat of a different drummer and folks were wandering in the whole time I was there.
I had a bbq pork and rice vermicelli dish preceded by an order of egg rolls. The egg rolls were very good but I thought the lettuce was a bit limp. The vermicelli dish was good, I didn't think all the goodies would already be in the bowl so I accepted the cilantro flavor as I had not thought to mention it beforehand.
I was greeted and seated immediately. After wandering around the menu for a while the waitress came over and answered my questions and took my order. Their specials board is small and on the front wall between two windows. Today was pineapple curry chicken which I might have tried but did not see the inconspicuous board until after my egg rolls had arrived. Most of the people that came in after me seemed to be regulars. I tend to try and follow custom and as the folks that finished before me went up to the register and paid their check which was never delivered but was at the register I did so also. Good thing I carry cash because that is the only thing they accept. The place was clean. My table wobbled a bit.
I will most likely go back. The waitress/hostess/part owner is particularly proud of her Pho and encouraged me to come back so I could try some.
Based on the lines the shopping center is about to undergo some major reshaping that will affect parking. I saw lines marked showing a new sidewalk 10' onto the existing parking lot.
Friday night I stopped by Fresh and Easy to pick up a few things. I do not go there often as their way of packaging doesn't suit my lifestyle. However a lot of there branded stuff is low on additives and junk. While I was wandering I went by the freezer section and spotted "pistachio" from across the aisle. I have avoided gelato because I was thinking with water rather than cream being the main ingredient it just could not be that great. This was F&E branded and still 3 something for a pint. The first evening I consumed a whole 1/4 of the pint, the second evening I finished it off. Really good stuff. Comparing it to good ice cream, like McConnells, it still comes up a bit short but it is good in it's own right.
This was held in the East part of Margaret T Hance park (Deck park). It is a sister cities celebration and there were booths from 10-12 of them. Most of the food booths were local rather than the traveling fare at festivals. Two stages were set up, one for a rock band and the other for cultural performances. I had a rather mediocre, overpriced pulled pork sandwich with beans and cole slaw. The meal served the purpose of soaking up enough beer I could drive myself home. For February it was a rather warm mid 80's, which made for better eye candy. The big draw of the day was the 50 some beers from all over the world. It took 3 trucks to handle it all. It was available in 4 oz increments for $.25 per ounce. I had 3 glasses and a sangria sample during the afternoon. Our group pretty much didn't stir from the beer garden. As the afternoon wore down the sister cities booths closed down and the serious party drinkers started to float in. That was about the time our group started to break up. Basically a nice afternoon in the park drinking beer with friends.
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