WELCOME TO SACRAMENTO BLOG UNCUT

REVIEW: ROUND TABLE PIZZA IN OLD SACRAMENTO

2012-02-15T18:19:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week I met with a few of my associates in Old Sacramento. Hey man, Old Sacramento is what the City of Two Rivers is all about.

We walked around for awhile, looking at the buildings, the river & the beautiful ladies.

Then we got hungry.....

I suggested the Lunch Buffet at Round Table!

For the life of me, I don't know the exact address of this place in Old Sacramento, but we found it.

Walking downstairs to the round table I was so hungry. Being there before I knew that we would have a killer lunch.

We stood in line one by one & dealt with the Cashier.

The last time I was here it was $6.99 for the lunch buffet.

Times have changedl! It was now $10.80 for lucnh including your drink.

Oh well......

So we paid our vig & headed to the salad bar. Hey man, they had a fantastic salad bar. They even had boiled eggs!

Filling my salad pate to the brim & topping it off with Thousand dressing, I headed over to the Pizza area.

I loaded up with 3 slices of combination pizza....

Fantastic!

What a great lunch!

I even went back for a couple of more slices.

Well worth the money!

I give Round Table in Old Sacramento Three out of Four Stars!

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EVENT: SACRAMENTO AUTORAMA FEBRUARY 17-19, 2012

2012-02-05T12:55:00.000-08:00

First let me say that yes, I know that it's Superbowl Sunday. I wish all of my readers an awesome day. Eat, drink & hang out with your friends. That's what it's all about.

If you want some recipe ideas for your party, type in Superbowl Sunday: Cross County Fajitas in the search bar above. That will lead you to my last years post.

Also, instead of the usual pizza, beer, chips & BBQ, why not get a few rotisserie chickens along with some potato salad, garlic bread, three bean salad, olives & cheese?

For the first in 10 years I don't have a bet or a square on the game. In closing, just drive careful! OK enough about the Superbowl.

In a couple of weeks Cal Expo will be featuring the 62nd annual Autorama Car Show. I have been going to this show since I was 9 years old. It's a yearly family tradition.

The Sacramento Autorama will feature over 500 custom cars & motorcycles from across the United States.

There will be killer show cars, good music & awesome food. I can't wait to drink several over priced beers & enjoy a fantastic lunch consisting of a massive Hot Pastrami Sandwich & garlic fries.

This show is not for the financially challenged. Admission is $18.00 for Adults, $10.00 for kids six to twelve years old & if you are under five, you get in for free!

Parking is $10.00, but you can always take your chances & park in the Kaiser parking lot across the street for free. But hey man, if you get towed, don't come looking for me, OK?

Rumor has it that Paul Michael Glaser from the TV show Starsky & Hutch will be there along with the famous Grand Torino......

This is a family friendly event.

See you there!

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OFF TOPIC: CARDED AT KWIKI MART... WTF?

2012-02-04T09:31:00.000-08:00

This morning I hit the streets early to run some errands.

I noticed that I had maybe five smokes left, so I pulled into the Kwiki Mart located at the corner of Fulton & Hurley.

As I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed people at the gas pumps fueling up their cars & I also noticed two gang bangers loitering in the parking lot.

Call me a racist, but when I see two black men in their 20's just lingering & loitering I get a little concerned. One had a bike, while the other one was on foot. Clearly they had no business there.

They weren't in the store buying anything & since they didn't own a vehicle, they were not buying gas. They were just there in the parking lot wearing their baggy sweat pants & black hoodies.

After noticing this, I just wanted to go in, buy smokes & get the Hell out of there.

So as I walked in I approached the counter & asked the clerk for a pack of Marlboro Smooth Menthol's.

It took "Jason" the clerk awhile to find my smokes & when he found them, he rang them up. That will be $5.48 Jason said.

As I was reaching for my money I noticed one of the gang bangers watching through the window. He was trying to see what kind of cash I had.

I produced a crisp $20.00 bill & layed it on the counter. I wanted to buy some lottery tickets as well, but considering what was loitering outside I decided to pass on the idea.

With my $20.00 bill on the counter Jason the clerk looked at me & said, I need to see some I.D.

WTF? Are you kidding me?

I looked at Jason & told him, hey man, I'm 51 years old.

He said, I still need to see some I.D.

I replied, do I look like I am under 21?

He responded, that does not matter, I need to see some I.D.

I told him, give me my $20.00 back. I'm not showing you my I.D.

Grabbing my twenty, I left the store & went elsewhere.

What a joke! I have been buying smokes since I was 15 years old. Where were the cigarette police back then?

Have a great weekend!

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OFF TOPIC: SUMMERTIME, WALMART & DEMI MOORE

2012-01-28T11:22:00.000-08:00

This morning around 6:00AM I went for a walk around my apartment complex. It was like 33 degrees outside. Cars had ice on them & needless to say, my walk was very short. If you remember, we have some very cold days, some killer rain & heavy fog.

I cringe when I hear people saying how we need the rain. Quite frankly if it never rains again that would be awesome!

Then I started to think about Summer in the City of Two Rivers. It's nice to see Sacramento ladies in their white shorts & sandals, sundresses & half shirts.

It would be so great to go for a swim & visit with some of my neighbors, especially Linda, with the bronze skin, toned body & a Tiger Stripe Bikini. She is a personal trainer & it shows! Unfortunately. because it's winter, she is in hibernation. Bummer!

Getting back to reality, I went to Walmart this morning with my list of items to acquire. Hey man, what's up with Walmart's prices?

Walmart used to have excellent deals, but it appears that is no more. The meat section was a major letdown. Not much of a selection & the prices were high as well. I spent nearly $100.00 & forgot to buy Peanut Butter!

As a matter of fact, when I got home I ended up going to Savemart & spending $65.00 more on groceries. I got some killer Steaks, Red Peppers, Peanut Butter & Cottage Cheese & cookies.

Additionally, I did score a fifth of Jim Beam Whiskey, a fifth of Smirnoff Triple Diamond Vodka & a fifth of Amaretto.

In closing, by now you have all heard about Demi Moore. She is one of my favorite actresses. From the movie St. Elmo's Fire to her revealing performance in the movie Striptease, she always puts on a good performance.

I wish her the best in her recovery. Honestly, she is lucky to be alive. Doing "whippets" is dangerous as hell. Nitrous Oxide is a fantastic high under the supervision of a qualified dentist. Believe me, I have been to the spirit world.

Inhaling pure Nitrous Oxide is the equivalent of playing Russian Roulette.

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REVIEW: LOS PATIOS 1500 7th STREET SACRAMENTO

2012-01-13T18:00:00.000-08:00

If you recall back in December I gave a preview of this restaurant. I had asked a patron how was the food? He replied with it's alright.

Today I was in downtown Sacramento & had some business to take care of.

So I decided to grab some lunch afterwards.

As I pushed open the door to Los Patios Restaurant located at 1500 7th street I noticed a very busy restaurant. The place was packed! Another thing that I noticed is that it was very clean.

Los Patios has a lot to offer. They have it all. Tacos, Enchiladas, Tamales, Burritos etc.

As I waited in line I looked over the menu.

The plan was to get a lunch plate to go.

By the time I made it to the front of the line I had decided on the Crispy Taco Lunch Plate. You have your choice of Tacos... Bean, Picadillo (Beef) or Chicken.

My choice was the Picadillo (Beef) Crispy Taco Plate. This was served with Rice, Beans, Lettuce, Tomato & a Flour Tortilla.

The price for the lunch plate was $6.29.

As I paid the Cashier, more people came pouring in.

With my order in I stepped to the side of the counter & took the place in.

Like I mentioned before there was a lot of business here. I observed the cashier taking orders & collecting money. There were three people in the kitchen working. Two women & one guy. The women were wearing hair nets while the guy was not. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

I observed another gentleman just outside the kitchen area taking the order tags & putting the meals together. Some orders were for the dining area & like my order, he was putting together items to go.

He was wearing no gloves as he grabbed the plastic utensils, food & bagged the items.

No big deal.

Periodically, he took some orders out to the customers in the packed dining area.

Then I noticed that he brought back a couple of plastic trays that the food had been served on.

I watched him take a towel from his work area & wipe off the two trays. He then placed one tray in a stack for new customers & then he placed the other tray on the serving area for the cooks in the kitchen. After he was done wiping off the two trays, he went over to the sink & washed his hands.

This was wierd. Hello?

Hey man, what about putting these used plastic trays in the dishwasher?

This was a no no in my book.

After a couple of minutes my order was bagged up & I was ready to go.

I walked outside to a bench near a water fountain & started to eat.

As advertised I had my Taco plate to go.

The first bite of my crispy taco caused the shell to crack & the contents landed into the Styrofoam container. Oh well, what are you going to do?

So I tried the rice & it was OK. I tried the beans & they were pretty good. I wish that I could have had a big bowl of these beans. They were quite tasty. I think they had some ham or bacon in them.

So then I tried my second taco with the same result. As I bit into it the shell it cracked & the contents dropped into my styrofoam container again. Bummer!

Basically, my two tacos exploded when I bit into them. Maybe the shells were old, I don't know.

I worked with what I had left & then I used the flour tortilla that was included in the meal to put together a burrito with all of the contents of my lunch.

The extra tortilla saved the meal for sure!

I will say that the food was OK. It wasn't off the hookor anything like that!

I give Los Patios 2 out of 4 stars!

Will I go back? Maybe I will go back for a Breakfast Burrito.

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REVIEW: FLAPJACK'S 2721 EL CAMINO AVENUE

2011-12-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

It was nice on this Christmas morning to find Flapjack's restaurant open. As I pulled into the restaurant parking lot located at 2721 El Camino Avenue, I remembered thirty years ago this was Walt's Restaurant. Then most recently a Country Waffles & now a new banner was on the building proclaiming the new business name of Flapjack's.

As I walked inside I was greeted & taken to a booth. The employee asked me if I wanted some coffee & I said yes, along with a glass of water.

Looking the place over it had appeared to be cleaned up a bit. Looked like a fresh coat of paint & I noticed a flat screen TV above the counter.

After my drinks were brought over my server greeted me & asked me if I was ready to order. I had looked over the menu & decided on sausage & eggs. This consisted of 3 pork sausage, 3 eggs over medium & two flapjacks.

So I took the place in. Lot's of seniors having breakfast. I just wondered if they had eaten this kind of food their whole life. You hear all of the nutrition folks talking about eating oatmeal for breakfast. Trust, these folks were not eating oatmeal. They were all enjoying a home cooked country breakfast.

As I waited for my order the parking lot continued to fill up.

In about 5 minutes my order was brought over to my table. That was pretty fast service for breakfast.

What a fantastic meal! Everything was fresh, the sausage was off the hook & the flapjack's were perfect. The coffee was good.

The total for my meal was $10.77 & I left a $3.00 tip for my server. Worth every penny!

I give Flapjack's on El Camino Avenue 3 out of 4 stars!

In closing I just want to wish all of my readers a Merry Christmas....

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REVIEW: THE DELI AT SAVEMART LOEHMANN'S PLAZA

2011-12-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

The other day I was headed home & was too tired to cook. So I stopped by the Deli at Savemart located in the swanky Loehmann's Plaza 2510 Fair Oaks Blvd.

Many of my readers know that I have made several cracks in the past about the high prices at Savemart.

Quite frankly, I was so hungry that money was no object.

I wanted some food to go! I wanted it now!

As I walked into the Loehmann's Plaza Savemart, I made my way to the Deli counter.

I will say that Savemart has a hell of a Deli counter. Nearby was a ton of cheese & french bread as well.

They have it all.

Turkey, roast beef, pastrami, rotisserie chickens, a ton of salads, stuffed grape leaves & more olives than I have ever seen in my life!

Chicken sounded pretty killer so I got several pieces of fried chicken & some 4 bean salad to go.

Let me say that it was an excellent decision! Wish I would have got some macaroni salad as well.

I give the Deli at Savemart 3 out of 4 stars!

Spread the word about this awesome Deli.

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OFF TOPIC: BIKER BUILD OFF JAMES VS THE TEUTELS

2011-12-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

I finally had the chance & free time to watch the American Chopper Biker Build off between Jesse James & The Teutels Jr. & Sr. on the Discovery Channel.

What was Paul Sr. thinking? Why did he build that thing with the flame throwers?

Paul Jr's bike was very unique. Unfortunately, the bike had a one gallon fuel cell that only gave it a 20 mile riding radius. Hello?

So if you wanted to ride from Sacramento to Reno you would have to fill up at least 12 times? What about the exhaust pipes coming out of the sides of the gas tank? Heat? Fumes? Hmmm..... All show, no go!

While Jesse James talked a lot of trash about the Teutel's I felt he in fact followed the rules of the build off & built a better bike.

He built everything from the frame, to the tank & front forks.

It was the best bike of the competition. You could ride his bike to Sturgis & look cool at the same time! It was a killer Badass Bike!

But he lost...........

Unfortunately it was just a popularity contest & Paul Jr. won.

Looking forward to more bike building competition on the Discovery Channel.

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NEW RECIPE: RICH MAN POOR MAN DINNER

2011-12-11T11:02:00.000-08:00

Yesterday after taking care of all of my chores,I started to think about dinner. Unfortunately, I hadn't had the time to buy groceries & I was too tired to go out.

With that being said, I started to consider my dinner options.

Looking through my cupboards I noticed that I had some beef top ramen, beans, corn, soup, a brand new grape jelly etc etc. Then I started to look through my empty refrigerator I spotted some baby carrots, milk, sliced cheese & jello. Then I looked through my freezer & spotted a frozen solid ribeye steak, a couple of burritos & ice trays. A steak sounded good. The date on the freezer bag said 11/11. This was my last steak as a matter of fact.

Hmmm...... Not much to work with.

Then is when it occurred to me. How about beef top ramen with baby carrots & ribeye steak?

Go for it!

I filled my sauce pan half way with water & put in 2 dozen baby carrots. I tore open the top ramen flavor pack & put it in with the carrots. I cranked up the stove on high to bring these to a boil.

I unwrapped the ribeye steak & put it in the microwave to defrost. After the defrosting was complete I seasoned the steak with olive oil, garlic salt, pepper & some McCormick's steak seasoning.

I out a little olive oil in the frying pan & on medium heat I started to cook the steak.

Usually I scorch the heck out of my steak in high heat. For some reason this time I cooked my steak on a lower heat for more time.

While this was going on I noticed that the water in the saucepan was beginning to boil, so I added the noodles to the saucepan.

Hey man, I was starving at this point! I didn't even bother to get out my camera to take pics for my blog.

I played with the heat on the saucepan & did a lot of stirring.

I flipped the steak a few times during the process.

After the three minute mark I put the noodles & carrots on a cool burner, then focused on the steak.

My guess is it was about 10 minutes or so to cook the steak.

I drained the noodles & carrots.

Let me say that this was a very good meal. Slow cooking the steak was an excellent idea. I seasoned the noodles & carrots with salt, pepper & Parmesan cheese.

Best of luck in the Kitchen!

THE LIST: NEW RESTAURANTS TO CHECK OUT

2011-12-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

Well by now all of my long time readers have discovered that I have reviewed just about every restaurant in the Arden Arcade area of Sacramento.

For my new readers, feel free to check out my reviews. You will see that over the past couple of years I have been to over 100 places to eat in Sacramento.

Quite frankly, I have enjoyed being "undercover" at all of these restaurants. I like going to restaurants, ordering a meal & checking out the people, then writing a review.

The restaurant business is a challenge. As a restaurant worker, you are "onstage" at all times.

Here are a few restaurants I have been thinking about:

1. The Squeeze Inn

2. The Big Bear Diner

3. Roxy in Reno, Nevada

4. Inn & Out Burger

5. Boston Market

6. Sonic

7. La Rosa Blanca

8. The Buggy Whip

9. Sam's Hof Brau on Watt Ave

10. The Golden Corral

11. P.F. Changs

12. Ruth Chris Steakhouse (I may have to pawn my watch)

Email me any suggestions at: Sacramentoblog@aol.com

Thanks!

ENGLISH 101: THE WRITING COPS

2011-11-20T07:51:00.000-08:00

Every once in awhile I have "the Writing Cops" trying to post nasty comments on my blog. Today was no exception, when I received a comment from Anonymous.

Anonymous was critical of my writing style, sentence structure, grammar etc.

At the end of the comment was the statement: Does this guy really think he can write?

I never proclaimed to be a Pulitzer prize winner or a national journalist.

In all honesty, I never said that I could write, I just do!

What's really funny is that I have been offered a guest writing spot for a local news agency here in Sacramento. I turned down the offer.

In closing, thanks for your constructive criticism. If you don't like my writing style, then by all means avoid stopping by. You can try, but I will not post any nasty comments about my writing skills on my blog.

If you can do better, then please start up your own blog and do so. Best of luck to you.

Have a great day!

REVIEW: FRESH MED 1120 FULTON AVENUE

2011-11-15T17:35:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday after writing my article about Abu's Cafe & Grill, I started to think about a place to check out for lunch.

So I did a few chores & then I headed over to Fresh Med located at 1120 Fulton Avenue "Suite I" for some lunch.

Fresh Med has been in business for about six month's & features Mediterranean Cuisine.

As I walked in the front door, I observed a pretty clean place. There was a family with two children having some lunch, other than that the place was empty.

I approached the counter & was greeted by the server. I asked him, so what do you have for lunch? He looked at me and told me that this was his third day on the job.

Fumbling around he found a menu & asked me where I wanted to sit. I told him over by the window would be great. He responded by saying no problem & told me that I was the V.I.P around here.

I asked for a diet coke & a glass of water.

As my server went to get my drinks I looked over the menu. Everything was affordable & seemed good.

After a couple of minutes he returned with my drinks & once again told me that it was his third day on the job.

Let me think. How can I say this? Hey man, my server had a Mohawk haircut!

So let me ask my readers, if you owned a restaurant, would you have a server with a Mohawk? Hello? I don't think so.

The owners should have told him to shave that off & he has a job.

This is a Mediterranean restaurant, not a rock concert.

The guy looked like a smaller version of Chuck Lidell.

Checking out the menu I decided on the Lamb Gyro. According to the menu, the Lamb Gyro lunch was served with rice, taziki sauce, a salad & pita bread for $8.99.

This sounded very good. All of my readers know that I love Lamb.

My server came back to my table once again & I gave him my order. He did mention that I might want to try the Nacho's as an appetizer. Nacho's? Not!

So anticipating my lunch I gazed out the window. Fresh Med is located right next to the Mello Me Out Day Spa. I did have the pleasure of seeing a couple of the employees come & go to work. The girls were all wearing tights & boots, along with Mello Me Out Day Spa T Shirts.

After a few minutes one of the employees from Mello Me Out Day Spa came in an ordered some soup. As this was going on one other guy walked in and was seated for lunch.

I was very eager to try this place out. I was thinking about taking all of the items & making a wrap out of them. This sounded so good!

After about 15 minutes my order was ready.

As advertised, the Lamb Gyro was in front of me. The rice was steamed long grain white rice. The salad looked good & the lamb was gyro style sliced thin. There was a small cup of the taziki sauce. But no pita bread.

Oh well, no big deal. I thought that I can wait for the pita bread. So I started to eat.

Yes, the rice was fresh, but had literally no taste. I like my rice cooked with butter & chicken broth. It's called flavor!

As far as the salad goes it had all of the makings of a salad. Lettuce, tomatoes etc. However, it was soaked in a combination of oil & vinegar.

The salad recipe seemed to be 50 parts vinegar & one part oil.

Then there was the Lamb. As I sampled the lamb, I kept saying to myself, hey man is this lamb?

After about 10 bites of this I asked the server, where is the pita bread?

His response was "It's coming right up".

Well yeah?

After a couple of minutes he came over with a small basket of pita bread & apologized. Then he asked me my name, he asked me what I did for a living etc.

Huh? What do you care buddy?

I was very tempted to tell him that I was a food blogger. But I didn't want to blow my cover.

I asked him about the restaurant & how long they had been open. He told me that they had been open six months & the owners had been in the catering business for over 30 years.

Then he walked away. I noticed that the pita bread was sliced into small triangles. I have to admit that the pita bread was good. That was about it.

So much for making a wrap out of these little triangles of pita bread & salvaging my lunch.

I hate to say this but the lamb was terrible.

It had the consistency of spam with no lamb taste. It tasted like some kind of mystery meat. Just plain awful.

I couldn't believe it.

It was like spray painting spam a dark gray color.

As I was trying to eat this terrible meal I kept thinking about how good Abu's Cafe & Grill once was.

Finally, I gave up. I just couldn't finish my meal.

I walked up to the counter and said, what do I owe you?

The server couldn't run the register, so he called a lady from the kitchen to take care of my bill.

Then he looked at me & said that the pita bread wasn't on the order, but not to worry, it's on the house. Oh great... Thanks for doing me a favor, Chuck!

With my drink the total for my meal was $10.91. I paid the lady & got out of there.

I think this was the first time that I ate at a restaurant & left no tip.....

On my drive home I kept saying to myself, Oh My God, that was terrible! Over & over, OMG that was terrible.

Never again!

I give Fresh Med Zero out of 4 stars!

It's safe to say that I took one for the team on this adventure!

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R.I.P. ABU'S CAFE & GRILL 1346 FULTON AVE

2011-11-13T10:41:00.000-08:00

Recently, I had heard through the grapevine that one of my favorite places to eat had closed down.

I remember when Abu's Cafe & Grill first opened, I was so eager to try out their food & write a review about the new restaurant. This is pretty much when I first started getting serious about writing my blog.

Their food was fantastic! I'm really going to miss their killer Lamburger & Fries!

So to put the rumor to rest about Abu's Cafe & Grill I took the trip down Fulton Avenue to check out the situation.

Unfortunately, the talk was true & Abu's was shut down. Empty & lifeless.

There were several signs posted including a notice from Coca-Cola, the notice stated that their equipment was still there & they wanted it back.

Also there was a "Notice to Vacate" complete with the Sacramento Sheriff's badge on the documentation.

Additionally there were several signs from the owner saying he was sorry to close the business. The owner talked about how the City of Sacramento had banned the use of "Hookah" in dining establishments. And that because of this decision, they were driven out of business.

Apparently, along with serving awesome food, Abu's had opened a Hookah lounge inside.

The sign posted by the owner also included an email address & said that he was going to fight the city about the Hookah ordinance.

I hate to be harsh, but for many years in California, it's a known fact that you can't smoke anything including cigarettes, cigars, pipes or "Hookah" in a restaurant.

Thus the crackdown on Abu's Cafe & Grill.

It's really sad because they had some killer food & it looked like they had dumped some money into the place to get it up & running.

What's really weird is that next door to the restaurant is an empty business. I believe this was at one time an optometrist. (Eye Glasses)

This spot would have been perfect for the Hookah Lounge & it would have been separate from the restaurant.

But hey, what the Hell do I know?

One thing that bothers me is that Abu's is in the County of Sacramento. Why should a city ordinance be applied to a county business?

In closing, also I noticed that another restaurant called Awful Wally's on Richards Blvd has been shuttered for the past couple of weeks.

I have been wanting to stop by & try out their Burgers. I heard they made a great Burger & it was a Blue Collar place.

Not sure if Awful Wally's has passed away as well.

Does anyone know of the fate of Awful Wally's?

Let me know, ok?

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A BLOG YOU MUST CHECK OUT:

2011-11-09T17:44:00.000-08:00

If you have taken the time to look over my blog, I'm sure that you realize that my style of cooking is kind of primitive.

I must confess that I'm a "Greasy Spoon" type of cook. Lot's of stove top items like Bacon & Eggs, French toast, Pasta, Burgers, Chili, Steaks etc.

If you want to check out some killer home cooked food, then you need to check out this blog called Simply Homemade.

These recipes have been handed down generation after generation.

The young lady that runs this blog is known as "Tiny Barbie"

She is a fellow blogger & longtime reader.

Most of all she is a fantastic cook!

Take a few minutes to check out her blog!

www.tinybarbie-simplyhomemade.blogspot.com

Or Google: Simply Home Made

EVENT: GOLDEN STATE NATIONALS AT CAL EXPO

2011-10-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the day checking out custom cars, listening to live music & enjoying some great food at Cal Expo courtesy of the Golden State Nationals. There were over 1000 custom cars to look at. Hey man, there was cold beer too!

For my readers that have never heard of "The Nationals" this is the top of the line car show that travels from state to state across America. Some call it the Holy of Holy's car show.

Please keep in mind that there is only one day left for this event. Rumor has it they will be giving away over $80,000 in Raffle prizes on Sunday October 9, 2011.

I had a great time today checking out cars & having a great lunch.

So if you are not doing anything on Sunday, stop by & check it out.

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REDEMPTION REVIEW: PIZZA HUT

2011-10-05T17:41:00.000-07:00

It had been quite sometime since I had done business with Pizza Hut. Quite frankly, when I would call them I would have to struggle with an employee that could barely speak the English language.

So after several months of not dealing with them, I gave them another chance. I had noticed in recent weeks they had been advertising a large pizza for just $10.00. Hey man, it was worth a shot.

So I dialed them up & got an American Citizen that was fluent in the English language!

I asked about the $10.00 pizza & the employee explained to me that it was a large pizza with all the toppings you want. Score!

Wow, what a deal. I ordered a large thin crust pizza with black olives, sausage, bell pepper & mushrooms.

The worker told me it would be $14.68 with the "Vig" delivery charge.

I agreed & was ready to munch. This time, I was sure to ask for Parmesan cheese & red pepper!

In about 20 minutes my delivery arrived. I gave the guy $16.00 in American cash & thanked him.

Let me say that Pizza Hut was right on the money. It was a great pizza & I had leftovers the next day.

I give Pizza Hut 3 out of 4 stars.

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REVIEW: MINI BURGER TRUCK

2011-10-01T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today was a fantastic day. There was no work, no boss, no drama, the weather was perfect & I found myself at a local charity event.

I spent the day at Tognottis' Auto World on Fulton Avenue checking out the Big T Classic Car show. Even custom car builder George Barris was there.

In case you didn't know George Barris built the Batmobile along with the Munster Coach featured in the 1960's TV show The Munsters.

Best of all the show was for free!

There is something very relaxing about checking out custom classic cars, listening to good music, people watching & having some very excellent food.

So there I was in perfect weather looking at all of these custom cars.

Then I got hungry!

For lunch there were a few options. CD Bistro & Deli had a booth near the entrance of Tognotti's Auto World. At one corner of the parking lot there was a food truck selling killer Mexican food.

On the other side of the parking lot there was the "Mini Burger Truck".

All of my long time & loyal readers know that I love a good American Hamburger. The Mini Burger Truck had that to offer.

To say the least it was a treat. I approached the Food Truck & ordered two mini Angus Burger's, Fries & an Ice Cold Pepsi in a glass bottle. The total for my lunch was under $10.00.

Since this was freshly cooked, it took about 15 minutes to get my order.

Hey man, it was off the hook!

The Burgers were greasy & very tasty. The fries were in fact Garlic fries!

It was a perfect lunch!

I would have to say that this was the best food that I ever purchased from a food truck! So tasty & filling.

Apparently they do catering work for various events in Sacramento. The Truck had MiniBurgerTruck.com labeled on the top part of the Food Truck for reference.

I give the Mini Burger Truck 3 out of 4 Stars.

It was a great lunch!

In closing, tell 5 people about this blog!

****************

REVIEW: THE SUPREME FRENCH TOAST BREAKFAST

2011-09-11T12:16:00.000-07:00

This morning I returned to Rosie's Country Kitchen located at 6233 Auburn Blvd up in Citrus Heights, Calif.

Not much has changed since my last visit. Keep in mind that Rosie's is not a fancy place. For many years it was known as the Ranch Cafe.

What Rosie's has to offer is a great meal at a fair price.

So as I walked in I was greeted by an employee & led to a booth. The restaurant was very crowded.

Shorty after sitting down my server came over & as usual I asked for a cup of coffee along with a glass of water.

Looking over the menu I decided on the Supreme French Toast Breakfast.

After a few minutes, my server brought over my drinks & I gave her my order.

The Supreme French Toast breakfast consisted of 4 slices of French Toast, 3 eggs which I ordered over easy & 4 sausage links.

This was a heck of a breakfast In about 10 minutes my order was brought over to me.

Lord have Mercy! For just $6.99 it was a ton of food! Delicious!

Oh Man, it was a fantastic meal. No need to eat for the rest of the day.

It was so good, I left a $6.00 tip.

I give Rosie's Country Kitchen on Auburn Blvd 3 out of 4 stars.

You really have to check this place out.

***********

CREATURE OF HABIT:

2011-08-24T13:12:00.000-07:00

Call me a creature of habit. My long time readers know that I stick to the Arden Arcade area for dining

Yes it's true, I will check out the restaurants in Carmichael or down on Del Paso Blvd. Every once in a while I will go to Midtown for lunch or maybe Old Sacramento. Perhaps I will head up to Reno for the weekend or cruise the central valley for a good place to eat.

Restaurants in Elk Grove or the South area quite frankly are not on my map. I just don't go there to eat.

With that being said, yesterday around 9:45 AM I found my self sitting at a booth at Eggie's restaurant located at 1650 Fulton Avenue.

When I walked into Eggie's restaurant the first thing I noticed was that the hostess had a pierced nose.

I asked for a booth & the pierced lady guided me to a booth next to a window. She asked me what I wanted to drink. I responded with a cup of coffee & a glass of water.

She was cute, but I had a hard time dealing with her pierced nose.

A couple of minutes later, she brought over my drinks.

Then another server walked up to take my order.

I asked for the Biscuits & Gravy special with my eggs over medium & two sausage links. This was $6.99

Keep in mind that Eggie's has been in the same location for nearly 40 years.

That says a lot. They know how too cook some breakfast.

Eggie's was very clean, but just don't look at the ceiling.

The owners need to close the place down & do a little re painting.

At the 10 minute mark, my server brought over my order.

It looked fantastic. At the same time she delivered my order, she placed the bill on the table.

This was very similar to the last time I was there. This made me feel like hurry up, eat & get out.

Why not wait a few minutes? Did they think I was going to dine & dash?

Tacky.............

The total for my meal was an even $10.00. Looks like they raised the coffee price to $2.29 since my last visit.

Needless to say it was a good breakfast & I took some leftovers home.

I give Eggie's on Fulton Avenue 2 out of 4 stars!

************

TONY BALONEY'S 5059 COLLEGE OAK DRIVE

2011-08-21T13:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday around 11:30AM I went to visit a close associate in Carmichael Calif.

Since it was around lunchtime I thought it would be a good idea to pick up some lunch for the two of us.

As I made my way up Auburn Blvd I thought of places to get some food. Pollo Loco? Crickets? Mc Donald's, Der Weinerschnitzel? Well no....

Then I thought about Tony Baloney's.

Located at 5059 College Oak Drive, Tony Baloney's has a lot to offer. Steak Sandwiches, Turkey Sandwiches, Meatball Sandwiches & of course the awesome Hot Pastrami Sandwich.

So as I pulled into the parking I made the call on my cell phone.

Hey, do you want a sandwich?

My associate was thrilled! Oh yes, for sure....

What do you want, I asked?

Naming off the selections, my associate said that Pastrami sounded good.

With that I walked in the front door.

Tony Baloney's is a clean family place that has been in business for a long time.

I approached the counter as asked for two Hot Pastrami sandwiches to go. The gal behind the counter asked if I wanted cheese on the sandwiches.

I said no....

Why ruin a Hot Pastrami Sandwich with cheese?

The I asked about Horseradish on the side & after consulting with the employee I decided on a Horseradish spread.

The total for the two sandwiches was $15.55.

I know, a little pricey.

Sitting at a booth I waited for my order.

After a few minutes I was good to go.

Let me say that this was an excellent lunch.

Well worth the money!

I give Tony Baloney's on College Oak Drive four out of four stars!

**********

PIZZA GUYS DROPS THE BALL:

2011-08-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

On Thursday I got home from work & was very stressed out. I didn't want to cook. Pizza sounded good, so I got out the phone book & started to look around.

Steve's pizza on Howe Avenue sounded pretty good. So I dialed the number. Then I got the message, "This number is no longer in service" Hello?

Does anyone know if Steve's Pizza on Howe Avenue is closed?

So I tried the number again. Da da da.... This number is no longer in service!

In the back of my mind I knew that Pizza Guys on Fulton Avenue always delivers a killer pizza.

So I dialed up Pizza Guys located at 1310 Fulton Avenue. There delivery number is 916-483-4444.

Pizza Guys, can you please hold? the employee said. I said OK.

A couple of minutes later the employee was back on the line. Pizza Guys, may I help you?

I said yes, I would like a large pizza with four toppings. I would like sausage, bell pepper, olive & mushrooms. This sounded like a good pizza to me.

The employee said that will be $18.04. He verified my address & told me it would be 45 minutes.

Cool..........

So one hour & five minutes later I get a knock on the door. That will be $18.04 the deliver man said. One thing I noticed was that the Pizza was not in one of those warmer bags.

I handed him $21.00 & asked, do you have Parmesan cheese & red pepper?

He told me that I need to call them for that. Are you kidding me? No red pepper, no Parmesan cheese? What a let down.

Basically I paid $21.00 for a luke warm pizza with not condiments.

As a matter of fact, the leftover pizza was better cold in the morning for breakfast.

Long story short, my old standby Pizza Guys dropped the ball.

For this review, unfortunately I have to give Pizza Guys one out of four stars!

*******

REDEMPTION REVIEW: MEL'S DINER 565 HOWE AVE

2011-07-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

It had been quite sometime since I had ate at Mel's Diner (The Original) located at 565 Howe Avenue. If you recall, the last time I was there it was kind of a let down. The customer service just wasn't there & the food was just OK.

Today would be the redemption of Mel's diner.

As I walked in the door I was greeted by my server. She had dark hair pulled back with unique blond highlights. She was cute & very polite. She led me over to a booth by a window & asked me what I wanted to drink. I asked for coffee & a glass of water.

For those of you that have never ate at Mel's the vibe is that of a 1950's diner, complete with a jukebox at every booth.

In a minute or two my server brought over my coffee & water. I had already figured out what I wanted on my drive over so ordering was easy.

I asked for French Toast & a side order of bacon.

With my order in I got up & got a couple of bucks worth of quarters for the juke box from the beautiful blonde cashier.

One thing I noticed is that despite being open 24 hrs a day Mel's was spotless.

I took some time looking through the juke box selections. As I was feeding in the quarters for music my order arrived.

Oh my God, six slices of French Toast & four strips of bacon? Wow, am I going to be able to eat all of this food.

So I gave it a shot.

There were maybe a half dozen people in the restaurant enjoying there morning meal.

As Etta James played on the juke box, I started on my Breakfast. Fantastic!

Talk about a killer breakfast. It was off the hook. I noticed at another booth people had ordered steak & eggs. They looked like they were from out of town, probably here for the State Fair.

My server topped off my coffee a couple of times during my meal.

Customer service was top notch. A major improvement from my last visit.

As Roy Orbison played "Dream Baby" on the juke box, that was it. I was stuffed. I couldn't eat another bite. It was a great breakfast.

Let me say that it's lunchtime right now & I am still full.

The total for my meal was $13.54.

Additionally I put $1.25 in the juke box & gave a $2.75 tip.

You do the math.

I give Mel's Diner (The Original) three out of four stars!

SATURDAY FEAST AT KFC:

2011-07-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Today I was up at the crack of dawn. I had a lot of things to do this morning.

So around noon my chores were winding down & as I was cruising down Arden Way I spotted Kentucky Fried Chicken. This sounded good because I had several coupons for KFC. Pulling into the drive thru area I looked in my center console & found the $10.00 seven piece meal deal coupon. Killer!

As I pulled up to the order area I said: "I have the coupon for the 7 piece meal deal".

The KFC employee said in a static voice, Wok mak wak wak wak(static) original, extra crispy or grilled?

Original I replied.

That will be $10.78 at the second window please.

It was like we were doing the deal on C.B. Radio.

Pulling up to the second window I handed over my coupon & $11.00 cash money.

The clerk handed over the food & I headed home.

Unwrapping everything I realized that I had really scored a killer lunch. There was 7pieces of golden brown chicken, biscuits, butter spread, coleslaw, mashed potatoes & gravy.

Hey man, what more do you really want?

It was an awesome meal & best of all I have leftovers for later in the evening.

I give KFC 4 out of 4 stars!

*********

HOUSE OF CHAN 2720 MARCONI AVE

2011-05-29T04:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very busy day. I was up at the crack of dawn & ended up at the Depot Park Car Show in Rio Linda,CA.

It was a good Free Event with plenty of custom cars & music.

For lunch I visited Tummy's Sub Shop across from Depot Park. Hey man, they still make a killer Hot Pastrami.

When I got home, I did some chores & the next thing I knew it was dinner time.

There was a problem. I didn't want to cook! Pizza for dinner? Nope. Maybe some Chinese food? It had been awhile, so I dialed the House of Chan at 916-486-9621.

The lady answering the phone said "House Chan" I asked do you deliver? Yes we do!

My order consisted of Egg Rolls, Vegetarian Chow Mein & Beef Fried Rice.

The lady on the phone said, total is $17.00, it will be 55 minute, ok?

That was fine by me, It was raining like hell & I was in no condition to drive.

Exactly at the 55 minute mark there was a knock on my door. I opened the door & a very old Chinese man said, Chinese Food!!! Hey this guy was so happy! He proclaimed loudly Yeah, Chinese Food... Chinese Food... Yey!!! Yey!!!! ha ha ha.... he laughed.

$17.00 dolla he said with a big smile. I handed him a $20.00 dollar bill & he thanked me.

Whatever this guy had been doing, I wanted some of that!

I have ate at the House of Chan for 20 years at least.

It was a good meal & I have plenty of leftovers.

I give the House of Chan 3 out of 4 stars.

**************

REVIEW: TOP DAWG 2014 DEL PASO BOULEVARD

2011-05-13T15:53:00.000-07:00

Today I left work early. Quite frankly, I just couldn't take it anymore.

So around 11:45AM I found myself driving down Del Paso Boulevard.

Then I spotted it! Sacramento Top Dawg! Lunchtime!!!

Sacramento Top Dawg is located in the heart of North Sacramento at 2014 Del Paso Boulevard.

I had been reading some reviews about this place from my rivals on the Internet & thought I would check it out.

Pulling up to the front of the business I made sure my car doors were locked.

When I walked in I was greeted with Diana Ross blaring on the radio. It was in fact a halfway clean restaurant. A couple of ladies had just ordered & took a seat. It looked like this was their first "Top Dawg" experience as well.

I approached the counter & looked over the menu board. I was greeted by a very polite & cute employee. She appeared to be in her 20's.

I decided on a Kraut dawg, fries & a small diet Pepsi.

She wrote down my order on a small pad & than rang it up on the register. Your total is $7.07 she said.

After paying her, I grabbed a table & took the place in. Diana Ross continued to sing. I noticed another lady behind the counter on her cell phone. Perhaps she was the owner.

Just then an older gentleman walked in. He had a injury to his face, like he either fell down or was punched my someone. It appeared that he was a regular.

The lady on the cell phone walked over & chatted with him, giving him a hug.

The old guy ordered a peanut butter milkshake.

The two ladies that had arrived before me were really into the place, talking loudly about the items on the menu board. They got sweet potato fries? Lord have mercy, that sounds good girl! They got Ribs too. Oh Hell yes!

They were in heaven!

The three of us started talking to one of the employees. Apparently, Thursday is the day to eat at Top Dawg. They have BBQ ribs, greens, Tri Tip Sandwiches & BBQ Chicken.

So if you go there to eat, go on a Thursday.

With our conversation coming to an end a new song started to blare on the radio. It was that song Band of Gold.

Just then a construction worker walked in, got a cool drink & left.

After a few minutes my order was brought over to me.

What a killer lunch! It had been awhile since I ate a good hot dog & this one hit the spot! The beef hot dog was tasty, the bun toasted on the grill & the Sauerkraut was off the hook. The fries were fresh & crispy!

For $7.07 it was a good lunch. As I enjoyed my Kraut Dawg, I looked out the window onto Del Paso Boulevard watching the dregs of society walk by. Lots of homeless, tweakers & gang bangers.

It was the hood & I kept an extra close eye on my car.

The two ladies finally wrapped up their meal, thanked the employees & left. They didn't leave anything in the tip jar.

So that just left me and the old guy. I started talking with him about Del Paso Boulevard.

As it turned out he was loaded with historical information about the street. We talked about Lil Joe's, the North Star, the Night Hawk, Sammy's & the Bob Les Club. I mentioned a cowboy place that used to be on the corner of Arden & Del Paso, but we couldn't figure out the name of it.

He told me that he had lived on Del Paso Boulevard for 19 years. He told me that the place we were eating in was once a Chinese restaurant. He also told me that he doesn't go out at night. Hmmm....

As I was finishing up the last of my fries a young man walked in. He had on baggy jeans & a white T shirt that was 18 sizes to big for him.

His right forearm covered in tattoos.

He practically laid down on the counter & said to one of the girls working there, what's up girl?

Yo Yo, what's up?

He got up off of the counter & started to sway back & forth. How ya'll doin? he asked. Yo... Yo... hook me up with a corn dog.... Yo... yo.... Hey girl, he continued... What's up? Yo... yo.... Can you give me a hot dog? C'mon girl, hook me up...

Can I gets a hot dog? Yo, can I gets a hot dog? C'mon girl... What's up? Yo, yo.... Makes me a hot dog, cool?

Swaying back & forth he said, what are you doing tonight? C'mon girl, hook me up...

The old man sitting next to me mumbled, "God Damn Del Paso Boulevard"

The ladies behind the counter resisted. They were not giving this guy anything for free.

What a loser, he couldn't even afford a hot dog.

After a few minutes the Casanova gave up & left, without a free hot dog.

I cleaned my plate & got up to leave. The old timer told me to have a good day.

I kicked up a couple of bucks into the tip jar & thanked the ladies for a great lunch. I also asked, was that guy trying to get a free hot dog from you?

She just waved her hand & rolled her eyes.

As I left the restaurant I noticed the Casanova a couple of doors down hanging out in front of the Barber Shop.

Talk about class.....

Anyway, overall it was a good lunch for a decent price.

Will I go back to Top Dawg? Yes I will, on Thursday for a Trip Tip Sandwich.

I give Top Dawg 2 1/2 stars out of 4 stars...

For a higher rating, turn down the volume down on Diana Ross & get rid of the beggars....

Have a great weekend!

**************

AKA INTERNATIONAL FOOD & GROCERY 1826 FULTON

2011-05-07T11:24:00.000-07:00

Early this morning I had a lot of things to take care of. Laundry, Gas station, Bank & grocery shopping.

When I returned from getting groceries I discovered that I had forgotten to buy tomatoes, Damn it! Don't you just hate that?

I didn't want to go back to the grocery store & I had a couple of more errands to run. So, I hit the streets once again.

I remember this place on Fulton Avenue with large banners on the front of the building that said "Fresh Produce Daily"

I thought OK, I will get my tomatoes there....

AKA International Food & Grocery is located at 1826 Fulton Avenue. As I pulled into the parking lot I noticed a large display of various apples & melons.

As I walked inside I noticed a large selection of fruits & vegetables.

Additionally, there was an awesome inventory of can goods, drinks, eggs, dolma, pita bread, Humus, pasta, garlic spread, olives etc.

OMG, it was a killer score!

I picked up my tomatoes, an onion, humus, dolma & pita bread.

The guys working there were great!

If you are in the neighborhood, I strongly suggest that you check this place out!

I give AKA International Food & Grocery 4 out of 4 stars!

***********

SITTING AT THE COUNTER: EGGIE'S 1650 FULTON AVE

2011-04-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

Last night was a heck of a night. I enjoyed several ice cold beers along with a few vodka shots. Lord have mercy.

As the young people call it, I got faded last night....

This morning was a much different story. I came to realize that I'm not 26 anymore.

Whew, I was hungover to say the least. Do you feel me?

I knew the only way to recover was to have a good breakfast.

Around 9:30 AM I pulled into the parking lot of Eggie's restaurant located at 1650 Fulton Avenue. I knew Eggie's had the cure to my situation.

When I walked in I was greeted by the hostess, she was a very attractive young lady maybe 19 or so. She was a brunette with this sexy milk white skin & a pair of jeans that looked fantastic on her.

She smiled at me & I said "Just one"

Want to sit at the counter she asked, I said OK, after all I was pretty burnt out & I didn't want to fight for a booth. The place was jam packed & hogging a booth wouldn't have been cool this morning.

She poured me a cup of coffee & I asked for a glass of ice water. I noticed that her jeans were skin tight. She was a very attractive young lady.

As I put creamer in my coffee I spilled it all over the counter. Despite 4 people working behind the counter, nobody mopped up my mess. No big deal I guess.

Feeling like I had been in a street fight with Mike Tyson, I looked over the menu.

After a few minutes I decided on the Biscuit & Gravy Special for $6.99.

This consisted of one huge biscuit with gravy, two eggs which I requested over medium & two pork sausage links.

I submitted my order to the server & drained my cup of very good coffee.

With my cup empty I waited for a refill. You would figure that sitting at the counter you would get some quick service. Unfortunately, This was not the case.

As I listened to the lady next to me talking on her cell phone I waited in anticipation for my next cup of coffee.

Then I waited some more... The lady next to me kept gabbing on her cell phone. Blah blah blah.... Even the lady on the right side of her was on her cell phone as well. Blah blah blah... Jesus, enough already. Are you that important?

Looking further down the counter I spotted a guy with a pierced nose. Over at one of the booths was a family complete with screaming children. Plus I had a killer hangover. I hate noise!

Nice huh?

Oh well, what are you gonna do?

One of the things when you sit at the counter of a restaurant you get a "bird's eye view" of what is actually going on.

I observed a few servers grabbing orders & taking care of business. I noticed directly across from me was a very old & crusty restaurant toaster. It was the type of toaster that you feed bread & English muffins into on the top & they ride through, get toasted, then fall to the bottom for pickup.

I observed one server feeding the toaster. Her bare hands were all over the bread & English muffins. Then another server walked up & started to feed the toaster. After a couple of minutes another server started feeding the toaster bare handed.

It was a major toast production, Six bare hands all over the customers toast.

This was something that I didn't want to see.

While this was going on the cute hostess walked over & bent over right in front of me getting something out of one of the cupboards.

I had the pleasure of discovering that she was wearing a floral print thong! You go girl! Oh yes... Nothing like an impromptu thong shot to start the day!

Another thing that I observed sitting at the counter were the cooks.

They were working very hard putting the orders together. One cook was wearing a baseball hat. He appeared to be starting to grow a beard. He had maybe a weeks worth of beard growth manicured & shaped. You know what the start of a beard looks like, right?

I thought cooks can't have full beards.

Then I spotted the other cook. He had hair combed straight back like Jimmy Conway on the movie Goodfella's. He was not wearing a hat or hairnet. Additionally, he was sporting a goatee.

If you know the rules & regulations regarding a cook's hair, please shoot me an email at Sacramentoblog@aol.com. I am very curious about this.

With still no refill for my coffee & creamer all over the place I asked the busboy for a refill.

Finally, filling my coffee, I told the busboy, thank you sir.

The spilled creamer remained on the counter.

After a few minutes my order was ready & my server mopped up the creamer. Thank God!

I will say this, the breakfast was excellent!

It was a massive portion of biscuits & gravy. The eggs & sausage were perfect.

It was in fact, a great breakfast.

So there you have it!

$6.99 for the breakfast.

$1.99 for the coffee.

With tax, the total was $9.49.

I left a $2.00 tip.

There was so much biscuits & gravy I asked for a take home container.

Looks like I will enjoy biscuits & gravy for breakfast tomorrow.

I give Eggie's at 1650 Fulton Avenue 2 out of 4 stars!

Will I go back to Eggie's?

Despite everything, I will return.

***********

ROAD TRIP: OUT OF TOWN RESTAURANTS

2011-04-09T19:56:00.000-07:00

This morning my day started around 4:00AM. I had a couple slices of white toast with grape jelly along with two large mugs of coffee.

For today was a special day.

My crew was going to take a road trip to pay our respects to the dead.

Quite frankly, I have more respect for the people in my life that have passed away versus than the living. Do you feel me?

With a descendant of Parnelli Jones as our driver, we hit the highway & headed South on Highway 99 at speeds exceeding California speed limits.

Travelling at 70 MPH plus we found ourselves at the Flying J Truck stop in Ripon Calif. The Flying J located at 1501 Jack Tone Road. It features a Truck Stop, General Store & a Denny's restaurant.

We entered the Denny's restaurant only to discover a brand new restaurant

Hey man, it was spotless!

We ordered a variety of breakfast selections including: A Denver Omelet, A ham & cheese sandwich, A side order of bacon & as for me I create my own Grand Slam including two Eggs, Hash browns, Bacon & Pancakes.

Great food.

This restaurant was off the hook!

Lot's of Flat Screen TV's, excellent staff & awesome food.

Once again, Very very clean!

The total for our group of four travelers was $38.50 & change.

I gave a tip & paid the bill....

I give Denny's at the Flying J truck stop 3 out of 4 stars.

Then we hit the road once again on Highway 99 South.

To say the least, it was a long Journey.

After a long ride & 172 miles later from check point Charlie we landed in the Mecca known as Fresno, Ca

We payed respects to our family members & then decided to get some lunch.

The plan was to check out George's Shish Kabob on Blackstone Avenue.

Heading up Blackstone Avenue we kept checking out the numbers of all of the businesses.

After a few minutes, we spotted our destination.

George's Shish Kabob is located at 6680 Blackstone Avenue!

As our group walked into George's, we noticed a very nice place.

Sitting at our table we couldn't help but notice the smell of the fresh grilled lamb, it was fantastic!

We ordered a variety of lunch specialties including Chicken Kabobs, the lamb Kabob lunch including a salad & the lamb Kabob sandwich with rice pilaf & the Lamb kabob sandwich with fries.

Talk about anticipation............

Let me say that George's was worth the drive.

After about 10 minutes our lunch was brought over to our table....

One word describes our lunch.

Excellent...

It was a great meal & I wish I could eat there every day!

The total for our lunch was in the $50.00 range.

I give George's Shish Kabob on Blackstone Avenue 4 out of 4 stars.

If you are ever in Fresno, be sure to check this place out.

***********

THE WATERFALL BUFFET AT RED HAWK CASINO

2011-04-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

Today I had the pleasure of good company & good food at the Waterfall Buffet located inside the Red Hawk Casino.

Red Hawk Casino is located at 1 Red Hawk Parkway in Placerville California, up highway 50 just past Shingle Springs. It has plenty of casino action along with several restaurants including the Koto Grille, The Two Rivers Cafe, The Waterfall Buffet, Henry's steakhouse & Pearl featuring Asian Cuisine.

If you look at my older posts you can see that on my last outing I visited the Two Rivers Cafe. It was ok.

But today was a different. The Waterfall Buffet was off the hook! Our group enjoyed everything from sushi, to a large selection of Italian food, Mexican food, Asian food & an all American cuisine.

Personally I enjoyed slow roasted Pork Loin, coleslaw, mac & cheese, vegetables & garlic bread. The rest of the group had sushi, chicken, enchilada's, Italian meatballs etc.

Hey man, it was all good! No complaints!

To top it of the deserts were fantastic!

Well worth the $11.99 per person.

Way better than the buffet at Thunder Valley!

I give the Waterfall Buffet at Red Hawk Casino 4 out of 4 stars!

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE PREP WORK

2011-03-20T07:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after I got home from the grocery store I decided to have a killer lunch.

As you all know, a good meal involves some prep work. My lunch was going to consist of a thin cut T Bone Steak, red peppers, onions, cooked carrots, potatoes & a salad.

Starting first with the salad I washed & chopped up some iceberg lettuce along with a vine ripe tomato. I also added a few slivers of white onion. I put the salad in the refrigerator to chill out.

I wanted some cooked carrots, so I took some baby carrots & put them in a microwaveable container with enough water to cover them. These will be "nuked" for five minutes while I'm cooking the steak.

I sliced a white onion, 1 red potato & 1 small red pepper.

Coating my frying pan with olive oil & on medium high heat I tossed in the potato, red pepper & onion. I stirred them for maybe 3 or 4 minutes until they started to glisten. This smelled so good! You can't beat peppers & onions.

After the 4 minute mark, added in my thin cut T Bone Steak. I just put a little salt & pepper on the steak, because a T Bone speaks for itself.

I cooked the steak 4 minutes on each side while stirring around the peppers, onions & potatoes.

It was an excellent lunch!

REVIEW: JACK IN THE BOX 1001 HOWE AVE

2011-03-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday around 3:00 PM I developed a yearning for a Burger. With Jack in the Box close by I decided to pick up a meal at the Howe Ave & Enterprise Drive location.

As I entered the drive thru area I checked out the menu board. Usually I just get a Jumbo Jack, but I was feeling adventurous & decided on a Sirloin Burger.

Approaching the "squawk box" I was greeted with "Welcome to Jack in the Box" may I take your order?

I asked for the number 2 with a Diet Coke for my drink. The "number 2" consisted of the Sirloin Burger with Swiss cheese & mushrooms, served with fries & a drink.

The employee responded with do you want bacon? Hey why not? Sure bacon sounds good. Do you want curly fries? No I said, regular fries are ok.

Your total will be $8.13 at the window. $8.13? Dang, that's pretty steep for Jack in the Box.

But hey I was getting a Sirloin Burger, remember?

The cashier was polite while we did the exchange of cash for food & I headed home.

This was going to be good!

The smell of fries filled my car as I pulled in the driveway of my home.

Sipping on my drink, I got out a plate & unwrapped my burger. It looked excellent. Not too many fries, but hey what are you going to do? I guess you could call them fries light.

As I took the first bite, I felt that something was just wrong. Yuk, this is terrible. Do I take it back? What is it? Why is this so bad? Was it the mushrooms? Were the mushrooms bad? Blech... Usually you can't go wrong with this type of Burger.

Investigating further I noticed that the bacon appeared to be a little on the raw side. Hello? The bacon was still pink. Are you kidding me? Now you would figure a burger place has a grill & they could grill up some bacon or even throw some in the deep fryer. It looks like they just microwaved the bacon to warm it up & then put it in the burger.

I still have doubts about the mushrooms as well.

Shame on you Jack in the Box for putting out such a sub par meal.

You are officially in the penalty box. I will not spend any money in your place for 180 days!

I give Jack in the Box one out of 4 stars.

RECIPE: TSUNAMI CHICKEN WITH RED BEANS & RICE

2011-03-11T08:48:00.000-08:00

First let me say that my thoughts & prayers go out to the Tsunami Victims in Japan.

Hang in there!

Yesterday I put together this meal & today I will name it Tsunami Chicken with red beans & rice.

So yesterday, As I looked into my freezer I discovered a bag of "Fast & Fixin" Chicken breast strips. Nothing like "fresh from the freezer" food!

Putting the chicken breast strips into a pan, I drenched them with a tidal wave of olive oil & covered them with garlic salt. The cooking time was 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

I got my rice cooker going with 1 1/2 cups of white rice, some margarine & a can of chicken broth.

I opened a can of red beans & put them in a microwaveable container.

As my chicken strips were baking in the oven I prepared a simple salad with Iceburg lettuce, tomatoes & green pepper.

As the rice was finishing I Nuked the Red Beans.

After 15 minutes, I pulled the chicken tenders from the 400 degree oven & put together my meal! Ouch, it was hot!

There you have it. Tsunami chicken with red beans & rice, along with a simple salad.

Enjoy!

********

EMPLOYEE COOLS OFF AT THE CHEESECAKE FACTORY

2011-03-05T05:26:00.000-08:00

Since it's been built, I have been by the Cheesecake Factory in the Arden Fair Shopping center at least a 1000 times.

What a beautiful restaurant. In the back of my mind I have been wanting to do a review of this place.

This morning as I was checking out the local news I read a story about the Cheesecake Factory.

Allegedly, an employee thought it would be funny to stick her butt in the Ice Machine to "cool off" her cheeks while another employee took a picture of it. What on earth were they thinking? Stick your butt in the Ice Machine? WTF? Hello?

This picture ended up on Facebook & now the employees are in trouble.

Well, I don't think I will be going there for awhile. If I do go, I think I will pass on the ice water. No Diet Coke or Pepsi either!

Remember in the restaurant business you are always on stage, even after hours. People are watching your every move. Get it together people!

So what do you think? Should both of the employees be fired?

***********

REVIEW: WILLIE'S BURGERS 5050 ARDEN WAY

2011-02-26T13:02:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week while checking out a local news site I read about Willie's Burgers on Arden Way.

So today, I decided to check them out.

It was around 10:30AM when I called to get the business hours & directions.

The phone rang twice & a lady answered. "Willie's Burgers" may I help you? I asked what time did they open. She responded with 10:45. Then I asked, so you are at Arden Way & what? What's the cross street? Click, bzzzzzzzzzzzz... She hung up on me?

Yes, she hung up. Woa, did she know I was a Blogger? Did she know that I did Restaurant reviews? This was not a good start the review of this place.

So I turned on the TV did Comcast On Demand & watched "Skins" on MTV & then around lunchtime I hit the road in search of 5050 Arden Way. After a 15 or 20 minutes of driving, I found it. Willie's Burgers is located at the corner of Arden Way & Fair Oaks Blvd in Carmichael.

The parking lot was packed as I pulled in. Walking through the door there was a line at the order counter.

It was a full house.

Looking around I tried to figure out the vibe of this place. Some of the walls had a large checkerboard pattern on them, some of the walls were covered in steel, the floor was exposed unfinished concrete & the ceiling was some type of steel.

Very unique.

The tables were stainless steel. The seats were a combination of wood & steel.

Regardless of the decoration they were doing a serious business in this restaurant.

As I made it to the counter I ordered a Slammer 2 burger with Swiss cheese & bacon, regular fries & a small soda. (Free refills)

The total was $8.70. My order number was 164.

I filled my soda & found a small table near the window facing Fair Oaks Blvd. The warm sun felt good as I waited with anticipation for my order.

After 10 minutes my order was ready.

Now I know why there were so many people in this place. The food was fantastic!

Nothing like a Home Style Burger with the works! Plenty of fries as well. As I devoured this incredible burger I forgot about the employee hanging up on me earlier. She probably was so busy, she didn't have the time to hold my hand & give me directions.

This is a family place that puts together a great meal.

Good food & good prices. A clean place.

I give Willies Burgers 3 out of 4 Stars!

************

OFF TOPIC: SACRAMENTO GAS PRICES

2011-02-24T17:43:00.000-08:00

Although this blog is about the Sacramento restaurant scene, we all have to get there. Right?

We don't take a bus to dinner & we don't ride a bike to dinner.

We drive........

Today as I paid $3.99 a gallon for gas I thought to myself. What's going on? Is this all about the problems in the middle east? Or perhaps is it speculators doing the pump & dump thing all over again?

A couple of years ago Candidate Obama was on the campaign trail talking about clean coal technology, solar power & wind power. Remember?

Then there was the oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens talking about propane power for our vehicles. T. Boone Pickens proclaimed that there was enough propane in the United States to power all of our vehicles at a much lower cost.

He also said that it would be beneficial to our vehicles since they would run cleaner & last longer.

Fast forward two years.

Obama is our President & gas is now $3.99 a gallon.

T. Boone Pickens is nowhere to be found.

So what's the deal?

Personally I think that $2.50 a gallon is a fair price. What do you think?

Have a great weekend & enjoy a half tank for $40.00.

Peace......

***********

IHOP RESTAURANT SHOOTING LEAVES 1 DEAD:

2011-02-20T07:30:00.000-08:00

Early Sunday morning violence broke out at the IHOP restaurant located on the 2900 block of Advantage way. I presume this is in the Natomas area of Sacramento.

Apparently heated words were exchanged around 2:40 AM leading to a fight inside the restaurant. When the fight spilled outside into the parking lot one person was fatally shot.

No arrests have been made at this time.

It's really sad that you can't have some breakfast after a night of partying anymore. It seems that everyone is carrying a firearm.

UPDATE: Angry mourners attack Fox 40 News Crew

Sunday afternoon Fox40 reporter John Lobertini and photojournalist Rebecca Little went to the IHOP parking lot & approached a handful of mourners gathered there. They were looking to do a story on the event. Nothing more.

Within moments, a dozen people ran from an adjacent parking lot and charged the journalists, screaming obscenities.

One woman grabbed Little's hair and pulled her to the ground. Another kicked her in the face. At least one man punched Lobertini as he attempted to protect Little.

Other mourners tried to stop the attack, but later insisted it was the journalists' fault for intruding on a private event.

Afterward, Little and Lobertini looked stunned, their faces marked with red abrasions and swelling. Little said she was merely trying to do her job by covering the gathering on a public sidewalk. She said she had meant no disrespect to the mourners.

This is what we don't need. What we need is to have some people come forward with information about the shooting. No more violence.

If you scroll down & look at the left side of my blog page, I have posted a few YouTube videos of the attack that occurred outside of the IHOP.

Let's work together to get this crime solved.

By the way, this story has gone National.

Once again, if you have information, make a call to 916-443-HELP.

************

***************

SPECIAL THANKS: GRINDERS CONCESSIONS

2011-02-12T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today at the Autorama Car Show I had the pleasure of enjoying a killer Hot Pastrami Sandwich from the Grinders Concession Trailer.

It was a fantastic lunch!

If you go to the Car show, be sure to check out Grinders!

***********

EVENT: SACRAMENTO AUTORAMA AT CAL EXPO

2011-02-10T18:23:00.000-08:00

If you are looking for something to do this weekend, you might want to check out the Sacramento Autorama at Cal Expo.

For myself, this has been a family tradition for many years. The Cal Expo Fairgrounds will be loaded with custom cars, hot rods & motorcycles.

Rumor has it the cast from the hit movie American Graffiti will be there as well.

It's a good way to relax & enjoy the weekend.

Keep in mind the Autorama is a family friendly atmosphere.

Live bands as well...........

I am looking forward to sipping on some $9.00 Heineken's & having a great lunch.

There usually are several food vendors on site serving everything from hot dogs to steak sandwiches.

I will seek out a Hot Pastrami Sandwich & Garlic fries!

Admission is $18.00 for adults.

Discount tickets are on sale at O'Reilly auto parts (Formerly Kragen Auto parts)

See you there!

UPDATE:

Just got back from the show!

Lot's of nice cars, a cool live band, good food & plenty of ice cold beer.

In addition, there were a couple of ladies from Hooter's restaurant posing for photographers & handing out discount coupons to their restuarant.

One more day left! Be sure to check it out.

**********

**********

SUPERBOWL RECIPE: CROSS COUNTRY FAJITAS

2011-02-05T16:41:00.000-08:00

Today I was in the International Food Market on Fulton Avenue. I picked up a couple of cans of dolma (stuffed grape leaves) & then I went over to the refrigerated section & grabbed a container of Jericho Classic Humus.

Then I started thinking about a killer meal. Everyone knows about the Tex Mex Food Scene & Fajitas. Right?

What about some cross country fajitas? It would be a blend of worldwide flavors. I have the ingredients & the time. What the hell, I think I will go for it!

Here's the game plan for my Cross Country Superbowl Fajitas & this is what I have to work with:

1. One 8 oz New York Steak, cut into thin slices.

2. 1/2 red pepper cut into thin slices

3. chopped lettuce.

4. chopped tomatoes

I will fry the steak & peppers in olive oil on medium high heat. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Fry until the steak is a Carmel color & the peppers are glistening.

Prepare the flour tortilla by spreading a thin coat of Humus on it. If you like, you can use horseradish or mayo. It's up to you!

Maybe add in some pinto beans or brown / white rice.

Roll up the tortilla with all the ingredients: Lettuce, tomato, humus, red pepper, steak etc.

Red rooster hot sauce?

Sound good?

It would be a blend of American, Mexican & Middle Eastern.

Have a few Dolmas on the side with some green olives!

If you are feeding a bunch of people for the game simply increase all of the ingredients mentioned above.

A few steaks, a few red peppers, more lettuce, tomatoes etc.

Set up a table with all of the ingredients & let your guests build their own fajita.

Hey it sounds better than chips & dip, right?

Have a good game. I don't know about you, but I have 4 squares in the office pool.

As for me, I can't wait, I'm off to the Kitchen to try this one out.

Be sure to tell a few people about this blog, especially if you are overseas & in the Military. I'm always looking for new readers!

Peace......

*****************

REVIEW: MOUNTAIN MIKE'S PIZZA

2011-02-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

Last night after a very stressful work day I got home, cracked open a beer & had a smoke. As a matter of fact, I cracked open a few beers.

It was one of those days.....

So with that being said I started wondering about dinner.

I remembered that Mountain Mike's Pizza was on my "to do" list for my blog.

Thumbing through the Sacramento phonebook I spotted the number for Mountain Mike's Pizza.

So I dialed the number & I got the response "Mountain Mike's Pizza, can you hold?" Yes, I said.

Thirty seconds later another person came on the line & gave me the run down on the specials.

I was interested in a medium combination pizza. The employee then told me about the medium Everest pizza with nine toppings. Nine toppings, woa...

I passed on the salami & was cool with everything else. He took my info & told me it would be 45 minutes to an hour.

With delivery & various "Vig" charges the total would be $19.03.

That sounded good. I could wait an hour for dinner, after all, it wasn't like Jennifer Aniston was coming over or anything like that.

So true to his promise, after nearly 1 hour of waiting, there was a knock at my front door. I had $23.00 cash ready for the delivery person.

I cracked open the door & the delivery guy said, Hi, that will be $19.03.

I responded with, do you have any Parmesan cheese & red pepper?

He looked at me & said, I only bring that if it's on the tag.

WTF? Are you kidding me? No Parmesan cheese or Red pepper?

What's the world coming too?

I handed him a $20.00 bill & held back the extra $3.00. He thanked me & walked off into the darkness.

Hey, I have to say that it was an excellent pizza. I ate almost all of it!

In closing, let me say that if you are a Pizza delivery guy or gal, always have some Parmesan Cheese & Red Pepper on you.

I give Mountain Mike's Pizza 3 out of 4 Stars.

**************

THE DUTCH TREAT: FOX & GOOSE 1001 R STREET

2011-01-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

On Friday I met a few associates for lunch at the Fox & Goose Public House located at 1001 R Street.

The lunch agreement was a "Dutch Treat" situation. That sounded good to me.

As we walked in the front door at high noon we realized that we should have made a reservation. The Fox & Goose was filled to the gills. This place has been in business since 1975. In other words, they serve some good food!

So the four of us had a seat in the waiting area. I looked the place over. The building is an original (O.G.) structure from Sacramento's past. Lot's of exposed brick, large timbers, old windows & hard wood floors. There was a separate bar area with patrons sipping beers on their lunch hour. As we waited a group of men wearing suits walked in & were quickly escorted to their table. (Reservations who needs them)

After a 30 minute wait our group was finally seated. Our server took our drink order & handed us menus.

The first thing I noticed while looking over the menu was the wiggly table. I investigated & noticed that the table had been "shimmed" with a couple of match books. One of the match books had worked it's way loose. I crawled under the table & made the adjustment. Problem solved!

After repairing the table our server returned with our drinks & went over the specials being served.

Has anyone ever ordered the special when the server does this?

So we put in our order:

1. Fish & Chips ($9.25)

2. Steak Sandwich ($11.50)

3. Portobello Mushroom Sandwich (8.75) My friend is Vegetarian, I feel sorry for her.

4. I ordered the Pub Burger with Swiss Cheese. ($8.95 + $1.25 for the Swiss cheese)

With the table fixed & our order in we engaged in a little conversation. As we sipped our $2.25 soft drinks, I kept looking over the structure of the building. It was unique. Maybe early 1900's. There were windows near our booth, but you couldn't see out of them. Plants lined the window sills. Lot's of brickwork.

It took quite some time for our order to arrive, but the place was very crowded. This was understandable. There was no economic downturn here.

As for the food, it was off the hook! Fantastic. I couldn't have asked for a better lunch. My associates agreed, it was some excellent food.

At the end of the meal we all allegedly kicked in our fair share.

Since I didn't have control of the bill, I can't give you the final total.

Will I go back to the Fox & Goose? Yes, but I will get Reservations next time!

I give the Fox & Goose 3 out of 4 stars.

*****

REVIEW: CAFE' MOROCCO 1221 ALHAMBRA BLVD

2011-01-17T15:50:00.000-08:00

Today for lunch I had the pleasure of checking out Cafe' Morocco located at 1221 Alhambra Blvd. This Mediterranean restaurant is nestled in a strip mall near the corner of Alhambra Blvd & Capitol Avenue.

As I walked through the door I noticed that the restaurant was clean & cozy. Maybe a dozen tables in the entire place.

The server greeted me & told me to have a seat anywhere you want. I grabbed a table near the kitchen & told my server that I would like a diet Coke & a glass of water.

She smiled & handed me a menu. Mediterranean music filled the air. There were maybe five or six people seated, eating lunch.

I took a look at the well used menu & noticed that Cafe' Morocco had a lot to offer. After a couple of minutes my server brought over my drinks & I continued looking over the lunch selection.

Then I spotted what I was going to have for lunch. Listed under the Appetizers section was "Mezzeh #1". It was a combination plate that included: humus, baba ganooj, dolma & falafel. This was served with warm pita bread. At $11.95 this was the perfect lunch!

My server returned to my table & I gave her my order.

So, I took the place in. There were these bamboo shades covering the windows. I thought that was pretty cool. Lot's of pictures on the walls giving the place a relaxing Mediterranean vibe. Near the kitchen area there were a bunch of framed newspaper articles about the restaurant. Additionally, there were framed items from the from Sacramento News & Review awarding the restaurant "Best of Sacramento" for it's past achievements.

After about 15 minutes or so, my server brought over my lunch. I asked her how long they have been here & she responded with "we have been here 27 years".

In other words, Cafe' Morocco has endured the test of time.

My lunch was excellent! The humus & pita bread were off the hook. The dolma appeared to be freshly made, not something out of a can. The falafel was good & the baba gonooj was unique. And the the green olives were fantastic! Wish I could have got a jar of those olives to go!

It was a good first time experience.

I noticed on the dinner menu the most expensive thing was the Shish Kabob Combination Dinner for $21.95. This included soup or salad as well as your coffee or soft drink and dessert.

This would be a nice relaxing place to have a dinner date.

Belly Dancing is featured on Friday & Saturday nights! Reservations are suggested. The restaurant is closed on Sundays for private parties.

In closing, the total for my lunch was $15.00 even.

I left $20.00 in the little black book & headed home.

I give Cafe' Morocco 3 out of 4 stars.

Will I go back? Oh yes, for sure!

If you go to Cafe' Morocco, tell them you read about their place on Sacramento Blog Uncut. Thanks!

********

BUYER BEWARE: AVOID SHELL MINI MART

2011-01-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

Many loyal Sacramento Blog Uncut readers know that I enjoy drinking my share of Ice Cold Barley Pops.

Nothing like the taste of an Ice cold beer after a hard day of work.

With that being said, here is my blog entry for the day:

So the other day I am headed up Arden Way in the late afternoon traffic. I kept thinking about my beer inventory at home. I knew I had a few beers left, but it's always a good idea to keep a well stocked refrigerator.

I noticed directly across from the Arden Fair Shopping Center, the Shell Gas Station & Minimart.

This location on Arden Way has been a Shell Gas Station for over 30 years. Back in the day it was a small operation, but it had a complete service center. If you needed a tune up, oil change, fan belts, a new tire or a flat repair, they would hook you up. They were a good crew. America used to be a great country.

If you needed someone to pump your gas, wash your windows, check your radiator, check the oil & all of the fluid levels on your car's engine, they had a full service island at the station. Before I forget, the air for your tires was Free!

Fast forward 30 years:

I pull into the Arden Way Shell Gas Station / Minimart. As I walked through the automatic doors I headed towards the Beer cooler. They have a full selection of beer. They have it all. Anchor Steam, Heineken, Budweiser, Coors, Miller, Corona, Tecate, Steel Reserve & Mickey's Big Mouth.

One thing they didn't have on display were the prices of the beer. WTF? No Prices?

I looked over at the Cashier & he had a long line. People buying gas, car washes & he also had a group of girls buying snacks & cigarettes. They had to show their ID cards & then swipe their debit cards to pay for their stuff.

Looking back inside the cooler I spotted an employee stocking Beer. With my head in the cooler I asked, how much for a 12 pack of Budweiser? There was no response.

Once again I asked, Yo, how much for a 12 pack of Corona? There was no response from the employee. The clerk was 3 feet away from me, but ignored my questions. He was dogging me. This was a major sign of disrespect.

The line at the Cashier's grew even longer.

And finally I said, Excuse me, Hello? Hey, how much for an 18 pack of Miller Genuine Draft? The employee continued to ignore me. Still no response.

With half my body in the cooler, I asked the employee once again: Can I get some beer prices here sir? Still no response from the employee. He was not wearing an IPOD. He could hear my questions. He ignored me. He was a piece of crap.

So I figured, what the hell, I will get an 18 pack of the Miller Genuine Draft. An "eighteener" of Miller Genuine Draft usually runs for $11.99 or $12.99.

So I approached the counter & waited in line with my "mystery price" 18 pack of beer.

Still more young ladies were in line wearing tight pants & boots. They were buying smokes, flicking their blonde hair back & showing their ID's to the clerk. They too paid with debit cards.

I'm curious, what ever happened to the concept of paying with cash?

As I waited in line, I thought about going through the car wash. The guy in front of me had the same idea & ordered up a $7.00 car wash for his car.

I said to myself, Screw it, I just want to get out of here. Screw the car wash.

Finally I made it to the front of the line! It was time to buy my Beer!

With a mumbled greeting in broken English & lighting fast keystrokes the clerk rang up my 18 pack of beer.

After tax & CRV the total was $17.39. WTF? $17.39? Are you kidding me?

That's right $17.39 for an 18 pack of American Beer.

Highway Robbery.........

Feeling very ripped off, I paid the clerk & left the Minimart.

Never again will I buy beer at this minimart.

I guess you could say that I "took one for the team" on this purchase.

***********

THE GREEK VILLAGE INN 65 UNIVERSITY AVENUE

2011-01-08T13:22:00.000-08:00

Today the plan was to head over to Cafe Vinoteca for lunch. This was going to be the last place I needed to review in the Arden Town Shopping Center.

If you look at my older posts you will see that I have already done reviews on all of the other restaurants including: the Beach Hut Deli, Plan B Restaurant, Danielle's & Chinois City Cafe.

As I walked up to Cafe Vinoteca, the door was locked! The sign on the door indicated that they do serve lunch Monday thru Friday, however they only serve dinner on the weekends. WTF? Are you kidding me? No Saturday Lunch?

Disappointed & burning rubber out of the parking lot, I headed up to the Greek Village Inn Restaurant on University Avenue. Pulling in the parking lot, it was nice to see that they offered breakfast, lunch & dinner.

As I walked in the door I was greeted by a nice server. Greek music filled the air. Unfortunately, the table she picked out for me was not a good one.

I suggested another table near the back of the restaurant & it was no problem.

As I sat down, I asked my server for a Diet Coke.

Then the Busboy approached my table & offered me a glass of water. He was polite & courteous. I noticed that he was wearing baggy jeans that dragged the ground, a hoodie type sweatshirt & he was wearing a blue baseball cap on backwards.

In addition, he looked like he was trying to grow a beard.

Let me ask my readers a question. Is this acceptable for the restaurant industry?

I noticed that the servers were wearing uniforms, but what about this guy? Can't he have a uniform? How about a pair of black dickies & a polo shirt that says "The Greek Village Inn" on it? The owners need to step up & get him some type of uniform. The Busboy is an important part of the restaurant team. Without him, where would you be? What would those tables look like?

So my server returns with the Diet Coke that I had asked for & handed me a menu. She was very nice. She had the perfect personality for a server.

The Greek Village is a small clean place. Like I mentioned earlier, I sat in the back of restaurant and was able to get a glimpse of the kitchen. It was very clean. By the looks of the supplies, it appeared that they do a tremendous amount of takeout business. As a matter of fact, the entire restaurant was clean. The walls were painted brown & there were pictures of Greece everywhere. To the left of me near the entrance to the kitchen there were a ton of framed awards & newspaper articles about the restaurant. The carpet was a brown color as well. There were four booths & maybe 14 tables in the place.

It looked like a nice place to take a date or to do the family thing.

Looking over the menu I noticed that the prices were good & there were plenty of items on the menu to choose from. This was in fact the place for Greek Food.

While sipping on my $2.50 Diet Coke I decided on "Lamb Pitas, Traditional Style" after all, how can you go to a Greek Restaurant & not eat Lamb?

The Lamb Pita consisted of grilled Lamb in a Pita with tzatziki, lettuce, tomatoes & chopped onions. This was served with a couple of slices of sweet potatoes & fries.

Since it was Lamb, it took awhile for this to be prepared, but it was worth the wait. While the Pita was kind of small, the contents were very tasty.

I just couldn't get over how the Busboy was dressed.

The total for my meal was $12.45. I left my server $16.00 & rode off into the Gray streets of Sacramento.

Will I go back to the Greek Village Inn. Yes, I will make a return visit for dinner sometime. The food was good & the prices were fair.

I give the Greek Village Inn Restaurant 3 out of 4 stars.

In closing, help support this blog, be sure to check out the advertisers!

*****

PIZZA GUYS ON FULTON: HEY MAN THEY DELIVER!

2011-01-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

When I got home from work on Wednesday, I kicked off my shoes, turned on the T.V & drank a few beers. It was to say the least a very difficult day.

Then I started to think about dinner. Should I defrost a steak? Should I microwave something? Microwave something for dinner, blech! I don't think so.

Then I noticed the Pizza Guys flyer on my refrigerator. I remember driving by the other day & they had this banner on the front of their place. The Banner said: "Any Large Pizza with three toppings for $10.99"

Now that sounded pretty good!

So I picked up the phone & dialed the Pizza Guys at 1310 Fulton Avenue the number that I dialed was (916) 483-4444. The person on the other end of the line was polite & courteous. Best of all, she spoke English!

I ordered a Large Pizza with sausage, bell peppers & black olives. I was told with tax & delivery charge it would be fourteen dollars & change. She told me it would take 45 minutes. Hey man, that was fine by me.

I put my T.V. on "On Demand" HBO & started to watch a re - run of the Sopranos.

In about 25 minutes there was a knock at my front door & my dinner had arrived!

Without any remorse I gave the delivery guy a $20.00 bill & he handed over the Pizza along with some parm cheese & red peppers.

Perfect!

Let me say that it was an excellent Pizza. I got two big meals out of it.

I give the Pizza Guys on Fulton Avenue 4 out of 4 stars!

Will I do this again? Oh, hell yes!!!

***********

HOOTER'S RESTAURANT CHAIN UNDER FIRE

2010-12-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

Today as I was surfing the Internet I ran across three or four different articles about Court Documents filed against Hooter's restaurant's here in California.

Apparently a San Francisco area attorney has filed court papers on behalf of the National Organization for Women (N.O.W.) alleging that the Hooters restaurant chain was violating state and local laws by marketing itself as an adult oriented business while selling food and products to minors.

Huh?

Other articles that I read referred to the Hooter's servers as being dressed in "Scantily Clad" outfits. I disagree. They are dressed in the Hooter's Uniform.

The servers are in fact covered & not showing any midriff. I have been in some of the other "family" restaurants & witnessed a lot more skin being shown off by the servers.

Right now I know of 2 restaurants in Sacramento where the servers are wearing skin tight jeans that leave little to the imagination. Recently I was at a local waffle house & noticed one of the servers with all four buttons of her polo shirt unbuttoned, giving the customers a full view of her cleavage. So what's the deal? Why target Hooters? Contrary to what a lot of people believe, Hooter's is a halfway decent organization that does a lot of charity work.

When I visited Hooter's restaurant the servers were polite, professional & courteous. There was no flirtation going on, they were just doing their job serving meals. Basically, it was a bunch of people watching the game on TV & having lunch.

Click on the "older posts" link to read my review of Hooter's.

So what do you think? Should kids be allowed to go inside Hooter's & enjoy a meal? Or should Hooter's be for Adults only?

Please post your comments A.S.A.P.

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MARINATE OR MARINADE: THAT IS THE QUESTION

2010-12-14T17:22:00.000-08:00

Right now I'm looking at Webster's dictionary. It describes "Marinade" as to pickle in brine, a spiced pickling solution esp. a mixture of oil, wine or vinegar & spices, in which meat, fish or salad is steeped, often before cooking.

In other words, how to make your New York Steak taste awesome!

Along time ago a friend of mine introduced me to this practice. It's a great way to make a steak taste fantastic.

A couple of days ago I bought a New York Steak. When I got home I took a freezer bag & put a few tablespoons on olive oil into it. I unwrapped the New York Steak & seasoned it with garlic salt, pepper & some McCormick's steak seasoning.

I put the steak into the freezer bag & added so more Olive oil. I smeared the contents around to make sure the meat was thoroughly coated. Then I put it into the refrigerator overnight. I let it cure, so to speak.

Keep in mind you can do the same thing with a large Tupperware container.

So the next day I prepared the New York Steak on medium / high heat for about 4 minutes per side. I added a can of chopped mushrooms & sliced a green bell pepper. I also nuked some french style green beans in the microwave to add to this tasty dinner!

For the first time I tried out Uncle Ben's "ready in 90 seconds"rice pilaf. hey man, it's pretty good! A lot less hassle than dealing with the rice cooker.

So there you have it. A tender New York Steak, Mushrooms, Bell Peppers, French style Green beans & Rice Pilaf.

Don't be afraid to experiment in the Kitchen!

*****

ONE YEAR LATER: LUMBERJACK'S ON HOWE AVE

2010-12-11T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been nearly a year, so this morning I returned to Lumberjack's Restaurant located at 1030 Howe Avenue.

As I walked through the door I was greeted with a smile from Tracie, my server. I could tell she was a hard worker, as she led me to a booth, she offered me a cup of coffee.

The restaurant was still very clean & well kept. For those of you that have never been to Lumberjack's it's like you are in a very large log cabin, complete with a river rock fireplace near the center of the restaurant.

So Tracie brings me my coffee & a glass of water. I look over the menu & ask for a few minutes.

When Tracie returned, I asked for the Logger's Special. This consisted of two eggs, two pancakes, two slices of bacon & two sausage links.

As I waited for my order I noticed that the music coming from the kitchen was classic 90's rock. I believe it was Jack FM. This was pouring into my left ear. On my right side was the restaurant music. It was country western. Nice huh?

My booth was close to one of eight flat screen TV's in the place, so I adapted to the situation.

So there I was in my booth watching the "Lumberjack Competition" on ESPN with rock music in my left ear & country music in my right.

I'm not sure but maybe they were trying to brain wash me or something.

Slowly my coffee ran dry & finally my order arrived. Tracie gave me a refill & I began enjoying my breakfast.

I noticed only one original employee from my first visit. She was the cutie that walked around and really wasn't doing much.

The breakfast was very good. The pancakes were tasty & the sausage was nice & fat. The bacon & eggs were very good.

The total for my meal was $11.89.

I give Lumberjack's 2 out of 4 stars.

The music mixture was annoying & they only gave me one refill on my coffee!

Will I return to Lumberjack's? Well, maybe next year.

**

REVIEW: MAALOUF'S A TASTE OF LEBANON

2010-12-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

Today after work I had the pleasure of dining at Maalouf's a taste of Lebanon which is located at 1433 Fulton Avenue. With the exception of the Buggy Whip restaurant I believe I have pretty much covered all of the restaurants on Fulton Avenue.

As I walked in the very clean but tiny restaurant I was greeted by a beautiful, dark haired, curvy woman. She was so beautiful. If you want to know what I like in a lady, check this place out!

She guided me over to a table & brought me a glass of water.

I spent a few minutes looking over the menu & decided on the Lamb Kabob Sandwich. This consisted of grilled ground lamb, served with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles & topped with tahini & a side of Hummus. This awesome combination was served on fresh pita bread.

To quench my thirst I asked for a diet coke. With my order in I looked over the place. Like I mentioned before it was very small, yet clean. There were a few awards on display near the register along with some framed newspaper articles about the restautant.

After a minute or two my beautiful server brought over a can of diet coke & a glass with ice. Hey man, $2.00 for a can of diet coke? I need to open a restaurant!

As I slowly sipped my $2.00 can of diet coke I watched my order being prepared by the cook. At Maalouf's the kitchen is right in front of you, so you can get a birdseye view of your meal being prepared.

It took about 10 minutes to prepare my sandwich, but when it was brought over to me, oh my God! It was awesome! The colors, the presentation of the lettuce, pickle, tomatoes, wrapped in a large piece of fresh pita bread. What a beautiful sight.

Wish I had my camera with me. It was just too perfect!

It was a slice of heaven that's for sure. Talk about flavor!

The total for this fantastic meal was just under $10.00. I left another $3.00 in the tip jar by the register.

Will I go back? Oh hell yes....

Next time I will stay for the Belly Dancing!

I give Maalouf's a taste of Lebanon 4 out of 4 stars.

****

MEDITERRANEAN MARKET LACKS CUSTOMER SERVICE

2010-12-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the week I checked out the Mediterranean Market located at 1547 Fulton Avenue. It was late afternoon as I pulled into the parking lot. There was a large banner hanging over the door that said "now serving kabob combination plate" or something to that effect. One thing for sure, the banner said now serving.

So I thought cool, I will pick up a few items, then get a combination plate to go. As I walked in I discovered a very well stocked store. They had it all. Tons of canned goods, fresh pita bread, fava beans, olives, dolmas you name it they had it.

There was a man at the meat counter & another man was at the deli counter.

Both of the men looked at me as if to say, what the hell do you want? There was no enthusiasm like down the street at the International Food Market, where the guy always asks how ya doing buddy?

As a matter of fact there was no acknowledgement from them at all. Both of them just gave me a hollow stare, like I didn't belong there.

With strange looks received, I picked up a few items & headed to the cash register in the front of the store. Nobody was at the register. Hello?

After a couple of minutes the cashier finally showed up. There was a kid in front of me with a bottle of cooking oil. The kid was maybe 10 years old.

The cashier mumbled a few words & then the kid produced a debit card. As the 10 year old "swiped" the debit card, I wondered... What the hell is a little kid doing with a debit card? Is it his? Is it his Mommy's? Can he do that? Hmmm...

This didn't seem to bother the cashier as he bagged the cooking oil & gave the kid a receipt.

Then it was my turn. I asked about the combination plate & with a mumble I was told "only during lunchtime". Oh well, so much for the now serving banner on the front of the store. I wasn't going to whine about false advertising. In all honesty, what are you gonna do?

Don't get me wrong, it was a nice store. They just need to step up the customer service a bit. I wasn't expecting a glass of champagne & a kiss on the cheek, but a simple "may I help you" would have been nice.

Merchants need to keep in mind the state of the economy & where their next loyal customer is coming from.

In the future, my money will be spent down the street at the International Food Market.

******

COUNTRY WAFFLES 2244 FAIR OAKS BLVD

2010-11-28T10:04:00.000-08:00

After recovering from my adventure at the Pearl House Restaurant, I decided to get back in the saddle & try another place to eat. After all, I am a food blogger.

With that being said, this morning I ate breakfast at Country Waffles on Fair Oaks Blvd. Upon entering the restaurant I was greeted by a beautiful young lady. She had long light brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. Perhaps she was pushing 21 or 22 years old. I couldn't help checking her out as she walked me to a booth by a window.

She asked me what I wanted to drink & I responded with the usual coffee & a glass of water. After a minute or two she returned with my drinks, handed me a menu & then walked away. I was thinking that this was going to be a pleasant dining experience.

A couple of more minutes passed & I was greeted by very amped up server named Rhonda. She asked me if I was ready to order & then it was decided for me that I needed a couple of more minutes to look over the menu.

Rhonda reappeared a few moments later and asked in a semi harsh tone, did you get it figured out yet? I kept my mouth shut, but thought in my mind, well yes Ms. Obnoxious, I think I know what I want to eat. For God sakes, it's Sunday lady. Can you just relax & go with the flow?

Wanting to get Rhonda out of my face I ordered the "Good Ole Boy" Country Breakfast. This consisted of 3 eggs, hash browns, toast & a 1/3lb sausage patty.

So with my order in I took in the place. It was clean & it was a mixed crowd of young & old. There was country music playing on the radio as I waited for my order. I noticed a tall blond server with a tattoo on her arm waiting on a few customers. The four buttons on her polo shirt were unbuttoned giving everyone a full view of her cleavage. I guess that's one way to get a nice tip in the restaurant business.

Unfortunately, the young hottie that first greeted me was working the other side of the restaurant. What a bummer!

Finally obnoxious Rhonda brought over my breakfast. One word describes it: "Fantastic"

Country Waffles always exceeds expectations with their menu. Always good food at a good price.

The total for my meal was $11.79.

Will I return again? Yes, I will.

I give Country Waffles 3 out of 4 stars.

******

RETURN TO PITA KITCHEN 2989 ARDEN WAY

2010-11-21T12:51:00.000-08:00

For the past few days I was thinking about doing a review of "Maalouf's a taste of Lebanon". When I woke up this morning I was pretty stoked about going there for lunch.

Unfortunately, this wasn't going to happen today. As I pulled up to Maalouf's around 11:15AM I discovered that they were closed on Sunday!

Well, when one door closes another one opens. So I peeled out of the parking lot and headed towards Pita Kitchen on Arden Way. Pita Kitchen is always open & they feature fresh home cooked Mediterranean Cuisine.

Feeling no remorse for the change of plans, I walked into Pita Kitchen & was greeted by a polite server. She directed me to a booth & with a smile handed me a menu.

This would mark the third time I have visited this place. The food is always perfect. So my server asked me what I wanted to drink & I responded with Diet Coke & a glass of water. In a minute or two she returned with my drinks & left me alone.

Pita Kitchen has made some improvements since my last visit. The butcher paper on the tables is gone replaced with glass over dark green linen tablecloths. The menus are new & improved. And when you first walk in to the restaurant the previously unused bar area has been converted into a little grocery area. There are shelves loaded with middle eastern food, so you can pick up something for the house when you are finished eating in the restaurant.

Two things haven't changed. Good Mediterranean food & low prices!

Looking over the menu I noticed that the most expensive item was the Pita Kitchen Special for $12.95. This consists of grilled marinated pieces of lamb, chicken, beef & kifta served with rice & fresh baked pita. Not a bad price.

As I continued looking over the menu I decided on the Hummus Dip plate which was made with ground chick peas mixed with tahini sauce, fresh lemon juice & topped with olive oil. This was served with hot pita bread. For my second choice I selected the Lamb Kabob Entree which consisted of tender marinated pieces of lamb, served with rice, salad a pita bread.

The server took my order & headed back to the kitchen. After 15 minutes or so she returned with the hummus dip & several pieces of hot pita bread in a basket covered with a white linen napkin to keep the bread warm.

As middle eastern music played in the background I couldn't believe how excellent this was. I mean to tell you it was bammer! You could tell that this was fresh & home made that morning. No old food in this place for sure.

Another 5 minutes passed & my server brought out my Lamb Kabob plate. Like the Hummus dip, this too was fantastic. Everything was perfect, the lamb was tender & loaded with flavor.

The total for my meal was $15.01. I left a $20.00 bill for my server & also purchased a can of dolma in the grocery area to take home with me.

If you live in the Arden Arcade area of Sacramento, or any other part of Sacramento, I highly recommend this restaurant.

I give Pita Kitchen 4 out of 4 stars.

Facebook this review for me, OK?

****

CITRUS HEIGHTS RESTAURANT OFFERS 4 STAR SERVICE

2010-11-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

Today was an excellent day. I didn't have to go to work, so I met a few friends for breakfast at Rosie's Country Kitchen located at 6233 Auburn Blvd.

It had been almost a year since I had ate at Rosie's. I kept asking myself why not?

As I made may way up Auburn Blvd into Citrus Heights, there it was. There were no high end German cars in the parking lot. There was no guy in a suit waiting outside to greet me & my group. This was Blue Collar America.

That was OK, because I knew I was going to be with close friends & have an awesome breakfast.

I met my crew (The Fantastic Four) at the front door & we walked in together. There are no crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling in this place, but it's clean & comfortable.

An employee escorted us over to our table & handed us some menus, then brought over some hot coffee. Rosie's offers fresh home cooked comfort food.

After a couple of minutes we placed our order. The crew ordered everything from the basic Bacon & Eggs with hash browns to a Ribeye Steak & eggs plate with country potatoes. Personally, I ordered 3 eggs with biscuits & country gravy along with 4 sausage links.

The one thing I noticed about Rosie's was the impeccable customer service. I counted three different people that came to our table filling our coffee. If you recall my recent review of Denny's I was lucky enough to finally get my first refill.

After enjoying several coffee refills the orders were delivered to our table. I must say that we ate like Kings. Every plate was loaded with good home cooked food. The food was fresh & yes, it was off the hook! The Breakfast was fantastic.

The total for the four of us was under $40.00. How can you beat that?

I give Rosie's Country Kitchen 4 out of 4 stars.

****

SACRAMENTO BLOG UNCUT: GOING GLOBAL

2010-11-20T04:08:00.000-08:00

While updating my blog this morning, I was checking out the stats page & noticed that Sacramento Blog Uncut has apparently gone global.

Let me give a shout out to my readers in Malaysia, Germany, Italy, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, India, the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Turkey & Kuwait.

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to Facebook / Twitter this page, ok?

****

DID YOU CHECK YOUR BURGER KING RECEIPT?

2010-11-17T17:23:00.000-08:00

Today a Burger King Manager & Crew Worker were fired over a Burger King receipt that had the words "F@@K YOU" printed on it. Better yet this receipt landed in the hands of late night Burger King Customer Francisco Perez. Nice huh? Nothing like good customer service at the Arden Way Burger King!

Apparently Francisco Perez was hungry & went to Burger King for a late night snack. He ordered a Double Whopper with Cheese, Onion rings & a small drink. The total for his meal was $9.22.

Francisco Perez was checking out his order when he discovered the words "F@@K YOU" printed not only once but twice on his receipt!

Perez said that he was humiliated & embarrassed by this. A crew manager at Burger King said that this was not acceptable. Well, no shit Sherlock! Guess he graduated at the top of his class.

One thing I find rather embarrassing & humiliating was the fact that Perez paid $9.22 for Burger King Food. Why on earth would you do that?

Hey man, he could have went to Original Mel's on Howe Avenue & got a nice Burger for that kind of money.

More than likely he will file a lawsuit & Burger King will settle out of court.

This my readers, is a prime example of the up & coming workforce in the United States of America. These young kids have no heart. Do you feel me?

If I got that receipt, I would have ate my meal, then raised all kinds of Hell with the shift Boss. I would have demanded a refund on the spot, hey "F.U." too buddy...cash money M.F. Pay me Now! That would have been the end of it. I wouldn't go & cry to the media about it. If Francisco Perez was brave enough to drive to the Arden Way Burger King in the middle of the night, he should have taken care of the situation without involving the media.

Quite frankly, I have not set foot in the Arden Way Burger King for many years. The last time I went it was for breakfast & it was just plain nasty.

No, I'm not going to ask you to Boycott Burger King. That's up to you.

Do me a favor & facebook this story, OK?

****

SITTING AT THE BAR: DINNER AT CHINOIS CITY CAFE

2010-11-14T05:22:00.000-08:00

Last night after doing a little research, I walked into Chinois City Cafe located at 3535 Watt Avenue. Basically, the Chinois City Cafe is located in the Arden Town Shopping center on the corner of Fair Oaks Blvd & Watt Avenue. This is also the home of the Beach Hut Deli, Golden 1 Credit Union, Starbucks & the Plan B restaurant.

I thought this was going to be an upscale place. In all honesty, it was just a normal restaurant & bar with a fish tank near the entrance.

The first thing I noticed when I sat at the granite covered bar were the walls. They were painted purple. Hey man, WTF? Purple walls? Are you kidding me?

It was like watching an old episode of Miami Vice. Even though I didn't spot a white ferrari in the parking lot I kept wondering where Sonny Crockett & Ricardo Tubbs were sitting. In the back of my mind I was hoping that "Calderon" wasn't going to run out of the bathroom & start blasting all of us with a sub machine gun.

Wishing I had worn my Versace suit, pastel T shirt & left my socks at home, the bartender approached me. I asked for a diet Coke & I started to look at the menu that was sitting on the bar. She looked at me & asked, is this for takeout or are you going to eat here? I responded that I was going to eat here.

With that said she did the "switcheroo" of menus. Apparently, I was looking at the takeout menu that had different prices on it. Hmmm.... Different prices huh?

Gazing at the menu I discovered that the Chinois City Cafe had a lot to offer. The food is a blend of traditional Chinese and California / European flavors. I guess you could call that another name for "Fusion" cooking.

At first I was going to order the house New York steak smothered in mushrooms & onions. That sounded very good. But since I had ate a very large lunch I decided on the City Chow Mein with beef.

I gave my order to the bartender & continued sipping on my Diet Coke. Looking the place over there was still no sign of Sonny & Rico. I noticed a wine list hanging on the wall. It listed wine by the glass. The prices started at around $7.50 & peaked at $13.50 a glass. I remembered that the Kendall Jackson Merlot was $8.00 a glass.

The crowd at Chinois City Cafe was 40 & up. There were a hand full of younger people at the bar, but no trouble makers. Everyone was watching the Oregon Ducks football game on the flat screen TV. I had the pleasure of sitting next to a very large & boisterous older gentleman. I guess you could classify him as a loud talker. "Ahh Shit" he proclaimed as the Oregon Ducks tossed an incomplete pass. "Son of a Bitch" he bellowed as the referee's whistle blew. This guy didn't hold anything back.

I noticed that Mr. Boisterous was munching on some pot stickers. After talking with him for awhile, I concluded that he was a good guy, through a little conversation I got an indication that he was a Real Estate Hustler of some kind. This was the Sierra Oaks area, no poor folks in this place. It was the neighborhood bar. Everyone seemed to know each other. It was a good environment to be in.

After a 10 minute wait my order of City Chow Mein arrived. The bartender placed a large red dinner plate on the bar & the City Chow Mein was in a silver serving dish with a ladle. The bartender then gave me my utensils in a purple linen napkin. (go figure) There were chopsticks & two forks. But there was no spoon. No spoon? I didn't complain, because it was a lot of food & it looked very good. I could live without a spoon. As a matter of fact it was pretty excellent chow mein. I added some soy sauce & was munching out big time.

In closing, the order was so big I had two full dinner plates of the City Chow Mein.

The total for my meal was $12.83. With a full satisfied belly, I left the bartender $16.00 & headed out the door into the darkness of Fair Oaks Boulevard.

Will I go back to the Chinois City Cafe? Yes, I will. Next time I will bring a date & sit in the dining area.

I give Chinois City Cafe 2 1/2 stars out of 4 stars.

A fresh coat of paint & some new carpet will work wonders for the place!
***

DENNY'S 3520 AUBURN BOULEVARD

2010-11-07T11:01:00.000-08:00

This morning in the pouring rain, I hit the road to get some breakfast. It was around 7:00AM as I pulled into the parking lot of Denny's restaurant located at the corner of Auburn Blvd & Watt Ave.

Getting out of my car I had my first encounter of the day. It was a lady in her late 40's standing on the grassy knoll behind the Shell Gas Station. She was wearing a green shirt & white pants. Despite the rain, she had no coat. She approached me & began to speak. Gazing at me she slurred, "I'm hungry & I'm trying to put together a little cash for some food".

I knew something like this was going to happen. The corner of Auburn Blvd & Watt Ave. is known by many as "Hype Heaven" or "The Golden Triangle". It's kind of a no man's land for the dregs of society. You have the drunks, tweaks, the homeless & the occasional down on her luck street walker.

Reaching into my pocket, I glanced at the ground & spotted a penny. Handing the lady a dollar, I said "look there's a penny right there". She didn't pick up the penny. She never thanked me for the dollar either. She just walked away looking at the dollar very closely. It was like I was handing her a fake dollar bill. I may be a lot of things lady, but I'm not a master counterfeiter.

My guess is she was trying to put together enough cash to buy her first can of "Steel Reserve" Malt Liquor for the day.

With my good deed accomplished, I walked inside Denny's for some breakfast.

I was greeted by the busboy & told to take a seat anywhere. The crowd was small maybe eight or nine people in the place.

After a couple of minutes my server Rachel greeted me & filled my coffee.

Looking over the menu I decided on the French Toast Grand Slam. This consisted of 2 pieces of french toast, two eggs & four sausage links.

The one thing I noticed was that Denny's had freshened up the place. The counter was gone & the whole place seemed to have nicer booths & carpet.

As I waited for my order, I glanced outside at the rain. The lady in the green shirt was still standing on the grassy knoll, staring at the dollar I gave her.

Just then a homeless person pushing a shopping cart stopped in front of the restaurant. He walked up to the front door, bent down & picked up a half smoked cigarette. Breaking out his trusty lighter he fired up his first smoke of the day.

Twenty minutes had passed, my coffee was empty & I had no food. My server Rachel was near the kitchen area, engaged in a conversation with two of her co workers. The conversation was in Spanish. Something about a Muchacha. It seemed to go on forever. Hey, I just wanted my food. I was starving to death.

Finally she noticed that I had no coffee & gave me a refill.

At the thirty minute mark my order arrived. Geez! Thirty minutes to make French Toast? Fry two eggs? C'mon... You can do so much better than that!

Maybe they flew the Denny's Corporate Jet to France to pick up the French Toast.

I began cutting up my french toast & then it happened. Rachel the server put the bill on my table. After waiting a half hour for my meal, the least she could have done was let me have a few bites of my meal before tossing the bill on me.

In all honesty, it was a halfway decent meal. The coffee was good, the eggs were good, the french toast was good, but the breakfast sausage looked a little funny. It was this off gray color. Just odd looking.

As I ate my breakfast, rock legend Rod Stewart was playing on the radio. Honestly, it was just a bizarre morning. I was happy I had a place to sleep at night. I was thankful that I had a rain jacket & a car to drive me away from Hype Heaven.

The total for my meal with coffee was $11.18.

After giving the homeless person a buck & a tip for Rachel the final total was in the neighborhood of $15.00.

I give Denny's 1 out of 4 stars.

****

REVIEW: TACO DEL MAR

2010-11-06T06:29:00.000-07:00

On the way home work yesterday, I found myself at the corner of Exposition Blvd. & Leisure Lane.

I was very burned out & the thought of cooking dinner was out of the question. Basically I was hungry & I wanted to go home. I was pretty much sick of dealing with people all day.

As I sat at the stop light I noticed a few small signs saying "5.00 platters after 5:00PM"

There was an arrow pointing to the Taco Del Mar restaurant. Even though it was just 4:30, I figured I would check this place out.

Taco Del Mar is located behind the Raddison Hotel & kitty corner to the Costco Gas station. If you are hungry, you will find it!

So I pulled in the very weird parking lot & went inside. The number on the door said 400. 400 what I don't know. The main thing was that I found the place.

Taco Del Mar was small & clean. There was a very cute young lady behind the counter. She appeared to be the only one working at the time.

The menu was displayed on large poster boards against the back wall. I decided on two steak tacos, black beans & rice along with a fountain drink.

Since this was a combo deal the total was $6.50. Not too bad. I decided to get my order to go. Nothing like eating at your own kitchen table. Do you feel me?

As the young lady was putting my order together I asked her about a takeout menu & she responded with sorry, we don't have a take out menu.

I also told her that this looks pretty good. She responded with a big smile saying yeah it's gonna be good!

She was right!

When I got home I unwrapped the tacos & put everything on a dinner plate. The tacos were very good. The black beans & rice were primo!

Will I go back to Taco Del Mar? Yes, for sure.

It was a good meal at a good price!

I give Taco Del Mar 3 out of 4 stars.

When you check out this place, be sure to mention that you read about it on Sacramento Blog Uncut!

***

REVIEW: CHUBBY'S IN ROSEVILLE CALIFORNIA

2010-10-31T09:56:00.000-07:00

Today I took a little road trip to a Mecca known as Roseville, CA. For my out of town readers(I have readers as far away as Dublin,Ireland)The city of Roseville is a suburb of Sacramento. During the housing boom many Sacramento residents moved to Roseville so they could buy an overpriced home & act rich.

Hitting the road I took Interstate 80 to the Douglas Boulevard exit. Chubby's is located in the Roseville Square Shopping Center. I believe the actual address is 427 Roseville Square.

It was 8:00AM when I walked in the front door of Chubby's. I was the first customer of the day. Chubby's is a small 1950's style diner with about 12 seats at the counter & maybe 8 booths in the place.

This place was pretty clean. I was greeted by a gray haired gentleman & took a seat in one of the booths. He asked me what I wanted to drink. I responded with a cup of coffee & a glass on water. One of these days when I am asked this question I will respond with "give me a Canadian Club on the rocks, with a twist & a bottle of Corona with ice and a lime & don't screw it up". Could you imagine the look on the server's face if I gave that answer?

So anyways the guy brings me my coffee & water, then hands me a menu. The first thing I noticed were the prices. Everything was very affordable. I think the highest priced item was Steak & Shrimp for $11.99. Not too shabby.

As I was looking over the menu a couple of people walked in & took a seat. The gray haired guy knew their names. They must have been regulars.

Chubby's has a fantastic breakfast menu. I decided on the All American Breakfast. The All American consisted of 2 eggs, 2 biscuits & country gravy along with your choice of 2 slices of bacon or 2 sausage links

I asked for my eggs over medium & sausage links instead of bacon.

So with my order in, I got up from my booth & looked the place over. The walls were covered with pictures from the 1950's including Elvis, James Dean & Marilyn Monroe.

As I was looking around this little Diner, a couple of more people came in to eat.

If Chubby's had sold T shirts, I would have purchased one. This was a cool place. Kind of like a time capsule. It was a blast from the past.

After a few minutes my order arrived. There was so much food it had to be placed on two different plates! The biscuits & gravy were on a large plate, while the eggs & sausage were served on a small plate.

This was probably the best biscuits & gravy I have ever tasted in my life. The eggs were excellent & the sausage was awesome. The coffee was good.

With the coffee, the total for my meal was $9.57. Now how can you beat that?

I give Chubby's 3 3/4 stars out of 4 stars.

Will I go back to Chubby's? Oh hell yeah....

So if you go to Chubby's tell them you read about their place on Sacramento Blog Uncut, ok?

***

EASY STEAK & EGGS

2010-10-23T04:33:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile since I posted one of my easy to cook recipes, so here ya go! The other day I was at the grocery store & spotted three "thin cut" New York steaks for a little over $8.00. It was a good deal, so I tossed the steaks in my cart & finished up my shopping.

When I got home I wrapped up two of the steaks in foil & put them in the freezer. The third steak I kept out for cooking. It had been awhile since I marinated a steak so I took a freezer bag & poured about 3 or 4 tablespoons of olive oil in it. Then I seasoned the steak with garlic salt, black pepper & a dash of McCormick's steak seasoning. I put the steak in the freezer bag & worked it around until the steak was fully coated with the mixture of olive oil & seasonings. I put it in the fridge to let everything soak in.

The next day around noon I was ready to cook the steak. First I sliced two small red potatoes & put them in a frying pan with olive oil. I let them brown for a few minutes. I pushed the potatoes over to the side of the pan & then put in my steak. Since it was thin cut it only took a few minutes on each side. When the steak looked like it was almost done, I cracked a couple of eggs & let them cook sunny side up.

A couple of slices of bread in the toaster & my meal was complete!

There you have it. Easy Steak & Eggs

WENELLI'S PIZZA 4215 ARDEN WAY

2010-10-21T04:33:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week I stopped by Wenelli's Pizza for a quick bite to eat. I had been by a few times in the past only to find the doors locked or if they were open, the place would be jam packed.

Finally the timing was right & I got to see the inside of this place. Wenelli's is a family owned business. It's been in the same location for many years.

So anyways, as I walked through the front door I discovered that this place was tiny. Sitting at a few of the tables, there were a bunch of kids folding pizza boxes. I guess they were getting ready for the evening rush.

It was nice to see high school kids working. Most of the places I go to these days have adults working at young peoples jobs. I remember back in the day one of my friends got a job at "Happy Steak" on Arden way. He started as a busboy & dishwasher. Then he became a "prep cook" & finally a cook. The job taught him responsibility & was a part of becoming an adult.

So anyways, I walked up to the counter & was greeted by the Mom of the family. I decided on the personal pizza with sausage & bell pepper. It was a good deal at $5.50 & to top it off it came with a medium fountain drink.

With my order in I grabbed a table & started to watch TV. Just then a couple of guys walked in. They were in their 20's with there hats on sideways & they were wearing T shirts & those long satin basketball shorts. they ordered up some food & each got a little pony of beer. One of them was talking loudly & clearing his throat. Quite frankly, these white boys thought they were God's gift. To who, I don't know.

So as I am waiting for my order, one of the guys with a 4 day beard growth is making loud calls on his cell phone. Are we goin' out drinkin' tonight? he chattered on his cell phone.

I was so impressed by his act. Give me a break.... I was out running the streets while he was still an Itch in his daddy's pants. Don't get me started on today's youth.

After a few more minutes my pizza was brought over to my by a very cute young lady. The pizza was excellent! I added some red pepper & Parmesan cheese.

One thing I noticed was there was a plastic kids playhouse set up in the corner of the pizza parlor. Kind of tacky. The place was so small to begin with. If I owned Wenelli's, the first thing I would do is take the plastic playhouse out to the dumpster.

The next thing I noticed was all of the fingerprints on the 1970's wood paneling. It's amazing what a little pledge & a towel can do to wood paneling.

All in all it was a good meal at a great price. Wenelli's is a little tired on the inside, but their pizza speaks for itself.

The total for my meal was like $5.98. I put a couple of bucks in the tip jar when I left. It was a good meal.

I give Wenelli's Pizza 2 1/2 stars out of four stars.

***

REVIEW: PALENQUE COCINA MEXICANA

2010-10-17T03:36:00.000-07:00

Last night, after receiving several requests to write a review on this restaurant I finally gave Palenque Cocina Mexicana a shot. It was a pleasant surprise.

Palenque is located right next to Gatsby's Diner at 2598 Alta Arden Expressway, Suite #1.

When I first walked in the first thing I noticed was how clean the place was. The walls were painted "tequila sunrise" orange & the floors were spotless. I walked up to the counter to place my order. Do you have Steak Tacos I asked? "Yes we do" the man behind the counter responded. I said OK then, I need two steak tacos, a side of rice & some sour cream. I was told that they had a special on beers for $2.50 a bottle. I decided on a diet Coke instead.

It appeared that Palenque was a family owned business. The staff was very polite & courteous. They were happy to see me & asked how I had heard about their place. I told them that I had read about it on the Internet. The man behind the counter said that there were reviews on Yelp.com & he was interested in reading anything else posted on the Internet about the restaurant.

Little did he know that he had the editor of Sacramento Blog Uncut standing right in front of him. He had no idea that I was going to review his restaurant & post it on the Internet for the entire world to see.

This is what I like about being a blogger.

With my order placed, I took a seat at a small table and was offered some chips & salsa. As I waited for my food I kept looking over the little restaurant. It was a nice clean place to eat. The vibe was casual.

After a few minutes of enjoying my chips & fireball salsa my food was brought out to me. The tacos were "street style" in other words they were small. Put it to you this way, picture the base of a 40 oz beer bottle. That was the size of the tortilla.

In all honesty, I was expecting bigger tacos. But you know what? It really didn't matter. This was probably the best taco I have ever tasted! It wasn't a nasty mess. There was no grease, cheese or hot sauce dripping all over the place. It was just grilled steak, with onions & cilantro. I added a little sour cream to the mix & it was just perfect. The rice was pretty good. I munched out & quenched my thirst with my diet coke.

One of the staff came out to see how I liked the meal and wanted to know if I wanted more chips & salsa. I told her the food was excellent!

Palenque Cocina Mexicana has a decent selection of Tacos, Burritos, Tostadas & Fajitas. Everything on the menu is affordable.

In closing, it was an excellent meal at a good price. The food was fresh & well prepared. The staff was great. What more can you ask for?

The total for my meal was $8.20.

When I was leaving, I walked up to the counter, put a couple of bucks in the tip jar & thanked the staff for an excellent meal.

Will I go back to Palenque Cocina Mexicana? Oh yes, I will be going back!

I give Palenque 3 3/4 stars out of 4 stars.

***

INTERNATIONAL FOOD MARKET 1345 FULTON AVENUE

2010-10-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

First, let me say that I like to support small business in Sacramento.

Second, I felt that I needed to tell my readers about this small market on Fulton Avenue.

I usually drop by the International Food Market located at 1345 Fulton Avenue every three or four weeks to do a little shopping.

As many of my readers have probably figured out, I really enjoy Greek / Middle Eastern & Mediterranean styles of food. In all honesty, it's loaded with flavor!

International Food Market has a lot to offer. They have several types of flat bread, fava beans, tons of olives, peppers, canned meats, stuffed grape leaves & a variety of Middle Eastern Sweets.

They have a full Meat Counter, along with a nice selection of fresh produce. I highly recommend this place if you are into Middle Eastern food.

When I stop by, I always pick up some flat bread, olives & stuffed grape leaves. They have fresh Halal Meat, Steaks, Lamb & a cooler with loaded with drinks.

If you stop by during the lunch hour they have a grill out front cooking up beef & lamb kabobs. I believe they offer a combination plate for lunch as well.

Please stop by the International Food Market & be sure to tell the employees you read about their store on Sacramento Blog Uncut.

Thanks!

I give the International Food Market 4 out of 4 stars...

****

ROUND TABLE PIZZA IN OLD SACRAMENTO

2010-09-29T19:04:00.000-07:00

Today for lunch I was in Old Sacramento & had the pleasure of dining at Round Table Pizza.

This place offers a lunch buffet for only $6.99. It was worth every penny. I'm sure most of you that have been to Old Sacramento have been downstairs at Round Table.

Let me say that I ate several pieces of pizza, had an excellent salad at the salad bar & drank plenty of soda.

I was too stuffed to eat any of the Cinnamon twists for desert. Round table is a little on the tired side (not 4 star dining) but they make up for it with an awesome lunch!

I give Round Table Pizza in Old Sacramento 3 out of 4 stars!

Will I go back? Oh heck yeah!!!!

***

REVIEW: CAFE SEDONA

2010-09-29T18:36:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I found myself in the biggest little city Reno, Nevada enjoying the Street Vibrations Motorcycle event.

I arrived on Saturday to find the streets full of Harley's, biker chicks & celebration. As I made my way down Virginia Street I noticed a few vendors selling food. Then it caught my eye, "On Street Concessions" was selling tri tip sandwiches for $7.00. I had just made the 122 mile journey up interstate 80 to Reno & I was hungry!

I ordered a trip tip sandwich with peppers & onions. It was an excellent decision. The sandwich was so loaded with meat they served it with a fork. A little BBQ sauce & mustard did the trick.

On Street Concessions is based out of Sparks, Nevada.

After scarfing on my tri tip sandwich I made my way to Harrah's to watch "The Easy Rider Band" rock out. I enjoyed a few malt beverages & headed to Cal Neva for a little gaming.

Then I slowly made my way back down Virginia, enjoying more beverages & checking out several casinos.

Next, it was dinner time at the Silver Legacy. I walked into "Cafe Sedona" & had a seat. Cafe Sedona has a lot to offer. As I looked over the menu I decided on the Legacy Burger with bacon & swiss cheese.

It was an excellent meal. My server was top notch & it was so damn good! I played a few games of Keno in between bites & had a good time.

The total for my meal was $11.94.

I left $15.00 on the table & headed back out to the street.

I give Cafe Sedona 3 out of 4 stars!

***

WOODY'S GRILL & BAR 2316 WATT AVENUE

2010-09-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

Today for lunch I decided on Woody's Grill & Bar located on Watt Ave in the Country Club Shopping center. It was a good decision.

Woody's has been in the same location for at least 20 years. As I walked inside I tried to figure out the vibe of the place. There were a couple of Tiki torches on the wall & some hula grass. So I guess you were supposed to feel like you were at the beach. I noticed the servers(3 men & 1 lady)as well as the bartender (a lady) were wearing these ugly Hawaiian shirts.

Could you imagine having to wear one of these shirts to work everyday? Yuk.

Getting past the work outfits, I took a seat at the large square shaped bar. It had a granite counter top. Actually, I liked the bar. I could picture it in my mansion one day!

So the bartender greeted me & asked me if what I wanted. I responded with "Diet Coke" she replied "Diet Pepsi OK?" I said sure. She was cute & had her short dark hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She handed me a menu & I began to think over my lunch selections. Woody's has a big selection of food with decent prices. I figured it was going to be on the expensive side.

There were burgers, sandwiches, steaks & fish. I decided on fish & chips with fries. It also came with coleslaw.

After about 10 - 15 minutes the bartender brought over my order. It was a large serving of beer battered cod fillets, plenty of fries & the coleslaw actually looked like coleslaw. Very nice presentation. Malt vinegar made the meal perfect.

The food was excellent & the bartender keep filling up my soda. She also said that the fries were "endless" & asked me if I wanted more. Hey, endless soda & fries is pretty cool.

I did have a lady sitting in a booth near the window who kept hacking & coughing. This was a little annoying while I was trying to eat.

It was like she was trying to cough up an old box fan or something. Jesus, enough already with the coughing!

Despite it being lunchtime, there were maybe 15 customers total in Woody's including 3 of us sitting at the bar.

Hopefully someday the Sacramento economy will come back to life.

The total for my meal was $14.77. I left the bartender $20.00 & walked out the side exit.

I give Woody's Grill & Bar 3 out of 4 stars.

***

ELEPHANT BAR 1500 ARDEN WAY

2010-09-13T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today at lunchtime marked my first visit to the Elephant Bar located at 1500 Arden Way. I used to frequent this place "back in the day" when it was the Peppermill.

Let me say that it's a far cry from the Peppermill. You can take that statement anyway you want.

So I walked in through the entrance & liked what I saw. A nice clean place, I was expecting jungle trees all over the place. Instead the walls were tiger print. Lot's of wood in the place & not too noisy.

I asked where the bar was & the hostess pointed to the right.

The bar was shaped into a complete circle. Flat screens were hung nicely & the bar was fully stocked.

The first thing I noticed was the bartender. His hair was wet & his blue shirt needed a good ironing. Quite frankly, it appeared that he had slept in his clothes.

He greeted me & asked me what I wanted to drink. I replied with "diet coke".

Looking over the menu, the bartender asked me if I was interested in appetizers. I responded with do you have burgers? Just then I turned the menu page & there they were.

The Elephant Bar has a huge selection of food to choose from. There is everything from Steak, to chicken, to sushi. They have it all. I was very impressed.

For lunch I decided on the Classic E Burger. This consisted of a 1/2 burger with lettuce, onions, tomatoes & I asked the bartender to throw Swiss cheese on it.

He then asked me if I wanted fries as the side. Of course!

One thing I did notice is the black linen napkin the bartender set on the bar as my place mat had seen better days. Have you ever washed a black shirt about 100 times? Well I think you get the picture of what I am talking about. This was kind of tacky, but I was hungry.

After a few minutes the bartender walked back to the kitchen area and brought over my meal to me. I thought this was kind of odd. You would figure a server would have brought over my order.

The Burger was wrapped in tiger print paper. It was oozing melted Swiss cheese. Not too many fries I noticed, but what are you gonna do?

The meal was pretty good. The burger was tasty & very juicy.

The Elephant Bar reminded me of a place that office workers would go to after work to have a few drinks & unwind.

Will I return to the Elephant Bar? Yes, I think so...

The total for my meal was $12.34. I left the bartender $16.00 & drove off into the heavy Arden Way traffic.

I give the Elephant 2 stars out of 4.

**

THE RIVER'S EDGE CAFE 8740 LA RIVIERA DRIVE

2010-09-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

After running a few errands this morning I was in the mood for some biscuits & gravy.

I decided to go to the River's Edge Cafe on La Riviera Drive. I had been there before for lunch & it was pretty good.

I arrived at 9:50AM & the restaurant was pretty full. As I walked in I was greeted by a server & taken to the smallest table in the restaurant. At least it was next to a window!

My server (a guy) asked me if I would like some coffee. I agreed & had a seat.

Taking a look around the place I noticed that there were four very cute "twenty something" ladies working as servers & there were two guys also working as servers, taking care of the tables, taking orders & pouring coffee.

It would have been nice to have a young lady wait on me. So this is two in a row for me now! First at Eggie's & now here.

So do you think I'm a male chauvinist pig?

Feeling a little bummed out, my male server returned & took my order. I decided on "The Hangover". This consisted of biscuits & gravy along with stuffed hash browns. This would be a first for me, as I had never experienced stuffed hash browns.

I will say that this is a very clean restaurant with outside dining available. It was crowded & noisy because of the Labor Day Holiday.

After about 15 minutes my order arrived. The biscuits & grays were pretty good. But the stuffed hash browns were off the hook! Loaded with flavor! The hash browns were stuffed with eggs, bacon, sausage, cheese & sour cream. They were fantastic. The coffee was off the hook as well.

The inside of the River's Edge Cafe is decorated with paintings from a local artist & there is some fishing gear hanging on the walls. Hence, the name "River's Edge"

Overall it was a very good breakfast.

The total for my meal was $12.45.

I left $15.00 for my server.

Will I go back to the River's Edge Cafe? Yes, I will for sure...

I give the River's Edge Cafe 3 out of 4 stars.

***

REVIEW: EGGIE'S 1650 FULTON AVENUE

2010-09-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

This morning around 8:00AM I met a good friend at Eggie's restaurant for breakfast. I have been here a couple of times & have always had a good breakfast.

Today was no different.

We walked in the 1970's era diner & grabbed a booth by a window. The place was pretty much full & it was very clean.

It kind of reminded me of a place that Jimmy Conway & Henry Hill from the movie "Goodfellas" would have breakfast. Do you feel me?

Our waiter or should I call him a server, was prompt to offer us coffee & menu's.

One thing I will say about Eggie's is that it isn't cheap. Sorry, no ham & eggs for $2.99 at this place.

Sipping our morning coffees we looked over the breakfast menu. I decided on french toast & sausage. My breakfast buddy went all out with the Denver omelet, home fries & wheat toast. Afterall, I was paying!

After about 10 minutes, our orders arrived. I was starving & let me tell you that the food was excellent! It was a primo breakfast!

The coffee was excellent!

The only bummer was that halfway through the meal our server dropped the bill on us. It was like he wanted us to clean our plates & leave. In other words, it was time for us to get the hell out of there!

Usually, the server waits until he or she notices that the patrons are almost done with the meal, then they come over & ask you if you would like anything else.

To top things off, a few moments later he took the Tabasco sauce & Ketchup off of our table then took it over to another table. WTF? They only have one bottle of Ketchup in the place?

Well, this move was strongly reflected on the tip I gave him.

Remember that tips stands for "To Insure Prompt Service"

The total for our meal was $21.38.

I left a $3.00 tip.

Will I go back to Eggie's on Fulton Avenue?

Yes, for sure... Despite our rookie server, they know how to cook a breakfast.

I give Eggie's 3 out of 4 stars!

***

JOHNNY ROCKETS at ARDEN FAIR MALL

2010-08-23T13:11:00.000-07:00

Today around lunchtime I found myself at Arden Fair Mall. Entering at Sears, I did a short patrol of the mall. It was to say the least a sparse crowd.

As I looked at the various shops I said to myself, hey... who can afford any of this stuff? Hopefully in the near future our economy will turn around.

So it was around 11:45AM & I was starting to get hungry.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Johnny Rockets. If you have read my blog in the past you would know that I did an excellent review of the Johnny Rockets at the Grand Sierra Hotel & Casino in Reno, Nevada.

So I walked into the California version of Johnny Rockets. I had a seat at the counter & a very cute server with sandy hair pulled back into a pony tail greeted me & handed me a menu. She had on tan pants & the standard issue Johnny Rockets white shirt & bow tie, along with the Johnny Rockets apron. I liked her from the start.

So I gazed at the menu & found what I wanted. I decided on a BLT with almond smoked bacon, fries & a diet coke.

Sitting at the counter there was a large pillar next to me. It was covered with mirror. In front of the pillar there was counter space that was kind of a "no man's land". In other words it was unusable counter space. This space was covered with water.

Apparently the servers had been placing the filled water glasses there. It was kind of an informal staging area for drinks. The water puddle was tacky tacky tacky....

Strike one.

On a lighter note my order was ready in less than 10 minutes. My BLT was perfect. Fries did come with the sandwich, but there weren't many fries. Oh well, what are you gonna do?

As I was enjoying my meal at the lake front property, I mean the counter I noticed another thing. It was noisy as hell in the place. They had these nickel juke boxes throughout the restaurant & you could barley make out what was playing. Between the grill noise, the servers & the talkative patrons, it was just way to loud for me.

Strike two.

Finally nearing the end of my meal another server walked up to the counter with a small blue towel. I figured she was going to wipe up the water that had been sitting on the counter next to me. She wiped around part of the counter & set the blue towel down to the right of me. She never got near the water puddle.

Strike three.

In closing, I had a water puddle on the left side of me & a blue clean up towel on to the right of me. Nice huh? Nothing like impeccable customer service.

You know what? I have to say that it was in fact an excellent BLT. I could of used a few more fries, but I think I will survive another day here in Sacramento.

The total for my meal was $9.55. I left my server $13.00.

Will I return to Johnny Rockets in the Arden Fair Mall. Well, probably not.

I give the Johnny Rockets at Arden Fair 1 1/2 stars out of 4 stars.

A little clean up & a lot less noise would have earned this place a higher rating.

**

MARIE CALLENDERS 3129 ARDEN WAY

2010-08-16T05:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday around 9:00AM I wanted some breakfast & despite having all the items in my fridge to make the morning meal I decided to go out.

I headed over the Watt Ave bridge onto La Riveria Drive. I was going to go to the River's Edge Cafe. When I arrived the restaurant was jam packed.

Super crowded places don't really interest me. So then it was Eggie's on Fulton. Eggie's was filled to the gills. Pass....

I made a right on Arden Way & headed up to Marie Callenders. Only a few cars in the Parking lot. Nice!!!

As I walked in I was greeted by a server who gave the classic "anywhere you want" line & I grabbed a booth near the front counter. Immediately I was greeted by Liz my server. She was a very beautiful brunette. Handing me a menu, she asked me if I wanted coffee, of course I agreed & also asked for a glass of water. Woa, she was hot!

After a minute she brought over the coffee, water & a complimentary warm slice of some type of blueberry loaf cake. Damn that was good! I could of just had that for breakfast. As you all know, Marie Callenders makes some good pies & pastry.

So looking at the menu I decided on the Pancake Combo. This consisted of three pancakes, two eggs over medium & two slices of bacon.

As I waited for my meal to arrive more people entered the restaurant. They were senior citizens, all dressed up. Perhaps they just got out of Church services. Also at another table there was a family complete with a screaming child. Listening to someones child scream during Sunday breakfast is always such a pleasure.

After a few minutes my meal arrived. The screaming child finally shut up & I was able to enjoy an awesome breakfast! Hey, it was all good. It was nice to get some pancakes that were cooked properly. The Bacon was smoked & tasty, eggs perfect, coffee perfect.

They know how to put together a good breakfast at Marie Callenders.

The total for my meal was $10.20. I left $14.00 in the little black book & departed the restaurant. It was a good meal.

Will I go back? Yes, for sure....

I give Marie Callenders 3 out of 4 stars!

***

FLAMING GRILL CAFE 2319 EL CAMINO AVENUE

2010-08-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

I made up my mind today would be the day to try out the Flaming Grill Cafe on El Camino Avenue. I got in my car & headed over there for lunch.

I arrived at 11:45AM & pulled into the teeny tiny parking lot. As I walked up to the front door it happened once again. Closed!!!!!

Many of my readers know that I have been there to eat & called on the phone before to only discover that they were not open.

But lady luck was on my side today. The Flaming Grill opens at noon on Saturdays.

So I got back into my car & took a short cruise through the area. Man, things sure have changed that's for sure. With my doors locked I checked out the neighborhoods & kept an eye on my watch. I wanted to be back right when the restaurant opened.

Finally, it was high noon & I made my way back into the teeny tiny parking lot. I parked in the construction company's parking spot next door to the restaurant. It was clearly marked "No Parking" but hey, screw em' if they can't take a joke huh?

I walked into the Flaming Grill & was greeted by a Giant of a man. He was wearing a Flaming Grill T Shirt (I want one of those). He looked at me and said, we are not open yet. About 15 minutes OK?

Well, what are you gonna do? It was high noon & enough already! So I asked the guy for a menu & waited out the 15 minutes. Glancing at the menu I noticed a large selection of burgers, sandwiches & salads. Hey man, they even had cheesecake.

For many years this place was a drive in, then it was a coffee shop. As I looked over the menu a family walked up & waited with me for the place to open. The Giant of a Man's family arrived for work. It appears to be a family business.

What I liked the most was the staff was very polite. Everyone was on their "A" game. The Giant of a man talked to us while he was setting up the tables. They have been there 2 1/2 years. That tells me something right there.

After a few more minutes my server Maria greeted me with a smile & asked me if I had been there before. I said no & asked a few questions about the menu. They just don't serve beef burgers. They have Buffalo, Wild Boar, Antelope, Alligator, Ostrich & Yak. Yak? Hey, don't ask me...

So being a major chicken I decided on the Cafe Sirloin Burger. That's a 1/2 pound sirloin burger with onions, tomato & lettuce. I added Swiss cheese. I asked for a Coke to drink.

I noticed the people at the table next to me were trying out the exotic burger selection. They also ordered a couple of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beers (on tap) to quench their thirst. The Flaming Grill serves a variety of Beers which is always a plus for any dining experience.

Basically you eat in the patio area of the place. There is no actual indoor dining to speak of. That was OK, because there is privacy screen around the patio, ceiling fans & a couple of TV's to watch. The concrete floor was painted a dull yellow color. No this isn't a fancy place, but I liked it. The guys were making the best of it & it was working. All of the staff had excellent attitudes. As I waited for my order, more people arrived for lunch.

Despite the traffic noise and a view of "The Car Czar" auto repair shop next door, it was kind of an interesting place. It was like you were at a drive in & restaurant mixed together... Kind of an eccentric vibe to the place.

Across the street at St Philomene's Church there was a wedding in progress. It was just a unique day. It was interesting taking in the place for the first time.

So finally my order arrived. The first thing I noticed was it was a hell of a big burger & there was a ton of fries. Best of all my meal was served to me on a real plate. Yes, a real plate, not in a plastic basket with paper or a tacky paper plate. So I guess you can't really call this place a drive in now can you?

In closing, what can I say, it was a fantastic meal. The Sirloin Burger was cooked perfect. The bun was fresh & all of the ingredients in the burger were fresh as well. The fries were awesome!

I could not have asked for a better lunch!

The total for my meal was $11.13.

I give the Flaming Grill 4 out of 4 stars! Great food & great service by a caring staff. Keep up the good work!

Will I go back to the Flaming Grill Cafe? Oh, for sure....

If you go there, mention to the workers that you read about their place on Sacramento Blog Uncut.

Thanks!

*****

QUIZNO'S SANDWICH SHOP 6306 GARFIELD AVENUE

2010-07-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

Today I was visiting a friend in Citrus Heights. We had just finished doing a little shopping & it was around lunchtime. The idea of getting a couple of sandwiches to go at Quizno's sandwich shop at 6306 Garfield Avenue sounded good.

Quizno's is located across from the Century Cinedome theatres near Greenback & highway 80.

So the two of us walk into the sandwich shop & the first thing I noticed was the silence. There were a couple of people eating there, but other than the sound of them chewing on their sandwiches it was silent. I mean you could hear a pin drop.

There was no TV & there was no music. Just silence. I know that I complain about noise, but this was just too wierd.

I approached the counter & looked over the menu boards. Hmmm... the first thing I notice was no pastrami. WTF? No pastrami?

Then I noticed the two for five dollar special called "bullets". That was interesting. Two sandwiches on baguettes for $5.00. Not bad.

So we decided on two Turkey Bullets & a bag of chips to go. The total ended up being under $7.00. Excellent.

As the two people behind the counter prepared the sandwiches, I noticed that they had basically no personality. There was no small talk, there was nothing. As a matter of fact I thought about breaking out in a tap dance to lift the somber environment of the place. Hey man, it was Valium city in the place.

It was very odd....

So after a few minutes the order was ready! I grabbed the bag & we headed over to my friends house to eat.

Upon arrival at my friends house, my friend got a couple of paper plates & two sodas. I started digging through the bag pulling out the two turkey bullets. We were going to split the bag of chips. It seemed like it was going to be a good lunch.

Then I unwrapped the sandwiches. The exterior of the sandwiches were literally soaked with mayonnaise. They were drenched! It was like they made the sandwiches & then dipped them in mayonnaise! I couldn't believe it!

I took a paper towel & wiped off the mayonnaise off of the outside of the sandwiches.

This folks was a complete mind blower. What on earth were they thinking? I know that Quizno's makes the sandwich & then runs it through a machine to toast it. But c'mon, what the hell was going on with all the extra mayo?

After wiping down the turkey bullets with a paper towel they were indeed pretty good. Maybe it was because I was very hungry.

Will I go back to Quizno's at 6306 Garfield Avenue? Well, maybe not....

I give Quizno's a generous 1 out of 4 stars.

Yo Quizno's, hold the mayo!!!

PLAN B RESTAURANT 555 LA SIERRA DRIVE

2010-07-18T05:50:00.000-07:00

Last night, after many attempts to eat at Plan B restaurant I was successful. I had called ahead to see if they were open & asked about the crowd. Yes, we're open said the person on the other end of the phone. It was a miracle!

You have to understand that every time I had went there to eat, the doors were locked & a note giving some excuse was posted on the door. But I was determined to try this place.

So as I walked into Plan B restaurant one word popped into my head. Sophisticated.

As I took a seat at the bar I noticed a gray haired gentleman at the bar in a white shirt checking out the crowd. He was eyeballing everything. Including me. He must have been the owner.

I was greeted by the bartender & handed a menu. I ordered a coke. There was a vibe to this place. The music was soft, the bar had a white counter top & everything else about the bar was black. The bar was stocked with high end liquor. Although not a very big place, it was done up right. The tables were white, the seats were black. The side wall of the place was white brick. It was clean & classy.

I looked over the menu & was contemplating Salmon or the Ribeye Steak. The bartender pointed out the specials on a chalkboard located on the back wall of the bar. Fillet Mignon, Rack of Lamb or Rainbow Trout. It all sounded good. I remember the Rainbow Trout was $20.50.

So after much thought I decided on the Ribeye steak dinner. This was a 12 oz. Ribeye Steak served with seasoned fries & ratatouille. Perfect!

I looked around the place some more. It was very clean. There was a laptop near the bar & I noticed a blonde lady all dressed in black bringing out samples of food to the gray haired guy to try out. Was he the owner? It sounded like he had a french accent. As a matter of fact, so did a couple of the other people working there. I noticed a young couple on the patio area having drinks & chilling out. I noticed that all of the servers were dressed in black.

More people were arriving as I anticipated my dinner. I kept wondering if they knew that I was a blogger. Did they know that I was going to write about their place?

After a few minutes my meal arrived. Nice presentation! Hey man, it was a far cry from Waffle Square that's for sure!

The Ribeye was charbroiled medium rare, it was just what I wanted. Tender & juicy with a nice charbroiled flavor. The fries were like the size of shoestrings with a nice garlic flavor. Even though I had never tried ratatouille, it was off the hook!

It was an excellent meal. It was well worth the wait.

I noticed the 95864 crowd was upper class. It's Sierra Oaks. It was a classy experience.

In these hard economic times, I feel very fortunate that I can afford a place like this.

The total for my meal was $26.37.

I left $33.00 on the bar as I walked out.

Will I go back to Plan B restaurant? Oh yes... Hell yeah!

I give Plan B restaurant 4 out of 4 stars.

KABOB HOUSE GREEK DINING & CATERING

2010-07-11T05:13:00.000-07:00

Last night I made the decision to go & check out Plan B Restaurant located at 555 La Sierra Way. In a nutshell, Plan B Restaurant is in a small business complex located near Watt Avenue & Fair Oaks Blvd. In addition to the Plan B Restaurant there is a Starbucks, Beach Hut Deli, Golden 1 Credit Union, Danielle's & Cafe Vinoteca.

It was around 6:00PM when I pulled into the parking lot & walked up to the front door. They were closed! There was a note on the front door that said "closed July 4 thru July 13. Nice huh? I tell you this place is always closed for one reason or another. I was all set to try out their $21.00 Ribeye Steak Dinner. This makes the third time I have tried to eat at this place & found the doors locked. There is always some excuse why they are closed. One time there was a note on the front door that said we will be closed for the Academy Awards. You're kidding me, right?

So there I was with my dinner plans shot to hell. I was so looking forward to a meal at Plan B Restaurant. Some other time I guess.

I drove down Watt Avenue & thought about going to Woody's Bar & Grill in the Country Club shopping center. But just wasn't feeling it. I made a turn onto El Camino & a left on Fulton. If you are a regular to my blog you know that there are a ton of places to eat on Fulton. Everything from Good ole American Bacon & Eggs to Mediterranean food, it's on this street.

Then I spotted Kabob House located at 1726 Fulton Avenue. I had never been there before. Greek food is always good, so I pulled into the parking lot. They were open for business.

As I walked in I heard the sound of Greek Music playing & took in the place. It was clean, it was quiet & despite it being in the high 90's outside, it was nice & cool. Even the carpet had a Greek vibe to it. There were small paintings of Greek Villages hanging on the walls. It was a Nice restaurant.

The server greeted me & told me "anywhere you like". There were only a few people having dinner & I spotted a table that I wanted.

I asked for a glass of ice water & a coke. My server was on her "A" game. She was polite & professional.

I started to look at the menu & my server brought over my drinks.

Kabob House has been in this location for a long time. There menu was loaded with items like Pita Sandwiches with your choice of Beef, Lamb & Garlic Chicken. They had shrimp kabobs, babaganough, humus, tzatziki & dolomathes.

I picked the Lamb Souvlaki. This consisted of a skewer of lamb served with rice, pita bread & a Greek salad. It was an excellent choice!

After ordering, my server brought over my Greek salad to get me started. One word described my Greek Salad. "Flavor"

The Greek salad had lettuce, tomato, white onions, olives, cucumber & feta cheese served with a simple oil & vinegar dressing. This salad was off the hook!

I ate about half of my salad, then my dinner arrived. The lamb skewer was laid on a bed of rice, with pita bread. The lamb kabob had red pepper & white onion on the skewer. Now this was some good lamb people. It was tender & juicy. Cooked perfectly. No wonder why they have been in business for so many years!

As I ate my dinner, more people arrived to the restaurant. The Greek music kept playing as I slowly enjoyed my meal.

All I can say is this is a good place to eat. Good food at an affordable price.

The total for my meal was $17.07. I left $23.00 in the little brown book the server had left on the table for me. She did a good job & the food was off the hook.

What more could a guy want?

It was worth every penny.

Will I go back to Kabob House? Oh yes... Looking forward to my next dinner there.

I give Kabob House 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

This was excellent Greek Food

MAJOR LET DOWN AT TEXAS WEST BBQ

2010-07-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Today for lunch I was all set to finally go & check out the Flaming Grill Cafe at 2319 El Camino Avenue. So around 10:00AM I gave them a call. No answer. Then I waited until 11:00AM & called again. I figured by 11:00AM certainly someone would be there getting ready for the lunch crowd. Ring... Ring... Ring... I must have let the phone ring 10 times. No answer!

Well, screw it! With that out of the way I decided to run a couple of errands & headed over to Texas West Bar-B-Que at 1600 Fulton Avenue.

Yes, they were open around 11:20AM & I was so happy. I had never been there before and was very interested in trying out their food. You never can't beat some good BBQ right?

I walked inside the very small but clean restaurant & looked around. Lot's of stuff hanging on the walls, decorations, license plates etc. Since I was going to get a "to-go" lunch, I went up to the counter & grabbed a takeout menu.

I took a seat at one of the small tables & started looking through the menu. In all honesty, the menu was loaded with a bunch of items including: Burgers, BBQ sandwiches, Brisket, Hot Links, Spare Ribs & Pulled Pork Sandwiches.

Then I spotted it! It was the Tri Tip Sandwich for $9.99. Now this sounded excellent. It came with a choice of one side. Potato salad sounded good.

So I walked up to the register & placed my order. With tax the total was $10.86. That was fine with me. After all I was getting a Trip Tip Sandwich.

The clerk took my cash, handed me the change & gave me a receipt.

I went back to one of the small tables & waited for my order. I looked at the menu again. I discovered that for 99 cents more I could add melted cheese, red onions & Texas pickles. Gee, should the sandwich already have this on it? I was puzzled. So I asked the cashier to add this onto my sandwich. He rang it up... $1.08.

I handed him a buck & he said that's OK. He let me slide on the 8 cents. OK, I'm all set now. So now I'm into my lunch for $11.86.

After a few minutes I heard the brown paper bag containing my lunch getting getting rolled up. The cashier handed over the bag & I headed home. I was really looking forward to this. I was hungry.

When I got home I started taking stuff out of the bag & putting it on a plate. The first thing I noticed was the potato salad. It was dry looking. Not moist at all. Then I took the Tri-Tip Sandwich out of the Styrofoam container. I notice the meat looked very dry. It had this bright red color around the edges. The cheese wasn't melted. There was a container of BBQ sauce, napkins & plastic utensils.

Let me tell you that I was very disappointed in this lunch. Despite the carryout menu saying things like "Voted Best Caterer" & "Continually voted Best BBQ" I was not impressed at all. They could have done so much better.

If this was true Texas BBQ, then I sure as hell will never drive to Texas to eat something like this. The meat had no taste. I was glad I had asked for the melted cheese, red onion & Texas pickles. This, along with the BBQ sauce was the only flavor the sandwich had.

The potato salad was equally as bad. It was probably the driest potato salad I had every eaten in my lifetime. It was as dry as the Sahara desert. I could make better potato salad using canned potatoes, mayonnaise, along with a little pepper & sliced pickle.

They should be totally embarrassed about their potato salad.

I had high hopes for this place. Even a half hour after eating this, I was saying things to myself like, "Jesus Christ, what a terrible lunch" & "Man, that was bad"

I give Texas West BBQ zero out of 4 stars.

Will I go back? Never.... Never again in this lifetime.

DENNY'S 7900 COLLEGE TOWN DRIVE

2010-07-04T10:57:00.000-07:00

For the past several months I have wanted to do a breakfast review of this restaurant. I must have drove by in the morning at least 5 or 6 times. The parking lot was always full. Each and every spot was taken.

Today, I got lucky. I headed over to Denny's on College Town Drive around 6:40AM. There were 4 cars in the parking lot.

As I walked up to the entrance I noticed that the glass door was covered with fingerprints. It was so filthy. As I walked through the door, I had to go through another filthy fingerprint covered door. Finally I was inside!

The server walked over & led me to a window booth. I sat down in the booth and as I put my arms on the table it felt sticky. Looks like my review was going to be interesting. This was not a very good first impression.

I asked for the usual coffee & a glass of water. Lately, Denny's has been running a new ad campaign on it's restaurant chain. The commercials talk about good food at a very low price.

Gazing at the menu, I noticed all you can eat pancakes for just $4.00. Not too shabby. So I ordered the pancakes & also asked for one egg over easy.

As I waited for my endless pancakes, I took the place in. With the exception of the sticky table & fingerprints it was a fairly clean restaurant. There were maybe 6 people in the entire restaurant eating. I noticed two gentleman sitting about six seats apart at the counter. They were very old & both of them had a look on their faces as if to say, what happened to my life?

After several minutes my order arrived. It was 3 massive pancakes on a plate, along with a small plate with my one egg on it.

I tell you what, these were some pretty good pancakes. I smothered them with butter & syrup. I sprinkled pepper on my egg & punched the yolk with my fork.

This was a great breakfast. The pancakes were so filling I didn't ask for more. The three I ate were plenty. I just couldn't eat anymore! I was stuffed.

About 7:00AM a couple of more workers arrived, one of them a very beautiful Latin lady. First she grabbed a spray bottle & towel to do the glass on the doors. Thank God! I felt much better after she did that.

The total for my meal including 3 coffees was $8.57. I left a $2.00 tip.

Would I go back? Yes, but not right away. I'm still full from the pancakes.

I give Denny's on College Town Drive 2 out of 4 stars.

CD's DELI & BISTRO 2440 FULTON AVENUE

2010-06-27T05:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I was going to go to Plan B restaurant on La Sierra Drive for a steak dinner. Then I thought about going to this new place I had been watching for a long time. So I made the choice to try out CD's Deli & Bistro located at 2440 Fulton Avenue. It was a good choice.

For many years this place was known as Classic Burger. Then it became Granite's back on the block deli. Since March, a guy named Chef David & his business partner Steve have bought out Granite's & taken over.

When I first walked in a guy sitting at a booth was just finishing his dinner. He looked over at me and said "the steak is excellent". Now that's what I like to hear.

Just then a guy walked up to the register & introduced himself. Shaking my hand he said, I'm Chef David & this is my business partner Steve.

We talked about the $7.99 steak dinner that he had advertised on a banner outside the restaurant. In fact, it was a top sirloin dinner with one side dish for $7.99. Then I asked, do you have Ribeye? Chef David said yes, and that's what I was looking for. So I ordered the Ribeye steak (medium rare) with french fries along with a salad & a drink.

The Ribeye Steak Dinner was $9.99, the side salad was $2.00 & unlimited drink refills for $1.99. Not a bad price for this cut of meat & I ended up drinking three large Cokes throughout my meal. Most restaurants charge $2.50 for a soda & you are lucky if you get a free refill at all.

I filled up my drink at the soda fountain, then took a seat at a booth & looked around. It was pretty much like Granite's deli with a few improvements. There was a flat screen TV on the wall showing a professional Poker game in progress.

The place was very clean, there were no linen napkins, there was no blaring music. That was cool with me. I just wanted a good meal at a good price.

After a few minutes Steve brought over my salad. Just by glancing at my salad I knew these guys were good. The salad had lettuce, tomato, bell pepper, red onion, black olives & pepperchini's. I poured ranch dressing over the mixture & started digging in. It was excellent.

As I was enjoying my salad, Chef David told me that he noticed the steak he was cooking for me was a little small & that he would "hook me up" with another one for free. He said, to just get started & I will bring out the other one when it's done. I said that was cool & asked for horseradish. They had homemade horseradish!

About halfway through my salad Steve brought over my steak & fries. Let me say this was an excellent steak. Charbroiled & tender, it was indeed a masterpiece. Chef David was good. After I had ate a few slices of this juicy steak, Steve brought me out the other piece of steak. So the dinner ended up being like an 11oz. Ribeye steak. It was more than what I had bargained for. In all honesty, the first piece of steak would have been plenty.

Chef David told me a little about himself. He was in fact a Culinary trained chef & had worked at a few places in Sacramento, including Scott's Seafood. He said he always wanted to open a Restaurant & that when Granite's wanted to sell he seized the opportunity to buy the place. Both Chef David & his business partner Steve were very professional & polite.

Chef David also told me that they are constantly shopping for high quality foods at competitive prices so they can put together a good meal & pass on the savings to the customers. Now this sounds like a good business plan to me!

After a couple of drink refills, I finished my steak dinner & was very happy. It was an awesome meal. I should have came here along time ago.

In closing, CD's Deli & Bistro puts together an excellent meal for an excellent price. Basically, that's what I look for when I go out to eat.

There are over fifty items on the menu to choose from including: Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches, Chicken Marsala, Shrimp Scampi, Beef Stroganoff, The Big Steak Dinner, Teriyaki Chicken, Hot Pastrami Sandwiches, Burgers, Sausages & Hot Dogs. Hey man, they got it all.

The total for my meal including a side salad & unlimited drink refills was $14.94.

Worth every penny!

So I highly recommend this place to all of my readers! When you go there, tell Chef David that you read about his restaurant on Sacramento Blog Uncut. A good business plan includes "word of mouth" advertising. So after you go, tell a few of your friends, OK?

CD's Deli & Bistro is open daily from 11:00AM to 7:30PM.

Will I go back? Oh hell yes! I am ready to go back today for another steak dinner.

I give CD's Deli & Bistro 4 out of 4 Stars....

JOE'S CRAB SHACK 1210 FRONT STREET

2010-06-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

On Friday I went to lunch at Joe's Crab Shack in Old Sacramento with a group of friends. If you have read my blog in the past, you know that I have been to Joe's on a few occasions. Since it was Friday, I figured what the hell. You know, fish on Friday & all that.

As we were walking through the door of Joe's I asked myself, does my group I'm with know I'm a blogger? Do they know that I do restaurant reviews? Do they know that I have been to at least 50 restaurants in Sacramento? Do they read my blog? Have they ever heard of Sacramento Blog Uncut? So far 16,000 people have read my blog. I kept wondering if anyone in the group was one of the 16,000 readers.

I'm terrible at keeping secrets. But I have managed to keep this one. I like to blog & I love to eat. It's a marriage made in heaven. Besides, I need to be undercover when I go into various restaurants. That way I get the same service like anybody else gets & I can write an unbiased review of the place.

Getting back to my review: So we waited for a table & the first thing I noticed was the noise level. As our server took us to our table, I couldn't help but notice that the music was so loud. Way too loud.

Joe's is a very unique place. On the river in Old Sacramento, with an awesome view. The decorations are eccentric to say the least. Complete with paintings on the ceiling to Christmas tree lights strung all over, this place is indeed unique.

After we sat down, our server asked us what we wanted to drink. The music was so loud that she literally had to yell this out to us.

So she took our drink requests & walked away. In order for our group to interact with each other we had to raise our voices. For Christ's sakes, it was like you were in a dance club.

As we were waiting for our drinks, a lady at another table was talked into putting on a stupid wig & given a hula hoop. Apparently when it's your birthday this is some type of tradition at Joe's. The servers basically humiliated the lady.

I remember one time when I ate there before they talked a customer into riding a kids "Stick Pony" around the restaurant while all of the customers sang the happy birthday song.

Sacramento is so high class....

Perhaps if I was in my 20's & had smoked a little "purple cush" in the parking lot I could have gotten into this. Unfortunately, I don't know where to score any purple cush. Not until the November election anyway!

While waiting for our drinks a song broke out & all of the servers did a dance routine for the customers. Is this really necessary? Am I being a prude here or what? Hey, all I wanted was some lunch with a nice view of the Sacramento River. Not a Circus side show by the employees in order to hustle tips.

Finally our drinks arrived & our server proceeded to yell out the specials that were being offered. Bla bla bla... I couldn't understand her.

We all decided on Fish & chips, I think one person ordered some shrimp as well.

It took forever to get our food. I wished we had sat outside. The river looked so peaceful. Even the ugly Yellow Tower Bridge looked nice.

So after a short eternity our food arrived. We had to ask for forks & malt vinegar. These two items should have already been on the table, but I won't get that picky.

How was the food? The food was excellent! My friend that ordered the shrimp said it was good & didn't taste like BP 90 weight.

The shrimp must have been caught & frozen before the oil spill in the Gulf.

Joe's Crab Shack needs to change it's vibe. It's just way too loud, the stick pony business & forcing people to Hula Hoop on their birthday is just played out.

They need to throw the stick pony & the hula hoop into the river & let them float downstream. Enough already.

I give Joe's Crab Shack 1 out of 4 stars.

Will I go back? Hopefully not.

Our group should have went next door to the Rio City Cafe.

BANDERA RESTAURANT 2232 FAIR OAKS BLVD.

2010-06-14T05:55:00.000-07:00

After a lot of pressure from one of my readers, I finally had something to eat at Bandera Restaurant.

Yesterday around 6:00PM I went to Bandera, as I walked into the very dark restaurant located on Fair Oaks Boulevard, one thought popped into my head. "Money"

The hostess at the door greeted me with a big smile & said, "Welcome to Bandera".

There were rich people everywhere! There was no recession here folks. Just a lot of rich folks having dinner. It just goes to show you that there is a little money left in this town. People were still out spending it on a Hot Sacramento Sunday.

So I told the hostess that I could sit at the bar. As I walked to the bar which has located in the center of the restaurant, I took the place in. It was classy. It was dark. The bar was shaped like a long rectangle. There were these little lamps along the bar & a couple of small flat screens were hanging from the ceiling. Plenty of top shelf liquor was on display & the ceiling had these large exposed wood beams.

I glanced through the restaurant, there were a lot of booths & they were all filled with people having Sunday dinner. The place was packed. At the back of the restaurant there were restaurant workers putting together salads, cooks serving up plates & servers getting the orders ready. I noticed the walls of the place were these planks of unfinished wood. Kind of like a barn or an old cabin. Every booth had a small lamp on it, just like the lamps along the bar.

As I was sitting at the bar another group of people walked in. They came up to the bar & sat down next to me. They appeared to be in their 60's & rich. So I glanced over at the guy and said, how ya doing? There was no response, he looked right through me. I didn't exist. He was above acknowledging me. This was a major sign of disrespect. I thanked God that I was a changed person & didn't cause a scene with this asshole. Screw this arrogant bastard & his blue plaid shirt. He ordered a Scotch & soda along with some type of Tequila drink for his wife. After a couple of minutes, the hostess came over & took them to a booth. Thank God!

So with arrogant bastards relocated, the bartender came over to me. She had on a dark vest & tie. She was putting on her "A" game. She was in her mid 20's, sandy blondish hair, wearing glasses & looked very collegiate. She handed me a bar menu. She called me sir. I liked that. She was very professional.

One side of the bar menu was a wine list, the other side had appetizers & entrees.

Gazing at the menu I noticed a grilled salmon sandwich, I noticed they had a cheeseburger served with peanut coleslaw for $13.00. Hmmm... $13.00 for a cheeseburger? Peanut coleslaw? Thirteen is an unlucky number. I would never order anything involving the number 13. Hey people no fries either!

I noticed a lot of fish on the menu. This appeared to be more of a steak place. It had that vibe. So the idea of ordering fish was not an option.

Looking further down the menu I finally spotted it. There was my dinner. It was slow roasted Prime Rib with mash potatoes. They weren't called mashed potatoes, they were called some hoity toity name. It came with Au Jus. The price for this was $27.00.

I told the Bartender my order & with a smile she asked me if I wanted some horseradish on the side. "Of course", I said. I also asked for a coke & a glass of water.

Sitting at the bar sipping my coke, I kept saying to myself over & over, wow did you just order Prime Rib for $27.00?

The bartender placed a folded linen napkin on the bar, another linen napkin contained my utensils. In a matter of five minutes a server walked up to me at the bar with my order. She asked me how I was doing tonight. This was a class place.

Despite the arrogant bastard that I encountered earlier, it was nice to be in this restaurant.

Then I looked at it. This was the biggest piece of Prime Rib I had ever seen. This cut of meat almost covered the entire plate. I mean to tell you, Hoss Cartwright from Bonanza would have appreciated this piece of Prime Rib.

It was big, it was juicy, & it was hot. Cooked medium rare, as I slowly cut a piece of it, I discovered that it was very tender. It just melted in my mouth like butter. The Au Jus was fantastic. The horseradish was perfect. The mashed potatoes off the hook. This indeed was a very killer meal.

But there was one thing missing....

They didn't give me any vegetables. Usually when you order Prime Rib you get a few cooked carrots or some yellow squash with the order. Do you feel me?

Evidently, the sprig of parsley was all the vegetables included with this entree.

You know what? It didn't matter. Maybe I should have ordered a salad. But quite frankly, I didn't want to pay for one. The $27.00 for the entree was enough for me.

With the Ice Cold Coke, the total for my meal ended up being $32.90. I gave the bartender two twenties & thanked her for an excellent meal. It was pretty good.

Even though it was massive, I ate all of the Prime Rib.

Will I go back? Yes, when I have a date & a ton of money to spend. Figure the odds on that statement!

Despite no veggies, I give Bandera 4 out of 4 stars.

Note to Bandera: Next time microwave a few frozen carrots or yellow squash & add them to the Prime Rib entree.

Be sure to click on the "older posts" link at the bottom of the page to see all of my reviews!

PIZZA GUYS: YOU ROCK!!!

2010-06-12T04:16:00.000-07:00

The other day when I got home from work I didn't want to cook. I was too tired. Also, I didn't want to go anywhere to get something to eat.

Glancing at my coffee table, I spotted a coupon from Pizza Guys.

So I looked over the offers on the coupon & decided on the specialty pizza.

The specialty pizza was medium size & was $13.99. You know what I like the most about Pizza Guys? When you call to place an order the Pizza Guys employee knows how to speak English & is polite.

I called & asked for the specialty pizza with 4 toppings. I selected sausage, black olives, green peppers & mushrooms.

With tax & a $2.49 delivery charge (don't get me started on the delivery charge) the total was $18.42. When the delivery guy arrived I gave him $21.00.

It was worth every penny!

I give Pizza Guys 3 out of 4 stars.

Hey Pizza Guys.... You rock!!!!

RESTAURANT WORKERS: BRING YOUR "A" GAME

2010-06-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

This morning around 8:30AM I walked into Mel's (The Original) on Howe Avenue. I had a lot to do today, so I need an excellent breakfast. If you have been a long time reader, you know that I love Mel's. They always put together an excellent meal.

Today however, things just weren't the same. When I entered the restaurant I felt no energy from the server who greeted me. The place was pretty much empty as I sat down at one of the many empty booths.

There were two servers working. A guy & a gal. So luck of the draw I get the guy server. No big deal, but it would have been nice to have a lady take care of me.

I did notice my server was just going through the motions.

Quite frankly, both of the servers had this look on their faces as if to say, Son of a Bitch, it's Monday.

There was no enthusiasm. They didn't seem happy at all. It was like they didn't want to be there.

So I asked for coffee & a glass of water. I also asked for some jukebox change.

I looked over the menu & then the placard on the table that listed the specials.

Then it caught my eye. The Wolfman Jack special. This consisted of 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 slices of bacon, 1 sausage patty, a slice of ham & potatoes.

All this for $5.99. Talk about a bargain breakfast. This was a lot of food.

So after a bit my server, I think his name was Norbert brought over my plate of food.

He also brought over a small plate with some whipped butter & syrup for the pancakes. As he put the plate down, the syrup spilled a little bit. No biggie.

Let me say that for the most part the breakfast was pretty good. However the pancakes were not fully cooked. They were kind of gooey. Also, my slice of ham seemed, well... kind of old.

The eggs were good. Potatoes were good, bacon was good & the sausage was good.

But you know what? It should have been fantastic.

I hate to give a negative review, but today Mel's just wasn't doing it for me.

One thing I noticed about halfway through my breakfast was that I was sweating. I literally had to stop & wipe the sweat off my forehead.

It was like an oven in there! What's up with that?

The total for my meal with coffee was $8.68.

I hate to do it but I give Mel's (The Original) 1 1/2 stars out of 4.

Hey servers, always bring your "A" game when at work. Perhaps if the service was a little more enthusiastic I would have written a better review this time.

THE HIDDEN GEM: TUMMY'S SUB SHOP

2010-06-05T04:56:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the week I found myself in the city of Rio Linda, California. Yeah, I know what you are thinking. Here come the smart remarks about Rio Linda, right? Well... No... Not really.

It was lunch time & I spotted Tummy's Sub Shop located at 741 M Street.

I walked in this hole in the wall place & noticed a lot of business going on. There were four ladies behind the counter taking orders, filling drinks & making sandwiches. For seating, there were a few small tables & chairs. In addition a couple of varnished picnic tables were available to customers.

I looked at the menu board & I believe what I wanted was called the number 2.

The number 2 consisted of an 8 inch Hot Pastrami, chips & a drink. I asked for my sandwich to be on a roll & to put everything on it.

In the background I noticed a guy wearing a truckers hat slowly working on a pitcher of beer.

This folks was small town America at it's finest.

The total for my order was $8.25 plus tax.

It took a few minutes but I must say it was an awesome Hot Pastrami sandwich.

I mean it was loaded with flavor. It was a little messy to eat but, my God it was so good!

Tummy's is not a fancy restaurant with linen napkins. But they put together a fantastic lunch.

Will I go back? Oh yes, hell yes!

I give Tummy's Sub Shop 3 out of 4 stars.

BLOG POST 100: CAFE EUROPA 1537 HOWE AVENUE

2010-05-28T04:19:00.000-07:00

First let me blurt out, wow my 100th blog post can you believe it?

Yes it's true, I have made 100 entries on my blog about Sacramento restaurants & my easy to cook recipes. Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page & click the older posts link to see all of my reviews.

OK with all that being said, yesterday after work I decided to grab some takeout from Cafe Europa which is located at 1537 Howe Ave suite 116.

Most of you recall back in the day Cafe Europa having a small restaurant in Arden Fair shopping center. They were there for many years.

As far as I know this is the same Cafe Europa.

One thing for certain the food was excellent!

As I left work I phoned in my order. I had found some info online & decided to order the Lamb Kabob Entree.

This consisted of grilled marinated lamb, rice pilaf & pita bread. It came with some dipping sauce & a few veggies as well.

Let me say this hit the spot. Way better than fast food. The lamb was tasty & tender. The rice pilaf was perfect. No complaints here folks!

The total for my meal was $9.24. Worth every penny.

Will I go back? Oh hell yeah!!!

I give Cafe Europa 4 out of 4 stars.

ON THE ROAD: A REVIEW OF JOHNNY ROCKETS

2010-05-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Let me be very honest, from time to time I get really sick of Sacramento. On Saturday afternoon I couldn't take it anymore. I had to leave. It just was too much to handle. Perhaps it was my job or the tweaks on their 10 speed bikes with ape hanger handlebars going through my trash.

Or maybe it's California's 19.1 Billion dollar deficit with no fix in sight.

Quite possibly it's despite the crime in this town, the Mayor's feels it's more important to build a new arena for the Sacramento Kings.

Needless to say I just had to get out of Sacramento

So I packed a bag, hit the road & ended up at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno, Nevada. By the way, these days they don't call it Reno, they call it Northern Nevada.

So after a couple of hours on the road including light snow flurries, I check in to the hotel & hit the casino, trying to forget about my problems in Sacramento.

After a few hours I got hungry.

While the Grand Sierra has several restaurants, I was drawn to Johnny Rockets. This place had energy. It was time to eat some good American Comfort food.

So I walked in and had a seat at the counter. A beautiful lady named Tina greeted me with a big smile. Her black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. She along with the rest of the Johnny Rockets crew were all dressed in white uniforms. It was a blast from the past. It was like the 1950's. The place was jumping.

So I gazed at the menu & looked at the crew working the restaurant. I mean to tell you this crew was hustling. Hustle, hustle, hustle. They were putting out some orders. You could hear the deep fryers cooking the fries & the sizzling of the grill cooking the burgers.

Finally, I decided on the Route 66 Burger. The Route 66 was a 1/3lb burger with onions, tomatoes & Swiss cheese. It came with fries. I asked for a classic coke.

The burger was $8.99 & the classic coke was like $2.59. Come on, $2.59 for a fountain drink? That's a little steep, no?

Anyways, I will say that this was an excellent meal. Best of all Tina was an excellent server & hooked me up with a free drink refill.

The total for my meal was around $11.72. I left Tina $14.00 & told her to keep the change. She deserved it.

I give Johnny Rockets at the Grand Sierra Resort in Reno 3 1/2 stars out of 4 stars.

ROAD TRIP: TWO RIVERS CAFE AT RED HAWK CASINO

2010-05-17T15:01:00.001-07:00

Today I decided to take a little road trip up Highway 50 to Red Hawk Casino. Upon arrival I noticed that they had music playing on the 6th floor of the sparsely occupied parking garage.

I entered the Casino & noticed that it was indeed a very clean Casino. Correct me if I am wrong, but when they first opened didn't someone almost get kidnapped in the parking lot? Or was it an attempted carjacking? If you have info email me the details, OK?

Well, nobody tried to abduct me as I walked through the parking garage & made my way to the casino elevator.

I will say that the staff was very polite & helpful. I went to the rewards center & got my Red Hawk Gold rewards card. This will track my play & hopefully in the future it will get me some discounts, free play etc.

So I hit a few machines & lost every time. I played a variety of machines including: quarters, 1 cent, 2 cent & 5 cent machines. Nothing! Oh well, that's OK.
In all honesty I was there to eat lunch & of course post the story here on Sacramento Blog Uncut.

I did in fact see at least 3 cocktail servers, dressed in these roman style short gold dresses. None of these servers offered me a drink. But hey, customer service isn't everything right?

So after dumping a few dollars in the slots I spotted this Security Guard & asked him if they had a Deli in the casino. He responded, "We have the two rivers cafe, it's like Denny's".

As I approached The Two Rivers Cafe I said to myself: "Denny's my Ass, this ain't no Denny's". It was just a small snack bar. But that was OK. I was hungry & didn't want to do the buffet thing anyway.

So I made my way to the counter & looked over the menu board. They had a variety of items including a pulled pork sandwich, a BLT, a Phillie cheese steak & a couple of types of burgers. In addition they had some desserts in the glass display case.

I decided on the 1/3 lb cheeseburger with fries & a drink.

So the total for my meal was $7.03. I had them swipe my Red Hawk rewards card & despite losing $40.00 in the Casino I didn't get a discount on my meal. Not even one dime.

I filled up my drink cup with diet Pepsi & grabbed a table. I will say this, The Two Rivers Cafe was very clean.

After awhile one of the workers wearing a chef's hat brought me my meal. My cheeseburger was OK I guess. Kind of on the dry side. I noticed that the kosher dill pickle they added for garnish was kind of old looking. I ate it anyway.

On a lighter note the fries were excellent.

The thing that gets me is why a Casino that rakes in a few hundred thousand dollars a day puts out such a sub par lunch.

I feel that the Two Rivers Cafe at Red Hawk Casino could have done much better.

Before I left I spend another $60.00 on the slots, then went to the gift shop & bought a Red Hawk Casino T shirt.

I give the Two River Cafe at the Red Hawk Casino 1 out of 4 stars.

At least the fries were good.

As far as the Casino floor, maybe next time the cocktail servers will offer me a drink.

Will I go back? Well, maybe after I get some discounts mailed to me from the Casino.

In all honesty they need to build a hotel out there. Maybe it wouldn't be such a ghost town.

Have you been to the Red Hawk Casino?

Be sure to scroll down & click on the older posts link.

thanks!

REVIEW: BRING YOUR EAR PLUGS TO THE WAFFLE SHOP

2010-05-16T12:42:00.000-07:00

This morning around 10:30 I made my way along Watt Ave into the Mecca known as North Highlands, California. Hey man, this is the ghetto! So looking to my left I notice the weeds are three feet high at the Cargo Largo building & just next door was my breakfast destination known as the Waffle Shop.

The Waffle Shop is located at 4641 Watt Avenue in a tacky section of North Highlands. Jesus, can you clean it up already?

Just because there is no money doesn't mean it has to be dirty.

So I pull into the parking lot & notice a homeless lady sitting on the sidewalk selling Sunday papers to people entering the restaurant. Hey, at least she wasn't begging, she was selling something. I don't have a problem with that.

I walk in the restaurant & first thing I notice is the noise. This had to have been the noisiest place I have been in since I started writing my blog.

The place is decorated with at least 50 American Flags. I mean it was red, white & blue everywhere I looked. I sat at the counter & noticed it was sticky. Nice huh?

Along came a server and asked me If I wanted anything to drink. I replied with "coffee & a glass of water" please.

The noise level was rising. Wish I had brought ear plugs, a plate crashed on the floor, utensils were rattling.

Then I noticed that the noise was coming from the workers. The kitchen area is like four feet from the counter so you can watch & hear the staff at work. There were three gentleman in the kitchen area cooking. They were communicating with each other in Spanish & slamming the food plates around like there was no tomorrow. Slam, crash & bang. They were not screwing around back there. Their effort was 110%

I kind of got a kick out of the speaking in Spanish with of all of the American Flags decorating the place. I also noticed that one of the cooks had the name "Judith" tattooed on the side of his neck.

I watched as the servers hustled orders, yelled at the cooks & basically worked their asses off. I will say this, this crew was a very hard working crew.

There must have been 7 or 8 servers, 4 of which were very nice to look at! There was some eye candy working this morning for sure!

So I looked over the menu & ordered the Waffle Combo, that included one waffle, 4 strips of bacon & two eggs.

It took awhile, but I finally got my order. The waffle was huge! It covered my entire plate. My eggs & bacon were served on another plate. This was a lot of food for $6.95

Unfortunately I hate to say it, but my waffle was not fully cooked.

Here's a little advice, when your business has the name "Waffle Shop" you should be able to fix a waffle. No?

Still the bantering in Spanish continued & the yelling among the servers reached peak levels. The plates kept slamming. I noticed the younger servers did a lot of walking back & forth behind the counter in their tight black jeans.

Quite frankly I enjoyed seeing this. It was a nice show. Some of these girls were cute. This was the first time I didn't mind sitting at the counter.

In closing, despite an undercooked waffle the rest of the meal was ok. It was just too loud in there. Jesus, it's Sunday. How about a little peace & quiet. it was so loud you could barely hear the radio playing in the background. I couldn't make out any of the songs playing.

The total for my meal with coffee was $9.50.

My check from the server was greasy.

I guess that's why they call some restaurants greasy spoons huh?

Will I return? Maybe, but just to look at the cute servers.

I give the Waffle Shop 2 out of 4 stars.

The American Flag decorations from Big Lots were tacky & the place was too loud.

BACK TO BASICS: BISCUITS & GRAVY

2010-05-10T11:22:00.000-07:00

This morning I wanted some biscuits & gravy for breakfast. I made my way to Country Waffles 2721 El Camino Avenue. This place was once known as Walt's. Remember? Well this place is pretty tired looking, but the food is fantastic!

As I entered this tired old Diner with the 1970's vibe, I couldn't help but notice the customers. They were from all walks of life. From the two cute college girls to a guy that looked exactly like Uncle Jesse from the Dukes of Hazard, this place attracted all types, sizes & shapes.

I was seated at a booth & asked for coffee & a glass of water. From my last visit, it appeared that they have gotten new menus.

I ordered biscuits & gravy. It came with three sausage links & hash browns. I also asked for two eggs over easy. As I waited for my order I gazed out the window at the gray Sacramento Sky. In the distance I could see the American Flag flying high at the Chevrolet dealership along Fulton Ave.

Then two things occurred to me. First, there was no heat in the place & two, there was a large banner hanging outside advertising the Mon - Fri breakfast specials!

Well, why didn't my server tell me about the specials? Hello? Oh well, it really didn't matter. I was there for the biscuits & gravy. As far as no heat, I was wearing a sweatshirt, so I would make it.

After a few minutes my order arrived. It was an awesome breakfast! Plenty to eat with several coffee refills along the way.

If you don't mind the appearance of this tired old place, you will agree that they put together an excellent country breakfast. Fit for a King.

I give Country Waffles 3 out of 4 stars.

Will I return? Yes, for sure....

THE RETURN TO ABU'S CAFE & GRILL 1346 FULTON AVE

2010-05-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

For lunch on Monday I returned to Abu's Cafe & Grill located at 1346 Fulton. If you recall I was there to get some takeout on opening day & was rather impressed.

So as I walked through the door this time I was kind of surprised that despite it being 11:00AM I was the only one there for lunch? I wondered why? Is the Sacramento economy that bad?

Needless to say I was starved & decided on the 1/2lb Lamburger with fries & a drink. The guy behind the counter wrote down my order on a small pad & then rang it up. The total was $13.27. But you know what? This turned out to be an excellent lunch.

After paying, I filled up my soda & found a table. The place was pretty clean & they had a couple of TV's playing the Real Housewives of Orange County marathon. After a couple of minutes a group of six ladies walked in for lunch.

Finally my Lamburger was done & the server brought it over to me. This is 1/2 lb of ground lamb with red onions, tomato, lettuce & feta cheese.

Let me say that the first bite was awesome! This Lamburger was so full of flavor. It was so damn good! The fries were excellent too.

This was a hell of a lunch. The next time you are there, order the Lamburger!

I have to admit that this was far better than the Bacon Mushroom Swiss Burger I had at Gatsby's Diner awhile ago.

This was well worth the 13.27.

I give Abu's Cafe & Grill 4 out of 4 stars!

Will I go back? Oh heck yeah!!!

THE WAFFLE BARN 6239 FAIR OAKS BLVD

2010-05-02T10:17:00.000-07:00

This morning I went to the Waffle Barn for breakfast at 6239 Fair Oaks Blvd. As I walked in I noticed all of the stuff hanging on the walls, including broomsticks with handlebars & bike seats mounted on them. Interesting huh?

So I sat at the counter & my server asked me what I wanted to drink. I responded with my usual, coffee & a glass of water.

Looking over the menu I decided on 2 eggs, four strips of bacon, hash browns & biscuits & gravy. At first I thought it would be impossible to eat such a large breakfast.

While I was waiting for my order to arrive I couldn't help but notice that the servers seemed more interested in talking to each other rather than interacting with the customers. One of them was talking about some shirt that she bought & how it was going to show her belly button. Nice huh?

Then my order arrived. Quite frankly, it was excellent. This was true country cooking. Everything tasted so good. I did get a couple of refills on my coffee & managed to clean my plate.

I noticed towards the end of my meal it was getting very noisy in the restaurant. I really got a kick out of one of the servers arguing with one of the cooks about a waffle order.

When I walked over to the register to pay the one thing I noticed was that the cashier never looked me in the eye. She took my money & handed me my change.

She didn't even bother to say thank you.

Customer service 101 here folks... Always look at your customer. Always say thank you to your customer. Jesus Christ, can you learn some manners?

Like I mentioned before, the food was excellent. The people skills need some improvement. It was like the servers were not into it at all.

The total for my meal was $10.28.

Will I go back to the Waffle Barn? Well, maybe not.

I give the Waffle Barn 2 1/2 stars out of 4 stars.

DANIELLE'S CREPERIE & GALLERY

2010-04-19T11:56:00.000-07:00

First let me thank "Anonymous" for the tip. I remember many years ago Danielle's had a place in the back of Town & Country Shopping Center. The place was packed to the max every weekend. Now I know why!

Today I checked out the Fair Oaks & Watt Ave location. It was around 11:15AM when I walked inside, so I decided to have lunch.

Let me say that Danielle's is a very nice place. It was clean, there was art work hanging on the walls (It's for sale)& the clientele was upper class.

So as I sat at my booth I took the place in.

Two words describe Danielle's, very nice!

The best part was that it's very nice, yet affordable.

My server was named Jessica & she was a top notch employee. She asked me what I wanted to drink, in return I asked for a glass of water & a coke.

I looked at the menu. Danielle's has a nice selection of food. Like I had mentioned earlier, I decide to order lunch.

When Jessica returned I ordered the Bacon, Avocado & Tomato sandwich. I asked to have it served on a baguette along with a side order of potato salad.

While this was being prepared I noticed even more just how nice a place it was. There was no hard times, there was no recession here. Just violins & opera music playing.

After a few minutes Jessica returned with my order.

My meal was top notch. Talk about quality.

The potato salad was made using red potatoes & a variety of spices. It was excellent. As for my sandwich, it was pretty damn good too! Very fresh, very good!

Overall it was a great experience!

The total for my meal was $9.52. I left $14.00.

Will I return to Danielle's? Oh yes, for sure.

I give Danielle's 4 out of 4 stars!

REVIEW: BOUDIN SF 2573 FAIR OAKS BLVD.

2010-04-18T10:27:00.001-07:00

Today, once again I stopped for breakfast at Boudin SF located at 2573 Fair Oaks Blvd. Before walking in, I looked at the menu posted on the outside of the building.

I decided on the egg scramblers with red pepper & bacon. This was served with potato wedges & sour dough toast.

So I walked up to the counter & placed my order. After paying the cashier gives me a coffee cup & a paper coaster with a number on it. As I walked over to fill my coffee I noticed that two of the ladies working behind the counter were talking about their weekend plans.

Even though it was 9:10AM there were only 5 people in the entire restaurant.

So I find a booth & sit down. If you have never been there, Boudin SF is a very clean place. It has wood floors & a yuppie vibe to it. The guy sitting at the booth in front of me was on his laptop. I sipped my coffee, which was very good.

I was watching the kitchen area waiting for my meal. First, the server came walking by with another person's order. I waited patiently for my egg scrambler with red pepper & bacon. I was hungry & this breakfast sounded pretty good.

As I watched for my plate, it happened. The cook handed my plate to the server. The server gazed down at the plate, then called over another server. Then both servers looked at the plate. There seemed to be a problem.

Yes, it's true, they screwed up my order! The plate was handed back to the cook. Time to start over.

My advice when running a restaurant is to never let the customer see anything like this happen.

So after a few minutes my server came over to my table with a small plate. It had one slice of sourdough toast along with the potato wedges. She told me that the rest of my order would be ready in a minute. I responded with an OK.

Hey man, it was Sunday morning. Plus you never complain to the server in a restaurant.

I though to myself, why not just wait & bring my order over to me all at once?

I kept my mouth shut & waited. I looked at the plate in front of me. I counted the potato wedges. There were 7 small potato wedges & one slice of sourdough toast.

You have got to be kidding me? It was like ordering a large fry & getting 7 fries. Do you feel me? Also, there was one serving of strawberry jam. That was it. Like where's the grape jam? C'mon, are we cutting back on expenses here or what?

After a couple of minutes my server brought over my egg scrambler. It was a very tiny serving. Quite frankly, the size of the meal looked like it was meant for a third grader. I was not happy at all.

The sad thing was that despite being a tiny portion, it tasted very good. There just wasn't enough to eat. The meal could have been a home run. Instead it was just a single. I felt very let down.

Why not give me a bunch of potatoes? Why not give me a couple slices of toast? This place is a bakery too & they give me one slice of toast?

The total for my meal was $6.30.

Will I go back to Boudin SF? Well, not for awhile.

I hate to give a bad review to any restaurant. Honestly, I see this place closing or relocating by the end of summer. On a Sunday morning there should be more than 5 or 6people in having breakfast.

Sorry, but I have to give Boudin SF 1 out of 4 stars.

The coffee was good, but not enough food.

LUNCHTIME AT GATSBY'S DINER

2010-04-12T13:30:00.000-07:00

Today I had lunch at Gatsby's Diner located at 2598 Alta Arden Expressway. This was the first time I had been there & I was pleasantly surprised. Like the name, the theme of Gatsby's Diner appears to be the roaring 1920's.

Walking into Gatsby's was to say the least interesting. There were a lot of 1920's pictures on the walls, The diner was spotless. The place really grew on me during the time I was there. I actually got up & looked over all of the pictures & paintings. This place was different.

I did notice a couple of things. There were no booths, just tables & chairs. There were plenty of windows. And finally, one thing very interesting was that there were two grill areas in the far corner of the restaurant. It was pretty cool to watch the chef prepare meals for the customers.

When I walked in I was greeted & seated near a window. My server was very professional & polite. He asked me what I wanted to drink while I looked at the menu. I asked for a glass of water & a diet coke.

He returned with my drinks & left me alone for awhile. My diet coke looked like it was in a 32 oz glass.

Looking over the menu I decided on the Bacon Mushroom Swiss Burger. This consisted of an 8 oz burger patty topped with mushrooms, bacon & of course Swiss cheese. It came with a choice of house fries, chips or a salad. I chose the house fries.

This took awhile to prepare. As mentioned earlier, I was able to watch the chef prepare my meal.

Let me say that it was a hell of a mushroom Swiss burger. This was a big lunch & it was very, very tasty. The fries were excellent & there was plenty of them.

They gave me a free refill on my diet coke without me even asking.

Service was top notch.

The whole time I was there, roaring 20's music was playing. I have to admit it got a little old after awhile. But it was the theme of the place.

I guess it was better than Duran Duran playing out of a ghetto blaster back in the kitchen.

One thing I found odd was that the crew at Gatsby's was in fact all guys. This was the first time I had been to a restaurant ran by an all male staff.

They did an excellent job.

Gatsby's serves lunch & dinner only. The hours vary from either 11:00AM to 9:00PM or Noon to 9:00PM on Saturday & Sunday from noon to 8:00PM. They are closed Tuesdays.

The total for my lunch was $12.94. Worth every penny!

Will I return to Gatsby's? Oh yes, for sure. Next time I will try a chocolate shake.

I give Gatsby's 3 out of 4 stars!

Have you been to Gatsby's?

Here's a link to their website:

REVIEW: THE CAFE AT CAPITOL CASINO

2010-04-05T12:41:00.000-07:00

This morning I had breakfast at "The Cafe" inside the Capitol Casino Cardroom located at 411 North 16th Street. The Capitol Casino is a very nice card room that features various card games including Poker & Pure 21 Blackjack.

I parked in the rear parking lot & walked in the side entrance. The card room is pretty nice, it was clean & basically it was like walking through a maze. There were a couple of areas to play cards, there was a smokers lounge, a full bar & finally the Cafe.

My server greeted me with a smile & seated me at a small table near the front window. There was a TV playing on channel 3 & it was the Regis & Kelly show. Their guest was Tori Spelling & her husband Dean McDermott. The one thing I noticed was that Tori Spelling was so skinny. I mean it looked like she weighed 75 lbs.

Anyways my server asked me what I wanted to drink & as usual I asked for coffee & a glass of water. My server was very professional & she was wearing this black uniform complete with vest & tie. She was an attractive lady with this long black hair pulled back into a pony tail. Her hair looked like black silk. Her skin was the color of bronze. She had a great smile too.

I looked over the menu & decided on a short stack of 2 pancakes & a side order of link sausage. My server brought over a small pitcher that had the coffee in it. There was plenty of coffee to drink. I think I had at least three cups. It was pretty good coffee.

After a few minutes, my meal arrived with plenty of butter & syrup for the pancakes.
The pancakes were very large & my two sausage links were like solid black. They had an excellent pork flavor. As I was eating my pancakes I couldn't help but wonder what Tori Spelling had for breakfast. She was way too skinny!

Overall it was a good meal. The total was $8.95.

I gave my server $11.00 & thanked her. I should have asked her for her number. She was very classy & attractive.

Will I go back to The Cafe at the Capitol Casino? Yes, it was a good meal at a fair price.

Have you been to the Capitol Casino?

Please post your comments.

PIATTI RESTAURANT & BAR: THE 5 STAR BREAKFAST

2010-04-04T13:43:00.000-07:00

If you look at my profile I talk about doing various restaurant reviews. From the fast food place to the swanky restaurant. Well folks, today I ate at a very swanky restaurant.

Quite frankly, this was the swankiest restaurant I have ever had breakfast at.

It started this morning, I did a blog entry wishing all of my readers a Happy Easter. I thought that was going to be my blog entry for the day.

After blogging in the morning, I took a nice hot shower, then I went to the grocery store.

As I was leaving the grocery store I spotted a homeless guy walking through the parking lot. His head was focused on the ground. He was either looking for cigarette butts or cash. He was wearing a backpack. More than likely it was holding his life's possessions.

I pulled out of my parking spot & drove up along side him. I reached out of my drivers window with a five dollar bill in my hand & said Happy Easter!

The homeless guy grabbed the five dollar bill & said thanks. I said God Bless you! Then I drove away.

This my readers was better than going to church. On Easter Sunday, a day to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, I felt that it was important to Bless someone. A homeless person. Someone walking the streets with nothing. I think God put this guy in the parking lot at the right time. Am I making sense here?

As the late John Gotti said: "everybody needs to score sometime".

Today it was this homeless guy's time to score! I drove home in a warm car to my apt & unloaded my groceries. I felt blessed. I hope the homeless guy felt a little blessed too.

Despite being very early in the morning, I cracked open an ice cold Budweiser & drank a shot of brandy. After putting my groceries away, I decided to go for a walk before the next rain storm rolled in.

I made my way down Fair Oaks Boulevard. As you remember, a couple of weeks ago I was at the Pavilions shopping center where I had a terrible experience with customer service at an eatery called "the Market". Basically, they wouldn't wait on me. So I walked out hungry.

But today would be different. Today I would be treated like a King.

As I walked into the Piatti restaurant & bar they treated me like royalty. They didn't care that I wasn't wearing my Sunday best clothes. They looked beyond my swagger, they looked beyond the fact that I didn't belong there.

Today was Easter Sunday. The Piatti staff made me feel welcome. Without a doubt this was a high class place. I asked to sit at the bar, where I felt the most comfortable. The hostess agreed & said, sure that will be fine.

I pulled back a bar stool & took off my coat. Just then the bartender named Annette approached me. She asked me if I wanted a menu & I said yes.

She was young, brunette, polite & very beautiful.

Annette handed me a menu.

This was a very nice place, 4 or 5 star. Nice bar with flat screens, the dining room was impeccable. Top notch. Probably the nicest restaurant I have been in.

Gazing at the menu I asked for a cup of coffee. Annette said OK & produced an excellent cup of coffee. Then I said, you know what? I would like a shot of Jim Beam & a glass of water.

Without any judgement from Annette, I was served a nice shooter of Jim Beam & water back, complete with a slice of lemon. Primo!

After looking at the menu for a few minutes, I decided on "Benedetto". This was eggs Benedict. Basically, two eggs Benedict on toast with spinach on the side. A breakfast fit for a King.

Annette was nice enough to engage in a little small talk with me while I waited for my breakfast.

Like I said before, she was young & beautiful. She knew what she was doing, and made me feel very welcome. She was an excellent bartender.

I did two more shots of Jim Beam with a water back before my order arrived. I was cruising on Easter Sunday. It was nice. I felt no pain. I felt no grief.

When my order arrived I was very impressed. It was a hell of a presentation. This was the first time I had experienced "Benedetto" it was excellent. Wish I had my camera with me. It was a hell of a photo op.

This was an excellent breakfast. Hey, I even ate the spinach!

Annette kept my coffee filled & gave me some extra bread when I asked for it.

What I liked about Piatti restaurant & bar was the atmosphere. it was a nice place, the customers were high class. You could tell that the patrons were successful people. No losers in this place.

Sitting there I said to myself, this is what I work hard everyday for. Finally I had experienced 5 star dining in Sacramento. This was a perfect place to take a date.

With the drinks the total for my meal was, now get this $38.33. That's right, I spent $38.33 for breakfast. This was the most I have ever spent on Breakfast anywhere in Sacramento. But you know what, it was worth every penny. Like I said before, everybody needs to score sometime!

I gave Annette $48.00 cash to cover the meal & tip. I walked out of Piatti Restaurant & Bar very satisfied.

Will I go back? Oh hell yeah!!!

I give Piatti Restaurant & Bar 5 out of 5 Stars.

Piatti Restaurant & Bar is located at 571 Pavilions lane in the Pavilions shopping center.

So, have you been to Piatti Restaurant & Bar?

Tell me what you think?

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OF MY READERS

2010-04-04T06:03:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to wish all of my readers a Happy Easter. This day brings families together all over the world. Usually for some reason it involves a glazed ham. So anyways, enjoy this day with your friends & family!

In closing, if you Twitter, do me a big Easter favor & "tweet" my URL to all of your followers!

Peace!

REVIEW: ROUND TABLE PIZZA

2010-03-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Last night when I got home from work I was very tired & very burnt out. I was too tired to cook anything & I didn't want to go out. I cracked open an ice cold bottle of Moosehead & drank a shooter of whiskey. Just then the idea of pizza popped into my head. Pizza, that sounds good.

I always order a medium combination, it's a good pizza at an affordable price. So I looked through the phone book & started calling places. The first call was to Mountain Mike's Pizza. With the delivery charge, they wanted almost $20.00 for a medium combo. That's too high! We are talking pizza, not a steak dinner. So I called a couple of other places with pretty much the same scenario.

One thing I noticed is that Sacramento must have 500 pizza places. Is this really necessary? Perhaps if Walmart started selling Pizza's it would eliminate the hassle of buying a pizza.

Searching through the phone book, I decided to drink another Moosehead & whiskey shooter.

Feeling no pain, I called Round Table Pizza. The fast talking guy on the phone took my info: my name, address & phone number. I asked for a medium combination & he said blah blah blah... He basically sold me on some other pizza that was just as good as a medium combination.

He said it was $14.99 with a $2.25 delivery charge & $1.51 tax. The total would be $18.75.

So let me ask my readers this question. Is the delivery charge the delivery person's tip? Do you tip the delivery driver on top of the delivery charge? Who gets the $2.25? For years this has bothered me.

So anyways I agreed to the $18.75 & the fast talker told me it would be 30-45 minutes. OK, 30-45 minutes is cool.

About 15 minutes later there was a knock on my door. I opened the door to "Mr. X" my Round Table Pizza delivery man. He said nothing as I handed him a twenty dollar bill. I noticed my pizza was not in the Red Pizza Jacket (the thing that keeps the pizza warm).

I asked him if he had any red pepper or Parmesan cheese. He responded "nah man".

This was the first time in my history of ordering pizza's that a delivery guy had no red pepper or Parmesan cheese. Honestly, what's the world coming too?

I said, OK thanks... And he just walked away.

I find it ironic that I thanked him & he didn't thank me.

The pizza was very big & very greasy.

As I was eating greasy slice after greasy slice I looked at the receipt. The guy had sold me a large King Arthur's Supreme for $22.50, then discounted it $7.51. Then he added in the delivery charge & tax.

So I guess I got a deal....

I give Round Table Pizza 1 out of 4 stars.

Will I order from Round Table Pizza again? Nah man.

Have you had a similar experience? Post your comments!

REVIEW: CAPITOL DAWG 1226 20th STREET

2010-03-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Today was indeed a very strange day. I had no intention of going to Capitol Dawg. To make a long story short, I ended up there for lunch.

Early this morning I was watching Sacramento's most terrible news show called Good Day Sacramento. It's the 4 hr program on channel 31. Anyways as I was suffering through the program they announced that Iceland on Del Paso Blvd had burned down.

Hey man, Iceland is like a major icon in North Sacramento. I had to see what was left of the place. It had been there over 50 years. In the beginning it was owned by the Kerth family. Their grandfather ran a small ice business next door & built the Ice skating rink. It was a part of growing up for many kids in the North Sacramento area.

So the plan was to check out Iceland and either eat at the Uptown Cafe on Del Paso Blvd. or drive into downtown & eat at the Capital Casino on 16th street.

Well, this didn't work out. After checking out the damage at the Iceland Skating Rink & being too chicken to ask News 10's Suzanne Phan out on a date (she was at the fire scene, doing a news report)I got into my car & headed towards the Uptown Cafe.

As I neared the Uptown Cafe, I said to myself "screw this" & kept driving into the downtown area. Upon arrival at the Capital Casino I discovered there was absolutely no place to park. With my game plan shot to hell, I made my way into "The Grid" as the midtowners call it.

Finally, I spotted it! It was Capitol Dawg, "Home of the Speedie Weenie". Located at 1226 20th street, Capitol Dawg had a lot to offer. Quite frankly when I walked inside to order a hot dog I was so confused about what I wanted, it made me feel like a complete idiot. Why make something like a hot dog more than what it is?

The had 17 Hot dog specialty styles, they had 45 different toppings. They had 6 different kinds of fries & offered more confusion than I had ever experienced when buying something to eat. This was information overload to the max!

They had the Capital hot dawg, the double hot dawg, the hot link, the polish, the corn dog, the Italian sausage, the bratwurst & yes even the veggie dog.

Hey man, it's Sunday... Can I just get my meal & get the hell out of here? Enough already!

After a couple of minutes at the counter feeling like an overwhelmed idiot I decided on the Italian Sausage (meal deal) with mustard & onions. The meal deal included fries & a very large drink. The total with tax was $9.34.

That's right, $9.34 for an Italian sausage, fries & drink.

So I found a table & sat down. After a couple of minutes I was kicking myself for not asking for sauerkraut.

So I soaked the place in, the people, the environment. Actually, it was a pretty clean place. Lot's of midtowners on cruiser bikes, the tattooed people, yuppie wannabees, families & one guy on a Harley. The whole midtown scene was a strange vibe to me. Very trendy, very Sacramento.

After about 10 minutes my order arrived. It in fact was pretty good. The fries were not greasy & the Italian sausage was good. Wish I would have asked for sauerkraut. I just had brain overload looking through the choice of 45 toppings.

C'mon, who puts Swiss cheese on a hot dog? Would you put teriyaki sauce on one? What about crushed pineapple? Ever put pineapple on a damn hot dog?

So in closing I feel bad about the Iceland Skating Rink. But I feel no remorse about my review of Capitol Dawg.

I give Capitol Dawg 1 out of 4 stars!

Have you been to Capitol Dawg? Please post your comments!

STEAK DINNER MY WAY: NOT SO IMPOSSIBLE

2010-03-28T04:58:00.000-07:00

At least once a week I cook a really good dinner. For all of my blog followers, you know I have a thing for Ribeye Steak. I had scored a .85lb Ribeye Steak at the grocery store on Saturday morning. It was about an inch thick with some nice marbling. Yes, fat equals flavor.

So last night I cooked it simply by first seasoning one side of the steak with red pepper flakes & garlic salt. The other side I used McCormick's "Grill Mates" Montreal Steak seasoning.

I added extra virgin olive oil to a frying pan & began cooking the steak on medium high heat. Since the steak was about an inch thick it was going to take awhile to cook.

I noticed that I had a can of peas & carrots, so I put them in a microwavable container for heating. Then I took a can Dennison's chunky chili (with meat) & mixed it with a can of pinto beans. I drained the excess water from the pinto beans before mixing them with the chili. This too would be nuked in the microwave.

So as the steak was sizzling, I nuked my peas & carrots for about 3 1/2 minutes. After that was done I flipped my steak & nuked the chili & pinto beans for 4 minutes. I will call the bean mixture "pinto chili".

After the pinto chili was done, the steak was flipped over a couple of time mores until it was cooked medium well.

I was going to put together a green salad, but quite frankly I was just too tired to make one. Do you feel me?

And there you have it, Ribeye steak with vegetables & pinto chili. This was a hell of a dinner for under $10.00.

As a matter of fact I still have some leftovers for tonight!