Burgers – Page 3

Tobey’s 19th Hole Cafe (revisit)

July 24, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Burgers, Diner, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog, covering meals consumed near and far. Kirk is busy with meetings all day, so Cathy is writing a short post.

The Mister and I tend to take guests out to 'local' rather than 'trendy' places. The other day was no exception. I've written about this San Diego City golf course (since 1934) restaurant only a few other times in the past years, yet it is a regular stop, usually for a breakfast meal and the view.

The parking lot nearest the main building is sometimes crowded, but there are nearby 'overflow' lots.

Stepping inside the Clubhouse, the restaurant is to your left, the view is straight ahead. There's a bar area as well as tables and booths.
Have a seat by the window and notice how the menu cover reflects your view.
Breakfast is served all day here. You can get a one egg, one pancake two bacon (or sausage) meal for $7 or two eggs, two pancakes and two bacon (or sausage) for $9.25. The (extraordinarily large) pancakes are light and fluffy and really tasty (sweet without needing syrup). The eggs were perfectly over easy and the bacon was very good. All in all, a very large breakfast if you order the 'two' instead of 'one'. Coffee here is $3 and is constantly kept filled.
The menu board out front has breakfast and lunch specials and on this day, a choice of a hot roast beef or hot meatloaf sandwich ($10.25) were the lunch specials. I did order the hot beef, but received this hot meatloaf sandwich. Instead of returning it, I decided to try it. Good choice. A very nicely seasoned (chunks of tomato mixed in with a light breadcrumb) meatloaf on (my choice) wheat bread with gravy and mashed potatoes. A quite large serving and flavor filled.
The Mister ordered a Chili Size ($13.50), onions on the side (for me) and tots as his side dish choice. This is a wonderful meal. The bread is on the side; knowing it gets soggy, it's served this way. Kind of perfect. The chili, as always, is meaty, lightly spicy, has beans. Tots are the best choice of side here, unless you are craving a salad (or regular french fries or potato salad).

Another great meal with a great view in a San Diego neighborhood.

Tobey's 19th Hole 2600 Golf Course Dr. San Diego, CA 92102 (619) 234-5921 Open daily 6-6

Tom’s Famous Family Restaurant-Burgers (#23)(Escondido)

May 21, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, a long running blog about food; it's what you are reading. Cathy is writing today because Kirk is resting and relaxing.

Driving around the Southern California Counties, we've seen a number of restaurants with the signage of 'Tom's Burgers' and finally decided to stop. This location in Escondido on 5th Avenue, is #23. Upon some investigation, I found out the real restaurant name is 'Tom's Famous Family Restaurant", the first restaurant opened in 1962 in Los Angeles and there are 19 eat in locations and four express locations. Tom's serves breakfast, lunch and dinner (breakfast all day).
The menu is fairly extensive, with some options unique to each restaurant, White Board Specials and various posters on the windows showing deals and Happy Hour prices. You order, pay, grab some condiments and the food is brought out to you- on ceramic plates (the only disposable items were the napkins, paper wrappings and fountain drink/milkshake containers). When we were here, only two vehicles used the Drive Thru and I only saw three people order and take food 'To Go". Every seat inside the restaurant was taken; families having meals on a Saturday afternoon.

The Classic Cheeseburger ($4.69) at first looked dwarfed by the bun, which was in reality very light and fluffy, toasted and had the usual accompaniments (lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and homemade thousand island). The burgers here are char grilled and have the flavor that I crave. This 1/4 pound cheeseburger was a good choice for our friend.
I wanted to try the 50/50 burger ($4.99). 50% ground bacon and 50% ground beef. This was 'juicer' than the Classic burger, but, because of the char grill, the bacon flavor was not distinctive. Still, I enjoyed the (quite large) patty (it seemed larger than the 1/4 pound cheeseburger patty).
One of the window specials was a Texas Bacon Cheeseburger combo ($7.99). This had such a meld of flavors and was quite large…the amount of fries was tremendous…steak fry cut, light and fluffy interior with a crispy exterior, sprinkled with a seasoned salt.
Since this was our first visit and we didn't know how much we were ordering, the Tom's Sampler ($5.20) was a choice. More fries (we took home a lot) along with zucchini fries (more vegetable than crispy breading; good) and onion rings (really good; light and crispy breaded whole rings of sweet onion).

A lot of food for a small price. We will be back (or will stop at another location) to try breakfast items as well as dinner platters. When my craving for char-grilled burgers returns, it's good to know Tom's has a few San Diego County locations.

Tom's Famous Family Restaurant #23- 505 W 5th Ave Escondido, CA 92025 (760) 737-2377 Open Daily 6 a.m. Closes at 10 p.m. Sun-Thurs, 11 p.m. Fri and Sat Website

Chicago Fire Grill

April 22, 2018 mmm-yoso Burgers, Hot Dogs, Sandwiches

After moving to our UTC location last year, I drove down to Renaissance Towne Center to see what were some of the lunch options. I quickly noticed that JK Burgers & Hot Dogs ( it replaced the long standing Chicago on a Bun which I first posted on back in 2005 a few years ago)was gone and had been replaced by a shop named Chicago Fire Grill.

I love my Chicago Dogs (the Missus especially enjoys SuperDawg), so much so that I even ordered one at Hot Doug's (after I ate the Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage of course). So, I decided to stop by.

The design of the place remains the same….though now it's bright yellow. another very unique thing about this shop id the Owner, George, who chats everyone up, has very unique opinions, and always cracks me up. He does remind me of the colorful characters I've met from or in Chicago.

So of course I got the Chicago Dog, priced nicely at six bucks, which comes with what I call very typical Chicago "Natural" style fries.

The fries were very hot, potato-ey, and really reminded me of what you'd get at places like Jean and Jude's Red Hots. Usually not my favorite style since it can get soggy and there not much crispness; but this was pretty good.

The dog; from Vienna Beef had a nice snap, the dog had, in the typical way been "dragged through the garden", with tomatoes (a bit too unripe), sport peppers (a favorite), the radioactive fluorescent green relish, and the typical, standard issue poppy see roll. I didn't ask if it was a Mary Ann Poppy Seed Bun, but it sure looked the part.

The roll didn't stand up for very long. It was also cold; so I don't think it had been steamed. Other than needing celery salt; this was a good facsimile, and a good deal at six bucks. Plus George's unending rambling to customers cracked me up.

I was told to come back and get the Lamb Burger. Being a good soldier, that's exactly what I did. A lamb burger and fries for nine bucks ain't too bad these days. It was pretty hefty.

The fries didn't hold up too well on the very short drive to the office.

The burger itself looked fairly messy, but the bun really stood up well.

Loved the gaminess. When I was asked for doneness, I answered "medium", thinking, like many burger places in San Diego, this was just a question and my burger was going to be well done regardless of what I said. I was wrong; it was moist, with a nice chew, and totally medium.

Loved the milky-saltiness of the feta cheese, and the nice mild acidity and creaminess of the tzatziki. Nice pungent onions helped cut through any richness….though again, the tomatoes weren't ripe enough to add anything to the sandwich.

Overall, a pretty good burger.

Having been quite satisfied with my previous two choices, I decided to revisit and order the one item that call Chicago home that I enjoy more than a Chicago Dog……an Italian Beef sandwich. Which I ordered "wet"……..

While the roll; a perfectly respectful Gonnella Roll; I'm thinking par-baked, held up well. The beef was really tough and surprisingly dry. It also lacked flavor and the jus, of which the folks at the shop nicely packed for me wasn't beefy; it had way too much herbs in it and was quite greasy.

The fries this time around were also on the greasy side, I'm thinking from the jus that had dripped on it.

Well, two out of three ain't bad.

I'll keep coming by; basically for the Chicago Dogs and the prices. I'll definitely try some of the other sausages and burgers….but that Italian Beef is definitely a "no go"…..oh, and I'm definitely looking forward to George's "words of wisdom" as well.

You can read Soo's post on Chicago Fire Grill here.

Chicago Fire Grill
8935 Towne Centre Dr.
San Diego, CA 92122
Hours:
Mon – Fri 11am – 9pm
Sat – Sun Noon – 9pm

2018 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade: Post Parade Showcase of floats, Snacks and a meal: Cream Pan (Tustin), Arsen House of Cookies (Pasadena), T Burgers (Monrovia)

January 7, 2018 Cathy Bakery, Burgers, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is primarily a food blog, but there are many events surrounding meals. Both Kirk and Cathy like to write about that aspect of the eventual meals. Today, Cathy is writing.

The 2018 Tournament of Roses, with the theme "Making A Difference", is over. There were numerous events and activities between Christmas and December 31-the Bands and Equestrian Units had presentations, you could visit float decorating places and a two day event, "Live on Green". The parade and football game were on January 1. Following the parade, the floats lined up on Sierra Madre (at the end of the 5.5 mile parade route) and were on display (the Post Parade Showcase of Floats) from 1 p.m. on January 1 and again from 9 a.m. on January 2.

There was a little advertised way to get into all of the Official Tournament events for one very small price- The Event Pass Pin was sold for the first time this year at the Tournament House, the Pasadena Museum of History, Vromans Bookstore and online for $10! (The fee just to view the floats at the Showcase was $15 per person this year).

There were road tests of the floats in July, August, September, October and November. The Mister and I helped to decorate floats in early December. There are more details and excellent reporting of all Tournament events at this link to The Rose Examiner.

I could not decide how to show you the floats: there were 44 in the Parade. Six were not judged, six were self constructed and the others were constructed by four professional float companies. 24 were recognized with awards. All of the floats were beautiful, detailed, magnificent and decorated by volunteers, especially the week following Christmas when the live flowers were delivered. Each float deserved to be recognized.

So, I had to pick and choose through my photos (so you wouldn't be bored). There were surreal floats.

There were little details on every float…

(These guys were on the 'off camera' side of their float, you never saw them if you were watching the parade on television.)
One of the record breaking floats held 100 people- two farmers from every state in the Union.
There were cute floats (but all of them were cute, weren't they?)

I could mention the mishaps which happened at the end of the parade route…

(it seems the float operators forgot (or weren't warned as to when) to collapse the float at the end of the route, resulting in some damage).

It was a great theme, a great parade and I have at least two photos of every float. If there is one in particular you would like to see, I can add it at the end of this post. THIS is a link to the entire parade from KTLA TV

Soo went to see the 2018 floats, too! Maggie also has a great point of view of the post parade.

But now, we return to the Food portion of the blog…

We got to Cream Pan around 7 a.m., ordering the same items (ham and cheese croissant and a cheese cracker) we had on our last visit along with a loaf of sesame bread. The cheese based items were a light breakfast. Cream Pan 602 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 Website

We had parked off of Washington Street and walked to the Blue entrance to the Post Parade Showcase of floats. On the way back to the car, we passed Arsen's House of Cookies, where we have stopped several times previously. Mrs. Arsen recognizes us and we catch up, about once a year.

We purchased some sweets for cc and for ourselves.

As well as four of the (still warm, freshly made) cheese/herb pastries on the counter. Total cost? $9. The bonus was I received an Arsen's Bakery calendar (last photo, bottom right) which will be used a lot this year.

We headed East, didn't want to take the freeway and ended up on Foothill in Monrovia. This looked like an interesting place to stop for lunch. We hadn't noticed it before, but Yelp has posts going back to 2007…
The menu has breakfasts, Greek, Mexican and American (salads, burgers and sandwich) choices.
The half pound burger ($6.39) was char-grilled and had that flavor I crave. It was cooked to order (medium rare), served on a fresh toasted bun with 'everything' (lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and mayonnaise). As with every establishment that serves Greek/gyros, the onion rings ($3.79) were handmade, whole onions, sweet, properly fried with a cornmeal based breading. (The ranch sauce was an extra 50¢ and wasn't even necessary.)
Since we were in this part of the State which serves pastrami at almost every fast food joint (I need to do a post of all the taco shops up here which have pastrami on the signage), The Mister ordered a Pastrami sandwich ($8.99). When asked what he wanted on it, he only asked for mustard and pickles…and that's what was received. The bread to meat ratio is so wonderfully in favor of the meat…which was smoky, peppery and lean. A wonderful sandwich.

T Burgers 226 W. Foothill Drive Monrovia, CA 91016 (626)357-4844

This was the start to 2018. Almost 12,000 steps of walking and wonderful food. So far, resolutions kept!

The theme of the 2019 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade:

Outback Steak House (Revisits to a place never posted)

December 13, 2017 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Burgers, Chains, What Cathy Eats!

Here you are, at mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk isn't writing today, you know why. Cathy is trying to write an interesting post. Here it goes.

Long story short: I was given a lot of restaurant gift cards this past year. I don't regift. The people who give me cards ask specifics about the meals and what we enjoyed, so I take photos. The Mister and I have been pleasantly surprised so far.

Outback is an Australian inspired steakhouse, founded in 1988 in Tampa Florida by four friends. It is now a Company of restaurants which include Bonefish Grill, Carrabbas Italian Grill and Flemings Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar. Outback's decor is rugged yet minimal. There is an electronic device on each table. You can order and pay for adult beverages, appetizers and even (for $2) play trivia games. You can also pay your final bill without waiting or flagging down your server.When first seated, as the menus are dropped off, a warm loaf of honey wheat bread and unsalted whipped butter is brought out. The bread is 'stabbed' with a serrated steak knife, which is needed to slice the whole (small) loaf.

All of these items are from the Lunch menu, thumbnail at the bottom of this post.
With almost each lunch entree, you have a choice of soup or salad. There is a chicken tortilla Soup (not pictured), or this baked potato soup (wonderfully decadent)or for $1 more, french onion soup (even more decadent). You can either have a Caesar or this, a House salad, with dressing on the side. I was pleasantly surprised with the fresh vegetables, including cucumber on this salad. The House Ranch dressing is very good. The Classic Cheeseburger Combo ($9.49) was cooked to a perfect medium rare, had a nice char to the exterior, served on a wonderful fresh egg bun, had a choice of cheese and of course, lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle. This was an *excellent* burger.
Six Gold Coast Coconut Shrimp Combo ($9.49) I used to order an appetizer plate of these as my meal…but six, along with either soup or salad is a 'healthier' meal. You can see the plump shrimp, light breading and tender coconut. The two two chicken taco combo ($8.99) (substitute steak instead of chicken, add $1). I splurged. This was really good. Different than a taco shop; not carne aside marinade; kind of fancy.
An Aussie Cobb Salad ($9.99) Fresh mixed greens, chopped hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, bacon, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese and freshly made croutons. The Bleu Cheese dressing on the side was quite wonderful. An Outback Burger, ($8.99) with fries…again, wonderful, cooked to a medium rare…and look at that bun. I ordered the 6 ounce center cut sirloin ($14.99) with a baked potato and asparagus (fresh vegetable of the day). It was cooked to a perfect medium rare, had some sort of (tasty) marinade (didn't need any condiments added). The baked potato was so very good; I haven't had a baked potato in forever and all of those flavors triggered good memories. The asparagus was oven roasted and crispy tender with a bit of salt on top-again, needing no additions.

But, this is Outback- what about the famous Blooming Onion? Well, it is $8.49, very large (really, it is a meal) and I just couldn't bring myself to order one, even to share.

Until it was free.

I was listening to NASCAR one Sunday and heard that Outback sponsors a Racer -Kevin Harvick- and if he finishes in the Top Ten in a weekly Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race, you just have to go into Outback the following Monday and say "Bloomin' Monday" and your table gets a free Blooming Onion appetizer for free. Here's a link.

So we did have one Blooming Onion. The crust was crispy, spicy and large. The onion was tender and sweet. We took home leftovers after eating it before and during one of the above meals. I used to be able to eat this much food along with adult beverages and not go into a food coma. Things change.

Overall, the meals at Outback were great.

Outback Steakhouse. Nationwide locations. Website

Thai Burger Company (Clairmont)

July 13, 2017 Cathy Burgers, Food Trucks, Thai Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog, written by three friends, interchangeably. Kirk has been working a lot of extra hours this week while Ed(from Yuma) is relaxing after his interesting vacation. Cathy is writing a short post.

The Mister and I shop at Carnival Supermarket about once a month. Back in February, I recalled seeing this storefront and signage and made a mental note to stop in…but things got busy. The few times since then, we had just had lunch and I kept that mental note tucked away somewhere…Finally, curiosity got the best of me…a pig as signage, the name of 'Thai Burger Company-Home of the Original Rice Burgers'. We had to stop. Walk in and there's the counter in front of you. You order from the limited menu (five appetizers, four burgers and a few interesting beverage choices), pay and find a seat at one of the three tables out front. It turns out that Thai Burger Company started as a Food Truck, originally near the Navy Exchange at the 32nd Street base. It still is a food truck, at various farmers markets around town.
This was our shared meal; we had just purchased beverages at Starbucks before deciding to stop here. The chicken pot stickers ($3.50) were wonderful, the filling of chicken and still crispy fresh cabbage was plentiful, fresh and very nice. The skewer of calamari balls($3.50) was quite large; if we had an order of three skewers ($10), I think that would be too much food. The balls were nice, I suppose a bit standard, and two were enough for me, especially with all the other food. (Other skewered choices are shrimp and imitation crab).
The classic BBQ pork rice burger ($7) was a great choice. The 'bun' of sticky rice was not too thick. The meat was marinated with the just the right amount of flavors and that charred grill flavor was the perfect touch. If this had been served on a plate, the amount of rice to meat was a perfect ratio. Eating this like a burger wasn't too messy; the rice held up and there was actually more meat than 'bun'.

Now I'm curious about the other 'burgers' available- chicken satay, curry pork and fried tofu. Also the beverages do look interesting. We'll be back.

Thai Burger Company 3520 Ashford Street (at Beagle) San Diego 92111 Open Mon-Fri 11-3 and 5-9 Sat/Sun 11-9

2017 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade- float decorating, meals at Kolache Factory (Tustin) and Tops (Pasadena)

December 13, 2016 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Burgers, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping to read our food blog, mmm-yoso!!! Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy contribute to various posts about various foods and various activities. Today is that kind of a post, by Cathy.

Yes, it is that time of the year. The countdown to the 128th Tournament of Roses Rose Parade has begun, floats are being decorated. We volunteer with the Petal Pushers at the Phoenix Decorating Company Rose Palace barn. We had to check in at 9 a.m. to begin work, left home at around 6 a.m., stopping in Tustin.

In the same mall as THH, where we stopped for breakfast before the first road test this year, the Kolache Factory has its sole California location. Kolach, Czech or Slovak in origin, are soft, puffy, slightly sweet dough 'circles' filled with various ingredients. These portable, almost 'hand pies' are fresh made all day. As you can see, quite a variety are available. In the back, a sausage, egg and cheese ($3.19), the middle is a 'Kolache of the month'-turkey with stuffing- ($3.88) and in the front is a cream cheese kolache ($1.62). Each of these were warmed, so very fresh and really tasty. We have such a variety of places to choose from on that street (Cream Pan is less than a mile away, just East of the 5) Kolache Factory 14091 Newport Avenue Tustin 92780 (714) 730-2253 Website We got to the Rose Palace as the sign-in area was being set up. Just inside, the Crew Chiefs were getting last minute instructions. This barn would be busy soon. The Lions Clubs International float: 'Celebrating 100 Years of Service' is magnificent! Shriners Hospital for Children, with the float titled 'Anything Is Possible' is so whimsical. The Odd fellows and Rebekahs float, 'Through The Ages' features a gazebo, wedding cake, diploma and mortarboard and a book with pictographs of prior events. The Lutheran Laymans League has their 67th entry into a Rose Parade with the float 'Celebrate Jesus', observing the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.
The American Armenian Rose Float Association has a parade entry for the third year, 'Field of Dreams'. The United Sikh Mission, with its float 'Together We Rise' is also in the Rose Parade for the third year. This float will be so beautiful! All that stuff in the foreground of that photo? Construction in the barn. It's the NHL float (which The Mister and I really had hoped to work on).

Then there is the Farmers Insurance float. It looks so …'plain'…just like a large Recreational Vehicle (especially compared to the 2016 float (at bottom of this link). We were specifically asked to not photograph the secrets of this float while decorating, but the title of 'We Came, We Saw, We Covered' is a clue. You'll love it when you see it! So what did we do this day? "Dry Decorating", or "Detail Decorating" is its own job. Scissors and glue… Beans, peas, poppyseeds, dry flower petals…more glue…In a cold barn for eight or so hours. It was fun, but a long day. By the time we got down Colorado Boulevard, the sun was setting and we were hungry!The Original Tops, (Since 1952) is always a tasty stop (I wrote about breakfast here two years ago). The meal was simple, a bowl of chili ($4.59) (made from scratch daily; no beans, a bit of heat and unique great taste), 1/4 lb burger ($3.79) charbroiled on that constantly used grill, imparting a delightful flavor on the toasted bun and simple toppings and a SMALL order of onion rings ($3.39) Thick cut onions in a light, seasoned batter. We had leftovers and were so satisfied.

The Original Tops 3838 East Colorado Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91107 Open daily 6:30 a.m.-11:00p.m. Website

The Rose Parade is in January 2, 2017 (never on a Sunday) Artist rendition of most of the 2017 Rose Parade floats

Now Requesting Equal Time…….

July 21, 2016 mmm-yoso Burgers, Chains

You all know this one……after yesterday's mention of Shake Shack, these guys requested equal time (just kidding – it was actually "Billy"!). This was my first Double-Double of the year, from after we returned from Lima/Santiago/Easter Island. Since I had meetings during the lunch hour; I headed out to grab a bento from Mitsuwa at 1030, since they looked to have stepped up their bento game. I was waylaid; not by the sight of, but by In N Out's unique "scent of a burger".

And I was rewarded, just as on previous visits (if you'd like some funny In N Out ruminations – read that ancient post).

I'm still not big on the fries here though……it's mostly a texture and moisture thing as the potato flavor is good.

But it had been a while; so I decided to do the easy thing and order Combo #1.

So I got my fix….until the next time the fragrance of In-N-Out catches me with a growling belly. Imitators need not apply…..

Airport Food – Eat at Joe’s (Philadelphia International Airport) and Shake Shack (JFK International Airport )

July 20, 2016 mmm-yoso Airport/Airline/Cruise/Rail Food, Burgers, Chains, Cheesesteaks, Hot Dogs

Since we travel a few times a year, we do spend quite a bit of time in airports……though not as much as in my consulting days. During most trips we plan rather well with regards to bring something to eat (i.e. Jamon Bellota Sandwiches in Spain, nuts are always good) to the airport. But there are those times we do grab something. And then we get to relax and people, or even puppy watch.

So here are a couple of places we've tried at Airports.

Eat at Joe's (Philadelphia International Airport):

I'm not sure why we ate at Joe's. I do remember that for some reason I was starving….and hey, in spite of this being the airport; it's still Philly, right?

So why not get a Cheesesteak?

I've had some nice Cheesesteak's in Philly….the last time back in 90's, having tried both Pat's and Geno's, though my favorite was Rick's in Reading Terminal Market. This one, won't make me forget any of those.

A bit on the dry side. For some reason the texture reminded me of shipped beef. The flavor was nice; the Amoroso roll was ice cold. The fries, hot, but routine.

The dining area was a mess. First off, shame on the customers for not cleaning up after themselves. But there were also four airport employees who were just standing around goofing off, until their supervisor came along. They'd start cleaning. When the boss left; it was back to monkey business.

Eat At Joe's
Terminal B, Philadelphia International Airport

Shake Shack (JFK International Airport ):

During a long layover at JFK, I just couldn't help myself.

In spite of the line; I just had to try it; even though I had misgivings about it being "airportified" as in "really, Gordon Ramsey signed off on this"? But I had to try the legendary burger.

Other than the bun, which seemed a bit past its due date; this was quite a nice burger; great char, good seasoning…very moist, and a nice beefiness.

The Missus also enjoyed the burger and said basically what I was afraid to say out loud; "if they come to San Diego; In N Out might be in trouble". Of course, I'm not sure what the price point on that would be, but still, blasphemy! And then of course, I read about the possibility of Shake Shack opening in San Diego on Eater. Check out the comment; it says that they've signed with UTC Redevelopment; which I believe is in charge of Westfield UTC……now those will be some major lines!

Shake Shack
JFK International Airport Terminal 4

Hope you're having a great week!

Flat Top Grill Again – Yuma

June 16, 2016 ed fromyuma American/New American Restaurants, BBQ, Burgers, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!, Yuma

While Kirk and Cathy are doing important things like working or resting, Ed (from Yuma) is posting today.

Usually, after I've written a post on a place in Yuma, I don't visit again for a while, maybe feeling a little burned out. And when I do visit, I don't bring my camera. So when I had lunch at Crouse’s Flat Top Grill in early March I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't take this picture of the entrance that day:

I ordered one of the sandwiches that I hadn't tried, the smoked brisket. When it arrived it looked something like this:

It was a great sandwich – a crunchy long roll filled with two thick smoky slices of brisket, crowned with abundant sweet grilled onion, and served with a choice of barbecue sauces on the side. Even the potato salad, which I had largely ignored before, was wonderful, the sour spicy crunchy pickle pieces adding true zest.

It was a meal so good that Tina and I have been eating at Flat Top Grill regularly, and of course I've been bringing my camera along.

Although the restaurant has a very modest wine list:

and a limited number of changing taps,

I can always find at least one or two interesting beers

On our most recent visit, Tina ordered an amazing watermelon, mint and jalapeño Margarita:

The rim of her glass was coated with Tajin, and that lime chili salt added one more level of complexity to the cocktail. Spicy, sweet, sour, cool, and smooth, with a touch of salt and a hint of mint. A real winner.

Since that last post, we have eaten a bunch of different things. For example, we were dining there with friends and they wanted to try the loaded JoJo's:

That could be somebody's dinner. The potatoes were nicely cooked and there’s bacon, cheese, and sour cream. Glad our friends had their teenage son with them.

Tina enjoys the tri-tip salad:

The fresh lettuces are nothing special, but the meat is well flavored and she loves the cilantro lime dressing that adds a Sonoran accent.

Of course, we often have sandwiches. Recently, Tina had the hot dog – split in half, grilled, placed atop a strip of bacon, and thickly covered with guacamole:

That same night, I had the guacamole bacon burger – we must have had guacamole on the brain:

In the last post, I complained about an overdone burger; this one was on the verge of under cooked, but the flavorful hamburger, ground on premises daily, had excellent flavor. And bacon and guacamole.

My favorite burger is the green chili burger:

8 years ago I posted about the mutant green chilies found in some Yuma Mexican restaurants, which are always made with beef, usually finely diced or ground. The green chili here is another variation on that theme. The beef is coarsely ground and is the focus of the dish. The chili has some good heat and green chili flavor. It is topped with melted cheese, pico de gallo, and chopped scallions (also with sour cream, but I ordered that on the side).

We have eaten several entrées as well. The Turkey dinner is an amazing combination of familiar and unusual:

On the left side of the plate, covered with gravy, was first rate red skinned mashed potatoes. The Turkey breast slices, like the ones on their turkey sandwiches, were grilled and pretty ordinary, but the waffle made with turkey dressing underneath was something I'd never seen before:

Kindof a Thanksgiving dinner like no other.

And yes, during evenings The Flat Top Grill does have good old-fashioned greens as a side dish. I'm talking serious greens, smoky and meaty:

A little less interesting – though still very flavorful – was the chicken with mushroom gravy. Two thick slices of grilled chicken breast rested on a bed of those mashed potatoes, all covered with delectably creamy mushroom gravy:

On a couple of weekend nights, we ordered specials not on the menu. Once it was the rib special:

Wonderfully spiced, deeply smoked, and fall off the bone tender. Though there is barbecue sauce on the side where it belongs, it really wasn't needed. We took the leftovers home and had biscuits, ribs, and eggs for breakfast. The corn was a little tough and flavorless, but I was still happy.

And if you are ever at Flat Top Grill and they are serving chicken and waffles, you should be eating chicken and waffles:

The waffle was crispy chewy and served with two different syrups, one maple and one spicy. The moist chicken was encased with a flavorful hard crust. Wonderful deep frying technique.

This place is so good it is hard to stay away.