July 2010 Archives

Sanamluang Cafe, 1648 Indian Hill Blvd. (at San Bernardino), Pomona

The only Pomona restaurant with a twin in North Hollywood, Sanamluang is located on Indian Hill Boulevard a few blocks south of the 10 Freeway, coincidentally enough in the same block as Mix Bowl Cafe, another well-regarded authentic Thai restaurant.

Sanamluang's interior is pretty funky, done in avocado, orange and brown, with an open feeling and odd angles. A friend and I got a booth and ordered three items: the Thai salad ($5.95), basically an American salad but with peanut sauce; seafood soup ($9.50), with shrimp, squid and mussels; and General's Noodle, the dried version ($6.50), with noodles, shrimp, beef and pork.

The food was fine, but we weren't wowed, not even by the well-reviewed noodle dish. Sanamluang is certainly popular. It was a Friday night and the place was packed, with several large parties and a line out the door by the time we left. But service was poor. The restaurant was understaffed and no one even refilled our water glasses.

I used to be a regular at Sanamluang, a streak that ended a few years ago when a roach crawled across our table, a server casually killed it and no one apologized or gave us a break on the bill. A friend enticed me to Mix Bowl and I came to love the place.

I wouldn't argue anyone out of liking Sanamluang. (Yelpers are evenly split, giving Sanamlaung and Mix Bowl identical 3.5-star ratings.) The interior is a step up from the neon garishness of Mix Bowl and some would prefer the food. I think Mix Bowl has better food and it inarguably has better service. Also, as my (female) friend put it after a close observation of Sanamluang, "The waitresses are prettier at Mix Bowl." The importance of these things can't be discounted.

I'm out for the rest of the week. However, columns will appear in the Daily Bulletin in my absence, and a Restaurant of the Week will pop up here on Friday. Be patient if leaving comments. As usual, they won't show up online until I can approve them, and I don't know if I'll have computer access.

* Noon Thursday: I'm at an Internet cafe in Portland and posted the most recent comments.

Movie buffs and car buffs, not to mention theater buffs, gathered Sunday to watch "American Graffiti" at the Pomona Fox Theater. At right is Clay and May Daily's 1956 Ford Thunderbird that was used in the movie. I had my flash turned off, darnit, so you can't read the license plate: GRAFITI. Below is the marquee at night after the show let out. You can see a gallery of photos here or here. Warning: I'm in a couple of them.

I watched Sunday morning as the old railroad bridge in Rancho Cucamonga was removed. (Click here for 28 photos by DB photographer Jennifer Cappuccio Maher.) I took a few photos myself, presented here.

The first shows the bridge being lifted. (That's Councilwoman Diane Williams at right taking photos!)

The second shows the bridge a few minutes later, being swung parallel to the road.

In the third, workers hurriedly build blocks for the bridge to temporarily rest on as the 165-ton structure is suspended above them. Yikes.

From there a trailer was slipped under the bridge and it was moved a few yards east to a turnout for dismantling. It was resting there Monday morning.

The final photo shows the crossing on Monday morning, looking east, mimicking the photo here from last Wednesday, only without the bridge this time. To quote John Lennon: "Above us only sky."

* My Wednesday column is about the bridge removal.

The charming "sign" for El Roble school in Claremont seems to be ailing. Either that, or the school has changed its name to "El Rolli."

Legends Burgers, 2420 W. Arrow Route (at Monte Vista), Upland; also 1645 N. Mountain Ave. (at 16th), Upland; 8775 Baseline Road (at Carnelian), Rancho Cucamonga; 1155 E Route 66 (at Loraine), Glendora

Our local legend is the Legends chain of burger parlors, which are favorites in Alta Loma, Upland and Glendora and which added a fourth location near Claremont and Montclair in late 2009. (The Glendora Legends may no longer be officially connected to the chain as it's not mentioned as a location on the menus.)

They have 20 burgers, a variety of sandwiches and salads and some Mexican items, plus pancakes and omelets for breakfast. In that way they're similar to the valley's better burger spots, the ones that have expansive menus and seem to put more effort into things.

I've been to the two longstanding Upland and Alta Loma Legends but more recently have visited the new one, which is technically in Upland but is only a block from the Claremont Colleges.

Legends does a decent fast-food burger ($3.29), on a sesame bun with lettuce, tomato, purple onion, pickles and Thousand Island dressing, and a chicken gyro ($5.89), with tomato and onion, of similar quality. On one visit I got a small vanilla shake ($2.69), which is made with real ice cream. I found the food acceptable but nothing to rave about.

Legends' decor, all four locations, might best be described as "aggressive kitsch." Almost every square inch of wall space is covered in posters, tin signs, portraits and street signs, involving the usual suspects: I Love Lucy, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley and Route 66. Lining the walls is a string of license plates, one from each state, in alphabetical order.

It's overwhelming and a bit much for my taste, but the good thing is that Legends is so clean it almost gleams. The service is exceptionally cheerful. The food isn't exactly legendary but the cleanliness and friendliness make for a positive experience.

Here's a last look at the quaint railroad bridge over Foothill Boulevard on the west side of Rancho Cucamonga. I shot this Wednesday morning from the west side of the bridge, looking east. The bridge, installed in 1929, will be removed by crane Sunday. Did you know it weighs 110 tons?

From there the street will be widened to six lanes over the course of the next 18 months. A new concrete bridge will be built for the wider span. Rather than trains, the bridge now carries cyclists and walkers as part of the Pacific Electric Trail. They'll need to detour. This weekend, so will motorists, as that stretch of Foothill will be closed from 7 a.m. Saturday until 7 a.m. Monday.

Here's the recent story explaining the whole thing. And here's the Bulletin's latest piece on the history of the bridge.

I'll miss the bridge and the rural charm of that portion of Foothill, from the Sycamore Inn almost to Vineyard Avenue. I'll also miss the "Narrow Subway" signs with the flashing beacon on each end of the bridge. Soon it will be narrow no more.

A couple of times recently in my column I've razzed the city of Chino for its brief, lame collection of trivia to celebrate, in wan fashion I must say, its centennial.

Al McCombs, owner of the Chino Champion newspaper, picked up the gauntlet and concocted his own Chino quiz for his "Rolltop Roundup" column in Saturday's paper. I have to confess I couldn't get a single answer correct. But I learned a lot. And I was tickled by McCombs' hands-across-the-valley plug for my column.

On Sunday a group of us went to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Swell Season, She & Him and the Bird and the Bee in concert, each a male-female duo. We weren't in our seats long when a couple about eight seats away got my attention: It was Cherie Savoie and Lee Tintary, whom I know from downtown Pomona's Arts Colony.

Perhaps even odder, I had run into them at lunch a few hours before in Claremont. Obviously we have similar tastes in food and music. But what are the odds you'll run into somebody you know in a metropolis?

This alone would have made me think "small world." Minutes later, however, who should come walking up the steps past us but the dancing man from the Fox Theater concert in Pomona June 5. He's the one who stood in the balcony dancing furiously by himself until one of our group asked him to sit down. And here he was in Hollywood. We recognized him immediately.

Later we saw him take a seat in a box way down in front (in blue shirt). He sat still and enjoyed himself. Then, when She & Him launched into a spirited take on "Roll Over Beethoven," we saw, in the twilight, from 150 feet away, the dancing man stand and begin shaking his moneymaker.

I suggested to my friend who told him to sit down in Pomona that he ought to go down and ask him to sit down in Hollywood, just to rattle him. He'd have thought, "small world."

Here are videos from the Bowl of the Bird and the Bee performing "Polite Dance Song," She & Him performing a sultry, spooky rendition of "I Put a Spell on You" and the Swell Season doing "Falling Slowy."

Brackett Field was transformed into "Santa Barbara Municipal Airport" this week for filming. Thanks to reader Joanne Boyajian for the photo.

Papachino's Grill and Greens, 14501 Ramona Ave. (at Eucalyptus), Chino

Papachino's is a locally owned restaurant in the Home Depot center in an industrial area a few blocks east of the 71 Freeway. The casual eatery opened in 2009 and offers salads and seafood items, all priced below $10. Orders are placed at the counter and food is brought to your table. You can eat in the vaguely tropical interior or outside on the expansive patio, which is shaded by large umbrellas.

I visited with three friends last weekend. Our table got two wraps, a salad and a fish plate. The veggie wrap ($5.49) had zucchini, bell peppers, sweet onions and asparagus (!); the shrimp wrap ($6.99) had the same plus shrimp. Each came with fries. The grilled chicken taco salad (price forgotten; it was the daily special, not on the menu) came in a tortilla bowl. I had the grilled mahi-mahi ($8.99), which came with rice pilaf and pineapple cole slaw.

All four of us left satisfied, to a person describing the food as tasty and the portions as filling but not enough to leave us stuffed. But we didn't leave for a long time, opting to enjoy the warm afternoon on the patio.

I like the concept of a reasonably priced place to get seafood, most of it unfried. If I lived or worked closer to Papachino's, I'd probably be there often. As it is, Papachino's is a long haul for me, but I do hope to make it back. Yelpers say the fish and chips are especially good, and many other menu items looked enticing.

You can view the menu here.

* The New Diner visited a few days after we did and reports: "I would go back to Papachino's any time."

After 50 years of instrument sales, rentals, repairs and lessons, Ontario Music, 215 W. G St., is closing. The final date is probably July 31. I'll have more about the store in Friday's column, but in the meantime, if you've ever visited the store, feel free to post a comment.

* January 2011: The store has reopened under new owners.

Something doesn't add up on this phone at the Upland Metrolink station, notes reader Maria Tello, who contributed the photo. She says: "I did not know that Upland had two 3's and no 4's!"

Anyone lose a doughnut? I was returning to my car Sunday after lunch at the corner of Arrow and Towne in Pomona when I noticed this doughnut, face down, in the dirt between the parking lot and the shrubbery. What a way to go.

Photo: Carl Schlachte

Wckr Spgt, from left: Mark Givens, Joel Huschle, Kyle Brodie, Dave Carpenter.

Sunday's column tells the story of this avant-garde local band. If you'd like to know more or listen to the music, the band's website offers its more than 500 songs for free downloads as well as a full history of the band, its members and its fellow travelers, making for a partial story of local indie rock since the 1980s. You can also peruse song titles and lyrics.

For more about the new CD "Smooth Sounds: Various Artists Play the Future Hits of Wckr Spgt," visit this page, which has funny questionnaires by each artist of their thoughts about the band.

And here's a page about the July 24 Wckr Spgt Release Party show at the dA Center for the Arts in Pomona.

Interested in that 2007 show mentioned in my column in which the band performed while a box was constructed around them? Here's a series of photos.

Oh, and since I didn't go into this in my column: What does the name Wckr Spgt mean? The short answer: Not much. The long answer can be found here.

Sakura Ichi, 101 W. Mission Blvd., Suite 101 (at Garey), Pomona

Pomona is not exactly a hotbed for Japanese food, but Sakura Ichi has occupied a spot in the Mission Promenade center downtown since 2006.

The interior is a large, high-style place, full of modern design touches, making for one of the more impressive restaurant interiors in the Inland Valley. There's a long, gleaming sushi bar, a lounge that is especially impressive in the evening when the lights behind the bar glow and a series of private tatami rooms for larger groups.

The tatami rooms are great fun. You take off your shoes, put on paper slippers and sit on the floor, dangling your legs into a well below your table. A group of us has done this a couple of times for a birthday or before a concert. There's no extra charge for the rooms.

The food is pretty good too. This recent visit I had the Sakura sashimi ($18), which came with a small salad, a bowl of rice and 12 pieces of sashimi, three each of tuna, whitefish, salmon and yellowtail, served on a bed of ice. Nice presentation, and tasty too. I've been here another half-dozen times over the years and enjoyed my meals.

The main knock that you hear is that service, while friendly, can be spotty. Our previous visit, our group of 10 got our food at various times, with me receiving mine last, maybe 45 minutes later. And I got one of the specials, salmon carapaccio. (On the other hand, I have to admit it was excellent.) This recent visit, we had no problems with the service at all.

Sakura Ichi (the name means "Cherry Blossom No. 1") is not the best sushi, but it's good enough, it's arguably the best restaurant downtown and for groups especially, it offers a fun experience. Sakura Ichi wouldn't be out of place in Little Tokyo, where a reservation for a tatami room would probably be hard to come by, but here it's one of the better-kept secrets.

This banner on an Upland discount store is visible -- perhaps too visible -- to motorists along the 10 Freeway at Mountain Avenue. (The "Happiness Guaranteed!" slogan is a nice touch.) I don't know about the prices, but based on the banner, apparel appears to be half off. Doesn't the store sell tops?

Haaaiii-yaaah! July's movie theme at the Ontario City Library is "Martial Arts Madness." The films: "Legend of Drunken Master 2" starring Jackie Chan (Thursday), "Legend of the Black Scorpion" (July 15), "Shaolin Soccer" (July 22) and "Mortal Kombat" (July 29). Films start at 6:30 p.m. in the community room of the library, 215 E. C St., and admission is free.

Tell 'em Bruce Lee sent you.

(I can vouch for the entertainment value of "Drunken Master," whose stunts are both hilarious and astonishing.)

Notice the Facebook box at right? As I write this at 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, my FB page records 497 fans.* Who will be the 500th? Who? Who?? (The anticipation is practically unbearable.)

You can sign up right there in the box, as long as you're already on Facebook.

* 5 p.m. Tuesday: 498.

* 8 a.m. Wednesday: 501! Well, that was easy. Thank you to Kimberly Holiday (497), Robin Gonzalez (498), Darryl Musick (499) and Ms. 500, Nicole Leo. Not to mention No. 501, Ron Scott, for giving me a cushion against defections.

Books bought: "Why Call Them Back From Heaven?" Clifford D. Simak; "The Diaries of Adam & Eve," Mark Twain; "If You're Feeling Sinister," Scott Plagenhoef; "The Farther Shore," Robert M. Coates; "Bright Orange for the Shroud," John D. MacDonald; "Booked to Die," John Dunning.

Books read: "Why Call Them Back From Heaven?" Clifford D. Simak; "The Diaries of Adam & Eve," Mark Twain; "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," A. Conan Doyle; "If You're Feeling Sinister," Scott Plagenhoef; "The 'Reel' Benchley," Robert Benchley; "Millard Sheets: The Early Years (1926-1944)," Gordon McClelland; "The Bob Dylan Scrapbook, 1956-1966," Robert Santelli.

Seven books in June -- not bad for a fellow who hadn't finished even one by June 21, if I do say so myself. I also managed to finish three of the six books I acquired, as well as one acquired the previous month (and one each in 2007 and 2005, and another from, er, 1976 or thereabouts).

To run through this quickly, and in order: the Simak was an intriguing SF novel about cryogenics and faith; the Twain a minor work, unfinished, but perhaps my favorite of the month's reading; tied with the first collection of Holmes stories, most of them classics; the Plagenhoef, about a Belle and Sebastian album, is padded even at 105 pages; the Benchley is a curio from 1950 of stills and transcripts of six of his comedy shorts; the Millard Sheets reproduces 93 of his paintings, paired with a biography of the Pomona native that is informative, dull and horribly copy-edited, with a minimum of one mistake per page (the man credited as "text editor" was overpaid even if he volunteered); and the Dylan is a basic but gracefully written bio with many photos and inserts of repro'd handbills, handwritten lyrics and the like, a fun collection.

And, for those who like to know such things, I bought Simak used at St. Louis' Book House, Twain new at the Montclair Borders and Plagenhoef new at St. Louis' Subterranean Books, all in June; Sheets in the gift shop of the Pasadena Museum of California Art in May; Holmes new somewhere circa '76 (and read it then as well); Benchley used at Portland's Powell's in 2007; and Dylan at Rhino Records upon publication in 2005.

In the latter case, it's a bit embarrassing that it took me five years to get to a book that took three hours to read, and in the meantime was remaindered for a fraction of its $45 purchase price, but at least I read it now.

Halfway through 2010, I've read 30 books -- more than expected, since my goal was 50. Either I'll coast the last half of the year, or I'll double my total to 60. (Already in July I've finished one.)

Whew! Now, what are you reading?

You can listen to my May 31 appearance on Larry the Fox's "Claremont Straight Ahead" jazz show by visiting the Claremont Colleges radio station (88.7)'s website.

Liberty Bell Burgers, 142 N. Mountain Ave. (at Holt), Ontario

Perhaps the Inland Valley's most patriotically named restaurant, Liberty Bell Burgers' logo thoughtfully includes the crack in the bell.

Inside, of course, it's just another off-brand burger joint. The menu has sandwiches, burritos, breakfasts and, on weekends, menudo. There's a menu on the counter and photos of various menu items up above, most of which are not photographed well. One is the "manager's special," which is two burgers.

I got the burger combo ($5.55 with tax). As with most mom-and-pop places, the burger is nothing special -- skinny pre-formed patty, lettuce, onion, tomato, mayo -- but somewhat better than a chain. The fries were okay. The whole thing came on a plate, a nice touch.

A sign in the window warned that all activities are monitored by video camera. Oh, Liberty Bell Burgers, you're infringing on my freedoms -- but that's 21st century America for you.

Videographer and artist Eddie Gonzalez, who runs the 909 Junkie website (www.909junkie.com), is filming people offering one-word definitions of the Inland Empire. His goal is to eventually have 909 of them. Click here for the video so far. I didn't count the number of people as they flashed past, but the video indicates he has "777 to go."

Yours truly is represented by video shot at Claremont's Some Crust Bakery.

Oh, and Gonzalez sells T-shirts.