November 2009 Archives

Oh, boy.

Those folks at Chipotle...if anything, they're givers.

In a near-repeat of this summer's Costco-related giveaway, the San Bernardino Chipotle at 1092 E. Hospitality Lane, #B (at Tippecanoe Avenue) is giving away a free burrito, bowl, salad or order of tacos when you bring in a Best Buy receipt dated November 27, 28, or 29.

Unfortunately, I just found out about the offer tonight and...even though it started yesterday, it's only good until tomorrow (November 29). Chipotle is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Better late than never?

I used my Best Buy receipt to get a veggie burrito, a slight change of pace from my usual veggie bowl.

What did I buy at Best Buy? Hellboy II: The Golden Army on DVD, on sale for $3.99 in the store, but on their Web site for $2, which they matched.

Yep, for $2 I got dinner and a movie.

Apparently I am a cheap date.

Christophe's Restaurant and Lounge opened November 19 in downtown Upland, in the former D'Uplanders space.

Chef Christophe Jardillier, previously of Rancho Cucamonga's French/Italian restaurant Le Bellisimo, aims to bring "fine dining with emphasis on French cuisine" with this venture.

The restaurant has a wine and spirits lounge, private dining room, outdoor café and marketplace.

It's open for lunch and dinner, and reservations are now being accepted for dinner and holiday celebrations.

It's also the first restaurant to open with help from the city's new loan program, which is intended to encourage restaurateurs to open new sit-down, full-service restaurants in certain parts of the city.

The loan program (and Christophe's opening) is detailed in an article by Sandra Emerson in today's Daily Bulletin.

Click here to read Sandra's article.

Christophe's is located at 296 N. 2nd Ave. (at C Street). It is closed Mondays.

For more information, call (909) 256-4327.

According to Joy Juedes' article appearing in The Sun today, the Redlands location of the Old Spaghetti Factory (in the old Babe's Slim PigN's building at 1635 Industrial Park Ave.) will open December 7.

That's about a week earlier than previously announced.

It'll be the third Inland Empire location for OSF, after Riverside and Rancho Cucamonga.

Apparently, they can only build in cities that begin with the letter 'R.'

Click here to read Joy's article.

By now, you've probably gorged yourself on carbohydrate-laden goodies from your Thanksgiving feast and you decide to check Dine 909 just before the food coma sets in (you wonderful reader, you!). You're in luck, because we have a few more tips for you holiday foodies.

Be sure to store your leftovers within two hours of cooking. Sure, that post-meal nap sounds nice right about now, but postponing putting away your carefully-planned spread could mean food poisoning later on as bacteria colonize your neglected, cooling turkey and side dishes.

Okay, so I see you've got it all put away and are about to stumble to the couch for that well-deserved postprandial snooze; just remember to eat those leftovers within 3-4 days, or freeze them. When reheating, be sure to do it thoroughly to a temperature of 165 °F or until hot and steaming.

Now you can rest with the knowledge of proper holiday food care.

All of us here at Dine 909 wish you a Happy Thanksgiving...whether you are cooking your meal, buying a pre-made one, going out for dinner, or just sponging off of are dining with someone else (Thanks, Mom & Dad!).

We also care about the littlest Dine 909ers -- no, not your children -- your pets!

That's why we're passing along these Thanksgiving pet safety tips from the San Bernardino County Animal Care and Control Program.

Read on after the jump...

San Bernardino's Euro Deli, which replaced a short-lived Quiznos at 292 E. 40th St. (at Waterman Avenue), is apparently itself going to be short-lived.

News assistant Kristina Hernandez reports that there is a going-out-of-business sign on their door.

One would think that the business, which shares a building with a Starbucks, would be in a decent location, what with all the mountain commuter traffic during weekdays, at least.

Apparently, that's not the case.

So, if you're in the mood for a bratwurst, you better hurry!

Well, imagine my surprise last week when I went to my local Stater Bros. to pick up ingredients for making butter pecan ice cream when I spotted a lone bottle of Broguiere's egg nog sitting on the shelf in the dairy case.

Perhaps someone high up in the Stater Bros. chain of command saw my plea from last year.

Whatever the reason, it took about a half-second for me to grab it off the shelf and throw it into my cart.

It's not cheap -- Stater's sells it for $6.99 a quart -- but it sure beats driving to Montebello to pick it up directly from Broguiere's dairy, as I did last Christmas Eve.

I had a second surprise when I sat the bottle on the conveyor belt at the checkstand and realized it was one of the Huell Howser bottles.

You see, Broguiere's has several different designs printed on their glass bottles, and since Huell did a pair of his "Visiting..." shows from there, so they decided to use his image as one of them, as a "favorite visitor."

Anyway, if you are an egg nog fan and want to try some delicious, good old-fashioned nog, you really should give Broguiere's a try.

I had quite a difficult time finding it last year, but in addition to Stater's, I hear it's available at Gerrard's in Redlands and Wolfe's Market in Claremont. Good luck.

Any other Inland Empire sightings? Feel free to comment below!

Dine 909 favorite (before Dine 909 even existed...yes, their number is programmed into my cell phone) Alfredo's Pizza and Pasta is offering a very generous bargain to frugal diners.

Sunday through Thursday, buy a meal and an appetizer at regular price and get another meal of equal or lesser value for free!

Yep...buy a lunch and an appetizer and get a free lunch of equal or lesser value. Ditto for dinner.

Alfredo's has always been generous with their deals (I don't think I've ever paid full price for a pizza there), but this is the first time I've ever seen them offer any kind of bargains during their lunch hours, so you'd be wise to take advantage.

If you've never been to Alfredo's (which has been in San Bernardino for three decades), where have you been?

The food is delicious, the service is friendly and the portions are huge!

Tonight in Norco, Bob's Big Boy got the boot.

Actually, a pair of boots and a cowboy hat.

What seemed like half the town of Norco showed up to celebrate the culmination of a two-year journey for the Western-clad statue.

When the restaurant was in the planning stages in late 2007, the planning commission of "Horsetown USA" didn't think the iconic mascot was Western enough. So they requested a makeover.

The restaurant's headquarters, having complied once before by putting a Tyrolean hat on the Big Boy statue in Alpine-themed Gaylord, Mich., agreed to the change.

The restaurant opened in March of this year, but without the customized Big Boy.

The statue finally arrived late last month and the date for the big debut was chosen.

Tomorrow (November 17), the Original Graziano's Italian Restaurant and Bar is hosting a fundraiser for Saint Peter and Saint Paul school in Rancho Cucamonga.

The event will take place from opening to closing at the restaurant, 1615 N. Mountain Ave. (at 16th Street).

All you need to do is mention the school and Graziano's will donate 20% of your purchase to the school.

Grazie, Grazianos!

Jamba Juice will offer free flatbreads to the first 150 customers starting at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The new California Flatbread comes in four flavors -- Tomo Artichoko, Smokehouse Chicken, Mediterran Yum and Four Cheesy.

Everybody knows the 21st birthday is the best.

Celebrate it with Wahoo's, on 11561 Foothill Blvd. in Rancho Cucamonga next Saturday starting 11 a.m. The first 21 guests will receive a special goody bag. Gift cards and coupons for free meals will also be handed out. 

Now that we are sliding into the holiday season, several Inland Empire eateries and grocery stores are inviting customers to help out the less fortunate.

First up, we have Victorville's Johnny Rebs', which is sponsoring a Thanksgiving food drive. Those who bring at least two canned or boxed foods suitable for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner (e.g. a box of stuffing or mashed potato flakes, a can of gravy or cranberry sauce, etc.) will receive 15% off their meal.

The donated food will be given to the Victor Valley Rescue Mission, which will be holding its Thanksgiving Banquet for the needy from noon to 3 p.m on Wednesday, November 25. Last year, the mission served nearly 700 Thanksgiving meals, this year they expect to serve over 1,000.

In other words, your donations to Johnny Rebs' will definitely be put to good use.

So, if you want to help the hungry and "put some South in your mouth" at the same time (and get 15% off!), visit the Victorville Johnny Rebs' at 15051 Seventh St.

Also, if you are interested in donating a turkey to Victor Valley Rescue Mission, please call (760) 955-5958.

Another quickie, this time from the Daily Bulletin and the Upland Now blog:

The Pomona Moose Lodge will be holding a Taste of Fall dinner and raffles event at 6 p.m. Friday (November 13) at the lodge, 916 N. Central Ave., Upland.

Now, I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason why the Pomona Moose Lodge is located in Upland, but who am I to judge?

Just a quickie from the pages of the Daily Bulletin:

The Rancho Cucamonga Woman's Club is holding its annual "New to You" and Bake Sale today (November 11) beginning at 11 a.m.

The event will take place at the clubhouse in Alta Laguna Mobile Estates, 10210 Base Line Road.

According to the club, "It's a great opportunity to get some holiday shopping done, buy some yummy goodies and meet some of the wonderful women who devote their time, efforts and love to so many worthwhile projects."

Click here to read the original blurb.

From the Ontario Now blog today, we learned that an Ontario fresh & easy has an opening date: Wednesday, December 2.

The store at 2645 E. Riverside Drive (at Archibald Avenue) is now accepting, as per usual, nominations for their grand opening $1,000 charity donation.

If you have a local charity you'd like to nominate to receive the money, click here to do so, but hurry! You've only got until next week to put in your nomination. Employees at the new store will select which charity will receive the donation.

Click here to read the original post at Ontario Now.

Peppermint, pumpkin and winter dream lattes will be free this Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The Holiday Open House offer is at all California locations.

Well, of course, you're gonna have to work for it.

I'm aware it's extremely late notice, but the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District is conducting a cleanup of the neighborhood around Citrus Valley High School in Redlands.

And what about the free meals?

Breakfast and lunch will be provided for volunteers by Oscar's Mexican Restaurant and the Gourmet Pizza Shoppe (a Dine 909 favorite), both of Redlands, and Mimi's Cafe of San Bernardino.

All three restaurants are worth paying for meals at, by the way.

The cleanup takes place from 8 a.m. to noon today (November 7).

Clean up efforts will be assisted by volunteers from Hands on Inland Empire and from three of Redlands' high schools: Redlands, Redlands East Valley and Citrus Valley.

Interested in volunteering? Volunteers should meet outside Citrus Valley High School, 800 W. Pioneer Ave., Redlands.

A new, modern-style McDonald's opened a week ago in Fontana (17017 Sierra Lakes Parkway, at Sierra Avenue).

Surprisingly, I'm lovin' it. It's a slightly smaller restaurant, without a Playplace. It's very modern inside and if it weren't for the menus and posted advertisements, you'd scarcely know you're in a McDonald's. Personally, I think it's a great direction for the company.

The taste of New Orleans has come to downtown Riverside.

The grand opening of the Crescent Jewell Restaurant, 3597 Main St. (at Sixth Street) is set for 5 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday (November 5).

The restaurant had a soft opening late last month. It occupies the space formerly held by the Back Stage Restaurant.

Owner Norman Copeland previously owned and operated Bayou Seafood Grille in Rancho Mirage. He's returning to his roots, as he grew up and was a former educator in Riverside. He graduated from North High School.

The restaurant specializes in Creole/Cajun food and also offers some American dishes such as steaks, pork chops and salads.

The eatery will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. They will offer a happy hour Monday through Friday.

For more information, you can reach them at (951) 684-1001.