January 2010 Archives

The number of fresh & easy locations in Rancho Cucamonga doubled today.

Of course, there was only one to begin with, but now there are two.

The new location, which opened its doors at 10 a.m today, is at 8956 Foothill Blvd. (at Vineyard Avenue), in the Thomas Winery Plaza.

It joins the original Rancho Cucamonga location about 3½ miles east at 12188 Foothill Blvd. (at Day Creek Boulevard), which opened in September.

The recipient of the $1,000 check (which fresh & easy grants at each grand opening) is Citrus Little League.

Of course, still no word on the Loma Linda, Rialto, Moreno Valley (Cottonwood Avenue), Calimesa and Ontario (Euclid Avenue) store openings, although I hear the Rialto store will open sometime in March. I suspect the second Ontario location will open shortly after that.

With one series of storms having passed through last week and another storm on the way, the fine folks at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health have issued tips for safe home heating and safe cooking (and storage) of food.

The tips are pretty common sense:

• Don't use gasoline, propane, natural gas or charcoal-burning devices to heat your home.
• Throw away food (including food containers with screw-caps, and home canned foods) that has touched flood or storm water.
• Throw away perishable food that has been at 41 degrees or warmer for more than two hours.
• Don't use contaminated water to wash dishes, brush your teeth, wash and prepare food, wash your hands, make ice, or make baby formula.

This is especially important to remember if the power goes out, as it has in the mountains during the recent storms.

Follow the jump to read the county's press release.

Earlier this month, P.F. Chang's launched a new Happy Hour, which runs from 3 to 6 p.m. every day.

Every day.

EVERY DAY.

A quick glance revealed nearly all of the items on the Happy Hour menu are at least $2 off their usual prices. Most of the items I compared were $3 less.

Happy Hour items are priced from $3 to $6...get it? 3 to 6 p.m. -- $3 to $6 prices? Clever, huh?

Of course, there is one item (a glass of Pabst Blue Ribbon) that's only $2, but let's pretend we didn't see that.

We stumbled upon the Happy Hour this past Friday afternoon at the Victoria Gardens location in Rancho Cucamonga.

The result? For $20 and pennies per person (including tax, but not tip), we had a delicious, filling meal that included a wide variety of food, a high-end Margarita and dessert.

Follow the jump for more details.

A short while back, Amapola Rico Taco began offering an all-you-can-eat brunch buffet on Saturdays and Sundays at two of its San Bernardino locations -- 1279 W. Base Line (at Mount Vernon Avenue) and 1060 Harriman Ave.

I'd been to Amapola in the past and have to admit I hadn't been impressed.

However, this past weekend, I headed to the Base Line location to give the buffet a try.

The verdict?

Great food. Better price.

The buffet is loaded with Mexican delicacies, including menudo, chilaquiles, tamales, enchiladas, chorizo con huevos y papas, machaca, chile verde, carne asada and albóndigas.

I enjoyed almost everything I tried.

Allan Borgen and Jeff Williams of the Let's Dine Out show on NewsTalk 590 KTIE are hosting a Grub Club event at Afghan Palace Cuisine, 8685 Base Line, Rancho Cucamonga.

The event, a 17-course feast, will take place at 5 p.m. January 31.

17 courses? Wow...that's like eight meals rolled into one!

Cost is $22.95, which includes tax, tip and beverage.

Seating is limited and reservations are required by January 28. R.S.V.P. to Allan Borgen at 909-910-3463.

For a "taste" of what to expect, you can read Allan's review of Afghan Palace Cuisine here.

The folks at the Redlands Daily Facts recently visited the oxymoronic new Old Spaghetti Factory in Redlands.

We get an earful from pretty much the whole crew: Staff writers Joy Juedes (who drops the name of a certain food blogger), Jesse B. Gill and Chantal M. Lovell; sports writer Kevin Trudgeon; paginator Nichole Owens and head honcho Jennifer M. Dobbs.

The verdict is pretty much unanimous -- they all enjoyed their meals.

You can read the entire review for yourself by following this link.

Last night I had a wonderful (and inexpensive) meal at Market Broiler at the Ontario Mills mall.

I've seen the advertisement announcing 20th anniversary deals on that electronic billboard off the southbound 15 near Fourth Street, but I haven't had a chance to check them out for myself until last night.

I swear the Riverside location has been there for more than 20 years.

They have three deals that are offered every day:

• Fish and chips ($7.95)
• Fresh catch of the day ($9.95)
• Snow crab platter ($9.95)

They also have four daily deals, all priced at $9.95:

• Mondays: Design your own duo
• Tuesdays: Sirloin steak and shrimp
• Wednesdays: Caramelized salmon
• Thursdays: Triple "S" combo (Salmon, snapper and shrimp skewer)

In addition to the meal specials, they are offering half-price wine on Mondays and Tuesdays, and half-price appetizers (one per guest) on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Click here to see all the deals.

The Inland Empire has been called the birthplace of fast food, and Glen William Bell Jr. was one of those who got his start here.

He is best known for founding the restaurant which still bears his name, Taco Bell, but also co-founded Taco Tia here in San Bernardino and had a hand in the creation of Wienerschnitzel (founder John Galardi worked for Bell; Bell created their chili recipe; and Bell's wife came up with the name).

He was also friends with Neal T. Baker, who founded Baker's Drive-Thru, and former Bell employee Ed Hackbarth founded Casa del Taco, now simply known as Del Taco.

Bell died yesterday (January 17) at his home in Rancho Santa Fe. He is survived by his wife, Martha, three sisters, two sons and four grandchildren.

A link to the press release from Taco Bell can be found here (hover over Our Company at the top, then click on Latest News).

Sun writer Andrew Edwards spoke to Stater Bros.' Jack Brown and Juan Pollo's Albert Okura about Bell's legacy and has included their comments in an obituary for tomorrow's paper. You can find it online here.

In just a few short weeks, the annual Girl Scout cookie sale will begin.

This year, the Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council (which covers most of the Inland Empire) are doing away with the pre-orders and just selling cookies.

Hooray for instant gratification!

This year's cookie sale runs from January 24 through March 14.

There are two official bakers of Girl Scout cookies: ABC Bakers and Little Brownie Bakers.

The Girl Scouts of San Gorgonio Council gets their cookies from ABC Bakers.

The cookies they're offering this year are:

• Thin Mints
• Peanut Butter Patties
• Peanut Butter Sandwiches
• Caramel deLites
• Shortbread
• Lemonades
• Thanks-a-Lots
• Daisy-Go-Rounds

It turns out that tomorrow (January 14) is National Pastrami Day. Who knew?

To celebrate, Togo's Sandwiches is giving away a free pastrami mini classic sandwich to the first 100 customers at each store.

The giveaway takes place from 3 to 5 p.m.

There are Togo's locations scattered throughout the Inland Empire, including San Bernardino, Redlands, Fontana, Upland, Corona, Chino Hills and Temecula.

San Diego? Check.

Los Angeles? Uh huh.

Orange County? Yep.

Inland Empire? Not so much.

We here at Dine 909 love Tillamook Cheese...with a particular fondness for the vintage white extra sharp Cheddar in the black wrapper that you can usually find at Costco.

Yum!

But does Tillamook return the favor?

In a word, no.

The creamery cooperative has embarked on its "Loaf Love Tour" to promote its Baby Loaf medium Cheddar cheese.

The modified VW microbuses are currently in Arizona and will be in Southern California starting next month. They'll be in various San Diego locations February 17 through March 14; Los Angeles March 17 through April 12; and Orange County from April 14 through May 16.

From there, they travel to Bakersfield.

So, according the tour schedule, no Inland Empire dates.

After discovering that Corky's Kitchen and Bakery is open 24 hours, I wanted to give it a try.

I'm often a late night eater, so tracking down decent restaurants (besides the usual suspects) that are open past 10 p.m. is an ongoing quest.

So last night, I went to the new Corky's at 2019 N. Riverside Ave., #11 (just north of the 210) in Rialto.

There are older Corky's locations at 6403 Haven Ave., #106 (also just north of the 210) in Rancho Cucamonga, and in Orange County at 27522 Antonio Parkway, #P-1, in Ladera Ranch.

I'm happy to report that both the food and service were excellent.

I ordered the chorizo and eggs ($7.49), which comes with hash browns or home fries and corn or flour tortilla (or biscuits and gravy!). I opted for the hash browns and flour tortilla.

The hash browns were buttery and plentiful, with the perfect amount of crispiness on the outside. The generous portion of chorizo and eggs was also delicious and well-done. Three flour tortillas and a side of salsa (which delivered a surprising kick) rounded out my meal.

One of my dining companions had a large-enough-for-two Cobb salad ($9.89, seen at right), which came with the chunkiest blue cheese dressing I think I've ever seen.

The other had a delicious-looking chicken pot pie ($8.79), which includes soup or salad and a dinner roll. My friend chose the chicken noodle soup.

Jamba Juice's occasional offer of $1 oatmeal will return every Wednesday through Feb. 3. The steel-cut oats come in flavors of fresh banana, blueberry/blackberry, cinnamon apple and berry cherry pecan. The same bowl of oats typically go for $2.95. 

It's time to catch up on a handful of new restaurants I've noticed while tooling around the Inland Empire...

Late last year, a little bit of Norco moved into Colton as Norco's Famous Sixth Street Deli and Grill took spot occupied briefly by Submarina at 1231 E. Washington St., Suite C.

I haven't been to either the Norco or the Colton location yet, but according to their Web site, the May special is a chicken fried steak or chicken fried chicken sandwich, chips and a small fountain drink for $5.99.

That's either a lot late or a little early.

Also, another branch of Corky's Kitchen and Bakery opened up recently at 2019 N. Riverside Ave., Suite 11, in Rialto, just north of the 210 freeway.

I've noticed the Rancho Cucamonga Corky's while driving on the 210 and have been wanting to try it, but I didn't realize the most important part...Corky's is open 24 hours a day!

I'm always on the lookout for decent late night food, and Corky's is pretty well-reviewed on Yelp. I'm looking forward to giving the Rialto restaurant a try.

Just how old is The Old Spaghetti Factory?

If you're a regular reader of Dine 909, you know that 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the pasta purveyor.

Last year, they took 40% off their Pasta Classics, but this year, they're going one better.

Yep, this Tuesday and Wednesday (January 12 & 13), they're offering their Pasta Classic entrées for 41% off!

Such a deal, especially considering that those meals come complete with salad; bread; coffee, tea or milk; and either spumoni or vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Via this tweet from @McDonalds_SoCal, we learned that McDonald's, which will be offering free Wi-Fi at its restaurants in about a week's time, has expanded its dollar menu to include a handful of breakfast items.

Here's what you can now get for only one buck:

• Sausage biscuit
• Sausage burrito
• Sausage McMuffin (without egg!)
• Hash browns
• Small premium roast coffee

Now, if only McDonald's would offer their breakfast menu all day, like certain other fast food restaurants, then we'd really be impressed, but this is a step in the right direction.

This just in from Betty over at the Elks Lodge in Ontario:

Taco Tuesday from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Elks Lodge, 1150 W. 4th St. Ontario.

Um, Betty...it might be a little late to get it in today's newspaper, but plenty of time to get the news out to our Dine 909ers!

Tacos are only $1, so all you recessionistas can eat heartily. Plus, all profits go to Elks charities, and that's a good thing.