I This Bar & Grill coming to Rancho Cucamonga

Also during my visit to Victoria Gardens yesterday, I saw a liquor license application posted in the window of what was formerly West Elm, across N. Main Street from Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que.

Toby Keith’s I This Bar & Grill is coming to town.

I don’t know much about Toby Keith’s I This Bar & Grill, other than it’s named after Toby Keith’s song, “I Love This Bar,” which I don’t think I’ve ever heard.

Checking out their website, however, I found out that there are currently nine locations, with two in the works (Denver is the other one).

They serve a small selection of soups and salads, some burgers, sandwiches and wraps (fried bologna sandwich, anyone?), steaks, meatloaf, ribs, chicken and fish entres and for dessert, you can have deep-fried Twinkies. No need to wait for the fair to come to town.

Prices are reasonable, with nearly all entres under $13.

The nearest locations are Mesa, Arizona, and Las Vegas. The Rancho Cucamonga location will be the only one in California.

There’s already a Facebook fan page set up, with information on hiring clinics, among other things, for the new location.

Have you ever been to Toby Keith’s I This Bar & Grill? If so, are you happy there’s going to be one local? Feel free to let us know below.

Dine VG for fun and profit

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I met a couple of friends for lunch at Victoria Gardens on my day off yesterday.

(Yard House, in case you’re wondering…had a BBQ Veggie Chicken pizza with a Caesar salad, one of their lunch specials. Very good.)

I noticed a small sticker in the window of the California Pizza Kitchen as I walked by.

DineVG.com, it advertised.

So I had to check it out.

Turns out it’s a pretty decent rewards program.

There’s currently 11 participating restaurants, and it looks like the average savings is about 25% (although one offer has already expired). Not bad.

It’s free to sign up, and you get 100 points when you do. You’ll also collect points when you dine at participating restaurants Monday through Thursday and bring your receipts to Guest Services.

As a bonus, every quarter, the top 500 points earners for that quarter are entered into a drawing for a $1,000 Victoria Gardens shopping spree!

Follow the jump to see a list of rewards.
Continue reading “Dine VG for fun and profit” »

R.I.P., S.B. CPK

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It all started with a tweet.

The Twitter user wanted to know why the San Bernardino California Pizza Kitchen had closed.

What?!?

It’s closed?!!?

I asked if she meant the one across from Costco and went to the CPK website to see if the San Bernardino location was still listed as one of their locations.

Nope. Not a good sign.

I drove by today and was a little shocked to see a completely stripped down building where there used to be a restaurant.

A lone sign made the announcement:

The California Pizza Kitchen at The Shoppes at Northpointe is now closed. Thank you for allowing us to serve you. Please visit one of our nearby locations.

The sign then lists the information for the Riverside Plaza and Victoria Gardens locations.
Continue reading “R.I.P., S.B. CPK” »

In case you missed ’em

We’ve run a couple of food-related items on The Sun and Daily Bulletin business pages in the last two days.

In today’s papers, we had a story regarding the long-completed, but still-unopened Loma Linda fresh & easy.

Guess what?

Still no opening date, but we knew that already, didn’t we?

Click here to read the story as it appeared in this morning’s Sun.

And in yesterday’s paper, we had an item on the impending opening of a Chipotle Mexican Grill and the discussions of opening a Panera Bread in the city of Montclair.

The Chipotle will be east of Montclair Plaza, while Panera would be on the western edge of the mall.

Now, how about something to fill in the location north of the mall vacated by Islands last month?

These things take time, I guess.

Click here to read the Montclair restaurant story.

Another Freedom Courtyard fundraiser set for next week

Another fundraiser for the Freedom Courtyard Veterans’ Memorial is scheduled for Thursday, December 30, at Applebee’s, 10709 Foothill Blvd., Rancho Cucamonga.

From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., the restaurant will donate 15% of your bill to the memorial, which is to be built at Central Park in Rancho Cucamonga.

As with this month’s earlier fundraiser at Wahoo’s Fish Taco, you must present a flier (which is available for download here) to participate. The restaurant is making donations with both dine-in and to-go orders.

Click here to learn more about the project.

Out with the old, in with the new in Colton

The rather unassuming corner of Ninth Street and Valley Boulevard in Colton is soon to be home to not one, but two new restaurants.

One of them, Red Hot Caf, is already open. (Thanks to reader Steve for the tip!)

Red Hot replaces the been-there-since-the-dawn-of-time Rickshaw Boy at 182 E. Valley Blvd., which has been closed for about a year.

An LED sign advertised hot wings and hot links.

Catty-corner from Red Hot will soon be the third Food Connection location.

Food Connection is moving in where the short-lived Bob’s Big Boy was, at 201 E. Valley Blvd.

Bob’s closed “for remodeling” back in May of this year and ended up being remodeled into a completely different restaurant.

The new Food Connection will join their current locations in Grand Terrace and Riverside.

I see this as a step in the right direction. I’ve enjoyed dozens of meals at both Food Connection restaurants, but had nothing but lackluster meals at that particular Bob’s.

San Bernardino gun buyback a success

This Saturday’s gun buyback event in San Bernardino was a huge success.

So much so that it ended 2 hours early, after the San Bernardino Police Department collected 211 guns.

Food4Less generously donated $10,000 in grocery gift cards for the program. Firearms classified as assault weapons were traded for $100 gift cards. Other weapons netted a $50 gift card.

Among the guns turned in were AK-47, SKS and Uzi assault weapons.

The SBPD is seeking other donors and community groups to partner with for future buybacks. If you are such an entity, please call the department at 909-384-5742.

Click here to read Mike Cruz’ article as it appeared in the pages of The Sun.

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

This Friday (December 17), there will be a free lunch.

At McAlan’s Pub and Grill in Rancho Cucamonga, to be exact.

From 1 to 2 p.m., ex-KROQ DJ (and host of Poorman’s Bikini Beach TV show) Jim “Poorman” Trenton will be broadcasting his first Free Lunch Friday on KCAA (1050 AM) from the restaurant.

Everyone who shows up during the broadcast will get McAlan’s “World Famous” burger and fries (a $9 value) for free!

Trenton’s show (“Poorman’s Radio Invasion”) airs from 1 to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on KCAA. This is his first Free Lunch Friday event.

McAlan’s is at 6321 Haven Avenue (just north of the 210) in Rancho Cucamonga.

Gourmet Pizza Shoppes: New year, new day

Come 2011, there’ll be more to love at the Gourmet Pizza Shoppes in Redlands and Yucaipa/Calimesa.

16.67% more, actually.

That’s because the Dine 909 Favorite will be open seven days a week.

The Redlands store had traditionally been closed on Mondays, while the Yucaipa/Calimesa location was closed on Tuesdays.

Well…no more!

Both stores will be closed Friday and Saturday during the weeks of Christmas and New Year’s.

Gourmet Pizza Shoppes are at 120 E. State St., in Redlands and at 13661 Calimesa Blvd. in Yucaipa.

Slow Food Redlands turns one today

The Redlands Slow Food chapter is turning one.

The organization will celebrate today at Ruben’s Fiesta Maya on Vine Street.

Today also happens to be Terra Madre Day, Slow Food’s annual local food awareness day.

The chapter is also celebrating its inclusion on the local chapters page of the Slow Food USA website.

Happy Birthday, Slow Food Redlands!

For more information on Slow Food Redlands, click here to read Joy Juedes’ article from the pages of The Sun.