Recently in San Bernardino Category

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!

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!

Sorry, Loma Linda.

Tough luck, Rialto.

We know you have been waiting a very long time for your fresh & easy stores to open. You have our sympathy.

However, I'm glad since the San Bernardino fresh & easy opened Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. Whoo-hoo!

Tucked away in the back corner of a strip mall at the southeast corner of Highland and Del Rosa avenues, the new grocery store grew out of a space that used to be a Chinese restaurant, among other things.







And judging from the extraordinarily long line of customers waiting for the grand opening, I wasn't the only one eagerly looking forward to fresh & easy coming to town.

From reader Scott in R.C. comes the news that Victoria Gardens has lost another eatery: Tacone Flavor Grill.

I never figured out how to pronounce that. Is it pronounced tah-cone-ee or tah-cone? Either way, it's no longer there.

It's still listed on Tacone's Web site, but gone from Victoria Gardens'.

There may or may not still be a Tacone near the Lake Elsinore outlet mall (17600 Collier Ave., #147-A) for those who have a craving and are willing to drive. It's listed on Tacone's Web site, but....

On the cusp of Wednesday's grand opening of a new Inland Empire fresh & easy (in Rancho Cucamonga), Dine 909 has discovered via fresh & easy's Web site that their San Bernardino store (1631 E. Highland Ave., at Del Rosa Avenue) is opening one week later, on October 7.

Hooray!

This is of little consolation to Loma Linda city officials, who have written a letter to the folks at fresh & easy requesting that they be considered when picking opening dates, according to a story appearing in tomorrow's Sun.

The Loma Linda location (Redlands Boulevard and Mountain View Avenue) has been complete for, oh, about ten months. Work started on the San Bernardino store only a couple of months ago.

Other completed-but-not-yet-open Inland Empire markets include Rialto (2015 N. Riverside Ave., at I-210) and Moreno Valley (22985 Cottonwood Ave., at Frederick Street). The Calimesa location (Calimesa Boulevard and Myrtlewood Drive) looks complete from the freeway.

Don't know what fresh & easy's strategy is, but I'm glad I'll no longer have to drive to Fontana to shop there.

As is customary, fresh & easy is donating $1,000 to a local charity at their grand opening. To nominate a charity for the San Bernardino opening, click here.

To read Stephen Wall's story regarding Loma Linda's fresh & easy-sized advertisement for fresh & easy, click here.

In other Inland Empire fresh & easy news, according to their Web site, both the Riverside (4080 Madison Ave., at Arlington Avenue) and Ontario (2645 E. Riverside Drive, at Archibald Avenue) are hiring.

So I was poking around the Dine 909 Twitter account, seeing who was following us, and ended up wandering over to fresh & easy's Web site.

I went, as I usually do, to their Inland Empire locations page to check on the status of their long-delayed stores in Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga and Rialto.

Nothing new on those sites: The Loma Linda store is completed and is basically a fresh & easy-sized advertisement for fresh & easy. The Rancho Cucamonga store is hiring, but I know for a fact that they're still working on the interior of the store. The Rialto store is also complete and it looks like the nearby Walgreens is ready to open.

The surprise? They're opening a store at Highland and Del Rosa avenues right here in San Bernardino. The actual address is 1631 E. Highland Ave.

Apparently, it's going in the same center as dd's discounts, another lower-cased corporate entity.

As with the Rancho Cucamonga store, they're hiring.

Normally, I don't like surprises. This one I was all in favor of.

On Fridays, we normally get a lunch review from Elaine Lehman and a dinner review from either Allan Borgen or David Cohen.

Well, today is different. We do get a lunch review from Elaine, but this week, as last week, we don't get a dinner review.

More on that later.

Elaine "flew" over to San Bernardino to have lunch at the Airport Express Cafe, near the entrance to the San Bernardino International Airport. According to Elaine, they have a mix of items including Asian, Korean and Mexican dishes.

Hmm.

I thought Korean was Asian.

They also serve American and Mexican breakfasts.

They do serve one of my favorites for lunch: the Monte Cristo sandwich, which was one of two options Elaine was pondering. She chose the veggie sandwich.

I guess I'll have to "fly" over and check it out for myself.

You can read her take here.

So, you've just had a busy time fighting the SUV-driving weekend hordes at Costco, and those puny food samples haven't come anywhere close to quelling your appetite.

What's a hungry shopper to do?

Well, that's where the San Bernardino Chipotle Mexican Grill comes to your rescue!

For the next two weekends (June 20, 21, 27 and 28), the San Bernardino Chipotle, conveniently located at Tippecanoe Avenue and Hospitality Lane -- directly across the street from the San Bernardino Costco -- will give you a free burrito when you bring in your Costco receipt.

That's right, a free Chipotle burrito!

You know Chipotle...where you decide what goes inside.

I usually decide that it's a veggie burrito bowl with cilantro-lime rice, black beans, tomatillo green-chili salsa, roasted chili-corn salsa, sour cream, cheese and guacamole inside. Yum!

The offer isn't good on fax or online orders, but if you're shopping at the San Bernardino Costco, all you have to do is walk across the street. It doesn't get any easier than that.

If you haven't tried Chipotle's burritos, they're really good...they're even worth fighting the Costco crowds for.

Click here to download the flier.

I had been wanting to try Happy Family Vegetarian Cuisine (2150 S. Waterman Ave.) in San Bernardino for a while now. Not that I'm a vegetarian, mind you. Not that I'm a total carnivore, either. I'm somewhere in-between.

But I'm seriously fascinated by faux-meat vegetarian dishes, like those found at Veggie Era in Upland, and also at Happy Family.

I finally went there last week and was impressed. It's in the same small strip mall as Jackpot Thai & Chinese Food, and I was expecting a similar experience.

They're as different as night and day.

Jackpot caters mostly to take-out orders and has a few tables in its sparse dining area. Happy Family is a beautifully decorated sit-down restaurant. I was a bit surprised to learn that when I walked in.

T.G.I Friday's will be holding a fundraising event this Friday through Sunday at their Ontario and San Bernardino locations, with 20 percent of all proceeds going to the Humane Society of San Bernardino Valley.

All you need to do is print out this flier and take it with you if you decide to go. Hours are from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., so if you're an early bird or a night-owl like myself, there's plenty of time to help animals in need.

And if you don't have time to eat in, you can even order take-out and still help; just remember to bring the flier!

What's nearly as good as the warm fuzzies you'll experience as you nosh, you may ask? Why, a certificate for a free Friday's appetizer given to you in appreciation of your support to use on a future visit, of course.

Ontario's T.G.I Friday's is at 3351 Centre Lake Drive; their San Bernardino location is at 390 E. Hospitality Lane.