Fox Coffee House, Vine at Cajon

The A/C was broken, but it was a lot hotter outside . . . no matter, it was to-go. Staff is remarkabley friendly. Moved down the Ice Blended menu, chose probably my last one (I refuse to eat the peanut butter IB), and I had the espresso ice blended. It wired me. $4.25. Recommended.

Johnny's Sports and Tacos, Lugonia at Wabash in the Stater Bros.' Center

Heavy on the sports, heavy on the tacos. A REV HS favorite. Lunch special, four tacos any kind for 5, .25 for each avocado slice or cheese. My total: 6.47 with tax, without tip. I had the steak tacos, each of which comes on two small corn tortillas. Since my last visit, they've changed to a "get your own" chips and salsa. The bartender graciously came to my table and asked what I wanted, and I lamely replied "water." The best price for tacos is on Tuesday, when they come for a dollar a taco. They taste very fresh, and the condiments that come with the tacos are salsa, limes, chopped onions and chopped cilantro. These are my favorite soft tacos in all of Redlands.

Sizzler #0480 110 Redlands Blvd, Redlands, CA 92373

I had the need to eat in a place with comfortable chairs that sort of served me. And Sizzler fit the bill today. The first (and only other) time I ate at this Sizzler (or as the Host called it, "Sizzler's") I had a steak or some such thing. Today, I had the Salad Bar (as did almost everyone else). The selection was a little smaller (from my memory) than the Sizzler on Waterman in San Bernardino. However, I was surprised to find mixed greens and spinach among the lettuce choices, and hard Parmesan and blue cheese in the cheese area. There were six dressings and oil and three vinegars, I think I chose malted. The check: $6.99 for the salad bar and $2.19 for the drink (Pepsi, sweet as always), .71 tax for a total of $9.89 before tip. I also had some strawberries, ripe, but not as ripe as I like them, non-canned pineapple, some onion rings, a fried sweet corn concoction that was really good, but not labeled, and various other salad toppings. I think Soup Plantation has spoiled me as far as salad bars go. I capped it off with soft serve; the vanilla chocolate swirl was coming out soupy, so I switched to Chocolate. They had tiny cups, so I used a soup bowl instead. I put chopped peanuts, Oreo-type (but definitely not Oreos), and strawberry topping. It was good.
The cheese bread has declined in taste. It was basically white bread with butter. It wasn't the orange-cheese bread as in past years.
I'd probably return if the muse moved me. Do muses move you to Sizzler?

Uncle Howie's Pizza, Lugonia Avenue and Church St.

Good pizza, not as good as New York Pizza, but differently good. Thick crust, large cheese taste. Sort of an out-of the way location, on the corner of Church and Lugonia (Highway 38). They were measuring for blinds when I was there, including a man people referred to as Howie. Could it be the man himself? Or is he mythical like Ronald McDonald? I did not follow up, dear readers. Couldn't beat the deal, though, slice of pizza and a large Coke (20 ounces or so, in a big red plastic Coke "glass," the kind mandatory for family pizzerias, since they probably are issued by the Coca-Cola Company to small business owners), $3.50. Downtown Redlands could use a good Pizza-By-Slice (only) place, sort of like Fat Slice in Berkeley. Mmmm . . . Fat Slice!

Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf #179, (909) 798-0454 Orange Street

I ordered a regular Black Forest Ice Blended ($3.95). I like that you don't have to use phoney-baloney Italian to order a coffee drink. I had no problem getting in and out. I liked it, but not as much as the mint chip I had ordered before. See this post. The cherries were not as pronounced as when I had a sip of someone else's. I was served by the person I believe to be the manager. She seemed a little non-plussed as if she hadn't done it in awhile. It looked as if she were being trained, though she may have been doing vice versa. Strange. Anyway, she didn't charge me tax on my to-go, so she passes in my book. They gave me a receipt with a survey, which I completed for a dollar off my next purchase. I never seem to use those, I don't like using coupons.

Portofino Cafe, 404 East State Street, Redlands, CA 92373 (909) 798-3798

I had to be back for a meeting, so I ordered to-go. Despite my pledge to eat different things at restaurants I like, I keep getting the same thing at Portofino. I'd like to nominate it as best sandwich in Redlands.
It's called the Capi, and ordered the 1/2 Capi. It's capicola, my favorite sandwich meat, on a cheese foccacia, with lettuce tomato and some sort of mild white cheese. It comes with pasta salad. I ordered a 250 ml Pellegrino. The total, was $8.61, $2.00 of which was the Pellegrino. They do not skimp on the capicola, either.

Fox Coffee House & Patesserie, 101 Cajon Street, Redlands (909) 335-6787

I was still hungry from lunch, when I went in through the side door. I really like the door knob on the side door. I ordered a Double Chocolate Ice Blended Mocha (formerly called the Chocolate Chip Ice Blended Mocha) ($3.95) with whipped cream, 16 ounces.
Very good. I liked the ground-up chocolate chips. Recommended highly.

El Pollo Loco, Store 5790, 210 W. Colton Ave. Redlands, CA 92373 (909) 335-2232

So I saw an ad on TV for Grilled Chicken Nachos at El Pollo Loco. I can be highly susceptible to television advertisements for food. On my next visit to El Pollo Loco, I ordered the Grilled Chicken Nachos combo with a small drink ($6.45 including tax) to eat at the restaurant on Colton Avenue. It's on the very busy corner of Tennessee and Colton Avenues. I wonder who permitted a drive-through on such a small lot. The access is terrible. But I digress...
The dish was good, with certain buts. According to the website, which I visited post-visit, the nachos have 1060 calories, 55 grams of fat (21 g of saturated fat, 1 gram of trans fat (still? KFC has (or will have) none, but El Pollo Loco has some? Really?) 110 mg of cholesterol, 98 carbs, and 3,041 mg of sodium. Ouch! According to the Institute of Medicine, the Dietary Reference Intake (the new RDA is 1.5 grams of sodium. That means, one meal gave me two days' worth.
Other than that, it was pretty good, with a few problems. Nachos should have copious amounts of cheese. There was also very little of the advertised queso cheese sauce. The highlight was the chicken, which was moist and available. [Available?].
The El Pollo Loco website claims that the dish has queso cheese suace, sour cream, chopped boneless chicken breast, jack cheddar cheese, tortilla chips, pico de gallo salsa, guacamole, refried beans, and sliced pickled jalapeño peppers. The jalapeños were an option when I ordered, and I'd recommend them as essential; they cover-up the shortfall of cheese. The chips were fine, they were not stale like as often is the case in Del Taco's Macho Nachos.
As served, mine didn't seem to have any salsa; no matter, I was eating in and availed myself of the salsa bar.
Because of the nutrition, I wouldn't eat the nachos again. Unless the Lakers were playing.

Antonious Pizza, 1546 Barton Road, Redlands CA 92373 (909) 335-0173

It's in a former Little Caesar's, what more can you say. Actually, it's more complex than that. In my quest-to-eat-at-every restaurant*, one of the provisions behind the asterisk was that I didn't have to eat in any restaurant that did not have at least one seat. This one, I can now attest, has zero. I had the lunch special, a one topping 8" pizza, a small salad, and a 32 ounce fountain drink for $5.38 including tax (even though it was take-out. Strike one!). I was third in line, and there was only one worker. She had to give someone two slices of pizza (they get, er, mad props for selling by the slice), and she had to make a sandwich for another man. It was about a fifteen minute wait. Not exactly fast food. My pepperoni (to compare pizza, I think you have to order pepperoni) pizza came with eight pieces of pepperoni. The sauce was used sparingly. The dough was limp, and at times, gave a slightly stale note. There was a lot of crust, and the taste of oregano in the sauce. My soda was a Cherry Pepsi with an OK mix -- nothing special. I'd probably equate the quality to Dahlia's. The salad was about two cups of iceberg lettuce, a quarter cup of cut bell pepper, 1/4 of a tomato, a tablespoon of cut, but not chopped, raw white onion, and maybe three sliced black olives. I chose Italian dressing; it came with a quarter cup on the side. During my wait, on those Little Caesar's hard benches, I stared at the "Lower Back tattoo" temporary tattoo machine offering butterflies for $.50.

Romano's Macaroni Grill, 27490 W. Lugonia Ave. Redlands, 92374 (909) 798-4142 (Citrus Plaza)

Sometimes I like Macaroni Grill (a lot), and sometimes I'm disappointed. I was not disappointed this afternoon. I had the Chicken Cannelloni ($8.79), which according to the Macaroni Grill website, is described as a "Hand-rolled pasta stuffed with oven-roasted chicken, melted cheese and spinach, then baked in an Asiago cream sauce. Topped with tomato sauce." I like the herb bread they bring with the olive oil and cracked pepper to dip the bread in. We went at 11:45 a.m., which if you have a flexible lunch hour works really well. I love asiago cheese, which made the Chicken Cannelloni. They brought me a piece of chocholate cake in fudge sauce that was excellent. For inventory-control purposes, it cost the princely sum of $.01. I, of course, have mixed-feelings for chains, but often they give a variety and consistency unavailable elsewhere. Chains contribute to the economy, too. If a franchise-owner lives in town, some of the profit stays. Both chains and local restaurants pay sales-tax. Chains create jobs. Half of the University of Redlands seems to work at Macaroni Grill. A debate for another day.

Sierra Lakes Golf Club, 16600 Clubhouse Drive, Fontana, California

What was I doing in Fontana at a country club? That's a good question. However, I had two and a half meals, and I was impressed. The breakfast buffet had fluffy pancakes and crisp bacon, and good breakfast potatoes. I skipped the sausage and scrambled eggs.. The coffee was unremarkable, and they only had creamer. For lunch, since it was so close to Cinco de Mayo, there was a variety of Mexican dishes. I skipped the rice, the chile relleno (my nemesis, eggs), had a small corn tortilla based enchillada (very good), and went to the burrito/taco bar (the tortillas were in between), took a little carne asada, a little sour cream, a little shredded cheddar, and some green salsa. Iced tea to drink. Very good. The coup de grace were the snacks of chocolate chip cookies and I had some tea from a bag. Not bad. My only complaints was that there wasn't a wider variety of drinks available without going to the bar.

La Costa II, 621 Colton Avenue, Redlands, CA 92374 (909) 792-1337

A family favorite, I eat their weekly. When it burnt, we shifted to the San Bernardino location at 464 South Mt. Vernon (off Mill) , and they're very different restaurants. We also go to the one in Mentone. Today, I ordered the lunch special chile verde burrito. It was huge. The burrito was about seven inches long, a very large flour tortilla, with chunks of fork=tender pork, served semi-wet (there was no sour cream) with tomatillo sauce and cheese, with about half a cup of refried beans inside the burrito. It came with about 1/2 a cup of green salad with ranch dressing. It was very good, even if I prefer beef to pork burritos. It was an extremely good value at $6.95. I had it with a large (32 ounce) water with a lemon. I always enjoy the little things at La Costa, from the King Puff mints with the check, to the orange slice. Very Redlands. Always full.

Phoenicia Restaurant, 1560 Barton Rd, Redlands, CA 92373

This is a perennial favorite of mine. I was ordering to-go, so I ordered two plates: The Falafel plate ($6.75) and the Shwarma beef plate ($8.95). They charged me tax, even though it was a to-go order. Each plate came with two refined wheat pitas, about a half to two-thirds of a cup of hummus, 1/4 cup of tahini, about a cup of basmati rice cooked with onions, a green salad with oil and vinegar, topped with about four small pickled turnips. The falafel came with four average size falafel balls, and there was roughly a cup of shwarma. The Shwarma was cut in front of me, and it was a little dry for my taste today. The falafel was wonderful even after I traveled a distance to eat it. The hummus was good; it was fresh with oil drizzled on top.
I'm not sure what the deal with the shwarma was. I had just seen a Food Network feature on the Mad Greek in Baker (which I recommend), that showed how they made Shwarma. That probably influenced my decision to order. Probably an end-of-day problem. No matter, I'll be back.

Blimpie Subs & Salads, 27512 W Lugonia Ave # C, Redlands, CA 92374

I can't remember why I was near Citrus Plaza, but I decided to go to Blimpie. Breaking my rule, I ordered what I'd had before, Blimpie's Best. According to Blimpie's website, it has ham, hard salami, cappacola ham, prosciuttini ham, and provolone. I had it on the Parmesan crust bread (which I would recommend). Though they do not have the same assortment of included vegetables as Subway, the onions, lettuce and tomato were just right. I asked for it to be grilled (they don't normally offer it, but they'll do it for you) on their pannini press. This sandwich is the closest in the area to Queens' (may it rest in peace) combination grinder.
It could have used more grilling, and I was not offered, but should have ordered it with oregano, and oil and vinegar. They did offer, but I did not accept, mayonnaise and mustard. Disgusting. The six-inch sub was $4.69, the combo of a 22 ounce drink and 1 1/8 ounce Baked Lays was $1.99. With tax, a total of $7.20. I'd recommend it, get it the way that I suggest, rather than as ordered.

Sachi Japanese Cuisine, 474 Orange Street, Redlands, CA 92374 (909) 798-3359.

I'm a late comer to sushi. I don't eat, for the most part, the more exotic like unagi or tako. However, people ask me to rate the numerous sushi restaurants in Redlands. I don't recommend them all, but I'd say Sachi>Ocean Blue>Niko Niko>Mikan>Super Sushi>Hello Sushi>Tokyo Restaurant>Sushi Kimo. If I were you, I'd stick to the top three. Another one is opening at the old Paradise Coffee Society. Because for every 8,000 residents, you need nine sushi restaurants. The funny thing is that many of the owners are Korean, yet there are no Korean restaurants in Redlands.

Which brings me to Sachi. According to the Daily Facts review, it's owned by Sun Hong, a Korean. I've been there three times, and I've enjoyed the tuna the most.

We ordered up a storm. I'll comment only on what I had.
2 Albacore sushi (4 pieces) ($4.25 per two)
1 Yellow Tail sushi (2 pieces) ($4.50)
2 Salmon sushi (4 pieces) ($4.50 per two)
1 Spicy seared albacore (2 pieces) ($4.75)
1 Unagi (BBQ eel) (2 pieces) ($4.25)
1 Crunchy Spider Roll (soft shell crab) (approximately 12 pieces) ($11.95)
1 Sunset roll (Tempura shrimp with albacore on top) (approximately 8 pieces) ($11.95)

It came with standard issue edamame.

I especially liked the salmon sushi, it was buttery. I liked the contrast of the lemon on the albacore on the sunset roll. Everything else was as expected, good, but not easy to describe with words. I think Sachi's the best in town, and if you like sushi you won't be disappointed. The fish is appropriately fresh. You wouldn't think to say that in a sushi review, but I've apparently heard horror stories about unnamed other restaurants. Which I won't point out. Let's just say that Redlands has more of a choice than in previous years.

There was a children's birthday party going on. When the host mother asked, who likes sushi, they all didn't. They were very well behaved, and the Sachi has a host of other Japanese dishes. As stated in this review, apparently it's children friendly. On an earlier visit, I had the Monkey Ball, which was tasty, but pricey for an appetizer.

The sushi bar, where I had eaten on my first visit, was as lively as ever. A couple was doing saki shots with the chefs.


I had water (eau du tap), which came from lemon. I prefer East Valley Municipal Water district tap of local waters. Which this was not, but it was still good.

California Shell, 941 California Street, Redlands CA 92374

Yes, I have been to every restaurant in Redlands, as I define the term. No, I have not been to every food serving establishment in Redlands, and I probably never will. But this day, I did.
For reasons that are still not clear, I went to Pharaoh's Lost Kingdom for a going-out-of business sale of their arcade. I did not sign up to bid, and there were only a few things I would be interested in. Maybe the nacho machine. I really should have taken pictures. This was my first and last visit to Pharaoh's, I hear they have other plans for it.
Anyway, even though Pharaoh's once had food service, they did not at this event. And it was hot. I needed a pair of drinks.
I left the parking lot, went south, to the California Shell, (also known as Chase Petroleum) where I simultaneously gassed up the family car. A baby-faced CHP officer was leaving the mini-mart. The CHP usually share my taste in food. I've seen them at Charo Chicken, La Costa Mariscos, and Chili's San Bernardino.
I'm careful when eating at mini-marts, and I was thirty, not hungry. I bought a Gatorade (24 oz, Extreme Berry + Fruit Punch) (mini-mart priced at the low low price of "$2.120" according to the receipt, plus 8 cents CRV). It's hard to rate a Gatorade, but it rehydrated me.

The Royal Falconer, 106 Orange Street, Redlands CA 92373

My receipt thanked me for my patronage, and asked me to come again. It also said I was served by Angela. I ordered the Falcon House Burger ($9.50), and what I later discovered to be Seagram's ginger ale.
I ordered the burger with no cheese, no avocado, and no bacon. This burger has made it to the Redlands top five. I'd say, in no order, the burgers in the top five are the Tartan Burger, a burger who's name I can not remember at Charlie Jewell's, the afore-mentioned ortega chili burger at McDuff's, and the 1/4 pound burger at Bravo Burger.
The burger was ordered medium rare and it came that way. The patty was 1/2 a pound, it came with a side salad of mixed greens, with a side of blue cheese dressing that had actual blue cheese. The burger had lettuce and a juicy tomato, and hamburger dill pickles on the side. Thousand Island dressing was provided, I did not partake. I later put some ketchup on the burger.
The Segram's ginger ale was sweet with light carbonation ($1.45 with one free refill). Also ordered (not by me) were the 1/2 order of Halibut Fish and Chips ($10.00; full order $17.00). On my second visit, I had it and they are excellent; not too much breading, the fish could stand on it's own, and the fries are good as well.
Vintage Redlands was going on as we left the restaurant. We walked down State Street amongst the drunks. We went to Baskin-Robbins at 405A E. State St., Redlands, CA 92373 (909) 792-4322. I had one of the Flavors of the Month, Reese's(r) Peanut Butter Cup, which according to BR's website is vanilla loaded with delectable bits of the candy. I had a single scoop on a cake cone. There was not enough candy to get a real peanut butter taste. I believe the scoop, before tax was around $2.00.

McDuff's Restaurant, 253 E. State St., Redlands, CA 92373 (909) 798-4066

McDuff's is an institution. Read the Daily Fact's review. I liked it on my first visit, I'd say that their burger with ortega chilis is in the top five in Redlands.
I like the drink dispenser at McDuff's, it's a throwback (except that it's not, it looks original). I like sitting at the counter. The staff is attentive. To avoid this from being a second-grade composition, I'll get to what I had.
I had a Coca-Cola that came out with a good mix of sugar to water (I use sugar generically, I know it's not sugar). It was slightly, but delightfully, carbonated. I ordered the biscuits and gravy breakfast. It came in a style to which I had not become accustomed. To my detriment.
This was my fault. I had decided that I was going to have biscuits and gravy before I left to go to McDuff's. I didn't bother reading the menu, which no doubt described the biscuits and gravy. All I saw was biscuits and gravy and "home fries."
The home fries were excellent. The potatoes were sliced in one inch by a quarter inch slices and cooked with green onions, probably on a griddle. They were not at all oily. The waitress offered me ketchup or salsa; I chose the Heinz ketchup, I probably should have chosen the salsa.
The biscuits and gravy were topped with shredded cheddar cheese. I'm not sure why. Then, there was a layer of white gravy. Then, the surprise.
Each biscuit was covered with an egg-over-easy. The horror.
To put it mildly, I'm not an egg fan. I tolerate scrambled eggs if afforded enough pepper. Seasonally, I eat hard boiled eggs.
According to Wikipedia, biscuits and gravy is served with fried eggs, but there is no word whether they are on the biscuits. I am an adult-adherent to biscuits and gravy, and I have never had them in their native land. I ate them first in the late 90s, probably 1999, on a magical day at the Pico and La Cienega restaurant Nicks. I'm not sure if they were "authentic" in any way, but my frame of reference are large biscuits you can taste (that taste good on their own), salty, white gravy with pieces of breakfast-size sausage links cut up in them, and NOTHING ELSE.
Other than the cheese, which added nothing, and the gooey surprise, the biscuits were chewy and I could not discern their taste. The home fries were as advertised, and I liked the Coke.
I'll go back, but I'm not ordering the biscuits. I enjoy eating at the counter, I liked the size of the glasses (about 8 ounces). My meal was $10.15 including tax, excluding tip. If you're going, it's cash only.

Augie's Coffee House, 113 N. 5th Street, Redlands, CA 92373 (909) 798-2255

I had been to the predecessor of Augie's, but this was my first visit. I bought a cafe au lait for $2.25 (it was to go, no tax). According to the coffee for sale, they use IE Coffee. The coffee was robust, with not a strong milk flavor. I saw local attorney Joesph Arias sitting reading the Daily Journal. Actually, as is the norm for Redlands, I saw a lot of people sitting around. The staff was very friendly. They seemed to have a long shift. After seeing them in the morning, they were giving away or selling water and coffee to the people at Vintage Redlands later in the evening. Same two people. A search of the County's website finds that Augie's is owned by Kenneth L. Johnston. Inland Empire Coffee appears to be owned by Cliff Young, who elsewhere on the web urges people to shop local merchants and companies. Well, I did, at Augie's.

Future Redlands Restaurants

A search of the web finds that the following restaurants are coming to Redlands. Panda Express is being built at the corner of New Jersey and Redlands Boulevard. Though another chain Chinese restaurant is not exactly what Redlands needs restaurant wise, it is my humble opinion that Panda Express is a better quality to pretty much anything in Redlands, or at least it's equal. Here's hoping for a migration from the San Gabriel Valley. A Zendejas and two other restaurants are planned for Parkford Drive (near Ford Park). A Panera (one of my favorites) is under construction at 470 E. Cypress Drive, Redlands. Two restaurants are planned on the northwest corner of Lugonia and Wabash on the Redlands / Mentone border. A restaurant is planned for Eureka south of the I-10 off-ramp, as is a restaurant on the west side of California Avenue south of the 10. I'm not sure how they're going to fit anything on that thin lot between the railroad tracks and the off-ramp, but I'm willing to see.

Fox Coffee House & Patesserie, 101 Cajon Street, Redlands (909) 335-6787

After lunch on the 26th, I bought a parfait for $2.95. There was one piece of pineapple, about six pieces of honeydew, six pieces of cantaloupe, six red seedless grapes, and about a cup of vanilla yogurt. The fruit was fresh-cut (not previously frozen). The yogurt was good, but considering the price, I like McDonald's fruit and yogurt parfait better. That's because McDonald's has a type of fruit I like better than the mostly-melon-mix at Fox, even if McDonald's fruit is frozen. A little about Fox Coffee . . . I eat there a lot, it was an exception to my "once 'til they're done" motto. I believe it is owned by Redlands GFE LLC (according to their fictitious business name certificate) as of 4/26/2007. There is another Fox Coffee at 25552 Barton Road in Loma Linda, but I've never been there.

New York Pizza 535 W. State Street (909) 798-8389

This is my favorite pizza place in Redlands. However, I have not had every pizza in Redlands because one of my provisos was that the restaurant had to have seating, and a lot of places do not. Now that I've been to every restaurant, I'm trying to not order the same thing over and over. Which is very difficult for me to do.
I like the pizza because it has a very thin crust, with a very doughy flavor, a sauce you can taste on every bite and stringy mozzarella. I have had true New York pizza in New York (it was in Spanish Harlem) exactly once, 21 years ago, if you're not counting some I had at JFK on the way home. So I'm not saying it's authentic, but it has the characteristics of New York-style pizza. Parmesan cheese is always handy at New York Pizza; a trick that I learned at the old Maxwell Street Pizza on Kendall in San Bernardino is that the if you poured enough Parmesan on oily pepperoni, it would absorb the grease. That's not particularly a problem at New York Pizza, but I still like Parmesan on my pizza.
Instead of the lunch special, (I typically get a mini 1-topping pizza and a small regular Coke for 5.35 plus tax), I decided to stop going through all the pizzas one topping at a time. In my restaurant tour, I usually would try a sausage sandwich if given the opportunity. I think that's what I had at Anthony's further west on State to give it a "maybe" rating. Anyway, I ordered a small sausage sandwich (8").
The roll was great, crispy and flavorful. Bread makes a sandwich and it can kill a sandwich too. I believe there was but one sausage; I don't need the fat anyway. You could taste it, it was sweet. The sauce was plentiful. The green bell pepper was uncooked - that's not a complaint. It brought out it's flavor. The chewy mozzarella found on the pizza was present. The onions were cooked with the sausage. Very good.
The best sausage sandwich in Redlands? Hard to tell, I don't remember many on my travels. I think I had one at Venezia on Lugonia that was so-so, but that was in May of 2006, so it's kind of hard to remember.
I ordered a large soda on a suggest-a-sale, when I really wanted a small. I'd say a large was 24 oz, and a small is about 16. You get a free refill, I think, but since you have to ask for it, I never do. I had a Mr. Pibb, because the mix on a Mr. Pibb never seems to disappoint, regardless of the water or ice used. The total for the sandwich and the drink was $7.30 including tax.

Super Burrito, Waterman, San Bernardino

I'm a big fan of what Wikipedia calls the San Francisco Burrito (I'm in no mood for linking tonight), and I've found that Southern California has inferior burritos. The Bay Area has inferior tacos, so it's even. Anyway, I like Super Burrito. Of course, I like that they put beet red cherry syrup in coke to make it a cherry coke. I think they use Smart & Final. I digress. I meant to order a carne asada burrito, (this was yesterday) but I ordered a carnitas with rice. The options I got when I ordered the carnitas burrito was, do you want beans and rice or just meat. Inexplicably, I said just rice and meat, when I should have said meat. I like Spanish rice, but all meat had to have been better.

Starbucks Coffee Company #10004, Alabama & Orange Tree Lane

My first post is about Starbucks, and it's not some kind of ad thing either. I'm not anti-chain. Chains have their place.

I've already been to every restaurant, and many other food serving establishments. It's just I had to buy some shirts today, and this Starbucks was the only thing on my side of the street with a drive through. Just so much time for lunch, you know. Anyway, I bought a Turkey and Swiss sandwich on wheat bread, which according to my receipt was item number 183464. It was a mere $5.25. The package (and it required a scissors to open) said to keep it refrigerated and to eat it today. When I ordered at the speaker, even though it was on the menu board the order person (I don't like Starbucks speak) had to check the front refrigerated case.
Anyway, it came with nutrition information. Way too much salt, but not bad calorie wise. Of course, it was the size of two wonder bread slices. The bread was whole-wheat, not heavy duty, but 2g of fiber. Not a strong wheat taste, but that's not a bad thing from my point of view. It came with light mayonnaise on the side (Helmann's) with enough ingredients not found in regular mayonnaise (according to the package . . . it said not in regular mayonnaise), and my general dislike of mayo that I didn't put it on. A packet of Helmann's mustard (Enough to cover one side). It had romaine lettuce. The total thing was 6.2 ounces, maybe two ounces of it meat. The turkey tasted good. The lettuce tasted good. I couldn't tell you if there was a tomato. The bread did not offend me. The price did.
I think that Starbucks would be better off with a Paninni press, charge a dollar more (Fox Coffee charges $6.25 for a turkey pannini, and I wouldn't feel as bad about it. Of course, I'm not sure what Wonder Wheat would do in a press.

It being to go, they didn't charge sales tax. With my Iced Coffee (small er... tall) which was inexplicably more expensive than non-iced, even though I think ice is less expensive than coffee), the total was $7.15.