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.