RJHemedes "The Bitter Sweet Life"

Indonesian food is rare in SoCal since there isn’t a large Indonesian community in the LA area. So the last place one would expect to find authentic Indonesian food would be in the parking lot of the Duarte Inn of all places. However, that’s exactly the place to go, because every Saturday, the Inn graciously hosts a small food fair that offers a tantalizing variety of food for everyone interested in such cuisine.

I heard about this food fair from fellow Yelper Abby, who happens to live in Duarte. The Indonesian Food Fair got its start because the owners of the Inn are Indonesian and they happened to know friends that at one point or another ran an Indonesian restaurant. For one reason or another, they no longer have their own restaurants but they spirit of their establishments live on through the food stalls that they run.

When I arrived a few weeks ago, it was one of those rare, cold, gloomy and slightly rainy days in SoCal, and yet the moment I stepped into the parking lot, you could feel the spirit and energy that comes with a food fair. It wasn’t large – there were only 4 or 5 food stalls, but that was more than enough food to sample.

Seating was a little more tight, but some in my group arrived earlier and managed to save a table with a tent to shelter us from the rain. I inspected every stall to see what dishes they offered. I am not familiar at all with Indonesian food, but I noticed that it had many similarities to both Thai and Filipino cuisines. Which makes sense since geographically, Indonesia is between both countries.

It was great trying out the fair for the first time as part of a group, because we were able to sample a wide variety of dishes. I couldn’t even begin to remember what the various names of the dishes were, but luckily I didn’t have to since one person in our group was of Indonesian descent and she was gracious enough to name the dishes and let us know what the basic ingredients for each dish we ate were. I posted several pics of the dishes along with their names.

The water spinach dish was okay. It wasn’t much different compared to how they prepare it at Chinese restaurants – a little over cooked and stringy in texture. The caramelized tempeh – interesting crunchy texture, but the flavor just didn’t do anything for me. There was also a dish that was fish covered in sticky rice and wrapped in banana leaves like a tamale. It didn’t do anything for me.

I really enjoyed the chicken barbecue. Its very similar to Filipino barbecue in preparation, but you dip it in a peanut sauce like the Thais do. Most of the fritters and empanada like dishes were also good. They even had their own version of lumpia which wasn’t that much different from the Filipino version.

My favorite dishes had to be the desserts. They had a jello pandan drink that again reminded me of a Filipino dessert. Then there was this cupcake that was flavored with pandan and rose water. It is a little similar to a Filipino dessert but the Indonesian version was much better. the texture was soft, moist and fluffy. There was another dessert that contained coconut and molasses wrapped in a green sponge like dough that I enjoyed. I liked how the sponginess of the dough contrasted with the crunchiness of the toasted coconut. There were several other desserts I had and most of them I enjoyed enough that I bought more to take back home to share with my family.

There were several more food items that I tried, but this being my first time sampling all those dishes, its become sort of a blur. I’ll need to more visits to better familiarize myself with the names and ingredients of the dishes. Overall, I liked the quality of the food and the prices were very reasonable. I had a very positive experience and plan to do future visits.

I’ve heard the place can get packed around noon or so, so arrive by 11 AM to get decent seating. There is parking available at the fron of the Inn. There’s also a street parking available. Get there early if you want good seating.

I’ve been waiting for an establishment to challenge the monopoly Father’s Office has on the Westside on gourmet burgers. Looks like Umami Burger has answered that challenge.

I am loath to admit I found out about this place through Thrillist. 99% of their emails I consider spam, but every once in a while, they let me know about a restaurant that I might be interested in. So when they announced that Umami was having a soft opening a few days ago, it piqued my interest.

I drove by the place on Saturday night, but they were already closed. Today I called them around noon and someone answered stating they would be open between 5 PM and 10 PM. I arrived around 6:30 PM. The parking lot is tiny. If you can’t find a spot, perhaps you could try using the valet service of the neighboring restaurant. Or take your chance with the meter maid on La Brea (its free after 7 PM) or permit only neighboring streets. Or try parking at the Car wash across the street when its closed.

Like the parking lot, the restaurant is small. It can maybe seat 30 people tops. It took over a lease from a Korean restaurant that didn’t make it. I kind of chuckle at comparing this place to Father’s Office (FO). FO is founded by a guy of Korean descent that modeled his establishment on 1950’s Anglo Father’s Knows Best type of genre. Umami is founded by a white guy who who went for the Asian genre instead. The owner is Adam Fleischman, who sold Bottlerocket in Culver City a year or two ago. Umami is his latest love child with his biz partners.

For those of you that don’t know what Umami means, its basically the Japanese word for savory. For those of you that love booze with your burgers, sorry but this place isn’t a gastropub. Its strictly a burger joint with a straightforward menu. There are several burgers you can choose from, most of them in the $8 range, which is actually a very good price for a gourmet burger. Most gourmet burgers tend to cost $12 or up in other establishments.

They also have a few side dishes. One major plus is that they serve Mexican Coke, which is made with cane sugar instead of the acidic tasting corn syrup. I took pics and close-ups of the menu, so all the names of the burgers, side dishes, etc. have their pricing included.

I ordered the house specialty Umami Burger, the roasted garlic potato salad and a Mexican Coke. Total damage was $12.45. Not bad. I thought it was interesting that the Umami was the only burger on the menu where the contents weren’t listed on the menu. If my memory serves me correctly, it has the following: oven roasted tomatoes (which is very similar to sun dried tomatoes, just a bit more moister), shitaki mushrooms, oven roasted Parmesan cheese (almost like fried cheese), Umami ketchup, and the burger itself. So how does it taste? Really good. Its a juicy burger. I couldn’t taste the mushrooms though – their taste was overpowered by the oven roasted tomatoes. I will point out that though I found the burger to be filling, the heavy eaters (you know who you are) out there probably won’t be satisfied unless they eat 2 burgers.

What was disappointing was the garlic roasted potato salad. I really wanted to like it since I love the Russian blue potatoes. But the potatoes were barely cooked. Some of it tasted like I was eating a raw potato. I think steaming the potatoes would be much better in preparing them.

I saw some neighboring diners order the fries and it just looked very skimpy in portion. I understand they are trying to get that Zen like ambiance you get at sushi restaurant, but for heaven’s sake, this is a burger joint. Then again, its great if you are on a diet.

Overall, I liked Umami burger I had that I want to try their other offerings. I’ll probably come back with my foodie friends in a week or two so that we could order everything in the menu in one sitting. The only problem with meeting here in a group is the tight parking, which I pointed out earlier. I would recommend a party no larger than 8 people, and carpool if you can. The place also currently has limited hours. They are open for lunch and for dinner, but its not continuous between the two. Your best bet is to call ahead to make sure they are open when you plan to dine there.

Last night, I attended another Pleasure Palate foodie event. This time held at Fulfilled, whose claim to fame are its special spin on Imagawa-Yaki (Ima for short), which are basically Japanese pastries. Ima are traditionally sold in Japan during festivals and fairs. The difference here is Fulfilled decided to do a ‘fusion’ approach to the traditional treat and added non traditional ingredients like spinach and chocolate.

For those of you that have never tried Ima, think of a crepe, but shaped like a stuffed donut. Its also prepared similar to a crepe – the batter is similar. The taste testing menu consisted of every savory and sweet Ima on the menu, except the Honey Yakuza one. The cost of most of the Imas are $2.95 each.

The taste testing involved trying out all the savory Imas, followed by the sweet ones. The owner had us try the Green Ninja first, which consists of spinach, feta cheese, and sun dried tomato. I thought it was okay for a veggie offering, but nothing I would kill for.

Then we tried the second savory Ima called Sumo Italiano. This one is stuffed with prosciutto di parma, smoked ham, aged Parmesan and fresh basil. Again, it was okay, but not to die for. I had had two samples of this one. The first sample, I could barely taste the basil, but the second time, I could taste the basil and I think some of the green chili from the 3rd item got mixed in, because it had spicy kick to it. I actually preferred the 2nd sample over the 1st one, since I found it to be more flavorful between the basil and the spice.

The third and last savory Ima was Spicy Samurai. This one has chicken apple sausage, pepper jack cheese, green chili, and fresh cilantro. Here’s the thing, I normally don’t like spicy foods and I detest cilantro, but this was my fave savory Ima out of the 3. The spice level was not scorching – it was just enough to contrast with the taste of the other ingredients. The cilantro wasn’t overpowering either.

Then we moved on to the sweet Imas, which is the reason why I came. Our first sweet item to sample was called Fuji Sunrise. Its filled with just custard cream. It reminded me of a custard filled donut or a vanilla flavored Beard Papa’s cream puff. Not bad, but I wanted something a little more memorable.

The next item was the Sweet Geisha, which is the traditional one served with red mung bean. If you like mung bean desserts, then you’ll probably like this one. I didn’t find the texture of the mung bean to compliment the dough of the pastry. It just wasn’t my cup of tea. I prefer the Chinese/Filipino snack hopia, which is filled with mung bean paste. I haven’t tried the traditional Ima offered at another place Little Tokyo, so I can’t make any comparisons on which one is better tasting between the two establishments.

The next Ima we got to taste was the Nutty Buddha. They told us this was the most popular flavor with kids that aren’t allergic to nuts. Its made with Ghirardeli chocolate, toffee, and crunchy peanut butter. I liked the dark chocolate flavor, but I didn’t like the crunchy bits of almonds and peanuts. I didn’t think the crunchiness complimented the soft dough of the pastry.

The next one was the Harajuku Monkey. Mmmm… this one was my second fave flavor. You can’t go wrong with nutella. I thought this flavor reminded me of eating traditional sweet crepes the most.

Finally, they served the best for last, the Karaoke Kitty, which is also their most popular flavor. This Ima is filled with strawberry, cream cheese and Ghirardelli white chocolate. Divine!

They also served us their house specialty drink called Lil Misa’s Tea. Its served either hot or cold, but we were served the cold version. It consists of mung bean, green tea, honey, cream/milk, and a dash of Japanese peppers that resembled paprika. I didn’t like the gritty after feel of the mung bean paste, which tends to settle at the bottom of the drink.

Its a good thing I ate very little that day, because most of the other people
in my group were too full to eat the the final items. They were taking them home to eat later instead, which I thought would compromise how the Ima would taste later. Supposedly you can stick it in the microwave for 20 seconds and then place it in a toaster or oven to make it ‘fresh’ again, but I strongly doubt it would taste as good as when its freshly served hot from the aluminum cast grill.

So did I find Contentment at Fulfilled? Yes, but I’m withholding 1 star because I think they can actually come up with even better flavors. The place has only been open for 2 months and if they survive and prosper, I expect better offerings from them in the future.

The busiest times of this place is during the week, during lunchtime and right after typical office hours. They also only make the item after you order it. So if you don’t want to pay for parking and wait in a long line, visit between 6 PM and 8 PM on Sundays when parking across the street is free.

By itself, the Edison makes you step back into time, almost like walking into the movie worlds of The Prestige and The Illusionist. Then you add in the Lucent Dossier troupe on Incandescent Wednesday nights, and it becomes a full blown alternate world reality where you half expect the Vampire L’Estat to make a guest appearance. If Chris Angel ever got booted out of Vegas, this would be his new home in LaLa Land.

I have heard about the Edison for quite some time now, but I don’t drink booze, so most brasseries and nightclubs just don’t catch my fancy. It took an UYE to get my attention, so a shout out goes to the Yelper that placed it on the Events section.

From the entrance, you can see the large and elegant smoker’s room. From the alley, it looks like the people inside are in a gilded cage, because of the wrought iron bars covering the front patio. If not for the smoker’s room, you wouldn’t really expect to find such an elaborate establishment, but the bouncers at the front are a dead give away that the place has more to offer inside.

I took in the view of the first floor. It was dimly lit to enhance the 1880’s Industrial French ambiance and I noticed some stairs leading up, but that was roped off. I should have touched the ropes to confirm if they were red velvet. I’m guessing the upstairs only used by employees.

The lady at the desk told me it was $10, which took me a little by surprise, because their website said it was $20 at the door. I didn’t complain and paid my admission fee. I was half expecting to get an admission ticket, but the counter lady just pointed me towards the descending staircase and said that the show was down there. I must add at this point that despite all the glamour oozing out of the place, all the employees were polite and courteous.

So I descended the stairs, following the trail of lights pointing ever downwards. Images of Dante’s Inferno danced in my head. When I reached the bottom floor, I was surprised at how large and spacious the place was. The furniture had a luxurious and gothic and industrial feel to it. Its basically a world where steam and coal generated power is still king, and electricity was still in its infancy.

My favorite part was how the workers were dressed up. Many of them had whimsical costumes on to further reinforce the Incandescent theme. Even some of the bartenders had elaborate air brushed tattoos on them. I love costumes, so naturally I fell in love. To add to the ambiance, almost all the patrons were also dressed to impress. No one was wearing shorts or flip-flops, like you see in some of the other trendy nightclubs like the Abbey. I love places that enforce their dress codes. On the rare occasions I like to go out to nightclubs, I dress to impress and I expect everyone else to do the same.

I did notice something peculiar about the crowd. About 60% of them were women. And about 40% of the crowd was of Asian decent. I was puzzled that there wasn’t a Goth sect in the crowd, since this place is soooo right up their alley. I thought about it for a minute and its basically the same demographic that flock to Cirque Du Soleil shows. So for you straight guys out there looking for where the women are at, this is the place to go – just make sure to dress to impress.

The place is almost like a maze, with several areas that are roped of for private parties and buffet dinners. It must be a popular venue to hold private parties, because there were at least 3 sections that were roped off when I arrived. There was still plenty of room to roam around for us non-VIPs.

While waiting for the Lucent show to start at 9 PM, I decided to head over to the bar and order a Coke ($4) and their mac n cheese ($14). The price of the Coke was a little steeper than some places I’ve been to, but the bartended refilled my glass 3 times without charge. The mac n cheese looked delicious and even caught the attention of the people next to me. It was actually more than I expected, but I ate every bite – I can’t let 2 year old aged cheddar go to waste!

At exactly 9 PM, the show started. Wow! Even the Lucent troupe don’t act like divas and start late. The show includes belly dancers, burlesque dancers, aerial silk performers, clowns, etc. Basically the stuff you see at a Cirque show in Vegas, but toned down for a more intimate scale. The Lucent performers also are very friendly and graciously allow patrons to take pics of them or with them.

Perhaps my favorite ‘perfumer’ of the evening wasn’t part of the Lucent troupe. It was the Absinthe Fairy, selling potions of the ‘sleeping death’ tonic and masquerade masks for the ladies. She was really nice and friendly. If I drank booze, I would have succumbed to her pixie dust charms. Edison, I heart you.

There is valet parking, but you are better off parking in a nearby lot for $8.

There’s no doubt that Fosselman’s is an institution. This place has been around for a veryy long time and has a large cult following. I was lucky enough to make my first visit after attending a foodie get together at the nearby King Hua restaurant (see my review).

This ice cream parlor is small, and definitely has a retro feel and look to it when you step inside. Its like walking into a time warp. You can tell its been family owned for a very long time. The only concessions to modern times are the various ice cream flavors they offer. Its not as varied as Scoops, but they do have more ‘exotic’ flavors like mango and tarot. It makes sense for them to offer these flavors to reflect the predominantly Asian demographics that Alhambra has become since the 80’s.

They have ice cream toppings, salt water taffy, and they sell gallons of ice cream to go. They also do custom ice cream cakes. Yum! What I truly found remarkable is that they offered several flavors of popular Filipino ice cream flavors like ube (similar to tarot but tastes better) and macapuno (a variety of coconut that’s oh so delicious). I’m guessing they have a large pinoy clientele.

I was so full from the dim sum party at King Hua’s that all I could handle was one scoop of ice cream without the cone. I settled on mango which really had a true mango taste to it. It was delicious and satisfying. It was a perfect way to end my foodie excursion. I definitely plan to trek back to Alhambra to visit Fosselman’s again.

The service is fast and friendly. They have a small private parking lot.

I got an email late one night from Abby A., stating that she still had 3 more seats for the dim sum get together at a restaurant I hadn’t tried yet. I am glad I RSVP’d last minute. King Hua’s dim sum was delicious.

I arrived at the place about an hour early before the event which started at 9:45 AM. I wanted to get a good parking spot since many dim sum places tend to have tight parking. When I arrived, the parking lot was still empty and the place was still closed. I was surprised to find out that the place didn’t open until 10 AM. I thought that was odd, since all the other dim sum places I have gone to open earlier.

By the time the most of the party arrived (there were over 20 of us), they turned on the Open Sign and let us in. It looked like your standard dim sum place with a large banquet hall. It was nice and clean and to one side you could see aquarium tanks filled with live seafood, waiting to be eaten.

They seated us at the very end corner and looking across to the entrance of the restaurant, I wondered if it was just going to be our party eating alone in this large place. Our party was large enough that we took up 2 tables. I shouldn’t have worried though because by the time we finished our meals, the place was packed with people.

In this place, they give you a pictorial menu and you just select what looks most appetizing to you. You fill out the sheet and hand it over to the waiter. Basically the same process like when you order sushi. I did feel a little bit of nostalgia for the standard ladies pushing the dim sum carts and pointing at what looks and smells most interesting.

Most of our party was hungry and we were glad that the food was served promptly. They came in waves and waves. At first we gobbled up the initial dishes served to us, but as it slowly dawned on us that we may have ordered too much food, we started to slow down and get selective on what we ate.

I don’t know most of the names of what we ate, but I’ll be as descriptive as possible. The steamed shrimp dumplings we ordered all tasted similar, but good. The wrappings were nice and thin and not too chewy. But they some definitely earned the name pot stickers as we tried to get them from the platters. The main differentiation with the shrimp dumplings is what vegetables they were paired with. I think the only one I wasn’t too partial too was the one with too much green onion. The most exceptional of the shrimp dumplings were in rectangular shapes. They had this mildly sweet sauce on them that was so delicious that some of the folks in my party started putting the sauce on their plates as a dipping sauce.

There was a shrimp dish over a sticky rice mixture that most in the party didn’t really get into. It wasn’t congee, but it was still too mushy and sticky for my tastes. I prefer sweet rice with that texture on sweet desserts or champurado, not on a savory meal like this one was.

The steamed bao and baked bao pork buns were delicious. I normally don’t like the steamed version, but it was the first time I actually liked the steamed one better. The pork filling was very moist and tender. The pork was shredded, rather than cubed, which I am more used too. I normally detest cilantro, but the bao filling only had a little cilantro to accent the flavors, not overpower it like the herb normally does.

I did not eat the pork spare ribs since I did not find them appetizing on site. Most of the people in my party that tried them were not impressed with that dish. There was also a dish with bitter melon in it. I don’t like bitter melon and made the mistake of picking it up, thinking the filling was Chinese broccoli or bok choy. My bad.

The sesame balls were delicious. We couldn’t identify what was used for the filling. It wasn’t mung bean which I’m used to. It was more whitish in color. Some in our party said it may have been lotus root. Others said it was a bean or even sesame seed. Whatever it was, it was good. We else ended up with the egg custard cups. No one in our party recalled ordering that dish, but boy was it a pleasant surprise. The crust was flaky, soft and moist and the custard was creamy but not overpowering. I should have brought home more.

The other table ordered this dessert made from wolf berries. It looked like a cube of golden jello. I did not try it, but those that did didn’t seem impressed. They described as a jello version of green tea.

Overall all, the consensus was the food was delicious and the portions were larger compared to other dim sum restaurants this group has tried (and they have tried a lot of other dim sum places). It was a little pricey at $25 per person (including 15% gratuity), but we did over order. I think if we were more conservative, we could have gotten to something closer to $20 per person.

The waiters served the food quickly but we had to be really aggressive when asking for water refills and getting to go containers. Car parking is adequate.

If you are celebrating a special event or want to show off to your friends or clients, then head up to Mr. A’s. For my 2 year anniversary with my ex (which is like 10 years in gay time), I wanted something special. So I asked him to book reservations at Mr. A’s.

I had heard about the great downtown view from the restaurant. The night time view of the San Diego skyline delivered, but I was actually hoping the airplanes would fly past closer to the building.

The food was pricey, but expected. Iced tea cost $4.00. My pina colada cost $7.00 but was yummy. For appetizers we ordered macaroni and cheese ($13.50) and black truffle risotto ($15.50). I ordered the mac n cheese because of the truffle oil that was listed as an ingredient and I had heard that the best mac n cheese has truffle oil. It wasn’t the best mac n cheese I have ever tasted, but it was definitely delicious. My ex bf and I weren’t as impressed with the risotto. I thought the rice was undercooked.

For our main courses, he had the beef tenderloin ($41.50) and I had the fresh seafood paella ($29.50). I had a taste of the beef tenderloin. It was good but slightly dry – I think the meat was aged. My ex bf loved it because he devoured almost everything on his plate. My seafood paella had chicken. the flavor was good, but like the risotto, I don’t think the rice was cooked enough. I think if the paella were cooked earlier and allowed the flavors to settle into the rice longer, it would have tasted better. The clams on the paella were fresh and tasty. However, if I do visit again, I will try another dish.

For dessert, we shared an order of creme brulee. The sugary crust was overcooked and had a bitter taste. The inside creamy part had a good flavor and was not overpowering or too rich. We both agreed it wasn’t to die for creme brulee, it was just average. To help celebrate our anniversary, we were given complimentary cookies. The cookies were okay.

Altogether, the total damage was $130.92 (not including tip). Thank goodness neither of us drink wine. The service is very friendly and attentive. They took our pics outside with the skyline as a back drop. When we returned to our tables I noticed they redid our napkin cloths which I thought was a nice touch.

My ex bf told me that before Mr. Bertrand took over the restaurant, this used to be a mob owned joint not open to the public. The police on the mob payroll were allowed to eat inside the kitchen. I heard that Mr. Bertrand does show up at the restaurant, but he was not present at the time of our visit.

Because of the price, I would not return to this place unless I was celebrating another special event. There is street parking (pay attention to the signs) and the building also has parking for guests.

Rocket Pizza is a good neighborhood pizzeria in downtown LA. My ex bf and I wanted to have dinner before starting our Museum of Neon Tour and we had our pick between this place and Warung Cafe next door. Both restaurants had Yelp stickers on the entrance and they both looked new with modern decor. However, Warung’s menu seemed like lighter fare, and I wanted something more filling to last us through a 3 hour tour. So Rocket’s won out.

The restaurant ambiance is good. It was clean, we both liked the modern decor (including the restroom sink) and the flat screens on the wall. The service was prompt and attentive.

We ordered the 12" Meat Eaters Pizza, minus Canadian Bacon which my bf doesn’t like. We each had refillable sodas which cost $2.25. The pizza had a good flavor and just the right amount of cheese, toppings and sauce. My only complaint was the thin crust. I prefer thick crust Chicago style pizzas over the thin NYC style.

If you happen to be in the mood for pizza and are in this part of downtown, I recommend Rocket pizza Lounge.

There is street parking (pay attention to the signs) and private lots available for a fee.

Bandits is the best BBQ in Thousand Oaks, which really isn’t saying much. I used to frequent this place when I lived in Ventura County several years ago. Back then, they were still in their old location.

Fast forward to July 2008. On our way from the Reagan library to Malibu, I was hungry for lunch and wanted to eat barbecue. I was craving for a place in Woodland Hills, but that would have been out of the way. I dug back into my memory and remembered Bandits. When we arrived, I was a little confused because I could not locate their old building. At first I thought they closed down, but then after circling the spot a few times, I realized they had built a new structure since I last visited.

The new building was much more larger than their old one and it was a lot more cleaner and modern. The old location had a hole in the wall ambiance. This one was more sports bar like and modern, with western motif touches. It reminded me of Phil’s BBQ in San Diego. The waitresses confirmed that they built the new building just a few years ago.

We ordered the full rack of baby back ribs for $22.99. For our sides, we chose fries and corn on the cob. Our soda drinks cost $2.59 each. The ribs were okay. Nothing to rave about – just like I remembered. The fries were good and still had their skins on them. The corn on the cob was a bit bland. It was boiled and no butter was added.

Overall, the meal was satisfactory but nothing noteworthy. If you live here, then take advantage of their all you can eat ribs special on Mondays. I would not recommend driving all the way from LA to eat here. I did get a chuckle that they opened another location in Utah because they had a ‘fan’ there that insisted they open up over there. I guess average BBQ is considered noteworthy in Utah.

The service is prompt and attentive and there is plenty of parking.

If I ever got married or held a large party in Laguna Beach, then I would probably choose Tivoli Terrace. This is a seasonal restaurant and open only during the fair weather months. It primarily caters to wedding parties and such, but during Art A Fair (see my review), it becomes the only place you can eat at that festival.

Its easy to get distracted by all the beautiful, varied and colorful artwork as you wind along the art vendors, but when you reach the back end, you have entered the enchanting ambiance of Tivoli Terrace. It feels like a movie setting in Europe with the old world feel, and all the flowers and the gorgeous ‘natural’ waterfall.

My bf and I decided to eat dinner here before heading over to the Festival Arts and Pageant of Masters. The menu is a little disappointing in that most of the food on the menu is Mexican, not Italian. Its basically Mexican and American food with 1 or 2 Italian dishes. I decided to choose the tuna melt sandwich and my bf chose the turkey avocado sandwich. The sandwiches were good and cost about $10 each. They are served with a large pile of criss cut fries. Soda drinks with unlimited refill cost around $2.50 each.

The service was okay but you had to get the waiter’s attention for the drink refills. I wouldn’t rate this restaurant more than 3 stars but the ambiance and landscaping deserve at least another star.