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Monday, May 30, 2011

Check out my review of The Hot Spud on their web site!

Click on the link below to take you to The Hot Spud Press page and read my Sasaki Food Time review!

The Hot Spud Cafe Press

Where did the Pogi boy Review go?

A lot of you have been asking where my Pogi Boy review has gone. I have taken it down at the request of my friend Brent as the menu has undergone some tweaks and he wanted to keep it under wraps until the debut on June 18 at the IE Food Truck Fest! My initial review will be posted back up on June 18th! That should be followed by the debut of the Pogi Boy truck later that same day!

Friday, May 13, 2011

Review of Mama's On 39

Hey Sasaki Food Time Fans - bringing you an exclusive first look here on sneak preview day of Mama's On 39! I have been looking forward to this day since I first saw their pictures of the food on the menu! It suggested home cooking and rules just like mom's!

Check out the cool logo!


First off - I love the industrial vibe of the restaurant! Steel pipes on the ceiling and wood floors! Second - the service was "Disney" quality! But let's skip that and get to the food!

Take a look at the menu:
The first page convinced me to try one of their speciality drinks. I went with the strawberry sherito - a lovely blend of fresh strawberries muddled with canton ginger liquer, soju vodka, ginger root and mint leaves. This one was dangerous! It was like a nice sweet strawberry drink. You couldn't taste the alcohol - it was blended in perfectly!


We opened up the menu and saw that there was something we had to try - the bacon biscuits with honey butter! They came out piping hot and you could just smell the bacon as you opened the biscuit - more of a muffin really - up! Then you spread some of that honey butter on and it was just perfect!


We saw that the menu looks more geared towards breakfast which is fine to us and we both went with the chicken and waffles! The waffles were bacon waffles of course and come with gravy or syrup! We both went with syrup and it's actually a citrus syrup! Quite delicious and they should sell it! Hint, hint! The waffles were perfectly cooked with a nice crispy crunch on the edges and nice and soft in the center! The chicken blew me away! Some of the best fried chicken I have ever eaten! Each bite was juicy and flavorful! Added bonus - no bones! All four pieces were boneless fried chicken perfection!


We of course saved room for dessert because I knew that they had my choldhood favorite Thrifty brand ice cream. They scoop it out for you in a cup or a cone and bring it right to your table! I had the rainbow sherbet and it brought back fond childhood memories!


We would definitely be back and hope to bring you along! Great service from an amazing staff! Thank you for the assistant managers to come on by and introduce themselves as well! We will be back with friends!

Click on the name to go to the website:
Mama's On 39

Tell them that you heard about them on Sasaki Food Time!

Review of Old Towne Grinder

This was one of the stops on the OC Wine Trolley and I knew I had to go here! They sold me on the fact that they carried the original Dr. Pepper! I'm a fan of Dr. Pepper but also have a few close friends that swear by Dr. Pepper! Now I had no idea that as soon as I walked in I would be in soda heaven! Take a look at the pics:

This is just their selection of root beer!


A few more cases of soda!







With so many choices it was nearly impossible to decide which soda to try first! But I stuck with my guns and went with the original Dr. Pepper!



It was delicious! Made with pure cane sugar instead of that processed stuff - this soda was on it's one playing field! I combined that with a pastrami with spicy mustard and pickles!





This pastrami was totally filling! The bread was perfect and didn't get soggy with all of that juicy pastrami and pickles and spicy mustard in it! I also added chili cheese fries - another weakness of mine!



The fries are fantastic by themselves. They are crisp with a nice dusting of seasoning. The chili is totally fresh and nice big pieces of tomato make it perfect!

And of course I had to have another soda to top it of! I went with a chocolate soda! I know what you're thinking but it was like a chocolate float in a bottle! Delicious!


They also have an ice cream counter and have been told they are very generous with their servings but I had no room to try any ice cream on this day. But it gives me even more reason to come back again!

If you're in the Orange Circle stop by Old Towne Grinder - it's like taking a step back in time!


Click on the name below to go to the website!
Old Towne Grinder

Tell them you heard about them on Sasaki Food time!

Friday, May 6, 2011

Review of The OC Wine Trolley

Hey Sasaki Food Time Fans!

Get ready for an epic review of the OC Wine Trolley! An epic tour of 13 restaurants and 6 wine samplings! There will be a lot of photos and a review or thought of all of the food I ate tonight! Also the names of the restaurants are also links to take you to their website!

Shall we begin? Let's go!

Yes, this is the list of all 13 places we will be sampling from tonight!

This is the list of all the wine samplings we will be having tonight as well!

The host is Al Ricci who is extremely knowledgeable about Old Towne Orange and gets everyone talking and before long it's just a great trip with old friends!

The first wine sampling is a beautiful Mason Sauvignon Blanc. Each wine has a double sampling so they come back and give you another sample of the same wine as the trolley heads to Old Towne Orange.

The first stop is Old Towne Grinder for a turkey grinder. Great turkey on a nice white soft white roll. They also carry some great sodas. I want to go back and get their original Dr. Pepper!

We now get our second wine sampling which is a Acacia Chardonnay.

We then arrive at our second destination, Cafe Lucca for a delicious bruschetta. I loved the tomatoes and the fresh mozzarella.

Our third stop is to the Citrus City Grille for some pot roast and mashed potatoes. The pot roast was just tender and the mashed potatoes were lump free and delicious!

Please keep in mind that during the time we are traveling on the trolley from place to place, Al is giving us all sorts of historical information on the area and pointing out historical landmarks.

Now would be a perfect time for something sweet and we find it at our next stop at The Perfect Circle Cupcakery and we get one of their delicious red velvet cupcakes. Red velvet is already one of my favorites and this just became one of my new favorites for red velvet. It was soft and delicate and not overly sugary. Just perfect.

Now the red velvet was matched to perfection with our next wine, the Deloach Pinot Noir. I missed the photo as it went so well with the cupcake that I just drank the Pinot Noir.

The next place is Cherry On Top, this is another new favorite place that I cannot wait to go back and try. They create some very unique frozen yogurt flavors and we sampled a peach tart with powered green tea on top.The place I wanted to go back to after the tour was over but my friend and I were both stuffed!

Next up is one of my favorite places and that's Beach Pit BBQ. They brought us their amazing pulled pork.
 
They gave away a bottle of their bbq sauce for answering a trivia question. I got it right and here is my free bottle of bbq sauce!


Our next wine sampling was the 7 Deadly Zins Zinfandel which went perfectly with the bbq! The pepper spice in the zinfandel brought out the smokiness in the bbq.

By now I am starting to feel pretty content. But we moved on to our 7th restaurant sampling at Taco Adobe (no website) for their chicken and cheese wrap. It was just a wonderful blend of juicy chicken and cheeses in a soft tortilla! The second sampling of Zinfandel went great with this as well!

The next stop really started to do me in and i was quickly becoming full. This was Francoli Gourmet, an fantastic Italian restaurant. We sampled their calamari,

their risotto,

and their cherry tomatoes and mozzarella on a stick.

I was pretty much done after eating these three samples.

I was pretty full by this time but we had restaurant number 9 coming up and it was the Felix Cafe and their empanadita criolla filled with seasoned ground meat, just delicious!


And we now made it to wine sampling number 5, a delicious Raymond R. Collection Cabernet Sauvignon.

Stop number 10 brought us to the most disappointing sampling and that was from The Bruery Provisions. They just brought us a small slice of gouda and small slice of salami. I pretty disappointed since I love their beers.

So number 11 was Henry's and I forgot to take a picture of their garlic fries and tandori bread with their homemade hummus. It was delicious and quickly eaten! So quickly in fact that once again I forgot to take a photo! I blame the food coma!

We are almost done! Number 12 was Zito's Pizza for their garlic knots

and margherita pizza!

Both delicious!

For our final wine sampling, we had a sparkling Gloria Ferrer Chardonnay. Quite refreshing!

And now for the finale, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for their caramel apples and once again I forgot to take a photo! I was in such a food coma by this point in time that I am surprised that I didn't forget to take pics at the last 5 or 6 places!

We thought we were finished but we made one more stop at Rod's Liquor store for a cup of coffee or tea or soda to finish off our meal!


One of the best experiences ever! Top to bottom just a great operation with a great staff! They keep you entertained and filled with great food, drink and history throughout the tour! I highly recommend it and hope you get a chance to check it out. They currently only have tours on Fridays and they are booked until the middle of July already!

They only have a Facebook Fan Page but message them for more info and they will be glad to send it to you!

OC Wine Trolley Facebook Fan Page

Tell them Jason at Sasaki Food Time sent you!

O.C. Wine Trolley Tonight!

I'll be on the O.C. Wine Trolley tour through the Orange Circle this evening! I have been looking forward to this experience since last month! If you haven't heard about this one of a kind experience, read the description off their Facebook Fan Page:

 "Tour Old Towne Orange in a cool old-school trolley. Trolley stops at 10 local restaurants which bring a taste of their menus right onto the trolley and a wine expert pours great wines to complement the food. A unique experience all around!"
 
Currently they only have the Facebook Fan Page and you can email them to get more details including cost, making reservations and payment procedures! 
 
Here is the link to their Fan Page:
Look for the full review either late tonight or early tomorrow!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

New video from folks at The Hot Spud Cafe

Hey Sasaki Food Time Fans - the kind folks at The Hot Spud Cafe have sent me a new YouTube video showing off their hot dogs that you can stack as well as their potatoes! Give it a watch and if you go - tell them you heard about them at Sasaki Food Time!


Sunday, May 1, 2011

Shirt giveaway contest has begun on my Facebook Fan Page!!!

Head to my FaceBook Fan Page and submit your photo eating your favorite food or at your favorite restaurant on my page! I will add it to the Contest Album where you and others can like your photo for a chance to win a shirt from me! I will stop allowing pics to be submitted on May 21st and I will have my first contest winner at the end of the month! Good Luck!

Here is the link:
Sasaki Food Time Facebook Fan Page