Today I went with my friend Daisy to check out The Melt at the Irvine Spectrum. They are part of the grilled cheese craze!
I love their list of philosophies!
They have a very simple menu but still too many great sounding options!
Simple continues with the entire layout even in the cooking area!
They take your initials and you just watch the board to see when your order is up!
I don't know why I was so fascinated with their soda dispenser but I was!
I love the dispenser!
Daisy got the regular grilled cheese. For $2 more you can add a side salad or a cup of soup. She went with the sweet corn tortilla. The soup was perfect. Smooth like a bisque with the sweet taste of corn. You also get your choice of a side of chips or pickles.
I went with The Italian Job - fontina and provolone on housemade garlic bread. I added tomatoes to it and also added a cup of soup. I went with the seasonal soup which was sausage and peppers. The soup was smooth as well with the rich taste of sausage and pepper in each spoonful. So good to dunk the grilled cheese into the soup! The Italian Job was fantastic! The soft gooey cheese was melted perfectly and not too hot! The garlic bread was toasted perfectly as well! Just a great comfort food meal!
A great fresh meal that is relatively low cost. I was content, not overly full and definitely not hungry for anything else.
1 cup sugar-free chocolate ice cream
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup low-sugar chocolate syrup
1/4 cup brewed espresso, chilled
1/4 cup non-dairy whipped topping
6 ice cubes
1/4 cup club soda
Directions:
1
Place ice cream, peanut butter, chocolate syrup, chilled
expresso and whipped topping in blender and pulse a few times until
blended.
2
Add ice a little at a time, pulsing blender each time.
2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
3/4 cup skim milk
2 tablespoons vanilla ice cream
3 tablespoons frozen strawberries or 3 tablespoons frozen
raspberries, with syrup, thawed or 1/4 cup fresh sweetened strawberries
or 1/4 cup fresh sweetened raspberries or 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
2 tablespoons club soda
Directions:
1
Blend the ingredients, except for the club soda, in a blender until smooth.
2
Pour into a glass filled with crushed ice.
3
Splash in the club soda and stir.
4
Top with additional ice cream and fruit, if desired.
6 tablespoons blood orange juice, fresh
1 teaspoon orange juice, for rimming
4 teaspoons white sugar
2 teaspoons white sugar, white for rimming
2/3-1 cup club soda
1/2 cup vanilla ice cream, large scoop
1 orange slice, garnish
Directions:
1
Rub orange juice on the edge of glass and then place the glass in white sugar to rim glass.
2
Set the prepared glass in freezer to chill until needed.
3
Next dissolve the 4 tsps of sugar in 6 tbsp of orange juice.
4
Pour the orange mixture into the prepared glass.
5
Add the club soda and top with ice cream.
6
Pour the remaining orange juice and sugar (if any - from rimming
the glass) over the ice cream and garnish glass with an orange slice.
7
Serve with a straw and a spoon, enjoy immediately.
8
*Please use the same measurements for liqueurs as for juice.
9
* If using sodas instead of juice or liqueurs, please substitute
the club soda with your preferred soda, (lemon, orange or grapefruit).
I was recommended to try Zlaket's Food Market that is located on Historic Main Street in Garden Grove. Zlaket's has been here for 86 years! They are still primarily a butcher shop but make classic deli sandwiches and sides as well as offer classic sodas and candy. You will feel like you stepped back into time.
I took my friend Kristy and Brian with me to have late lunch on Friday. I also wanted to go on Friday because Main Street hosts a classic car show.
The wall contains just some of the classic sodas they carry!
Here is my food! An amazing cream soda, sour cream and onion chips and the special of the day, a tender steak sandwich. There is something about watching the butcher slice the meat you selected and hand making your sandwich.
Here is a close up of my sandwich. The steak was so tender and the basics of mayo, lettuce and tomato just take me back to being a kid. Comfort food at its finest!
Brian got a pastrami sandwich! Look at how much pastrami there is!
Kristy decided on a baked ham sandwich, another special of the day. Now that's a sandwich!
They also have an ice cream section where they will make an ice cream float using any of the sodas that they have available! They also have some great recommendations if you aren't sure what to mix! I went with their Cookie Monster suggestion!
Cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate soda is a perfect match! You cannot go wrong with chocolate and more chocolate!
Hey Sasaki Time fans! It's time for another product review and this time it's from the fine folks at SodaStream! They were kind enough to send me a SodaStream Jet, their best seller, for me to review!
For those of you unfamiliar with SodaStream, let's watch their commercial so you have a better understanding of their product.
The Jet arrived in this massive box!
After opening up the box, this was everything that was inside!
I have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised by this product. The Jet worked as promised. It was really easy to use. The Sodamix flavors were not exactly like the comparable brand. Some were fairly close and others were not. But you have control on how the soda turns out which is a great benefit to me. I could increase or decrease the amount of carbonation in each soda. I could also control the flavor of each soda. I found myself adding slightly more syrup to each liter as I enjoy a sweeter taste to my soda. You can even mix soda flavors if you want. You even have the option of adding flavor to your seltzer water if you would like.
And now, off to the flavor reviews! Actually before I begin, I would like to say that I only used cold filtered water before making any of the sodas.
The first thing I made was the ginger ale which was great. Just like any other ginger ale. This one went fast!
The second was the diet lemon-lime which was super sour! I am not a fan of diet sodas anyways but I needed to taste test all the flavors! Next time I will mix it with a regular soda like the ginger ale.
The next flavor up was the cranberry raspberry which was surprisingly great! It's not one of my favorite flavor combinations and turned out to be one of my favorites! The flavors, tart and sweet, were perfectly balanced. I actually made an extra liter and drank it later!
I went with another diet flavor next and it was the diet pink grapefruit. That just sounded like an awful flavor idea but to my surprise it was really good. It almost didn't taste like a diet soda.
Up next was the black currant and pear. I wasn't sure what to make out of this one at first. I added more syrup into the mixture because it was on the watery side. The flavor is hard to describe other than sort of cough syrup taste. Not one of my favorites.
Next up was the root beer which was excellent. I added a bit more syrup and it was like any other root beer I have had. It was a bit on the watery side but was really popular with my friends and I.
Not being a fan of energy drink's, the energy drink was pretty bad! But my friends that like energy drinks said it was like a slightly watered down version of Red Bull to them and they drank it down!
The cola free wasn't any better. It actually tasted more like a diet cola to me.
The green tea pomegranate peach was interesting. It tasted like two different drinks were combined together. The green tea would be fine on its own and the same with the pomegranate peach.
The cola was just like an RC Cola, so it was great! It went down quickly and we had to make another bottle!
The last one was the orange which was close to a Sunkist. Really good as well!
Wow! That is a lot to cover and I haven't even gotten into the benefits of the product!
Benefits:
Super easy to clean! You just need to hand wash the bottle and the machine just needs a simple wipe down!
The machine requires no electricity so you save money right there! You can set it up anywhere!
There is no longer the need to buy soda. No more carrying those bottles or cases into your home.
Not buying anymore soda means no more waste from soda cans or bottles.
It's earth friendly. Everything is 100% recyclable including the carbonator.
You will save money! The cost between the carbonator and the SodaMix equals roughly about $1.33 per two liter bottle.
So, in the end, while not all the flavors were to my liking, there are more than enough flavors to keep me from buying soda for months! I love the machine and how simple it is to use and I can make my own soda at anytime in the convenience of my own home! Plus, I can experiment and use fruit juices and such to make my own flavors! What a great machine and I hope you try it and see the savings!
Disclaimer: I received no monetary compensation for this review. I received a SodaStream Jet kit for review purposes only. All thought and opinions are 100% my own.
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!
