Arthur Treacher's/Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs-Closed

Arthur Treacher's/Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs
5050 W Rosecrans Ave
Hawthorne
310-355-1048

If you're from Maryland, like I am, Arthur Treacher's Fish and Chips is an old school, fast food fish and chips place. They had very good fish and chips, using cod but then switched to a cheaper fish; pollock and combined with changing tastes, some locations started to close down. But they reinvented themselves and are now franchised along with Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs. Still based back east. But they made it out to LA!! When I heard they opened an Arthur Treacher's in Hawthorne, I knew I had to go.




My standard bearer for fish and chips is England Fish and Chips, in Long Beach.

Fish and chips, $5.99. Two pieces of pollock, fries, cole slaw and hush puppies. This was a huge amount of food and well worth the price. The pollock was fried with a nice golden brown batter. The pollock was nice and flakey and tender. The batter was light and crunchy. I still prefer cod but the way Arthur Treacher's fried up their pollock was damn good. An extra piece of fish is $1.99, but has to be ordered with an entree but I think it is a fair price and I would pay it.

The tartar sauce was great! Much tangier than other tartar sauce I've had.

The hushpuppies were very good too. Fried just right, with a light crunchy outside and nice flavorful cornmeal inside.

The fries were a bit undercooked, if I asked for well done fries, they would have been perfect. Crinkle cut fries and a large portion.

I didn't care for the coleslaw, that was drowned in mayo. But with so much food, who can finish it all?



Since the last Nathan's on Pico, closed, I figured I should try a Nathan's regular hot dog, $2.99. The hot dogs are served plain and their is a condiment table, with spicy mustard, raw onions, and that red onion sauce.

The hot dog was pretty good. Nice snap and well cooked. The bun held up pretty well, when I put mustard and onions on the hot dog, but wasn't toasted.

Service was very good. The young lady who took my order was nice and friendly.

I only wished this was closer combination of Arthur Treacher's and Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, was closer to me. Maybe it was a great trip down memory lane but I really did enjoy the fish and chips at Arthur Treacher's, I think it was even better than what I remembered them!!

Purgatory Pizza

Purgatory Pizza
1326 E 1st St
Los Angeles
323-262-5310

When the East side extension of the Metro Gold Line opened, a new world of tasty foods opened up to everybody. The East side extension, went through Union Station and went east to East LA. At the Pico station, is Purgatory Pizza. It came highly rated, so I decided to give them a try.



One slice and a can of soda, $2.50. They only had cheese slices, which was fine because if the cheese pizza isn't good, there is no reason to go back to any pizza restaurant.

This pizza was among the worst pizza I've ever had. The pizza was sitting in a box, on top of the oven, then reheated. Most places that serve pizza by the slice, the pizza is sitting in the counter, the reheated. Not a damn box. The slice was from their medium sized pizza. It wasn't that big but $2.50 for a slice and a canned soda, I got A & W Root Beer, is a good deal.

The crust was hard like a saltine cracker, terrible. There was a decent amount of cheese. But the sauce was so bland, I had to check and make sure there was actually sauce on there. I mean, how can pizza sauce be so bland and flavorless!!!

Service was OK. I walked in and the guy is talking on the phone. I look at the menu, he is still on the phone, and when I'm ready, he is still on the phone but hangs up pretty quickly. If this guy is the owner, it is a terrible first impression.

There is no reason for me to go back to Purgatory Pizza. I should have kept in mind, the word purgatory, was in the name.

Aunt Rosa Lee's Mississippi Soul Food

Aunt Rosa Lee's Mississippi Soul Food
2781 S Western Ave
Los Angeles
323-733-8586

I love soul food!! What I don't like is the fact, that there aren't many reviews of soul food restaurants in Los Angeles. Why? I think part of it, has to do with white people, not wanting to go into South Central and South LA, where many soul food restaurants are located. So I'm trying to go to more soul food restaurants in South Central and South LA.




BBQ Pork spare ribs, $10.99 with mac and cheese and mashed potatoes and gravy. The spare ribs are not smoked. They are cooked in an oven and then drowned in a very sweet BBQ sauce. Not my type of BBQ, I prefer BBQ with smoke flavor, but some people find this acceptable.

The ribs were so mushy. Ribs should not be mushy, they should be slightly chewing. This was past the falling off the bone, that many have been brain washed into thinking is good. The ribs had no smoke flavor.

The BBQ sauce was so sweet, which I do not like.

Almost all soul food has nice bold flavors. But the mac and cheese was very bland. The thing I did like was the amount of cheese sauce, that really coated the macaroni.

Mashed potatoes seemed like it was made from a box. I wasn't impressed. The gravy was bland too.




Chicken breast, $3. When I first saw the chicken breast, I thought it was a mistake and they gave me half a chicken. This was huge!! But, soooo salty. The skin was nice and lightly batter which made for a nice crispy crunch. But it was so full of salt. The inside was very dry, not juicy at all. It was tender but I couldn't get over the dryness and saltiness.

Service was great. The young man was the only person working and he was great. I sat at the counter and I wasn't lacking for anything. There were a few take out orders and about three other tables had people.

I really do want to like Aunt Rosa Lee's, but somethings were bland and no flavor, others were too salty. I wouldn't come back because the food wasn't that good. But service is outstanding!!

Papachino's Grill & Green's

Papachino's Grill & Green's
14501 Ramona Ave
Chino
909-393-9904

Readers of The New Diner, may wonder how I pick out about restaurants, that I have reviewed. Mostly it's word of mouth, other food bloggers I follow, even if some are MIA, and writers like David Allen.

I never know that Papachino's Grill & Green's was even opened. I don't go to that area of Chino Hills that often. But when I saw David Allen's review, I figured I would give them a try.



Grilled mahi mahi, with mild chipotle sauce, with mac and cheese and rice pilaf, $8.99. The mahi mahi was seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper but I thought it wasn't well seasoned, very bland. But I think they do that on purpose because they think their mild chipotle sauce will cover up the lack of seasoning. The fish itself was fresh, flakey, and had a nice texture. But the lack of seasoning really hurt this fish.

The mac and cheese, was really shells and cheese. I loved the very creamy cheese sauce-well mixed, good flavor but there wasn't enough of it. There were shells that had barely any cheese sauce on them.

The rice pilaf was served warm, but had a good flavor. It would be better if served hot.




I have to try the fish and chips, with cole slaw, $7.99. I was impressed. The fish is white roughy, which I never heard of, but it was pretty good. It's not cod, which makes the best fish and chips. But pretty good. The white roughy isn't as dense as cod but had a nice texture and flavor. The beer batter was very crunchy. I would say batter to fish ratio was about 90% fish to 10% batter. The tartar sauce is on the table with the free chips and salsa. So you can get as much as you want!! Nice tangy tartar sauce, that I just found out is made from scratch.

I found out that white roughy is considered by the FDA to be a misleading name for basa fish which is the official name of the fish. Basa fish is a catfish like fish.

Service is great. From the moment I walked into Papachino's, everybody was nice and friendly. Papachino is order at the counter and your food is brought to you. The cashier was helpful and nice. I found some tables outside, on their patio. I went inside to get water and free chips and salsa. The servers, would hold open the door for me. One even said sorry when the door closed in front of me but the interesting thing was; I wasn't close enough to the door for her to open the door for me. So, I wasn't upset at all. But it does show how friendly the servers are. While sitting down, I was greeted by a nice server and he asked if I needed anything!

When my food was brought to my table, that server was great; answering my question about the fish and chips and nicely telling me, she would bring silverware for me. Then about five minutes later, another server came up and said she will bring me silverware, I told her thanks but I've already got some. But, again, that shows how great the service is at Papachino's. Finally, I asked another server for a box and he came out quickly with a box. Then he said thank you and have a good night. I had interaction with 5-6 servers and all were great. Nice, friendly, helpful. I don't get that kind of service from restaurants that charge $50 a plate for entrees.

I would go back to Papachino's any time. Great prices, nothing over $10 and good sized portions. But more importantly great service. Seriously, many servers that I've dealt with, could come to Papachino's and learn about good service.

Thai Basil

Thai Basil
2431 E Chapman Ave
Fullerton
714-738-0888

I heard some good things about Thai Basil and decided to give them a try. Thai Basil is a very popular name for Thai restaurants. Any other restaurant named Thai Basil, has nothing to do with this Fullerton Thai Basil.



Chicken chow mein, $6.95, with chicken, green onions, baby corn, carrots, celery, and noodles. This was on their lunch special and I was surprised they included rice with chow mein. Oh well. I thought this was just OK,; lacking some flavor and seasoning. Portion was a bit small.



Shrimp with asparagus, $7.95. Very salty. This was also on the lunch special. The thing I remember the most is how salty this was. I needed so much water, after eating this. Baby asparagus with about 5 small sized shrimp. The shrimp was a bit overcooked, tough rubbery. The asparagus were cooked nicely but, as I mentioned before, so salty.



Chicken pad thai, $6.95. This is the first time I had pad thai. This had bean sprouts, chicken, crunched peanuts, egg noodles, and onions. This had a tangy taste to it, that I didn't care for. This may look like a big portion but there wasn't much chicken in here.

Service was pretty good. I got take out and the food came quickly.

I heard some good things about Thai Basil but I wasn't too impressed. Just the prices are good, but the portions are small and I didn't care for any of the three dishes I had. I would not go back to Thai Basil again.

Golden Palace Mongolian BBQ

Golden Palace Mongolian BBQ
3681 E Colorado Blvd
Pasadena
626-796-1832

I like Mongolian BBQ because you can choose what meats, veggies and oils, you want in your dish. I haven't had Mongolian BBQ for a long time, so I decided to try Golden Palace Mongolian BBQ in Pasadena.

Golden Palace offers an all you can eat dinner, for $11.95, that includes soup, rice, and the pocket bread. The buffet had a large variety of meats; pork, chicken, beef, turkey, and lamb, which are all sliced thin and frozen, and veggies. All the veggies were nice and fresh. Everything on the buffet table was clean, always important in a buffet, and always stocked.



I combined beef and chicken with noodles, onions, celery, and carrots, with their hoi sin sauce. Remember to fill your bowl, it's best to grab two bowls, as much as possible, because everything shrinks down to half it's size.

But this was good. Again, all the veggies were fresh, the meats are sliced thin and frozen but they cook up quickly.



For my second dish, I only put veggies and meat and mix it with white rice. I used pork and turkey for the meats, carrots, onions and bean sprouts, garlic, and sesame oil. I liked this dish a lot too.

It's hard to review a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, because so much of it, is your personal choice. What I look for in a Mongolian BBQ restaurant, is a clean buffet table that is maintained throughout my entire time there, fresh and a good selections of veggies, good meats. I got that here at Golden Palace.

Service is very good. The owner was very nice and helpful. They did overcharge our table by a soda, which we brought to their attention, and they took it off their menu. Which is nice. I realize mistakes happen and it's how restaurants handle those mistakes, that shows a restaurant true colors.

I would go back to Golden Palace, if I was in the area.

Finbars Italian Kitchen

Finbars Italian Kitchen
620 Pacific Coast Hwy
Seal Beach
562-430-4303

This location of Finbars used to be a Chinese Buffet, that closed down about five years ago. I went to Finbars about two years ago for their happy hour and thought the food was pretty good. So today, I was in the area and dropped by Finbars, to try their happy hour again.

Monday-Friday, Finbars offers a $5 happy hour menu- that includes, pizza, calamari, some pastas, and shrimp- in the bar area.



I got the coconut shrimp, $5, which was pretty good. The batter was filled with coconut, was pretty crunchy, and, while a bit thick, it was good. The shrimp was fairly good sized and sweet. This is a steal, six good sized shrimp for $5. It was served hot, I'm guessing they were sitting under heat lamps, until somebody ordered them.



Another steal is the calamari. A ton of calamari, again, not served hot, sitting under heat lamps, was good. Nice batter, not salty, crispy. The calamari was fresh. It wasn't rubbery and chewy.

The marinara sauce was mild, not spicy or tangy.

Service, at the bar, was very good. The bartender was nice and friendly.

I would go back to Finbars for their happy hour. I have not tried any of their Italian dishes but may give it a try.

Aoyama Cafe-Closed

Aoyama Cafe 

1569 Fairway Dr 

Walnut 

909-598-3200 

 Aoyama Cafe used to be called UCC Cafe, a very popular Japanese cafe chain. For some reason they changed their name to Aoyama. Anyways, I've wanted to try Aoyama for a long time and finally made it for a Saturday night dinner. I got the pork katsu rice, $9.95 with rice and Japanese side salad. Katsu is just a breaded pork patty, deep fried. This was nice and crispy. The pork was a bit tough. This was ok but nothing outstanding. The rice was sushi rice, very sticky, with a nice texture. The Japanese salad was just regular iceberg lettuce topped with a Japanese style dressing, which is a mild tasting, almost bland dressing. It's kind of like a less tangy Italian dressing. Service was pretty good. But he didn't bother to ask, how our dinners were and when our food arrive, the wrong people got the wrong dinners. That's not that big of a deal, but come on be a little more organized. There is a button to push, if you need the server. But we had to push the button 2-3 times to get the server to come over, when we were ready for the check. Other than that the server was good-refilling drinks, taking our orders, and was friendly. I wouldn't go back to Aoyama Cafe because there was nothing outstanding about the food.

Renee's Fish & Soulfood-Closed

Renee's Fish & Soulfood
15074 Foothill Blvd.
Fontana
909-349-1800

I'm rarely in Fontana. But, The Moving Wall is in Fontana, at the California Speedway, over the July 4th holiday and you know damn well, I'm going to be there. The Moving Wall is a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, in Washington D.C. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial has over 58,000 names of Americans who died in the Vietnam War. It's a powerful, moving experience, something everybody should see.

One thing I want to mention, it is called the Vietnam VETERANS Memorial. It is NOT the Vietnam Memorial,it doesn't honor a country. It honors the men and women who died in the Vietnam War. Calling the Vietnam VETERANS Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, is disrespecting all the Vietnam VETERANS. We as a country, already disrespected the Vietnam VETERANS, enough, when those gutless, coward draft dodgers, spat on and yelled at, when they came home. Nice homecoming, you gutless coward draft dodgers.

While driving to The Moving Wall, I saw Renee's and saw the word BBQ. So I figured I would give them a try. I have been another restaurant in Fontana; Up N Smoke BBQ.



Mac and cheese was the side I got with my dinner. The mac and cheese was loaded, I mean loaded with black pepper. But there was little cheese and what cheese there was, didn't mix well with the macaroni. It was also very salty. Not a good example of mac and cheese.



Fried shrimp dinner, $10.95. The shrimp was coated with a cornmeal batter, but so salty, I needed gallons of water. The shrimp was a bit rubbery and didn't taste all that fresh. The cornmeal batter was crunchy but just way too salty. I'll give them good points for the large amount of shrimp, but when it's so salty, that's not a good thing.




BBQ pork spare ribs, $10.95. The bbq ribs are only served Fridays and Saturdays. I asked for the sauce on the side but got sauce on the ribs. I got five good sized ribs with the order. The ribs were tough and chewy, as they had been sitting in warmers for too long. They could have been good if the ribs had not been dried out.

Service was friendly but slow. I understand the restaurant was crowded but it took so long to get my to go order.

I would not go back to Renee's again. Up N Smoke BBQ is so much better.

Pasadena Sandwich Company

Pasadena Sandwich Company
259 Sierra Madre Villa Ave
Pasadena
626-578-1616

I wanted to review Pasadena Sandwich Company, so I can mention Top Chef, DC. Now I think all celebrity chefs are douchebags. Their food is average at best and they are living off their celebrity status. Big deal, they are on Bravo or Food Network!! Doesn't mean their food is any good. Now, I know the chefs on Top Chefs, aren't celebrity chefs, just yet. But most are such douchebags, I can't stand them.

Anyways the second episode of Top Chef DC, had the chefs making a school lunch for middle school kids. The guest judge told the chefs the issue of school lunches are; too much processed crap, too much sugar, lack of flavor, and a lack of veggies.

So in this episode, four chefs formed a team and cooked school lunch; that should include an entree, dessert, and veggies. Remember, they are trying to make school lunches, healthy and tasty so kids will eat it.

It's clear that this season, Angelo and Kenny are the top two chefs. Two chefs had immunity; Angelo and Tracy, because they won some stupid contest, that starts the every show. Angelo picked Kenny on his team and proceeded to throw this competition. Douchebag Angelo made a peanut butter and celery dish, for the kids. Their team also had a sweet potato mouse, a nasty looking chicken burger, and other crap. This was a terrible meal, that nobody on the team, gave a damn about. But the DOUCHEBAG Angelo, was the worst. His goal, wasn't to serve a great meal to kids, but to get his main competition, Kenny, eliminated. At judge's table, DOUCHEBAG Angelo, was asked, "Would you have made that dish, if you didn't have immunity?" DOUCHEBAG's answer? I can't answer that right now. Ok, I know that a lot of editing has been done, so there is a chance, that wasn't his true answer. But anybody is a damn DOUCHEBAG, if they throw a competition, that is servings meals to KIDS!!!

Another team had this crazy bitch chef, Amanda, who kept insisting on using cooking sherry for KIDS and another chef, Jacqueline, who is just too stupid to listen.

Even a damn alcoholic would know, not to use cooking sherry when serving kids a meal!!! There are so many other choices!! You're a damn chef, you crazy bitch, Amanda, use your skills. Now, I'll admit Amanda is easy on the eyes but I can't get over how stubborn and stupid she was, using sherry to cook a meal for kids.

Each team had $130 to shop for items. The stupid chef, Jacqueline, thought each member of the team had $130. I saw her bio and I now understand, why she is so stupid, she is from Boston, an idiot Red Sox fan. So when they went shopping, only $10 of the budget went toward her dessert.

The crazy bitch chef, Amanda, was startled to learn at judge's table, her choice of cooking sherry was a stupid idea. HELLO. Why would you be so stupid and insist on using sherry for kids?? She works in LA, which means, I'm never going to any restaurant where she is the chef. Though I wouldn't mind seeing her at the beach.

But the real stupid chef, Jacqueline said to the judges, she used two pounds of sugar in her banana dessert. It's like she didn't hear the guest judge, saying that school lunches had TOO MUCH SUGAR. Hell, she would have been better off making a banana and strawberry salad or smoothie. The stupid chef was sent packing. But Top Chef, should have also sent, that DOUCHBAG, Angelo, home too. I mean, really, throwing a contest, that benefits kids? DOUCHEBAG.

Anyways, for me lunch has always been about sandwiches. I love sandwiches, everything, except liverwurst. From peanut butter and jelly to pastrami, I love sandwiches. I heard good things about Pasadena Sandwich Company and decided to have lunch there.




I go the Chicago sandwich, $7.95, corned beef, pastrami, swiss cheese, Russian dressing, on rye bread, with cole slaw on the side. Yes, the sandwich was piled high, but there was so much fat, it wasn't even funny. I had to cut out so much fat, I would bet, it added up to about a quarter of the meat. Both the pastrami and corned beef was fatty, chewy, tough, and lacked flavor. The swiss cheese, rye bread and Russian dressing was fine. But who cares, if the meats are terrible. This had to be among the worst sandwiches, I've had. Ok, the portions are huge but who cares, if they use a poor quality meat!!!!

Service was good. Nice and friendly servers. But there they need to clear up which area is for to go orders. When you walk in, there are two windows, one area listed as To Go Pick up, but the other area isn't marked, so I figured that was where to place your order. Anyways, the area where it says; To Go Pick up, is where to place your order.

I would not go back to Pasadena Sandwich Company, again. Terrible, fatty sandwiches.

Kabab Way

Kabab Way
919 S Glendale Ave
Glendale
818-242-3150

Glendale should be renamed Kebob City because there are so many kebob restaurants in the city. Some are great, others need work. My two favorite kebob restaurants, in Glendale, are Shiraz and recently, I found Raffi's Place

Kebob Way started as a burger place and then switched over to a kebob restaurant. They are right across the street from Elena's.



I got the beef shish kebob plate, $7.99 with salad, rice, tomato, and onions. The first thing I notice, is that, there is a ton of rice. Very good, most restaurants do not include a lot of rice. The basmati rice was nice and fluffy but compared to other restaurants, very bland. The rice is just cooked with water and served. At other places the rice will have butter and/or oil and spices.

The beef was very tough, not that flavorful, needed much more seasoning. It was easy to tell, this was a very low quality beef. I also thought the portion was a bit small.

The salad was fresh, but just your standard green salad from a bag.

Service was good. The lady who took my order was nice and friendly.

They were repaving the roads around Kabob Way, the day I went, so it was tough finding parking. But when the road is complete, that shouldn't be an issue.

I think it is unfair to compare Kabab Way to the other kebob restaurants in Glendale. Why? Kabab Way is more of a fast food/diner style kabob restaurant, while the others like Shiraz, Raffi's Place and Elena's, are sit down restaurants. But I would compare Kabab Way to another, close by, fast food/diner style kebob restaurant, Mediterranean Triangle. In that case, Mediterranean Triangle, wins by a mile. I wouldn't go back to Kabab Way again.