Carnaby St Fish & Chips

Carnaby St Fish & Chips
1627 N Hacienda Blvd
La Puente
626-918-9223

I was really hoping to find a fish and chips place, that is as good as my favorite fish and chips place; England Fish and Chips, but closer to me, than Long Beach. So I was looking forward to trying Carnaby St Fish & Chips in La Puente and seeing how they compare to England Fish and Chips.

Located in a huge shopping center, Carnaby St Fish & Chips, is a hole in the wall, restaurant. They are frying the fish right in front of you.




Lunch special; one piece fish, three pieces of shrimp, three pieces of zucchini, and fried rice; $5.25. I thought this was a great deal.

The fish is cod, always the best fish to use for fried fish. But the batter was too heavy because this wasn't crunchy or crispy, it was soggy and greasy. Maybe they need to turn up the heat in those fryers. I did think the cod was good, cut thinner than England but about the same weight.

The shrimp had the same batter as the fish. The batter didn't even stick to the shrimp, they fell apart after a bite. The shrimp was fine.

I didn't touch the zucchini, which also had the same batter as the fish and shrimp.

The fried rice was cooked to order and had some eggs, celery, and a tangy taste to it. I didn't really care for it, but I wouldn't it was included in the price.

Service is below average. When I walked to the counter, they didn't bother to greet me. They were cooking something else. The lady who took my order was just going through the motions. When I got my food, they didn't bother to say thank you or have a nice day.

I wasn't impressed at all with Carnaby St Fish & Chips. The fish, while cooked to order was soggy and greasy. They do have good prices but if the food isn't good, why bother going back?

Arby's-Pomona-Closed

Arby's
2250 N Garey Ave
Pomona
909-596-1644

I love history and historical things. So when David Allen wrote a story about this Arby's, I wanted to do a review and mention the history of Arby's to readers of The New Diner.

Why is this Arby's historic? It is one, of about ten, remaining Arby's that have BOTH the "Conestoga wagon" building and the ten-gallon hat sign. There are still many places that have the ten-gallon hat sign, but very few with the both!! In fact there is an Arby's in Azusa that has the ten-gallon hat sign, but the building is a modern structure. An interesting note, Pomona's second Arby's location, at 1175 E. Holt Ave., which is now King's Teriyaki, still has the chuck wagon building, but the 10-gallon hat is long gone.

This Arby's opened up in January, 1970 and is still going strong. But, Allen infers that this Arby's maybe renovated very soon.

I won't really go into detail about the food at Arby's. It is what it is. I only got two items on their $1 value menu. Both were fine.



I got the Jr. roast beef sandwich, $1. Filled with thinly sliced roast beef. Everybody knows this is processed roast beef. But it it what it is.



I also got the ham and cheese melt, $1. Filled with thinly sliced ham and melted, what seemed like nacho cheese, this sandwich was fine.

Service was pretty good. The manager of the store took my order. I was a bit surprised because it's usually a regular employee who takes the orders.

I hope Arby's keeps this location, exactly like it is. I love seeing the combination of the ten-gallon hat sign and the Conestoga wagon building.

Update Oct. 28, 2010: I got an email, from a loyal The New Diner reader, who said there is another Arby's with the chuckwagon building and ten-gallon hat sign combo, in Huntington Beach. Just imagine, two of the ten remaining locations, with the chuckwagon building and ten gallon hat sign, within about 45 minutes of each other. I will do a review of the Huntington Beach location soon.

Update Nov. 30, 2010- Arby's in Huntington Beach.

I drove by the Huntington Beach location and just took pictures of the building. All Arby's are the same, no reason to eat there again.

But I also found another location that has the chuckwagon building and ten-gallon hat sign combo, in Buena Park or La Palma on Lincoln. Hopefully, I will have pictures of that location, soon.



Arby's
7942 Edinger Ave
Huntington Beach, CA 92647
714-842-5280

101 Noodle Express

101 Noodle Express
1408 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra
626-300-8654


As readers of The New Diner know, when it comes to dumplings, I love Dumpling House in Arcadia, and in my quest for dumplings in the San Gabriel Valley, I have also think highly of Dumpling House in Temple City.

So when I read about 101 Noodle Express, being among the best dumpling places in the San Gabriel Valley, I had to give it a try. 101 Noodle Express is, just west of Mei Long Village and Jin Jian, on Valley Blvd. but a bit tough to find because the sign is pretty small.




Pork roll;$6.75. I would normally get the beef roll but today I got the pork roll and what a treat. Served warm, this roll was great!! The pancake was slightly toasted, flakey, and a bit chewy. The pork was tender and flavorful, with lots of green onions but not overwhelming. Two huge pieces came with the order. I would get this again, any time.




Pan fried, pork dumpling (10 pieces); $6.49. I wasn't expecting xio long boa, but these dumplings had the juices inside. I was a bit surprised, but I did like this. The skin is thicker than normal; about the thickness of three wonton wrappers. But the pork was well seasoned and tender. I liked the juice, very good flavor, and seasoning.




Steamed shrimp and pork dumpling (10 pieces); $5.99. I normally don't like shrimp and pork dumpling together. But the shrimp and pork dumpling here was great. An entire medium sized shrimp was mixed with the pork. Good seasoning, good flavor. I would order this again.

Service was OK. Part of the problem was English isn't spoken, so it is hard to communicate. I thought the food took a bit longer than normal. But, overall nothing too bad.

I do like 101 Noodle Express but I don't think it's anywhere close to Dumpling House. I do think the pork roll was awesome, and while the dumplings were good, they didn't blow me away. 101 Noodle Express is cash only, no credit cards are accepted.

Slavko's Harbor Poultry

Slavko's Harbor Poultry
1224 S Pacific Ave
San Pedro
310-832-8171

I watched; Once Brothers, a documentary on ESPN this week and was very moved by the show. Once Brothers is former, LA Lakers, Vlade Divac's journey to find closure to his friendship with Drazen Petrovic. I'll give readers of The New Diner, a condensed version. Divac and Petrovic grew up playing for Yugoslavia. At that time Yugoslavia, was made up for six republics, including Croatia and Serbia. But in the 90's, Yugoslavia split up, with Croatia and Solvenia being the first two republics to declare independence, but only after civil war destroyed all the republics. Divac is Serbian. Petrovic was Croatian. After the 1990 World Championships, a fan came running onto the court with a Croatian flag. Divac took a Croatian flag, saying this team represents all of Yugoslavia, not just one republic. But in Croatia, that act was seen as an act against Croatia.

Divac and Petrovic, both came to the NBA in 1989. Divac with the Lakers and Petrovic with Portland. They were each other's support group, talking many times on the phone. But after the flag incident and after the war in Yugoslavia, Petrovic, along with other Croatians; Toni Kukoc and Dino Rajda, stopped talking to Divac. Divac wanted to rebuild those friendships. While his friendships with Kukoc and Rajda were later rebuilt, Petrovic died in a car accident in 1993, his friendship with Divac, never to be rebuilt.

In Once Brothers, Divac talks to Petrovic's mother and brother, his former teammates; Toni Kukoc and Dino Rajda; talk about why they stopped talking to Divac and, at the end, Divac visits Petrovic's grave site.

This is a must see documentary. I'm sure it's already on You Tube.

So what does this have to do with food? Well, after seeing the documentary, I wanted to try some Croatian and Serbian food. I also wanted to find out what a Croatian man said in the documentary. When Divac went to Croatia to visit Petrovic's family, a man on the street said; Vlade Divac? Cetnik! I know about the Cetnik movement. But I'm wondering in what context cetnik was used. I'm sure, it wasn't used as a compliment.

I was a bit surprised to learn, that San Pedro has a big Croatian population, but it made it easy to find a Croatian restaurant.

Slavko's Harbor Poultry, was started and currently owned by Croatians. I read they have great fried chicken, so I figured I give them a try.




Fried chicken breast; $3.25 and wing; 99 cents. Since I heard Slavko's had great fried chicken, I decided to try it. I liked the fact that both pieces were cooked to order, though they normally keep a few pieces of chicken, in the warmer.

Both the breast and wing, had a nice, crispy skin, that was well seasoned. But, both were pretty dry and lacked real flavor. The breast was very dry. The wing wasn't as dry but still not as juicy as other fried chicken, I've had.



Slavko's is also known for their chicken nuggets. So I got a seven piece chicken nuggets; $4. The nuggets are breast pieces and coated with the same batter as the fried chicken. This was ok, slightly dry and they were in the warmer, not cooked to order. I would not order this again, either.




I haven't had ribs in a long time, so I decided to get the rib dinner which comes with potato nuggets and beans; $7.50. The ribs are steamed or cooked in an oven. They gave a few pieces of rib tips and not the actual rib. There was no bark or seasoning on the outside. The ribs were dry and lacked flavor. They must have been sitting in a warmer for awhile. Not a good example of ribs.

The potato nuggets were well seasoned, had the skin on, and was pretty good.

The baked beans were too sweet for my tastes. The beans were well cooked but it was just too sweet for me.

Service is pretty good.

I would not go back to Slavko's again. Everything I had was dry and really didn't taste that good.

Orochon Ramen

Orochon Ramen
123 Onizuka St # 303
Los Angeles
213-617-1766

On January 28, 1986 the Space Shuttle Challenger, exploded 73 seconds into flight. The Challenger crew was the most diverse crew in history. The crew included an African-American; Ronald McNair, two women; Christa McAuliffe, who was also the first civilian in space, and Judith Resnik who Jewish, and an Asian-American; Ellison Onizuka. Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, and Gregory Jarvis were the other members of the Challenger crew. Little Toyko in Los Angeles has honored, Ellison Onizuka with a memorial plaque and a replica of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

President Reagan, who would made one of his best speeches ever that night, called for an investigation, that was headed by the Roger's Commission. The commission was greatly helped by the testimony of Roger Boisjoly, an engineer at Morton Thiokol. Morton Thiokol produced the "o rings" that failed, which lead to the Challenger explosion. Mr. Boisjoly is a hero and Chapman University in Orange, CA, has all his memoirs, that should be on display soon. Why is Mr. Boisjoly a hero, for having the guts to be a whistle blower. He saw something was wrong, said something was wrong, but his bosses, who wanted to keep the NASA money line, coming, did not listen to Mr. Boisjoly.

So why the history lesson about the Space Shuttle Challenger? Orochon Ramen, is located in the building just to the west of the Ellison Onizuka Memorial. Orochon Ramen is well known for it's spicy ramen challenge. Many TV shows have featured this challenge. I wasn't going anywhere near the challenge. But I wanted to try their ramen.



$6.95 soy sauce ramen. At first, I was impressed with the size of the bowl but when I got my ramen, I noticed very quickly the ramen was only filled half way. Not good. I tasted the broth first, and at first, I thought it was a bit salty, but after eating the ramen, I felt it was seasoned just right. The ramen was cook perfectly but there wasn't that much ramen. There were large mushrooms, green onions, and some pieces of thinly cut pork.

Service, at the table was pretty good. But the way they handled seating, was pretty bad. I asked for a table for 12 people. I arrived about 30 minutes before my party was suppose to arrive. A half hour later, 3/4 of my party had arrived. I told them, how about seating us right now, since we have 8 people and the other four were running just a bit late. They seated the eight of us, but did not leave room for the other four people, even though they said they would and there was plenty of room. Luckily the table next to us, which had three people gave up one of their tables for our group.

The address listed is a bit confusing. The actual street is 2nd St., but that portion of 2nd St. is named in honor of Ellison Onizuka. The official street address is Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka St. Orochon Ramen is located in the Weller Court, 3rd floor, at the corner of 2nd St. and San Pedro.

I would not go back to Orochon Ramen. I didn't think the ramen was anything great and I wasn't happy with the small portion.

Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt

Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt
373 S Mountain Ave
Upland
909-946-9077

After some nice slices of NY style pizza at San Biagios, I stopped in at Handel's Homemade Ice Cream and Yogurt. Every Wednesday, Handel's has a $1 scoop deal. The lines can be very long but they move pretty fast.



Heavenly Hash, $1, chocolate ice cream. The young lady at the window, said heavenly hash was like rocky road but instead of almonds, they had chocolate covered peanuts. The first thing I noticed about this ice cream was the creaminess, very smooth. But there were no actual marshmellows, like rocky road, more like marshmellow swirled into the ice cream, but that was find. The chocolate covered peanuts were great, providing a nice saltiness to the sweetness of the ice cream. The scoops are a bit small, but hey for a $1, it's fine.

Service is good. The lines move pretty fast and the young ladies are very nice.

The regular prices of the scoops is $3. I think that is a fair price for the quality of the ice cream. But the scoops better be bigger than their $1 scoops.

I like Handel's better than Fosselmans.

JR Bistro-Closed

JR Bistro
750 N Hill St
Ste F
Los Angeles
213-620-0838

Chinatown in Los Angeles. The on going myth, is that there isn't any good Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. They say you need to go to cities in the San Gabriel Valley to get good Chinese food. The New Diner has reviewed restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley; some good, some bad. The New Diner has reviewed a few restaurants, like, Master Chef, Golden City, and Fullhouse, in Chinatown, some good, some not so good.

I heard about JR Bistro's $10 lobster and crab specials and wanted to give them a try.



Pan fried dumplings,$6.25. These dumplings were filled with ground pork and chives. They were pretty bland, lacked flavor, and just not tasty. They could have fried the dumplings a little longer. The skin was pretty good, with a nice texture. Otherwise, I wouldn't order this again.



Calamari with spicy garlic salt, $7.95. Loved the lightly batter that covered the fresh calamari, that was fried golden brown. But I didn't like the saltiness of this dish, very salty, they could have cut the salt in half and it would have been great. But a heavy hand with the salt shaker, made this dish, just ok.



Seafood lo mein, $7.95. WOW was this good. The noodles were cooked perfectly, soft and flavorful. The seafood, shrimp and squid, was fresh and well cooked. Maybe my favorite dish.



Chicken with fresh mushrooms, $7.95. If the seafood lo mein, wasn't my favorite dish, the chicken with fresh mushrooms, was my favorite. The chicken was sliced thin and cooked perfectly-tender and flavorful. They added celery, carrots, and snow peas, which were also cooked perfectly. The mushrooms, were fresh and just wonderful. A great dish and well worth the price.



Lobster special with ginger and green onions, $9.99. The reason I came here. The lobster was about a pound and cut into smaller pieces. I got the lobster cooked with ginger and green onions. The sauce was a bit salty, again heavy handed with the salt shaker, but the lobster was fresh and very tasty. This is a steal. You won't find a better deal anywhere.

Service was OK. It wasn't anything bad, but nothing memorable, either.

I would go back to JR Bistro again. There are some good Chinese restaurants in Chinatown. I will say Chinatown does lack good dumplings.

European Deli and Bakery-Closed

European Deli and Bakery 722 S. Grand Ave. Glendora 626-914-3959 After going to Spaghetti Eddie's, I noticed European Deli and Bakery and decided to give them a try, because I was craving a polish sausage. European Deli isn't really a sit down restaurant, but more of a deli/market that has a few tables. This reminded me of Mattern Sausage and Meats, but European Deli is more Polish than German, like Mattern, but they do have a large selection of Eastern European cold cuts and foods. But I did find it weird they sold some sausage made/sold by Mattern!! So I got the polish sausage plate, with hot potato salad, sauerkraut, and bread, $8.99. I loved this. The hot potato salad was unique because I'm used to cold potato salad. But this was great. Very tender, well seasoned potatoes. The sauerkraut was awesome, finely cut pieces of cabbage that wasn't too tangy, But what I really liked was the polish sausage. Like the sign outside said the sausages are made in Chicago and fresh. I bought a package of sausage that was produced about five days before, in Chicago, that's fresh!! The sausage is pork with a good blend of spices. A wonderful natural casing!! Service is OK. They are a bit slow but friendly. It was very busy when I was there, with people coming in for deli meats and sausage. This reminds me, I need to go back to Polka, for some good Polish food!! I would go back to European Deli and Bakery anytime. The next time I may try a sandwich.

La Villa Basque-Closed

La Villa Basque 2801 Leonis Blvd. Vernon 323-583-1696 Vernon, a city that used to have the Vernon Tigers, of the old Pacific Coast League. Don't know about the Vernon Tigers? Maybe you heard of the Hollywood Stars, who played at Gilmore Field? Well, the Vernon Tigers are their "grandfather." Follow me now. The Vernon Tigers started in 1909 and stayed until 1912, moving to Venice for the 1912 and 1914 seasons. But then moved back to Vernon until 1925, when they moved to San Fransisco, to become the Mission Reds. The Reds would spend twelve seasons in San Fransisco, before coming back to Los Angeles, to become the Hollywood Stars!!! Why did Vernon, a very small city, even back then, get a PCL team? They were not a "dry" town, meaning they served alcohol. Why did Venice get the Tigers for two seasons, you got it, Venice was able to serve alcohol. Anyways, in keeping with my theme of reviewing restaurants in new cities, I go to La Villa Basque, for their $11 lobster roll and whole lobster. Yes, that's right a whole Maine lobster for $11. During the month of September, La Villa Basque has a lobster special. They bring in live lobster from back east and sells them for a great price. La Villa Basque is an interesting restaurant. I walked in and the dining room is closed. But the bar is fairly busy. I sit down, order a drink and then order a lobster roll. Lobster roll, $11. I tried the lobster roll first. The lobster was in a hot dog bun, that was almost burnt. Not a good start. But the lobster, mostly tail meat, was pretty tasty, it was mostly lobster tail, mixed with some mayo. The lobster was well cooked, not tough or chewy. I loved the wasbi aioli, which added a nice kick to the lobster roll. That kick worked well with the coolness of the mayo. But I really came here for the whole lobster, $11. But this wasn't the whole lobster, I was expecting. I wasn't expecting to get down and dirty, cracking lobster and everything. From the pictures of the lobsters served before, the lobsters were prepared, much differently the the just plain steamed. I thought the lobsters were prepared Basque style but they are just steamed. The lobster was pretty good, but served luke warm. They need to turn up the warmer, because eating luke warm lobster isn't my thing. But, the lobster was tender and well cooked. Service at the bar was pretty good. I would not go back to La Villa Basque for the lobster special. The lobster special isn't anything special. It's the samething as Quality Seafood, for a few bucks less.