Brians' American Eatery-Closed

Brians' American Eatery
1451 Washington St
San Diego
619-296-8268

Brian's American Eatery is your classic diner. You're getting comfort food in good sized portions at good prices. I've been to Brian's once, back around the time when Petco Park opened for the San Diego Padres. I went during their Saturday special, all you can eat beef ribs. The ribs are pretty good, they aren't BBQ, the menu even says oven cooked ribs, but they tasted good and for about $14, you can't beat it.

This time around, I came on a Sunday afternoon and it was fully of people. Luckily the weather was cloudy and overcast, so I said first available, and we got a table outside on the patio.

I got the Big Rooster-grilled chicken with bacon and melted swiss cheese on onion bun, with side salad and mac and cheese.

The chicken sandwich was a bit greasy, the bottom portion of the bun was a soggy mess and a bit dry, I guess they figured you would add condiments to the sandwich. But, the chicken was well cooked and the swiss cheese was melted nicely. The bacon was huge, crispy and tasted like it had just been cooked, not sitting under heat lamps. I added some ranch dressing, from my side salad, and it really helped. Maybe, Brian's should call it the Ranch Big Rooster.

My favorite part of the meal was the mac and cheese. WOW!! What a great example of mac and cheese. Everything was well blended together!! The cheese, the perfectly cooked macaroni, everything. They know how to make a roux at Brian's!! They serve this as it's own entree, I think that's what I'll get next time I come to Brian's.

The side salad had fresh veggies and their ranch dressing is great!! It's now some watered down ranch you find at other restaurants, but a well mixed and seasoned ranch.

Service was ok. The server was nice but he wasn't around that often. I understand they were busy, every table in the dining room and patio was filled. But, that's not an excuse for coming by the table only to take our order and to drop off our order. He didn't even come by to give us our check, we were walking to the cashier, when he gave us our bill.

While this visit wasn't great; the Big Rooster wasn't good, and I wouldn't order it again. But, I like my other trip to Brian's and will go back for their ribs, soon!!

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar
380 K St
San Diego
619-237-1155

Ok, I'm not the type of guy who likes eating at chain restaurants. Why go to a chain, when there maybe a restaurant just as good? I'll admit, I didn't know certain restaurants were chains when I at there. If I see a new restaurant when I'm out for dinner, I'll just stop in and have a meal there. I don't do research on a restaurant while I'm out and about. But, if I do have time to research a restaurant, I will see if it is a chain and then put that restaurant on the back burner of my "to try" list.

I went to this same exact Flemings about five years ago. I had an enjoyable meal and figured since I was in San Diego I would try them again. Fleming's is running a promotion; if you make reservations online, you get $25 off your meal, if you spend $50 or more and then you get a $25 off card that is good for the first three months in 2012!! A great deal.

Flemings is located in the Gaslamp area of downtown San Diego. It's a fairly big sized restaurant that is dimly lit. It has a nice modern steakhouse decor.

Since I was dining alone, I had to order over $50 of food, so I got an appetizer, Jumbo lump crabcakes, $16.95, with roasted red pepper and lime butter sauce. Jumbo lump are the second highest grade of crabmeat, similar to a choice cut of beef. Jumbo lump are white meat from the two muscles near the swimming legs of the crab. They should be nice and sweet.

I hate crabcakes that are nothing but fillers, breadcrumbs or other junk that doesn't belong in a crabcake. When I cut into this crabcake, nothing but beautiful white meat!! The crabcakes were beautifully browned on the outside, and it wasn't heavy with butter like some place do. It was a nice light sear and a nice texture to the crabcakes. The meat was well seasoned, if they don't use Old Bay seasoning, they use most of the same ingredients like Old Bay. The roasted red pepper and lime butter sauce added a nice cool flavor to the crabcakes. But, I could have eaten the crabcakes alone and been very happy.

If anybody complains about the price of the crabcakes, they are just clueless. Jumbo lump crab meat isn't cheap and as long as the crab cakes have little fillers, this crabcake was about 98% jumbo lump, 2% bread crumps and parsley, it's well worth the price.

Well, a steakhouse, no matter how good their appetizers maybe, has to serve good quality steaks that are cooked perfectly. I got the main filet, $41.95, cooked medium. After telling the server I wanted my steak cooked medium, he said hot pink inside. I told him yes! I like how the server make sure how your steak is going to be cooked. Some people have different definitions of how a medium cooked steak should be.

Anyways a few minutes later, I got a perfectly cooked filet!! This steak was very well seasoned. Some may say it was a little heavy on the pepper, but I like a good amount of pepper on my steak. And Fleming's uses prime steaks, the top cut of beef. So the steak was tender, melt in your mouth, good!! A very good quality steak, well worth the price.

Service was great!! The server and busboy came by my table often, and I wasn't lacking for anything.

I would gladly go back to this Fleming's in San Diego anytime. A great meal with two perfectly cooked items and great service!! What more can you ask for?

Pizzeria Mozza

Pizzeria Mozza
641 N Highland Ave
Los Angeles
323-297-0101

Pizzeria Mozza is owned by celebrity chef, Mario Batali and has been a hit for LA diners since it opened in 2007. My understanding is that Nancy Silverton is in charge of the menu and it's her recipes. Whatever the situation is, I've wanted to try Mozza and finally got a chance. I made reservations about a month in advance, and I'm glad I did. When I arrived Mozza was packed, I mean just packed full of snotty, full of themselves, asshole pretentious people!! I thought I was on the Westside!!

While waiting for my friends to arrive, a couple walked out of Mozza, and said "I can't believe the earliest time for a table is 10:15pm." It was about 5pm, when this happened!! So make a reservation!!

Pizzeria Mozza is a fairly small restaurant that is divided into two areas, a larger, much louder room and the smaller, much quieter "wine cellar" It's not really a cellar, it's just room where some wine is stored. But, it's much quieter and a great setting for a good dinner with friends.

I got the "meat lovers" pizza, bacon, salame, fennel sausage, guanciale, tomato, and mozzarella, $19. The pizzas are 10in, personal sized pizza. I didn't know what guanciale was, so I asked the server and he told us, it is an Italian bacon made from the cheeks of the pig. Later, googled guanciale and it's an unsmoked bacon.

Anyways, the first thing I noticed was the size of the sausage, huge, full of bold fennel flavor. They use quality ingredients for this sausage. There was a couple slices of the regular bacon, which was fine, but nothing memorable or outstanding. The guanciale was pretty good, but I prefer smoked bacon. The salame was shaped like pepperoni and had a nice kick to it. The mozzarella was nicely melted and flavorful. The tomato sauce also had a nice kick to it.

But, what ruined the pizza for me was the crust. This may have been among the worst crust I've ever had! A cracker thin crust, that didn't hold up the toppings well towards the center and crunched on the outer edges. That's not my kind of crust.

Overall, the pizza was worth the high price tag, because of the great quality of the meats, not because of the crust.

Service was good, when we saw the server. The hostess was nice and welcoming. She greeted me and every other customer I saw, with a smile and hello. The server was nice and friendly, he patiently answered our questions, but he wasn't really around that much. He came take our order, give us our bill, and then take our money. That's it. I realize the "wine cellar" was packed but there were only about 8-10 tables. It was so busy that we saw the bus boy more than our server.

Afterwards, I went to Mozza To Go, where you can order, pizzas and salads to go, to pick up a menu. The interesting thing I found, is that the meat lovers pizza from Pizzeria Mozza is different than the meat lovers from Mozza To Go, instead of guanciale, they have pancetta. Why they wouldn't use the same toppings for both places, I don't know.

Frankly, I didn't have that high of expectations for Pizzeria Mozza. I don't get the hype about celebrity chefs. So what the owner maybe on TV, doesn't mean his cooking is worth a damn. I could care less that Mario Batali owned Pizzeria Mozza. But, many people buy into the hype. Though I was very impressed with the quality toppings, the crust was horrible. I wouldn't go back to Pizzeria Mozza, unless other friends wanted to go.

Updates

December 9, 2011

I went back to Broaster Kitchen.

October 25, 2011:

After a lot of thought, I have decided to add a new label to reviews; Moved. This means a restaurant has closed down at the listed address in a review, and has moved to another location. I will keep this list updated as possible. I will add a link, if I do a review for the new location. But, keep this in mind; The restaurant will still be labeled closed, since that restaurant is no longer at the address listed. And, honestly if I gave that restaurant a bad review, I'm not going to waste time to update that they moved.

The biggest reason I added Moved, was because I hated seeing how Yelp handles a restaurant that has moved. They will just change the address to the new location, BUT, they keep the reviews AND pictures of the old location. It can be confusing, seeing pictures of two different locations, and really a stupid thing for a review site to do.

September 11, 2011:

I went back to the Pioneer Chicken in Bell Gardens.

Feb. 26, 2011:

Went back to Original Graziano's Pizza and tried their pizza.

Janurary 27, 2011:

This is a, The New Diner, first. If a restaurant that I reviewed has closed, I will label it closed and the year I reviewed the restaurant. Even if the restaurant has moved to a different location, I will label that restaurant as closed, because that location is closed.

Most of the closed restaurants, have either stayed vacated or turned into a different restaurants. But Straw Hat Pizza in Orange, is the first to close and then reopen under new ownership!!

I just found out they have been opened, under new ownership, for seven months. I wasn't really impressed with the pizza, under the old ownership, but I'm glad to see Straw Hat has survived. It was a childhood favorite. Who knows maybe a new owner or another location, will still have the same great Straw Hat taste.

Like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and the other steroids users, there should be an asterisk with this update about Swinging Door BBQ. Which also closed down, then reopened in the same location, but under new ownership and they changed the name to Swingin Door BBQ. Notice the new owners dropped the G. Yes, it's a small detail, but they are different names.

January 19, 2011:

I went back to My Brothers BBQ for their broasted chicken.

2010 Updates:

Bludso's BBQ

I posted pictures of the Arby's in Huntington Beach, with the chuckwagon building and the ten gallon hat, on my review of the Arby's in Pomona.

Pizza Mania, and finally had their pizza.

Pioneer Chicken on Soto.

Jerry's Dogs.

38 Degrees Ale House.

I tried to go back to Porky's BBQ for some fried chicken. I will never go back to Porky's again because of their TERRIBLE service.

Oinkster

Amber Waves.

You can search restaurants by city and cuisine.

2009 Updates:

Alondra Hot Wings in Long Beach.

McConnell Bistro at Pitzer College.

I have just found out that four restaurants I have reviewed on The New Diner, have closed; Memphis BBQ, Dante's Italian Deli, Hof's Hut and Ruth's Place. I don't know exactly when these restaurants closed.

This bring the total to 51 restaurant that I have reviewed but are now closed. If any restaurants that I reviewed are now closed, please let me know. I won't write an update about closures unless it reaches a milestone number.

I have decided to create a new category for closed restaurants; Closed-Reviewed and the year I reviewed the restaurant, for example, Closed-Reviewed 2006.


Bob's Big Boy in Diamond Bar for their 30th anniversary party.

The Smoking Joint.

Langers.

The Habit

Dr. Hogly Wogly

I added a picture of the new signage for Phillips BBQ in Chino.

You can now search reviews by cuisines. I have added labels to my reviews and will add labels to all reviews soon.

Some tips on searching.

I have labeled most restaurants by their broader cuisines and the item I ordered. Example: Mexican, tacos.

If you click BBQ, you will only find places REAL BBQ places that smoke their meats, or at least attempts to smoke their meats. For other places, they are under Oven BBQ.

If you are looking for ribs, they are labeled spare ribs, beef ribs, or baby backs ribs.

Closed means the restaurant that I went to, at the address listed, is not the same restaurant or has closed down.

Profile Name Change.

In case anybody is wondering, I decided that The New Diner should be my profile/user name for The New Diner blog. So all comments will be by The New Diner. This is my food blog. Unitas We Stand is my tribute to Johnny Unitas and the expression of my love for my BALTIMORE COLTS.

I still have my Unitas We Stand blog. I still love the BALTIMORE COLTS. If I get married, I still will have my fiance take and pass a test about the BALTIMORE COLTS. And yes, if she flunks, I will not marry her. Though I may give her a make up test.

The Gastronome

The Gastronome
Cal St. Fullerton

Classes first started at Cal St. Fullerton in 1957. In 1988 they finally got dorms for about 800 students, at the time enrollment was about 20,000. In the early 2000's Fullerton added a second phrase of dorms. Both phrases of dorms did not have a traditional dining hall. Students would have to cook their own meals or buy a meal plan at Hope International University, which is across the street from CSF.

Then in August of 2011, with enrollment well over 30,000, CSF opened a third phrase of dorms that finally included a dining hall!! Called The Gastronome, it's a huge complex that is broken up into five sections; deli/grill, salad bar, dessert bar, fried food bar, meal of the day.

The first college dining hall The New Diner reviewed was, McConnell Bistro at Pitzer College, and I was very impressed with how far "dorm food" has come. But, then I was reminded of how bad dorm food can still be when I went to Los Olivos Dining Commons at Cal Poly Pomona.

Since CSF is part of the same college system as Cal Poly Pomona, I figured I would get more of the same. $12.39 for dinner and is all you can eat.

There was a large salad bar, stocked with tons of veggies. Some were fresher than others. I got romaine lettuce, spinach, chopped eggs, kidney and garbanzo beans, and cucumbers, topped with ranch dressing.  Most of the veggies I got were fresh, except for the cucumbers, which had been sitting around too long.  The dressing was diluted with water, making it very runny and hurt the flavor.  Overall, a pretty standard buffet salad bar.  But, I didn't find any carrots!!

I got the regular and buffalo chicken wings are from the fried food section, which also had some bacon wrapped hot dogs. The wings are already fried and they will toss the buffalo wings sauce when you order it. The wing were crispy and juicy. The sauce was a bit mild for me, but a pretty good example of wings.

The chicken curry-with carrots, peas and potatoes, was located in the "entree section." The other entree offering was meatloaf, which I didn't want, it just didn't look appetizing. I like that this station offered two entrees and the entree choices changes daily.

The chicken was white meat and pretty flavorful. The curry had a mild flavor, I'm more used to a bolder flavor when it comes to curry.

The busiest and longest section served freshly grilled chicken sandwiches, burgers, a pizza area, and had sandwich bar, where you wrote what you wanted on your sandwich and it was freshly prepared.  I got a turkey, salami, and capocola with cheddar cheese.  This was a very fresh sandwich with good sliced meats.  I'm not expecting the best sliced meats, but I was satisfied with the quality of meats.

Pepperoni pizza. The pizza are made in a wood fire oven. But the quality of ingredients were lacking. The cheese was very rubbery, the crust was mediocre, and the pepperoni was just ok. I really thought this was a pizza from Little Caesars and that isn't a compliment.

The chicken sandwich is made to order, is a good sized piece of chicken breast that is well seasoned with salt, pepper and onion and garlic power. It was cooked perfectly on the grill. The lettuce and tomatoes were fresh, but the bun was just a regular bun, nothing special about it. I really liked the sandwich, which was flavorful, tender and moist.

I didn't care for the burger, which tasted like mystery meat burgers and wasn't good at all. It was just too greasy, it must have been 70-30 meat to fat ratio, which is terrible.

Service overall was very good. The cashier was nice and friendly. All the servers were nice. But, the guy at the grill, who prepared your burgers or sandwiches, was moving in slow motion. I mean there are people in line and he's going so damn slow. The guy cooking your burgers was nice and moved quickly.

The students at Cal St. Fullerton are more down to earth kids, not the spoiled, snotty rich kids who attend Pitzer.

Overall, I enjoyed my first trip to The Gastronome. I'm not sure it's a good value at $12.39, but there was a wide variety of food and the quality, overall, was pretty good.

Byblos Cafe-Closed

Byblos Cafe
129 W Chapman Ave
Orange
714-538-7180

Byblos Cafe is in the Orange Circle. The New Diner has been to a restaurant on the east part of the Orange Circle; Watson Drug & Soda Fountain, one on the north part; Beach Pit BBQ, and one on the south part; Felix Continental Cafe so it made sense to review a restaurant on the east side of the Orange Circle. So Byblos was my choice.

Walking around the Orange Circle I almost feel as though I will see Biff saying "Hello McFly, anybody home?" The city Orange tries to go back to the future, and bring that old time feel into today's hustle and bustle world.

The lentil soup-with celery, swiss chard, and lentils, comes with an order of kebobs. I don't eat much soup, and this may have been my first experience eating lentil soup. I was impressed with the soup, though it had a tangy sour taste, which comes from the Swiss chard. The broth was thin, I always thought lentil soup broth was a bit thicker, and the lentils were cooked perfectly. I would have liked this better if there wasn't the tangy sour taste.

Sirloin beef kebob with hummus, $10.99, with lentil soup. The first thing I noticed was the small portion! I know this was lunch, but the amount of beef was pretty small. The beef was perfectly cooked and very tender. They say it's sirloin and I'm sure it was, but this was more tender and flavorful than other Middle Eastern restaurants that called their kebobs, filet mignon.

The rice pilaf was nothing to write home about. It was there, it wasn't memorable, it added some carbs to the meal.

The hummus was wonderful. Most hummus is too tangy for me. This hummus was much more mild. It was very smooth, no lumps, and had the right consistency. It was made better by the warm pita bread. I hate going to Middle Eastern restaurants that serve cold pita bread.

Service was very good. I believe the owner was serving us. She was nice, friendly and informative. She was the only server and kept the 15 or so diners happy.

Overall I did enjoy my meal at Byblos Cafe, but I didn't think it's a good value. The portions are small and while the quality of the beef is very good, it's not worth making a trip back.