Roger's Rib Shack-Closed

Roger's Rib Shack
8450 Reseda Blvd
Northridge
818-741-4070

A few months ago, I heard a new BBQ restaurant opened in Northridge. But, I wasn't overly excited nor did I rush to find more information about it. But, last Saturday, I was going to be in Northridge, so I figured I would kill two birds with one stone and have dinner at Roger's Rib Shack. Right in front of Roger's you see their smoker and huge bags of hickory charcoal. So that's a good start, but sadly that maybe the only good thing about Roger's.



I got the half rack of spare ribs, $12,95. The ribs are smoked, as I mentioned their smoker is right in front of the restaurant. But, these ribs are "finished" on a grill and I hate when restaurants do that. For real BBQ to be real BBQ, it should never touch a grill. How could I tell it was finished on a grill? The grill marks and char from the grill.

There isn't much of a bark on these ribs, either. The ribs were fatty, very fatty, and while some parts were tender others were tough. Their BBQ sauce was a bit too sweet for my tastes. I need a little more kick to my BBQ sauce. Overall,I wasn't impressed at all with the BBQ at Rogers.

The do have a large selection of bottled BBQ sauce. They will give you a cup of any BBQ sauce you want, you just have to ask.

Service is friendly but below average. When you walk in, you're not sure if you're suppose to order at the counter or you wait to be seated or seat yourself. I was told take a seat, so I told them I would sit outside. I took a menu, went outside and waited, and waited and waited. The lady never came outside. There were maybe 2-3 people who ordered or picked up food, but it wasn't crowded. She simply forgot. I walked inside and while she did apologize for forgetting about us, she said it was busy. 2-3 orders and maybe 8-10 people already inside the restaurant, isn't busy.

I wouldn't go back to Roger's Rib Shack again; poor quality ribs and below average service, just don't add up for a return visit.

Pita Pockets

Pita Pockets
9127 Reseda Blvd
Northridge
818-709-4444

I've had kebobs sandwiches before, where the "bread" is a just a plain pita bread. But, I heard about the laffa at Pita Pockets, that are freshly made and I wanted to give them a try.




Lemon chicken laffa, $7.75, lettuce, onions, garlic sauce, and onions. The laffa is basically a thicker pita bread. There is a difference in texture than pita bread; softer and lighter than pita bread, though a bit more chewy. The laffa are freshly made and come out warm.

The lettuce, onions and tomatoes were very fresh. The garlic sauce was mild, you know it's there but it doesn't overwhelm you.

The difference between a lemon chicken and regular chicken kebob, is that they put a lemon sauce on the chicken. The chicken itself was a bit dry and tough. The portion size, could have been a bit larger too. The lemon sauce is good, with a nice tangy flavor but nothing overpowering.

The laffa may look big, but there isn't a lot of chicken inside. I don't think it's worth the $7.75 price.

Service is good. Nice, friendly people taking the orders and making the laffa.

If I'm in the area, I may go back to Pita Pockets, but I wouldn't rush back. Overall the laffa is pretty good, but not a good value.

Northridge Fish & Chips

Northridge Fish & Chips
10336 Reseda Blvd
Northridge
818-360-3474

So, I've broken my streak of reviewing restaurants in new cities, by going Northridge. That reminds me, the Valley is part of LA. There is no city named Northridge or Sherman Oaks or Van Nuys; they are all govern by the city of Los Angeles, the correct name for them are communities. So that brings up the question, should I do reviews of in different communities of the Valley? I'm not going to make a big effort, since the Valley is pretty far from me, but if I'm in the area, I may make an effort to go to different communities in the Valley. I think I'm missing Granada Hills, Porter Ranch, Valley Village, North Hills, and West Hills. But those last three communities are snobs, who broke away from Van Nuys and Woodland Hills.

I heard about Northridge Fish and Chips and figured I would give them a try. What is funny, is that I have past this location all the time but never stopped in. So I figured it was time.

I know for some people, fish and chips, are a combo. But I don't eat fries that much and I could care less about them. Give me the fish. If the fish is great and the fries are bad, will that stop me from going to a fish and chips restaurant? Of course not.




Two piece fish only, $1.90 each. The fish is pollock and are cooked to order. They have a nice, light, crunchy batter. Pollock isn't as good as cod but this pollock was good, light flakey, and good flavor. A good sized portion and well worth the price.

Service is good. The owner was the only person working and he was nice. He greeted me when I walked in, always a good start. He said he would be there in a minute, he was frying up some fish. The fish, are cooked to order, so expect a wait. But they are worth it.

Northridge Fish and Chips is a no frills restaurant. The fish is served on paper plates. There is nothing fancy about it. But the fish and chips and service was so much better the fish and chips at Henry's Hat, and for a hell of a lot, less money!!!

I would go back to Northridge Fish and Chips anytime. Good quality fish, good prices and good service.

Rosie's BBQ & Grillery-Closed

Rosie's BBQ & Grillery
9012 Tampa Ave
Northridge
818-349-3055

Anytime I see BBQ and Grillery, I know that the ribs are not going to be smoked. A real pitmaster would never have a grill. But I decided to try Rosie's anyways, mostly because of a Yelper, Rachel B. spoke so highly of it, though she is weird and doesn't eat any meat with bones attached.

Wednesday night they have an endless slab of baby back ribs, $18.99 with one side, mashed potatoes. I knew right away the ribs were cooked in an oven and finish on a grill because the ribs were too hot to pickup with my hands. The slab pictured had a lot of tender meat but as I worked towards the ends there were tons of fat and grizzle. This happens because the ribs are cooked at an high temps thus the fat isn't allowed to burn off.

Service was bad. As I was being seated I passed by the server station and three servers were standing and talking, even though there were plenty of people at the tables. About five to seven minutes later the server arrives and ask if I'm ready to order. Not even taking drink orders. This is not acceptable. The server should have come by earlier and should have taken a drink order. I knew what I wanted to eat but servers should take drink orders first. I asked for gravy on the mashed potatoes but as you can see I got dry mashed potatoes. I didn't eat much of it because the ribs were so filling. After I was finished with the first slab I had to wait at least another five minutes before the server came around. I got a batch of six ribs, still with a lot of fat, but while I was eating them the two guys next to me were moved to a booth because the area I was sitting in was reserved in thirty minutes. How did I know? Because the host told a bus boy and another server. Now I didn't feel rushed and I would have taken my sweet old time but restaurant staff shouldn't talk shop around other customers. I ask for my check and I am waiting at least another five minutes before he comes and takes the money. Now the place was getting busy but not too busy, so there is no reason for the long wait. Just terrible service. The server was nice enough but just too damn slow.

What is the difference between Rosie's and Wood Ranch? For ribs they are about the same, though Wood Ranch ribs don't have that much fat. Service wise, Wood Ranch is much better.

I would not go back to Rosie's, at least for the ribs. The ribs are just OK and have too much fat on them. Of course service is bad.

Brent's-Northridge

Brent's-Northridge
19565 Pathenia St
Northridge
818-886-5679

When it comes to deli's in the LA area, nothing beats Brent's!!! I've only been to the Langers in Northridge and I love this place.

I had the hot pastrami sandwich, $11.25. This had nice, flavorful cuts of pastrami with little fat. The pastrami is sliced thin and stacked high. The rye bread is fresh. This is a very good pastrami sandwich and beats the hell out of Langers.

Service here was OK. The wait for a table can be long, if you go on the weekends. We waited about 30 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. So because of this, service can be slow at times. We waited a little longer than we should for refills. The server didn't come back and ask how our meals were. They are hard working, it's not like they sit around and do nothing, I just think they get overwhelmed.

I would go back to Brent's anytime. A wonderful deli, with good food, fair prices, and at times good service.

Outdoor Grill-Closed

Outdoor Grill
18697 Devonshire St.
Northridge, CA 91324
818-363-6500

I've seen the Outdoor Grill's, Culver City location, driving to Tito's Tacos but never stopped in. So I'm in Northridge and decide to try Outdoor Grill. The Northridge location is just west of Reseda Blvd in the Albertson's shopping center.

I order the rib combo ala carte for $10.77. The rib combo included two beef ribs and four baby back ribs. The Outdoor Grill cooks their meat in an oven and then applys BBQ sauce over the ribs. I tried the baby backs first and wasn't impressed. The ribs were small even for baby backs and the ribs were charred all over the place. They were a bit tough to chew and lack any kind of flavor. The spicy BBQ sauce added some flavor to the ribs but the regular BBQ sauce was just glorified ketchup.

The beef ribs wern't any better. They were also charred and tough. Again the spicy BBQ sauce added flavor to the ribs but not enough.

I saw people order the tri tip and it did look very good but I wouldn't go back to the Northridge location nor would I try their Culver City location.

QT Chicago Dogs-Closed

QT Chicago Dogs
8650 Reseda Blvd.
Northridge, CA 91324
818-993-1999

Just down the street from Cupid's, is QT Chicago Dogs. My second stop on my hot dog quest, to honor the Chicago White Sox winning the ALCS.

A jumbo Chicago Dog is $2.69. But that's without natural casing. A natural casing Chicago dog is a $1 more. But I decided just to try to regular Chicago Dog first. A Chicago dog has onions, very green relish, mustard, pickles, tomotoes, celery salt and hot peppers. I always get my Chicago Dogs without the peppers.

The jumbo Chicago Dog is decent sized. But I wasn't impressed with this Chicago Dog. The other toppings seems fresh but I don't know, something is missing. When I went to Mustard's and had their Chicago Dogs, I felt I was in Chicago watching the White Sox at Comiskey Park. At QT I felt I was in LA eating a a restaurant that was trying to copy the Chicago Dog.

Nice service, friendly people but I wasn't impressed with the hot dogs. So much so, that I didn't order a polish dog as I normally do.

I may try the Chicago Dog with natural casing but $3.49 is kinda of steep compared to other places

Cupid's Hot Dogs-Closed

Cupid’s Hot Dogs
9039 Lindley Ave.
Northridge, CA

To celebrate the Chicago White Sox winning the 2005 ALCS and going to the World Series, I decided to do a hot dog run. First stop was Cupid's in Northridge. Then QT Chicago Dogs, and the last stop was Carney's, in Studio City.

Cupid's is just south of Cal State Northridge and offers a very simple menu. Hot dogs with mustard, onions and chili. On request, ketchup and relish can be added. Cheese is 25 cents extra. The only other thing on the menu is soda.

I ordered one hot dog with everything and one hot dog with mustard and raw onions. I had the mustard and onions hot dog first. Very good stuff. The hot dog had a nice snap, good flavor, and was hot. The bun wasn't toasted or anything, just out of the bag. The onions were fresh and I did enjoy the hot dog. For $2 it's a good deal.

What isn't a good deal is the everything dog. The everything dog has chili, mustard and onions. The chili tastes like the chili Del Taco puts on their chili cheese fries, had a Mexican spices flavor to it. And I hate thin, runny chili, AKA chili water. I was not impressed. The hot dog itself had the same snap and was served hot. The everything dog is also $2.

I would go again to Cupid's but I would not order anything with chili