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.

The BBQ Shack and Grill-Closed

The BBQ Shack and Grill
228 N Gaffey St
San Pedro
310-702-1376

My holy grail for BBQ pork spare ribs is; Phillips BBQ. But I have found a BBQ restaurant that comes damn close to Phillips. I met the owner of The BBQ Shack and Grill at the Que N for Kids/ OC BBQ Festival, where he placed 1st in chicken-at BBQ competitions chicken thighs are judged and 15th overall. That was his first competition and finishing 16th out of 57 competitors is damn good.

I called up a friend, who is from Kansas City and loves BBQ, and we made the drive to The BBQ Shack and Grill.




Spare rib plate, $5.99, with mac and cheese. Three beautifully smoked spare ribs came in this great deal. The bark is a bit sweeter than I like but it good. But the ribs are great!! So tender; for you novice rib eaters, falling off the body is too well done. These ribs pulled away from the bone easily but had a bit of a pulled, the sign of a perfectly smoked ribs. There was very little fat, and lots of meat on the bones. Just a wonderful, example of BBQ spare ribs.

The mild BBQ sauce had chili flakes inside, so it is a bit more spicy than other mild BBQ sauces. But it added a nice flavor to the ribs.

Mac and cheese, sorry I forgot to take a picture, was very creamy but a bit bland.

Service was great. The owner is very friendly and helpful.

The ribs were so damn good. They only accept cash, no plastic. But I would go back to The BBQ Shack and Grill anytime!!

Pan-Pacific Restaurant

Pan-Pacific Restaurant
1136 Nagoya Way
San Pedro
310-547-1940

Located at the Ports O Call row of restaurants, Pan-Pacific Restaurant is your typical seaside restaurant.

I got the scallops plate, $8.99, with fries, cole slaw and a cup of clam chowder. The scallops were bite sized and crunchy but not hot. I waited about five minutes for the order and I expect the scallops to be hot but they were barely warm. Not good. But the scallops were fresh and firm. The batter was a bit thick but crunchy. This would be a very good item if it was served hot, right out of the fryer.

The clam chowder was surprisely very good. A bit thin, they could add more heavy cream to the chowder but lots of clams and potatoes and a good hearty flavor. This was served fairly hot.

I didn't touch the cole slaw. But the fries were very crispy but even then it wasn't warm.

Service is good, though a bit confusing. They have two entrances into the Pan-Pacific, with one entrance near the cash register and the other where you pick up the food. It wasn't busy when I was there but I know the two entrances have to cause confusion when it is busy.

I wouldn't rush to go back to Pan-Pacific Restaurant. The prices are fair and the quality and freshness of the seafood is good but they need to serve items hot, right out of the fryer, not some reheated or items that have been sitting under a heat lamp for 30 minutes.

Papadakis Taverna-Closed

Papadakis Taverna
301 W 6th St
San Pedro
310-548-1186

Papadakis Taverna is owned by former USC football player John Papadakis. They opened the restuarant in 1973 and has been a staple of San Pedro ever since. You are greeted with a firm hand shake by John, the man is like 6'4 and built like a damn building, of course he's going to have a firm handshake. From then on you're treated like a king.

I ordered the salmon, $25.95, with soup and salad. The soup was a lemon rice soup. Not too sour, with plenty of rice. The salad was romaine lettuce topped with feta cheese and Greek dressing. The dressing was very good, not too sour like most Greek dressings can be. Fresh lettuce and feta cheese made this a good salad.

Before you order they bring out a tray of meat and explain what is on the menu. On the tray they don't look that big, but once on your plate they are huge. The salmon was huge, the menu says 14 oz, but I bet this salmon was at least a pound. The salmon was grilled to perfection with a tangy sauce. They don't ruin a simpe good piece of fish with a bunch of junk. They provide a mustard mayo sauce for the salmon and that just made a great dish better. This was well worth the price.

Service was great. Besides John being a great host, the server was nice and friendly. Drinks were refilled quickly, dishes were cleared, we didn't lack for anything.

I would go back to Papadakis any time. During dinner you are treated to dancing by John and his niece. A belly dancer and the breaking of plates. If you never been to a real Greek restaurant, you need to go to Papadakis. You are treated not like a number but like family.

TNT Wing & BBQ-Closed

TNT Wing & BBQ
806 S Gaffey St
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-548-5771

I found out about TNT Wing & BBQ from Yelp. I do look at Yelp but I try not to let the the reviews influence me. But I will say that Kim S guy, who reviewed TNT, is an asshole. Anybody who would write "Thank God for Katrina" is a stupid, idiot, old man.

Anyways I went to TNT with a good friend, even though she did go to USC. Just kidding. :) I ordered the three piece pork rib dinner, $8.10, with cole slaw. I had high expectations but they were not close to being met. The ribs were cooked in an OVEN!!! How can you say BBQ when the ribs are cooked in a oven?? There was no smoke flavor, no smoke ring. Nothing but a tasteless bland ribs. The ribs were also very dry. The sauce was so sweet, I thought it was eating kechup.

Service was very good. The two ladies were very nice and helpful. They kept refilling drinks and were very attentive.

I would not go back to TNT for the BBQ. I may try their wings, they looked very good.

Chicago For Ribs-Closed

Chicago For Ribs
1637 W 25th St
San Pedro
310-832-7774

There is this myth about Chicago beening the rib capitol of US. Part of it stems from the TV show, MASH. When Hawkeye ordered a couple slabs of spare ribs from a fictional place called Adam's Ribs, near Dearbon Station. There is a Dearbon Station but there has never been an Adam's Ribs. While Chicago was the place for pigs to be slaughtered and shipped, Chicago is not a really BBQ city.

I first went to Chicago For ribs when they had a location in Pasadena back in the mid to late 90's. The Pasadena location is long gone but I didn't realize there were other locations in the LA area. So I went to their San Pedro location to see how their ribs were.

I ordered the half rack of St. Louis pork ribs, $17.99 with mac and cheese and Chicago fries. The ribs as you can see are cooked in an oven and have no smoke flavor at all. I asked for no sauce on the ribs and that's a mistake because to get any kind of flavor from these ribs, you have to drown them in bbq sauce. They are not good without sauce. The sauce is full of vinegar. A little bit of a kick but nothing great. I was not impressed at all with these ribs and they are overpriced at $17.99. When I was leaving I noticed they had a daily special for $9.99. I assume the special would have been a 1/4 rack of spare ribs. Tony Roma's is better and that's not saying much. But somehow Chicago for Ribs has been voted the best in the South Bay over and over.

The mac and cheese tasted like they were made from a box. The Chicago fries, waffle fries, were actually pretty good but they were a bit undercooked. About two more minutes in the fryer and they would have been perfect.

I normally don't get dessert but we had the Lake Michigan mud pie, $5.99. A coffee flavored ice cream cake with a cookie bottom. This was very good but I'm not a big coffee ice cream fan. This would have been better if they used just plain vanilla or chocolate ice cream.

Service was OK. The server had a thick Spanish accent and didn't really understand English. We asked what kind of ice cream was on the Lake Michigan mud pie and he kept answering, Ice cream. After the third time asking, it wasn't worth the effort. They need to train their staff on how to sell their desserts. The second rule being, knowing what the hell is in their desserts. The first rule being, ask customers if they want dessert. Our server did ask.

I would not go back to Chicago for Ribs again. The ribs aren't good at all and they are overpriced.