The worst restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga?

We probably haven't been there, but for the record our number one contender is Zendejas Mexican food on Vineyard and Foothill.  My breakfast buffet was at best mediocre (albeit the conchas were tasty) and the service indifferent.  

Rocio had huevos rancheros which used the wrong salsa for the dish.  

It's no surprise that Zendejas was essentially empty all three times we looked at the place.  

1.5 tarts.  

SaturdaySunday Dogblogging

Notes from The Rancho La Jolla

I've been away from the Rancho a week, visiting The Data Warehousing Institute conference in San Diego.  So, Friday's new restaurant came from that direction...La Jolla to be precise.  La Jolla appears to be the East Hampton of the West Coast.  

Our fare was from a restaurant/tavern type place called "The Spot" which moved to SoCal from Illinois some thirty years ago.  We were lured by funky "Monte Cristo Churros," hoping to erase the of the inedibly bad churro we threw away in Oldtown San Diego the previous night.  

The Monte Cristo Churros sounded similar to the Monte Cristo sandwiches offered at The Studio Diner, a San Diego diner featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, but looked more like a churro than a sandwich.  On net, they were an interesting try, but an indescript, somewhat greasy failure.  

Rocio's Mac and Cheese was quite tasty and they had an ample selection of burger toppings for my delight.  Plus a delicious salad which Rocio will describe.  

On net, 3.5 tarts.  

Deli V Bakery

The Deli V Bakery is the hard-to-find cafe in Upland (it's on the non-street facing side of an all but abandoned street mall off of 2nd) that Rocio mentioned last week.  As she said, the food was uniformly wonderful, and chatting with chef/own Visa Lam revealed a person who cares deeply about taste and quality.

The cafe is all but impossible to find from the street, but is close enough to the Metrolink station to serve as a quick breakfast stop for commuters.  But Visa et al take too much care in preparation to effectively serve that market.  

Nonetheless, I think Visa said that they've been in business for 6 years, so it must have become a local institution by now.  

Rocio was mistaken below.  They were only out of pies last week.  We had a quite tasty lemon bar for dessert.  

Thursday we were in Upland for the farmer's market/street fair, and chose a piece of apple pie that Visa assured us was "to die for."  She was right.  Five tarts.  

Saturday dogblogging

Cuban Food

That's what the obviously new sign said.  As do the posters on trees from here to Upland.  We suspect it's in the former location of a Mexican place called Mi Casita which we never did get around to visiting.  IAE, its in a strip mall on Archibald and 6th.  

It was delicious.  My carne con papas (described as "Cuban stew") was wonderful, and Rocio was so taken by the flavorful rice and platanos that come with every lunch and dinner plate that her chicken dish is still mostly in the refrigerator.  Judging by the rapidly filling dining area, after jsut two weeks of operations, we can say that it's a success.  

BTW, it has an actual name:  Flamingo Palms.  4.5 tarts.  

filipino week

It seems these days we will be celebrating -at home, anyway- filipino week. It all started with a US - Philippines Expo to which Scott and I went at the Fairplex in Pomona. We were hoping to find stands that showed us more from the Philippines but we only saw local businesses showing their products.


It was disappointing to see the lack of abundance of filipino culture in these stands where basically there were vendors offering tv channels, handbags, beauty treatments and furniture. I refuse to believe the filipino culture is made of that only.
Also, we were hoping to find food stands because we know filipinos like to have good food at their table and were surprised to learn there were only three or four food stands at the Expo. As we approached them we were hoping for the best but ...I must say it, the caldereta and the sausage we tried were both cold, greasy and not as tasty as the food I've tried at our friends homes back in Clifton Park, NY.
So, in order to make up for the lack of enthusiasm in this Expo I decided I would prepare some filipino food myself.
And tonight we had the first batch. It is called "tocino".
Spite of the warm and humid weather outside I decided to give it a try today; after having a light lunch I cooked some brown rice and began preparing the "tocino" which literally means bacon but indeed is pork meat, cut in small pieces and sauteed in this sweet sauce that gives it a flavor that goes between thai bbq pork and chinese bbq pork. But it stays in the middle. With its own distinctive flavor.
Scott enjoyed it and I thought I wouldn't but indeed I was wrong. It was quite good, taking into account that I cooked using this mix I got from my friend Mia back in NY.
We ate it and later we went out with Borreguito (our dog) to have a long walk after the fulfilling dinner and it was a nice surprise to come back home, open the door to our house and discover that there was still, lingering in the air, the typical aroma to filipino food. It was a nice reminder of delicious past dinners.
Anyway, tomorrow it is siningang day. I'll tell you how it goes!
Salamat!

The Best Restaurant in Rancho Cucamonga

Nancy's Cafe.  Five tarts.  It is my favorite eatery in RC, and I think it might be Rocio's, too.  A cute little breakfast and lunch place (6:00am-2:00pm, every day) on Arrow Route and Archibald, with a homey 50's nostolgia decor (which looks heartfelt, anyway) and inevitably good diner food. 

I usually get the "tuna melt" regardless of time of day.  We easterners would call it a "grilled cheese and tuna" sandwich...true tuna melts are open faced and heated in a broiler, but properly done, both are great.  And Nancy's are great.  Rocio, of course, is a breakfast person and hasn't found a single breakfast dish to object to.  Today I joined the breakfast crowd with a sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich, which, as usual, was as tasty as any I've had.  

I've never regretted a trip to Nancy's.  

A pleasant surprise

Tonight we went to try a new restaurant / cafe that we found on the Internet. This time the requirements were lower, knowing what we are dealing with in Rancho and I found this cafe listed on the Inland Empire website. I did not know whether it was good or bad or what but it was the chosen one and we went there to have an early dinner.
Well, it was located in this empty mall that looked like no customers were to be drawn to but once we found the cafe we saw a few people chatting in the seats outside and I was not sure this was the best choice. Still, Scott seemed interested once he saw the menu.
The person at the counter insisted that I had soup but or salad and I decided to go for the fruit medley for a salad as well as half a panini.
They were out of desserts (which was a disappointment) but we were able to enjoy the dinner that was served promptly and much to our surprise, tasty. Scott's turkey chilli was good and my salad was fresh; I was amazed at how Visa (the owener and chef) exerted an effort to give the best of service.
It was really a nice surprise to learn about this new place, Deli V Bakery, in Upland. I wish there were more cafes like this one. It is a true gem!

Thai Diamond BBQ

Our ultimate restaurant that night was the Thai Diamond BBQ on Foothill in the vicinity of Archibald (after rejecting Casa Sanchez in Ontario as already having been tried, discovering that Fiesta Taco next door is no longer in existence, that the Zendajas in Ontario is closed, that the Taco Hut is too crowded and noisy, and Rubens Tacos closed as we tried to get in).  

The service was indifferent, although hampered by being confused by Rocio rejecting the chicken special because it was too much food, and the food palatable but not great.  Rocio got mixed vegetables and I tried something approximating Kung Pao chicken.  

Both were OK, not great.  Two stars.  

"Mexican Slop"

Let me clarify what I meant by "mexican slop."  The term came from a Tyler Cowen post in which he describes most American Mexican food as the same slop mixed into different forms, and plopped onto the same plate so that everything mixes together.  Neither he nor I would describe true Mexican food as slop.  But "slop" is a pretty accurate term for most of the Americanized Mexican food that is found in most "Mexican" restaurants (outside of the Southwest, at least).  

But I like that food anyway, and that's what I felt like that night.  

Foliage of Rancho Cucamonga

The Rancho is full of crape myrtles, which, I am told, don't grow nearly as successfully in the wet environs of Rio Blanco, MX.  Probably because they call them "astronomicas" down there.  

in search of the perfect restaurant

It was a perfect evening. We even fed the dog early!. The sun was setting, the peace of the night was starting to invade us and then Scott suggested to go out for dinner.
What???
Ok, he wanted out so we decided to try a new restaurant in Upland. Or so we thought. We were about to start a little oddyssey.
We had a name, "Casa Sanchez". We saw a raving review on the Internet and decided that yes, we wanted to try it and see how truthful that review was.
But it turned out to be in Ontario, not Upland, according to the useful 411 service.
So, off we went thinking this was going to be a nice dinner.
Well, when we began to see where we were headed, the thing began to not sound so appealing.
After leaving the familiar avenues and taking the route 60 the exit towards Mountain seemed too familiar to us.
Yes, that's right. It was a disappointment. We already knew that restaurant!
We had been there previously and although the service was good the food was nothing especial, just ok. So, we wanted to try a second option that showed up on the nav system: Fiesta Taco. We drove towards that and nothing, it didn't exist anymore.
So, we wanted to find another place because Scott wanted some mexican slope. Well, the next restaurant in line, Zendejas, was closed.
That's when I said "Let's go to Taco Hut!". I had seen recommendations for this place too and I knew more or less where to find it.
Little did I know what this place was about.
I was expecting a peaceful place but it turned out to be burstling with activity, people and noise. After the long drive we ended up in a place that wasn't what we wanted for the moment. So, we decided to drive a few feet from there and go to another "mexican" place called "Ruben Tacos".
And, as soon as we parked the car in front of the place, I said..."Hmmm... this place looks very empty!" but Scott insisted "It is open!" and just when he said that, they turned off the lights and closed the place.
What a luck!
That's when we decided to take whatever came on our way and ended up in a Thai restaurant that didn't have small portions and the service was not at its best. The food was ok but it was not what we were dreaming of tonight.
At least, I got to see part of Ontario, Upland and Rancho Cucamonga!
Next time, I promise to do my homework...research, research, research!