No. 226

Old Spaghetti Factory

 This is a chain with over 2 dozen locations, mainly West Coast but a handful are in far flung places like Ohio, Minnesota and Tennessee...

This location is in a handsome old brick building at the foot of Fifth in the Gaslamp district, just across from the Convention Center on Harbor Drive and a couple of blocks away from PetCo Park

The lobby features an ornate throne (I want one), an antique floor-to-ceiling mirror and the dining room displays several antique furnishings and other turn-of-last-century architectural details.

Needless to say, parking was horrible and we circled the block half a dozen times until a 3 minute parking spot opened up right outside the front door. The hostess said that they enforce the parking regulations strenuously there, even on Sundays but fortunately, my handicapped parking placard allowed me to park there for our meal...

We split a No.3 (Meat Lover’s Treat) with Sicilian Meatballs, Italian Sausage and spaghetti with Rich Meat Sauce and soup or salad ($12.99) and I had an iced tea. Our total was $15 and coin, not including tip.

The wife liked the minestrone soup, the meat sauce is similar to what we make at home (Mom's recipe), the sausage was heavy handed with the fennel and the meatballs and bread were generic.

We arrived at this selection because most of what they serve has cheese, which the wife can't have, or garlic, which I can't have...

Service seems to be minimal to non-existent. The hostess seated us at a table under the stairs, despite a number of booths being available, and quite a distance from the front door, people who were seated after us got their food before we did, the minestrone soup took forever and I was never offered a refill on my iced tea.

The waitress who seemed to do as little as possible (she didn't even "run" her own order) had the nerve to ask the wife "Want your change?" when she paid the bill with a Ben Franklin...

The wife left a $2 tip.

The web site: http://www.osf.com/

No. 225

Tender Greens

This used to be a Pizza Hut or something similar, in a portion of the old (Pickwick?) hotel building, which now houses the downtown bus terminal.

And it's a chain operation with approximately a dozen and a half locations (all in California).

We deliberately waited to check it out on a Saturday in order to avoid the downtown crowds during the work week. I was able to find a 15 minute parking space in sight of the table we chose and had to watch the truck during the meal in case they tried to tow it away, despite hanging my handicapped parking placard on the rear view mirror.

It's a large, cavernous interior with seating for maybe 100 plus and service is cafeteria style.

The wife ordered the Chinese Chicken salad (with tatsoi, mizuna, golden pea sprouts, carrot, wontons, roasted peanuts, cilantro, green onion & sesame dressing). I had the characterize platter (with some excellent prosciutto and salami, a small side salad with what may be mint and pomegranate, what may have been some butter or a very mild cheese, a shot of blue cheese and 3 slices of bruschetta) and an iced tea, For some reason the platters on the chalkboard aren't on the online menu. Our total was $26 and coin.

The wife thoroughly enjoyed her meal, a nice change of pace and in good contrast to the French Dip and fries we had earlier (we're still in the process of moving so we've been eating out a lot lately).

The web site: http://www.tendergreens.com

No. 224

Las Cuatro Milpas

 Rough translation: The Four Cornfields, whatever that means...

I've heard about this place since we moved here (it's been around since 1933) and finally made it over there to see what the hubbub was all about. We were lucky to find a handicapped parking space right across the street but the wife still had to stand in the line out the front door and down the sidewalk shortly after 10 AM.

It's in the barrio, just under the ramp to the Coronado Bridge and surrounded by the huge, colorful murals of Chicano Park, which are painted on the on-ramp structures to the bridge. It's also small and old, with a fairly limited menu and no web site.

I had the chorizo and beans and a couple of cans of Coke and the wife ordered the beef taco, a pork tamale and a side of rice. She tells me that the rice was nice and light, the tortillas which came with my order were great but the hot sauce was so hot that even she couldn't eat it. Our total was $11 and coin, very reasonably priced.

I had a bit of the taco (great shell, nothing to complain about there) and ate half of my chorizo and beans. We both agreed it was the best thing we tasted (a little too spicy for me) but will very likely never go back (parking issues, standing in line, etc).

No. 223

Cali Comfort BBQ & Sports Bar

 We tried checking this place out before (also on a Sunday morning) but got there after the church crowd started filtering in and didn't want to stand around for 15 or 20 minutes to get seated. This time, we got there right around 9:00 AM (also on a Sunday). It's a couple of miles from the new house...

I ordered their brisket platter (sauce on the side, please) with beans and shoestring french fries and an iced tea and the wife had a small order of pancakes.

The brisket was huge and I only ate a small amount of it, saving the rest for the wife's lunch later. The meat was tender and although they say it was smoked for 12 hours, ours at home has more smoky goodness. The fries were generic, the beans and sauce too sweet for my palate.

After we left there, we stopped by Sprouts for a few groceries. While I was sitting in the truck waiting for the wife to finish up her shopping, a homeless guy approached the truck, saying he hadn't eaten in a couple of days. I gave him the brisket (it was still warm), which he said looked good. He also said he'd never had brisket before and I told him "You'll like it"...

Incidentally, Number One Son's fiance Stacy tells me that her brother Tim (we've never met) frequents this place. As they advertise 22 beers on tap and seem to have plenty of large flat screen TVs, I can see the attraction...

We plan on going back soon to taste around the menu (ribs, tri-tip & pulled pork sandwiches and beer battered onion rings).

Their web site: http://www.calicomfortsd.com/

No. 222

Jones Brothers BBQ
 
We recently discovered this place while driving around our new neighborhood, checking things out.
 
They specialize in Mississippi style (sweet) BBQ and we ordered a brisket sandwich and a tri-tip sandwich, sauce on the side (it's also printed on the ticket), slaw and fries. I also ordered a couple of cans of Coke. Our total was $20 including a buck and change tip.
 
We were offered several different sauces and had the mild and a slightly spicier one.
 
The tri-tip was served on white bread, the brisket came on a bun and they drowned both in sauce  .
 
We weren't overly impressed with anything (they may have given us a pulled pork sandwich instead of brisket, the slaw was mediocre) and we have to confess that Phil's is still our go-to guy.
 

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