weekend dreams burgers and grills lunch review

i posted a photo on instagram last night.  it was not food related at all, and somewhat randomly, it was liked by a place called weekend dreams burgers and grill.  this intrigued me, so i checked their profile, and then looked them up on yelp.  the photos of food looked pretty good, the reviews were positive, so i decided to check them out for lunch.

in fresno, they are the located in one of those weird, where is that spots.  west ashlan.  you look at the address, it doesn't help.  you check the map, and get a general idea, but still aren't sure.  which side of 99 is it on?  to answer that, it is west of 99.  it is in an unassuming little strip mall.

on to the food.  when i saw they had a pastrami burger on the menu, i knew i would be ordering that.  i'm a sucker for a pastrami burger i also saw they had chicken wings, so i thought i may give them a try.  the wings come in regular, spicy, and i think teriyaki.

the prices are pretty consistent with other local burger spots.  their menu is pretty big, with a lot of variety.  honestly, if they didn't have some items that are no brainers for me, i might have had trouble figuring out what to get.

the pastrami burger was very good.  the bun is pretty standard, and it comes with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato and onion.  i had mine without the onion and tomato.  i thought the burger was nicely cooked, the pastrami was good.  together it all worked well.

when i was ordering, i had to choose between the regular and spicy wings.  the counter person told me the spicy was pretty hot, but she also said she is kinda wimpy with regards to spiciness.  i figured i would give the spicy a try.  yep, they were spicy.  nose running spicy.  and while they may be more than some people can handle, i thought they were good.  the spiciness was there, but it also had a good hot wing flavor that was more than just 'oh crap, that's spicy.'

overall, i had a good experience at weekend dreams.  i would definitely go back, and i hope that as fresno grows around that area they check this spot out.

West Coast Fish N Chips

I ate here years ago, and had a rather average experience and didn't post a review.  Went back today and had very nice experience.  The facility is clean, smells nice, and the staff was very friendly.

I ordered the 2 piece fish + 4 prawns, which comes with 1 side.  For my side, I went with the fried okra.  I had a side order of pickle fries.  After an appropriate time for a chip shop, my food came out and I was pretty sure I may have ordered a bit much.  Everything tasted great - fish & prawns had a nice breading on them, not too thick, and it didn't pull away when you started to eat it either.  The fish fillets were a good size, too.  The breading on the okra was a little different, and it was also well prepared. Not super greasy, which sometimes fried okra can be.  I think my favorite part of the meal was the pickle fries.  I've had pickle chips before, and enjoyed them, so I figured this would be about the same.  These were pickle spears that were sliced down a bit to fry size.  They weren't as thin as like a shoestring fry, with a little more thickness.  The breading was similar to the fish.  Tasted great.  Still had some snap to them, and weren't all floppy like a sliced pickle can be.

My only drawback to the meal was the plastic fork.  If I was getting my order to go, fine, give me a plastic fork because I may need it, or I may have a better fork where I'm headed.  But if I'm eating there, give me a real fork.  Really, this fork struggled to cut the breaded fish - that's good on the fish, bad on the fork.

Overall, very good experience.  I'm stuffed from my meals, and I'm writing this like 2 hours later.  I'll definitely go back.

trader joe's south african style chips

i was a fresh & easy shopper. i liked quite a few of the products, they had some great prices on cheese & such, and they were a great option to grab stuff in addition to the place i buy most groceries.  but, they spread themselves to thin, and tesco sold off the franchise. my closest location closed, but there were still some open. then, almost all the locations in the valley closed.

so, i've begun to shop a little at trader joe's. the other day i saw these:

i was like, "what makes south african style chips?" and "i wonder what my family in south africa would think of these?"  so i bought them.  today, i opened them up with lunch.  they were pretty good, too.  here's how they're described:

so, theyr'e barbecue flavored then?  yeah.

lunch review - todd's cookhouse bar-b-que

i was out & about, looking for lunch in all the wrong places. and then it hit me that a new bbq place had opened in clovis. i loves the bbq so i drove over a few streets to get some.

like many local bbq places, they have a order at the counter system, with the menu on some large boards & hand held menus - worked fine, and they had enough counter help to keep it moving along. their staff was friendly and it took about 10 minutes after ordering to get my food.

i ordered the 2 item combo - brisket & sausage. it comes with 2 sides + bread. with a soda & tax it was just over $18. not terrible price, but a little more than some other local places.

the brisket was very tender, and that made me quite happy. it had a good flavor.  but what really did stand out to me was the tenderness - a lot of places fail at this. i could easily cut it with my plastic cutlery.

the sausage had a nice casing, and still had a good snap to it when i bit down. now, i have to admit that the sausage also confused me a bit. yes, it is clearly labelled as sausage, but in my head i figured it would still be a hot link or something spicy. nope, just a sausage. tasted good, but nothing special.

onto some other details: sauce - they have their own sauce, i think they call it's todd's memphis sauce or something like that. it's a sweet sauce, that has a slight kick to it. good, and they put a little on the meat itself and give you some on the side. i'm pretty sure that all of their meats are cooked without it, or with very little. i'm fine with it that idea, because a lot of times bbq places will hide their meat in too much sauce.  but what really stood out to me was what was missing from both the brisket & the sausage - any smokiness. now, i don't need or want to be overwhelmed by fake smoke flavoring, or for it to taste like i'm eating a campfire, but really, there was nothing about these meats to tell me that this meat was actually barbecued. and i also didn't see any smokers or grills outside (i could've missed it, or they could prep off site).  for example, the brisket, which was super tender, really lacked any sense it being barbecued, any smell or taste of being slow cooked on any sort of wood.

final bits - the sides. i had the hush puppies & the onion rings. both were good, and complemented the meal well enough. they had several others, and these sides probably are a little better suited to some of their other meals, but i liked them.

give it like 3/5 stars

• 1414 Clovis Ave
  Clovis, CA 93612

Arsenal Art Hop

this week @ arthop, check out artwork inspired by by far the greatest team the world has ever seen: arsenal f.c.

drop by peeves, check out some art, grab a pint, talk some footy.

richie's pizza & hot dogs

Had a slice of pepperoni & a Euro dog tonight for dinner.  Both were decent.  I felt that the slice was a good size, and I love folding a NY style slice and chomping away. I thought the flavor of it all worked well.  But shoot, it's a slice of pepperoni. Pretty hard to mess that up.

On to the dog: the Euro Dog is their all beef sausage, topped with sauerkraut and a spicy brown mustard.  I was pleasantly surprised by the spicy kick the sausage had.  I liked the mustard as well.  The sauerkraut wasn't my favorite, but it was okay.  I have to admit, boiled dogs aren't my preference, but it was still good.

The food didn't blow me or my wife away, but I would go back again. Also, I'm sure this would be some great eats late at night.  My only real complaint is that the prices seem a little high, but it's not insanely high.

home made chili

shhhh, don't tell anyone, i read the pioneer woman cooks blog.  anyway, i saw this recipe for a frito chili pie, and thought i'd try it out, but also modify it a bit.

the first change i made was to buy my own meat, cut it and grind it myself. (remember my tri tip hamburgers?)  i like the idea of buying better cuts of meat and using it over your generic ground beef.  also, it helps eliminate the idea that ground beef, especially company packaged beef, has a ton of different cows, feces, and whatever else in it.  this ground beef was just that, beef i ground.

anyway, after grinding, i browned it in a cast iron pot - my first time using this one.  i seasoned it a while back, but this is my first cooking in it.

the recipe calls for a canned tomato mixture, but i used fresh romas and a cut up red pepper.

anyway, cook it all, simmer it for a while, add some stuff, simmer, taste, season, simmer, and so on.  see the full recipe below.  here's the chili after it was all done.  so tasty.  but, to be honest, i made this chili today to freeze.  the really good thing, heather liked it, and she's not a big beef person.

so, i bagged up around half the chili, then added black beans to the remaining mix.  more simmer.  bagged up.  freezer.

the full recipe and directions:

• 2 pounds Ground Chuck
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced (optional)
• 1 can (12 To 14 Ounce) Tomato Sauce (16 oz)
• 1 can (10 Ounce) Ro-tel (diced Tomatoes And Chilies) (i subbed in 4 roma tomatoes, diced)
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon Ground Oregano
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin (i used less)
• 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder (more To Taste) - (i added more at one of the simmer stages)
• 1 can (14-ounce) Kidney Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 1 can (14-ounce) Pinto Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 1/4 cup Masa (corn Flour) Or Regular Corn Meal
• 1/2 cup Warm Water

Preparation Instructions

Brown ground chuck with garlic in a pot over medium-high heat. Add tomato sauce, Rotel, salt, oregano, cumin, and chili powder. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Add drained and rinsed beans. Stir to combine, then cover and simmer for another 20 minutes.
Mix masa with water, then add to the chili. Stir to combine and simmer for a final 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside.

brown bear's hot dogs

i've never hid that i enjoy a good hot dog.  in fact, i wouldn't mind owning a hot dog shop.  a bit back i saw a new shop opening near my work.  sadly, i didn't try it that day and it was months before i made time to get back there.  yesterday i did, i visited brown bear's hot dogs.  it's a former drive through coffee shop type shack, and so it's a walk up venue.  but, they had part of their parking lot set up with tents and tables, so you can sit and eat.

i didn't know their menu, and it's decent sized.  they have twelve different dogs and one that you build your own.  they also have three types of nachos.  i'll be honest, they have some strange sounding combinations (pineapple on your bbq dog?) but i wouldn't knock them without actually trying it.  they also have a breakfast dog & burrito on menu in the morning.  the dogs are $5 or $6, which sounds expensive, but they all come with chips and a soda as well.  the combo makes sense if you're just having one dog, but if you want to try multiple dogs out, the combo part is a bit much.  since it was my first time there, i wanted to try out two different dogs, which meant i took home two bags of chips.

after perusing the menu, i thought i'd give the bacon dog and the taco dogs a go.  i had the taco dog first, which has lettuce, cheese, taco sauce, salsa and the dog.  the buns are bigger, which is good because there is a lot of toppings on a good sized wiener.  i was surprised how tasty this dog was.  the taco sauce had a really good flavor to it, the wiener a nice snap, and it all worked very well together.

the bacon dog was a bit of a disappointment.  well, it was good, but it seemed like it would be fabulous.  it has grilled onions, mustard, cream cheese, pinto beans, and of course, bacon.  the bacon is a good, thick cut, but it's also previously cooked and cold.  this dog actually seemed to have too much on it.  i'd say it was good enough, but i really thought the taco dog was better.

overall, i'd recommend the place, although in more inclement weather it may not be a great place to eat, but still good for takeout.

7040 n fresno street,
fresno, ca. 93720

6:30 am - 9 pm m-f
8 am - 4 pm saturday
closed sunday.

patton and clairvoyance

“Wonder weapons? My God, I don’t see the wonder in them. Killing without heroics, nothing is glorified, nothing is reaffirmed. No heroes, no cowards, no troops, no generals. Only those that will be left alive and those that will be left dead.” - Patton

from the film of the same title.  probably not a real quote, but what an enjoyable film.  and that quote is damn near clairvoyant.

seriously, i love movies, and there are a lot of great, new films, but sometimes i wonder why more directors don't consider the cinematography.  there are a ton of shots that are just visually stunning.  film makers always copy from each other, why not employ more great shots?

also, the simpsons continue to be a great user of pop culture.

breakfast sandwich for lunch

so, i had a little time today and lunch and thought i'd see what my fridge had to offer to whip up. i saw eggs, i saw bacon, i saw bread. yep, that sounds good, and sounds like a bacon, egg & cheese sandwich would be in order. i had seen people on several web cooking segments weaving bacon. i thought i'd give it a try. here's the bacon cut in half, and woven together in the pan:

i'm not sure why i felt i needed to, but here's a picture of bread with mayo & goulden's mustard:

i shouldn't have cut the bacon in half.  it didn't stay woven together as it cooked.  lesson learned, but here's the bacon after it cooked.  it still tasted good.

here's an ugly egg picture.  i drained all the bacon grease, turned off the pan, let it sit for a sec and then let the residual heat cook the egg on it's own.  i actually find that it makes for a nice, not overcooked egg.  but, i should have let the pan cool a little more today.

bacon stacked up neatly on the bread

sliced cheese on bacon, egg on top of that

side shot of the finished product.  quite tasty.

and now, i will go coach track, get a minimal work out and stand in a warm sun to burn off those calories consumed.

drop the bass

this friday our boy dj woody is spinning @ veni's.  probably from 11-12:30 or so he thinks.

tower mardi gras 2013

so, we went out to the annual mardi gras parade in the tower.  we walked down the street and found a nice spot in front of the landmark where we had a good view and it wasn't too crowded.  i've been laughing at the flyer for the parade for weeks because it's soooooo phallic.  heather & i were joined by our friend abigail nolte, who helped us make jokes throughout the parade.  also, heather & i were playing a game of trying to find older versions of ourselves in the crowd.

(click on photos for bigger versions)

the first float rolled by, and they were jamming.  love music in parades.

you'll notice a lot of space ships and such, according to the rocket ship theme.

this was a cool tall guy, but a terrible picture

glad to see neighborhood thrift representing.  i'm a little surprised more tower businesses don't have floats, or even the businesses that weren't open today. weird.

so, this pirate group was there promoting their upcoming event. that's fine.  promote your stuff. what i thought was weak was they were actually walking around from their float and passing out flyers.  and not throwing beads.  what?  you're in a mardi gras parade and you aren't throwing out beads? for shame.

this truck cracked me up. again with the phallic rockets

mofo party band - good music, lots of bead throwing

these next two surprised me because they were protesting verizon & at&t.  not too often do you see some protesters in a mardi gras parade.  or at least i haven't.

our friends over at sawyers vintage service.  i teased @sonicfoundation on twitter because i watched him throw beads from the back of the truck directly into the tree.  in fact, that happened right after i took the photo.

to me, this was the best group in the parade.  they are a samba association of some sort, but they were killing it with a bunch of drummers and a dude with a whistle. simple, but awesome.

i think this float was from valentino's, and they were rocking a star wars theme.  you can see princess leia in white.

this next float had nidal from fresno life magazine on bass, and landmark folks on it.

so, i liked that this float had a dj.  but even better, the lady by the speaker was winging beads into the crowd with force.  like, you could hurt somebody force.  as they went by, i'm pretty sure she zipped one right into the face of the person in green (lower right).

dusty buns new little postal jeep

not surprisingly, there is a raiders fan club here.  but, they had a float, and were throwing out candy along with beads.  nice touch.

so, this haunted corn field maze had a float.  you can't seen the super creepy pumpkin head on the person right there.  the kids in front of us were legitimately frightened.

also, they had a bunch of krampusses.  krampi?

i'm a bit surprised there weren't more car clubs in the parade.  there was a vw club though.  we wondered where doucheland is?

i say doucheland because they were throwing out zero beads.  what the heck? why be in the parade if you're not throwing beads?  maybe they ran out, but we were maybe half way down the route.  also, this bug had a rooster on top.

overall, we had a good time.  and, i think maybe fresno pub quiz should do a float next year.

zero dark thirty review

we saw zero dark thirty last night.  i was sort of hesitant because i'd heard the accusations of it glorifying torture, defenses against that, reviews from people that loved it, reviews from those that didn't and so on.  eventually, i figured that i would see the movie at some point and make my own judgements.  so here those are.

first, i'd say it doesn't glorify torture.  i also wouldn't say that it was ambiguous about torture either. let me put it this way, the movie goes like this, and since it's based off of real events, i'm not spoiling anything for those that haven't seen it, unless you're unaware of the last decade of news.
1. the US captured al queda members and held them around the world in secret prisons
2. the US used enhanced interrogation techniques (torture) to get info from them
3. the reliability of the information gathered was questioned
4. the US stopped (?) using these techniques
5. the US found and killed osama bin laden

so, while the film doesn't directly say that the info gained through torture directly lead to bin laden, it leans that way, in my opinion.  it is a bit unclear, because some of the turns in the movie happen through little clips of detainee interviews, and we don't always know if that is an interview of someone subject to enhanced interrogation.  also, there are some bits that seem to be gained through the techniques that lead to negative outcomes in the film.  in some ways, there is the element where the movie is chronicling what we did, chronicling the outcome, and in that sense we could think of it as it just being presented.  this is what happened all along the points, we're not saying that one thing led to the other.  but, it felt to me that there was a bit more of the former, that the positive outcome of the while tail was predicated by the things we did along the way.

let me do similar historical breakdown of argo, another CIA movie out this last year:
1. there was an islamic revolution in iran
2. the US embassy was overtaken, and US citizens were taken hostage, but some escaped to the canadian embassy
3. the CIA came up with several bunk plots to get them out, finally settling on the movie plan
4. the movie plan worked

i don't think i'm shorting that plot too much, but i know argo came under critique because it didn't give the canadian gov't enough credit for the work they did in the situation.

let's combine that last thought with my thoughts on argo - there's an element of we don't know how much is reality, and how much has been shaped for film, what's still being redacted by the government, and so on.  and i know that zero dark has gotten a bit of critique for passing it off as "the factual account" of what happened.

overall, i liked the film.  it was well made, it's well acted, and it's an important story.  i did think it was a bit long at points, and the marketing leans a lot heavier on the final part to get bin laden than on the majority of what actually happens in the film, but that's pretty common in advertising.  i was impressed by how quiet the theater got during the film, especially during the last 1/3.  incredibly still in there (although the jackass in front of us did check his phone with about ten minutes left - cue dramatic finale and distracting amount of light right in front of me).  i was also surprised that only one person clapped when bin laden was killed - surprised and pleased.  i say that last part because of the reality of the film, and i don't think we should celebrate killing a real person like we're chearing rocky over drago.

so, good film.  i think it's on par with argo in quality, which i enjoyed.  but i thought django unchained was better than both of those (yes, i realized that is a completely different style of film).

blogger bowl season 5

it's was a fairly good fantasy football season for me.  and now that the season is over, and football season itself is winding down, i thought i'd post a pic from my fantasy league.

first thing to note - 1st place team: yep, that's my team.
second thing to note - look at the scoreboard on that game - 167 to 90!  in season, i had blowout of the week 5x, and that playoff would definitely make it 6.
third thing to note - i was last year's champ in this league.  back to back baby!

why you no respondz?

i read a lot of blogs.  sometimes, i comment on blogs.  what i don't understand, is why people don't interact with their commenters?  you took the time to write something thoughtful, interesting, and it piqued my interest.  i commented.  others commented.  but no interaction from the original poster.  very strange to me.

what do you think, why do people who blog not always interact via comments?

tako korean bbq truck

the food truck scene in fresno is growing, and that's nice.  one of the newer trucks has taken a spot in my heart, err... stomach... something like that.  tako korean bbq truck is becoming a regular visit for me.  and like a lot of the new wave of food trucks, they're on twitter and tweet out their locations, although they frequent the same regular spots, so you probably can figure out where they'll be each week.

i first tried their burrito, and liked the mix of korean spices, flavors and such.  it was like your average taco truck burrito in size, but that spice and sauce was great.  next time i tried their philly. it was good, but wasn't my favorite.  i went back for the burrito and eventually made my way to their korta, which is a korean style torta.  that thing is amazing.  they use great bread, which really does matter.  awesome meat on great bread makes a good sandwich.  and, it's rather filling.  i like the sandwich and the food enough that i've been back for it the last two fridays in a row, when they're at the manchester mall farmer's market.  i've even tried their spicy spam taco.

today, they had a takodog on their menu - a 1/4lb hebrew national dog, grilled, served with their bulgogi beef and cheese.  as soon as i saw that, i knew i would be eating it.  and, i had the korta as well, because i'm a big boy.  6 hours later, i'm still full.

fellowship of the ringwraiths

yes, it's about LOTR and not the hobbit, but still, it'll help us get ready for the hobbit.

punctuation woes

saw this sign the other day, and it made me wonder...

what should i tell 9 pm? something other than you'll be open late after 5 pm? or perhaps that you do gift wrapping?

mumford & sons lover of the light

idris elba teams up with mumford & sons for a video. very nice way to get my friday further underway

so you're saying we're in trouble

i saw the above car on october 31st, 2012.  the date doesn't really matter, but the stickers sort of do.  what am i talking about, the stickers are about 75% of why i took the photo.

on the driver side of the car, a sticker that reads omg (obama logo for the o), obama must go.
on the passenger side of the car, a romney/ryan sticker.

these aren't that surprising or noteworthy to me, especially living in the valley, which is largely conservative.  and although i didn't get a great look at the guys in the car, they looked working class, white, middle aged.

what really got me was the sticker in the middle.  you see, that's an upside american flag.  from usflag.org, "It is flown upside down only as a distress signal."

now, i know that.  in fact, i used to delight in annoying my dormmates that hung a flag in our lobby because i'd always flip the flag upside down when they weren't paying attention.  it was my little protest to them pushing it on us all, i was a little punk, and i got a kick out of poking them.  i did it enough that they took the flag down.

so, when i saw the combo of these three stickers, i knew that these gents, or at least whomever owns the car, was trying to protest the direction of our country under president obama.  that's cool, you can do that. i disagree with you, i don't think out country is under distress due to presidential direction. however, i wondered how they would have felt if they'd seen something similar under the last president.  or his daddy.  or reagan.  or whatever other president that they liked?  would they have called me unpatriotic?  would they be angered by such a demonstration?  would they told me to love america or leave it?  would it go beyond all that?

obviously, we'll never know.  but, back to the date of the photo.  i'm hoping that on november 7 that these guys will be feeling the blues of another 4 years of president obama -  a president that has turned around the economy, that has produced a housing market that is better than four years ago, a president that is leading our nation out of it's wars, a president that isn't sabre rattling his way into another war, a president that is working to improve the infrastructure of the country, a president that has fought for equality for all americans.  hopefully, these guys will get another 4 years of improvement, even if they won't acknowledge it.