A Taste of Havana in Downey

Tropicana Bakery and Cuban Cafe

10218 Paramount Blvd.

Downey, CA 90241

At my day job, a truck driver and I got into a discussion about food. As soon as he found out that I was a food blogger, he rattled off a lot of restaurants for me to try. I wrote down about six of them to try, but I forgot to write down his name, sorry about that buddy. Anyways, one of the places he suggested was Tropicana Bakery and Cafe in Downey.

We only make it up this way about six times a year, but I knew one of those times I wanted to stop here. I love Cuban food and was definitely in the mood for a Cuban sandwich for sure. We got to Tropicana at about 5pm on a Sunday. The restaurant is split in half, with one side being the bakery side, and the other side is the cafe. When we walked in the front door there was a line for the bakery, but we got a table right away in the cafe.

The restaurant was very busy. Lots of families filled the 20 or so tables in this bustling restaurant. They had the requisite Cuban pictures hanging on the wall, along with many images of the Cuban flag being represented. The waiters and waitresses were almost all fitted with fedoras. Even the climate inside of the restaurant resembled Havana because it was so hot because they do not have air conditioning. After a bit of a wait, we ordered our food, and this is how it came out for us.

We had just come from a party, so I was trying to not fill up on bread, but the bread served in Cuban restaurants makes it so hard to pass up. The bread here at Tropicana was served hot and toasted perfectly. With just a hint of garlic and lots of butter, this basket could disappear quickly if I wasn't saving myself for my meal.

I am at an impasse as to which Cuban sandwich I like better, the regular Cuban sandwich or the media noche. At Tropicana, I selected the Media Noche ($5.50 to try. Katie and I split this rather large sandwich. This sandwich had some good things going for it, and some that were a little off for me. The sweet egg bread was not as sweet as I would have liked. It held the sandwich together perfectly, but kind of got the usual balance of this sandwich off kilter. This sandwich definitely had more meat than I am used to on a Cuban sandwich, which was a good and bad thing. The good part is you get more for your money, but the bad part was that it needed more mustard and pickles to regain the balance of the sandwich. The meats here are pretty good. Very tender, with lots of flavors. This was a good media noche sandwich, but not the best I have had. The chips that came with this sandwich also deserve some mentioning. They were good and oily, which made them pretty good in my book. Well worth the under-six dollar price tag.

If there is one thing that I know when we enter a Cuban restaurant, it's that Katie will more than likely order the Arroz con Pollo ($11.99). True to form, that is what she got. She likes her arroz con pollo a little more like a soup, or at least a little more liquid. The chicken was tender and the rice had a really good flavor. This was a very comforting dish that wrapped her insides like a warm blanket.

I have decided that this is my, "go-to" item in Cuban restaurants, the Masitas de Puerco Fritas ($11.59), Fried Pork chunks. How does that even sound bad? At Tropicana, they fried these pork chunks with onions. Some of the pork chunks were a little overdone, but the smaller pieces were perfectly tender. The flavor of the pork was right up there with some of the best I have had. I like mixing the black beans and rice together, and this was solid as well. Lastly, I wanted to mention the plantains here. These plantains were not as sweet as some others that I have had, which I kind of liked. I am not much of a plantain guy, but these were another hit in my book.

Tropicana Bakery and Cafe was well worth the trip to Downey. This is some real solid Cuban food, which is hard to come by in Southern California. I thought the prices were fair, and the menu was large enough that you could definitely find most of your Cuban favorites on it. The downfall for this restaurant could be its service. We waited far too long to order, far too long to get drink refills, and far too long to pay our check. Our waiter was nice but disappeared for long lapses at a time. Not sure if this is the norm here, or if we just hit them at the wrong time. In any case, it would not prevent us from coming back here again. Wish I had written my truck driver friend's name down, so I could thank him for sending us here.

Out of five accordions, (because the city of Downey is the birthplace of one of the best-known accordionists, Weird Al Yankovic), five being best to zero being worst, Tropicana Bakery and Cuban Cafe get 3 accordions.

For more information on Tropicana Bakery and Cuban Cafe, click here: https://tropicanabakery.com/

Football Frenzy #9 at Classic Q

The Classic Q

4250 Martingale Way

Newport Beach, CA 92660

It has been awhile since we have reviewed a place to watch football. In fact it was just a little less than a year ago that we reviewed our last place to watch football on Sundays. Out of the eight places we have tried up to this point, we have liked Oggi's the best. You can read that review here. Just in case you have forgotten, our criteria for grading a place to watch football is great food, great atmosphere, and great service. In our other eight trips to watch football we have not hit our personal trifecta, so the search continues to The Classic Q.

Full disclosure, I had a pretty bad experience here about fifteen years ago or so. I remember it involved being charged for ranch dressing and iced tea and soda refills during Sunday football. Back then I vowed that I would not go back, and that vow stood until a few weeks ago. We were going to be meeting up with my parents at a nearby burger place, so we chose to give Classic Q another try.

My team was playing in the afternoon games, so we got to Classic Q at about ten minutes to one. Richard and Lindsay got there before us and grabbed a table too close to the screens, but we moved back a table after the fans of the morning games closed out their tabs. The setup at Classic Q is pretty solid. They have plenty of TVs, but they were a little slow turning the finished morning games off and turning on the just started one o'clock games. More about the service and ambiance later, for now let's see the food.

So like I said before we were going to be meeting up with my parents after the game, so we were just going to snack. We decided to start with the Spicy Chicken Drumettes ($10.00). I kind of like it when a place gives you all drums. They are a lot easier to eat than the wings. These drums had plenty of meat on them, but the sauce was a little less spicy than I usually like. The ranch dressing here was pretty good, but I kind of thought the price for these drumettes was a little on the high side. We got eight on this plate, so that makes each drumette $1.25. Too much, but not a bad drumette.

At Classic Q they do not have appetizer platters, they have the Awesome Colossome Party Platter. This is the Mini Colossome ($13.00). This platter came with onion rings, fried zucchini, chicken strips, calamari sticks, jalapeno poppers, and mozzarella sticks. With this mini version we got three of each item, which was fine because we had to save room for dinner later. They certainly did not put much thought into the preparation for this platter by trying to make it look good. They simply placed the appetizers on the plate, with no garnish or anything. This did come with three sauces; ranch, BBQ, and marinara, but all of the appetizers were pretty average. The favorites for us were the mozzarella sticks and the fried zucchini, but they were still pretty standard.

I consider myself a good judge of potato skins. I have loved this appetizer for as long as I can remember. I mean, what's not to love? Cheese, bacon, potato, all in an easy to handle package. These potato skins were fried right. Not too greasy, with a very crisp crunch to them. The problem I had with these potato skins was the lack of fillings. The bacon was plentiful, but they needed more cheese. I will give Classic Q some credit for some really good ranch dressing. Very good flavor, and the consistency was right on. It coated the items well, including these skins.

Our trip to Classic Q to watch football was pretty good, with only a few hiccups. The service we got was pretty solid. Our waitress checked on us frequently and made sure we were okay. The prices here were not so wallet friendly. There were no drink specials that we heard about. My well rum and Cokes were $6.50, and Katie got iced tea, and they did not charge her for refills. Glad that ploicy has changed. There were plenty of TVs all around this large venue. With 52 TVs there is a seat nearby with your game on it. They have an outside patio for smokers, and of more importance to us, free wifi, so you can see how your fantasy team is doing. We like places with free wifi. All in all this was a pretty solid restaurant to watch football in. The prices and food were not good enough to overtake our pick for best place to watch football, Oggi's, but if we were in the area again and wanted to catch a game, we wouldn't hesitate to come back to Classic Q.

Out of five u's, (because there are only 71 words in the English language that have a q in them not followed by a u), five being best to zero being worst, Classic Q gets 2.5 u's.

For more information about Classic Q, check there web site here: http://www.theclassicq.com/

Cousin Meetup at Old Towne Grinder - CLOSED

Old Towne Grinder

177 North Glassell St.

Orange, CA 92866

It has been ten months since I last had lunch with my cousin Chris. He is a bright college student at Chapman  University in Orange. I should have had lunch with him before this, but you know how life can get. He is busy studying and getting straight A's, I have my fantastic job and this blog to keep working on, so life kind of slips away  little bit. The next thing you know it is Christmas Eve, and you haven't seen your extended family all year. So needless to say, I was more than happy to come see my cousin Chris.

Chapman University, for those of you that do not know, is located in downtown Orange. This area has seen a plethora of new restaurants open up in the last decade. So Chris and I have an almost endless amount of places to try during his lunch breaks from his endless studying. On this trip up to Orange he wanted to try Old Towne Grinder. He might have just chose this place because he doesn't like walking far, but I had wanted to try this place too, so it filled the bill for both of us.

Like all of the business's in downtown Orange, Old Towne Grinder's building has quite the history. According to Old Towne Grinder's web site this building at the corner of Maple and Glassell used to be Wally's Market back in the 50's. I was thinking that if Wally walked into this restaurant today, he would not be in for such a shock seventy years later. Old Towne Grinder still has that old time charm of a lot of places in Downtown Orange. There are soda bottles all over the place here, and if you are an old time soda freak, or just a soda fan in general, this could be your paradise. Tons of sodas for you to try. I am not much of a soda drinker, so I was all about the food. Let's see how it all turned out for us.

I was pretty hungry, so I started with some Chili Cheese Fries ($4.99). These chili fries were average at best. The cheese was not evident here, and while the chili did add moisture, it was pretty bland tasting. The fries themselves were average fast food style fries. Wish this had been served hotter as well.

I was at a loss as to what sounded good here, so I selected the Al's Philly Cheese Steak ($8.39 with drink). When this sandwich came out I was surprised at the size of it. Bigger than I had imagined for the eight dollar price. The first bite I had of this sandwich was good, but every bite after that kind of became average. The meat really needed to be seasoned, and the cheese needed to be more prominent. The onions and peppers were cooked well, but not enough to save this sandwich. As I was eating this, the bread became soggy. Not the worst Philly I have had, but not anything to make it standout either.

Chris was in a sandwich mood as well, so he got the Half BBQ Turkey Sandwich with Fries ($8.34). I have not seen a BBQ turkey sandwich on a menu in a long time. Chris thought this sandwich was pretty unique by having turkey on this sandwich. According to him the sandwich had plenty of meat, but the BBQ sauce was just okay. The bread did its job of holding the sandwich together, but did not add anything beyond that.

Chris was pretty excited about the fries here. I do not think it was the fries he was excited about, but the secret sauce that came with them. I thought it could be a ranch/Tapatio blend, but it was more on the mellower side. I was not as in love with it as Chris, but it was okay. I did think this was a solid serving size of fries to go along with the half a sandwich. No surprise to me, but Chris did not finish his fries.

Old Towne Grinder really failed to impress me. It was not bad, but everything kind of just tasted average. I thought the prices here were fair for what you got, but that is probably where the kudos for this place end. I could have maybe just gotten the wrong things, but that is the risk you take when you make only one visit to a restaurant. The restaurant was not crazy busy during our lunchtime meet up. They have limited seating inside, but even with the limited seats available, no one had trouble finding a place to sit here. Service was fine during our visit, and the food came out in a timely manner. Hopefully Chris and I will not wait ten months for our next lunch rendezvous.

Out of five postage stamps, (because the owner of Wally's Market, also used to be a postman for 27 years), five being best to zero being worst, Old Towne Grinder gets 2.5 postage stamps.

For more information on Old Towne Grinder, click here: http://www.oldtownegrinder.com/index.html

Landing Wherever the Reviews Take Us - CLOSED

Alicia's Mexican Food and Fruiteria

2520 E. Chapman Ave.

Orange, CA 92869

It's funny how many times I leave the house thinking I am going to be going to one restaurant, then ending up in another place altogether. This, of course, was the case on a recent Thursday morning. I was meeting up with my good friend Steve, and we were going to try a place that has a build your own breakfast burrito. Unfortunately, we did not do our homework and they only offer this on weekend mornings. Bummer! So off to Yelp, I went, and I found this place nearby that got some decent reviews. That's how we arrived at Alicia's Mexican Food and Fruiteria.

I was all geared up to have a breakfast burrito, so it was not a complete shock to my system to have Mexican food at 10am. This tiny six-table restaurant is located in Ralph's shopping center, at Prospect and Chapman Avenue. You would expect a restaurant this small to have you order at a counter, but they used waiter service here, although we did have to get our own drinks at the soda machine towards the back of the restaurant. Kind of confusing, because we did not see it back there.

The menu here is filled with all the items you would expect from a casual Mexican restaurant in Southern California. Burritos, tortas, and combination plates dominate the menu, but if you dive deeper, they also offer some more exotic offerings; including lengua, Bistek Ranchero, and mojarra. My buddy Steve and I took sometime perusing the menu, and after a long look, this is what we ordered from it.

Before we get to what we ordered off of the menu, these tortilla chips and beans were brought out to our table. I don't know what it is about simple refried beans being added to tortilla chips, but it always makes it seem extra special to receive this instead of just a regular basket of tortilla chips. It's almost like getting an extra appetizer for free. These were pretty good. The beans could have been more evenly spread, but hey these were free, so no worries about that. They also presented us with three containers of salsa, and one of pickled carrots and peppers, which I learned is called Escabeche. As usual for me, I was more partial to the red salsas than the green. None were really too hot, but they did add flavor to what we ordered.

I really liked having breakfast/lunch with Steve because, besides the fantastic conversation, he ordered a lot of stuff, so we could see more of their menu. He started with this pretty mediocre looking Shrimp Taco ($2.25). We have to admit that when this taco came out, we were pretty disappointed. Steve thought it tasted better than it looked, and it deceptively had more shrimp than it looked like. The shrimp had a slight citrus tinge to it, and the flavor was cranked up by adding some green salsa to this.

I am convinced that no food photographs as well as Chilaquiles ($4.95). The vibrant red colors, with the white from the sour cream and cotija cheese just seems to pop off of the computer screen. These were a decent, but not great chilaquiles. The red sauce was good but needed more depth of flavor. The chips also needed to be crisper. For the price though, this was a good sized portion. The rice and beans were good, but nothing that stood out as amazing.

Now back to Steve's portion of the meal, the Carne Asada Burrito ($4.95). Again, I was impressed with the size of this burrito for the price it was offered. This burrito was filled with steak, rice, beans, cilantro, and salsa. The amount of steak here was on the plentiful side, but the rest of the contents of the burrito really lacked the wow factor.

Steve's last item of this meal was a Carnitas Quesadilla ($4.95). I really enjoyed the smokey flavor of the inside of this quesadilla. It was a nice touch having the tortilla finished on the grill, but other than that, this was just not enough to make this anything but an average quesadilla.

I guess I was really in a breakfast mood because my other plate was the Eggs with Machaca ($5.45). It seems like so far every meal I have talked about I have been impressed with the serving size, but this will not be one of them. I thought this entree could have been bigger. The shredded meat could have been seasoned a little better, and the eggs a little more prominent. I did like the veggies here, and this dish was made better with a few spoonfuls of salsa.

Alicia's Mexican Food does have some good things going for it. The prices here are a huge draw. Almost all items are under the ten dollar mark. The portion sizes, for the most part, are a very good value. The food itself is good, but nothing you should drive out of your way for. Most items were good but lacked a big pop of flavor. The service we received was pretty good, and the food came out in a timely manner. For this being our second choice for lunch/breakfast on this day, it could have turned out a lot worse.

Out of five stethoscopes, (because the three largest employers in the city of Orange are all hospitals, including the one that I was born in, St. Joesph's.), five being best to zero being worst, Alicia's Mexican Food and Fruiteria gets 2.5 stethoscopes.

For more information about Alicia's Mexican Food and Fruiteria, click here: http://platillosaludable.com/home.html

A New Take on Food at Fresh Griller - CLOSED

Fresh Griller

2 Hutton Center Dr.

Santa Ana, CA 92707

Through the course of the last three years of this blog, I am not sure we have run across a restaurant like Fresh Griller. I guess you can say it is very unique. I mean we have eaten in over 350 different restaurants, and not seen anything like Fresh Griller. Sure there are components of the restaurant we have seen before, but if you asked us to describe Fresh Griller, we would probably say it is a little like this restaurant, and like that restaurant, with just a little pinch of this restaurant. In simpler terms, it is kind of a hybrid of other eating establishments, but very much unique to itself.

We were recently invited to try Fresh Griller. Before leaving the house I did a little research. They have been open for just over two months now. Started by an ownership group of a couple restaurant veterans, they embarked on a journey that went across the country, as well as to other parts of the world to come up with a concept that got them to be excited about the restaurant business again. What they found out during these travels is that food is at its best when it is done simply, when it is fresh, and when food has the least number of steps from the farm to your kitchen table. To be honest, when we showed up here I kind of thought this was going to be more like a Flame Broiler, but it turned out to be so much more.

We got to Fresh Griller at 6pm on a Friday night. There were a few people drifting in during our visit, but with all of the high rise office buildings around here, they definitely get their fair share of customers during the lunch rush. Right, when you walk in the door you are met by two large signs that tout their philosophy here. There are no microwaves, freezers or can openers here. Fresh Griller is focusing on fresh, simple, and natural menu items. Let's take a look at the ordering process.

The ordering process is done in four stages at Fresh Griller. First, you choose how you want your meal. The three options include a bowl, salad or wrap. Then you choose chicken, steak, veggie, or a combination of any of these. Now it is time to bring on the stuff. Seven options are offered to go along with your meal. They range from the mundane, white or brown rice, to the more exotic offerings like Mediterranean beans, ginger pico de gallo, a squash blend, pepper and onion blend, or a Thai kale slaw. Then they have six sauces to make a decision about. This was the hardest part of choosing my meal for me. Options include sweet ginger,  barbecue sauce, balsamic vinaigrette, teriyaki, aji Verde, or a wasabi ranch.

Ordering was painless with the two employees behind the counter. They were very helpful and answered all of our questions about the products. Our creations were placed on a tray, and we were off to explore what we had ordered.

I had no hesitation as to what kind of meal I was going to get, I got the bowl, with a combination of chicken and steak. The sirloin was chopped into bite-size pieces and was very tender. The chicken, marinated boneless breast meat was also far from being called dry. I went the simple route with my bowl, only adding brown rice and the pepper/onion blend. The rice was fine, but the peppers and onions were cooked to very pleasing crispness, which added a good texture to the bowl. What really made this for me was the sauces. The wasabi ranch was a decent choice. It went well with all of the veggies and coated the meats well, but the sauce that really popped with flavor was the Aji Verde. This South American inspired sauce will be my only choice for future visits here. Great unique flavor, with some real bark behind it. I even took some of this home with me and made a sandwich with it the next day. Really good.

Katie also went the bowl route for her meal. At first, she thought she was going to miss the absence of cheese here, but the flavors on her plate squelched those fears. There were so many new items for her palate to comprehend, that she did not miss cheese. She was very happy with the Thai Kale Slaw and the Ginger Pico De Gallo. This plate of food piqued her taste buds into finding her perfect combination for future visits here.

Besides the wraps, bowls and salads, Fresh Griller offers Pita Chips and Humus. Sorry, I did not get a good shot of the pita chips, but the hummus was one of the freshest we have had. I am used to humus being a little more firm, but it tasted great. To give it a little more pop I added the Aji Verde sauce to it, and that made it even better.

The attention to detail does not get lost at Fresh Griller when it comes to beverages either. No Coke or Pepsi here, they offer Pure Cane Fountain Drinks, Gourmet Brewed Iced Teas, and Natural Bottled Beverages. I am not a soda guy, so I did not try those, but the tea was wonderful. They offer four unique loose-leaf teas, each equally good.

Two dessert items are on the menu at Fresh Griller. They are very proud of their "Fruit of the Gods" Yogurt Parfait. This layered dessert has fruit on the bottom, slightly sweet yogurt on top of that, and then granola is added for a little crunch. I am not a big yogurt fan, but even I found this enjoyable. Not crazy sweet, but it still tastes like a dessert that is not going to make you have to jog an extra mile or two. I especially loved dipping the Ginger Snaps into the yogurt. The Ginger Snaps they sell here are made by Camela's, and they are dairy and gluten-free, so no guilt when you eat 25 of them, right?

Fresh Griller was a great new place. Part Chipotle, (for their ordering style), part Flame Broiler, (for their bowls), and unique to itself. The only problem that I see for this concept is that people will not be able to identify it, so they may avoid it in favor of something they know. This would be a mistake. The food was very fresh, the flavors combined to create great tasting food, and the vibrant colors made the food even more appealing. After eating here we struck a very nice balance. We were full but did not have that heavy feeling that makes you feel sluggish and lethargic. Guess that is what happens when you eat healthy food. One last thing to mention is the prices at Fresh Griller. All meals are $6, which is a great deal due to the portion sizes.

After talking to John from Fresh Griller, I kind of got the impression that this is kind of the test restaurant to gauge how the public will receive this restaurant and concept. Right now, since they are in the shadows of many office buildings, they are only open Monday through Friday 11 to 8. We hope people give them a try, so they open more locations very soon.

We would like to thank everyone at Fresh Griller for the opportunity to try out your restaurant. Thanks go out to John Costello, who walked us through the process of Fresh Griller, gave us a little history of the place, and answered all of our questions. Thanks for the great conversation. Also thanks to the Assistant Manager Heather, who really made sure we were happy with everything. We should also mention the girls behind the counter who put everything together for us. They were very friendly and knowledgeable about their food. Lastly, we wanted to acknowledge Ali Metzger at Bolt PR for contacting us and introducing us to Fresh Griller. Thank you very much, Ali!

For more information about Fresh Griller, check out their web site here: http://www.freshgriller.com/