Finding Fronk's to Be Fantastic

Fronk's 

16922 Bellflower Boulavard

Bellflower, CA 90706

There are certain foods that people get the most passionate about. Pizza, Mexican food, and hamburgers are the items that get the most comments and arguments on my blog. People always think that their local spot for pizza is excellent or that the Mexican restaurant they eat at every Friday night makes the best carnitas. Burgers are the food that gets the most debate on these pages. Everyone seems to have an opinion, which I love because I get to try more burgers. That's what brought us to Fronk's.

After I declared that G Burger is my favorite burger place in OC for now, a blog reader, Debi, wrote me and told me that I must try Fronk's in Bellflower. Although not in OC, she claimed it was right up there with the burgers she had at G Burger. I wrote down the name, checked the menu, and waited patiently to try Fronk's.

That chance came about a month later. We got roped into attending my niece's cheerleading competition in Long Beach. We went last year, and many groups used the same songs. Almost every group used "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen, a catchy song, but after hearing it for the tenth time, it nearly makes your ears bleed. I had a feeling that this year's song that would be used to death would be "Blurred Lines," and these groups did not disappoint. I counted at least four of the groups using that song. So, after hearing it the fourth time and wanting to avoid going for five, we decided to take the short drive up the 605 Freeway to Bellflower and try the burgers at Fronk's.

I can never recall being in the city of Bellflower ever. The area where Fronk's is now located reminded me of Main Street, USA, but a little more rundown. There are some small businesses, a lot of traffic with little parking, and many empty business spaces. Even Fronk's is on borrowed time at this location. We were alerted that they would be moving by the projected date of February 1st, 2014. Do not fear Bellflower residents; they will still be in your city but in a new building at the corner of Bellflower Boulevard and Walnut Street.

Back to the still operating location of Fronk's, which is tiny, with about fifteen tables. I really liked the eclectic decor that they had here. License plates, old lunch pails, and random pictures adorned the walls. My Dad went to the restroom and had to take a picture of Pekkle, which is hung above the urinal. I did not know that my Dad was such a fan of Sanrio characters. Guess I know what I'm getting him for Christmas now. Each table is adjacent to a ledge that holds numerous hot sauces and other condiments. Tapatio was the only hot sauce I could tell needed to be added, but there was enough here to compensate for that.

We got here at about 11:30 on a recent Sunday morning. We were the day's first customers, but the restaurant had a smattering of people wandering in during our visit. The menu here was intimidating for me. It was not enormous, but I don't make it up this way with great regularity, so I wanted to ensure I ordered the right things. Burgers, sandwiches, and barbecue dominate the menu. We quickly ordered a bunch of food and waited with great anticipation. This is how it all came out for us.

There were numerous items I wanted to try off of Fronk's appetizer section of the menu, but I knew I had a lot of food coming, so I limited myself to the Beer Battered Corn on the Cob ($2.25). Yes, you read that right, beer-battered corn on the cob. After eating this, I wondered why the fair does not offer this. I am not even a big corn-on-the-cob guy, but it was hard for me to share this with Katie. The breading had the consistency of an excellent piece of fried fish, the corn inside was good, and the jalapeno ranch sauce served on top gave it a big flavor boost. It is a unique appetizer and something that should not be missed on visits to Fronk's.

I am always interested in seeing what Katie comes up with when ordering and if I can guess what she will have. I am about 70 percent accurate most of the time, but the menu at Fronk's was too big, and I wondered what she would get. She ended up selecting the Buffalo Chicken Ranch Sandwich ($9.75). They beer-batter their chicken, then toss it in their spicy Buffalo sauce. Katie is not a big fan of spicy food, but she liked this sandwich. She thought the sauce had enough heat to tickle the taste buds but not overpower the chicken. She liked the batter on the chicken, as it was not too heavy, but you could still get a good crunch from it. The bun did an excellent job of holding everything together. She proclaimed that this is the way all buffalo chicken sandwiches should taste. The onion rings had the same beer batter, which lent to a light-tasting onion ring while still having a decent crunch.

My Mom spied the Pulled Pork Sammy ($8.95) and could not resist this house specialty. The slow-roasted pork was topped with melted jack cheese. It usually comes with Cole Slaw, but my mom wanted this on the side. This was a good-sized sandwich piled high with pork and more than enough cheese. The pork was tender, with a nice smokiness from the meat and sauce. My Mom loved this sandwich almost as much as she loved the light, almost tempura style, onion rings she chose as her side item. She left Fronk's a delighted woman.

This good-looking plate belonged to my Dad. Unsurprisingly, this mushroom lover ordered The Mighty Mushroom Swiss ($10.25). The burgers here are half-pound Angus patties. This one is topped with sauteed mushrooms, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, Swiss cheese, and mayonnaise. Again, there was plenty of all the toppings on this one. I really liked this burger. Even with all the cheese, mushrooms, and onions, you could still taste the quality of the meat. A great burger. As a choice of side item, my Dad went with the Bacon Blue Salad. This salad comprised mixed greens, ranch dressing, tomato, chopped maple bacon, and crumbled blue cheese. I liked that this salad featured real bacon instead of those dreaded processed bacon bits. My Dad claims no dressing was used on this salad, so he would dock points for that. The burger was great, even the half he took to work the next day.

So I settled on the Spicy BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger ($10.50). This was another huge burger. The half-pound patty was topped with cayenne chili barbecue sauce, maple bacon, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato, pickles, cheddar cheese, and mayo. I liked this burger but should have gone with something simpler on my first visit here. The spicy barbecue sauce overpowered everything here, and I could not get a good handle on the bacon and meat with this one. The bun did an admirable job of keeping everything together while remaining soft. For my side item, I had the Beer Battered Zucchini Sticks. I thought these would not be too good because they were cut too large, but they were pretty tasty. Good, crisp breading on the outside, and the inside was tender. I would not hesitate to get these zucchini sticks again.

Since Fronk's is known for its barbecue as well, I, of course, had to try it. So, I went with the Half Rack of Baby Back Ribs ($13.95 a la carte). These are served with their own dry rub, then lightly brushed with their barbecue sauce. Even though I was full from the burger, I had difficulty parting with any of these ribs with my table mates. I liked them because they were tender. We only had to lightly pull the meat, which would come off the bone. I also liked that they were not drenched in sauce. I always think restaurants try to hide something if their ribs are doused in sauce. There was plenty of meat on these, but there were also some fatty ribs. Eating these piqued my interest in their other barbecue items, which I hope to try on future visits.

By the end of this meal, our stomachs were asking for mercy, but there was one more thing we needed to conquer, the Famous Peanut Butter and Hot Fudge Ice Cream Sundae ($6.95). Even with our bodies screaming no more, we devoured this sundae in mere minutes. The base was a homemade fudge brownie, which was then topped with melted peanut butter, hot fudge, topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream, and then crowned with a silo of whipped cream, sprinkles, and nuts. All great things singularly, but when put together, it was fantastic. One of the best ice cream sundaes we have had while writing this blog. It is worth the trip to have this sundae. It was that good.

If you have skipped ahead to this recap, shame on you. You missed one of the better restaurants we have been to this year. We left Fronk's very full, wondering when we could return. I was running through scenarios when we could find an excuse to return to Bellflower again. Maybe on the way to the airport, we will take in some of the community events like Summer Streetfest or the famous Liberty Day Parade, or perhaps we will just take another drive up this way on a lazy Sunday afternoon when we won't hit too much traffic, and have nothing else to do, but eat great burgers and that sundae again. I still remember our visit and have told all my foodie friends about our time at Fronk's. The service and food were excellent, and we can not thank Debi enough for the fantastic recommendation. You were right about Fronk's. It even made the cheerleading competition worth sitting through, which is saying a lot.

Out of five apples (because I learned that Bellflower is not named after a flower, but a kind of apple called the Belle Fleur), five being best to zero being worst, Fronk's gets 4 solid apples.

To keep up to date with all things Fronk's, go to their website here: http://www.fronks.com/

Thanksgiving Sandwiches Aren't Over Quite Yet - CLOSED

Capriotti's Sandwich Shop

4221 MacArthur Blvd.

Newport Beach, CA 92660

It is very rare that I feel that I am, "in the know" about restaurants before anyone else. About four years ago I was reading an article about restaurant franchises that were ready to explode, and there was a sandwich shop called Capriotti's on that list. I guess sometimes reading does pay off.

I had never heard of Capriotti's before, and at that time they had some units back east, and a few in Las Vegas. We had a trip planned to Vegas that coming weekend, so I put Capriotti's on our list of places to try. We grabbed our sandwiches to go, as we headed back home after another disappointing trip to the casinos. Even after our four-hour drive back to OC, we still really enjoyed our sandwiches that day. Capriotti's soon became our tradition when we headed to Vegas. We would almost always make a trip there during our stay.

Just like a crystal ball, that article that I had read predicted that Capriotti's was ready to explode, and they sure have. They now have units operating in 13 states, and much to our excitement, they now have 17 Capriotti's going to be operating, or already open in California. In OC we are lucky, because we are home to two of these, (Newport and Tustin), with Fountain Valley and Irvine stores already in the works. We can now get our Capriotti's fix, without having to head to Vegas and lose all of our money in the casinos.

Capriotti's comes to us from Delaware. Yes, the state that you have probably not thought about since you had to learn the capitals in 8th grade. Delaware has given us nylon, the first log cabins in North America, the first beauty pageant was held in Delaware, and now The First State also brings us Capriotti's. In 1976 Lois Margolet opened her first sandwich shop in Wilmington, with her brother Alan. Their original concept was to make the best turkey sandwich ever. They roasted 12 turkeys a night, and then made sandwiches fresh to order the next day. Word spread about these sandwiches, more locations opened, and finally, they branched out across the country.

We were recently given a coupon for two meals at Capriotti's, to share our experience with you. Since we eat here frequently, we were very excited about this opportunity since a lot of our friends have never tried Capriotti's before. We arrived at the Newport Beach location at around 5:30. There were a few people eating here, but a majority of their business is during lunch, I would assume. Katie has been here during lunch and confirmed this.

For those you not familiar with this location, they are located in the same parking lot as Classic Q, and right next to the 7 Eleven, a few blocks away from John Wayne Airport. We were greeted very warmly by a young woman at the register, who was very chipper. It was bright and warm inside, with a large variety of chips on display. The menu here is what you would expect from a sandwich shop. Hot and cold sandwiches, salads, and cookies. This is not an assembly line type of sandwich-making place. Sandwiches are put together in the back and brought out to your table. Let's see how everything turned out for us.

I knew Katie would be getting Capriotti's signature sandwich, so I asked the girl upfront what the second most popular sandwich was, and she instantly replied that it was this Capastrami ($7.99). This sandwich comes with hot pastrami, Swiss cheese, Russian dressing, and Coleslaw, some of my favorite items in a sandwich. I always like sandwiches that have different elements to them. This one had the sweet from the Cole Slaw, the Russian dressing was good and plentiful, and the saltiness from the pastrami balanced out this sandwich. The pastrami was spiced nicely with a great flavor. The bread was soft but did not fall apart, even with the moisture from the contents of the sandwich. They have three sizes of sandwiches here, (9 inches, 12 inches, or 20 inches), and surprisingly this 9 inch filled me up pretty good. I chose my standard Jalapeno Chips and an Iced Tea to drink.

Here's the sandwich that the Capriotti's empire was built upon, The Bobbie ($7.49). This sandwich has been described by many, including me, as Thanksgiving on a roll. With the slow-roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and mayo, it is easy to see why everyone has this nickname for this sandwich. I'm not too into cranberry sauce, so this is not the sandwich for me, but I can appreciate it just the same. Their turkey is pulled fresh every day, so you get that same sensation that you get the day after Thanksgiving when you are eating turkey sandwiches. Katie always gets this sandwich on visits to Capriotti's. They also offer this sandwich with a side of gravy, but Katie wanted this as is.

As we have done once every two weeks or so, we enjoyed our sandwiches from Capriotti's. I look forward to trying more of their menu if I can just get away from their addictive Capastrami. The Cheesesteak and the Homemade Meatball are in my sights and will be conquered shortly. We are very happy that Capriotti's is closer to our neighborhood. We would like to thank everyone at Capriotti's for the great sandwiches and service on this night. Everything was great. We would also like to thank Andrew Park, of Konnect Public Relations for reaching out to us and giving us this great opportunity. Thanks for everything Andrew.

If you would like to find out more about Capriotti's Sandwich Shop, go to their website here: http://capriottis.com/index.php

Late Birthday Dinner at Paul Martin's

Paul Martin's American Grill

31 Fortune Dr. Ste. 302

Irvine, CA 92618

As I get older I care less and less about birthdays. At a certain age, a person is just excited to make it to another year. I'm of the opinion that once you reach 21, you can do anything that any other adult can do, so blowing out another candle is no big deal. This year Katie's parents told me that they would take me out to dinner for my birthday. Of course life gets in the way, so our dinner got pushed farther and farther away from my birthday which was in June. It was now October, and out of the blue Katie's parents wanted me to pick a place, and we would go the next day. I thought about it for about an hour or two, and then it hit me where we must go. So I had Katie call them up, and we made plans to meet up at Paul Martin's American Grill.

We had been to Paul Martin's once before for a media event highlighting their happy hour and cocktails. At that event, I made a mental note to make it back to try their dinner menu. Paul Martin's comes to us from Brian Bennett and Paul Fleming, who is pretty much a restaurant icon. He is the man behind Fleming's, P.F. Chang's, and Pei Wei. This Paul Martin's concept was started because both men wanted to open a restaurant that serves items from scratch, with high quality ingredients, prepared simply, and at an affordable price. They actually do make all of their stuff here, with the exception of the bread. Paul Martin's started where these guys live, in Roseville, and now they have four others, including this Irvine location. Two more are on the way, so keep a lookout if you are in Scottsdale or Mountain View.

We got to the Irvine Spectrum at about 6:30 on a Saturday night. Predictably, this shopping center was buzzing with activity. On our walk from the car we noticed a throng of people waiting at the Cheesecake Factory, a crowd out the door at P.F. Chang's, and lots of people outside of Yard House staring at the pagers, waiting for their tables to be ready. Paul Martin's was busy, but we had no problem getting a table right away.

I would describe Paul Martin's as a sleek restaurant. They have a large display of their wines that they offer. They apparently have a wine list that's over 100 bottles deep, and most of those are available by the glass. The inside of the restaurant was pretty quiet and dark, but still inviting. The staff are just what you would expect at a more upscale South OC restaurant, young and good looking. We checked out the seasonal driven menu, made our selections, and waited for our food, while enjoying our great conversation. Let's see how everything turned out for us.

As is the usual custom when we eat out with Katie's parents, we always start with an appetizer or two. This time we only had one, because we were saving room for our dinners which were on the way. The Spinach Dip ($14) immediately piqued my interest. This spinach dip was made up of white cheddar, Bloomsdale spinach, and sun dried tomatoes. This was a pretty unique take on a spinach dip. It was a little on the runny side, the spinach could have been chopped up a little more, and it was a little less obtrusive flavor wise than others we have had. Definitely more subdued, and not as heavy as your typical spinach dip. This came with more than enough toasted bread to dip with. I always hate when you do not have enough bread for your dip, but that was not the case here. Next time we will try the Salt and Pepper Prawns, or the Grilled Artichoke.

Both Katie and I ordered salads, and she went with the White Bean and Arugula Salad ($7) which is listed under the sides area of the menu. Katie thought the white beans were pretty fresh in this, but there was a lot of arugula used here, and it kind of overwhelmed. Joining the mound of arugula was some red onions and goat cheese, which provided some relief from the arugula overload. I was pretty impressed with the portion size of this side salad. Katie had a tough time finishing all of this.

I am trying to add some diversity to my dining experience, so I decided to forgo my usual salad choice, which is usually a Caesar. This time I ordered the Butter Lettuce and Point Reyes Blue Cheese Salad ($10). This salad came with the aforementioned butter lettuce and blue cheese, candied walnuts, apples, and a maple vinaigrette dressing. This salad had some good things going for it. I liked the textures, the produce was fresh, and the blue cheese added a nice burst of flavor. I did not really get a lot from the dressing though. It was dressed a little too lightly for me, and I had a hard time detecting any hint of maple here.

Entree time, and we'll do ladies first. Katie's mom, Lynn selected the Brick Chicken ($21). I really liked the way this came to the table. A very classic looking plate, that just conveyed comfort food. This free range chicken was served with mashed potatoes and an herb jus. Lynn was gracious enough to offer me a few bites of this, and the chicken was pretty tender, with a nice subtle flavor. Lynn cleverly described this plate as a meal that wrapped your insides like a blanket. Very good description Lynn. This portion size was just enough for Lynn.

I was a little taken aback by Katie's choice on this evening. She opted for the Fish Tacos ($15). The menu here did not mention what kind of fish would be used in these tacos, so Katie was a little surprised when these hit the table with salmon being the fish inside the flour tortilla. The salmon was cooked nicely here, and joining it in the tacos was a chili aioli, blistered tomatoes, and arugula. Katie felt this heart healthy dish was missing a big pop of flavor, and she also missed the inclusion of cheese on these tacos.

After looking at the menu, I knew Katie's Dad, Dennis would either get a bowl of soup, or a sandwich. He got the former, when this New York French Dip ($18) came out of the kitchen for him. This sandwich came on a roll, with a cream horseradish and au jus. Dennis was generally pleased with this sandwich. He liked the freshness of the bread, and the beef was sliced thinly and very tender. This came with a choice of side, and Dennis got the House Fries, which he quickly made disappear. Dennis eats at Paul Martin's often, and about half of the time this is what he gets.

It was a cooler than average night at the Spectrum, so the Braised Short Rib ($24) quickly caught my attention. This short rib was a little inconsistent. Some bites were pretty tender, just like you would expect, while others were a little on the tougher side. I want my short rib to be the consistency of a tender pot roast, and this had it in parts. I would have liked more of the horseradish cream and beef au jus served with this, to help enhance the short ribs natural flavor. The mashed potatoes served with this were also kind of inconsistent. Some bites were pretty smooth, and others had texture issues. Not bad mashed potatoes flavor wise, but I expected just a little more out of them.

We went a little crazy with the desserts at Paul Martin's, as we got three of them to try. The first of which was this Devil's Food Cake ($9). A three layered cake, with ganache made from cordillera chocolate, and garnished with cherries and whipped cream. This shocked me with its light and smooth chocolate flavor. The chocolate did not overwhelm, and the icing had just the right amount of sweetness to it. One of the best chocolate desserts we have had in awhile.

This Banana Cream Pie ($9) was probably our least favorite of the trio that we tried. The menu claimed that this had layers of vanilla bean pastry cream, chocolate, bananas, and fresh whipped cream. We could see the bananas and vanilla cream, but the whipped cream totally took over this pie. The chocolate was as absent as my sister during senior year in high school. Just don't tell her I wrote that.

The last of our dessert trifecta was our tables favorite, the Apple Cinnamon Crisp ($9). The apples are covered with a crunchy topping of oats, brown sugar and walnuts, then topped with a scoop of ice cream with a caramel drizzle. This had lots of apples, I liked the crumb topping a lot, but this did need more ice cream for the four of us. We were spoon fighting over the ice cream on this.

We did have some misses with our dinner at Paul Martin's, but for the most part the misses were pretty minor, and everything was still pretty good. Keep in mind that this is a seasonal driven menu, so theses items may not be available during your visit. The menu here is not crazy large, but there is enough diversity on it, that most people will be able to find something to their liking here. They have a few chef specials during the week that are worth noting. A 3 course fried chicken dinner for $20 on Tuesdays, a 3 course prime rib dinner for $25 on Sundays, and a prix fixe brunch on the weekends for $11. We are looking forward to coming back and trying these specials in the future. Service during our visit was great. When our waiter was not around, the busboys were checking on us, and everyone we encountered from the hostess's to the managers were very nice. Now that we celebrated my birthday six months late, it just means I will get my next birthday dinner that much quicker. Already looking forward to it.

Out of five candles, (because Paul Martin's started in Roseville, also the birthplace of Molly Ringwald, whose breakout hit was Sixteen Candles), five being best to zero being worst, Paul Martin's American Grill gets 3 candles.

For more information about Paul Martin's American Grill, go to their web site here: http://paulmartinsamericangrill.com/

Football Frenzy #13 at Signature Sports Bar - CLOSED

Signature Sports Bar

30100 Town Center Dr. 

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

So all I have to do is continue my quest for the best place to watch football on Sunday mornings, and my team starts winning games. I should have done this in September to save myself some grief. Yes, it is true; my favorite NFL team, the Jaguars, is on a winning streak. Four out of the last five weeks, they have won, and although the playoffs are out of reach, they are no longer football's laughingstock. That honor now goes to the Houston Texans, losers of eleven in a row, and the owners of the league's worst record as of this writing. Enough football talk. Let's get to what we thought of Signature Sports Bar.

For sharp-eyed readers of this blog, this place might seem familiar. We visited here three years ago when this was the location of Draft Choice Sports Grill. South OC is not known for its sports bars, so when we heard that Draft Choice had closed, we were a little sad, only because it took away an option in an already depleted area for finding places to watch football on Sunday mornings. The food at Draft Choice was pretty average, but we liked the service and atmosphere enough to return a few other times. Now, under new ownership, we were excited to see what Signature Sports Bar had in store for us.

We got to the bar, which is located in a pretty sleepy little strip mall just off Crown Valley Parkway, before the 10 AM kickoff. The space is bigger than it appears from the outside. We found a table quickly and settled in. The appearance of Signature Sports Bar is much brighter with its decor. It's lighter than it was when this was Draft Choice. It also appears cleaner too. They have TVs on every wall, many of which are plasma, and you can see the game you want no matter where you sit. The crowd was diverse on this particular Sunday morning. All ages were represented, from kids to seniors, many wearing the jerseys of their favorite teams. With such a large crowd, it only got noisy in spurts, but for the most part, people were quietly watching their games. Let's see what came out of the kitchen for us.

Let's start with Katie's breakfast selection, the Breakfast Sandwich ($5.99). As you can tell from the pictures, this was a pretty average breakfast. The hash browns were way too underdone and really plain-tasting. The breakfast sandwich was good, but nothing really made it remarkable. The bacon was crisp, the egg slightly overcooked, and the cheddar cheese was plentiful. It was definitely better than an Egg McMuffin, but that's not saying much.

My friend Riley was with us at Signature Sports Bar to support his Jets and decided to try their Buttermilk Pancakes ($4.99) and a Side of Bacon ($2.00). Again, he thought the pancakes were pretty average, as he compared them to the ones Riley had had after a big night of drinking when he tried to sober up at Denny's. The bacon was straightforward and cooked crisp.

I got the most liked item here, the Breakfast Burrito ($7.99 with avocado added.). This burrito came with my breakfast meats, so I naturally chose bacon. Joining the bacon in this flour tortilla was scrambled eggs and a blend of cheeses, with salsa on the side. This was a good-sized burrito, stretching nearly across the plate. The three eggs were pretty buttery, while cheese and avocado added some smoothness. The bacon got lost here, as there was not nearly enough. This burrito was missing some potato, which would have made it even better. The salsa served on the side of this is made here but needs a little more spice.

As you can probably guess, Signature Sports Bar will not be crowned as our ultimate sports bar for watching football. The food could have been better. Nothing we had was horrible, but we were not excited about it. Maybe their lunch and dinner items are better, but Jacksonville has no afternoon games for the rest of this season, so that visit will have to wait until next year. We did enjoy the setup here, and with so few choices for watching football in South OC, we will probably be back at some point. The prices were fair, and I did not mention it, but the beer and cocktails were also reasonable. A pint of Shock Top goes for $3.95, while a pint of Coors goes for the same. Get the Shock Top for sure. If the Jaguars keep winning like this, we will have more to drink, too.

Out of five theaters (because the most expensive signature in the world is the six remaining playwrights William Shakespeare, which is estimated to be worth a staggering $5 Million each), five being best to zero being worst, Signature Sports Bar gets 2.5 theaters.

For more information about Signature Sports Bar, go to their website here: http://signaturesportbar.com/