Johnny Rockets

It's been several years since I've eaten at Johnny Rockets; my last visit was a triple-digit summer day in Silicon Valley when my Nikes actually got deformed while standing on an iron grate waiting to cross the street. I've passed by the Old Pasadena location hundreds of times since then, but never stopped in to eat.

Recently, Johnny Rockets joined the slew of other restaurants offering sliders. I'd been so disappointed with the rest of the sliders I've tried that I didn't consider trying Johnny's. Last night Elizabeth and I were doing some shopping in Old Town and I was very hungry and craving chili cheese fries. I figured we could get some at Johnny Rockets and, if the sliders were still on the menu, I could try those, too.

The sliders are served with your choice of four sauces: ancho chipotle, dijonaisse, blue cheese, and pepper relish mayo. I opted for the ancho chipotle. If I was still hungry after eating them, I planned to get an order with the pepper relish. Since I was sitting at the counter, I got to watch the cook throw three bundles of fresh ground beef on the grill, press them down, and grill them.

The sliders were great. These were the best I have had in a long time, not only light years better than any fast food sliders, but better than Jake's across the street, whose mini burgers I have always enjoyed. The ancho chipotle sauce was tasty and spicy. I have become accustomed to restaurants offering a "spicy" sauce that tastes only slightly spicier than ketchup, so it's nice to come across a sauce that is actually spicy. The bun was nice and soft. The sliders do not come with anything on them other than the sauce, so I added some diced onion to give them a little crunch.

Elizabeth ordered "The Original" - a burger with standard toppings. She enjoyed it, although it fell apart after just a couple bites and she had to eat the rest of it with a knife and fork. (The tomato was incredibly juicy and had turned the bun into a soggy mess.)

I was filling up after eating just a couple of the sliders, and full after eating the third. So there was no way I was getting another order. But I would like to go back and try them again with a different sauce. At just under $5, they are comparably priced to fast food sliders, but they are so much better.

Slow Cooked Brisket Sandwiches

When my mom retired last month she was given a lot of presents. Some of them were quite nice but some of them were not. She gave me a couple of things she got from Macy's that were, how shall I put this, not attractive, and told me I could exchange them and get something for myself. (I offered to take the $300 gift card for Amazon.com or the $75 gift certificate to Smitty's Grill, but apparently she valued those more than the plastic earrings.)

I've wanted a slow cooker for a while, and Macy's had a very nice one on sale for 30% off, so that's what I got. Yesterday I took a brisket from Ralph's and put it in the slow cooker at 7 AM. I added a large sweet onion that I had sliced, about a half a cup of beer, some mustard, chili powder, and hot sauce. I did a couple things in the morning and when I returned at about 9:30 it already smelled fantastic.

In the evening I took the brisket out of the cooker and let it rest for a couple minutes, then trimmed off some of the visible fat. I sliced it against the grain and chopped up some of the larger pieces. I made a sandwich for Elizabeth on a French roll, and myself a sandwich on Weber's white bread.

The meat was fantastic. It was tender with just the right amount of spice. It wasn't as good as a smoked piece of brisket - no matter what some people claim, you cannot cook meat in the slow cooker that is as good as barbecue - but it was still pretty damn good and much, much easier to make.

After we were done I asked Elizabeth if she wanted another sandwich. She said she would split one with me. So after I cut one in half for us, I added some mustard relish and a couple slices of roasted garlic cheddar cheese to my half. It was good, although it would have been much better if I had toasted it in the oven for a bit to let the cheese melt. But I was hungry and had no patience to wait.

Next up I think I will cook a small pork butt and see how that turns out.

Philly's Best BBQ Chicken & Cheese

It was a hot weekend day and the idea of eating outdoors sounded good. I was in the mood for something quick, though, and not expensive. I considered a couple places in neighboring cities, but suddenly the idea of sitting outside at Del Mar Station and eating a Philly's Best cheesesteak sounded fantastic. I have yet to have a bad meal there, and it's always fast.

When I got there I immediately noticed the sign in the window advertising the BBQ chicken and cheese sandwich. This was a tough call: there are very few things I love more than barbecued chicken. And yet the one time I strayed from my usual pepper cheesesteak at Philly's Best, when I ordered the chicken pepper sandwich, I was disappointed. It was still good, but nowhere near as good as my usual order.

I must have gone back and forth on this for about 30 minutes. OK, that's a bit of an exaggeration. Maybe 30 seconds. I decided I might as well try something new, so I ordered the BBQ chicken. Elizabeth was with me; she ordered her usual cheesesteak. Either she's not as adventurous as I or she's just much smarter.

I know this is all too predictable, but... the sandwich was very good, just not as good as the cheesesteak. The sandwich wasn't drowned in sauce, which I was expecting. The chicken was high quality. Like the chicken pepper, if this sandwich was all they had I would eat it gladly. But it's just not as good as my usual order. Elizabeth offered me a bite of her sandwich. At first I said no because I knew I would be kicking myself for not ordering one. But eventually I had to take a taste of hers. And then I kicked myself. Yeah, I think she's just much smarter than I am.

As has become my usual routine, I ate half my fries, then half my sandwich, then the other half of my fries, then I wrapped the remaining half of sandwich to take home. The next day I took it out of the fridge, smeared it with Zankou garlic sauce, wrapped it in foil, and let it bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. This was about as good as anything I have ever eaten.

Fast Food Review: KFC $5 Fill-Up Box

I learned a couple months ago, while reading a restaurant industry publication, that Subway's $5 foot-long promotion has been a massive hit and that the $5 price point is now considered the ideal number that customers respond to. That's why Quiznos introduced their "torpedoes" for $4, Pizza Hut came out with items starting at $5, and Boston Market created a $5 value menu. So it was not surprising to see KFC come out with their "$5 fill-up boxes." I decided to try one the other night.

You can choose from 4 different items to be paired with a side and a drink: two pieces of grilled chicken, three original recipe chicken strips, a "twister wrap," or five hot wings. In other words, nothing I really like. I wish there were other options, like popcorn chicken or boneless wings. I decided to order the twister wrap and hope it was better than the one other time I'd tried it.

I was impressed with the amount of food I received. There were more potato wedges than I could eat, and the wrap was a massive thing, much better than the wrap I had tried at KFC a couple years ago. The thing was the size of a brick and the chicken inside was nice and crispy, not the disappointing, limp chicken I had received the one other time I ordered the original recipe strips.

I did not like this wrap as much as I like a foot-long sandwich from Subway, but this is definitely a better deal. You get a large amount of food, and a drink, for only $5. If Subway were to offer chips and a drink for that same $5, it would certainly be a better deal than KFC. I am not sure if I will try one of these again. It was much better than I expected, but I usually get popcorn chicken at KFC, and that isn't available in the fill-up box.

By the way, I also had a coupon for 4 honey barbecue "Snackers" for 3 dollars. I've only tried that Snacker once and I did not like it. The bread-to-chicken ratio is way too high and the quality of the chicken is way too low. But I decided with that $3 deal I should at least give it another try. They were again lousy. The chicken was tough and there wasn't much of it. El Pollo Loco's chicken sliders are much better than these. I ate one of them with dinner, then the next day I reheated one in the microwave with Jarlsberg cheese and then added cole slaw and a pickle to it. That made it better, but still not good.

Green Street Tavern

This is the third post about Green Street Tavern, but I never get tired of writing about it, just like I never get tired of eating there. It is probably my favorite restaurant in Pasadena at the moment, ahead of Gale's and Yujean Kang's, which is something I thought I would never say. Elizabeth had a half-day at work Thursday in preparation for the holiday weekend, so I picked her up and we drove back into town, thinking about where to eat lunch, eventually deciding we would go to Green Street if we could sit at one of their two outdoor tables.
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I always enjoy sitting outdoors here. Green Street (the street, not the restaurant) is a bit of an oasis in the giant outdoor mall that Old Town - particularly Colorado Blvd - has become. The trees here actually change colors in the fall (sort of) and the ever-present breeze feels especially good in the summer. Green Street's (the restaurant, not the street) lunch menu was a little different than I remembered. Better, actually. There weren't the three burger choices that there used to be, but there were many more varieties of sandwiches, several appetizers, and a section called "lunch specials."

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I had my eye on the barbecue chicken flatbread with pickled red onions and several kinds of cheese. Then I saw the Cuban sandwich. It is almost impossible for me to pass up a Cuban sandwich, but I haven't had a good one in the area since Cafe Atlantic closed its doors. (I once ordered the Cuban sandwich at Cheesecake Factory, which I would not advise.) Porto's in Glendale is excellent but I do not enjoy Glendale. I used to love Havana Beach Cafe in Montrose, but that closed and is now some kind of Italian cafe.
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Not surprisingly, this sandwich was fantastic. In addition to a generous amount of pork and ham, they nailed two very important details to me: the pickles were large, cut pieces, as opposed to a couple thin slices just thrown in as an afterthought. And they went very light on the mustard. It was the perfect amount so that I could taste the meat. I have had many Cuban sandwiches over the years that have been drowned in mustard and mayo, to the point that all you can taste are the condiments. (The aforementioned sandwich at Cheesecake Factory had about half a jar of French's yellow mustard slathered on it.)

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Elizabeth ordered the burger. I took a couple bites of it. I'm not going to say that I regretted getting my Cuban sandwich, but... damn that is a great burger. I'd forgotten just how much I love it. The caramelized onions are good enough to make you smack the table, and the peppery greens are a nice alternative to regular lettuce, a perfect complement to the sweetness of the onion.

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With the exception of Hutch's, which will probably never be topped, this is my favorite burger in Pasadena. And I would say that the fries are my favorite in Pasadena as well: perfectly cooked and liberally sprinkled with garlic. It did not occur to me until just now to ask if they had some kind of aioli instead of ketchup. Next time, which I hope will be soon, I will find out.