Highway 395 Road Trip - Day 2

This morning we lounged around a little and had breakfast at the hotel (they have a nice buffet) before getting the day started.  Oh, and we are staying at the Creekside Inn in Bishop (http://www.bishopcreeksideinn.com/).  We have a great, quiet room – it’s literally the last one on the end of the property.  We have a lovely view of the creek, and a nice sereneness. 

Fuzzy had some shopping to do at the local bakery – Erick Shat’s Bakery (http://www.erickschatsbakery.com/) which is next to our hotel.  They have a satellite in Mammoth too.  She wound up spending near $50 on various breads and pastries to take home (I picked up a couple myself.)

We later headed out to the edge of town to Mahogany Smoked Meats (http://www.smokedmeats.com) to pick up some jerky and sausages.  They have an amazing amount of different types of jerkies.  I wound up buying some Peppered Turkey jerky and Peppered Elk jerky.  They let you sample before you buy.  And it isn’t cheap!  But it’s a nice splurge.  I also picked up some smoked bacon end and pieces (about two pounds a bad, and it’s very thick cut pieces).  Oh, I also picked up some buffalo and elk salamis.

After stocking up, we headed out to the Paiute Palace Casino (a local Indian casino) to gamble a little.  I played a couple of my favorite games, but still walked out after an hour breaking even!  Woot!  Fuzzy wasn’t so fortunate.

It was still late morning, so Fuzzy asked to drive up to Mammoth and check out some places there.  It’s about 40 miles north, and a very boring drive (it is the high desert after all).  Fuzzy wanted to take me to this place she goes to with her boyfriend in the village there – Lakanuki.  It’s in a new condo development, which is very nice and kind of swank – but it was dead!  There were maybe 5 other people there other than us – and nothing was open!  She was disappointed, but I didn’t really care as there are other places in Mammoth.

We headed back down into the main part of town and took a side street and ran across a restaurant that offered lunches for 50% off – sold!  We checked out the menu at Rafters (http://www.therafters.com/)  and decided to head in.  They had a cheese plate for an appetizer that looked too good to pass up.  They wound up bringing us a very generous serving of four cheeses (and I forgot to snap a pic).  One was machengo, which was actually very creamy – usually they tender to be harder.  Another was a triple crème brie, another one called Bermuda Triangle which was a creamy blue and very very tasty, and the last was a standard Humboldt blue.  They also were generous with the toasts….I find that when I order a cheese plate they often give you less toast points than you need.

For my main course, I ordered a pizza they had.  It had salami, prosciutto and sausage with mozzarella.  A very good choice.  But the pizza was larger than I anticipated, so I brought the leftovers back with me.  I give Rafter’s a definite thumbs up…and with a discount to boot!

After lunch we headed up the mountain to snap some photos of what was left of the snow.  They still have some roads shut down, but we did get to stop at a lake and get some good pics.

It was getting late, so we headed back down to Bishop and stopped along the way to take some pictures from the valley floor of the Sierras as the views were stunning.

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to go get a manicure (for Fuzzy) and a pedicure for myself.  The first place we went to on Main Street was closed, as was the next on down the block.  The third place we tried down a side street was open, but she was booked until 6:30pm.  The last place we hit that was down the street was West Line Nails Spa at 487 West Line Street in Bishop.  They took walk ins and were available right then.  I went first and got my pedi – my “talons” were in a definite need of trimming.  It’s nice to have someone else do the work and make you feel good.  I had happy feet.  Fuzzy got her nails down and was also pleased with the results.  The woman was so sweet and friendly and did such a good job, we both felt she needs some talking up.  So if you find yourself in Bishop, I highly recommend stopping in for a mani or pedi.

Coming back to the hotel, I power napped for about 45 minutes, then we started thinking about dinner.  We had thought about BBQ, but I really didn’t want a heavy dinner.  We wound up walking over to the local Japanese/Sushi restaurant a couple doors down from the hotel – Yamatami.  It’s very authentic .  We ordered some pork gyoza (potstickers) for an appetizer, and Fuzzy ordered a sashimi meal and some eel, and I had the beef teriyaki.  You also get some miso soup, and a salad with the meal. 

The gyoza were very delicious, and I enjoyed the miso – it was some of the better miso I have had.  The beef was grilled perfectly and the teriyaki sauce was tangy and just the right amount of sweet.  It was a nice meal to end our stay in Bishop.  Tomorrow we head onward to South Lake Tahoe.

Highway 395 Road Trip - Day 1

I didn’t get a chance to blog last night as the connection was painfully slow.  So today, here it is – the rundown of Day 1 for my road trip with my friend Fuzzy.  We decided months ago, after my Tahoe trip, to do a slower drive up the 395 and spend a few days in Bishop and then move on to Tahoe.

We left L.A. yesterday morning around 8:30am and headed up the 14 Fwy to the Antelope Valley.  We stopped in Palmdale to hit the Best Buy because I couldn’t find the charger for the camera and didn’t want to waste an hour or two ripping my apartment apart to find it. 

As we moved on, there really isn’t much to see in the Antelope valley, but once you get to Mojave, you do have some interesting sights since that’s the location that all the aerospace firms do their “black ops”, and NASA has an outpost.  There is also an airplane boneyard – many airlines mothball unused jets out there, as does the military.  Unfortunately, it isn’t open to the public, but you can arrange for the rare tour (no cameras allowed), but we didn’t get to do that this time.

After Mojave, you drive through miles of desolate desert until you get to the Red Rock Canyon State Park (http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=631).  It’s pretty to drive through, but it’s pretty quick – you only get to drive through a couple of canyons before you’re back to desolation.  We did stop to take a few pictures though.

There was not a whole lot else until we got just outside Lone Pine in Olancha, where Fuzzy wanted to stop at a place that sells Jerky and other snacks.  It’s this tiny old gas station that this guy (Gus) converted into a shop (www.freshjerky.com).  They give taste samples, and it really is good jerky.  We bought a couple of packs to take with us.  They also has dried fruits and olives, and some other taste treats, but I would have gone broke trying to buy everything (while good, they were NOT cheap). 

We continued on to Lone Pine where we stopped at the Lone Pine Movie History Museum.  Fuzzy had always wanted to stop there (she and her boyfriend go to Bishop about once a year) so we decided to give it a try.  Entrance was $5, and they had a short film about the history of filmmaking in the area (it was actually pretty well done).  Apparently, back in the silent area, the studios down in L.A. found this area in the Sierra foothills to be ideal for shooting westerns and other movies.  They continued on up into the late 60s/early 70s, and still they see some activities.  Tremors was shot in the area, as well as scenes from Iron Man, Transformers and others.  It really is a rustic scene and much its old charm remains.  It’s worth the $5 to learned about this and see some old western costumes and set pieces.

We continued on to Independence.  This little town (and it is little – the main drag is all of three blocks), but it is the county seat for Inyo County.  They have a great old Courthouse at the center of town.  It was after 1pm, and I was getting quite hungry, so we decided this would be the place to stop for lunch.  We had passed this one place driving down the drag that looked like a French café, but we had driven on.  At the other end of town there were a couple of places, but they seemed very ordinary, so I had Fuzzy turn the car around and head back to that café.

We pulled up and went to check out the menu on the window.  They place was called the Still Life Café.  It had an interesting menu and looked quaint, so we went in.  We sat at the bar and were greeted by a gentleman with a French accent (bingo!) who got us menus.  The interior is very café like.  It’s a tiny town, so I am actually surprised they have a place like this.  Fuzzy ordered a brie sandwich , and I wound up ordering the bacon cheese burger. 

Our food arrived and the burger was thick and looked well cooked and on was a very delicate bun.  Fuzzy’s sandwich was on a baguette. Mine also came with these very crispy fries that were delicious.  I bit into the burger and it was so juicy and meaty, well seasoned and cooked perfectly.  We talked the the gentleman (whom I surmised was the owner) and he told me they locally source the beef which is grass raised.  It was definitely one the better burgers I’ve had.  Who knew you could find such a gem in a little Podunk town!  Unfortunately, they don’t have a website, so you just have to look for the Still Life Care on Yelp or other sites.

We finally got to Bishop, but our hotel room wasn’t quite ready, so we walked next door to the Back Alley Bowling Bar & Grill (http://thebackalleybowlandgrill.com/home.php) to have a beer.  Fuzzy has raved about the food at this place (not that we were going to eat again so soon).  It’s definitely a bowling alley atmosphere, but they had some decent beers on tap.  After we killed some time, we decided to unpack and take a disco nap.  I think we power-napped for about an hour.  It was getting time to think about dinner, so we roamed around town, but being Sunday night, not much was open, so we headed back to the bowling alley.

I wound up ordering the honey-dipped fried chicken and Fuzzy had the Flat Iron steak.  My chicken came with a salad and a baked potato.  The salad, for a basic house salad, was actually very good.  And when I dived into the chicken, it was moist, incredibly crispy, and the honey was just in the background.  I’m thinking they dipped It in a honey bath before battering it up and frying.  So it’s more a hint of honey rather than hitting you over the head.

I would definitely try other dishes there.  And it’s a bowling alley!  I think we may have to bowl a set or two tonight!  Now it’s time to investigate the town!  More later….

Route 66 Food Truck Festival

After I had written to the people who handled the Pechanga Festival, I got a very nice email back from Cliff Young of Pay It Forward Productions.  He agreed with many of my points on what didn’t work at Pechanga and invited me as a VIP guest at his next event, which was held yesterday at the San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, CA.  I drug my friend Madeleine on out to the The Route 66 Food Truck Festival (http://www.route66foodtruckfestival.com/) and it was held on a gorgeous day.  The weather was a bit hot, but clear skies and a nice breeze made for a very positive experience.

Compared to Pechanga, they had the trucks out in the outfield of the baseball diamond, fanned out along the back wall in an arc.  The rest of the field was open for seating and events.  There were about a couple dozen trucks, many I hadn’t seen before.  This festival was reminiscent of the one out on the infield at Santa Anita Park.  The layout was perfect and allowed for a nice flow of people. 

The first trucks we ate at were the Red Robin truck (that was Madeleine) – I did sneak some of her fries and took a bite of her burger, but I figured you can get Red Robin any time.  I had opted for the Argentine truck, CambalaCHE’s Gourmet (http://www.cambalachesgourmet.com/) and had two empanadas:  one beef, one ham & cheese.  Both were a good size and very delicious – unfortunately the picture I took got screwed up and unusable.  The beef was generous with the filling, and the ham & cheese was tasty though a tad salty.  The even “branded” each one with a letter so you’d know which one was which.  I was tempted to go back later from some of their fries with blue cheese and chimichurri sauce, but I got too full later so maybe next time.

We had grabbed some beers and sat under one of the tents set aside and enjoyed the breeze and food.  After letting the snacks settle, we set out to look at all the trucks and see what else was going on.  Pop Chips had set up a bean bag toss game, so Madeleine challenged me – and of course she beat me.  I never do well at any of those games, but it was fun to try.  Our “reward” was a bag of chips of our choice, and we both chose the sweet potato – they were great!  I’ve seen these in stores, but had not had a chance to try them.  I can highly recommend them – sweet and a little salty.

We perused the trucks and stopped at Mustache Mike’s Italian Ice (http://www.mustachemikestruck.com/) since they were offering free samples.  I had a sample of one of their sweet ices which was a combo of I think cherry and a few other flavors.  We meant to go back and get a whole scoop, but never made it back.  I’d like to give it a try the next time I see them.

For my next “course”, I stopped at the Bacon Mania truck (http://www.baconmaniatruck.com/).   Every time I’ve tried to catch any of the bacon trucks (there are several cruising around) they have either been no shows, or the line was way too long.  Their menu was definitely highly caloric and very high fat, so I went for a small snack.  I had the Bacon Brownie Bites:  two brownie bites wrapped in bacon, deep fried, and drizzled with Hershey’s syrup.  They were bigger than I anticipated, so I only ate one.  Madeleine wasn’t interested, so I wound up tossing the second on – pity to throw bacon AND chocolate away, but I just didn’t want to overdo it.  She did snap a picture of me taking a bite though.

We sat on the grass to soak up some sun and wound up being approached by a photographer who was taking pics of the event for the local paper.  He asked us our names, where were from, etc.  We talked about the event and the food truck phenomenon.  Maybe we’ll wind up in this week’s paper there…who knows. 

For our final truck, we hit Where’s the Fire (http://www.baconmaniatruck.com/).  It was the same truck I had gotten a slice of pizza at Pechanga and had to wait near an hour for it.  They didn’t have a line this time nor a long wait.  They adjusted their menu to make it easier to get food out faster.  Madeleine and I shared an 8” pepperoni pizza.  This was even better than the slice I had before.  It went perfect with our beers.

This was a well run event.  There was a good sized crowd, but it never felt crowded.  I’m definitely going to be keeping an out for this guy’s events since he really got this right.  He unfortunately didn’t have good luck at Pechanga because apparently they didn’t listen to his advice and he didn’t have the same kind of control.  I look forward to future events!

A Fraiche Experiece

Last evening, my friend Madeleine and I used a Groupon I had for Fraiche (www.fraicherestaurantla.com) in Santa Monica.  Her roommate has been there many times and raved about, but neither of us had been.  It’s a few blocks up from the beach on Wilshire Blvd., right around the corner from the Third Street Promenade.  We got there early (around 6pm), so it was a light crowd then.  By the time we left, however, it was packed!

Since we were using a Groupon, they had a special deal where you received a free glass of Prosecco, which was a very lovely way to start the evening and meal.  We started with the Fire Roasted Dates, which are dates stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in bacon, then fire roasted.  They laid them in a romesco sauce.  Madeleine had never had them before, so she tried and didn’t much care for them (more for me!).  They were very delicious, but I could have done without the romesco.

For our entrees, I had the Steak Frites (a flat iron steak), and Madeleine ordered the Braised Brisket.  I had my steak medium, which was accompanied by fries that were well cooked and crunchy (I HATE soggy fries) and an arugula salad.  The steak was perfectly cooked and seasoned well, and they had sliced it for serving perfectly.  I really enjoy a good flat iron steak and have not yet been disappointed in any served in a restaurant.

Madeleine let me have a taste of her Brisket, which was served atop a cheese fondue and potatoes.  The brisket was amazingly tender and just fell apart.  Brisket can be a tough cut of meat, but they must have braised it for hours since it was so tender – and quite flavorful.  The fondue added an extra layer of flavor. 

For dessert, I twisted Madeline’s arm, and we ordered the Chocolate Purse.  The deep fry a large “purse” of chocolate – which is really a wonton wrapper that is wrapped around what I think is chocolate ganache.  It was the consistency of pudding and was incredibly rich.  Accompanying it was a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.  It was one of the better desserts I’ve had in a while, albeit a messy one to eat.  There is no easy way to eat a huge chocolate wonton with a very creamy, warm filling.  But we soldiered on!

I really enjoyed Fraiche and will definitely put it on the list to go to again.  They have a happy hour that looks interesting, and also a location in Culver City.

Pechanga Food Truck Festival

This past Saturday, my friend Thom and I drove down to Temecula for Pechanga Casino’s (www.pechanga.com) first ever Food Truck Festival.  I only found out about it when Groupon offered a two-for-one admission earlier in the week.  I figured it would probably be crowded, but wasn’t prepared for just how crowded it was.

We arrived just after 11:30am (the fest opened at 11:00).  Parking was easy as the Casino has a HUGE parking garage, and it was still early.  They held the festival in the RV parking lot behind the Casino.  The line for the pre-paids snaked around over a block, but it was fast moving thankfully.  Even before we got in, you could see how incredibly crowded it already was.  We did one loop around to see which trucks were there (about 30, give or take).  The lines for the most popular were already long. 

We settled on one that had piqued my interest, the After School Special truck (www.afterschoolspecialtruck.com) as they had a “mom’s home cooking” kind of menu.  They do home cooking with a twist.  I ordered Betty’s Pot Roast Dip sandwich, which was braised pot roast with carrots and I think onions (weren’t any in my sammy) resting on a bed of smashed potatoes that were mixed with a little horseradish, all on a bun.  The bun got too soggy to try to eat it with my hands, so I used a fork.  I also ordered Ronie’s Mac n’ Cheese Cupcake.

The Pot Roast was absolutely delicious, and I even liked it with the smashed potatoes.  The beef was very tender and falling apart – the way a good roast will.  It was definitely a winner.  The Cupcake, however, was not.  It tasted more of Mac and almost nothing of Cheese.  I’m sorry, but when I eat mac n’ cheese, the shells are really just supposed to be a conveyance of the cheese and this was sadly not the case.  Nice idea, but it didn’t work.  So it was a 50/50 vote for me.

We walked around some more to see what else there was, and decided to get a dessert/snack.  I’ve seen the Chunk ‘n Chip truck (www.chunknchip.com) numerous times but have never partaken, so I made a point this time to check it out.  They make ice cream sandwiches with fresh baked cookies and gourmet ice cream. 

I ordered the Moo-lan Rouge – red velvet cookies sandwiching white chocolate fudge ice cream.  The cookies were on the softer side, but had a good flavor, though I am not entire sure I’d call it red velvet except for the color.  The ice cream was tasty and did have a white chocolate taste.  Overall, I’d rate it a near full thumb’s up, but it didn’t absolutely wow me.  I’d try a different combo next time and see if my rating improves.

We decided to get out of the heat for a while and go into the Casino to gamble some.  It was getting way too crowded and it was around 1pm by this time.  We killed probably an hour or more inside before we decided to head back out for round two.  The lines were even longer by this time, and there were far more families.  While I fully expect families at these events, with lot of kids – parents were NOT monitoring the children who were running crazy and bumping into people and causing a hazard.  I have a real issue with that, especially in such a tight space.  I also have an issue with parents and their strollers who expect they should get extra privileges, and constantly bash into people and don’t even bother to say they’re sorry.  – sorry, had to vent as it was really obnoxious at Pechanga, other festivals I’ve been to I haven’t encountered it like this. –

I had heard about and saw that WTF Pizza, or Where’s The Fire (www.wtfpza.com), was at the festival, so given there wasn’t a long line, I decided to get a slice of pizza.  When I went to the window, they told it would be an hour wait, but would give me a time to come back.  I figured what the heck, I could always try another truck in the meantime for another snack if I wanted.  Thom was waiting in the line for Ragin’ Cajun.  He waited for 40 minutes to get to the window to find out what he wanted wasn’t available anymore.  Lesson learned:  if you only want one thing on a truck menu, don’t wait a long time to find out it’s gone and have another option or two. 

They were right and it took an hour at WTF.  In the meantime, I had gotten a beer ($6 – and they were rather rude).  When I got my pizza slice (I had ordered Pepperoni – I like a basic pizza), Thom, who had gone to another BBQ truck, hadn’t gotten his food yet, so I found a place to eat in the shade.  The pizza was New York style – hand tossed, thin crust, light on the sauce.  It did remind me on NY pizza and tasted good, but I was disappointed they didn’t put more pepperoni on it.  Oh well. 

For my last truck, I hit the Sweet Treats dessert truck (www.sweettreatstruck.com) to see what they had.  It was getting late in the afternoon and they were near cleaned out.  What they had left were some cookies and cake pops.  For $2, I figured it was work trying one of the cake pops.  A little on the smallish side (my co-worker Mercedes makes these and hers are considerably larger), the one I got turned out to be Strawberry Lemonade (they didn’t know which was which by this point of the day).  It definitely had a strawberry taste with a slight hint of lemon.  The cake was moist.  I definitely approved.  I’ll be keeping an eye out for this truck in the future, and get to them before everything is gone!

By this time of the afternoon, the festival was winding down since trucks were running out of food.  We figured it was a good time to head out and made a stop to visit my brother (he lives close by).

My take-aways from this adventure are:  get to a festival early, be prepared to long lines, keep your options open in case the lines are TOO long, and just try to enjoy the day.

My recommendations to Pechanga are:  use a bigger space next time, or limit how many people are allowed in at one time; space trucks out more to make room for lines; have more space available for eating; more trash receptacles; police the crowd more thoroughly for stray children and hold parents responsible; have more than one drink station; and have security work harder at crowd control.  Given this was their first time, I understand they have a learning curve and hope they do take suggestions for improvement to heart (I will send my suggestions directly to them).  Overall, it was an enjoyable and fun event and I do hope they have more!

The Grapefruit Experiment - Salmon with Thai Spices

Last night I tried another dish of salmon marinated in grapefruit juice and Thai spices.  I cut the cooking time down to 25 minutes.  I reduced the marinade again while the salmon was baking, and the aromas were wonderful. 

When I pulled the salmon out of the oven and plated it, it smelled and looked good.  I pour a little sauce over the salmon for extra flavor.  When I finally took a bite, the flavor was amazing – but the texture was off.  I think I let it marinate for too long and it changed the texture of the fish and made it grainy.  Perhaps it was a little overcooked too, but I had baked the prior salmon dish for 30 minutes and didn’t have a texture issue (both fillets were from the same piece of salmon).  I had let it marinate for 4 days though, which I suspect is the culprit.  I may try it again and just let it marinate overnight.

Again, the flavor was fine, the texture was off.  The potatoes I roasted up though and poured a little sauce on were divine. 

The Grapefruit Experiment - Salmon with Garlic & Pepper

I’ve switched from chicken to salmon for this stage of my experiment.  I’ve had a couple of salmon filets marinating, and tonight I cooked up the filet that was marinating in grapefruit juice with garlic and cracked black pepper.

I heated my oven up to 375 degrees and prepped a sheet of parchment paper to bake my salmon in.  If you’ve never used parchment in cooking, I highly recommend it as it’s a great way to steam food in the oven and seal in the flavors by keeping it all locked into a pocket you make out of the parchment.  I laid the filet into the pocket, then folded it up to seal it.  Unlike foil, the parchment still breaths (so you should place it in a baking dish since it can lead liquids).

I also prepped some baby potatoes by cooking the briefly in the microwave (about 3 minutes), then tossed them in some olive oil, garlic powder and some black pepper to season.  I put them on a piece of foil to bake them in the oven.

I also put the marinade in a pot to cook it down into a sauce again while the salmon and potatoes were baking.

I put the salmon and potatoes in at the same time, and cooked them for 30 minutes at 375. 

After I pulled them out of the oven, I plated up the potatoes, then opened the parchment envelop (careful, steam will billow out and can burn you).  Using a spatula, I plated the salmon up with the potatoes.  I poured some of the reduced marinade over the salmon and drizzled over the potatoes.

The salmon was incredibly tender and juicy.  When I took a bite, I realized the sauce was really unnecessary as the salmon really soaked up the marinade and was infused into it.  The sauce did help to flavor the potatoes a bit more though.  It was actually very delightful as a dish.  The salmon was well flavored by the marinade.