★★★★ (4 Stars)

IHOP Cafe - Downtown

IHOP Cafe just opened at the Vistana today.  I visited expecting them to not be fully prepared as the Grand Opening isn’t until next week, but I am pleased to say they seemed to have everything down perfectly.

IHOP Cafe is more a coffee shop than an IHOP restaurant.  It has a coffee shop feel and they provide free Wi-Fi.  IHOP Cafe has a truncated food menu perfect for this coffee shop concept.  The menu includes mini pancakes with or without toppings, omelets, wraps, mini melts (slider type burgers), and salads.

The coffees and drinks include brewed coffee, espressos, iced coffee, blended coffee and tea.  They also compliment their drink menu with milkshakes and 4 smoothies.

The pancakes were really good; just as you would expect from an IHOP.  I ordered a mocha espresso and I’d say that could use a little work as their competitor’s have a lighter, sweeter, more full flavor.

Overall I’ll probably make this a regular stop especially when I need a coffee kick before heading into work.

IHOP Cafe Pancakes

★★★★ (4 Stars)

I wanted a burger but dreaded heading over to McDonald’s. So, I did a quick search of nearby burger joints and found Candy’s.

I went to check them out being that they’re one of the few restaurants above the Riverwalk that are open after 2:30PM.  They’re open until 7PM on weekdays and are closed on the weekends.

As I walked in I noticed the nostalgic decor and 50’s music playing from their stereo system.  They had quite a number of items to choose from on their menu.  Burgers were the reason I went, but I noticed they had Chicken Fried Steak, Fried Catfish and salads among other things.

The burger was fantastic.  It was juicy, hot and fresh.  As I kept eating, it seemed the flavor just got better as it sat a little bit.  The service was very friendly and I there’s really nothing I could think of as a negative for this place.  The food is great for the price and I’ve really enjoyed the few dishes I’ve tried.

★★★ (3 Stars)

I had been looking for an American food diner in downtown San Antonio for a while.  I don’t know how I kept missing Milam Drug Store & Diner, but I am pleased to have finally found a diner downtown that is close enough to what I was looking for.  They’re primarily a burger and sandwich restaurant that offers daily specials like chicken fried steak.

The service was decent, but the cooks seemed somewhat overwhelmed and it took a while for my burger to come out.  The burger I ordered was nothing spectacular and nothing I couldn’t have made at home.  It’s not a bad place for the price especially being that its located just a block from the Riverwalk.

I’ll be back.

★★★ (3 Stars)

I’ve eaten at a Hard Rock Cafe before, a long while back, and since have always been extremely hesitant to give Hard Rock Cafe a nod.   Known primarily as a tourist restaurant, I’d always had the inclination that the food would be sub-par because it was just a major trap where tourists can get a T-Shirt and Shot Glasses that say you were in Hollywood, Chicago, San Antonio, etc.

Putting these thoughts aside, I decided to check out Hard Rock Cafe – San Antonio.  I was looking for a decent meal at a reasonable price; you know, the type of restaurants that have a variety on their menu and that typically have the same price range of restaurants like Chili’s, Applebee’s, Hooter’s, etc.

Hard Rock Cafe was just like the aforementioned restaurants.  But, I thought I would note that I was impressed with a specific item on their menu, the Creole Chicken Sandwich.  I didn’t know what to expect.  Actually, I expected some sort of gimmicky, blackened chicken burger, but what came out was actually pretty good.  It had a creole sauce that contained chunks of veggies and andouille sausage.  The combination of the sauce, andouille and blackened chicken was unexpected.  It was a really good sandwich and certainly very different than what any of the other burger places on the Riverwalk offer.

Now that they’ve hooked me in a little bit, you might find me here on occasion, even if I don’t ever buy a Hard Rock Cafe T-Shirt.  Perhaps I’ll try something else next time, but I know there’s always the different, tasty, not-so-expensive, Creole Chicken Sandwich at the Hard Rock Cafe.

★★★ (3 Stars)

Steaks 'n Cakes - Blythe, CA

We stopped in the small town of Blythe, on the way to Phoenix,  wondering what the heck we were going to eat for lunch. . .  There was a McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Domino’s, Denny’s, Taco Bell. . .  We could get these anywhere, so we ventured on into Blythe on some side road finding that most restaurants were closed and boarded up.  Finally, we came upon Steaks ‘n Cakes.

Steaks and Cakes is a diner-type restaurant offering the regular burgers, sandwiches, and salads.  Listening to the locals speak with a drawl reminded me of the country.  So, as soon as my eyes peered down the menu and found Chicken Fried Steak, I hoped it would be reminiscent of the good stuff I remembered in Texas.

Served with corn and mashed potatoes, the chicken fried steak indeed was good.  It was not the manufactured, machine pounded and pressed crap you find in the frozen aisle of your local grocery store.  Oh, no.  It looked and tasted the real deal.  It came paired with a gigantic, chef’s salad and for the price, was perfect.

I’m sure glad we didn’t stop at the regular, monotonous,  commercial, burger and pizza places.  And, the boarded up restaurants were apparently out of business for good reason.  I don’t know what the rest of the items on the menu are like, but I’d sooner stop in at Steaks ‘n Cakes for Chicken Fried Steak, than in any of the corporate places, if I ever find myself in Blythe again; for whatever reason that may be.

★★★ (3 Stars)

I don’t know about Mount Charleston’s lodging, but their restaurant was fairly decent.  The views down the mountain from here are spectacular.  It was nice to get away from the strip in Vegas and enjoy some snow and weather in the mid 50’s.

The restaurant itself is not what I expected.  I thought it would be the traditional -lets gouge people with our prices because we have beautiful views- type of restaurant.  It was nothing like that at all.  In fact, the ambiance and food were fairly plain and casual.  The prices were just like eating at your local, corporate, chain restaurant.  They had game hen, elk and buffalo burgers, among other game based options.  It was nice to have varying options, like these, among traditional restaurant meals.

I was also surprised that the beer here was very well priced.  I had a Sam Adams for $4.  What a relief from the $8 bottles of Corona on the strip!

★★★ (3 Stars)

Lot-A-Burger, or as their sign says “A-Burger,” is a complete Whataburger rip-off.  The burgers are very similar, their fries are reminiscent of the fries Whataburger used to sell about 15 years ago, and the decor is similar to that of the Whataburgers of that time.

The best thing about it is that there are no Whataburger restaurants this far west, so this is the closest thing to it!  And, when I want Whataburger and get around to going to downtown Oxnard, Lot-A-Burger is there for me and it’s pretty good!

★★★★ (4 Stars)

Located on a corner of the historic Hollywood and Vine, this has to be one of the top restaurants I had been to when I’d first visited the area to go to the Pantages theater.   Of course the Pantages has been running Wicked for the past 2 freaking years so I haven’t had any reason to be in the area other than the couple of times I saw Wicked.  Wicked is a good show, but I mean how long is it gonna be there?  It’s not like LA is Broadway and the show should be there for 15 years.  C’mon!

Anyway, the Hollywood and Vine Restaurant is really good but it does come at a price.  It’s in a touristy area, so what do you expect?  I really like grabbing a few drinks here occasionally (they make ‘em pretty stiff) and eating the airline chicken.  The filet mignon and the burgers are also really good.   The ambiance is nice, but not outrageously upscale or anything.  For morons like me who forget to make reservations, or if you just stroll in from the street, the bar is comfortable when you can’t get seated anywhere else.

★★★★ (4 Stars)

Imagine this: a McDonald’s where the hamburgers are hot and fresh, the fries crisp and like they just came out of the fryer… Can it be possible?  It seems that it is!  Alas, my friends, this has to be the best McDonald’s I’ve ever visited.  I don’t know what it is, but no matter what time of night I’ve been there, the burgers and fries are always really really good.  It almost makes me never want to visit a McDonald’s anywhere else!

And, as an added bonus, they have this neat automated soft drink machine in the drive-thru.  If you watch carefully through the window, you’ll see the machine pick up the correct sized cup, and pour just the right amount of the soda you ordered into it.  Fascinating!  –insert your oohs and ahhhs here–