koko's corner

Last Sunday we went to the La Posta Casino to check out the changes they made to the restaurant.

Stan has been there a couple of times since it's changed. He's a R.O.M.E.O. you know, (retired old man eating out) One of the waitresses that used to serve him at the restaurant in the Golden Acorn Casino works there now, so he goes there to see her once in a while. He says he's had some pretty good meals there.

Let's check this place out.

I sooo didn't want to leave the house yesterday to run errands. It was in the mid 70's with a nice gentle breeze. One of those days that you want to stay home with the doors and windows open, putzing and dancing around the house to your favorite tunes blaring from the stereo.  But Stan, reality, and a long list compelled me out the door.

On the way to town one of our stops was the Viejas Outlet Mall. Hey a mall, at least I have my priorities right. 

Have you seen the dancing water in the middle of the mall? C'mon I promise you won't get wet.

We heard that a new sushi restaurant had opened in La Mesa not long ago. So yesterday Stan, you know, the non fish eater, the ol' meat and potatoes nothing weird looking on my plate guy, asked daughter Vicky and me if we wanted to go try it out. He knows we like sushi and try to eat it at least once when we get together. Whatta guy.

Updated Oct 2nd read here

The restaurant is called Banbu Sushi.

Wanna come peek inside?

Stan has succumb to the latest T.V. advertising Dave & Busters, hereto known as D&B's, has been doing.
He's been talking about it all week. I wanted to stay home and painstakingly go through last weekends hundreds of photos but I thought it was my wifely duty to accompany my husband. Besides, daughter Vicky was joining us and I wasn't going to miss out on seeing her. D&B's is known as the adult Chuck E. Cheese but with valet parking and a doorman.

Let's peek inside

We had to go back to Phở Superbowl yesterday. This time I had a Vermicelli noodle bowl. Actually it's more of a salad than anything. It's a bowl of cold vermicelli noodles with different toppings available. I had the charbroiled shrimp, egg rolls and pork. This was placed on top of bean sprouts, lettuce and carrots. It comes with a mild fish sauce dressing and a sprinkling of peanuts.

This is the perfect summer food. It is light and refreshing. The pork is tender and juicy, perfectly spiced and thinly sliced. The egg rolls add the perfect crunch factor along with the peanuts that are sprinkled on top. Once I dove into this salad I didn't come up for air.

Stan wasn't very adventurous and had the same thing he had the last time, the Garlic Beef. It's delicious so I don't blame him for ordering it again, I mean, how can you go wrong with filet mignon.

We were served a nice little bowl of a coconut, lemon grass dessert like last time. A nice little treat to end the meal.

They have the best iced tea I've ever had. I forgot, again, to ask them what brand they use. I'll find out next time we go. If I remember ;-)

Phở SuperBowl
8342 Parkway Drive
La Mesa Ca 91942
10:30 a.m to 10: p.m.
619-469-8984

Sat. we were talking about how long it's been since we've been to Pinnacle Peak Restaurant in Santee.
It's been too many years to remember. I do remember that if you wear a tie, it better not be your good one because it's coming off. The waitress/er walks up to your table clanging a cow bell announcing to the diners that you wore a tie. Then everyone clamors for her/him to cut it off.

Check out the food

Yesterday I was reading in Chowhound about a new Phở restaurant that has opened in La Mesa. I was very happy that someone would be courageous enough to open a Phở restaurant in the East County and I couldn't wait to try it out. My culinarily challenged husband had no idea what he was in for when he said it was up to me where we had lunch today.

Check it out. Oh, yeah and they have wi-fi 

UPDATE 3-22-09

The Liar's Club is no longer in business.

My wonderful hair dresser Bonnie squeezed me in for a hair do today. My regular appointment wasn't until Wednesday but I couldn't stand my hair one more minute. Bonnie is at Fabulous Salon and Day Spa in the Viejas Mall in Alpine Ca. 5001 Willows RD # K201, Alpine CA 91901 (619) 445-0883 (end of shameless plug ;-)
We had time to have lunch together which is a rare treat. There is a new place in town The Liar's Club. They have other locations but they are new in Alpine.

The first thing that was noticeably good was the iced tea. Bonnie took one look at the color of the tea in the glass and said, "Now that's tea" without even tasting it we knew that was going to be good, and it was.

We ordered burgers. According to the menu "All burgers are 1/2 pound patties cooked medium rare served with lettuce, tomatoes and 1000 island dressing. Sandwiches & burgers come with your choice of fries (regular or Cajun-style) or coleslaw."
I had the Cholula Ranch Burger which has Bacon, jack and cheddar cheese, with Cholula ranch dressing (instead of 1000 island). I asked for it medium which was just perfect, still cooked enough for my taste yet still mouth watering-ly juicy. It's a huge beefy tasting burger.

I had the sweet potato fries that came with a dipping sauce that among other wonderful ingredients contained maple syrup and sour cream. They are fantastic, nice thick wedges that are not mushy. They still have a little bite to them. The only thing I salted.

I had to cut my burger in half to even get a handle on it. mmmmmm

Bonnie had the Fuego Burger which has grilled Anaheim, Jalapeño and Serrano chiles, pepper jack cheese and chipotle aioli (instead of 1000 island) Feel the burn (twice)!!

She had the Cajun fries with hers. Just enough spice to be noticed without overpowering the potato flavor of the fries.

I had the Green Flash 5th Anniversary. Hoppy like I like.

They have 32 different micro-brews on tap.

A definite do over. So many burgers and beer and so little time.

The Liar's Club
2806 Alpine Blvd
Alpine, CA 91903

We went by Panda Machi again the other day. They re-vamped their menu and they made some good changes.

I had the Bento Box lunch.

It came with a salad, rice, sushi and a choice from 5 different entrées. I chose the shrimp. They were a little light on the sushi ingredients but otherwise, another good meal.

Of course we'll be back.