mmm-yoso!!!

It's Burger Week (again). Tom's Farms

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog, written by a few friends.  Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy don't make food deprivation related New Year Resolutions.  We try to resolve to change habits we *won't* break in the first week of the New Year.  

 

Hello.  I hope your year is going well so far.  I have a new computer.  This is because my old one decided to commit suicide the other day.  So, I am learning to be patient, do without, change habits and not cry at the loss of 'things'....yes, I am moving forward and managing.  I have no choice.  I am also fascinated with upgraded programs and the things that they can do-and don't do like they used to.  Thank you for your patience.

 

You may recall that I seemed to be driving North on the I-15  quite a bit since Thanksgiving.  I knew we would be doing Burger Week again.  If you ever have, you have passed Tom's Farms and perhaps stopped, or made a mental note to stop when you had more time and were not either heading somewhere or 'almost home'.  You really should stop.

 

 

You will notice several buildings and that the area is quite large, once you park.  This building holds furniture for sale.   

 

 

Another holds a Mexican restaurant.

There is an area which sells candies, another Produce and Vegetable area..wines, cheeses, gift baskets...

There are activities.

There is a wine tasting area and in that building, a place that makes pizza.  We got the pizza once, many years ago, because the line for burgers was so long.  It did not impress us and so now every time we go and  the burger area is too crowded, we just buy some hot bread (there is something hot from the oven about every 30 minutes here.  As soon as you walk into the Wine and Cheese Shop, the table in front of you will have something warm.   Go ahead, touch the plastic bread wrapping)  some cheese, maybe some smoked fish and sit out on the lawn, by the pond, to eat.  

 

However, we drove by later in the evening just after Christmas, and  it was not busy
.  We walked over to the "burger and sandwich" area, by the duck pond.  
I got my personal favorite, a Tom's Old Fashioned burger. ($3.95) 1/3 pound, served with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a special sauce.  On a bun that is baked there. You know, a *very* fresh bun.

The burger is coarse ground meat, not frozen. Juicy, cooked medium and very flavorful (my personal" test" is eating the meat plain..seeing if it needs all those toppings or of the toppings compliment the meat). All the toppings are from the farm stand and include lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and a sauce. (oh.  Those giant pickles you pay $2 at the County Fair are sold here.  $8 for a gallon.  There are more than four in a gallon.)

 In conclusion about the burger, you can't get much fresher unless you do all of this at home, including the baking, growing and using a high quality meat. 

The Mister ordered a Chili Size ($4.95).  The same 1/3 lb burger, served open faced on the fresh baked bun, topped with a nice, not too hot spiced chili with beans and shredded cheddar. I liked the combination of flavors of this and the hamburger meat patty stood out in that it was still coarse ground and had its own meaty juiciness. The chili complimented it. 

We have had the fries here, and those have not been too memorable We pay the $3.69 for the onion rings.  

Not a huge portion, but made fresh from thick cut, sweet Spanish onions. Breaded lightly with a flour/corn meal mix. Extremely properly fried and always sweet, sweet onions

If you want a root beer float, you get to kind of do it yourself.It is $3.95. They hand you a cup,more than half filled with a very good vanilla ice cream (the kind with specks of vanilla in it) and you fill the rest of the cup with root beer.  Slowly.  Because, you know, physics takes over and the carbonated beverage will flow over... 

So, if you are near Corona or Anaheim and see Tom's Farms. Do stop and get a burger.  

Tom's Farms  23900 Temescal Canyon Road, Corona, CA 92883

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Islamorada Fish Company: Bass Pro Shop dining-yes, dining(!)

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food in all forms of acquiring, preparing, eating and the various ways we(Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy, as well as a few others) came about to have it happen.  A sort of diary that you get to read.    Enjoy.

Hi again.  Well, I had yet another fun adventure the other day.     We were driving North on the 15 .     

It was quite beautiful.  We stopped at the Victoria Gardens Mall, and on the outer ring saw it...

The new Bass Pro Shop. 

Of course, I get catalogs from both Bass Pro Shop as well as Cabela's and the two stores are kind of interchangeable inmy mind...both sell hunting, fishing and outdoor gear and all of their Brick and Mortar stores have a interesting,  themed restaurant serving excellent food inside (except for the next closes BPS in Las Vegas, which is attached to the Silverton Hotel, so does not offer food in the store).    Think Ikea, but more fun.

So, we walked in and there was a 90 minute wait for the restaurant. 

This was the day after Christmas, when most restaurants are not very crowded, on the ring road of a very popular mall, which has several pretty nice restaurants, as well as a King's Fish House, which has quite nice seafood.  We waited. {When we were leaving, the wait was still 90 minutes...}

 

We walked outside.

 

Checked out the boats in the parking lot, more of the view, the waterfall...and inside the plethora of items for sale... 

Including this delightful shotgun shell themed mailbox for only $99..which I kind of really wanted, thinking it might keep some door to door salesmen away...

Soon, the vibrating LED happy lighted coaster went off and we were seated, given beverages (The Mister had an excellent brewed iced tea ($2.19) I wanted water) and a loaf of hot fresh white bread... 

Which was hearty and a bit salty, yet topped with a granulated sugar crust, making me heretofore refer to it as "kettle bread" (you know, kettle corn...but bread...?  Oh nevermind)

 

We ordered the calamari appetizer ($6.95) which was the largest serving I have ever had.  This was perfectly fried squid rings and tentacles topped with shredded Parmesan and parsley and served with a warm marinara.

It really needed more than one lemon wedge to  squeeze juice over all of the calamari on this plate...

 

We also ordered the one pound (opposed to the 2 pound) appetizer of garlic steamed clams.

The resulting sauce on the bottom of this bowl was rich and hearty and went quite well with the cheesy toasted slice of sourdough served with it.

Fresh and substantial.

The Mister ordered the fried catfish plate($11.95).  Five fillets, lightly breaded with a flour/cornmeal mix, served on top of thick cut fries (which were topped with Old Bay© seasoning) and a side of coleslaw, which was very crispy and made with a pineapple juice sauce, and some house made tartar sauce, which I particularly enjoyed.

I got the Angler combination plate ($18.95): a crab cake that was 95% crab (no filler) and was lightly, crisply fried and had great flavor; five giant, juicy grilled shrimp and a large fillet of Mahi Mahi, which was barely(lightly) grilled and also tasted very fresh.  All were served on top of a very flavorful rice pilaf(there were some vegetables-carrot and celery at least-in the pilaf blend) and with a house made remoulade, the colslaw and house made potato chips, dusted with the same Old Bay© seasoning.  I added malt vinegar and salt to my chips.

Excellent food, great serving sizes and great service.  An extremely nice experience.

Islamorada Fish Company (inside the Bass Pro Shop, Ranch Cucamonga) 7777 Victoria Gardens Lane, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91735 (909)922-5500 website

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Road Trip-The Hat

mmm-yoso is not on vacation.  Cathy is blogging while Kirk takes a day off.

Hi.  A few weeks ago I met a friend from High School up in Ontario and we had the wonderful surprisingly garnished beef bowl....remember?

Well, this past Saturday one of my college roommates called, from New Orleans, and said she would be here the next day, taking her son on campus tours at Pomona and Claremont Colleges...arriving at the Ontario Airport also!  I can drive 2 hours North again, no problem. 

Her plane got in, they were exhausted and hungry and I was still in San Diego.  I told them to eat somewhere and started my drive up.

We met at a Starbucks and talked for hours!  It was wonderful to see and know that neither of us had changed in all these years!

On the way home, I saw it- The Hat!...World Famous Pastrami. Its a pretty staid Restaurant, celebrating its 55th year in the LA area...with ten locations. The Mister *loves* pastrami, and we usually only go to The Hat when we are decorating floats for the Rose Parade in late December.

Well, I thought even if the sandwiches weren't warm, the taste could get home in about two hours.

The menu is simple and the food is prepared methodically and is consistent.

I got a Pastrami dip and a Roast beef with au jus. ($6.49 each)

The sandwiches arrived home in good condition.  The pastrami is made with mustard and pickle and the bread for each is so fresh (I suppose with the business The Hat has, there is no time for anything to get old).  Each sandwich is over sized, the meat is flavorful and moist.

If you happen to see it, stop in.

The Hat, ten locations (Alhambra, Brea, Glendora, Lake Forest, Monterey Park, Pasadena, Rancho Cucamonga, Simi Valley, Temple City, Upland)

Road Trip-Yang Yang Sushi and BBQ

mmm-yoso is NOT on vacation.  Cathy is blogging while Kirk is not.  You looked in, why not stay and read?

Hi.  So, my best friend from 4th grade all through High School was attending a seminar this past Saturday, in Ontario, a less than 2 hour drive (she lives in San Jose) and so I had to take that little drive to visit for a few hours...emails and birthday and Christmas cards just can't summarize what your life has been like. 

Neither of us knows the area, but I can say that the address of her hotel, being on North Vineyard, is *not* located north of the 10 freeway...and I can also say this was the least-infiltrated with Starbucks area of Southern California I have been to.

So, I saw this sign inside a Stater Bros grocery store parking lot, and we stopped.

The hours said it was open until 10 on Saturday and it wasn't even 8, but tables were empty.

There are only 8 tables inside, but it seems they do a very brisk phone in/pick up business. That is the menu overhead and here is a paper menu:

Since Yang Yang is closed on Sunday and this was late Saturday night, apparently they don't keep much of an inventory, so when we tried to order, quite a few things (mostly the raw fish) was out...still, we managed to get a few, nice and interesting quick bites.

The miso soup was nice, but unremarkable except for the thicker, fresh tasting seaweed.

I was pleasantly surprised by the appetizer of baked green mussels ($5.45).

Six mussel shells, each with 3 small mussels in the shell, covered in a spicy, creamy orange colored sauce and baked and topped with some sweet tonkatsu sauce on this pleasantly decorated plate...with cherry tomatoes, ginger, sliced oranges and limes...interesting and it tasted very nice.

I had been craving poke ever since Kirk's report on it from Hawaii (and the great deal at Safeway) and when I saw the Spicy Tuna Salad on the menu for only$6.95, I wanted to try it.  This is a HUGE serving, nicely very spicy served with picked veggies on top, lots of onions, radishes, pickled ginger and, more sliced limes and oranges...pretty and filling and tasty.

Then, since the place is called Yang Yang Sushi *and* BBQ...well, I thought we should try some BBQ...seems logical, right? hmmmm...The nice waitress told us they did not have Japanese BBQ beef available, but they did have some Korean BBQ beef...bulgogi..cool.  I like that..in a bowl, fine.  Price was the same ($5.95).  Picture showed beef and some kind of salad on top of rice...

Oh, please, click on the photo and make it larger...words cannot describe how this was served, but I will try.

It was a good sized, heavy bowl of rice, covered with a lot of *excellent* bulgogi..and then there was some shredded cabbage, radishes, limes and then on top of that, yes..that party mix stuff, pretzels, croutons, cheese crackers, pieces of shredded cereal...and miniature marshmallows... yes, THAT mix...

I dunno.  It did taste good, and I admit the flavors were nice, but I guess I need to get more creative in the kitchen next time.

I know I've told you to not be afraid to try someplace new...this wasn't scary..and it was quite interesting.  Good food.  An adventure.

Yang Yang Sushi and BBQ  1953 East Fourth Street (at Vineyard) Ontario, CA 91764 (909)948-9838 Tues-Sat 11 a.m-10 p.m.