Past Stories
At First It’s Rough, Then It’s Sweet
Photo by Bill Gerdes
Brass Key may not be voted best dressed, but it makes up for it in personality
It looks like a derelict’s crash pad from the outside. Or a Lego house made by a 6-year-old who had…
Victoria Gardens Farmer’s Market and Chef Demonstration
No one can deny that when it comes time to cook, there’s an enticing option lying somewhere between going out to eat or heating up a quick frozen meal of instant gratification, neither of which can be considered fresh or&...
All-American Bites
Zorba’s serves up Grade A-quality burgers and A+ refreshments
Ahh . . . burgers, the quintessential American staple; if you try it elsewhere, they’re just not the same. Travel the world and all you want to do when you retur...
Eatin‘ Like Royalty
King’s Highway serves up the food—and drinks—of Gods
I wish I lived in Palm Springs and not because I’m gay or Republican or 90. No, I wish I lived there because of all of the hip/retro/just-plain-outstanding restaurant...
The Road Best Traveled
Home-bred hospitality in Corona’s newest restaurant
I will never say anything bad about a place that leaves its doors open for weary travelers—actually, customers who come an hour too late to enjoy the Peruvian steak and po...
Sacrificial Lamb
A taste of Syria and Lebanon in Chino Hills
One might not immediately equate Chino Hills with superb Mediterranean cuisine. However, the Mes Amis experience is a pleasantly surprising journey through a taste of authentic Syrian...
The Exclamation Marks the Spot
Eureka! Burger proves it’s a culinary force to be reckoned with in Claremont
Everyone has their favorite eating spot. It’s that one place of consistency like the bar setting from Cheers or McLaren’s Pub in How I Met Your ...
Think Outside Of Your Fast-Food Bubble
Tropica’s gourmet-quality food comes at a surprisingly decent price
Among UC Riverside students, the Inland Empire is notorious for having minimal selections of competent, economically efficient restaurants. Let’s see . . ....
The Restaurant Trifecta
Great food, great service and great prices—Mazz Bar and Grill has it all
I
n a declining economy there is a simple recipe for success that restaurants need to follow if they want to survive: good food, service and prices.&hel...
What’s In A Name?
I started seeing the signs in the fall: “Yellow Chili Tapas Kitchen & Bar. Coming Soon.” I was intrigued. Was this a new Spanish tapas restaurant? But, why then the “yellow chili” reference? Was this a culinary mash...
Breaking Bread
I walked into The Rustic Loaf expecting the best dang sandwiches money can buy on fresh, right out-of-the-oven bread but I was suddenly stricken with the reality: no seats equals no sandwiches. It’s obvious: The name so simpl...
Zen and the Art of Veganism
The Claremont location of the Loving Hut franchise bears little resemblance to its sister stores throughout Southern California. Some locations can really push the sales pitch of a vegan lifestyle into a gentle brainwashing. Th...
Bogeying Down
In the ’60s and ’70s snagging a meal in the desert meant a steak, a big, bloody, gin martini—three olive—Dean and Sammy on the jukebox-porterhouse. A place like Melvyn’s in Palm Springs comes to mind. Maybe a little d...
Something for the Stomach
I’ll be frank with you, reader. I’ve never had the adventurous audacity to sit and enjoy a meal of Indian food. No . . . not since the fateful day my roommates and I tried our luck at Taste of…
A Global Adventure
If you find yourself watching the Food Network hoping that something made by Rachel Ray or even on 30 Minute Meals will be both easy to make and delicious, then you need to snap out of your dream world, get…
The Hideaway
The French dip sandwich is a relic of the early ’80s, along with smoking in bars, the Cold War, and a healthy manufacturing center. But I love and miss all of those things—maybe not the Cold War—but the French dip…
The Perfect Mantra
Cliché as it may sound, the good fellas at Mantra Indian Cuisine adhere to the mantra (no pun intended) that good things come in small packages and good things come to those who wait. I’m not talking about wait times…
American Pie
We all know that if we want delicious, authentic Italian pizza, we call Domino’s and tell them to shove it. Papa John’s too (but not Pizza Hut because it has deep-fried crusts. Mmm . . . ). When it comes…
Something for Everyone
Chuck-E-Cheese is one of the last kid-based celebration venues around, but when it comes to the kids, do you honestly want to go there? No. No one does. But fear not for there’s a new restaurant in town that’s well-known&he...
Doin’ It Up Southern-Style
“Down-home, Southern barbeque—just like they do it in the South.” Many barbeque restaurants, shacks and holes-in-the-wall may as well have the words “authentic recreation” stamped on their menus, T-shirts, even their ...
Getting Busy With Chinese Cuisine
Do you love Panda Express? If you do, get outta here! You haven’t tasted authentic Chinese cuisine—a rarity in the Inland Empire, it seems, probably attributable to the scarcity of Asians in the area. You might be wondering...
A Trip Worth Making
Your meals are either classified as: A) Something to tide you over until the next time your body requires sustenance or B) Food that you crave, desire and enjoy with a strange and addicting intensity. If you’re the type of&he...
Currying Locals with the Royal Treatment
The city of Corona should count their blessings that Karam Singh and his brother decided to heed the advice of family friends and open Royal Taj, the Inland Empire’s first Indian fast food restaurant. What they’ve created, ...
A Little Bit Country
There’s a fine line between great dining in the “city” and “countryside,” especially in the Inland Empire. When you’re searching for the best city dining, your best bets are paying a visit to that mom-and-pop joint...
The Wow Factor
Talk about an abundance of riches. Entering the SportsWatch Bar and Grill to watch a game, have a beer or enjoy some food is a slightly overwhelming, at times even dizzying cornucopia of sports bar accoutrements. Like a plethor...
Slice of El Salvador
Pupusa—say it with me slowly kids—pu-pu-sa. It’s a fun word, a sexy word and, yes, a delicious one. Hell, I’ll say it again, pu-pu-sa. It’s a word designed to screw up spell-checks, confound those looking for macho-co...
Poetic Justice for the Senses
If something about Rumi’s Restaurant sings songs of the familiar, think back to Darya Fine Persian Cuisine in Orange County. Owner Bashir Hassanzadi has brought much of the same elegance and sophisticated refinement of a Dary...
Not Just Any Pub
If you’ve ever heard those clever little five-lined poems that have a similar rhyming scheme akin to “There once was a man from Nantucket” then you know already know what a limerick is. However funny and clever these rhym...
