Cocktail Confessions

Okay, I know it’s been over a week since my previous post of part one, but I’m here now to wrap this puppy up.  So where was I?  I was just talking about the lack of adult beverages, and limited food items, but we had a little something to eat anyways and then went about for more exploring.

Just to the right of the main stage there was an area roped and sectioned off for a small classic car show.  Now how classic cars and Huck Finn tie into each other, I’ll never know, but the closest theory I have is that most people who enjoy Americana and Country music, probably also like NASCAR, and if that’s your bag, I suppose some classic cars can draw attention and bring some additional people out anyway.

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There weren’t too many cars, maybe a total of 15 or so, give or take a couple, but these guys were mighty proud.  I’ll admit I’m missing the ‘car-gene’ many guys seems to have.  I fully admit I don’t know the first thing about carburetors or horse power, but I can appreciate the hard work involved in restoring and showing off your handiwork.  I can also imagine the feeling one can have and the adventures one can enjoy sitting behind the wheel and touring our great land.  These cars just beg to be taken out for a drive in the country, stopping at a malt shop for a classic burger and fries, putting the top down and listening to classic tunes.  Anyway, in the long run it was a nice and quick addition to the jubilee.

There were also some various games taking place at various times and locals within the park as well.  We witnessed some grease pole climbing (ugh, what a mess), horseshoe tossing, axe throwing, egg tossing, and cow chip throwing contests.  There were plenty of other diversions for all ages to participate in staggered throughout the day, but we didn’t participate in any ourselves.

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We did stop at a smaller venue (not the main stage) to sit and listen to a 45 minute concert performed by a quartet group hailing from Arizona named the ‘Hey Boyz’.  They were very entertaining, blending traditional bluegrass and humorous stories and jokes throughout their set.  You could buy CD’s from them as well and they would be performing a few different times throughout the jubilee.  Both Brian and I recorded their concert with our Playsport’s, and Brian even made an audio recording using his Zoom player.  He said it came out pretty good and I look forward to listening to it sometime later.  Maybe I’ll even get a portion of it and upload it as an audio file here on my website.

One of the funniest things we witnessed was this really cheesy 2-man show circus.  It was really low rent, and dated by any standard, but that was part of its charm.  The two guys running it did everything from being the MC’s, changing characters, doing stunts, juggling, performing magic tricks, and selling cheezy coloring books of another circus altogether.  The only animals they had was a very fat and lazy cat who just seemed to care less about what was going on around it, and a few doves used in the magic tricks.  The funniest part to me was that their sound system was basically a tape deck, circa 1980, with way over-warn royalty free crappy circus music that sounded like they were recorded during the sixties.  It was so bad, it was good, and you have to give these two guys a lot of credit for their energy and attitudes.  You can tell they were really there just to entertain the kids and definitely thought their ‘circus’ was much more stupendous than it really was.

After our 20 minute little show, we took a few pictures and opted to call it a day, well at a day at the jubilee.  I wouldn’t have minded spending more time there and hearing a few more acts, but I was with three other people all jonesing for a beer at this point and figured they had seen all that they had wanted to see anyway and were hinting about leaving.

I’m not one for camping much anymore.  Not that I hate camping at all; I did plenty of it as a boy when I was running with the Boy Scouts.  Today, however, I enjoy a clean, comfortable bed, a nice hot shower, and a clean toilet to rest my rosy cheeks on in the morning.  With that in mind, if I were to go camping again, I would for sure try to and stay at Mojave Narrows.  It really is a large and well kept campground with plenty of amenities.

On trek back to Orange County, we decided to stop just on the outskirts of Norco for a beer at some chain Mexican restaurant.  Well, one beer turned into two, which turned into three, and before long we were best friends with the bartender, Ernie.  So much so in fact that he was doling out a few free drinks our way and we had a splendid late afternoon.

Finally after that little diversion, think we were now on our way home, my wife was able to finagle us all into going bowling.  We bowled three games at Norco Lanes, and even befriended some young high school kids the next lane over.  We were all pretty tuned up at this point, especially Brian.  We collected some glow in the dark bracelets from our new found friends and they even offered us some pizza.

Once bowling was done, we made our trip back home with Brian sleeping soundly in the back of my car.

I’m about two weeks late in posting this entry (as I also happen to be behind in a lot of entries I have stored up in my head) but I’d like to share with you my experience with the 34th annual Huck Finn’s Jubilee just outside of Victorville, CA.

I first read about the festival in Westways’s magazine provided by the Auto Club of Southern California.  A small little blurb in the “getaways” section in the back referenced this festival to be chock full of bluegrass & country music, a banjo championship, period games and life demonstrations of yesteryear, arts & crafts, and of course country vittles.  The idea of eating smoked bbq ribs and roasted corn on the cob while listening to old school Americana in a picnic like setting sounded very fun and intriguing.

It’s been a while since both Monica and I have been able to get out of Orange County, or do something a bit more exciting than sitting about the house on the weekends doing various chores.  I kinda made a commitment to myself that we would try to get out and do more things this summer.  They needn’t be expensive, lavish, or far away, but I wanted to take advantage of more sunny weekends by ourselves or with friends rather than to look back at yet another summer come and gone with nothing to show for it or talk about.

Granted, Monica doesn’t really care for bluegrass music, but I know my friend Brian Liles does.  So I invited Brian and his fiancee Shea to go with us.  Luckily, Victorville is just about 85 miles from my house and we couldn’t have had better weather.  It’s been a tad cooler than usual for this time of year, and the same went for the desert where we drove to as well.

The Jubilee was held at the Mojave Narrow’s Campground, just outside Victorville at 18000 Yates Road.  Mojave Narrow’s is a very nice and impressive campground.  It’s tucked just outside a residential area and only a few miles from actual downtown Victorville, if you need to go into town for supplies.  It’s basically an open oasis of trees and rolling meadows along the side of the Mojave River.  In addition to a huge campground suited for both tents and RV’s, they have nice covered picnic patio areas, restroom facilities, along with areas for both fishing and hiking.  They also boast a good size playground with water park like attractions for the kids, and you can even rent horses by the hour for horseback riding.  I was very impressed by this place and if I ever were to go camping in the future with family or friends, I’d highly recommend this place.  It doesn’t hurt that it’s not that far from our home either.  As a personal bonus to me, there is a large railway nearby in which train enthusiasts can watch large shipping convoys roll through a few times a day.

Once we parked our vehichle and slapped on a little sunscreen, we made our way to the Jubilee entrance walking through an endless sea of organized camper trailers.  As soon as we walked in you can’t miss the large steel and aluminum outdoor concert stage set up to the right.  Here, various musical acts play throughout the Jubilee’s three day festival and people bring their own blankets and lawn chairs to set up.  There are a few areas with trees that provide shade, but the majority is uncovered so make sure you have your hat and sunscreen.  Luckily there was an on-again, off-again breeze that day so it was quite pleasant.

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On this particular day we had a chance to watch the banjo championships at around noon, but later that night The Oak Ridge Boys and various other acts would be playing.  Just west of the main stage was the vendor and craft fair where small mom and pop businesses sell various country wares, clothing, jewelry, camping gadgets, packaged foods/condiments/spices, etc.  Think of it as a small ‘county swap meet’.  Monica was able to purchase various Father’s Day gifts in the form of garlic stuffed olives and green beans from Gilroy, CA.  We tasted regional jams, mustard’s, spices and more.  There were a few people actually selling puppies as well, but as a dog lover myself, I did feel a little uneasy at this practice….who knows what the health of these puppies were, or if these were ‘puppy-mill’ owners who are not responsible breeders.  The dogs sure were cute, but with no paperwork and no guarantees of health and proper vaccinations, it seems odd to be selling animals at a campground and fair.

The one thing we did notice early on and take great umbridge too was that there were no beer vendors to be found.  This may be because this is a public campground and insurance costs or permits may be unfeasible for the jubilee, but we were all very dissapointed with this discovery.  If we would have known there was no alcohol to be sold, we most assuredly would have brought our own cooler.  At this point, I knew in the back of my head we weren’t going to be here all day long.  It was nice enough my wife agreed to come out with me, but with no adult beverages to wet her whistle, I was clearly pushing my luck.  And I don’t blame her, I think we were all hoping to have a nice craft beer, or two, or three while listening to the music.

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Speaking of beverages, I may as well discuss the food as well. In an earlier post, I reviewed Ptrains BBQ efforts on their wings and smoked pizza, but there were other vendors as well.  In addition to the roasted corn on the cob, baked beans, there was another bbq rib tent, a place that sold hot dogs, corn dogs, and brats, a few drink vendors (basically soda, lemonade’s, bottled water), and of course ice cream as well.  Some of the smells were definitely enticing.  However, that being said, I was a bit let down by the overall size and somewhat limited choices actually present.  The website for the Jubilee, while not incorrect, at least led you to believe that the ‘Vittle Village’ would be bigger than it actually was.  I was really hoping for multiple BBQ tents and a larger variety of regional foods that Mark Twain would have enjoyed, but it just wasn’t present.  Most places only took cash, which was to be expected I suppose, but maybe the website could have let you know roughly how much cash a family should bring just in case they weren’t camping and bringing their own food.

More to come in Part 2….

Not to long ago I had the opportunity to revisit a long forgotten dining treasure in south San Clemente, CA.  My good friend Brett came down from Idaho a few weeks back to visit for a few days, and one of his goals was to check off a few of his favorite eateries that he doesn’t get to enjoy anymore since moving away from the area years ago. 

In addition to the mandatory stop at In ‘N Out Burgers, he also wanted to hit up the original Pedro’s Tacos for a carne asada burrito, cheese quesadilla and taco and take it down to the San Clemente pier for a surf side picnic lunch.  It was a perfect day to do so and we made our way with our to-go bag and got a beach side table and watched the waves roll in late afternoon surrounded by local surfers and other beach goers.

I totally forgot how deliciously good Pedro’s is for a small hole-in-the-wall joint, and once again proves that sometimes simplicity often makes for the best meals. 

The original Pedro’s opened in south San Clement back in 1986 and became a hit with the local surf community and high school students for being the first fish taco stand in the area and having a relatively inexpensive menu.  Like wildfire, it gained in popularity mostly by word of mouth, a no frills menu, and accessibility to the community.  It’s one of those local legend stories that people outside of Orange County may not have heard of, but everyone else in the area will make a pilgrimage to Pedro’s sooner or later.  Over the years they’ve been able to open sites in north San Clemente, Fallbrook and more recently Oceanside.

Simple Menu = Simply Great

This past weekend as Monica and I were coming back to from a day down in Del Mar, I decided to take her to the original for her very first Pedro’s experience.  The place has a lot of charm as it is appears to once have been an actual home there on PCH built in the 50’s that was converted to a restaurant in the mid 80’s.  What was once the front yard is now adorned with a handful of small picnic tables, the backyard a parking lot, and a bedroom now a drive-thru.  There is no indoor seating, just a walk up order and pick-up window.  It’s fun to sit down at one of these tables and in the distance see the Pacific Ocean, especially at sunset in the summer.

Like I said, it’s a no-frills menu.  You can get items a-la-carte or a simple combo plate which includes rice and beans.  The beans and rice aren’t much to shout about, the rice is just traditional Spanish rice.  It’s not good, but it’s not bad either.  It’s what you’d expect fast food Spanish rice to taste like.  Same for the refried beans, although I tend to think they are a bit soupy at times.  But that’s not why you go.  Most people go for the simple fried fish taco’s, or their famous rolled taco’s topped with guacamole.

The quesadillas are old school.  Just cheddar cheese in a large flour tortilla, grilled and folded up in the shape of a square.  You can also get chicken and carne asada quesadillas as well, but I’d wager that the plain cheddar is the gold standard there.

Additionally, they serve traditional tacos and burritos as well, along with veggie, potato, and shrimp variations (although sometimes the carne tacos need to be drained a little better before being placed in the tortilla).  Pedro’s also boasts about a dozen breakfast burritos including steak & egg, chorizo, ham, beans, bacon, etc., and all the combinations thereof all served up to 10:00am.

But by far, if you are going to stop by you cannot go wrong with carne asada burrito.  For just under $4, you cannot get a more satisfying and savory burrito to tide you over at any time.  I don’t know what they marinate their steak in, but it has the very addictive slightly, yet noticeable salty component to it that just makes you salivate for just one more bite.  It’s a flour tortilla stuffed with meat, beans, cheese, guacamole and you must have the jalapeño salsa.  I cannot tell you how many people ask for extra jalapeno salsa.  Sure, it’s just in small clear packets, the kind most people tear open with their teeth and forefinger, but it is just perfect with just about anything on the menu.

So for a total of just under $15 we both had our own combo plates, a cheese quesadilla, and drinks.  You can’t go wrong at Pedro’s, it a little slice of hometown goodness that just can’t be replicated anywhere else.  While it is far from a 5 star experience, you need to keep in the mind it is just a hole-in-the-wall, cheap, and limited….but it always has a steady stream of foodies either lined up at the window or waiting in the drive-thru, so that has to tell you something.  Oh, and don’t forget the salsa packets!

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to attend the Huck Finn Jubilee out at Mojave Narrow’s Campground in Victorville, CA.  It was myself, my wife, my good friend Brian and his fiancee, Shea.  I plan on posting some future installments here about the jubilee itself, but there was one small thing I wanted to get out of the way first, the food at Vittle Village.

Now to our overall disapointment, there was absolutely no beer to be found at any of the vendor booths.  That makes one heck of a long day to be sitting out at a beautiful campground, listening to various bands based on early Americana bluegrass and country, with the smell of BBQ in the air with no way to purchase any beer.  There seems to be a lack of verifiable information on whether it was sold or not in the past.  Depending on who I spoke to in my desperate search for amber nectar, I was was pretty much told down the middle there was/wasn’t any beer the year before.

In the hopes of having some really good country inspired food, I had failed to eat breakfast that morning running on only about three cups of coffee until we made our way to the ‘foodie’ area of the fair at around 1pm.  Sadly to say the options were a tad limited.  If I can recall correctly there was on corndog/hotdog stand, one funnel cake vendor, one bratwurst/sausage kiosk, a tent that sold roasted corn on the cob, and another tent that had some plates of BBQ chicken and ribs.  The one that caught my eye was Ptrains BBQ which emphasized hot wings and a wood smoked BBQ chicken pizza.  Each vendor sold cans of soda or bottled water although there were two specialty drink places: one that sold either fresh lemonade or strawberry lemonade, and the other  homemade craft soda’s such as rootbeer and cream soda among some of their offerings.

I gravitated towards Ptrains because of the very large custom made BBQ pit shaped like an 1850′s era style steam train engine, and of course the smell of the wood laden fire.  In addition to my fondness of BBQ and cooking, I also enjoy model railroading, so the chance to learn more about this epic one-of-a-kind custom train pit and the sampling of some good ‘ole BBQ seemed perfect for me.

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Ptrains is a family run business based out of Rancho Cucamonga, CA.  You can go to their site and read the family story about Ptrains all there.  By looking at their schedule, it appears they travel to various events all over the place with pit in tow.  I can tell you that the whole family seemed very genuine and nice.  I had a chance to talk to one of the daughters who was overseeing the wings being cooked and she was very pleasant and was happy to share with me the story of the train.  The train itself happens to be a relatively new addition, being only a few months old and was custom built by a gentlemen in Houston, TX.   The man who built it (name escapes me right now) has built other well known grills including the famous Six-Gun Grill, and took so much pride in this train creation decided to drive it out himself to deliver it to the client only a few weeks back.  The Ptrain pit cost roughly $50K and duplicates steam era sound effects as well.

I’m not exactly sure what they offer to grill on the circuit, but on the menu today was only the pizza and chicken wings.  I hope in the future if I run into Ptrains again, they may offer up some brisket, ribs, or pork items.

Anyway, my buddy Brian had the wings and offered me one, but I declined.  I’m sorry that I did in retrospect because I would have liked to have included that experience here as well, but I can tell you Brian said he enjoyed his and they had a pleasant glaze and wasn’t too spicy.

I myself decided to try the wood fired bbq chicken pizza.  I can tell you it had a lot of potential, but just wasn’t there.  It wasn’t the taste per-se because Ptrains ketchup based bbq sauce is indeed mighty tasty (although not too spicy), but the execution of the actual pizza was a tad off.  First, even though the wood smoking induces a mouth watering aroma to the pizza, the crust itself wasn’t completely done.  It wasn’t as crisp as I would have liked it to be and a tad doughy in parts, as if it wasn’t cooked all the way through.  It probably could have stood a few more minutes on the grill to firm up a bit more.  Secondly, it was a bit over-sauced in the BBQ department.  I’m not exactly sure if they were trying to highlight the chicken or the sauce, but it came across as little heavy on the sauce.  Maybe because it was their first time here and it was a busy part of the day or they are still working the kinks out in the recipes, but I could have used a bit less sauce and a bit more chicken.  That being said, it wasn’t bad, but definetly room for improvement.

This is more or less a quick entry on the state of affairs over here at my blog.

I’ve got a few things lined up in the coming days and weeks including some additional video’s and a podcast I just recorded with my buddy Brett who visited from Idaho this past week.  I’ll have some new recipes up soon, including Cuban burgers (that were a hit at this Friday’s last BBQ), grilled zucchini boats with a bacon gremolata, a new cocktail recipe dubbed ‘The Camel Toe’ for you vodka and tropical drink lovers, and a refreshing watermelon sangria.

I’ll have a few stories to share that took place with my friend Brett, especially our afternoon visit to Turq’s in Dana Point where we get talked to death by druken senior citizens, some additional video of the San Clemente Pier, a review of the Original Pedro’s tacos, some random shots at Cook’ Corner, Dana Point Harbor, S.C. Pier, and more.

This upcoming weekend, my wife and I are going to the Huck Finn Jubilee up in Victorville, CA with our friends Brian and his fiance Shea as well as my college friend Sam and his wife Alicia.  We’ll be there for the beer, food, and good ‘ole bluegrass music and banjo championships.  I expect to get some good vittles there and hopefully taste some good brews.

On the technical side of things, I just upgraded the NextGen Gallery here to v1.5.3 and I also finally purchased a ‘shoot & share’ video camera in the form of the purple Kodak Playsport along with a 8GB SD card.  I’ve posted a few videos up at YouTube, and I hope to not only use it this weekend at the Jubilee, but also do some grilling recipe and preparation “How-To” videos here in the future.  I also have to finish the Earthbox series that I began a few weeks back.  I already have some great jalepeno peppers and tons of cilantro that we are using.

I did have one bummer issue that happened over the weekend.  This past Saturday my Behringer 502 USB mixing board died on me.  I was actually right in the middle of recording a podcast with Brett and at about the 40 minute mark there was a slight pop in my earphones and when I looked at the screen for status I noticed a flat line on Audacity.  The board is just over a year old (March ’09)  and I purchased it through Amazon.  Of course I don’t have the box anymore, so I’m gonna try and get an RMA straight from Behringer, and looking at their support website it appears that they make you jump through hoops for repair. *Sigh*.  The good news is I picked up my Zoom recorder and was able to finish our podcast, but I’ll have to mash the two files together and do some additional editing before I get the next episode posted….maybe in another week since this weekend is already claimed.

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front the last few days, and probably will be again for at least a few more, so apologies for that upfront.

The last few days of work have been mind-numbing and soul-sucking to say the least, so the fact I have a very good friend flying in this afternoon from Idaho to stay with me the next few days is a very welcome distraction and the timing could not have been better.

He’s my friend Brett Lotero, whom I met in the mid 90′s through some mutual friends.  As these things tend to work out neither one of us see or talk so much to the mutual friends who once introduced us, but Brett and I have maintained a pretty solid friendship over the years even though we now live close to 950 miles apart.

I pick him up today at the airport at just after noon, and for the next few days we will be having great food, great drinks, and hopefully great memories.  For example, he can’t get ‘In-N-Out’ burgers being out in Idaho, so first up on our docket today is to rectify that with a good ‘ole Double-Double.  We’ll probably head out to Cook’s Corner as well for a few drinks, and maybe BevMo to pick up some nice beers and a good bottle of whisky (for me) and rum (for him).  Dinner is up in the air right now, but I have some ideas.

Thursday should bring us down to San Clemente for a good breakfast, some sight seeing along the coast, and perhaps a drive out to Hells Kitchen off the Ortega Highway, and maybe a stop off at Big Helens on the way back.  But we’re totally playing it by ear, and we may do something completely different.  I hope to record a raw podcast with him maybe this day for future postings.  He’s got a few good stories in him.

Friday brings us to his last full day here.  Not exactly sure what we’ll do yet during the day, but we are planning to have a BBQ that night with some old chums.  I think Cuban burgers are on the menu, so I know we’ll hit the store sometime that day.  We’ll also hit up Daily’s Sports Bar at least once to see if he can run into some of his old co-workers.  Brett finally goes back Saturday afternoon which will give me some time to do laundry myself and other stuff to finish out the weekend.

I’m sure I’ll be giving my Droid’s ‘Four Square’, ‘Gowalla’, and ‘Trip Journal’ applications a workout the next few days, so batteries are fully charged as well as the portable power cables.  Oh, and I also got my new Kodak Playsport yesterday in the mail as well, and that’s fully charged now so I’ll be taking some video’s as well.

Anyway, hopefully I’ll be able to share some of these pics and vids with you over the next few days, or at least this weekend after the festivities.  I’ll also share my recipe for Cuban burgers, and I may even try doing that by video.  Look for a few cocktail recipes, some establishment (read: saloon) reviews, and perhaps a long awaited new podcast.

Cheers!

Quinn's

I don’t usually do a lot of restaraunt reviews, but I thought I’d take the time to tell you about a little place in Old Town Tustin, CA that I discovered on my own a few weeks back.  Plus it doesn’t hurt to get a little extra content and broaden my wings here once in a while, especially when it’s an interesting place and compliments my own website.

Quinn’s Old Town Grill is located at 405 El Camino Real in the historical district of Tustin, CA (see map below).  Old Town Tustin is a few square blocks of early Californian living centered around restored buildings dating back to the 1880′s.  I won’t bore you with all the details, but if you really want to learn more about some of the old town highlights and points of interest on your own, go ahead and click here.  In my own personal experience, you can cover the district in just a couple of hours on foot, so I suppose it could make for a decent afternoon discovery and adventure walk on a nice afternoon.

Anyway, Quinn’s opened up in the heart of old town back in 2007, although the building has been around quite a while longer.  From the outside one would suspect it’s an Irish pub, with its green awnings and beer signs indicating Guiness and Harp are sold there.  But it’s not your typical Irish pub with dartboards and loud rock/Celtic music.  In fact, it’s kind of a throwback to earlier times with decor that looks like it was held over from a cozy bistro circa 1950, complete with period black and white photography of the area.  Inside you’ll find the rustic brick walls, large oak booths, traditional dining tables and a short wall that can seat approx. 15 patrons at the bar alone.

They have daily lunch and dinner specials, and of course have special events centered around holidays such as Mother’s Day, March Madness, Easter and of course St. Patrick’s Day (just to name a few).   In addition to the beers on tap and Guniess and Harp I mentioned earlier, they also serve wine and have happy hour daily from 3pm to 6pm, and Irish Coffee is always $4.95.  On Tuesday evening they also have table to table roaming magician (which will explain the playing cards tacked all over the ceiling).

It’s very relaxing inside and dress is casual, although during lunch hour you’ll see people in business attire from the surrounding area.  On the few occasions I have been there the staff have all been very friendly and personable.  Often the bartender will also serve as a waiter to some of the closer tables and each time they have engaged either me or someone in my party to friendly conversation.

The variety of food is decent and not limited to Irish fare, although if you are looking for that, there are somewhat re-interpreted classics there.  For instance, I had Shepard’s Pie the first time I was there and it was more like a hearty stew topped with mashed potatoes than the more traditional means.  The Shepard’s Pie was good, with fresh ingredients, distinctive lamb, and was served piping hot…however, my carrots weren’t fully cooked that time and were a bit on the raw side, but that was my only real complaint.

The sandwiches are a good portion and fresh as well.  My friend Brian recently tried the Reuben and said it was one of the best, if not the best, Reuben he has ever had.  It did look good and the meat was piled on.  I myself tried The Royal Dublin, a chicken salad like concoction with fresh apples, pistachios and golden raisins blended in on squaw bread.  Served with a little hot mustard on the side (had to have horseradish on it), it was very fresh and good as well.  Brian also tried the soup of the day which was a fish medley that he said was enjoyable as well.  It had fresh prawns, and scrod in it as well as many other ingredients.  Who uses scrod these days?  I just like saying ‘scrod’.  Scrod.  There, I got it out of my system.

Reuben *pic taken by Brian

They have a decent variety of sides as well, including fresh fruit salad (it was fresh), shoestring fries, and salad.  I was disappointed with the steak fries.  They weren’t anything special or seasoned, they just seemed like typical frozen fries.

Of course they have various other foods including Napa chicken, Sand Dabs, Halibut fish & chips, prime rib, and plenty of steak cuts, chops and other selections.  I can’t really do it justice here, so I recommend going to their website

If I were to make one complaint, it would have to be about the appetizers.  They just seem too standard and run of the mill for the rest of the menu, and somewhat pricey for appetizers.  Sure, they are discounted during happy hour and a few of them might seem fine at home, but only at the bar as finger food.  While at the end of the day, it is a just a bistro with an air of Irish flair to it, but just seems odd to have Thai chicken skewers and shrimp won ton present.  I suppose the fresh oysters on the half shell and jumbo shrimp ($ .75 ea. happy hour) may make up for it though.

I also judge places on their ice tea.  A lot of places say they have fresh ice tea, but in reality if the tea is served cloudy it really isn’t fresh.  Also I can always tell if it is from a syrup, concentrate, cheap tea powder, or stored in a metal or glass decanter.  While Quinn’s ice tea isn’t the best I’ve ever had (fresh filtered black Ceylon leaves), it is definitely fresh (i.e. clear) and superior to most establishments.  Always a good sign in my book.

Overall I’m kinda struggling on how to fairly score the place and on what scale.  Taking all things into consideration; friendliness of staff, decor, atmosphere, main dishes and selection, portion size, appetizers and sides, freshness, and bang for your buck I’d think Quinn’s Old Town Grill is a 3.75 out of 5, but easily one of the spotlights in Old Town Tustin.

More often than I would care to admit to, the usual way our department treats is weekly Friday departmental lunch selection for is like trying to figure out who Paris Hilton is dating this week.  So many times, with all us accepting the ritualized anarchy that is our decision making process, we all stand up from our veal pen like cubicles like prairie dogs and stare blankly at each other as we all begin to say “So, where are we going today?”

It rarely ever comes together smoothly, and there is always someone who inevitably will drop out or complain they don’t like the place we all hoo-humingly decided upon.  “Not that place again.” “Didn’t we just go there two weeks ago?” “Ugh, the lines are too long and I don’t have enough cash.” are just a tip of the iceberg when it comes to the myriad of complaints and excuses we all throw out in trying to agree on a single place.

I get frustrated with this practice a lot as I generally don’t care where we go, or develop an attitude that I must partake in this tired indecisive banter every week.  Sometimes we spend so much time talking over each other throwing out names of tired and not so true places that we end up wasting a good solid ten minutes of our allotted 60 minute window.

Today, we all agreed upon trying a new selection tactic.  Something revolutionary, and yet so simple in practice.  I like to now call out, “Let’s let the wheel of fate decide.” in a determined and stoic voice, my Droid smartphone held up high in the air like Moses bearing the stone tablets before his wary people. “Let us look upon the written word that is (drum roll for effect) URBAN SPOON!”

My friend Brian introduced me to this fine little gem of an app that he had previously downloaded to his phone.  Currently available on both the Android (v2.0 OS and up) and iPhone platforms, Urbanspoon, is like the old Magic 8-Ball sooth-saying toy you had as a child.  Based upon your current location (thanks to the GPS coordinates of where you are standing) you shake your phone to activate the internal accelerometer.  Like a nickel slot machine at an Indian casino without smallpox, three simulated wheels rapidly spin and soon begin to settle upon the categories: city, genre, price.  City is self explanatory, genre is the cuisine type (Japanese, Indian, German, etc), and price is ranked from $ thru $$$$. 

We all agreed today that the ‘Wheels of Fate’ would dictate our lunch plans.  We all huddled in silent anticipation around my Droid, our eyes locked and wide as I shook the phone.  Clickity, clickity, clickity…..the simulated sound began to gradually slow. 

1st up: Tustin.  2nd wheel: Italian.  Finally price: $$  Urbanspoon had selected the “Pizza Shack”….and to our mutual acceptance and nods, we all agreed, no questions asked.  The ‘Wheels of Fate’ had spoken!

With address, phone number, and a 83% favorable review, we drove off to our dictated eatery.  And surprisingly, we all enjoyed it.  Seven of us attended todays outing, each one of stating we had never once been to the Pizza Shack before albeit it was only a mere two miles from the place we had all worked for years.  Sharing four medium pizzas with traditional toppings in an atmosphere not unlike a low rent college sports bar, we all commented on how good it actually was.  Not just the food per-se, but the atmosphere as well.

With this little tale all told, I thank my friend Brian for the the suggestion and highly recommend that if your smart phone can handle it, go ahead and download Urbanspoon.  A little shake of the wrist and a little random luck can break the doldrums that is choosing a place to eat and may lead you to something new and exciting.

In about 24 hours from now I will find myself standing out in the middle of the Anza-Borrego desert playing ‘desert’ golf with my father-in-law, brother-in-law and a few other ‘men’ among ‘men’, and I have no idea how I’m going to fare.

My guess: Not well.

See, I got invited on an overnight ‘guys’ camping trip by some former marines (my father-in-law and his buddy) and their sons. This is an annual thing they conjured up a few years back where it’s an excuse to supposedly get back to nature. This really translates into getting away from the womenfolk for at least 24 hours sucking down as many libations as possible.

Initially I found myself a little pressured into this field trip. Before I even knew what was happening, my wife more or less signed me up for this as a ‘bonding’ experience with the ‘guys’. Before I could even register my own thoughts on the matter, my father-in-law was already telling me what time to be at his house. “But I have no sleeping bag…” I said. “No problem, I got you covered.” Damn… “But I have no clubs.” I then said. “Got that covered too.” Double damn…. Then my brother-in-law chimed in, “Come on, you’ll have fun.” Er……”What about my dog Frankie?” where my wife then replied, “Oh, I’m not going out of town with the girls afterall, so I can stay home and feed him.” Ughh…

It’s not that I don’t want to spend time with my father-in-law. I like him. I like him a lot. But these days with my step-daughter gone for the weekend, and the thought that my my wife was also going to be gone with her girlfriends, I was really looking forward to a nice, quiet weekend by myself at home…..to do chores, maybe do some Christmas shopping, catch up on some DVR recordings, and looking forward to working on some model train structures I am building.

But more to the point, at 39 years of age, I recognize that at times I am a pussy when it comes to the outdoors. You see, at the end of the night I like a hot shower, a comfortable bed, and the ability to use a clean bathroom in the morning when I have to make a dookie. None of these are present in the desert. No, the only thought process going through my head is that I will smell like smoke from the campfire, I won’t be able to fall asleep on uneven ground, I won’t be able to wash my hands or face, it’ll be 30 degrees overnight, and finally I’ll have to hold my crap as I cannot dig a hole out in the desert and squat above it. Now that I think about, I would never make a good contestant on Survivor, so Jeff, tear up my application.

The activities planned? Well, that another thing. There will be desert golf in which the loser lugs around the cooler of beer for everyone else…..Guess who will be getting his exercise that day? There will also be horse-shoes….a game I have never played. There will be rock-climbing….great, Why? There will be football tossing, in which I throw like a girl. And finally a campfire dinner with what my father-in-law says will require the “green bottle”….(i.e. Tanqueray gin martinis). Okay, that last part actually sounds fun and I may get on board with that, but I need a plan to participate yet not stay overnight in conditions that are less than optimal to me.

So am I a puss? Maybe I am these days, but I’ll have you know at one point I was indeed a Boy Scout. I actually made it up to being a ‘Life’ scout and spent plenty of nights in tents and sleeping bags and campfires and self-made latrines. I’ve dug plenty of holes in the ground and have gone without taking a shower or washing my hands a few days at a time. But that was then, and now I feel I’m a bit over that. No, I don’t see myself squatting in the early morning hours looking out for scorpions as I drop a duece while watching my breath at the same time…not when I know there is a clean toilet if I really want to.

So my solution? Invite my own father to go with us. That way I can tell my father-in-law it’s logistically inefficient for me to drive to his house (45 miles north) just to turn around and drive an additional 2 hours southeast. That would also mean I’m stuck and can only leave when he leaves which may prolong my perceived agony. No, by taking my own father I shave off at least 45 minutes each way of drive time, I can leave when we want to leave, and most importantly, I will have to take him home at the end of the evening thus sparing myself from having to sleep overnight. Yes, at the end of a long day of what I am sure will be plenty of embarassing laughs at my expense when it comes to the ‘guy’ things, I know I will have my hot shower, my clean bed, and my toilet the next morning where they will have none of these.

So my duty for tomorrow? I pick up my dad and his golf clubs, we go to the store and fill a cooler with ice and beer and snacks, I take my new camera and make the best out of the situation. Will it be horrible? No, I don’t think it will be. I’m sure I may even have some fun, and I know my father-in-law has been looking to do something with me for a long time (I kept making excuses for years why I can’t partcipate in his reindeer games). Plus my own father gets to go which will be good for our relationship as well and make my drive much more palatable.

Here it is, Cocktail Confessions podcast episode #4, our recent trip to a sweltering 113 degree Fahrenheit Palm Springs run.

In listening back, I have to say I’m a bit embarrassed with the many  “Um’s” that spill out of my mouth.  I’ll have to work on that.  Anyway, this episode clocks in just shy of 35 minutes and I discuss a detailed day by day account of some of the sigths we saw and places we ate at.  Unfortunately we did not make it to the aerial tram and ride to the top of San Jacinto, but we all agreed that perhaps we’d like to go back later in the year when it’s a bit cooler.

<<Additional pictures to be added here later from Webshots gallery>>

Show Notes

01:50 – Shocktop Belgian Ale is the drink for this epsiode.  Spiced Belgian White Ale with hints of corriander and orange citrus.

04:30 – Our road trip begins and we have our first set back when we get to Redlands, CA and discover Slim Piggins BBQ has recently closed down.

07:44 – Pull into Palm Spring and have a nice lunch and drinks at the famous Las Casuelas on the main drag.

08:56 – Arrive at the retro and swanky Orbit Inn.  We enjoy the pool, modernism design, free sake Orbitini’s at happy hour, and gourment continetal breakfast.

13:32 – Dinner at the Kaiser Grille is mediocre at best.  You live and learn.

14:40 – Monica plays the one arm bandits at Spa Resort Casino while Jayson, Albert & Lisa hang out in the lounge and listen to coverized funk.

17:05 – Visit to the Living Desert Zoo where it was 113+ and some of the exhibits were closed like the LGB G scale train I was so looking forward to seeing.  The train exhibit reopens Oct. 1, 2009.  We take plenty of pictures of wild cats, reptiles, birds and more (to be posted later).

25:35 – Very delicious goat cheese tamales and excellent bbq lunch over at Babe’s BBQ in Rancho Mirage.

26:53 – 1/2 priced Sunday dinner at Oceans 111, where the drinks are large and the taste is just as big.

29:00 – Last night stargazing under a clear sky and a motel to ourselves.  Looking forward to coming back later in the year when it’s a tad cooler

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