Akasaka - Hacienda Heights, CA

It's possible that this is some of the best sushi that I've ever had.  I had the 8-count spider roll and green tea.  The sushi roll was a cross between a burrito and a sushi roll; hearty like a burrito and had bigger chunks of food but very fresh and fine like a typical sushi roll. One roll was plenty of food.

The atmosphere was very international.  There was lots of Japanese and Chinese being spoken.  The restaurant is relatively small and it was pretty full when I was there for lunch.

Service was very good.  There was one single waiter for the whole restaurant.

Overall, I would rate this place a 9.1 mostly on the food.  

Akasaka

1492 Clark avenue
Hacienda heights, CA
616 336-0871

Stone Brewing Bistro & Gardens Liberty Station - San Diego, CA

The Stone Brewery at Liberty Station next to the San Diego airport is just a great upscale bier garden.  The Stone Brewery is famous in the craft beer community as a really great brewery that is well on its way to going big-time nationally and internationally mostly because of a couple of its high-dollar ales that you find in most grocery stores on the top shelf of the beer cooler.  Their "Arrogant Bastard" is a favorite of mine as is their IPA.  I'd say that it is one of the best breweries in the US.

The beer garden is pretty big.  It is probably an acre and a half outdoors and probably 4,000 s.f. indoors.  It is really beautiful inside and out.  The outdoors area is what I consider to be desert landscaping with crushed stone walkways, lots of desert grasses, waterfalls and koi ponds.  One waterfall is build into a bar.  The tables are all covered by umbrellas to protect people from the SoCal sun. 

The indoors area had a huge beer selection on tap.  Some of the beer is produced on-site and some is brewed at their Point Loma and Escondido locations.  When you first walk in there is a seating area with big glass windows that look in on the brew house.  They were not brewing while I was there.  Unfortunately, they only do brewery tours at their Escondido location.

As far has the beer goes, I had tried two.  You can read my Untappd.com beer reviews on the Sacred Druid here and my review of the Ron Pattinson/ChuckAlek/Stone Liberty Station Colonel Sykes East India Porter here.

The food was every bit as good as beer even if it is not necessarily the focus of this establishment.  I had the chicken schnitzel with spaetzle.  It was as good or better than you would get at any good German restaurant.

The service was really excellent.  The greeter dude actually gave me the big tour of their location before before I had to make the decision of where to sit.  My waiter was equally attentive and knowledgeable about the beer and food.

As awesome as the Stone Brewery is, it is not a triple-D location.  It is also not a diner, drive-in or dive in any way, shape or form.  So, huge points for location, food and drinks.  Points off just for not fitting the triple-D criteria, which is not necessarily a bad thing.  I would rate the Stone Brewery a 9.0.

2816 Historic Decatur Rd #116‎
San Diego, CA 92106
(619) 269-2100 ext. 2000
http://www.stonelibertystation.com

Gatsbys Diner - Sacramento, CA

Gatsby's Diner was kind of a fusion of American diner meets Japanese cooking.  There were old Japanese hibachis inside which makes me think that it might have been a Japanese steak house in a previous life.

So, The chefs cook out in open which is kind of cool.  You can chat with them as they go about their work.  Instead of cooking Asian food, it could be anything the diner serves but they still do that spatula slap on the griddle thing..  My chef ask me as I passed by when I was leaving how I liked my buger.

They serve cold beer in frozen mugs which struck me as a thing of beauty for some reason.

I ordered the fire burger.  It had thick cut bacon and avocado on a really good quality bun.  They describe their own food as American comfort food with a twist and I would have to agree.  As the hamburger juices are dripping down one hand while your fingers are frozen by the frozen beer mug in the other, it definitely seems decadent and comfortable.  Luckily, they give you a wad of paper towels to clean yourself.

This was not a dive at all.  I was impressed that everything they did, they tried to do with a flair. Even the way they arranged the buns on griddle in a nice ring.  They make their own deserts.  I didn't try them but one in particular that looked interesting was a strawberry rhubarb tort cooked and served in a Ball jar.  People obviously care.

The atmosphere was pretty good.   I appreciated that all the people who work there really seemed to care about my experience.

I would rate Gatsb's a 9.1.  They had good food and good pizzaz.  Definitely worth a trip back.

Gatsby's Diner 2598 Alta Arden Expy Sacramento, CA 95825 (916) 977-0102 gatsbysdiner.com

Dads Kitchen - Sacramento, CA

Dad's Kitchen is kind of deceptive compared to what you see when you first drive up.  There are neon beer signs for cheap beers and the signage is cheap and hap-hazard.  When you first step in there are some old pinball machines set up.  Who plays those anymore?

It looks like a tiny hole in the wall restaurant but, when you get inside it just keeps going back to the back of the building then out into the little yard in the back.  I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.  Both the food and the service were really good.

I ordered the onion rings with red bell pepper aioli to start.  I had to eat it with a knife and fork.  The onion taste and texture was really very pleasantly strong and crunchy.  It almost was a meal unto itself.  I had some help with me this day to eat it.  The aioli sauce was like something you would get from an expensive upscale restaurant.

I followed it up with dads chili pulled-pork sandwich.  As a Texan, we are not prone to praising anyone else's BBQ but, this was pretty good.  Guy steered us right this time.

Parking was kind of tight, but worth putting up with the bother.

I would rate Dad's a 9.8.  It was a dive but, not too much of a dive.  It had a cool atmosphere and the food was really something special.  I took three other people with me and they were all excited about what they ordered.  So, it was a hit with us.

Dad's Kitchen

2968 Freeport Boulevard 

Sacramento, CA 95818
(916) 447-3237
http://ilovedadskitchen.com/

Jamie's Bar and Grill - Sacramento, CA

Jamie's was a little too much of a dive for me.  It was a little intimidating as I walked up to the front door.  There was graffiti on awning outside of a not particularly nice building.  I was a little weary about leaving my car parked outside.  If it was later at night then I probably would have not stopped here.

It was very dark inside in stark contrast to the bright outside California sun.  It felt kind of dirty.  There were deer and buffalo heads on wall and a picture of Guy hung behind the bar.  I got the sense that even though this was a bar and grill that it was much more bar than restaurant.  It is more of a beer and a shot kind of bar rather than a martini kind of bar at that.

Despite my reservations, I ordered the chicken gumbo with a half-BLT sandwich on sourdough bread.  The gumbo was spicy but pretty good.  The BLT was ordinary.  It was definitely not DDD quality.

I rated Jamie's a 4.0.  I can not say that I recommend it.  Oh well, they can't all be winners.

Jamies Bar and Grill
427 Broadway
Sacramento, CA 95818

Tex Wasabi's Rock and Roll BBQ - Sushi - Sacramento, CA

Tex Wasabi's has never been featured on the Food Network's Diner's, Drive-Inns and Dives but, it is actually owned by none other than Guy Fiere himself.  Anyone slightly familiar with the program knows that Guy is a wild and creative guy with a love of really great food.  His restaurant definitely reflects that.

The concept behind Tex Wasabi's is to mix two completely different types of food into it's own class, an "infusion" of different influences to use the restaurant buzz-wordy name.  In this case it is sushi and BQQ.  It doesn't sound like it would work but, it really does.

When you first walk in past the bar area you notice a statue of a cowboy on a bucking fish, kind of like a bucking bronco.  So, you know right away that this is a whimsical place.  It is going to be fun and unpredictable.

As we walked in there was a couple who had ordered a drink from the bar.  The drinks that they serve were out of absurdly large goblets.  They looked like small fish tanks, in fact they very well could have been small gold fish bowls into which they stuck huge straws the size of the old pixie stix tubes.

It looks like they put a lot of imagination into the drink menu as well.  They were advertising a double apple mojito that sounded pretty good.

We got an order of the chicken wings to start off with.  They came with slices of fried jalapeno pepper on top.  The pepper had a nice even flavor and slightly crunchy tempura texture and it was not spicy-hot at all.  The wings were spicy-hot Buffalo wings.  They also had a selection of hot sauces that the waitress brought over.

They don't let you forget that this is Guy's place.  His picture is all over the place between the bbq sauce bottle lables, t-shirts, posters and the several large lcd screens showing DDD episodes in continuous loops.

The menu has two sushi sections: maki sushi and gringo sushi.  Off of the gringo menu, I had the Jackass Roll which was BBQ pork, avocado, french fries & garlic chili mayo sauce.  It had a real smokey BBQ flavor like you would expect of of BBQ but not sushi but it really did work well.

The baked beans side were some of the best beans that I have ever had.  They were black, white and red (I think) beans but the sauce was not too sweet and had a great slat-smokey flavor to it that is hard to describe.  I really enjoyed it.

The ribs and pulled pork were really good as well.  Coming from Texas, we get a lot of really good BBQ.  I would consider this to be Texas style BBQ and really good.  By the time I got through the BBQ sushi and all of the other experiences, the plain old BBQ seemed kind of boring because it was just BBQ.

I would rate Tex Wasabi's a 9.9 because of the imagination and awesome food.  Tex Wasabi's is definitely not a dive.  It is a nice restaurant, part of a corporation with a CEO and all of the other alphabet soup titles, multiple locations, etc. So, it lacks that kind of dive charm which is the only reason why it could not have been a 10.  Definitely worth checking out.

Tex Wasabi's
2243 Arden Way
Sacramento, CA 95825
(916) 927-8399
http://www.texwasabis.com/

 

Rudy's Can't Fail Café - Emeryville, CA

In the shadows of the famous Pixar Studios stands Rudy's Can't Fail Café.  It makes sense.  The place is definitely artsy-hippie.  There was a glass case probably 1-foot high and 20 feet long with a bunch of barbie dolls and other dolls the same size with waitress uniforms and "I am Rudy" buttons on.  I thought for sure that there must be a good story behind it but the waitress said that it was just the owner's wife expressing herself.

The crowd was a mix of all kinds of people.  A few that walked in looked like they could be an artist; an intellectual grunge, a bit of an attitude and hardly two nickels to rub together.  Although if they were from Pixar, then they definitely had more than two nickels in their pocket.

There was an English 20-ish year-old guy behind me who was trying to impress a couple of American girls eating with him.  I found it mildly entertaining.  He was working very hard at it.

There were lots of black clothes and tattoos.  One tough looking guy with long hair, an all-black kilt, black shirt and motorcycle boots looked like he was on a date.  I could imagine him walking into a biker bar just to pick a fight but, more likely he was dentist or insurance salesman.

The Rolling Stones were playing on the radio much too loudly.  I thought that it was an odd choice of music for an artsy place like this.  I expected some kind of indi-music.  They then switched to 1980's heavy metal but oddly turned down the volume for it.

I had the meatloaf special.  It was kind of like a meaty bread pudding more than the meatloaf that I am used to.  It was spicy in a pumpkin kind of way with a light dabble of cranberry sauce.  It was served with mashed potato with a mushroom jaeger schmitzel-ly sauce and a big helping of vegetables.

I thought that the meatloaf was really pretty tasty.  I ordered a ginger ale that caught my attention on the menu.  I figured it must be some cool California thing.  It turned out to be from Teterboro, New Jersey.

Service was pretty good.  At first I thought that it was just okay if not a little bit slow.   Then I figured out that my waitress saw me pecking out this restaurant review on my iPhone and was just leaving me alone to take my time.  I thought that was pretty cool of her.

I would rank Rudy's 7.5.  It is worth checking out but, it is probably not bucket list worthy.  If I was doing a tour of Pixar then I would come here again.

Rudy's Can't Fail Café
4081 Hollis St
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 594-1221

Val's Burgers - Hayward, CA

If London has the Clock Tower and Paris the Eiffel Tower then Hayward, California has Val's Burgers. The famous Papa Burger is a giant tower of meat that dwarfs ordinary hamburgers and is the first thing that makes Val's awesome.

 Warning: A papa burger is not for the faint of heart. It is a full pound of ground beef. As you are eating, the juicy goodness is dripping down your hand and wrist. Leave your wristwatch in your pocket. It is not just huge buy tasty.  You know in your head that this is four times as much beef as any human needs but, it is so good that you can't stop until you are left with nothing but licking your fingers.  You can order up your burger however you want.  Every burger is a special order.

Val's is an icon in my family. When my own need for meat rises then I unroll a mat, face west towards California and chant in a low rumble "mmmmeat...."

Val's is not a triple-D restaurant, but it is probably one of the most quintessential diner/dives that I have ever been to. It has everything going for it. It has a lot of character, the food is great and it is just a fun experience.

Val's is a family tradition.  My brother-in-law introduced me to Val's many years ago. Im quite certain that if I had failed the Val's initiation that he would have called for my marriage to his sister to be annulled on the spot.
As if the burger was not enough, the shakes are really exceptional as well. They are old time hand dipped and spun shakes, the real deal.  They show up with the big glass and the metal cup that it was spun in also, just like the good old days.

Your credit card is no good here.  Val's is still cash only.  Be prepared to wait in line to get in.  Your patience will be rewarded.

The service is always friendly but, in the rough around the edges diner kind of way.

Val's holds a special place in my heart.  I give Val's a 10 on both solid Triple-D appeal and on just being a special place for me personally.

Val's Burgers
2115 Kelly Street
Hayward, CA 94541
(510) 889-8257

Baby Blues B B Q - Venice, CA

The atmosphere at Baby Blues BBQ is kind of hippie cowboy. There are steer horns on the wall, lots of squirter bottles of pepper-sauce everywhere, guitars and pictures of Bob Marley on the wall.

It is my kind of place but, it is a dive for sure.  I could see how the LA Board of Health might have a field day in here. There were hot peppers floating around in old whiskey bottles.  I didn't quite understand that.  I don't know if they put those away when the health inspectors come by or what.

The barbecue food was really good, even by the Texas standards that I'm used to.  They have a whole smorgasbord of barbecue sauces on each table which were fun to experiment with.  I feared the really hot varieties but the milder ones were pretty good.

They advertise themselves as Memphis-style BBQ.  I had the "The Cherokee Spike" which was pulled pork, brisket and a hot link.  It came with a slab of cornbread.  This was a meat eater's delight.  We also ordered a Blues Cob.  The blues cob was roasted corn on the cob with some kind of spices and parmesian cheese on top. I don't think that there was any butter on the corn. The cheese took the place of the butter. The sharpness of the parmesan was a nice contrast withe the sweet corn.  The star of the show was easily the Blues Cob.

They are not light on the portions. This is not the skinny side of LA.
I'd give baby blues a 9 out of 10 on the triple d scale of divey delight.

Baby Blues BBQ
444 Lincoln Blvd.
Venice California 90291
310-396-7675
www.babybluesvenice.com