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/

 

The Pit Stop - Merrick, NY

The Pit Stop is not really a dive but, it is an old time hamburger place.  Although I didn't actually order the hamburger.  The crabby patty sounded too good to pass up and I just wasn't in a hamburger mood.

When the crabcake sandwich arrived, I wasn't initially very impressed with the way it looked.  The crabcake looked kind of overdone like it had spent an extra couple of minutes in the deep fryer and like there was too much bread on the bun for the size patty.

I was pleasantly wrong.  The crabcake was actually very moist inside and it was larger than it appeared somehow.  It had a very nice fresh slightly spicy fishy taste to it.  The French Fries were  obviously cut right here fresh.  They had a strong potato rather than oil taste and snapped when you bent them.  They don't add salt to the fries but a packet comes on your serving tray without asking.

The kaiser roll was actually pretty good.  One thing that I still miss about not living in New York anymore is the bread and rolls pretty much everywhere is really good.  When you grow up with it, you just take it for granted.  After you have been away for 16 years, it is nice to come home again.  But, I digress.


The Pit Stop is right on Long Island's Sunrise Highway.  It seems like one of the old roadside hamburger stands that appeared after the first automobiles hit the road.  A place that people might have driven to just as an excuse to go for a drive outside of the city.


The fact that this place was featured on the Food Network would be impossible to not know because they have a whole wall dedicated to Guy's visit here. 


I would rate The Pit Stop an 8.7.  I liked it.


The Pit Stop
1706 Sunrise Hwy
Merrick, NY 11566
(516) 223-7799
http://www.pitstopeats.com/

Joes Farm Grill - Gilbert AZ

If ever there was a triple-d restaurant where it would be worth visiting even if you are not eating then it would be Joe's Farm Grill.  It might be a triple-d restaurant but it is definitely not a dive.  It is beautiful.  It is right in the middle of 12 acres of "permanent urban farming."

Outside there are picnic tables facing right out onto the gardens with easy inviting walkways right through the gardens. There is indoor seating, although I'm not sure why you would want to sit inside because it was so beautiful outside.  One possible explanation might have been the sign warning people from climbing the large trees due to scorpion danger.  I suppose this is actually the desert after all.

The name of the actual neighborhood is called agritopia.  The land was obviously extremely well cared for.   I strolled down one of the long walks and started chatting with a greek guy who said he was picking grape leaves to make dorma for dinner.  Dorma, he explained was meat and spices rolled in grape leaves.   He seemed like a pretty happy guy. 

Joes seemed to be really popular with the locals.  I waited about 20 minutes in line to get to place an order on a normal Monday night.  My patience was however rewarded.

I think that Guy Fiere ordered the barbecue chicken pizza but, that seemed a little too heavy for me.  I just went with the vegetable pizza and a mango-colada milk shake.  This was a vanilla milkshake with bits of mango and some other citric ingredients; I'm guessing coconut cream and pineapple juice.  The pizza was a personal sized pizza with peppers, mushrooms, onion and a couple of unidentified veggies on there.  All of the veggies snapped when I bit into them. 

You can't help but imagining the cooks gathering up the day's ingredients out in the field in wicker baskets then serving them up throughout the day.  I don't know if that is true or not but, I like the fantasy.  It seems to make the food taste better.

I would rate Joes 9.8 on my triple-d scale.  The imagination that went into the milkshake was really pretty good.  I'm not a pickle person but, they actually make their own pickles right here.  The atmosphere was just delightful.  Between the Arizona sun, the beautiful gardens, kids running around and young people on dates, the atmosphere was just extremely pleasant.  I couldn't think of a better place to spend an hour on a Monday night.

Joes Farm Grill
3000 East Ray Road
Gilbert, AZ 85296
(480) 563-4745

Ange Netta's Cafe and Bakery - Canfield, OH

Ange Netta's restaurant is a nice, comfortable, family friendly Italian bakery and restaurant.  It is absolutely not a dive.

It is a little off of the beaten track on a local side street.  I had the address and still had to hunt down the restaurant.  I almost blew it off.  Something that the Food Network's Alton Brown often says resonated throughout my visit; "your patience will be rewarded." This was not a DDD restaurant.   It did get good reviews on yelp which was how I found it.

When you first walk in, the bakery case is right in front of you.  So,  you have desert on the mind even before ordering your meal.  I'm sure more than one person has elected to skip right to desert for this reason.

After you get inside, there are pictures of babies everywhere. The prints are huge: probably12 foot tall in their frames. No doubt a photographer is a family or business friend. The artwork is really well done and sets the mood of the place. You expect the food service also to be creative, comfortable and well executed.

I thought of the clientele as a suburban mix. The crowd included business people, a lady's club and moms with kids. Easter decorations were everywhere and done with care.

Unlike practically every DDD restaurant, they offered some healthy choices. I started off with a garden salad. The blue cheese dressing was really good. It must have been made here fresh.

Service was a little slow.  Again, the voice of Alton Brown "your patience will be rewarded" rang through my head. And it was.

My entrée was healthy kale and wheat pasta with broccoli, potato and collared greens. There was no sauce per se. It was covered with a light olive oil and pinto beans. I found it to be Just the right amount of crunchy and a little peppery. Very nice!

I couldn't pass up desert I tried the banana foster bites. They were little square donuts, bananas, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream and strawberries. The hot donuts made the ice cream into a syrup. Ooo boy, this is good. We'll be skipping diner tonight. So, it went from healthy to decadent in just a few bites.

Ange Netta's almost doesn't belong in a DDD ranking but, I would give it a 7.5. The food was really good but the service and atmosphere were just okay.

Ange Netta's Cafe and Bakery
64 Cardinal Dr
Canfield, OH 44406
(330) 533-6090
http://www.angenettas.com/

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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

Main Street Bistro and Bakery - Grapevine, TX

Someone who runs the Main Street Bistro and Bakery knows what a real French cafe is like and has created a very good reproduction in Texas.  Some of the proof is in the little details like the type of marble in the tables that they use.  They were obviously trying to keep with the magic that is a French cafe.

There were also kitschy posters of French advertisement that looked like they were from the 1980's based on the hair styles.  

Breakfast is the best part of a French cafe for me.  A cafe is all about coffee and I especially love the morning breads and croissants.  Main Street Bistro and Bakery does a really good job with these.

The coffee was very high quality and they even steamed up some soy milk for me. So, kudos for good customer service.  Unlike a real French cafe, coffee refills were free.  God bless Texas.

I had the Parisienne plate which was scrambled eggs, a croissant, potato chunks and some bacon.  This was also not really what I would call authentic but, so what.  It was very good.  My wife had the french toast which was not at all what I would have recognized as french toast.  It was what I would call a cinnamon bread pudding with some powdered sugar on top.  I would highly recommend the french toast. 

The orange juice was bona fide fresh squeezed.  They must squeeze a bunch of oranges early in the morning into pitchers.  They have to mix the OJ up with a long spoon every time someone orders a glass.

We went home with some of the napolian pastries to have after dinner that night.  Again, the pastries were every bit as good as you would expect.

I suppose that a french cafe is kind of a dinner.  Otherwise, it is definitely not a drive-in or a dive.  I would rate MainStreet Bistro and Bakery a 8.5 on my scale.  It is a little bit different that what you would normally find in Texas.  The food is good and the service is good.  Check it out.


MainStreet Bistro and Bakery
316 S Main St
Grapevine, TX 76051
(817) 424-4333
http://www.themainbakery.com

QFanatic BBQ and Grill - Champlin, MN

The first thing that hits you is the unmistakable BBQ smell from the ovens. I went to Qfanatic on a cool fall evening. The strong BBQ smell was especially pungent in the crisp Minnesota air.

It was a serve yourself type of place where you place your order at the counter and pay then take your cup and plastic card with a number on it back to your table.  The service was very friendly none the less. The waitress greeted me with a big hello and asked if it was my first time here.  I got the feeling as though she probably knew most of the regular customers.  The dude that delivered the food was also very friendly.

They had old Mississippi blues tunes and newer Stevy Ray Vaughn music playing over the speakers.  It fit a BBQ place but, not in Minnesota.  It just seemed out of place.

I ordered a side salad to start off my meal but, there was enough food there for it to be a meal itself.  The salad had a very nice vinaigrette with gorgonzola and walnuts.  Everything was fresh and well prepared.  I liked it.

I also ordered the BBQ honey ham sandwich.  You get to choose which BBQ sauce you get.  Most BBQ joints will have all of them out for you to try or mix and match as you like.  So, that was a little bit of a downer.  The chef does make recommendations right on the menu.  So, I went with one of them.   It was the mustard BBQ sauce.  I was glad that I chose it because it was really good.  It had a bit of a hot kick to it while also being a bit sweet and fruity.

The ham had a very unique smokey smell and taste to it.  It immediately caught my attention when I put the sandwich up to my mouth.  My nose intercepted the delivery and I diverted to smelling the sandwich for a minute to let the aroma soak-in.  The only thing that I can think of is that the smell and taste must come from smoking the meat with local wood.   The shreded versus sliced ham also enhanced the aroma, I think.

The wedge fries were a little a little disappointing.   They were pruned like they had been sitting around for a while before being plated.
 I'm giving Qfanatic an 8.4 because they had a couple of culinary fails.  It is still worth checking out, and I'm glad that I did.

QFanatic BBQ and Grill
180 Miller Road
Champlin, MN 55316
(763) 323-6550
http://qfanatic.com/