Category Archives: Restaurants

SHORT RIBS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS, Dec 6 2018

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SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL POST OFFICE! – My neighbors on NextDoor are complaining constantly about mail being snatched from their porches and of course the Holidays are prime time for mail deliveries. May I point out the obvious advantages of having a PO Box?  For a hundred bucks a year you can have your mail held in a safe,  secure place until you have time to go pick it up.  When I first moved to Fern Hollow  (as I call our little enclave) I got a PO Box because we used to have some  rotten kids  on the street who used to go up and down the pulling  the mail boxes open and your mail  could end up in the street.  Now  I wouldn’t be without it.   Try it.  You’ll like it.

THAT TRAIN:   The folks who are pushing the latest East-West train scheme have bought a full-page ad in the TriCity to push their plan.and solicit investors.   I attended more meetings of the Harbor Working  Group that I can remember and saw several of these schemes come and go.  l wish them well,  but they’re not getting a dime from me.  As I’ve written here before, the only train that makes sense is  a North-South train which would  cost about $1B and I would  invest in that.  Ain’t gonna happen.

BOTOX!  FROM IRELAND?!  I get a few magazines at rates so cheap I can’t help renewing them and one of them  is Allure, which just carried a fascinating- really-  piece about botox.   I did not know that  virtually the entire supply of Botox on the planet is made in Westport, Mayo,  which I visited in 1993 with some relatives.  Westport was a sleepy little town then  and we stayed in a old hotel so old that it had hosted Thackeray (author of Vanity Fair)  back in the day.  Westport had a population of 5,000 when we were there , and hasn’t grown at all, but now  but now about 1200 people are employed at Allergan, which is the only source of Botox on the planet.  I wish I could provide you a link but it the Dec 2018 issue is still on the stands or in the library,  you should give it a glance.  The process for making botox is highly secret but apparently  involves seaweed.  We’ve got seaweed!  Where are our inventors??

YES, LOCO FISH IS JUST AS GOOD AS YOU HEARD; BAHN MI AT THE LAO MARKET- The Loco Fish Company has opened in Eureka  (formerly only in Arcata at 550 S G street)   but it’s hard to find.  The address is officially 1574 Myrtle Avenue  but when you look for it you get distracted by the blazing RED fish truck and you head for that but you can’t get to  it anyway but going THRU the Redwood Curtain  tap room.  Once you find it, you won’t  forget it because it’s among the beet fish and chips I’ve ever had. Can’t wait  to try their fish tacos  their Yelp review gives the wrong address and when you  try their website you  get the Samoa Cookhouse, but if they ever get their marketing straight,  they’ll conquer the world.  A few weeks ago, JF Cahill of the NCJ recommended the Banh Mi sandwiches at the Lao Market in Henderson Canter.  She’s right again-  they are fabulous sandwiches and only available on Saturday, and not every Saturday, but they’re worth looking for.  I got one and was amazed at the freshness of the ingredients.  I was also surprised at t how spicy it was-  the bahn mi we used to get in Hawaii weren’t spicy at all-  but these have sliced jalapeños which you can easily pick out if you need to. All in all, a very nice sandwich and a store worth poking around in.

Short Ribs and Random Thoughts- May 11 2017

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Thanks for your patience.  I’m not quite well but starting to get there. And SHORT RIBS are on sale at Safeway, $4.99!!!   Had ’em last night. They were great!

OUR FAKE PRESIDENT-  has continued his descent into infamy.  His vile personality, his ignorance, his narcissism-what is there to say? Add his corruption and his utter disregard for the people he was elected to represent and you can understand why my house is a lot quieter  than it used to be since I turn down the sound whenever I see his face.  I can hardly wait till he resigns.

THE ELECTIONS-  I have not been in touch with any of the candidates but I think it’s a darn shame than Mary Ann Lyons’s bid for 4th District  Supervisor is apparently in disarray since she didn’t make the Time-Standard’s deadline for inclusion in their article.  I remember  her from the ’08  election and she was a crackerjack.  Money will apparently talk in this race  and Virginia will apparently get another term.  Does she deserve it?? I’ve been preaching for months that NO ONE should  get more than two terms at ANYTHING.  If you can’t make an impact in eight years, GET OUT!!   This also applies, of course, to the 5th District where Ryan Sundberg, a very nice guy,  is about to be turned out by Steve Madrone.  Re: the 4th, Dani Burkhart, who took on the thankless job of treasurer for the HCCDC, is also a good candidate.  Too bad she and Lyons couldn’t have worked something out. Re:  Jared Huffman’s bizarre endorsement of Ryan,  I don’t know what to say.  When Mike McGuire made that embarrassing endorsement of Rex Bohn  we all put it down to poor staff work. Who do we blame this time?

MICHAEL AVENATTI-  is a media star and good for him. He”s cute as a bug and sharp as a tack and gives me a reason to turn the sound back up.

FACEBOOK_   Are any of you still on Facebook??? For God’s sake, WHY??? Send your kitten photos by email and make your own “friends” list.  Don’t give Shmuckerburg one more cent of your  money!! And I’d hate to think any of you are depending on FB  for your NEWS.  Don’t do it!!!

EATING OUT  is something I haven’t been doing lately but I wanted to say a respectful good–bye to Liu’s.  When I worked at 3rd and D I ate lunch there once a week, always the broccoli beef  They were a solid restaurant, and will be missed. I only ate at the Black Lightning once (hate motorcycles- only tried it because I love the Richard Thompson song ( ..and he gave her his Vincent to ride…” ) but their menu was all paninis- hard to srcew up-  and they were out of their bean soup so I never got to try it. Curious to see what will go into that corner.

THE OKIE-  Of all the horrible cabinet nominations made by Our Fake President the worst may be Scott Pruitt who is dismantling the EPA as fast as he can.  No less than TEN investigations have begun into his crazy spending  of YOUR MONEY.  And Trump stands by and does nothing  while cutting children’s heath insurance. The THEFTS continue.  They are all acting like Okies set loose in a treasure hunt. What a spectacle!!

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SHORT RIBS AND RANDOM THOUGHTS -August 21 2017

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The current issue of Rolling Stone looks like a GQ with hunky Justin Trudeau on the cover and the banner “Why Can’t He Be Our President”.  Why indeed?

I am sad at the deaths of Glen Campbell and Jerry Lewis. My cousin used to say that Campbell looked like an ugly Kennedy. True. But his records, hit after hit, were the wallpaper of the ‘seventies and ‘eighties. And the CNN documentary I’ll Be Me , was a fitting farewell. Look it up if you haven’t seen it. As for Lewis, I remember seeing The Geisha Boy in the old Rialto Theater. He was a genius. That bit where the doctor shines a light into his ear and the light comes out the other ear is genius.  I hope someone comes out with a good biography.  A life well-lived.

DELAYED REVIEW- 101 Barbecue, Eureka.  We tried this place on August 4th, but I only posted on Yelp, not here. Here’s what I thought.

“Tried them yesterday for lunch.  Place was pretty much empty at 2pm. We both ordered the special , which was a half rack of ribs (pork) for $10.  The ribs were pink and uncooked! I couldn’t cut through them even using the serrated knife they provided. I showed the waitress how difficult it was going to be to eat the rack without  being able to separate the ribs and she took them back. I ordered a “lunch side” of potato salad.  The potatoes were cut in tiny dice as if they wanted it to look like mac salad. Soupy dressing on the salad.  I ordered a club san instead of the ribs I wanted. It was actually pretty good.  The cook or owner came out and offered us a free dessert to make up for the ribs (He had some excuse about someone accidentally not cooking them long enough. The “Bananas Foster”  (“learned how to make it in New Orleans”) was basically a big sundae of vanilla ice cream, with a banana topping, nothing like the BF you get in NOLA which is flambeed.  I didn’t try it because I hate bananas but my friend ate it up. Neither of us was impressed.  Might try it again some day but either Sammy’s or HSH is a better experience.”

THANK GOD HE’S GONE:  The chaos  of the Trump White House is taking a toll on journalists, bloggers and  everyone else. The warmonger Steve Bannon needs to get off the government payroll and crawl back to where he came from.  If you’ll miss him, tell us why.

Short version this week- Trump fatigue and bad air are to blame.

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Short Ribs and Random Thoughts Aug 14 2017

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Our Fake President can’t bring himself to condemn the racists in Charlottesville but can’t stop running his mouth re: North Korea. He needs to SHUT UP. Meanwhile, for the grown ups……

HIGH-SPEED RAIL- ain’t it comforting to know that they now have HSR in Inner Mongolia while California is still arguing over the Central Valley routes? They’ll have it in Fiji before Trump delivers on his great “infrastructure” initiative.

RESTAURANT  ROULETTE- Everyone’s abuzz this morning over the news that the China Buffet is closed for a few days due to sanitary deficiencies. Haven’t been there in a while although in the past I counted on them for dependable takeout, and even used them to cater parties. I hope they’re back online soon.  The also-closed  Gonsea, on the other hand, was a mediocre place I didn’t miss.  The good news is that the Gonsea has been purchased by the owner of A& J Ichiban and will reopen under the name “OISHII”, which is Japanese for “delicious”. Sounds good.

MORE RESTAURANT STUFF- I posted this on Yelp yesterday re: ESMERALDA’S

“We went yesterday (a Friday) to check out the $1 tacos. I’d only eaten there once before. Service was prompt and cheery. The deal is you have to order TEN tacos to get the $1 price but you can take them home if you don’t finish them. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of taking home leftover tacos with all the mess that that would entail so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the tacos were tiny! Even smaller than the normal “street taco”. There were several choices. We both had chicken and carnitas . The carnitas was great- good char! And the chicken was good but not the standout that the carnitas tacos were. I had NO PROBLEM finishing off five tacos . Our bill was $13 because I ordered a Mexican Coke. The Taco special runs from 130 to 4pm and again in the evening, I THINK from 8 to 9 but you’d better call. We will definitely be back!”

NEXTDOOR- those of you who are active on NextDoor have been seeing real estate ads that weren’t there before. We’ve been wondering how NextDoor was ever going to make any money. Guess this is how.  Read about it HERE
 
WHY CAN’T TRUMP CONDEMN WHITE NATIONALISM? He runs his mouth to condemn John McCain for being captured, Gold Star families and our European allies but can’t say an unpleasant word against the alt-right hoodlums or, God forbid, against  Vladimir Putin. He doesn’t have it in him to disavow his racist supporters and it looks like he never will. He started to read an acceptable statement but decided to wing it  and spoil it all by throwing in  the idea that there was violence  “on many sides”.  There was not. He’s making it easy for Mike Pence to look good.
 
PRIMAL DECOR- I needed an ear piercing redone but I hate the Mall so much I went online for more options and found out that this place is not far from me,  on Myrtle Avenue. It was a good experience and the staff were very professional. I was the only person in sight without a lot of tats and piercings but they were very welcoming and I would recommend them.  More fun than the Mall !!
 
I-NEED-TO-GET-OUT-MORE-DEPT- As I was leaving said Mall  after my annual visit to BBB  I saw a bunch of objects in the row closest to the street that  looked like hitching posts. Did you know the Mall has electric car chargers??  Good for them!!
 
The ECLIPSE-  From here, you have to drive to Eugene or thereabouts to get the full effect. I was still living in Hawaii in 1991 when we had a full eclipse over there.  It was around 10 or 11 in the morning and the Shipyard didn’t let people off their jobs lightly (something about preparedness)  but I found myself with about 500 of my colleagues up on top of the Supply Building hoping that the roof would hold.  It did.
 
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Short Ribs and Random Thoughts -July 17 17

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Carter/Trump- If we live to be a hundred will we ever see Donald Trump breaking a sweat to benefit another human being?  Much less building houses in Winnipeg for Habitat, getting overheated , spending the night in the hospital  and going back to work THE NEXT DAY?  Carter was not one of our more effective Presidents,  but he’s been our best ex-President ever. And as a human being, worth about 4,000 Trumps.

JOBCASE- Are you getting emails from something called Jobcase? be advised that no matter how many times you click on “unsubscribe”,  you keep getting their damn emails. It must be really hard for the folks who actually subscribed to the service.

CLASS vs NO-CLASS-  We wondered how long it would take our oafish President to embarrass us in France.  Well, he didn’t even make it off the tarmac before remarking to the elegant Mme Macron that she was in “great shape”.  Meanwhile, her husband, who is ten days younger than Don Trump Jr., is playing Trump Sr. like a cello.  Good for him!

SPEAKING OF FRANCE- the Zoë venue in Henderson Center is being taken over by the folks who run Uniquely Yours Catering (and used to have the late lamented Hurricane Kate’s).  They’re calling it Le Monde and Chef Alex Begovic is staffing now.  Hope Le Monde lasts longer than Zoë did.  Open in August.

DO YOU USE DELUXE CHECKS? From A Friend of The Blog, here’s a tale of woe.

“Exactly one month ago, realizing I was down to my last book of checks, I ordered online. But I wasn’t seeing any withdrawal from checking to pay for this nor tracking. So I asked CCCU to order one for me. I had to fight tooth and nail to get this. I mean like a dozen times she stated I had already ordered a book of checks. I explained repeatedly that I wanted backup. 100% of my income from SSA and Cal-PERS retirement monthly deposits goes into this checking account. Now I am down to four checks. It turns our two of my online orders were cancelled (neither Deluxe nor CCCU notified me) due to CCCU not verifying my address in a timely manner so Deluxe just cancelled both. The orders literally disappear from the online record of my orders. It is nearly impossible to get a human at Deluxe. After a long phone conversation with CCCU on the issue of CCCU dropping the ball, my second order for a book of checks was cancelled without notice to me. Now it looks like maybe the order I did in house on the phone with CCCU went through—maybe they do the address verification. My fourth order for a book of checks are now also coming by USPS. It looks like a painfully slow process, to say the least.”

I definitely feel for you.  CCCU doesn’t screw up often but when they do it’s a doozy. I’m still recovering from that time they  LOST a check order and I had to close my account.

REST IN PEACE, DAVE PERRY-  I seem to be losing a lot of friends lately.  Dave was my supervisor for ten years at the Dept of Rehab and helped many many people in this community,  most of whom didn’t know him. It’s always a cliché to say, but he truly was an inspiration to everyone who knew him. Happy Trails, Dave.

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Yo’ Mamma’s In Town

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While Donald Trump works furiously to destroy our republic, I want you to know we’re got our priorities straight.  We checked out the food truck pod on Broadway (between Mr Fish and Les Schwab) and discovered that ALL the denizens are there and open on Saturdays- Yo’ Mamma’s Fish & Shrimp, Southside Mike’s BBQ and  El Pueblo. Picked up another Southsider TriTip san ($11) from Mike’s and noticed he’s promising chicken livers and fries soon, ( $6) a great idea for those needing a budget option.

Now, about Yo’ Mamma’s. I hadn’t realized there was a demand for  high-end food trucks in Eureka, but that demand has now been satisfied.  The basic lunch at Yo’ Mamma’s, which features 5 jumbo shrimp, goes for $15. I decided to go lowclass and ordered the Fish & Chips, at $11.99.  The sign said that the F&C were made with sole, an unusual choice since sole  is a light fish that can fall apart in the frying. They give a LOT of fish , dusted with a Cajun seasoning that they don’t overdo. I had two pieces that were clearly sole and a big chunky piece which could not possibly have been sole – seemed like cod- all of which were delicious. They serve with a remoulade sauce and everything is delicious once you get past the sticker shock.  The fries are steak fries and are fine. They have something on the menu called garlic noodles that sounds interesting. The staff is warm and welcoming in true Nawlins fashion.

So can a food truck in Eureka break the $15 lunch barrier??  Guess we’ll find out.  Last time I had DINNER in NOLA I don’t think it cost $15 but whatever. The cost of living inches ever higher.

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Eureka’s Food Truck Pod

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They call them pods in Portland, hubs in other places. They’re semi-legit places where your local food purveyors can offer their wares without interference. WE HAVE ONE!  It’s next to Mr Fish on Broadway (between Mr Fish and Les Schwab) and the current occupants are Taco El Pueblo,  Yo’Mamma’s Fish & Shrimp and our ninja BBQ maestro SOUTHSIDE MIKE  who keeps disappearing and reappearing.  Right now he’s doing T-F, 11-7 at the Mr FIsh site and Saturdays 12-7 in Old Town.  I had his Southsider,  a tri-tip san that comes with fries for $11.99. His fries are fabulous.

Drop by soon to support our local food truck culture, and our local entrepreneurs.

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Gonsea Restaurant Closed- Now Reopened

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The Gonsea, that place on the way out of town at 2335 4th Street, has been closed by the County for health violations.

The Times-Standard’s account is HERE.

Personally, I wont miss the place.  We only ate there half a dozen times, were never impressed.  They were expensive and uninspired. I usually avoid restaurants that try to be both Chinese and Japanese at once. The Gonsea had a sign in front offering “Japanese sushi”.  Is there any other kind???  German sushi??? Polish sushi??

I also hated the name.  “Gonsea”,   it turns out  IS a legit Chinese name  meaning celebration or holiday.  But its a dumb name for a restaurant.  Invokes no food images or suggestions of deliciousness.  l say they might as well stay closed, although I hate to see folks losing their jobs.

May I suggest as alternatives the always -reliable Hunan in Henderson Center,  the Szechuan Village in Arcata or the good old China Buffet just down the street from the Gonsea in Eureka.  We’ve used the CB for parties.  Check out their catering menu! And if you have any other recommendations for Chinese, send them our way. We’d love to hear them.

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Zöe, we hardly knew you.

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Zöe, the upscale cafe in Henderson Center, is up for sale after barely a year in business.

The reviews all along were mixed. I only ate there once but I thought they had the  food down pretty well. There were a lot of complaints about the service. The owner has posted on the Zöe Facebook page that the closure is due to illness Damn shame,  and we  wish all the  best to her.  Ironically,  both Zöe AND The Diver had wood-fire pizza ovens so HC will be supplied for good pizza no matter who takes over Zöe.

Let’s hope that happens soon.  There is already an unhealthy amount of empty storefront space in everyone’s favorite neighborhood.  The patrons of The Diver are using the former Robert’s (“Henderson Center Marketplace”) parking lot and thank God it’s open because parking can definitely be tight.  I hate to see any business close.  Let’s hope someone can make that space work.

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