Julian daytrip 2018 + Lunch at Pete's BBQ & Burgers, Ramona

This post is late, like many of mine, ha ha.

Our Julian visit was during Veteran's Day. Along with us was TC's friend who is a boy...

Father's Day 2017 - Tartine & Lil Piggy's

TC surprised Bert this year by making this...

We heard her rattling around downstairs but she told us not to come down...

On a mission to Coop's

It was wierd being "out on a weeknight"...

We were invited to a retirement party (it was for the father of one of TC's good friends)...

Although we didn't know him that well, we knew that he liked BBQ....

Return to Manna BBQ, Chula Vista

Thane and his family were in town for the holidays,

which meant a get together with our "coterie" once again...

All American Sandwiches, Harry D'z BBQ, Karl Strauss, return to the Mariscos Gonzalez taco truck & The Buffalo Spot

All right, the only reason I posted this video is because it's from one of my favorite movies, the classic 80's flick "Fast Times at Ridgemont High"...

and that Brad's character only resorted to working at this fish and chips place after getting fired from All American Burger (he threatenedd to kick a customer's ass)...

Father's Day 2014 - Lil' Piggy's, Return to Hammond's Gourmet Ice Cream & Dinner at the Parents'

In keeping with tradition...Bert chose BBQ for his Father's Day meal...

This time in Coronado instead of National City...

Felix's BBQ with Soul

This past Friday Bert and I had some free time while TC was doing her dress rehearsal for her dance concert...

We'd always wondered about this place which is located right next to the Jacobs Center for Innovation on Market Street.

This whole shopping complex has given the community a new place to shop, eat, and gather...

Nothing Bundt Cakes in Eastlake and what else is new...

Earlier this month, I got the word that it was finally open...

Nothing Bundt Cakes that is. It had replaced a coffee/smoothie shop which used to be a Coffee, Bean, Tea & Leaf place before. Nothing seems to last in this little corner of Eastlake Village Walk...

TC and I wanted to see what they had and if they had any soft opening freebies...

Surprise from Coop's

[This location is now closed as of 2014]

(A semi-guest post by Bert meaning photos by Bert; text by me)

A few nights ago my husband was in the area...


picking up my brother's vacuum that we borrowed. One of the parts broke so he found a shop out in Chula Vista to fix it...

Well, since this was nearby...

Father's Day recap

This will be just a quick post.

This is how we spent Father's Day...

Lunch was Bert's choice...

Coop's West Texas BBQ - Chula Vista

[This location is closed as of 2014]

After about a month or so after their soft opening, we decided to make the relatively shorter trek to the newest location of Coop's West Texas BBQ...

When we saw the smoker, we knew we were in the right place...

Return to Lil' Piggy's

Last weekend we took advantage of the beautiful weather by heading out to Coronado Island...

It was time to utilize my coupon book so we could have lunch here at Lil' Piggy's Bar-B-Q!

Surprise from Croom's

A few days ago, I noticed that part of the old Carrow's (formerly Bob's Big Boy back in the day), on the corner of Broadway and H looked like it was knocked down.  It looks like it's set to be demolished. Wut?

It was going to be a new Red Lobster. I wonder if they are going to close the older one on F and Third Avenue?

In any case...when I got home later that day, Bert surprised us with two containers of food from Croom's, which is just a few steps away from this Carrows. Apparently, he was also in the area because of work related issues and decided to pick up some dinner using his Groupon for Crooms>

Left container:
Bbq sauce, corn bread, Tri-Tip
Sides: Candied Yams, and Baked Beans

Right container:
Corn bread, 1/2 chicken w/bbq sauce with 2 beef ribs (kind of hidden)
Sides: Collard greens and Mac 'n cheese

I only had the sauced tri-tip with the beans and collards.  The beans were okay, nothing special. The collards don't measure up to the one we had at Merritt's in Oakland and Coop's in Lemon Grove. TC didn't really like the mac 'n cheese. The ribs were nice and saucy. I'm not sure if they have a smoker or not, but it was pretty good.

I hadn't been to Croom's in nearly three years. One of my friends had her son's birthday party catered from here. It was a cool combination of soul food with Filipino food. From what I recall and from Bert's recent experience, it was a mom and pop operation. Very very friendly people who work there. Super nice. They can get kind of pricy but it was a good thing Bert had the Groupon - $15 for $30.


Official Website of Croom's Catering and BBQ

Return to Barnes BBQ

Sometime earlier this month we visited Lemon Grove's Barne's Bar-B-Que...

I love their pig mascot...

Santa Maria BBQ Land

What a long day we had. From the Guadalupe Dunes, Lompoc, Solvang, and Nojoqui Falls...

This is where we picked up some dinner before heading back to the hotel...

We wanted to give Santa Maria style bbq another chance.

Shaw's Steakhouse Tavern

After settling in for a bit of rest, Bert and TC checked out the pool and the star placards on the room doors. Turns out that our hotel was a historic stop for many movie stars who were on their way up to Hearst Castle in San Simeon. There were stars like Carole Lombard and Clark Gable, Kim Novak, Walter Matthau and even Rudolph Valentino (more on him later). Bert and TC also ended up taking a quick dip in the hotel pool while I pondered over where to go for dinner.

We didn't have to go too far. The girl at the desk recommended Shaw's for dinner so Shaw's it was. Lucky for us, it was across the street from the Santa Maria Inn.

But even then, we still took our car! I didn't want to walk at night!

Once, Twice...Three Times...

They say the third time's a charm...

One of Bert's good friends also shares a September birthday. Since their birthdays were just days apart, we met up for lunch at Coop's this past weekend...

Return to Coop's

Ready for another diarrhea-like onslaught of posts?

You know you are...

It had to happen sometime...the 2nd of what hopefully will be many visits to Coop's.

Last time I checked my stats, my post on Coop's West Texas BBQ was my most popular post.

BBQ Crawl - Stop 3: The Barbecue Pit in National City

Our third destination was actually reversed. Originally it was to be Huffman's on Imperial Avenue but we knew that Huffman's did not have public bathrooms (which several of us were in dire need). Plus the Barbecue Pit was a larger venue that definitely had public bathrooms. We headed south on 805 and went to Filipino-Land (otherwise known as National City) by heading west on Plaza Blvd. The Barbecue Pit will be on your left before you hit Price breakers and Highland Ave.  Although there was a lot of parking, it was already pretty crowded, unless you wanted to park closer to Price Breakers.

BBQ Crawl - Stop 2: Barnes BBQ

The second stop of the Crawl took us a few miles away near the corner of Broadway and Lemon Grove...

Yes, that is indeed a Giant Lemon! A few months ago, Bert and I were in the area. Check out my original post on this famous landmark and other tidbits on Lemon Grove here...