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...

Who says romance is dead? Valentine's dinner at Roscoe's, Pasadena

It's Valentine's Night...Time to play some Barry White to get in the mood...

the mood to EAT FRIED CHICKEN that is!

As Barry would have said, "Aaaaaah yeah...."

Forget roses, hearts and all that it was time to get some chicken on...

Return to Crispy Fried Chicken

Yesterday we took TC and her friend Sherlock ice skating at the Joan Kroc Center...

where this lovely painted utility box is located (corner of University Ave and Salvation Army Way or Drive). Yours truly along with Bert and the two girls all enjoyed ourselves on the ice where we worked up an appetite...

Crispy Fried Chicken and Seafood

After several hours of ice skating at the local ice arena, I gave the girls a choice on where to eat lunch based on the coupons that I had. Chili corn dogs at Wienerschnitzel? Kabobs from Fattoush? Or Fried Chicken at Crispy Fried Chicken? The last of which sounded totally redundant!

Well, duh, guess which cuisine won out?

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 Bonnie Jean's

This'll be a quick one...After my first visit with the Prof nearly three years ago, it was time to go back...

this time with Bert and TC...

Louisiana Famous Fried Chicken - Spring Valley

So here we are again, with another coupon. Mind you, this is the same night that we ate at Leocynn's.

Haha, "Chocken"...I was in a hurry when I entered the info into our Garmin...

Return to Annie Belle's...

[Update - as of 2013, Annie Belle's closed sometime last year]


Having been in Oakland recently and remembering Merritt's Bakery, Bert had a craving for chicken and waffles...

Originally we wanted to use my coupon for Bonnie Jean's but for some reason, they were closed on Sunday! You'd think people would be going here after church and all, unless they opened after 12 noon. In any case, we didn't want to wait for lunch, so down the street we went to Annie Belle's (see original post here)...

Since it was a Sunday, they were playing Gospel music instead of Old School (I was hoping to hear more of the Old School)...

Merritt Bakery

Years ago, when we used to visit Thane during his grad school years (mid 90's), we went to Roscoe Chicken and Waffles in Oakland. We thought it was meh. Since we like trying new places, I sought out rec's from various sources. One of my former students who now lives in SF recommended a new and hip soul food place, Brown Sugar Kitchen as well as a Filipino Vegan place (WTF, right?) called No Worries. Then, I remembered an older post by the knowledgeable Wandering Chopsticks (link at end of post) about this old school bakery near Lake Merritt in Oakland.

2nd Foodcrawl with Bert - Annie Belle's

[Update - as of 2013, Annie Belle's is now closed]

The day after our foodcrawl to Star Dust Donuts and the assorted Mexican food places, Bert and I did another one! This time we headed over to Euclid off the 94.


We spotted a cool yellow Mustang with a racing strip as we went up the hill.

We had to double back to get here because we missed the sign. If you go too far, you will see Bonnie Jean's on your left on 54th. Annie Belle's is on Euclid in a new-ish strip mall. See the sign below.

Haha, you can see the tinted part of our windshield. I was not driving by the way in case you are thinking, "WTF, she's driving and taking photos?".

Loved the music they played here. Old School and R'n'B.

What to get....

So many choices. Do you know they have a buffet at midnight?

It's kind of dark in here but spacious. There's even a separate area for private parties. Well, not private in that it's enclosed but private where it can be roped off. There's tv's inthe corner too. Our booth had a flat screen above us as well. We were seated by the kitchen. Our server was a very nice gentleman by the name of Mr. Cleveland. The folks who work here were super nice too.

Bert cannot resist ordering Gumbo so that is what he had as a starter. He was surprised to see a whole chicken wing piece inside. That was a bit awkward to eat. The rice wasn't the type we were used to, kind of grainy and mushy. The soup had a lot of flavor chock full of shrimp, sausage, and vegetables.

We ordered the Granny Wings and Waffle which came with a small corn bread muffin.

The waffle was not crisp which I would have liked. There was a slight cinnamon taste to it as well. Oh man, look at the marriage of the melted butter and syrup. The breading on that wing was awesome! Very crisp, thick, and nicely seasoned.

I also had a side of the mixed greens. Instead of collard green, I wanted to try this because it was turnip and mustard greens. It had good flavor; you could taste the ham in here too. Reminds me of the greens my dad used to make when we were little.

Oh hell yeah - The Cosby Show! Look it's Sondra's husband, Elvin!!!

Here's Bert enjoying that ginormous wing...

Here I am trying to be dainty. NOT.

We will totally go here again, next time with the intent of having a full meal instead of just a teaser.

Who else ate at Annie Belle's?

Mary from Foodies: A SoCal Foodblog went here back in Feb 2011
Kirk from Mmm-Yoso was here just last month

Up next - a gigantic citrus fruit...

Bonnie Jean's

My friend and I were planning to have lunch at Asia Cafe today. Unfortunately, it was closed, which was disappointing since I wanted to introduce her to the joys of Nem Khao (Laotian fried rice). However, a good thing came out of this. My friend suggested a soul food place a few miles away. My mind was racing...Ooh, soul food. Never been in a soul food place before. Fried food! Hell yeah! Gotta blog it. I'm hungry! Oh my gosh! Soul food! My churning internal monologue lasted a mere five seconds. My mind was made up - forget everything else!

After following her car up Market, passing Federal and Euclid along the way, we ended up 54th St. There it was, Bonnie Jean's Soul Food Cafe, located in a really run down looking strip mall straight out of the 60's. To be honest, I'd never been in this area before. Maybe driving through when I used to take the surface streets to State, but yeah. This was all new to this Filipina chick from the South Bay. No glitzy signs. No chain restaurant logos. Handpainted windows advertising the specials. This was my kind of place! Click here to see their website. Reviews from Yelp are here .

You can't see it but there was a car on the far far left that was a shiny maroon Cadillac Seville with some killer silver rims. Yes, my friends, it was a Pimpmobile. Its owner was this guy wearing a black turtleneck in a black leather jacket with wide and pointy lapels (think of Lamont Sanford's no good shifty friend, Rollo). He must not have been a very rich pimp since he was using a pay phone!!! Shouldn't successful pimps be sporting a Blackberry or an iPhone? Okay...maybe he wasn't a pimp for those of you that think I'm stereotyping. Maybe he was just a cell phone-less stylin' guy with a cool car. Yeah...
Ooh, chicken and waffles! Must try that next time since the closest Roscoe's is in LA. Hot wings for 50 cents? Hmmmm...
The store front:

Oops, this picture should have been a few pics later. Well, walking in, it doesn't even look like a restaurant. It looks like a combination of someone's store and living room. The wall on the left when you enter had beveled edge square mirrors. Kinda 70's. Like the family room in my parents' house. The other walls are painted a deep red and covered with posters of famous African Americans, like Billie Holiday and Miles Davis (both were also featured in their bathroom). There were also posters of President Barack Obama and African American themed artwork. If you look on that shelf below, there was a black Angel. I really liked seeing that. Most angels are depicted as white with blond hair and blue eyes. It was nice seeing an angel of color. There was also a shelf that had board games that you could play while waiting for your food. In fact, the young couple who sat near us were playing Connect Four.

Originally, we sat in a small table for two in the back, next to this wall. We ended up moving because the table was wobbly. I liked this wall - it had (I assume the owner's) family photos giving this place a nice and homey feel. The atmosphere was very chill. We were greeted right away by a super nice lady. She gave us time to look over the menu.

Here's the view from our relocated table. You can see a rack of greeting cards - they had handmade cards with African Americans featured in their designs; some were religious in nature. There's that mirrored wall! In the foreground is a table were you can play chess. It wasn't too crowded today. It was Saturday afternoon and we were having a pretty late lunch, around 1:15'ish.

This is the view when you walk in. There's a bookshelf (books are 50% off by the way). Behind the gift souvenir display was the cash register. This place also sold these really cool bags that were handmade out of reall vinyl records. The two that I remember were George Benson's "Give Me the Night" and Peabo Bryston (forgot the song). One side of the bag had the vinyl record while the other side had the album cover. Both sides were shellacked and riveted with metal studs. There was also a sturdy net that formed the sides and bottom of the bags. Those were going for $65. Near our table, they had mouse pads for sale which featured African Americans playing golf, plus memorabilia from Historically Black fraternities and sororities (key chains and such). Very cool indeed. Click photo for closer look at the menu:
I was craving the catfish and upon learning that the $5 special was catfish, (this changes daily by the way), decided to get that. In fact, we both got today's special, thus only one photo of the complete meal which consisted of breaded cornmeal catfish nuggets, rice and gravy, a bread roll and a side of green beans with potatoes. The beans were kind of blah - the canned variety. They were also kind of cold. The rice was very soft which I didn't like. The grains were kind of mushy and didn't stick together. Maybe this was Uncle Ben's or something. OMG, if it was, please pump my stomach now like Rod Stewart!!! The gravy was all right, but I would have preferred to eat that with mashed potatoes. I don't like my rice to be wet. I didn't really finish the rice but polished off the catfish!!!

Close up of the goodass catfish nugget which you must try if you ever go here:

The hot wings were 50 cents each. I could have eaten a whole bowl of these. I was reminded of Chris Rock's line in Keenan Ivory Wayan's classic blaxploitation spoof , "I'm Gonna Get You Sucka"" when he's ordering food from Isaac Hayes(the rib chef was NFL star turned actor, Jim Brown).



"C'mon, just one riiiib!"

Here's my friend reaching for the hot sauce, which wasn't really hot:

Our cutlery was mismatched. That in itself wasn't a very big deal. As long as my utensils pick up food, I don't care what I'm given. Today was different. I was very excited because the knife pattern was our wedding flatware pattern!!! That, my friend, is Oneida's Pacific Tide pattern. I bet it's discontinued now. I chose that in 1994 after Bert and I got engaged. We liked it because of the wave like pattern and also because it matched our China, which was Mikasa's Wedding Band Platinum pattern. Because our Filipino relatives were "kuripot" (aka 'tight', 'cheapasses', 'stingy'), we never got any settings for our wedding gifts. Instead, I returned all the crap I didn't want (like 4 other slow cookers, platters I never registered for and whatnot) and used that money to buy a complete set of the flatware and accompanying hostess set and all at the Mikasa Outlet. So yay! Pacific Tide spotting! At a soul food restaurant of all places!

One last look at the window:

Picked up this post card before we left, but the photo was taken at home:

Mmmm...I saw the reviews on Yelp and those fried mac and cheese nuggets were referred to (more than once I might add) as "Fried Crack". That descriptions makes it all the more enticing to me.

Next time we go, we're definitely getting this Soul in a Bowl! Everything just sounds so good! I want to try the chitlins. Yes, I know what they're made of. If Filipinos can eat "bulaklak" (which literally means "flower" but are really cut up and fried intestines; also known as "bituka"), then I can eat chitlins. And I want to try the fried gizzards too. My mom used to make that stuff. when we were small. Those and fried livers with onions. My dad, who used to be a Navy cook, knows how to make soul food. Most Filipinos and blacks were stewards back in the early 60's. That's how my dad can make American food as well as a few soul food dishes (ham hocks with black eyed peas and collards for one). My next target - Sister Pee Wee's (another soul food joint) and Magnolia's.

Soul Food + Filipino Food

St. Patrick's Day was pretty damn busy. After TC's CCD class, we went to my friend's son's bday party. A veritable feast that was!

Alaskan King crab legs:
Mini lumpia + pan de sal (for the non rice eaters)
Garlic shrimp (which I didn't try but I'm sure they were good!) & homemade chicken adobo (looks like the kind I make - wings only!)

Pancit bihon:

These meats were catered from Croom's in Chula Vista. Clockwise from top left: spicy links, bbq chicken, bbq beef ribs and bbq tri-tip.

Mac 'n cheese & baked beans:

Homemade collard greens with ham (made by my friend's husband; he used his family recipe from Alabama):

This was Bert's first plate. Oh yes, the corn bread was also from Croom's.

This is one of the gigantic crab legs held by TC. I cut myself trying to crack a piece open! I didn't want to use my teeth. Bert ended up using his pocket knife. Those things are meaty! One was more than enough for all of us. You could seriously hurt someone with one of these!

Here's my plate (sans the shrimp I should have tried):

There was also a special appearance by Spongebob himself:
This table had a bit of everything. The top row had some sort of puff pastry with cream cheese inside (mmm) & meat empanadas. The bottom row was candied yams & Filipino style macaroni salad. You could also see part of the birthday cake which was chocolate with banana filling. This wasn't the end of St. Patrick's Day. Luckily, I paced myself and did not eat too much because we were set to go over to Thor (formerly known as "Shogun") and Lotus's place for homemade burgers...