Restaurant Review #273: Old School Sandwiches & Salads, Simi Valley

The RB, $7.95

The RB is a warm, medium-rare roast beef sandwich with fresh baby spinach, roasted red bell peppers, caramelized onions, garlic aioli, havarti cheese, and balsamic dressing on a fresh artisan sub roll.

The bread is on the softer side, like you'd expect for a submarine sandwich. That makes the sandwich easier to eat, but also means it doesn't keep well (they don't use preservatives, either). If you're the type to save half your sandwich for later (like me), you might want to order the two-fer-one instead. For $7.95 (the same price as most sandwiches), you'll get half a cold sandwich and half a salad or a cup of soup.

There are 14 sandwiches to choose from, so anyone should be able to find something to enjoy here. Other hot sandwich options include a roast beef dip and pulled pork. There's nothing terribly unusual or creative on the menu, just classics like turkey, pastrami, and ham and swiss. They also have daily specials and homemade chili.

Vegetarian sandwich options include egg salad, grilled three cheese, and the Wrap Me Up Healthy, a wrap served in a whole-wheat tortilla. It has the same ingredients as the RB minus the roast beef plus avocado and sauteed mushrooms.

Old School's sandwiches definitely taste fresh and healthy, like something your mom would make if only she had more time. They're less salty than your typical chain sandwich. The shop doesn't have the fastest service, but that's because they make your food to order. It's family owned and operated, and the employees are genuinely friendly. They'll ask you how your day is going and seem to actually care about your response.

The interior is very clean, bright and sunny, with teal-turquoise walls and gray-white wood floors. there are plenty of tables inside and a few on the patio, but it can be hard to find a seat on a Saturday afternoon. It's located in a strip mall, with plenty of parking.

The next time you think you want Subway, go to Old School instead.

Old School Sandwiches and Salads
1464 Madera Rd.
Simi Valley, CA 93065
805-842-1447
Monday – Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Old School Sandwiches and Salads website 
Old School Sandwiches and Salads menu

Restaurant Review #239: Blue Table, Agoura Hills

Italian sub - $8.99

I love Blue Table. It's so pristine that if it weren't for the constant stream of customers, I'd gladly eat off the burgundy-stained concrete floor. Everything, from the gourmet dry goods to the display-case salads to the plated sandwiches, is gorgeous to look at.

In total, there are 16 varieties of sandwiches (two of which are vegetarian). We tried the Italian sub, which has salami, prosciutto cotto, mortadella, provolone, dijon aioli, lettuce, tomato, and Italian “salsa”. Mortadella, in case you were wondering, is kind of like baloney. Since we weren't sure what it was and didn't know if we would like it, they kindly put it on the side. The sandwich was pretty filling--you could get by on half if you weren't too hungry. We also tried the Ellen's Special, a hot panini with turkey, ham, goat cheese, fig-onion jam, and garlic aioli--a unique and delicious combination of ingredients that I should really try to recreate at home. Both sandwiches came with a small side salad of high-quality, super-fresh greens.

In addition to sandwiches, the deli serves a variety of soups, salads, pizzas, and sweets. The chewy, freshly baked cookies ($1.50 each) taste even better than homemade ones and make a great dessert option. To drink, there are a variety of artisan juices, sodas, teas, and waters in the cooler, but you can also get a can of Diet Coke or glass of tap water if you want.


Ellen's Special - $7.99

Order at the counter and someone will bring your food to your table, if you can get one. At noon on a Tuesday, we were lucky to get one of the few indoor tables (they're painted blue, naturally). There are only four--a secluded table for two, two four-tops, and a long communal table. There's patio seating, too, but the view of the vast parking lot isn't exactly ambient. If I went back, I'd prefer to do takeout.


Gourmet foods

If the sandwiches, salads, and sweets weren't enough to drool over, Blue Table sells an assortment of dry and frozen gourmet foods like pasta, pickles, fruit spreads, gelato, sorbet, and pasta sauce.


Whizin's shopping center

One minor note of caution: the Google Maps directions to Blue Table are not entirely accurate. If you follow them, you'll end up on the backside of Canyon Club. Drive around to the front entrance of Canyon Club to find Blue Table, past The Latigo Kid and before all the antique stores. The shopping center appears eerily dated but is backdropped by Agoura's beautiful golden and tree-studded hills.

Blue Table is a delicious find with interesting choices, fresh ingredients and top-notch service, even during the peak of the lunch rush. I recommend it highly. 

Blue Table

28912 Roadside Drive
Agoura Hills, CA 91301-3304
(818) 597-2583
Hours: Mon-Sat 10am - 6pm
Also located in Calabasas
Blue Table website
Blue Table menu

Restaurant Reivew #231: Corner Bakery Cafe

Poblano Fresco with roasted chicken

You remember the old SAT question:

Barnes and Noble : Borders
Corner Bakery Cafe : _______?

a) Chili's
b) Panera Bread
c) Ono Hawaiian BBQ
d) Pizza Hut

Yes, the correct answer is B. (Isn't it always?) Corner Bakery Cafe (CBC) and Panera Bread are essentially the same restaurant, except that CBC's empire is not as geographically widespread. But thankfully, unlike Borders and Barnes and Noble, it's not just that one is green and the other is red: the two bakery cafes actually sell different things. Well, different-tasting things. Both serve breakfast, salads, soups, sandwiches, panini, bakery sweets, fresh bread, bagels, lemonade, and coffee. CBC is better if you want a hot breakfast; Panera is better if you want a bagel (they have more flavors). CBC also serves pasta, which Panera does not. Both rotate their soup flavors according to the day of the week, but their only overlapping soup flavor is broccoli cheddar. Panera's You Pick Two is a more liberal version of CBC's Corner Bakery Combo, which limits the types of salad you can get with your half sandwich, though Panera does charge extra for its more elaborate salads. Both offer five panini options, each with different types of meat and each with one vegetarian option. Both have an Asian salad, a Greek salad, and a caesar salad, but CBC forays into non-lettuce-based salads with options like egg salad and pasta caprese salad.

I don't think I can provide any kind of unbiased assessment of which one is better--I used to work for Panera, and I remember it as one of the best jobs I ever had. I didn't even get sick of the food after eating it every day. But I do think Corner Bakery Cafe is a worthy competitor.

Corner Bakery Cafe
1555 Simi Town Center Way
Simi Valley, CA 93065
(and many, many other locations in 11 states and the District of Columbia)
805.306.1892
Corner Bakery Cafe website
Corner Bakery Cafe menu
Hours:
Mon - Sun: 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM

Restaurant Review #211: Porto's, Glendale

Assorted pastries. From back left to front right: guava strudel, almond danish, croissant, coconut glazed, coconut strudel, apple empanada

Though Porto's is a Los Angeles legend, it's possible to not know about it, especially if you live on the Westside. In an attempt to avoid the crowds, we visited late on a Saturday afternoon, but despite primarily being a bakery, the place was a madhouse. As we waited in line, we crained our necks around the throngs ordering at the counter trying to pick out which goodies we wanted. Few items are labeled, so unless you're a regular, you'll just have to point. Printed and posted menus curiously don't list all the items.


Assorted savory pastries. From back left to front right: pastel de carne (meat pie), chorizo pie, chicken empanada, ham croquettes, potato balls

Porto's serves both sweet and savory pastries with a Cuban influence. With so many delicious options, you can feel the pounds piling on before you even start eating. While there are really no bad dishes, in the savory category, you won't want to miss the pastel de carne (puff pastry filled with seasoned ground beef), chicken empanada (filled with moist, shredded chicken and peppers), or potato balls (mashed potato wrapped around seasoned ground beef, breaded and deep fried). In the sweet category, be sure to try the mango empanadas, cheese danish, and coconut strudel.


Medianoche sandwich

In addition to its pastries, Porto's offers a selection of sandwiches. The medianoche (midnight) sandwich, a concoction of ham, roasted pork, swiss cheese, pickles, mustard, and mayonnaise on a toasted sweet roll, is tastier than its simple appearance implies. The grilled chicken sandwich is basic but juicy and tender.


Grilled chicken sandwich

Porto's prices are stunningly low--and they create and delivery large orders for parties. Imagine how many people you could feed on the cheap when a dense, filling empanada costs just 95 cents? Most savory pastries are under $1.00 to start with and are even cheaper when you buy them 50 pieces at a time. The sweet pastries are equally inexpensive. If you're looking for something more sophisticated, Porto's also has a large selection of French-style cakes and mousses and they also do elaborate wedding cakes.

Porto's
315 N. Brand Blvd.
Glendale, CA 91203
818.956.5996
Porto's website (very informative)

Restaurant Review #189: Java Groove Coffee, Van Nuys

Grilled chicken panini

Java Groove is a relatively new coffee shop and cafe in Van Nuys about a four block walk from the Van Nuys Courthouse. Despite its warm wood floors and deep orange walls, it maintains some of the sleek sterility of a corporate coffee shop while seemingly aiming for something a bit more personal (it is family-owned, after all). When I visited on a Saturday morning, they had a live saxaphone player--live in the way that the saxaphone players on the Third Street Promenade are live, with shrill notes played against a back up tape. Java Groove is small, with seven, two-person indoor tables and a few outdoor tables. They are one of the only places in the area with free Wi-Fi.

Java Groove is about a year old and inhabits a sleek, relatively new pedestrian-friendly shopping center on Victory just east of Van Nuys Blvd. It is one of several new sandwich shops that have popped up in the area, presumably to serve the nearby Van Nuys Courthouse's lunch crowd, who are (so the festering of sandwich shops would have me believe) not interested in trying one of the many nearby taco shops or pupuserias. Java Groove's neighbor, formerly the Mexican restaurant El Pedregal, is now also a sandwich shop called The Patio Grill. Then there's the Subway at Erwin and Van Nuys, the Quizno's across the street from the Subway, and the sandwich and smoothie shop opening at the corner of Friar and Van Nuys where the never-open Zairov Chicken used to reside. Java Groove was dead on a Saturday at lunch and isn't even open on Sundays, further proof that it doesn't exactly cater to the neighborhood (can you imagine a Westside coffee shop dead on a Saturday?).

I must admit that I did not try the coffee (in fact, it did not even occur to me to try the coffee, so hungry was I). What I did try was a grilled chicken panini. It took longer than I expected for the sandwich to be made, but that's because it was made to order, so I really cn't complain. The freshness and high quality ingredients made all the difference for this flavorful sandwich with juicy chicken and perfectly melted cheese. The true test that no sandwich shop ever passes is the tomato test--everyone puts their tomatoes in the fridge and turns them into tasteless, mealy, dessicated disks. Well, Java Groove's tomatoes were none of these. Quality tomatoes at a random coffee shop--who would have guessed? The sandwich ingredients are slippery, so leave the toothpick in while you eat it.

I also ordered a chocolate smoothie. Chocolate smoothie, you ask? Yes. For some reason, Java Groove does not (or at least not on my visit) make chocolate milkshakes, only chocolate smoothies. They do, however, make mango milkshakes. But not mango smoothies. And milkshakes only come in one size, but smoothies come in three. Are you confused yet?

If you're spending the day serving jury duty at the Van Nuys Courthouse, Java Groove seems to be one of the best options in the area for an inexpensive lunch (or, ahem, "cigarette" break) that you can walk to. If you're looking for something with a more authentic Van Nuys flavor, you might try El Traipiche Pupuseria on Sylvan (on the opposite side of Van Nuys Blvd. from the courthouse) or Taqueria Emanuel. Most people will not enjoy Rincon Salvadoreno for the dingy atmosphere and lousy service, but their pupusas are awfully good. If you have enough time to jump in the car, I recommend Mi Casita Salvadorena, Zankou Chicken, or a short drive to Sherman Way in North Hollywood where you'll find the delectable Krua Thai. If you need some fuel before the day begins, don't miss the crullers at Donuts and Delites.

Java Groove also offers catering services and rental of their coffee shop for private events and meetings.

Java Groove Coffee
14310 Victory Blvd
Van Nuys, CA 91401
(818) 785-6593
Java Groove Website

Parking lot in rear

The Artisan Cheese Gallery, Studio City

Going to a cheese store for the first time can be intimidating, but getting over your trepidation is worth the effort. Whole Foods wraps their cheeses in a plastic whose flavor seeps into the cheese, ruining all the outer edges of pretty much anything you purchase. Plus, their cheeses are expensive and you can't try before you buy, which results in lots of wasted money (and cheese!). Trader Joe's uses a different plastic, and has a few above average cheeses, but their selection is limited and doesn't contain anything that is likely to blow you away.

Cheese store cheese just tastes different. Not only is it cut fresh and wrapped in paper to preserve its flavor, but you're also likely to end up with cheeses that are totally new to your tastebuds.

The Artisan Cheese Gallery is a small store that sells all kinds of cheese, about ten different made-to-order sandwiches featuring various cheeses and Breadbar bread, and a multitude of gourmet products ranging from olive oil to truffles to flavored peanut butter (with samples!) to tortas de aceite (a famous old-recipe cookie from Spain). They do cheese platters for parties if you give them advance notice, and once a month for $35 they have limited-seating cheese tasting events which sometimes involve wine and/or chocolate (purchase tickets in advance or they might be sold out).

Artisan Cheese Gallery sells around 300 cheeses, so try to go in with a few hints about what kind of cheeses you do and don't like, or even what textures you do and don't like. The employees will take it from there, feeding you slivers of scrumptious cheeses until you find ones you like enough to take home. They'll even make a maybe pile if you're not sure. This is also a great time to ask all your cheesy questions, like "How do I know when to eat the rind?" or "How do I prevent my cheese from getting moldy?" Make sure to give them a ballpark figure for what you're looking to spend, or you may find yourself at the register with multiple hunks of $17 cheese (this has never happened to me, of course).

To give you an idea of the kind of variety you'll find in a cheese store, here are some examples of cheeses they sell that I have tried:

Wasabi goat cheese-a bit odd on it's own, but great with sourdough bread
Chocolate goat cheese - The true definition of a dessert cheese, this one contains walnuts and raisins and is sort of like cheesecake without the crust
Monte Irebo-a goat cheese from Spain with a very pungent rind. The cheese's texture and flavor is similar to brie.
Prima Donna - a cow's milk cheese from Holland. I believe it's a gouda. I like this one a lot.
Balarina Goat Gouda - a very hard cheese from Holland that reminds me of parmesan in its texture and nuttiness. Inexpensive and durable--great for traveling on a budget.
Tore de Bordeaux - a goat cheese whose rind is coated in herbs de provence. Pricey, but worth it.
Capo del Montalban - A Spanish cheese that looks like manchego, but tastes better.

As you can probably tell, I'm a big fan of goat cheese. But if you think goat cheese is only that crumblyish stuff that comes in logs, think again! There are many other cheeses out there made from the same tangy milk.

Artisan Cheese Gallery sells a variety of generously-sized sandwiches for around $9 each. I love their grilled cheese: thick, pillowy bread and warm, gooey cheese. All sandwiches come with thick slices of sweet pickles and a fantastic truffle. They even have a few tables so you can eat your food there.

It's a bit hard to spot and hard to park at--just keep this in mind the first time you go, and don't give up if you can't find it or park right away.

The Artisan Cheese Gallery
12023 Ventura Blvd.
Studio City, CA 91604
818-505-0207
Mon. - Sat. 10:30 AM - 7 PM
Sun. 8AM - 4PM (that doesn't sound right to me)

As of October 2006, their website has buggy popups so I don't recommend it.

Restaurant Review #36: Malibu Kitchen, Malibu

"The Rachel"

Malibu Kitchen is kind of a mini gourmet grocery store, sandwich shop, and bakery all rolled into one. It's located in Malibu Country Mart, because, well, everything in Malibu is located in Malibu Country Mart. There are several tables outside with vinyl coated fabric table cloths. Apparently there were also birds outside, because my mom refused to stay and eat at a table. She is deathly afraid of being attacked by birds, and it's really amusing when she grabs you and ducks behind you because she sees--a bird. I am pretty sure this will prevent my mom from ever seeing the great cities of Europe. Anyway, the inside is all creaky, rustic wood. Wood floors, wood ceilings. It's a popular, and rather pricey place (but you're in Malibu, what did you expect?). The sandwiches run around $9 and come on your choice of any of 8 or so breads. The menu is extensive, offering something for everyone, including vegetarians (though most of the sandwiches were meat-based). It seemed like a place where you could create your own sandwich if you wanted, even though that wasn't stated on the menu.

I took my mom and brother here to pick up some sandwiches to eat on the beach. This turned out to not be such a simple plan. We had to wait in line for at least 15 minutes, maybe longer. The guy who took our sandwich order was rude to my mom when she said she wanted her sandwich on "white bread or something" (I get frustrated with her indecisiveness too, but strangers are not allowed to be rude to mommy). Then we couldn't find any beach to sit on (it was the 4th of July weekend, and Zuma Beach was a nightmare). On the plus side, the woman running the cash register was very friendly, the food was good, and they sell many interesting cheeses and soft drinks. They also sell pasta, ice cream, insanely expensive cakes ($80???), cookies, bars, and more.

I had The Rachel, which was turkey, imported swiss, saurkraut, and some kind of orange special sauce on toasted rye. I got mine on wheat though, since I don't like rye. The sandwich was quite tasty, though I fault them for putting the saurkraut next to the bread instead of between the sandwich and the meat, so that the bread wouldn't get soggy, which it did, of course. It didn't ruin things for me though. I enjoyed my sandwich while sitting on a piece of concrete overlooking the overcast Pacific and spending some quality time with my not-so-little brother. Mom ate hers in the car, where there were no birds.


Malibu Kitchen
3900 Cross Creek Rd Ste 3
Malibu, CA 90265-4962
(310) 456-7845