The SLY Foodie

After an afternoon at the beach, it seemed that the most logical thing to have for dinner was seafood. Then I thought of Pacific Fish Grill, a new restaurant that opened at The Shoppes in Chino Hills. It seemed like we could go, enjoy a cocktail and have a nice sit-down dinner. Boy, was I wrong. It turned out to be a semi-fastfood restaurant. You would not have been able to tell from the outside of the restaurant. Since we were already there, we decided to go ahead and try it out.

As soon as you walk in, you see the register and a huge menu board above it. The decor seemed to be a little too nice for a fastfood establishment. Price points were comparable to other places that serve this type of food. They serve seafood, both grilled and fried. Grilled fish items come with rice pilaf, salad and pita bread. Once you place your order, it's up to you to find seating, get your drink and condiments at the bar located against the back wall. Restaurant staff will bring your food to you.

We ordered the Fried Scallops meal, which are bay scallops that are battered and deep fried, served with fries and coleslaw. It was actually pretty good. The scallops seemed pretty fresh, didn't have too much batter, it was seasoned perfectly and had just the right crunch. The fries were so-so, they sprinkled some parsley on it, which made no difference whatsoever. If you know me, you'd know that I think parsley is the most overrated herb out there. I didn't try the coleslaw, since I generally don't like it, and this one particularly didn't seem appetizing to me at all.




We also ordered the crunchy combination plate, which consisted of 3-4 pieces of fried shrimp, 2 pieces of fried fish and calamari. I was slightly disappointed to find that they were calamari strips and not the rings. To me, calamari rings are fresher and taste better. But the strips weren't bad. The fish wasn't really fresh, but it was to be expected from previously frozen fish. The shrimp was the best thing on that plate.

Overall, this place was only so-so, not a bad place to go to if you're craving seafood. But I wouldn't give it stellar reviews.

Yard House, a popular restaurant chain, recently opened in our neck of the woods. Naturally, we decided to go and check it out, especially since we haven’t been to one in quite a while, a couple of years, actually. I was looking forward to finally trying out a Chilean Sea Bass dish they once offered but, to my dismay, it was no longer on the menu. So after a quick glance at the menu, I decided on a burger.

It was the Béarnaise Burger – a half pound natural Angus beef burger with béarnaise sauce and fried onions served on a potato bun with extra sauce, fries and a pickle. I must admit that it was one of the better burgers I’ve enjoyed in quite some time. The combination of the juicy beef (cooked medium, so it was pink throughout), the tangy béarnaise and the crunchy sweet onions made for an oh-so-satisfying burger experience. The fries were thin cut, almost like shoestring potatoes, and were crunchy good. I can’t tell you much about the pickle, other than it was there (I don’t like pickles). The picture below is the burger; please excuse me for forgetting to take the picture before I took several bites. I just couldn't wait.



I also tried the Brazilian Lemonade, a concoction of Ketel One Citroen, Cointreau, mojito mix, lemonade and fresh mint leaves. It tasted good, not too strong. My only complaint was the fact that there were no mint leaves in my drink. I’m not sure if it’s served with mint leaves in the actual glass, or if the leaves were in the shaker while the drink was prepared. I think the distinct mint flavor would be more prominent if the drink was served with it. Nevertheless, it was a tasty alcoholic treat.

Due to intense pressure from a certain blog groupie, I am writing this post on the food that I enjoyed during my stay at the Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center two months ago when Daniel was born. Contrary to popular belief, hospital food can be quite tasty, and they'll give you everything you check off on the menu, which is nice.

Since Daniel was born at 6 a.m., breakfast was the first meal I had. That morning, the nurses took the liberty of getting me a biscuit, some bacon, eggs, cereal, juice, a banana, milk and a couple of other things I don't remember. The bacon was good – crunchy and not salty. Granted, the eggs were a little bland, but they exceeded expectations. After all, the food's coming from a hospital kitchen, not a four-star Michelin restaurant. For lunch, I had beef stew served with a corn muffin, chicken noodle soup, fruit jello and an oatmeal raisin cookie (pictured below on the left). Everything tasted great, I would probably just add more seasoning to the beef stew though.
For dinner, we were treated to the hospital’s celebration dinner. After all, a new baby is a very good reason to celebrate. We were given a choice of shrimp or sirloin steak, so naturally one of us chose steak and the other chose shrimp. Both were served with rice pilaf, steamed vegetables, a garden salad, a dinner roll, dessert (which I don’t remember what it was) and sparkling cider. Again, the food was well prepared. I think the vegetables may have been slightly overcooked and could have used a little seasoning. Other than that, I think we were just hungry, tired and emotional to notice anything else. Unfortunately, that also meant that we forgot to take a picture of the food.

Breakfast the next day brought a pancake, a blueberry muffin, eggs, bacon, toast, cereal, a banana, juice and milk. No complaints there. No pictures, either. For lunch, I chose halibut because it was my second favorite fish (after Chilean sea bass, of course). That was served with squash and peas. My tray also included peaches, vanilla custard, fruit jello, toast and a salad. The fish was good, it didn’t taste fishy at all. Once again, however, I thought the vegetables were overcooked and needed salt. But I figure that most people in hospitals can’t necessarily have too much salt in their diet, thus blander tasting food.