Memorial Day; remember the heroes who gave their lives fighting for our country. We salute you.
Sometimes considered a fable since it's not listed on the actual menu, today's special feature is the epic In-N-Out 4x4; that's a 4-pattie cheeseburger!
The fabled 4x4
Another shot
Gross? Or totally awesome?
For non-west coasters or my readers from another country; In-N-Out is the premiere fast food chain in California. Its customer service is second to none and its food is pretty good too. If you're ever in the area you should definitely check one out. It's not so much a meal as it is an experience.
Also for your enjoyment:
A pair of hot dogs, beans, and chips and salsa
We also have a special contribution today; friend of Greg's Gourmet, Coby Chafets, who is vehemently annoyed by People Magazine, sent in this picture of a complete balanced breakfast (by our standards).
What's better than one buffet? Two! My family went out to the Great Plaza Buffet in Pacific Beach, CA.
Plate 1; New York steak, mashed potatoes, fries, and garlic bread
Plate 2; orange chicken, hot & spicy chicken, honey chicken, broccoli beef, and white rice
Plate 3, the "transitional" plate; strawberries, bananas, watermelon...and chicken
Transitional Plate definition: The plate that serves as a bridge between the main course and the dessert. It may or may not contain the more modest dessert items (i.e. fruit) as well as light protein dishes (chicken).
Plate 4; strawberries, watermelon, Jello, some coffee cake thing, a puffy cream thing, and a small salad
BONUS!
Some of the plates my family ate:
Seafood stuff
Seafood stuff 2
Sampler stuff
Double Bubble I got from one of those quarter machines
EVEN MORE!
Longtime friend of Greg's Gourmet, Amar Pawar, contributed to the following entree from Sarku Japan:
Greg's Gourmet received the great honor and privilege to be granted photography rights at the Oceanview Room, home to one of my favorite meals ever: The Prime Rib All-You-Can-Eat-Buffet for $11.75.Located on the highly secure submarine base in Point Loma, photography is restricted on many parts of the various bases, but today Greg's Gourmet received permission to photograph not the nuclear subs, the amphibious assault ships, nor the North Island runway --- but the PRIME RIB!
Steak 1
Steak 2
Steak 3
Steak 4
Yes, I take "all-you-can-eat" as a personal challenge. I only made it halfway through the fourth, but man was this food outta sight. But of course there was room for dessert!
Slice of cake and cherry cobbler
Ice cream with a little bit of each topping
Chocolate mint
All that food for $11.75. One prime rib goes for at least $15 anywhere else. Here we've got four thick slabs, potatoes, cake, cobbler, and ice cream for $11.75. Not to mention the Oceanview is right on the water with excellent views of incoming ships, subs, and boats into San Diego harbor, plus the staff is really nice.
I'm very excited I had the opportunity to get these photos as I've spoken of this place for a while but never had any photographic evidence...but now I do!
This is pretty cool. I've been working in Adobe Flash and I created this "teaser" for the blog. It's an interactive site, so you get to click buttons and all kinds of stuff. If you're gonna check out only one thing, check out the buffet. This site is also located in the About section. Enjoy! Note: It may take a few seconds to fully load, just in case it doesn't do what it's supposed to do. Also Note: It's having issues with Chrome. It works on some computers but not others. I'm currently working on it.
And have your sound on!
And since this site is about food, here's some for ya:
Today was the Valencia Gourmet Food Truck Festival and Classic Car Showwhere 50 food trucks from around the area gathered for one massive feast of food and sexy cars. Naturally, Greg's Gourmet was on the spot to test some of these locations.
HazelBerryAna Crepe - Strawberries, Banana, and Nutella
The truck
I've never been a big fan of crepes. They're okay and you can do a lot with them but they're just not as exciting as they could be. This particular one was good but, again, it wasn't like sliced bread. But the strawberries inside were incredible.
After that there's the Fresh Fries truck where they sold oven-baked chicken...
...just kidding. They sell fries:
Curly fries
Normally curly fries are a seasonal or specialty item, but these were a regular on the menu which is why it was such a bummer when they turned out to be very mediocre and lacking in flavor. There was really nothing special about them at all. A disappointment.
The truck, which I found later in the day goes about 18 MPH on the freeway
After a failed attempt to get a hot dog from some other truck, another was found called Cali Cuisine Catering Truck
Cali dog and fries
The hot dog was good if not unspectacular, but it took nearly 15 minutes to get...since I guess hot dogs are unusually complex dishes to make.
The truck
The last truck that was visited was theNo Tomatoes! truck:
Samosa
I'm not sure this would be my typical snack food, but it was pretty good and had the perfect amount/taste of spices. One thing I'm curious about and maybe my readers in India can fill me in; what's the deal with no tomatoes? What's the purpose?
I had something gross today. But I want to start this post off on a positive note, so check this out:
I had dinner tonight at Kabuki in Santa Clarita, CA:
Chicken Teriyaki
Soup
I love having chicken teriyaki in the restaurant. It just tastes so refreshing, especially after the quadruple bypass I had for lunch.
Now then...onto the not so great thing.
The cool new thing to do for fast food restaurants is to have these novelty burgers which consist of layers of beef, bacon, and cheese. Whenever I'd see these commercials I would get excited. But since these burgers have gained widespread popularity, I've never actually had one...until today. Before my drive up to LA I stopped at a Wendy's. I've only been to Wendy's a few times so I don't know their menu but I saw that they had this thing called a Baconator. I remember the commercials from a year or two back when it was introduced so feeling bold I decided to get one and I gotta say...gross.
The Baconator
There is such a thing as too much good stuff. I finished the burger but...these things really aren't that good. Beef, bacon, cheese, and mayo --- too much junk. If you go to the Top 5 Most Overrated Restaurants, I make a point of listing Steak Escape's disgusting ranch fries, which are French fries, ranch, bacon, and nacho cheese. They're horrible. This is slightly more edible, but I think even I have my limits of artery clogging. Note: these are different than bacon cheeseburgers since those have lettuce, tomato, and no mayo. And frequently don't have as much bacon or cheese. They just have more flavor. These bacon things are just gross.
I'm happy for all the people out there who were celebrating America this week. So to celebrate with them, Greg's Gourmet will contribute to the cause by posting lots of pictures of America's favorite food: burgers!
The Great American Pastrami Burger. Can't remember the restaurant.
