POMME BEBE, NEWPORT BEACH

Being a father of a 1 year old, I can relate to baby food issues. That's why I had to include this:

Give your baby the best in nutrition (and save time, too!) with organic baby foods prepared at Pomme Bebe in Newport Beach.

Each day chefs hand peel, steam and prepare each pureed, single-ingredient food and toddler meal with your child's health (and taste) in mind. And you and your child can try samples at the contemporary and very cool bébé bar. For your convenience, you can make purchases online or by phone for home delivery.

A seasonal menu varies with freshest ingredients available. Foods are categorizes into basics for children 6 months and up; blends for 8 month olds and up, and meals for tots 12 months and up.
Popular items include the simple sweet potato puree; a melon apricot puree with juicy cantaloupe blended with the honey flavor of dried apricots; the chicken chili with lentils, kidney beans and chicken; and a healthy and gluten free mac and cheese with organic brown rice pasta, cheddar, parmesan, brown rice flour, whole milk, and butter.

For a complete list of menu items and ingredients please visit Pomme Bebe. Open 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. 2043 Westcliff Drive in Newport Beach. 949.200.7430. http://www.pommebebe.com/

Kids Eat Free in the O.C.

From: http://fastfood.freedomblogging.com/2008/07/22/kids-eat-free-in-the-oc/

Kids Eat Free in the O.C.
July 22nd, 2008, 5:58 pm · 7 Comments · posted by Kristine Lu
With grocery prices skyrocketing, it’s getting pretty difficult to feed a full-sized family. But it seems there is still hope! After doing a little bit of research, I learned that there is quite a long list of restaurants in the OC that offer free meals to kids! Check out this list to find out where you might be able to score a cheaper dinner tonight!

1. Pat & Oscar’s: Kids eat free every Tuesday evening from the Kid’s Menu. Adult Entree purchase required. Available at all Pat & Oscar’s locations.

2. IHOP Restaurants: Select restaurants (i.e. one in Garden Grove, two in Anaheim) have Kids Eat Free evenings every night after 4 P.M. with purchase of adult entree. Kids can choose any item from the kids menu. Select locations only.

3. Chick-Fil-A: Varies by location. At Irvine Marketplace location, kids eat free kids meal every Tuesday with purchase of combo. Promotions vary by location; some offer 99-cent kids’ meals.

4. Denny’s Restaurants: Kids eat free every Tuesday from 4-10 P.M. in all Denny’s across America. Up to two kids can eat free per one adult entree purchase. Some Denny’s extend their Kids Eat Free to Saturdays, on individual-restaurant basis.

5. Ruby’s Diner: Kids eat free from kid’s menu every Tuesday evening after 4 P.M. starting September 22. Adult entree purchase required.

6. Rainforest Cafe: Kids can eat for $1.99 on Wednesday “Family Fun Nights” with purchase of any entree. Only available at mall locations (i.e. South Coast Plaza location). Other ways kids can eat free at Rainforest Cafe: participate in their Summer Reading Program or finish the rainforest lesson plan in school.

7. Taco Mesa: Kids eat free all day Sunday. One 10-and-under child per adult entree. Kids can choose from a variety of kids meals: cheese quesadilla, steak or chicken breast taco or chicken fingers. Offered at all four Taco Mesa stores.

8. Carrows Restaurants: One child per adult entree purchase can eat free every Monday and Tuesday after 4 P.M. Offered at virtually all Carrows locations; dates may vary depending on location, though most in O.C. district are Monday and Tuesday.

9. Fred’s Mexican Cafe:”Family Fiesta Night” every Sunday evening from 4-9 P.M. Free kids item from kids menu (variety of items). Other family-fun activities available: balloon maker, pinata, coloring and guitar hero. Offered only at Laguna Niguel location.

10. Stadium Brewing Company: Family Night on Monday. Kids 12 and under can eat free with each adult entree purchase.

11. Angelo’s and Vinci’s Ristorante: Kids can eat buffet items for half price. Every Tuesday evening free spaghetti for kids with every adult purchase.

12. Lone Star Steakhouse: 2 kids can eat free kid’s menu item with purchase of any adult entree every Tuesday and Saturday from 11-4 P.M. Available at all Lonestar locations.

13. BeachFire: Kids can eat free from kids menu with purchase of adult entree every Tuesday. Available at all locations.

14. Jerry’s Dogs: Kids eat free every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evening after 4 P.M. Kids get free Kid’s Combo with purchase of Adult Combo. Available at all three Jerry’s Dogs locations.

15. Sonoma Restaurant: Kids eat free 6 days a week (restaurant is closed on Monday) starting from 5 P.M. As long as children come with parents or adults, no limit on how many children get free meals. Free meal varies depending on what chef prepares; meals range from pasta to chicken to burgers.

WHERE CAN KIDS EAT FREE IN THE OC?

I have 4 kids so I know how expensive it is to take the whole family out to eat. After some research, this is what I've come up with:

Sundays

Taco Mesa - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!

Fred's Mexican Cafe - Kids eat 1/2 price with an adult meal PLUS at about 7:30 there is a Piñata Party for the kids.

Sonoma Restaurant - Kids eat Free Pasta 6 nights a week! (Closed on Mon.)



Monday

Carrows - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase

Stadium Brewery - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase

Angelos & Vinci's Ristorante - Kids get a free dessert with meal purchase

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!



Tuesday

Ruby's - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase

Chick Fil A - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase, plus many of the restaurants have crafts for kids and a Cow appearance

Lone Star - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase at night

Woody's Diner - Buy one burger get one free (so kids "could" eat free)

Beach Fire in San Clemente - Kids eat Free with an adult meal purchase

Carrows - Kids eat Free with an adult meal purchase

Angelos & Vinci's Ristorante - Kids eat Free spaghetti dinner with adult purchase

Sonoma Restaurant - Kids eat Free Pasta 6 nights a week! (closed on Mon.)

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!



Wednesday

Rainforest Cafe - Ok this one is not totally Free but kids eat for $1.99 after 5pm

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!

Sonoma Restaurant - Kids eat Free Pasta 6 nights a week! (closed on Mon.)



Thursday

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!

Sonoma Restaurant - Kids eat Free Pasta 6 nights a week! (closed on Mon.)



Friday

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!

Sonoma Restaurant - Kids eat Free Pasta 6 nights a week! (closed on Mon.)



Saturday

Lone Star - Kids eat Free with adult meal purchase for lunch (11am-4 pm)

The Patio Family Restaurant in Orange - Kids eat breakfast for FREE and 1/2 price the rest of the day, every day!

Sonoma Restaurant - Kids eat Free Pasta 6 nights a week! (closed on Mon.)

The Pizza Bakery, Newport Beach

The Pizza Bakery is a great little place for traditional oven baked pizza. They are located in the Westcliff Court at Westcliff and Dover in Newport Beach.

This quaint little place has big taste! The place is small but clean and you can get a waft of the heavenly aromas from a block away! Today I had the Cold Cuts sub which cost $6.50. The sandwich had lots of meat and cheese and the bread was fresh, soft and delicious.

I have also have the pleasure of trying their pizza which is oven-baked with dough that is made fresh daily and hand tossed (by actual humans and not machines!). What a difference "fresh" makes! My favorite pizza is their Margarita Pizza with lots of fresh Roma tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, basil, and various spices which delight the senses.

I have no complaints with this place.

Although their prices are already pretty good, they have specials running all the time (check their website for more info on their specials). They take all forms of payment and offer dine-in, take-out and delivery.

Contact Info:
The Pizza Bakery
(949) 631-1166
1741 Westcliff Dr.
Newport Beach, CA 92660-5529

Hours:
Monday - Saturday...11:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Sunday....................11:00 AM - 9:00 PM

http://www.thepizzabakery.com/

COUPONS

From time to time I will be posting coupons for local restaurants and fast food so make sure you subscribe to my blog, bookmark it and visit often!

SPECIAL- Review of Homewood Suites Hotel, Phoenix, AZ

My family and I stayed at the Homewood Suites Hotel last weekend while in Phoenix for my mother's wedding which was held nearby.

I was very impressed with the room. It was a 2 room suite with the bedroom having 2 double beds, a desk, TV, bathroom with a separate vanity/sink area.

The front room had a TV with a couch and a comfy chair and ottoman. The couch contained a pull out double bed complete with bedding. The bedding was clean and there were more than enough pillows. My wife is a pillow freak and there's no such thing as too many.

The kitchen had a small dining area along with a roomy fridge, dishwasher, stove, dishes, cookware and everything one would need for a long term stay.

During the two days we stayed there, the complimentary breakfast "buffet" was a disaster and not what I would have expected since this hotel is part of the Hilton chain of hotels. On both mornings, we arrived for breakfast between 9:00 and 9:30 a.m. The weekend breakfast hours are 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

It was quickly apparent that the buffet area was in total chaos. There was paper, straw wrappers, bits of food and empty creamer containers left on the counters. I caught the coffee over-flowing and had to call housekeeping. On top of that, they ran out of flavored creamer and when I asked the staff member about re-filling the creamer she said to me "Sorry, we did not receive the shipment of creamer on Friday". I guess they were unfamiliar with super markets in the Phoenix area which probably sell creamer for those weekends when you don't get your shipment.

The staff also failed to watch the sterno cans and the food was allowed to go cold. The milk was left out on the counters for cereal and was allowed to go warm. I am not a health inspector but I am sure that they would be interested in this tidbit of information.

On Saturday the bread and danish items seemed to be well stocked but by Sunday there were no bagels, danish or english muffins. There was only plain white bread available.

At one point, I alerted the staff to an unattended waffle iron that had begun to smoke and I began to seriously wonder if the place would burn down as soon as I left since I was the only one who seemed to be paying any attention.

So much for the food area let's talk about the seating area. The seating area was quite large with tables and chairs and even sofas in front of a fireplace and TV area. It would have been great except it looked like it had not been vacuumed or swept the entire morning. There was food and paper all over the floor. The carts for dirty dishes and trash were over-flowing and the tables needed wiping.

Outside of the food seating area was the pool which could be seen through the many windows -which wasn't a good thing. Someone had restocked the pool towels, however, they had failed to remove the dirty towels out of the towel bin and from around the pool area. The overflowing bin and messy pool area was a disappointing view.

Having visited the pool the previous day, I was impressed with the sheer amount of "floaters" in the water ranging from leaves and other misc. foliage to giant grasshopper-looking bugs. I noticed a burning hot Arizona breeze here and there so I'm fairly sure the staff couldn't be blamed for this one.

We had a real treat while out by the pool when I found these HUGE Toll House Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches in the hotel's "Suite Shop".

In conclusion, overall I was very impressed with our hotel suite and how very polite the staff was even though they had a hard time keeping up with the breakfast bar and the swimming towels by the pool. I would definitely recommend it and would stay there again.

SPECIAL- Chino Bandido, Phoenix

Chino Bandido
15414 N.19th Ave. Suite K
Phoenix, AZ 85032
Phoenix Hours: Daily 11am - 9pm
(602) 375-3639

[While I normally blog about Orange County eateries, I happened to be on vacation in Phoenix and decided to look up the Chino Bandido, made famous by the Food Network TV Show, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives".]

We arrived at Chino's last Saturday and found it to be the consummate "dive". Inside were very simple tables and chairs and a 6 foot, gun wielding "bandido panda bear" statue in the corner. I got the impression that the restaurant was painted by the employees during a very slow period. However, the food awards are impressive and adorn the walls of the establishment including a quite large autographed picture of Guy Fieri, the host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.

The biggest disappointment happened quite early on in the ordering process. What a confusing mess! It's like they went out of their way to make it difficult. First, you are handed a list of items to order and there are so many variations and so many acronyms that it will make your head spin in the 115 degree desert heat. Fortunately, my family and I arrived at a time when there were very few customers and the employees were able to explain the ordering process to us.

I took a quick glance at their website at http://www.chinobandido.com/ and saw that they have an entire section on "how to order" and even have a menu DEMO. Maybe it's me but if you need a demo to place a fast food order, there's a problem!

This brings me to the place's biggest asset, the employees. The people on staff were very helpful and patient with me during the hellish ordeal I'll call the "ordering process". I was ready to pull out my hair about 20 minutes into it. I was there mid-afternoon on a Saturday and I am very mindful that if it were high noon on a weekday I might have had a much different experience. I am sure the employees would have been less inclined to cater to my confusion had there been 25 people behind me festering a lynch-mob mentality. I shudder at the thought.

On to the food. Generally, I give it a 7 on the proverbial 1 through 10 scale. My wife and I ordered the Chile Rellenos which were excellent. They were lightly fried in what appeared to be a cracker crumb breading. My combination came with Red Chicken, pork fried rice and refried beans. The pork fried rice did not knock my socks off and neither did the refried beans. The red chicken was as bland as the steamed rice.

My daughter ordered the teryaki chicken with steamed rice and the other three children had the cheese crisps (plain cheese quesadillas) because it was easy and I was DONE with the ordering process. All of our meals came with Chocolate Volcano cookies.

My 18 year old daughter loves Chinese cuisine but she was very unimpressed with her meal and we took over half of it back to our hotel in a doggy bag.

The best part of the meal was the end. We were very impressed with the Chocolate Volcano cookies. They're probably one of the messiest cookies I have ever had due to the powdered sugar which coated every gooey, chocolate cookie. It was a nice ending to a mostly mediocre meal.