CF FOOD KITCHEN
16205 Devonshire Blvd.
Granada Hills, CA 91344
(818) 363-5781



My wife and I had been meaning to try this place for a while, especially with all the great reviews and the fact that it is so close to us in the Valley, but were sorely disappointed in just how long it took. Now it was Valentines day and a special Price Fixe menu.

It is in a little strip mall with a very small parking lot, though we did get a spot easily.

My wife made our Valentines day reservation very early, in fact they said we were the first reservation that anyone had made, and we made it for 8 PM. On the night we went and got their by 7:45 to see a bunch of people outside and waiting, which was not a good sign. The place was nuts, and we waiting a little over an hour from when we got there until we were seated. We had thought that people were just not leaving, but it turns out that was not the issue.

Once we got seated the waiter was awesome, and the food was great, but it took so long! It was a special Price Fixe menu, though similar to their multi course menu, and they had either 4 or 5 items, 2 or 3 appetizers a main dish and dessert, with many choices for each 3 or 4 apps for each choice and about 5 dinners and 5 desserts. The problem is that getting the food just took so long!

We didn't get out of there until 11:30 and the table next to us had been seated when we got there and only left a little before us, not because of waiting, but because it took so long for the food to come! They obviously did not factor in the time it would take to cook in the reservations they took! And obviously the Chef needed more help for the amount of reservations that they had. The food just took so incredibly long!

The food was great! I had the crab cake with remoulade and fruit , and it was awesome (the remoulade was good, but with the fruit it was amazing), as was the Duck confit, which was perfect and the Beef Wellington was some of the best I have ever had. And the Key Lime Pie and Cheese Cake were both great.

The food was awesome! My only complaint about the food was that bread was only OK, and my wife liked her seafood pasta, but didn't love it like I loved the Beef Wellington. Still it was all very good, but the Chef took so long! I think they just took too many reservations for the time it took to cook all those meals. Maybe with the Price Fixe menu they should have had less choices so it would take less time?

And the waiter though incredibly busy was great! He had a great personality and did a great job! I had constant refills on my water (I do drink allot of water).

The wine was decent and not too expensive, and they had a good selection and some beers you can get as well, though we didn't.

Honestly I would like to try some of the more creole dishes some time, but after the wait for the food it left a sour taste in my mouth and I am just not sure if we will be returning.

Horseless Carriage Restaurant
15505 Roscoe Blvd.
North Hills, CA 91343
(818) 892-3707
7am - 9 PM




Kelly and I had wanted to try this place for a long time, as we had heard good things, and we had tried before, but the parking is pretty limited, but we finally made our way here.

The place is tiny, with a counter and a row of booths and some seats outside, where we sat, as we didn't want to wait for a booth.

The service was good, and so was the food. Decent diner food.

I had a very decent diner hamburger, the Galpinburger which was a large 1/2 pound burger with fries, coleslaw, lettuce, tomato and pickles. A bit pricy at $10.95, but as I said a decent diner burger.

Kelly had some sort of crab eggs benedict, which was delicious and huge, and quite tasty.

And we got a hot fudge sunday for desert and they split it into 2 dishes for us, and it was heaped with fudge above and below the ice cream.

Enjoyable, though a pain to park with decent food and a huge menu.

8501 Sepulveda Blvd.
North Hills, CA 91343
(818) 895-2385
6:30 AM - 9:00 PM





My wife Kelly and I had passed this place many times, and since she loves breakfast we thought we should give it a try, and honestly I wish we had passed. The best thing I can say is it is really inexpensive, but the food was mediocre at best and so was the service.

Not only that, but the place is kind of dark and dingy. And we while the waitresses were very busy, we really waited a while to even have someone come by and take our orders.

As I said the best thing was price, as Kelly got a 2+2+2+2 special for $4.99 with 2 pancakes, 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon and 2 sausage links. She wasn't too hot on the pancakes which were not very fluffy and the eggs weren't too special.

I went for a hamburger with fried and a salad. The salad was basically iceberg lettuce with Italian dressing. The fries seemed previously frozen, and burger though a decent size was nothing special at all.

Overall I would skip this place completely, unless you really need a cheap breakfast and that is the only criteria.

Lee's Sandwiches

55 Locations, including many in Southern California

 

When my lovely wife and I went to get our new puppy east off the 60, we stoppee in a mall for lunch and decided to go with Lee's Sandwiches. This was a large and clean chain restaurant, with inexpensive Vietnamese Bahn Mi, as well as American sandwiches on fresh baked 10 inch French Bread. And did I mention cheap? Now the prices seem different between stores, but still run between $3 and $4 for the average sandwich!

Even better the sandwiches are delicious! So far we have tried the Grilled Pork and the Special with Jambon, headcheese and pate. Both are fantastic, with great crunch from the veggies, but the grilled pork is just fantastic! And seems to be the same between different stores!

Different stores have various different appetizers and foods. And they have delicious smoothies, and I recomend the passion fruit!

At the first store we looked up the place online, and were delighted to find there is a branch right near us in North Hills, as well as one in Lake Balboa. The prices are slightly higher in North Hills, but the same quality food with more appetizers, and various asian candies. And it looks like it is doing great! We could not be more delighted.

It may not be the best bahn mi in the world, but the quality is great and consistent, the taste is good and the prices are great! Why would I ever eat at Subway when I can have this?

Currant American Brasserie
at the Sofia Hotel
140 W Broadway,
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 702-6309

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My lovely Wife and I went to San Diego for our 5th Wedding anniversary, and were kind of playing it by ear as to were we would go, and ended up at the Currant in the Sofia Hotel. This is a stylish little French Brasserie and bar, and we have to say we were quite pleased.

We went early, and they have happy hour specials from 4:00 PM till 7 PM and 9 PM till close, including many items on the menu, and $5 wine glasses (red, white and sparkling), they had $5 mint juleps for the Kentucky derby as well.

The place was pretty empty, but still the service as exceptional with very friendly wait staff and buss boys. They even recommended bars to go to afterwards to see the sunset.

To star we had drinks and Popcorn of the Moment which changes every day. We had feta and basil and it was hot and delicious. Going to have to try and make this at home.

I had traditional Moules Frites in white wine with tomatoes and shallots and it was fantastic. Kelly had Moules Frites Basserie, which was in a bear sauce with bacon, leaks, chili and thyme. It was quite good, but not as good as the traditional. and they were only $8.95 instead of $14.95 because of happy hour!

Kelly also had an excellent French Onion soup.

For desert Kelly had a Butterscotch Gooey Butter Cake with Walnut chocolate praline ice cream, which she loved, and I had a very good blueberry hand made sorbet.

We also had a glass of absinthe, with the whole burning the sugar and then bringing a water decanter to pour in water. Very fun, though I am sure Kelly won't try it again (not liking black licorice, not that I do either).

Good food, great deals for Happy Hour and great service. If this was in Los Angles, we would certainly be back!

Freebirds World Burrito 17947 W Chatsworth St Granada Hills, CA 91344 (818) 368-8239 My wife and I had walked by this place many times on the way to the sublime Zankou Chicken, and since I love burritos, we finally decided it was time to give it a try. Looking inside I was very excited. Another Subway for Burritos like Chipotle. And the 4 sizes seemed even more exciting, as I can usually eat a lot (especially now on the warrior diet). I was excited by the cayenne tortilla (but wasn't impressed by it) and had a monster sized steak burrito with spanish rice, black beans, onions and roasted peppers along with various of the hot sauces, including the hot tomatillo sauce and the habanero sauce (none of which were too impressive to me, though I did like the little salsa bar). Honestly I just wasn't too impressed with the flavor. Sure I might give it one more try, but really I can make my own burritos that are much better than what I had, and it isn't that hard. And with Zankou next door, and Pieology as well, this place is pretty down on a list of places to try again.