UnHipLA » Eats

A Change of Heart: Fresh and Easy

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:50:06 +0000

I’ve become a fan of the store. I know I pooh-poohed it in other posts, but now I have become a fan of the artisan sourdough wheat bread (it toasts quite well) and the super-fast checkouts. I have never stood in line there. I just walk right on up to one of the atm-like check out stands and voila, I’m out. I think it helps if you don’t have a lot of items, which is usually my case. I tried one of the soups (as per a reader’s suggestion) and it was good too, and I finally got a bag of lettuce that did not go bad in a day. I will say the store definitely is "easy" and the bread tasted very "fresh."

It’s chicken and ice cream week!

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 20:34:53 +0000

From J, I learned this:

Monday, April 27 – Free grilled chicken at KFC. Grilled, not fried. KFC’s branching out.

Tuesday, April 28 – Free chicken at El Pollo Loco till 8 pm.

Wednesday, April 29 – .31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins from 5 – 10 pm (firefighter fundraiser)

Yeha! Recession dining continues…

Eat for Pennies

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 08:59:59 +0000

Hop Li in Arcadia is currently running a $1.38 dim sum promotion (Monday through Friday) celebrating its 4th anniversary. Hop Li is one of my favorite dim sum places because there’s usually no line. I hate waiting in line for dim sum. Sure, you might think the no line is a bad sign but it’s not. Hop Li is in Arcadia, far enough away from the Monterery Park, San Gabriel, and Alhambra dim sum scene that it doesn’t attract big numbers. Plus the restaurant is large and nice looking.

Twohey’s in Alhambra has a month-long $.66 special celebrating their 66 years in business.

April 9 – 15 = .66 floats

April 18 – 22 = .66 mini-sundaes

April 23 – 30 = .66 Stink-O-Sliders (I believe these are little burgers.)

Eat for pennies! Hooray for anniversaries!

This looks tasty!

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:36:35 +0000

Indian sandwiches or naanwiches ! I’ll have to stop by this place next time I’m in the Miracle Mile. I read about this on EatingLA.com. I tried to do a direct link to her post about the Cowboys & Turbans restaurant but I couldn’t figure out how to do it. Cowboys and Turbans serves Indian street food.

Limp Lettuce Found Again at Fresh & Easy

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 22:06:31 +0000

I got the Greek salad from Fresh and Easy and it was very disappointing – just some hacked up leaves thrown haphazardly in a container. (Trader Joe’s has much better salad presentation.) The leaves did not remain fresh for longer than a day despite the freshness date on the package. Is this because Fresh and Easy does not use preservatives, artificial flavorings and colorings? Has anyone else received limp, brown lettuce from this place? This is the second time I’ve brought home salad from them and saw it turn brown within a day.

Anyhow and regardless of my disappointment with F&E, I still find myself drawn to the place and buying chocolate chip granola bars from them.

BBQ for $5 at Whole Foods

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 01:10:48 +0000

Can a cheap meal be had at Whole Foods? As I get to know its second floor eating area better, I think I can say….Yes. The breakfasts, tacos, and Middle Eastern food all seemed reasonably priced. Then I saw this on WF’s (Arroyo Parkway location) calendar:

Saturday March 21st and Sunday 22nd

Whole Lotta BBQ!

12pm-3pm $5 per plate

Join us at the Demo Station both days to get your loaded down plate of BBQ, chips/cookies, salad, and drink for only $5! And all the proceeds go to the Whole Planet Foundation. Help end poverty and end your hunger all at the same time!

____

Get your plate "loaded" with BBQ for only $5? This I have to see and maybe I will see it twice.

Yesterday, I had WF’s Korean spicy chicken bowl and I was pleased with it; the spinach and brown rice with it were great. It’s not that cheap though at a little over $8, but it was good and the health factor makes me like it more than other Korean fare. It’s what I would call Healthy Korean Cuisine.

Whole Foods affordable in a recession? It just may be possible. Plus they have free Wifi.

Whole Foods

465 South Arroyo Parkway
Pasadena, CA 91105 USA
Phone 626.204.2266

www.wholefoodsmarket.com

Fresh & Easy Visit #3

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 22:29:04 +0000

So I’ve now been to Fresh & Easy in Alhambra three times and can say this – I don’t like the shopping experience there. The aisles are smaller than most grocery stores, so it’s hard not to run into someone. I felt cramped and cornered there. Also the ready-made food section looked very uninspired. I could not bring myself to buy anything from there. I do, however, like the tea section; it seemed to have more unique teas than most stores and A LOT cheaper at $2.15/box. Whole Foods did not have chocolate tea, but Fresh & Easy did. (I just saw that Trader Joe’s sells tea cheaper than Fresh and Easy.) I did get some Fresh & Easy chocolate granola bars that were hearty and tasty. I did not look forward to checking myself out though. As I was bagging my groceries, another family started scanning their purchases, so their stuff collided with mine. Grrrr! After shopping at F & E, I have decided I like the little luxury of having a clerk and bag person. F & E makes Ralphs seem like a spa. I did see a lot of families shopping at F & E, so I’m guessing there are good deals on meat and produce. I’m really more of a ready-made, frozen, and snack shopper, so perhaps my views of F & E are not the norm. Also, I think the rainy weather has made me more cross than usual. Grrrr!

Burrito Kingdom, Alhambra

Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:33:08 +0000

I’ve been meaning to blog about Burrito Kingdom in Alhambra, CA, the place where I go for my carnitas taco fix. I’ve been to this place many, many times, and I am in love with their carnitas taco, which is juicy and spicy (with salsa) and always tasty. I have not tried many other things on this menu mainly because I have been so pleased with the carnitas taco. Why stray from a good thing? This is the best carnitas taco I’ve had in L.A.! At $1.50 each, the price is recession right with each taco having much more meat than most taco truck fare. The freshly chopped onion is great too.

Burrito Kingdom
526 N. Atlantic Blvd., Alhambra, CA 91801
626-284-4809

Tops in Alhambra also has good tacos but just not as flavorful as Burrito Kingdom’s.

Not a bad deal

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:05:53 +0000

At Whole Foods on Arroyo Parkway, you can get a 2 taco plate with rice and beans for $5.29 (or thereabouts) at the 2nd floor restaurant. That’s a pretty good deal for Whole Foods. The plate was good too, not exactly savory, but good in a healthy, filling way. I suppose if you slather it with hot salsa it could be even better. I had the carnitas and chicken taco plate. The chicken was better than the carnitas.

Also while I was at Whole Foods, I stocked up on my new favorite wunder-cookie – Erin Baker’s organic breakfast cookie mini’s. I will blog about them later!

Fresh & Easy visit

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 08:34:19 +0000

I visited the new Fresh & Easy in Alhambra on Sunday. It was hopping! I think Fresh & Easy has hit pay dirt with this location, which is across the way from Target, and in an area that needed a grocery store. The store is large and has more product variety than I thought it would, especially in bath products. I guess I was expecting a much smaller, more boutique-y store. This is more like a nice-looking 99-cent store. Some items seemed really cheap (cookies); others did not (frozen Indian food). I bought a bag of salad which quickly wilted. The pink Princess cupcakes were disappointing. I was impressed by the tea selection and got a tasty chocolate-flavored black tea box for $2.15. The store is from England, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised by the tea selection. I am not sure if I will be a Fresh & Easy regular though as I was not too impressed with the ready-made food selection. It was not that cheap! I also had some difficulty at the self-checkout, paying for my bananas twice. A clerk had to delete one purchase. It was kinda annoying. I think the reason I was so not thrilled by Fresh & Easy is I have been to grocery stores in London and was thinking this would be modern and cool like those. I will give Fresh & Easy another chance though. Be forewarned – at Fresh & Easy you check yourself out and bag your own groceries. I could see this being a problem with people who are not familiar with computers, such as my mother.