Jer N.'s Profile

I work in Old Town Goleta, and Fresco North has quickly turned into my favorite place for when I have time to go out to lunch and don't have to rush back.

(second to Hollister Brewing Co, actually, but that takes much longer).

I've yet to have a bad meal at Fresco; always fresh and spot-on flavors. It's pretty efficient too. And free bread is nice. Particular fan of the turkey burger, the casual atmosphere, the bright, open environment, and, as Jim said, the often interesting specials.

Initial review based on one visit: JR's is great and I will certainly be going back.

I had brisket. Who the hell serves brisket these days? JR's. I had it in sandwich form. Delicious meat, perhaps a bit oversauced. Served on toasted garlic bread. BONUS.

Cole slaw was good, baked beans were pretty good. My coworker gave me a french fry which was great. Had a bite of his pulled pork too; also very good. Looking fwd. to trying sweet potato fries and onion rings and chicken and tri-tip . . . and . . .

My wife and I love Danielle. Perfect? No, of course not. But very very good at her job? Yes, indeed. I don't generally give out 5 stars (check my other reviews), so I hope that I convey with my 4-star rating that Danielle is among the best realtors in S.F.

She got us into our first home-- for a good price in a great neighborhood. She went through mountains of paperwork. She gave sage advice on many things related to home ownership, not just the purchase. She kept in close touch even afterwards, checking to make sure that things were going well. Perhaps best of all, Danielle is a calming influence -- I felt virtually no stress in what could or should have been a high-pressure situation.

I can understand that not everyone will have the same good experience -- in fact, I think a smart consumer owes it to themselves to check out 3-4 agents before committing to one. But you could certainly do worse than to see if Danielle's style meshes with yours.

Let me tell you about Al's. Well, also Al.

See, the store very much mirrors the man.

Is he intense? Yes. Is he opinionated? Yes.
And those are bad things? No.

Al himself has character, as does his store. But he doesn't kid-glove you or pussyfoot (unless you are a comics newbie actually bothering to ask questions, in which case I've seem him be shockingly sweet, as he was to my sister-in-law a couple months ago). You straight talk him, he straight-talks you, everybody's happy.

The store: Good back-issue selection -- even some gems; decent selection of knick-knacks, plenty of indie titles, very good graphic novel/trade selection, etc.

He will buy old books at times. He'll sell on consignment. He'll tell you what he really thinks. And, if you're a good customer, he may even anticipate your needs. There was a debacle with a very popular comic's shipment a few months ago that left West Coast stores with very few copies. I read about it online and resigned myself to buying the book the next week.

Al, without me asking, had put one aside for me.

"WTF?" I thought.

But I'll tell you WTF -- he remembered that I bought the previous issues, and knew I'd be there to buy it again.

Al's Comics -- it's a good store with good product run by a good dude. Period.

Hamano is generally pretty good. A little inconsistant.

The first few times I went it was fannnn-tastic. But it's slipped over the years to now what I'd call usually pretty good or very good. Sometimes in the flavor -- dishes that used to blow me away seem to be lacking something that they used to have. Sometimes it's the presentation -- a big part of eating sushi and sashimi is with your eyes. Last night, we got served our three rolls and instead of being pretty they were by and large a big mess. Still tasty, though.

They have some spectacular non-traditional rolls -- I really like the 'Valencia', for instance, which has onion and jalepeno slices slathered on top of the tobiko, rice, and fish (salmon, i think).

The specials are often very good -- there's this deep-fried spicy tofu they offer at times that is delightful. The teri chicken is good (tender, well-cooked, nice flavor), as is the salmon.

Saki comes fast and hot and as frequently as you want it.

They're fairly kid friendly; some booster seats are available.

In any case -- this is my neighborhood go-to place. The prices ain't too bad. The fish and food are almost as good as Deep Sushi, and the service is 40,000x better.

Went for a semi-official meet up with fellow citybloggers mattymatt and Rita; we went early, and the place was fairly empty, so the small size didn't bother me at all. Seemed cozy, really.

We indulged in a little Sangria, which really is pretty good! The other two times I'd been there, I'd tried wine. The list is small but everything I've had has been really quite good.

I think the sides and apps here tend to be the stars of the show -- on a previous visit I'd had the spiced pepitas, which kick ass. Also tried the fried tortillas (aka big ol' chips) and guac -- not too bad! And, I must say, the rice and beans that came with my chicken were somehow divine -- flavorful, perfectly fluffy rice; perfect ratio of rice to beans. It's hard to get something so simple so right, since everybody does it.

I was frankly less impressed with the chicken, which I'd say was only okay. The skin was loose and flabby; I prefer at least part of the chicken skin to show that it's been, well . . . roasted. Some evidence of flame.

Anyway, I really like this place -- even as I'm giving it three stars due to the bird, which is supposed to be the star, isn't more than average.

Now if it was called "Regalito Sides and Apps," I'd give it a 4.

I really do dig the atmosphere.

This is probably my tied-for-favorite Indian place in town. My experience has been notably different than many of those below.

In the interest of brevity, here's what I love about Aslam's:
-- They bring the heat if you ask for it, but never at the expense of flavor
-- Chicken Jalfrezee is amazing
-- Spiked Mango Lassi, anyone? MmMMmmmm.
-- Nice to my kid.
-- I've always had good to very good service
-- big tables; nice interior
-- The classic "free chutneys" (tamarind and whatever that spicy green one is) are both really, really good, particularly the green one. And the papadam is delisious, not stale or weirdly thick, as is often the case elsewhere.
-- They offer brown rice. Yay whole grains!
-- Very good naan; pretty good chapati/paratha/etc.

The cons:
-- A bit drafty
-- I'm not crazy about some of the lamb dishes I've tried
-- It's maybe -- maybe -- a little pricy for what it is. I'm sort of waffling on this point. I always feel like it's a fair value when I eat THERE, but feel a little ripped off when I get takeout for some reason.

In any case, I like this place a great deal overall.

Okay, here's complete honestly for you.

I want to rate martha's higher. I really do. The staff is awesome and friendly and I think the shop is a boon to the neighborhood.

And when the drip coffee is made well, it is hard to beat -- dark, fresh, bold, not overextracted or anything, nice caffeine levels, etc etc. And I've never been a huge fan of their espresso, but some of my friends/family are.

BUT -- lately, things have come off the cylinders. The recent price increase was too much; their incentive for bringing your own cup is now only 10 cents off, and, most important, the brewed coffee has become very inconsistant and is only good about a third of the time..

This is coming from a guy that used to come here every day on my walk to BART. Every day. Now I've usually been holding off for when I get downtown to get drip at Specialty's -- they use a better bean (intelligencia); it's very consistent, and it's only a buck if you bring your own cup.

I really like this place.

Great, quality fish done with a bit of innovation; it's a nice avant-guard counterpart to Hamano, another good sushi place in the 'hood.

I've been a number of times now, and it's consistently good and fresh and great for exploring new flavors and twists on old ones. Service is very good. One note: this is real sushi -- i.e., most everything is raw fish; don't come here expecting teriyaki or similar.

Edit/update: Based on food, this place is a 4 or five, but the service has consistantly proven to be really crappy. Slow as hell, and, people -- DOUBLECHECK YOUR BILL. And when the new bill comes, TRIPLE-CHECK THAT ONE.

The servers are nice and friendly, but not at all speedy or thorough.

Good burgers -- some indulgent options (bacon! Avocado! etc!) Good curly fries; pretty good fired zuccini. Onion rings are ok; I do not like the fried mushrooms, though the wife does.

They tend to undercook the burger, so order one level darker than you want (I prefer med-rare, so order medium, in other words).

Kid friendly!