Darren Y.'s Profile

So yeah they serve your platos typico Americana here: pancakes, omelets, sausage, bacon, and hash browns. I mean, you really can't screw that up. It's like boiling water -- although I do know someone that BURNT Top Ramen boiling the noodles. Seriously man, I could write a whole article on that event.

Back on Norms: this is definitely the late-night alternative to Denny's after some bar. Go here, or go to Denny's. It's pretty much the same. The only difference is the above average tuna melt. YES!

Believe me, I'm all about eating healthy. So when I tell you to go eat Tops' pastrami burger you best heed and go eat Tops' pastrami burger.

Top (hah) it off with some fried zucchini, the healthy green kind, and you have a complete meal. Just skip the soda. Too much sugar. Can't have that now 'cause we're eating healthy.

You're good with just about anything on the menu ... even the breakfast. Forget the fruit and flak seed cereal; no such thing. Go for the somewhat pricey but deliciously settling, PASTRAMI breakfast burrito.

Pastrami is the new oatmeal.

SPRINKLES SUCKS! I totally agree with the people here -- this place is better than Sprinkles. Okay fine, Sprinkles doesn't suck. They make good cupcakes...but Buttercake is better.

I'm not about this whole LA pretentious cupcake scene but if you wanna go on a sugar run and hit up the bakery brothels, try this place first. Yes brothels, cause they are -- they whore out the cupcakes behind shiny glass with fancy-schmancy icing.

My reasoning: not too sweet, moist, and mind-blowing carrot cake. Carrot cake is for rock stars! Five effin stars!

Tagline: An Extraordinary Food Store. You don't say? With a tagline like that this place better be friggin stellar and it is. Dig deeper into your wallet kids, you won't find any Walmart steaks here.

But you will find perfectly marbled inch-thick rib eyes and amazingly fresh wild-caught salmon. This is like sushi-grade fish, way! So yeah: cheese, wine, produce -- it's all good.

I'll round up and stick with the 5-star trend. I visited competing Performance Bicycles on Arroyo and it was OK; Performance was slightly more expensive.

I recently moved to the area and was in dire need of a good bike shop. Why wasn't I surprised when my Yelp-Help pointed me to excellent Pasadena Cyclery? and SCORE...it was a short bike ride from home.

So my experiences have been pretty cool. The first time I went was for a bike storage solution. This one person said to save my money and get those cheap $1 bike hooks -- that's what they use. My second visit was on a Saturday for some inexpensive gloves, picked up a map, got biking trail suggestions, and some info on the local MTB club (http://www.pmbc.org). I put my recent trail knowledge to use that afternoon...so far so good!

Pretty damn fresh, not at all funky, and all Mexican fresca. Holla! So next door to Yahaira's is some Japanese restaurant and I'm thinking "why the hell are there TWO Japanese restaurants like 10 feet away from each other?"

Unlike 99% of all other Mexican food Yahaira's tostadas and burritos will leave you feeling like you took a shower. Okay maybe not a shower, but probably healthy...that kidding-myself-thinking-it's-healthy healthy feeling. The greens they use here aren't all iceberg cheap ish...not even in their tostadas! It had arugula and a bunch of other stuff. I think that says a lot.

The service at high noon was superb and it wasn't at all crowded. Lunch with a coke (and a smile) will cost you about $10. I am definitely going back to try the rest of the items on their menu. They get a 5 because of decent pricing, good service, and excellent food.

Bandwagon. Pun intended. Jeessuuss -- looks like February 2nd is the day to review Indie 103.1 so here goes: I don't listen to them much anymore. Read on. Not because I don't like the station, far from it. It's just that I'm a news radio person now. You know, like NPR or something. I guess it comes with age...or hour-long commutes.

Anyways, back in the Old School times (2 years ago, uh huh) Indie was my source for break-through bands and such. Seriously. I mean as much as one can MySpace-surf for those "indie" bands 103.1 had some good programming and puts 'em all in one place.

It kinda breaks my heart to know that they are (or were) a Clear Channel establishment. Is that still the case? Regardless, I'll still tune in from time to time.

Angelinos are weak weather drivers. It's Sunday. It rained and snowed a bit and everyone started putting on chains. A treacherous forty-five minutes south of Mammoth and us LA-goers are already at this lunch "rest stop" bakery...45 minute drive to wait another 45 minutes in a sandwich line.

So I skipped the sandwiches and perused around the baked goodness. Apparently skiers and snowboarders alike crave carbs in their car after carving. This lively, overcrowded bakery definitely woke me up with that bakery-fresh smell of cheese and jalapeno bread, sourdough, banana nut, pumpernickel, and everything else you can think of. If you want to brave the sandwich line for lunch you can eat it both inside and outside. I stuck with the much shorter bakery line.

Four loafs total: 2 cheese breads, 1 cinnamon bread, and one banana nut, cost $20.

Mine. It's 9:00am and I feel like a cup-o-Joe and Joe just so happens to be a convenient 2 blocks from work. With inside and outside street-side seating MY Starbucks is, well, a friggin Starbucks. They serve coffee latte mochas fraps and teas Ed Zachary like the Starbucks a quarter mile away on Lake.

When it comes to meat, size matters -- at least it does at the Pasadena Sandwich Company (PSC). They serve HUGE stacks of meats and deli cuts (someone get me a band-aid) that almost rival The Mother Lode at Claim Jumpers. Two different leagues, let's not compare. Back on size, and it mattering.

You don't need to feel inadequate here! The food and prices fulfill all your hunger needs, as it fulfilled mine. And I still have half a sandwich left!

Following Holly T's footsteps I braved the "Trust the Cook" samich for $7.25. The waitress took our order with quickness and a dash of humor. My bud? Roast Beef French Dip, please. Oh by the way, they're a Pepsi shop so sorry Coke lovers. Sniff, sniff.

The food arrived, again, with a quickness as the lunch crowd CROWDED in exactly at 12pm. I'm glad we got there early. Although I wouldn't say the sandwiches are as big as Jenny J's head, they're pretty damn close. And we all know how big her head is ;).

My PSC tips are all in the "pros" column being: huge-ginormous sandwiches, excellent service, decent prices, well-cooked French Dip (I highly recommend this by the way), and novelty. They have crazy trucker hats polka dotting the place coupled with Crayola art. GO!