Regular Joe's Guide

In the quiet town of Novato, there are a few hidden gems! Novato is 30 minutes North of Sausalito and The Golden Gate Bridge. Far enough away to wonder if any of San Francisco's culinary wonder has crept up that far. It has! Lady Music and I spent the weekend up in Novato. After finding an amazing little Italian Pizza place with Neapolitan pizza, we thought that might be about it. Surprisingly, there are quite a few eating establishments in those thar hills! We spent our last day wandering the small streets of the old down town; much like you'd find in a revitalized Texas town like Bowie! A grid of antique shops, boutiques and even a great little record store!  After walking and flipping through some 70s records and plenty of recent reissues, we worked up an appetite and wandered into a cute little place called Carmen's.  Honestly, we didn't expect much (I mean seriously Mexican food in a yuppy area North of San Francisco?) but thought we could get a little something be...

First visit: Jan 2022 One of our Official Niece's and Nephew-in-Law's wanted to treat Mrs. RJG and I out for a Thai food lunch. Who are we to say no? We used to take her out for Thai food when she was still a teen in both Texas and Denver, and she's been in these pages before. And now she's all grown up, married (she did well too!), and they both have good jobs. Cool!  Oh wow - look where we are - the old RJG stomping grounds of 1995 to 1997! Rude Dante would approve of the location as well. We're near the original El Tepehuan steakhouse, and we used to also eat along this corridor back in the day. And there was a Thai restaurant here once - across the street. It wasn't for us though. Official Niece knows what we like, and this is their favorite local joint. Can't wait. Walk in - nice place! This isn't a dive-y Thai restaurant. Ooo, and they have wine and beer too. Colorado Springs - anyone listening? I was going to teetotal, but these two are so corrupt...

11/30/24 update: Our local store has now closed. There are two still in the Denver area. Based on our last experience, we hadn't planned on going anyway. Latest visit: Apr 2024 (North Gate - closed) First visit: Jan 2022 (North Gate - closed) HQ: Pasadena, CA (founded: 2010) Locations: 64 (-13 from last year). There are 4 in Colorado (+1), with only this one here in the Springs. There are 4 in DFW (-1), and still nowhere near NE Tarrant. Back again at the Dog Haus for the first time this year and only third time ever. Mrs. RJG's mom is back in town, and so there's family events to attend to. Which gives me a bit of freedom to eat at places she doesn't really enjoy much. Like here. It appears they've more or less eliminated bar service, and you have to order at the counter. Now that may be because it's a Sunday late morning, I don't know for sure. This time I wanted to try something different and had the Chili Idol (lol) which is a hot dog with chili and onio...

Latest visit: Jan 2023 First visit: Jan 2022 It was time for my annual record buying trip to Pueblo, though based on the success I had this visit, I probably will make an effort to return 4 to 6 times more this year. If for nothing else to try more great Pueblo restaurants, which is beginning to establish itself - in my mind - that it competes strongly with New Mexico. In fact, while touring the whole city yesterday, I came to the realization that if Pueblo was actually in New Mexico, it would have a better reputation. It feels like New Mexico, and not so much Colorado. And if they had a culinary bake off with Colorado Springs, I'm pretty sure Pueblo would win.  Speaking of New Mexico, in the interim between these posts, I did manage to get Mrs. RJG here on our way to Santa Fe last April (that trip was documented in these pages, but not B Street since I'd recently been here). She loved it as well, though not the chorizo as an fyi. On this visit, I had exactly what I've had ...

Ironic that in a year where we mostly avoided restaurants, the RJG had the most posts! Some of those were "bring forwards", but we were more attentive to this blog than we have been for many years. So what will 2022 offer? We are hopeful for a return to normal. In fact, as far as the RJG is concerned, we would like to get back to a pre-2014 setting. Restaurants had been on the downhill for many years and the pandemic was a huge wakeup call for the industry. Except the Great Resignation came right after that, plunging restaurants to their worst performance in my lifetime. Not to mention hyper inflation, supply chain issues, and the good old pandemic lingering on long past its shelf life. There are signs that things are on the rebound though. People are realizing they need to work, and the supply chain issues - and the subsequent inflation - will likely calm down. The big question mark that remains is the pandemic. Not so much the flu strains themselves, but rather the reaction...