beyond riverside

CA Rejects Bids for OC Fairgrounds

March 17, 2010 by Ole Leave a Comment

Today, in a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger, the Acting Director of California’s Department of General Services announced that he has rejected all bids for the Orange County Fairgrounds. An excerpt from his letter:

Please be advised that after careful consideration, today I have decided to reject all of the bids. The offers contained in those bids are not in the best interest of the citizens of California because they do not obtain the highest and most certain return for the state. I continue to fully share your commitment to selling the fairgrounds and the department will go forward to explore alternative means to promptly achieve that goal.

Obviously, this is not a rejection of a sale, but hopefully it’s a start.

In case you don’t know what I’m writing about, the State of California issued a Request for Proposals last year inviting potential buyers to bid on the Orange County Fairgrounds. The State’s estimated value of the Fairgrounds is $96 million to $180 million, but the highest bidder offered $56.5 million.

The highest bidder was Craig Realty Group, a real estate development company that is “a leader in the development and management of income producing upscale factory outlet centers.”

The Governor actually proposed selling seven state owned properties in his budget revision last year. The seven properties are:

Cal Expo
San Quentin State Prison
Cow Palace
Del Mar Fairgrounds
Orange County Fairgrounds
Ventura County Fair Grounds
Los Angeles Coliseum

I believe that the Orange County Fairgrounds property is the only one that has been put up for sale so far.

Although I live in Riverside, I grew up in Costa Mesa just a few miles away from the Orange County Fairgrounds. In fact, my high school graduation was held at the Pacific Amphitheatre, which is part of the Fairgrounds. I also take my kids to the OC Fair each summer.

Hopefully, the OC Fairgrounds will not become the OC Outlets.

http://www.dgs.ca.gov/OCFair.htm

Bumblebee Sighting – OC Auto Show

October 20, 2009 by Ole Leave a Comment

Bumblebee showed up at the Orange County Auto Show over the weekend. The kids were happy.
The Corvette Stingray Concept (aka Sideswipe) also showed up. Dad was happy.

Portillo’s Hot Dogs – Moreno Valley, CA

July 20, 2009 by Ole Leave a Comment

Thanks to Portillo’s Hot Dogs, I no longer have to travel to the Chicago area to get the awesomeness that is the Italian beef sandwich. Portillo’s began in Chicago in 1963, and opened its first California restaurant in Buena Park in 2005. The second California location opened in Moreno Valley in 2008. The first time I ate here was for lunch… and I went back for dinner on the same day. I think I was just making up for lost time since I hadn’t visited the Chicago area in about 6 years. Since that first day I’ve tried to moderate my Italian beef sandwich consumption, but we’ve been back to Portillo’s many times.

As the name implies, Portillo’s is known for its hot dogs. If you are a Chicago-style hot dog lover, this is your place. The hot dogs are served on a steamed poppy seed bun, and come loaded with mustard, relish, freshly chopped onions, sliced red ripe tomatoes, kosher pickle and peppers. My kids like the hot dogs, but they just stick to mustard or ketchup.

I think this place should really be called Portillo’s Italian Beef Sandwiches. Thinly-sliced, seasoned roast beef dripping with juices, piled onto baked French bread that is perfect for soaking up the juices. What more needs to be said? To get the terminology correct, what many people would call juice, Portillo’s calls gravy. Whatever you call it, Portillo’s lets you control the juiciness factor. You can order the sandwich dry (very little gravy), extra gravy or dipped (yes, they dip the sandwich in the juice – messy, but awesome). You can also order sweet and/or hot peppers, but I order it plain because I don’t want anything getting in the way of the flavor of the beef.

If all Portillo’s served were hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches, I’d still go. But they serve much more. Some of our other favorites include the Char-Grilled Italian Sausage, Beef-N-Cheddar Croissant, and the cheeseburger. If you want something lighter, Portillo’s also makes great salads. In fact, they have a separate salad counter where you can watch them make your salad.

As if the other food isn’t enough to fill you up, Portillo’s also serves desserts including Chocolate Cake and Strawberry Shortcake. I’m not big on cakes, but the rest of the family loves these desserts.

Go to Portillo’s.

Portillo’s Hot Dogs
12840 Day St
Moreno Valley, CA
www.portillos.com

Cafe Orleans, Disneyland

May 30, 2009 by Ole Leave a Comment

We love Disneyland, and go there often. Disneyland has many different places to eat, and we’ve tried most of them. One of our favorite places is Cafe Orleans.

I’m not very adventurous when it comes to food, so I admit that I wasn’t too sure about this place the first time I looked at the menu. I love Cajun and Creole flavors, but meals such as crepes, gumbo and ratatouille were never on my acceptable foods list. They had me at “Cajun”. Since our first visit, we’ve been back about 4 times.

We like to start out with the Pommes Frites, which are french fries tossed with parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley. I also like to get a bowl of the New Orleans Gumbo, which I’ve never had any place else. Good stuff.

On our most recent visit, my wife tried the Creole Ratatouille. Before the movie Ratatouille, I never even knew this dish existed. She really enjoyed it, and, to my surprise, the rest of us liked it too. I’m not a vegetarian, but I guess this would be a good meal for those of you who are.

My oldest son had the Monte Cristo Sandwich, which was way too big for him to finish… so I helped. If you’ve never had one, this is like a ham and turkey sandwich inside of a doughnut sprinkled in powdered sugar. It’s tasty, but a bit too sweet for my tastes. My youngest son went with the Cheesy Macaroni from the kids’ menu.

My daughter and I both ordered the Chicken Gumbo Crepe. Before eating at Cafe Orleans, I don’t think that I have ever tried a crepe, but this is now one of my favorite meals at Disneyland. The menu states that the crepes are made to order, which I believe since they are always hot and fresh. The crepes are filled with sauteed chicken, andouille sausage and tasso ham, and covered with a Creole gumbo sauce.

Cafe Orleans is not the least expensive place to eat, but it does provide table service and the food is good.

Cafe Orleans

New Orleans Square

Disneyland

Anaheim, CA