The Corner Cafe

Continuing my search for a good sandwich lead me to The Corner Cafe. Another location I heard good things about but this time I kept my expectations low. I ordered the specialty sandwich: Corner Club-three toasted slices of potato bread with generous portions of roast beef, turkey and bacon with mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. Served with fries. I thought what a good price advertised on their website $6.95. Alas when I went to pick up my food, I was slapped with the real price of $7.95. Eight bucks for a sandwich at a local little hole in the wall!! Outrageous! The sandwich was good (needed more mayo, I'm a heavy mayo gal) despite the price but I could get a club just as good (if not a little better) from Claim Jumpers. Mmm...I'm craving a club now.

Corner Club $7.95

The Corner Cafe

361 Pollasky Ave.

Clovis, CA 93612

(559) 298-7173

www.cloviscornercafe.com 

Yum Meter: **

New York Family Deli

I heard the sandwiches here were great and it had a sweet story. The story as I know it is the deli was opened by a firefighter who survived 9/11. I was on a sandwich kick and wanted to check it out and support a hero. I was overwhelmed by all the choices so in a rush I ordered the first two specialty sandwiches (one for my husband; I'm not that piggy!). #1 Brooklyn-capicolla, prosciutto, pepperoni, provolone cheese and wax peppers. #2 Bronx-genoa salami, capicolla, prosciutto and provolone cheese. Typing it out, the sandwiches are really similar. Both were awful. The worst proscuitto I've ever had; neither sweet nor salty. Just felt like chewing on pink, flavorless fat. I actually took the prosciutto out of my sandwich. The rest of the sandwich was dry and salty. Maybe that's how they like it in NY but that's not how I like my sandwiches.

Bronx $7.59

The looks of this picture are so deceiving.

New York Family Deli

1305 N. Willow Ave. #190

Clovis, CA 93611

(559) 324-9400

*Free Delivery with $25 minimum 

Yum Meter:

Dog House Grill

Before moving back to Fresno I went to a Gwen Stefani concert at the Save Mart Center and thought what an unfortunate name for a restaurant.  Now that I live here, the name totally makes sense...Fresno State Bulldogs-duh! Being across the street from the university is not the only reason the lines are out the door during the lunch and dinner hours, it's the food.  My first trip here was with my husband when I was fat, pregnant and craving a hot dog.  Their hot dogs are sliced down the middle, grilled and dressed to perfection hoagie style.  If you don't like your dogs with ALL the fixins, you better stick to the kid hot dog.  I would have continued to order the hot dog if I didn't notice 85% of the other customers were ordering or devouring the tri-tip steak sandwich.  I'm not a big BBQ person, but I had to try it for myself. The hoopla surrounding this place and this sandwich are well deserved. Generous serving of grilled tri-tip cooked medium well with a thick, sweet BBQ sauce smothered on a garlic butter toasted french roll. I'm hungry just writing about it.  If you're with your buds share a basket of fries, there's plenty of fried skinny potatoes doused in seasoned salt to go around.  If your willing to spend a little more $$ get the basket of rings, they're pricey so I've only mooched from a co-worker but they were all that fried onions dipped in batter could and should be. I'm not a person who can get full off of lettuce but the steak cobb salad comes pretty close.  It's a traditional cobb salad with chopped tri-tip ends thrown in. My dressing of choice with this salad is a combo of ranch and the bbq sauce. 

Tri-Tip Steak Sandwich $7.99

The only miss from the menu was the pig sandwich, shredded pork with bbq sauce. It was way too sweet. It was like eating candied pork-yuck. I couldn't even finish the sandwich. Sometimes the snot in me turns my nose up to corn fed beef, wishing I had the funds to fly to Japan whenever I wanted to eat some oishii Kobe beef, then reality hits and I suck up the nastiness of American beef and enjoy Dog House Grill's finest.

Dog House Grill

2789 E. Shaw Ave.

Fresno, CA 93710

(559) 294-9920

sorry no call ins

Yum Meter: ***

Portola Cafe

I love the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Now there's even more to love, Portola Cafe. The aquarium itself is no longer the only draw.  This yummy cafe & restaurant is ingenious; feeding hungry aquarium visitors quality food for a decent price. Can't wait to go back.

California Club $7.95

My hubby and baby enjoyed this delicious sandwich. I ordered clam chowder for my little one but she wanted nothing to do with the soup once dad came to the table with this.  We ate in the cafeteria side of the restaurant.  They had different areas: grill for hamburgers & fresh fish, soups & salads, pizza, beverages and sandwiches cooked to order.  Despite being so crowded you could barely stand in line, the crowd and wait were well worth it.  The clam chowder was cooked with bacon and really good but the sandwich by far stood out. You could skip the garlic fries, those were not worth the long wait at the grill.  Among the bevy of beverages, they offer Clover brand milk, which in my opinion is the best tasting and my baby agrees.  So next time you head to the aquarium, take some time to enjoy the Pacific ocean views while grubbing on some fine food at Portola Cafe.

Portola Cafe & Restaurant

Monterey Bay Aquarium

886 Cannery Row

Monterey, CA 93940

(831) 648-4870

YUM Meter: ***