A couple months ago, I went to lunch with Amy at Porto’s Bakery & Cafe in Burbank. It was my first time there, and I’ll just say that I’m glad there’s another one in Glendale (closer to us).

I had a Cubano sandwich (above), potato ball, and chocolate croissant. Scrumtrulescent!

Thanks for lunch, Amy!

This panini was delectable.

Driving around with Amy, we spotted many of these printed flyers on telephone poles and trees. Sad.

If you’re in the Sierra Madre area, please keep an eye out.

On April 2nd, 2011, I went to the Food Truck Festival at the Santa Anita Race Track in Arcadia.

The weather cooperated nicely. The skies were cloudy and there was a mild breeze. We arrived a little after 1:00pm, unsure of what to expect.

Our gaze was greeted by a massive number of people. Walking around the food trucks, the length of lines varied between 20 to 75 people. The Grilled Cheese food truck had a line of probably 100 people, so that’s an exception. To make matters worse, the map only displayed the names and locations of the food trucks. That left the name of each food truck as the sole description to help us choose.

Combined with the line length (popularity) and lack of description on the map, we walked around until we saw a food truck with an moderate line of people waiting. The Tapa Boy truck had a short line, mainly of Filipinos, so I went with that[1. 4/25/2011 -- My girlfriend pointed out that this line makes it sound like I have a bias for Filipino food. I simply went with Tapa Boy because of the short line.]. The tapas bowl I ate was pretty delicious. I think there were a couple food trucks with Indian food, and those didn’t appear to be that popular. Amy got something with tofu, and it was tasty.

Sadly, parking and admission wasn’t worth the trek. Perhaps we should’ve went there right before it opened, but we couldn’t do anything about that.

I’d rather go to Twitter to search for food trucks with a large following, search for food truck reviews, or get recommendations from a friend before visiting a food truck.

Labor day 2009, I went with a bunch of friends[1. Mostly from our weekly poker night crew.] to Roscoe’s House of Chicken & Waffles in Hollywood. (Photos) I think it was more fun and memorable because we took public transportation.

This year, Taylor sent the same peeps[2. Did I just say peeps?] a text message, wondering if we’d want to go again. While only five of us went to Pasadena this year, it was still good times.

Taylor and Dan not pictured, mainly because they were sitting right next to me.

We will never attempt to dine at Tortilla Jo’s again.[1. I haven't given their food a chance, but after you finish reading this, can you blame me?]

Last Wednesday, I went to the House of Blues (Anaheim) for Scream It Like You Mean It featuring Silverstein and Emery. We got there a bit early to grab dinner before doors open.

We randomly chose Tortilla Jo’s.

There weren’t many customers, so we were seated quickly. The host gave us menus, someone else brought us chips and salsa, and…that’s it.

About 5-7 minutes later, the host that sat us asked, “Are you done looking at the menus?”

“Yes,” I replied.

He took them and walked away. There wasn’t an employee that offered us water or took our order. I counted at least twenty times where an employee or manager[2. I think he was the manager because he was wearing a long sleeve dress shirt.] walked by our table. Nobody acknowledged us.

After being there for 23 minutes, we left. (I know the photo shows 18 minutes, but we were there for about five minutes before I started my stopwatch.)

I didn’t want to say anything because of principle. We waited until after the concert for In-N-Out (La Mirada) on our way home — six hours later.

We will never attempt to dine at Tortilla Jo’s again.

Monrovia, CA

Transcription (for search): “Sidewalk closed – Use other side”

Flickr / Buy this print

Who loves taking photos at the drum circle?

*raises hand*

Venice Beach, CA

View on Flickr / Buy this print

Taylor and Greg [finished] a sociology class at Mt. SAC. For extra credit, their professor had them view cultural diversity by driving all over Los Angeles County and taking their photo at eight locations.

They invited me to come along a couple months ago. I couldn’t say no. It gave me a chance to procrastinate with homework and studying for finals.

I kept my Amod 3080 GPS data logger on the whole time. Thanks to KML Path Distance, it calculated that we traveled 116.759 miles.

I’ll edit this post and link to the Flickr set when I choose, process and upload my favorites from this day.

For now, I hope you dig this planned shot of these two characters[1. Taylor and Greg.] looking at the Cascades Waterfall. I find it quite humorous.

View on Flickr

Thanks to Gerald for letting me borrow his Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM for a few shots, and to Mike for driving.

View on Flickr / Buy this print