Month: August 2015

August Theater Pick: Mel Brooks’s “The Producers” by The Rialto Community Players

My mom has been having fun with community theater for decades. If she isn’t acting in a play, she is ushering or attending productions, often with her friends on stage… which isn’t a rare occurrence since after all these years, she seems to be familiar the entire California theater community.

producers-8.5x11-01-796x1024Last month she saw a production of Mel Brooks’s “The Producers” that she enjoyed so much, she told people about it for days afterward and set my family up with reserved seats as soon as we could nail down a date to attend. Of course, at least one of her friends was in this show. I’m so glad we reserved the seats, because there was a full house and we all laughed our heads off. The local actors killed this show, they really nailed the jokes and timing. The Inland Empire has some great talent- well done, everyone!

run-for-your-wife-01It is too late to see The Rialto Community Players production but if you have access to iTunes, you can rent the 2005 movie version of the musical version that we saw today- it’s available on iTunes to rent for $2.99. Next up the local company will be performing another comedy, “Run for Your Wife” for three weekends in September. Some of the same cast will be in this show, and we are already looking at dates we can attend.

Get out and support your local theater, everyone, and enjoy a great show!

Buried Treasure, Restaurant Style- The Grill’s “Forest Mushroom Ravioli with Homemade Almond Pesto”

Ever notice how some of the most scrumptious little food spots are tucked away in some obscure spot? The best food always is.

We have been hitting this spot known simply as “The Grill” for years. Brothers Henry and Edwin Bautista and their crew do a fabulous job at packing the parking lot of a tiny strip mall behind the Sorrento Valley Coaster station. Good luck trying to get to it and our favorite coffee shop, Zumbar. And you know what? It pleases me to no end that the difficulty of successfully navigating your arrival to this place is directly proportional to the deliciousness of these two joints. That’s how The Universe of Great Food works. I figure that only really interested people will try to find their way here… consider it equivalent to buried truffle that only the most persistent dogs and pigs can locate.

Albondigas from The Grill…

On Wednesdays, The Grill serves a home made Albondigas Soup- Mexican Meatball Soup. They make a mean bowl of Albondigas and if I’m eating lunch with The Husband on a Wednesday, this is our spot. I love soup.

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Mushroom Ravioli with Almond Pesto

But I’m also the knucklehead who, back in January, announced that I would be doing something new every day in 2015. So, instead of my favorite soup I tried a different dish off the specials board- “Forest Mushroom Ravioli with Homemade Pesto.” The pasta was great, not blown out with over cooking. The ravioli’s stuffing is just right for the amount of pasta and full of a really lovely minced portobello mushroom. Homemade pesto took the stage, however, and I’ve enjoyed enough good pesto over the years that I could tell that they weren’t using pine nuts, but for the life of me, couldn’t tell what they used instead. Henry is nice- he didn’t torture me by withholding the info- he shared the almond secret. It would have driven me nuts trying to figure it out (ha- nuts… see what I did? LOL!)

Really, I can’t say how glad I am that I’m sticking to trying new things. I can’t tell if it has been more rewarding or more delicious… maybe both? There is still a lot more to 2015. Here’s to rut-busting!

What's on the menu, Henry and Edwin?
What’s on the menu, Henry and Edwin?