Jack in the Box--2098 S Garey Ave, Pomona, CA 91766

My meal Cost: $11.84. Health Rating A. 4 stars on Google. Yelp 2.5 stars.

This week finally gets me to the north side of Philadelphia Street (Rio Rancho on the west side). On that corner is one of the two Jack-in-the-Box restaurants along Garey Avenue.

This one has both a drive thru and inside dining. This Jack is one of the reasons that I undertook this blog. Often times I'd be coming home from Home Depot at about 10:30 am and be just hungry enough for a snack. I'd stop by here for 2 tacos for $1, some jalapeno poppers and a drink for the short drive home (usually without saying anything to the lovely Mrs. C, who would not approve). So I'm fairly well acquainted with this place, but I almost never went inside, using the drive-thru.

Today I decided to try a sandwich that I had not tried before, the Sriracha Burger. This is 2 patties on grilled sourdough bread (similar to the Sourdough Jack) with lettuce, onion, tomato, a fairly mild sriracha mayo (or aioli), and sliced jalapenos (these add the spicy hotness). I had it as a medium combo with seasoned curly fries. AND, just because I love them, the aforementioned tacos and poppers. Way too much food for lunch, but I managed to get it all down.

As you may remember from my previous rant, I hate not having any selection for sugar free beverages at fast food places. But this Jack has a Coke Freestyle machine which meant that I would have a variety of options for sugar-free drinks. My preference with these is to get a cherry Coke Zero and then add about 1/8th of my cup with Dasani Cherry flavored water to up the cherry content. Unfortunately, this one was out of cherry syrup so I had not options for cherry. I ended up getting Diet Dr. Pepper, and then I added Raspberry Lime Hi-C to it to get an interesting concoction.

The service was good and the food was about what one would expect from corporate fast food. With an odd layout to the ordering/dining area, it was nice that they brought the food to my table rather than having to try and listen for a number being called around a corner.

UP NEXT: Pizza Pirates

Yoshinoya-- 2102 S Garey Ave

My meal Cost: $8.81. Health Rating A. 3.4 stars on Google

Well another week and another few feet north on Garey Avenue. This time it takes me to Yoshinoya, just a few steps from last week's Subway. This is a chain store.

I hadn't been to a Yoshinoya in a while so, while I pretty much knew what to expect, I was surprised by some changes to the menu. In addition to the beef and teriyaki chicken bowls, they also have steak, orange chicken, and honey-walnut shrimp, both bowls and plates. You can also get a combo bowl of any two of their entrees with veggies and rice.

As noted in last week's blog, I had come down with a really bad case of the flu that just got worse as the week progressed. So it's been a week of soup and very small amounts of "comfort food." So as not to shock my stomach too much with its first solid food in a while, I went with the teriyaki chicken and veggies bowl with a medium beverage.

The chicken was OK. They didn't put on enough teriyaki sauce to completely wet the rice and I'm not a fan of plain white rice. I looked around for some sort of condiments, but only after someone got up from another table did I notice that there were 2 bottles of siracha and 2 bottle of soy sauce for the entire dining room. But then I didn't really need the spice given my intestinal condition, so I went with what I had.

One of the other problems was that they only gave me a fork for the bowl, yet the chicken was chopped into VERY large slices and some of them were not even cut all the way through. Using a plastic fork to try and cut a piece of chicken just doesn't work so it meant getting my hands in there. I seem to recall that other Yoshinoya's had plastic knives and/or chopsticks (my choice when eating rice bowls), however this location had nothing available.

The dining room was clean and seemed fairly new. This location also features a drive-thru.

UP NEXT: Jack in the Box

Subway -- 2112 S Garey Ave

My meal Cost: $6.88. Health Rating A. 3.5 stars on Google

Sorry I'm late with this one. I managed to come down with some kind of bug and haven't been able to do even the most rudimentary things other than sleep most of the day. But I felt a little better today so braved my illness and drove down to the subway on South Garey.

Note that this past week Subway announced that they will no longer have the $5 foot-long sandwiches. They are now $6. 

I have to say that I've eaten at enough Subways to have hit every item on their menu at some time or other. The one item I had not had was the Spicy Italian sub. I had it on Jalapeno bread with pepperoncini, lettuce, chipotle dressing and pepper jack cheese. Was it spicy? With all of that yes. I had it as a combo with Jalapeno Potato Chips and a small drink.

Since there's not much to say about Subway, I hope that you will indulge me in a pet peeve of mine. I got a fountain drink. I am diabetic so I need to limit the amount of sugar that I have. I always go with diet. With all of the diet drinks out there, WHY, when they have 8 different beverage choices do they only have diet Coke? I'm sure that I'm not the only one with this restriction. I Love places that have the Coca Cola Freestyle machines which gives me a wide variety of beverages. But they could at least have Diet Dr. Pepper, or any other diet drink. Even in their cooler with the bottled beverages, it was either Diet Coke or water. End of Rant.

I couldn't find a yelp rating for this Subway so I used the Google rating. This Subway has a nice size dining room with tables so I could dine-in without any problem. Overall, not a bad Subway experience.

UP NEXT: Yoshinoya

Pizza Hut--2218 South Garey Ave.

My meal Cost: $13.88. Health Rating A. 2.5 stars on Yelp

I wasn't looking forward to this one as I figured that it would be a standard take-out pizza, and I was right. I got busy working on a new web site and I lost track of time so didn't get there until about 1pm. The place is VERY small, just a lobby with a counter and some signage. When I walked in there was no one at the counter and I had to wait about 3 minutes until someone poked their nose out.

Since this is also a wing-stop as well as a Pizza Hut, I ordered a personal pan pizza with mushroom and sausage (my go to) and then got an 8 piece order of mild buffalo wings. The order took about 15 minutes to prepare and cost me $13.88.

Since there is no where to dine at this location, I took my food and headed to my car. I decided that to be fair I should try a little of each in the car while they were still hot (not my favorite thing to do) before driving back to Casa Clifford some 3.25 miles north. The photo is taken on the front seat of the car.

The pizza, when it was warm, was a bit doughy but the toppings were plentiful and of decent quality.

The wings were mostly the wingette part with only one drumette. Most places where I've had wings they at least try to give equal amounts. Then there was an "extra" half wingette which was cut through the bones at an angle and created a very sharp pointed bone end. Hmmm. . .

The sauce was mild enough for me but would not have been for the lovely Mrs. C, the self described gringa. It was very vinegary, which is what I like about buffalo wings. Instead of just coating the wings, they seem to have doused them as there was about 1/8" of sauce in the bottom of the bowl, good for dipping. I have to admit that I did eat one or two in the car as I was stopped at red lights.

All-in-all, not a bad meal, but I doubt I'll go back. Just so you know, there are at least three more pizza places on Garey which I'll be visiting in the future, including another Pizza Hut/Wing Stop near Arrow.

UP NEXT: SUBWAY

Mi Jalisco--2256 S Garey Ave

My meal Cost: under $8 with tip. Health Rating A. 4.5 stars on Yelp

This Mexican restaurant is located in the same shopping center as Tacos Mexico and Pho Noodles & Grill. At 12:30 it had a few customers but was not by any means crowded.

On my arrival, the waitress brought a basket of chips and a small molcajete of salsa to the table and asked to take my beverage order. Very pleasant. The chips were not warm, but were good, not greasy. The salsa was a thin salsa with a good amount of heat, Mrs. C would not have been able to handle it, but I like things a little hotter. Again, my personal preference for a salsa with chips is something more akin to a pico de gallo. A little chunky and a little more mild. But this was pretty good.

The menu is fairly standard Mexican with combos, tacos, fajitas, burritos, etc. When the waitress returned with my drink (iced tea), she asked for my order. I told her that I was thinking of a combo and she informed me that the Chili Rellenos where not ready (??? at 12:30?). I ordered a combo with a taco and a tamale. The combos come with rice and beans. For my taco, I ordered a street taco with lengua (finally got a tongue taco--that wasn't available last week at Tacos Mexico). The taco came with a little sauce, lettuce, and crema. I have had deli tongue in the past and been unimpressed (mostly due to texture). This taco was good. The tongue is a mild flavor and it was quite tender. Again, mild flavor so I probably would prefer carnitas or carne asada, but this was good.

When going to a new, to me, Mexican restaurant I like to judge them by their rice and their tamales. A good tamale and rice ranks high with me. The tamale here was shredded beef topped with cheese and a small amount of a red sauce. The maza was excellent, light and fluffy, not too dense, just the way I like it. The beef was well seasoned. My only comment is that there wasn't enough sauce, so the maza was a little dryer than I would like. However, adding a little of the salsa made it perfect, if a little spicy.

The rice was adequate, nothing special, but OK. All in all, a pretty good meal, and an excellent value for the money.

NEXT UP: Pizza Hut--Same center.