Joie "Polestar" P.'s Profile

The BBQ meatloaf sammich is nicely spiced.  The waiters are a bit pushy.  California Chicken sammich is good according to my boytoy.  Sitting in the bar during happy hour is important but don't let the waiter talk you into all of his bullshit appetizer sells.  They do that for a reason.  Always get what you want and not what they flower it up to be.  

Oh, I agree with Corazon!  What up with the attempt at bistro-ing it out and striking the "hamburger" part of the title??  Are we a society of ground beef haters all of a sudden?  Are they too fatty?  Do they denote "greasy spoon" a bit too much?  Are we trying to fancy up a staple?
Whatevs.  This place has never been considered an oil pit with sparkly red vinyl seating and limited charbroil menu.  Get over it.

I have no idea what Niko is trying to say.  I was impressed.  I was about 3 blocks away at this weird salon where the guy was trying to wheel and deal this poor Russian girl while never giving her an exact amount for what she wanted.  She decided to thank him and leave and he followed her down the street trying to convince her to come back and she just kept saying, "Sir, thank you, goodbye".  Creepy.  My son and I had just walked in to find a price list.  We got out of there as quickly as possible.  
As soon as we walked in to Oakley's everyone that worked there were so inviting.  Laura said that she would cut my sons mop.  She talked to him the whole time and one of the other hair stylists talked to me and that Russian girl (yep!! she chose Oakley's too!) while we were there.  I actually invite chatty hairstylists.  The quiet ones scare the shit out of me.  You never know what's going through their heads while they're buried in yours.  Laura did a very good job and listened to exactly what Noah wanted.  I even thought it could have been shorter but he refused.  Ok.
$30 is the going rate for a haircut these days.  I paid $14 plus a $10 tip.  Shiny!

I visit Gracie's twice a week to grab a pomegranate juice on my way to the train.  She has many products that you may not have seen in a long time or may not have ever seen.
Take a tour through the entire store and you will find that it resembles a vintage general store.  It's quite unique.  All "corner stores" should take a few tips from Gracie's.

Lazy Birthday Delivery.
And it worked like a charm.
I'm not hatin at all.  We ordered the spicy szechuan wontons, bbq pork fried rice, orange flavored chicken & sweet and sour shrimp.  *note* this place rocks because they will NOT fry the shrimp in batter if you ask them not to.  I've never seen any reason to batter shrimp at all.  The S&S shrimps were 10x better without.
Everything was good and plentiful.  We had leftovers for days.
I would recommend ordering delivery.  Heh....that recommendation was strictly the gamer in me talking.  But who doesn't love delivery of ANYTHING!

Ooooh! something interesting was on the menu but I was too apprehensive and didn't order it.  Strawberry Shrimp.  It looks like a dessert on the menu.  That and the glazed walnut shrimp and we have ourselves a partay.

Finding a restaurant in the Gaslamp during Comic Con weekend is a straight out bitch and a half.  We tried so many places until we decided on Fuddruckers.  Mostly because all of the other places we wanted to go to had a 2 hour wait, didn't allow children after 9 p.m. or were so fucking expensive that...well....there goes my CC monies!
But enough about the pain and suffering...the review.  It was Fuddruckers.  They had no line, no age limit and they had huge amounts of protein.  They had beer, they had wine.  It all works.  The fries were pretty bland though.  I was not impressed.  Not even the cheez whiz stuff helped them.  The burgers, however, were wonderful.  I so needed that burger after the walk we had.  The wine was kind of cheesy in those mini bottles but what hell, it served it's purpose.  Would I go here again?  Yah, it didn't suck.  But I think next time we have decided to stay at the hotel and order Chinese or plan this shit out a little more with reservations.

I wouldn't say the food sux but it isn't the best mexican food I've ever had either.  I've been here late at night and I've recently been there for a quick dinner with some hawtness I call my boyfriend.  The chicken burrito was so full of chicken that I almost forgot it had beans!  I had to have him help me finish this monster.  The chicken quesadilla that my beau devoured was satisfying but still not the best he's had (pssst..Pepper's!).  The chips and salsa are definitely restaurant quality.
We both agree that we would go back.

It's all about the swordfish kabobs here.  I wish I knew what they marinated them with.  Also, any prime rib you pick up here will be better than anything you've ever eaten.  Check them out soon.  My dad was a regular and the guys behind the counter are part of that reason.  It's like stepping into Sam's butcher shop with Alice and getting the best cuts.   Of course, the only way Alice got them is for schtooping the butcher.  Not the case here.  They really want to sell the best product possible.

So this is the new Radisson.  Okie.
Last year at Comic Con was the first I'd heard of Radisson giving up this place and Doubletree taking over.  I had noticed subtle differences then.  The lobby was more welcoming with a fountain and swanky soft furniture.  I was concerned about pricings changing.... and they did.  The rooms and parking went up $10 more a night.  Hence the 2 stars missing.
Other than that this place has a fantastic view,  the friendliest staff I've ever encountered at a hotel, they provide free warm cookies at check in, the rooms are decorated so damn cute (complete with a "sweet dreams" pillow) & check out is so easy a monkey could do it.

The sign said Sandwiches so I automatically thought deli.  Wrong!  Not that I have a problem with sammiches.  I'm a huge fan.  Despite the bread (I'm a lettuce wrapper from way back).  
My boyfriend and I were in the mood for bacon burgers and zucchini fries.  We ventured onto Washington to find a burger joint.  That's when I though of Sandwiches by Connal's.  I told my bf that I thought it was only a deli but that we should at least give it a try.  Yum.  Double Yum.  I was far from hating the bacon-avocado burger.  Very well put together.  But the Pièce de résistance were the zuccini fries.  They were actually seasoned.....perfectly I might add.  I haven't tried the sammiches yet but  I doubt they suck.
To add to this I waited in no line and if you plan to sit and eat I would recommend it.  It's not huge but the restaurant part of the place was decorated 50's style.  It looked very comfortable.

I was apprehensive at first because I had adopted a chocolate lab puppy from here years ago and he ended up having parvo.  It was devastating to know that this dog hadn't a chance.
My sweet lil kitties needed their first shots and I was told that this place had some pretty great deals.  The only downside to this was that everyone and their cousins sisters best friend knew that  Monday's and Wednesday's between 2 and 4 was discount vaccs day.  Crowded like a mutha.  The low cost is the reason I would go back though.  Despite the folly happening in reception the doctor seemed fast, efficient and conversational.  He was also very amused by our kitties names (Pudge and Smudge)  and commented on the unusual but beautiful gold shades of their eyes.  He was the real reason I would definitely bring my babies back.
As far as adoptions, I can't really give them shining stars for that due to my personal experience but I will only ever own rescues.  And by rescues I mean blind, three legged handicapable furballs.