Sandbox Coffeehouse

Sandbox Coffeehouse

204 E. Thompson

Ventura, CA 93001

I’m sitting in the Sandbox Coffeehouse as I write this, listening to a couple of older (meaning about my age) women talk about catching waves, drinking a cup of coffee and enjoying a peanut butter cookie. The women were discussing the proper place to catch waves out at the cove. In another part of the café, a group of older-than-that men are talking about retirement.

Just what the doctor ordered...

As I walked in, I bumped into my doctor, who said he was coming in for the first time because of the $1 cup of coffee sign out front. I’ve been here before, and came in quite a bit when my kids were doing Junior Guards (a great program) last summer. I kept meaning to write something about the Sandbox then, but never did-something about being a little miffed after being asked to pay $0.50 for the refill, even though the initial cup of coffee had only cost a dollar.

I didn't have my self-initiated post-a-week work ethic last year, and I didn't want to write anything bad, but that $0.50 thing had left a bad taste in my mouth. This summer, I'm in a more understanding mood about being asked to pay for refills, so I’m getting this up (free wifi here) as soon as I'm finished writing.

Since last year, the Sandbox changed the brand of coffee (now Caribbean Coffee Company, which I think might be my favorite of the Santa Barbara/Ventura coffee brewers) and they serve beer and wine.

This place is between the Fairgrounds and the Mission, on the corner of Thompson and Figueroa. Several people who were in were trying the breakfast bagel sandwiches, which looked pretty good, but I’m not that hungry and opted for a giant peanut cookie, from a local place called the Siblings Bakery.

Local photography and art adorn the walls, and according to the website, there's a monthly art show and Thursday night open mike night.

The cookie that I’m eating is good, and it’s hard to go wrong with a $1 cup of coffee. The girl at the counter is a roller derby queen, (though not with one of the local teams) so that's kind of cool too. The Sandbox serves sandwiches and salads as well.

Petite Reve Café

Petite Reve Café

1124 S. Seaward Ave. Ste A

Ventura CA  93001

Next to Dukes on Seaward is the Petite Reve Café. Serving locally brewed Beacon Coffee at a price comparable to Starbucks, and baked goods made on the premisis, I’ve seen the place but like a typical local, never made it to the location in it’s three years of occupying the space. It was once Full of Beans, (See my 6/9/13 post) which now is on the road to Ojai.

As I type this, I’m sitting on their outside patio, listening to the conversation of a regular and the owner. The coffee is good, and the small chocolate chip cookie was very tasty, though at $1, I thought it was a little small. Louis Prima and other swing type music is playing in the background. No wifi here, so no laptop loiterers this morning-except me of course.

Kate, the owner, has struck up a conversation with every person who’s walked in, which I really like. She’s a local, so seems to know a little about everything happening in the area. This is a block off the water, making for a pleasant afternoon breeze. Local art by Terry Weurth is available for purchase on the walls, and is actually affordable.

Certainly a place I’ll come back to. I am a local, though, so I’ll never come here on a weekend when Seaward is packed with out-of-towners. Parking would be a bit of a hassle then. But here on the Friday of the Summer Solstice, sun shining with a little off shore breeze, it’s a great place to sit. Open 7 to 3 during the week, with longer weekend hours, and $ 0.50 refills.

One quick downside-after my second cup, I need to use the restroom, which they don’t have….

August 5, 2013 Update
My daughter and I rode up last week, and the sign on the door said that the cafe was closed! They still will take orders for cakes and such, but the cafe was closed and would be for a while. I hope they reopen soon!

Busy Bee Cafe

Busy Bee Cafe

478 E Main St

Ventura, CA 93001-2627

(805) 643-4864

The Busy Bee Cafe is one of the places I visited first some 20 years ago, when I would bug out of Pasadena to spend a cool weekend in Ventura. 

I don't not like the Busy Bee. I just don't like it enough to go there that often. Generally being a sucker for a diner theme, and knowing that it's been owned by the same people since the 60's, I would think that I'd be there all the time, but there's something that just isn't working for me. It's clean, and everyone is friendly, but there's something. 

It's not cheap, so that's part of it. I think it might just be the lighting. It's a narrow space with 50's style booths and decor. But unlike a place like, say Johnny Rockets, which has the retro vibe in bright white, Busy Bee is tan with no natural light once you get past the first few booths. It vaguely reminds me of classrooms that I used to teach in back when I was in LA Unified. The red naugahyde I like, but it's just not that bright.

Joe's Special

That being said, I've eaten a variety of things there over the years, and all have been fine. On my way to the Roadshow Revival (I'll get to a more detailed review of that later this week), my father-in-law picked that place because he wanted chicken fried steak. I almost ordered the same thing, but saw something that I really like and can seldom find-the San Francisco Joe, or "Joe's Special." Three eggs scrambled with hamburger, spinach, mushrooms and onions, along with the Busy Bee potatoes, an apple and a biscuit and gravy.

Chicken Fried Steak

"Joe's Special" occupies an interesting place in my mind that I think I'll go into briefly. In my mid-20's, I had broken up with my long time college girlfriend, and was dating what I considered to be a "woman," a divorcée five years my senior, and I always had a vague feeling that I was in over my head. She seemed a bit more sophisticated, having grown up with the moneyed Jewish people on the Westside, compared to my more working class upbringing. She was an only child, who's parents had recently died-I went to her father's funeral after we'd be dating just a few weeks-and everything about her in my mind seemed grown-up. As I look back on it, her family hadn't been any better off than mine, and she really wasn't any more sophisticated than me. It just seemed like it at the time.

She took me to the Daily Grill in Brentwood at  a time when eating out still meant a chili burger at Tommy's, and though I went to UCLA and had hung out on the Westside, I was still hitting college type places. The clientele at Daily Grill seemed a bit more upscale, and I thought that if anyone looked at us, they would wonder who the kid was with the pretty woman. That she generally paid didn't help my inferiority complex any. She paid because she made more money then me, and though I would pay, what I could pay for was a bit different than what she could pay for. A sandwich at Phillipe's or a beer at Gorky's I could swing, and though she'd go with me to those places, she also had a taste for finer living, and she could afford to pay.

Back to Joe's Special-it looked like a fascinating dish to me, something that I wouldn't have dreamed of ordering for reasons that made sense to me then but not now. She said to try it, that it was good, and so I did and found it to be delicious. I was master's swimming at the time, so I easily powered down that and whatever she didn't finish. I would order that pretty much every time we were at the Daily Grill. It's not that we went often, but somehow she and Joe's Special ended up seared together in my mind.

The Busy Bee Joe's was good enough to bring the last three paragraphs back to me with a vengeance.  Joe's was good, crowded with a bunch of other memories, as well as the ones I just shared. The chicken fried steak looked good. My biscuit and gravy was very tasty, too. Service was quick, my coffee was refilled regularly, and on the whole, I left thinking that maybe I should spend a bit more time in the Busy Bee.

I just wish it was brighter.

Church Tacos on the Avenues, Fountain of Life Apostolic Church

Church Tacos

Fountain of Life Apostolic Church

1000 N. Ventura Ave.

Ventura CA 93001

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A few weeks back I was driving down the Avenues, and noticed that one of the Churches was having a taco sale. Church tacos? Why not-more fun then a bake sale.

So as I was passing by tonight, I saw the hard-working church volunteers with their taco stand, and a big, hand painted sign saying "Tacos $1." Tacos for a dollar was more temptation than I could stand, and the church drew in another customer.

Walking up, I asked about what type of tacos they were serving. "Asada or chicken" was the answer, and after putting my order for two asada, I asked if there was someplace to wash my hands.

"Right inside the door, there, on the right hand side."The door was to the vestibule of the church, and several people were milling about a half hour in advance of their Friday worship. I washed quickly, and  back down the steps I watched the final preparation of my tacos.

"You guys here every weekend?" I asked the main cook as he took a hand-full of cooked asada and threw it on the grill. I wasn't sure how they prepared their meat to that point, but most places have their meat ready, and then grill it up to seal the juices and warm the meat.

"Just Fridays." He answered in a business-like way, focusing his attention on the grilling meat.

"Are you guys doing this all summer?"

"As long as the church is here, we'll be here." He handed me a plate of two tacos, and then opened a cooler with onions, cilantro, lemon and a red salsa.

Looking at my plate, I saw lots of meat for two street tacos, certainly more than I expected for a dollar. He opened a cooler with onions, cilantro, lemon and a red salsa that wasn't to hot, which I immediately added to my tacos.

I sat at a nearby table, and took a bite. Good flavor, not too greasy but not dry either, on the whole certainly worth more than the dollar I paid. And then I realized that I hadn't paid.

I finished the tacos, and handed the money guy three bucks, adding a dollar tip for their trouble. He looked at me a minute until I said that I hadn't paid.

I'll be back. Hard to go wrong for a buck, and since they were good, I'm going to be a regular. They also had drinks for a buck, too.

Haunt Dawgz Food Truck

Haunt Dawgs Food Truck

Simi Valley and Environs

I was excited today, ready to knock back a cup of joe at Latte 101, one of my favorite places to have coffee. And as I walked up, Latte 101 was gone! Something called "HealthQuake Nutrition" was in it's place. They have a full range of Herbalife goods, for whatever that's worth, but no coffee. Since at that point I'd already swam, and I had just walked 3/4 of a mile to get there, I was already feeling pretty healthy, and didn't need a zillion calorie health shake to improve. Off to Peet's.

Latte 101, by the way, has gone fully mobile, so if I happen to be where they are, I'll still have a cup. I'm just not going out of my way to find them.

Which brings me back to the title, Haunt Dawgs. A food truck advertising gourmet chili dogs, I was stoked when they showed up and have been thinking about a good hot dog for a few weeks-to the point where I made a somewhat unnecessary trip to Cosco. They talk about their chili, but I knew immediately what I wanted when I read the menu-The Frankenstein Dog, sauerkraut infused with bacon and garlic on top of a hot dog. What could be better?

I was at the window before it opened, and talked to others waiting. The one person ahead of me got the Werewolf Dog, their chili dog, and walking away it looked pretty good.

I ordered the meal, which was the Dog, a can of Coke and some pretzels, which came out to $8 ($7 would have just got me the dog). A touch high, but a price I was willing to pay for a fix of bacon, garlic and sauerkraut.

Service was quick, which I liked, but the dog....well, I dunno. I thought the wiener was a bit small and ordinary, and the bun pretty plain. The kraut wasn't very sour,  I could barely notice the bacon, and the garlic not at all. Pretzels are pretzels. The Coke was cold, so that was good. 

I talked to a few people who went with the chili dog, and they had the same impression I did-it wasn't all that special. I wouldn't avoid it, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I've whipped up an equally good kraut dog at home with minimal effort.

I wouldn't avoid them, but wouldn't race to their location either.

Full of Beans/Jake's Wayback Burgers

Jake's Wayback Burgers

4960 Telephone Rd
Ste 102
Ventura, CA 93003

Full of Beans

11534 N Ventura Ave • Ojai, CA 93023
(805) 640-8500

I like a good burger, and my kids prefer burgers to tacos, so if I want a taco it is the only option that I can offer. If I throw a burger place out there, that's what the kids will choose.

Jake's Wayback Burgers recently set up an outpost by Kohls, and my daughter and I went by to check it out. It wasn't bad. That's really all I have to say when you get down to it. They make burgers and put a variety of toppings on them with no extra charge, and generally anyplace that will throw grilled onions and mushrooms on a burger for no extra charge is a place that I'll go back to often. But somehow, Jake's did this and underwhelmed me. The french fries weren't anything special, and my daughter's cheeseburger was uninspiring. 

Basically, In-N-Out's burgers are just as good-maybe better-and less than half the price. If I want a basic burger, In-N-Out works. A bit fancier, and two locations of  The Habit (based in Santa Barbara) are here in town, one by the beach and the other over by Winco. Another step up and I would suggest Five Guys in Oxnard. But I don't think that I'll be heading to Jake's Wayback Burgers again soon. I did notice, though, that they have hot dogs on the menu, and sometimes I crave a good hot dog.

I hear good things about Bombay Bar & Grill, so might have to get there soon for a local gourmet burger. Don't worry, I'll write about it here.

But on to the second part of the post. After lunch at Jake's, I had to drive to Ojai, and on the road decided to stop at one of my favorite coffee houses, Full of Beans. The interesting thing about Full of Beans, and this may sound odd, is that I don't really think their coffee is anything special. Like several places in Ventura and Santa Barbara, they brew Santa Barbara Roast Coffee, and I find that SB Roast doesn't really have a distinctive flavor. All of their roasts taste similar to me, and don't seem to have a particularly full body.

I really like this place, though.

Full of Beans started in a small shop by Dukes on Seaward. When FoB was still there, I went in once with my daughters and bought them ice cream. The owner said that the ice cream looked good, and after giving rather generous scoops to my girls, served himself one and sat down to join us. I was a fan ever since.

The Ojai location is larger, with a big back patio space that sometimes features live music. They also have local pastries, ice cream and some lunch items. While I was trying to decide what size coffee to order, the tattooed girl at the counter said to go ahead and try anything that I thought looked good, that if I didn't like it they'd make me something else.

I ordered a large coffee, and the girl asked if I'd like that in a mug or to go cup. I opted for a mug, and she promptly went to warm up a mug that I could bathe in. While she was doing that, the other woman walked from the back, saw me standing and waiting, and asked if there was something she could do for me. I liked the attention. I took my jumbo mug of average coffee ($1.95 and $.50 for refills) and left the colorful indoor space to walk out to the back patio.

The whole place is exceptionally clean, including the outside patio space. Since that space is shaded by a large tree, and the cafe is located on a dusty highway, I was amazed at how clean it was. I spent the last three days preparing my outdoor patio for a barbecue, and it still wasn't as clean as that space. No fallen leaves, no bird poop on anything, and I felt totally comfortable sitting in any one of the outdoor benches and chairs.

I struck up a conversation with the musician as he was packing up, enquiring about the home made guitar that he was putting away. We chatted before I sat down with my book (Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell , not bad). It's a great place to enjoy a bit of time. Free wifi, too.