Main Street Restaurant and Steakhouse

Main Street Restaurant and Steakhouse
3159 E. Main St.
Ventura, CA 93001
(805) 676-1312

Sorry-Shakey Hand

I grew up in Bell, CA, in the 1970's, an area that at the time was in definite cultural transition. Bell was a working class city, filled with the folks who'd come from the Dust Bowl of the 1930's to work in the factories, rail yards or the Farmer John Slaughterhouse in nearby Vernon. 

But by the 70's, the people who could move out started their shift toward Orange County, and my family watched the transition from working class to poor, until we finally moved out in the late 70's. 

I bring this all up because of one of the changes I recall. My memories of Bell involve many 'greasy spoon' type diners, places where everything was made by a short order cook on a grill. I know those places still exist, but it seems, as I've alluded to more than a few times in these pages, that the majority of greasy spoon diners in So Cal have been replaced by chain restaurants and Mexican places.

So walking in to the Main Street Restaurant and Steakhouse is a bit of a throwback. It's been a diner for a long time, and has the look of the places I remember from the 70's. Nagahyde and formica, a long counter in the middle and a pie cooler behind it. 

I'd love to say that I eat here often, but I don't really. I have to be in the mood. Service is a bit slow, my hashbrowns were cooked on a grill that was too hot so they weren't finished, and the gravy on my biscuit was a bit bland.

But it wasn't particularly expensive, and it gave me a chance to chat with my daughter. As often happens in this type of place, the person at the next table struck up a conversation with me, and was chatting up everyone else nearby, too.

My daughter's French Toast was okay, my coffee cup was kept full, and in the end, it was a pleasant morning breakfast. Nothing special, nothing bad.

 On a side note, this is the diner that was used in the movie "Erin Brockovich," both the interior and the exterior.

Copperfields, Pt. 2

Copperfield's Gifts and Rarities

242 E. Main Street 

Ventura, CA 93001

I've written about Copperfield's Gifts and Rarities before (7/16/13), and I just wanted to add a quick note. I bought a vintage watch there, which I was really excited about. It was a swiss-made Dynasty brand, dating from most likely the 60's. It cost $69, and I immediately put it on as I walked out of the store.

It kept time for the remainder of the afternoon, but by evening, it had fallen 10 minutes behind. As the evening wore on, the watch, apparently was making time slow down, and then, finally, stop.

But time didn't really stop, and so I took it back to Copperfiel's.

The girl at the counter was the same one who had sold me the watch the day before. I explained the problem, and she happily took the watch back, and returned my money.

I know when you buy used articles, it's generally, "Buyer beware," and with a small shop, I was expecting to be given store credit. So that Copperfield's gave me my money back was a pleasant surprise, and I feel a great deal better about buying things there.

Shave It

Shave It

11B Hillcrest Dr.

Thousand Oaks, CA 91360

The first time I remember having a true shaved ice, not just a sticky snow cone, I was still in college, in Sacramento visiting the gorgeous red-headed girl that I was dating. It was 10,000 degrees-at least that's how I remember it-and she said we should have a shaved ice. I said something stupid, like I refuse to pay whatever price they were asking for a snow cone, and I think she might have sprung for it at that point.

I was in heaven. And since then, I've been a bit of a shaved ice connoisseur. I've ventured to Hawaii and have been to Matsumoto's and Scandi's, and I've tried various shaved ice places around SoCal.

I've written about shaved ice before (see 3/13/14 and the Ventura Water Store, which for the $1 cost, I highly recommend), but the Shave It one is really one of the best. Proper shaved ice, I feel, should have a bit of premium ice cream at the bottom, texture like freshly fallen snow, and hold it's flavor up in the ice instead of becoming a sticky mess. Shave It does just that.

Interestingly, the Shave It location in Thousand Oaks (Shave It has franchised, and there are other locations now), looks cool but doesn't seem to be air-conditioned. I've been in twice, about a year apart, and both times, the shop has been warmer inside than out. The subtle lighting (why my pix look dark) give the illusion of being cool inside.

The sizes are "Go Big or Go Home" (16 oz.) and, obviously, "Home" (8 oz.). My daughter and I opted for the smaller. I wasn't feeling creative, so I selected an Experienced Tropical Swell and my daughter had a Catcha Rainbow. Both were very good, causing my daughter to ask why we don't stop by more often. 

Now, since it is four times the price of the shaved ice at the Ventura Water Store, the question would be is it four times better? Well, yes, actually, it is. The macadamia nut ice cream at the bottom and top of my shaved ice was really good, and the texture of the shaved ice reminded me of my last trip to the snow. I could taste and tell the difference in ice flavored with passion fruit and that flavored with mango. I tried a bit of my daughter's too, and got a mouth full of strawberry flavor.

I'm not in TO that often, but Shave It is worth a stop when you need something cold.

Snapper Jack's Taco Shack

Snapper Jack's Taco Schack

No chips.

I've been to 'Mexican' places that charge extra for chips, but I try to avoid them. But this was a bit odd. 

My older daughter and I were hungry, and decided on tacos for a quick, light, post practice dinner, and I didn't feel like driving to the Avenues, which were clear across town from where we were. I figured Snapper Jack's would be okay.

I've eaten at Snapper Jack's before. Now that I'm thinking about it, I've been eating there since the place opened, but I just don't go in that often. It's located across the street from Ventura College, in the old Mound School building. It's got all kinds of surf paraphernalia, with the idea of being a 60's surf shack, an idea that not surprisingly appeals to me. They make white Mexican food, along the lines of Baja Fresh or Rubio's, and in the past, I remember it being okay. Not great, but okay. I do have a few white friends that swear by the place, though.

What I do like about them is the rather extensive salsa bar. Again, it's white people salsa, not particularly spicey or hot, but tasty. They've been voted "Best Salsa" (and also "Best Fish Tacos") in the VC Star, and walking in, I was looking forward to having several salsa types on my chips. 

So I ordered a steak quesadilla, and my daughter ordered a chicken taco kid's plate, which had rice and beans, small drink and cinnamon chips. I had a small soda, too, which came out to just under $16. The order came out of the clean kitchen quickly, and when I got it, I noticed two things. First and most important, we didn't get any chips. Second, they gave us only one napkin.

Over next to the salsa was a big stack of napkins, so that was no big deal, but I had already gotten six different salsa for our chips. I figured I'd better get some, so back to the counter I went.

The same kid who took my order a few minutes before was still there, tall, skinny, with glasses, who again asked me what I would like.

"Chips."

"For here or to go?" An interesting question, I thought, since I'd ordered just a few minutes before. And I didn't recall their chips being anything special. I couldn't imagine that they had many people coming in and saying they wanted chips to go. 

"Here," I said a second time. "I'd like to have some with my meal." 

He took my money, and handed me a receipt. "Number 48."

I was too surprised to say anything. To his right was a large tray of chips, and there was another large tray directly behind him. Stunned, I took the number back to my seat.

My daughter looked at the receipt and asked where the chips were. I explained that clearly the ordering of chips was complicated, and perhaps a bit beyond the register operator, who passed that sort of thing on to the kitchen staff. My daughter looked over at the large tray of chips behind the register, and then gave me a look that only a 12 year old girl can give.

I shrugged. Normally, I would have taken pictures of our food at this point, but I was still a surprised about the chips, and so started to eat. For the record, my quesadilla was a bit small, but did have a huge helping of guacamole and sour cream on top, and wasn't bad. My daughter said her taco was good, as were her rice and beans. We split her cinnamon chips, which I thought were pretty good.

They called 46 and 47, and my daughter and I exchanged looks. "Maybe the chips come artfully arranged," my daughter said. I suggested that perhaps the cook each batch of chips fresh, and that the ones behind the counter were just for display. Then 49 and 50 were called, and I just gave up on getting the order.

We finished, and I went to get my money back. There was a different kid at the counter. "I never got my order." I said to him. 

"I'm sorry. Would you like it now?"

"No. Just give me the money back." He looked surprised. "I wanted to eat the chips with my meal, but I'm done now," I said in explanation.

The registers were already closed for the night, so he went to the back to get my cash. He came back and handed it to me, and I returned to where my daughter was sitting. We cleaned our table, and I went over to get some iced tea for the road-and discovered the iced tea tub was long gone.

So in conclusion, like Baja Fresh, Snapper Jack's is a good white people interpretation of Mexican food. The service is quick, portions a touch on the small side, but everything is clean and neat. The food is just a bit bland, but not bad, and I do like their salsa bar.

Just order your chips with the meal.

The Silvertone Acoustic, H621 pt. 2 Bridge Repair and Cleaning

The Silvertone Acoustic, Pt. 2

Since I have both a sweatshirt on and a beard, I'm guessing that I made the above video back in January (Actually, I checked the date when I was re-upping the video. It was December). Again, the point was how good the guitar actually sounded without me having done anything to it beyond buying a guitar case. 

So now it's time to talk about repairs. First, the bridge was in the most need of help. I actually bought another to replace it, and started to sand it down to fit. Then I read something about someone who had a Harmoney with a bridge like mine, and they just glued the bridge back together again. Since I was having trouble getting the new bridge thin enough, I decided to just go that route.

The bridge was both screwed (one of the possible reasons it was broken. The screws and the holes for the pins all line up in a row) down and lightly glued. Using a paint scraper and a razor, it came off pretty easy. Looking at and playing with the tuning machines, I decided to just leave them for the time being, even though the tuner for the D string is bent.

After popping the bridge off, I scraped it clean of all the old glue and residue. Then I gave the guitar a good cleaning, using some wood oil and Murphy's Wood Cleaner. As it says all over the internet, when you are repairing or replacing the bridge, you need to scrape all the old glue and residue off, so using a razor and very fine sandpaper, I scraped off the old glue on the guitar. There wasn't much, so that turned out to be easier than I expected. 

After the sanding I gave the guitar a good cleaning both inside and out. It cleaned up really well. Once I had it all apart, I glued the bridge back together using the same Titebond I used in some of the ukulele repairs that are here in the blog. I clamped the bridge together using a bunch of Harbor Freight clamps, and it actually held up. It needed paint though, which I'll talk about in the next post.

The Silvertone Acoustic H621 Pt. 1 The Repair Begins

The Silvertone Acoustic H621

My fascination with this particular guitar started about a year ago at an antique store in Santa Barbara. I saw a guitar similar to this one, but in the more orangish color, sitting on a chair for $75. I picked it up and played it. It was almost in tune, and didn't have the baseball bat neck of most Harmony guitars of that era that I've picked up. Harmony manufactured many of the Silvertones of that era. There was no neck separation, either, and it actually reminded me of vintage Gibson J-45 (my dream acoustic that some day, when I have an extra 4 grand laying around, I'll buy). I didn't buy it, but thought about it for a few weeks, and finally decided to go back and get it. Of course, it was gone.

But checking on the Goodwill auction site, I came across this Silvertone. It looked pretty beat up, and so I put in a low bid, which I then, rather surprisingly, won. When it arrived, I took it out of the box and realized that even though it was dusty and dinged, the neck was still straight and it seemed to be reasonably well cared for.  According to the "Silvertone World," site, the guitar was manufactured somewhere between 1964 and 1967.

I tuned it up, and even with a cracked bridge, a bent tuning machine, and rusty strings, it held it's tuning. Strumming some cowboy chords, it sounded great! I started working some scales up and down the neck, and was still surprised by it's sound. There was no rattle, and the action was pretty good all the way to the 14th fret. The neck had some slight wear, but nothing outrageous. It was filled with dustbunnies and spiderwebs, which I used my shop vac to clean.

So I bought a case for it, and some new tuning machines and a new bridge, and started to read up on how to fix it. I also figured that since I got it so cheap, I might decorate it up a bit. After all, I have my good Sigma, my Epiphone and my Arts and Lutherie, which are all nice guitars. I figured I could play with this one a bit.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

I made this video shortly after I received the guitar last August.