Zaira and I just returned from dinner at El Toro Brewing Co. in downtown Morgan Hill. Despite the pleasure I take in trying new restaurants, it’s taken me quite some time to experience (and therefore review) Morgan Hill’s own little brewpub.  That’s for a few reasons: 1) I don’t like bars, and this distaste extends to brewpubs, 2) I hate sports bars, and El Toro was judged Morgan hill’s #1 Sports Bar by the Morgan hill Times, and 3) I seldom go to restaurants alone (particularly new ones) and Z’s only with me Thursday thru Saturday nights., and I don’t think either of us would have a good experience at El Toro on a weekend evening.

Tonight there was a big college football game on, but El Toro was not oo crowded and the folx there weren’t rowdy at all.  They did seem short staffed, though as our waitress (didn’t have a nametag, but she’s a cute young blonde) seemed to be working the entire downstairs all alone.  Still she gave excellent, friendly, and apologetic service, earning a nice tip from us.  Speaking of costs, our bill came to just under $22.00 which isn’t bad at all considering the food we received.

I ordered the Hawaiian Burger (pineapple & teryiaki sauce) while Zaira ordered the Brewhouse burger (standard cheeseburger).  Both were large (1/2 pound patties) and the meat was of excellent quality if not totally top notch.  They also came with fries (skin on, just the way I like ‘em) and a pickle (which I can’t comment on as Z swiped it from my plate).  I’d give the food four stars out of five overall and five of five for the type of restaurant.  At those prices there’s definitely no room for complaints on either portion size or quality.

We probably won’t return to El Toro, but that’s through no fault of theirs.  We just aren’t fans of the brewpub environment.  Anyone without such an aversion, however should defintely put El Toro Bewing near the top of their Morgan Hill dining list.

I’ve never been much of a fan of “Happy Meal” toys and the similar doodads from various fast food joints. But Subway certainly hooked me in with their latest promotion – Disney’s The Wizards Of Waverly Place.  Now, I was under the impression that DDisney and McDonalds had an exclusive deal when it came to these toys, but it was nice to be proven wrong.

Not only is Zaira a fan of The Wizards, but I am as well.  In fact, it’s our current “Saturday Morning Cartoon”.  No, it’s not a cartoon, but we’d worked through all of the classic toons that I had available and moved on to this live action comedy.  Adding just a touch of irony to this promotional choice is the fact that, in the show the Russo family runs the Waverly Sub Station which is one the show’s main sets.

Tomorrow is “Customer Appreciation Day” at the local Taco Bell on Monterey Road. I’m not sure if this is a chain-wide thing because there’s is no mention of it on the corporate website. But they’ve got signs up at the shop, so I know it’s coming. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera when I stopped by and saw the sign, so you just get this yummy Cinnamon Twist picture instead.

Why Cinnamon Twists?  Well, it’s not because they’re my favorite Taco Bell food.   In fact, I’ve never tried them.  Rather, it’s in honor of the fact that I’ll be trying them tomorrow.  Why?  Because they’ll be free!!

A few months back I shared my views on the Round Table Pizza Lunch Buffet (16740 Monterey Street) and how I felt it was the best lunch deal in Morgan Hill.  Well, thingshave changed.  Happily, they’ve changed for the better!

The price has bumped up a little bit more (from $6.75 to $6.99), but adding on a soda (with free refills) at $1.99, plus sales tac (of course!) still keeps your total under $10 for an all you can eat buffet.  Today I passed the traditional salad bar, having a portion of macaroni salad as well as some sliced hard-boiled eggs.  Then of course, there was the pizza.  I’m not particularly proud of it, but I scarfed down seven slices of various pizzas, plus breadsticks.  That’s not too bad for $10.00, but that’s also not all…

Today I also picked up a little loyalty card – pictured above.  By getting the card stamped every time I enjoy the buffet Round Table will pick up the tab for my sixth visit.  At that point, my price per lunch will drop from $9.73 per visit to only $8.46 per all you can eat buffet.  Definitely a great deal.

As I was out walking a couple of days ago I noticed employees at the local Taco Bell on Monterey putting out signs for their new Frutista Freeze. Now here’s a new product that’s just full of deception.

First off, there’s the name. 99% of people that see the sign or hear an add think the name is Fruitista Freeze with an “i” both before and after the “t”. But, it’s not, it’s Frutista Freeze. There is no ‘fruit’ in the name because there is no fruit in the drink! Nope. It’s may be made with “Natural Fruit Flavor”, but it doesn’t have any natural fruit nutrition in it.

Next is the strawberries. Although advertised as being topped with “Real Strawberries” when you check the nutritional information on Taco Bell’s website you’ll see that they refer to it as “strawberry topping”. It is, in fact, some type of strawberry compote (meaning it’s got tons of added sugar) which may contain some real strawberry, but certainly not more than one.

Finally, there’s the television advertising. They show a guy enjoying his Frutista Freeze out of a 32oz cup, not the dinky 16oz cup that you’ll receive upon ordering one of these concoctions. Don’t believe me? Well, print out this coupon for a free Frutista Freeze and try one for yourself without actually supporting the false advertising.

With my Subway Diet on the rocks thanks to last week’s vacation I decided to revisit one of the best lunch deals in Morgan Hill – the Round Table Pizza all you can eat buffet on Monterey between Tennant and Dunne.

The buffet is available from 11:30 am until 1:30 pm and at only $6.75 it’s a deal and a half.  Aside from all you can eat pizza (and we’re talking about high quality Round Table pizza, not that cardboard Domino’s crap), they also offer unlimited quantities of their Garlic Parmesan Twists, and a small salad bar as well.  Add a buck or so for a soda (with free refills, of course), plus your bribe to the government via sales tax and your total cost is just over $9.00 per person.

My advice is to get there right at 11:30 as the tables start to fill up around noon.  Presumably arriving after 1:00 will avoid the crowds as well, but I’ve never visited that late.  Either way they keep the pizza flowing (unlike some other lunch buffets) so there’s no concern there.

With the Chalk It Up event taking over the sidewalks of downtown Morgan Hill a couple of Saturday’s ago Z and I decided to revisit Just Breakfast. It seemed like we hadn’t been there in ages, though it really had only been about two months.

Morgan Hill has very few breakfast options, and none of them offered the ability to get a side of peanut butter with your pancakes, waffles or french toast – until now. Yeah, you probably can’t see it in that picture but the table tents at Just Breakfast are now emblazoned with the line – “NEW! Peanut Butter”. Okay, maybe ‘emblazoned’ is too strong a word, but it’s down there on the right under “Toppings”.

Z and I have asked if they had peanut butter at least a dozen times over the last year. So this just goes to show that in you want a change at a local business go ahead and speak up. As usual, Just Breakfast didn’t skimp on things, either. They brought enough peanut butter to make PBnJ’s for a half dozen kids! I love this place. As soon as I get off my diet I think I’m going to have to up my occaisional visit frequency and find out if I can actually become a known regular.