Uno Is Open in Oaks

The sign was lit on Monday night announcing the opening of Uno/Chicago Grill in Oaks.

All the lights were installed and working and the exterior of the building looked like a cross between a diner and any national chain restaurant.

I stopped by on Tuesday, their second day open, for lunch.  I was greeted at the door by three employees. Each welcomed me. Each waited for my acknowledgement. A bit much for me. One, even two would have been sufficient. I was led to a table. A menu was placed on my table and I was wished well. I removed my jacket and hat (it was snowing) and sat down to read the menu.

I arrived after 2:20pm and I was afraid I might have missed the lunch specials. I scanned each page like a pubescent boy looking for salacious words in Mandingo. I flipped through the multi-paged menu several times, back and forth, looking for the lunch specials and the time lunch stopped being served.  It seemed I was scanning and searching for a long time. Too long. I was pondering leaving and stopping for an Italian shorty at Wawa in Audubon.

I looked up from the menu and was finally greeted by my server. She introduced herself and asked if I wanted to start with a drink. I, figuratively, threw my cards on the table. I stated I was on lunch and had only thirty minutes remaining to be served and eat. I asked where the lunch specials could be found. She directed me to the specials listed on the reverse of the menu. The only place I neglected to look. She advised me that any lunch special ordered was guaranteed to be served in 10 minutes. Great! That would leave me 20 minutes to eat.

Not letting my server leave, I ordered a $7.99 lunched size Classic Cobb Salad and All-You-Can Eat Soup. I chose Chili. I added an unsweetened iced tea and my server was off to place the order.

Within a ten minute span I received my lunch, as ordered. Served with a side of Cobb Salad Avocado Ranch dressing.

I began with the chili soup. The soup included tortilla chips of both yellow and blue corn, onions, cheese and two types of beans. There was a whiff of vinegar that probably came from the hot sauce they used to add some heat. Very little heat, I must add. I should have brought my own Sriracha sauce. Overall, the chili was just one level above that of a canned chili available in any grocery store. I wasn't satisfied with the soup.

The salad was much better. Fresh ingredients of greens, chicken, avocado, tomato(nothing like home grown tomatoes), gorgonzola cheese and bacon. The creamy avocado ranch dressing was perfect for this salad. One teaspoon more dressing would have been the icing on the cake. Included was a bread stick seasoned with coarse salt. The salad was good. No, better than good. Whoever made the salad did a great job.

I ate everything and I was sated.

As for the atmosphere, the room was hard. The floor, oak and stone walls, furniture, everything was hard. I can only imagine the sound level when the room is full. Visually contrasting was a gas fueled fireplace with a raging fire. There were several large screen TVs in the room I dined. Two in the back and one mid-room, over the fireplace. Three too many TVs for me.

Overall I liked my lunch and the price. The staff was obviously newly trained and it showed. I will definitely return for lunch. I will choose a different soup next time but I will return. I will eat at the bar, next time. I felt uncomfortable by myself at a table for four in the middle of the floor. The bar will be more comfortable. Although, I won't like those big screen TVs directly in front of me. Silent bright visual distractions that hinder conversation. Even with strangers. Especially if your not interested in sports, as am I.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Oaks Uno to Open Before Christmas '13

Curtains up

Light the lights

Last night as I drove past the Black Rock and Egypt roads intersection, I noticed blue neon and a blazing LED sign lighting the night sky. Uno - Chicago Grill is preparing to open for business on Monday, December 16.

Currently, Uno is open between 11am and very late at night for hiring and training. There are a few openings for servers and everyone is encouraged to stop by and apply. 

A host/hostess is on duty handing out sample menus and discount coupons. The coupons are good for $5.00 off your check with their complements. I suggest you stop by to either apply for a job or to get a coupon and check out the soon-to-open restaurant in Oaks.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Cheeburger, Cheeburger Opens Jan 21 in Oaks, PA

Adding to the food scene, I can only guess, is spawned by the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks will be +Cheeburger, Cheeburger. The space was originally Dolce Italian Restaurant, a failed upscale restaurant complete with hostess station. +Cheeburger, Cheeburger will be a closer match to the needs of the movie crowd and employees of nearby large box stores.

As you can see, the opening is scheduled for Monday January 21.

It appears to be designed like a 50's malt shop. Lots of formica, chrome, neon and quilted stainless steel. The table and chairs remind me of the kitchen with which I was raised. I can clearly hear my mother and father telling me to stop leaning back with the chairs. They had their point. Once the rubber tips are worn off the legs the hollow tubes cut through the linoleum on the floor. Another thing I clearly remember is that those kind of chairs are uncomfortable.

Each table has sitting on it, what seems to be, a roll of paper towels placed in a chrome holder. I wonder if the food is messy by design? It won't be long before I know.

The Cheeburger, Cheeburger menu was taped to the glass beside the front door. Just a quick look at the headlines. Seems the place might have been named Invent. Invent your shake, fries, cheeseburger, platter, drink and salad. I wonder if I can invent a cheeseburger without the cheese. Nah! That would just be uninventive.

As for price, $6.95 for the (yellow highlighted on the printed menu) Semi-Serious Burger, 7oz. of meat, precooked. I am confused as to whether fries are included at that price. If not, a 6oz. burger at Max and Erma's is a better value. Fries are included there. Max and Erma's entrance is but a few hundred feet away. A short walk if either place is crowded. The consumer wins again. At least if you want a burger.

©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved

Cleethorpes - Kind of Surreal

Man in the Moon display on the beach, Cleethorpes, UK

The location of the English wedding reception for my daughter and her new British husband was in Grimsby, England.  My wife and I decided to look for a hotel or guest house nearby.  Before leaving the US, I did my research on the internet, or the interweb as I heard it called in UK.  I found a guest house not far away in a seaside resort named Cleethorpes.

We booked a room at Ginnie' Guesthouse.  Ginnie's turnout to be a gem.  Our room was great.  It had its own toilet, sink and stall shower.  A large window provided great light.  There was both a double and single bed.  A large wardrobe closet was more than ample for our needs.  Enough electrical outlets for my camera charger and my CPAP.  A modest sized TV with remote and free cable that carried British and a few familiar US shows added just enough sparkle .  Overall our second floor room was wonderful.

That night, we were invited to dinner at my daughter's in-laws and I am not sure if it was the conversation or the pain but after dinner my wife decided to go to the hospital to have a health professional look at her foot.  (See the previous post about her foot)         

It was a week and a day of pain since her fall in London.  She didn't see a doctor before this because she had a fear the doctor's and hospital' bills would drain our wallets.  A visit to the ER in the US would cost at least $400 without any doctors' or X-ray bills.  Without money our stay would be, shall I say, uneventful, boring.  We would all be looking out the window at the canal traffic, Olympic construction and watching Friends on Comedy Central on British TV back at my daughter's apartment until our flight home.  It turned out that with the socialized medicine in UK, if there was no hospital stay we didn't need to pay anything.  Nothing.  Nada.  Free.  Even though we were foreigners.  Thank you your majesty, Queen Elizabeth and all your loyal subjects.

We returned to Ginnie's from the hospital with a plaster cast and crutches.  As we noisily asended the stairs after midnight, with me reminding her that people were asleep, my wife remarked of how her life would be so much easier if we had the first floor room at the bottom of the stairs.  Nonetheless, she clumsily hobbled to the second floor, having never before used crutches, even though she had both knees replaced just three years ago.

At breakfast the very next morning, Kim, the owner of Ginnie's, moved us into that first floor room.  It was a nice room but not as great as the second floor room.  The move, however, did make our lives easier.

Our first breakfast was the full English breakfast that included, fried eggs, two rashers of bacon, two bangers (sausages), a small fried tomato, beans, mushrooms and our choice of white or whole grain toast.  My coffee arrived in a small french press pot and my wife received a hot pot of tea.

Source: Two Guys Breakfast Blog

It was great.  The beans kind of blindsided me though.  As an American living in the NorthEast/Mid-Atlantic region I am more familiar with potatoes and not beans with my breakfast.  Beans are saved for hot dogs or maybe outdoor grilling.  I ate them just the same, thank you.

We didn't get to see many sites around Grimsby or Cleethorpes on Friday, except those along the way to the in-laws house, a few miles inland from the beach.

Steel's Corner House Restaurant

Friday evening we had reservations at a well established restaurant in Cleethorpes, renown for their fish and chips, Steel's Corner House Restaurant.  The menu was not huge but varied and included a few vegetarian entrees.   We narrowed our choice down to Small Haddock and Chips, Medium Haddock and Chips or Jumbo Haddock and Chips.  My wife and I settled for the Med Haddock and Chips with a choice of Mushy Peas or no Mushy Peas.  We opted for the Mushy Peas which are just as is sounds, mushed peas.  The food was great and plentiful.  We were glad we didn't go for the jumbo.  The jumbo overhung the plate and those that ordered it, found it difficult to finish.  A few Carling beers were consumed and dinner went well.

We took a taxi from the house in Grimsby to Steel's.  Seems taxis are used quite a bit in UK, even in small towns.  Whereas, finding a taxi in suburban Philadelphia would be a challenge, to say the least.  The route back to Ginnie's followed along the beach.  It was soon after turning onto Kings Way that I saw the sequentially lit electric display called the Man in the Moon, as seen at the top of this post.  I was struck by its grander, that I had stepped back in time.  It was kind of surreal.

Once back at Ginnie's, I helped my wife to the room and got her settled.  I told my wife I was off to capture some photographs of the illuminations.  I needed to see these lighted works of art up close.

It was only 300 yds east on Queens Parade to Kings Way.  I stopped at the intersection.   Along the beach in both directions I saw several sequentially blinking displays of lights; dazzling lights depicting windmills, seals playing catch with a beach ball, a sailboat and the Man on the Moon, among others.  These illuminations have been around for some time.  You can see some here on YouTube in a 8mm film starting at 7:48, taken in Cleethorpes in the 60's .

Two types of lights were used on the displays.  One type was mini rope lights, the other was large faceted bulbs.  This latter type reminded me of light bulbs used on carnival rides made in Italy I saw in shopping malls in the US.  

Fabbri Group

Those bulbs and their connection to Italy flashed images of Fellini movies into my mind, La Strada, Nights of Cabiria, 8 1/2.  As a matter of fact, the whole town had a Fellini feel; a post WWII carnival feel.  At that moment, I really wasn't sure I was awake or dreaming.  I didn't hear any Italian being spoken or see any females wearing huge hats.

Juliet of the Spirits

Juliet of the Spirits

Actually, I didn't see anyone at all.


©Damyon T. Verbo - all rights reserved