What was striking is that all three served deserts in casual dining rooms as well as fine dining rooms in quarter-pint or half-pint Mason jars. Kelcey’s bar & grill at the Pechanga resort used the Mason jars for both their pies and their cakes, while serving water in the full one-quart jars—guaranteed to send diners looking for the restroom.
The all-day restaurant at the La Costa Resort in Carlsbad served its cheesecake sampler in one-quarter pint jars, while the exclusive Monarch Bar Club at the St. Regis also served its lemon pond cake in a one-half jar.
You’d expect the pint jars at BBQ place such as Sauced in Livermore, but clearly it is fashionable across the dining scene.
Incidentally, enjoying breakfast at Aveo in the St. Regis, I was struck by the offerings of a number of smoothies—reminding me that Orange County is, indeed, different than the Bay Area.
Presumably that’s why McDonald’s is joining Burger King at totally moving away from tradition.
Here in Southern California, the home of the Big Mac and the Quarter-pounder with cheese is
adding Kale bowls to its breakfast menu. The SoCal locations are now serving an egg white and turkey sausage breakfast bowl with kale, spinach, bruschetta and cheese. Kale and Big Macs.
So McDonald’s is offering health food, while Burger King expands its menu by adding hot dogs—yes “Burger” King with grilled dogs.
What’s the world coming too?
Dept. of Transportation officials have joined the Union Pacific Railroad managers to evaluate how to avoid future issues in areas such as Niles Canyon where a mudslide derailed an ACE train earlier this month. What’s fortunate is nobody died when the train derailed after hitting the slide.
What impressed me during that time was how quickly the Union Pacific derailment team got on site with heavy rail-based equipment and removed the cars so the trains could run again. I should not have been surprised—without open rails, trains and cash grind to a halt. So, it’s in the company’s interest to respond quickly and efficiently to accidents.
Their crews did exactly that.
The two incidents last weekend served as a reminder of that need.