Patronize restaurants along Southern Avenue across the Valley of the Sun

I’ve never really paid that much attention to what was (or wasn’t) in this stretch of road, but I sure noticed it today.

The north side of the road has all the food: a Denny’s (blecch), Tom’s BBQ (yummy smell, good food, high prices), The Alpine Valley Bread Company (bakery and sandwiches, meh), Sonic (sometimes fine, sometimes less than fine), Lonestar Steakhouse (OK food, not much for ambience at all), a dinky little Vietnamese place that I might try someday, but not by myself, a couple of pizza joints, and Black Angus, which is one of my favorite restaurants, but not at that location because the waitress we always seem to get is a wretched old woman who soaks herself in 30-year-old perfume instead of just taking a shower. It’s disgusting, so we go across town when we want to eat at Black Angus.

I started this goal at the base of the mountains in the far-east Valley and have been going from east to west, but today I happened to be eastbound when I decided to make an entry onto this goal. A traffic island runs all along this section of Southern, making it nearly impossible to turn left to get in and out of traffic, so I decided to stick to the south side of the road.

There was only one restaurant, at the east end of the mile, and I had never been there, so I tried it today. Kyoto Bowl. When I got out of the car, I was greeted with wonderful meat-cooking aromas, but found upon entering the empty establishment, that the yummy smell was coming from Tom’s across the street. I ordered a couple of eggrolls and was almost immediately handed a sticky blue tray with two individually wrapped, steaming hot eggrolls, which did smell good in their own right.

I took the tray around the corner and sat at a sticky white table. (Is Japanese food just sticky, or did this place need a complete rinse-down?!) I ate one of the eggrolls. It was extremely greasy. I was sad. I wrapped the other one in several napkins to soak up the grease and took it with me. I ate it cold later and it did taste pretty good.

Several hours have passed and I’m still healthy, so this trip will not be classified as a mistake, but I do consider myself lucky since I’m leaving for Cancun in 34 hours and should not have been playing so fast and loose with my internal well-being.

One of the oldest parts of town. There is a Little Caesar’s Pizza at the Mesa Drive end. We’ve ordered pizza from them about 100 times in the past 19 years. There’s also a couple of walk-in carnicerias, pero no hablan inglés y yo no hablo español suficiente bién a comer allí. (but I am getting better!)

Although it’s not a restaurant by any stretch of the imagination, one of the best cheeseburgers I’ve ever had was from the Arco gas station at that corner. Of course, I WAS starving at the time and construction work was blocking my access to any other food. Desperation food it was, but still good!

Everything else along Southern between the corners of this mile is run-down, ghetto housing. Trailer parks on one side, and houses right up against the busy road on the other.

At the other end, a car dealership is dressing up the neighborhood considerably, which makes me less afraid to eat at the only other establishment on this segment of my journey. It is a place called Su Taquito.

9/23/08 Su Taqito. It is about the size and shape of a Taco Bell, but the food is authentic. The ambience is like a little roadside stand in Ensenada. After Piano Lessons, I stopped by and had a taco de carnitas which was quite tasty. A little pork, some onions and cilantro, and taco sauce on two super tiny soft corn tortillas. Cute (about 4” across) but still filling enough. A nice little Mexican Vacation. I’ll be sure to return.

Nothing new here… YET!

Years ago, I used to live in this area, and so have eaten many times at all the places along this stretch. There’s an Organ Stop Pizza next to the Walgreens at the Stapley end, the Dairy Queen my kids went to on field trips in the middle, a Filiberto’s that used to be a Taco Bell, and at the Mesa Drive end, a newly renovated Jack in the Box. There used to be a pretty good Mexican food restaurant in a strip mall there, too, but it’s been gone for years.

The exciting news for this area is the new construction at the Stapley end. On the north side of Southern, they are building a large strip mall. There’s bound to be someplace good to eat. I’m excited to see what all goes in there. I’ll have to keep checking when I am nearby. [more later, apparently!]

On the Gilbert end, there’s an Arby’s and a frozen custard place called Nielson’s. Both stores have been there for as long as I can remember, but not being an Arby’s fan, I have eaten there only twice before this post. I have heard RAVES about Nielson’s, but haven’t ever tried it.

There is also a strip mall right there with a couple of restaurants in it, but I’m not going to count them—mostly because they are not worth counting. Gross, greasy Chinese food. There used to be some gross pizza too, but that place closed down. Well OK, there are two wonderful places right there. One is Mi Amigos, which is a great place to go if you want to eat before 6:pm. They have a really cheap “Happy Hour” menu. The other place is a classic. Mesa Fro-Yo. If you visit Mesa, you will want to try it. If you go on a Monday night, it will be overflowing with chatty Mormon families having their Home Evening Treats.

Back to Arby’s: I had a Beef & Cheddar just so I could write about it here. It was fine. People who like Arby’s food would admire the meltiness of the cheese-food and the foldiness of the meat-food. They may even appreciate the flimsiness of what Arby’s calls a bun. Personally, I doused the whole thing in the Horsey Sauce and sat by the window to eat. There wasn’t anything special about the sandwich, but the employees there were really sweet. When I left, the girl behind the counter called out to me to have a nice day. That makes it worth the trip!

The Stapley end of the mile has a WhataBurger, which I will get to after I give Nielson’s a try. I hope it’s as good as I’ve heard!

4/25/08 Nielson’s: OH MY GOSH!!!!! Go There! If you are ever even NEAR Mesa, Arizona, Go there. That was the creamiest thing I have ever tasted!

I went up to the counter and told the girl that I had never been there. She was very excited to tell me all about it. Then she and another guy who works there gave me large samples of everything they have. They were making jokes that they would fill me up on samples and I wouldn’t have to buy anything. It was almost true, but I found a new favorite thing and I did buy one.

I would say chocolate is probably the most worthwhile of all sweet flavors, but the plain chocolate was the least of what they had. The vanilla was amazingly smooth. They didn’t have mint – at least not that day – but the chocolate-covered-cherry stuff had chunks of chocolate and whole marachino cherries in it. Bingo!

Like I said, “OH MY GOSH!” So good. If you ever get the chance, GO THERE!

5/2/08 Unfortunate Update: Almost to the point of being a retraction. I took my Dearest to this marvelous place on a busy Saturday night. He ordered the vanilla frozen custard and got a puny, not-even-full cup of their still really good product, but I was embarrassed that I had made such a big deal of the place and that was what he received. I guess the service is better on a slow shift.

5/7/08 Whataburger: The Whataburger in my childhood neighborhood was single-handedly responsible for my developing a taste for onions, or at least having onions ON stuff. When I was a kid, the onions on a Whataburger were minced to the size of rice. They don’t do that anymore. Too bad. I miss that.

The food I had today was fine, but it was just ordinary fast food. There were no finely minced onions or special flavors. I could have made it just as good at home.

The store is kind of cute, though, with the old-fashioned pictures on the walls, reminiscent of the good old days . . . the days when they used to mince their onions.

8/30/08 Another Unfortunate Update: Whataburger is GONE^{(* gasp *)} I drove by there yesterday and the entire building is painted white and all the signage completely down. Just gone without a trace.

The only restaurants are on the Gilbert Road end of this mile.

There’s a Burger King, a Village Inn, and a Rigaberto’s all right there, so the other night we tried the Rigaberto’s drive-thru.

It was fine. I ordered cheese enchiladas, though, and they only assembled them. As far as I know, this is not supposed to be a take and bake place, but I had to cook my food after I got home.

Well, at least it was hot. Tasted good, too. The tacos were scant, though. Meh.

I’ll update this post later when I try the other two. Hmmm. BK might be next. Those onion rings are sounding pretty good.

4/4/08 Burger King
I had never tried a “Rodeo Cheeseburger” before, but I stopped at the drive-thru today for lunch and ordered one. It was good: A cheeseburger with barbeque sauce and Burger King’s signature onion rings on top. How can ya go wrong?! . . . By dripping BBQ sauce on a white shirt, that’s how. I knew I should’ve waited till I got home to eat. Dangit. Well, I found out the Clorox bleach pen works, anyway.

4/15/08 Village Inn is closed down!
I drove by after work, with the plan to stop in, but the whole place was abandoned. The letters were gone from the outside of the building and everything. Hmmm. That was fast.

So I crossed Gilbert and continued on my quest.

Actually, I live farther west than Lindsay, so I drove this mile twice. On my way to Val Vista, I noticed that there was nothing along this stretch of road.

Really, there’s not. Even the Subway is being remodeled, or torn down … idk, but it was a shambles and I didn’t want to include Subway in this goal anyway. There is one right by my house, so if I want Subway, I’ll just go there.

So… It was lunchtime and I could have gone to the next mile with my quest and said “No restaurants here” for this mile, but something just told me to go into Bashas.

Bashas is an Arizona grocery store. I used to live near one and I remembered that sometimes they would have good stuff in their deli. I decided to try it. I am so glad I stopped by!

All I ordered was a burrito, and it was really just OK, but the experience is what made it so nice. The lady working the deli does not usually work at that store, but someone called in sick or went on vacation so she was there and by herself.

The burritos in the case looked dreadful. She volunteered to make me a fresh one. OK. :) While I was waiting, I got the chance to see all the stuff they have in that deli. They have take&bake pizza and little buckets of soups and side dishes. Hard boiled eggs for a quarter. I wondered how hot the hot wings were, so the lady GAVE me one to try. It was tasty, but not spicy enough.

Soon, some other customers came and she was trying to wait on them and get her rotisserie chickens and packages of meatloaf out to the grill case. She asked me to help her, so I happily transported and displayed her merchandise while she sliced chopped ham for an elderly lady.

It was a nice adventure, a decent burrito, and I got to be of service, which is key to my having a good day. :)

Residential. Except for the very corners of the quadrant.

At Southern and Greenfield, there is a drug store. There might be a gas station around there, too. Driving the length of that mile, I just passed a line of trees.

At the Val Vista end, there is an old movie theater strip mall that is almost completely vacant now, except for one little jewel: Xavier’s Casa de Reynoso. It is owned and operated by relatives of the family that owns “Chalo’s Casa de Reynoso” in Globe, Arizona, which is far and away the BEST Mexican food ANYWHERE!

Well, Xavier’s isn’t quite as wonderful as Chalo’s, but the flavor is there and it’s 90 miles closer, so it can serve as a decent substitute from time to time.

I just found out about this place a couple weeks ago, and decided to try it out this afternoon as I was driving down Southern anyway, right before dinnertime. I am glad I stopped by. :)

I am glad I decided to put this silly goal on my list. For one thing, there is absolutely no real accomplishment in it ~ it’s just for fun.

But then there’s the occasional happy surprise thrown in just for the sheer randomness of it.

I drove about a mile out of my way to try this after work today, when I would normally go home and make some salad or something.

The mile between Higley and Greenfield is mostly lined with HOA-style landscaping. There are several “planned communities” along that stretch of Southern, so there’s nowhere to eat. Until you get to the corner at Greenfield. There’s a McDonalds. Not generally my choice on any given day, but there wasn’t any other choice in that mile and my ‘goal’ is to patronize restaurants, not pass judgment on them.

So, I stopped at McD’s and ordered a Filet-O-Fish. It was fresh and hot and the bun was fluffy, the cheese was melty and the sauce was pickly. MMMmmm. Good eatin’.

Nothing.

A canal, some walled-in residential areas. A few businesses.
NO restaurants of any kind.

Superstition Springs Mall is there, so quite a few restaurants adorn the south side of Southern. On the north side, the block wall surrounding Leisure World (a “senior” community) runs that entire mile.

In the mall area, there is an Olive Garden. I’ve eaten there. I like the Soup, Salad & Breadsticks, but they took it off the dinner menu, so you have to ask for it. I do not find the rest of their menu appetizing at all.
There is a Red Lobster. I have eaten there. Meh.
There is an Applebee’s. I have eaten there loads of times. It used to be our favorite place, but they change their menu and their waitstaff so often that it is getting rather annoying. They recently took the Onion Peels (you know, everyone’s favorite appetizer!) off the menu. Idiots.
There is a Del Taco there. Gross.
There is a Taco Bell there, where I have stopped many times after a long wait in the Wal-Mart line.
There is another place called, “My Big Fat Greek Restaurant”. I don’t like Greek food and will probably never eat there unless I get invited to a party there or something.
There is a big Chinese place there called Great China, but it is greasy and over-priced, so unless I’m desperate for substandard Asian cuisine, I have no need to eat there.
My favorite on Superstition Restaurant Row is Mi Amigos. Their refried beans should be used as the standard for the industry. Delicious tacos, too!
I think there might be a Fuddrucker’s there. I liked the burger I had the ONE time I went there about 25 years ago. Maybe I’ll give it another try. Then I’ll update this entry.

Update on 9/28/07

Fuddruckers is a pretty great place. So many tantalizing choices. I picked the boneless buffalo wings. They were good. I’ve been feeling sick after, but it’s probably from spending 12 to 16 hours a day painting for the past two weeks and only eating once a day, rather than from eating there. The upside to only eating once a day—I’ve lost 4 pounds. =)

I’m definitely giving Fuddruckers another shot. There’s more stuff there I want to taste.