Where To?

Daily writing prompt
What is your favorite restaurant?

I think of this as, ‘Which of these restaurants would I like to go to right now?’

Like movies, books, and music for me, my favorite restaurant has a weight attached to it. Company is that weight. Time and place. Who was with me, and where did I live on the water slide of my existence.

A second question comes up. Which of these places remain in existence?

The top five, counting up to number one.

5. Yes, it’s a cafe. Coffee shop, actually. La-di-da. Half Moon Bay, California. Terrific Mexican mochas and good vibe. Ten minute Saturday or Sunday morning walk from my house. Another ten minute walk west to the Pacific ocean. A thirty minutes or so drive back into the insanity of Silicon Valley. It’s gone, baby, sold and sold again.

4. Seaside. Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Wonderful place for a long afternoon lunch when the time for a break came. Overlooked the East China Sea. Still there, according to Kadena’s website.

3. Chanello’s Pizza. Hugh square cheese-laden, toppings-heavy crispy thing. We used to order it when we lived on Randolph AFB, Texas, in the late 1970s. Just outside of Universal City. A short drive from San Antonio. Cousins would come over and we would chow down.

2. Laughing Planet in Eugene, Oregon. Such awesome burritos. We’re fans of burritos but this place knocks us out. My wife and I sometimes play a game: which places would we like to have in our town? This place consistently arrives on our list.

1 – The Green Salmon Cafe in Yachats. We enjoy their vegan, gluten-free pastries and breakfast sandwiches. It’s another place we’d like to have here in our town.

Honorable mentions: Ruby’s, here in Ashland, Oregon. Awesome burritos, sandwiches, and burgers. Garden Fresh Chinese Restaurant in Mountain View, California. They used plant-based meat way back in the 1990s. Chevy’s Tex-Mex in Foster City, California. You know, I think we’re pretty partial to Mexican food. DeNunzio’s Italian Trattoria in Monroeville, PA. Great food, wonderful staff.

They’re all favorites. I wouldn’t mind hitting all of them just one more time.

The New Biz

There’s a new business in Ashlandia: Kingston Cannabis.

It’s on the south end of town, by I-5 and the Exit 14 Interchange. The business used to be a U-Haul service center. Before that, it was an automobile service station. Like the U-Haul place, Kinsgston reeks with 1960s era service station design clues.

My wife and I decided to stop there the other day. We were on a mission. Cannabis was not involved. We weren’t interested in THC, CBD, CBG – nothing like that lured us to Kingston. We were there for the food truck.

Garcia’s Tacos.

My wife and I, white as new snow on Mount Ashland, are very fond of Mexican food, especially that part of the food spectrum called Tex Mex. We really enjoy burritos. Tell us that breakfast burritos are available and our eyes light up like the Terminator chasing after John.

Besides Garcia’s food truck, several other food trucks are authorized to park at Kingston’s, including Kat’s Crepes – oh, boy – Yolks and Toast (there almost every Sunday), Desserts1st, Tacos El Paisa, Double B Wings, Laika’s Lox & Bagels, and a doughnut truck called Lil’ Monster Donuts . Yes, a doughnut food truck! Almost as damn enticing to the taste buddies as a Mexican food truck.

The best burritos in Ashland, in our opinion, is offered by Ruby’s of Ashland. They’re downtown, on Pioneer, just a few blocks from the plaza, Lithia Park, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s theaters. Good location, yeah? Yeah. Tres popular place. Next to it is a lovely tap house, Gil’s. Cold brews, you know? Yeah, you know.

So, we ordered Garcia breakfast burritos. Nine dollars each. He gave us a pager for when the meal was ready. Off we went to explore Kingston.

Okay, if you want edibles or smoke-ables, Kingston can serve you. They have fine offerings out of Washington, Oregon, and California. They make many things locally. We didn’t buy anything today but the gummies and cookies were both talking to me. Friends swear by their combination of THC/CBG gummies.

Besides the cannabis offerings, Kingston has a lovely outdoor seating area. Half is covered. New café tables and chairs are set up. Water features and fire pits are set up to counter weather’s influence. The manager told us that they have live music several times a month, with the food trucks coming on site to provide food and refreshments. Besides the seating area, they also had Cornhole set up.

Our burritos took a while. We finally took them home and devoured those puppies. Mine was egg, hash browns, and bacon. It was dry but tasty. Definitely didn’t overtake Ruby’s burritos are the top of the list but definitely worth another tasting.

And of course, there are plenty of other food truck offerings awaiting our judgement. It’s game on.

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