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The first time Femme de Joie dined at Brick's, back when it was on Placer Street (in the tiny building now occupied by the wildly popular Wilda's), she was underwhelmed. She and Amico del Signore ordered sandwiches (the exact contents now forgotten) which arrived slathered in a sweet red barbecue sauce that completely obliterated any smoke or grill taste. It could have been terry-cloth in those rolls; we wouldn't have been able to tell. Privately we vowed to never return.

But years went by. Brick's prospered and moved to a bigger location. The disappointing pain of those first sauce sandwiches eased. And eventually Brick's was given a second chance to redeem themselves. Breakfast seemed like a good place to start, so one Saturday morning we hied ourselves to Eureka Way to try it out.

If there is a Redding restaurant with a more poorly designed parking lot than Brick's, M. de Joie would be afraid to attempt parking in there. It isn't Brick's fault;' this lot has been like this for a number of years. It's as though the inventor of the Tilt-a-Whirl decided to transfer the concept of an amusement park ride to paving.

There have been several restaurants in this spot. If memory serves, there was the Donut Wheel, the ill-fated Avocado's, La Gondola (sorely missed), and possibly a couple of others. The current interior arrangement isn't fancy - wooden tables and chairs, a small beer bar in the back, a salad bar.



Tri-tip and eggs, $9.89.

Tri-tip is one of those cuts of meat that everyone professes to love, but is nearly always dessicated and rendered flavorless by well-meaning cooks. This, however, was luscious and tender, with smoke rings around the edges. House-made hash browns were similarly well-executed - crunchy exterior and creamy interior.



Chicken-fried steak and eggs, $10.89

We debated whether this chicken-fried steak was better than the one served at Dry Creek Station. While we didn't come to a definitive conclusion, we agreed it was equal. The steak still had some pinkness in the center and was quite juicy - a rarity for CFS. M. de Joie has never cared much for country potatoes/home fries in restaurants because they always seem to have an off taste, but these were delicious, crisp without being burned, and without that old-oil taste.



Grits, $2.89

Is there another place in Shasta County serving grits? They aren't everyone's cup of tea, but it's worth ordering a small cupful and trying them with butter, a squeeze of honey, or using them to mop up egg yolk. These were al dente, as Joe Pesci prefers.



Southwest chicken Reuben, $7.99

Brick's serves an interesting variation on the standard Reuben, substituting smoked shredded chicken for corned beef. It made for a messy, drippy, and delectable sandwich, the smoky chicken holding its own with the other ingredients. The swirled rye bread didn't hold up so well and finally collapsed.



Hot link sandwich, $7.99

Femme de Joie does enjoy food that's fiery enough to make her reach for the Tums. The hot link sandwich at Brick's did just that, but it was worth it. A combination of sliced Andouille and Louisiana hot links, this might be a bit too spicy for some people. It is hot, as the name implies, and a bit on the greasy side, but the piquant seasonings make this more than just one-note hot.

Both sandwiches came with waffle-cut fries, which added support to M. de Joie's theory that any French fried potatoes which are sliced in fancy shapes will always be inferior to fries sliced in the usual wedges or finger strips.



Spicy mac and cheese, $2.99

We both liked the creamy shell mac and cheese - not overcooked or dry, it did have a little heat but wasn't so hot that the kids would reject it out of hand.



Coleslaw, $1.59

One the other hand, M. de Joie wasn't crazy about the coleslaw, which was less than crunchy. With a non-sweet mustardy dressing, it would have been better served on a sandwich as a relish rather than as a side dish.

Overall, Femme de Joie likes Brick's and is glad she gave them a second and third chance. The atmosphere is casual and service is friendly, if a little on the slow side at times. And they get huge Brownie points for serving Guinness and Newcastle Brown Ale on tap. It's a good locally owned and operated place on Redding's West Side, an area that could use some more decent restaurants. Rather than stop at that chain burger hatchery across the street, give Brick's a try (they serve burgers too).

Brick's Smokehouse BBQ & Grill, 1970 Eureka Way, Redding, CA 96001. 530-245-9158. Fax 530-245-9163. Open Monday-Friday, 10 AM - 11 PM; Saturday & Sunday open 6 AM for breakfast. Beer and wine. Vegetarian options. Cash, cards; no checks. On-site parking lot from hell or park on the street. Website at http://bricksbbq.com/index.php/home

It was 1968 that Buz’s Crab Stand opened for business in a slightly grotty location between a dry cleaner’s and Safeway. Back then, after placing an order, customers had to keep one ear peeled for staff yelling through the noisy restaurant that their order was ready. The menu was short and sweet: fish and chips, a few broiled fish dishes, clam chowder. Though they claim to be a “funky fish joint,” nowadays Buz’s is more genteel and calculatedly funky than in their early days. The amount of available seating has expanded and servers now bring food to your table. You still order at the counter -- usually standing for a few minutes reading the enormous menu board behind the cashier -- and get your own non-alcoholic drinks, but now diners are given a table marker saying Swordfish or Halibut to ensure food is delivered to the right table. Service has been friendly and prompt.

Buz’s menu has expanded wildly since those early days, which may appeal to a broader demographic with more adventurous palates than was had forty-some years ago, but very often the execution is uneven and disappointing. There doesn’t seem to be one chef overseeing operations and ensuring consistency. Pastas, wraps, fish burgers, Southwestern, Cajun, cioppino, Mexican, fish kebabs, grilled/fried/broiled -- Femme de Joie feels that while trying to please every taste, the kitchen has spread itself too thin.



The signature dish at Buz’s, fish and chips, $7.75. The batter was crisp but bland; the fish was fine the first few bites while still warm from the fryers. After that it became apparent the fish inside was dry and overcooked. Chips -- which appear to have been pre-cooked en masse and kept warm; they certainly are not freshly fried -- are under the fish so any crispness they might once have had is steamed out by lying under the hot filets.



Crab chowder,$5.49. This rich and creamy soup was filled with new potatoes and loads of crab. Unfortunately, the delicate, sweet crab taste was lost due to a heavy hand with dried herbs.



Salmon bisque was much more successful than the crab bisque; the stronger flavor of meaty salmon chunks stood up nicely in a not-too-creamy base.



Two fish tacos supreme. Nuggets of deep-fried fish were crunchy but tasteless and covered with guacamole from a jar, cheese, olives, salsa from a jar, scallions, and a very runny creamy sauce that saturated the flour tortillas and eventually made the entire taco a soggy mess.



Open-faced crab sandwich on sourdough was one of the better offerings: lots of hot crab under a not-too-heavy coat of melted cheese on a thick slice of sourdough. The sweet crab -- mixed with bits of celery -- came through nicely and the sandwich was kept hot on a metal platter. There were plenty of those soft, pasty chips on the side.



The best thing Femme de Joie had at Buz’s: a fresh green salad.

Generally, M. de Joie doesn’t care much about presentation as long as the food is good. But when she pays a fairly hefty price for lunch and then finds the food isn’t all that wonderful, she starts to notice things. For instance: a $5.50 cup of soup served in a plastic bowl, runny and drippy tacos served in a plastic basket with a sheet or two of paper to keep the flood from spilling onto the table, cheap plastic forks. It wouldn’t be so noticeable if other restaurants did the same thing, but if you’re paying sit-down prices and getting takeaway plastic and paper, you start thinking about whether you’re getting the best value for money.

EDIT: Buz's has closed as of September 2012. R&R Meats has purchased the building and will turn it into a seafood market.

Buz’s Crab Seafood Restaurant and Market, 2159 East Street, Redding, CA 96001. 530-243-2120, fax 530-243-4310. Open Sunday-Wednesday, 11 AM - 8 PM, Thursday-Saturday 11 AM - 9 PM. Seafood market open Sunday-Wednesday 9 AM - 8 PM, Thursday-Sunday 9 AM - 9 PM. Beer and wine. On-site parking. Cash, local checks, cards. Overnight delivery of fish via FedEx; see website for details. Website at http://www.buzscrab.com/index.php

Pio Loco first opened in 1986 in a former pizzeria on Lake Boulevard as a non-traditional Mexican restaurant; when the old gymnasium at the Pine Street School became available in the mid-1990’s, Chef Jeff Cerasaro upped sticks and moved to the considerably more roomy downtown location. Within the past few months Pio Loco has undergone some pleasant changes: the bar was moved downstairs, a dance floor was added along with a plant-filled room divider, and a new earthy Mediterranean color scheme completed the update.

About ten years ago the mainly quasi-Mexican menu expanded to include fusion dishes such as Pork Tenderloin Naranja (pork with sake, mandarin oranges, and cilantro) and sides like risotto and balsamic spinach. In 2007 the Mexican /fusion dishes were scooted to the side when Cerasaro decided to turn the emphasis to seafood. Whether fish didn’t sell well or customers requested the old menu is unknown, but within a year the Mexican dishes were being featured again. A few fish dishes remain (salmon with pesto, halibut con grejo) as do the salads, a few mainstream entrees (rib-eye steak, filet) and some Asian-influenced appetizers (ahi sashimi, ahi poki).

It seems, however, that more attention is currently being paid to the aesthetics of the interior than to the quality of the food coming out of the kitchen. Femme de Joie remembers eating at the Lake Boulevard location and then at the newly-refurbished Pine Street restaurant, and enjoying the food greatly. Over the last few visits she has noticed a definite decline in taste and presentation , uneven execution of many of the staple dishes, and some oddly inconsistent pricing.
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The first thing that caught M. de Joie’s eye on the menu was that the first basket of chips and bowl of salsa are complimentary; order another and that’s $1.00 for chips and $1.50 for salsa. Now M. de Joie will defend any restaurateur’s right to turn a profit, but it is standard practice at every other Mexican restaurant to simply bring another round of both when requested and figure that into the overall cost of each meal. Further, the hot garlic salsa may or may not still be offered; on one occasion when M. de Joie requested some hotter salsa, the busboy looked confused and said there wasn‘t any other hot sauce. But on another visit the garlic salsa was being served to all tables.

Among appetizers, the oyster shooters (two for $2.95) are a good bet: two raw oysters, each in its own cup, covered in a sweet, chunky cocktail sauce. These are light and fresh, what a good appetizer should be: to whet the diner’s appetite for dishes to come, not sate it with fatty, heavy globules of melted cheese or deep-fried vegetables with gooey dipping sauce.
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A lunch special: bay shrimp and avocado wrap with green salad, smoked salmon dressing on the side. This should have been great but was very bland: the green salad was out of a bag - iceberg lettuce-shredded carrot-red cabbage, with a few diced tomato pieces. The smoked salmon dressing (95 cents extra) deserves decent greens but iceberg lettuce isn’t it. As for the wrap, there was no dressing on the filling to give it a creamy cohesiveness. While the avocado chunks were ripe and the shrimp were tasty, the entire wrap was disappointing and needed quite a lot of salt to give it some flavor.

A word about that green salad: a note on the menu indicates if a salad or soup is ordered as a side with a main course, it costs $2.50. However, if you order a simple side salad or cup of soup by itself, it costs $7.95. There is no other word to describe that but rip-off (usury not strictly being correct). Imagine this: you go to meet an old friend for lunch at Pio Loco. You order your meal but your friend isn’t very hungry or is on a diet. “I’ll just have a dinner salad.” When the bill comes, there it is: $7.95 for a small plate of iceberg lettuce. Your friend is not going to be amused and that is what you‘ll both remember about the food.
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Burrito mejor with carne asada, $9.95. The carne asada shreds were tasty enough and freshly grilled, but the rest of the ingredients - pinto beans, Napa cabbage, cheese - didn’t have much flavor on their own and contributed little but bulk to the entire dish. Verde sauce was pleasantly tart but the Spanish sauce tasted like it was out of a can. This appeared to have had the sauces poured over and then allowed to sit long enough for both the Spanish and verde sauces to soak into the tortilla and congeal. It was accompanied by yet another pile of shredded iceberg lettuce and diced tomatoes.
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Beer battered halibut and chips, $14.95.

On a lunch outing, M. de Joie placed her order for halibut and chips with the waitress at 12:15. It arrived at table at 12:42 - and this when there were no more than six other tables occupied. The chips were out of a bag of frozen crinkle-cuts and had been sitting around cooling for a good ten minutes or more. The slaw was a mixture of shredded cabbage and carrots in an oily dressing without any discernable flavor save a slight sweetness. Four small halibut chunks were long on breading and short on actual halibut; what fish was there had been overcooked to a wooly texture. The fish had apparently been fried at the same time the potatoes were.

A better-than-average wine list is offered with numerous selections available by the glass for a fair price, and a couple of local vineyards (Alpen Cellars from Trinity County, Alger Vineyards in Manton), as well as a tasty selection of beers (Kona Longboard, Tangerine Wheat).

Femme de Joie feels that Pio Loco’s kitchen is attempting to go in more directions than can be accomplished with success, and the overall menu is suffering due to a lack of focus. Mexican, fish, Asian, steak, multiple side dishes and appetizers - each one deserves care, high-quality ingredients, and individual preparation, and it appears they are not getting it. There is also a problem with getting completed dishes out of the kitchen in a timely fashion. During one visit, there was one waitress visible plus the hostess and a very hard-working busboy - not enough staff to cover such a large space.

While Chef Jeff can be seen emerging from his office now and then, does he ever go into the kitchen and cook? It’s a shame to see the food and service at Pio Loco slide downhill when it had been so good in the past, and after all the work that’s gone into updating the décor. Pio Loco was at first a fine addition to the downtown business community. It is hoped this is a very temporary decline and the situation rights itself.

EDIT: Pio Loco closed a few months after righting itself; however, Chef Jeff has announced plans to open a new restaurant in the old Fiesta Azteca location on Park Marina Dive. Good on him.

Pio Loco, 1135 Pine Street in the Pine Street School (corner of Eureka Way), 530-246-2111. Open 11:30 to 4:30 Monday-Friday for lunch, dinner 4:30 to 9:00 PM Monday-Thursday, until 9:30 PM Friday and Saturday. Full bar. Vegetarian options. On site-parking. Cash, local checks, cards. Occasional live music. Club Coco Loco 9:00 PM - 1:00 AM Friday & Saturday. Website and menu at http://www.pioloco.com/

Femme de Joie has found people tend to either love Gene's with a passion or despise it with the hatred usually reserved for memories of high-school-cafeteria tuna-on-a-shingle. She recalls one person who described the onion rings as "made from turnips." Personally, M. de Joie enjoys a burger from Gene's now and again and has yet to find a turnip on the menu.

Gene's Drive-in has been in the same spot for about 6,873 years. If you are of a certain age and grew up here, you remember the 19 cent hamburger sign that rose above it long after the burgers ceased to cost 19 cents. (Whatever happened to that sign? Shouldn't it be in the Smithsonian?) Nowadays Gene's capitalizes on nostalgia for that long-ago era, and Thursday nights you can stop by and chat with folks who drive up in their restored vintage cars to mingle with other '50's aficionados/car buffs. (Be advised: these people carry Baby Books detailing every step of the restoration and are willing to share the entire story behind their jitney.) So while you're leaning on a fender of a cherry-red convertible, or maybe that orange number with Elvis detailed on the side, you might want to grab a burger. Just don't drip any fry sauce on the upholstery.

When you go up to the window, you mark your order with a teeny golf pencil on a pre-printed pad, hand it through the window, and take your number. They'll call you when it's ready. No "super-size that?" is asked, nothing is sitting under a heat lamp waiting to be picked up. It's all cooked to order.

Gene's has a fairly extensive menu with assorted sizes and combinations of burgers. Mlle. de Joie finds the smaller, plainer offerings a bit on the dry and bland side, so when she's cruisin' on South Market Street in her poodle skirt and bobbysox, she likes to get a double Micah: plenty of condiments and heft for the money.
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Double Micah Burger with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mayonnaise, Potato Gems, with fry sauce and medium Pepsi, $10.03.

Like all good Malt Shoppes from the 1950's, Gene's really shines when it comes to gooey ice cream concontions and drinks, with 30 flavors of shakes. There are the normal drive-in items - fish sandwich, taco, hot dogs - but really, people come here for the burgers and the company. Outdoor tables are utilitarian and reasonably clean. There isn't a lot of seating so be prepared to eat in your car or take your order away.

Places like Gene's - authentic drive-ins, not glitzed-up re-creations - hold on despite the fact that they are hardly efficient business models. No one can dispute that you can get a cheaper burger-fries-drink at McMegaKing Burger. But at Gene's you are supporting a local business that serves local people instead of travelers driving up Interstate 5 as fast as they can. And, to Mlle. de Joie's mind, you are getting a far better tasting meal than those other places.

- Femme de Joie


Gene's Drive-In, 2515 South Market Street, Redding, CA. 530-241-4381. Open 10 AM to 9 PM Monday-Saturday, 11 AM - 7 PM on Sunday. No checks. Cash, Visa, Mastercard. Outdoor seating. On-site parking. Thursday is '50's night.

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What is patriotism but love of the food one ate as a child? - Lin Yutang

The best pastrami sandwich Mademoiselle de Joie ever ate was at a long-closed burger joint called Jan's Frost Shop. It was on Placer Street near Court, in the tiny building most recently vacated by Willie's Famous Chili Dogs. The owner was a short bald man of indeterminate age, sweaty and hairy like Harry Goldenblatt on Sex and the City; he addressed everyone as "sweetheart" and turned out the most fabulous hot pastrami sandwich and French fries in the world. The pastrami was on rye, of course, with plenty of fat still in the meat so that during the grilling process the fat melted and oozed into the bread - which already had picked up ample grease from the grill. The French fries were cut from potatoes right there in the grill; you got an enormous serving of greasy, salty fries that were too hot to touch right away. It was a cardiologist's nightmare.

Jan closed up shop long ago and ever since then M. de Joie has looked for a suitable replacement for the Pastrami Of Her Dreams. The old Italian Cottage on Hilltop came close, but other than that, it's been a disappointing search. Even Perry's on Union Street in San Francisco - a replica of a New York bar and grill - served a remarkably plain and uninspiring pastrami, along with some very, very odd potato salad.

So when Mlle. de Joie passed by Nick's Bella Vista Grill and saw this sign, she decided to make it her business to stop in.





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You order at the window to take to your car or eat on the patio; there is also a small dining room with wooden tables and booths where a waitress will take your order.
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On the day she visited, M. de Joie was more in the mood for a burger, so that is what she ordered, and she was not at all disappointed.

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Double cheeseburger, fries, medium Pepsi - $8.42.

The patio tables are covered with red vinyl tablecloths that had been cleaned quite recently.
The burger was excellent - juicy and full of flavor, served with "the works" (as the menu indicates), and on a bun that did not disintegrate and fall apart in a squooshy mass. Fries - not out of a freezer bag, these were cut at Nick's, with the skin left on, hot and very crisp. A+.

Another day, M. de Joie returned to try the advertised hot pastrami. A thick serving of thin-sliced pastrami on a French roll, plus Gems and a soda, came to $9.93. It shoud have been good - but the pastrami lacked flavor and was dry. Mlle. de Joie pondered this for a while, and then recalled Ring Lardner:

"....if it is home runs that the public wants to see, why leave us give them home runs..."

If the public wants lean pastrami, why leave us give them lean pastrami. For years now it has been well-nigh impossible to find marbled pastrami because the public asks for lean meat. Fat carries flavor and moistness; absence of same leaves meat dry. Hence: dry pastrami sandwiches.

So the pastrami didn't turn out well - still, Nick's makes a wonderful burger and fries. Stop in and give them a try.

- Femme de Joie

Nick's Bella Vista Grill, 21442 Highway 299, Bella Vista (across from Bella Vista Feed and Ranch Supply). 530-549-3042. Open Monday-Friday 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Cash, credit and debit cards. No checks.