23 Comments

Let me tell you, Sizzler salad bar was the jam when I was younger. It was cheap and I could eat a lot of food.

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They had dino-nuggets when I was young! LMAO!

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One of my fave things about your newsletter is all the food stuff that's really specific to Northern California and Nevada. Makes me a bit nostalgic.

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thank you! That's one of the things I'm really trying to focus on lately.

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I have fond memories of dinner at the Sizzler near the Capitola Mall, including the toast that came with your meal, the plastic doneness stakes in the steaks, assembling my own bacon-bits coated salad - and Chicken Malibu! Thanks for writing this piece!

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omg! those little plastic stakes!!! I forgot about those. *memory unlocked*

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We didn't have Sizzler, but we did have The Ground Round (which, like, in hindsight is a hilarious restaurant name). It was the fanciest! The croutons were rye and pumpernickel is how you knew it was right uptown. And we only had steak at home, probably because someone in my family was paid in meat or something "fell off the truck".

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yeah we had the ground round too!

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The Ground Round had the best ice cream sundaes in those little plastic baseball caps and free popcorn on the table, no? The best.

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Holy crap, yes! I haven't thought about those sundaes in decades.

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This is the most hilarious comment I've ever gotten. LMAO!!!!!

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Yes, yes, yes to getting your seasonings in stores! I have tried so many different brands and seasoning blends and I really love the flavor of yours. I use your adobo in almost everything I cook now. I had to purchase some back up adobo before you sell out, and I decided to try some of their other spices. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be buying any of their products.

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thank you! That means a lot!!!

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This story reminded me that Pizza Hut used to have a killer salad bar. The death of the salad bar still haunts me. I want to go coat my lettuce in cheese and bacon and ranch and sunflower seeds, damnit!

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My mom never took us to Pizza Hut, but we did basically live at Shakey's. And they had a really good salad bar. With insane cinnamon rolls.

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Reading about your steak has my mouth watering already!

Your spice blends are sooooo much better than anything I’ve found locally, even in the fancy schmancy SF “fine food” (aka “grocery”) stores. I hope you’re able to keep working with Burlap & Barrel to keep them around. They’re fabulous!

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As long as I can keep making them some money, they'll keep me around! LMAO!

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Alas, the spices are SOLD OUT—how can this be?

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Just the sazon! Still a lot of adobo left.

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letting stuff come to "room temp" is total bs anyway. room temp is like 70F!! do you know how many days it would take a piece of meat to come to room temp in my kitchen like...no. if the meat i'm cooking is really thin and i know it's not gonna be hitting the heat for very long i'll let it sit out a lil just to take the chill off but nothing is reaching room temp. i challenge anyone who says this to actually temp their meat with a thermometer before they cook it and let us all know what room temp is.

...sorry, it's such a pet peeve of mine lmao.

i can't remember where i first had steak. i never liked most meat growing up because i had a dental issue where my back teeth did not meet - combine this with my dad who cooked everything well done and then some, meat was a chore to eat unless it was ground beef or chicken. some $$$$ later for what the insurance co billed as "cosmetic surgery" and learning to cook myself later, i have evolved, thankfully.

more importantly, congrats on rachael ray! that's fucking amazing. and i would love to see your seasonings in store. and by see them i mean buy them. yes please.

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LMAO!!!!!

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I know what I'm making for dinner tonight. I'm also in an "I don't wanna eat anything" phase!

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I saw your sazón at a grocery store last week— Palace Market in Point Reyes.

Sizzler was our fancy restaurant, too. I remember when they added desserts to the salad bar! I saw a Sizzler on a road trip a few years ago (pre-Covid), and took my kids out of nostalgia. Steak was not good at all, but the salad bar and the CHEESE TOAST OH MY GOD we’re just like I remembered.

Our other sit-down places were the Burger Pit and on very special occasions the Spaghetti Factory.

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