Restaurant Review: Frescas

I'm thinking about starting a new line of topics on this blog, where I will review various restaurants I have visited. Since I am a lover of fine food, and since I do seem be blessed with opportunities to dine at some very fine establishments from time to time, perhaps this places me in a unique position among my peers to provide descriptions of my experiences. Perhaps you may find them helpful some day in selecting a restaurant for your anniversary or first date.

Fresca's Mexican Grill - 10/27/2006

Not wanting to bite off more than I can chew on my first attempt (ooh, bad pun), let's take a look at Fresca's Mexican Grill in Foothill Ranch, CA. I would classify this restaurant as one of the seemingly endless number of "high end fast food" establishments throughout Orange County. (Other restaurants in this class would be Pasta Bravo, Daphne's, and Rubio's, for example.)

Fresca's, as it turns out, is the most recent in a chain of seven restaurants in O.C (although I had never seen one before). Just walking in I pretty much guessed that was the case because this is one very nicely-appointed fast food place--and that kind of decoration, I imagine, costs more than most mom and pop establishments are able to lay down to start up such an enterprise. The ambience is Tex-Mex, there are two wide-screen TV's on the walls, and the seating is comfortable (the booths looked particularly comfy). Ambience is an important factor for a restaurant (it's importance is roughly proportional to the price), and Fresca's scores very well in the category.

The Foothill Ranch location has been open for 3 weeks, and the day I went there was a line out the door. But, of course, I should know that showing up at exactly 12-noon is never good if you want to avoid rubbing elbows with everyone else on their lunch hour. The process is typical: wait in line, order your food, pay the cashier, take a number, find a seat; wait for your number to be called, and then go pick up your food. Despite the crowd, the staff were hustling, and my food was ready in probably not much more than 5 minutes. Way to go.

Prices are typical for dining in this class: $6-7 for a combo plate with beans, rice, and chips; $2 tacos; #3.50-5.50 burritos, etc. Certainly not a great deal, but certainly in line with what other restaurants are charging these days. (And besides, they have to pay back those interior decorators and builders somehow, right?)

One nice little "bonus" for a good Mexican fast-food restaurant is if they have a decent "salsa bar." Fresca's has a very fine one, with at least 6 different varieties of salsa (from mild to scortching hot), each with a uniquely different flavor. I sat and snacked on chips and salsa while I waited for my number to be called--which, as I said, wasn't very long.

I ordered the #1 platter: Tres Enchiladas. This entree comes with one each of chicken, steak, and cheese enchiladas, and is served with rice, black beans, and chips. The presentation was nice, the food looked very appetising, and the portion was just right. However, I have one complaint, and that is the meat was fairly unsatisfactory. The chicken was a bit dry--probably overcooked--and both the steak and chicken were fairly tough. Good meat quality is one of my biggest demands. One expects mediocre meat at McDonalds, but when someone is spending more, one expects more. Meat should be tender, juicy, and well seasoned. Unfortunately, mine was none of these. Even though the overall flavor of the dish was very good, poor meat pretty much overwhelms everything else. (Perhaps most people don't notice anymore. But once you've had really good meat cooked right, it's hard to settle for less.)

I will go back to try Fresca's again. If the meat is better then this restaurant may become part of my regular rotation. If not, there's plenty of competition out there for my lunch-hour dollars.

I plan to end each review with a quick summary. I will rate the establishment with scores between 1 (horrid) and 5 (phenomenal) in five categories. Here's a summary of Fresca's:

Atmosphere (decor, comfort, and cleanliness): 4.5
Service (promptness, attitude): 4.5
Price: 3.5
Food (presentation and taste): 3
Overall (average of the above categories): 3.9

Advice? Check it out. Perhaps your exprience will surpass mine.

2006 Fall Presbytery

Tonight I depart for my first Presbytery meeting. The church which I help lead is a mission work of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARPC), a denomination with its roots in the Scottish Reformation and, surprisingly, still intact after 273 years.

If you wouldn't mind, please pray that I would have a safe trip, that the meetings would maintain unity centered on biblical truth, charity, clear-headed thinking, wise decision-making, and that Christ's Kingdom here on earth would be furthered.

Bible Theme Parks!?

Life often imitates art. Maybe you remember the episode of the Simpsons where Ned Flanders--the annoyingly wierd, overly zealous, legalistic supposedly Christian neighbor--opened up a Christian amusement park called "Praiseland." Well stand back, now there's "The Holy Land Experience" in Orlando, Florida (along with a host of other similar endeavors).

For $30 you can experience such exciting amusements as:

• A musical reenactment of Christ's death and resurrection, delivered daily by one of the park's three Jesus impersonators!
• A six-story replica of Herod's temple!
• A gift shop that sells Holy Land T-shirts, plastic swords and shields, and biblical cookbooks!
• And much more!

Some people have complained: "What you have is this radical, paradoxical combination of the sacred and the profane, or maybe the sacred and the trivial."

If you tend to agree, perhaps one of the Jesus impersonators could dissuade you: "There are a lot of things we could do here to bring in money, like serve alcohol, but we don't."

But one commentator observed: "places like Holy Land Experience and Dinosaur Adventure Land belong to a long-standing American religious tradition of evangelism as entertainment."

I guess it's not so different than your average Sunday morning worship service these days. And, hey, at least they don't serve alcohol. Because that would make it profane.

Chavez, the Lunatic Thug

Does this little girl look happy to you? Well, would you be happy if Hugo Chavez had his arms around you like that?

I'm enraged that he after he is graciously allowed to enter our country he then has the nerve to blast our president in the most uncivilized, rude, and immature manner. What a frightening, unstable man.

Can we please just kick the UN out of New York and get the heck out of the UN once and for all!? (It'll never happen.)

So Long, Tomcat

"By Friday [9/22] the Tomcat will be gone." This article talks about how the US Navy's F-14 Tomcat, made famous in the hit movie Top Gun, will be retired after 36 years of service, and includes bios of some of the men who flew it. Wow. She was a beauty.

Abu Ghraib II?

Where's the outcry?

About one week ago, American forces transferred to the Iraqis control of the Iraqi prison made famous for the degrading and humiliating treatment by a number of American servicemen and women. And what is the result?

• Allegations of routine torture: "...Screams were coming from the cell blocks housing the terrorist suspects."
• Mass executions: "on Wednesday [9/6/06], 27 prisoners were hanged."
• Prisoners left behind suspected as much: "They had pleaded to go with their departing captors, rather than be left in the hands of Iraqi guards."

In the words of one suspected terrorist: "The Americans were better than the Iraqis. They treated us better."

Seems even America's terrorist enemies know that we will treat them better than their fellow countrymen will. So why is the American media machine so clueless? Where's the public outcry?

Meeting at the White Horse Inn

My pastor recently had the opportunity to meet the participants of the White Horse Inn radio program. I still haven't heard what all they discussed, but I was excited he got to do this. Perhaps I'm living vicariously, but oh well. (My pastor is second from the right.)

2006 Ligonier Conference

Join us this weekend--Friday, September 7 and Saturday, September 8, 2006--for the fall 2006 Ligonier Conference. The subject is the Atonement of Christ and its significance in our lives. Speakers will be R.C. Sproul and Ligon Duncan. Here's a brief summary:

Beginning with the man’s need for atonement, they will discuss the identity of those Jesus came to save, look at how He ransoms us from God’s curse, and answer common questions about the meaning of the crucifixion.

Everyone who is anyone will be there. It should be a great time. Join us!

Burkha Gowns

Just got back from Hawaii. But I'll talk more about that later.

Read this article today on Drudge. Apparently, Muslims will start getting their own specialized gowns whenever they go to hospital in the UK.

What I want to know is, do they flap open all way way down the back, like a traditional hospital gown?

Freedom of Choice

America is the land of choice. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that Americans have far more choices in general than any other nation on earth. It's so ingrained in our psyche that we see "choice" as a given, almost an "inalienable right." This right to choose extends from the most grave (the choice to murder your own unborn child) to the most mundane (orange juice).

The last time I was at the grocery store I was struck by the vast selection of orange juice. Apparently, one or two choices is not enough for something as simple and basic as orange juice. For example, Minute Maid has no less than 10 varieties of orange juice! (This is excluding blends with other juices and "juice drinks.") Not to be outdone, Tropicana has at least 12 styles of OJ! According to Tropicana's website, you have the following options from which to choose:

• Original (no pulp)
• Home Style (some pulp)
• Grove Stand (lotsa pulp)
• Calcium + Vitamin D (no pulp)
• Grove Stand + Calcium (lotsa pulp)
• Light 'N' Healthy (watered down OJ w/vitamins--oh, and no pulp)
• Light 'N' Healthy with Pulp (some pulp)
• Fiber (some pulp--of course)
• Low Acid (no pulp)
• Healthy Heart (no pulp)
• Healthy Kids (because kids apparently need their own OJ)
• Immunity Defense (no pulp)

With all of those options before you, if you're like me you might just stand there in a daze for several minutes trying to figure out which one you want. And then you might just walk away emptyhanded, or go grab a Coke.