Russell’s Famous Hamburgers and Dots Cupcakes

After we walked at the Rose Bowl in the annual HeartWalk, BK and I went to the RV show that was there and found our perfect RV. Well, we saw one – a 30 foot Winnebago – that fit our dreams but, unfortunately, not our pocketbooks. So now we needed to eat and, of course, Old Town Pasadena seemed the appropriate place to look for a restaurant. We remembered we had been to Russell’s a few times and decided to go back since we found a decent parking place not too far from there.

Russell’s says it has been around as long as I have which is quite a record not only for a restaurant but also for a person. (a tiny piece of humor there) The restaurant has an interesting ambiance. There is a lot of red color, ornate chandeliers, and nice music. It almost appears like a French bistro but it is a diner, of sorts. We were promptly seated and were offered drinks – Diet Pepsi for BK and ice tea for me.

I didn’t know their specialty was hamburgers and since neither BK nor I wanted one, having eaten at The Counter last night, we looked at both the breakfast and the lunch menus to find something else. I was immediately drawn to a sandwich that was on both menus, the only difference being the sides offered. The sandwich is called the Croque Monsieur which is actually a grilled ham and cheese on sour dough bread. Well, it is a little more than that as the picture shows. It is made with what they say is French ham and gruyere cheese with a mornay sauce all inside this grilled sandwich that is then covered with cheese that is also melted. It is a sandwich that is eaten with a knife and fork.  I decided on the side of hash browns which was an excellent choice. I was in heaven. It was all gooey, rich and wonderful.

BK ordered breakfast as well – her favorite – a chili cheese omelet which she said was delicious. She also liked the hash browns. The only disappointment was that she ordered their famous cinnamon bun which cost $1 extra and they ran out of them so she had very good rye toast.

The service was very good. By the way, there is one other French sounding sandwich, Croque Mademoiselle, which is exactly like the one I had but has an egg on top. That didn’t appeal to me. My sandwich was $9.75 and BK’s omelet was $10.50. Russell’s is on 30 N. Fair Oaks Av. in Pasadena.

As we sat in Russell’s, BK noticed Dots Cupcakes across the street. In my effort to help my daughter in her quest for as much information about various cupcakes as she can get, we went there after our lunch to get some for later at home. They have many different kinds, some on different days. The regular cupcakes are $2.75 and the mini cupcakes are $1.50. We bought 4 of them. I wanted the chocolate mint cupcake which is the one in the picture. It is a chocolate cupcake with a very mint icing and chocolate covered mints on the top. (see picture) I loved it. Bonnie was taken with the Hostess cupcake that is filled with real whipped cream and it was also delicious. We have two more – a peanut butter one and one called chocolate vanilla – chocolate cake with white butter cream frosting. We haven’t eaten those yet but I am sure they are also great. If you are in Old Town Pasadena, stop in at Dots Cupcakes on Fair Oaks and Colorado – 21 N. Fair Oaks.

Magnolia Grille and Casa di Giorgio

BK’s sister, CA, who lives in Milwaukee, had suggested I write a review of a restaurant that we went to while we were there, Casa di Giorgio, one that we all enjoyed. I would love to do that but I can’t remember it. I do remember going there and that one friend was late and that my oldest daughter came with us but I have no recollection of what I ate. However, CA has reminded me that it has “good food, service & reasonable prices.” BK remembers having a very good steak. If any of the other people who were there could remember what we ate and give me some more hints so I can remember, I would appreciate it.

I would love people to write even very short messages on this blog about where they have eaten. Wouldn’t it be great to have many reviews from all over the country? However, I have yet to figure out how to get people I don’t know to read this so I just post it on Facebook and hope there might be some ripple effect. If anyone knows how to do this on Blogger, I would love that information.

I write these blogs very soon after the experience because I want it fresh in my mind (never mind my forgetting the whole thing). After water exercise today, we went to the Magnolia Grille, 10530 Magnolia Blvd., in North Hollywood. This is a neighborhood type place and they also bake their own bakery. The first big plus was the Diet Coke. Not only did it cost $1.50, but they brought a good sized carafe of soda to the table so we never had to wait to get more to drink. As you know from my previous posts, this is very important to me.

We were waited on promptly, served the drinks quickly, our orders taken as soon as we were ready and the food delivered in a proper amount of time. We each ordered a cup of chicken tortilla soup and then we shared a hamburger with fruit. The soup was wonderful, although not like a tortilla soup one might have imagined. It had a chicken broth base that was completely devoid of grease, was filled with white meat of chicken, some white cheese, corn, tortilla strips and a slight bit of cilentro. It was thick with ingrediants with no tomato or any real Mexican spices and I loved it as did BK. Our hamburger was a normal burger, good but nothing spectacular. The fruit was fresh and sweet. The wonderful thing was that they split the hamburger and the fruit for us and charged nothing extra. We were very satified with our meal.

We have been here a few times before, mostly for breakfast where there is a choice of freshly baked breads instead of toast – banana and zuchinni are two I saw there today. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Again, if you are in the eastern North Hollywood, western Burbank area, I would recommend the Magnolia Grille.