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View the Casa Del Rey Menu
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Storefront |
Another angle |
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Chile
relleno and tamale combo (ordered with tamale sauce on the side) |
Machaca and beans burrito |
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DOT COM DINING A Look At San
Gabriel Valley Restaurants by SanGabrielValleyMenus.com
Casa Del Rey – Got You
Covered in Arcadia or Temple City (Editor's
note: A Sierra Madre location opened in Oct. 2004)
By Bill Coburn
Bill Rey opened the
first Casa Del Rey at 9100 E. Las Tunas in Temple City (287-4847) back in 1972.
In 1988, a second Casa Del Rey was opened in San Dimas. In 1991, Bill’s sons
Art and Ed (together with their wives) bought him out, and eventually decided to go their separate ways,
with Art and his wife getting the San Dimas store and Ed and his wife getting the Temple City store. Ed
and his wife Donna then opened a store at 1220 S. Baldwin Ave. in Arcadia (446-8537) in 1996. I’ve
eaten at Ed’s stores, but haven’t been to San Dimas yet, though it’s on the
to-do list. The subject of this column is the Casa Del Reys that I’ve been to,
Ed and Donna’s stores in Arcadia and Temple City.
A few year’s back,
my wife’s cousin told us she really enjoyed this little place down on Baldwin
Ave. when she wanted Mexican food. Since she’s been in the area a while, is
well connected and eats out a lot, we thought she would probably know, so we
gave it a try. We ate there several times, and always enjoyed it. Being the
creature of habit that I am, I pretty much always had the two item combo with a
beef enchilada and a taco, though I’d try the chicken enchilada sometimes, as
well.
When I started doing
the restaurant website, I was driving around in Temple City looking for
restaurants that might want to sign up, and discovered that there was a Casa Del
Rey down there, too. I went inside, and sure enough, it was the same company as
the one on Baldwin, and I thought I’ll have to check it out next time I’m down
in Temple City. Well this week, I was down in Temple City with my wife, Katie,
and we decided to pop into Casa Del Rey for lunch.
It’s kind of a
smaller location, with only about 20 tables I could see, but the spaciousness
and the high ceilings in the main dining room make it a very comfortable place
to enjoy a meal. Our server greeted us almost immediately after we were seated,
got our beverages, and checked back several times before the wishy-washy
Coburn’s had finally decided on what to eat. Yes, I know, the decisions should
be easy since I’m a creature of habit, but since I’ve been doing these
restaurant spotlights, I’ve been trying to try new things and be less redundant
in my eating patterns. I eventually settled on a machaca and bean burrito, and
Katie had a beef tamale and chile relleno combination. (Side note: Turns out I
was being redundant anyway, as I was looking through some reviews from earlier
this year and discovered that in an earlier review, I mentioned trying my first
machaca burrito. The first person to e-mail me at bill@thecoburngroup.com with
the name of the restaurant I was reviewing when I had my first one will receive
a “Summer Savings” voucher good for 20% off on each of two visits to Beckham
Grill in Pasadena - some restrictions do apply, see voucher for details).
Getting back to the
meal, we both enjoyed our food. My burrito was huge, and filled with shredded
beef, fresh homemade beans, bell peppers, onions and egg (I ordered it no
tomatoes). I could have been okay with a little more egg, but that was because
I was kind of in the mood for a breakfast burrito, which this was definitely
not. It was filling, and delicious. I did get some of the chef’s hot salsa as
well, which was a nice addition. Katie ordered her sauce (which she said was
quite good) on the side for the tamale, though she let them sauce up her chile
relleno. She says she really enjoyed the meal, and even commented on how good
the rice was. She mentioned during the meal that she couldn’t find the stem for
the chile, and when we talked to Ed later, he told us that they do their chile
rellenos a little differently, removing the stem, and stuffing cheese up into
the chile where the stem has been removed. Nice touch.
Both stores serve
cocktails, Arcadia has outside dining while Temple City does not, both have kids
menus, both serve food to go and have catering menus, and both accept
reservations for parties of 7 or more. You can find the menus for either store
by going to www.sangabrielvalleymenus.com/casadelrey. I’ve been pleased every
time I’ve eaten at a Casa Del Rey, and I’m sure you will be, too.
Frank and Joe’s
Southern Smokehouse at 110 E. Colorado
Blvd. in Monrovia is featuring
live music on Fridays and Saturdays now, with an emphasis on blues bands
throughout the month of June. This restaurant, which used to be the Cajun Way
Café, has always been one of my favorites, and adding blues to the mix sounds
like a good way to spend an evening.
Mary’s Market at 561
Woodland in Sierra Madre has been featuring a Taco night on Tuesdays, and word
has it that it has grown into quite an event up in the canyon. Worth checking
out if you’re up in that neck of the woods/canyon.
Ever heard of
Canadian Style cooking? Neither had I until I saw Diron’s Canadian Style
Takeout Café, which is scheduled to open today, barring last minute unexpected
glitches. Diron’s is located at 125 E. Colorado Blvd in Monrovia, and is
opening as a take-out café with just a couple outdoor tables, but has plans to
expand next door, adding a dining room, and to the back, adding a patio.
There’s also talk about live entertainment down the road, we’ll let you know
when we hear about that. And Monrovia readers, take note: Diron’s will be
delivering, as well, which few non-pizza places do any more.
The Arcadia
Republican Woman’s Club is going to be having a Chili Cook-off on June 17.
Judges will include a local politician, a radio personality, a restaurant owner,
and a certain restaurant menu website publisher/restaurant reviewer. Mark it on
the calendar for things to do. I’ll fill you in on the details in next week’s
column, assuming I find the flyer in that Bermuda Triangle I call a desk.
Bill Coburn is owner of SanGabrielValleyMenus.com, a
restaurant website featuring dozens of restaurant’s menus, as well as
downloadable coupons. He has nearly 20 years experience in the restaurant
business, and has been eating for much longer than that. |
