Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Highlight Their Favorite Date Night Eateries

Recently we ran a drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page where we asked folks to indicate their favorite "date night" restaurant in the Conejo Valley or anywhere in Ventura County. There were nearly 150 entries in the one day drawing and the following restaurants were the top 10 mentions.

Top vote getters in a recent survey for "date night" eatery were Mastro's and The Melting Pot!1st Place: Mastro's Steakhouse and The Melting Pot (tied with 11 votes each)

3rd Place: Holdren's Steakhouse (10 votes)

4th Place: Paul Martin's (9 votes)

5th Place: Wood Ranch BBQ (8 votes)

6th Place: Blue Stove at Nordstrom (7 votes)

7th Place: Lure Fish House (6 votes)

8th Place: Bandits BBQ, Cho Cho San and Café Firenze (5 votes apiece)

Honorable mentions with 2 or more votes include Cheesecake Factory, BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse, Ladyface Alehouse, The Grill on the Alley, Buca di Beppo, Outback Steakhouse and PF Changs.

Mastro's was no surprise to me. The Melting Pot had a surprisingly solid showing, with some very strong supporters. Paul Martin's, which opened in Westlake Village in December 2012, also has a very healthy showing of fans. Lure Fish House originated in Camarillo in December 2010 and has expanded into Westlake Village and Ventura. Cafe Firenze in Moorpark made a solid showing too.

Previously we ran a separate drawing asking followers their favorite family restaurants. Check it out at this link.

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Highlight Their Favorite Family Eateries

The other night, we ran a drawing on the Conejo Valley Guide Facebook page. To enter the drawing, we asked folks to indicate their favorite family-friendly restaurant in the Conejo Valley or anywhere in Ventura County. There were over 170 entries and some clear winners.

Toppers Pizza Place was the clear overall winner, garnering 15 mentions, or nearly 9% of all entries. A perennial favorite, home grown here in Ventura County, with popular pizzas, salad bar and more. Toppers has locations in Lazy Dog Cafe coming soon to The Collection at RiverPark in OxnardThousand Oaks, Camarillo, Simi Valley, Ventura, Oxnard and Channel Islands Harbor. www.topperspizzaplace.com

In the chase pack were Lazy Dog Cafe, Red Robin and Islands Restaurant, each gathering 10 to 11 votes. Lazy Dog is located at The Oaks shopping mall in Thousand Oaks as is coming soon to The Collection at RiverPark in Oxnard. Red Robin has locations at The Oaks, Pacific View Mall in Ventura and Simi Valley Town Center (the Calabasas location recently closed). Islands has locations in Newbury Park, Agoura Hills and in Simi Valley.

Garnering eight votes each were The Cheesecake Factory and Stacked, located side by side at The Oaks. Cheesecake Factory seems to always be bustling with people. With its corporate headquarters in nearby Calabasas, Cheesecake Factory is a publicly traded company with stock symbol CAKE and a current market valuation of $2.3 billion...that's a lot of cheesecake. With its customized iPad ordering system and tasty food, Stacked has grown quite a following since opening in March 2013.

California Pizza Kitchen, with locations at The Lakes at Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley Town Center and Pacific View Mall, received six votes, landing in 7th place on the list.

The following restaurants received a healthy 3 or 4 votes: BJ's Restaurant, Country Harvest in Newbury Park, Wood Ranch BBQ, Cho Cho San, Cronies, Souplantation, Stonefire Grill, Joe's Crab Shack and Pieology. A combination of home grown Ventura County favorites and larger chains.

Making the honorable mention list with two votes apiece were Pickles Deli, Dickey's BBQ Pit, Gandolfo's Deli, Bandits BBQ, Mulberry Street Pizzeria, Chilis, Panera Bread, Yolanda's, Junkyard Cafe, Sea Fresh at Channel Islands Harbor, Jinky's Cafe, Buca di Beppo, Sharky's, Lure Fish House and newly opened Mama's Hummus in Newbury Park.

PLACES WITH KIDS EAT FREE DEALS AROUND VENTURA COUNTY

RESTAURANT REWARDS PROGRAMS AND BIRTHDAY CLUBS AROUND VENTURA COUNTY

Burger King Introduces SATISFRIES™ Reduced Fat, Reduced Calorie French Fries

Image courtesy of Burger KingYesterday, Burger King introduced a new french fry called SATISFRIES™ that have "40% less fat and 30% fewer calories than the leading French fries." Although I'm not a big fast food consumer, this caught my attention!

What do they consider "the leading French fry?" That would be McDonald's. I found that to be slightly odd that they are using the competition as the reference point rather than their own fries. But that's ok. I'll go with it.

Burger King claims that 70 grams of SATISFRIES™ has 6.3 grams of fat as compared to 11.2 grams of fat in 70 grams of McDonald's fries. Similarly, there are 150.5 calories in 70 grams of SATISFRIES™ as compared to 226.8 calories in 70 grams of McDonald's fries.

How do they do it make a French fry with less fat? According to Burger King,"Just like most French fry recipes, SATISFRIES™ are made with thinly battered real whole potatoes. The difference is that the SATISFRIES™ recipe ensures that the French fries absorb less oil – only enough to keep each great tasting crinkle crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside." Basically a new batter that keeps more oil from saturating inside the fry. Interesting concept.

Burger King is asking folks to post their own S pictures on Instagram, some of which are shown at www.bk.com/en/us/satisfries.html.

How do SATISFRIES™ compare to Burger King's own French fries? A small order of SATISFRIES™ is 270 calories, 70 calories, or about 20% less calories than in its standard fries. A small order of SATISFRIES™ has 11 grams of fat as compared to 15 grams in its standard fries, or about 27% less fat.

So let's see how this adds up. If God forbid you normally eat one small order of Burger King French fries each week, with the exception of say Christmas week and Thankgiving week, and decide to switch to the new SATISFRIES™, over the course of a year you would eat 3,500 less calories. According to www.howmanycaloriesinapound.com, there are 3,500 calories in one pound. So switching to SATISFRIES™ equals 1 less pound of body weight in a year. If you're looking to lose weight, perhaps a better approach would be to swap out your fries for the apple slices that Burger King offers up.

Visit www.bk.com for more information.

Have You Heard About the Mysterious "Secret Menu" at Jamba Juice?

While out with my 9 year old son and his friend, we decided to stop by the local Jamba Juice for a smoothie. As I was driving, the kids were talking about "special" flavors at Jamba Juice and how the Sourpatch Kids flavor was so good.

I interjected, "Huh? What are you talking about?" Then my kid's friend educated me a bit. There's a special "Secret Menu" at Jamba Juice that you have to know about to order. I asked him where he saw it. He wasn't exactly sure, but he said it did exist.

As we parked, I had my doubts about this so-called "special" menu. I go to Jamba Juice all the time. How could this 4th grader know something I don't? So we place our orders. He goes first. "I'll have a 16 ounce Sourpatch Kids" he says nonchalantly. My son says, "me too." I ordered my standard Aloha Pineapple and asked the gal behind the counter, "Is there a secret Jamba Juice menu?" She nodded yes. "Is it on the Jamba Juice website?" The answer was non-committal. We left with smoothies in hand and a puzzled look on my face.

While there is no sign of a "secret menu" on the Jamba Juice website, I did find this handy website called Jamba Juice Secrets at www.JambaJuiceSecrets.com where, lo and behold, there is a listing of the "secret menu items."

Apparently this list of secret Jamba Juice concoctions was derived by employees who like to experiment. I have no idea if all Jamba Juice locations and employees are familiar with these items and how to make them, but why not give it a shot and see what happens.

There's a couple risque sounding flavors on the list but some of the top picks include Pink Starburst, the Sourpatch Kid flavor mentioned above (comprised of lemonade, a scoop of pineapple, rasberry, lime and orange sherbet and a scoop of blueberries), White Gummi Bear, Blue Gummi Bear, Skittles, Orange Dream Machine, Chocolate Covered Strawberries, Red Gummi Bear, Fruity Pebbles and nearly 30 more.

I for one will attempt to order some of these in my future Jamba Juice visits, with or without the kids who taught me something new. And if you want a 20% discount on your Jamba Juice, visit Costco and purchase $50 in Jamba Juice gift cards for $39.99.