New Thousand Oaks The Habit Burger Grill Continues This Burger Chain's Success Story

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The Habit Burger Grill originated on November 15, 1969 at 5735 Hollister Ave, Goleta - a location that is still in operation to this day. The Habit is a fast casual restaurant concept that specializes in preparing fresh, made-to-order char-grilled burgers and sandwiches featuring USDA choice tri-tip steak, grilled chicken and sushi-grade albacore tuna cooked over an open flame. 

The chain was purchased by a private equity firm in 2007 and subsequently The Habit Restaurants, Inc. went public with an initial stock offering on November 19, 2014, 45 years after its inception.

The new location coming soon to Thousand Oaks. Ever wonder why the "b" in Habit is slightly twisted? I asked. The Habit indicates it "makes it special and light hearted."

The new location coming soon to Thousand Oaks. Ever wonder why the "b" in Habit is slightly twisted? I asked. The Habit indicates it "makes it special and light hearted."

A new location is coming to Thousand Oaks at the former Famous Dave's BBQ location at 3980 Thousand Oaks Blvd. This will mark the 4th Conejo Valley Habit Burger location, including existing locations in Thousand Oaks, Newbury Park and Agoura Hills. Additional Ventura County locations in Simi Valley (2), Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura (2).

The Habit trades under stock symbol HABT and currently is (as of December 20, 2016) at $17.30 per share, down 4% from its initial public offering price of $18 per share. That said, its price soared to close at nearly $40 per share that first day of trading, making it a bit of a terrible investment for those that bought after the IPO.

Stock price aside, The Habit has been quite a success story, growing to 160 restaurants in 10 states and opening new restaurants at the rate of over 30 per year. Total revenue for The Habit's fiscal year 2016 is anticipated to be in the $283 million range.

Photo courtesy of The Habit Burger. While my Habit Burger doesn't look quite this perfect, that's no big deal. It usually reaches my mouth before my eyes have much time to admire it.

Photo courtesy of The Habit Burger. While my Habit Burger doesn't look quite this perfect, that's no big deal. It usually reaches my mouth before my eyes have much time to admire it.

But back to stock price. For a growth stock like The Habit, timing can be critical. Let's look at an example. Over the last two years ending today, had you purchased $100 in McDonald's stock (MCD), the value of that investment today would be $131, and you would have received cash dividends of close to $8, for a total return of 39%. $100 invested in HABT would now be worth about $52. 

So while The Habit Burger may have been rated #1 burger in a 2014 Consumer Reports survey (and I for thoroughly enjoy the burgers and other menu items at The Habit), you don't necessarily always want to put your money where you mouth is. Or your mouth where your money is, for that matter.

To learn more about The Habit, visit www.habitburger.com.

A Visit to the New ALDI Store in Simi Valley

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We live in the Conejo Valley and like most folks, most of our grocery shopping is done at nearby stores...Albertsons, Trader Joe's, Costco, Ralphs, Sprouts, Smart & Final, and so on. But German grocery store ALDI opened in Simi Valley in June and we wanted to check it out.

ALDI is an abbreviation for Albrecht Diskont, or Albrecht Discount, named after founders Karl and Theo Albrecht in 1946. You may already know that ALDI is the parent company to both the Trader Joe's chain (purchased in 1979) and the ALDI store chain. That said, this ALDI store looks and feels nothing like a Trader Joe's store (to me at least). ALDI is one of the world's largest privately-owned companies.

The Simi Valley ALDI store is located at 425 Cochran Street in Simi at the Plaza, next to PetSmart and Party City and sandwiched between nearby Walmart and Home Depot.

The first thing you'll notice is that you'll need a quarter as a deposit to get a shopping cart. Place the quarter in the slot and the cart is yours; the quarter will be returned when you return the cart. If you don't have a quarter handy, not to worry; the folks working at the store were happy to lend a quarter for a cart when I was there.

I found the store to be on the "spartan" side, to some degree like the Fresh & Easy stores that are long gone, but lighter and brighter and the shelves were not as high. To keep costs low, the chain does not carry anywhere near the number of items that a typical grocery store carries. This does seem to pay off in that pricing is quite low.

This particular visit I was not planning to do my complete grocery shopping, including refrigerated items, etc. This visit was mainly to acquire snacks for the household. The first aisle as you walk into the store has quite a large selection of items, most of which are ALDI brands. We enjoyed exploring the snacks and piled our cart with reasonably priced items.

As you can see in the image to the right, ALDI brands like Millville look quite a bit like well known brands. "Fruit Rounds" at only $1.19/box looks good to me. And "Crispy Oats" looks a bit like, ahem, Cheerios.

The snack and wine aisle. My favorite aisle.

The snack and wine aisle. My favorite aisle.

As you can see above, the aisles are fairly wide and easy to navigate. We found a lot of great snacks and interesting items throughout the store, then went to pay.

ALDI does not provide paper or plastic bags, so do bring your own reusable bags or you can buy them at checkout. And when you check out, they do not bag your items for you. They scan the items off of the belt and place them back into your cart. From there, roll your cart a few feet away to the self-bagging area. 

To learn more, visit www.aldi.us. The Simi Valley location is the only ALDI in Ventura County at this time. The next closest store is in Inglewood at 3330. W. Century Blvd. (about 6 miles from LAX).

Bag your items here and you're on your way.

Bag your items here and you're on your way.

Why Does the Label On My Peanut Butter Say CONTAINS PEANUTS?

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PeanutButter_label.JPG

So the other day I was making my son, the son without peanut allergies, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and glass of milk. I glanced at the label on the peanut butter jar and noticed "CONTAINS PEANUTS." highlighted in bold, below the ingredients, which clearly lists "dry roasted peanuts" as the main ingredient. Interesting.

WheatBread_label.JPG

Then I grabbed the bag of Sara Lee 100% Whole Wheat bread, looked at the label, and saw that in addition to the multiple mentions of wheat in the ingredients, it also says CONTAINS WHEAT, MILK AND SOY. Like we didn't already know the WHEAT bread contains WHEAT!

Milk_label.JPG

After putting the finishing touches on the PB&J, slicing off the crusts and cutting the the sandwich in half, it was time to pour the milk. Sure enough, underneath the ingredients of this Trader Joe's milk carton that clearly indicates milk three times in the ingredients, is the statement CONTAINS MILK.

Isn't this a bit overkill!?? Does someone think I'm stupid? (Don't answer that.)

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act (FALCPA) of 2004 initiated new food labeling requirements for eight food groups that, according to the FDA, are the source of 90% of food allergies in the U.S. Food allergies affect 2% of adults and 5% of children.

The eight foods, all proteins, are milk, eggs, fish (e.g., bass, flounder, cod), Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster, shrimp), tree nuts (e.g., almonds, walnuts, pecans), peanuts, wheat and soybeans.

Source: FDA.gov: FALCPA requires food manufacturers to label food products that contain an ingredient that is or contains protein from a major food allergen in one of two ways:

The first option for food manufacturers is to include the name of the food source in parenthesis following the common or usual name of the major food allergen in the list of ingredients in instances when the name of the food source of the major allergen does not appear elsewhere in the ingredient statement.

The second option is to place the word "Contains" followed by the name of the food source from which the major food allergen is derived, immediately after or adjacent to the list of ingredients, in type size that is no smaller than the type size used for the list of ingredients.

I've underlined the statement that puzzles me. If the allergen appears elsewhere in the ingredient statement, it would appear the label meets FALCPA labeling requirements. Yet, the labels shown above all include the redundant "CONTAINS (PEANUTS/WHEAT/MILK)" statement anyways. Why, why, why? I suspect the manufacturers figure, why not. Maybe someone will blog about it and give us free publicity.

Eggs_label.JPG

So later on, after the kid's belly was full, I thought, what other allergens lurk in our fridge? Ah ha! Eggs! It took me a bit longer to find the label on the egg carton, hidden on the inside cover (hey, I don't cook much). I was actually a bit disappointed to NOT find the statement "CONTAINS EGGS" on the label. Darn it, now I'm left to wonder, are these really eggs?

To learn more about FALCPA requirements, visit www.fda.gov or download an actual pdf copy of the law at www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceRegulation/UCM179394.pdf. Joking aside, it's a great law that helps food allergy sufferers more clearly identify foods that could cause them much grief.

January to June 2016 Restaurants New and Restaurants Adieu in Ventura County

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Here's the latest compilation of restaurants in the Conejo Valley and throughout Greater Ventura County that opened, announced plans to open or closed during the period January through June 2016.

(Click here for previous July through December 2015 activity.) Let us know of any we missed!

Restaurants That Have Opened Since December 2015

Restaurants That Are Planning to Open Soon

Conejo Valley Guide Facebook Followers Dish Out Their Favorite Pizza Toppings

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Brick oven pizza from Barone's Pizzeria in Westlake Village

Brick oven pizza from Barone's Pizzeria in Westlake Village

In a 2014 report, "Consumption of Pizza - What We Eat in America," the USDA highlighted the fact that 13% of the U.S. population aged 2 and older consumed pizza on any given day. And over 1 in 4 males ages 6 to 19 partake in a slice or two, or three, in a given day. According to PMQ Pizza Magazine, pizza restaurant sales in the U.S. for the 12 months ended September 30, 2015 were $38.5 billion. That's over $120 in pizza per capita.

So in a recent CVG Facebook Page drawing, locals were asked to comment on their favorite pizza toppings. Here's how the toppings stacked up in order of popularity based on over 150 responses:

  • Pepperoni - with 18% of the total vote, pepperoni was the clear winner
  • Sausage - however, sausage gave pepperoni a run for its money, with 14% of the vote
  • Mushrooms - while I'm not opposed to mushrooms on my pizza, I still don't quite get why they are so popular, as indicated with their 3rd place showing at 12%
  • Pineapple - at 8% of votes cast, this sweet, tangy fruit on pizza placed 4th, perhaps driven by the combination of pineapple and ham, Canadian bacon, etc.
  • Olives, bacon - olives are also technically a fruit and tied for 5th place on this list with the combo of bacon/Canadian bacon, each garnering 5% of the vote
  • Jalapenos, artichokes and "cheese only" tied at 4% of the vote

Honorable mentions go to green pepper, chicken, onions and garlic. Mentioned just once or twice were arugula, tomato, prosciutto, ricotta, steak, basil, meatballs, shrimp, spinach and eggplant.

Hungry now? So am I! Here's a compilation of local area newly opened and soon to be opened eateries of all types in and around Ventura County.

Spring Recipe "My Big Fat-Skinny Greek Salad"

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CVG 2016 spring recipe: "My Big Fat-Skinny Greek Salad" courtesy of Ms. Conejo Joe, 

(Note: Measurements are not used. Just eyeball the amounts per your taste.  Make a large batch like we did so you can enjoy the leftovers.)

Ingredients

  • Trader Joe's triple washed spring lettuce mix or a bag of organic arugula
  • Trader Joe's prepared tabouli or a box of Fantastic Foods Tabouli you can prepare
  • Trader Joe's steamed lentils
  • Trader Joe's thai almonds
  • Trader Joe's California estate extra-virgin olive oil
  • Chopped red onion
  • Chopped organic carrots and/or chopped orange bell pepper
  • Trader Joe's jar of Greek Kalamata olives
  • Freshly ground black pepper and Himalayan sea salt
  • Dijon mustard
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Miso paste
  • Parmesan crisps
  • Fresh parsley as garnish

Apparently we have a Trader Joe's fan in the house.

Directions

Grab a pretty plate and gently tear chilled lettuce leaves into it. 

In a glass jar mix one part Dijon mustard, one part miso, one part balsamic vinegar, coarsely ground pepper to taste and three parts olive oil. Give it (the jar, and your booty, for good measure) a good shake and set aside.

Gently toss tabouli with steamed lentils and chopped vegetables.

Grind Thai almonds in a food processor or chopper just a couple of times so you get big chunky pieces and smaller pieces mixed.  (If you don't have a food processor just put the almonds in a Ziploc bag and smash it a couple of times with a can or any hard object.)

Layer the tabouli mixture onto the lettuce leaves and garnish with olives and Parmesan crisps; drizzle on your homemade miso dressing.  Add the Himalayan salt as needed.  You may also add sliced heirloom tomatoes if you wish.

Now ENJOY and look for another happy healthy recipe in the near future from the Conejo Valley Guide family!

July to December 2015 Restaurants New and Restaurants Adieu in Ventura County

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Here's the latest compilation of restaurants in the Conejo Valley and throughout Greater Ventura County that opened, announced plans to open or closed during the period July through December 2015.

(Click here for previous 2015 activity.) Let us know of any we missed!

Restaurants That Have Opened Since June 2015