If you dont like cheese, then this may not be the place for you. If you do, please continue reading. :)

Mi Casa is a local landmark, set into a strip mall on 17th Street in Costa Mesa. I have been going there for close to 36 years now and love it every time. Owned and operated by the Moore family since it’s inception in 1972, it is a favorite stop for the Costa Mesa/ Newport Beach locals. On any given evening there can be a waiting list, and well worth it. They do not take phone reservations, and request all your party be there before you put your name on the list. Mi Casa is still family run, and most likely your waiter or waitress is related to one of the Moore clan somehow. The ambiance is on the darker side, but lively. There is always a million conversations going on and from almost anywhere in the restaurant one can hear the bustle in the kitchen. While waiting for a table, or if just a libation is desired, one can wait in the bar. Aptly named “The Burro Room,” it also has it’s own entrance at the rear of the building.

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The official name is “Gabbi’s Mexican Kitchen.” The experience, however, is far from your typical SoCal Mexican restaurant.

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On Wednesday, July 30 celebrate National Cheesecake Day by grabbing a slice of sweet creamy goodness at any Cheesecake Factory locations for only $1.50! (Though if you ask me, I don’t need a holiday to enjoy a good cheesecake, but the buck fifty is an even better incentive.)

The offer is limited to one slice per guest for dine-in services only. For a list/map of CF locations around Orange County, visit Google Maps.

for those who are wondering, there was a preliminary 5.8 magnitude earthquake. they say it was centered around chino hills. myhouse in orange sook a lot! at work now, hospital is a-ok. hope all is fine with y’all! how did it feel where you were?

That was a big one! A 5.8 in Chino Hills, to be exact.

I have to admit that was the biggest freaking earthquake I’ve ever experienced in my life.  I am only a few miles (in Anaheim Hills) from the epicenter, and I was in the car for the Whittier Narrows earthquake in the 80’s, so didn’t really feel a lot on that one.  Also, I was quite far from the Northridge earthquake as well.  This one?  Right underneath, which, let me tell you, makes a mighty big difference.

You guys ok?  I’m still shaking, I had to dodge some glass frames that fell off my entertainment center, but otherwise I’m good. 

There WILL be aftershocks, so be prepared.

And, if you felt it at all, go here and fill out a quick questionnaire from the USGS. 

*Updated: Quake was downsized to a 5.4, but it certainly felt like a 5.8 over here!

Newport Beach-based Downey Savings and Loan is precariously close to bankruptcy.  Their stock, currently valued at a rather alarming $1.73, might go down even further after the ban of short-selling certain banking stocks is lifted.  That ban is supposed to be lifted tomorrow, unless the SEC decides to extend it. Downey S&L’s highest value per share was at one time over $63.00, and that is a tumble that would send any doctor rushing for the oxygen mask.

Downey S&L used to be a model of banking success, and was actually called upon to help other failing banks in the 1980’s. Now, sucked into the subprime mess, they are in danger of taking a dive a la Indymac. Their only hope is that their banking business can keep them afloat. But, they wouldn’t be the first, and I’m going to predict that they wouldn’t be the last institution to go under.

I’m certainly not advocating a run on the bank, but just know that only deposits up to $100,000 qualify to be FDIC insured. 

The SEC has started the chest compressions, let’s see if the patient can survive.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

Is the Foothill Transportation Corridor the Answer?

I don’t know, but what I do know is that there needs to be another transportation artery between Orange County and San Diego. Last Thursday I headed to San Diego for Comic-Con International. Luckily I took the train. Shortly after 7:00am word was out that there was an accident on the 5 Fwy south at Las Pulgas. As we passed Basilone, the last exit to find an alternative route in Orange County, the traffic started backing up. I got the word out via Twitter and email to my friends that were traveling south to find alternative routes, but some were already stuck in the mess.

The back up was over 2 hours long. The reason? An accident involving an overturned truck and some cars blocking all but one lane, plus the hillside on fire.

Here is a photo I took from the passing train:

This raises the question:

While the Foothill Corridor extension may help to alleviate traffic through South Orange County in the case of an accident, what recourse is there to alleviate the bottleneck on the 5 South through Camp Pendleton?

[poll=13]

That this past week was National Everybody Deserves a (Good) Massage Week? No? Neither did I.  But thanks to the Register, I am now aware of this yearly celebration (and fully intend to partake in next year’s festivities).

Also thanks to the Register, I just found out that as recent as 2005, there were at least 10 alleged brothels operating in and around my fair city as “massage” parlors. While those 10 establishments have since been shut down, there could be others, as apparently the mayor’s office still gets calls from residents asking about other businesses.

Clearly I do not know enough about the city in which I live. And here I thought being known as the Antique Capital of (Southern) California was fancy enough!

Somehow I missed this last month, but it seems that members of the OCTA really want people to know who widened the 5 for them.

They were planning on placing a large, monument-style sign as you enter Buena Park announcing the fact that you would now be leaving the crappy tiny six-laned LA County section of the freeway and heading into Orange County, the land of ten (count ’em, ten!) expansive lanes for your driving pleasure!

But, the sign was deemed “stodgy” by some and others stated that it needed to be “peppier.” And everyone agreed that it should not be changed to say “The OC.” The person who made that suggestion was kicked out of the meeting and forced to watch a “Real Housewives of Orange County” marathon.

And, at an initial cost of 250,000 and a yearly maintenance budget of 25,000, there were protests that the money could be better utilized elsewhwere. The plan also includes the eventual construction of similar signs at six different points along various freeways.

Yeah, for a quarter million dollars, you bet your tuchus I’m gonna want peppy.