Review #60
St. Tropez has one of the best locations on all of the 101; smack in the middle of the Lumberyard. There is plenty of parking, and lots of indoor and outdoor seating in the middle of all the hub and bub happening most weekends. Most weekend days. And maybe summer nights. But not tonight, early November at 6pm. The whole Lumberyard was a ghost town.
I’m sure it has something to do with our recent daylight savings. Why is it that it’s only an hour later, but it feels like five? We were having dinner at 6pm but frankly, I could have skipped the whole thing and gone right to bed.
Our party of 12 had pick of the litter seating choices. Inside seemed nice.
They had a large table on the patio that would work.
But we chose to sit outside in the middle of “it all” in the open area that is usually packed with people.
Who knew that St. Tropez even offered dinner at all? It really seems more of a breakfast/lunch place, known for their multitude of sinful pastries. This is an order-your- food-at-the-counter kind of place. So even though it’s French, it’s not fancy. The display case had lots of yummy quiches for sale.
The end of the weekend pastries were a bit sparse, but I’m sure they were packed earlier in the day. Anyway, we were here for dinner, not pastries.
We didn’t know about Happy Hour or that kids eat free on Wednesday. I’m sure they would not let BP (our 13 year old Bottomless Pit) eat for free Wednesday. He could make this place go under.
Not only does St. Tropez have a huge and extensive dinner menu, the burgers get their own menu altogether. Seriously, I assumed this place was just for crepes and pastries but there is so much more.
Some of the food started to come out of the kitchen. BP’s French Burger was huge.
Debbie’s Chicken Vegetable Soup was all she wanted after her 15 mile walk today. 15 miles and she just orders soup! If it were me, I would have started with the crepes, continued with a burger and then would have helped them clear out those end of the day pastries in the display! But Little Debbie ate soup and salad, and she loved it.
Jules, our St Tropez veteran, went with a plate of soup, salad and a Chicken and Mushroom Crepe. The crepe was slightly crispy on the edges with a delicious mushroom cream on top. Very good. Very.
The other 9 of us hungrily watched for our food to come out, but it didn’t. And speaking of watching, we had a “friend” watching us from the patio. At first we thought he was talking to someone on Bluetooth, but Mary slyly checked out the situation. No Bluetooth. He was not only facing us, he was staring directly at us. It was extremely unsettling. He was talking to us. Maybe not to us, but at us. Continuously and not all that loud. In fact, Mary found out he was giving a running commentary about us. “Young boy takes another bite of burger while brown haired lady keeps looking towards the kitchen. Man to the right wipes his mouth then sips his water.”
After a very long time, Mary and Geoff’s French Onion Soups came out.
Along with Hubby’s Pasta Provencal and side salad.
The side salad was a tad skimpy on the tomato and cucumber, but lots and lots of lettuce.
Then no other food came for a long time. But we had entertainment!
“Oh no, blue shirt guy drops a piece of lettuce! But takes another bite. Back to the boy, that burger is taking a beating.”
After everyone’s food was just about gone, my Mediterranean Roasted Veggie Quinoa arrived. It was healthy, delicious and huge.
Just as we were all finished and getting ready to head out, we realized poor Qwen and Gavin had STILL not received their food! We must have been here close to an hour.
Qwen ordered a Caprese Panini that finally came out and it looked divine.
Gavin ordered the same French Burger as BP. After eating less than half, and this is a 17 year old strapping young man we are talking about, he couldn’t finish and had to take the rest to go in a box. We glanced over at BP’s plate. So clean, they would barely even need to wash it. He looked at Gavin’s and shrugged.
“And they are boxing up the rest while getting the check. Blondie goes in for a refill on water. Guy at the end is laughing. Seems they enjoyed their meal. Lady with camera keeps yawning.”
The plan was to head over to Jojo’s Creamery after St Tropez, but everyone was tired and full. In fact, out of the 12 of us, only one had room for ice cream.
Bottom Line:
St. Tropez was a total surprise. Who knew this breakfast/lunch place has a multitude of delicious dinners? There is something for everyone and the portions are large. The best part was I finally found a place with reasonable prices! Not cheap, but fair. So many restaurants we eat at are good, but the price tag is just atrocious. At St. Tropez $9.50 for a large, quality burger with cheese, bacon and fries- totally worth it. All of our food was not only delicious, it was also appropriately priced.
But the service, oy vey! I really can’t blame them. We rocked their world showing up for dinner with 12 of us. I’m sure they are not used to having more than one or two at a time for dinner. There were very few people working (we saw only one) and I think they (he) did their (his) best. Luckily we weren’t in a rush. But we ate in segments, with long periods of time between meals being brought out.
We loved sitting outside in the courtyard, and it made waiting easier. Having someone watch over us with a dead stare while commentating every single thing we were doing was a bit odd at first. But odd actually turned into handy. For instance, I didn’t know that Hubby was almost out of water until I heard it. Or that Geoff was using his spoon to scrape off the cheese from the side of his soup bowl. I also didn’t realize that BP was down to his last fry until I heard it from our “friend”. These are things I didn’t catch myself, yet were clearly important details to our dinner. Thank you “friend”.
Jojo’s Creamery
Review #61
This cute little ice cream shop is located behind St. Tropez and would have been the perfect end to our meal if we weren’t so full. BP had no issues and waltzed in ready for dessert. The place is cozy with no lines unlike Handles, up the road. https://wordpress.com/post/diningonthe101.com/1731
I am a huge fan of eating organic, and I HATE GMO’s! I didn’t realize that other ice creams may include strange sounding things like “guar gum, carageenan and locust bean gum” but not here. Thank you Jojo’s for having our backs!
The choices are slim, again, only compared to Handles, but what they do have, they do well. I said I was too full to eat any, but I didn’t say I was too full to try any. Trying is not eating as there are no calories in tasting, duh. Who can say no to a little smackeral of Peanut Butter Cup? I’m only human!
Wow. Oh wow. Ohhhhhhhh wowowowowowowow!!!! This is amazing! So much rich, real peanut buttery flavor with hunks of chocolate. Maybe the best I’ve ever tasted. Is Jojo’s a one trick pony? Did I happen to just pick their very best flavor right off the bat? Only one way to find out! A little sample of Nibby Chocolate please! Just cuz of the name “Nibby”. I like that. And here we go again. A-Mazing!!! Although two free samples seemed more than reasonable for someone not ordering any, I had to try our server’s favorite: Pomegranate Pistachio Swirl. Not something I would ever choose, but if it’s her favorite, I have to take a taste. YEP- Just as good as the other two! I kid you not!
As if this place isn’t already off the charts incredible, they give you a freshly baked cookie for free with every scoop ordered! You can upgrade to a bigger cookie for a buck which I would have gladly done if I were really eating ice cream tonight and not just tasting.
Bottom Line:
I LOVE JOJO’S CREAMERY! Organic, home made ice cream, are you kidding me? This may be my favorite ice cream of all time. I will have to come back to order a real scoop, with an upgraded cookie of course.
BP’s only complaint was this: TOO SMALL. True, the scoops are treated more like gelato than the giant ones you get at Handles. But to me, totally worth it. This is my kind of ice cream!
3rd corner is postponed one week to November 17th at 6:30pm
3rd Corner Wine Shop and Bistro
Dining on the 101 
My mouth is watering! So sorry I missed this one.
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Kor;
All looks so good! Can’t wait to come and see you, BP, Grif and Steve. I should be there next Thursday before dinner so please pick out a couple of your recommendations as they all look great!
Love
Dad
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