Legendary Mr. Chow Chinese Restaurant Opening at Malibu Country Mart This Winter

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UPDATE 12/29/12: Ringing in 2013 with style, Mr. Chow officially opens its Malibu Country Mart location on New Year's Eve (December 31).

MALIBU COUNTRY MART WELCOMES THE LEGENDARY MR. CHOW 

Masterful Chinese cuisine meets the beach, scheduled to open prior to Christmas

Originally Posted 9/13/12: Malibu Country Mart, Southern California’s premiere lifestyle center, welcomes Mr. Chow, the internationally known upscale Chinese restaurant, scheduled to open this winter.

Joining the well-known designer boutiques, glamorous jewelers and unique local retailers, Mr. Chow will bring its distinctive restaurant experience to the well-heeled Malibu Country Mart crowd. The Malibu location, designed by Michael Chow, will be in the incomparable Mr. Cho

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Love Phò N' Mor Opened in Camarillo in Mid-September

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We announced in mid-July 2012 that the Basil & Mint Vietnamese Cafe would be opening later this year, and it did, on November 10th. Somehow, though, we missed yet another new phò (pronounced "fuh" according to my more learned Vietnamese noodle devouring friends) restaurant opening in Camarillo.

Love Phò N' Mor opened in mid-September at 341 Arneill Road and serves up a nice range of Vietnamese cuising. Nice looking inside too based on photos on their Facebook page. This is a sister restaurant to Phò Oxnard at 722 N. Ventura Road.

I've now been to Love Phò N' Mor and it was great! That's phò sure!

Jinky's Cafe Coming to Oakbrook Plaza in Thousand Oaks This Fall

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Final Update: Jinky's Cafe Thousand Oaks opened on Wed, December 26th!

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Update 12/14/12: Jinky's Cafe Thousand Oaks at the Oakbrook Plaza is opening REALLY soon. Here's a nighttime view of the soon to be opening eatery! Visit www.facebook.com/JinkysCafe for updates.

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Original Post 9/12/12: Jinky's Cafe will be opening a second Conejo Valley location sometime this fall in Thousand Oaks! Jinky's will be in the space previously occupied by Kohinoor Cuisine of India at the Oakbrook Plaza, 1724 E. Avenida de los Arboles, Suite A, Thousand Oaks. This 3,700 sq ft space is located just south of Cisco's Mexican Restaurant.

Jinkys specializes in breakfast, with a full range of freshly made pancakes, crepes, waffles and their speciality flaky french toasts. Jinky's also has over 20 flavors of chili, burgers, sandwiches and large salads, as well as pizza, pasta and dinner specials. Jinky's started out in Sherman Oaks in 1992 and has since expanded to four (soon five!) locations in Santa Monica, Studio City and Agoura Hills. The Agoura Hills location opened in early 2011.

My Agoura friends love this place! Visit www.jinkys.com for more information. Already hungry? Try Jinky's Kanan Cafe at 29001 Canwood Street, Agoura Hills (just north of the 101 freeway, east of Kanan). Their phone is 818.575.4216.

(Thanks to CVG Facebook visitor Scott B for the heads up!)

Brats Brothers Gourmet Sausage Grill is Coming to Newbury Park This Fall

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Update 12/19/12: Brats Brothers Gourmet Sausage Grill is opening its Newbury Park location TOMORRROW, December 20th at lunchtime. Brats Brothers is also hosting an Opening Party on Saturday night, December 22nd starting at 6PM! with food samplings and 50% off beer!

Sneak peak at the inside of the new Brats Brothers Gourmet Sausage Grill in Newbury Park.. This used to be Lamppost Pizza! Looks like they've been busy in there!

Update 10/12/12: Brats Brothers is

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Sharky's Appears to Be Making Their Way to the Camarillo Town Center Shopping Center

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Update 12/11/12: Sharky's Woodfired Mexican Grill at Target Shopping Center, 191 W. Ventura Blvd, Camarillo, is now open! (805) 322-1441

Update 12/4/12: Still no specific date on the grand opening of the Camarillo Sharky's but the signs are up and the insides of the restaurant are starting to look really nice! Perhaps they will mention the grand opening on their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SharkysSocial.

Posted 5/2/12: The space previously occupied by Boston Market at the Camarillo Town Center Shopping Center has been vacant for nearly 3 years now. So it surprised me that out of the blue there wa

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Burger King in Thousand Oaks On Deck to Become Another McDonald's

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Update 12/15/12: Hey look! The new McDonalds at the old Burger King location at Oakbrook Plaza in Thousand Oaks next to Taco Bell, is now open. Time for a late night junk food fix!

Original Post 6/14/12: Many Thousand Oaks residents are aware that the Burger King at 1908 Avenida de los Arboles has been closed for close to 6 months. There was a sign on the building indicating an application with the City of Thousand Oaks "to allow remodel of a fast food restaurant and deletion of parking spaces."

Aside from the oddness of "deleting of parking spaces" (which to geeks like me makes it sound like the parking spaces will be removed with a backspace key), I had assumed they were planning to just upgrade the existing Burger King.

But...nooooo...tipped off by a CVG Facebook Page follower, I asked the City planner as to the plans for this Burger King. I was informed that indeed, the plans are to convert this Burger King into a McDonald's!!

Time frame of this transition is not known, but we will stay abreast (as in Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips) of the situation.

The next closest Burger King locations are in Agoura on Roadside Drive (cross street Kanan), Simi Valley (2 locations) and Camarillo.

This McDonald's will be located less than 2 1/2 miles from the McDonald's on Moorpark Road at Janss and 5 miles from the location across from the Auto Mall on Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

On a geographically related note, nearby P&L Burgers, also located in Oakbrook Plaza, serves up some of the most delicous onion rings in town IMO. And the veggie burger I had there was quite tasty, something I cannot say about many veggie burger offerings out there. They are just a few doors away at 2000 Avenida de los Arboles. www.pandlburgers.com  P&L is a favorite among local accountants!

Paul Martin's® American Grill to Open at The Promenade at Westlake on December 10th

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PAUL MARTIN’S® AMERICAN GRILL TO OPEN AT THE PROMENADE IN WESTLAKE VILLAGE

Westlake Village Opening will be the 4th Paul Martin’s Location in California

Paul Martin’s® American Grill is set to open its fourth location on December 10th at The Promenade in Westlake Village at 5PM. Conceived by Brian Bennett and legendary restaurateur Paul Fleming as the restaurant they always wanted in their neighborhood, Paul Martin’s serves American Classics with a fresh twist using local and peak-of-the-season ingredients. 

The Westlake Village location will add 120 full- and part-time jobs to the local economy. Grant Adair, a 16-year resident of the Conejo Valley, has joined Paul Martin’s as the operating partner for Westlake Village.  Prior to joining Paul Martin’s, Grant opened the Outback Steakhouse in Westlake Village and managed King’s Fish House in Calabasas, the Michelin Star-rated Water Grill in Los Angeles and Ocean Avenue Seafood in Santa Monica.

Paul Martin's American Grill at The Promenade...hey, didn't this used to be Chili's!?

“The communities of Westlake Village and the Conejo Valley are going to love Paul Martin’s,” said Grant. “This is food you feel great about eating because it is made fresh, and with care from ingredients sourced in and around our community, at fair pri

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Sage Room Agoura Osteria Bar & Grill at Lindero Country Club Opened November 12th

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Sage Room Osteria Bar & Grill opened its doors at the Lindero Country Club, 5719 Lake Lindero Drive, Agoura Hills on Monday, November 12th. Sage Room offers up "country-style home Italian cooking with a twist, with menu items including pastas, small organic salads, entrees such as pollo saltinbocca (free range chicken breast), pale ale braised pork shank ossobuco, bistecca di manzo (black Angus prime New York steak) and other items. The lunch menu has panini, pastas, salads and more.

This is the second Sage Room location in the area. The original Sage Room Ristorante Italiano has operated at 28915 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu (at the corner of Kanan Dume Road and PCH) since December 1999. Owner Claudio Borin grew up in San Remo, Italy, moved to the United States, and opened his first restaurant in Malibu, "Tradinoi," in 1991.

Visit www.sageroomagoura.com or call 818.735.3530 to learn more.

Five Guys Burgers Opening at The Collection at Riverpark in Oxnard on November 15th

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The 3rd Ventura County location of Five Guys is opening on Thursday, November 15th at The Collection at Riverpark, 2730 Portico Way, Oxnard. To get to The Collection at Riverpark, take the 101 west, exit on Oxnard Boulevard and turn right. Turn right again on Town Center Drive into this beautiful new retail center.

Five Guys was founded in 1986 in Arlington, Virginia and is known for grilling burgers made-to-order with freshly ground beef. Five Guys claims there are no freezers in their locations. Nothing is frozen (well, maybe except for their ice cubes).  Five Guys uses only peanut oil and claims their menu is completely trans-fat free.

There are now over 1,000 Five Guys locations across the country, including this Oxnard Location, Thousand Oaks (487 N. Moorpark Road) and Simi Valley (2650 Tapo Canyon Road).

Burgers are made to order and delicious at Five Guys. My only mistake here was not adding cheese!

We've been to the Five Guys in Thousand Oaks a number of times and I can vouch for the deliciousness of their burgers. Very fresh and very beefy. You custom order your burger any way you want with nearly 20 different toppings. My only "beef" so to speak is that I often order veggie burgers. Five Guys does not have a veggie burger, though you can order a "veggie sandwich" that consists of a bun and whatever veggie toppings and cheese you'd like.

Five Guys is also known for massive quantities of fries and I love their help yourself peanuts in a shell (thankfully I have zippo peanut allergies, yeah!). They also have tasty sound hot dogs that I have not yet tried. They keep their menu pretty simple at Five Guys.

Five Guys notes on its website www.fiveguys.com that they do not offer coupons or discounts, which to me is kind of refreshing. Enjoy your burgers!