Big Bubbas Bad BBQ is a food concession that appears at some of the country’s largest State Fairs, Nascar Races, and Livestock Shows since 1996. We have eaten their food several times over the years and found it to be pretty good.

Decor, Vibe - Huge smoker with tons of meat cooking. Long lines most of the time. Lots of families chowing down on fair grub.

Menu Pictures

Website menu

Picks:

Pork Spare Ribs ($7.50) were great. Lots of tender meat and very good BBQ sauce. Messy but delicious. Forget about the dinner with sides, get pure ribs.

Corn on the Cob was fresh and cooked well.

OK:
Tri Tip dinner was average, had to slosh on the BBQ sauce to make it reasonable.

Pans:
None

Big Bubbas Bad BBQ serves up a quick fixing of good BBQ. Look for them at the next county fair. The ribs are on par with Memphis Minnes.
They have restaurant locations in Paso Robles, Visalia, Atascadero, and Merced, but reviews on Yelp do not look good.

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Izakaya Mai is a Japanese Izakaya or Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food. They are more small plate oriented restaurants. This restaurant has an extensive drink menu.
This restaurant is located in the downtown San Mateo area that has Japanese restaurants on almost every block. Japanese people run it so it must be authentic. The menu is full of translation errors.

Decor, Vibe - Pretty small cramped restaurant with sushi bar, traditional seating, and regular seating. Pictures all over the walls. Most asians in their 20’s to 40’s were eating. Some families. There were people waiting most of the time for tables.

Menu Pictures

Dinner Menu

Fried & Boiled?

Grill menu?

Specials Board

Picks:

Hamachi Kama ($10.50) - Classic yellow tail collar was tender and delicious. Came with dipping sauce.

Pork Sausage ($5.50) had 6 small hot dog like sausages that looked terrible but tasted good. Includes a Japanese mustard that looks like peanut butter.

Oden ($6.50) had several kinds of fish cakes and an egg. Home style delicious dish.

OK:

Kushi Yakitori ($4.50) was 2 skewers of chicken with teriyaki sauce. Average, nothing special here.

Chicken wing ($4.50) was 3 small pieces of grilled chicken. It was flavorful and tender but pretty burned

Homemade Stewed Pork ($5.75) had 3 pieces of pork that were stewed and then grilled. Fairly average dish.

Baked Squid Tail ($5.75) had lots of quantity but was a little salty and very chewy.

Tekka ($3.95) had pretty fresh tuna in the middle.

California Roll ($3.95) was a pretty average implementation of the classic.

Pans:
None

Izakaya Mai had fair service, slightly above average but the server did not come by that often. The food was fair, not great, but the diversity allowed us to try a lot of different dishes.

This is better and more authentic than O Izakaya Lounge in San Francisco’s Japantown area. It is a welcome change to the usual Japanese fare that is served elsewhere. Frankly nothing wowed us, this place might be best for a quick bowl of Champon noodles and an adult beverage. It is also open late. We have to try Saizo in Sunnyvale and Gochi sometime.

As with most other small plate places, prices can add up quickly, but the fun is in trying different items.

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Prather Ranch Meat Company raises cattle in North California’s Mt. Shasta area. The cattle are fed grass and are pastured.

They have a shop in the Ferry Building in San Francisco. They produced certified USDA organic beef that is free of hormones or antibiotics. They dry-age their beef 14-21 days. They sell their meats in their shop and also at various Farmer’s Markets.

Decor, Vibe - Prather Ranch has a stand at the Ferry Building Farmers Market (Tuesday, Saturday) and cooks hamburgers among other items on the grill. They sell cooked $7 breakfast sandwiches, $8/$10 griddle cakes and sausage, $7 hamburgers, $5 Bockwurst sausages during the Farmer’s market. $5 Cooked Hot dogs are sold inside.

Menu Pictures

Picks:

Cheeseburger ($6) - On a fresh Acme Bakery bun with cheddar cheese, this burger was slightly juicy, over cooked, and had lots of beef flavor. We have had it cooked better before, the line cook’s consistency varies. Pretty simple grilling and good meat achieved this result.

OK:
None

Pans:
Buffalo Burger ($6) - Too dry and chewy when compared to the regular burger. Much leaner but who’s looking for healthy stuff in a burger?

Service is not the best in the world and it takes about 10 minutes to get your burger.
Prather Ranch Meat Company sells some of the tastiest meat around, making their burger one of the best around. We ate sitting down by the railing as did others, not the most comfortable location.

Restaurant Serpentine in San Francisco also serves a burger with their meat. You can also buy some meat, bring it home, and roll your own. We have bought their steaks and lamb in the past. They were both excellent quality meats.

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