Merced, CA, is on Ca Hwy 99 - on the way to/from Yosemite - the restaurants here are either in downtown Merced or are along Hwy 99 so they can be found easily I just came back from a weekend in Merced, and here's some comments First of all, mea culpa to the people I told about the wonderful scalloni at Red Snapper Fish Grotto - they're GONE - building and all a new building is under construction, but not for them - they just closed up, much to the sorrow a quite a few people but, here's what we did find: - The Branding Iron on 16th St (along side the railroad tracks) has outdoor patio eating and indoor - this is primarily a meat place but they do offer other selections, in the past I usually go for the pepper steak but this time opted for the prime rib (you can get the regular cut or the chef's cut - I had the chef's cut which is smaller) - to start off you have a choice of the soup of the day or gaspacho (one person at the table had the soup of the day - Manhattan clam chowder & sent it back) we all had the gaspacho which was filled with chunky cucumbers, tomatoes, etc & served with tortilla chips - this was great!; this was followed with salad (ordinary salad) I had the house dressing of oil & vinegar over crumbled blue cheese and it was delicious - a hot parmesean cheese bread is served with the salad - the main course came (my prime rib rare was just that) served with a baked potato and a selection of bacon bits (real), chives, parmesean cheese, sour cream and/or butter - we didn't have any dessert - the bill came with a chocolate cowboy boot for each of us - also, a bottle of Trefethan Eschol Cabernet/Merlot accompanied the meal and was well balanced with the meat - La Morenita Restaurant, on 13th St (since my fish place was closed we opted to try a Mexican restaurant that is always busy) this was a good choice - they served a salsa that was _hot_ and flavorful with chips, hot marinated carrots and a delightful cabbage/jalapeno/tomato/onion salad - the main course for my husband was Chile Verde and for me was Chile Colorado both with flour tortillas - the meat was tender, you coud cut it with a fork, the sauces were well seasoned, the spanish rice wasn't dry & overcooked, all in all, very good - as I mentioned earlier, they were busy all the time, it is a family restaurant - they have a couple of tables on the patio BTW: (one's I didn't get to this trip, etc) - Chianti's Italian (on Main) still good Italian food served either in the beautiful old grey house-made-into-a-restaurant or outside on the patio - one had the pasta seafood primavera which had the right amount of scallops & shrimps balanced by the al dente pasta & veggies - Lenny's Italian Deli & Restaurant on Main is so-so - the deli area had a nice assortment of pastrami, cheeses, etc, but the food was very average - I warned some freinds (I had been there last year) and they came back saying they wish they would have listened - so it hasn't improved - The Wine Cellar on Main, which shut down two years ago has reopened as the Basque Villa - freinds went there and said it was very good - I'll have to try it next time - the Cask & Cleaver is out of business
California