Author: Skip@RR

One of downtown Redding’s unique restaurants is Corbetts, on Pine Street. Also home to Shasta Wine Merchants. We recall it as the restaurant across from the Greyhound Station. Alas, Redding’s landmark downtown bus station is no more. But it has been recently replaced with a beautiful building.

Luckily, Corbetts stands alone for their food and atmosphere. We were there near closing for these photos. Usually, the place is teeming with regulars.

You can order anything from the menu, which is breakfast and lunch. Today, The lovely Karry chose the Ribeye Steak Sandwich special on Dutch Crunch. I went for the Turkey Avocado BLT with artichoke. We both noticed the quality ingredients, especially the vine ripe tomatoes. We’ve become spoiled by our own home grown produce. We don’t often find that good quality produce in restaurants, so it stood out.
Open from 7 am to 3 pm daily, or so we think. They don’t seem to have a website. Owners Chris and Mel Corbett are usually there to greet you, (530) 241-2303. Located at 1455 Pine Street, in Really Redding California.

 

Today we’re looking at Lulu’s Eating and Drinking Establishment, located at the terminus of Pine, California, South Market, and Cypress.  “All roads lead to Lulu’s.”At first, you might think it an ordinary hotel/motel based diner. But it’s definitely not ordinary. It’s a full bar too, and you can order drinks. Strong drinks in fact.
Overheard in the booth adjacent, “I want a Steak Diane, but with Chicken.” The waitress hesitated only briefly to consider that menu idea before agreeing and setting a price. “And bring us 2 tequila shots.” No hesitation at all on that afternoon request.

Classic American Diner Cuisine. I ordered the Chicken Fried Steak, and the lovely Karry opted for the Prime Rib Sandwich. “We serve a lot of Prime Rib,” says our waitress. You can order everything from their extensive menu, at all hours.

Maybe next time I’ll order “Prime Rib Sandwich, only with chicken,” just to see if the waitress even hesitates.

It’s bigger inside than it looks from the outside. The decor is meant to be sort of an ersatz Barbary Coast. But that look is hardly an artifice in Redding, which has seen it’s fair share of bordellos. Redding has been a logging, mining, dam building kind of place, and Lulu’s captures our Western essence very well.

Back here in the meeting room, they used to have the Shasta Blues Society jams on Thursday nights. All that’s left of the blues seems to be the carpet.
Lulu’s has a website with menus. And a Facebook page to Like.
Happy Hour starts every day at 3 pm. But you can be happy you came to Lulu’s anytime. It’s Really Redding.

 

Los Gordos is a classic Mexican food place in downtown Redding, at the corner of Pine and Tehama. We usually go for the street-vendor style carnitas tacos.

The dining area is utilitarian, but you can gaze out the windows on a couple of Redding’s busiest streets.
Since we’re here, we recall years ago, eating at this restaurant and watching Redding’s fabled Cruise Night. “The Cruise” was pretty mild craziness by today’s tough street standards. Something of a “Mad Max meets Burning Man with a Deliverance soundtrack” vibe. Wild enough for city fathers to outlaw, even back then. Too bad, really. It was quite a spectacle. We shall say a brief prayer now for “The Cruise” and simpler times.

We usually take-out. Ideal for picnics, these foil wrapped pockets of cilantro-onion-corn tortilla delight travel well. This tastes much better than I can make it look as a photo. Not your cheesy-lettuce style tacos here. Auténtico.

Los Gordos has 2 locations in Redding. The other on Churn Creek near Bonneyview. The Taqueria Los Gordos website also mentions a restaurant in Red Bluff. Looks like they’ve got el estado del norte covered.
Auténtico carnitas tacos. It’s Really Redding.