Last month Jake and I had A and S for the afternoon and we took them to see the new Transformers movie. In case you’re wondering, no, you really don’t need to go see the new Transformers movie. If you really feel you must watch it (and haven’t already) … seriously, wait for it to come out on DVD so you don’t feel too ripped off. We go to the Regal Rancho Del Rey theater in Chula Vista where movie tickets are now $5.50 all day, everyday, with your Regal card so I don’t feel too ripped off since we didn’t pay full price. My favorite terrible line that made me laugh was this scene where the Man in Black (this is how I thought of him during the movie, oops) is the head of the CIA or … something… and he storms into Marky Mark’s house and when Marky Mark says “Hey, you don’t have a warrant!”, the Man in Black says, “My face is my warrant!” It was a jaw dropping, hilariously bad line and I couldn’t help but giggle and repeat this line frequently to Jake for the rest of the weekend.
After the movie, we headed over to Rita’s Italian Ice to try out their frosty frozen treats.
It’s just a little shop. They serve Italian Ice, Frozen Custard and other treats. Italian ice, if you’re unfamiliar with it, is sort of like sorbet or sherbert (but without the dairy). It’s flavored ice but made in a similar way to ice cream but with only fruits (or other flavors).
Frozen custard on the other hand is like a really extra creamy ice cream. It has eggs in addition to cream and sugar so it’s very thick and very smooth.
Rita’s Italian Ice offers a variety of way to enjoy their treats as you can see from the menu above (click to enlarge to see the menu/prices).
They had various flavors for sampling, such as Root Beer, Lemonade, Watermelon, Strawberry Banana, Cookies and Cream (and other flavors that I didn’t document).
I was tempted to get one of these Custard Cookie Sandwiches but we were already getting other treats so decided to pass this time. But they look really good!
We decided to share two of the Gelati’s – which has custard on the bottom, Italian ice in the middle, and more custard on top.
[strawberry banana gelati / $3.89]
Our first Gelati had vanilla custard (they also have chocolate) with Strawberry Banana Italian Ice. The Italian Ice was excellent and had a strong flavor featuring both fruits – reminded me a bit of strawberry banana yogurt, actually. It was cool and smooth and almost slushie-like.
This is the Strawberry Banana again with a little peek at the texture of the Italian ice. This tasted really good with the thick, creamy vanilla custard, too. It was a really good blend of the two!
[cookie and cream gelati / $3.89]
We also got another gelati with Cookies and Cream as the Italian ice. I liked the cookies and cream a little more just because I liked the texture of the cookies mixed into the Italian ice. It was more of a creamy milk Italian ice with bits of Oreo cookies in it – again in that slushie-like consistency.
Jake and the kids had filled up on movie theater popcorn but not me – I needed a little bit of “real food” to sustain me and I went over to iWok, a Chinese restaurant that was next door to Rita’s Italian Ice. I spotted this sign for $5 meals and I figured… oh, why not. I think it’s going a little too far saying that this is “sexy”, but hey, whatever sells your “fun boxes”.
[orange chicken fun box / $5]
I got the Orange Chicken fun box. It’s a take out container halfway filled with fried rice and topped with a generous portion of orange chicken. You get an egg roll on the side. The egg roll wasn’t anything special, mostly vegetable filler and a little “soupy” on the inside. The orange chicken was decent, it was white meat chicken with a heavy coating and a good amount of orange sauce. It wasn’t mind blowing or anything special and I’ve certainly had worse. I wouldn’t go out of my way for this or really even have it again, but you can’t really complain too much for a $5 meal.
Rita’s Italian Ice
1463 East H Street
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 307-3743
iWok Chinese Restaurant
1459 E H St
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 421-5464
Mark Wahlberg will always be Marky Mark to me! I’m sad the new Transformers movie has been getting such terrible reviews (although, it looks better than the frighteningly-ugly Ninja Turtles movie). We went and saw the new X-Men movie last weekend and, aside from the usual time-travel mind-puzzling questions, I enjoyed it.
I’m glad Rita’s is popping up in more places in SD – I like the creamy, icy combo. But now I want to try a cookie sandwich with that custard!
Hi Leanne – Hahah, I know.. I keep calling him Marky Mark, too. It makes me laugh that he used to be a rapper. I liked the X-Men movie, too. It’s not like mind blowingly great or anything, but James McAvoy makes my heart go pitter patter 🙂 The new Ninja Turtles movie looks so awful, I cringe while watching the previews for it. I do NOT want to see it! The turtles look so scary!
Next time we go by here I want to just get a cookie sandwich, it looks so good with the custard!
Lol I am craving some orange chicken right now, something sweet and tangy. Even though you described yours as not being that spectacular, the pic got me in craving mode….but maybe for a tastier version. What else have you watched lately? I’ve been wondering what’s worth watching that’s out right now. I’m glad I passed on watching the Transformers movie. I want to see that one Cameron Diaz movie. That looks hilarious.
Hi Miss Kim – The orange chicken was horrible, but it sure wasn’t the best! It was just good enough chicken, haha.
Hmm, we’ve seen practically everything decent that has come out. Jersey Boy was good, if you like musicals and 50s/60s music. Tammy was pretty funny in a romantic comedy kind of way, but not as funny or raunchy at “The Heat” was (with Sandra Bullock). The Fault in Our Stars was good and funny and made me cry but the book was better. Jake says 22 Jump Street was hilarious and funnier than the first one (I didn’t see it, I was in Boston at the time). How to Train Your Dragon 2 was also cute but don’t need to see it in the theaters (don’t know if you watch kids movies haha). I don’t think there’s a whole lot else out there to see, though I do want to see “Earth to Echo” – it looks cute!
Sexy fun box? Whaaa? I went to iwok once and they didn’t have that yet I think it’s so silly when business put an “i” in front of the name. Closeby there is an ‘isushi’. In SF, we saw an ‘iThai’!
I love Rita’s because they change up their flavors daily. I also like that can put two flavors of Italian ice in your gelati. i like having choices. I like it when they offer non-fruity options too like chocolate chip or coffee.
Regal has the best movie prices and it’s so close to my house too. 🙂
Hi CC – Yeah… I don’t think anyone should bill their food as sexy! Just… don’t do it, man! Yeah, the “i” thing it kind of weird. It’s not like your food is an Apple product!
I didn’t know they changed up their flavors, but that’s a good tip. We sampled a whole bunch so we were good with our two choices to share. It is nice they have some non fruity flavors too.
Yeah, we just recently found out that it’s $5.50 for the movies all the time now! Total score. Lucky you are so close to that theater!
Ironically I haven’t watched a movie at the new price point yet! AMC in Otay Ranch is $6 I believe, but $5.50 @ Regal trumps that. Plus it’s closer. FYI – there’s a small Thai place next to Rubio’s near Regal. Kind of slow, but decent food.
Yes, Rita’s changes their flavors every day! There are a few repeats but the variety is what keeps me coming back. One of my past faves was the chocolate chip watermelon.
Oh, maybe we will try the Thai place soon. Jake wants to go to the movies more often now that we know we can go for just $5.50 a ticket! Will have to check out Rita’s again when we go get the kids again.
It is called Thai Fresh.
Hhahahaha. We almost watched the Transformer movies the other day, we figured it would be silly but fun. Guess we can now pass on it! I thought the trailer was not that great, I think Marky Mark’s daughter screams ‘DAD!’ 12 times over the course of 2 minutes. We ended up watching Edge of Tomorrow and that was fairly entertaining.
Need to go to Rita’s though. I don’t know if I will like the Italian ice but for sure must try the frozen custard!
Hi J.S. – Uh, yeah. If you want to see Transformers seriously wait for the DVD hahah. I also thought it was like, a half hour too long. That movie was like almost 3 hours! Insane! Edge of Tomorrow looked okay to me, I think I’ll wait for the DVD on that one too.
The nice thing is that they let you sample pretty much everything (much to the dismay of anyone standing behind you in line, oops) so you can figure out what you like (and if you’ll like it). The frozen custard is so rich and creamy! I really liked it 🙂