So it’s time to take a second away from our regularly scheduled programming of catching up on bathrooms I reviewed last year, and visit something on the local news this morning. I don’t have any pictures, because I haven’t been there (and according to the story, which you can find here, I wouldn’t want to). You’ll see that I did grab a picture off MapQuest, the bathrooms are (based on the news report and video) the white building to the left and just below the red star).

Apparently they were built in 1972 and haven’t really been maintained; they’ve become an eyesore…the womens’ bathroom is boarded up and the men’s is supposed to be pretty bad. You can watch the video on the link, but based on what I saw, the bathrooms at the Guadalupe River Park in San Jose were worse. Although the smell in Nevada City may be worse—and as I recall, I never saw anyone use the ones in San Jose either (besides myself, but when your stomach tells you you’re down for the count, you probably oughta listen).

I found it interesting that it’s only $10,000 to rebuild the bathrooms but $15,000 to repair them…the Nevada City City Council decided tonight what was going to happen to the restrooms…so of course I downloaded the minutes (find them here; the date you’re looking for is January 28, 2010…you can watch the video if you prefer).  It turned out the answer wasn’t in the minutes, so I attempted to watch the video…but that didn’t work for me either (I assume it’s a 64-bit thing), so I still don’t know what the resolution was.

Based on the evidence in the news article, I have to give this bathroom just a roll…after all, reporter Ron Jones said the one open bathroom smelled terrible, and the other one is boarded up. Since one bathroom has been put out of use due to faulty pipes I’ll rate it slightly less than Guadalupe River Park even though the homeless in the area refused to use those…

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Mmmmm…Claim Jumper. In my series of “wow-I-can’t-believe-I-waited-this-long-to-post-a-review” reviews, I visited Claim Jumper October 17, 2009. Yes folks, you read that right…I’m still…ahem…behind…

I honestly can’t remember what I had that night, but I can say without a doubt my bread choice was a sourdough roll. Sourdough bread has to be on my all-time list of favorite breads, very near (if not at) the top—and Claim Jumper does a great job on their sourdough. I even tried to become a fan on Facebook, or join a group, or something…but there weren’t any good ones (well, there was one, but it was for bakers intersted in naturally leavened breads, pretty outside my scope of “sourdough bread tastes good, I like to eat it…”). If you’re interested, you can see it here.

Okay, enough food talk…let’s get to the meat and potatoes of this review!

Their bathroom utilize dark woods and dark-colored tiles (dark green and a purple-red), and offsets that with bright lighting and a white floor (although there are dark green tiles in the floor). The result is a warm inviting—almost cheery—bathroom that’s not overly intimate or too cozy. Claim Jumper keeps their bathrooms clean, which is pretty amazing since it’s hard to even get a seat in the bar area (where we ended up sitting) on a Saturday night. Add to that generous portions and a stacked bar and if you weren’t on top of things…well, I’ll leave that to your imagination—Enjoy!

Claim Jumper gets four rolls for cleanliness and design…and I still don’t really get why bathrooms need to have AC adapters…hmm…maybe I shouldn’t ask…

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Mmm…love steak! Steak, steak, steaky steak…to paraphrase the great Ron Burgundy.

Thanks to my consistency (for those of you who know me personally…gotta be consistent in something )…I can safely say I had medium rare filet mignon. Thankfully, the steak was properly cooked (yes, I can remember whether my steak was cooked correctly all the way back to October 16, 2009 when I last visited…). I remember the food—and even the company—was great! People get weird sometimes it’s sad that I remember when everyone is in a great mood, but hey…you do what you can with what you have.

As you can see by the entrance (and pic #5), Cattlemen’s puts advertisements for their own products in the bathroom…as a side note, their drinks are pretty good…so I can’t blame em.

I like coming here in general; the bathrooms are clean, understated (nicely accented with the gray tiles you’ll see in the entrance pic), and bathrooms are cozy and inviting without being too inviting; they’re well-lit and the stall is at an odd angle.

Three-and-a-half rolls for the nicely-designed clean bathroom—and I’ll add half a roll for that advertisement.

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I stopped at Carl’s Jr. on Lonetree Blvd. in Rocklin on October 9, 2009. I have no idea what I ate; if they had those Chicken Parmesean sandwiches, I had one of those…but I’m not sure. On a side note, their Big Carl with an extra bun is a great way to enjoy that sandwich.  There’s even a Facebook Fan Page and Group Page for that fantastic “modified” Big Carl!

This is a quickie…I’ll get right onto the bathroom. First, I thought the “hammered steel” look was great on the stalls. I don’t know whether it really was hammered metal or just a “skin”-type dealio. Either way, it was pretty damn cool. Other than that, the bathroom was pretty standard…paper towels (yay!), a handwashing reminder (complete with Carl’s Jr. star), and a door that pushed open from inside the bathroom.

People forget, but that last one is pretty freakin’ important. Let’s face it…some people just don’t wash their hands. Sure that’s gross—and can spread disease—but ya know, people are gonna do whatever they’re gonna do. The least stores can do is make that door open out from the inside, so if you don’t wanna touch it you don’t have to (and you don’t have to waste paper towels). I won’t recommend a Chuck Norris kick to open it, but a gentle push with your toes oughta do the trick. 4 rolls for the stalls, overall cleanliness, paper towels in a fast food joint, and that door!

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