So I celebrated Cinco de Mayo 2010 with a few friends at Cabos Platillos de México in Rocklin. I didn’t end up having any drinks, as I was a designated driver (seems like I get that a lot…hmmmmm…). I’m not a huge fan of beer anyway, but I do like my share of tequila. Were I not a designated driver, I would have tried a Dos Equis (being a fan as I am of The Most Interesting Man in the World). Cabos has become our go-to Cinco de Mayo tradition. I always enjoy the food at Cabos, this time I tried something new (to me)…an Enchilada de Carnitas. The pork was tender with a crispy outside, and the enchilada sauce had just a hint of sweetness. I topped it with their hot salsa, which had a good bite but wasn’t eye-blinding searing hot (there’s a time for that too, usually when I’m feeling masochistic or down in the weather). Nothing perks you up faster than eye-popping heat (it’s good for your immune system, too).

Overall, the bathroom was kept clean. This is pretty impressive considering how busy Cabos is, especially on Cinco de Mayo. Longtime readers know how much I value a good clean bathroom. That having been said, I wasn’t overly excited about the trash can overflowing in pictures 4 and 5…yes I know they were busy…but when you run a popular establishment, you already know it’s going to be busy. Every year for the last three years the line is out the door on May 5…there’s no reason to not take an extra couple minutes and go check to make sure the sinks are dry and the trash can not overflowing. They managed to keep the bathroom clean overall but it seems like this was an oversight…and while not as bad as a filthy toliet or dirty stall, it looks careless. I’ll give this one three-and-a-half rolls, it’s colorful and clean, and I’m going to deduct a quarter of a roll for the overflowing trash can.

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Let me, for the benefit to  start by saying if I were to be labelled a “fanboy” of anything…Mercedes-Benz would be one I’d be close to being guilty of. Exotic cars in general, but Mercedes has a special pull for me…I’m not sure if it’s my German heritage crying out to me or just something about them…I couldn’t put my finger on it, but hey, they make some pretty cool cars. Anyway…disclaimer aside, here goes… (btw…I was here 2/23/2010)

This has literally gotta be one of the coolest bathrooms I’ve ever been in. If it were in a Honda or VW or Ford or Kia or any other car dealer (despite Honda’s near-stellar reputation, I’m not a fan…I like Ford trucks, their now-defunct Excursion, and they did probably the best job of any company of renewing the retro side of the pony car-era with the new Mustang…VW owns Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley, and Bugatti, so there’s some love there, and truthfully, although it took me a while, I like the New Beetle…I still wish it were a rear-engine configuration, but oh well)…I would feel exactly the same. No joke…this bathroom is cool! The first thing you notice when you walk in is the TV screens built into the mirror (see picture #5) and right above the urinal (see picture #1). I’m not sure if there are TV screens in the stalls, I didn’t check. Ironically, as you can see in pictures 4 and 5, the channel was on CNN, where James Lentz, President of Toyota USA, was discussing before a Senate panel the issues Toyota was having with sticking accelerators (some of those stories turned out to be fake). Finally, in pictures 6 and 7, you can see the sink they had in there. I tried to capture how the thing worked in picture #7, but it didn’t come out very well…anyway, there are no sinks per se. This is a solid slab of granite sloping toward the mirror, with a trough running behind it that collects the waste water and soap. The sink heads are automated and start when you put your hands under them (pretty standard).

For all the cool stuff in this bathroom, I’m giving it four-and-a-half rolls. “But, Bathroom Guy,” you might be asking yourself, “why only four-and-a-half? Why not five?” Let me tell ya, pardner! I’ve seen some amazing bathrooms on the web and in person (for some reason more when I was a kid than now…hmm). Although this bathroom is really cool, it can’t compare to the bathrooms in the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo for orginiality or design, and as I remember them, some of them are five-roll bathrooms).

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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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Friday 10/02/09 a buddy of mine and I went to Arby’s for dinner…as fast food goes, it’s likely one of the smarter choices…depending on what you choose, of course (and I’m sure adding their Horsey Sauce® can’t help things, probably don’t wanna add anything that bares a resemblance to zesty mayo).

They keep the bathroom clean, so that’s certainly a plus. I don’t think they check on it very often though, or the franchisee maybe just doesn’t care? Take a look at picture four, you’re looking at one of those combination paper towel dispensers/trash cans (pretty common in fast food places, department stores, and even some “sit-down” restaurants). Where’s the trash can?!? Oh wait…check out picture five…there it is! Underneath the sink…I’m not sure that’s quite how the parts fit together. Pictures six and seven are the paper towel dispenser part…the paper towels wouldn’t come out the bottom so I opened up the dispenser…you’d think they’d make sure all of that was working and prevent people from opening that door (it’s thin sheet steel, maybe not the safest thing to be opening and closing through that little hole). Two-and-a-half rolls for the apparently neglected bathroom.

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