Cheesesteak Shop in Castro Valley

The Cheesesteak Shop, 3422 Village Dr, Castro Valley - (510) 581-6793

Been going to this one for many years. A little distance from me..maybe 6 miles. Steaks are decent but no quite up to par with the genuine, authentic, original Philly Cheesesteak Sandwiches back East. I always order the 15" Cheesesteak with everything on it. Pretty good. However, I do have an issue with the Cheesesteak Shop because whenever I pick up cheesesteaks for the 3 of us, I order one with no cheese, but everything on it. Dammit..twice in a row they just gave me a plain steak sandwich with NO ONIONS, NO PEPPERS... just steak. Am I missing something here?

For more information about Philly Cheesesteaks, please visit my website. Recipes, videos, etc. I also have a blog dedicated to the Philly Cheeseteak. http://thephillycheesesteak.blogspot.com/

Monterey Columbus Day Festival Oct 11-12

Hi People. We'll be down in Monterey this weekend for the Columbus Day Festival at the Custom House Plaza. The weather looks decent and it'd be a great idea for you to trek on down to the area. Great scenery. Do your Christmas shopping.

We are DandL CREATIONS and we sell hand-made shell jewelry, fannypacks, shoulder bags, wrap-around skirts and a lot more. We will be located in Space 28 in front of the 'Museum.' Come on down and check us out.

Here are some reviews of recent shows we have done:

Homefront on the Bay, Richmond Oct 4-5
Castro Valley Fall Festival Sep 13-14
Pittsburg Seafood Festival, Sep 6-7

If you are a vendor, there's at least two shows in the Bay Area that I would recommend staying away from. The Orinda Holiday Bazaar (nice event and a great effort by the promoters, but NOBODY buying...they've got money here, but they don't spend) Last year's review.

And I would stay away from the Vacaville Harvest Days Festival at the Nut Tree. Did it two weekends last year and virtually everybody did poorly. Was located next to the Pumpkin Patch and people just ran by, grabbed their pumpkins and got the hell out of there. They force vendors to pay $25 for a 'police permit' where you MUST give them yours SSN and Driver's License number and be treated like a criminal when they run a check on you. Absurd.

Pallen Martial Arts

Pallen Martial Arts had a booth next to us at the Castro Valley Fall Festival. Last year we had problems with them conducting their activities and solicting new students in front of our booth, blocking customers from accessing our booth. Additionally, a number of them kept RUNNING through our booth also and were a nuisance.

This weekend, the students of Pallen Martial Arts were absolutely terrible and I recommend that parents do not allow their children to learn about Martial Arts from them. On Saturday, these students conducted business and did demonstrations outside their booth, approximately 2/3 ways across the aisle, disrupting traffic flow down the aisle. They solicited potential students, parents, etc., in front of our booth and blocked traffic flow to one-half of our area on a continual basis. Many times I asked them to move their activities over to their booth and they were disrupting my sales. They would just say 'oh, I'm sorry' and go about their business, soon thereafter resuming what they had been doing. The students of Pallen Martial Arts were also told by the promoters of the event to 'confine' their activities.

Pallen Martials Arts continued doing this on Sunday and they showed no RESPECT for anybody. They thought all this was a big joke. The promoters of the event came over and asked them once again to confine their activites, but soon after, they would be outside blocking traffic and doing their demonstrations, attracting crowds of 5-20 people at times. They spread over to my booth and customers could not see my booth nor could they get in. During the morning one of them had his big gigantic mutt sit down in front of our booth and they confronted customers once again. Other dogs came over and they exchange butt sniffs and occasionally they would be jumping around, scaring off potential customers. These Pallen Martial Arts Students were terrible and I am really wondering exactly what they are teaching these kids. I mean these kids do not listen to anybody, wise ass neighboring vendors and just plain out disrespectful toward adults. Do you want to expose your children to these monsters at Pallen Martial Arts. Heck, if one of my kids were there, I'd yank him/her out so quickly.

Castro Valley Fall Festival - Sep 13-14

CASTRO VALLEY, CA. I have been doing this event for approx 10 years now and this is the worst year ever. I've always enjoyed this event and we have a good location for our booth. The promoters, Festival Productions, once again did a great job with the show and I commend them once again, as they (Jeff & Jerry Cambra) put on another great event.

However, you can lead the horse to the water and stick his nose in it, but you can not make him drink it. And that's the way the story goes. People just not buying. I guess some vendors did okay, but a huge majority had big drops in sales, including us. We just have to ride this decline in the economy out.

We had huge problems with the booth next to us which was the Pellen Martial Arts School, located in Castro Valley. They had some of their 'students' there solicting membership. They absolutely horrendous and you can read about them in another post that I have in this blog.

Castro Valley Fall Festival - Sep 13-14

THIS COMING WEEKEND, Come on out and enjoy yourselves at the Castro Valley Fall Festival. Been doing this event for years and it's one of the better, more organized events around. We (DandL CREATIONS) are located in space#345 on Castro Valley Boulevard near Washington Mutual. We sell shoulder bags, fannypacks, backpacks, beautiful handmade shell necklaces, tote bags, wrap-around skirts and a whole lot more.

Looks like the weather shall be cooperating this year, with expected temp in the mid-70's and plenty of sunshine, Many booths and pretty decent food. Every year that we do the Castro Valley Fall Festival, I make sure to stop by the Philly Cheese Steak Shop over in the village for a half-ways decent Cheesesteak Sandwich. Can't compare to ones back east I have had, but one of the better ones around. Try their 15-incher.

So once again people...come on down and check things out. Don't let all those football games on TV, etc., deter you from checking things out. Castro Valley Fall Festival located along Castro Valley Boulevard west of Redwood Rd/A Street.

Back to Hayward

Arrived back home in Hayward last night after the long, 9 hour drive from Roseburg. Noticed gas prices..... Ashland (filled up) at $4.29 per gallon; drove by Anderson, CA and they had the lowest price I've seen in awhile...$4.09 per gallon and of course, I put in just enough to make it home. In Hayward, the price had dropped to $4.19 from $4.35 on July 17, before we left.

So, next up for us will be the Hayward Zucchini Festival which is held at Kennedy Park on Hesperian Blvd. Has gone downhill over the years, as more of a 'beer-guzzling, music listening' crowd has attended.

Will be in Casa de Fruta in Hollister for Labor Day Weekend, doing one of Mike Knapp's Craft Fairs. Probably the Pittsburg Seafood Festival after that and then the Castro Valley Fall Festival.

Loading up the motor home was not easy on Monday morning, since a number of vendors had not taken their things down. We took everything down and placed it alongside the curb and then brought the motor home over and parked alongside our space as close as possible. So happy to get out of Fat City.