Quick Bites for Short Trips

La Verne Online doesn’t want its readers to be too provincial in their culinary choices. Therefore, we occasionally will venture past city limits to offer a few extraordinary restaurants that we think you’ll enjoy. We like to throw our few neighbors a few crumbs when they truly deserve it.

Walters (310 Yale Avenue Claremont) is older and more hallowed than some of the professorial types that occupy the nearby ivy-covered colleges. The menu is as long as some syllabi, too. You can get all crazy and order an Afghan patty with your scrambled eggs or you keep it simple and order the turkey soup, which is my instant get-well therapy. And that’s just the point. Walters, like going to college, gives you splendid and varied choices. That’s what you want out of life and a good restaurant.

Sergio’s (131 E. Route 66, Glendora). It’s a longtime Glendora favorite, made more charming with its small intimate dining room and tiny patio to match. Lap up the salsa, try any of the burritos, treat yourself to the fresh fish taco. Amazing. It’s a hole in the wall, but it’s a good hole that I like to lose myself in time and time again.

The Walker House (121 N. San Dimas Ave.). Earlier in the year I profiled Saffron and owner Linda Rouyer, but it wasn’t only recently that I was able to enjoy a meal at the landmark Walker House in San Dimas. Everything was splendid. The chef prepared paprika chicken stroganoff for me and grilled lamb chop for Colleen. For dessert we tried the banana bread pudding and the warm flourless cake. Exquisite.

So there you go. You’re surrounded. Claremont to the east and Glendora and San Dimas to the west offer some pretty good fare when you feel like making the briefest trips possible out of town.