This Week in The Old Guard

MOLLYBLOOM'SIRISHBARANDRESTAURANT

Molly Bloom's interior has the standard Irish pub features: low lighting, Guinness posters and bricks. Lots of bricks. Both bar and restaurant offer sizeable menus featuring such traditional Irish dishes as fish and chips, bangers, beans, and mash (a surprisingly tasty combination of sausages, baked beans and mashed potatoes). 2391S.ElCaminoReal,SanClemente,(949)218-0120.$$

SAPORITRATTORIA

In the middle of the Tustin Marketplace, the greatest big-box retail pavilion our county—our country—has yet erected to Soviet-style shopping sits this honest-to-goodness Italian trattoria. They excel at the four basic Italian sauces—marinara, Bolognese, pesto and arrabiata—and each is offered with a choice of seven pastas. 2991ElCaminoReal,Tustin,(714)731-7480.$$

SKOSHMONAHAN'S

For those who haven't been satisfied with a lamb stew since Belisle's was bulldozed, Skosh Monahan's is a godsend. Meals range from splendid to very good, with prices and styles from family fare to froufrou specialties, and the Irish root beer is a sweet shot of oblivion. 2000NewportBlvd.,CostaMesa,(949)548-0099.$$

View our complete dining guide at www.ocweekly.com/food.