Grub Guide
Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide
SOL GRILL
New Orleans feel, Mediterranean taste: the kung fu shrimp and blackened ahi are excellent, but the jambalaya over fettuccini will leave your innards glowing. 110 McFadden Place, Newport Beach, (949) 723-4105. $$
TACO ROSA
It's not just the wide swath of Mexico—Mexico City, Oaxaca, even the Yucatan—that makes Taco Rosa one of the few truly successful gourmet Mexican restaurants. Taco Rosa succeeds because its few tweaks are Mexican-based and surprising. Ask for the aguas frescas and instead of horchata, waiters will recommend a frosted, freshly squeezed cup of cantaloupe or melon—¡delicioso! 2632 San Miguel Dr., Newport Beach, (949) 720-0980. $$
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La Casa de Fernando
2500 W. Lincoln Ave.
Anaheim, CA 92804
Category: Restaurant > Central American
Region: Anaheim
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Matiki Island Barbeque
3070 W. Lincoln Ave.
Anaheim, CA 92801
Category: Restaurant > Hawaiian
Region: Anaheim
VICTORY BAKERY
949 S. Euclid St. Anaheim, CA
Anaheim, CA 92804
Category: Restaurant > Bakery
Region: Anaheim
Bismillah Halal Tandoori Restaurant
8901-D Knott Ave.
Buena Park, CA 90620
Category: Restaurant > Indian
Region: Buena Park
Gallo's Italian Deli
3900 E. Coast Highway
Corona Del Mar, CA 92625
Category: Restaurant > Deli
Region: Corona Del Mar
Country Inn Garden Cafe
130 E. 17th St.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Category: Restaurant >
Region: Out of Town
Taqueria El Granjenal
899 W. 19th St.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
Category: Restaurant > Mexican
Region: Costa Mesa
Irie Jamaican Restaurant
9062 Valley View St.
Cypress, CA 90630-5802
Category: Restaurant > Caribbean
Region: Cypress
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ORANGE
FELIX CONTINENTAL CAFÉ
One of OC's finest Cuban joints. Lunches run more than $5, but you'd be foolish to nix the chicken embajador on the patio during a warm afternoon. This place is legendary, and it smells damn good, too. 36 Plaza Square, Orange, (714) 633-5842; www.felixcontinentalcafe.com. $$
PAPA HASSAN'S CAFÉ
Near Chapman University, this is easily one of OC's best Lebanese places. The lamb shawarma pita is an ungodly delicious bargain at $4.50. The almost-as-good falafel pita is $3.50. 421 N. Glassell St., Orange, (714) 633-3903. $
TONY'S LITTLE ITALY
The best lunchtime pizza is made at Tony's Little Italy: as thick as a Tom Clancy novel, the circumference of a basketball hoop. They also sell subs and such Italian-American classics as spaghetti, ravioli and mostaccioli, but the focus is on the pizza—it says so on their window. 1808 N. Placentia Ave., Ste. B, Placentia, (714) 528-2159; www.tonyslittleitaly.com. $
SONNY'S PIZZA AND PASTA
Home of a monster marinara sauce that is nearly orgasmic. The sauce is ladled on to your choice of spaghetti, mostaccioli or rigatoni with Italian sausage or meatballs the size of your fist on a plate big enough to feed three. 429 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente, (949) 498-2540; www.sonnys.com. $
TANNINS
Although the food menu isn't particularly extraordinary—an unimaginative, though tasteful, tour of northern and southern Italian favorites, with weekly chefs' menus of American fare like steaks and sesame-encrusted ahi passing for experimental—Tannins' wine execution and presentation make the place a must-dine. Sommelier Kijou Morris rotates the wine list every three months and scours the vineyards of the globe for pleasing brands. He even offers a cheat sheet for the ignorant—every entrée lists two wine recommendations. 27211 Ortega Hwy., Ste. C, San Juan Capistrano, (949) 218-3560; www.taninsrestaurant.com. $$
SANTA ANA
NANCY PUEBLA RESTAURANT
Lurking within this seemingly mundane Mexican restaurant are delicious, complex rarities from the central state of Puebla, platters more familiar to an ethnography than an Orange County menu—dense mole poblano, pale goat menudo and guilotas, a chewy type of quail so region-specific that it's not even listed in most Spanish dictionaries. 1221 E. First St., Ste. C, Santa Ana, (714) 834-9004. $
ROYAL KHYBER
The self-proclaimed "restaurant of the year" unabashedly serves upscale Indian cuisine in a setting more suited for coats and ties than T-shirts and jeans. The spicy chicken Madras features big chicken chunks and sliced tomatoes buried in a potent curry highlighted by freshly ground black pepper. It torches. 1621 W. Sunflower Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 436-1010; www.royalkhyber.com. $$
TANGATA
You want to feel pampered and catered-to like a well-tended divorcee? Then you must dine where the socialites and divorcees dine: at your neighborhood museum. Tangata is the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art's restaurant, and it is exquisite and perfect in every way. Everything goes better with the citrus-based ponzu (that's the stuff they put on your salmon and halibut in the better sushi joints). 2002 N. Main St., Santa Ana, (714) 550-0906. $$$
WHOLE PITA GREEK ISLAND GRILLE
The Whole Pita's menu is simple—variations on gyros and salads, universal Mediterranean appetizers such as hummus and olives. But from this predictability emerges some of the finest Greek cuisine since the dearly departed Café Plaka. Pitas are Doric-big; the casseroles are hearty, meaty and teeming with layers of flavor. Remember to squirt in some fotia, the restaurant's hellish emerald-green hot sauce, but drink lots of water afterward—fire! 3940 S. Bristol St., Ste. 113, Santa Ana, (714) 708-3000. $
YOUNG'S MARKET
Certainly Young's—the county's only Polynesian market—has crates of coconuts, tons of taro and packets of poi (the taro-based paste similar to applesauce) galore. But items such as corned beef, pork bangers and breakfast biscuits are the true imperialists of Young's three aisles. See, the Polynesian palate is dominated by British faves. Because of this hospitality, county Polynesians have made Young's their piece of paradise. 12317 Westminster Ave., Santa Ana, (714) 554-0690. ¢
COACHES
The décor amounts to tables, chairs, some pictures of Babe Ruth and a few TVs. But the fish and chips is English-styled: hot and slathered in tartar and chased down with a cold beer. 1025 Pacific Coast Hwy., Seal Beach, (562) 431-5266. $
HARBOR HOUSE CAFÉ
This 24-hour diner is a local institution that serves consistently good food. As it's incredibly popular with the late-night crowd, be prepared to wait for a table. 16341 Pacific Coast Hwy., Sunset Beach, (562) 592-5404; www.harborhousecafe.com. $
PARK AVENUE
Gourmet American food in Stanton—who'da thunk it? The whole stuffed chicken, covered in pan drippings, is as fatty as a marbled pork chop, and stuffed with a whipped concoction of creamy mashed potatoes and spinach you couldn't pay us not to eat. 11200 Beach Blvd., Stanton, (714) 901-4400; www.parkavedining.com. $$$
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