Grub Guide
Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide
Visit the rest of Orange County's best damn dining guide at ocweekly.com/food , where it says "Where to Eat Now" on the right side of the screen. If there are any bugs with it, e-mail Gustavo at garellano@ocweekly.com with your complaints.
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Peking Restaurant
8566 Westminster Ave.
Westminster, CA 92683
Category: Restaurant > Chinese
Region: Westminster
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The Coffee Grove
17769 Santiago Blvd.
Villa Park, CA 92861
Category: Restaurant > Coffeehouse
Region: Villa Park
India Sweets & Spices
14441 Newport Ave.
Tustin, CA 92780
Category: Restaurant > Grocery
Region: Tustin
Captain Jack's Prime Rib & Seafood Restaurant
16812 Pacific Coast Highway
Sunset Beach, CA 90742
Category: Restaurant > Seafood
Region: Sunset Beach
Mad Greek Restaurant
12120 Beach Blvd. Stanton, CA
Stanton, CA 90680
Category: Restaurant > Greek
Region: Stanton
El Gallo Giro
1442 S. Bristol St.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Category: Restaurant > Fast Food
Region: Santa Ana
CARNICERÍA EL CAMPEÓN
31921 Camino Capistrano
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675
Category: Restaurant > Grocery
Region: San Juan Capistrano
Iva Lee's
555 N. El Camino Real
San Clemente, CA 92672
Category: Restaurant > Cajun
Region: San Clemente
Rembrandt's Beautiful Cuisine
909 E. Yorba Linda Blvd.
Placentia, CA 92870
Category: Restaurant > American
Region: Placentia
EL PORTAL DE VERACRUZ
4530 E. Chapman Ave.
Orange, CA 92869
Category: Restaurant > Mexican
Region: Orange
Pescadou Bistro
3325 Newport Blvd.
Newport Beach, CA 92663
Category: Restaurant > Bistro
Region: Newport Beach
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DINNER FOR TWO:
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$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $20-$40
$$$ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ¡Eres muy rico!
MERHABA RESTAURANT
If you're non-African, the owner will be extra-attentive and repeatedly ask if you enjoy her East African recipes. You will. East African cuisine sticks mostly to stews: chewy cubes of tibisy beef; lamb ribs battling with furious peppers for control of your tongue; the famous Ethiopian doro wat, spicy chicken cooked in butter, hot like the pits of hell. The vegetarians in your party will content themselves with the shiro, an Eritrean chickpea mush similar to hummus. 2801 W. Ball Rd., Ste. 5, Anaheim, (714) 826-8859. $
BREA
TAPS FISH HOUSE & BREWERY
Located in the desperately fine-dining-deficient Brea, this place has everything—from steaks, chicken and pastas to an immense oyster bar. Gorge yourself with abandon on such appetizers as tropical-shrimp quesadillas or French Quarter Egg Rolls. 101 E. Imperial Hwy., Brea, (714) 257-0101; www.tapsbrea.com . $$
POFOLKS
PoFolks is a rustically eccentric restaurant—tin and wooden agricultural-company signs on the walls, a working train that chugs the perimeter—specializing in Norms-style home cooking with a Southern bent, the kind of place where fried chicken livers with red beans and rice is a daily special, and peach cobbler isn't some ironic/iconic treat but rather what's for dessert. 7701 Beach Blvd., Buena Park, (714) 521-8955. $$
GALLO'S ITALIAN DELI
The thirtysomething-year-old deli is little more than counters, chips and sodas—which is to say, it's the perfect beach-shack restaurant, even if it's on PCH. Request the Gallo's combo; the server will no doubt reply (as he once did to me), "Are you sure about that?" When he grabs sausages and begins hacking off massive slices, you'll understand his skepticism—the sandwich is bigger than most house cats. 3900 E. Coast Hwy., Corona del Mar, (949) 675-7404. $
GREEK TOWN GRILL
You can sing the praises of Greek Town Grill in Costa Mesa's happening East 17th Street District for its sleek décor (ceiling-to-floor windows, mosaic counter, sexy lighting and chairs), delicious takes on such Greek-American classics as pitas and dolmades, and the fact that owner Jim Marutsos works with fresh ingredients. But also hum some bars for the pear salad, a glistening hill of leaves, candied walnuts, long pear slices and melted gorgonzola. 279 E. 17th St., Costa Mesa, (949) 515-2788; www.greektowngrill.com . $
CYPRESS
FRANCO'S ITALIAN RESTAURANT
This tiny Cypress restaurant is the kind of place where the tablecloths are checkered; the waiters earnestly smack fingers against lips when describing linguine; and Frank, Dino and Pagliacci roar without rest. Franco's has an extensive Italian menu—all your major pastas, subs and even a surprising selection of veal dishes—but leave space for the cheesecake, one of the best ever to grace this world: thick, almost like tiramisù, but so strong with cinnamon you can feel it sizzle on your tongue. 4453 Cerritos Ave., Cypress, (714) 761-9040. $$
Harbor House Café
Besides Denny's, this is basically the only 24-hour joint in the area, and thus a popular hangout for high-school kids. After the one in San Clemente closed something like a decade ago, this became the hangout for San Clemente High School students, too. As far as eats go, it's known for its wide omelet selection and thick shakes. 34157 Pacific Coast Hwy., Dana Point, (949) 496-9270. $
EBISU JAPANESE NOODLE RESTAURANT
This restaurant is a sleek ramen mecca that serves miso ramen, a curative soybean-flavored elixir, poured over a tangled cake of supple noodles rife with bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, hard-boiled-egg halves and scallions. 18930 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley, (714) 964-5993; www.ebisuramen.com . $
FULLERTON
CHICAGO HARV'S
Most every county hot-dog cart advertises Chicago dogs, but Harv's is among the few places that does it better than the South Side. They ship in bulky Vienna sausages directly from the Windy City, stuff 'em into a poppy-speckled bun next to dill-pickle slivers, and squirt the mess with stinky-but-super quarts of relish and mustard that'll leave lips a yellow-green color as vibrant as a 1970s Notre Dame football uniform. 410 E. Chapman Ave., Fullerton, (714) 871-0491. ¢
LA VERANDA
Most of the Vietnamese dishes listed in La Veranda's colossal 14-page menu are unsullied by French influences—here, the colonization runs backward. Traditional French delicacies such as escargot, frog legs and coq au vin are accompanied by such Vietnamese side dishes as pickled daikon, nuoc mam (sweet fish sauce) and rice paper. The ensuing DIY combos result in plates that should earn La Veranda at least a four-star rating from the Michelin guide. 10131 Westminster Ave., Ste. 114, Garden Grove, (714) 539-3368. $$
BREWBAKERS
Part fraternity, part bakery, part miniature brewery, Brewbakers is as much a bonding experience as an eating establishment, a gustatory amusement park in the midst of chain-heavy Huntington Beach. While the personal beer-making process is the main attraction, owner Dennis Midden maintains that baking is his first love, and a chomp through his pretzels—chewy loops with a perfect crustiness and enough salt to enhance the taste but not cover it—confirms it. 7242 Heil Ave., Huntington Beach, (714) 596-5506; www.brewbakers1.com . $$
