1. Sweet treats come and go, but the Balboa Bar endures—a slab of vanilla ice cream on a wooden stick, dunked in boiling chocolate and quickly sprinkled with various candied bits before the chocolate hardens into a thin, crispy layer. Eating one is Orange County’s version of a hajj: the frustrating search for parking on the Balboa Peninsula, the slow ferry ride across to Balboa Island, sharing a bar with a date, then walking it off through the island’s chintzy shops. The Balboa Bar is Orange County’s second-greatest culinary gift to the world, after Valencia oranges, but like the citrus groves of yore, the Balboa Bar is endangered. Corporate sameness has its gentrifying eyes on the Balboa area—the Fun Zone begins its last call within weeks—and the tiny shops that have hawked the Balboa Bar and its cousin, the frozen banana (forever immortalized in the late, great Arrested Development), face an uncertain future. Now’s the time to enjoy a Balboa Bar in its native habitat. Sugar & Spice claims to have invented the Balboa Bar in 1945—nobody ever seems to argue—and is the most famous purveyor, thanks to itsbanana-man logo and a cameo in The O.C. But locals know the bars at Dad’s Donut Shop & Bakery are slightly better, every centimeter crammed with the toppings of your choice. We recommend the Oreo crumbles and the butter brickle, graham-cracker crumbs mixed with butter. Whatever you get, a Balboa bar is just a Balboa bar—heaven. Dad’s Donut Shop & Bakery, 318 Marine Ave., Newport Beach, (949) 673-8686; Sugar & Spice, 310 Marine Ave., Newport Beach, (949) 673-8907.



2. Rendezvous is the centerpiece of suddenly vital downtown San Juan Capistrano, an amazing New American cuisine restaurant housed in an authentic Pullman. Everything is marvelous—the chicory coffee-crusted bison rib eye is some of the sweetest meat this side of Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles. But chef Peter Arachovitis saves the stunner for last: strawberry-rhubarb cobbler, an all-American treat adorned with a scoop of sweet-corn ice cream. The tart rhubarb and strawberries present a great foil for the ice cream, a rare delight in these parts. 26701-B Verdugo St., San Juan Capistrano, (949) 496-1006; www.rendezvoussjc.com.



3. The primary attraction at the chic Assal Pastry in Irvine’s Little Tehran enclave: cookies. Dozens of just-baked morsels that derive their sweetness from different types of flour (rice, wheat, even chickpea) and infinite pistachio garnishes rather than sugar. But most remarkable is the brilliant yellow rice pudding called sholeh zard. Though sweet and luscious, its quadruple kick of rosewater, saffron, cinnamon and pistachio is so peppery it’ll leave you gasping. 14130 Culver Dr., Ste. H-1, Irvine, (949) 733-3262.



4. Chef John Q. Humphreys lives in Ramos House, close to the train tracks in Old Town San Juan Capistrano, where he creates some of the best Southern-style meals in the county using herbs and produce grown in his own garden. Ramos House is the best place to waste away a lazy Orange County afternoon and a perfect spot for weekend brunch. It brings epicurean style to something as seemingly simple as a peanut butter M&M ice cream sandwich, a treat so childish yet so complex in its hand-crafted glory that you can wonder whether Ramos House really exists or is just an apparition à la the White Lady of Capistrano. 31752 Los Rios St., San Juan Capistrano, (949) 443-1342; www.ramoshouse.com.



5. I’ve visited Hans’ Homemade Ice Cream with various ladies over the years—the chubby one, the Asian one, the teacher one, the slutty one, the one who broke up with me because I made a crack about the San Onofre nuclear power plant. But no matter who goes with me, I order Herr Biermann’s butter-pecan ice cream—two scoops of velvety, intense nuttiness. There are 54 other flavors, and the current lady friend is hot and swears by their sundaes decorated with Gummi bears and M&M’s, but the butter pecan remains the true butter pecan of my heart. 3640 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana, (714) 979-8815.



6. Rockwell’s Bakery gives you several reasons to visit tiny, forgettable Villa Park: cookies, breads and the greatest selection of classic American cakes—nutty carrot, suffocating German chocolate, a tangy lemon mousse—this side of Mayberry. But greatest of them all are the coconut macaroons. Though tiny and puffy, the combined flavors of coconut and butter envelop your senses with a warm, narcotic pleasure. Rockwell’s macaroons are pretty too: the delicate curves and bends coupled with a pale-but-vibrant tone make each look like an endangered sea coral. 17853 Santiago Blvd., Villa Park, (714) 921-0622; www.rockwellsbakery.com.



7. Ono Ono earns most of its money by grilling wondrous barbecue bowls of pork, chicken or beef, but the Hawaiian mini-chain also cooks great pancakes. Its trio of coconut, macadamia and banana pancakes arrives at your table stacked high, with their toppings hugging the edges. The coconut, macadamia and banana seep through the batter to imbue a great, even flavor. Wash them down with any of the super-sweet Hawaiian Suns. 17582 E. 17th St., Tustin, (714) 505-0750; also at 22205 El Paseo, Ste. A, Rancho Santa Margarita, (949) 888-1230.



8. Argentina’s cuisine isn’t known for its subtlety, and most dishes at Regina’s Restaurant are as blunt as a soccer post—meats, pasta and little else. But then comes dessert in the form of panqueques, crepes grilled to a crispy blackness and stuffed with luscious dulce de leche, a caramel-like cream that sticks to your mouth like peanut butter. Ask affable owner Elias Niquias to bring out his finest Argentine wine to draw out all the notes of the panqueques and ask him to turn up the volume on the flat-screen television that’s broadcasting soccer matches from across the globe. 11025 Westminster Ave., Garden Grove, (714) 638-9595; www.reginaargentina.com.



9. Quadruple-layer columns of trays extend across Ara’s Pastry, heavy with cookies, Bavarian cake slices, cream tarts and eight styles of baklava: shaped into diamonds, hexagons, flaky cylinders . . . nearly every shape in the Game of Perfection. But our eyes invariably fixate on the tray with the trio of maamouls, fat Fig Newton-type cookies dusted lightly with sugar and stuffed with a paste derived from your choice of crushed walnut, pistachio or date, each moist with droplets of rosewater. 2227 W. Ball Rd., Anaheim, (714) 776-5554.

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