Beverages

William Grant & Sons and Young's Market Company Celebrate 125 Years With Rare Glenfiddich

In 1887, William Grant founded an independent, family-owned distiller in the United Kingdom. However, it wasn't until 1963 that United States markets were able to purchase their Single Malt Scotch whisky. After 125 years in the industry, William Grant & Sons wished to commemorate the milestone with ... More >>

Dave Reviews OC Yelp Reviews, Part 11

First of all, let's provide this paper's coverage of the much-maligned Reviewer Card, which you can hand to restaurant staff in order to inform them that they are under review by DouchebagNoshingDeliciously.blogspot.com or whatever your 7-pageviews-a-day food blog is called:If you get one of these c ... More >>

The Spicy Lover at South of Nick's, Our Drink of the Week!

This column usually highlights serious cocktails and manly drinks sipped and reviewed by Gustavo and Dave who can tell you what brand of rot gut went into it simply by sniffing. This isn't one of those articles. When I troll for drinks to feature, I'm looking for funny names or weird ingredients. An ... More >>

Oh, You Fancy, Huh? Boxed Wine Now Comes In A High-Fashion Handbag

Classy gals would never get caught lugging a Costco-sized cardboard box of wine to a party. But what if it was pretty? In an attempt to estrogen up a universal product (booze), a Swedish company has created the Vernissage "bag-in-bag" wine. It's your typical boxed wine with "a woman's touch." M ... More >>

XXII Fiestas de la Vendimia, Valle de Guadalupe, Baja California: 50 Ways to Leave Your Liver at Baja's Annual Wine Harvest Festival

On Friday night I attended the kickoff party for the 22nd annual Fiestas de la Vendimia at the Riviera Casino in downtown Ensenada which runs from August 3rd through the 19th. Around 3,000 attendees sipped Mexican wines from the Valle de Guadalupe, sampled the finest Baja cuisine from various booths ... More >>

Starbucks Introduces New Fruity Energy Drinks Made From Unroasted Coffee Beans; Free Samples This Friday

It was early last month that Starbucks announced it was buying a San Francisco bakery in an effort to improve its food offerings. It was late last month that it said it was opening a standalone store dedicated to serving its Tazo brand of tea. This month Schultz and Co. is getting into the energy dr ... More >>

On the Line: Frederic Castan of Motif Restaurant, Part One

We've met many multicultural chefs while doing On the Line, but Frederic Castan might be my first Frenchman. Distinguished and worldly, he represents the eclectic European cuisine served at Motif. A fan of West Coast wines and excellent cheese, our interview strings together anecdotes from experienc ... More >>

This Saturday: OC Brew Ha Ha To Preview 20 Craft Beers at Taste of Doheny

OC Brew Ha Ha is one of the greatest craft beer events in Southern California. With more than 70 breweries and 175 beers, it's like Disneyland for brewers, beer enthusiasts and everyone who likes to drink.   Unfortunately, it's not until September. (Sob!) But to quell our thirst for t ... More >>

Does Starbucks Have a Secret Menu?

Starbucks, according to several sources, may have a secret menu where one can conceivably order items with code names such as "Captain Crunch" and "Oreo Frappuccino." These drinks don't necessarily contain those ingredients, and are often just rejiggered recipes of their normal drinks with a few of ... More >>

[TONIGHT!] OC's Best Bartenders, Together for Next KCRW Good Food-OC Weekly Happy Hour!

​UPDATE, MARCH 13, 9:30 a.M. TONIGHT TONIGHT TONIGHT! Samples of drinks for FREE FREE FREE! 7 p.m.! See you there!UPDATE, MARCH 7, 3:30 P.M. Reminder that this amazing event happens NEXT WEEK! See you there!UPDATE, FEB. 29, 1:30 P.M. No real update to report this week, other than it's ABSOLUTELY A ... More >>

Trace Element at TAPS Fish House & Brewery, Our Drink of the Week!

​TAPS in Brea? Of course. One of the few places populated mostly by the hoi polloi--crammed with them, really--that actually impresses with their offerings, whether it's perfectly barbecued oysters, Cajun-style taquitos dating back to the late 1990s but whose charms remain eternal, award-winning b ... More >>

Laguna Beach To Host Food & Wine Fest on March 10th

​Is the recession over yet? Is it safe to spend major coin on food and wine festivals now? Because if it is, there's the Laguna Beach Uncorked! event happening on Saturday, March 10, from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. on the Festival of Arts grounds, which might be worth the splurge.The general admission is a ... More >>

El Grito at Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen, Our Drink of the Week

​ Gabbi Patrick and her namesake Mexican Kitchen in Old Towne Orange has rightfully earned praise for her meals, which skip across Mexico to offer different regional treats (go right now while they're offering her take on chiles en nogada, featuring fluffy picadillo and a walnut sauce so sweet it ... More >>

Five Things You Didn't Know About Bourbon

Flickr user spenceke​September is National Bourbon Month. As the weather cools off (OK, everywhere except Southern California), it's a good time to consider one of the finest drinks made in America. Uncork a bottle, pour a little into a snifter, add a little pour of cool spring water, and lean bac ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Ventura Limoncello

Dave Lieberman​Ventura County produces more lemons than any other county in the United States. A drive inland along Highway 150 from Santa Barbara to Santa Paula goes past thousands of acres of lemon trees, but limoncello, the lemon liqueur that's on every bar shelf in Italy, was never produced lo ... More >>

Starbucks "Secret Menu": The Key Lime Pie Frappuccino

Daniel Tomita​So it's no secret that there are all sorts of crazy personalized concoctions people foist upon their local Starbucks baristas, but this is the first time we heard of this one. OC Weekly Twitter follower @RikiYamada (follow us on Twitter at @OCWeekly and @OCWeeklyFood) was kind enough ... More >>

Drown Your Sorrows: Affogato at Cafe Lucca

Flickr user nicoleleeNot Cafe Lucca's affogato; just a general idea.​Cafe Lucca in Old Town Orange--which is not to be confused with Lucca Cafe, a Cal-Italian restaurant in Irvine's Quail Hill--was our pick for Best Gelato in OC Weekly's Best of 2009. The prices haven't changed, and the gelato is ... More >>

Dave's New Year's Resolutions: OC Food Edition

​It's not fair to impose resolutions on OC diners when I myself have failings. Some of those failings will have to stand (I absolutely despise white chocolate, for example--if a bakery specializing in white chocolate ever opens, it will be down to Gustavo, Edwin or Shuji to review it), but some ar ... More >>

At the Farmers' Market: Grapes

Flickr user brostad​Every wine-producing region in the world produces table grapes; in California, the hotter and drier the climate, the sweeter the table grapes. Table grapes can be grown in places too hot or dry for good wine grapes; the sweetness overpowers the terroir so prized by wine snobs g ... More >>

Strawberry Basil & Kick-Ass Margaritas at Tia Juana's

Jessica Ford Strawberry Basil Margarita​It's time to encourage double-fisting for our Drink of the Week. Tia Juana's in Irvine makes two specialty margaritas that stand out from the rest: the Strawberry Basil and the Kick-Ass. Of course you can choose to have just one, but if ... More >>

When Drinking Pink is Good: Battle Rosé

Pink alcohol has long had a bad rap. From cosmos to white zin to Wasilla-distilled smoked salmon vodka, a glass of pink often points to a drinker with little taste, class or sanity. Or all three. We've done our share of salmon vodka bashing here on Stick a Fork in It as of late, but in the interest ... More >>

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Offering Free Iced Drinks This Afternoon!

Flickr user egor.gribanov​Coffee snootists look away! The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is offering an array of free 12 oz. iced drinks today. 

Ethnic Eating 101: Chinese, Part 6

Despite the fact that we could go on for years about the variations and nuances of Chinese cuisine, we are going to close this week with a visit to Taiwan, because after Cantonese, the single most available regional cuisine in the Southland is Taiwanese, due in part to the great number of Taiwanese ... More >>

Calimocho: Red Wine & Coca-Cola

Jorge Negreros​Calimocho comes from combining two drinks most Americans would never think to mix: seriously cheap red wine and Coca-Cola. This concoction originated in Spain and is enjoyed mostly by younger drinkers because it's inexpensive and easy to make.

Black Orchid Tea at Sakura

Jessica Ford​Sakura in Huntington Beach features shabu-shabu, a Japanese dish in which you to cook thinly sliced pieces of meat and vegetables in a personal pot of boiling water or broth. This restaurant caters to groups and has a large outdoor eating area as well as a full bar to begin t ... More >>

In-gin-ious!

nostromoo @ flickr.com CC BY-NC 2.0​The first time I had gin was at my local bar in the town in rural Iowa where I used to live. A friend ordered gin and tonic in a place called the Checkered Flag, a place that sold Budweiser for 70 cents a glass and Grain Belt "Primo", the world's most insipid be ... More >>

The Fabulous World of Gay Wine

Dave Lieberman​As I was scarfing down empanadas today at El Gaucho #2 in Anaheim, my eyes were drawn to cases and cases of wine below the all-fútbol-all-the-tiempo big-screen TVs. Cases of wine are not exactly out of place in an Argentine market with a fantastic sandwich counter, but somehow this ... More >>

Drink(s) of the Week: The Ricardo's $3 Menu

​Gustavo probably wouldn't have many kind things to say about the food at Ricardo's Place in San Juan Capistrano. It's one of those brightly-colored, family-friendly joints with big plates of just-ok-if-you-don't-know-any-better Mexican-American standards. For the record, I don't know any better, ... More >>

Top Chef Masters Sneak Preview Party at NapaStyle, Tuesday July 14

South Coast Plaza's "handcrafted home goods and artisanal foods" store, part of a chain owned by chef Michael Chiarello, will host the event to celebrate his appearance on Bravo's Top Chef Masters the following evening.As well as winning several Emmys for his Food Network shows, Chiarello has writte ... More >>

Don the Beachcomber Goes Freaky for Tiki

Calling All Loquat Tree Owners!

Ernest Miller is a cook at the Disneyland Resort who also blogs at Culinary Safaris and is enrolled alongside my chica in the Master Food Preserver that has me going to San Bernardino more times than any non-909er should ever have to. He has an interesting request for SAFII readers: anyone has loqua ... More >>

Masters of Mixology Hit Bloomingdale's This Week

As a preview to the upcoming Happy Hour Week (which kicks off this Sunday, April 12--more on that later in the week), Bloomingdale's at South Coast Plaza is playing host to local mixologists (and a chef), who'll showcase some of the drinks and snacks that will be offered during the event. Non-alcoho ... More >>

Classy Stuff--This Time At Charlie Palmer, Bloomie's

OK, so Marché Moderne's cooking classes are all booked up - as I noted last week. But if you're quick off the mark you can sign up for one of the "kitchen technique" classes at Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale's, South Coast Plaza. According to our sources, they're likely to sell out very quickly.Run ... More >>

Red Orchid Restaurant Grand Opening

Red Orchid Restaurant Grand Opening

Last Night: First Annual Ambrosia Wine Fest

Because You're Ugly: Rock the Runway

The Art Institute is seriously starting to become my favorite place to visit in Santa Ana - every time I'm there for some event or other I wonder why my USC education couldn't have had the kind of cool events these folks seem to put on on a regular basis. Rock the Runway, this past Saturday, was a f ... More >>

Thursday's Headlines & Surprises: OC Judge Slaps Guv

Will a murder inmate defeat the Guv? Orange County Superior Court Judge Kazuharo Makino — a quiet, often-expressionless fellow who is married to a court reporter — ruled yesterday that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was wrong to deny parole to Delbert “Dale” Chrittenden. The inmate was foun ... More >>

Melts in Your Mouth, Not in Your Hand

Flora Springs Wine Dinner

Spilt Coffee

Tapping Margarita

At Newport's El Ranchito, Margaritas come fast and blurrious.

Now Youre A Boner!

Cest Si Bon: for those who love to drink with those who love to drink

Whine

An open letter of apology to the Orange County Wine Society

Coffee Crusade

The great Little Saigon coffee inquiry

Villa Park

Beat it . . . please.

A guide to our Advertisers

Summer-Rama!

39 of the best things about the next 104 days

Taps Dancing

Stop calling North County Ethiopiav

Meaty Byproducts

Pondering the German festival and knee-high socks

Don't Panic, Drink Organic

Yo Quiero Mocha Java