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As of 2010, the population of Long Beach was somewhere in the 500,000 range, yet the city was home to only one vegan restaurant (Zephyr). While this animal-free diet ain't exactly sweeping the nation -- or the town -- by storm, that number still seemed small.Luckily, however, about two weeks ago, ... More >>
Kareem'sOver the weekend, I attended an art reception where the featured snacks were hummus and falafels. I still remember the days where the two (with tabbouli, natch) were staples of any left-of-center gathering, placed by conscious hosts who were attuned to the needs of vegetarians and wanted ... More >>
Photo by Meranda CarterPaul Cao and Phi Nguyen Our truckin' trio (Paul Cao, Phi Nguyen and Minh Pham) continue their On the Line interview as we inquire about the Burnt Truck's story behind its name, as well as how often they get carded. If you're wondering where Minh is in our photos, he's about ... More >>
[Hole In the Wall] Classic Italian-American cuisine and a really, really big slice o' pie
We don't usually write posts on what any one restaurant has on special menus, because if we did, we'd end up doing it all the time. That is, of course, unless we feel like it, especially when the restaurant figures out a way to tie-in said meals to something interesting like the upcoming Blue Man ... More >>
Free food! Woo! This Friday, restaurants everywhere are rolling Veterans Day freebies and deals for our fine servicemen and women. If you're a veteran or active-duty service member, get in on the free-grub action with the list below. And thank you for serving our country! Fine print:&n ... More >>
Edwin GoeiAt my count, Irvine has about eight pho/Vietnamese restaurants. Before long, this number will increase to 11, with new entrants La Pho in Quail Hill, Pho Saigon Pearl at Diamond Jamboree, and Pho So 1 in Westpark.La Pho and Pho Saigon Pearl are already open; Pho So 1 plans to debut soon ... More >>
This Friday, 11/11/11 from 7 to 11 p.m., PositivePlate.org presents a special event featuring sustainable dishes prepared by some of our top local chefs. Haven Gastropub, Avanti Cafe, Sol Cocina, Taco Asyum, Sage, Duke's, Xanh Bistro, and Haute Cakes are those expected to serve signature s ... More >>
Photo by Meranda CarterOur featured interview with chef Keith Stich continues as we delve into familial influences and how he prefers his Branzini. Prepare for an Asian-inspired fish dish tomorrow, but today, catch up on part one.Hardest lesson you've learned:To control my emotions during a busy ... More >>
An ex-Cheesecake Factory executive sells Italian and Korean food under one roof in Irvine
Edwin GoeiA few weeks ago, we wrote about the quick demise and subsequent sale of the faltering Sabores Mexican Grill across from South Coast Plaza. The restaurant, and just about practically everything that was in it was sold lock, stock and barrel to Bella Cuba, a Cuban eatery. The new entity i ... More >>
ProfessorSalt.comOpening late November, maybe.Watch out, Shin Sen Gumi and Kappo Honda! Another Fountain Valley izakaya is opening just down the street at the end of the month. Izakaya Ku takes over the good juju of a space that housed the long-lived Funashin sushi restaurant since 1989; Funashin ... More >>
Edwin GoeiI posited the question last May: Why aren't there any Hong Kong-style cafés in Orange County?In that post, I said that the last Hong Kong-style café to grace our dining scene was O'Shine in Irvine, which then became Red Onion, a similarly styled restaurant that folded shortly after. ... More >>
Photo by Meranda CarterIn our continuing interview, chef Gretchen Beaumarchais discusses her inner Julia Child and what we might expect to find cooking in the massive stainless-steel smoker. Get familiar with her stories of Boston, Beijing and Buttercup in Part One. Oh, and take note of where she ... More >>
This Lake Forest market isn't a restaurant, but it still celebrates the dishes of Indonesia in to-go containers
Edwin GoeiThis is a taste test. Only a test. Not a formal review, but a quick, dirty trial of two dishes from Koko's Cafe in Irvine, which as I noted in an annoucement post last week, opened recently in Irvine. It took the place of Dickey's BBQ at the corner of Irvine Center Drive and Jeffrey, an ... More >>
Cafe Hiro's uni spaghettiMost of you are probably waiting anxiously for Black Friday deals; but me, I'm looking forward to this Saturday, which is the day American Express will credit $25 back to me if I patronize a small business and spend $25 or more with my American Express Card. To get the de ... More >>
As we posted earlier this week, the El Bulli movie Cooking in Progress will have it's only LA screening at Sunday, November 27 at 2 p.m. at the Art Theater of Long Beach.I got to see a cut of the film: this is a review. Let it be known that this movie is for the diehard. It will be most appreci ... More >>
Flickr User Lynn FriedmanRowland Heights' Class 302, arguably the restaurant that put the uniquely Taiwanese dessert called shaved snow on the map and everyone's consciousness (at least if you live or play in the San Gabriel Valley), is planning a store in Irvine at University Park Center, which ... More >>
MakinoLasVegas.comFew people remember Russell's Seafood Palace or that it was located in the now vacant building at the corner of Main and MacArthur in Irvine. To jog your memory, it used to be behind Agora Churrascaria, both restaurants being within walking distance from John Wayne Airport. It f ... More >>
professorsalt.comWhat the heck happened? One night I was handing out candies to adorable ghouls and ghosts, the next thing I know, we're a week past Thanksgiving with tomorrow the first day of December! This means of course, another installment of our monthly restaurant roll call, a summary of re ... More >>
[Hole In the Wall] This Santa Ana dive does Mexican and American—and Mexican-American!—beautifully
This Costa Mesa restaurant is great for pre-theater meals, just stick to its regular menus
Playground's duck rillettesJason Quinn's new restaurant, Playground, opened a couple of weeks ago on la Cuatro, near the Yost Theatre. Originally conceived as a high-end burger-and-beer bar à la Burger Parlor, Quinn revamped the concept to allow him and his staff a little more creativity in the ... More >>
Its first OC location is pricey, but what else would you expect at Fashion Island?
We'll start at the end of the mystery, like the film Memento: Why didn't I include your favorite in this list of 10 great pizzerias that we Weeklings love? Because that's what the comments section is for, dear reader. Without further delay, here are 10 great pizzerias in Orange County!
ProfessorSalt.comDumpling soondubu at Cho DangSad news, soondubu lovers. The owner of Irvine's best soondubu restaurant, Cho Dang, is selling her business and closing up shop in January. While there's no shortage of restaurants in Irvine that specialize in the spicy Korean tofu stew, in this writ ... More >>
The former Sorrento Grill brings affordability to Laguna Beach with its Sunday meals
Edwin GoeiThis list was a difficult one. How to just pick 10 restaurant out of the rich bevy of delights found at our Korean District? Or the burgeoning centers of Korean cultures in Buena Park and Irvine? No list could ever be definitive enough to be absolutely conclusive or comprehensive enough ... More >>
Meranda CarterEnd-of-year lists like these are fun to do, but hard to write because it is always difficult to just pick 5 of anything, let alone restaurants in a year full of great meals. This year, I used the same measuring stick as last year: in picking my five, I asked myself this question: "W ... More >>
What the Stick a Fork In It bloggers learned about food in Orange County in 2011
ProfessorSalt.comTacos & Carnitas SahuayoIt's the time of year again when I select a short list of five favorite restaurants. I love places with a tiny menu, tightly focused on producing one thing or variations on the thing at which they excel. Often, that specialist is an ethnic hole-in-the ... More >>
Flickr user David HilowitzWe've seen restaurants in gas stations (see the previous incarnation of Peter's Gourmade Grill) and car-washes (see Kush Bowl), but here's something new: Nation's Restaurant News reports that car dealerships might be the next restaurant frontier.
Courtesy Hidden Dinner / Photograph by Meg StrouseThe last time we checked in with Hidden Dinner, the underground dining pop-up created by Anahita Naderi, Betty Lang and Justin Veiga, it was in a warehouse where diners were led blindfolded into the room and fed thirteen small plates meant to e ... More >>
Anne Marie PanoringanBet we can get $55 for him.There is a special population obsessed enamored with all things Disney, and a completely unrelated group that wants to be a part of all things exclusive. Rarely do these two collide, except when discussing a certain door adjacent to the Blue Bayou i ... More >>
Meranda CarterYou still got a few bucks left over after spending it all on Christmas gifts nobody really liked? Some restaurateurs are betting you probably don't, which is why four cities in our humble county are using January, usually the slowest time in the restaurant biz, to offer discounts to ... More >>
This Newport Coast eatery introduces great Indian cuisine to the rich folks
Flickr user thegrocerOrange County, for all its Republican, meat-and-potatoes reputation, has a fantastic array of vegetarian restaurants; not just vegetarian, but vegan, and from a wide variety of ethnic traditions. We have little patience with hippy-dippy vegetarian places that skimp on flavor ... More >>
Photo courtesy of Wagstaff WorldwideWe first met Jason Petrie at Dux In Tux in November. He had us at truffle (and candied-bacon-and-mushroom risotto -- but not all at once!). Between his Michelin-earning stint at Aureole in Las Vegas and helping Susan Feniger open Street in Los Angeles, it's saf ... More >>
David Kesler spent almost a decade inside The Cellar in Fullerton as its executive chef. Now he's on his own and on the verge of opening Bistro Bleu, a French restaurant he says will be "without the high prices, sub-par food, and pompous attitudes."The space he took over is from the recently shu ... More >>
Forgive the bad picture--it must've been taken during a weekend brunch at Memphis in downtown SanTana, while I was on my fourth Manhattan. But that's the current storefront for Au Naturaw, a planned raw-foods restaurant directly across from Memphis. Can a downtown support this, the veggie-leaning ... More >>
Edwin GoeiThe latter half of last year saw three new Vietnamese restaurants opening in Irvine, with Pho So 1, La Pho, and Pho Saigon Pearl vying for the wallets and mouths of the rice noodle-slurping public. It continues this year as The Irvine Company revealed that at least one more Vietnamese r ... More >>
This burger comes from what used to be a big chain (says so in the fading clips hanging in the restaurant's dining area) but which I thought was just a one-off. Have never seen another location in Orange County outside of the one I ate at, but doesn't mean one might not exist in our older cities. ... More >>
'The Great Food Truck Race 2' co-winner Jason Quinn opens his long-awaited restaurant
Dave LiebermanIt's been about four months since Edwin reviewed the Ramsay-revamped Luigi's D'Italia in Anaheim and three months since the show aired on FOX. Gustavo went for the taping of the show itself; I went the following week, to see what they'd done to a restaurant that inspired one of two ... More >>
This Lake Forest restaurant offers beer-can chicken and other delicious alcohol-laced oddities
UPDATED, FEB. 7, 12:30 p.m.: Now I can reveal the big secret: not only will March 13 be the usual KCRW-OC Weekly awesome Happy Hour, not only will we be treated by the awesome food and drinks of the Memphis at the Santora crew, but we're also going to be joined by four of the best bartenders in O ... More >>
This Buena Park restaurant takes Korean food and its beef short rib soup beyond the borders of Little Seoul
Flickr user mpd01605I've been out for a while dealing with some family stuff on the East Coast--you know I'm not originally from Califas, right?--and while it was pretty draining stuff, I did still have to eat. While the town I grew up in has turned into a bougie commuter paradise (they've got a ... More >>
Photo by Ben DayhoeSO...remember how I wrote about the above space in downtown SanTana, and that the rumor was it was going to be a bistro of sorts? The cat is out of the bag--sort of. The name of the restaurant will be Floral Park Cafe, and all that they'll say right now is that it'll be a "new ... More >>
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