Subject: Food and Cooking

• Thank You Little F****er: How Not to Treat Your Customers

  ​As we all know, we should never lose our cool with wait staff, lest they wee in our soup. But that's not all we have to worry about now.In a wonderful example of British hospitality, waiters at Cactus Joe's, a newly opened Mexican restaurant in Halifax, Yorkshire (gee, that sounds authentic), showed what they thought of a two-year-old diner, who had apparently dared to whine about slow service and poor food (a budding Stick a Fork In It blogger, if ever there were one!)The parents of little M

  September 16, 2009

• Full Moon Sushi to Open in Tustin at Old Haru Izakaya Spot

  Edwin Goei​I can't say I'm surprised. The spot previously occupied by Haru Izakaya -- the Korean izakaya I reviewed for OC Weekly and chronicled when it folded -- is being reworked into a sushi joint.

  September 17, 2009

• [Hole in the Wall] Cochinita Pibil and Beyond at Anepalco's Cafe in Orange

  September 17, 2009

• Newport Beach Restaurant Weeks Coming!

  ​No, that's not a typo--there's not one but two Newport Beach Restaurant Weeks to look forward to. The first runs from October 16 to 22, the second one will be in January. As much as I hate planning that far ahead, I'm prepared to make an exception when it comes to food!Expect mainly three-course lunch and dinner deals from as little as $10, and although the website doesn't yet name names, it does say there will be around 100 venues participating. Woo-hoo! We'll update this post with more info

  September 19, 2009

• Meet Winemakers of Bodegas M.

  September 24, 2009

• [Hole In the Wall] Do the Jerky at Celestino's Meats

  September 24, 2009

• Vietnamese Cajun Crawfish With Funnel Cake for Dessert: Thank You, Q Restaurant

  September 24, 2009

• An Encyclopedic Beer Selection, Killer Burger Redeem the Uneven Debut of Haven Gastropub

  October 1, 2009

• Notes From A Grubfest At South Coast Plaza

  Mall restaurants aren't everyone's first choice when dining out, but South Coast Plaza is surely an exception? Not the fast-food joints and run-of-the-mill chains, of course, but the higher-end spaces. Name one other shopping center in the US that's home to a trifecta of the caliber of Hamamori, Charlie Palmer and Marché Moderne?On Friday and Saturday I took part in a two-day event that gathered a group of local (OC and LA) food bloggers and led us around the crème de la crème of SCP's eateri

  October 5, 2009

• The Secret Menu at May Garden Opens Up a Whole New World of Taiwanese Tastes

  October 8, 2009

• [BEST OF OC] El Mesero (the Waiter): Rick Jones

  October 8, 2009

• [BEST OF OC] El Francés (the Frenchman): Pascal Olhats

  October 8, 2009

• I've Revealed A Secret; Now It's Your Turn

  Edwin Goei​If you've picked up the latest edition of The Weekly -- which is, by the way, our annual, and might I say, awesome Best of OC Issue (okay, I'm done with the shameless plug) -- you might have noticed my review of May Garden's secret menu in the usual Food section. During a chat with head honcho Ted Kissell, he asked me, "Don't many/most Chinese restaurants have two menus, the Americanized one and the Chinese one?" I told him that, actually, I'm not sure. But for the most part,

  October 9, 2009

• Is There ANYTHING Salvageable from the Weekly's Best of OC Reader's Poll Food Winners?

  ​Fair is fair, folks. A couple of weeks ago, I blasted the Orange County Register's "Best of Orange County" for the horrible selections readers picked as the best representation of a culinary category (Peppino's as best Italian! Subway as best Sandwich! Daphne's as best Greek!). Our Best of OC issue is out this week, with Edwin and I taking responsibility for virtually all the picks. But one part that we completely wipe our hands of is our Reader's Poll, and I'll repeat the same point I made w

  October 9, 2009

• Recipe of the Week: Chicken Cacciatore

  ​Stick a Fork In It always runs its recipes on a Wednesday, and sometimes that coincides with a yummy national food day. Today, however, is an exception: October 14 is National Chocolate-Covered Insects Day. Yikes!But instead of sharing my favorite recipe for cucarachas con chocolate, I'm bringing you Rachael Ray's easy-peasy, soothe-your-chillblains Chicken Cacciatore a day early. Yes, folks, tomorrow is National Chicken Cacciatore Day. Hurrah for normal food, and, it goes without saying, evo

  October 14, 2009

• Commonwealth Lounge: Now Serving Live Music on Wednesdays

  ​When you think of the small bar scene clustered in the corner of Fullerton's "SoCo District" (south of Commonwealth) most can agree that it's the only section of downtown where live music truly exists. You've heard plenty about the stages at the Continental Room, Slidebar, Steamers, Stubriks and Santa Fe Cafe. But until now, Commonwealth Lounge hasn't fully committed to opening itself up to the idea of hosting local bands--even though they do host a kick ass jazz ensemble that few people real

  October 14, 2009

• Newport Beach Restaurant Week

  October 15, 2009

• Fora is a Hidden Gem on Naples' Restaurant Row

  October 15, 2009

• Take Note, Budding Moviemakers: Kimera Is Running An Ad-Making Contest

  ​The Irvine restaurant is already offering a movie-related tie-in (each diner purchasing a $20 two-course or $30 three-course Movie Night Menu gets a free film ticket, but you must book--and mention the deal--in advance).But this is different--something that will actually get people thinking. Although the challenge is tough--applicants have to come up with a "15-second, family friendly commercial that illustrates why Kimera is an Orange County landmark"--the prize is worth it for aspiring, er,

  September 29, 2009

• Recipe of the Week: Zimzala's Farro Salad With Garden Vegetables and Red Wine Vinaigrette

  ​Courtesy of Vincent Muraco and Joyce Goldstein at Huntington Beach's Zimzala restaurant (within the Shorebreak Hotel), this is a gorgeous, easy-to-assemble salad that you can get away with for another month or so, while the weather's still warm enough. Apparently also known as emmer wheat (although I'd never heard that term), farro makes a toothsome change from deathly-dull pasta or potato salad.And, as an extra bonus, it looks mighty pretty in the bowl.

  September 30, 2009

• Dueling Dishes--A Brace of Quick Curries

  ​Suffering through a horrid cold, I thought I'd sample two healthy-ish frozen, microwaveable curries, to try to clear out the sinuses.First up: Trader Joe's Chicken Vindaloo.​Now, as much as I love TJ's, I've had pre-packaged frozen entrées from them before, and, suffice to say, they were not a success. One, a disgusting concoction of chicken and blue cheese, was so vile it went from oven to trash almost without touching the plate. Yeuch!At least the ingredients are all natural, and, with 2

  September 24, 2009

• Is There ANYTHING Salvageable from the Reg's Best of Orange County Food Winners?

  I usually don't care for lolcats, but this one...​For 16 years, the Orange County Register's annual Best of Orange County has mystified county eaters with this simple question: are the paper's readers really that stupid and tasteless to continue calling the Olive Garden the best place in Orange County for Italian food?The answer this year: they're getting better, because the Olive Garden merely ranked number two. The somewhat edible Peppino's chain, according to the Reg, is the best Italian re

  September 23, 2009

• Five Great Egg Dishes

  Mmm...underdeveloped duck embryo...​Ate a simple scramble this morning at Monkey Business Cafe, which is getting ready to do something wonderful with persimmons. At $4.95 for four pieces of toast, a melon slice, and eggs mixed with cheddar cheese and green onions, quite the treat. Eating it, however, made me think of other wonderful local dishes derived from eggs. Such as:*Hollandaise sauce at Memphis at the Santora: I can only eat a little bit, so rich and yolk-y the sauce is. My chica, thoug

  October 19, 2009

• Osteria Drago Slated To Open In Fashion Island Spring 2010

  Picture Courtesy of Drago Centro​More details are coming in about the planned Osteria Drago, an Italian eatery with a Naples-style wood burning pizza oven and family-style dining, by Celestino Drago who brought you Drago Centro in L.A. The target date is vague, sometime around spring, but it will be will be located adjacent to Nordstrom, which apparently is debuting at the same time. One thing is certain, Osteria Drago will be moderately big, occupying more than 3,700 square feet, not incl

  October 21, 2009

• New Inspection Placards Appearing in OC

  Orange County Health Care Agency​After the OC Register's exposé of the sanitation in OC's restaurants in 2008, the County Board of Supervisors empaneled a grand jury to examine how to improve food safety in OC eateries.The grand jury did its research and decided that the best way to avoid these "dining dangers" (ninjas at table 3!) was for OC to adopt the A-B-C letter grade system used in all of our surrounding counties.The Board of Supervisors decided in December not to move to a letter grad

  October 21, 2009

• At the Farmer's Market: Grass-Fed Beef

  Hannes_2 @ wikimedia.org CC-BY-SA​One of my beefs (sorry) with the Irvine farmer's market is that while you can get amazing produce, baked goods, fish, even olive oil, there's not much in the way of meat available. So when I took a Friday off to go have breakfast at Break of Dawn and go to the Laguna Hills market, I was stunned to find a big sign saying "GRASS-FED BEEF AVAILABLE HERE TODAY," with a big guy in a Stetson sitting next to it.It turns out the guy in the Stetson is named Frank Fitzp

  October 22, 2009

• Dessert of the Week: Chocolate Croissant Bread Pudding at Opah Restaurant & Bar

  ​The chocolate croissant bread pudding at Opah Restaurant & Bar in Irvine earns the honor of being our first Dessert of the Week pick. This delicious creation is served with a bourbon creme anglaise sauce that will blow your mind. Top it off with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, fresh fruit and a dusting of powdered sugar. Every bite of this dessert fills your mouth with warm, melting milk chocolate. The temperature contrast with the ice cream adds dimension, and there's even a bit

  October 22, 2009

• [Hole in the Wall] Throw Pho Quang Trung's Chicken Pho Before Swine (Flu)

  October 22, 2009

• Kula Offers Sushi Not As Art, But As a (Still Tasty) Commodity

  October 22, 2009

• Another Restaurant Goes Global Tapas

  Flight Bistro​Susan Feniger, what hast thou wrought?After one-half of the Too Hot Tamales, of Border Grill fame, opened the nearly un-Googleable Street in Hollywood as a restaurant specializing in street foods from around the world, it seems like everyone has started jumping on the bandwagon.Edwin reported six weeks ago that K'Ya in Anaheim had changed from a normal restaurant to a global street-food place, with a lot of small plates arranged by country.Now Flight Bistro in Huntington Beach, u

  October 23, 2009

• On the Line: Mark Cleveland of Avanti Cafe

  Cleveland: Ex-cellent!​I'm still mad at Avanti Cafe for stopping their International Tuesdays, so that just means I now try to visit once a week instead of every other day. I usually visit in the evening, when Mark Cleveland relieves his co-owner Tanya Fuqua in a transition as seamless as a Jamaican 4x100 relay baton passing. They've made Avanti the place for innovative vegan cooking in Orange County since 2005, and the two concoct the best drinks this side of Memphis at the Santora. We nabbed

  October 27, 2009

• Recipe of the Week: Crème Brûlée in Apples

  Dave Lieberman​Quick, what's better than crème brûlée?How about crème brûlée in an edible bowl?The Catalans, those famously free-thinking denizens of northeastern Spain, Andorra and the adjacent part of France, claim to have pioneered crème brûlée. In a burst of national pride, they call it crema catalana, and some culinary savant in Catalunya decided to put the resulting custard in baked apples and then burn some sugar on top.In-geeeeeee-nious! And so this week, just past the jump, w

  October 28, 2009

• At the Farmer's Market: Apples and Stuff Made From Them

  Dave Lieberman​It's fall, which means it's apple season here in Southern California.Tilden Farms from Riverside has Sekai Ichi apples, which are thought to be a cross between Red Delicious and Golden Delicious. They're great for eating out of hand, with a lot of juice and none of the mealiness that tends to plague Red Delicious.Many vendors have Pink Lady apples this year, which are a cross between Golden Delicious and Lady Williams that originated in Australia. These are chameleon apples: You

  October 29, 2009

• Myung Dong Kal Guksu in Anaheim Is a Temple of Korean Hand-Cut Noodles

  October 29, 2009

• Dessert of the Week: Strawberry Shortcake at Cafe Zoolu

   When first entering Café Zoolu, don't be scared off by the neon pink sign or the cheetah-print chairs lining the bar, for you will soon come to appreciate these quirks. Although this restaurant may look like a cross between a Hawaiian tiki hut and an African jungle safari on acid, the place is packed and the food will keep you coming back.Tucked away in Laguna Beach, off of Pacific Coast Highway and across from an unsightly Circle K, Café Zoolu is best known for its seafood dishes, a

  October 29, 2009

• Five Great Things To Do With That Jack O' Lantern On Nov. 1

  ingernet @ flickr.com CC BY-NC-ND 2.0Truly a woman after my own heart.​You bought the pumpkin, you carved it, the doorbell rang a hundred million times, and you gave out enough candy to fund an army of dentists for the next year.Now it's the day after Halloween and the jack o' lantern is headed for the trash--or is it?While it's true that most pumpkins of a size suitable for jack o' lanterns (jacks o' lantern?) are not bred for their flavor, all pumpkins are edible. Roasting the pumpkin usuall

  October 30, 2009

• At the Farmer's Market: The Sweetest Sweet Potatoes Ever

  The whole point of a farmer's market is to bring fresh, local food to people with as few intermediate steps as possible. While it's always fresh, sometimes the bounds of "local" get stretched. (Don't get me wrong--I am not about to give up my San Joaquin Delta asparagus--but calling that local to Irvine is stretching the bounds of reason.)And then there's Rui, the smiling, gracious woman behind the table of R Farms, near the center of the Irvine market, across from the giant hummus booth.Dave Li

  November 4, 2009

• Dueling Dishes: Battle Fish Taco

  Dave Lieberman​A great fish taco is a thing of beauty: fried fish (yes, it must be fried!) topped with raw, shredded cabbage, crema (thin Mexican sour cream), chunky salsa and a squeeze of lime on corn tortillas. The first time I had them ("Fish tacos? Seriously?") was when I was working in the San Gabriel Valley, home to the wonderful chain called El Taco Nazo. I was hooked instantly, both by the tacos and to the amazing fried yellow chiles kept covered on a foil-wrapped platter.Back then, al

  November 5, 2009

• [Hole in the Wall] Translating Meals at Mami King in Buena Park

  November 5, 2009

• Life on the Veg: Veggie Stack at Memphis Soul Cafe

  Grace Le​ The biggest grievance vegetarians have while dining out is most likely going to be lack of selection. Most restaurants think they've got all their bases covered by keeping a few boxes of frozen garden patties in stock and a few salads on the menu. Upon first glance, Memphis Soul Cafe's menu seems to be the perfect example of such a cop out. That is, until you ask for the specials.

  November 11, 2009

• At the Farmer's Market: Peaches (Maybe)

  Dave Lieberman'Tis the last peach of summer left rip'ning alone...​That's right, peaches--maybe.Yes, it's mid-November. Yes, it's already snowing all over the purple mountains' majesty and the fruited plains east of here. People in New York are settling in for a long winter of imported Israeli produce, and even here in the fruit basket of the United States, the farmer's markets are full of hard squashes and fall fruits like pomegranate and quince.But the Tenerellis, who own a farm in Littleroc

  November 12, 2009

• [Hole in the Wall] Middle Eastern Pizza at Forn Al Hara in Anaheim

  November 12, 2009

• Business Week On Subway's $5 Footlong Success

  ​Fascinating article in Business Week this week about Subway's stumbling into the goldmine that is their current $5 footlong sub deal -- a promotion that started as a lark at an "obscure Miami franchise" and has grown to give the chain $3.8 billion in sales. This is the kind of story professors use as case studies in business school. Coincidentally, about the same day the article came out, I was also drawn to the cheapness. Because it's really all about the cheapness, isn't it? But frankly

  November 13, 2009

• Drink of the Week: Vegan Friendly Gel-Glow Shots

  Grace Le​ In the ultimate clash between classy and trashy, we present to you the Vegan Friendly Gel-Glow Shot. No longer must you pass up a drink because its ingredients infringe upon animal rights. This animal-free recipe allows herbivores to join in and get eff-ed up along with everyone else! But the fun doesn't end there... Not only are these shots vegan friendly--they glow in the dark!

  November 13, 2009

• Life on the Veg: Noorani Halal Tandoori in Garden Grove

  Dal Urad​Noorani's Halal Tandoori Restaurant is a hole-in-the-wall type establishment that is pretty easy to overlook, particularly amid the clusterfuck that is Little Saigon's urban design. If you do notice, chances are you'll experience a moment of severe disorientation when you realize you're looking at a Pakistani restaurant in... well, Little Saigon. It may look like a fish out of water, but since it has been located on the same block for about 20 years, it's most likely that the outgrowt

  November 18, 2009

• Dueling Dishes: Walking the Plonk

  Dave Lieberman​Remember two weeks ago, when I posted mockingly about 7-Eleven's move into the ultra-budget wine world? I made a snarky comment about not doing one's research about specialty retailers that might also have a decent chunk of the market share for really, really cheap wine, and I threw in some gratuitous French-Canadian slang, namely, cuvée dépanneur ("convenience store blend").Well, it's time to put my money, or rather the Weekly's money, where my mouth is. For this week's Dueli

  November 19, 2009

• Dessert of the Week: S'mores Sundae at The Crow Bar

  ​The Crow Bar and Kitchen in Corona Del Mar has reinterpreted s'mores, a staple of any campfire, by taking the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, and creating a sundae. The Crow Bar's S'mores Sundae, our Dessert of the Week, has all of the essential ingredients, but chef Scott Brandon has amped things up. Made with toasted marshmallow semifreddo (a semi-frozen gelato and whipped cream mixture), homemade graham crackers, Belgian chocolate sauce, and Maldon sea salt, this is not

  November 19, 2009

• The Northern Chinese Fare at Asian Tapas Isn't Really Tapas, But It Is Delectable

  November 19, 2009

• [¡Ask a Mexican!] The Long and the Short (Hair) of It

  November 19, 2009

• Seva Cafe's Weekly Gift to Return Next Year

  Courtesy of BeTheCause.org Volunteer cheerfully serving his own vegan creation​ October saw the last (for now) in a series of inspiring experiments in altruism and mostly meatless dining. Operating under the motto "Living is Giving," Seva Cafe hosted a meaningful dining experience each Sunday from January through October after hours at Zephyr Cafe in downtown Long Beach. 

  November 19, 2009