Food fact: Some of the best French bakeries in Orange County are run by Asians.
There's Japonaise Bakery in Tustin, whose custard-and-strawberry-stuffed croissants would make Escoffier weep. For baguettes with crusts as shatteringly crisp as potato chips, go to Little Saigon, where Vietnamese bakers have perfected the French loaf for use on their banh mi sandwiches. And at Irvine's Layer Cake Bakery, it's not Frenchmen, but two Indonesian sisters who make the macaroons.
The newest is Par
"Crab cakes sounds good. How about that French brie too?"
--Then-Sheriff Mike Carona pausing temporarily in August 2007 from plotting how to foil a federal grand jury corruption probe during a meeting at a Newport Beach restaurant with Don Haidl, his onetime assistant sheriff who is secretly wearing a wire for the FBI.
(R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly)
Before The Food Network came along , there was Martin Yan, Jacques Pepin, Tommy Tang, Jeff Smith (a.k.a. The Frugal Gourmet) and of course, Julia Child.
As a kid, I watched their shows every Saturday morning on PBS's KCET 28 when other kids watched cartoons. I'd stare with rapt amusement at how Martin Yan's cleavers seem to move at a blur; how Julia Child turned raw ingredients into meals like it was magic.
None of today's Food Network "stars" are fit to carry their sauce pans*.
Details at 11, or, rather, as soon as we have them, because everyone is remaining tight-lipped about this at the moment.
But French 75 did confirm that famed French chef Olhats is joining them "within the month", that he isn't closing any of his other restaurants and that there will a new menu to celebrate his arrival.Update, Friday May 15: The man himself has confirmed that French 75 is about to become Brasserie Pascal, where he will act as consultant manager. A preview menu--$20 for two course
Courtesy Sony Pictures
Another Pascal-related post? Can you say movie tie-in? All this week (ending Saturday) in conjuction with the opening of "Julie & Julia," that French chef of OC's French chefs, Pascal Olhats, is offering a few of Julia Child's favorite French dishes at Tradition by Pascal and Brasserie Pascal.
The two-course ($40) or three-course ($55) dinners can be chosen from a list that includes:
- Beef bourguignon- Lamb stew- Sole meu
Brasserie Pascal isn't the only restaurant with a Julie & Julia culinary tie-in. The Anaheim White House is another contender, running a month-long promo featuring dishes from MtAoFC (if you have to ask what that is, you haven't read the book or seen the film). Available until the end of the month for lunch and dinner, the rotating French dishes have been selected by Executive Chef Eddie Meza and Executive Catering Chef Maurice Brazier, who occupies one of only 100 seats of the Académie Cul
