Lake Forest

This Week In Food: A Wine Fountain, the Femme Fatale, and F'ing Huge Tortillas

It's Friday ladies and gents, but before you go out and drink yourself to oblivion or find something more productive to do, let's take a look at this week in food. Edwin went to Two 40 South in Brea and experienced a wine fountain! I don't mean an actual fountain, which would really be in poor tast ... More >>

Peter Herzog, Veteran Councilman in Pot Clinic-Busting Lake Forest, Slapped with DUI Charges

The Orange County district attorney's office on Monday filed DUI charges against Lake Forest City Councilman Peter Herzog, who is accused of driving with a blood-alcohol content more than twice the legal limit."Hey, Cokehead, doesn't Lake Forest close medical-marijuana clinics with gusto?"Indeed.

This Week In Food: Sriracha Chips, A Proper Old Fashioned, and Pig Crates

Valentine's is over and now we can get back to the good ol' regular food stuff. Let's take a look at what this week brought us... Edwin reviewed the crepes at Thahn Ha in Westminster. He told us about the most expensive drink made at Starbucks so far, which involved 48 shots of espresso (why world? ... More >>

This Week in Food: Feelin' Cozy at The Attic, Top Drinks and Restaurants of 2012, and How to Make Homemade Tamales

The holidays are almost over, and you can return to spending your money on more selfish things. Let's take a look at some favorite food and drink from this year, as well as new places on the horizon. Edwin's weekly food review covered the cozy Attic in Long Beach that serves creative Southern, Caju ... More >>

Book Signing: Lake Forest Writer Published in L. Ron Hubbard Anthology

If you're tired of stalking Gustavo during his book signing tour for Taco USA: How Mexican Food Conquered America, you're in luck!Scott Barnes, a Lake Forest writer whose story Insect Sculptor was published in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future Volume 28, will be at Barnes & Nobl ... More >>

Newport Beach Film Festival News and Notes

Random notes, observations and stuff plucked off the cutting room floor from the Newport Beach Film Festival, which runs through Thursday night.The hierarchy of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is the main antagonist in Macky Alston's excellent documentary Love Free or Die, which is a ... More >>

Beverly Hills Macaron Maker To Open In Fashion Island

​I think it was about 2005 that the Chowhound boards went mad for macarons, those colorful, chewy, crispy, filled cookies of Parisian persuasion. I remember it well because there was a particularly lively debate over whose macarons were better, Boule's or Jin Patisserie. Boule's long gone now, but ... More >>

10 Great Late Nite Eats In Orange County

​If our team of Forkers aren't out eating, we're probably burning the midnight oil writing about it. When all that talk makes us hungry again, what's still open? This week's list will answer that inquiry. From 24-hour spots to meat eater destinations, boiling tofu stews and a hookah lounge, we've ... More >>

Three New Eateries Planned for Irvine Spectrum: Pieology, TavernaBlu, & Luna Grill

Anne Marie Panoringan​The Fullerton Chipotle-esque pizza purveyor Pieology is planning its second store at Irvine Spectrum. Details are sketchy on where exactly in the sprawling complex it will be located. But it will be joined soon by two other new eateries. Luna Grill is a San Diego-based " ... More >>

[UPDATED with HB Outage:] Electrical Vault Blast Knocks Out Power to 2,000

​UPDATE, FEB. 15, 9:17 P.M.: Southern California Edison repair crew members must have felt as if they were stuck in a Godfather 3 scene last night, for just when they thought they were out (in Lake Forest), they were back in (in Huntington Beach). Specifically, as power was near completely restore ... More >>

Cooking: Chez Panisse--But What's a Panisse?

Dave LiebermanPanisses and some dandelion--yes, dandelion--empanadas I made the other day.​You've all heard of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters' breakout restaurant in Berkeley. You can't have avoided mention of it--and it is, to be fair, an outstanding restaurant. But if you aren't French, specifically ... More >>

Lake Forest Pot Club Owner Gets Probation, No Jail Time

​Until last week, Tara Sorenson, co-owner of Lake Forest's Health Collective, was looking at the possibility of spending up to six years behind bars if convicted of selling marijuana, as prosecutors charged. But as reported today in the Orange County Register, Sorenson agreed to a deal last Friday ... More >>

C.J. Jacobson from Top Chef Season Three: Nice Guy, Should Open a Restaurant in his Native OC!

​I'm not really appropriate to take out in public settings, so it was nice to see my chica set up a double date for us, even better when she was taking us out of OC and into the nether regions of LA. The place: Son of a Gun, the new-ish seafood place by the guys behind Animal, that restaurant that ... More >>

Restaurant Roll Call for March 2011

Edwin Goei​A busy, busy March for the local restaurant scene this past month. We saw the long-awaited Chapter One: The Modern Local debut St. Patrick's Day in Santa Ana. This week we witnessed the popular Laguna Beach sushi bar, O Fine Japanese Cuisine, open its second restaurant in Irvine. The ... More >>

Avoid Pink Elephants and Roving DUI Patrols Tonight

​Take a cab, plan an alternate route, or get your drink on somewhere else: roving sobriety patrols will be out tonight in Lake Forest, Mission Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita."These multi-city DUI teams will target areas that have a high incidence of DUI-related arrests and collisions," reads an ... More >>

Food Profiling: Strawberry Season At Tanaka Farms

Ain't that a beaut?​Tanaka Farms' story begins with Takeo Tanaka, who came to the United States by way of Hiroshima, Japan, in the early 1900s. Takeo had a son, George, born and raised in the Northern California city of Dinuba. Not wanting to fight in Pearl Harbor, George fled to Utah, where he me ... More >>

Another South County Massage Parlor Stung by Fake Cop

​Another day, another South County massage parlor stung by a fake cop.Three days before a retired Chicago-area police officer managed to yank a free rub out of a Lake Forest spa by pretending to be an active-duty cop "inspecting" the joint, the unknown man pictured at right pulled a similar stunt ... More >>

Orly Taitz Seeks Help From Cyberstalking Florist

​Is a crazed former Orly Taitz patient who may be violent, used to be a lawyer, is now a florist, may need boner pills, may or may not be from the Valley, more than likely resides in Lake Forest or Coto de Caza, and goes by the nickname "Foggy" when he is not going by the nickname "Captain Cock" s ... More >>

Long-Stalled In-N-Out Opens Friday in Costa Mesa

Edwin Goei​You may have not realized it, but there was a long hard slog to get the In-N-Out that replaces Kaplan's Deli off the Harbor exit of the 405 approved through the proper authorities.  It opens on Friday.As the Daily Pilot reports, "The approval process was lengthy, requiring both the ... More >>

A Trend That Needs To Go: Charged-Admission Food Truck Festivals

Christopher Victorio​When the food truck phenomenon first started, parking and setup were very much a fly-by-night operation: a single truck would find a spot, park, then Tweet its location to hungry fans. There was a sense of stealth to it; it was almost like electronic samizdat.When the first tr ... More >>

3.7 Quake Shakes North OC and Long Beach

​I was sprinkling a light dusting of blueberries and Trader Joe's Organic Granny's Apple Granola on top of my bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart Honey Toasted Oat cereal at 9:06 this morning when it sounded as if something was trotting across the attic over the kitchen cabinets.My wife in bed with a col ... More >>

¡Ask a Comida Critic!: Non-Pho Beef Tendon Dishes?

​From a close friend:Recently been enjoying beef tendon only pho. Looking to kick up the tendon experience. Have you had any beef tendon salads in OC? Looking for that Chinese dish, but hopefully there are variants in other ethnic foods.Ah, tendon: that slippery, tender band that Asians adore, L ... More >>

¡Ask a Comida Critic! Why Don't You Guys Write More About South County?

​This is a question that has been asked over the years about our coverage in general, but it's also come up at SaFII recently because of our Top 100 List. To wit:Why don't you guys cover more restaurants in South County?Frankly, my dears, because South County generally sucks at food.

5 More Plausible, Purpose-Driven Explanations for Pastor Rick Warren Nearly Going Blind

​As our man Kevin Short tells you here, Rick Warren, tweeted this week that his eyes "were severely burned by a toxic poison" during a gardening mishap that nearly blinded Saddleback Church's Purpose Driven® pastor.We not only ain't buying this explanation--and by "we" I mean "Spencer Kornhaber, ... More >>

Thank God It's Thursday: We Choose Shows So You Don't Have To

www.myspace.com/miikesnow​Don't know where to go this weekend? Heard Mentality makes it easy--here's the rundown of great music coming to town.

Feeling the Lyubov' at Moscow Deli

There's been a lot of foodie love lately for Russian Gourmet in the surprisingly food-rich city of Lake Forest. There have been some assertions that it is the only Russian store in Orange County. Eto nie pravda; this is a filthy, filthy lie. (What, you didn't know I spoke Russian, too?)While I need ... More >>

Anyone Missing a Red-Tailed Hawk?

Red-tailed hawk ... but not THE red-tailed hawk.​With all the media tales chronicling the disconnect between the public sector, the private sector and regular old folks, it's refreshing to see the three came together beautifully when it came to rescuing a red-tailed hawk stuck atop a utility pole ... More >>

Over the Weekend: Cat Party on Saturday at Gypsy Lounge, Lake Forest

The Hype: With The Sockets, Des Roar, and Cat Party all making an appearance Saturday at the Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest, how could you not been giddy?? Not to rub it in, but the place was seriously packed! I'm talking sardines people! Ali LermanCat PartyThe Show: Costa Mesa trio Cat Party might loo ... More >>

2009: Bad Year To Be In The Restaurant Biz, Or Was It?

Edwin Goei​If you think the year that's passed was bad, try owning a restaurant. It was a tough 2009. The luxury brands predictably suffered. The likes of Savannah, White Horses, Manhattan Supper Club and even Tracht's folded as people got tighter and choosier with their budgets. And some ot ... More >>

Easy Writer Part 2: Gettin' Greasy

​Once you decide on the bike that suits you best, make sure it's in good mechanical shape by either going through it yourself if you're into working with your hands, or take it to a reputable motorcycle shop in the area.http://orangecounty.citysearch.com/listings/laguna-hills/motorcycles/56117_128 ... More >>

Slideshow: Handsome G at La Cave

A lot of "residencies" going on around Orange County this month, huh? There's the New Limb  and Stacy Clark Mondays over at Detroit Bar in Costa Mesa (see some pictures from the most recent installment of that here), and the Union Line (who we recently wrote about in glorious print here) doing ... More >>

Third Grader's Book Details Mom's Battle With Cancer

The authorCan you remember anything you were doing at age 7 that did not involve potty jokes, running after the ice cream truck or putting a finger where it did not belong? Taylor Rice, a Lake Forest 8-year-old, can look way back to last year when she wrote what's claimed to be the first children's ... More >>

TONIGHT: Cat Party at the Gypsy Lounge

It's an eerily quiet malicious-lie-masquerading-as-hilarious-joke April Fools' Day, but here's a show: Cat Party, part of our Citizen Blast local music compilation from last fall, are playing the Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest tonight. They're going on at 11, with The Guilty Hearts and The Stabbings op ... More >>

TONIGHT: Final OC Music Awards Showcase at Gypsy Lounge

The 10-Tuesday run of OC Music Awards showcases started with four gigs at Detroit Bar, followed by two at Chain Reaction, and two more at eVocal, before moving to the Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest last week. But nothing lasts forever (and we both know hearts can change), and the final showcase is toni ... More >>

TONIGHT: Ninth OC Music Awards Showcase, Now at Gypsy Lounge

Tonight sees the penultimate OC Music Awards showcase, with the shows moving to the Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest for two free, 21 shows (today and next Tues., natch). Opening things up at 8:30 are Honeypie, who I wrote about this past week in Locals Only. Also on the bill are Barrett Johnson, Avenue ... More >>

Sign From God? Rick Warren Shouted Down at MLK Service

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that protesters interrupted pastor Rick Warren's speech to a packed house for the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta today--one day before the leader of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest is to deliver a controversy ... More >>

The return of Wonderlove!

Wonderlove, one of a bunch of great OC bands that coulda-shoulda-woulda made it huge back when I was the Weekly's Music Editor---they broke up 'round about 2003; I swear it wasn't my fault---have announced that they're getting back together for a November 14 show at Lake Forest's much-beloved Gypsy ... More >>

What you missed over the weekend: Part IV

Friday night took Reid Sheldon to The Gypsy Lounge in Lake Forest, where he noted three mid-set stage exits, an impromptu rap and two wardrobe malfunctions as he documented "death doo-wop" group Jail Weddings. Check out Reid's Last Night review (the first of many, we hope, for 2008) over here. Mean ... More >>

Grub Guide

Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide

Grub Guide

Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide

Grub Guide

Tasty morsels from the county's best damn dining guide

Grub Guide

The best damn dining guide in Orange County

Grub Guide

This week in the county, S-Z

Back Door Man

Kiefer Sutherland likes Rocco DeLucanow its your turn

Why Im Great

Ayn Rand Is a Sociopath

Pig Pickin Paradise

Dine with local Cack-a-lacks at Kill Devils

Strip Mall

Were Winning the War Against Crappy Music!

Lets Call It Theft

El Toro Airport Watch No. 117