[Hole In the Wall] This Santa Ana sandwich shop makes some of the best espresso in Orange County
South Coast Plaza typically isn't a haven for bargain hunters, but for several years the prix-fixe lunch at Florent and Amelia Marneau's Marche Moderne has had one of the best lunch specials in the county.Dinner for two at Marche can easily top $100, but like Rachael Ray taught us on $40 a Day, expe ... More >>
I have been known to wait outside Taco Maria for 20 minutes, desperate to be the first in line before the masses come. I've been known to drunkenly tweet that if you don't know Taco Maria, you don't know Mexican food, and fight with people over said sentiments. I've plugged Taco Maria God-knows-how- ... More >>
Aside from La Palma Chicken Pie Shop and a handful of chain restaurants (Claim Jumper, KFC, Marie Callender's), there just aren't enough places doing pot pie anymore. And if they are, it's certainly almost never beef pot pie.Comfort food in the wrong hands can be too much of a good thing--over-porti ... More >>
Mare is supposed to be known for its seafood. But you should know by now that Alessandro Pirozzi of Cucina Alessa fame has the golden touch, even with game meats, as it turns out. The venison filet mignon he serves at his newest restaurant, two cubes the size of a baseball sitting on opposite side ... More >>
Everyone talks about eating more simply, more healthfully. Everyone talks about going to the farmers market and eating more fruits and vegetables. Then they go to restaurants and get fried meat, fried potatoes, fried fried fried, and fruit only in syrup mode.Gross.It's different on Sunday evenings, ... More >>
We love our breakfast morning, noon and night. Hot meals consisting of eggs and potatoes are always welcome, so when we were introduced to one dish in particular, it was love at first bite.Noticed by Niyaz back at number 30, we were pleased by Ole Spain's cuisine. Their tapas and bocatas seem unassu ... More >>
You can join the thousands of non-wab Orange Countians who have visited Alebrije's on the corner of Main and Cubbon streets in SanTana, eat nothing but their legendary taco acorazado (which we named our favorite dish in Orange County in 2010 because it was), and you'd be in our good graces forever. ... More >>
The menu said the mackerel would be seared tableside; but I didn't expect the hand-held flamethrower. I admit it:I was nervous. I inched away in my seat a little when the waiter lit it and the thing whooshed like an acetylene torch. We were sitting in an all-wooden booth shrouded with noren, the tra ... More >>
The first time I ever went to Broadway by Amar Santana was on a double date with Gustavo and his chica. I mostly wanted to drink, and I ordered something or other off the menu without really thinking too hard about it.Then the enormous, far-too-large-for-the-tiny-table plate was placed in front of ... More >>
Rocq Cafe has already established itself as the place in South County for intense, incredible macarons, but even the hungriest of cookie monsters (sorry! Had to go there!) needs a real meal sometimes.Much of Rocq's menu is on the lighter side--sandwiches, salads, housemade pastas--and those suffice ... More >>
As we approach the home stretch of our favorites, we look back on one helluva fair season. Between our team's participation in culinary chowdowns (Go Dave!) to our interviews with Robert Irvine and Fabio Viviani, one thing is clear: It's all about the grub. Usually deep fried, and always incredible, ... More >>
The picture you see above is crappy, and it shows only a quarter cut. The sandwich isn't much to look at anyway. Its appearance isn't important. What's important is that it is possibly the best dish at North Shore Poke Company, which is little more than a cold station with the proprietor, Shawn Gole ... More >>
I'm sure I'm going to take some flak for this being as high in the list as it is, and I have my defense ready: I eat this at least once a month, and I don't work anywhere near Costa Mesa. It's because it's so perfectly done that I drive so far to get this Russian home-cooking standard. Is it som ... More >>
Wings are easy to prepare, but difficult to make memorable. I mean, how much ghost chili can one douse before there are no more stupid daring appetites left to burn? An appetizer with its own handle is coveted--even more so since it already comes sauced! Unless they are true wings, you'll likely fin ... More >>
Like how the Thompson Twins were neither related nor named Thompson, the "karma" is as ambiguous as the fact that they don't serve alcohol (and that they close by 10 p.m.). Mick's has a number of factors going against it, even before we try to explain where this is located on the ground floor of an ... More >>
When folks ask us where our favorite place is for breakfast, we fail to mention Bruxie. Why? Partially because we forget (we're only look young). It's not like they're notorious for only the most important meal. But we're glad that we do, because one of our favorite bites is served on the weekends t ... More >>
With everyone else going back to school, we're reminded of that cliquish time of day known as lunch hour. Deli combos, vending machines and the occasional candy gram were standard diet. By college, we were SO over cold cuts and mayo. Anything that resembled a sandwich was avoided. We had all but ban ... More >>
There was a time when we couldn't get enough of the luxe loncheras. Eventually, we got bored and took a break. Maybe five months passed before we even contemplated a truck stop. So in the last year, we've had our fair share of catch up with mobile meals. An entire menu devoted to sausages is enough ... More >>
Culinarily-speaking, there are few things that make you feel as caveman/badass as digging into a whole animal. But there just aren't many places in OC going whole hog in the kitchen. One local place that does is Haven Gastropub, which, with their suckling pig dinners provide quite the feast, fi ... More >>
Even with fantastic sandwiches packed with charred Argentinian sausage, lengths of skirt steak, or a buffet of meats and cheeses, the star on the menu at Puerto Madero is a simple fish pastry. Tuna salads and sandwiches might be in other people's lunch bags, but one of the best ways to savor th ... More >>
The meticulously-crafted, flavor-formulated burgers at Umami are the main draw, but whether you love or hate the Japanese-influenced twist on classic Americana, it can't be argued that every great burger needs an equally great potato pairing to truly shine.Fortunately, the Umami cooks are skilled in ... More >>
You'd think there would be a lot of food choices in an area as concentrated with workers and residents as Downtown SanTana, but you'd be wrong. Good Mexican is out of the question, you can only eat so many arepas at Mil Jugos or Soul Burgers at Memphis before you're all doughy inside, and the Crosby ... More >>
In my circle of friends, calamari for the table is a must. Because of this little tradition, I've seen my way around more than a few plates of crunchy squid bits.It's fairly standard from place to place; you can almost always assume you've ordered a pile of fried seafood with tartar and cocktail sau ... More >>
Happy Labor Day, folks! August, and the summer, is now over. This month saw a lot of new restaurants, dessert joints, and a couple of Chipotle-style pizza purveyors. Though we didn't write about them all, herewith is a list of those open-and-shut cases we noticed.
It's been a SanTana-heavy list for me in this round of 100 faves, but we gotta speak the truth, and SanTana has really emerged in the past year as a destination not just for Mexican food but for ALL sorts of food--and it's only going to get better. That's why I love Olé Spain Delishop so much--not ... More >>
Ladies and germs: it's okay to eat at Chapter One: The Modern Local again. Us Forkers had an unofficial ban against the place because one of its former partners trashed Mexican SanTana during a city council meeting last year. A terrible disappointment, because we did love Chapter One--Edwin gave it ... More >>
Apologies for the crappy photo above, but the lighting at the Crosby is never bueno...We're all still waiting for the Crosby guys to open their much-anticipated Grilled Cheese Stop, so in the meanwhile we must content ourselves with the genius that sparked this restaurant: the Starving Artist at the ... More >>
The garlic noodles at AnQui? Of course. The tamarind crab? Legendary. Cocktails? Superb. The South Coast Plaza eatery can always be counted on for a great, inventive dinner--a recent addition is tongue tacos made from a wonton shell--take THAT, Glen Bell!They also have a molecular gastronomy section ... More >>
Paninoteca Maggio, everyone's new favorite SanTana sandwich shop, will reopen Tuesday after a brief closure that lasted about a week.My initial hope was that they'd somehow add more seating to the shoe-box-sized cafe, but chef Sharon Barshishat said it was for plumbing upgrades. But come 10 a.m. Tue ... More >>
You know that guy at the Saturday farmer's market in Irvine across the street from UC Irvine, the guy who sells orange and apple juices. You know...that guy! Kind of looks like Andrew Zimmern, except more soft-spoken? Only sells apple and orange juice? Near the northern entrance? Not the Cal Poly Po ... More >>
If Slapfish only served these oysters and nothing else, it would already justify the restaurant's existence. And co-owners Andrew Gruel and Jethro Naude know how special these babies are. Gruel--who was a program manager of the Aquarium of the Pacific's sustainable-seafood initiative--is an advocate ... More >>
The grime on the windows suggest that Pho Crystal Noodle House has been there on Bristol Street for quite a while--at least as another pho joint. The artifacts of its former life as Pho Bistro is still on an old marquee the landlords hadn't bothered to change. Apparently it recently changed hands be ... More >>
Just as at any place offering soufflé, you should order it at least a half-hour in advance at Bistro Blue. But at $6 (as of this writing), this soufflé automatically distinguishes itself as the most reasonably priced in the county. Thank owner-chef David Kesler for that. This ex-chef from The Ce ... More >>
I do not know why they are called "15-Minute Wings". Supposedly they take that long to prepare; but I got them in significantly less time than that. I am guessing that since so many people order them, the production of these wings is non-stop. The point of the name, I think, is to convey that they t ... More >>
Boiling Point's hot pots are shabu shabu for the lazy. Everything you want and need--veggies, protein and a freshly cracked egg--is there already cooked to be picked off one-by-one in a simmering vessel heated by Sterno. All that needs to be done is to dip the still-steaming pieces into chile oil, g ... More >>
We have no shortage of burrito joints in our fair county, and yet one type famous in our neighboring county makes itself noticeably absent here: the California burrito.What's that? You've never heard of a California burrito? Let's just say it's not named that because it has a cornucopia of our state ... More >>
Japanese parents don't name their children after themselves. There are no men named Junior walking around Japan. Yet Japanese businesses have no problem calling their house specialty after the name of the shop. So it is with the Kohryu Ramen at Costa Mesa's Kohryu Ramen. With two new heavyweight ra ... More >>
It was May, sometime during Meyer lemon season, when we happened by for dinner at Irvine's Lucca Cafe. Chef Cathy Pavlos had made a lemon curd dessert served in a glass Ball jar to celebrate the delicately tart fruit's ephemeral appearance.
It might be fair to say that the chefs at Haven Gastropub have a hard-on for pork. Witness Haven's roasted whole-hog parties. Witness their participation in last weekend's Pig Out 1.0. Witness also their Cola-Braised Pork with Smoked Creamed Sweet Corn.
The wonderful beef roll at Irvine's101 Noodle Express, or any other dish for that matter, is enhanced with the spicy-salty condiment of green pickled Chinese vegetables, cilantro, and fresh serrano chilis called shao shan tsai. It sits on your tabletop in a small clear container which will be nearl ... More >>
Finding Paninoteca Maggio requires some doing. Its general location--in the plaza with Mother's Market on Main Street in Santa Ana's northernmost reaches--is pretty easy to find, but Paninoteca Maggio is in one of the live-work lofts that ring the strangely built central parking lot. If you walk alo ... More >>
What a busy, busy month in this crazy business of restaurants. We Forkers observed everything from the opening of a new French restaurant by the ex-chef at The Cellar, to a new Brazilian BBQ, to another food truck gone brick and mortar, to a waffle sandwich shop that seems to challenge Bruxie. ... More >>
We tried dropping by on Friday, but the voice on the other end of our conversation said they, "...had a really busy lunch, and are closed already." It was 2:20 p.m. The website said 4 o'clock. Tucked into one corner of a plaza that incorporates urban housing into its design, Paninoteca Maggio isn't ... More >>
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