Homer: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Lisa, honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? Lisa: No. Homer: Ham? Lisa: No! Homer: Pork chops? Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal! Homer: HEH HEH! Yeah right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal! So ... More >>
Maybe right now isn't quite the kind of weather for frozen dessert confections; but hey, at least it isn't frozen yogurt. A new ice cream shop called Confetti shuns those self-serve spigots we've all gotten tired of in favor of frozen custard and Italian Ice, those real-fruit-based scoopable slush t ... More >>
Let's count them, shall we: Santouka, Yamadaya, Mentatsu, Kohryu, Jinya, Daikokuya. These are what makes Costa Mesa the ramen cauldron of Orange County. I don't think there is any other town within our borders with a higher concentration of ramen joints and I'm not even counting the restaurants tha ... More >>
Noodles, noodles everywhere, from pho to pad Thai and everything else
Le Pain Quotidien has been around since 1990, but took its own sweet time arriving in Orange County. They transplanted Jonathan Eng from New York's Bleeker Street bakery to helm the daily breadmaking last autumn. Hungry to explore his dining options beyond Fashion Island, we meet up to recharge over ... More >>
Did you hear about the ramenya that Jonathan Gold dubbed one of LA's 99 Essential Restaurants coming to Costa Mesa? No, not Ramen Yamadaya, which has been open for months. I'm talking about Jinya, the other slurp peddler that has restaurants in Studio City and the Miracle Mile of which Gold said ... More >>
The first OC restaurant of this LA titan simmers the piggiest soup in Costa Mesa
January isn't generally the kindest months for those in the restaurant business. But a few of the restaurant closures that we saw these past 31 days was still a big surprise. Valhalla Table, the sausage sandwich shop by the Karnaga sisters of Layer Cake Bakery, closed up shop at The Camp after ... More >>
ProfessorSalt.comKotteri ramen at YamadayaWhen I heard the news, it was like Christmas in October. Yamadaya, the renowned LA ramen shop, will open store No. 3 in Orange County in late November. There are plans afoot to open a fourth location in Westwood in December, maybe in time for actual Chris ... More >>
