Restaurants and Food Services

Operation Swill: New Jersey ABC Busts 29 Bars (Including 13 TGI Fridays) for Selling Colored Rubbing Alcohol, Dirty Water as Premium Alcohol

If you're going to be drinking this summer down the Jersey Shore, at least you can be more confident the shot of Lagavulin or Auchentoshan the bartender just poured you is actually high-end scotch, not dishwater. That's because the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) led a state ... More >>

John Galardi, Wienerschnitzel Founder, Passes Away

The Weekly has learned that Wienerschnitzel founder John Galardi passed away yesterday after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 75. 

Christmas Day at Disneyland

Seventh Tea Bar to Open at the OC Mart Mix Jan. 2

Six weeks ago, we told you that the coffee nerds at Portola Coffee Lab in Costa Mesa's OC Mart Mix were going to open a tea bar called Seventh Tea Bar. They were hoping to open this year, but it looks like the holidays are going to intervene; instead, the tea bar, adjacent to the coffee lab, will op ... More >>

McDonald's to Start Posting Calorie Counts On Menu Boards and Test Out Healthy Foods Like Egg-White Breakfast Sandwiches

I know what you're thinking: Hasn't McDonald's always posted their calorie count on the menu boards? No, not yet. You're thinking of just about every other fast food chain that has. Calorie counts seem as commonplace as obesity, but it's only now that the biggest burger chain in the world has announ ... More >>

Drink of the Week: Cerveza Indio

Unless you've been living under a rock, you have to know that Indio beer has started being imported from Mexico into the United States. There are billboards; there are giant posters in liquor store and convenience store windows; there are radio ads in two languages. Suddenly, everyone seems to have ... More >>

Starbucks Buys Bakery Chain To Make Its Food Better

It's a common complaint that the food at Starbucks isn't very good--overpriced fodder customers often equate to airplane food if they're being generous. Yesterday, Howard Schultz and company announced they plan to do something about their weakness. They've bought up a San Francisco-based bakery ... More >>

Byron Blocker & the Offbeats

Pike Bar and Fish Grill

Carl's Jr. Is Testing An Ice Cream Burger (AKA 'Brrrger') Only in Orange County

Sometimes, we just luck out. Because look what we've got here. It's the new "Ice Cream Brrrger" from Carl's Jr., being tested only in OC. Don't freak out--they didn't simply add a scoop of rocky road to their Western Bacon Cheeseburger. Because that would be gross. Maybe. Nope, it's a ... More >>

A "Pink Slime"-Using Beef Producer Files For Bankruptcy

The Wall Street Journal reports that AFA Foods, which contributes to about 2% of total U.S. beef production has filed for bankruptcy protection.  The company's products are sold by Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Burger King Holdings Inc., Jack in the Box Inc., Carl Karcher Enterprises Inc., Wendy' ... More >>

Wendy's Knocks Burger King Off #2 Spot

​Technomic, the research and consulting firm that keeps score on the this sort of thing, put out its annual ranking of fast-food restaurants yesterday. The firm reports that Wendy's has displaced Burger King as the number two burger chain with $8.5 billion in sales compared with Burger King's $8.4 ... More >>

10 Great Gay Bars in Orange County (and Long Beach)

​A while back, we received instructions from the suits to put together a set of lists of the ten best in several categories. As Gustavo explained, this is meant to make our already awesome Best Of applications even more awesome...er.One of the categories was gay bars, and we all stood around sc ... More >>

John Freese's Holiday Shopping Guide

​You only have one holiday shopping weekend left. Freak ya out? In order to help your lazy, procrastinating ass, we enlisted the help of drummer extraordinaire Josh Freese. And why not? The man who rocks behind the kit for bands such as Devo and Weezer is also one of the greatest marketing ... More >>

Carl's Jr. Does Handmade Biscuits. Really?

Dave Lieberman​It's a rare occasion when we link to Fast Food Maven around here, but I was intrigued by the recent article post handmade biscuits at Carl's Jr.After all, everything in a fast-food chain comes preportioned and pre-dumbed-down so that anyone can do it, right? Creativity and individua ... More >>

Hardees Commercials for Fried Bologna Biscuits

​ You may or may not like Carl's Jr's. commercials. They're purposely polarizing and provocative. The ads use either tits or creepers to capture your eyeballs and your wallet. Now they're using both at the same time--creepy old man moobies to sell Hardee's Fried Bologna Biscuit breakfast sandwic ... More >>

Best Bar Snack Ever: How to Make Murky Jerky

Dave LiebermanDoesn't look like much, but it's still awesome.​I love dive bars. Dive bars are my birthright as an American. I love walking into a dim, dank room, bellying up to a worn old bar of no pedigree whatsoever, ordering a beer and maybe a shot, and talking to the random characters sitting ... More >>

Chili's Allegedly Serves Alcoholic Mudslide Instead of Chocolate Shake to 4-Year-Old

It was first Applebee's, then Olive Garden, and now this. Chili's is the third restaurant in the last few weeks to be accused of serving an alcoholic drink to a child. This time it's in Chicago, and the drink was a Mudslide allegedly mistaken for chocolate shake.

Carl's Jr. Turkey Burger: Not Bad

Flickr user keenanpepper​During last week's Carl's Jr. Missed Connection, I mentioned that I was waiting patiently for a turkey burger and a salad. This is a new development at Carl's Jr., whose advertising for the last half-decade has revolved around manly men doing manly things and eating 1,000- ... More >>

Pulitzer Prize Winning Food Critic Jonathan Gold Reviews...The Olive Garden

​Sometimes an April Fools prank can backfire on the prankster. It happened to Jonathan Gold, our esteemed colleague and Pulitzer Prize winning food critic at the LA Weekly. His planned joke on his longtime food photographer Anne Fishbein to meet him at Olive Garden didn't go exactly as planned. ... More >>

Carl's Jr., Hardee's to Sell Turkey Burgers--Chain Finally Going Healthy?

Is this burger going the way of Carlos Jr.?​Carl's Jr. has spent most of the last decade boasting of its waistline-busting burgers, proudly proclaiming their entrees are for sloppy guys who think a salad and any thought of health is one fey thang, hanging their hat on 1,000-calorie-plus creations ... More >>

Jesse Thomas

Viento Y Agua

Phil Shane and the Hot Damn Band

House of Blues

Orange County No Longer the Promised Land for Fast Food?

​Taco Bell, Del Taco, In-N-Out, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.--the list of fast-food chains with headquarters in Irvine is among the largest in the country. They came to our land of plenty not just because of a friendlier business environment, but also because Southern California has always offered delive ... More >>

Dee Nguyen of Break of Dawn and Gabriel Zambrano of Soho Tacos Get into a Knife Fight!

From Soho Taco's website, obviously...​Kind of. The owners behind my top choices for the best restaurants of 2010, Break of Dawn (número 1) and Soho Taco (# dos), met at Dee Nguyen's Laguna Hills temple to breakfast and lunch. "But, it looks like Chef Gabe made an attempt to get express his culin ... More >>

Capital Grille Has Big Meat for Big Money

South Coast Plaza's newest eatery will set you back a paycheck, but the steak will have you happy in the poorhouse

On The Line: Derek Venutolo of The Capital Grille, Part Two

Photo by Todd Barnes​ Today we continue our Q&A with Derek Venutolo, the executive chef The Capital Grille in South Coast Plaza. Stay tuned for a recipe from the chef tomorrow. If you missed the first part, click here. What show would you pitch to the Food Network? Not going to share my ide ... More >>

The Capital Grille Opens Today in South Coast Plaza

Edwin GoeiIf you haven't noticed, the building that was once The Clubhouse in South Coast Plaza has between split in two like a two-layer cake. The bottom layer is now Seasons 52, part of the East Coast chain that eschews butter and fry oil to keep their entrees at or under 475 calories.

Gettin' Made: L.A. Street Food Fest Tomorrow

The folks that brought you Unique L.A. are at it again, this time hosting a celebration of street food vendors called the L.A. Street Food Fest. For a scant $5 entrance fee (which includes a free drink ticket and a chance at fab giveaways), you'll gain access to the festival which includes special d ... More >>

The Capital Grille Coming to South Coast Plaza

​Last week, it was announced that an east coast chain called Seasons 52 was coming to South Coast Plaza. This week, the invasion of out-of-state fine-dining chains continues with a new restaurant called The Capital Grille. The press release I received goes into a few details about wine locker ... More >>

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 Co ... More >>

Taco Bell Crime of the Week!

​A faulty sewer line isn't a crime per se, but how lousy is life in Macomb, Illinois, that the following is a news story--or that "several excited Taco Bell fans camped outside the restaurant in anticipation of" the restaurant reopening?  Camping overnight for Taco Bell? God should've smote t ... More >>

Reminder: HB Restaurant Week Starts Today!!

Since I last wrote about the event, which runs until June 2, it's more than doubled in size, with 27 restaurants, pubs and bars confirmed, including Duke's. There are brilliant bargains to be had (check the website for details), and, even better, this chowing is for charity!

Is P.F. Chang's good? And News About Irvine's China Garden.

Edwin GoeiTwo stories involving Chinese food caught my attention last week. First, there's local news about what is arguably one of OC's best Chinese restaurants, China Garden in Irvine. Fellow OC Food Blogger Julian Hsu has the scoop. In his post, he writes: "We just ate there for dimsum lunch t ... More >>

McDonald's Makes The Grade; Others Must Try Harder

A few weeks back we brought you news of a survey of America's healthiest fast-food chains (Panera Bread topped the list). Now comes the reverse: America's unhealthiest fast-food restaurants. A report by health and nutrition experts David Zinczenko and Matt Goulding, authors of "supermarket survi ... More >>

It's Official: This Recession May Make You Fat

Today is Mardi Gras (aka Fat Tuesday), so it's fitting that I'm writing about how unhealthy we're becoming as a nation - indeed, as a planet. According to the Guardian, the number of new cases of diabetes being diagnosed in the UK is growing at a faster rate than in the US. Now that is depressing. A ... More >>

Satisfaction's Michael Rosas Acoustic Tonight!

If you need to get your Satisfaction fix, good news: front man Michael Rosas will be performing tonight at Alta Coffee in Newport Beach, which has to be one of the coziest little coffee houses in Orange County—let alone Newport Beach. Rosas goes on at 9:20 p.m. and he promises to get his "acoust ... More >>

Anaheim GardenWalk's Garden Party Music Series

Looking for an excuse to finally check out the new Anaheim GardenWalk? Their free and outdoor Garden Party Music Series starts tomorrow, Saturday, September 6th and will continue every Saturday until the 27th. Click HERE for the schedule and more details on the acts. Even if you've seen their s ... More >>

Hot Quirky Freaks

Au, PWRFL POWER and Parenthetical Girls

Looking for a Place to Be

Lupe Fiasco

Pesos-Loving Pizza Chain Invades Santa Ana

Remember Pizza Patrón? Only if you're a Know Nothing. Last year, the Dallas-based pizza chain infuriated conservatives after announcing it would accept pesos in lieu of dollars at their locations. Lost in the debate was whether their pies were any bueno. We'll find out soon enough. Across the stre ... More >>

Steal a Base, Steal a Taco?

Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. announced this morning that it will give a free taco to "everyone in America" if any player steals a base during the 2007 Major League Baseball World Series, which--as usual--won't include the Dodgers. The item at stake is the crunchy beef taco valued at 77 cents. Here ... More >>

Crazier than Crazy Bread

As soon as I read this story last Saturday about Pizza Patrón, a Dallas-based pizza chain that primarily caters to Latino communities, accepting pesos as payment, I wondered how long it would be before I read a story about the company getting death threats.  Answer:  six days. The ... More >>

News Events

Karaoke: Cruel and Unusual

As home to the country's largest concentration of Vietnamese-Americans, any story about Vietnam is liable to generate strong opinions in OC. But regardless of how one feels about the current government of Vietnam, I think we can all agree that a story in today's Long Beach Press-Telegram shows that, ... More >>

Star-bucker

Xtine Hanson takes on corporate coffee with Delocator.net

In the Kitchen, With a Knife

Beefer Madness

Eric Schlosser talks Taco Bell, mad cow, Bush

Goofy Oversight

Health inspectors say Disneyland eatery is clean, but complaints continue

Rats and Rat Shit Everywhere

Disney employees claim Goofys Kitchen made them sick

Whos Acai Now?

Eat exotic fruit, surf and save the rain forest