Trader Joe's Co. Inc.

Sriracha-Flavored Lay's Loses To Cheesy-Garlic Bread Flavor in Potato Chip Contest

In an upset victory, Cheesy Garlic Bread has triumphed over Sriracha in Lay's Potato Chips "Do Us A Flavor" contest. Short of saying that this might indicate that the Sriracha craze has finally ebbed, we actually never got to taste any of the three finalists...so Cheesy Garlic Bread might have actua ... More >>

Coconut Oil . . . For Your Hair?

[Trendzilla] Applying it to your noggin will produce glimmering results—seriously!

The Orange County Beer Trail

A map to all of our fine craft breweries, liquor stores and pubs pouring the good stuff!

On The Line: Sid Fanarof Of zcafe, Part One

"Cooking is about shopping."He had us at shopping. How Sid Fanarof, founder of zcafe (and zpizza) is able to relate the two took a while to answer, but he tied together two of our favorite pastimes. It's normal for Sid to be out and about early Saturday morning searching for deals at both garage sal ... More >>

The Case of the "Good Person" Cocaine Gangster: Meet Santa Ana's Sal Vera

This week, Salvador Reyes Vera hoped he'd receive a 20-year federal prison sentence for operating a massive cocaine and heroin distributorship because, as his taxpayer-funded defense lawyer argued, that was long enough to teach the high-ranking Santa Ana gangster a lesson about obeying the law.In fa ... More >>

Orly Taitz, Discredited Obama Birther Lawyer, Now MedPot Activist?

An interesting news story came out of Costa Mesa yesterday, where a medical marijuana activist was arrested in front of Mother's Market. The activist, Deborah Tharp, was attempting to gather signatures for a proposed ballot initiative that would demand Costa Mesa city officials end their crackdown o ... More >>

Total Wine & More To Open Third OC Store In Huntington Beach: Hiring Event Today

Edwin GoeiPicture of the Tustin store...where there will be a hiring event for the HB store, today.​If BevMo seems like the Trader Joe's of booze and Hi-Time the farmers market, Total Wine & More would have to be the Costco.In 2008 the alcoholic beverage chain opened their first OC store in Tu ... More >>

Paulien Lombard Was a Spyentologist

A former spy for Scientology came clean on abuses. Now, she says, the church is chasing her

On the Line: Lisa Fontanesi of Jamie Oliver Food Foundation, Part One

​The Jamie Oliver Food Revolution has been parked at the Santa Ana offices of Latino Health Access this month, working with schools and families of central Santa Ana to fight the obesity epidemic spreading across the nation. The Food Revolution truck moves from city to city and faces the challenge ... More >>

On the Line: The Men of the Burnt Truck, Part One

Photo by Meranda Carter​When we suggested the guys behind local luxe lonchera the Burnt Truck split up the answers, it wasn't until after the fact we realized all three (Paul Cao, Phi Nguyen and Minh Pham) submitted answers to the entire questionnaire. So this week, we flex our keyboarding muscles ... More >>

Kim Kardashian's Wedding Playist: 5 Songs To Avoid

​ On Saturday, while you're sleeping in or making a run to Trader Joe's for vegan pizza, there'll be more important things going on in the world. Yeah, it's Kim Kardashian's wedding! We know you could probably care less, but these multimillion-dollar Hollywood weddings only happen once every...mo ... More >>

A Slice of New York Pizza to Open Second Location

ProfessorSalt.comA Slice of NY Pizza's Seal Beach location​Huntington Harbour residents will soon have a new neighbor: Seal Beach's A Slice of New York Pizza will open its second location, next to Trader Joe's in the Huntington Harbour Mall. According to employee Eric Hodgin, the expected opening ... More >>

Choosing Charcoal and Wood For Your Smoker or Grill

ProfessorSalt.comThe brick pits at Kreuz Market Lockhart, Texas​ There's nothing wrong with propane grills, but if you ask a barbecue purist, only charcoal or hardwood will do to impart a deeply smoky flavor to your food. This week on Grill Marks, we take a look at the fuels needed to cook real sl ... More >>

How to Smoke Bacon-Wrapped Meatballs aka MOINK Balls

ProfessorSalt.comMOINK!!​As with any festive meal, an outdoor cookout ought to begin with appetizers. This week on Grill Marks, we make MOINK Balls. Moo oink = beef meatballs wrapped in bacon, then smoked.Like the rest of the Grill Marks series, this post will focus on the technique and the gril ... More >>

Cheap Drunk: Walgreens Selling Its Own Beer

​Now you can get some premium beer with that foot cream and bar of soap. Walgreens has rolled out a private-label brew called Big Flats 1901, available at more than 4,600 locations. The suds are being sold cheap, about $3 for a six-pack and $11.50 for a case of 24. (For those already too hammered ... More >>

Dairy Devilment: CREAM vs. Homemade Alcohol-Infused Whipped Cream

CREAM: Chocolate and vanilla, $9.99/can.​Four Loko has had its metaphorical gonads cut out from underneath it; Joose is in the staging area for the chopping block. What's a lonely hobo, desperate hipster wannabe or unsocialized computer-bound geek to do for that alcoholic, caffeinated hit?On Monda ... More >>

Double-Down Latkes, or Why Rob Eshman Is a Genius

Dave Lieberman​Rob Eshman is the editor of and occasional food blogger for the Jewish Journal who raised the hackles of Los Angeles food bloggers earlier this year by posting 10 reasons Saveur's glowing review of LA's promise as a food destination was misguided.Well, dear readers, Eshman has done ... More >>

Put Down The Damn Cool Whip. Do It Now.

Flickr user roadsidepicturesYou're not fooling anyone, you know.​Last week was a very stressful week, and when I get stressed out, I cook. The concentration required to work in a kitchen, a place with knives, boiling water or oil, fire, and slippery floors, takes my mind off whatever's gone wrong. ... 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 >>

Cal State Fullerton's Gutsy Professor

[Best of OC 2010] Cindy Abbott's 10 OC Survival Tips

Dueling Dishes: Olive Oil vs. "Olive Oil"

docnic, through a Creative Commons license Old School Olive Press​Much has been made of the recent study from UC Davis about so-called "extra-virgin" olive oil sold in California. Chemical analysis of a number of brands, both local and imported, showed that the labels often lied. And lied a lot. L ... More >>

Drunk After Work: The Anthill Pub

Dave Lieberman​The Place: The Anthill Pub, C-215 Student Center, University of California--Irvine, 4200 Campus Dr., Irvine; (949) 824-3050.The Hours: 4-7 p.m., Monday through Friday. Closed Saturday and Sunday.The Deal: $1 off pints; $3 off pitchers.

Recipe of the Week: Chiles Rellenos de Picadillo

El Pato sauce... is there anything it can't do? It turns plain old ground turkey into delicious picadillo, which gets stuffed; add it to your favorite taco filling; use it as a base for queso dip.This week's recipe, which features this wunder-sauce, is not a classic chile relleno (it isn't battered ... More >>

Move Over, Hi-Time, Here Comes 7-Eleven

Dallas Observer​Robert Wilonsky at our sister publication, the Dallas Observer, broke the news today that 7-Eleven will be selling private-label wine in their stores starting next week.That's right, folks. No longer will you have to suffer the slings and arrows of shops run by true oenophiles, lik ... More >>

This Week in Food

Get your lurch on at the first EVER Newport Beach Zombie Pub Crawl. What better way is there to Celebrate Halloween than with a little blood, brains, and a LOT of beer?   Taco Bell management literally dumps on a homeless man they nearly kill.    Dave would think twice about tos ... More >>

Recipe of the Week: Cat's Slaw

​This side dish is available at the Cat Cora BBQ counter at Macy's Signature Kitchen, South Coast Plaza. Broccoli slaw, sold in bags at Trader Joe's, isn't everyone's go-to choice, granted, but once combined with the dressing (adapted from Cora's grandma's recipe), it makes this tasty--not ... More >>

Crime Time: Methed Mom, Nitrous Oxide, a Full Moon, a Gutted Black Cat and a Skateboarding Giant Ax Carrier

It's our weekly Weekly roundup of Orange County police calls--with suspect mugs!TUESDAY, JULY 7Courtesy of Cypress Police DepartmentAlison Le Anne EbertAt Least She Left the TV On Officers responding to an anonymous, 4:45 a.m. report of child abuse in a home in the 8500 block of La Homa Street in Cy ... More >>

Chocolate-Covered Cheese? There Is A God

I met Cathy and Elliott Pavlos, architects-turned-restaurateurs, and owners of Irvine's Lucca café and deli, during their Wine and Cheese Pairing 101 at Bloomingdales on Saturday. I had been envisaging a low-key gathering of shoppers and foodies (not that they're mutually exclusive, I hasten to add ... More >>

Fresh & Easy Has A Difficult Road Ahead

Tesco, the UK supermarket behemoth, has just announced record pre-tax annual profits of £3.13bn ($4.5bn), which is surprising, given that the UK is in the middle of a raging recession.What's not surprising--to me, anyway--is that Fresh & Easy, Tesco's US operation, has, at the same time, made a ... More >>

Lance MacLean and the Slums of Mission Viejo

Welcome to the Poorhouse: the Fresh and Easy Life

It was good to be back in Henry's. I'd been a regular customer of the yuppified farmers market since it opened in February 2003 on the other side of Costa Mesa's Great Wall of College Avenue that blocks the sights and sounds of the Target store loading docks from my humble abode. Everything changed ... More >>

[This Hole-In-the-Wall Life] Cannoli Like Burritos at Tina and Vince's

The Chuck Wagon

Steakhouses, mess halls, eateries, barbecues, fine-dining establishments, & gratuitous & thematically inconsistent Tolkien references

Disneyland for Foodies

The new Whole Foods Market fills your belly and lightens your wallet

Soil to Soul

Orange County’s freshest farmers, farmers markets, food purveyors—and the chefs who love them

Nirvana, Corn Chip-style

Solving the origin myth of Laguna Beach’s Have’A Chips

Best of OC 2004: Part 3

Last Week, the DJ Saved My Life

Kitsch Bars John and Avalons Garron drive me crazy in a good way

Stupid Tanned Hot Chicks

Always bringin me down!

Give Blood, Replenish with Merlot

How to live during the summer of our discontent

Two-Buck Chuck

Let them drink Charles Shaw

Diary of a Mad County

Days of Beer and Ramen

Bachelors use their noodle

All Thrills, No Chills

Not quite roughing it on the central coast

Felony Foods

Bushs DEA criminalizes hemp foods

You Say Rubbish, We Say Opportunity

Not everyone cheers trash strikes resolution

Your Rainy-Day Reader

Too much time on your hands? Clone Bukowski from barf

Living in the USA

Booker on Bosnia, Washburn on Kmart

Coin Return

Guilty Pleasures

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