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North Shore Poke Co. Has a Poke-Man Shawn Gole's Huntington Beach restaurant finally gives the Hawaiian standard its full, undivided attention
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April 12, 2012
We Mainlanders like to stereotype Hawaiians as obsessed with heavy meals such as plate lunches or loco moco, but the true religion is poke. A... More >>
Mick's Karma Bar Is Burger Heaven In Hell
[Hole In the Wall] This Irvine gem makes amazing hamburgers from a corporate Irvine office tower
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April 12, 2012
No restaurant in Orange County deserves an upgrade in location more than Mick's Karma Bar. From this former juice stand come some of the best... More >>
CUCINA enoteca Is the San Diego Treat Irvine's version of a San Diego restaurant that flies against Donald Bren's beige boringness
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April 05, 2012
We sat under a leafy olive tree. If not for butcher-paper placemats, the cold, metal surface of our table would've sapped the warmth from the... More >>
Taqueria Two Guys Cheeses It
[Hole In the Wall] This Santa Ana Mexican restaurant loves its cheese, damn the authenticity
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April 05, 2012
First things first: if you haven't already read it 80 times in this issue, read it again: My long-promised book, Taco USA: How Mexican Food... More >>
Class 302: A Course to Audit The Irvine restaurant teaches you well with its grade-school theme and Taiwanese food
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March 29, 2012
You're sitting at an actual wooden school desk. There's a cubbyhole for stowing your books and an indentation carved at the top so your pencil... More >>
Moros Cuban Restaurant Has Mondo Mojo
[Hole In the Wall] This La Habra dive impresses every possible way
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March 29, 2012
In the world of searing condiments, few are as caustic as a properly made mojo de ajo—olive oil spiked with garlic, the soy sauce of Cuba. Too... More >>
The Starling Diner's Fine French Toast Dealing with epic lines for wonderful meals at the Long Beach breakfast institution
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March 22, 2012
You might better know the mile-long stretch of Anaheim Street between Atlantic and Junipero in Long Beach as Cambodia Town, the center of all... More >>
Mitla Cafe Is the Restaurant That Birthed Taco Bell
[Hole In the Wall] This San Bernardino landmarks deserves a pilgrimage from all lovers of Mexican food
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March 22, 2012
This week marks the 50th anniversary of Taco Bell, the Irvine-based giant that fundamentally changed how Americans consume Mexican food. But 2012... More >>
The Riders Club Cafe Goes Back to Basics This San Clemente dive makes a damn-fine burger
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March 15, 2012
When I re-evaluate the best burgers I've eaten in my life, the most memorable are usually from dives, greasy spoons, places where I can see,... More >>
Namastey India Chaat Up the Haters
[Hole In the Wall] This Buena Park Indian restaurant is leading the city's subcontinental renaissance
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March 15, 2012
In 1999, Buena Park residents loudly protested when a group of Hindus proposed to build a massive temple in the city that Knott built. "I don't... More >>
THE RANCH Offers a Fistful of Dollars Extron owner Andrew Edwards has invested major coin into his restaurant and saloon
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March 08, 2012
It's said that Walt Disney created Disneyland because he wanted a place to spend time with his daughters. Andrew Edwards, the owner and president... More >>
Pho Binh Sells Vietnamese Taquitos?
[Hole In the Wall] This Santa Ana restaurant sells pho, bun and other Vietnamese faves to a Latino clientele
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March 08, 2012
In the wild and wacky world of food translations, few have proven more good-natured-but-incongruous than what the owners of Pho Binh in Santa Ana... More >>
Orea Taverna's Greek Chic Tony Ghosn updates his family's beloved Sophia's
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March 01, 2012
There are two things you must get at Orea Taverna: the saganaki and the pyato souvlaki. Both are table spectacles of the kind that make you turn... More >>
Taqueria La Poblanita Embraces the Nuevo
[Hole In the Wall] This Anaheim eatery sells quesadillas more deity than tortilla
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March 01, 2012
There was no such thing as regional Mexican restaurants in Anaheim while I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s. There were tacos made similar... More >>
Ramen Yamadaya Offers Oink Noodle The first OC restaurant of this LA titan simmers the piggiest soup in Costa Mesa
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February 23, 2012
Ramen Yamadaya's tonkotsu ramen is the closest thing to melting a whole pig into a bowl. The broth is so thick and so rich the viscosity is... More >>
The Chippy Is an Office Park Fish Fry
[Hole In the Wall] This Irvine food court gem makes Orange County's best fish and chips—and more
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February 23, 2012
The Palm Cafe Food Court in Irvine might be the ugliest place to eat in Orange County: a large hall with inexplicably high ceilings, rickety... More >>
Jason Quinn Will Meet You at the Playground Inside the hyperkinetic career of the novice chef-turned-cooking star
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February 16, 2012
RULE NO. 1: NO KETCHUPJason Quinn loves ketchup, but he won't serve it because he can't make ketchup that is "not evil." Heinz and Hunt's, he... More >>
Mozambique Peri-Peri Does the Mazavaroo This Newport Beach restaurant is the cheaper, fast-casual sister of the venerable Laguna Beach original
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February 16, 2012
The last time I ate the woefully underappreciated sausage called boerewors, it was at a now-shuttered South African bar in Long Beach. It's as... More >>
Huong Giang Is Hue Great
[Hole In the Wall] This Little Saigon standard excels with the dishes of Central Vietnam
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February 16, 2012
They sit at every table at Huong Giang in small glass bowls: long, smooth, fire-engine-red peppers pulsating with the promise of their alluring... More >>
Han Yang Has a Bone to Pick This Buena Park restaurant takes Korean food and its beef short rib soup beyond the borders of Little Seoul
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February 09, 2012
Have you noticed? Little Seoul, once constrained within the confines of Garden Grove, is slowly spilling into sections of Buena Park, spreading... More >>
HOT DOGS HOT DOGS HOT DOGS: One From the Cart
[Hole In the Wall] A Santa Ana food cart makes bacon-wrapped hot dogs and other Mexican street treats
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February 09, 2012
Don't believe the hype about street food taking over Orange County in the past couple of years—there is no such scene outside of Santa Ana. Luxe... More >>
Bru Grill and Market Features Drunken Masters This Lake Forest restaurant offers beer-can chicken and other delicious alcohol-laced oddities
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February 02, 2012
I'm willing to bet that most people have never met beer-can chicken in the flesh. You may have seen the dish on a recent episode of Top Chef:... More >>
Chow, Bella, at Ciao! Deli and Pizzeria
[Hole In the Wall] The Costa Mesa dive perfects Italian-American classics
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February 02, 2012
"I've turned into a food snob," managing editor Nick Schou told me as he watched me scarf down a bowl of caesar salad at Ciao! Deli & Pizzeria in... More >>
The Playground Is the Brotherhood of the Purple Pants 'The Great Food Truck Race 2' co-winner Jason Quinn opens his long-awaited restaurant
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January 26, 2012
Complacent and apathetic aren't traits you want in a chef, and the words certainly don't describe Jason Quinn, who made waves last week for... More >>
Hoa Sen Serves Cheatin' Chicken
[Hole In the Wall] The Garden Grove Vietnamese dive sells fake meats even a Midwesterner could love
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January 26, 2012
The appearance of the vegetarian lemongrass chicken at Hoa Sen is limp, almost revolting: dun-colored lengths of soy shaved to the thinness of... More >>
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From the Print Edition
Is Eleven46 Kitchen the Chipotle of Vietnamese Cuisine?
We all seem to think we know how to run a restaurant regardless of whether we've ever owned or operated one. So when you find yourself in a restaurant that… More >>
Lindo Michoacán #2: Fond of the Fonda
Here's the dirty secret about Mexicans in Orange County and Mexican food: most of us nos vale madre that so many regional treasures exist in these parts. If you're from… More >>
Carne Asada In OC
Get with the Reconquista, people: This is carne asada country, so stop trying to slow-roast 'cue in some overpriced contraption, only to get results not worthy of a Memphis trash… More >>
Peking Dragon's Sweet-and-Sour Splendor
It was Sunday night at Peking Dragon Restaurant in Dana Point, one of only three Chinese eateries in the seaside city, and every Naugahyde booth was taken. You had to… More >>
Papa's Fish & Soul Food Is Super!
"That sauce bit you in the end, right?" the owner of Papa's Fish & Soul Food in Anaheim cracked from across the dining room, and I had to nod yes.… More >>
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