This Week in Food: 100 Favorites, More Ice Cream Donuts, and Irvine Sucks

Alright guys, this is it: My last dining digest for awhile. I hope I haven't annoyed you all too much.

Time to get at it: This was the week that was in food.

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This week's restaurant review took Edwin to The Big Catch in Long Beach. It's amazing, and It's not just an Asian-Cajun place, folks. Edwin also had a major announcement: the 85 Degrees Bakery in Fullerton is NOW OPEN. Also open, the Veggie Grill in the Irvine Marketplace. And oh yeah, Irvine's getting two more Farmers Markets (Farmers' Markets?). One more thing: Edwin, being as great as he is, reminded us that next Monday, the I Love Poke Festival is going down (poke is so amazing).

Meanwhile, Gustavo spent his Hole in the Wall at the now newly reopened Break of Dawn in Laguna Hills. They're great; Welcome back, Dee! Oh, did I mention that our 100 Favorite Dishes of 2014 has started up again? This week was a Gustavo week: No. 100 were the bacon-wrapped dates from Lola Gaspar, No. 99 was the Tres Amigos Burrito from Piaggio on Wheels, No. 98 were the special dinners by Old Vine's Mark McDonald, No. 97 was the breakfast sausage from Da-Le Ranch (their bacon is also AMAZING), No. 96 was the jajanmyeong from Ching Chinese, No. 95 were the tacos de Ceceina from Alebrije's, No. 94 was the koobideh plate from Grill Cafe, and No. 93 was the breakfast burrito from Calacas. Make sure to tune in next week when I'm pretty sure it'll be Edwin's turn. Then there was Gustavo's definitive guide to American burritos. Man, I could use a burrito.

Me? Well, I had such a hard job: I ate another ice-cream filled donut, the Fronut from Frozen Bar, and compared it to Afters' Milky Bun (Tl;dr: Afters is better). Also, I reminded everyone to check their chia seed powder, seeing how some powder sold in Orange County is being recalled. And then there's the newest way to peel a bag of potatoes in under a minute.

For On the Line this week, Anne Marie spoke with Jim Walker and Louie Feinstein of The Bungalow in Corona Del Mar. She also gave us a beautiful “inside” view from Driftwood Kitchen in Laguna Beach. Then there was the news she broke: Paninoteca Maggio is going to be operating a temporary luxe lonchera. Anne Marie also had Drink of the Week this week, with Heineken's new BrewLock tap system.

This week, the always wonderful Sarah Bennet had her Long Beach Lunch at Cafe Ambrosia (the name fits).

Kristine made an appearance this week to write a eulogy for Paradise Perks, the best damn coffee shop in Irvine. They closed because of noise complaints. I also contributed a rant.

And that was the week folks, smell you later!

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You can also follow Charles Lam on Twitter @charlesnlam. He's less sardonic there, we swear.

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