Summarizing what's happened in a few months of restaurant closures in a list is a morbid, depressing task; but it is a duty we must do once in a while. With so many restaurants coming and going, I am not going to cover them all, and most times, there's already a new place ready to jump in and pick up where the last one left off.
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Take the case of the Thai Spice chain. A few of its outlets has had a history of fizzling out early. And that's just what happened with the one in Santa Ana near John Wayne. It shuttered pretty soon (maybe a year?) after it opened. But then, it reincarnated itself in the space left behind by Topz.
Speaking of burger joints, Fatburger closed its Brea store recently too, leaving only a few stores left to enjoy a homemade onion ring order with an egg-loaded Kingburger.
Mitsui in Irvine's Quail Hill called it quits as well as Aomatsu on Campus Drive, which shuttered two months ago. The space it left, which used to be Jimmy Z Grill, remains vacant.
Jak's Bistro in Garden Grove is also a goner, soon to be replaced by a bar called On The Rocks.
Relatively new entrants like Valentino Chocolatier Café in Tustin and the Tommy Pastrami across from the federal courthouse shuttered recently; but old fogeys like Po' Folks in Buena Park ended its long, long run also.
Lucille's Rib Shack in Orange isn't closing per se, but just growing up into a full-fledged Lucille's Smokehouse like its other brothers.
This month and last (that's as far as I'll take this), we saw a Kelly's Coffee and Fudge shuttering at the Irvine Specturm, only to be taken up by a hopeful replacement.
Till next time Orange County. And if you see any restaurants I missed, or have a comment about a restaurant you want to say farewell to, leave a note.
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.