Can you tell me what's missing from this picture I took at The District in Tustin? If you guessed Valentino Chocolatier Café, you'd be right. The independent confectionary (at 2829 Park Avenue), which featured Belgian chocolates, crepes and cupcakes, has folded and has done so quite suddenly.
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I swear it was there a week ago, but now, the storefront is nothing but an empty shell, the insides gutted. It's not the only eatery that has exited from the strip of shops between Michael's and Ulta in the recent year. The failed Sandella's Flatbread Cafe came and went so fast it was hardly even noteworthy.
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.