I had thought I had seen the last of Famima!!, the name for a concocted by FamilyMart, the Japanese company with thousands of such stores throughout the planet, including a few in L.A.
Picture 7-Eleven and Mitsuwa siring an offspring, and that would be Famima!! a convenience store that sells Pocky, steam buns, sushi and booze where you would normally expect Twinkies, hot dogs, and booze. And contrary to what may seem like an overenthusiastic beginning to this post, the exclamation points–both of them–are part of the name.
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The first and last Orange County Famima!! opened and subsequently closed in Fountain Valley a few years ago, but now it seems they're trying again in Newport Beach, hawking the same boxed sushi, “gourmet” sandwiches and curry bowls along with the Icee's (subtitled as Famima!! Freeze) and fried chicken wings.
It replaces a shuttered O Cafe, and is a stone's throw from the Newport Pier.
The Fountain Valley Famima!! failed in spectacular fashion, so it remains to be seen whether it will do better here in Newport. As I said in an earlier review of Famima!!, a convenience store is only convenient to those living within a mile of it. Will the neighborhood will be receptive to a gussied-up ampm that sells tofu salad at all hours? Maybe a more apt title would be “Famima??”
2200 W Oceanfront, Newport Beach
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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.