The long-awaited curiosity of a concept that merges Italian spaghetti with Korean ssam (loosely translated to “things wrapped in lettuce and sesame leaf”) opened last week and from a quick perusal of the menu, the restaurant isn't kidding around: they are, indeed offering a menu of spaghetti (with traditional Italian flavors and ones that incorporates Korean black bean, Cajun and other variants) and a (thankfully) separate menu of ssam.
Not only that, they've got spaghetti soup and something else that I hadn't anticipated or heard of before: a Taconini, a foodstuff that Itriya Cafe holds a trademark on.
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What is a Taconini? It is a “signature menu item that combines the flavors of a Taco and is grilled and layerd like a Panini. In the Taconini bread, it is layered with cheese, cucumber, Itriya Cafe slaw, red & yellow bell peppers and Taconini sauce.”
Check out the rest of the menu HERE.
As I've reported before Itriya Cafe is the brainchild of Howard Gordon and fiancee Jennifer Lee. Gordon is a former executive at The Cheesecake Factory; Lee is fashion designer who has a boutique at Crystal Cove Promenade. They already have plans for expansion into the LA area and at least three more locations elsewhere in the next few years. Will this latest Korean-based mash up be as successful as a certain Twittering taco truck that began the trend? Who knows? But I'm more than curious to try it.
Itriya Cafe, 2740 Alton Pkwy, Irvine, (949) 955-2080; itriyacafe.com.
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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.