Com Tam Thuan Kieu, the Little Saigon specialist of broken rice dishes, has opened Thuan Kieu Express in Lake Forest. The new restaurant takes the 7 toppings on their signature broken rice dish and adapts it to a Chipotle-style build-you-own plate concept. 22722 Lambert St, Ste 1704, Lake Forest, CA 92630
Chao Village, a Vietnamese restaurant featuring a “French dip” banh mi served with a either a pho soup dip or a bun bo Hue soup dip, has opened in Anaheim . 430 S Euclid St, Anaheim, CA 92802
Lamplight Lounge has opened in what used to be Ariel’s Grotto at Disney’s California Adventure. The new restaurant and bar is part of the Pixar Pier revamp of Paradise Pier. 1313 Disneyland Dr, Anaheim, CA 92802
Koji Sushi has opened in Brea Downtown. The menu includes rolls with names such as Elvis and Heart Attack. 375 W Birch St, Brea, CA 92821
Mario Marovic–the restaurateur behind Wild Goose Tavern, Stag Bar, and most recently, The Country Club–has now opened Playa Mesa, a Mexican concept built in the space of a Ruby’s Dinette. 428 E 17th St, Costa Mesa, CA 92627
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.