If you haven't been to Mitsuwa Marketplace's food court in a while, you'll find it has changed a bit. Long gone is the Italian Tomato, the pastry and pasta maker, and the short-lived Maestro adjacent to that. In the space they've left behind, an udon and donburi purveyor are set to open this Thursday . Sanukiseimen Mugimaru and Don Don Tei will operate side-by-side, and from the sound of it, they're part of the same outfit.
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A free kake udon will be offered to the first 30 people who order something at the grand opening Thursday, July 14.
Across the way, The Loft Hawaiian is now already open at the stall vacated by Sanuki Sandou Udon, the last udon joint to do business here. This is the third OC store for the South Bay chain. The menu at the Costa Mesa restaurant is a shortened version of its bigger outlets, but includes such items as bacon fried rice and, of course, loco moco.
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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.