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Hilton Kicks Off Season of Jazz With Local Musicians

Summertime is jazz time and one of the attractive places to enjoy some of the best local musicians is at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa hotel. They’ve just kicked off their Season of Jazz, which you can enjoy any Saturday evening through Sept. 1.

The hotel’s lobby, lounge and restaurant comprise a pretty dramatic space, but it is quintessentially friendly. One space flows into the other and if you’re in the lounge or dining in the hotel’s open Bristol Palms restaurant, you can see and enjoy the musicians.

I’ve written before about Bristol Palms being one of the surprise restaurants in the county. They have a fine chef and the menu is varied and very interesting. While you will find entrees of various red meats, fresh fish and poultry as on any good menu, the presentations and fusion of flavors here show dedication to pleasing the customers.






Hilton bar, lounge: Season of Jazz now thru Sept. 1

It’s nice to have something that doesn’t exactly mimic anyone else. For our part, we’ve dined here many times and taken many others to dinner just to introduce them.

Enjoy the Season of Jazz, have dinner on the jazzy Saturday evenings or dine anytime at Bristol Palms for lunch, dinner and even breakfast. Bristol Palms: 3050 Bristol St., Costa Mesa; phone (714) 540-7000.


Fleming’s 100

In the spirit of honest reporting, I have to say that Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar in Newport Beach is high on our favorites list. They have, hands down, the best rib eye steak I’ve found in Orange County.

The food itself makes it a worthy destination restaurant. The place also is genuinely enjoyable be-cause of the service and the decor that I seem to always be recommending it to someone. As long as feedback is great, I’m happy.

This is an important time of year for all Fleming’s restaurants. Summer is when they announce their Fleming’s 100,the Annual Listing of 100 Wines by the Glass. Fleming’s is recognized within the restaurant industry as having launched the vastly expanded wines by the glass program and the idea now is widely copied, though few restaurants match their ambition in presenting 100 wines.

The 2007-08 list continues the quest to enrich guests’ wine experiences. The new list boasts the best vintages from around the globe, including unique offerings from the world’s flourishing wine regions and hard-to-find selections from small but celebrated wineries.

Fleming’s came to prominence with its wine program thanks to Marian Jansen op de Haar, their director of wine. She has an exceptional palate that quickly divides the wannabe wines from the seriously delicious ones.

“The Fleming’s 100 is nothing less than an honor roll of excellence from around the world, with more than half of this year’s selections from smaller, family vintners,” according to Marian. “No matter what size the winery though, we look for balanced wines that complement our food, have a sense of place and are values at any price.”

She works with all of the local Fleming’s wine managers in finalizing the yearly list.

Many boutique wineries across the globe are featured among the 100 wines. From South Africa, the Ken Forrester 2006 Stellenbosch Petite Chenin offers a fruit forward wine with honeydew melon, citrus and pineapple flavors. For red wine lovers, France’s M. Chapoutier 2005 C & #244;tes du Rh & #244;ne Belleruche debuts on the list, as does Napa Valley’s Hall 2004 Cabernet Sauvignon.

Returning to the list is Kim Crawford’s Sauvignon Blanc from Marlborough, New Zealand. This wine consistently ranks on Fleming’s Top 10 list of guest favorites and receives a score of 90 points or higher in Wine Spectator magazine with every vintage.

Several wines on the list have celebrity ties including Greg Norman’s Cabernet-Merlot blend from the Limestone Coast in Australia. MacMurray Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir, with grapes coming from the ranch of the late actor Fred MacMurray, also is included. MacMurry’s daughter Kate, a traveling ambassador for MacMurray Ranch, grew up on the estate and still makes it her home.

I probably should also mention movie director Francis Ford Coppola’s Diamond Series Claret Black Label, the No. 1 selling wine by the glass at Fleming’s restaurants nationwide.

Marian is all about wines being a customer friendly adventure. She feels that these selections set the Fleming’s 100 apart from other wine lists and by including these carefully handcrafted and often difficult-to-find wines, Fleming’s is introducing guests to a whole new level of connoisseurship and enjoyment.

Marian and the wine director of each restaurant tasted more than 5,000 wines. The final selections were sampled by the Fleming’s wine team in order to establish their taste profiles for proper placement on the progressive wine list.

This year’s tasting took place in Sonoma. The wines by the glass list is comprised of 60 selections that are available in every Fleming’s restaurant across the country and 40 selections are chosen on a local basis to respond to regional consumer preference and demand. Additionally, Fleming’s has a selection of dessert wines and ports. On its Reserve List, there are more than 80 wines from the world’s most exceptional vineyards (these wines are available by the bottle).

I have long thought that the best wine lists use a progressive format in which wines are listed in order of their intensity, from lighter to fuller. It’s absolutely the best way for consumers to tune into a group of wines that suit their preference for lighter or heavier wines. Fleming’s uses the progressive method of listing all wines.

Climate-controlled wine rooms ensure that every glass of wine is served at optimum temperature, another way in which they outclass many competitors. I often order a Wine Flight. These are trios of 2-ounce tastes served in Fleming’s stylish Wine Vine, a custom holder for the three glasses with descriptions of each of the wines ordered in front of its glass. It allows guests an opportunity to experience different tastes, compare and contrast, and discover new favorites.

In addition to the new wines, Fleming’s has recently undergone a major refurbishing. The handsome wine cellar, where we’ve enjoyed many private dinners, and the entire restaurant has been freshened with new woodwork, paint, carpet and granite. The cellar has its own intimate bar, along with restrooms, and is completely self-contained for about 50 guests. It’s a room that can be configured so many ways for seating, offering a fine setting suitable to individual needs.

The Irvine room, adjacent to the main dining room, cozily accommodates about 24. Our family used the room on Father’s Day for our gathering. It was another perfect occasion at Fleming’s for us. And, since we have young grandchildren, it was so relaxing not to have to worry about them disturbing any other customers when they wanted to walk around while we adults lingered over a long and wonderful meal. The Irvine room features a lot of custom dark wood amenities and a display wall of wine bottles.

The restaurant is already busy with holiday bookings, and it’s wise to plan ahead for an event there. Rumor has it the Anaheim Ducks had a couple of private sessions and dinners there before they went on to win the Stanley Cup and it’s a favorite with locals and businesses alike.

In addition to wonderful steaks and wines, we find the service levels and hospitality of the staff and management to be consistently top-notch.

If you do business in the Inland Empire, Fleming’s opened this past spring in Rancho Cucamonga at Victoria Gardens and we recently had a look at that site,another beautiful steakhouse rendition,though we did not have time for a meal. Victoria Gardens is one of the most attractive malls I’ve ever seen, so that coupled with dining at Fleming’s is a good reminder to keep on hand.

This fall will bring two more Fleming’s restaurants to Northern California in Walnut Creek and Palo Alto. In Southern California, the new wines may be sampled at locations in Newport Beach, El Segundo, Woodland Hills, Rancho Cucamonga and Rancho Mirage.

It doesn’t seem like nine years have passed since Fleming’s was founded by restaurant industry veterans Paul Fleming and Bill Allen and launched in Newport Beach. That’s probably because we enjoy the restaurant for our own personal experiences on an ongoing basis and, just as the hours slip by when having a great meal and conversation with friends, the years have slipped by while we’ve repeated our dining pleasures at Fleming’s.

I cannot imagine that there are diners who have never been to Fleming’s, but just in case, it is where you will discover fine steakhouse dining. The menu is made up of prime meats and chops, fresh fish and poultry, generous salads and side orders that are addictive on their own. I promise that when you have a bit of those wines on the Fleming’s 100 list and indulge in an entree and complementary accompaniments, your enjoyment of dining will have been greatly expanded.

Fleming’s Fashion Island Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar: 455 Newport Center Drive; phone (949) 720-9633. Fleming’s serves only dinner.

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