Springtime brings thoughts of colorful flowers emerging, a climate conducive to beaches and boating, and getting out as the winter fades, even though we’ve had such a mild winter.
I have chosen some restaurants that I believe will bring smiles and good food as we welcome this season. I have not mentioned things like wine, but all of these restaurants have interesting wine lists.
Most of the restaurants have patio dining, and that’s a welcome thing, as we like breathing the fresh air, especially at places like the Dana Point marina, with its salty breezes.
I’ve been impressed lately with a restaurant adjacent to the marina that is very different in its type of cuisine. It’s included in this culinary novella.
And while you make the rounds of these restaurants, I will get busy working on my next Fifi’s Best and corralling the best for another season. Enjoy!
A Market
Breakfast, lunch, early dinner
3400 W. Coast Highway
Newport Beach
(949) 650-6515
The sunny springtime weather makes this little enclave a perfect place to have a casual but decidedly tasty meal. This free-standing building is next to A Restaurant and belongs to the same proprietors but is allowed its own personality and reason for being.
Anyone who knows about Shelly Register, the chef in this cute restaurant, already has a level of confidence that some good food is happening. She worked for many years for well-known restaurants. I have, in fact, followed her career for a long time. She’s absolutely passionate about both savory food and pastries, a discipline for which she received very high acclaim for many years. She gets my vote for her engaging personality that seems to translate into the food. A Market is one of those little gourmet places where unpretentious is a guideline, but the tastes of the food speak of high pride. Since it is open from early morning to 7 p.m., even an early dinner could be your ticket.
A few tables are situated in the front windows, and a larger community table occupies the center of the room. Choose your food and then get your own drink—from a good selection of wines to legendary brands of soft drinks to plain and flavored waters.
The breakfast paninis are the stars of early morning, but I also wave a blue ribbon for the oatmeal bomb: organic oatmeal, sliced banana, Greek yogurt, and a scoop of their wonderful house-made granola. Choose from several varieties of coffee drinks and teas, and your day will be off to a great start.
The lunch menu allows me to say the sandwiches are way above in interest what peers are offering. Do not miss the turkey sandwich with avocado, pear and ginger marmalade and watercress on corn rye bread. The slow-roasted pulled pork also clocks in as a winning sandwich ingredient. I recommend the Cubano, delicious tuna salad, and real Chicago hot dog, too.
Naturally, a good selection of salads is offered. The Chinese chicken salad comes with a good mix of veggies and an especially flavorful sesame dressing, and another salad topped with slices of marinated flank steak also makes a very nice lunch. Soups change daily. Some interesting sides, such as tomato bocconcini—tiny balls of mozzarella—orzo, beets, and couscous can suffice as small-plate satisfactions.
I won’t even go into Shelly’s desserts, but you really should have something of hers in the sweet realm.
Café Beau Soleil (at American Rag)
Breakfast (all day), lunch and dinner
953 Newport Center Drive
(949) 640-4402
This cute place serves organic French cuisine with a California twist. It really is a replica of a French sidewalk cafe, with indoor and outdoor seating (the patio is dog-friendly).
The first time I ate here several years ago—good sign that it’s still around—the owner explained that a worthwhile neighborhood cafe in any country should be a pleasant place for good food, present its own way of looking at the world, and represent a way of valuing time spent savoring a rich cup of coffee with friends. Café Beau Soleil carries on the tradition with aplomb.
The decor is charmingly French. Bentwood bistro chairs with backs and seats of woven plastic are tucked around little tables with hand-blown glass globes hanging over them.
An attractive bar of seriously antiqued wood is outlined in zinc.
Breakfast is available all day. They do offer commonplace egg and meat items, including a good selection of fluffy omelets. But I’m most likely to have French pastries, one of their signature quiches, a real Belgian waffle, crab cakes with poached eggs or a crepe filled with fruit.
I enjoy many of their appetizers. Shrimp Provençale, incorporating carrots, tomatoes, fennel, garlic and essence of pernod, is so French. A charcuterie, or cheese tray with Spanish, French and Italian meat and cheese choices, and hummus made in-house with fresh vegetables are two other good choices.
Half a dozen updated sandwiches also honor good eating, among them some on croissants, and there are the classics: croque monsieur and croque madame. Onion soup is a natural in a place like this. Salads of duck confit and pear; Angus steak with greens and asparagus; avocado halves stuffed with your favorite filler; and a shrimp and spinach salad with a dose of mango deliver something extra.
Some entrees one-up fancier restaurants, as in wild Dover sole and free-range organic chicken a la Cordon Bleu. Kudos, too, to its cassoulet of duck confit, rack of lamb with simmered greens, and a truly fabulous tagine, one of the national dishes of Morocco. This braised-style dish is done in a ceramic cooking crock with a conical cover that allows some steam to escape but also causes the moisture that’s increasingly laden with all the flavors to drip back into the dish as it cooks. The savory melange of the quality chicken, olives, dates, dried apricots, roasted pistachios, preserved lemon and fresh thyme is about as heavenly as food can get.
Saving the best for last, entree prices are only $14.25 to $25.95. For a cafe, I like all the facets of this Francophile place.
enoSTEAK (in Ritz-Carlton resort)
Dinner only
One Ritz-Carlton Drive
Dana Point
(949) 240-2000
This is my really high-end choice for restaurants to try this springtime. It’s pretty glamorous on its own, but when we add the beauty of all the surroundings, it becomes even more special.
Gazing at the ocean drifting out beyond the windows of the resort’s cocktail bar or perchance having some appetizers and before-dinner drinks at 180blũ, the sensual outdoor space 150 feet above the ocean, will add even more sparkle to the evening.
Walk a bit through the lobby and arrive at the door to enoSTEAK. Think of romance, a perfect dinner location to discuss business, or just a lovely little gift to yourself. It unfolds as a serene place with the utmost level of understated gorgeous detail. You can almost feel yourself breathing it all in.
The food fits the surroundings. The restaurant boasts steaks from prime and grass-fed, pasture-raised beef. Fresh fish of the day and lobster are also possibilities. The organic produce is grown locally and harvested at the peak of the season. The restaurant also highlights artisanal cheeses, charcuterie and unique, fine wines.
One of the pleasantries for me is the nice array of compound butters offered to complement the fine steak. These include black truffle, roasted garlic with garden rosemary, watercress and horseradish blend, bacon maple and béarnaise sauce.
The wine list is as serious as the food. However, one need not break the bank to pay for its choice of grape juice. enoSTEAK is kind enough to sneak in some very good and actually affordable wines.
My name is on the salted caramel pot de crème served with a flourish of fleur de sel cookie crumbles and a dollop of crème fraiche.
When craving a good steak or that excellent serving of seafood, enoSTEAK is happy to up the ante with the most caring service and tranquil surroundings, giving a sense of peacefulness that plays well in this stressful world.
Gemmell’s
Lunch and dinner
34471 Golden Lantern St.
Dana Point
(949) 234-0063
This restaurant, situated within steps of the Dana Point marina, is on my hidden-gems list. You are missing something very special in Orange County if you’ve not discovered the historical background of owner/Chef Byron Gemmell and his wonderful French-influenced food.
Another selling point is that Gemmell’s exhibits just the right amount of quiet charm. No loud noise and frantic energy.
Byron is so modest. He’s never been one to flaunt a rather esteemed career. He’s from Guatemala but of Scottish heritage and came to California 40 years ago as a youngster, getting his first real job as a busboy at Disneyland hotel.
Loving food and showing interest in how chefs turn ingredients into tasty dishes, he was soon moved into the kitchen. He obviously had culinary ability and ultimately found himself in the kitchen of Jean Bertranou—a very famous French chef acclaimed in the U.S. and Europe—at L’Ermitage in L.A.
Skip forward a bit to La Cuisine of Dana Point, where Byron was the chef making culinary waves even beyond Orange County. Two years after that opened, the proprietor expanded in 1980 to a second location, La Cuisine of Newport Beach. As executive chef of both restaurants, Byron scored a coup. Gourmet magazine began researching what the raves were about, and La Cuisine and Byron’s food became the subject of a glowing story. Eventually, he had his own restaurant, and we now find him and his wife, Barbara—the gracious dining room host—in the naturalistic setting near Dana Point marina.
The food is pretty amazing; plus there’s plenty to choose from—18 entrees at lunch and 16 at dinner, and daily specials. Lots of appetizer size choices, too. A swift overview includes escargot, duck liver pate, puff pastry tucked with herb-sauced shellfish, forest mushrooms in herb butter, house-smoked wild salmon, and a definitive onion soup. His
fresh green pea soup when those morsels are in season is as good as I’ve had this side of France.
There is probably not a better roasted duck than Byron’s. Crispy skin meets moist and tender flesh that sings even more with a dark rum and banana liqueur reduction sauce. I sit there and ooh and aah through my whole meal every time I order it.
You will also encounter sand dabs; crepes stuffed with seafood; pork loin in Madeira sauce; calamari steak; shrimp Provençale; ratatouille; pasta with shellfish; chicken with artichoke hearts; several steaks; traditional fish and chips; rack of lamb; a bistro burger; and a Hawaiian fish burger.
The wine list is also surprising for an indy restaurant. Well-chosen choices, with 25 wines by the glass and an extensive selection of California and French wines including a wide selection in the $26-to-$50 range, plus a superb selection of higher-end ones. A bunch of French-like desserts will polish off your meal with style.
Hamamori
Lunch and dinner
3333 Bear St.
Costa Mesa
(714) 850-0880
My husband, Patrick, and I have been devotees of sushi for more than three decades. There are many Japanese restaurants that give you a perfectly fine sushi experience, but if you are looking for something memorable and unique—with a dose of euphoria—there’s a particular destination in Orange County: Hamamori at South Coast Plaza.
Master chef/owner James Hamamori’s sushi, and particularly omakase—leaving you in the hands of the chef—sets a very high bar.
James came to the U.S. from Japan. He landed in New York City, then came to California, where for years he was at two restaurants in the L.A. area building his own acclaimed reputation and commanding a loyal following.
Our Hamamori restaurant is perched on the top level of South Coast Plaza’s Home Store wing. It’s perfect for an exquisite lunch, a dinner destination on its own, or a place for pretheater bites, since it’s in the vicinity of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. There’s a daily happy hour from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
There’s an eloquence to the decor. A glass entrance introduces us to an undulating white ceiling and sculpted back wall, hand-cut crystal drizzle chandeliers, floor-to-ceiling windows and natural surfaces of travertine marble, onyx and mollusk shells. The intimate sushi bar accommodates eight at a 150-year-old bubinga wood counter with a natural edge. Very cool.
James’ sushi style is authenticity draped with creativity and artistic flair that’s played out with touches of fusion via unique sauces and garnishes. Case in point: his bluefin tuna sushi with blue cheese and nori vinaigrette.
In Hama-son’s own words, “I have always loved the artistry of creating beautiful food from the best ingredients. Everything we make is like a signature. It gives me great pleasure to see guests enjoy our dishes and sushi.” James has been admired for years for his food “gems,” and we like this kind of dedication.
And James’ sly sense of humor makes an evening seated in front of him enjoying omakase extra special. Hamamori takes reservations, and you may request a sushi chef’s station.
We begin with a glass of sparkling sake and then might savor scallops with lemon, yuzu salt and caviar, or seared yellowtail with a pinch of kanzuri hot sauce, garlic ponzu and chervil. Sea bream and abalone topped with their unusual sauces melt in your mouth. No wasabi and soy needed here. Enjoy the asparagus with crispy handmade rice crackers and a squirt of lemon and dipped in Himalayan salts. Black cod marinated in seasoned miso and tamari, then glazed with yuzu honey sauce is serious food. From your favorite sushi and sashimi to exquisite omakase creations, this is awesome dining.
You have truly missed some of OC’s finest dining until you peruse the depth of Hamamori’s cuisine that takes many Japanese pathways.
Lark Creek
Lunch and dinner
957 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach
(949 ) 640-6700
The Lark Creek group owns several high-end restaurants with national reputations. It was a good day when they opened Lark Creek at Fashion Island, giving us tastes of sophisticated yet comforting food. The corporation is a leader in high-quality, individualized restaurants that are farm-to-table driven.
This restaurant balances the company’s penchant for stylish surroundings with a decent dose of hometown friendliness.
There are some new restaurants garnering crowds right now in this same center. However, at this time, I feel Lark Creek is the best all-around upscale experience; plus it’s not a cattle call occurrence. We’ve dined at Lark Creek many times, and walking away with good memories for food, service and something a little different are the touchstones that keep us interested.
Furthermore, Lark Creek serves intriguing food that has our health in mind. I’m not sure other restaurants have much regard for our health. The restaurant has partnered with SPE Certified (Sanitas Per Escam, Latin for Health Through Food). Then it ensures ingredients meet sourcing and handling goals that maintain their intrinsic beneficial qualities.
This is a chic, slightly energetic place where the use of fine wood is prevalent and results in a sense of warmth. My preference for seating is the main, front dining room that has more of an indoor-outdoor feel.
Partner/Chef John Ledbetter boasts dishes with fine ingredients from local and artisanal sources. Consider a salad of kale, quinoa and persimmon, or romaine lettuce cuddling with Fuji apple, walnuts and Shaft bleu cheese. More interesting than most salads. Ceviche of rockfish; gruyere and wild mushroom puff pastry tart; mussels in a Thai red curry broth; cider-brined pork chop (one of best I’ve found in OC); duck confit with forest mushroom risotto; Colorado lamb with cannellini beans; serious wood-grilled burgers, and barbecued chicken tamale pancake are all on my faves list.
If they have butterscotch pudding with chantilly cream on the dessert list, go for it. Additional thoughts: Lark Creek gets high marks for the sensibly concise and very good wine list, and the prices are downright lovable. Main dishes: $12-$20 at lunch, $17-$28 at dinner.
Little Sparrow
Lunch, dinner and weekend brunch
300 N. Main St.
Santa Ana
(714) 265-7640
This is the cheeky little restaurant that turned Orange County on its ear last year. It’s in downtown Santa Ana, where a revolution in dining possibilities exists; yet Little Sparrow has a spirit that soars a little higher, that intrigues a bit more.
For a springtime treat, take in this gem that’s delighting knowledgeable diners. Special note: There is no corkage charge on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
The aura changes rather dramatically from a lighthearted, casual lunch place to more romantic and serene at night. The food quality and significance is the same, though, whatever time of day you dine.
I only need to say once how much interest I find in the food. The chef who dreams up and executes Little Sparrow’s menu is Eric Samaniego, an alumnus of David Myers’ highly touted Comme Ça kitchen in West Hollywood. He changes a lot of the menu every month, so you may not find all I’ve mentioned in my ramblings, but replacements will be equally intriguing, I promise.
It may be very casual at lunch, but the quality and quantity of the sandwiches speaks of the chef’s pride. Popular are a towering grass-fed beef burger, chickpea masala on grilled sourdough, and a traditional pastrami cured in-house and stacked high on great rye bread. He stuffs Italian ciabatta bread with lots of rich pork belly for another winning sandwich. The hands-down winning salad combines the very French frisée greens strewn with lardons—crisp little cubes of bacon— and topped with a soft egg. The farro salad with roasted mushrooms is another good one.
Goodies on the appetizer portion of the current dinner menu include grilled octopus with white beans, sweet onion risotto, crispy sweetbreads, and roasted bone marrow. Lamb meatballs, chestnut agnolotti pasta, roasted venison, barramundi, and grilled porkchops are a few of the come-hither entrees.
They make some great signature cocktails, so have a look at the gin, vodka and tequila enticements that are different from other places. Perhaps that’s your way to start off a lovely culinary evening. To finish the
meal, killer sweets include coconut pot de crème, Meyer lemon tart, and the seasonal cobbler.
Reunion Kitchen + Drinks
Lunch and dinner, breakfast
Saturday-Sunday
5775 E. Santa Ana Canyon Road
Anaheim Hills
(714) 283-1062
In an area that can use more good restaurants, Reunion Kitchen seems to be hitting all the right marks. Another good-looking restaurant had been in this same location, and I presumed this one might look similar. It doesn’t. That’s a good thing, because they’ve completely reimagined the space to give us a welcoming, neighborhood-friendly place that makes you want to walk right in and have a seat.
The new operator, Scott McIntosh, oversees a large room with a wall of glass on one side and an interior part of the room that’s more subdued and intimate, with a very nice bar as a third element. Comfortable booths have added to my enjoyment. The nouveau design highlights the beauty of wood, always a naturally inviting element.
Scott has spent years in successful restaurants, so he’s tuned in to what works and what’s needed. The community might have dropped by for a first look because of curiosity, but they are keeping it fully occupied now and waxing poetic about the food. For me, it’s worth a drive to North County.
Scott riffs on innovative interpretations of the best dishes he’s encountered during his previous years. Slow-braised short ribs with the snap of horseradish sauce are an
entree and also tucked into cool little sliders. Appetizers of bacon-wrapped jalapenos stuffed with cream cheese and raspberry
jam; poke stack; and charred Brussels sprouts with maple syrup-vinegar drizzle are delightful.
The menu is the same at lunch and dinner. A reinvented Cobb salad comes with barbecued chicken. I haven’t seen a good steak and potato salad on a menu for years. This one is a classy combo of warm potatoes, onions and avocado.
Love the chicken sandwich with warm brie. The BLT is a nicely elevated version on parmesan-grilled sourdough. They serve a great prime rib dip sandwich every day till they run out—hint, hint: get it at lunch.
If you love chicken and biscuits, these buttermilk clouds with crisply fried chicken strewn with sausage gravy will take you on a quick trip to the South. Fresh salmon is pan-roasted with mustard-cream sauce. There’s filet mignon, turkey pot pie, superb fish and chips, and a stack of baby back ribs, too. Lots of interesting and flavorful stuff coming from the kitchen.
Huevos rancheros, short rib machaca, eggs Benedict with steak rather than Canadian bacon, oatmeal brûlée style, and all sorts of commonplace morning items make the weekend breakfast interesting, too.
For dessert, the warm butter cake is delish, but a memorable carrot cake and a deep-dish crumble also leave a good impression.
Selanne Steak Tavern
Dinner only
1464 S. Coast Highway
Laguna Beach
(949) 715-9881
Anaheim Ducks player Teemu Selanne decided to branch out and become a restaurateur. At least his name is on the relatively new restaurant at the former French 75 space in Laguna Beach.
You won’t visually connect anything about the previous restaurant with this one. It was somewhat deconstructed and easily took on a tavernesque personality, albeit with much more sophisticated food.
The little bar lobby has given way to a huge central bar that takes up a lot of the space and is invariably crowded with
diners and imbibers. The remainder of that room is furnished with a few tables. The casualness of oak plank floors and an overall wash of pale gray paint brighten the atmosphere.
To the left as you enter and down a
couple of steps is a wine room with the charm of a fireplace. I particularly like
the upstairs dining room, with its more formal atmosphere punctuated by distinctive light fixtures inspired by African sea glass beads; cream upholstery; and leather furnishings.
With the perfect season coming for outdoor seating, you might want to consider the beautiful tented room on the front lawn complemented by a spate of Moroccan-style lighting.
Chef Joshua Severson concentrates on incorporating SoCal’s products into modern American fare. The menu boasts produce, fish and meats from sources that practice sustainability, humane, steroid-free raising techniques, and pesticide-free growing environments. That alone sharpens our appetite.
Maine lobster cappuccino, Vermont quail with pear-saffron chutney, bone marrow with red onion marmalade, and tartare of Wagyu beef topped with a quail egg set a sophisticated beginning for dinner. Beet ravioli or a nicely conceived artisanal collection of cheeses and cured charcuterie are also good for small-plate dining or first-course noshing. Sampling some fresh oysters is always on my “go to” list.
You will like the way the chef adorns entrees. Sweet 100 tomatoes, baby anise, parsnips, and truffle jus are some accommodating tastes with your seafood or meats. Skuna Bay salmon, branzino, Maine lobster, short ribs and free-range chicken, plus several steaks and chops make up the backbone of the menu.
For dessert, I love the apple pie in a jar. Maybe you can finish off the evening with one of those newly invented after-dinner libations. It’s nice to linger and just enjoy the surroundings a bit more.