We’ve been busy trying a lot of the food at the attractive Back Bay Bistro at Newport Dunes.
This restaurant is a recent recipient of Open Table Diners’ Choice Awards as one of the 100 Best Restaurants for Brunch in the United States. There’s both a Saturday and Sunday champagne brunch.
The Back Bay area is associated with boating, camping and beachside fun. But this glass-walled modern structure, smack dab at the water’s edge, is a unique find.
Among its appealing features: black concrete tile floors, chalkboard paintings with original sketches of garden settings, large mirrors in heavily gilded frames, multitiered chandeliers, comfortable wicker chairs and a sophisticated retractable awning.
Executive chef Kurt Schaeffer’s straightforward menu includes fresh seafood, top grade beef and meat dishes, and other fare that takes advantage of California’s abundant food products.
Suggestions: Flatbread appetizers, blackened salmon salad drizzled with pineapple vinaigrette, grilled chicken pasta, USDA prime filet mignon with béarnaise sauce, rib-eye steak topped with sautéed mushrooms and onions, Dover sole and Kobe beef sliders.
A make-your-own Bloody Mary bar is also available.Â
Back Bay Bistro is at 1131 Back Bay Drive in Newport Beach. Phone number: (949) 729-3800.
Beach Bashes
The Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort holds an annual Steak and Lobster Beach Party benefiting Leadership Tomorrow and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This year it will take place Aug. 11 from 5 to 9 p.m. For $55 guests can get a whole Maine lobster served with several dishes, including tri-tip, shrimp and dessert.
VIP tickets are available for $150 and include stage-front seating, complimentary wine and valet parking.
Additionally, on Saturdays through Sept. 1, there will be a series of Bands on the Sand evenings. Various groups perform an array of music and food trucks supply the food. Cocktails and other beverages are also available. Admission is free, but there is a parking charge.
Family Movies at the Beach are staged on Fridays and Saturdays throughout the summer. Details about Bands on the Sands or the movie events:Â (949) 729-3863.
Tasting Menu
A new chef’s tasting menu at Stonehill Tavern is being offered by General Manager Pallava Goenka.
For me the combination of the current food and the enlightening conversations with Pallava make dining at Stonehill Tavern a new kind of experience.
This is one of super chef Michael Mina’s restaurants, but the chef de cuisine in residence is Craig Polignano. He’s originally from the East Coast and gives us recognizable ingredients presented in entirely new ways via dishes he and Michael have created together.
They craft the dishes from totally fresh ingredients, including fruits, vegetables, herbs, meats and seafood from artisan providers. We’ve eaten many of the newest menu additions, one evening in a five-hour extravaganza of many courses and many wines to match.
Stonehill Tavern’s new Chef’s Tasting Menu reflects the delicious intersection of Chef Michael’s farm-to-table focus and Chef Craig’s Italian upbringing, in which fresh seafood and memorable times at the table played starring roles. Menu items often feature show-stopping table-side preparations, so you might want to bring along your camera. The Chef’s Tasting Menu is $148 with wine or alternate pairings also offered. The cocktail menu (legendary classics and nouveau liquid inventions) also has its share of appeal.
Stonehill Tavern: in St. Regis Resort, One Monarch Beach Resort, Dana Point, (949) 234-3378. Dinner only.
London Indian
My husband Patrick and I played tour guide a decade ago to four other couples for a week’s stay in England and then a week in Austria. We used London and Vienna as our home bases, with some day trips to other cities and sites and visits to Michelin-starred chefs for a few dinners, a couple of which took us on long, chauffeured rides just for a meal.
Our friends still talk about our visit to Tamarind of London, which was an easy ride from our Embassy Row hotel to the Mayfair district where it is located. The restaurant was then in its early years, and we all came away enthralled with the Indian food, the serene beauty of the surroundings, and the polished service.
So imagine our anticipation when word circulated that Tamarind was coming to Newport Coast, its first foray abroad. It opened late last year, and to be fair, I must say that it was a bit of a surprise seeing how different it was from the flagship in London.
Contemporary décor with a fully visible kitchen, glass-walled wine cellar, and colorful booths and banquettes studding part of the space made it immediately known that this one was designed to fit in with the breezy lifestyle that defines Orange County. Nevertheless, it is a fine-looking restaurant where I especially like sitting in a comfortable booth, none better than the big one in the corner that’s perfect for half a dozen people—and you know that I often have dining friends trying out these places with me.
The exhibition kitchen reveals a trio of large crimson-colored tandoor ovens as its centerpiece. Chefs can be seen flash roasting vegetables, meats, poultry and seafood, and baking their aromatic naan. The young executive chef, Shachi Mehra, and GM Maneesh Rawat are alumnus of Bombay Club in Washington, D.C., and they’ve brought their top game to Newport.
There are monthly Wine & Dine evenings (three-course meal with matched wines from a selected fine winery) that take the onus off of ordering.
Shellfish, lamb chops, chicken and steak can be ordered as skewered items baked in the tandoori ovens. Their curry dishes are smooth mélanges that our American friends have thoroughly enjoyed, and something in the curry genre is a staple on my personal table for sure, with spicy duck curry a favorite. Ghost chile beef vindaloo is as interesting in taste as its name, and I’m not going to give away the reason.
My pick of their desserts is the Tandoori Pineapple with ginger-honey glaze and a scoop of vanilla gelato. The full bar accommodates all alcoholic beverages, including a good array of wines with an impressive four dozen or so wines by the glass.
Tamarind of London is open for lunch and dinner. 7862 E. Coast Highway (Crystal Cove Promenade), Newport Beach, (949) 715-8338.
Wine Cellar
Mr. Stox in Anaheim has long been a bastion of fine food in Central OC, but an added layer of fame comes from its vast, award-winning wine cellar.
We can always get a contemporary California food fix and have a wine from any wine-producing region of the world. But there are other reasons to take note of this restaurant, such as its hosted trips to various museums, landmarks and musical performances.
At MrStox.com you will find bus trips to these various venues, all with either boxed meals at the venue or sit-down meals at the restaurant included. Why scramble for tickets, drive in the traffic, wonder what and where to eat and use your own time when Mr. Stox does it all for you several times a year?
Upcoming excursions to the Hollywood Bowl are set for Aug. 11 and 25 to see Liza Minnelli and Diana Krall. On July 21 it will be a daytime outing to the J. Paul Getty Museum. This is a classy restaurant with a fine dining aura throughout. Summer hours are Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.
New Orleans
A few times a year we have to go to Taps in Brea, where the Sunday New Orleans-style brunch alone is a calling card.
Live jazz plays as observer to the array of shellfish, Italian specialties, Cajun and New Orleans foods, veggie and salad stations and a dessert assortment. Taps also incorporates a brewery overseen by brew master Victor Novak, and there’s executive chef Manuel Gonzalez’s a la carte menu with a core of fresh fish and shellfish, tender steaks, special salads, great appetizers and sinfully delicious desserts that is seasonally updated.
Their appetizers are wide-ranging, so we sometimes enjoy full meals only on an assortment of these small selections.
It’s a toss-up whether we’re having wine or beer with our foods, noting that they also have acquired honors for their wine list.
Fine beer-matching possibilities do exist, so consult your server on the chef and brew master’s suggestions.
There’s a new take on charcuterie and cheese, and a mixed order is a fine way to start a meal. Sashimi salad features a trio of Skuna Bay salmon, albacore and halibut with petite greens and Asian-influenced dressing. A shaved vegetable salad comprised of radish, asparagus, baby beets, cucumbers, citrus-champagne dressing and other ingredients.
Miso-marinated Chilean sea bass is outstanding, while Skuna Bay salmon with essences of saffron and corn thrown in is also a fine entrée. Cioppino, soft-shell crabs, giant crab legs, jambalaya, fresh tomato and scampi linguine, and grilled jerk-style pork tenderloin are so appealing. The latter has Jamaican hints in the spicing of the juicy meat that keeps it well away from being just another piece of pork.
We polished off our last meal with an amazing version of tiramisu with freshly made marshmallow crème and a little jolt of jalapeño pepper sparkling through the espresso-flavored ganache, mascarpone cheese, strawberries and lady fingers.
Taps: 101 E. Imperial Highway at Birch Street Promenade in Brea, (714) 257-0101.
