Bayside in Newport Beach should be on your priority list of restaurants to visit.
We just had another round of seasonal dishes that were absolutely gorgeous on the plate, followed by a lot of luxurious tastes. These were dishes that would have been on the summer menu only through this month, but they are so popular that the items have been extended till the end of September.
We were taking pictures of the food; diners nearby were doing the same. I just did not want to delve into the flavors without a photo for memory purposes.
Bayside’s own beautiful looks in sleek, art-laden dining rooms and romantic patios, plus views of the bay and a general feeling of very contemporary sophistication without intimidation, is the perfect setting for chef Paul Gstrein’s food.
A full menu is available at lunch and dinner, and we mustn’t forget they have one of OC’s most well-known Sunday brunches. Some of the dishes to which I refer are on their two-course lunch ($19.95 Monday through Friday) and three-course dinner specials ($39.75 every night), or they can be ordered a la carte.
The gnocchi with Italian sausage sauce is one of the best entrées of late. Organic Scottish salmon is another taste-test winner. Lobster sings a summer melody in its salad version atop bruschetta-style toast.
Heirloom tomatoes are at the height of their glory, and in their march down a rectangular plate dotted with a few other garden elements, it’s also at the top my favorites list. These are but a few of your choices.
Lunch or dinner from the a la carte menu offers lamb dishes alongside pork and poultry, steaks and several kinds of seafood and shellfish. Vegetables are so cleverly handled that one can make meals on them alone.
Dessert is often passed up because we are already full. Worry not. Just know that you must order either the chic trio of sorbets or the best and most gorgeously presented bread pudding anywhere with creaminess and crunch, soaring flavor and a lightness admirable for not overpowering us at all.
Bayside: 900 Bayside Drive, Newport Beach, (949) 721-1222.
Ritz Extended
There’s at least another year’s worth of good news for The Ritz.
Its lease has been extended from 2013 through February 2014. The restaurant, located at Fashion Island in Newport Beach, was central to the evolution of fine dining in Orange County and remains one of the few restaurants that still give us a traditional dining experience.
All that’s new and glittery is fun, and we’re happy for so many dining alternatives. But some of us still want one of the choices to be The Ritz, where classic dishes are not endlessly reinvented until they bear no resemblance to the essence of what made the food so iconic.
Meantime, El Torito Grill has served its last meal at Fashion Island. How many remember when that location used to be the Velvet Turtle, then Newport Turtle?
The El Torito chain was founded by restaurateur Larry Cano, who lives nearby. This news makes me hanker to see him again and rehash many restaurant stories that have a connection to where we are today on the dining scene.
The Daily Grill at Fashion Island also closed recently. That space will turn into a Lark Creek restaurant next spring as part of the dining empire of Michael Dellar, whose restaurants mostly are associated with celebrity chef Bradley Ogden.
Additionally, there’s that massive construction going on in the middle of what was formerly a large parking lot fronting Brasserie Pascal on one side and True Food and Fleming’s on the other. This is destined to be a restaurant pad (no tenant yet announced) and additional retail spaces.
Is anyone thinking what I am? What about parking for that whole section of FI? Seems valet parking will become the alternative, unless we want to walk all the way from the parking structure near Canaletto restaurant.
Elsewhere, I’m sad Ron Salisbury closed his semi fast-food restaurant, Maiz, near The Shops in Mission Viejo.
The beach-side Baja concept with colorful tiles and casual seating dished out authentic Mexican cuisine, right down to accompaniments like the perfect made-to-order guacamole. It was only three blocks from the big mall but on a side street where foot traffic was poor.
This was part of the El Cholo family of restaurants, and there still are a few of those around the county where you can still get a good Latin-flavored food fix. The company also owns and operates The Cat and the Custard Cup in La Habra. (Complete info can be found on the El Cholo website.)
Pirozzi’s Latest
He’s at it again: Alessandro Pirozzi is now up to four restaurants in his mini chain, averaging one per year.
In 2008, Pirozzi opened Cucina Alessa on PCH in Newport Beach (between Orange and Prospect). He followed that with the second restaurant on Main Street in Huntington Beach. Then, Forest Avenue in downtown Laguna Beach saw the third Alessa pop up, sporting a mozzarella bar as part of its charisma.
And now Mare is open at the corner of PCH and Cleo in downtown Laguna.
Alessandro completely demolished the bottom floor of the small hotel there and lavished thousands of dollars on a tremendously attractive and contemporary redo of the space.
Iridescent blue glass tile gives the bar a sexy edge, a quiet interior courtyard entices, while chic furnishings and some noteworthy artwork give more aesthetic reasons for staying. Alessandro’s Neapolitan-influenced Italian dishes have legions of followers as the crowds at all his restaurants attest. At Mare, a distinct level of sophistication in surroundings and food presentations gives it a unique personality.
The mantra from Alessandro is to serve the highest-quality and freshest food at value-driven prices with friendly service in welcoming surroundings. One needs only to realize that he has a trio of workers making all the pasta all day long so that its freshness is immediate.
We’ve been sharing the joys of Mare with friends and munching on dishes like fried Sicilian olives stuffed with fontina cheese (more than superb!), silky carpaccio of filet mignon, peppadew peppers stuffed with creamy goat cheese and walnuts, and a braised octopus and shrimp combo for appetizers.
Some of our entrée: Rustic hand-formed pizzas (love the one with house-made wild boar sausage and forest mushrooms), chunks of lobster cuddled in a plate of pasta perfumed with fresh lemon, shellfish in a tomato-chardonnay sauce on a soft bed of black ink tagliolini, spinach pappardelle strewn with oxtail ragout, ultra-creamy risotto hinting of Amarone wine and gorgonzola cheese, herb-flavored rib eye steak and eggplant-infused pasta with tender mozzarella.
For dessert, don’t miss their rum-soaked take on a baba and the luxurious version of a Napoleon with sweet seasonal strawberries studding the layers.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served daily, and there’s a good late-night lounge menu as well.
Mare: 696 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (949) 715-9581. Try it soon.
Orange Tree
Many of my fellow restaurant writers, like me, confess to great enjoyment in finding the small family-owned places where the product and the personal hospitality say it all.
Orange Tree Deli is a good example. Their formula has nothing to do with exterior eye appeal: It’s located next to a liquor store on a lackluster corner in an industrial part of Orange.
It does have to do with customers who feel completely at home with the longtime owners, Jim and Patty Gattari, while relishing the homemade foods made from fine ingredients.
My introduction to the Orange Tree Deli food originally came via our friends Kim and Lori diPasquale at their beautiful home in Villa Park when I was cooing over the food they had catered in for a gathering of friends. That led me to “discovering” the actual eatery and finding my own way through some of their specialties. I did not expect to be tapped on the shoulder while eating lunch at this rather obscure location by an old acquaintance who apparently was among their loyal customers.
One of the area’s premier wholesale bread bakeries is situated and its owner was on hand having his meal.
He said that he was happy that the deli uses his artisanal breads but eats at Orange Tree because he loves what the Gattaris put in between the bread. On this day he was having the Cajun sausage sandwich, one that you will want to order.
The restaurant features simple tables in a practical, squeaky-clean and untailored space.
They work just fine as vantage points for perusing a deli case studded with a smattering of specialties to eat there or take away, and for reading the printed menu and the large chalkboard listing many additional items that certainly piqued my curiosity.
There is a full complement of breakfast dishes that we have not yet tried, so I am relating our midday experiences. Baby back ribs, tacos filled with tri-tip or fresh fish, some clever salads adorned or not with choices of fish or shrimp, most interesting hot and cold sandwiches and even a full Mexican representation are among the enticements. The watermelon salad with feta cheese is a summery delight. And the farro salad is unique in its chewy texture and delightful taste. The turkey-bacon-avocado sandwich on cranberry-walnut bread is also high on the flavor scale.
Carnitas fans can rejoice (available in tacos or burritos). Complete Mexican entrée plates offer some nice alternatives.
A lot of their business comes from catering the good flavors to longtime clients. They have had the deli for 27 years. That might be something you’d want to note when looking for a caterer in the future.
But the deli itself is a worthwhile stop when you are near their location. It makes the day better when a meal comes with friendly owners working without pretense and preparing food with love.
Orange Tree Deli: 124 E. Lincoln Ave. (at Glassell Street), Orange, (714) 998-9330. Open 9 to 5 Monday through Friday, 9 to 3 on Saturday and closed on Sunday.
