Have you tried the new Absolut Ruby Red Vodka yet?
Icy cold and “Up” or in a cocktail, customers are privy to one more signature vodka full of personality.
Tonight is the night to find out about this sleek, new ruby grapefruit-flavored vodka at Morton’s in South Coast Plaza Village. The Red Hot Vodka and Hors d’oeuvres Experience promises to be a fantastic way to kick off the summer.
Cool friends, Ruby Red cocktails and plenty of goodies to munch on sounds like a happening party to me. Time is 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The cost is $35.
Call to make a reservation. Morton’s is at the corner of Sunflower Avenue and South Coast Plaza Drive in Santa Ana. Phone (714) 444-4834.
‘Mother Dough’
Boudin SF has just opened in South Coast Plaza at the Carousel Court entry on the first level. The restaurant and bakery is open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., serving breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The restaurant also has extensive take-out and catering menus, as well as special selections for kids. The surroundings for all of this are warm and lively with an array of San Francisco art and imagery reflecting Boudin’s long heritage.
This is a new concept from San Francisco’s oldest operating business, Boudin, which was launched in 1849 and created the original San Francisco sourdough bread.
The opening ceremonies were marked by the arrival of the famed “mother dough” from San Francisco. Boudin SF features a working demonstration bakery, infusing the restaurant with the gloriously irresistible aromas of freshly baked sourdough bread. The bakery mixes, shapes, scores and bakes bread throughout the day, every day.
Each location for this new concept,this is Boudin’s first venture into Orange County, with a second planned in Irvine this fall,will become the home to a portion of the bakery’s “mother dough,” created by master baker Isidore Boudin at the start of the Gold Rush from wild yeast indigenous to only San Francisco’s fog-cooled climate.
Using a bit of this legendary yeast starter is a key ingredient in creating the bread’s unique golden, crunchy crust and soft, chewy, tangy center. This original starter dough has been replenished with flour and water every day for more than 150 years.
Menu items, all priced under $10, include hot breakfast classics such as French toast and a croissant sandwich filled with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, cheddar cheese and a choice of bacon or ham.
A signature lunch item is classic clam chowder served in a Boudin sourdough bread bowl, while a crab cake sandwich is on the dinner menu. One of the popular things on the menu will surely be the pizza made on a hand-pulled sourdough crust.
Forklift Brands is the parent company to Boudin and two other concepts in California, Illinois and Texas: Go Roma Italian Kitchen and Austin’s Park.
The Boudin family of restaurants includes Boudin at the Wharf in San Francisco, Boudin Bakeries & Cafes throughout Northern and Southern California and its newest casual restaurant, Boudin SF.
Go Roma Italian Kitchen has five locations in the greater Chicago area. Austin’s Park is in Austin, Texas, and combines the fun of an amusement park with an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. Forklift Brands is headquartered in San Francisco.
Boudin SF: 3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa. Phone (714) 689-2253.
Javier’s Doing Newport
Crystal Cove Promenade in Newport Beach is an elongated mall of nice shops and restaurants with two freestanding buildings on each end of it.
One of those buildings houses the amorous and sophisticated Mastro’s Ocean Club Fish House restaurant that’s an undeniable hot spot. On the other end is a stand-alone building that will house yet another restaurant. Javier’s will debut early next year.
Javier Sosa opened the original Javier’s Cantina & Grill in Laguna Beach about a decade ago. It’s set to close.
We soon fell head over heels for his crab enchilada, his elegant mole sauce draped over tender chicken, white prawns quickly saut & #233;ed with pasilla chiles and other Mexican dishes that had not risen to this level of culinary finesse before.
When another Javier’s opened in Irvine Spectrum last year, we were glad for the bigger space and shorter waits,sometimes no wait,for a table. I am happy that Newport Beach will get its own Javier’s soon.
With Rich Mead doing such fantastic food at Sage on the Coast (anchoring one end of the Promenade), Modo Mio giving us affordable and delicious Italian food and Mastro’s pouring on the elegance, this will be a good mix. Meantime, visit the other two Javier’s restaurants. In Laguna Beach: 480 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (949) 494-1239. In Irvine Spectrum: 45 Fortune Drive, Irvine, (949) 872-2101.
Food, Wine, Fun
Save the date: July 31, to enjoy an evening of fine food and wine at the Craggy Range Wine Dinner at Restaurant 162′ in the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel.
Enjoy the five-course menu from chef de cuisine, Joel Harrington. Master of Wines from Craggy Range Winery, Steve Smith, will introduce each of the wines from New Zealand’s newest winery.
The dinner is $150 per person, including tax and tip. The reception is at 6 p.m. with dinner following at 7 p.m.
The reception will have marinated salmon, foie gras “lollipops,” crab cakes and grilled shrimp as appetizers with Craggy Range’s Les Beaux Cailloux Gimblett Chardonnay from Gravels Vineyard and Gimblett Merlot, Gravels Vineyard.
Dinner begins with chilled heirloom tomato soup and Alaskan king crab, plus Sauvignon Blanc, Te Muna Road Vineyard, Martinborough. The same wine accompanies the next course of Arctic char with artichoke, English peas and mussel foam.
Lamb duo: Rib eye and braised lamb roll come with braised potato and sweet and sour pepper sauce. That will be paired with the winery’s Pinot Noir, Te Muna Road Vineyard, Martinborough. Salad and cheese course is a combo of Bayley Hazen blue cheese, salad of micro greens and walnut bread with Sophia, Gimblett Gravels Vineyard wine.
The meal’s finale will be a chocolate marquise with warm, roasted figs and port wine reduction, plus pistachio ice cream. Wine to match: Syrah, Le Sol, Gimblett Gravels Vineyard.
Craggy Range is a new winery that’s already getting global press noting its finely structured wines. It produces two lines of wine under its label: the Varietal Collection and the Prestige Collection.
The Varietal Collection is a range of single-varietal, single-vineyard estate wines produced from parcels planted to varieties specifically suited to each soil profile, bottled under a varietal designation.
The Prestige Collection is a range of single-varietal and blended wines sourced from select estate terroirs which yield fruit of exceptional ripeness, expression and complexity. Produced on a small scale, they bear proprietary rather than varietal names. Whereas both the Gimblett Gravels and Te Muna Road vineyards contribute to the Varietal Collection wines, releases of the Prestige Collection wines are produced primarily from Gimblett Gravels.
Chef Joel showcases his unique California cuisine at Restaurant 162′, the resort’s newest restaurant.
His food is a blend of Asian techniques and flavors with seasonal California ingredients, highlighting fresh fish and seafood.
Prior to joining the Ritz-Carlton, Joel worked under chef Marcus Samuelson, the James Beard award-winning chef of Aquavit in New York. He joined our Ritz-Carlton in 2003.
During the past two years he has spent time in every area of the kitchen and now is in charge of Restaurant 162′, so named because of its elevation above sea level.
Joel modestly imparts that “It’s important to understand the work that you are asking your staff to do and having spent time doing their job, it’s easier for me to help them hone their skills.”
He’s so good at what he does, and he’s still humble. A good combination all the time.
To make reservations for the Craggy Range dinner or for any other meal in Restaurant 162′ or Club Bar and Grill, the supper club where dining and dancing meet, call (949) 240-2000. The hotel is at One Ritz-Carlton Drive.
