From French to Japanese to American, the County’s Best Regional-Themed Fare
Come with me on a culinary trip around the world. We’ll go without ever leaving OC, thanks to the wide variety of fine ethnic and regional-themed restaurants on the local scene. We’ll start by crossing the U.S.A., then hop the Atlantic to Europe and Asia before returning home. Pack up your appetite,here we go!
American Grill
GRILL AT PELICAN HILL
22651 Pelican Hill Road South, Newport Coast
(949) 717-6000
Pelican Hill might be high-caliber territory, but even though this restaurant is at the Pelican Hill Golf Course, it’s open to everyone. This is a place where I take out-of-town visitors because it does three things: it has a view that makes them wish they lived here, it is available to all of us, and it has really fine food and service. The latter is due to its association with the Four Seasons Hotel.
As in many country club dining rooms, there’s ample use of beautifully grained wood, especially in the construction of the long comfortable bar that anchors one side of the room. There are views of the greens and fairways from a wall of windows. Tables are dressed in white linen, surrounded by the golfers who have the means to afford a day on the links and those of us who have merely discovered that this is a delightful place to have a meal.
At breakfast (weekends only), this kitchen presents the most sophisticated take on Eggs Benedict in the county. These poached eggs are on crab cakes and spinach and the hollandaise sauce is scented with both lobster and tarragon. Fluffy French toast is made with cinnamon accented brioche rather than plain bread. Best sandwiches for lunch are a New York steak burger, oven roasted chicken with fontina cheese and one with balsamic-glazed grilled vegetables on focaccia. The sweet, delicate flesh of poached salmon served with French beans, Yukon Gold potato slices and watercress is ideal mid-day fare.
And then there are the entrees. Pistachio-crusted sea bass is nice with its Chardonnay sauce. Braised lamb shanks forego potato or polenta prop in lieu of green lentils and caramelized vegetables. A substantial veal chop is sided with baby artichokes; filet mignon has twice-baked potato and sauteed shiitake mushrooms on the side. Ahi tuna comes with al dente asparagus spears framing it and a warm saffron vinaigrette ribboned across the top.
Both the wine list and dessert cart are serious contenders for your attention. The former is nicely balanced between small boutique labels and well-known wines, with prices kept in a pleasingly affordable range. Sweets include a variety of cultured cakes and pastries.
American Roadhouse
MEMPHIS SOUL CAF & #201; & BAR
2910 Bristol St. (at Randolph), Costa Mesa
(714) 432-7685
This place gets our feet back on the ground after traveling afar and looking for gourmet meals abroad. It has good food in simple surroundings in a building that knows something about retro Americana. It opened a few years ago as our anti-establishment marquee. Within weeks, there was buzz galore in the region about the old biker bar with a dirt parking lot out front that was, excuse me, serving absolutely intriguing food under the new ownership. It was a hoot discovering the unmatched tables and chairs (anything from grandma’s parlor rocker to a secretarial chair on wheels). There were no design rules. The bar remained, as it does today (hooray, they’ve now acquired a full liquor license) and we sometimes chose to eat there. At the end of that bar, the kitchen still survives in a spot so tiny it’s a miracle any ambitious food at all can come from it.
Well, all that talk got restauratuers,many of whom now marvel that this has actually become a competitor of theirs,and just about everybody else in the door to see this strange place. Today, the parking lot is paved, furnishings are more matched, there’s a simple patio for dining. But, the food continues to fascinate all who try it.
Chef Diego Velasco allowed a lot of Southern influence in his menu. Thankfully, he feels no need to alter authenticity, so gumbo is thick and New Orleans murky from its browned roux base and support staff of andouille sausage, chicken and okra. An alternative is butternut squash soup. Crab cakes are dense, while richly flavored braised pork is hand-pulled in the South Carolina fashion to use in a monumental barbecue sandwich. Fresh catfish is crisp and not greasy. Snappy shellfish jambalaya blankets dirty rice. Meat eaters can get a steak or center-cut pork chop, or a whopping serving of meatloaf.
A first trip for anyone should include the awesome-tasting Zuni fry bread with pizza toppings. Gourmet side dishes that come with some of the entrees include lumpy mashed potatoes, flash-fried spinach and fresh succotash.
Then, there’s the weekend brunch that offers all this and several breakfast dishes, too.
Finally, at Memphis we come to the shocker called the wine list. It has so many interesting wines that cost so little; that’s keeping in line with the food that costs between $4.95 and $16. Bottom line is that Memphis has become an absolute must for any foodie. Are you still missing the parade? How embarrassing if you are.
French
PESCADOU
3325 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach
(949) 675-6990
This place really is a phenomenon. The food, priced at $16.75 for a three-course meal, is as good as French food going for three times as much. Daniel Sidhoum-Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline, have made their very French, very casual little bistro into a hangout for a coterie of French natives and sundry locals. It’s hands-down the best value in real French food in OC.
Part of the charm is the unpretentiousness of it all. Walls are roughly stuccoed and painted mustard and blue. A few shelves along one wall hold small French artifacts. Tables are deliberately kept very simple; the chairs surrounding them provide a rainbow of citrus colors. There is no written menu; it’s all on the blackboard brought to your table.
You get a choice of soup (changes daily) or salad. There’s a complimentary amuse bouche to open the taste buds. It varies from rabbit pate and pork rillette to various meat spreads for tasting with a piece of hot French bread. A few a la carte appetizers are on the board should you have a craving that can’t be satisified otherwise.
There are always several entrees from which to choose. Beef selections might include a braised daube (a kind of French stew) or steak tartare with real frites. Those who love veal will surely find satisfaction in Daniel’s delicate blanquette de veau, or veal cheeks. I have never passed the opportunity to eat that or the seared veal kidneys when available. On a recent evening we once again devoured our helping of roasted suckling pig. Fish might be yellowtail in an herbed beurre blanc, quenelles of pike or shellfish bouillabaisse with lobster, octopus, crab and calamari (it is available every night). Sometimes, there’s a braised lamb shank, rack of lamb, sweetbreads, rabbit in a wonderful mustard sauce, frog legs or quail. Every night, there’s a poultry dish.
And here’s a piece of good news: The restaurant just began serving lunch, at $12.95 for three courses.
After you’ve expressed adequate amazement over all this good food for such a minuscule price, you get a dessert. If you can beat this deal, I want to hear from you. (P.S. There’s a terrific little wine list, too.)
Italian
TI AMO
31727 Coast Highway, South Laguna Beach
(949) 499-5350
When they opened this little restaurant in 1994, Robert Castoro and Martine Hermansen had just gotten married. They sort of carried their romance into the business. Robert, a stickler for good service, an admitted gourmet and a veteran of several years’ restaurant experience was looking at the business aspects. Martine, an artist, was viewing all the possibilities for wall murals, accouterments Italian, and the overall design that she wanted to be comforting to the guests.
The result is a romantic and sentimental-looking restaurant that is as cozy as your favorite blanket. There’s a splendid wall-to-wall mural Martine painted and fresco-type wall plaques she’s made on pieces of slate. Custom wrought iron entwined with gossamer fabrics frames the doors. Booths and tables, with their lovely settings, beckon us to settle in and enjoy.
But a serious restaurant is really all about food, even though we are thankful for such ambiance. This food has been pleasing our friends for the past six years. In a testament to his search for perfection, Robert makes sure that we get the prettiest of presentations that follow with food to remember.
Appetites can awaken quickly upon seeing the puff pastry Napoleon of mushrooms. A ragout of Italian mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, shallots and thyme is layered between the rectangles of pastry. It’s rich and mouth-filling. One salad is truly inspiring: the romaine with Bosc pear slices, strawberries, bits of gorgonzola cheese and candied walnuts, with the natural touch of balsamic vinaigrette. Gnocchi, those little dumplings of potato dough, are strewn with bits of pancetta and an engaging gorgonzola cream sauce I like very much.
Three very serious entrees for my palate are the seared jumbo scallops with a chile sauce sweetened with honey, the roasted duck with pecans in the sauce surrounding it and the pork tenderloin roasted with apples. There’s also breast of chicken stuffed with herbed ricotta cheese and dressed with red bell pepper coulis, grilled salmon with tomato compote and some veal dishes to try. Main courses are $11.95 to $16.95.
There’s a nice wine list to help all this food along. Service, of course, is really professional. Take home a memory that will keep the romance of the evening going.
Mediterranean
ZOV’S BISTRO, BAKERY AND CAF & #201;
17440 E. 17th St., Tustin
(714) 838-8855
Enderle Center hasn’t been the same since Zov Karamardian arrived 14 years ago. First she opened the bistro and it did not take long for people to begin talking about the cute and comfortable place with the open kitchen and antique touches where the food was better than anything this part of Tustin had seen before. Then, her husband Gary quit his job in aerospace and joined her in running the restaurant. Zov was always busy cooking in those days. Gary, and Zov when she could, was in the dining room meeting and talking with everyone. To this day, that connection with customers is one of the great strengths of this restaurant. The working family, incidentally, has now grown to include son, Armen.
The bistro became so successful that part of it moved outside to a lovely patio with a fountain. Zov was now selling a lot of her food and pastries to customers for home entertaining, sparking the notion of building the caf & #233; on the opposite side of the kitchen. And a gorgeous caf & #233; it became. From the outset, not only was the food-to-go business brisk, but the caf & #233; also became the gathering place for everyone from friends to city councilmen to famous authors. And, that wasn’t the end. A couple of years ago, another space on the side of the caf & #233; became available and the bakery was born, in essence giving the Karamardian family control of one whole section of the center.
Certain dishes have become classics. At lunch that would mean a grilled lamb burger or perhaps Moroccan-spiced salmon with couscous. Dinner in the caf & #233; is more casual and the menu has several pastas, salads and sandwiches. Try the penne pasta with chicken sausage, broccoli and spicy tomato cream sauce or grilled chicken kebob with a side of eggplant tagine (stew). Prices $6.25 to $13.50.
Dinner specialties in the bistro are many. My picks: pork prime rib from the rotisserie, skewered lamb loin over jasmine rice, rack of lamb with roasted garlic/pomegranate sauce, and the swordfish and prawn combo with shiitake mushrooms. Prices $9.95 to $19.95. I wouldn’t believe you if you said you’d never heard of this one.
Persian
ORCHID
3033 S. Bristol St., Suite D, Costa Mesa
(714) 557-8070
Most Americans like Persian food because there are no fiery warlords lurking in the ingredients, but there are the herbs, nuts, meats and fish we readily recognize. This cuisine merely manages to take familiar tastes and package them in an entirely different way. In fact, I can’t ever recall introducing anyone to Persian food who did not like it.
This particular restaurant is what I call a little gem. It is run by Zhilla Bagheri and her family. They cook, serve and mingle with guests. Orchid is serene and swathed in gentle colors. A wall mural evokes the feeling of being at a home hugging the sea. Light, soft music fills the air. The aroma of flowers mingles with wafts of perfumy fragrance escaping from dishes being delivered to nearby tables. We get hungrier by the moment.
Some of my favorite appetizers are the grape leaves stuffed with beef, rice and split peas, oven-baked kookoo-ye sabzi (a mix of egg, chopped garlic, parsley and dill) and roasted eggplant salad.
The familiar kabobs can be had with chicken, lamb, shrimp, fish, or even filet mignon. All are placed atop a grand portion of fragrant basmati rice. I usually go for the specialty dishes instead. Marinated fresh Lake Superior whitefish is clean and satisfying. Our dining buddies know that I’m addicted to Orchid’s chicken fessenjan. This simmered chicken highlighted with a pomegranate and walnut sauce is my comfort zone. One of the dishes our American friends get attached to is the loobia polo. Chopped green beans and diced filet mignon are cooked with tomato sauce then mixed with steamed rice. Atop it is a skewer of lean beef. There may be no better Cornish game hen than the one enjoying almonds, pistachios and sweet orange peel in its baking (shirin polo). Vegetarians will love the whole section of the menu devoted to preparations I guarantee will make those plates of steamed veggies from everywhere else seem worthless.
The most recent addition to Orchid is a bakery. You might want to take dessert home with you.
The cooking is the kind you’d find served at home. It is not spicy, nor too sweet. Dishes are not overwrought with too many herbs and spices to distract. When you taste any dish, you know what you are eating.
Indian
ROYAL KHYBER
1621 W. Sunflower, Santa Ana
(714) 436-1010
Shalini Puri grew up in the Royal Khyber at its old location on Bristol Street, because her father owned it. She went on to college and graduated from the entrepreneur program. The background and the business education are now serving her well as the proprietor of this new Royal Khyber. Smart woman that she is though, she convinced her dad, Arun, to be her chef. He’d been responsible for creating a touted menu at the other location anyway.
I can only go so long before I need my Indian food fix. Here, I can enter a door brought from a palace in India, settle into a room rich with historical artifacts and know that I’m going to get a good meal because I’ve known Arun’s food for so long. It’s not that heavy fare we used to associate with Indian cuisine. Nor is it the fiery sort. This is a new, lighter style of Indian cooking that Arun largely created. All the requisite flavors are in each dish, but there’s little oil. Some of the dishes are such simmered wonders that I’m running around these days telling everyone about them.
I cannot imagine a better lunch than coconut curry with freshly snipped basil on my chicken. Of course, it’s sitting on a bed of fragrant basmati rice. I might also have ravioli stuffed with chicken that’s been roasted in the tandoor oven. You should try the smoked lamb cakes called dum-ke-kebab. Another important dish to taste is the marinated quails hot from the tandoor. Here’s that aforementioned dish I tout to everyone: It’s called Khyber’s Nectar and it consists of lamb shanks simmered with Indian spices so slowly that it takes 14 hours to cook. I use naan bread to soak up every last rivulet of sauce.
There are curries galore,you know that these are not the standard yellow curries, but separate preparations of spices for each dish, and most of them are red. Shrimp, chicken and lamb are simmered with these sauces. My meal has a side dish or two of Indian style vegetables: spinach with potatoes or my all-time favorite Matar Paneer (homemade cheese with peas in onion gravy).
Lunch entrees average $8; dinner entrees are $12.95 to $17.95. Hey, I can’t take you by the hand, but you can take my advice and have a grand gourmet meal.
Asian
ASIA NOODLE CAF & #201;
4187 Campus Drive (in Marketplace Center), Irvine
(949) 854-8826
4724 Barranca Parkway (in Woodbridge Village Center), Irvine
(949) 654-1801
One of the best dining concepts to come along is this one, offering lovely but simple ambiance, terrific food and prices less than $9 for everything, with most noodle and rice dishes well under $5. This is such good food that it really is a shame for anyone to be missing it. And, it is such a swell alternative to grabbing a sandwich, pizza or burger.
The menu marches around Asia with offerings from Thailand, Japan, China, Singapore and Indonesia. The basic premise is that you get a large bowl of hefty udon-style noodles, or delicate transparent noodles, or a plate of rice if you prefer, generously topped with any number of meat and vegetable combinations. Mako ramen, for instance, is noodles with spicy ground pork, peas and tofu. Mako rice would have the mixture atop, of course, rice. Fish and shrimp mingle in a curry sauce for another topping. Shredded pork, shiitake mushrooms, noodles and cabbage come together for the Shanghai chow mein. Tonkatsu is comprised of a large, extremely tasty pork cutlet to savor with the noodles or rice.
There’s a possibility that before you get into the main course, an appetizer or salad might be appealing. At only $1.50 to $4.50, they are also a great bargain. A Thai salad combines transparent noodles with chicken, several kinds of vegetables and shrimp. It’s tossed with a very light sesame-ginger dressing. Chicken and vegetables fill the crispy egg rolls. Hot and sour soup is a nice yin-yang of flavors. Minced chicken in lettuce cups has become one of my favorites.
Just lately, 20 additional stir-fried entrees ($5.25 to $8.75) have been introduced at the Woodbridge location only, along with a great list of lunch items. My favorites: spicy peanut chicken, calamari with oyster sauce, braised string beans, orange peel chicken, hot braised shrimp in a tomato-based sauce, honey/mayonnaise shrimp, and lemon grass beef.
You’ll be surprised at the nice use of wood, most of it blond, to make a wall with niches and larger spaces in which a TV and Chinese artifacts are tucked. There’s a long wood dining counter that faces this artistic space. They get my blue ribbon for keeping it real and keeping it affordable.
Thai
KITIMA
2010 Main St., Suite 170, Irvine
(949) 261-2929
It’s tough fighting bigger restaurant neighbors that get so much attention. But perseverance paid off with a loyal clientele for this cute, light-filled place tucked beside the fountain in the courtyard behind El Toro Grill and McCormick & Schmick’s. Kitty and Troy Bushyakanist have worked diligently for several years to make their little jewel special. They’ve decorated it in restful colors and put Thai artifacts on display. But it is the personal attention you get and the quality of the food that makes it a place everyone should visit.
This food rings true, and that’s always paramount for me. But, no matter how good the food, eating can sometimes become a stuffy affair. As soon as you open the menu at Kitima, you realize that someone has retained a sense of humor. The names of some of the dishes offer smiles in the middle or at the end of a busy day. Let’s make a shrimp meal of some items with fun names. An appetizer called Shrimp Roller is comprised of prawns dusted with a blend of spices, dredged in rice flour and crisply fried. Yummy. Twist and Shout finds the prawns sauteed with herbs, tomatoes and mushrooms. Evil Prince of the Jungle has a red curry sauce bathing it. The latter, like every single dish at this restaurant, is gaily decorated. In this case, it’s with feathery green-pea sprouts.
The famous chicken soup named Thom Kha Kai has flavors of coconut milk and lemon grass. There really is no way to make duck taste better than this version: marinated, steamed, then baked at high heat to a crispy finish. Sauteed pork loin has a nice interior flavor from marinating in spices before cooking. Beef satay with the sweet and spicy peanut-sauce dip is almost always on my table. Ever-popular salmon comes sizzling on a plate, topped with a fairly spicy chile sauce, which fortunately does not overpower the dish. If you like spicy dishes, the whole fish mingled with a garlic- and basil-intensive chile sauce is wonderful. There’s just too much on this menu of value and quality (dinner entrees top out at $10.95) to do it justice here. The car keys are in your hand. Get moving.
Japanese
ABE
2900 Newport Blvd., Newport Beach
(949) 675-1739
Take two alumni of Matsuhisa in LA (the most expensive restaurant and arguably the most famous in the city) and transplant them here and something good should come of it. Chef and owner Takashi Abe (pronounced ah-bay) decided to make use of the good-looking space left behind by the vegetarian eatery known as The Last Mango in Newport. He brought along Masa Shiokawa, who used to be wine steward at Matsuhisa, to serve as manager and wine aficionado.
There has been much overlapping of French and Japanese techniques and ingredients the past few years. Some of this menu is reminiscent of that. Indeed, it’s a level of Japanese cuisine unknown before this in OC. For an amuse bouche, order the edamame. These are fava-like soybeans you pop out of the pod to savor with your beverage while the chef is whipping up your order.
The daily specials are invariably inspired. The chef is, after all, an artist creating his food landscape as inspiration strikes. We prefer allowing a chef like this to cook as he pleases for us. In the past, we’ve had smoked salmon with sliced papaya, which provided a grand duality of tastes. Sea bass came with a flourish of seared foie gras and some sauteed fresh shiitake mushrooms. Large greenlip mussels were drizzled with garlic butter dressing. A fricassee of exotic mushrooms was a bowl of pure, rich earthiness. Lobster medallions came simply sided with wedges of sweet orange. A few hand-wrapped sushi (think soft-shell crab in a seaweed cone) are a must. There’s also every classic Japanese dish we’re familiar with on this menu. For the totally unadventurous, there’s a filet of beef. For the rest of us there are full tasting dinners priced from $50 to almost $100.
The most important thing is to realize that artistry comes in many forms, and this crossover cuisine is not only delightful to eat, it’s candy for the eyes. While we may be used to fine presentations of food in many places, there’s an intimacy about the food sharing the plate at Abe. From somewhere within, this chef brings a harmonious beauty to food on every level.
And Back Home In Laguna
SWEET THURSDAY’S TAVERN
Casa del Camino Hotel, 1287 S. Coast Highway
(949) 497-4882
With the tile floors and bar along the back wall, this place has the look of a place you’d drop into when exhausted and hungry from perusing too many galleries showing art you can’t understand or can’t afford.
Owner Bill Bridgeford has long had a keen interest in food. He researches it, he cooks it. Here, he’s cooking up a lot of nice food at consumer-friendly prices. Because it’s in a hotel, you can have breakfast, lunch and dinner while seated at dark wood tables, the whole room overlooking pedestrians strolling the Laguna streets. Judging from the good comments coming from friends I’ve recommended this food to, it’s high time I shared the good news with you.
You can start the day here with Eggs Benedict, Florentine, Dyane (with tenderloin medallions and B & #233;arnaise) or Diablo (on crab cakes with chipotle hollandaise). The must have dish, though, is the fresh brisket hash with eggs. Eggs and chicken also come wrapped in a tortilla. There’s an extensive omelet bar and French toast, Irish oatmeal, fresh fruits, fluffy pancakes and more.
Lunch brings a creamy seafood chowder and a sassy N’awlins Gumbo with sausage, chicken and shrimp. Salads rise above the norm. I like the chilled noodle salad that finds lots of fresh vegetables and a light sesame dressing tossed in. Sandwiches include one with tender shredded pork with tangy barbecue sauce and another with a good chunk of grilled tuna.
Come dinner, we might be having New England steamers, oysters or Bill’s East/West Cakes made with both crab and lobster, another must-have. He makes a great calamari taco topped with confetti of vegetables. You should not miss the New Orleans style shrimp & #233;touff & #233;e over pecan wild rice. Chicken and dumplings is true down-home fare. Try the roasted lamb chops, rib-eye steak with black-bean sauce or seared fresh sea bass.
Lunch entrees average $7; dinner entrees average $16. There’s also an impressive Sunday brunch at only $15 per person with complimentary sparkling wine. It features some creative food stations. While you’re dining, pick up a list of the specials for the week that include 25% discounts at lunch on certain days. Sweet Thursday’s is a discovery waiting for you.
