Gung hai fat choi!
Since it’s so much fun to celebrate, it’s time to remind you Chinese New Year starts on Sunday. Most Chinese restaurants are set to celebrate Friday through Sunday, many of them with special dishes to mark the Chinese New Year 4704. Here are suggestions where I know good food and friendly surroundings flow easily.
A new and bright vision might entice you at Ling & Louie’s Asian Bar and Grill (formerly Thaifoon) in the Irvine Spectrum Center and at Thaifoon in Fashion Island.
These sister restaurants will celebrate at the end of the month with a special Good Fortune Feast. They are offering an eight-course, 10-item menu for four to five guests, priced at $88 (eight is considered lucky by many Asian cultures). The special menu will be available from Thursday to Feb. 5.
For couples, a Double Happiness three-course menu has been designed at $18.88 per person.
Both specials are available for takeout. To mark the year of the dog, the restaurants have created a Lucky Dog cocktail made with trendy Soju Korean liquor, vodka, Midori, lychee juice and a fresh lychee garnish.
The dishes selected for the Good Fortune Feast are based on the Chinese superstition of foods having symbolic significance for their appearance or because of the way the Chinese word for it sounds.
Appetizers will be lettuce wraps (lettuce represents prosperity) and shrimp and pork dumplings (signifying wealth and togetherness). Among the entrees: orange chicken (orange representing gold), miso salmon (fish symbolizes abundance), honey walnut shrimp (Cantonese for laughter and happiness), kung pao beef (the red of the peppers is a lucky color), dan dan noodles (long strands mean longevity) and stir-fried fresh vegetables (a bit of everything brings balance to life).
Dessert includes banana caramel spring rolls (sweets for the year ahead) and the restaurants’ signature freshly baked cookies and tropical sorbet.
These are two of my favorite restaurants because the food is so delicious, so interesting and so beautifully presented.
I also thoroughly enjoy the modern atmosphere, with expanses of waterfalls, indoor bamboo “fences” and bars that are as come-hither as can be.
The special menus are available starting at 4 p.m., with the exception of Chinese New Year on Sunday when they are served all day. Prices do not include tax, tip or beverage. Reservations are advised. Ling & Louie’s: 85 Fortune Drive, Irvine Spectrum Center, (949) 585-0022. Thaifoon: 857 Newport Center Drive, Fashion Island, (949) 644-0133.
Noodles on Display
Asians eat noodles at meaningful feasts because their length represents longevity. Noodles can be just noodles, or they can be homemade and hand-pulled by a skilled chef,offering a delightful sort of entertainment.
Ruby Palace in Huntington Beach has been feeding us well for 26 years and they are still doing it right. To celebrate Chinese New Year, the restaurant is showcasing demonstrations of the ancient art form of Chinese noodle making.
A large ball of noodle dough is rolled out into a baton shape. It then is pulled as far as the chef’s arms can stretch, folded in two and pulled again. By dusting the dough with flour and continuing to fold it over and pull it very quickly,again and again,literally hundreds of long strands of noodles are produced. It’s almost magical and certainly a lot of fun to watch.
The centuries-old tradition will take place on Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Ruby Palace is a fine place to indulge in well-known dishes that are the backbone of Chinese cuisine.
Instead of offering a separate menu, the owners suggest asking your waiter to help you select dishes that are especially meaningful for a New Year’s celebration. Whatever you order, they will feed you well and make you feel welcome.
Ruby Palace: 18330 Beach Blvd., Huntington Beach, (714) 848-6088, www.ruby-palace.com.
Raw Oysters, Wine
It’s time for another evening of the rather famous Raw Oyster and Wine Tasting at the two Bluewater Grill seafood restaurants in South Coast Plaza Village and Newport Beach.
This is an opportunity to compare the tastes of oysters and wines from the Pacific Northwest. It happens Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. Reservations are required.
Choose featured wines or beers. Wines include Hogue J. Riesling from Washington, Eyrie Pinot Gris from Oregon and Jepson Viognier from California. There are four draft beers: Anchor Steam, Firestone Double Barrel Ale, Heineken, Bass or Pilsner Urquell.
A dozen oysters on the half shell are featured. They’re from Washington: Hama Hama river oysters, Hammersley Inlet oysters (from the Hood Canal), Kumamotos from Totten Inlet and Belons from Westcott Bay, San Juan Islands.
Hog Island oysters from Tomales Bay, California and Yaquina Bay oysters from Oregon round out the array of Northwest crustaceans.
At only $25 plus tax and tip, you can see why many of us do this year after year. It’s one night only,Feb. 7,so don’t forget reservations.
Additional oysters and beverages also are a great deal on that evening: $1.25 each, $7.95 per half dozen, $12.95 per dozen for oysters; additional wine or beer is $5 a glass.
Our two Bluewater Grills are at 1621 W. Sunflower, South Coast Plaza Village, (714) 546-3474, and at 630 Lido Park Drive in Newport’s Cannery Village, (949) 674-3474. Just in case you find yourself in Redondo Beach, there’s a Bluewater Grill at 665 N. Harbor Drive (310) 318-3474.
From Down Under
You still can catch a lot of Australian products through the end of the month at the two Bristol Farms in Orange County. While some Australian goodies are available year-round at the markets, a wider selection of Aussie products is part of a yearly showcase. This is the second year Bristol Farms has brought an expanded version of the best from Australia. It is a great way for us to get to taste the best food and beverages and grocery items,Australian seafood, beef, lamb and dairy products,from Down Under. Just in case you’ve not heard of the truly gourmet items like Wagyu sirloin beef, Aussie prime lamb and Mulloway Sea Bass fillet, this is a good starting place. Marvelous stuff.
Stop by Bristol Farms at 810 Avocado Ave., Newport Beach, (949) 760-6514, or 27741 Crown Valley Parkway, Mission Viejo, (949) 582-7788, and find the bright Australian spirit without having to buy an expensive plane ticket.
Wine Club Memories
Not long ago, Ron Loutherback and his wife Marjorie invited 10 of us to a special wine tasting and lunch. It was in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of The Wine Club in Santa Ana. What an array of wines there were. The food was remarkable too.
I remember when the club first opened, a new concept where cases of wines were stacked and a staff talked customers through the good buys in lieu of fancy interiors and snooty sales crews.
Tout le OC was talking about the good prices and unusual atmosphere. Of course, now Ron’s idea has been widely copied. But his club has a cache that still gets top billing nationally.
Ron first had a little tavern in Long Beach, circa 1961. He sold that and went to work for a restaurant company, learning about pricing and cost control.
By 1975, he was yearning to do more with his love of wine and opened a deli and wine shop in Fullerton. Then, two decades ago, came the club.
It began with a mailing list of about 1,000, which resulted in a newsletter. They struggled a bit building a steady clientele.
Word finally branched out about the volume of wines available, low prices and friendly and knowledgeable service. The newsletter circulation now tops 97,000.
By 1992, a second store opened in San Francisco. By 1996, there was a third in Santa Clara. After all, it only was sensible for someone to recognize the wine “needs” of those techies in Silicon Valley. Today, the club is the leading wine-only merchant on the West Coast. In one recent year, The Wine Club sold $16 million of Bordeaux wines alone. Pretty impressive.
And what did we taste? We had the pleasure of savoring some of the greatest wines in the world. Some of them might still be available at The Wine Club.
The long sipping sojourn began with a glass of 1995 Dom Perignon Rose. Never hurts to begin a festivity of any kind with champagne of that caliber. 2001 Ch & #226;teau Haute-Brion Blanc from one of the world’s most famous estates followed. On to a 2002 Ramey Hudson Vineyard Chardonnay, a California top-notch wine. 2003 Domaine Leflaive Batard Montrachet, from Burgundy’s acclaimed ch & #226;teau dating back to 1717, took its turn. 2000 Domaine de la Romanee-Conti Grand Echezeaux chimed in. Still in the Romanee-Conti realm was a 2000 St. Vivant.
There still were many wines to come. Italy came into play with the 2000 Vietti Barolo Rocche. France took its turn via a 1985 L’Eglise-Clinet. Napa Valley claimed our attention with 2001 Blankiet Merlot, a true cult merlot, and the 2002 Cardinale Cabernet Sauvignon.
Back to France with 1989 Ch & #226;teau Lafite Rothschild of Bordeaux and the 2000 Guigal Cote Rotie la Mouline from the Rhone. Cap all this off with tastings of 2003 Calera Viognier, 2002 Joseph Phelps Insignia and Keasler’s 2003 Old Bastard Shiraz (gotta love the name!) from the Barossa Valley and you’ve got the whole wine picture.
Store manager Greg Koslosky will be happy to navigate you through the availability of any of the above wines that might be of interest to you.
A multicourse meal provided by the Santa Ana Country Club, where this luncheon was held, has put a message in my head that I have to research further their facilities and food. The lunch was delicious, the presentations were incredible and appropriate to the wines we tasted, which were served in flights.
So many have told me they want my job, so you needn’t go there. I’m not giving up my slice of good living while learning. Those of us lucky enough to be part of this celebration owe some sincere thanks to Ron and Marjorie for furthering our education on all these ultra premium wines.
They also get a round of applause for continuing to bring OC wine buyers such a vast array of international wines and bargains and for putting it all in a format in which the novice and aficionado feel equally comfortable.
AT A GLANCE: The Wine Club
Address: 2110 E. McFadden Ave., Suite E, Santa Ana
Prices: (800) 966-5432 or
(714) 835-6485
Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Local Contact: Greg Koslosky, Store Manager gregkoslosky@thewineclub.com
On the Web: www.thewineclub.com
