We’ve been steeped in good meals for a decade at Sage Eastbluff and for the past couple of years at Sage on the Coast in Newport Beach, thanks to chef and owner Rich Mead.
Now there’s something even more interesting on the horizon. Rich is holding a special wine tasting at Sage on the Coast for one night only. On Jan. 29 at 6:30 p.m., he is rolling out the red carpet for the Best of 2007 Second Saturday Wine Tasting Extravaganza. The best wines from last year’s events will be paired with a special menu. The price is $45 plus tax and tip. Seating is limited.
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Sage on the Coast: Crystal Cove Promenade, 7862 E. Coast Highway, Newport Beach (949) 715-7243.
Crab Season
This is Dungeness crab season, and McCormick & Schmick’s is a fine place to enjoy this delicious firm and sweet crab.
The beautiful Irvine restaurant, laden with wood and special millwork, has been one of our favorites for almost two decades. Just recently, a second Orange County location debuted in Santa Ana (near Bower’s Museum) and
a third will soon open in Anaheim’s GardenWalk.
Irvine (949) 756-0505; 2791 N. Main St., Santa Ana (714) 558-1963.
Ladera Dining
Ladera Ranch slowly is building a restaurant base.
Recently we found a place that has a lovely decor, a relaxing demeanor and, as it turns out, terrific food presented with all the panache of a trendsetter along the coast.
Urban Thai Bistro at first surprises you with its modern styling. Wood is used with tiles and slate. One wall works as a giant art piece with its multidimensional circular patterns all in pristine white.
Foregoing wine for the moment,the list is small with just the necessary types of wines to match Thai food, but they have some good ones,we settled instead on tea.
The restaurant is owned by Peter and Amanda Tang, a couple with extensive restaurant experience. Their genuine friendliness and willingness to discuss the nature of any dish makes ordering easier.
In a list of 14 appetizers, there were three kinds of rolls and we wanted to taste them all. What we did instead was have a sampler plate of appetizers that offered us skewers of chicken and beef satay, crispy deep fried spring rolls, summer rolls of shrimp wrapped in a soft rice paper blanket and gold bags that were fried wontons filled with a superb meat mixture.
There’s a whole category of soups, and I am anxious to make an evening out of trying them. Choices include the famed tom kha gai soup of chicken in a coconut- and lemongrass-infused broth. Everything from seafood to shellfish, vegetables to transparent noodles is within reach in these soups.
Shrimp is one of the cornerstones of Thai cooking, and it seemed that a good yardstick for flavor and authenticity would be in an order of pad Thai that combines rice noodles with shrimp, chicken, bits of egg, peanuts and braised bean sprouts.
The ubiquitous sauce is always red and they’ll ask you how hot you like your food. We ordered this one as medium-hot and it was a feisty dish to be sure.
Trying to keep a cross section of flavors in mind, we had pineapple fried rice that came in a whole hollowed out pineapple. It was loaded with chunks of pineapple, chicken, shrimp, raisins, scallions and cashews. If you’re looking to impress someone, order this.
We ordered a simple chicken curry that came in a wavy, rectangular bowl and was in a yellow sauce packed with tender slices of chicken and potato and batons of ethereally tender eggplant.
Black pepper steak is on our repeat list as it came in a heap of quickly wokked cubes of fork-tender beef sprinkled with some red onion shards that took us back to milder flavors. That beef atop some fried rice could be a satisfying meal for anyone.
And, there was the fresh halibut. We had a choice of sweet and spicy sauce with some juliennes of bell pepper and a hint of chiles (this is the one we ordered) or a caramelized garlic sauce with string beans.
Now for desserts. Sticky rice with mango is the Thai winner. It has a very large mound of sweetened sticky rice in the center. That’s covered in a delicate cr & #269;me sauce and given a toss of toasted sesame seeds and then, that is surrounded by a whole sliced mango.
Serving portions are very generous. Since I’ve only touched on the few dishes we ordered, be prepared for things like soft shelled crab, Thai pork chops, meats wokked with lemongrass essence, Thai barbecued chicken, fresh fish steamed in banana leaves and a rash of Thai noodle dishes. Vegetarians have eight delights in one section of the menu and there are vegetarian soups, and rice and noodle preparations done without meat or seafood. It’s a something-for-everyone place and such an adorable one at that.
AT A GLANCE: Urban Thai Bistro
Address: 1701 Corporate Drive,
Ladera Ranch
Phone: (949) 388-9988
Hours: Lunch and dinner daily; open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Prices: Lunch appetizers, $4 to $7, lunch specials,
$7 to $10; dinner appetizers, soups and salads, $5 to $15. Dinner entrees, $10 to $22
