Moulin Bistro, Newport’s cute little culinary bôite filled with French aromas, ambiance, food and wine, and happy patrons, celebrates its first anniversary this month.
Do give it a try if you’ve missed this slice of casual but authentic French dining.
1000 Bristol St. N., Newport Beach, (949) 474-0920
20 Years of Cuban Taste
Habana at The Lab Antimall in Costa Mesa celebrates its 20th anniversary on Labor Day.
It still has the aura of authentic Cuba in food and atmosphere. Booths, tables, bar scene, inviting patio—take your pick, and then perhaps order a classic mojito cocktail and some seasoned Fried Avocado Slices with chipotle cream, Rum-Pepper Shrimp, a loaded paella, delicious Ropa Vieja (shredded beef Cuban pot roast), Plantain-Crusted Chicken, or Halibut in Corn Husks. It’s a great break from the ordinary. Note that the second Habana is taking shape at Irvine Spectrum. More on that as construction progresses.
2930 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, (714) 516-0176
Poke
Fins Poke Fusion restaurant opened three weeks ago in Mission Viejo.
Different concept—good concept. Hawaiian poke has gotten very popular in the past few years, and this place dedicates itself to approachable fresh poke variations.
Peter and David Cho are brothers who worked for the past decade at the sushi restaurant that formerly occupied the same space.
They teamed up with a couple of investors to bring the idea to life. You’ll now find them helping customers to construct their own choice of a poke bowl, wrap or taco. Bowls come in three size options with a choice of fresh selections, including salmon, tuna, spicy tuna, scallops, albacore, shrimp and octopus. From there the guest can choose from three house-made poke sauces, a rice or salad base, and more than a dozen fresh vegetables and roe.
It’s quality at affordable prices in a relaxed fast-casual atmosphere.
28251 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo, (949) 542-7466
Hamburger Happenings
The foodies among us have been anxious to see the hamburger happenings that are now taking place in the former Charlie Palmer space at South Coast Plaza. Holsteins Shakes and Buns opened last week. I’ll be investigating the scene and the food about the time this article is printed, so no upfront comments yet.
The menu features a California-focused selection of burgers, small bites, an assortment of entrees, salads and its signature “Bamboozled” shakes. Plus it’s promoting one of the most extensive beer programs in Orange County.
Holsteins is a concept by Las Vegas-based Block 16 Hospitality, which operates several other brands. I am still really missing our Charlie Palmer restaurant, and it will be interesting to see if hamburgers trump sophisticated cuisine with local diners.
3333 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, (714) 352-2525
New History
If you would like to be among the very first to see the transformation of The Cottage in Laguna Beach—which is the city’s oldest building, dating back to 1917—drop by for the free grand opening of the new Urth Caffé from noon to 7 p.m. on Sept. 20. The restaurant officially opens the following day.
Shallom and Jilla Berkman are the husband-and-wife founders and co-owners of Urth Caffé. They began their minichain in 1994 in West Hollywood and followed with restaurants in Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena and now Laguna Beach.
Chef Andrew Raab is creating the menu for all-day dining. I surmise that people will be anxious to see the remake since this location touches on nostalgic feelings in Laguna.
308 N. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, (949) 494-3023
Another Fresh Twist
Quail Hill Center was home to Crystal Jade, one of our favorite Chinese restaurants for many years.
This is merely a heads up that the restaurant has changed hands, and the new name is Sinofusion. Owners have said they’re revising the menu with updated Chinese food.
What will be missing is Irene Mach, the smiling, customer-oriented former owner who truly appreciated her dining guests and ran a good operation. Everyone we know who dined there enjoyed her hospitality. So you might try it before I do. I’m waiting to see when and how it changes the menu and will let you know my experience then.
6511 Quail Hill Parkway, Irvine, (949) 725-3368
CPK’s ‘Next Chapter’
California Pizza Kitchen is celebrating its 30th anniversary and has unveiled its “Next Chapter” formula.
A new CPK, built from the ground up, opened a few days ago in Irvine and is the showoff prototype for all new restaurants and for the reimagined renovations of all existing restaurants nationwide.
The expanded menu and the new ultra-attractive surroundings have upped the old dining experience a lot for those who are used to the CPK look in decor and the limited menu from decades past.
The atmosphere unveiled at the Irvine location is beautifully rustic with lots of wood, a full wall of glass joining indoor and patio seating and allowing the California sunshine to flood in, good-looking seating, and colorful photography on the walls.
An open kitchen in the main dining room adds the perfect energy highlight, with pizza dough being constantly tossed and twirled for the food orders in progress. There’s also an attractive bar area where mixologists make every sort of old classic and newly minted craft cocktail.
The new menu offers nine international appetizers, five soups, 10 salads with global themes, several pasta dishes, and naturally, its roundup of pizza specialties. There are also chicken, seafood and grilled rib eye steak entrees. Several sandwiches show up at lunch. Half a dozen desserts add their own highlights, among them a great version of Butter Cake and a pretty luscious Salted Caramel Pudding.
5465 Alton Parkway at Jeffrey Road, Irvine, (949) 396-1120
Talkin’ Coffee
Did you know that Orange County is home to one of the most respected international experts in the coffee realm? Home to someone who grows and selects a miniscule amount of super-premium coffee beans from around the world and takes the fruit—the bean is covered by a cherry-like pulp—through an intensely labor-intensive preroasting process and then actually roasts small batches of these revered beans?
His name is Martin Diedrich, owner of Kéan Coffee, which has locations in Newport Beach and Tustin.
Most people I’ve peripherally informed over the years about the coffee-bean process and what constitutes quality are astonished to discover that there are only a few experts and passionate promoters of what an excellent and “real” cup of coffee is about. Some of us can never go back to mass-marketed, run-of-the-mill coffee, no matter the vast reach of some chains.
Martin in the coffee world is akin to a world-class winemaker accomplishing something extraordinary for the consumer.
A small group of us were recently invited for a once-in-a-lifetime educational course by Martin on the world of coffee beans. We picked coffee berries in late May from the coffee trees that Martin and his wife, Karen, grow at their home and learned how to fastidiously remove the flesh, one by one, and capture the bean inside.
Martin took on the responsibility of a long trio of processes to get the beans ready for part two of our education, which was held last month at Kéan Coffee in Newport Beach. He arrived with the dried beans that still needed the papery skin removed by hand before the beans could be sorted by size. It’s interesting that roasters of Martin’s stature roast berries, batch by batch, that are all the same size for uniformity of roasting color and taste. After all these steps, the perfectly roasted beans were ground up and steeped in water heated to an ideal temperature.
Martin, during all of the steps in session two, also gave us an agricultural history of coffee from its beginnings in Ethiopia to its worldwide travels. We sipped the extravagantly smooth, fresh coffee and became a small group of people with a lot of very big sighs of pleasure and great appreciation for our newfound understanding of the world’s favorite beverage.
A most interesting aside: We learned that it took eight pounds of berries to end up with one pound of coffee beans. At that rate, and considering the labor involved, a fine cup of coffee really should cost about $20, commensurate with a glass of fine wine. I am certainly more appreciative now of the bargain that this coffee represents.
Some quick additional facts: Martin’s grandparents had a coffee plantation in Guatemala. His father, Carl, took over the plantation and in 1972 became Orange County’s first professional coffee roaster. Carl roasted the beans in a roaster he built himself. Martin’s brother has been manufacturing some of the world’s top-quality roasters for decades. Martin opened the first Diedrich’s Coffee in 1984—the first coffeehouse in Orange County—and was the county’s only coffee roaster for the following few years.
He used to own several locations but sold those and chose to live his dream of having only two or three places in fairly close proximity and being in the locations with his customers, because to him coffee is something rather magical and admirable, and when you can share that spirit personally with your customers, you’ve really learned the art of living.
And about the name: Kéan Coffee is named after Martin and Karen’s son.
I’m not here to snatch anyone from their local coffee shop; I merely think that once you’ve tasted Kéan coffee—he roasts many varieties from the smallest percentage of top-level coffee beans from many countries, all of which he personally selects—you will notice what I am talking about. I’ve known the family’s reason and passion for this kind of coffee since Carl had that first roastery, so I have been in tune for a long time with the finesse that Kéan Coffee represents.
The proof is in the tasting, and the only way for that to happen is to stop by one of the two coffeehouses and discover the part of the coffee world you have been missing.
2043 Westcliff Drive, Newport Beach and 13681 Newport Ave., Tustin
