Count on three things every summer in OC:
• Pageant of the Masters
• the Orange County Fair
• Pacific Wine & Food Classic
All three offer outrageous opportunities to savor decadent dining.
Masterful
Pageant of the Masters in Laguna Beach, running through Aug. 31, is the tableaux vivants—living pictures—for bon vivants—sociable folk enjoying life.
On stage, real people in costumes and makeup step into works of art for 90 seconds at a time; in the audience, real people watch. It’s a unique theatrical experience.
Its 8:30 p.m. start time makes it easy to eat first, and then catch the Pageant performance.
Fun and food.
Except for the parking.
Therein lies the tale, and the dilemma for a group of 10 of us attending a Saturday show.
One solution: valet park at Pelican Hill, dine at its Andrea restaurant, and Lyft to the Pageant and back. It allows for enjoying all aspects of the evening and this year the Pageant’s theme, “Time Machine,” mirrors nicely the regularly occurring sense at Pelican Hill that one has been transported back to an Italian villa and estate of a century or so ago.
The staff sat our large group on Andrea’s lovely patio overlooking lush lawns and the ocean beyond; Pacific Ocean or Mediterranean Sea?
Couldn’t tell ya.
Didn’t matter.
Chef Chris Simons, at Andrea’s helm since the fall, is a charming and knowledgeable host whose enthusiasm for his cuisine is contagious. He was excited to have us try his new crudo menu.
“This is how I like to start a meal,” he said, with everything “as fresh as I can get.”
Our selections:
• Dungeness crab seasoned with olive oil, white balsamic, apple puree and almonds.
• Salmon belly cured 12 hours with Hendrick’s Gin and beet juice.
• Santa Barbara prawns soaked in ouzo juice and rubbed with ouzo juice and chili, cooked tempura-style.
Then three more fruits de mer: braised octopus with cucumber jalapeños; ahi tuna with avocado, sesame oil and lime; and geoduck clam with a strawberry consume and micro basil.
Exquisite.
Pleasure.
Gasps—even from those whose palates were admittedly less adventurous than others.
Next, an Andrea tradition: risotto with mushrooms made in a giant parmesan wheel and presented tableside.
Then a sampling of pastas including gnocchi, which Simons makes daily with pancetta milk—“adds an important part of the flavor for the sauce”—along with cavatelli, also a marvel, as was the penne with pork sausage made in-house.
Simons called it intoxicating.
We agreed.
A selection of desserts completed the memorable meal and we made it to the Pageant with a few minutes to spare.
Pageant tickets: foapom.com
Andrea: 22701 Pelican Hill Road South, Newport Coast 92657, (844) 445-2183, andreanb.com
All’s Fair
The OC Fair runs through Aug. 11, so you have a week to try some only-at-the-fair foods. My first stop: Chicken Charlie’s.
He’s the guy who will deep-fry anything and always has something novel in store for adventurous fairgoers; past years have seen me (barely) survive a triple-decker cheeseburger and an ice cream-and-chicken sandwich—Krispy Kreme doughnuts serving as bun for both.
Messy.
Delicious.
This year, Charlie’s offers a buffalo chicken chimichanga: tortilla, mac-n-cheese, bacon and fried chicken, topped by buffalo ranch sauce and a layer of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
It arrived bigger—and heavier—than I expected.
Cut in half it was still huge; the red Cheetos layer thick.
I picked it up gingerly, opened my mouth as wide as I could and took a giant bite … smearing Cheetos on my face. It was warm and filling; the overall effect like eating three entrées at once.
Other dishes at the OC Fair that caught my attention for a return visit:
• Cinnamon maple bacon bombs—think cinnamon bun, add bacon, enlarge.
• Tacos vampiros—the tortilla is baked firm, between soft and hard shell.
• A “Green Acres” fire burger—ghost pepper, cheese, jalapeños.
• Tater tots topped with pulled pork and cheese.
One dish I never miss: truffle bacon Gouda fries at the Bacon-A-Fair stand. Where else can you get aged Gouda and truffle oil on your bacon?
Also stop at the wine pavilion to taste award-winning offerings from California vintners in an annual competition hosted by the OC Wine Society. Judges are winemakers and other knowledgeable oenophiles who blind taste test the hundreds of hopeful entries for several weeks before the fair.
More than 50 winners are available at any one time, meaning huge variety, but on a rotating basis, meaning wines you taste one day may not be there the next—and ones you don’t may be gone as well.
For a full list of this year’s award-winning wines, visit ocws.org.
For more information on fair food, visit
ocfair.com/oc-fair/things-to-do/food.
Of Wine
Speaking of wine, Pacific Wine & Food Classic returns to Newport Dunes August 17-18 with a nice line-up of chefs, restaurants and wineries for its third annual summertime sensory experience.
Chefs this year create dishes reminiscent of their fondest summer memories; participating restaurants include: Farmhouse at Roger’s Garden, Harley Laguna Beach, Olea, Provenance, Terrace by Mix Mix, Bluewater Grill, Bosscat Kitchen and Libations, Chianina Steakhouse, Davio’s Northern Italian Steakhouse, Five Crowns, Old Vine Kitchen & Bar, Prego Mediterranean, SideDoor, Sushi Roku, Blind Rabbit, and dozens more.
For more information: 1131 Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach 92660, pacificwineandfood.com.
