Spring is near, so I asked chefs and restaurants owners around Orange County for their personal menu favorites for this edition of Fifi’s Best.
I carefully chose the restaurants for their signature classics, with a certainty that each would provide a most interesting dining experience for you.
Many of the restaurants listed have lovely patios, perfect for the upcoming season. Some have music on certain nights.
Dining out is entertainment—and my ob-jective is to give you many new ideas and reasons to taste for yourself the myriad flavors and presentations offered amid comforting and happy surroundings that make OC’s dining landscape such an electic delight.
Some people can rush through meals, but I love a good restaurant experience—so much so that most of my evening meals last for hours. A particularly decadent day in the recent past saw our nephew visiting from Michigan. We took him along with a couple of other relatives to make a party of five for lunch at Capital Seafood. It lasted almost four hours.
My husband Patrick gamely asked what everyone was doing for dinner. He suggested we all meet at The Winery at 7:30, and everyone agreed. We left that restaurant five hours later.
Nine hours of restaurant dining in one day—loved it!
Agora Churrascaria
1830 Main Street, Irvine
Lunch Monday through Friday,
dinner nightly
(949) 222-9910
The charm of classic Brazilian cuisine
This is a delightfully unique and traditional experience from Brazil that delivers a great deal of dining happiness. Agora’s dramatic interior provides the perfect stage for the ancient art of Churrasco. Rustic river-rock lined walls are complemented by the restaurant’s 25-foot peaked cathedral ceilings, massive cedar beams, oversized contemporary light fixtures and abundant skylights. In the daytime it’s flooded with natural light. Night-time turns cozy with softer lighting flowing over linen-draped tables and a gentle aura so suitable for relaxation.
Churrascaria centers on food done in the centuries-old “Rodizio” style, with different cuts of meat—16 of them at Agora, including beef, chicken, pork and lamb—cooked on an open fire and carved table-side by appropriately uniformed servers. A statement from the kitchen says it succinctly: “Our food is simple and authentic, bringing out undisturbed, true flavors by using an authentic Brazilian way of cooking over 100% wood charcoal grills.”
The concept is brought to us by owners Scott, Dan Kim and Choon Cho. The latter two, owners of a highly-regarded fashion company in Seoul, Korea, spent many years in Brazil, where they fell in love with the food and operated restaurants in Sao Paulo. Kim’s son, Scott Im, a convivial people-oriented guy with an obvious passion for good food, handles management and operations duties. You will enjoy meeting him.
Here are personal menu suggestions from Scott and his kitchen staff:
Picanha is a house specialty. This is the cap of top sirloin and has great, tender texture with a buttery flavor. Tri tip has great flavor, always a churrasco classic. Cheesebread sounds as strange and is delicious—almost like cheese puffs with parmesan. It’s served crispy outside and chewy inside and is very popular in Brazilian fare. Feijoada is the traditional recipe of black bean stew with Brazilian sausages, carne seca, and several spices; it is hearty and rich, great on top of rice (a true comfort food). Acai dessert uses Brazilian acai berries blended with bananas and apple juice. It is served in a martini glass with granola. For clarification, acai has a very smooth chocolate-like savoriness, which makes it a perfect dessert that’s also loaded with super antioxidants.
The menu is a fixed-price concept and includes an extensive hot-and-cold food bar that features fresh salads and vegetable dishes as well as delicious seafoods. Meats are offered on a continuous service format that’s a carnivore’s paradise.
The wine list features 125 labels long, with a terrific representation of South American choices, and several served by the glass.
Cooking at home: Scott confided that “when I cook Brazilian, it’s usually barbecue tri tip and garlic rice. I will make some Brazilian vinaigrette on the side. Simple and perfect combo that doesn’t require a lot of time. All my friends do this for their at home barbecue now.”
Basilic
217 Marine Avenue, Balboa Island
Dinner only Tuesday through Saturday
(949) 673-0570
French accent on Swiss food
I’ve been going to this little gem since it appeared in 1997. I highly recommend that you take in the intimacy and the seriously delicious food of this Balboa Island icon, owned by Bernard and Arlette Althaus. Because of Swiss birth and Bernard’s European culinary training, this is the home of culturally correct cuisine, the kind we travel overseas to relish.
Bernard cooks in a traditional Old World European style with a gentle nod to modern, light California sensibility. Finest ingredients, respectful techniques but not heavy in nature, these foods reflect fine French dining with a lilting Swiss accent.
Basilic is the harbinger of sweet memories with its small corral of banquettes and chic bistro-esque tables that denote warm welcomes and anticipation of serene meals. It is tucked amid the diversity of shops on the island’s main street, making it an ideal stop to finish off a California day.
There are no cocktails, but a cursory look at the wine list gives reason to relax with a glass before as you decide what to order. There are 120 selections (a lot of them French and American) giving a fine propensity for balancing their tastes with menu items. A dozen of them are offered by the glass, making it easy to segue from a lighter wine sans food to a more substantial glass when the food arrives, if less than a bottle is your desire.
The food, of course, is paramount. Bernard chooses some favorites from his own menu (though he’s so passionate about all of it). Appetizer: Braised Belgium Endives and Crab Salad (a striking cylinder of crab salad topped with miniature tomatoes, the other side of the dish sporting the endives with a little tangle of greens in the middle). For main courses, he gives three. Zurich style Veal with Brandy essence and mushroom sauce, John Dory with chanterelle mushrooms and Xérès sauce, or the Shrimp and Scallop Duo—all reflecting gorgeous presentations worthy of photos. Dessert: Meringue Vacherin filled with crème chantilly and complemented with fresh berries and a striated dessert sauce.
Among the imperatives for me is the Raclette, named after a cheese specialty from the Canton du Valais in Switzerland. The cheese is melted onto a plate, and boiled jacket potatoes, gherkins and pickled onions are scraped through it. The whole a la carte menu is inviting in the breadth of French cuisine it represents.
Cooking at home: Bernard is keen to diversify on his time off. We might find him cooking anything from Thai and European specialties or trying out a few twists on American basics.
Bistro Bleu
918 S. Magnolia, Anaheim
Lunch and dinner, Tuesday
through Saturday
(714) 826-3590
Unexpected little French gem
This is the “find” of the year, a fully authentic French experience—except that it doesn’t cost much. Owner/chef David Kesler and his wife Pamela took a space in the most nondescript small corner enclave of storefronts and tucked in this charming little eatery. Smart move for them, as it keeps rent low and the bargains are passed on to us. It has as much soul as any fancy place in our midst.
David graduated from a Culinary Arts School, then traveled extensively throughout Europe for two decades, fine tuning his skills before returning home to Orange County. His culinary style is classical French.
“I was educated in it, trained in it and have lived by the culinary bible Larousse Gastronomique throughout my career,” he says.
He and Pamela strung together the requisites of consistently good food, comfortable and casually chic décor (soft tones of blue, highlighted by cherry wood chairs and various pictures of Paris under glass on the table tops), good service and a sense of respect for diners and their expectations. Their stated mission is to offer some of the best classic French fare in a casual environment sans dress code and at very reasonable prices so that people can afford to dine at Bistro Bleu without having to save up for it or regard it as a special occasion.
The menu encompasses classic French dishes such as Escargot, Pâté, Pepper Steak, Coq au Vin, Lobster Bisque, Soupe à L’oignon (absolutely spot on), Caesar Salad, Seafood, Pasta, Rack of Lamb, a wonderfully heart-warming Burger Bleu, and sweet endings like Peach Cobbler and Soufflé. Someone recently asked me where to find a real Croque Madame. Look no further—this one is as true as it gets.
There are even daily chalk board specials, inexpensive prix-fixe lunch and dinner offers, all of it cooked from scratch. It is, in fact, exactly the kind of food that David and Pamela have enjoyed eating for many years.
David understands reduction sauces, and the marriage of these sauces with the best hand cut pieces of fish or meat. He cooks everything as if he’s cooking it for himself, his family and friends. He goes to the market almost every day, butchers the meats, cleans the fish, preps the vegetables, makes the sauces and, after that, garnishes every plate just before it goes out to the diner.
I’ve watched how hard he works and the passion he imparts. Such involvement in the execution of the menu done personally by the owner of the restaurant ensures a great dining experience.
David’s picks from his own menu are: Escargots à la Provençale, Onion Soup, the signature Pâté, Croque Madame, Rack of Lamb, Coq au Vin and Chocolate Soufflé.
The wine list is only 32 labels strong—17 of them served by the glass–yet it’s fully complementary with this menu. It is international in scope, with very relevant finds from France, Spain, Italy and Argentina.
David says his home cooking usually involves dishes that are fast—soups and salads, egg dishes, and pastas. He and Pamela also love dining out. It’s that chef curiosity factor that’s always in high gear.
Broadway by
Amar Santana
328 Glenneyre, Laguna Beach
Dinner nightly, brunch Saturday
and Sunday
(949) 715-8234
The suave uptown place to be
Eighteen months ago a new star was born. The chef and GM from Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale’s teamed up with investor Rich Cadarette, the result being this busy and highly admired place. The talented chef, Amar Santana, scored his name on the marquee, but it’s a nicely entwined trio of food lovers that’s making it run so smoothly and keeping us talking about the uniqueness of the food.
This is a different kind of art in a city renowned for its galleries and artists. Here, hand-crafted cocktails from the bar and creative dishes from the award-winning chef stand front and center. Fresh, high quality and sustainable seafood, humanely raised animals and poultry, and the best California produce are the standards in the kitchen.
Classified as modern cuisine of the Americas, the menu commands a wide range of different cooking techniques, both old-school and modern. This is an adventure into the bold, fresh and modern realm where different dishes represent the chef’s love of all things pork, indigenous ingredients and spices from faraway places, and more exotic items such as bone marrow and lamb tongue among the generalities of the menu.
The look is New York industrial, with high ceilings, arched steel rafters, cinderblock walls and reclaimed wood accents. It evolves from imagery of New York skylines to edgy work by local artists. A centrally located open kitchen with seats directly across from the chefs—working as if they were a well-choreographed ballet—gives meaning to the Broadway name. They selected this concept for a restaurant because it was felt that an easy flow of dining space should be just an extension of the kitchen, and the expertise of the chefs should be somewhat visible to all customers.
This is the kind of place where a serious wine list is expected—and it is provided. The focus is on domestic wines, followed by selections from France, Italy, Spain, Latin America and Germany. Thirty significant wines by the glass cover global territory.
It’s all part of an ongoing search that includes local sources but it isn’t limited to them.
“Just because products are local doesn’t mean they are always good or better,” says Santana. “I source my ingredients from all over the world—spices from Indonesia and the Middle East, seafood from the East Coast and Europe, hearts of palm from Hawaii, shrimp from Spain, branzino from Greece-—you get the point. What makes our menu different from most restaurants is that I’m always changing things, keeping the menu new, fresh, and interesting. That’s what makes people come back more than once a week.”
Amar picked several choices from his own menu, starting with appetizers: Charred Spanish Octopus a la plancha with black olive yogurt, romesco sauce, crsipy potato and pickled peppers, or the Japanese Hamachi Sashimi with miso-citrus dressing and avocado ice cream (yes!) and baby cilantro. Entrées: Roasted Sonoma Lamb, Braised Lamb B’stilla with rhubarb emulsion, morel and heirloom carrots (coming to the spring menu). He also recommends the Herb Roasted Mediterranean Branzino and his Seared Maine Scallops with squid risotto. Dessert would be Meyer Lemon Tart with what I can only describe as an amazing array of side tastes, or the Lemon Ricotta Fritters with lemon cream and rosemary honey that we both seem to love.
Amar keeps its simple at home. He says he’d rather be out trying the many other fascinating restaurants in the area.
The Catch
2100 E. Katella Ave., Anaheim
Lunch Monday through Friday, dinner nightly, brunch on special holidays
(714) 935-0101
Sports fans and gourmets galore
The Catch has been around for about three decades, but it was when Joe Manzella bought it in 2002 that the name took on significance. Anaheim’s plans for the Platinum Triangle began to give the area a cosmopolitan feel, and in 2010 The Catch moved around the corner into a new building at a prime space adjacent to Angel Stadium and The Grove. This American fish, chop, and steakhouse concept has been revved up since.
The Catch offers American wagyu beef (a taste sensation) and on-the-premise hand-cut fresh fish prepared with influences that reflect the true global nature of seafood. Twenty handcrafted ales and lagers from California’s burgeoning craft beer industry are available. There are creative specialty cocktails and a carefully curated wine list accessible to all budgets (focus is on California, Oregon and Washington wines) with 22 of them offered by the glass.
“We’re not trying to create the next food trend—it’s about cuisine that people love and preparing it with respect and taking it to the next level of taste and integrity so that clients will want to come back for more and will tell their friends,” says Manzella.
My own explanation is that the place is home to beautifully presented but unpretentious food, served in generous portions. Quality is a cornerstone, with pristinely harvested, sustainable shell and fin fish and other superior products being the norm.
Tableside service is a passion with Manzella, so throwing that in the mix is another win-win situation because it’s almost a lost art today. While kitchen expeditors finish and carefully garnish many plates, some are finalized in front of guests, and I like that interactive nature. It makes customers feel special and pampered, and it’s great theater.
The fashionable and warm décor features rich mahogany wood and spacious booths, a beautiful bar and cocktail space in a prime spot and an open kitchen along one wall. The design elements are grounded in real attractiveness and comfort for straight-on dining or watching sports in the lounge area.
Chef Nelson Barillas was with Wolfgang Puck’s Spago Las Vegas when Manzalla found him. Luckily for us, he then made the fortuitous deal to head the kitchen at The Catch. For an appetizer, he recommends Sizzling Hiramasa Sashimi: thinly sliced Hiramasa kingfish over sushi rice, done tableside with Asian aromatics briefly sizzled and then finished with chili soy sauce, truffle oil, crispy shallots and tobiko caviar.
His entrée choices: Chipotle-Glazed Cedar Plank Skuna Bay Salmon (magnificent quality with the definite highlight of the chef’s honey-lime-chipotle glaze). He also loves the unbelievably rich flavor of the American Wagyu Beef in the prized Top Sirloin, Filet Mignon and New York Strip steaks. Note that all are served with perfect complements such as roasted vegetables and proper starches.
Both the chef and I love the Hot Chocolate dessert. It’s a rather rich chocolate-coated ice cream turtle sundae with salted walnuts, caramel and graham crackers flamed tableside. Big wow factor. That, and one of their French press supreme coffees, does indeed make for an impressive culinary situation.
When the chef cooks at home, it’s lots of pasta and grilled seafood. His 10-year-old son is an aspiring chef and Food Network junkie, so he helps dad prep and grill. The chef says his wife’s pupusas (various fillings stuffed inside masa envelopes) are a favorite with family and friends.
Cha Cha’s
Latin Kitchen
110 W. Birch St., Brea
Lunch and dinner daily, Sunday champagne brunch
(714) 255-1040
Wonderful dance with Latin food and music
This place presents a California-Latin inspired menu that adapts the culinary heritage of Mexico and Latin America to a fresh modern style. Guests can watch savory dishes being prepared in the state-of-the-art open kitchen and take a fresh, bold and flavorful journey through the various Latin cuisines. Authentic ingredients are used (think epazote and achiote from the Yucatan, Jidori free-range chicken, organic tortillas, superb quality meats and seafood). It gives them a definite point of distinction in this genre.
Peter Serantoni, the owner and chef, along with partner/owner Don Myers, opened Cha Cha’s in 2009 when they were wanting to create a Latin/Mexican concept that differentiated itself from the traditional Mexican restaurants. They envisioned the interior design as a combination of Modern and traditional, very attractive and something that would remain relevant for years to come. Steven Langford Architects, which have built some of the most creative and beautiful restaurants in the country, took the job and gave them a beautiful expanse of brick and rustic tiles, plenty of artful touches and an overall feeling that is so inviting and very comfortable.
I personally love this place.
Chef de Cuisine is Joseph Martinez, whose inspiration came from the home kitchens of his grandmother and great grandmother. They honored traditional recipes and the techniques that turned ingredients into soulful dining. Chef Martinez took that inspiration and inherent love of food and ran with it as a personal commitment to the art of food and dining.
A good part of the vibe for me is the compelling cocktail lounge. Handcrafted libations made of in-house infusions and old school liquors, a treasure trove of tequilas, freshly squeezed juices and the “music” of metal shakers being dramatically jolted by the bartenders are part of the scene. Wine selections include boutique delights from our Central Coast region, Spain and South America. And, of course, they have plenty of them by the glass.
Chef faves from his menu begin with Manila Clams with sautéed garlic, shallots, thyme and diced Spanish chorizo sarta (a specialty of Spain). The rich and briny blend is terrific. He enthusiastically recommends the Glazed Salmon (honey and chipotle blend glaze) as an entrée. It is grilled, glazed and finished in the oven—served on top of roasted Yukon Gold potatoes with pasilla chiles, achiote onions and roasted corn. Another entrée of note is the award-winning Seafood Caldo made with fresh mahi mahi, clams, shrimp and calamari in a saffron-tomato broth over toasted angel hair pasta.
May I add that this one will knock your socks off?
The chef says “you must end your meal at Cha Cha’s with our fabulous Flan. I know everyone does flan and so many people are not flan-lovers, but we have made converts out of all of them with a spoonful of our creamy Vanilla flan that is topped with a fresh Kahlua Whipped Cream and on the side we add these delectable Star Anise and Orange Cookies.”
Chef Joseph likes to be outside, cooking on the grill, when he’s away from the energy and necessities of the restaurant kitchen. Burgers, ribs or carne asada are home-made favorites.
Iva Lee’s
555 N. El Camino Real, San Clemente
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
(949) 361-2855
The charms of the Old South
Iva Lee’s is about to celebrate its 11-year anniversary. It is a whiff of the Old South with modern touches in the food. Husband and wife co-owners, Lisa and Eric Wagoner, were involved in the original construction, design and décor, and continue to operate it.
The restaurant is named after the real Iva Lee, Lisa’s beloved grandmother, who was born and raised in the South and came from a long line of Southern women who passed down recipes since their arrival in America in 1640. Lisa was raised on those recipes: grits, gumbo, okra, sweet potatoes, biscuits and pecan pie.
Imagine a manor home in the South replete with lovely décor elements, saturated colors (burgundy is predominant here), even tin ceilings—but very welcoming in its overall demeanor. It sets the proper mood. Then comes the food, which adheres to the concept.
The interpretation of the menu involves classic Southern dishes, including Creole specialties with some modern touches. For instance, the grilled pork chop entrée is served with a pecan and potato “bread pudding” and an andouille-infused gravy. Pork chops and bread pudding are typical in the South. They are not, however, paired together and tweaked in this manner or with a modern infused gravy—but on this stage it works. The traditional fried green tomatoes come with green tomato coulis and a fried goat cheese medallion with balsamic drizzle in another example of pairing classic with modern.
The chef, Christopher Starr, was born and raised in California. He first worked in a restaurant kitchen during high school and then joined the kitchen crew at Iva Lee’s. He subsequently decided to increase his culinary education by attending the Culinary Institute of America. The Wagoners immediately invited him back as their executive chef upon his graduation.
Spring is here and seasonal menu items include fried green tomato and crab cake stack, Andouille sausage hush puppies with red pepper jam, dry-rubbed barbecue chicken and pear beignets with a vanilla bean crème anglaise.
The chef gives these additional appetizer recommendations from the menu: shrimp and grits (sautéed shrimp in a Cajun brown butter sauce with grits topped with a fried egg) or house-made sausage (country-style sausage with Cajun spices that comes with sweet potato fries and a Vidalia onion mustard sauce).
A couple of his favorite entrées also hit a sweet spot for me. There is the grilled pork chop mentioned earlier in this missive. And there is also the amazing sarsaparilla-braised short rib that’s dappled with a sarsaparilla reduction and sided with a parsnip puree and sautéed vegetables. Wines to match the food come mostly from France and California.
For desserts, Chef Christopher wonders, “What’s not to love about bourbon pecan pie with house-made vanilla bean ice cream or chicory coffee crème brûlée?” The latter, I might add, carries a creamy and rich coffee taste and is bejeweled with fresh blackberries.
The chef says he enjoys cooking for friends and family at home. He takes great pleasure in having everyone sitting around the table, drinking wine and having a family-style dinner.
Le Chateau
(Ayres Hotel)
325 Bristol St., Costa Mesa
Breakfast, lunch and dinner daily
(714) 449-0300
A hidden surprise, especially for lunch
The restaurant was fully renovated last fall in a tailored-yet-sophisticated, modern and intimate club-like feel that highlights the four generations of Ayres’ family sailing history as seen through the artwork. I’ve long been an advocate of this restaurant tucked away in the Ayres Hotel.
This hotel is part of the Ayres’ family lodging collection predicated on the nostalgic feel of European boutique elegance steeped in comfort. They’ve done a remarkable job in making guests feel special, an attitude here that flows into Le Chateau restaurant, a place offering fresh seasonal American dishes with comfort classics such as their renowned monte cristo sandwich with chambord jelly.
Chef Geoffrey Perea plies us with adequate reasons to dine at Le Chateau. He was one of those kids who began cooking in a professional kitchen as a teenager, and he pursued his culinary education by obtaining jobs at some top resorts and then with acclaimed Chef Brad Toles, who had been captain of the 1992 U.S. Culinary Team that competed in the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt, Germany (Toles’ team took home a gold medal). Geoff then went straight for the top: Southern California’s hot concept Lazy Dog Cafés, working side-by-side with their corporate Chef/Principal Gabriel Caliendo. He then got the executive chef position at Le Chateau—and here we are enjoying his modern signature dishes.
His cooking style is a cross between rustic American and classic European cuisines. This has resulted in a menu ranging from homemade pot pies to rare red chard wrapping ahi filets and a caramelized roasted chicken breast. The wine list offers a selection of 10 wines by the glass and covers several varietals. Le Chateau also features handpicked craft beers such as Ballast Point, Green Flash and Allagash.
The chef points out a couple of appetizer favorites from his menu. California crab cakes atop fresh mango, jicama, spinach, grapefruit, orange and mandarin segments, tossed in a poppy seed vinaigrette is one recommendation. The other is Blistered heirloom tomato salad that adds tender mozzarella, crisp baby watercress, and thinly shaved Italian prosciutto to the mix. He steers us to entrées of grilled mahi mahi with wild mushroom risotto or red chard-crusted ahi filets plated with a fresh Asian vegetable stir-fry and a spicy coconut cilantro emulsion. For dessert it’s the carrot cake (made from an old Ayres Family recipe that has been passed down and now is shared with the restaurant guests). It is garnished with fresh whipped cream and seasonal berries.
At home, the chef still likes to cook and entertain friends and family. He says that he often makes family-style pasta dishes, or he’s outside grilling the local fresh fish that he managed to catch. Chef Geoff and his wife have a backyard organic garden that provides some great fresh veggies they are introducing to their 8-month-old son, Michael.
Mare
696 S. Coast Highway , Laguna Beach
(949) 715-9581
Breakfast, lunch, dinner, Sunday brunch and late night
A new and wickedly good Italian experience
Why am I listing this new restaurant here? It only opened in May of 2012. I’m listing it because it is singularly important to the dining landscape with its ability to further broaden our understanding of Italian food, now with the intrigue of authentic heritage married to modern concepts. And, it is presented to us in an amazing customer-friendly experience.
Mare Culinary Lounge was developed as the collaborative effort of Alessandro and Mai Pirozzi. Mai worked on the décor and Chef Alessandro developed and coordinated the construction based on Mai’s inspiration, and he created a menu of dishes that are laden with soul. I might as well add that they spent a small fortune to renovate the space, taking it all down to four walls and dirt floors and personally selecting everything that turned it beautiful.
Of course, Alessandro is Italy-born, and his gregarious, people-loving personality is almost legendary in Orange County. It figures into his culinary style of preparing fresh, vibrant, original, healthy, eclectic and evolving dishes. Every day, new flavor profiles and pairings in the pasta and new sausage collections are explored, giving us an eclectic mix with traditional offerings in an upbeat, contemporary atmosphere.
His meticulous nature drives the search for the best ingredients. His philosophy is that your food should reflect your character and that “Every day our culinary progress and daily inspiration changes.” That would explain why we come upon a splendid entrée of house-made wild boar sausage with white asparagus pasta. It also explains why he anticipates the local zucchini blossoms for stuffing, the peaches for grilling with meats or dressing for dessert, and the entire line of summer fruits and vegetables.
Alessandro won’t cook anything he doesn’t love, but I prodded for a few suggestions, and he picked olive fritte that finds imported castelvetrano olives stuffed with fontina cheese, lightly coated and flash fried and then sprinkled with sea salt and Italian parsley. He loves branzino al piatto dressed with black lava salt flakes and olive oil infused with Sorrento lemons. His signature limoncello pasta (made with his own limoncello), and engaged with fresh lobster meat, pops into the conversation. One of his regular specials and a guest favorite is the venison filet with an amarena cherry port wine reduction.
With all that good food, 160 wines beg to be chosen (about five dozen by the glass!). Wines from Italy, France, New Zealand, Australia and the United States dominate.
There are desserts with Italian connotations and a few international ones as well, and I didn’t even bother to ask which was his favorite. You choose.
He cooks Napoli-style dishes at home. He has full-time restaurant employees making his pastas, so he takes some home—ones like the famous limoncello, ricotta-infused pasta and purple potato gnocchi. Add some excellent prosciutto, burrata cheese, heirloom tomatoes, a clutch of friends and family and a good bottle of wine and it’s heaven for him and those he’s feeding.
Mesa
725 Baker (at Bristol), Costa Mesa
Dinner Tuesday through Saturday
7 p.m. until 2 a.m.
(714) 557-6700
The epitome of cosmopolitan dining
Here’s where I get in trouble, but I’m saying it anyway: This is one of my all-time favorite restaurants. It has a sense of place, a dash of cosmopolitan personality, and a highly persuasive style that is different from any other venue in this county. And the food has continued, since Mesa’s opening in 2008, to delight my culinary curiosity with dishes that stand up for themselves in flavor, presentation and being just different enough to distinguish themselves nicely.
The basic formula behind it all came from Jeffrey Best, Kenneth Jones and Peter Jaisel—three pros and friends who had something parked in the back of their minds about getting dining off its duff. According to Peter, “We saw Orange County evolving into a beautiful metropolis, and we realized a need for a sophisticated evening and late-night spot. While there are such venues in the major cities, Orange County was definitely lacking a great place to eat artisanal food in a small-plate format, drink interesting wines, and enjoy craft cocktails after 10 p.m. Mesa’s kitchen stays open until 1 a.m. every day and bar service goes till 2 a.m.
Mesa certainly did pique the curiosity of OC residents at the beginning, when there was no listed phone number and everyone buzzed about how to find this mysterious place. It was a clever ploy that had us all on the hook and scrambling to be among the “aficionados” who had been there. That gave way to signage and a contact phone, but the aura—and now reality—of it being something special remains.
Chef Ernesto Alvarado has been there since the beginning. His impressive background includes stages with some very notable chefs, stints he mélanged into his signature style. He is particularly focused on the integrity and flavor that he can achieve with this kitchen’s searing-hot, wood-burning oven, including pizzas adrift in quality ingredients such as truffle oil, pistachios, black garlic, cured meats and prosciuttos from America’s most respected vendors such as La Quercia and Framani.
As we sit on the charming banquettes, the beauty and individuality of this place immerses our senses.
New on the spring menu is pork belly on crispy rice cakes with micro greens. Another dish is the bowl of Prince Edward Island mussels dancing with their sprinkling of sea salt and lemon-butter essence (I’ve had these several times!). The chef pairs proteins such as Kurobuta pork, wild steelhead trout, prime-cut beef and free-range chicken with whatever looks beautiful and fresh from the farmers market.
I admire this chef’s intensity of purpose in even things like a decadent burger and his heirloom apple salad, which can beat any contender in OC. No dishes drowned in overly elaborate sauces, no pretense—just totally impressive food.
The wine list is not the ordinary hum drum thing either. It’s of the international boutique genre (labels from Europe, Latin America, Australia and California) put together by sommelier Devon Encheff. He takes 16 thought-provoking wines to offer by the glass. I have had so many unique and terrific wines that create their own memories.
Inspirations from his mother’s and grandmother’s cooking still influence the chef at home. He relaxes by reinterpreting some of their recipes. Shrimp ceviche goes on grilled toast, and he might end a meal with a reimagined bread pudding.
Muldoon’s Irish Pub
202 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach
Lunch and dinner Tuesday through Sunday, Sunday brunch
(949) 640-4110
A beautiful bit of old Ireland
Husband and wife team Ron and Sindi Rae Schwartz have been overseeing their love, Muldoon’s, for many years. Sindi serves as executive chef and operator, while Ron is a full-time trial lawyer. Their daughter Marissa also takes part in running the restaurant.
Muldoon’s seriously promotes pub culture to the community; it might be described as “craic,” a term used in Ireland to describe that magical blend of everything you love to find when you go out: the fun, the food and drink, the music, the lively conversation, the energy, the life! Music is part of this concept. Well-known Celtic bands draw fans to the pub with their concerts, and every Friday and Saturday, musicians play an assortment of music.
There’s a sense of substance in the brick architecture. The interiors are truly charming. The fireplace glows, there are lovely leaded glass windows, coffered ceilings, hefty beams and an abundance of proper artifacts. The patio is reminiscent of an Irish garden, friendly as can be with its greenery and faint smell of ocean breezes.
At first you think of Irish food as very rustic, stick-to-your-ribs fare, but Sindi has her own lighter dishes alongside the traditional Irish specialties. She has salads on the menu, for instance, that are stand-alone winners.
Springtime items abound on the menu. Sindi guides us to the goddess salad with a plethora of seasonal vegetables, greens and homemade avocado green goddess dressing. Organic chicken (or shrimp) salad makes an appearance. Salt-and-pepper calamari and shrimp with a spicy sweet-and-sour sauce is a new appetizer. Sindi says that the smoked Scottish salmon with mascarpone cream spread across handmade flat bread and tweaked with Japanese onion circles and dill is exactly what they eat when in Ireland.
Her entrées to consider include a couple of steak items: Dublin dip New York steak sandwich on a soft warm bun, and New York steak with grilled romaine salad. Irish stew and shepherd’s pie, corned beef and cabbage, fish and chips (made from fresh wild snapper), and even their acclaimed half-pound burgers also are recommended. The slowly braised pot roast, served on Thursday and Friday nights, slips onto the recommended list too.
This chef/owner is big on desserts, and says that chocolate pudding is their best-selling dessert (it’s offered only on weekends) made with 62% dark chocolate, organic milk and no eggs.
Parlour sundae also is on her go-to list, with its homemade chocolate sauce, vanilla ice cream, toffee topping and fresh whipped cream. Throw in a classic apple pie drizzled with homemade caramel sauce. Irish coffee to go with that, anyone?
They keep the wine list nicely updated with finds from California’s great vineyards, and you can toast with a French bubbly too. A nice touch is that the wines by the glass also are offered as half glasses. This, however, is a place where beers also take on importance, and there’s a long list of familiar and boutique choices.
At home, Sindi works on perfecting new recipes, cooking her favorite Vietnamese chicken soup for herself and Ron, and sometimes baking a Swedish coffee cake.
The Ritz Restaurant & Garden
880 Newport Center Drive,
Newport Beach
Lunch Tuesday through Friday, dinner Tuesday through Saturday
(949) 720-1800
Legendary restaurant without peers
Is there anyone who doesn’t know the story of this place and the guy who founded it? Just in case, it was the dream of Hans Prager, a refugee from Germany whose family sought safety during World War II in Shanghai, China. Life was hard and he worked in a restaurant after each school day ended. Thankfully, relatives in the U.S. were finally able to bring him to America, and he promptly found work in the kitchen at L.A.’s famed Scandia.
Then it was off to New York when his work ethic earned him an apprenticeship in the kitchen of the Waldorf-Astoria. Upon completion, he came back here to be the chef at Scandia, and later he segued to Lawry’s for several years.
His first solo venture was the Bell & Crown in Westminster, followed by the “little” Ritz (now 21 Oceanfront), and then moving The Ritz to Newport Center in 1982. Hans sold the restaurant in 2002, and today Ray Jacobi is the managing partner who passionately carries on the warmth and essence of this legend.
From food to surroundings, this is the hallmark of classic elegance. The grand Continental cuisine still wears the crown as the best in OC, and the stylishness of the restaurant pays homage to a past era of fine dining. The magnificent wood, deep and comfortable booths, imported artifacts, colors that speak of sophistication and romance, and paintings of Escoffier overlooking the central dining room are portions of it. The Garden Room parlays the best of al fresco seating.
Since the beginning, Lupe Camarena has been in this kitchen. As chef, he heads a team of 25 and honors what he learned from Hans. “I inherited this passion and love of food from my mentor, Hans Prager,” Camarena says. “He taught me the importance of experimenting and creating the best possible flavors when preparing foods. It is my belief that cooking comes from the soul. I have long known that good eating is based on this philosophy.”
Off the cuff, these are some appetizers he suggests. The Ritz Egg (lightly scrambled with smoked Salmon and chives, topped with Caviar and a shot of ice-chilled vodka on the side) or sashimi grade Seared Ahi with a side of seaweed salad. Of course, there’s everyone’s dream, the utterly famous Carousel (a multi-level lazy susan heavily burdened with House-cured Gravlax, Gulf Shrimp, Dungeness Crab legs, Maine Lobster Claws, Duck Liver Pate, filet of Smoked Trout, Prosciutto with Melon and Tartare of Filet Mignon).
The first entrée to consider is the Bouillabaisse (fresh clams, mussels, shrimp, lobster, scallops and calamari in an aromatic saffron broth). Rack of Colorado Lamb is high on his list as well. Certainly one will have ordered something by now from the plentiful wine list representing America, France, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and Germany. Perhaps one of their fine dessert wines could accompany Lupe’s suggested sweets: Warm Pear Cheesecake in crispy phyllo or the Harlequin Soufflé that’s half Grand Marnier and half Belgian chocolate.
After so many hours in the restaurant kitchen, chef Lupe loves the simplicity of being outdoors with his family, grilling something for everyone: burgers, steaks, chicken and ribs.
Scott’s Restaurant & Bar
3300 Bristol, Costa Mesa
Lunch and dinner daily, champagne brunch Saturday and Sunday 11 a.m.
to 3 p.m.
(714) 979-2400
Foodie haven with a slight aura of San Francisco
The freshest food classically prepared and staged in a warm, friendly environment has been the cornerstone of Scott’s Restaurant & Bar from the beginning. However, without negating the performances of previous chefs, I’m comfortable in saying that chef Michael Doctulero’s food is like a wake-up call to foodies. This is a cuisine that ignites the curiosity to try more of the menu. Passion is rampant, with foods sourced from local farmers, sustainable fisheries and suppliers of the finest prime-aged steaks. The food story is reflective of a chef’s journey in the restaurant business over thirty years, combined with the vision and passions of both ownership and the collective restaurant family.
Scott’s is a dining oasis amidst the high rises in the South Coast Metro area. It was a concurrent happening of Doctulero setting a new vision for this kitchen and the restaurant undergoing a full renovation. Graciously left in place was the quiet, sophisticated and conversation-perfect dining room (with new furnishings and delicate hues), while an edgy cocktail lounge added the ideal counterpoint of being a fine place for societal cocktails and small plates of carefully selected food as accompaniments.
There is a sense of cohesiveness, genteel living and respect for surroundings that the dining room balances so well with the food. The new kitchen was a dream come true for the chef and his staff: State of the art equipment, open to the dining room via a softly curved swath of beautiful granite counter top for an all-important connection to diners that drives everything.
I am fascinated by the synergy of this kitchen. All the cooks have creative input—indicative of the chef’s respect for each person’s thoughts and abilities. They adhere to a mantra:
1) Cook with love, as if guests were coming to your home
2) Cook small, as if we were in a 30 seat restaurant vs. a very big restaurant
3) Let the protein be the star of the plate, with accent flavors around it
4) Let guests taste the immaculate freshness of our food (oysters full of nectar, organic beets that eat like apples, scallops perfectly seared, crunchy winter lettuce, melt-in-your mouth ahi, as examples).
Chef Michael shares these dining suggestions: Asian Pear Salad with lavender and pear juice vinaigrette gliding over delicate lettuce, crunchy pear slices and toasted almonds. Yellowfin Ahi Tartare, Taylor Farms Oysters and Peruvian Ceviche make the list. The tartare has a flash of chile, coriander oil and organic radish. The oysters are one day or less out of the water and swimming in nectar. Ceviche combines mahi, sea bass and rockfish cured in citrus and barely perfumed with ginger, cilantro and scallions.
Suggested new items on the menu: live Dungeness crab, served chilled, San Francisco-style with warm crusty sough dough;, sashimi style Sea Bass with serrano jus; and homemade salmon ravioli. To go with the food, the wine list is 300 labels long, with 35 by the glass. It offers selections from the U.S., Australia, Germany, New Zealand and Argentina.
At home, Doctulero is prone to things reminiscent of his grandfather’s repertoire, such as roasted meats, vegetable stews, broiled fish or fresh pasta of some sort. He also barbecues salmon and steaks, and is fond of dishes that people can eat throughout the day as they feel hungry and mingle casually.
Sundried Tomato Café
361 Forest Avenue, Laguna Beach
Lunch and dinner daily
(949) 494-3312
821 Via Suerte, San Clemente
Lunch and dinner daily
(949) 388-5757
31781 Camino Capistrano,
San Juan Capistrano
Lunch and dinner daily; brunch
Saturday and Sunday
(949) 661-1167
You may be wondering how this multi-location project ended up amidst all the singular restaurants in this missive. It all began because of a lamb cheese burger—the luscious one I had at the San Clemente location.
A more recent evening found me with my hosts and a handful of other business people in Laguna Beach munching on many appetizers and a splay of entrées, all the while wondering why it had taken me so long to return to any of the Sundried Cafés.
I discovered by doing more research that these cafés are quite up with the times, using their own recipes–no cans in the kitchen–with everything fresh brought in daily and food cooked to order.
The founder and operating partner is Rob Quest, who opened in Laguna in 2001, San Juan Capistrano in 2003 and San Clemente in 2009. He calls them American Bistros (although only the one in San Clemente is denoted that way, the other two are called cafés). They are places where the menu is pretty much the same, where guests have a lot of different options and are not tied into one price point, where the boutique wine list is carefully curated (95% domestic wines and 5% international, 30 wines by the glass) and where the fun includes classic and edgy cocktails.
The atmosphere is a little different at each location but they are all representative of what an upscale bistro should be: tables pleasingly attired, stylish décor, comfortable and relaxing seating.
Executive chef is Robert Opelle, who uses “very fresh local ingredients to make our comfort food.”
“The menus have a little something for everyone and the food has a lot of personality,” Opelle saya.
He also notes that someone can get a lighter meal, order small plates of food for diversity, or have something more substantial like the Root Beer Marinated Baby Back Ribs (I’ve had these, and so should you).
The menu is replete with California casual dishes, several that I have become attached to. Chef Robert points to these as guidelines. Begin with the Crispy Blackened Chicken Spring Rolls with an amazing honey cilantro pesto sauce. Or, the Oven-baked Artichoke sporting some melted parmesan cheese and a tarragon aioli.
The chef mentions an entrée of freshly delivered top grade tuna: Rare Ahi Tuna that’s barely seared beneath a sesame crust and glazed with a soy-citrus mixture.
Aha! He mentions the Lamb Cheese Burger—that same one that sent me over the moon. The lamb patties are made fresh daily in the kitchens, the cheese is gorgonzola and the requisite tomato, Bermuda onion and lettuce are stacked with the grilled patty inside a perfect brioche bun smeared with aioli.
And, when the chef gets a day off, he’s cooking comfort food at home, which to him means curry of some sort, or things like stews where many flavors merge. He also loves to eat out. Laughingly, he says that by the time he gets home from the restaurant, he usually has a bag of Skittles in front of the TV.
