Proof that not everything with bacon tastes better: My hot dog today at Jerry’s Dogs in Santa Ana. It sounded like a good idea at the time. I started thinking of those awesome bacon-wrapped hotdogs from the Mexican vendors I’d get outside the clubs in L.A. uh, eons ago. Anyone know whether any such carts exist in O.C.?

Anyway, they didn’t have bacon-wrapped hot dogs at Jerry’s (they totally should) so when I saw bacon bits on the menu of toppings, I figured, why not? Yeah, as it turns out, crumbled bacon was no substitute for the nice long strips of delicious pork belly. However, my Signature Jerry’s Dog ($3.25) had a lovely snap and I’d order it again with the spicy brown mustard.

Actually, I discovered that the bacon crumbs served a better purpose: I scooped them up with some freshly fried potato chips. That worked out rather nicely.

Jerry’s Dogs

2276 E. 17th St.

Santa Ana, CA

714. 245.0200

Oh, Karma Cafe.

I had such high hopes that you would give me respite from long drives to Long Beach and 45-minute wait times at the always heavenly Open Sesame, where I must go every time I’m craving lamb kabob or hummus or falafel.

Sadly, you’re not the one for me. At least not yet. I don’t know, maybe the timing just isn’t right for us. I mean, you’ve only been open for about a month and a half, and you’ve got so much potential. It’s just that, well, I stopped by three times in the last two weeks with high hopes and an empty stomach. And each time, I left unsatisfied.

Day one was a fluke. You were closed in preparation for a promotional event the next day, when you planned to give away sandwiches. I could live with that.

So I returned the next day (too late for the free food, totally my fault).

I sat on a high-backed, red velvety chair at a wobbly golden table near a fountain in the middle of the room. The trickling water sounded pretty. The college girl gossiping at the next table about how all of her friends are jealous of her good looks did not.

I ordered the server’s recommendation: lamb kabob ($12.99). The seasoned skewers came out on a red plastic plate alongside pungent garlic hummus and long grain rice. Your online menu says the dish comes with warm bread, but none accompanied my plate. The lamb was overcooked and incredibly tough. The rice was bland and oily, and while I loved the overpowering garlic in the hummus, I wish it would have been a little warmer. It tasted like it recently came out of a refrigerator, and I think the flavors bloom better at warm temperature.

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Had a mad hankering for some pollo asado or Mexican rotisserie chicken and of course, whenever I get on any kind of food kick, I’ll do it to death. So it was three consecutive days of rotisserie’d bird for me. My absolute favorite part? Eating the tender, juicy meat with the crispy and flavorful chicken skin, mmm. That’s what does it for me. That combined with some homemade salsa is a beautiful marriage, all tucked in a steaming tortilla with some fluffy rice. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some good ol’ Zankou and Rosine’s in Anaheim, too — but something about the Mexican-style rotisserie chicken always has me feenin.’

My first craving took me to Super Pollo in Costa Mesa, my local stop for some spit-roasted poultry. The next day, I went straight to Juan Pollo, a favorite of mine since my teen years. (There are only three Orange County locations of the San Bernardino-based chain.)

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Stopped by Spadra Ristorante for brunch the other weekend after hearing someone rave about the relatively new breakfast offerings there.

This wasn’t the first time I had been told to visit. About a year ago, I remember Kat gushing about the fried mozzarella at this Italian eatery, which was called Il Ghiotto until 2004.

Turns out, Grandma Ruth, who remembers when Spadra was the name of Harbor Boulevard and not the restaurant, has been coming for years. She also remembers when the building was a bus depot because she had to go there to pick up a bicycle my mom’s friend had shipped back from college in Santa Barbara. Before that, the place was an old Pacific Electric railroad station, the restaurant’s website says.

The room where we ate breakfast used to be the baggage room, grandma said.

Frankly, I couldn’t have cared if I was sitting on the sidewalk if it meant I could still eat the mushroom sauce slathered all over this omellete that came wrapped in a crepe (yes, a crepe!).

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I’m officially ending a three-day Rutabegorz bender today.

In case you don’t know, Ruta’s is a local institution that’s been around since the early 1970s when a group of hippies opened a coffee shop in downtown Fullerton, then successfully saved the building from demolition.

Since then, those hippies also have opened restaurants in Tustin and Orange and have expanded their offerings to include home cooked American favorites, vegetarian specialties and my favorites: gigantic salads that come in bowls bigger than my head.

It’s with one of these salads — the chicken avocado — where my bender began Wednesday afternoon over lunch with an old friend in Orange.

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I expected to find basic, run-of-the-mill Vietnamese offerings at Mitasie in Huntington Beach, what appeared to be yet another hole-in-the-wall on the outskirts of Little Saigon. But I kept finding cool and elegant little surprises at this bright shoebox of an eatery, where the dishes average around $6 each. God, I love how cheap Vietnamese food is.

It’s pronounced Mit-ah-zee and I have no idea what it means, but the owner mentioned it might possibly be French-influenced. The small shop is almost lost among a slew of ragtag businesses in an older strip plaza, not to mention all the shiny new chain restaurants that have popped up right across the street at Bella Terra.

Something definitely new for me: Goi tao or Vietnamese Apple Salad ($5.50). It’s finely julienned bits of green and red apple, dressed in a light fish sauce vinaigrette and topped with fried shallots. I know, apples and fish sauce?!? But it was an amazing burst of flavors — sweet, salty, tangy and plenty of crunch. The closest comparison I can think of is the goi xoai or green mango salad, but the apple is certainly more appealing.

It’s one of the handful of interesting items on the menu at Mitasie, which includes fresh spring rolls made with chicken, not pork; a light but lemony chicken noodle soup; and some tasty claypot offerings … (Click on the jump to see more dishes; for the full review in the Orange County Register, click here.)

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Today’s chilly weather egged on my craving for a hot, steaming bowl of soup. And I wanted to venture out of my usual sandwich-for-lunch rut. The Korean District’s Cho Dang Soft Tofu, which serves Korean soon dubu, or spicy silken tofu stew, sounded perfect.

I danced between the oyster tofu soup or the mushroom one, and picked the latter. There are 12 kinds of tofu soup, all $9, with the same red pepper paste-anchovy broth base but with different ingredients, including clams, beef, pork, tripe, dumpling, octopus and more. If you’re feeling especially hungry, you can also get a combination ($15) of soup and various types of Korean barbecue.

There isn’t really an art of eating soon dubu, but there are a few steps to remember. The meal comes with a raw egg that you crack into the boiling bowl of soup. The soup is incredibly hot and cooks the egg immediately. My soup didn’t have as many oysters as I wanted; I fished out five pieces. After you eat the rice, there will be a layer of rice clinging to the bowl. Pour water into the bowl, then scrape and eat the crunchy rice and water mixture. Though it sounds funky, it’s my favorite part of the whole meal.

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There should be a warning that comes with the food at Sasoon Chicken in Orange. Or at least, for that innocuous-looking little plastic container of white garlic paste that accompanies your kabob meal.

Let’s just say it’s been oh, three hours since I last ate my tasty lunch and I’ve been rabidly chomping on two pieces of gum, chocolate AND I’ve rinsed my mouth. I could still kill five vampires right now by merely sighing in their direction. After my meal, I frantically tore through my purse, panicked (and let loose an expletive) when I couldn’t find any gum. I had to pull over to a nearby store to grab not one, but two packets, just to be on the safe side. (P.S. I had to make the lame vampire crack after reading Gustavo Arellano’s review in OC Weekly, which was proudly displayed at the restaurant counter.)

As Gustavo noted, the signature Armenian condiment resembles a grainy frosting that at first tastes buttery, but it doesn’t take long for the stinking rose to unleash its full garlicky fury …

(Click on the thumbnails to view larger images.)

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Went to Blue Frog Bakery in downtown Orange for lunch (the usual: a heavenly turkey sandwich with cranberry dressing and ciabatta bread) and saw a new item in their dessert fridge. Awesomely big cream puffs.

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The fundamental problem with this burrito is its fresh, healthy ingredients.

It’s not that I don’t like all the stuff stuffed inside this flour-encased torpedo from The Filling Station in Orange. It’s just that I like my breakfast burritos a little heavier, a little greasier, than the lean meats and fresh veggies I try to eat when I’m not using this blog as an excuse to pig out.

And this humongous burrito came