I know, I know, I was dubious, too. That is, right before I had one bite of my wispy thin and crisp slice of pizza, hot strands of gooey mozzarella snapping into my chin. Ahhhh. I instantly had a New York flashback, and no surprise since it turns out the old owner of Al’s NY Cafe in Costa Mesa reportedly once worked at the legendary Original Ray’s Pizza. (My secret foodie fantasy is to go back to New York strictly to tour all of the city’s best pizza joints.)

For now, I’m happy to have Al’s. Loyal fans already know that the tiny joint, sandwiched between a 7-Eleven and a shoe repair shop, dishes up the closest to New York-style pie around. They’ve achieved that perfect thin and crispy crust with the right amount of cheese and marinara. I wandered in there finally after a reader nudged me a few posts back and I’m sure glad I listened. Pies here can be ordered whole or by-the-slice. A whole pizza is nice, but there’s something irresistibly satisfying about seeing a football-sized slice of pie spilling over the sides of a flimsy white paper plate …

(more…)

It was Bobby Flay who inspired this visit to Mil Jugos in Santa Ana. Actually, reporter Niyaz Pirani (king of deep-fried foods, remember?) was watching Food Network’s “Throwdown with Bobby Flay” and the show’s episode was on making arepas, Venezuela’s beloved corncakes that are typically stuffed with cheese or meats. So Niyaz rounded a few of us up for an arepas (ah-ray-pas) lunch. Mil Jugos has been on my unwieldy “to try” list for years but I kept forgetting. Which of course, turned out to be my huge loss as I have been missing out on the tastiest sandwiches all this time …

(more…)

For anyone who appreciates sushi, it’s not exactly the most affordable meal. I’ve easily plunked down more than $100 at the sushi bar — alone. So when I heard about Bluefin’s $35 omakase, or chef’s choice lunch special a few years ago, I was looking forward to this reasonable indulgence.

My four-course feast started with a pretty amuse bouche trio (pictured above) of heirloom tomato gelee in a martini glass, a tempura crab claw and a shotglass of ikura roe. The gelee was smooth and tart with bits of chopped green onion, a refreshing beginning before segueing to the lightly battered crab claw in ponzu sauce — my favorite of the three. The ikura or salmon roe was a pleasant finish, the silky orange orbs popping gently in my mouth. (During a previous visit, the amuse consisted of a lovely kobe carpaccio with bits of shiso, baby squid and the ikura roe.)

Next came a hefty sashimi salad that could have been a meal in of itself …

(more…)

Curry House is rolling its prices back to 1983 levels today. The “customer appreciation” deal actually started yesterday — sorry for the late notice. You can still get it for dinner tonight!

Curry House specializes in Japanese-style curry, i.e. sweet, thick curry that’s much milder than Indian and Thai curries. O.C. locations are at Cypress (10953 Meridian Dr., #P) and Irvine (14407 Culver Drive).

I went to the Cypress location for lunch today and it was packed. Got there at 11:11 a.m., about 20 minutes before opening, and there were already 14 people waiting outside. At 11:40 a.m., the restaurant was full and there was a line of 10 inside. The servers were incredibly efficient and cheery. My chicken katsu (breaded and deep fried cutlet) curry lunch was just $5, down from usual of $10.15.

We’d driven by California Fish Grill in Cypress countless times without stopping, but on a sunny weekday off work recently, the missus and I decided to give it a try. From the outside, it looked like a fancier sit-down kinda joint, but upon walking into the nicely chilled restaurant, we discovered it was more on the fast-and-casual side of things.

What to order? Well, the answer is in the name of the place — there are no steaks on this grill. The waitress at the counter said the white roughy with garlic butter sauce is a customer fave, so that seemed an easy choice. And I’ve always felt the other good test of a seafood restaurant is what they can do with a deep fryer, so the calamari and shrimp platter filled out the order.

The white roughy, which as you can see, comes with fries, cole slaw and bread, is a tasty deal at $7.49. It was moist and flaky without being fishy, meaty yet delicate, and simply prepared: charbroiled in the garlic butter, with maybe a dash of seasoned salt and cayenne pepper, it’s a meal that lets the natural goodness of fresh fish come through.

(more…)

I’ve been going to Shin Sen Gumi in Fountain Valley (arguably home of the best yakitori or Japanese skewered chicken in OC) since the day it first opened sometime in 2000 or 2001, I believe. I was working out of the Fountain Valley news bureau and was ecstatic that a new ethnic restaurant was coming to town. Actually, a bit too eager. I showed up that first day and walked in a few minutes before the 11:30 a.m. opening time and barged right into the middle of what appeared to be some sort of ceremony or group prayer. Oops.

I took my sheepish behind back outside and when I was invited back in a few minutes later, everyone shouted at me. Of course, I quickly learned that it’s the traditional Japanese greeting to patrons: “IRASSHAIMASE!” I was hooked after a satisfying (and under $10) lunch of udon and a bowl of rice with tare negima or teriyaki chicken thigh skewers with green onion and even more so after sampling the bounty of dinner yakitori selections.

Seven or eight years later, I’m still enamored with the loud, pub-style atmosphere and the deliciously chargrilled meats, like the shio negima (salted chicken thighs with green onion), tomato maki (bacon-wrapped cherry tomatoes — you know you want some), arabiki pork sausage, and the uber crunchy nankotsu (chicken cartilage). All for around two bucks a skewer…

(more…)

Talk about an unusual location for a sushi bar — inside a swanky spa and fitness club surrounded by corporate skyrises. Christopher over at Splitends suggested we hit up The Retreat in Costa Mesa for lunch and he was so sure I wouldn’t have found the place that we decided to take one car over together. Good thing he did. I would have been driving in circles looking for the three-month old sushi bar hidden inside The Spa, near South Coast Plaza.

Which brings me to the not-so-cool part: You either have to valet your car or park across the street in the structure, so there’s already a few bucks you can add onto your meal tab. (On the upside, I was later told you can get your valet parking stub validated, but there’s still the tip!)

Once inside, you walk past the opulent spa lobby and straight into the small restaurant where the dark and velvety colored walls provide a stark contrast to the spa’s bright and gleaming marble. We bellied up to the sushi bar and asked for what the freshest fish was: Bigeye Tuna, Red Snapper, Toro or Spanish Mackeral was the immediate reply from the young sushi chef. The bigeye was such a luscious shade of deep crimson, we couldn’t resist. We didn’t expect to be presented with a beautiful sashimi rose …

(more…)

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

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.

(more…)

Ever have one of those days where you just can’t decide where to eat? I always seem to find myself in a lunchtime rut, having exhausted all my usual haunts near the office (Gypsy Den, Bangkok Thai, Sandwich Box, Popeyes, Zon Baguettes, etc) … so Jen and I went to check out a spot that some of our colleagues at the paper are known to frequent: Pina’s Bistro in Tustin.

(more…)