Archive for the 'Lunch specials' Category
October 3rd, 2008, 2:58 pm by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
When I say richer, I don’t mean I’m becoming wealthy, sadly. I’m talking about all the rich food I’ve been stuffing my face with.
This mac n’ cheese ($12) from Old Vine Cafe in Costa Mesa is currently occupying my thoughts right now, though I tried hard for five minutes to crave a light and healthy salad. Thankfully, OV’s version — made with porcini mushrooms and a mix of artisanal cheeses like Gouda, white cheddar and queso fresco (mmm, look out for this hint of delicate smokiness) — satisfies without leaving me feeling like I have a five-pound brick in my belly …
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Posted in: Lunch specials • Restaurants by price: $15-$30 • Sandwiches • Soup | 5 Comments »
September 29th, 2008, 3:22 pm by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
Hi folks! So you know how I love my burrata. Usually …
Popped into Memphis at the Santora in downtown Santa Ana today for lunch with Jen. I’m a bit more partial to the Costa Mesa location, but this was much closer to the office and we noticed the specials board today listed an heirloom tomato and burrata salad. Sold. Jen and I both ordered it.
Out came a huge plate of mixed greens (heavy on the romaine lettuce side) tossed in an orange ginger vinaigrette with three slices of burrata, three wedges of tomato and all topped off with a crown of crispy straw onions ($12).
The dressing was just too sweet, almost creamy and did not pair well with the burrata or tomatoes. Needed a tad more acid — maybe a streak of balsamic or zip of lemon to cut the creaminess of the cheese and sweetness of the heirloom tomatoes. And the straw onions were another curious touch, a bit too overwhelming for the flavors involved.
I’ll stick to the gumbo or dinner options at Memphis instead.
(P.S. I’m still here! Alas, many of us here in the newsroom now have uh, redefined responsibilities so I will not be able to devote as much time to Gluttonista, but hope to still do as much as I can in my free time, which sadly, there doesn’t seem to be much of with our shrunken staff! Bear with me, folks.)
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August 19th, 2008, 2:30 am by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
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 …
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Posted in: Lunch specials | 13 Comments »
August 11th, 2008, 11:21 am by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
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 …
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Posted in: Lunch specials • Off the eatin' path: Local hidden gems • Restaurants by price: $0-$14 | 5 Comments »
July 28th, 2008, 10:42 am by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
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 …
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Posted in: Japanese/Sushi • Lunch specials • Restaurants by price: $15-$30 • Restaurants by price: $31-$50 • Lunch Special • Omakase | 4 Comments »
June 25th, 2008, 1:34 pm by jchin
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.
Posted in: Japanese • Lunch specials • Restaurants by price: $0-$14 | 2 Comments »
June 10th, 2008, 9:41 pm by Pedro
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.
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Posted in: Lunch specials • Restaurants by price: $0-$14 • Seafood | 2 Comments »
May 23rd, 2008, 11:34 am by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
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…
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Posted in: Japanese • Lunch specials • Restaurants by price: $0-$14 • Restaurants by price: $15-$30 • Yakitori | 5 Comments »
May 21st, 2008, 5:57 pm by Kat "I eat 'til my pants hurt" Nguyen
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 …
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Posted in: Japanese/Sushi • Lunch specials | 2 Comments »
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