Having an Ahba Moment

Ahba

31732 Pacific Coast Highway

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

The power of a picture is pretty incredible. Photos can bring down governments. They can make you fall in love. They can also entice you into checking out your favorite restaurant review site (Eating My Way Through OC) way more often. In my case, a well-tailored picture can pique my interest and get me to move a restaurant to the top of my restaurant wishlist.

That was the case when I saw a shot of a burger in a recent copy of Orange Coast Magazine. The delicious-looking burger came from a place I had never heard of before, Ahba, which is located in South Laguna. SoLag is an area I have not explored at all. I've seen it many times through my car window as I've driven past it on the way to one of  Downtown Laguna's higher-profile restaurants.

Ahba replaced Eva's Caribbean Cuisine, which had closed its doors over a year ago. A jolting reminder that I should not put off going to restaurants that I want to try, because you just never know when they will be serving their last meal. I was not going to make the same mistake again at the same address, so we woke up earlier than normal on a Sunday morning and headed over.

Ahba comes to us from the duo of Owner and Chef Nick Bennett and Chef de Cuisine Jayro Martinez. Ahba translates to father in Hebrew and is what all of Nick's friends called his dad while growing up, and the name stuck with him. Chef Jayro started in the culinary industry right out of high school and worked catering gigs and kitchens around LA soaking up as much as he could at each restaurant he worked at. He opened Mh Zh, which was named the best new restaurant of the year by Thrillist and garnered all sorts of attention while he was at the helm. It's also where he met Nick. Chef Jayro then moved to OC to be near his girlfriend and linked up with Social in Costa Mesa. Now he's reunited with Nick, working his magic at Ahba.

Ahba is open six days a week, closed on Mondays. They serve breakfast and lunch from 8 to 2, open again at 3 for a two-hour happy hour, and then start dinner service at 5pm. The short and sweet menus are Mediterranian skewed, but you're not going to see middle east stalwarts like shwarma or falafel here. I'd classify this food as American, with slight touches from the Mediterranian region. Nothing on the breakfast/lunch menu crosses the $15 threshold, while dinners range anywhere between $10 to $29 for a ribeye, which is a pretty good deal for a steak near the beach.

Definitely going to come here for dinner in the future but on this visit, we were here for breakfast and were met with a full restaurant at just before 11 on a beautifully sunny, but chilly Sunday morning. They hastily made a spot for us on the side of the restaurant, at an odd little table with a window looking inside the drink station. We quickly persued the 15 item daytime menu and made our selections once our server brought back the iced teas we had ordered. Let's check out the spread at Ahba.

Katie starts us out with her Egg Sammie with Avocado added ($14.50). This sturdy egg sandwich came with bacon, arugula, white cheese, aioli, and of course a fried egg. She loved the insides of this sandwich. The way that everything played off of each other to form a very comforting, yet lighter than your average breakfast sandwich made this a winner. She did comment that the bread used here was a little tough to get through, especially around the crust. This came with a simple salad, with a light dressing that was fine, but nothing earth-shattering.

Katie rounded out her meal with these Rosemary Hash Browns ($6). I don't know what it is, but I really enjoyed the presentation with this. The dollops of the red ketchup and the beautifully browned hash browns were eye-catching and got a lot of love on my Instagram post. Not just a pretty picture, these hash browns had a nice undercurrent of rosemary running through them while being crunchy and not too greasy. A nice improvement from the usual humdrum hash browns you get from your usual breakfast joint.

Apple Pie French Toast ($12) caught my attention when I saw it on the menu, as I think it would do with most anyone perusing the offerings at Ahba. I had to give it a try. Three slices of french toast were topped with spiced cubed apples and a smear of homemade whipped cream. This missed the mark for me. It was not sweet at all, and really needed some syrup on the apples, or maybe a side of maple syrup to tie everything together. The whipped cream was fine, but since it was homemade, it lacked the punch of sweetness that I was hoping for. 

It was the burger that brought me here, but for some unexplainable reason, I was not in the mood for a burger. I'm always in the mood for burgers. What is happening to me? Who am I? Anyways, I went with this Harissa Toast ($11.50) instead of the burger. I stand by my choice. A thick slice of bread was topped with two strips of crisp bacon, a sunny side up egg, caramelized onions, tahini, and harissa, a North African chili paste. This was delicious and satisfying. I loved the different textures, and flavors coming through in different bites. I did not get enough heat from the under applied harissa, but the rest of this made up for it, especially the runny egg yolk. Like Katie, I thought the crust of this bread was a little tough to get through, but I managed with a little help from my knife and fork.

Maybe subconsciously I knew that I did not need to order the burger on this visit because I knew we'd like this restaurant enough to make a return trip very soon. With the exception of the french toast, we both really enjoyed this unique and unpretentious brunch spot. With this restaurant being located a great distance away from the busy downtown area, it makes a trip here feel more like a hidden gem, even with all of the people here during our visit. I'd also be remiss if I did not mention how nice everyone was during our stay. I thought that since our table was outside, and tucked into a little corner, we would have been forgotten, but the opposite was true. We had great service from both our server and the food runner on this late Sunday morning. It really seemed like everyone we encountered really wanted us to be here and have a great experience. The picture of a cheeseburger brought us here, but the great service and unique food will bring us back.

Out of five skimboards, (because skimboarding was started in the 1920s by Laguna Beach lifeguards), five being best to zero being worst, Ahba gets 3.5 skimboards.

For more information about Ahba, head to their website here: https://eatahba.com/

Island Hoping in La Palma

Isla Cuban Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar

30 Centerpointe Drive #12

La Palma, CA 90623

I might have a problem. It's a problem I'm more than happy to have, but a problem nonetheless. I am addicted to Cuban food. The main problem is that there are not too many Cuban places to eat in OC. My unofficial count is at about 7 restaurants that I'd consider strictly Cuban. Yes, there are some spots that kind of verge on Cuban cuisine, but they also have other food that they specialize in.

Of the seven Cuban restaurants in OC, I have been to five of them so far, and my favorites have been Bella Cuba, Moros, and Habana, in that order. Porto's, of course, is a classic, and you couldn't get me to go back to Felix in Orange again because the two times I have visited, their food has been bone dry. If you are looking for the best I have had in Southern Californa it's definitely El Cochinito in Silver Lake. I was definitely intrigued as to where newcomer Isla Cuban Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar was going to end up on my list of OC Cuban spots.

I had read a review about Isla in the now-defunct, but not forgotten OC Weekly, and a glowing review in the OC Register, where the only complaint Brad Johnson could muster was about the noise level inside the restaurant, (he was not wrong about that). Isla is a family-owned restaurant, with items from not only Cuba, but also the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. The matriarch of the family, Senora Deysi, is the inspiration for the food that they serve at Isla.

I had made 5pm reservations on a recent Saturday to meet up with my parents here. Reservations are definitely the way to go, as the restaurant and enclosed front patio filled up rather quickly during our visit. There are maybe twenty or so tables inside, another ten on the patio, and a ten-seat bar off to the right-hand side of the restaurant. The dining room is lit with hanging chandeliers and the obligatory pictures of Cuba adorning the walls. A pleasing kind of art deco vibe fills the space.

The menu reads like a greatest hits of Cuban cuisine. It starts with seven traditional appetizers, there's a quartet of soups and salads, beef, chicken, pork, and seafood entrees, a Mofongo, and sandwiches, which are unfortunately only available from 11 to 5pm. Since we were seated at exactly 5:03 it prevented my mom from having the only thing that she had her heart set on this evening, a Cuban sandwich. Even a request from our server to the kitchen yielded an emphatic no that they would not be making a sandwich three minutes past their 5pm cutoff time. Apparently, they lock up their sandwich ingredients in a time activated safe, which will only be opened at 11am on the next day. At this point, my mom checked out, and would not be eating anything at Isla on this evening. Not a great start to our meal. Let's see if the night could be salvaged with what the other three of us ordered.

It's a Cuban restaurant, so no chips and salsa insight, but instead you get Plantain and Yucca Chips with Garlic Sauce to start out with. I enjoyed the plantains, more than the yucca chips. The real star here was the garlic sauce, which actually made even the blander yucca chips taste good. 

Out of the seven tapas options, we settled on the Empanadas ($10) which are offered with either beef or chicken. We went with chicken. Even though I'm more partial to beef, I really enjoyed the empanada that I consumed way too quickly. It was filled with plenty of chicken and the two sauces served with this were pretty stellar. The green was my favorite by just a bit.

My dad is pretty unpredictable with what he usually gets in restaurants. I never know what he's leaning towards until he orders. On this evening he could not resist the Salmon A La Parrilla ($22). I have a love-hate relationship with salmon. It's either really good or it's not to my liking at all. This was definitely the former. It was cooked perfectly, the garlic sauce was delicious, and I was a little whistful that I did not get the salmon. My dad's only complaint was the black beans and rice, which he did not really care for, although he did not give me a reason why.

Katie is a lot more predictable when it comes to guessing what she's going to order. I knew she would be having a chicken entree, and I was proved correct when she went with the Pollo Asado Isla ($19). This chicken was slow roasted and utilized the same excellent garlic mojo sauce that topped the salmon. She loved the tender chicken, but it was the garlic sauce that made her swoon with delight. She called this classic comfort food. The black beans rounded this out nicely.

I came here expecting to get the Bistec Encebollado, but our server really talked up this Lechon Asado ($19) and being a big fan of pork, that's the way I went. This was the best version I have had in OC. The menu description claims that this pork is marinated for two days, and after my first bite, I knew it was true. The pork is roasted wonderfully and topped with more of that garlic mojo sauce that I could not get enough of. I actually liked the black beans and rice. I mixed them together to form a kind of congri. The black beans were full of flavor and really livened up the white rice. The plantains were sweet but subtly, just the way I like them. A very good meal.

Dessert would be our last hurrah at Isla, and I decided on the Tres Leches Cake ($7). This very traditional Cuban dessert failed to impress. I did not mind the moistness of this, as that's what you expect when getting this dessert. I did mind the blandness that each bite brought to my taste buds. A way too mild taste and the frosting did not help out here either. Looking online, we should have maybe gone with the flan instead.

Even with the sandwich snafu at the start of our visit, I left Isla pretty impressed with the food that I experienced on this evening. All three of our entrees and empanadas were great and made me definitely want to come back again soon to try their sandwiches, (before 5 of course), and also try one of their beef dishes. Our server Raymundo handled a difficult situation at the start of our visit as well as could have been expected. No complaints about his service on this evening. Where does Isla rank as far as Cuban food in OC? I'd put them right near the top, if not the best. I'd have to go back to Bella Cuba again to see if it's just as good as it was back when we visited over eight years ago. Yes, it's difficult for us to make it back to a restaurant once we visit, with my ever-growing lists of restaurants I want to experience. I am very grateful for another OC Cuban option that will help satisfy my Cuban food addiction.

Out of five cows, (because the city of La Palma was once named Dairyland, and they have a cow on their city seal to commemorate this), five being best to zero being worst, Isla Cuban Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar gets 3.5 cows.

For more information about Isla Cuban Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar, check out their website here: https://www.islacubankitchen.com/

Cuckoo for Cuca's?

Cuca's Mexican Food

26676 Portola Parkway

Foothill Ranch, CA 92610

It's pretty easy to come up with a reason that most of the restaurant blogs that I used to read religiously are not producing any more new content. One word, Instagram. It's just easier to take a picture, write a short comment about it, and then let the likes roll in. A lot easier than the six hours or so that it takes me to write a single restaurant review. Yes, I'm a slow writer and get distracted rather easily.

Out of all the social media platforms that I use, I agree that Instagram, or The Gram, as the kids call it, is the best. It's the most visual of all media, which helps when you are photographing food. Also, unlike Facebook and Twitter, there's a lot less opinion being floated about, and little to no politics mentioned. A big plus especially in this election year. I've also noticed that people are a lot more polite on IG, and I have even gotten some great tips from many of my followers.

That's the reason we found our way to Cuca's in Foothill Ranch. It was probably a few years back now when one of my followers mentioned that I needed to give this place a try. It just so happened that we were walking around Lake Mission Viejo with our good friends Mazi and Marita, and were looking for somewhere to eat after our 3-mile jaunt. It hit me that we were in the vicinity of Cuca's, so that's where we headed to replenish after our grueling workout.

Cuca's is situated just off Portola Parkway, in the same shopping plaza as Denny's, Outback Steakhouse, and right next door to Planet Fitness. I was surprised to learn that this is part of a seven-unit chain that started in 1989 in the Inland Empire. It's truly a family-run business, as Cuca and her three daughters have opened new restaurants as the years have passed by, including one inside Buffalo Bills in Primm, Nevada.

This Foothill Ranch spot is the only one in OC and is run by her daughter Emerald and her husband Amir, who reside in nearby Rancho Santa Margarita. They opened it seven years ago, and have amassed quite a loyal following. The menu is highlighted by combination plates, burritos, tamales, burgers?, ala carte options, and daily specials, which includes a taco Tuesday special where you can get crispy tacos for $1.75 and soft tacos for just over $2. Unfortunately, we were here on a Thursday, so no taco Tuesday for us. Let's check out what did end up having though.

Long time readers of this blog know that Katie always orders Guacamole ($5.95) when we are in a Mexican restaurant, and that streak continued here at Cuca's. This was a decent version of her favorite dip. The consistency was spot on, but I'd like it to be seasoned a bit more. The chips here are very good. A little thicker than most, with a nice crunch to them. Kind of like the ones at Jalapenos, but without the lard after taste.

Marita was feeling the taco vibe at Cuca's with this trifecta of tacos. She selected two of the Carne Asada ($3.19 each) and a Carnitas Taco ($3.19). The carne asada was dressed with chopped cilantro and cabbage, while the carnitas came topped with pico de gallo and red onion. Both Marita and Mazi, who got the same tacos praised these. They loved the flavors, felt there was enough meat on them, and would get these again, but next time maybe get these as a combo plate so they could have some rice and beans.

Katie started her culinary journey at Cuca's with Taquitos ($5.29). These come three to an order, sprinkled with grated cheese, and a dollop of guacamole on the side. You have a choice of either beef or chicken, and she went with the chicken version. These were fried well but lacked the greasy tinge that I was expecting, which is a good thing. I'd definitely get these but would opt for beef. 

Katie also got one of the Daily Specials ($6.25) which comes with your choice of two items and a small drink. No beans and rice with this one. She selected a Soft Chicken Taco and a Hard Shelled Chicken Taco as her two items. She's pretty much a chicken-aholic if you could not tell from all of the poultry she ordered at Cuca's. Both of these were very solid in her opinion, with the chicken being pretty moist and flavored well. She liked the crunch of the hard taco best. Both could have had a little more chicken included in them, but she was overly happy with her meal. 

Combination plates are my jam, so I can try many different things on one plate. Combo plates give me a better representation of the food that a restaurant serves. At Cuca's, I got this 3 Item Combination Plate ($10.29) which featured a cheese enchilada, two beef taquitos, and a carne asada taco. I really liked everything on this overflowing plate, but if pressed, I'd say the cheese enchilada was the best here. A very good enchilada sauce surrounded the cheesy enchilada nicely. I concur with Mazi and Marita that the carne asada taco was delicious, but I would have liked it even better with some cheese added to it. The taquitos were fried nicely and had a good amount of shredded beef inside them. The refried beans were better than the rice, but I usually feel this is the case at most Mexican restaurants. Overall, a very comforting plate and one that I would totally get again.

All four of us left Cuca's pretty impressed with everything that we had on this evening and eager to come back and try more. One of the better fast-casual Mexican restaurants we have encountered in South OC. The food tasted fresh, not too greasy, and they had a decent variety available. Prices seemed more than fair for the amount of food that you get. Cuca's will definitely help quell your Mexican food cravings if you are in the area. We did note that they were closing up earlier than their posted 9pm time, as we witnessed two customers turned away just after 8, so definitely be aware of that. Seriously glad to get this tip about this place on Instagram, and if you follow me on IG and want us to try a spot, just reach out and we will get around to going there eventually.

Out of five ghost-monsters, (because in Spanish speaking countries a cuca is a female version of the mythical boogeyman), five being best to zero being worst, Cuca's Mexican Food gets 3 solid ghost-monsters.

For more information about Cuca's Mexican Food, head to their website here: https://www.cucas.com/

Burntzilla Is on the Loose - CLOSED

Burntzilla

14413 Culver Drive

Irvine, CA 92606

The new year is full of promise and hope for a remarkable 365 days ahead. As is our custom, Katie and I spend the first day of the year together. We go out for a walk, thinking in the back of our minds that we will make this a habit and walk a few miles every day, which usually only lasts until January 3rd. We also hit a spot on my restaurant wishlist to start the new year.

Our first pick ended up being closed, and our second selection was shuttered on the first day of the year. Did no one want to take our money? The third restaurant we ultimately found was the charm, as we finally got to experience a place I'd wanted to try for a long while, Burntzilla in Irvine.

Burntzilla is a collaboration between two of what some might argue are the most successful OC-based food trucks. I'd go with Slapfish as the most noteworthy truck, but the Burnt Truck and Dogzilla are also right up there. This partnership combines the Burnt Truck's modern take on classics in slider form while adding Dogzilla's Asian twist on its mini hot dogs. After our walk and our misses with closed restaurants on this New Year's Day, I was excited to finally have my first meal of the year.

The Burntzilla menu features 8 sliders, four mini hot dogs, one salad option, and a quintet of sides. There are also two combo options, which allow the indecisive to pick two or three sliders or dogs, depending on how hungry you are, along with an order of fries and a drink. I was initially intimidated by all the choices but quickly zeroed in on what I would be having. We ordered from the cheerful counter girl and found a seat in front of their restaurant, soaking up the sun while we waited nearly five minutes for our food to arrive.

Yeah, our new year never includes the pretense of diet food. Katie selected the Golden Combo ($11 with upgraded loaded fries) for her maiden meal in 2020. You can choose two sliders or zillas, fries, and a drink with this combo. Katie went with the BLT Slider and the Banh Mi Zilla. She enjoyed both of these. The BLT came with precisely what you'd expect from any BLT, but they also added a jalapeno aioli, which gave it a little kick. She added some avocado, which added a nice textural element. A good choice for lighter eaters. The Vietnamese-inspired Banh Mi came with a wonton-wrapped spicy chicken link, pickled carrots and radish, jalapeno cilantro, and garlic aioli. She liked all the layers of texture on this. The pickled veggies dominated a bit, but the chicken link was one of the best she has had. It did not even taste like chicken. The Irish Nachos were more to her liking than mine. The fries are topped with a sharp and pepper jack cheese sauce, squirts of sour cream, crumbled bacon, and chopped green onion. I'm not big on cheese sauce for my loaded fries, but instead, I opted for melted grated cheese. Katie liked these more than the tater tots, which you will see in a moment. I also found that these needed to be layered better, as the bottom portion of the container was just plain fries. 

I had the Big Combo ($13), with three sliders or zillas, tater tots, and a beverage. I also got an extra Slider ($3) on the side. The best of the bunch for me was the Nashville Style Hot Chicken, which cranked up the heat with a spicy, crunchy breading on the chicken, along with a house pickle slaw and spicy Thousand Island dressing. The Street Dog grabs the silver medal as it continues the heat trend with its bacon-wrapped spicy link, avocado, jalapeno cream, pico de gallo, and a little crunch from some tortilla strips placed on top. A lot going on with this textural-wise, and the flavors did not drown each other out like I thought they would. The BBQ Pulled Pork snags the bronze as the third best. The pork was dressed in a barbecue sauce, which overpowered the entire slider, so that was all you tasted. It's not awful, but I would have liked the pork to be the show's star instead of the BBQ sauce. The worst by a long shot was the Cheeseburger, which looks probably like the best based on the pictures above. The Angus beef patty, American cheese, grilled onions, and avocado spread could have made a more significant impression. Very dull. Tater Tots are always very comforting to me; these were no exception. They could have been crunchier, but they were still good.

Burntzilla was an excellent choice for our first meal of the year. I liked almost everything we had here and would come back and try more of their stuff. From what it looks like online, they rotate items on and off their menu rather frequently, which helps keep things fresh for their devoted customers. I do wish that they had bigger versions of their food. A few bites of their Nashville hot chicken sandwich was not enough. I also would have gotten a bigger version of their street dog if it were available, which, from the pictures I have seen of their menu on Yelp from a few years ago, appears bigger versions used to be available but are not presently available. Service was cordial and unobtrusive. I've heard parking in this shopping center can be a little challenging, but since the Trader Joe's was closed on New Year's, we had no problems with parking, but something to be mindful of.

Out of five rakes (because the city of Irvine has nearly 80,000 trees within its borders, and I imagine they need plenty of rakes to clean up around the city), five being best and zero being worst, Burntzilla gets three rakes. 

For more information about Burntzilla, head on over to their website here: http://www.burntzilla.com/