1907 Harbor Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92627
On the first day of the year, it has become our tradition to sleep in a bit from the previous night's festivities, ( which is basically me barely making it to 9pm for east coast new years), going for a walk of about two miles, and then crossing a restaurant off of my restaurant wishlist. This year we slept in until 8, walked the Newport Back Bay trail on New Years Day, and then went to a spot that I heard about from the OC Weekly a few years ago, Basil Mediterranean Grill.
It was in November of 2017 when one of my favorite OC food writers, Edwin Goei, formerly of OC Weekly and now of the Los Angeles Times, reviewed Basil Mediterranian. In that article, he made mention of the blink and you'd miss its location and tiny parking lot. He also raved about the food, and the modest price of everything compared to other Persian spots. The prices have crept up a bit from when he visited three years ago, but that's to be expected with all that's been going on with restaurants these last 11 months.
Edwin was not kidding when he mentioned the hidden location of Basil. It's close to the corner of 19th Street and Harbor, set back from Harbor Boulevard just enough that it might require a few times around the block to finally make it in one of the four parking spots in front of the restaurant. We had called in our order after finishing our strenuous walk, and it was ready at our quoted 20 minute wait time.
The menu at Basil, like a lot of other Persian restaurants, is kabab focused, with beef, lamb, chicken, salmon, veggies, falafel, and even cornish hen skewered and ready to go. There are some stew plates for the more adventurous, and specialty rice dishes, appetizers, and salads round things out here. Prices for entrees hover right around the $14 mark, with the most expensive being a combination beef plate, which you will see in a moment. With the aroma of our first meal of the year wafting in the neatly packaged bag from the backseat of our car, I could not make it home quickly enough to eat.
First up was Katie's selection for this early afternoon. The Boneless Chicken ($12) is made up of marinated thigh meat, and the bite I had was crazy flavorful and very juicy, which is not always the case when eating chicken. Katie also chose to get an extra side of their Yogurt Shallot Sauce ($1.50), which was better than their very good tzatziki sauce that comes with each meal. She requested no rice, as she's deep into the keto thing, and it seemed that they gave her extra of the greek salad, as it was bigger than my salad, which I forgot to take a photo of. This greek salad came with mixed greens, olives, feta cheese, shredded carrots, tomato, cucumber, and a balsamic dressing to go over it. The salad was good, but she did not even come close to finishing it and she wished there were some onions included to wake it up a bit.
Being the carnivore that I am, I went with the Beef Combination Plate ($23). This included one strip of ground beef sirloin and another of filet mignon, a big mound of white basmati rice, and a roasted tomato. The ground beef skewer was big on flavor but lacked the tenderness that I was looking for. It was like a very sturdy meatloaf in texture. The winner on this plate was definitely the filet. It was melt in your mouth medium rare and went well with the provided tzatziki sauce and spicy hummus that you will see coming up next. Even though this was the most expensive item on the Basil menu, this steak made it worth it. I could not include all of the rice that they gave me on this plate, so imagine this picture with about three times what is shown here.
Our meal was tied together with this appetizer-sized Spicy Hummus ($6.25). When they say spicy, they meant spicy. I can tolerate spicy things, but this bordered on almost being too spicy for me. This chickpea puree came with an abundance of cayenne that kept Katie from hogging it all, which she usually does when we order hummus from other places. The pita bread was a sturdy, yet unmemorable vehicle for dipping. I'd get this version again, but maybe just the two-ounce side of it.
Basil Mediterranian was a good spot to open our year of eating. The proteins here are the rightful stars of the show. I really enjoyed the steak and the chicken, and look forward to trying the lamb and salmon on future visits. I did not really think the prices were too crazy outrageous, as a lot of other Persian restaurants are easily at least a couple of dollars or more than what Basil charges. Even after our twenty-minute ride home, the food was still warm and fresh. Glad we have this tradition of walking two miles and crossing restaurants off of my wishlist on new years day. Now if we can just be as productive the other 364 days of the year.
Out of five pom-poms, (because singer Toni Basil played a cheerleader in her video for her one and only hit, Mickey, and cheerleaders always have pom-poms), five being best to zero being worst, Basil Mediterranean Grill gets 3 pom poms.
For more information about Basil Mediterranean Grill, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.basilmediterraneangrill.com/
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