Happy 25th Anniversary to Blake's Place

 Blake's Place

2901 East Miraloma Ave. 

Anaheim, CA 92806

25 years is a pretty long time when you think about it. Twenty-five years ago there were no cellphones, debit cards, or caller ID so you could ignore your bill collectors when you failed to pay your credit cards on time. In 1996 I was living a carefree life with my best friend in Newport, working until ten every night, then hitting up a different bar every night of the week, depending on where our bartender friends were working, so we could maybe score some free beverages. 

Good times, but while I was out sowing my wild oats, others were doing way more worthwhile things. Gene Hobel, owner of Blake's Place was creating a legacy for his son Blake. Back in 1996, Blake was six months old when Gene opened Blake's Place in an industrial area of north Anaheim. Gene took over a small sandwich shop all those years ago and built a thriving restaurant and catering business that he will someday pass along to his son.  

Fast forward to the present day, my friend Daren and I were recently invited to experience what's new at Blake's Place since my last visit over ten years ago. They now have a covered patio that has almost nearly tripled their seating area, and has made the restaurant way more comfortable, as there's no more waiting for tables during their legendary lunch rush. I'm not entirely sure, but the menu seems to have been expanded a bit also. There's a bunch of entree salads, a trio of deli sandwiches, and some good-looking loaded fries to go along with their award-winning barbecue. 

Unfortunately, when we visited on a recent Thursday just before noon, Gene was away on business, but Blake, who is now a manager at this busy spot, filled in wonderfully for his father. He could not have been any more gracious to the two of us, not an easy task when you consider the lunchtime rush was happening all around us. The restaurant business is definitely in his blood. We ordered rather quickly, as I knew what we would be having, as I checked out their menu on their website before visiting. We easily found a table and waited for our food to be brought out to our table. 

Yes, your eyes are not deceiving you, it really is that big. This is The Beast ($29.99). Two and a half pounds of sheer awesomeness. Not to be messed with by just anyone, Daren was hoping that he was the man to tackle this monstrosity. This big pile of deliciousness was made up of pulled pork, pulled chicken, chopped brisket, coleslaw, pickle, red onion, and Blake's BBQ sauce, all placed between a custom-baked extra-large bun. 

When ordering this behemoth you have the option of doing it at your own pace, or you can attack it as a challenge like Daren did. He needed to put this away in 20 minutes or less, and then he'd get a bumper sticker, a T-shirt, and more importantly, his picture would go up on their wall. He started off slowly, as he couldn't get over how good it tasted, and he was taking too much time to savor it. He also took the bun off to save it for later, which I knew was a mistake. I told him to concentrate and finish the bread as quickly as possible, as it would be harder to eat as the time was ticking down on the stopwatch they brought out to our table. He eventually finished with just seven seconds to spare, a far cry from the standing record of four minutes which someone inhaled this sandwich. Maybe next time Daren. 

Not to be outdone by Daren, I also went pretty large at Blake's with Blake's Big Barbecue Plate ($29.99). As is my custom when eating in a barbecue joint, I always veer towards combo plates to get the most variety offered. This good-looking plate came with baby back ribs, sliced brisket, pork spare ribs, coleslaw, bbq baked beans, garlic bread, and plenty of french fries. All the meats were very solid, but if I had to choose a favorite it would have to be the pork spare ribs. They had the perfect amount of sauce on them, which was present, but allowed the meat's natural flavor to shine through. Each rib had plenty of tender meat attached, which gave way with just a little pull. The baby backs were nicely done with more meat on them than other baby backs I have encountered recently. The lean brisket was thinly sliced but lacked a ribbon of fat that I like included with my brisket. The sides were good, with the beans leading the pack with nice bursts of flavor in each forkful. This was a lot of food, which could have easily fed two adults, but I wanted some of the glory that Daren had garnered while conquering the beast, so I finished everything, but a few of the fries. 

It's good to see that Blake's Place is still thriving after a quarter of a century of serving north OC residents some of the best-barbecued meats in these parts. Keep an eye out on their social media accounts for some special events to mark their silver anniversary. I'd like to thank Gene and Blake Hobel for the invitation and opportunity to visit their restaurant, which you can clearly see is a labor of love for both of them. Gene has created quite the legacy for Blake, which I hope will live on for well past another 25 years.  

For more information about Blake's Place, head to their website here: https://www.blakesplacebbq.com/

Welcome to the Neighborhood Calo Kitchen and Tequila

Calo Kitchen and Tequila

28141 Crown Valley Parkway Suite A

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

The empty restaurant that used to be home to a TGI Friday's on the corner of Crown Valley and Greenfield seemed like it had been empty for decades instead of the five years it had really been vacant. There were plenty of rumors about what was going to happen with that space. I had heard a Raising Cane's was going to be a possibility. Another tip had led me to believe that a BJ's Brewhouse was going to be setting up shop there. I had even heard it was going to be converted into a bank. None of these tips proved to be true though. 

Early last year a chain-linked fence went up around the property. The building was stripped down to its frame. Some major work began. About three months later a few signs went up around the chain-linked fence ending all the speculation once and for all. Our new neighborhood restaurant was going to be Calo Kitchen and Tequila. 

A quick Google search answered a lot of my questions about this new arrival. This would be their second location, with the other spot being in El Segundo. That restaurant gets a very respectable 4.5 stars on Yelp with over 600 reviews for those that want to know. I also learned that this is the sister restaurant of Carmelita's Kitchen, which is probably familiar to those of you that have been to their locations in Rancho Santa Margarita, Laguna Beach, or maybe you were visiting Northern California and went to one of their two spots up there. 

Calo is a family-run restaurant. This spot appears to be run by their third generation in the restaurant business. From looking at the menu, I'd describe this as upscale Mexican food. Combo plates range between $16 to $21, while their Mexican favorites section of the menu is in the $14 to $25 price range. Specialties are listed last on the menu, and they go anywhere from $19 to $35 for a prime skirt steak served over chicken enchiladas. Sounds pretty good to me. 

Predictably, this place is unrecognizable from the old Friday's days with the total tear down of this former building. Calo shares a common wall with morning favorite Snooze AM Eatery, which might cause some major traffic and parking issues when Calo starts serving lunch in the early part of July. With the large doors opening up to the rather large patio and the abundance of white used on the painted and tiled walls, the inside of the restaurant feels bright and airy. We were seated in a comfortable booth on the patio for this special friends and family opening event. We enlisted our good friend Oz to join us to experience our first taste of Calo. Let's see if Calo will be a welcome addition to our neighborhood. 

Calo ups the usual humdrum Chips and Salsa that you get at most Mexican restaurants. The chips were nicely fresh, but the star of this show was the bean dip that came with them. I could not get enough, and they generously refilled our bowl numerous times during our visit. The deep earthy flavor mixed with some spices made up for the much more mundane salsa, which needed a little more chunk to it for my tastes. 

Katie has grown an affinity for Queso Fundido ($11) and is on a search for the one that will supplant her favorite one, which is presently from El Maguey, which is down in San Juan Capistrano, With its chipotle cheese, crumbled sausage, mushrooms, sliced onions, and poblanos, this fundido was fine, but did not match the cheesier version from El Maguey. The cheese was off a bit, and the sausage failed to pack much of a punch of flavor. This did come with some very well-made corn and flour tortillas, which helped things out a bit. 

When I'm eating at a Mexican restaurant for the first time, I use the Carnitas ($25) as a barometer to see if a restaurant is worth revisiting. After my first couple of bites of this pork, I can definitely see myself making return visits. These carnitas had exactly what I look for when having this dish. Crispy tips, a little fat running through it for flavor, and tenderness throughout made this plate a winner. The refried beans and rice went well with the pork in alternating forkfuls. A very solid meal, and due to a snafu in the kitchen they had brought out two extra plates that they allowed us to keep, which we enjoyed for lunch the next day. 

Katie is sometimes a wildcard as to what she orders in Mexican restaurants, and at Calo, she veered from her usual fajitas to order the Pollo Serrano ($23). The menu claims that this is a staff favorite, and after a couple bites, it's now one of Katie's favorites as well. The two good-sized organic chicken breasts were blanketed with a green-hued serrano cream sauce and served alongside a scoop of rice and a poblano pepper topped with cheese and avocado slices. The sauce was not only eye-catching but burst with flavor and was a good conduit with the wonderfully moist chicken. I steer away from chicken in restaurants because a lot of the time it's dry, but the bite I had of this is making me rethink this. 

Our good friend Oz was going to go with the carnitas, but I veered him gently to this Seafood Trio ($33) because I had ordered the carnitas already and had wanted a little diversity to this post. Being the awesome guy that he is, he agreed. This trio of seafood items included a shrimp and lobster chile relleno, shrimp taco with bacon, and rounding things out, a lobster enchilada. Oz was pretty impressed with the seafood at Calo, calling it fresh and everything here was well made. Big praise from Oz, whose mom ran a Mexican restaurant in this area for many years. He's very picky when it comes to Mexican food, so to get his seal of approval really means something.  

Even though we were pretty full from our entrees, appetizer, and way more helpings of the bean dip and chips than I care to admit to you, we needed to try dessert at Calo. Our server raved about the Flan ($8) and the Tres Leches Cake ($8), so that's the way we went. I'm not the world's biggest fan of flan, as I think it's a little on the boring side, and hard for restaurants to make it their own. This one was a little creamier than most, and the plentiful amount of caramel made this sweeter than others I have encountered. The tres leches cake was predictably moist, but Katie liked that it was more sturdy than she was expecting. The top layer of icing had a muted sweetness that went well with the yellow cake underneath. I'm looking forward to trying their churros on my next visit. 

Calo Kitchen and Tequila is definitely a welcome addition to the neighborhood, and with the groups of people I see out in front every time I drive by, I think I'm not alone in that sentiment. With the prices per plate, I admit that Calo Kitchen is not going to be an everyday option for a lot of you, but it's definitely one of the better upscale Mexican restaurants in south OC. The food was executed well, and even though this was a trial run for the official first day of opening, the service we experienced on this evening was exemplary. We look forward to many return visits. 

Thank you to everyone we encountered at Calo Kitchen and Tequila this evening for their friends and family event. It was an honor being among one of the first to see what you guys were all about and trying your food. From the management team to bussers, everyone seemed really proud of what they were a part of at Calo. Thanks again for a wonderful evening and we will see you again soon. 

For more information about Cal Kitchen and Tequila, head to their website here: https://www.calokitchen.com/

The Tradition Continues With a Visit to Local Tap House and Kitchen

 Local Tap House and Kitchen

308 South Coast Highway

Oceanside, CA 92054

It's nice getting back into the traditions that we missed in the last year. Katie and I have the custom of heading down to the outlets in Carlsbad so she can get a new purse at one of the high-end stores. No, I'm not partial to shopping, but it does give me a chance to pick a restaurant to eat at in an area that we normally would not get to. After some very careful research, I selected Local Tap House and Kitchen in Oceanside for our post-shopping meal.  

Local Tap House gets a lot of love online. Their Yelp rating is very impressive, with four and a half stars, and over 2000 reviews. There's also plenty of mentions in the local press. Their website touts their executive chef as Daniel Pundik, but he opened a new barbecue restaurant in Fallbrook last year, so I think he is transitioning out of Local Tap House. Nevertheless, when we arrived here at half-past five on a Saturday evening, we were faced with a forty-five-minute wait for a table underneath their heated tent located in their parking lot.  

As we waited for our table we cozied up to the bar, which seemed like a unique experience since we have not been able to sit and watch bartenders work for the last 14 months. It was quite a show watching our very friendly bartender making some pretty labor-intensive cocktails and pouring one of the 30 local beers available on a rotating basis. She deftly filled drink orders, all the while answering numerous questions from other patrons about the beers available on this evening. 

When our table was ready, we turned our attention to their food menu, which is broken down into starters, salads, sandwiches, more substantial plates, and a trio of desserts. Entrees go for $20 plus, while sandwiches hover around the $15 price point, which does not seem that bad for this neighborhood. Let's see what came out for Katie's birthday dinner. 

Katie and I were pretty hungry, so we both picked a starter, to begin with, to try to suppress our hunger. She went with the Mexican Street Corn Empanadas ($13). These golden pockets were filled with chicken,  roasted poblano peppers, kernels of corn, and served with a mixture of mayo queso Blanco, and lime. This was executed well, but these were too mellow for my tastes. I kept expecting a bigger burst of flavor that never came. Some extra sauce or a spicier salsa verde might have helped this out a bit. 

My pick was the WTF Short Rib Fries ($17.50) and they were more to my liking. The fries were placed on top of smoked gouda gravy and the shredded short rib, then this was topped with a fried egg, grated cheddar cheese, cotija cheese, and some green onions. This had plenty of short ribs on the bottom of the plate and was very good when I got everything in one forkful. The longer this stayed around though, the soggier that the fries got. I eventually found myself just picking around the fries to eat the tasty meat. 

The birthday girl was torn between a few items at Local Tap House but eventually went with the Beef Stroganoff ($20). This is one of the most unique versions of this comfort food classic that I've seen. No creamy sauce, instead, relying on a small drizzle of sour cream topping this. The plentiful short rib and pappardelle were joined on the plate by some tomatoes, mushrooms, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, and a couple of handfuls of arugula. Katie loved this quirky version with its house-made pasta and the contrast between the bitter arugula and the rich meat and brown sauce. She could not finish this, as it had way more meat than she was expecting. 

I didn't realize it until we ordered, but three of our four items we got featured short rib. Sorry for the lack of diversity on this evening, I'll blame the cooler weather on this evening that necessitated the need for comfort food. Anyways, this Short Rib French Dip ($17 plus $3 upcharge for the Caesar Salad option) came with horseradish cream, swiss cheese, crispy onions, and au jus for dipping. This sandwich fell flat in my opinion. Some of the meat was dry in parts, and since they did not give me enough au jus, I was kind of stuck with muddling through some of the drier parts of the sandwich. A little more of the horseradish cream could have also helped to wake things up a bit here. The three-dollar upcharge for the Caesar was totally worth it. The greens were dressed perfectly with the nicely flavored Caesar dressing, and the parmesan and the crispy onions added even more flavor. 

When I left Local Tap House I was a little disappointed. The food was not terrible, it was definitely even a little better than average. It's just that I had it in my head that it was going to be spectacular, based on what I read about them online. In other words, it did not live up to the hype I had set in my mind before even walking in, which is on me, not them. I might have gotten the wrong entree, or we should have gotten a little more variety instead of just getting items with short ribs. With that being said the service was pretty stellar on this visit, from the bar staff while we were waiting for our table, to our sever who took great care of us throughout our stay. The vibe at Local Tap House was one of good times, which was exactly what we wanted as we restarted the tradition of heading south for Katie's birthday. 

Out of five volleyballs, (because some scenes from the 80's movie Top Gun were filmed in Oceanside, and one of the most iconic scenes in that movie is when they were playing beach volleyball), five being best to zero being worst, Local Tap House and Kitchen gets 3 volleyballs. 

For more information about Local Tap House and Kitchen, head to their website here: https://www.localtaphouse.com/