Julep, Good Enough to Toast To?

 Julep

3325 East Imperial Highway 

Brea, CA 92823

It was day two of birthday dinners for Katie, and this time it was my family's turn to spoil the birthday girl. As is her custom, Katie yields the restaurant selection to me. This is not due to my prowess in picking great restaurants. It's more about me choosing a spot that will satisfy her and my family. After many minutes of research online, I finally decided on Julep in Brea. 

Julep burst onto the scene eight months ago and is situated in the old Jimmy's Famous Tavern spot on the corner of Valencia and Imperial Highway in the La Floresta Shopping Center, which is anchored by Whole Foods, Mendocino Farms, and Urban Plates. Julep comes to us from the Toast Restaurant Group, which runs Mimosas Brunch and Dinner in both Whittier and Anaheim Hills,  Benediction in the City of Industry, and Toast, which boasts three locations in Downey, Whittier, and down the road in Brea. 

This is the least brunch-centric of their concepts, even though they offer a brunch menu on weekends from 8am til 3. The lunch and dinner menus are the same, and all items on both are offered after 11am daily. Julep has plenty of options for you to consider when dining here. They offer 13 appetizers, along with soups and salads. Burgers, sandwiches, and pasta dishes are available, with 14 more significant entrees of steaks, seafood, and chicken dishes. Prices range between  $12 to $25 for starters, and entrees will set you back anywhere between $14 to $55 for their filet mignon. 

They take reservations through their Yelp page, but only for parties of four or fewer. For bigger parties, you are asked to phone the restaurant, which I did since we were a party of six, but after numerous calls spread over several days with no one answering the phone, I decided we'd chance it and just show up. We met at half past four on a Sunday, which is not precisely peak meal-eating time. After a wait of about five minutes, we were seated. 

The dining area conveys a pleasant and relaxed vibe with its exposed dark wood beams on the ceiling, striped tiled flooring, and glass roll-up doors allowing plenty of natural light to permeate the restaurant. The space is still recognizable from when this was Jimmy's, but they have added their own touches like the dragonflies and empty bird cages adorning the walls and the whimsical art spread throughout the restaurant. 

We started with two appetizers, the first of which was the Corn Fritters ($13). These yellow corn fritters resembled tater tots, with a crunchy outer shell and a cornbread mixture inside. They came with a maple bourbon sauce for dipping. I'm not a huge cornbread fan, but everyone else enjoyed these. I enjoyed the choice of the dipping sauce, which saved these for me. 

The Ahi Tuna Tartare ($18) gets a lot of love online. This tuna tower uses cubed tuna mixed with a sesame dressing as its base and then is topped with an avocado mash. It comes with wonton chips for scooping. I liked this, but I only had a couple bites since it was split among six people. The tuna was fresh but could have been seasoned a bit more. I enjoyed the avocado on top, which stole the show for me with this plate. 

This Fried Chicken ($20) wins the award for most photogenic dish of the evening. The chicken breast was fried nicely with a delightful crunch when bitten into. It was also surprisingly tender all the way through. It was served with a large spoonful of garlic pomme puree, which you might know better as garlic mashed potatoes. They were very buttery, but the promised garlic was very muted. The plate was rounded out by a Dijon mustard sauce that lined the bottom and served as a gravy over the fried chicken. An odd choice that worked well because the mustard was not too front and center. My mom and sister enjoyed Julep's take on this American classic. 

The birthday girl Katie picked the Beef Stroganoff ($25) as her celebratory meal. I'm sure I have not mentioned it, but Julep is a cast iron skillet restaurant, meaning all their entrees are cooked in or finished in a cast iron skillet. I think this dish was just finished in the cast iron. This meal was made up of filet mignon, pappardelle, and the same Dijon mustard sauce that was used on the fried chicken. Katie liked this version of the comfort food classic. The noodles were cooked nicely, the steak was tender, and she appreciated the uniqueness of the mustard sauce. She scrapped this plate clean. 

It's always entertaining to see what my dad will order when we go out to eat. He did not disappoint by getting this Cast Iron Trout ($21). This rather large piece of trout was cooked to where it was flaky, but it was a little too mild in the flavor department for my tastes. The garlic mashed potatoes, and the green bean baby friese citrus salad did an admirable job of livening things up. 

My brother-in-law had heard good things about the Shrimp and Grits ($21) at Julep, so he tried them. This was another interesting interpretation of a dish we've all had. The garlic shrimp and grits were placed on top of four asparagus spears and some red wine demi glaze and then topped with fried onions. This was too busy. The red wine sauce seemed out of place, and the asparagus should have been situated to the side, along with the fried onion strings. The shrimp and the grits were good but were overwhelmed by the other components of this plate. 

I usually avoid getting ribs and other barbecue items at non-barbecue restaurants, but for some reason, these Coca-Cola Beef Ribs ($25) piqued my interest enough to order them. They were decent and better than some I have had in actual barbecue spots in OC. Plenty of tender and flavorful meat on these one-and-a-half ribs, and the barbecue sauce added a tinge of sweetness to each bite. I usually like to apply my own barbecue sauce to my meat, but this sauce was pretty solid. The plate was rounded out by some coleslaw and french fries, both of which were satisfying. 

I admit I did not have the highest hopes for a good meal when we entered Julep this early Sunday evening. I changed my tune when we had finished eating, though. The food here will not blow you away and make you want to immediately return, but the menu is varied enough that almost anyone can find something at Julep that they will like. The little twists they add sometimes miss the mark, but not enough to ruin your meal. The service this evening could best be described as slow. Our server had a bunch of tables to attend to while other servers walked around aimlessly, not doing too much or helping our server out. It's a young staff, so they may find their way. The price point here was more than fair for the portion sizes. Not to break my arm, patting myself on my back, but this was a pretty good spot that I picked for my family to celebrate Katie's birthday. Everyone left here happy. 

Out of five horses (because the most well-known julep is the mint julep, famous for being served at the Kentucky Derby), five being best to zero being worst, Julep gets 3 horses. 

For more information about Julep, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.julepbrea.com/ 

Making Pigs of Ourselves in Oceanside

 Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen

509 Mission Ave. 

Oceanside, CA 92054

Yes, it was that time again. Katie has turned another year older, which means that we made the trek down the 5 Freeway to the Carlsbad Outlets to get her a new Coach purse. It also means I get to choose a restaurant in the surrounding area. This year I disregarded my restaurant wishlist and instead went to Yelp to see what was one of the most loved restaurants in the area. I barely had to scroll before I found exactly what I was looking for, Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen. 

Flying Pig checked all of my boxes when judging a restaurant's popularity on Yelp. They have over 2000 reviews and possess a four-and-a-half-star rating. I could not make a reservation because I was unsure when Katie would be done shopping, so we chanced it that we'd be able to snag a table on a recent Saturday night at 7pm. We had luck as we were seated right away at the table closest to the front door. 

Opened for business in 2011, Flying Pig moved to their current location on Mission Avenue two years ago. Things must be going good for them because they are in the process of taking over the neighboring storefront, turning it into a wine shop and tasting room. This current location features a ten-seat L-shaped bar to the right of the entrance, exposed redwood beams add height to the ceiling, and even though the dining space is long and narrow, the tables are spaced just enough so you do not appear to be right on top of other tables. 

The compact one-page dinner menu will not overwhelm you with too many choices. It's broken up into starters and salads, of which there were fourteen options when we visited in late April. There were eight entrees to go along with the four sides. From what I can gather online, their menu changes with the season, but some items are mainstays. Starters hover around the $15 price point, while entrees range between $25 to $35, with only the steak listed as market-priced. Now that you have the lay of the land, let's see what we pigged out on here. 

Brussels sprouts have gone from being a vegetable that most people despised as kids to gracing almost every trendy menu in southern California. Most restaurants add a balsamic reduction, some parmesan cheese, and maybe a pecan or two and call it a day. The Brussels starter ($16) at Flying Pig was a breath of fresh air. This visually appealing dish came with chunks of blue cheese, cranberries, and tasso ham tossed in a garlic dressing. The blue cheese woke up what has become a very predictable dish. I also was a big fan of the contrast between the garlic dressing and the tartness of the cranberries. I expected more from the ham, but this was still a solid start to our meal. 

The Mac N Cheese ($17) also looked beautiful on our table. The menu lists this as made up of mornay sauce, bacon, and provolone as the lone cheese listed. The skillet was scalding hot, and I enjoyed that they used orecchiette pasta, which has a better surface area for the cheese to cling to, rather than macaroni. The mornay sauce was good, while the provolone was too mellow. I hoped the promised bacon would help, but our skillet seemed devoid of bacon, or maybe Katie had it all on the side she was eating from. Rude.  

Katie had her eye on two items at Flying Pig, the salmon and what she eventually went with, the House Bolognese ($26). From what I can gather, this is prepared differently daily based on the chef's whim. This evening, the handmade pappardelle included a tinge of lemon, giving this a unique twist. The bolognese was meaty and flavorful, and adding the Fried Egg ($2) tied everything together wonderfully. Katie has called this one of her top meals of the year so far. 

I have been in the mood for a steak for some time now, and after enduring the outlets for an hour and a half, I felt I deserved to pamper myself with The Steak ($49) at Flying Pig. This is another of the chef's whims based on the day. On this Saturday evening, it was a 14-ounce ribeye that was offered. The steak was topped with what I assumed to be enoki mushrooms, and I felt pretty neutral about the dark brown sauce topping the meat. The steak was cooked to my preferred preference of medium rare and was just tender enough. It was not as good as what you'd get in a high-end steak house, but if you are in the mood for a steak when eating here, you will be satisfied with the ribeye if it's available when you visit. The mashed potatoes were buttery, but I wish they were a little more solid in texture. The spring veggies rounded out the plate nicely. 

Desserts, like the pasta and steak we had earlier, are rotated based on what's available. We had three options this evening, but I was most intrigued by the Apple Fritters ($12). The sliced apples were fried in a batter and then dusted with powdered sugar and a small drizzle of maple syrup. This was a miss for me, as I expected more of what you'd find in your local donut shop. This was less sweet than I had wanted, as the apple underneath the fried batter was too tart, and there needed to be more sugar and syrup to balance things out. It was creative, but not something that I'd try again. 

We have come down this way to celebrate Katie's birthday for the last ten years, meaning we have eaten at least ten times in this area. I'd rank Flying Pig in the upper echelon of restaurants we've been to in Oceanside/Carlsbad. Only That Boy Good BBQ is better, but unfortunately, they closed last month, making this place number one in my book. We received warm and friendly service on this busy Saturday night, and everyone working here is very proud of what they got going here. Please be aware that Flying Pig appears to have a seasonal menu, so these items might not be available when you visit. It'll be hard to pass this spot by the next time we are down this way next year for Katie's birthday. 

Out of five frogs (because one of the most iconic pigs of all time is Miss Piggy from The Muppet Show, and she definitely had a thing for the head muppet Kermit the Frog), five being best to zero being worst, Flying Pig Pub and Kitchen gets 3.5 frogs. 

For more information, head to the Flying Pig website by clicking here: https://flyingpig.pub/