Best Restaurants of 2023

We are down to our last day of 2023. It's hard to fathom that this is my 14th year writing this restaurant review blog. Most of my fellow food bloggers have stopped writing and either drifted off to other pursuits or have transitioned to becoming influencers on Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, or whatever the latest visual app is the hottest. Sometimes, I feel like I'm the last of a dying breed. But I carry on to bring you my thoughts on restaurants in OC and beyond. 

This year is the least amount of reviews I have ever written in a calendar year. No, I have not been on a diet, incarcerated, or been told to curtail my eating by my doctor. I have had another hobby that has taken up my time this year, namely audiobooks. Before, when I used to get home from work, I'd write for a few hours before Katie got home. This year, I got home and continued listening to the audiobook I was listening to on my twenty-minute commute. I have decided that I need more balance in my life, so I'm determined for that to change in 2024. 

Needless to say, I have a significant backlog of restaurants I need to write about that we've already visited, and my restaurant wishlist has ballooned to over four pages. I've set a goal to write at least 80 reviews in the upcoming year, hopefully getting me back on track. Thanks to everyone who has stuck by me this year, checking to see if I've posted a new review, commenting, liking, and recommending places you feel I should visit. It's much appreciated. 

This was also the year I hit one of my personal goals for my blog: 1000 different restaurant reviews. I hit that significant number in August and do not intend to stop anytime soon. My new goal is to be the most prolific restaurant reviewer in OC. I'm still determining who has reviewed the most restaurants in Orange County, but I'm gunning for them. I will also take the time to update my past reviews by fixing broken links, editing my grammar and spelling errors, and denoting restaurants that have closed for business. 

So, here's to a great 2024! Now, my top ten restaurants of 2023. 

#10 - Nosh House - Tustin

Starting things off is Nosh House, which claims to be the only Glatt kosher restaurant in OC. They are run by the same people who own OC Kosher Market a few doors down. The menu here is diverse for such a small place, but don't sleep on the Reuben sandwich, one of the best OC offers. 

#9 - Prince Street Pizza - Los Angeles

I love that some of NYC's most popular restaurants are opening outposts on the West Coast. One of the best we ate this year is Prince Street Pizza, which is opening in Costa Mesa this coming year. Sicilian-style pizza is sold by the slice, with my favorite being the meat lovers and the spicy spring, which features pepperoni and an addictive spicy red sauce. Expect long lines when they finally open their Triangle Square spot, but this pizza is worth the wait.  

#8 - Felix's BBQ with Soul - Oceanside

I was down in Oceanside renewing my library card and decided to try Felix's, which has been on my list for as long as I can remember. The ribs are the things to get here, whether beef or baby backs. Both were delicious. Also, do yourself a favor, and however much mac and cheese you're going to order, just double it. This is one of the best I've had in years. Worth the trip. 

#7 - Tacos De Birria Estilo Guadalajara - Laguna Woods

Birria is still all the rage, and the best we had this year was served at an Episcopal church in Laguna Woods? Yep, you read that right. The birria quesa birria taco and the birria quesadillas are tasty but don't think the birria ramen is just a humdrum fusion item. It's a dish that will warm you from the inside out. Excellent. 

#6 - LJ's Lil Cafe - Cypress

We don't make it up to Cypress very often, but you won't be able to keep us away after we tried the most talked about breakfast burrito in OC this year from LJ's. Run out of a space in front of Home Depot, LJ's uses tater tots in their burritos, and they are a game changer. Add in the light, fluffy eggs and excellent breakfast meats, and you get one of my top 3 breakfast burritos in OC. I just wish they were a little closer to where I lived, but this is another spot worth battling freeway traffic. 

#5 - Flying Pig Pub and Grill - Oceanside

Our yearly trip to get Katie a new purse at the Outlets in Carlsbad was even better when we combined it with dinner at the Flying Pig. This highly-rated restaurant lived up to our expectations. It provided me with my best steak of the year, a 14-ounce ribeye, while Katie raved about their house bolognese pasta. Definitely one of the better dining options in Oceanside. 

#4 - Da Bianca Trattoria - Orange

Da Bianca is an Italian restaurant that everyone wishes was in their neighborhood. It has a cozy and lively dining room with a caring staff and owner, and most importantly, some delicious Italian food. We visited two times this year, and both meals were delicious. Every pasta has been first-class; their Caesar salad is the best I've had this year. I can envision some more trips here in 2024. 

#3 - Breezy - San Juan Capistrano

It's tough for a breakfast joint to stand out. Breezy has stayed with me long after our initial visit with their unique Filipino fusion breakfast specialties. Their pork adobo breakfast burrito is something you should not miss, while their s'mores french toast will satisfy everyone's sweet tooth. They deserve all the love they have gotten from the local print media this year, and it's easy to see why there's almost always a wait outside their door most mornings.  

#2 - Moo's Craft BBQ - Los Angeles

I used to lament the fact that we did not have any great barbecue restaurants in Southern California, like the ones I've had in Texas and other parts of the country. This is not the case anymore. Moo's Craft is on par with my other So Cal favorite, Heritage BBQ. All the meats we've had have been spectacular, and their sides, especially the Frito Pie, were equally as good. It's been hard passing by Broadway on the 5 Freeway and not stopping here every time. It's that good. 

#1 - Bourbon Steak - Dana Point

The very definition of a special occasion restaurant. We live 12 miles away from Bourbon Steak and felt we were on vacation when we arrived at this restaurant inside the Waldorf Astoria Resort. The service is world-class and matches the food we encountered. My lobster pot pie is not a meal I will soon forget. A very fitting restaurant to celebrate my 1000th restaurant review on this blog. 

I look forward to sharing many more great restaurants with you in 2024. What restaurants will be on this list next year? Time will tell. As for now, happy new year, and have a delicious 2024. 

Hoping Matador Cantina Hits the Bullseye

 Matador Cantina

111 North Harbor Blvd. 

Fullerton, CA 92832

This is one of those restaurants I had to double-check to ensure I had yet to write a review. It seemed like I had been here before, but then I realized it was just for drinks and an appetizer. Adding to my confusion was the at least weekly emails I used to receive from their former PR firm. With so many emails announcing special events and new menu items, I quickly put them on my restaurant wishlist but have just made it here. 

Matador Cantina has been around just as long as this blog. Opened for business in 2009, Matador Cantina is located in one of the oldest buildings in Fullerton, dating back to 1899. From the time they debuted until about 2014, they won numerous awards for their margaritas, got lots of love for their Taco Tuesday, and had glowing reviews from many bloggers and print media outlets. 

Almost as rare as writing a restaurant review blog in 2023, Matador Cantina still has its opening Executive Chef from when they first opened their doors all those years ago. Chef Dave Dennis has even added General Manager to his list of duties. He describes his food as a fusion of authentic and contemporary Mexican cuisine, with some South American flavors thrown into the mix. We grabbed my parents for a long overdue meetup and headed to the restaurant. 

We visited on a Sunday at 4pm, just as the stragglers from the Sunday Funday crowd exited Downtown Fullerton. Parking was no problem at this time between meals. Like many older buildings, Matador Cantina is long and narrow. Coming in from the Harbor Boulevard entrance, there's a long bar to your left with TVs hung above it, showing sports when we visited. The other side featured a row of booths where we were seated. 

The dinner menu is split into starters, tacos, quesadillas, burritos, salads, and restaurant specialties. Appetizers hover around the $13 mark, while more substantial entrees range between $12 to $25. These are reasonable prices for this area of town. Tacos are listed at $6, but on Tuesdays, they offer street tacos for $2.25 and specialty tacos for $3.25 after 2pm. Matador Cantina also offers a weekend brunch, and they have happy hour every day except Saturdays from 2 to 6pm. Now that you have some background about this place let's see what we had on this late afternoon.  

As is my custom when eating in a Mexican restaurant, I'll start with a shot of the Chips and Salsa that came to the table when we were seated. The chips were fresh, and the salsa had a smokiness with a tinge of heat. It had a good consistency to it. Katie ordered the Guacamole ($11) for the table. The guacamole at Matador combines onion, tomatoes, cilantro, serrano chile, garlic, and lime. It was okay, but I expected more flavor with these ingredients. The avocado was the prevailing flavor, which is fine, but the other ingredients failed to show up in my bites. I was also not really a fan of the tostadas that this was served with. They were too over-fried, so I instead used tortilla chips that came with the salsa. A much better choice. 

Starting off the entree portion of our evening is Katie's selection of the El Gaucho Pasta ($16). Yes, pasta at a Mexican restaurant. The pasta came with a delectable cilantro chimichurri cream sauce, a distant pesto cousin, but not as oily. The grilled chicken was moist and tender, not something I usually say about chicken when eating in a restaurant. The plate was rounded out with garlic bread, which I did not try. Katie was delighted with her meal choice here. 

Also excited about his dinner was my dad and his Drunken Shrimp ($24). The shrimp was sauteed in a garlic and butter sauce that had my dad singing its praises. Joining the shrimp was some diced zucchini, which went well with the sauce. This plate was finished off with some cilantro lime rice and two pieces of the same garlic bread that came with Katie's meal. Again, not a typical dish that you'd see at a Mexican place, but my dad could not have been happier. 

So, leave it to my mom to get something I'd expected to see when we walked into Matador Cantina: a Shredded Pork Taco ($5). The corn tortilla was filled, stuffed to its gills, with pork, lettuce, and pico de Gallo. My light-eating mom struggled to finish this but gave it a game effort. She was happy with this taco but wished some cheese was included in it if they could have found some room. 

Everyone was excited with what they had ordered, and then there was my Carnitas ($16). When this was placed in front of me, I was surprised by the amount of pork included on the plate. These were some massive hunks of swine. Unfortunately, most of the bites for me were on the dry side. These carnitas lacked the fattiness that I like mixed with some lean parts when I order carnitas. There was no variety here, just dry lean pieces of pork. The cilantro lime rice was good, and the refried beans were okay, but I wish there had been more to help alleviate some of the dryness of the pork. Disappointing. 

Even with my less-than-stellar dinner selection, everyone else left Matador Cantina very happy with their meals. This is definitely a Mexican fusion restaurant, as shown in the pictures above. I would visit again, but I'd steer clear of the carnitas and try some of their specialty tacos, steak a la plancha, or seafood enchiladas. The prices here were reasonable, and they offer some excellent deals for happy hour, taco Tuesday, and other daily specials. We experienced good service on this visit, and their was not too much complaining about their service on Yelp, so that's a good sign. Now, I can officially cross them off of my restaurant wishlist. 

Out of five red capes (because matadors use capes to get bulls to charge them), five being best and zero being worst, Matador Cantina gets 2.5 red capes. 

For more information about Matador Cantina, head to their website by clicking here: https://thematador.com/

An Upswing in Good Pizza in South OC

aPizza Doho

34255 Pacific Coast Highway

Dana Point, CA 92629

If there's one thing I've learned in all my years of writing this blog, it's that people are passionate about pizza. Except for barbecue, pizza gets the second most responses when I write about it. Most people write to tell me that they don't agree with me or I don't know what I'm even talking about. I'll add fuel to the fire in this review by saying that the best pizza in OC can be found south of Irvine. Yes, there are some good spots north of Irvine, but South OC has recently had an influx of great pizza places open up. I was hoping that aPizza Doho would continue this trend. 

aPizza Doho took over the old Parallel Pizza spot open for business from 2018 to 2021 and was one of the numerous restaurants that did not survive the pandemic. The space sat vacant for close to a year, and like the former tenant, they are going for an East Coast-style pizza with an emphasis specifically on the pizza from Connecticut. Unlike its predecessor, aPizza Doho does not offer a clam pizza, but maybe that's for the best, even though I enjoyed it.  

The owner of this restaurant is Marcos Costas, a first-time restaurant owner but definitely not a stranger to the restaurant industry. He's been employed at Salt Creek Grill, Glasspar, French 75, Andrea Restaurant, Savanah Steak and Chop House, and others. Marcos is joined by cousins Anthony and Christopher Christian, who are co-owners and also have restaurant experience. While we were here, Marcos was very involved in the dining room operations, running food, introducing himself to each table, and ensuring things went smoothly. 

The aPizza Doho menu is what you'd expect from a pizza place. There are six appetizers, salads, three sandwiches, and what has brought most people here: pizza. Their pizzas are 15 inches, so they can easily feed two people or three if they are lighter eaters than Katie and me. They have a 10-inch personal pizza offered only for lunch that also comes with a salad. There are 10 featured pizzas, but they also have a build-your-own option. Pizzas will set you back anywhere from $19 to $28. We were famished, so we quickly ordered from our server and waited for our food to arrive. 

Our salads were out within five minutes. I went with my usual Caesar Salad ($15) selection. This version used a black kale and romaine mix topped with grated grana padano cheese and garlic bread crumbs. Maybe the menu did not mention the dressing because they used it sparingly. They could have used a heavier hand when applying some dressing. The lettuce was fresh, and I liked the inclusion of the bread crumbs, which added a nice bit of texture to this salad. 

Much better was Katie's choice, the Simple Salad ($12). This came with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, gorgonzola, and an excellent spiced ranch dressing. Katie was generous enough to give me a bite of this, and after that bite, I wished she had wanted to trade salads. This was full of flavor. The gorgonzola and the pine nuts were excellent additions, but the dressing was the show's star. The salad was dressed perfectly, with just the right amount of ranch dressing covering each piece of lettuce. Very well done. 

Their appetizer offerings included meatballs, arancini, hummus, calamari, and these Zucchini Chips ($9). We picked these because we both got salads and wanted something on the light side to accompany our upcoming pizza. These are basically zucchini sliced thin and fried like a potato chip. They had a little crunch but were not seasoned enough with the promised sea salt. They might have been better with a creamy dipping sauce or their excellent ranch dressing.  

When I'm the one picking pizza, I usually gravitate towards the one with the most meat on it. Our server had suggested this Mia Mushroom Pizza ($25 plus $3 for adding sausage), and since I tasked Katie with choosing the pizza we would have this evening, she went with our server's recommendation. This pizza uses a rich garlic cream as its base and then builds on it with mushrooms, mozzarella, truffle oil,  pecorino romano, and plenty of arugula. I liked the crust well enough. It was crisp and light, with no soggy parts. For me, I'm all about the toppings. I enjoyed the way that the cheese, sausage, and mushrooms interacted. They were not trying to upstage each other, but rather, they were sharing the spotlight. I could have used more garlic cream, sausage, and cheese, but it was still a solid effort.  

Since we had a lighter appetizer and the pizza was more delicate than others, we had room for dessert. We had two choices: tiramisu or Banana Walnut Crumble ($8). You can see which we went with. This comprises sliced bananas in a banana pasty cream alternated with a walnut crumble in a small mason jar topped with whipped cream. It was okay, but it did not knock our socks off. It was not overly sweet, but I did like the unusual choice of the walnut crumble, which I assumed was the reason for the muted sweetness. 

aPizza Doho is another good pizza option for the people of South OC. Based on this visit, they sit just outside my top five pizza spots in South OC (Truly Pizza, Gibroni's, Brooklyn City Pizza, Terra Mia Pizza, and Lunitas Pizza are my current top 5). I look forward to a return visit to try more of their custom pizzas and to have that simple salad again. We experienced excellent service on this visit, as our server was warm and cordial but not too intrusive. A delicate balance to achieve. I found the prices here reasonable for a sit-down pizza place, primarily when one pizza will feed two, so you're paying only $13 per person. A steal in this economy. I hope 2024 will continue the trend of great pizza places opening up in South Orange County. 

Out of five phone books (because this restaurant is an homage to Connecticut pizza and the first phone directory was published in that state in 1878), five being best to zero being worst. aPizza Doho gets 3 phone books.  

For more information about aPizza Doho, check out their website by clicking here: https://apizzadoho.com/