Lunch in Costa Mesa? Pie Not! - CLOSED

Pie-Not

270 E. 17th Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

Yes, I'm probably the last food blogger to make their way to Pie-Not, the Australian style bakery in Costa Mesa. This is surprising because for a while there, in my high school years, I was all about Australia. My love for all things "down under", was largely due to a crush I developed on Kylie Minogue. Probably not something I should really admit to in print, but I want to be honest with all of you two people that read this blog on a regular basis.

Pie-Not is part of the burgeoning food scene on 17th Street. For a while now, it seems like anytime I hear of a cool, new restaurant opening, it takes place on this Costa Mesa Street. Pie-Not has been part of this scene for over a year now.  In that time they have won rave reviews for their gourmet Australian meat and vegetarian pies, along with some desserts from the "Land of Oz".

This restaurant comes to us from the minds of Jai Snowden, formerly of Australia's Gold Coast, and Ryan Lopiccolo, who's from just down the road in Newport. They met, and formed a friendship over Australian meat pies, and wanted to share their love of this Australian staple with the people of OC. After two years of researching, perfecting, and many tastings, they felt ready to open their business, and it has been going strong ever since. When asked about expansion, Jai had a smirk across his face, but kept his insiders info to himself, only saying, "news will be coming out soon". I can't wait to hear what's next for this brand. For now, though, I was recently invited to come in and try Pie-Not for the first time, and I was pretty excited to find out what this place is all about.

Pie-Not has a small storefront that is located right next door to another foodie favorite, Sidecar Doughnuts, and just a few doors down from one of the cheesiest Mexican restaurants ever, Mi Casa. Entering the small space at Pie-Not, you are instantly drawn to the display case where all of their over twenty items are sitting behind glass, in the well-lit case. No soda fountain at Pie-Not, but they have a fair variety of bottled beverages for you to choose from, including an Australian favorite, Bundaberg Ginger Beer. Also, they are very proud to be the only place in the US grinding and pouring Bun Coffee, which is from Byron Bay Australia. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but during my visit, I saw many people ordering coffee to go along with their pies. Let's get to the main reason I was here this afternoon, the eating.

While we were waiting for my fellow food blogger to battle traffic down the 405 Freeway, I could not wait to dig into the food at Pie-Not. I started with the Daisy and Babe Sausage Roll ($4). This was not like any sausage roll I have ever had. It came with ground beef and pork, finely grated onion and carrots, extra sharp cheddar cheese, and back bacon, which is then rolled up in a puff pastry. I was expecting this to be over the top rich with all of these big flavors, but it was more subdued than I imagined. The carrots and onion are present, but not in hunks like you would expect. I got the smokiness from the bacon, but again, it was not in big pieces. The puff pastry was very light, and crispy, with lots of flakes flying off while biting into this. Eating this just whetted my appetite for more at Pie-Not.

Some of the menu at Pie-Not is geared towards breakfast, and only available earlier in the day. One of these items is this Wasps Nest ($3.50). Kind of like a scone, but not as dense, this was filled with sharp cheese, back bacon, diced onion, and parsley. Again, this was lighter than I was expecting. I'm not a fan of scones, but this one was not as heavy as others I have had. The bacon was evident but did not overpower this pastry. I would imagine someone with an active lifestyle grabbing one of these before heading out to surf, not wanting something heavy weighing them down, but still substantial enough to curtail hunger until later in the day.

By now my fellow food blogger, Diane, from The Episodic Eater had made it to Pie-Not, so we ordered a lot of things to try. I wrote this just so you know I did not eat all of this by myself, although I probably could have since I was so hungry.

Probably my second favorite on this afternoon was this Pie-Not classic, the Sprung a Leek Chicken Pie ($6.50). This one came stuffed with tender white meat chicken breast, green leeks, white wine cream sauce, cayenne pepper, and tarragon. I think I liked this one because it reminded me of a dinner that my mom made for us growing up, called Chicken Squares. This version was equally as good. The spices woke up the taste buds, the chicken was tender, and the flaky crust was a great vessel for the filling. A must get for people that want to go the chicken route here.

One of the nice things about Pie-Not is that they always have something new for you to try, like their latest Chef Special, the Brekkie Pizza. This is a brand new item that just came about within a few days ago. This breakfast pizza uses puff pastry as a base, then is topped with a cheese custard, tomato, scallion, and bacon. This was probably my least favorite of this afternoon. I felt this one did not have enough substance behind it. I liked their items that were filled with things, more than this one where the toppings were exposed. A little too subtle for me flavor-wise.

At the other end of the spectrum, my favorite item on this afternoon was this Drunken Cow Sirloin Steak Pie ($6.50). Not really a big surprise since most of you know that I'm a big fan of red meat. This pie was filled to capacity with hunks of steak, pearl onions, red wine, garlic, thyme, and marjoram. If I was not feeling full already, this definitely put me close to the edge. The steak was surprisingly tender, the thick gravy sauce did not overpower, and you could definitely detect the presence of the red wine in here. I could not see myself coming here, and not ordering this every time.

Anytime I hear that something is vegan, I automatically have a biased against it. I know it's not fair, but I think of it as a side item and not the main course. Even with that being said, I can admit to liking this Gandhi Pastry ($4.50). This Indian inspired item is loaded with chickpeas, potatoes, cauliflower, and butternut squash, almost the whole garden is in here. It was so flavorful, I almost converted to being a vegan, okay just kidding with that one, but it was a very good pastry.

The last of my savory items was the Hippie Roll ($4.00). This contained an unusual assortment of things, spinach, ricotta, walnuts, Swiss and Gruyere cheeses, and cayenne. Again another one without meat, but this one was a winner. I really am a big fan of spinach, and with this roll, the spinach was front and center. The cheeses did not overpower, and the walnuts added a nuttiness that you would not expect if you did not know there were walnuts in here. A very nice way to end our savory portion of our afternoon.

Desserts at Pie-Not are not to be missed. We started with what they say is a traditional Aussie dessert, the Lamington ($3.00). This kind of had a Hostess feel to me. It's a butter sponge cake rolled in chocolate icing and then dusted with coconut flakes. The cake portion was a little denser than I had thought it would be, and the coconut flakes brought to mind the red raspberry coconut Zingers I had as a kid. I also liked the Australian flag perched on top of this dessert.

Sometimes a restaurant comes up with the perfect name for an item, a name that describes the item perfectly. This was the case with this Slice of Heaven ($3.00) at Pie-Not. The base of this is a shortbread crust, then it's layered with caramel and chocolate, then finished with a pinch of salt. A little rich, I liked everything about this dessert bar. It had a very good caramel, which went well with the chocolate, but the salt on top evened the sweetness out. Very tasty, and my favorite dessert here.

I'm always up for a cookie, and the last thing I tried at Pie-Not was this Australian staple, the Digger ($1.50). This cookie dates back to World War 1 and is made up of rolled oats, desiccated coconut, and golden syrup. The story goes that while the men were fighting the war, the woman wanted an item that would not spoil in care packages, so this flourless cookie was born. I liked this cookie, it had a decent crunch to it, while the center was a little chewier. If I had not known the coconut was in here, I never would have guessed it.

After eating at Pie-Not, it's apparent why so many people really love this place. I really liked the casualness of the restaurant, but even with the laid back atmosphere, the food did not suffer. This is some quality food that you are getting, for about the same money that you would be spending on a fast-food combo meal. I kind of made a pig of myself here, but I wanted to try a little bit of everything. One savory pie and a dessert will definitely fill up most people. Be advised that there is very limited seating in front of the restaurant, maybe eight seats total, so you might want to get your food to go unless you mind standing up to eat. I was very excited to finally try Pie-Not, with my only disappointment being that I did not run into Kylie Minogue on this visit. I guess there's always next time.

I would like to thank everyone at Pie-Not for allowing us to visit. We had a great time meeting both Jai and Ryan, along with General Manager Dave, who went over the entire menu with us prior to us ordering. He definitely knows his stuff. I would also like to thank my lovely dining companions at this lunch. Diane from The Episodic Eater, which is definitely a blog that you all should check out. Lastly, I would like to thank Rubina from Kitchen Table PR for putting together this fantastic visit. It was a pleasure meeting you Rubina, and we look forward to seeing you again real soon.

For more information about Pie-Not, go to their website here: http://www.pienot.com/#Home

Bondi Grill House, Coming Up From Down Under - CLOSED

Bondi Grill House

7821 Edinger Ave. Suite 110

Huntington Beach, CA 92647

When you think of Australia, probably a few things come to mind. If you are like me, these things are koala bears, the music group Men at Work, the movie Crocodile Dundee, and of course one of my crushes growing up, Olivia Newton John. Okay, I might be dating myself with this list, but the point I wanted to make was that food is never really one of the things most Americans think about when it comes to Australia. Probably when you are asked to think about Australian foods, you either think of Vegemite, or maybe even meat pies. A new restaurant in the Bella Terra shopping complex wants to alert you to the fact that there's more to Australian food than just that brown spread that millions of Aussies wake up to each morning.

Bondi Grill House comes to us from famed surf spot, Bondi Beach, which is a suburb of Sydney, the largest city in Australia. See, you can learn some real facts reading food blogs, just give me half the money you win on Jeopardy if this comes in handy. Anyways, there are several sister restaurants to Bondi Grill House that operate under the name Hurricane's Grill in Australia. Of course back in Huntington Beach there's already a well known restaurant/bar with this name, so that's probably the reason for the name change. Even though Bondi Grill House has only been open for a couple of months, they are already working on another location that's under construction at the Tustin Marketplace. This new location, which will be bigger, is scheduled to open by the end of the year.

The people of Huntington Beach seem to have really taken to Bondi Grill House. The restaurant was full from the time we arrived, until we left. For those of you familiar with Bella Terra, Bondi Grill House is situated across from the Cheesecake Factory. Not an overly large restaurant, 3,500 square feet, but they offer a wonderful patio that is great for people watching. Even with the smaller size here, the table spacing allowed for a comfortable gap between customers. After driving up here during rush hour traffic, both Katie and I were excited to see what Bondi Grill House had in store for us.

To calm our nerves from dealing with the 405 Freeway, we had to partake in an adult beverage, or two. At Bondi they only serve beer and wine, so the powers at be came up with some great cocktails using wine, including this Blue Hurricane ($8.95). This drink starts with a base of Lillet Blanc, a hurricane liqueur, orange, and Luxardo cherries. I really liked the look of this, the way it separated into layers in the glass. The cherry sunk to the bottom, with the wine floating near the top. Not overly sweet, with a nice and refreshing taste, this drink started our night off with a bang.

Also getting us excited for what Bondi had in store for this evening, was this Garlic Bread Roll ($2.95). At some restaurants you order garlic bread, and you are sometimes not sure they remembered to add the garlic, but that was not the case here. This loaf of bread was very garlicky, as you can see from the picture above. The bread had a nice crunch to the crust, and was soft and flavorful inside. Exactly what I want when I order garlic bread.

I know I said that Bondi Grill House was an Australian import, so I'm not sure how these Boerewors ($11.95) found there way onto their menu, but after eating them, we are not complaining. For those that do not know, like me until this night,  Boerewors are a traditional South African sausages made of beef and spices. This is a very lean sausage, with little, to no fat inside of it. These sausages were served with the interesting sounding Monkey Gland sauce. We were assured that there was no actual monkey used in the making of this sauce. This sauce is actually more of a tangy barbecue sauce, which is sweetened with dried apricots, which went well with the beefiness of the sausage.

Artichokes seem to be on every menu we have come across recently, so maybe they are the new, hip food item of this year. At Bondi they keep the trend going with these Roasted Artichokes ($10.95). These fire grilled artichokes are served with a tzatziki sauce, which worked wonderfully with these very meaty artichokes. Perfect for sharing with friends.

Probably one of the biggest winners we tried on this night were these Peri Peri Prawns ($12.95). This got the nod of approval from the assembled food media on this night. These prawns were sauteed with butter, garlic, and peri peri sauce. Really reminded me of a lighter shrimp scampi, without sacrificing flavor. Maybe for lighter eaters this could be an entree, since it was served with rice.

Before we start the salad portion of the meal, it was time for another cocktail. This time I selected the Strawberry Basil Smash ($8.95). Again, this is a wine based drink that uses Sauvignon Blanc, strawberry syrup, fresh strawberries, basil, and soda water. When this came to the table I thought it might be too sweet, but the wine and soda water helped to balance things out.

The first of the two salads we got to try was my favorite of the night, the Spinach and Strawberry Salad ($12.95 for the large size). I'm usually against having fruit included in my salads, but this one was pretty good, and I liked that each bite had a different element to it. Baby spinach, sliced strawberries, goat cheese, spiced candied almonds, and a poppy seed dressing were all included here. I could not help but think that this would be my mom's favorite dish at Bondi Grill House, it has her written all over it.

It kind of resembles the other salad, but this Arugula, Orange, and Beet Salad ($12.95) was the only blight for me on this night. Just like the other salad, this also had the candied almonds and goat cheese, but it also added orange slices, arugula, beets, and organic quinoa. I think this lost me with the quinoa. I am no fan of quinoa, and have yet to have it in anything I have liked. Katie really did enjoy this salad more than the other though.

Now we were starting to get into my wheelhouse, when the entrees started to arrive at the table. Starting things off was this very good Lamb Burger ($13.95). I don't really get a chance to have lamb nearly enough, and this burger really hit the spot. A half pound of grass fed lamb, with red onion, tomato, lettuce, feta cheese, sun dried tomato, pickle, and tzatziki sauce gave this burger a very Greek feel to it. The bun was soft, but still held everything together. Lamb can sometimes be gamey, but this version was anything but. Eating this really got me excited to try their other burgers, like the one that caught my eye, the Millionaire's Bacon and Cheese Burger. That will be my next conquest on my next visit to Bondi Grill House.

Pulled pork is delicious, but so many things can go wrong with it. This one at Bondi was pretty stellar. They pile on a half a pound of tender pulled pork, then add coleslaw, and then place it all on a large roll. The pork had just the right amount of BBQ sauce in it, so it was not too soupy, and did not overpower the natural taste of the pork. I would have liked bigger hunks of  pork in this, but still a good sandwich. The onion rings are also worth mentioning here. They were lightly breaded, and used smaller onions than other versions. I imagine these would be great with a side of ranch dressing for dipping.

Bondi Grill House is famous for their ribs, and after trying these, it's easy to see why this is so. They have three kinds of ribs; baby back pork, beef back ribs, and these Bondisaurus Pork Ribs ($34.25 for a full rack). These ribs are huge, with tons of meat on them. I'm not even sure I could have finished this entire rack, even though I would like to try it sometime. This is 3 pounds of free range, all natural, Australian ribs. Bondi is the first restaurant in North America to sell these ribs, so they are a must order. They are basted in their house made barbecue sauce, then seared at 825 degrees. There are two sauces available, a mild sauce and another one with a little more of a kick to it. Of course I enjoyed the spicier version, but both were good.

As much as I liked the pork ribs, I might have liked these Beef Back Ribs ($29.95) a little bit more. I've always been pretty partial to beef ribs, and the ones here at Bondi had lots of meat on them. These were also one of the juiciest ribs I have had recently. A really tasty end to the entree portion of our night.

I had no idea that Sticky Date Pudding ($8.95) was a traditional Australian dessert, but Bondi Grill House educated me on that fact. This was not what I was expecting when it came to the table. It was a cake made with California dates, with vanilla ice cream perched on top of it, and a salted caramel placed around the base of the cake. I guess I was expecting more of a pudding, but this was pretty solid. I'm not even a big fan of dates, and I liked this dessert. The moist cake and the salted caramel sauce made this for me. A wonderful end to a great night.

Besides the new location in Tustin, Bondi Grill House has other things going on, like the premier of a new lunch menu coming soon. Their happy hour is also not to be missed. It's a daily happy hour between the hours of 3PM and 6PM, then it starts up again from 9PM to closing. Great food specials, along with fifty percent off all beer, wine, cocktails, and bottles of wine. A great place to eat before you hit up a movie at Bella Terra, or maybe a spot to get a drink after one. We really enjoyed our time at Bondi Grill House, and look forward to coming back soon.

Special thanks to General Manager, Elizabeth Flaherty for keeping tabs on us all night, and making sure we had everything that we needed throughout our stay. Also we would like to thank Bondi Grill House co-owner, Peter Hough. He answered all of our silly questions, and was a very cordial host. Of course we would be remiss without acknowledging our waiter and bussers on this night. Thanks for all that you did for us during our stay here guys. Lastly, thanks to Jane Gillespie for putting this all together and thinking of inviting us. Much appreciated.

For more information about Bondi Grill House, check out their website here: http://www.bondigrillhouse.com/home