You'll Want More Than Two Minutes at This Penalty Box - CLOSED

The Penalty Box

12900 South Euclid St. 

Garden Grove, CA 92840

I get excited when I hear a new burger and hot dog place opening up in OC. As if you couldn't tell from my ten years writing this blog, I have eaten my fair sure of burgers and hot dogs. I was even more excited when I heard that the team behind one of my favorite fine dining restaurants was behind this concept. Throw in my love for the Anaheim Ducks and their best player of all time, and I literally could not come up with a better combination of my passion for food and sports.

I'm talking, of course, about The Penalty Box at the new SteelCraft communal dining space in Garden Grove. It's brought to us from the talented culinary team behind Selanne's Steak Tavern in Laguna Beach, the brainchild of Kevin Pratt and hockey legend Teemu Selanne. This duo has branched out to put their own spin on the ultimate in American comfort food, burgers, hot dogs, fries, and shakes. Needless to say, I had very high hopes when we were recently invited to try The Penalty Box.

My excitement reached even higher into the stratosphere when I learned my friend Joe and I would meet up with Executive Chef Vince Terusa of Selanne Steak Tavern, who does double duty overseeing the kitchen at The Penalty Box. He makes the trip from his home in Rancho Santa Margarita to Garden Grove in the morning, gets the restaurant up and running, and then travels back down the coast in the afternoon to start his day at Selanne Steak Tavern. I was tired just listening to his workday schedule, but he relished it.

This Garden Grove location is the third SteelCraft urban outdoor eatery, with the other two in Long Beach and Bellflower. They use repurposed shipping containers to house their craft food and beverage vendors. This Garden Grove spot houses not only The Penalty Box but also Cauldron Ice Cream, Renegade Taco, Barrio, a Filipino barbecue joint,  Beachwood Brewing, The Nest, a breakfast place, and other dining options. However, I was 100 percent concentrated on The Penalty Box.

The Penalty Box menu features five pucks (burgers), four sticks (hotdogs), four twig offerings (french fries), and three whipped ice (shakes). There's also a kid's meal and bottled sodas. Joe and I met with Chef Vince, made our selections, and he brought them out to us in less than ten minutes. Let's see if The Penalty Box lived up to my lofty expectations.

The menu lists these as poutines, but they are really loaded fries since no cheese curds or gravy are included in them. Maybe they wanted to give this more of a Canadian hockey feel to them, not that they needed it. This is the "Vladimir" ($10). The base of this was their house Yukon Twists, a thick French fry with a soft and pillowy inside that was way better than any steak fry I've had. They top this with short rib, pickled red onion,  scallion, American cheese, Russian sauce, and cornichon, which I learned is just a fancy way of saying tiny pickles. Google gets the tip for that info. Anyway, everything included here melded well together. The short rib was tender and flavorful, while the pickled red onion and cornichon slightly cut the richness. I feared the American cheese would stick out like a sore thumb, but it played nicely with the well-made Russian sauce. A way more sophisticated version of animal-style fries.

Joe and I split this Triple Deke ($14) since we both got our own burgers and wanted to be kept from being rolled out of SteelCraft with a wheel barrel. After finishing half of this, I wished I had gotten my own. With this one, they take a bacon-wrapped Polish sausage and top it with braised pulled pork, pickled onion, scallion, a three-cheese fondue, and penalty box sauce. Chef Vince told us they source this solid Polish sausage from Texas. It had a great snap to it. The bacon was crisp and went well with the other parts of this loaded hot dog. Definitely one of the best hot dogs I have had this year.

For my burger on this visit, I went with the Broken Rib ($16). This third-pound wagyu burger was accompanied on the bun with a bourbon barbecue short rib, a giant onion ring, smoked gouda fondue, and sin bin sauce to tie everything together. I was expecting a heavier burger when I first read everything that was involved with this. Each bite was better than the next and lighter than I had imagined. The Wagyu beef is high quality, and I'd ask for some extra sin bin sauce the next time I had this. Really a well-crafted burger.

My friend Joe is a very sophisticated eater. While my pockets are littered with receipts from fast food eateries, his pockets are filled with credit card slips from Mastro's, Ironwood, and Fleming's. I'm not trying to embarrass him, but my point is that he knows good food. We both became big fans of this Great Eight Burger ($14). This is the only burger on the Penalty Box menu that does not utilize a beef patty. Instead, it is anchored by an eight-spiced Morrocan lamb patty and accented with roasted piquillo pepper, goat cheese, pickled red onion, rocket, and delectable chimichurri aioli. This had a big-time flavor in each bite, and the lamb patty lacked any gaminess, which can sometimes be a drawback to eating lamb. I also have to shout out to the excellent ciabatta roll that this came on. A very memorable burger, not one that should be missed.

One trip to The Penalty Box was not enough, so I returned the next week to try a little more from their menu. This time, I started with the Goon Fries ($7), their Yukon twists with thick slab bacon, chipotle aioli, cheddar cheese, and a fried egg on top. I liked this, but I liked the Vladimir fries I had on my first trip better. The egg was done perfectly, as the yolk was runny enough to be spread evenly across a large portion of the fries to provide a pleasing richness. The cheese was mellow, but they could have used more chipotle aioli for my taste.

This Barnburner ($9) hot dog was not only delicious but visually stunning as well. The beautifully shining brioche hot dog bun houses an all-beef gourmet hot dog, spicy cream cheese, pickled Fresno chili, braised onions, and sin bin sauce. I was unsure about the cream cheese on this, but it was not a distraction here, and in fact, it added a nice element to the hot dog. This had just enough spice to make it a good choice for people who like a tinge of heat without having to guzzle water right afterward. Very well done.

On my second trip to The Penalty Box, my swan song was this Hall of Famer Burger ($14). I had an excellent expectation for this burger when I read the description of it on their menu. A third-pound wagyu patty with red onion marmalade, American cheese, house pickles, shredded iceberg lettuce, and thick slab bacon. This was good but a little too subtle for my tastes. The bacon was thick and smokey, but I needed more from the red onion marmalade and some of that excellent sin bin sauce. This was definitely the mildest of all the items I had on my two visits to The Penalty Box.

After eating at The Penalty Box, I could feel the fine dining line in the food. These are elevated burgers, hot dogs, and fries. It should not be surprising since the cuisine at Selanne Steak Tavern is world-class, so it logically means that the same culinary team would do the same with the food we grew up with. As one of my favorite hockey players, who also has his name on one of my favorite restaurants, The Penalty Box adds to Teemu Selanne's legacy in Orange County. I can't wait to see what the Great 8 comes up with next.

For more information about The Penalty Box, head to their website here: https://www.penalty-box-oc.com/

Sabroso, It's All in the Name

Sabroso!

13129 Harbor Blvd. 

Garden Grove, CA 92843

I almost had to do a double-take. I kind of felt that I let this place slip through the cracks. Whenever we are going out of town I automatically check for restaurants that have been featured on TV. I guess I had not checked to see what places around our county had been featured on one of the numerous restaurant-focused TV shows airing almost 24 hours a day. After checking out one of my favorite websites, TV Food Maps, I found out that I had overlooked Sabroso in Garden Grove.

This restaurant got the star treatment in July of 2014 when Guy Fieri and his crew came to their restaurant to film an episode of Diner's, Drive-In's, and Dives. On that particular day, Guy sampled the pork tamales and the Chamorro plate. Of course, we did not try either of these, as I asked our waitress for her suggestions, and she steered me in a different way, which you will see in a bit.

Sabroso opened up in 2012 and is run by the Munoz family. After losing his job at Claim Jumper a few years ago, the patriarch, Tito Munoz and the rest of his family decided to pool their money together and achieve their lifelong dream of opening their own restaurant. Using their grandmother's recipes, the Munoz family has created a menu that is made up of fresh, quality ingredients. Nothing here is served from a can. Customers have taken note, as a lot of nights, there is a wait for a table.

We must have hit Sabroso at the right time, as we only had to wait a couple of minutes while they cleared a table for us on a recent Saturday night. Even with the tables pretty close together, and a very active restaurant with lots of servers, bussers, and management on the floor making sure their guests every need is met, this was a comfortable, unpretentious restaurant. The menu features tacos, burritos, and tortas, but there are also some intriguing house specialties like quail in a red sauce, an Italian inspired lemon chicken that comes with parmesan bread, and seven seafood options. Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see what our experience would be at Sabroso.

As is usual in most Mexican restaurants, you are presented with Chips and Salsa to nosh on before your meal comes out.  Unlike other Mexican restaurants though, the salsas here were full of flavor, with the green salsa offering a lot in the way of spice. The red was a favorite of Katie, as it was a bit milder, but offered a depth of flavor that made it one of the better salsas that we have had in a restaurant. The chips were a good vessel for the salsa, but on their own, they were kind of off to me. A little boring, as I like a greasier tortilla chip.

As is her custom, Katie always orders a Guacamole Appetizer ($7.95) when we are having Mexican food. The guacamole here was one of the better ones I've had. A lot of that had to do with the chili flakes that studded the mashed avocado, which provided an excellent burst of heat in each bite. Sabroso also got the consistency right, as it was still a bit chunky, but able to be scooped with a tortilla chip.

Katie will start us off with the entree portion of our evening at Sabroso, with her selection, the Chicken Tamale Combo ($11.95). They offer pork or chicken tamales, and Katie went with the chicken. These tamales were leaf-wrapped and filled with plenty of moist and flavorful chicken, then topped with sour cream and queso fresco. My biggest pet peeve with tamales is that there's never enough meat inside of them, but that was not the case with these, as I got a bite of chicken in each forkful. The masa was not dried out either, which helped create one of the better tamale experiences we have had.

Not the most beautiful plate I've had set in front of me but after my first bite of this Chili Verde ($14.95), I felt like I was eating a masterpiece. These large, tender pork chunks were covered in a wonderful green tomatillo sauce, which I could not get enough of. I mixed it with the pork, I mixed it with the rice, and I did the same with the beans. I could not get enough. When I was taking the rest of my plate to go for the next day, I made sure to scrape my plate clean, as not to waste a drop of the sauce. The rice was nice and light, but the beans were where it was at. Not your normal refried beans, these were Peruano beans. Peruano beans are like the more common pinto, but provide a creamier texture when cooked. After a few bites, I wish the Peruanos would become a lot more common. They were excellent.

As excited as I was for the chili Verde, the Carne Asada Taco ($3.50) I ordered was kind of uninspiring. The beef really did not pop with flavor like the chicken or the pork, and the overabundance of iceberg lettuce did not really help things out here. The best part of this taco was the handmade corn tortilla, which was soft and pliable, but kept everything together structurally. I'd get a taco again here, but probably just get one with pork, onion, and cilantro next time.

With the exception of the taco, I was over the moon excited about our visit to Sabroso. It's definitely in the upper echelon of Mexican restaurants we have tried during the 8 year run of our restaurant blog. Of course, this is just after one visit, so more trips to Sabroso are in order to try their carne asada fries, carnitas, tortas, and others. It's a tough job, but someones got to do it. Service was family-friendly, and Lizet, our server, made a great call on the Chili Verde. I'm really glad we finally made it to Sabroso, but now I feel like we have to make up for lost time and eat here again very soon, and many times over.

Out of five chocolate-dipped ice cream cones, (because sabroso means tasty in Spanish, and whenever I hear that word it reminds me of the Tastee Freez by my house when I was a kid and my favorite frozen treat at that time), five being best to zero being worst, Sabroso gets 4 chocolate-dipped ice cream cones.

For more information about Sabroso, head to their website here: https://www.sabrosomexicangrill.com/

It's Pizzapalooza Time at Oggi's

Oggi's Pizza and Brewing Co. 

12362 Chapman Avenue

Garden Grove, CA 92840

It had been some time since I had last thought about Oggi's. We had some good times at the one in Mission Viejo, but it closed some time ago. We used to eat there pretty regularly watching football on Sunday mornings. Oggi's was one of our favorite places to watch our beloved Jaguars fall out of playoff contention three games into the season. The garlic knots, breakfast pizza, and of course their award-winning beers helped ease the pain of watching our team flounder around aimlessly on and off the field.

Even farther back in my memory, I remember listening to XTRA Sports Radio, hearing the Loose Cannon's host, Steve Hartman and Chet Forte wax on almost poetically about their love for Oggi's. I knew it was a commercial, but you could tell that they genuinely loved this restaurant. All these years later, and they still have their own pizza still on the menu.

Oggi's has been around for over 25 years now. This pizza concept was started by two brothers, who were tired of their work in the technology field, and decided a change was in order. They created Oggi's, which has transformed into a sports themed restaurant, which does not just rely on the games on TV to bring people through their doors, they also have some real solid food here. Oggi's was also one of the first restaurants, back in 1995 to incorporate micro-brewed beer into the fold, one of the first to do so, and well ahead of the trend that is commonplace today.

Today there are 15 Oggi's locations, with a majority of those operating in the San Diego area. OC has two spots where you can grab some pizza and catch a game, Fullerton, and this location, which is just a few steps away from Disneyland, in nearby Garden Grove. Located in the same lot as a Mariott and the Wyndham Hotel, Oggi's has been a favorite of people visiting the Magic Kingdom and conventioneers for close to ten years now at this location.

Not ones to rest on their laurels, Oggi's recently invited us in to try some of their new items off of their Pizzapalooza menu, which is around for just a limited time. Estella Ferrera, Vice President of Oggi's has said about this featured specials menu that, "We are going back to our roots and focusing on creative and quality pizzas for our first featured specials menu of the year. Our Pizzapalooza menu is our way of having fun with unique toppings and flavor combinations while staying true to our commitment to high quality and fresh ingredients."  I grabbed my friend George, an Oggi's virgin, and we quickly accepted the invitation to try out some of their new items.

Definitely not new, but the Garlic Knots ($8.99) are a must get when eating at any Oggi's. They tie off their famous dough, bake it to a beautiful golden brown, and then dust them with plenty of parmesan, oregano, and basil. Served with both ranch and marinara, this is a comforting start to your meal at Oggi's. Both George and I scarfed these down.

I promise we will get to the new pizzas, but we also started with this Half Sized California Cobb Salad ($11.99). I'm glad we both decided on the half sized, as this was more than enough for one person. This salad starts off with a fresh spring mix of greens, and then adds plenty of grilled chicken breast, gorgonzola cheese, mushrooms, hard boiled egg, tomatoes, green onion, bacon, and sliced avocado. A very good tweak on a classic cobb salad. I'm always a little squeamish about getting chicken in restaurants because it's almost always overcooked, but this one was tender, and they were very generous with the amount included here. There could have been a little more bacon for my taste, but the overabundance of the sliced avocado more than made up for it. If you're not feeling like pizza, the full version of this salad would be a great alternative, just make sure you clear some space in your refrigerator because you'll definitely have leftovers.

See, I told you we would finally get to the pizzas. The first of the two new pizzas that we tried from the Pizzapalooza menu was this pork lovers dream, the Hog Wild Pizza ($13.99). This pizza was topped with pepperoni, prosciutto, crumbled bacon, garlic, olive oil, spinach, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, and then finished off with some green onion. Pork nirvana. It was a tad on the rich side, but the spinach and mozzarella helped to even this out. A very filling pizza, which tasted great the next day for lunch.

It's really hard to believe that this has never really caught on. What you see above is the Fully Loaded Baked Potato Pizza ($12.99) and it was delicious. They take slices of baked potato and then top the pizza with plenty of crumbled bacon, cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, green onion, and then it's finished with a sour cream drizzle. Think of this one as a giant potato skin. This was a lighter alternative to the much heavier Hog Wild Pizza. There was lots of cheese involved here, and I thought sliced potato on pizza dough was going to be odd, but it was very comforting. This is a definite winner from Oggi's and needs to be included on their regular menu ASAP.

I let George pick what dessert we were going to split, and when he picked this Blackberry Yogurt Mousse Cake ($5.99) I knew we were not compatible in the kinds of desserts that we like. I'm way more into sweet and chocolaty, while he wants lighter and a more fruity dessert. Even though this was not in my wheelhouse, it was pretty good. Definitely, on the lighter side, it had an understated sweetness, which I know George appreciated. Next time I'll have to try their Peanut Butter Crunch Bar, old fashioned sundae, or their Cinnaknots.

Oggi's really hit the spot on this evening. Even two weeks later George still remarks about how much he really enjoyed this place and looks forward to watching his beloved Bruins, Dodger, and Cowboy games here in the coming season. Oggi's is really a sports lovers paradise, but with some really solid food, and a fun, relaxing atmosphere. The menu is varied, so even if you're not in the mood for pizza, you can choose to have a sandwich, burger, and a smattering of entrees. Our server Marissa could not have been nicer and more helpful, as she really let her love for this restaurant show, and offered some really good recommendations. We would also like to thank everyone at Oggi's for inviting us to come in and give their new Pizzapalooza menu a try. It's only available for a limited time, so make sure to try the Baked Potato Pizza before it's gone.

For more information about Oggi's, or to find your nearest location, head to their website by clicking here: http://oggis.com/

Does SmoKING Ribs Take the Barbecue Crown?

The SmoKING Ribs

14211 Euclid St. 

Garden Grove, CA 92840

When I told people I would be heading to Garden Grove for dinner, most just assumed I'd be having Vietnamese, Mexican, Korean, or trying one of those Cajun seafood spots where you get the whole shebang. I got a bunch of double takes when I told them I'd be getting barbecue, and I had heard great things about the restaurant we were headed to. My Instagram feed has been filled with mouth-watering pictures of the meats here, their Yelp page is filled with lots of positive reviews and five-star ratings, and I have read some really good things in the press, so it was just a matter of time until we made it to The SmoKING Ribs.

The man behind this restaurant is Kenny Tran, who used to love grilling in his backyard, but found it to be pretty labor intensive, with all the flipping and making sure things were not getting too overdone. He found that he did not have enough time to enjoy a beer while grilling, so he started out smoking a chicken, which gave him plenty of time to enjoy a beer or two while the meat was in the smoker, and that's how he got his start as a barbecue master.

That was 1999, and in 2010 he started his own barbecue catering company, Bolsa Barbeque. They still do a lot of catering, but this was the springboard for his first and only brick-and-mortar restaurant. The SmoKING Ribs is the first restaurant Kenny Tran has ever worked at, and he's jumped in with both feet since he's the owner, pit master, and almost every other job you can think of in a restaurant.

The location of this barbecue restaurant is a little odd, in the same sleepy shopping center as a Vietnamese coffee shop, a pharmacy, and a nail salon, and next to the more bustling strip mall that houses the ever-popular Boiling Crab, which always seems to have a long line out the door. We arrived here at 5 pm on a recent Saturday to meet our good friends Duc and Minerva, who pen one of the most enjoyable reads, Much Ado About Fooding. At this early dinner hour, it was no problem getting a table right away, but we've heard that this small, ten-table eatery does get packed, so be advised of that.

The menu at SmoKING Ribs is pretty compact, but all the essentials are here. They offer six kinds of meat, a couple sandwiches, nine sides, and five starters, which are half price during their happy hour, which runs weekdays, from 2 to 5:30. I was a little disappointed that there are no combo meals offered here, as that's usually what I like to order to get a good lay of the land when eating at a place for the first time. Fortunately for us, there were four of us at our table, and we coordinated what all of us would be having, so we got a good cross-section of the menu. Let's see if this restaurant is worth all of the hype it has been generating.

Since we were waiting for Minerva and Duc to arrive, because they were running a little late, Katie and I decided to order their much-ballyhooed Candied Bacon ($2) to start off with. I've heard this runs out pretty early, so I was pretty eager to give it a try. I thought it was good, but I kind of missed the smokey flavor of regular bacon, since this was way more on the sweeter side. Different, but not something I would probably get again.

I guess we were really hungry while waiting for Minerva and Duc because we also tried their Blueberry Cornbread ($4), which is also one of the choices that you can pick for your side items with an entree. I would definitely get this again. Part muffin, part cornbread, and totally delicious. This was like the best of a blueberry muffin and cornbread all in one. Plenty of blueberries in this, and not too crumbly, like a lot of cornbread tends to be. I did wish that the butter was a little softer so it could spread more evenly, but other than that, this was a very good side and made me eager to see what else was in store for us this evening.

Our food started making its way out to us in waves, the first of which was Minerva's selection on this early evening, the Pulled Pork ($13). This mound of shredded pork came with two sides, and she went with Corn on the Cob and Onion Rings. Minerva liked the pork, but since she went to school in North Carolina, she's used to the real deal barbecue, and she stated that this was good for OC barbecue, but not like anything she's had back east. She said it was a little too mushy, but I liked the pieces I tried off of her plate. I left the corn on the cob alone, but the onion rings were fantastic. Very crunchy breading, well fried, and the onion on the inside was prominent. I think these are one of my favorite onion rings around OC.

When Katie's dinner hit the table, there was an audible gasp of excitement. This Angus Short Rib ($24) is only available Friday through Sunday after 5 pm and is made in a limited supply, so get here early enough to make sure they don't run out before you get yours. The short rib is always tender, and that was definitely the case here. I liked the understated amount of smokiness that attached itself to the beef this evening. This good-sized rib had a nice ribbon of fat running through it, which also helped boost its flavor profile. For her side items, Katie went with the Smoked Beans and Coleslaw, which were both winners. The beans were more soup-like than baked beans, which I thought I was not going to enjoy, but they turned out to have plenty of beef in them, and a great depth of flavor. The coleslaw had a great crunchy texture to the red cabbage used and was liberally dressed, just the way I like it. Another winner of a plate.

The hits just kept on coming at SmoKING Ribs, with my plate, the Angus Beef Brisket ($21). I really enjoyed the brisket, but a few pieces were a little on the dry side, but for the most part, this was solid beef. I really enjoyed the barbecue sauce that they offer here. They have a sweet sauce, but the one that got me humming was their habanero sauce, which really packed a punch, without overwhelming the meat. My table mates thought it was a little too hot, but that was rectified by mixing it with the sweeter sauce. Really kicked this brisket up a few notches. The side items I chose rocked. The Mac and Cheese had the right consistency of noodles to cheese, and I liked the inclusion of the bread crumbs on top of this, which added a little texture. The Mashed Potatoes were a good, solid version of this classic side dish, which was not too lumpy or runny.

You can't come to a place called the SmoKING Ribs and not get ribs, so here's a shot of the Pork Ribs ($30). Besides the short rib, this was my favorite meat item of the night. The ribs were tender, had a great reddish hue from the smoke ring around the outside of them, and came with a slight glaze of barbecue sauce, which caramelized on the smoker. The two side items chosen with this plate were the French Fries and the Twice Baked Potato. I did not get a chance to give the potato a try, but it looked real good from across the table. The fries were done well here, with a crispy outer shell, and soft potato inside.

Both Katie and I added a Hot Link ($2) to our meals. This tube of meat had a nice slow burn to it, and  I liked the snap of the casing, along with the sausage on the inside. Well worth the extra two dollars, and this went well with the provided barbecue sauce.

I left SmoKING Ribs pretty impressed, and now understand why this restaurant gets so much positive press. So where does this restaurant rank in the hierarchy of barbecue restaurants in OC? It's pretty high up there in my opinion, with only Lillie's Q, Blake's Place, Smokey Fred's, and Leadbelly's being better, but of course, these rankings can change based on my next visit to any one of these spots. I do wish they offered combo plates here, as it would help make my decision on what to eat here next much easier. There were some very minor hiccups with the meats here, but the side items were all pretty stellar. Some might feel that the prices are a little on the high side, but you'll definitely have leftovers, so if you think about it like you're paying for two meals, it makes it much more manageable. The service on this evening was pretty good, and they definitely got busier as the night went on. With the addition of the SmoKING Rib, people might start thinking about the city of Garden Grove as a barbecue destination.

Out of five strawberries, (because I always think of this fruit whenever I'm in this area since they hold the Strawberry Festival here every Memorial Day Weekend), five being best to zero being worst, The SmoKING Ribs gets 3.5 strawberries.

For more information about The SmoKING Ribs, head to their website here: http://thesmokingribs.com/