A Plus for A Restaurant?

A Restaurant

3334 W. Coast Highway

Newport Beach, CA 92663

Boys night out, so eight of us headed to A Restaurant in Newport Beach. This place used to be the Arches, as far back as I could remember. The vibe here is cool, Newport Beach. Very dark inside and a huge bar, with all the eye candy you would expect from Newport Beach.

The dining room is pretty noisy, as it is right next to the bar. On this Saturday night the place was filled, all the time we were there. Let's find out if people are coming here for the food, or to be seen.

The first of three appetizers for us was this Crab Cake. This $17 crab cake was served with an herb salad and yuzu aioli sauce. This crab cake was light and had a mild flavor. The aioli sauce complimented this well.

The second of our starters was the Spicy Yellow Fin Tuna. This dish was tuna on a crispy eggplant, with chili aioli and sweet soy glaze. All of these flavors melded together well, and was not too over powering. I also liked the way this plate was presented.

Sorry the picture of the Pork Belly Skewers is blurry. It was difficult trying to snap pictures quick, and the lighting was difficult as well. The horrible picture does not diminish the taste of this plate. Braised pork belly and pearl onion with a maple syrup glaze, made this a great choice for an appetizer. Think of this as a big hunk of bacon, cooked crisp, with a tinge of maple. Pork belly is quickly becoming one of my favorite foods. This was steal at $9.

Here is my Butterleaf Wedge Salad. This salad was as good as it looks. Heirloom tomato, red onion, point reyes blue cheese, maple glazed bacon and buttermilk dressing made this a very tasty salad. I know they left the bacon whole for effect, but it would have been nice to have it cut already. The dressing was not too over powering on this.

Here is the A Caesar salad. Romaine hearts, parmesan reggiano, fried capers, all with anchovy dressing. I did not try this, but it looked good from where I was sitting. I thought that fried capers on this was an interesting choice, and made this salad their own.

Here is the French Onion soup. Made with gruyere and parmesan reggiano cheese, we at the table felt that this soup was way to sweet. It was an okay soup, but it was like the onions were a secondary thought.  

Here is the 16 oz. Rib Eye. This looked like it would be cooked perfectly for me. I did not try this steak, but Jeff, who did, did not rave about this steak. In fact he said it was just okay, nothing special.

This is the 8 ounce Filet. Rueben got this steak, and had the same opinion that Jeff had, and that is that it was nothing special. In the pictures it looks a little dry, but I am not sure because I did not try it. This steak goes for $32.

The next entree is the Scallops. This was served with potato puree, asparagus, morel mushrooms, peas, bacon gastrique and bearnaise sauce. This plate had a lot going on. Jim thought, "The scallops were good, but they could have been cooked a little more, and you should get more for the money you are paying for this dish". This plate was $28. Jim did give this three stars though.

This was my Pot Roast. Potato, heirloom carrots, onion, mushrooms all served in an actual pot made up this dish. The meat came whole, and was not as tender as I would have liked. The broth was way too salty. I was very disappointed with my choice.

Now on to the sides. None of these inspired any praise from the table. The Onion Rings were probably the most liked out of the three, but they were said to be just average. The Potato Puree was flavor challenged, and the Broccoli Rabe, was just plain mocked by our party. We also had a side of Mushrooms, not pictured that were just okay.

How should I sum up the experience at A Restaurant? I would give this advice, skip the entree's and order appetizers, they were good. The bar scene was great, and they did make great martini's. The salads were good, but the entree's need some work, they lack the wow factor.

Out of five report cards, (because I never got an A on any of my report cards), five being best to zero being worst, A Restaurant gets 2.5 report cards.

For more info on A Restaurant, click here: http://www.arestaurantnb.com/

Trying to Understand Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill

27221 La Paz Rd.

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

So my friend Richard, super-hardcore-Chipotle fan, wanted me to review Chipotle. I knew going in what I was going to think about the place, but he persisted. Richard has even gone so far as to say, that if he could eat at one place for the rest of his life, he would want it to be Chipotle. Let's see if that would be a good choice.

Chipotle was founded in Colorado in the early 90's, and they are closing in on 1,000 stores. The food is prepared assembly line style. You choose between burritos, bowls, tacos, or a salads. You then choose the meat and toppings. So after going through the line, this is how it all turned out.

Here is the burrito before I cut into it. I chose the Barbacoa Burrito and added guacamole for an extra $1.65. The burrito was priced at $5.95, so that brings this to an $8 burrito after tax. I have paid more for burrito's, so an eight dollar burrito is no big deal. This one is good sized, but I have since learned that you can ask for double meat, and double wrapped burritos for the same price. Lets see what the burrito looks like on the inside.  

The few times I have been to Chipotle, I have always been disappointed with the amount of meat they dole out to you. This was no exception here. I will definitely ask for double meat next time. The extra guacamole that I got on this burrito made this one of the better burritos that I have ever had at Chipotle.

This is the inside of Richard's burrito. He always talks about how he loves the rice at Chipotle. In fact in his burrito he got double rice. I feel that the rice adds nothing to their food, but filer. The rice seems taste less to me.

Another complaint about Chipotle is that there is no heat in any of their food. Even with the hot salsa that I chose for my burrito, it really does not pack a punch. The only hot sauce that they carry is Tabasco, and that is just a poor man's Tapitio. 

I have been trying to figure out why people are so fanatical about Chipotle, and why I am not. The reason I dislike it, and probably the reason other people are so excited by it is, that it is Mexican food for the masses. It is safe Mexican food, that even seven year old girls would eat. There are no big flavors, and no matter what you get, it will all taste the same. 

Living in Southern California, I have become spoiled, and do not know what it like to live where I can not get good Mexican food. So, I think that is why I am so put off by Chipotle. I do not think I will ever crave this place, like my friend Richard here. 

Out of five peppers, five being best to zero being worst, Chipotle gets two peppers, (which is two more than they have ever used in any of their cooking, just kidding, I could not resist that one!).

For more information on Chipotle, click here: http://www.chipotle.com/#/land

The Best and Worst of the Taste of Anaheim

15th Annual Taste of Anaheim

Anaheim Garden Walk

321 W. Katella Ave

Anaheim, CA 92802

I am always up for a good food festival, so when I heard about the Taste of Anaheim, I was totally in. I like festivals where all the food samples are all-inclusive, like this one. The list of restaurants for this one was way too impressive to pass up. So I decided to judge everything I ate, from worst to best. So sit back, put on your comfy pants, and let's see the winners and losers from the Taste of Anaheim. First up is the loser's bracket.

Easily the worst thing we ate were these two dishes brought to you by Concourse Bowling Center. Yes, it is not just a stereotype that bowling alley food is no good. They served veal meatballs and a chicken curry deal on hard bread. The meatballs were flavorless, and the chicken curry dish tasted horrible. I could not finish it. Concourse would have been better off frying up the bowling shoes left in their lost and found.

Next up was the La Brea Bakery. The bran muffins were so dry that they could have soaked up all the liquor at the festival and still would have been as dry as Salt Lake City on a Sunday night. The sandwich was as bland as it looked. How about something sweet, La Brea Bakery? Isn't that what bakeries are known for?

No worst list would be complete without a mention of Hooters. These chalky little nuggets were the boneless buffalo pieces they were serving. If Hooters did not have their girls, they would be out of business in about five minutes serving food like this.

I have not been to Lazy Dog Cafe yet, but I am still open to trying them, even after eating this beet salad. I liked the presentation, but how about something with some substance. Luckily, I did not see this on their menu online.

Keeping with the salad theme was Rainforest Cafe's strawberry salad. Unfortunately, this gimmicky restaurant did not do itself any favors by sampling this lackluster salad. There was no dressing to speak of on this salad. I finished it, but just because this was one of the first booths, I made it to, and I was starving.

Above is the rib that Alcatraz was sampling. This tasted okay, but they made the worst list because my first bite had a bunch of fat on it. The sauce was just okay, also.

Both of these samples from the Catch were just okay. I liked the tuna tartare, and it was photographed beautifully. The shrimp salad was just okay. I wish they would have had samples of their four-pound burger here.

This was from Bubba Gump's, a shrimp on a skewer wrapped around a sausage. To be honest, this was not too bad, but by this point in the night, I was getting stuffed, and nothing was tasting too good anymore. After that, all things started tasting the same.

This is the offering from Manhattan Steak and Seafood. This was not a bad slider. The meat tasted fine, but the bun was stiff, and there was no sauce. The shrimp bruschetta was average as well. So many places were serving shrimp it all started to blend together.

Okay, now on to the winner's bracket. Going from good to great, here is the list of places that made a favorable impression on us. The two dishes above are from Sally Ann's Catering. This shrimp salad had some flavor and tasted good. The Turkey Wellington was also covered in gravy, making it one of the more saucy items at the festival.

I have never been to Tortilla Jo's before, but they made the nachos above. These were really good and had big hunks of meat on them. They were a bit hard eating while standing up but were worth the effort.

Above is the carnitas and chicken wrap from Cantina Lounge. These were good, but I liked them more because they were different from anything other people gave out. The tortilla on these had a good texture, and the fillings inside also tasted good.  

I must admit that Mimi's booth was the first one we went to, but this was not too bad. The pasta dish was flavorful, and the artichoke and spinach dip was good. I am glad they served it with bread instead of tortilla chips.

House of Blues had a pretty good slider. I liked the sauce more than the meat, but it was still a decent BBQ pork slider. The apple pastry above actually photographs better than it tasted. I thought it was dry and did not have a lot of apple taste.

Our fourth-best entry was from Fire and Ice. Fire and Ice is located at the Garden Walk, and they had their restaurant open for tours for festival visitors to see what they offer. I thought more tenants of the Garden Walk should have followed the lead of Fire and Ice, but most of the stores were dark. Fire and Ice has a table in the middle of their restaurant, and people bring up whatever they want the cooks to whip up for them. Kind of like Mongolian BBQ but with pasta, burgers, seafood, and more. I am looking forward to trying this all-you-can-eat place.  

The burger you are looking at looks very raw, but it was cooked perfectly. This is the signature 50/50 burger from Slater's 50/50. The burger is 50% ground beef and 50% ground bacon, thus giving it its pinkish hue. The burger also had chipotle mayo, pepper jack cheese, avocado, and a fried egg. All of this added up to a very delicious burger.

Our second-best sample of the night was this crab cake from Mr. Stox. Usually, this would be number one, but by the time I had gotten to this booth, I was done and needed some time to let my taste buds return to normal. So if you have never had a crab cake from Mr. Stox, do yourself a favor and get one. They are amazing.

Sorry for the poor picture, but it was pitch black by this time, and I could not get a good shot of this Kobe Slider from Ruby's. This was number one because it tasted good and was hot off the grill. Ruby's consistently had one of the night's longest lines, and they made a great slider.

I really liked the Taste of Anaheim. I wish more places would have had more variety. For example, I like shrimp, but almost every booth had shrimp they handed out. I also enjoyed the interaction between the general public and the people that run the restaurants and make the food. It was nice to be able to ask questions. I will definitely be back next year.

For more information on the Taste of Anaheim, click here: http://www.tasteofanaheim.com/TOA10.php?page=home.php

Does Portillo's Do the Windy City Justice?

Portillo's Hot Dogs

8390 La Palma Ave

Buena Park, CA 90620

I have been to Chicago once for vacation. The city and food were great. We had deep dish pizza, went to a game at Wrigley, ate a bunch of Chicago Dogs, and of course went up into the Sears Tower. My only regret from my trip is that I never got to sample an Italian Beef sandwich. After watching a show on food network about the famous Chicago sandwiches, I did a little research and found out that Portillo's had opened a place in Buena Park, so that is where we headed.

Portillo's is owned by Dick Portillo, who still owns them to this day. They have 34 units open, and this is one of two in southern California, (the other California location is Moreno Valley). Portillo's has been around for awhile, they began in 1963 in Villa Park, Illinois. Let's see if they have brought great tasting Chicagoland food to the west coast.

Before we get to the Italian beef sandwich, my friend Carol got an order of onion rings. These were pretty good rings, and they came out really hot. Decent start to the meal.

Here is Katie's Italian Beef. She got hers without peppers, but added cheese. At Portillo's you can order your sandwich dry, with extra gravy, or dipped in gravy. The gravy is the broth that the meat cooks in. Kind of like an au jus. She got hers with extra gravy. As you can see from the picture it is still a little to dry for my liking. The bread was very good and stood up to the sandwich well. The meat had a good taste and I liked the sandwich with cheese. $5.25 for this sandwich makes this very reasonable.

This was my Italian Beef with hot peppers added. I had my sandwich dipped. Next time I will ask for it to be doubled dipped. I would have liked it to be wetter. The bread was good and crusty on this one also. The peppers were hot, but did not over-power the taste of the meat.

The last of the sandwiches was this, the Combo Beef & Char Grilled Sausage. I had this one with hot peppers and onions. Both the sausage and meat together made this the best sandwich out of the bunch. Imagine a Philly cheesesteak dipped like a French dip, with a sausage in the middle. There is nothing wrong with that combination! This sandwich was also a steal at $5.69.

Next up are the Chicago hot dogs. This is one with the works. Kind of looks like a salad on a hot dog. This one includes mustard, relish, kosher pickle, tomato, onion, and peppers on a poppy seed bun. I took the tomato off and ate the pickle by itself. The bun was excellent on this. Very soft and it held together nicely. The hot dog had a good snap to it and a great meaty flavor. I wish they would have taken the stem off of the pepper though, but it gave me the opportunity to rip it off and pour the juice over the hot dog. 

Lastly, here is the Chili Cheese Dog. I am not much on chili with beans, but this one was good. They did not skimp on the chili, and the bun, even though it was soft, it handled the chili and did not break apart. The dog had the same snap on this one also. A really good dog.

I liked Portillo's. The hot dogs did remind me of Chicago. The service at this place was also really good. We had just arrived as a school bus with about fifty kids had shown up also. They knocked all of their orders out quick, including ours. Portillo's kind of had a Knowlwoods feel to it. The place was very clean, and big, so there was no problem getting a table. The only weird part about the place, is that they do not have a self serve soda fountain. Not a big deal, but I found that odd.

So out of five Navy Piers, five being best to zero being worst, Portillo's gets three solid Navy Piers.

If you would like any additional info on Portillo's, click here: http://www.portillos.com/portillos/