Working on Getting a Good Meal at Sabatino

Sabatino Pizza and Pasta

23032 Alicia Parkway

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

Sometimes you just do not want to go to far from home. This was the case on Labor Day. Besides the stifling heat we have been having, Labor Day always seems like a depressing holiday to me. When I was a kid it always marked the end of summer and the start of school. Now that I am older, Labor Day means more cars will be out on the road during morning rush hour, the weather will be turning cooler, and football season will be starting. Okay, two of those things are good, but I still have been scarred by Labor Day, so I was not in a great mood to battle the beach traffic, and wanted just an easy night somewhere around our house. That's how we came upon Sabatino.

Sabatino is located a few miles from our house, in an Albertson's shopping center on the way to RSM. The restaurant is small, with only ten tables or so. The decor is dominated by the color brown, with a real comfortable, updated feel to it. The Labor Day crowd was trickling in during our visit. At the height of their busiest, they probably had about five tables full. They do have some seating outside, but with the heat everyone opted to sit inside. The staff is on the younger side, but all seemed very polite. The menu is not crazy big, but the staple Italian items are here. Let's see how everything came out of the kitchen for us.

Starting us off are the Garlic Knots that came out to the table. These were pretty good. They came out warm, had a decent garlic flavor, and were pretty soft. Not the best garlic knot I have had, those would be at Oggi's, but not bad for free. The marinara served with this was slightly sweet, and went well with the garlic here.

I have been on a real Caesar Salad ($3.95) kick, and I basically picked an Italian restaurant just to order one. This salad had plenty of dressing and cheese, which I liked, but the croutons were this salad's downfall. They had no crunch to them, and were just cut up pieces of garlic bread. Katie was pretty excited by her Side Dinner Salad ($3.95). Not only was the price right, but she really liked this salad. The olives and cheese really enhanced the produce, and no complaints with the ranch dressing.

Let's go with Katie's meal first. She selected the Spinach Cannelloni ($11.95). This was hand rolled pasta stuffed with mozzarella, ricotta, and spinach, topped with a tomato-butter-sage sauce. I like to think of these as an Italian enchilada. The sauce was mellow, but very fresh. The spinach was cooked well and not soggy, like some restaurant spinach can be sometimes. This is not usually a meal I would order because of the lack of meat, but it was good enough that I may consider it on future visits.

Not the most photogenic lasagna ever, but a deceivingly large portion. This Homemade Lasagna ($10.95) had layers of ground beef, pasta, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, and was topped with marinara sauce. The sauce was pretty sweet tasting. I toned it down with some Parmesan cheese. Crushed red pepper flakes would have done the trick as well. I would have liked the meat to have been in bigger hunks, but this was a solid lasagna. Plenty of cheese on this one.

Sabatino may not be destination dining, but if you are in the area it is not a bad place to visit. The two entrees we had were pretty good. Not going to blow you away, but they were better than most. A good majority of their business was to go orders. Almost all of the to go orders while we were here were for their pizza, so that might be what we try on our next visit. I thought the prices were pretty good for the size of the plates. Service was not top notch, but they never really forgot about us. Glad this place was close by, so we did not have to fight Labor Day traffic.

Out of five white shirts, (since it was Labor Day, and as a rule you should not wear white clothing after this holiday), five being best to zero being worst, Sabatino Pizza and Pasta gets 3 white shirts.

For more information on Sabatino Pizza and Pasta, click here: http://www.sabatinomissionviejo.info/

Bottle Wars Commencing at Fleming's

Fleming's Prime Steakhouse

455 Newport Center Dr.

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Fleming's is quickly becoming one of my favorite spots to visit. Not only is their food very good, but they keep introducing new food items and having great promotions. This month alone they have a Memorable Feast for Two that is three courses for $99, and they are also having their Last Call Sale, where patrons can save 25% off bottles of wine. As much as I would have loved to have taken advantage of these offers, we were here for two other happenings going on at Fleming's, the introduction of their new Bar La Carte menu and Bottle Wars.

Bottle Wars is a fun, competitive way that Fleming's is introducing their latest version of the Fleming's 100. After a year long search, and numerous tastings, Fleming's introduces a new list of 100 wines offered by the glass. They leave about 25 to 30 wines on the list from the previous year, so that leaves 70 to 75 new wines for people to discover. Fleming's has come up with a great way to get people to sample some of these by having wine tastings every Friday night in September. Not your average wine tasting though. Fleming's is pitting wines against each other, based on style, location, and price. On the Friday we were here, it was a Battle of the Hemispheres. For $25 you get to sample wines from New Zealand, South Africa, Australia, and Chile, then see how they compare against wines from California. Here are the pairings, and what we thought was best.

The first match up pitted two Sauvignon Blanc's against each other. The Kim Crawford  was from New Zealand and had a slight fruitiness to it. I would have liked a little more sweetness out of it. The Hanna, from the Russian River Valley of California was my clear winner here. It was a clean tasting wine, with subtle hints of citrus. Score one for California wines!

Next up was the Chardonnay round, which had Women of the Vine, from California's Central Coast, going up against Indaba, from South Africa. The Women of the Vine was pretty mild for my taste. It needed a little something more. The Indaba was the clear favorite in my book. It had more substance behind it, and had a wonderful depth to it. We are all tied up now, California and the Southern Hemisphere knotted up at one apiece.

Also included in the $25 for wine tasting is the inclusion of some appetizers from Fleming's. The night we were here they started us off with these Shrimp Skewers with chimichurri. These went very well with the white wines we had. These shrimp should not be called shrimp, because they were so large. Very tasty, well seasoned shrimp, and the chimichurri sauce went very well with these. A nice respite from the wine tasting, but now it was on to round three.

Round three featured red blends, The Prisoner from Napa Valley versus Yalumba from Australia. This was the most difficult match up for me. They both were pretty good. I gave the edge to The Prisoner because the flavor lingered longer, and with more complexity. The Yalumba was good, but I did not get the intense finish I was expecting. California wines up 2 to 1 now.

The people at Fleming's may have been wanting to move things along, or they might have noticed my Dad getting a little rambunctious, so they sent out the next appetizer rather quickly. This Mushroom Crostini may have lacked meat, but it was delicious anyways. The bread had a nice crunch to it, the mushroom added a little meatiness, and the Gorgonzola cheese added a lot of flavor.

Cabernet Sauvignon was next to be tried, with Educated Guess from Napa Valley going against South American favorite, Primus, from Chile. This Chilean wine was my Dad's favorite of the night. He was trying to convince everyone to vote for it as well. He was very passionate about the rich fruit flavor of this one. The Educated Guess was a little too creamy for my taste, but not a bad wine by any means. We are all tied up with one more match up to go.
 

The last of our three appetizers was this Apple and Blue Cheese Flatbread. I am not usually a big fan of mixing fruits and cheeses, but this one worked out pretty well. The bread portion of this was sturdy enough to hold the toppings, and the blue cheese really made this pop with flavor.

Merlot's were the last wines of the evening. The California contender was Dreaming Tree from the North Coast of California. This wine is backed by musician Dave Matthews. It had a real rich fruity taste to start, then a peppery flavor took over. The Esk Valley, from New Zealand had a rich bouquet of fruitiness, then finished with a nice hint of vanilla. This wine won this match up, and won the tasting for the Southern Hemisphere. To be truthful though, all of these wines were winners. They all had their own unique qualities to them, and maybe your wine palette is different from mine. You have two more opportunities to enjoy this wine tasting, tomorrow and the next Friday, September 28th, but you can enjoy the new Fleming's 100 glasses of wine for the next 11 months.

The other two bloggers that were attendance, Anne Marie from Brekkie Fan's Blog and Tiffany from Wine Taste Travel, and myself got to have the added bonus of checking out the new Bar La Carte Menu. This menu was recently introduced in the bar, and features seven appetizers/light meals that are available anytime. We got seated at a table and got to break into this bread. If you have not had the bread at Fleming's, it is one of the best ways to start a meal. It came out warm and was served alongside two great spreads. The Sundried Tomato and Basil is good, but the Feta Cheese Spread had a great flavor to it. I knew a lot of food was on the way, so I tried to limit myself to only a few pieces of bread.

Of course Fleming's is famous for their meat, so it was a natural that we start with their Prime Rib Melt. This hefty sandwich comes with Swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms, and a whole grain mustard slaw. The meat was of course tender, the Swiss helped give a little extra flavor boost and the slaw added a little extra crunch. Good solid sandwich, and not a bad way to start off this Bar La Carte Menu..

This was the most interesting item that we tried the whole night, the Salt and Pepper Shrimp. This appetizer also came with crispy French green beans and a rich caper-mustard sauce. The shrimp were very good. I did not detect the salt here, but the pepper was evident. I am not a big green bean fan, but with this very flavorful sauce, it even made these taste good. The serving size for this was very generous as well.

This hearty dish is the Prime Steakhouse Meatballs. The meatballs were of course the big draw here, but the peppercorn sauce and shiitake mushrooms should not be overlooked. They both helped make this more of a meal than just an appetizer. I could imagine eating this comforting dish on a cold winter night.

Going around the table at the end of the meal, this House Made Burrata seemed to be a clear favorite. I did not get a chance to try this, because I was getting full and wanted to save room for the last two appetizers. The burrata was served with charred grape tomatoes, wild arugula, and toasted garlic crostinis.

We ended our night with two flatbreads. The Filet Mignon Faltbread was very tasty, with its Danish blue cheese, Monterey jack cheeses and red onion confit. Just typing these words makes my mouth water. The Cedar Roasted Mushroom and Artichoke Flatbread may have been missing meat, but it still was a nice light option here. The red peppers, jack cheese, and garlic married well here to create a very flavorful union.

It was quite a night at Fleming's. As you can see from this post, there is always something happening here. On this Friday night the restaurant was popping and the bar was filled to capacity. We even had a visit from Fleming's founder, Paul Fleming. Just like the rest of the staff, he made us feel real comfortable. A special thanks goes out to PR guru, Lee Healy for the invite to Fleming's. Also we would like to thank all of the staff at Fleming's. Everyone we have ever run across is always so pleasant and nice. Thank you all very much, we look forward to coming back soon!

For more information on Fleming's, and all the happening there, click here: http://www.flemingssteakhouse.com/

Great Burgers Our Destiny at Mick's Karma Bar - CLOSED

Mick's Karma Bar

2010 Main St.

Irvine, CA 92614

I am willing to bet that there is not a restaurant in OC that has not been helped by social media more than Mick's Karma Bar. Social media has been blamed for a lot of things. Social unrest, inducing procrastination, invasion of privacy, and becoming a substitute for actual interactions, real face to face time. I have a feeling that Mick, from Mick's Karma Bar, does not have anything but love for social networking sites.

Mick opened his business at the bottom of a large office building complex in Irvine. Started as a juice/wrap driven restaurant, Mick's is susceptible to the booms and busts of the business world, more than he should have been, due to his location. He told us that the entire business's just disappeared from the office buildings during the recession. He lost a good majority of his customers, chunks at a time. Luckily, he had a burger on his menu that would change his business forever, the Karma Burger.

Well, it was not actually called a hamburger at the start. Mick called it a Steak Hache, which is French for ground steak. A customer told him to change the name to a burger, because Americans like hamburgers. From that point on people started to take notice of the burgers at Mick's. The on-line buzz started and has not stopped yet. Mick's has been reviewed on Yelp over six hundred times and gets 4.5 stars with all those reviews. Almost 90 percent of people on Urbanspoon like Mick's. I read a lot of OC food bloggers and almost all of them have reviewed this place and loved it. So I knew it was just a matter of time before we made it to Mick's, and that time finally was now.

Mick's can be a little hard to find. There is very little signage for this restaurant. It is easier looking for the parking structure off of Main Street, the same one you would use to park at for McCormick and Schmick's or El Torito. Park towards the back, in the visitor's area on the first level. Follow the signs to Kitima, and then walk past it, and turn the corner to the left, then you will be at Mick's.

It was a Saturday night around seven when we arrived at the sleepy high rise complex that is home to Mick's. It is not hard to imagine that this area would be quite crowded during regular business hours. The night we were here it was evident that a lot of social media had driven a good stream of people to Mick's. The restaurant is not a big place. They have limited counter seating, a few small tables inside, and the majority of seating is at patio tables outside, among the large art sculptures that I was trying to make sense of. The menu is written on chalkboards behind the ordering station. The menu is not huge. Five burgers, two wraps, and a fish taco are offered, but it is the burgers that have brought us here, so after ordering we grab a table outside and what for the burgers to be brought out.

The first burger was Katie's selection, the Patty Melt ($8.75 combo price). This burger comes with caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, Gruyere cheese, and mayo. I am used to Patty Melts being served on rye, but this one used a very sturdy, almost wheat bun. Katie liked the thickness of the onions and felt the burger really resembled a fresh, backyard style burger. The patty was one of the juiciest ones she has had in a long while. The combo came with fries and a drink. The fries here are fine, as far as steak fries go. The real star for Katie was the Strawberry Basil Lemonade. She liked that the basil cut the usual sweetness of the lemonade. It was refreshing, without being overly sweet.

The burger that caught my eye right away on the menu was the Habanero Karma Burger ($8.75 as a combo). This one came with chili's, garlic mayo, queso fresco, and all the usual hamburger accompaniments. Like Katie, the first thing I noticed here was the bun. It was very sturdy, without being too bready. The produce was good, but I did get rid of some of the lettuce. The queso fresco was an interesting choice for this burger. It kind of had the texture of cottage cheese, but I did not seem to mind it. It added a nice mellow flavor to counteract the heat from the chili spread. The chili spread was not outrageously hot but did make my tongue tingle a bit. Mick brought me a little extra, so I could add another layer to my burger. Even with all the other components of this burger going on, the meat was still the star of the show. You can tell it is made fresh, as the meat had a backyard BBQ quality to it. Not over seasoned, but not bland by any means. A high-quality burger.

Yes, I ordered two hamburgers. I also needed to try their signature Karma Burger, with bacon added ($6.50). Along with the thick-cut bacon, this burger came with American cheese,  lettuce, tomato, and their Karma sauce. The sauce is kind of like a very mild thousand island. It adds just enough flavor to avoid being intrusive. This burger was good but lacked the big-time flavor of the habanero burger that I ate first. Still a solid burger, and one that I look forward to enjoying again.

Since I got an extra burger, I indulged Katie by allowing her to get an extra drink. She chose the Purple Palmer ($3.25), a concoction of pomegranate juice, hibiscus/cranberry iced tea, and then topped with lemonade. Katie liked this drink but was way more into the strawberry and basil lemonade. She liked the fruitiness of this and felt it was pretty refreshing.

After eating at Mick's I can now see what all the hype was about. These are some pretty solid burgers. They are some of the freshest burgers we have had in a restaurant. You can sense the care and craftsmanship that goes into each burger. Is this the best burger I have had? No, but it is one of the cleanest that I have eaten. Even after devouring two of these burgers, I did not feel overly full, and I think that is due to the fresh ingredients and the quality at Mick's. Mick took plenty of time to talk with us about his background, his business, and finding out about us. He is a real solid individual that loves what he does and is very passionate about it. He may give credit to the Karma Burger for helping save his business, but his personality and people skills also have to factor into his success. We really enjoyed our burgers at this unusual spot, but our conversation with Mick was equally as good. This is a must-try burger.

Out of five apples, (because one of my favorite songs, Instant Karma by John Lennon was released by Apple Records in 1970), five being best to zero being worst, Mick's Karma Bar gets 3.5 apples.

For more information on Mick's Karma Bar, click here: http://www.oftendining.com/restaurant_info/order.php?store_id=2151&oid=1

Destination Dessert in Westminster! - CLOSED

Crepe Corner

9329 Bolsa Avenue

Westminster, CA 92683

We had just finished a meal, but still had a little room for dessert. There is always room for dessert right? Our Asian food expert, Kat from Kat's 9 Lives, was with us and knew just the spot we should try for dessert, Crepe Corner.

I admit it, I get totally lost when I am in this area. Luckily, Kat knows her way around this neighborhood like the back of her hand. Crepe Corner is a restaurant inside another restaurant. The restaurant with a bigger sign and area is Zen Vegetarian Restaurant. Not exactly my favorite kind of place, so I was a little skeptical.

We got to Crepe Corner at about nine on a Friday night. The restaurant was buzzing with activity. I do not hang out in this area of town often, but almost all the places we passed on the streets had lots of people inside of them, and Zen/Crepe Corner was no exception. During our visit, large families, couples on dates, and older people came through the door, mainly for vegetarian food. The two restaurants are not overly large. Maybe fifteen tables, with a large stage off to the side that is used for Karaoke. Thankfully, that had not started during our visit, or I would have had to bust out my rendition of Monkey by George Michael.

Ordering for Crepe Corner is done at the counter to the right, as you walk in the door. Their menu includes four all-ready-made crepes, that come with specific toppings, or they offer a checklist-style of order, which is the route we went. The base price for each crepe is $2.49, and toppings, fruits, spreads, and ice cream is extra. After ordering, we found a table in the dining room and waited for the crepes to come out. After a wait of ten minutes, this is what came out for us.

Let's start with my crepe creation. At Crepe Corner you have the option of having your crepe crunchy or soft. We all went for the crunchy version. I think I would try the soft version the next time I come here. I kind of like a slight chew to the crepe skin. I added peanut butter, banana, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce to my crepe. The chocolate sauce was used very sparingly, so I did not get much of that. The peanut butter was good, but a little dry. Two scoops of ice cream may have been needed to moisten up this crepe. The banana was ripe and was probably the add on that stood out the most.

Katie had almost the exact opposite crepe as me. Yes, she did have it crispy, but that is where the similarities end. She got hers with chocolate ice cream, caramel sauce, and strawberries. When this came out of the kitchen the strawberries were absent, but she ate this anyways. She liked it but was not wowed by it. She also felt that the crispy crepe skin was a little off.

Here's a quick look at Kat's crepe. I know for sure that she added Nutella to her crepe, but I am not sure what else she added. She did seem very pleased with her choice though.

Crepe Corner is one of those places that I think you need to go to more than one time to find your perfect crepe. They offer 8 kinds of fruit, 9 kinds of spreads, 4 kinds of ice cream, and 12 kinds of toppings. I am no mathematician, but even I know that makes for a lot of different combinations that can be made. The prices here were not too bad for dessert. I got the most things on my crepe, and it came out to less than $6. The service was fair here. We did not have a waitress or anything, so when we were done we walked back up to the counter and asked for our check. Not exactly destination dining, but if you are in the area, and craving a light dessert, this might be the place for you.

Out of five drive-in theaters, (in honor of this being our first Westminster review, and the last drive-in theater in OC appeared in this city up until 1997), five being best to zero being worst, Crepe Corner gets 2.5 drive-in theaters.

For more information on Crepe Corner, click here: http://crepe-corner.com/