Grilling the Grill Hut

Grill Hut

27755 Santa Margarita Parkway

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

It was Katie's turn to choose what we were having for dinner. We both wanted to stay somewhat local since it was a lazy Sunday night, so she decided to get Grill Hut in Mission Viejo to go. Grill Hut is in a shopping center, which I just found out existed when we found ourselves there. They have two locations (the other is in Laguna Niguel). Grill Hut has been in business since 1999.

I am in no way an authority on Middle Eastern food, so I was not sure what to expect. The menu here is pretty limited: They have five types of kabobs, salads, wraps, and sides. Let's see what we came up with.

Katie opted for the Chicken Kabob Dinner. This is served with your choice of grilled tomatoes, green salad, or rice. She chose the latter two. I was a little disappointed that you only get one kabob with four pieces of chicken on it. Adding to our disappointment was the fact that the counter guy forgot our salad dressing, Katie had raved about the dressing, and she was visibly bummed to be without it. After adding some dressing from home, it tasted like your average salad. The chicken was okay, not spiced like anything, not bad, not good, just plain.

I had the Steak Kabob dinner. This was better than Katie's. The steak was seasoned well, and cooked perfectly. Very tender pieces of meat on this one. Of course, you still only got four bite-sized pieces of beef with this kabob. The vegetables were grilled well on this too. They really load you up on the rice. I could not even come close to finishing the amount of rice they gave us. The rice tasted fine, but how much can a person really eat? Also the salad was nothing special.

Lastly, we got a side of Humus with Pita Bread. I have never been formally introduced to Humus before, but this was very good when dipped with the pita bread. I am now looking forward to trying some different flavored hummus I have seen in the markets, so thank you, Grill Hut, for getting me on my hummus kick.

Grill Hut as a whole was okay. It was overpriced for what you get. The chicken kabob was $8.99, and the steak kabob was a buck more. I wish they had a combo plate, where you could try more than one kabob at a time. The sides were nothing special and they added extra sides to the plates to distract you from the lack of main course that they serve you. Probably will not go out of my way to go back, but I am looking forward to trying other Middle Eastern restaurants.

So, out of five belly dancers, five being best to zero being worst, Grill Hut gets two belly dancers.

For more information on Grill Hut, click here: http://www.grillhut.com/

Amber's Hidden in Plain Sight?

Amber's Cantina

31341 Niguel Road

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

Amber's Cantina can be easy to miss, even though the two times I have been there, I have had to wait close to twenty minutes. So, either the food is pretty good, or the restaurant is really small. I will answer both of those statements with a yes. Amber's is in the shopping center that once had a Peppino's in it, on Niguel road. Sandwiched between an out of business florist and a nail salon, this tiny strip mall restaurant blends in with its surroundings so well, that it is kind of like a chameleon, but it is worth seeking out.

The small,  twenty table restaurant is staffed by an all woman wait staff. All of them have been very friendly, and not trying to be sexist, they are all very easy on the eyes. For as busy as the place is, it is a controlled chaos. The food comes out relatively quick, and Katie has stated that she enjoys the atmosphere of this place. Let's see how the food tastes on this visit.

First up are the chips and salsa. The tortilla chips here are thick and very crisp. The salsa is fine, I would like a little more spice. I did like the big chunks of onion in this salsa, and the flavor is decent also.

For an appetizer we chose the Mexican Pizza. A flour tortilla topped with beans, beef, guacamole, sour cream, enchilada sauce and cheese. This is very good, but I wish they would slice it up for you. The tortilla, even with all of the stuff on it still stays crisp. I thought that the $6.25 price for this was well worth it.   

Katie got the Two Item Combination Plate with a shrimp enchilada and a chicken taco. As far as the chicken taco goes, it was better than most that she gets. I usually shy away from chicken tacos, because at most Mexican restaurants the chicken comes out too dry. I also feel that chicken tacos have less flavor than other tacos on the menu. The shrimp enchilada was good, and had plenty of shrimp in it. I liked their enchilada sauce as well.

I had the above Amberito. This is basically a kitchen sink burrito. There is a little bit of everything in here. Beans, cheese, steak, chicken, pico de gallo, sour cream, guacamole, peppers and onions, topped with three sauces, verde, enchilada and ranchero sauce. There is definitely a lot going on here. I liked this burrito, but it was better after I added some Tapitio to it. The rice and beans were good as well. Lots of cheese on the beans, which I like. A pretty solid burrito.

Amber's is a decent place to go for Mexican food. I am looking forward to going back and trying some of their other items. I thought that it was priced competitivley with other Mexican restaurants around the area. Make sure you bring your GPS with you or you may miss this place.

Out of five flamenco dresses, (which is part of their logo), five being best to zero being worst, Amber's Cantina gets 3 flamenco dresses.

For more information on Amber's Cantina, check them out here: http://www.amberscantina.com/

Deep Dish Pizza Paradise in RSM?

Selma's Chicago Pizzeria

30461 Avenida de Las Flores

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA

I made the mistake of watching a show on the Travel Channel, "Food Wars". They were showing New York Pizza versus Chicago deep dish pizzas. Just watching that show made my mouth water for a deep dish pizza right out of the windy city. But, not wanting to bust the bank account for a quick trip to Chicago, Katie and I headed out to Selma's to sample their take on the deep dish pie.

Selma's has been around since 2003, and one of its founders, Mike Phillips Jr., is the son of one of the creators of BJ's, Mike Phillips Sr. This place definitely has a BJ's feel to it. Not the newer, sleek BJ's restaurants, but the older brick walled, beach city BJ's eateries. Selma, in case you are interested, is the owners grandmother, and inspiration for much of the menu. Let's see if they have made grandma proud.

For an appetizer we went with their, "Not Another Fried Cheese" Cheese. This is fried provolone cheese rolled in seasoning and served with marinara sauce. I really liked these, the provolone was a nice change from fried mozzarella. The marinara sauce was just okay.  

Katie ordered the White Sox Pizza. Olive oil, fresh garlic, ricotta and parmesan cheeses, tomatoes, and spinach were on this one. I knew going into this, that I would not like this pizza. It was rather bland tasting, and not really to my personal taste. Katie liked this one though. She thought all the ingredients tasted fresh, and melded together well.

I got something that was more to my taste, the small sized Meat Head Pizza. This pizza had all the meat under the sun on it, ham, meatball, sausage, and pepperoni. I liked this pizza well enough, but it did not cure me of my hunger for a real deep dish Chicago pizza. The dough was not sweet enough, and the cheese was just not quite right. They did put plenty of toppings on this one, and it did come out piping hot. Simply put, it was good, just not great.

Just in case you did not believe the connection between Selma's and BJ's, they also have their own version of the Pizookie, known as the Mother Ship. Baked in a pan, a chocolate chip cookie topped with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. How can this be bad? The answer of course is, it is not bad. I thought the cookie could have been warmer, but that was my only complaint with this.

I liked Selma's, but I was not wowed by it. It is a decent place to go to every once in awhile. The service and atmosphere were both good and made us feel comfortable. I am still in search of my deep dish hot spot in the OC, so if you know of anywhere close that has good deep dish pie, leave me a comment.

Out of five Sears Towers, five being best to zero being worst, Selma's gets 3 Sears Towers.

For more information on Selma's, check them out here: http://www.selmaschicagopizzeria.com/

A Trip Outside the Orange Curtain - CLOSED

Gaffey Street Diner

247 Gaffey Street

San Pedro, CA 90731

My work schedule is about to change; this would be the last Sunday I would be off for a while. So Katie and I decided to try a place where I could use my new GPS and have a good breakfast. We like trying places that we have seen on TV, so we settled on Gaffey Street Diner in San Pedro.

This place was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with Guy Fieri. We have had some good luck with Guy's picks (Twisted Root Burger in Dallas) and bad luck ( The Four Kegs fiasco in Vegas), but we are always up for letting Guy redeem himself. This restaurant is owned by a husband and wife team known for making much of their food in the house. It has to be good, right? Let's see what we came up with.   

This is the homemade biscuit that came with Katie's meal. The pictures make this look better than it was. It was a little dry and had little flavor. I really wanted to like this better, because this is one of the things they made on the show. 

Katie got the Apple Pancake special. The eggs and bacon came out quick and fast. But, they made a mistake and brought out more eggs and bacon with the pancakes, which were much fresher. The pancakes were the best part of this plate. They were heavy on the cinnamon and did not skimp on the apples. They were rich and flavorful, a good pancake, and much better than the ones I had at the Original Pancake House.

This colorful-looking plate is the John Wayne. The story goes that when the owner worked at a different restaurant, John Wayne used to come in and ask for something to cure his hangover, and this is what he came up with. Home fries are on the bottom, eggs and cheese are in the next layer, and then a chili Verde sauce is on top of that, garnished by two sausage patties. This breakfast was as flavorful as it looks. Everything melded together well, and I would definitely get this one again. The Duke does it again!

I liked the Gaffey Street Diner. I was expecting it to be a little better, though. When you see a place on TV, you expect it to be out of this world, and this restaurant was good but not great. I wonder how these places get on the radar of the producers of these shows because this is the type of place you would just drive by and not think about going. However, it is a good, solid place, and the service was excellent and fast. They really made you feel at home.

Out of five cargo containers (because Gaffey Street Diner is so close to one of the world's busiest ports), five being best to zero being worst, Gaffey Street gets three cargo containers.

For more information on Gaffey Street Diner, click here: http://www.gaffeystdiner.com/

Soaking Up the Sun at the Beachcomber

The Beachcomber

15 Crystal Cove Way

Newport Beach, CA 92657

Katie wanted to take me out for my birthday, but she was unsure where to go. She scoured Urbanspoon, read numerous food blogs, consulted the Zagat guide, talked to multiple friends and colleagues, wrote to Dear Abby, inquired with a medium, and finally decided on the Beachcomber in Crystal Cove. I am not sure she did all of this, but I would appreciate it if she did. Of course, she did not have to go through all this trouble. I would have loved just being anywhere with her, trying a new place.

The Beachcomber is in Crystal Cove, south of Corona Del Mar. I had never been to Crystal Cove before. They are really renovating the place, and a lot of construction is going on. Crystal Cove was the setting for numerous movies (Beaches was partly filmed here), and they have over twenty cottages to rent. The cove was a weekend getaway spot for many people in the 30s, and being here is like being transported back to that era.

So now, on to the reason that we have come to Crystal Cove, the Beachcomber. The aptly named Beachcomber is mere steps from the sand. It is one of the most picturesque restaurants that Orange County has to offer. They have a huge patio that is comfortable and inviting. Each table is given two blankets if you feel a chill in the air. So let's find out if the food will get a chilly reception.

To begin the meal at the Beachcomber, we chose to start with Nana's Crab Cakes. These are made with blue crab and then fried. The inside, as you can see, is very flaky and good. The remoulade sauce served with this was superb and made the crab cake better. I felt these were overpriced for the two crab cakes we were given. There was so much greenery on this plate that there was no need to order a salad. Instead, I used the extra remoulade sauce to make an impromptu salad.  

Katie ordered the Ultimate Tuna Melt. This sandwich has albacore tuna, red onion, herb aioli, and Gruyere cheese on their French bread. I am not usually a big tuna melt fan, but it was pretty good. The bread was excellent, and the cheese was melty and plentiful. This dish usually comes with tomato gorgonzola bisque, but Katie subbed that out for fries. The fries were crispy and not too oily.

My birthday lunch was the Blackened Swordfish Tacos. These Creole spiced tacos were served with organic mixed greens. After eating the greens with the crab cakes, I was done with salad and should have asked for another side dish. This fish was cooked well and spiced great. The menu said these were served with a pineapple tarter slaw. I did not taste this at all. I should have asked for more of the delicious remoulade sauce.  

If I have not mentioned it, this was my birthday, so they brought out the above Sundae. This featured slightly brown bananas and vanilla ice cream. It is your pretty standard sundae with no topping.

So, what to make of the Beachcomber? The food is good, but the view and service make the food taste better. This is the type of place that you want to take tourists to show off our beautiful coast. Or a place to go to escape reality, at least for an hour or two.

Out of five metal detectors (because beachcombers use these to find treasures along the beach), five being best to zero being worst, the Beachcomber gets three metal detectors.

For more information on the Beachcomber, click here: https://thebeachcombercafe.com/crystalcove/

Taking Paws at the Lazy Dog Cafe

Lazy Dog Cafe

13290 Jamboree Road

Irvine, CA 92602

Lazy Dog Cafe has gotten a lot of buzz from the on-line community the last six months. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Lazy Dog is always in the top five most searched restaurants on Urbanspoon, and has been reviewed on numerous Orange County food blogs in the past few months. Not wanting to be left out, my parents and Katie went to sample the Lazy Dog on a Sunday afternoon.

Lazy Dog opened for business in 2003, and was started by the founder of Mimi's Cafe, Thomas Simms, and his son. They have grown to seven locations and have three in Orange County. The vibe here is a cross between Elephant Bar and Claim Jumper. Their menu is a little bit of everything from around the world. Pasta dishes, Asian favorites and traditional American faire dot the extensive menu.  Let's see if the Lazy Dog, is a top dog, (okay I promise I will not throw too many horrible puns out here).

Our first appetizer was the Parmesan Zucchini Fries. These were breaded well and were not too greasy. You could even still taste the zucchini, which is sometimes rare when ordering fried zucchini out. This was also a pretty good sized portion for the $7.45 price tag.

The appetizer above was on the house. When you tell them that you have never been to Lazy Dog before, they give you this Grilled Garlic Flatbread. A very nice touch. I thought that this was just okay. It did not have lots of garlic flavor, and was a little dry, but it was free and that is a dog gone good deal, (sorry I tried to slip that one in there).

My Mom got the Walnut Chicken Salad Sandwich. This is not your normal chicken salad sandwich, it has walnuts, cranberries, red onion and celery, with a curry mayonnaise. Very flavorful and it really tasted fresh. The fries were good and hot also.

The BBQ Beef Sandwich was my Dad's choice for dinner. Beef, caramelized onions, BBQ sauce, and cheddar cheese combined to make this very good sandwich. I normally do not like cheese on barbeque sandwiches, but the cheese did not distract from this. The meat was cooked well and the sauce had a good smoky flavor. Instead of fries Pop went with the Asian Slaw. I thought this was just okay, nothing too special. 

This colorful looking plate belonged to Katie. She got the Sundried Tomato Pesto Pasta. This entree featured chicken breast, mushrooms, broccoli and onions. Very flavorful dish, and my personal favorite of the night. This really had a lot of flavor and really popped when red pepper flakes were added. The chicken in this was one of the most tender I have had in recent times in a restaurant. I was very happy Katie did not finish this, so I could have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Lastly, was my meal. I had the Bacon Wrapped Coulotte Steak. The Coulotte steak is a small boneless steak cut from the sirloin. They wrapped this 8 ounce steak in bacon with a Burgundy wine sauce. Very tasty steak. It was cooked medium rare and they got it right. This was served with mashed potatoes and confetti vegetables. I liked the mashed potatoes, but the confetti vegetables were odd. They were long strands of vegetables, the size of spaghetti noodles. I would have much rather just had regular veggies.

The consensus choice for dessert was the Banana Custard and Cream. This was a very good dessert. Bananas folded into house made custard, served on top of homemade graham crackers, served with chocolate and raspberry sauces. A real bargain here at $3.95. 

Lazy Dog was all that it was cracked up to be. The food was good, prices were reasonable and they have a good variety on their menu. I saw at least three things that I would like to try on future visits.  Our server however had no personality. The management team here made up for our server's lack of friendliness. They all came over and talked to us, and asked how we liked the place. Very good people there.

Out of five flea collars, five being best to zero being worst, Lazy Dog Cafe gets 3.5 flea collars.

For more information on Lazy Dog Cafe, click here: http://www.lazydogcafe.com/

Is Ruby's Still a Gem After 25 Years? - CLOSED

Ruby's Diner

31781 Camino Capistrano

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

Like the swallows returning to Capistrano, I always return to Ruby's. Ruby's has been a constant throughout my life. I remember going to the Balboa pier location many times as a kid. My sister also had a brief stint working at the Fullerton Ruby's. This visit was for my girlfriend's brother's birthday. Jimmy chose the San Juan Capistrano Ruby's for his birthday bash, a location I had never been to before. Let's see how we made out.

For the few of you who have never been to Ruby's, here is a little history on the place. Ruby's started with just one location on the Balboa pier, in 1982. The former bait shop was transformed into a classic 1940's diner. Ruby's now boasts over forty locations in six different states. So let's see if the San Juan branch, can maintain Ruby's legacy.

There were ten of us eating, but one couple was running late, not naming names, but they know who they are. So we ordered three appetizers to kill some time and delay our hunger. This is the first of three starters, the Zippity Zucchini. In the picture, these looked great, but they were a tad overcooked, but it did not affect the taste. These were a decent starter.  

These were the surprising Ruby's nachos. I had never seen these on the menu of any Ruby's I had been to before, but they were really good. The tortilla chips were crisp and even stayed that way with all of the toppings on these nachos. These really hit the spot. I guess that these are not available in all of Ruby's locations.

Our last appetizer was the above pictured Sweet Potato Fries. Out of the three starters, these were the least favored. I am no fan of sweet potato fries, so I can not really say if these were good or not. Sweet potato fries are popping up all over the place on menus, so they must be a popular item, I will stick with regular potatoes though. 

This is Katie's Roast Turkey Breast Sandwich. This sandwich, of course, featured turkey, mayo, lettuce and cranberry sauce. It was kind of like Thanksgiving in May. I would have liked a little more mayo on this, but Katie had no complaints.

The birthday boy ordered the Guacamole Burger. Two slices of Swiss cheese on this one. Jimmy liked the juiciness of this burger. I have had this burger before and have really liked it. A burger fit for the birthday tyrant! 

So, of course, I went big, I chose the Ruby Dooby Double Cheeseburger with the addition of bacon. I really wanted to like this burger, and I would have liked it better if I had got what I ordered. I ordered this with cheddar cheese, but it came out with American instead. Not wanting to wait for another burger, I just ate this one. It was good, but not great. The fries that came out with this were just lukewarm.

Emily, the family salad expert, ordered the Chicken Finger Salad. This big salad featured fried chicken pieces, bacon, egg, tomato, cheese, and green onion, all atop a bed of lettuce. Em, the girl with the tiniest appetite, ate a good majority of this, so I assume it was a good scene. She had some leftover that she planned on eating the next day.  

This drab-looking salad belonged to Sara. She got Ruby's Apple, Pecan, and Bleu Cheese Salad. Sara liked this salad and thought that what it lacked for in color, it made up for in flavors. She thought that all the flavors of this salad were big, and melded together well.

Our trip to this Ruby's was more misses than hits. The service for our party of ten was not so good. They were slow on refills of drinks, the food came out cold in some instances, and the food did take a long while to come out. The burgers were good and the nachos were a big surprise. We liked the outside patio of this restaurant, and it was just warm enough to sit out and enjoy it.

So out of five Furbies, (since the birthday boy, Jimmy was born in the nineties, and this was a hot toy in the '90s), five being best, to zero being worst, Ruby's receives 2.5 Furbies.

If you would like more information on Ruby's, check them out here: http://www.rubys.com/