Family Affair at Mama Cozza's

Mama Cozza's

2170 W. Ball Road

Anaheim, Ca. 92804

Orange county can now boast another place that is featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, and that place is Mama Cozza's in Anaheim. I wanted to beat the rush up here, before the show aired, and try this place out for myself. So, I treked myself up the five freeway, on a Wednesday during rush hour, and met my family at this 45 year old eatery.

Mama Cozza's is named after owner, Frank Cozza's mother. Frank worked for the Anaheim police department in the sixties, but left after he bought this place on Ball Road. More than four decades later, he still owns the place, and comes around to every table to see how everything is going. He now has his large family help him out in the restaurant, and they are working on their third generation helping out here.

Mama Cozza's is off by itself in a dilapidated strip mall. Once inside, the restaurant is like every Italian restaurant stereotype. From the red and white checkered table cloths, to the dry bread sticks that are on the tables. There are many pictures on the walls of celebrities that have eaten here, and of assorted family members. This joint is reminiscent of Italian restaurants of yesteryear, before everything became so corporate. Enough talk, let's get to the food.

Here are the aforementioned bread sticks and the vegetable tray that is placed on every table. It had been a long time since I had been to a restaurant that had breadsticks on the table. Everyone was raving about the pickles, it wasn't until later when we learned from a waitress, that they were just Claussen pickles.

To start our meal we ordered the Appetizer Combo Plate, or as I call it, the fried food extravaganza. This had fried zucchini, fried ravioli, fried jalapeno ravioli, fried mozzarella, and shrimp cocktail. Not sure why they did not just fry the shrimp while they were at it. I thought that this platter was just okay. I was not to fond of the breading, and thought that it was real heavy, and you could not taste the items underneath. The only stand out here was the fried cheese, which is pictured above. This did not have breading, but was encased by bread, kind of like a dinner roll, with cheese inside. It was good but heavy.

With every entree at Mama Cozza's you receive both soup and salad. It is like a double bonus! Sorry about some of these pictures, I had to take them quick because I knew that my family was hungry, and the lighting was not too good. The first soup was the French Onion. Jarrod and my Dad got this, and were not wowed by it. I tried it and thought that it was too salty for me. Lots of cheese in it though. The clear favorite of the two soups was the Meatball Soup. This had a real nice smooth vegetable soup taste, and the meatballs complimented it perfectly. I liked the taste of the meatballs, and I got at least four in my small cup of soup.

Now it is time for the dinner salad. The food just kept on rolling at this point. For choice of salad, you could choose either Caesar or dinner salad. We all got the dinner salad. This was a good sized salad for being included with the meal. It had greens, croutons, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and cheese. I am sure I missed something, but our dinners came out real quick after the salads, so I did not have much time to finish it up.

This is Kristin and Jarrod's split order of Mostaccioli Fettuccini with Chicken added. Both Kristin and Jarrod found this to be plain tasting, but then spiced it up with some red pepper flakes and Parmesan cheese, and liked it much better. I found the sauce to be as heavy as I have ever had. It was good, but man I could not have finished this plate. The chicken was surprisingly moist, and flavored well. I am always surprised when chicken tastes good in restaurants, because a lot of times it is too dry. Mama Cozza's got it right.

I chose for myself the Combo Plate. This three item combo included lasagna, mostaccioli, and cheese ravioli., all topped with Mama's sauce. The Mama sauce seemed to me to be a more smooth than a marinara sauce, maybe a little less acidy. I never did ask what the difference was between the two. This plate was okay, but was made better when I added Parmesan and pepper flakes to it. The lasagna could of had a little more meat in it for my taste. I had this for leftovers, and it tasted better the next day.

Here is Katie's Shrimp Fresca. This was shrimp simmered in a garlic, tomato, and basil sauce, served over linguine. I tried this dish and thought that it was very flavorful, and the shrimp was cooked perfectly, and had big flavor when you bit into one. Katie felt the same way about this dish, she liked that the sauce was light, but still big on flavor.

Again, sorry for the poor quality on this picture. My Dad was at the end of the table, so it was more difficult for me to photograph his food, the Cannelloni. Pasta crapes, filled with veal, beef, and spinach, topped with mama sauce and mozzarella. This was my favorite item of the night. Very good complete dish, and it had a wide variety of items in it. It also came with a side of spaghetti, that did not even get touched during the meal.

Lastly, my Mom, Gracie and Lillie all shared a Medium Pepperoni Pizza. What's that you say, one piece of pepperoni? No, they put their toppings on, and then the cheese goes on top. This pizza was loaded with pepperoni, but it is all below the surface laying in wait, for your taste buds to attack. Okay, sorry I got off on a tangent there. Anyways, this pizza was pretty darn good, and was cooked just right. I only ate one bite, but it was full of pepperoni, and the cheese was good as well. Some of the best pizza I have had recently.

All of the dinners include a complimentary Anisette, and oranges. Anisette tastes like black licorice, which I am not a fan of, but I am not going to pass up free alcohol. I really liked this touch.

Mama Cozza's makes you feel like family. I am not going to tell you that this was the best Italian food I have ever had. It was not. But the service that we had, was some of the best we have had in a long while, even with my squirmy niece Lillie. The owner Frank, even came over and made sure that the girls got ice cream. The waitress then took Lillie into the kitchen to tell the cook that she liked her pizza. That is the kind of thing that just doesn't happen anymore at the chain spots.

I will come back here again. I think I need to try some of the things that Guy Fieri tried when he was here. He ordered the Linguine Domery, Chicken Pisano, and the Mama's Special Pizza. I am told that the linguine is his favorite and he has been back three times since to have it. I will wait until the crowds die down a little, but we will be back. Like they say on their web site, you will not leave this place hungry. These are huge portions of food. They must have really inspired family pride, because my Dad even picked up the tab for dinner. Thanks Pop!

Out of five mussels, (I learned that cozza means mussel in Italian), five being best to zero being worst, Mama Cozza's gets three mussels.

For more information on Mama Cozza's, click here: http://www.mamacozzas.com/

Having a Ball at Lucille's?

Lucille's Smokehouse Bar-B-Que

23760 El Toro Road

Lake Forest, CA 92630

I had screwed up. I wanted to go to another restaurant on this Friday night. I thought it would be easy to get a table, but alas, I had waited to long, and not wanting to eat at 9:15, we had to look at other alternatives. I asked Katie where she wanted to go, and she suggested Lucille's. I was fine with that, so we took the short ten minute drive to Lucille's.

Arriving at Lucille's at seven o'clock on a Friday night, we had about a half hour wait. Lucille's always seems to be busy. The legend goes that Lucille Buchanan learned her cooking from her Granny, and after marrying her husband Joe, (who was in the Navy), moved out to California, and started her restaurant in Long Beach. Now Lucille's has thirteen restaurants, three of which are in Orange county, (Tustin and Brea are the others).  Let's see how this trip to Lucille's turned out.

Greeting every customer at Lucille's is a basket of buttermilk biscuits, with apple butter. These biscuits were very moist, and the apple butter is fantastic. These are, "stick to your ribs", biscuits. Very good start to our meal.

For an starter, we wanted to try a little bit of everything, so we opted on getting the half order of Lucille's Appetizer Platter. This came with a good amount of items for the $11 price tag. The cavalcade of appetizers included pork rib tips, fried dill pickles, onion straws, fried green tomatoes, Dixie egg rolls, fried okra, chicken strips, and a tri-tip quesadilla. I almost cramped up just typing out that list. My favorites were the rib tips and, surprisingly the fried okra. The fried green tomato was not something that I was too fond of, but I am not much of a tomato guy. Katie enjoyed the fried pickles, and the quesadilla.

Katie went a little off the map for her entree here, the Louisiana Pasta was her choice. This penne pasta dish is topped with sausage, blackened chicken breast, ham, shrimp, peppers, onions and mushrooms. She really liked this plate, and I had her leftovers for lunch the next day, and I would have to concur. Who knew that a barbecue place could make such a delicious pasta dish? Good sauce on this, and very flavorful.

I went the more traditional route when ordering here, the BBQ Two Meat Combo Plate. For my meats I chose the tri-tip and the baby back ribs. The ribs were good, but not fall off the bone good. The tri-tip was some of the best I have had in awhile. The hickory wood that they smoke their meats over, gave this a very good flavor. My sides that I got were the macaroni and cheese, and the garlic mashed potatoes. The mac and cheese was good and cheesy, but a little bland. The mashed potatoes were lacking in garlic, but still had a good consistency.

Lucille's for me is sometimes hit or miss. This visit was definitely a hit. I really liked the tri-tip, and I felt that the appetizer platter was a good value. I also wanted to mention that you could get a salad or soup for $1.75 more when you purchase an entree. I like when restaurants have this option. You should be able to round out your meal with a low cost salad or cup of soup.

Out of the chain barbecue places, this is near the top of the list for me. The service is always pretty good, considering how crazy, busy they are all the time. I still like the mom and pop type places for barbecue, but when you fail to make reservations on a Friday night, and you do not want to drive too far, Lucille's will fill in nicely.

Out of five guitars, (because Lucille is what B.B. King calls all of his guitars), five being best to zero being worst, Lucille's gets three guitars). 

For more information on Lucille's, click here: http://www.lucillesbbq.com/

Viking Feast at Valhalla Table? - CLOSED

Valhalla Table

2981 Bristol Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Valhalla Table has been on my list of places to try this summer. It is now August, and we finally made it. Our busy summer had a rare lull in the action, so we gathered up some friends and headed up to the Camp to try this place out.

Valhalla, in Norse mythology, is where great warriors would go to eat and drink after battles. Valhalla Table is a sparse-looking restaurant, with minimal decor. They feature a great many salads, appetizers, and sausages.  Their meats are organic, hormone-free, and steroid free. The menu is inspired by the chefs' travels all over the world. Let's see what they have cooking up over there.

First, a little blast from the past, Diet Jolt Cola, with 2X the Caffeine! These were the only two soft drinks we got, but I assume that they all come in glass bottles, just like the old Viking days! Kevin was a little miffed that they did not have regular Jolt, only Diet, which I thought was odd too, but I am not much of a soda drinker, and I do not really know if they even make regular Jolt anymore.

One of our three appetizers was the Currywurst, which is a Berlin street food. I would describe this as a bratwurst, with marinara over it, with a hint of curry flavoring. I usually do not like curry, but with just a hint of curry flavor, the sauce, and the sausage, made this appetizer a winner in my book.

I know that our second appetizer was hummus, but I do not remember what kind it was, and it is not on the menu online. I liked the flavor of this, but I did not eat a lot of it. Kind of an un-memorable appetizer.

The last of our trio of starters was the house-made German Style Pretzel. I am not much of a pretzel guy, but the pretzel lovers at the table liked this fresh-tasting pretzel. The outside had a nice chewiness to it and the inside was soft. The texture of this made Kevin uneasy at first, but then he liked it. Sara had no problem with this pretzel and declared it the best pretzel she has ever had. Mighty praise from Sara.

To keep with Valhalla's international theme, we got the Belgian Style Potato Fries. These are your basic fries, but thicker cut, and fried crisper than regular fries. These are served with one dipping sauce, which includes five different kinds of mayo, ketchup, and ranch. We got the aioli, (garlic mayo), but I liked the Wasabi mayo the best. Good fries here. Clay felt that the fries were above average, and Sara thought that the fries were, "Oh, so yummy!"

So out of the six of us, four people in our party got the Bratwurst. The sausage sandwiches come with your choice of one topping. These toppings include; sauerkraut, caramelized onions, sweet peppers, salsa verde, or sambal balado, (an Indonesian-style spicy salsa). You also have the option of adding chili to the brats as well. I am not too much of a fan of chili on a brat, but different strokes for different folk. Ugh, sorry that made me sound like my Dad. Geez, I am getting old. Anyways, the consensus of our bratwurst eaters was that they were good, but everyone has said that they have had better.

Clay ordered the Chicken and Apple Sausage. Clay thought that this sausage was average, and it did not have a lot of apple taste to it. I did not get a chance to try this, so I guess I have to go by what he said.

Now here is a sausage I did try. This is the Spicy Texas BBQ Pork and Beef Sausage, with the sambal balado salsa. To state it simply, this was an awesome sausage. Spicy times two on this one. The sausage had a great flavor, and the sambal balado was spicy, but not overly spicy. It was a kind of yin and yang effect with the sambal, part sweet and part spicy. I would definitely get this again.

For my second sausage, I got the Duck, Bacon, and Jalapeno Sausage. Even with these three ingredients, this sausage seemed pretty mild. I liked the flavor of the duck, but the bacon and jalapeno were nonexistent here. I also wanted to mention the buns here, they were good, without over-powering the sausage. The meat is supposed to be the star here, and the bun does not get in the way of that, and it is toasted perfectly.

For dessert, we chose to get the Cinnamon Rasin Bread Pudding with caramel bourbon sauce. I thought that this was not as sweet as I would have liked, but everyone else thought it was delicious, and some of the best bread pudding they have had in a while.

There are more sausages that I would like to try here. They have a Boar Balinese, and an interesting Buffalo and Pistachio sausage. All of our party said that would return here. I would have to agree with that sentiment. What the place is lacking in ambiance, it more than makes up for in great-tasting sausages and Belgian fries.

Out of five smorgasbord's, (keeping in the Scandanavian theme), five being best to zero being worst, Valhalla Table receives three smorgasbords.

To get information on Valhalla Table click here: http://www.valhallatable.com/index.html

Welcome to the Neighborhood Seasons 52

Seasons 52

3333 Bristol Avenue Suite #2802

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Katie and I recently got the opportunity to get a sneak preview of the new restaurant Seasons 52, which is in the old Clubhouse spot at South Coast Plaza. Seasons 52 is a restaurant chain that is based in Florida, and has spread out to have 11 units in six states. This will be their first restaurant west of the Mississippi. Their concept is that every week of the year, the menu strives to feature the freshest ingredients possible. They also try to do all of this, while offering healthy, lower calorie menu items. In fact, there are no items on their menu that are above 475 calories.

Here are a few shots I took, to give you a feel for the ambiance of the place. They have an outdoor patio that has two fire pits. The second picture is of the chef's table, which can be reserved in advance. They plan on having nightly entertainment in the piano bar. But enough of all this talk let's take a look at the food.

Before we were seated, we were treated to some of their signature Flatbreads. The first was the Chipotle Shrimp with Roasted Poblanos, Grilled Pineapple, and Feta Cheese. Both Katie and I, thought that this was the better of the two flatbreads that we were served. Very good, mild flavor on this one. The other flatbread was Black Mission Fig with Chevre, Bacon, Mint, and Arugula. This one was a little too mellow for me, it was good, but not as good as the other one.

After a short, meet and greet period, we were called to the dining room. We had lunch with about fifteen fellow blogger's, and journalists. Here is a picture of the place setting. Notice all the wine glasses? I could tell this was going to be a fun lunch.

The amuse that was served was Lump Crab and Haas Avocado on a pico de gallo mixture. Katie liked the pairing of all of these flavors. I liked this, but was not wowed by it. The crab did not have that pop of flavor you usually expect with crab.

The next course that was served was Wild Pacific Salmon and Sea Scallop, roasted on a cedar plank. Both Katie and I felt that this salmon was one of the best we have had recently, and it was very moist. It was rubbed with a mustard/malt vinegar mixture. The scallop was cooked perfectly, and I only wish I could have had more scallops. 

Next up was our salad. They made an Organic Green Salad with Grilled Mushrooms and Truffle Dressing. At first this salad did not impress me, but as the salad absorbed the dressing, it became better. Katie loved the taste of the rich truffle dressing.

This was Katie's favorite dish of the lunch, the Goat Cheese Ravioli with Roasted Garlic, Basil and Light Tomato Broth.. I am not much of a goat cheese person, but the creaminess of this was good, and the light sauce used over this really had a great flavor. To cut down on calories they use egg roll wrappers instead of noodles, and you would not miss the noodles a bit on this.

This was of course my favorite dish of the lunch, the Grilled Lamb and Quail Breast. I thought the lamb had some parts that were good, but some bites were spotty. The real star of this plate was the quail. It was cooked perfectly, had a great texture and was flavored just enough. These were unusual meats for Katie to try, but she liked them enough to eat most of it. She was really more impressed by the baby bok choy that came with this.

For dessert we enjoyed these Mini Indulgences. These little shot glasses of dessert were invented by Seasons 52, to fit into their philosophy of healthy eating, and keeping the calorie count of their dishes below 475. Katie's favorite was the Mocha Macchiato, (no big surprise there, what with her Starbucks addiction and everything), I enjoyed the Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse.

Now for a few words on the wine. Master Sommelier, George Miliotes has put together a wine list that has over 100 bottles of wine, and 60 that are served by the glass. After talking with him, we found out that he travels the world trying to find new wines for Seasons 52, and takes annual trips to South Africa, Germany, and other places in search of adding to the wine list.

We had a great lunch at Seasons 52. Chef Pleau demonstrated a few tricks of the trade, and we got to sample what they had to offer. The staff seems very eager to open up on the west coast. They feel that this is a concept that was built for California, but just happened to be invented in Florida. Only time will tell if they are right about that. But, if this special sneak preview holds true, they might be on to something. We are looking forward to going back when they are open and review the place.

For more information on Seasons 52, click here: http://www.seasons52.com/media/default.asp