Football Frenzy #1 at Buffalo Wild Wings

Buffalo Wild Wings

23600 Rockfield Blvd.

Lake Forest, CA 92630

Fall brings autumn colors, declining temperatures and NFL football. Okay, southern California does not get any of these things, but the rest of the nation does. I still love football, even though we do not have a team. In fact my team, the Jaguars, are so seldom on free TV, that I have no choice, but to go out and watch them somewhere that they have all the games. And thus, that is the dilemma we face every Sunday, where to watch the game?

We look for a place that has good food, service, and a pleasant atmosphere. This may seem like an easy task, but it is hard finding a place that has this hat trick of characteristics. So I have set it as my goal, to find the best place to watch football in Orange county, (at least until my team is eliminated from playoff contention, which could be by the beginning of November, because they are not too good).  Our first stop is Buffalo Wild Wings.

I had never been to a Buffalo Wild Wings before. They seem to have sprung up all over the place in the last few months. I know of at least three in Orange county, (this one in Lake Forest, Mission Viejo, and Irvine). According to the Orange County Register they are looking to expand to at least 20 units in the near future. Let's see if this is going to be our new hangout for football.

BWW is a sports fan paradise, TV's all over the place, a full bar and for those that do not like football, they even have trivia boxes that you can lose yourself in, if you are not into the football. The service on this night is really good, so they are two-thirds of the way to becoming our football hangout. Now let's see about the all important food category.

Our first appetizer that we tried was the Crispy Southwest Dippers. In the menu these are descirbed as tortilla dippers, filled with fajita-spiced chicken, pepper jack cheese, tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, corn and black beans. All served with a southwest ranch dipping sauce. This sounds like it would be big on flavor, right? No they were not. These were bland, and over fried., and that made the insides of this taste like nothing. If the menu had not told me what was in this, I would have had no idea what was in here.

The second of our starters was the Mini Corn Dogs, served with honey mustard sauce. These were fair, but nothing that you could not get at your local Weinerschnitzel, for about half the price, (these were $5.99).

Katie and I each ordered five of the Boneless Wings, because it was Boneless Thursday at BWW. The price for each boneless wing was 65 cents, as compared to the usual 90 cents they are the rest of the week. The hard part was to choose two of the fourteen sauces that they have. I went with the Asian Zing sauce, and Katie, surprisingly, went for the Hot sauce. She was sweating after a few bites of the hot sauce, but she said she could not stop eating these. I liked the heat on these, but found that the chicken was just average. The Asian Zing sauce was good too. Sweet and with a hint of spice. I would have liked a little more heat in this sauce, and then it would have been excellent. As a whole I liked these, but I would like to try the traditional wings next time.

As bland as Katie's Steak and Potato Flip looks, it tasted equally as plain the next day when I had the other half for lunch. The Potato Flip is flatbread pizza crust filled with steak, mozzarella, french fries, southwestern ranch dressing and honey BBQ sauce. There were only a few pieces of steak on here, and the cheese was almost non-existent. Katie, who is usually pleased by everything, was very under-whelmed by this also.

The Black and Blue Burger is pictured above. This burger was flavored with Cajun spices, and topped with blue cheese dressing. At least that is what the menu said. If I was blind folded and asked what kind of burger this was, I would have replied that it was a regular burger with no spices or blue cheese in the vicinity of this plate. I even asked for extra blue cheese dressing, and this still did not help this burger out. It was cooked okay, but I could not get over the lack of flavor.

So after reading the above, you know that this is not going to be my ultimate place to watch football. I liked the atmosphere and the service was good, but the food was the killing point here. I would go back to watch a game or two, but I would only eat the wings here. Our first drive in our goal to find a great place to watch football resulted in a field goal. We stalled in the red zone and had to take the three points. If that is too much football talk for you, the translation is that they started off good, but failed to deliver when it came to the food.

Out of five Bills, (for you non-football fans, that is the name of the Buffalo football team), five being best to zero being worst, Buffalo Wild Wings gets 2 Bills.

For more information on Buffalo Wild Wings, click here: http://www.buffalowildwings.com/

Eating Around the Globe at the Orange Street Fair

Orange International Street Fair

1 Plaza Square

Orange, CA 92866

The Street Fair in Orange always is my cue that the end of summer is near. It is always about 90 degrees at the fair, it is always packed with people, and the parking is awful. So what brings all of these people out to endure all of this? Well of course it is the food, (and drinks).

This is the 38th year for this food festival in the heart of downtown Orange. The blocked off streets have booths set up, where they feature foods from around the globe. After reading the Fast Food Maven, I had compiled a list of items that we must try. Katie and I had a, divide and conquer technique this year at the fair. We were going to split everything that we got, and thus, the guilt that I felt from last years glutenous outing, would be halved. Let's see how this worked out for us.

To start the food festivities, we went with the Bratwurst from the Orange Lutheran booth. This is the king of the brats at the street fair. Other places sell them, but these are the best. The sandwich roll is soft, but holds up to the meat and kraut. After biting into the brat, it snapped a little, and the kraut is a good scene on this. A very good start to the night.

Here is the highlight of the night for Katie, the Loukoumades. These mini football sized pieces of fried dough, always have one of the longest lines at the street fair. These have honey inside of them, and also are dusted with cinnamon and sugar. Very sweet, and very addictive. I crown this the Greek's best innovation since the Olympic games. Very delicious.

Chris and I took a quick detour from my list of things to try, and got the Fried Calamari above. This was fried well, and was not too chewy at all. I would have liked some lemon on top of this, but it was good without it.

Back to our list of places to try, so we were off to Mexico Street. The quesadilla, with handmade tortillas, was greasy but good. You could tell that they cooked this with lard. We had one with carne asada, and the other with just cheese. Both were very good. The pork tamale was also on my list but I did not try this. Mark's sister, Marie, thought that this was very tasty. I will have to have one next year.

Another quick detour, for Riles and Mark to enjoy some Corn. I am not too big of a fan of corn on the cob, but they both thought that this was cooked well. I have never had corn with mayo on it, but almost everyone was doing it, so I am sure it is good. This might make my list for next year also.

The last thing on my list was the Beef Teryaki on Japan Street. The first picture was a plate of samples they were giving out while we waited in line. The teryaki was sliced thinly, and had a very sweet sauce on it. I liked this a lot. Very tender pieces here.

The last thing I consumed was the Rosette's from a Norwegian booth. These are a deep fried cookie, that is dusted with powdered sugar. These dissolve in your mouth as soon as you consume them. I am not too big of a fan of these. I need a little more substance, and our group was under-whelmed by these.

Another successful year at the Street Fair. I am always amazed by how calm the crowd is here. You would think with all of the alcohol, and the big turn out, there would be some bad apples, but that is never the case. The security and people that put on this fair should be applauded. I would also like to thank my group for allowing me to pick the places that we went to eat. They are pictured below. I am looking forward to going to the Street Fair with you guys again next year!

For more information on the Orange International Street Fair, click here: http://orangestreetfair.org/

Converging on the Crosby CLOSED

The Crosby

400 N. Broadway

Santa Ana, CA. 92701

If you blink, you are going to miss the Crosby. Above is all the signage you will see that the Crosby exists. I had read about this place on Yelp, and it has received good reviews. Then someone told me that this place has the best hamburger in the OC. So I had the motivation to go; now, all I needed was a spark. That spark came to fruition by Katie, and I chose to go to a play in the downtown arts district. So away we went on a Friday night.

We got to the Crosby at 6:00 on a Friday night. It was a chore trying to find parking, but we found some street parking a few blocks away. I had made reservations, but there were plenty of tables available. A few after-work parties were going on, but the place was not packed.  I liked that the walls were decorated with old boom boxes. I might have had one or two of those old models. Let's see if the food will be music to our ears.

The Crosby has an interesting happy hour. $1 Pabst Blue Ribbons and $3 Sangria. I got one PBR (just for laughs), and Katie got a Sangria. She liked the sangria but did not finish it. I am not a sangria person, but I liked this flavor. It was not too fruity and not too much like wine. It was right in the middle. Also on the happy hour menu is the Chili Cheese Fries for $5. I thought these were not so great, but they are not my thing. I like chili with beef; this was vegetarian chili, and I am not a big fan of sweet potato fries. Katie, a fan of both of these things, really liked these both a lot, so we will go with what she says.

For Katie's dinner, she got Creole Shrimp. This is linguine pasta with a spicy creole sauce and brandy sauteed shrimp. She could not say enough good things about this dish, even going as far as saying that this was the best pasta dish she could remember having in recent memory. She thought there was just enough heat on this, enough not to distract from the plate. She also liked that this had just the right amount of sauce for her taste. High praise from Katie. I tried this and would have liked a little more heat, but I like spicy things.

So when someone says the best burger in Orange county, that is what I have to get. This is the Smoked Angus Beef Burger. This burger featured a cavalcade of things on it. It had caramelized onions, sauteed mushrooms, greens, muenster cheese, spicy ketchup, fried egg, and apple cider brandy aioli. Wow, what a mouthful. My first bite of this burger brought to mind a meatloaf I had before. All of the flavors on this burger worked well with each other. It was not the best burger in the OC, but it was good. I was not so fond of the fries. They were truffled fries, but the flavor seemed to be a little off for me.

At the end of the meal, we could not resist the Crosby Sundae. When I think sundae, I usually believe ice cream in a glass, but as you can see, this is not that. This is two towers of deep-fried tortillas stuffed with cinnamon and bananas, with three scoops of ice cream. We both thought that this banana foster-type dessert was pretty good. Not too rich, and just the right amount of ice cream. When I saw only three small scoops, I was worried there would not be enough, but it turned out cool.

Katie loved the Crosby and is looking forward to going back again. I liked it well enough to try it again, also. The menu changes every other month, and they have a chef's selection menu with some higher-end items. Most of those piqued my interest, and now that I have had the burger here, I can move on from that. The service was friendly and casual. The atmosphere was a little trendy, but we felt comfortable inside.

Out of five penguins (because Sidney Crosby plays for them), five being best to zero being worst, The Crosby gets three penguins.

For more information on The Crosby, click here: http://thisisthecrosby.com/

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/