Footbal Frenzy # 3 - Patsy's Irish Bar

Patsy's Irish Pub

25571 Jeronimo Road

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

Our quest to find the best place to watch football on Sunday mornings has brought us to Patsy's. Our criteria are this; we need to have a good atmosphere, good service, and good food. That is all we are looking for. Not too much to ask for, right? You would be surprised. We have had a few near misses, but have yet to find that perfect place, that will become our place to watch football. Let's see if Patsy's will become our place.

Patsy's has two locations. This one in Mission Viejo and the other is in Laguna Niguel. Patsy's was opened by a husband and wife team, that have turned their little seafood restaurant into two thriving Irish pubs and restaurants.

We made it to Patsy's just as they were kicking off the morning games. Right off of the bat, you can tell that the customers that were watching football here, have been coming here for many seasons. They all knew each other and knew the two bartenders by name. We sat at the bar and were greeted by a very competent bartender, Sara, who provided us with great service throughout our time here. Good service check! Now on to the food and drinks.

To shake the effects of a mild hangover from the night before, I decided to get back on the horse and have a Spicy Bloody Mary. This is your basic bloody Mary, not the best I have had, but not the worst. It was a little light on the tomato juice, but that just leaves more room for the alcohol, right? Anyways, this was a steal at $3. And thanks to Sara, my glass was never empty.

Patsy's has a special breakfast menu for Sunday football. They have five selections to choose from, and this was Katie's choice, the Biscuits, and Gravy, with Eggs, and Potatoes. She had low expectations for her meal here, but she ended up being happy with it. She liked the peppery taste of the gravy and felt that the eggs were cooked fine. She was not too big of a fan of the potatoes though, calling them, "forgettable".

For my breakfast, I went with the Spanish Fry. The Spanish fry was a chorizo omelet, served with red and green salsa, then, piled on top of two tortillas. This was okay, not bad, not great. Bland tasting for a Spanish omelet. The potatoes were just okay also.

One cool thing that they do at Patsy's is to have a football pool for all their customers. There is no cost to join, and the winner receives a $20 gift card. I wish more places would think about doing that for football, it was a nice touch.

So I guess you can tell that Patsy's will not be our ultimate place to watch football. We really liked the service, and the neighborhood bar aspect of the place was cool, but the TVs at the bar, where we were sitting, were too small. Also, the layout of the place is not conducive to watching more than two games at a time. The food was average, but nothing to write home about. The prices were good, and we will go back, but maybe skip the breakfast, and try their regular menu.

Out of five Joe Montana's, (because he is probably the biggest, "Irish",  NFL star), five being best to zero being worst, Patsy's Irish Pub gets 2.5 Joe Montana's.

Patsy's Irish Pub does not have a website, but you can get more information about them from their Yelp page here: https://www.yelp.com/biz/patsys-irish-pub-mission-viejo

Rambiling on Down To Roscoe's

Roscoe's Famous Deli

116 W. Commonwealth

Fullerton, CA 92832

I have been hearing from friends about Roscoe's for years, but it took an email from a reader, to give me the extra nudge to get me to go, (thanks Mary). Roscoe's is owned by the same guy that owns Heroe's and they also have Roscoe's location in Chino Hills. Let's step inside and check out the sandwiches.

We showed up on a Saturday night, about six o'clock. There were a few people in the newly expanded restaurant. As this was our first time here, we later found out that they have recently taken over a business next door, to create more room. After some initial confusion on where to order, we stepped up to the deli counter and made our selections.

This titan of a sandwich, which is actually named the Titan, was Katie's choice for the evening. This sandwich consisted of Turkey, Pastrami, and Swiss on Rye with Russian Dressing. Katie exclaimed, "This was the best deli sandwich I have ever had!" She liked the simplicity of it, the fact that there was no lettuce or tomato, so you were forced to focus on the mountain of meat. I liked the contrast between the two lumps of meat. The saltiness of the pastrami, and the smoothness of the turkey. You could also tell how fresh the meat was. Very good sandwich.

For my sandwich at Roscoe's, I went with the Reuben "Castillo". I chose corned beef to go along with the sauerkraut, Swiss, Russian dressing, and rye bread. This rye bread was pillowy soft, and had a great mild texture, and stood up to the wetness of the sandwich well. The corned beef was cooked, just like Moms. One of the best Reuben's I have had in a while.

The sides at Roscoe's are okay. They are meant to enhance the sandwich, and for the most part, they do that. The Potato Salad was probably the best out of the three sides we had. The egg was very evident, and the potatoes were cooked well. The Macaroni Salad was fair, but I am not one to be excited by macaroni salad. The Coleslaw was nothing to get excited over either, but it was better than the macaroni salad.

Katie and I have made other trips to downtown Fullerton recently, and it has taken all of our willpower not to go back to Roscoe's to try another sandwich. The sandwiches are that good. The atmosphere had a cool vibe also. Kind of a sports bar, mixed with a rock and roll crowd. I had heard that bikers frequent the place, but we did not see any when we were there. We will definitely be back to try more of their sandwiches.

Out of five admirals, (because the mascot for the Milwaukee Admirals is named Roscoe), five being best to zero being worst, Roscoe's Famous Deli receives three solid admirals.

For more information on Roscoe's Famous Deli, click here: https://www.roscoesfullerton.net/

The Journey Continues at Texas Pit BBQ

Texas Pit B.B.Q.

24061 Raymond Way #2

Lake Forest, CA 92630

My quest to find some good barbeque has brought Richard, Carissa, and me to Texas Pit B.B.Q. Texas Pit is located in a strip mall just off El Toro Road. This area is more known for its Mexican food than barbeque, but we were hoping to find a diamond in the rough. I have had barbeque in Texas and was anticipating that this could match what I have had there. So, Let's see how it goes.

We arrived at about four on a Friday afternoon, and we were the only people in the small twenty tables or so restaurant. Not a big surprise, considering the time of day, though. The waitress let us choose our seats, and we ordered our food. Here is what we came up with.

I know what you are thinking, "I thought this was going to be a post about barbeque?" easy hold on there, Judgemental Joe! We will get to the barbeque in a minute, but this was Carissa's dinner. She opted for the Chili Cheeseburger. This one-third-pound burger was topped with American cheese and had chili served on the side. Carissa liked that the chili was served on the side, so she could add as much as she wanted. I kind of thought that it was a little odd to serve a chili burger that way, but every place is different. I did not try the burger, but she enjoyed it. I did try some of the chili and was not too impressed. Really bland tasting, and not a lot going on with it. But if you want to talk about bland, let's talk about their Cole slaw.  I am not sure this had any dressing anywhere close to it. Tasted like shredded cabbage right from the bag at your neighborhood grocery store. Avoid this at all costs! Now on to the barbecue.

Looking forward to leftovers the next day, Richard ordered a full rack of Baby Back Ribs. These ribs he described as "Excellent." I must admit that these were some delicious ribs. The flavor was spot-on and not overly smoky. They had a good amount of meat, and the sauce was not over-powering. The ribs fell off of the bone with a little bit of effort. Very well done ribs here.

Richard's two side items are above. The half ear of corn was undercooked, according to Richard. I did not try the corn. I did try the B.B.Q. Beans and they were plain, lacking flavor, insipid, vapid, (Can you tell I am using my thesaurus?), Basically, they were pinto beans in water. Not good at all.

As is my custom at a new barbeque place, I usually get a sampler of as many meats as they have on one plate. Here we have the Sampler Platter. This dish contained brisket, B.B.Q. chicken, sausage, and pork spare ribs. The plate, I felt, was just okay. The sausage was nothing special. The chicken was a little dry in pieces. I liked the flavor of the spare rib, but there was a lot of fat on one of the ribs I had. The pulled brisket was unmemorable. I wish I could have had it sliced instead of shredded. For my side, I had potato salad. This was the only side that was anywhere close to good. Unfortunately, I also had the Cole slaw, which was not good.

Our quest for barbeque nirvana continues. On the positive side, Texas Pit has pretty reasonable prices. My sampler platter was only $13.99, and Richard's rack of ribs was $19.99, about five dollars cheaper than across the street at Lucille's. The meats at Texas Pit were average to good for the baby backs, but the sides were awful. It seems to me that finding a barbeque place that can make all the meats and sides well will be challenging. B.B.Q. restaurants seem to specialize in one or two specialty meats and forget about everything else. So the journey goes on.

Out of five oil rigs, five being best to zero being worst, Texas Pit Barbeque gets 2.5 oil rigs.

For more information about Texas Pit B.B.Q., head to their website by clicking here: http://www.texaspitbbq.info/

Two-Stepping To Lone Star Steakhouse - CLOSED

Lone Star Steakhouse

24231 Avenida de Carlotta

Laguna Hills, CA 92653

I had recently read that Lone Star Steakhouse had closed 19 restaurants, (the two Orange county locations are still open, but they closed the one in nearby Long Beach). I have been sitting on a buy one get one free coupon for about a year now, and not wanting to let it go to waste, I twisted Katie's arm and suggested we use it.

There are 112 Lone Star restaurants in 30 states. On this Wednesday night we had to wait for about ten minutes. This Texas themed restaurant was crammed full of a big cross section of the population of America. Our proximity to Laguna Woods was evident by the plethora of gray hairs eating here. I thought old people were in bed by seven o'clock. Oh well, let's hope the food does not put us to sleep.

To start off the meal, they gave us their bread basket. These rolls came out piping hot, and were drizzled with a simple sugar syrup? Not exactly sure what the sweet stuff was on top of the rolls, but they tasted good, and with the honey butter that came with this, we woofed these down.

For an appetizer we went with the Texas Rose. This is Lone Star's answer to the Awesome Blossom at Chili's, or the Bloomin' Onion at Outback. The Texas Rose was not as greasy as I would have thought. It was definitely more than enough for the two of us. The sauce was a kind of half mixture of ranch dressing with some spices in it, which went good with the onion. I liked this, but would order it again only if we went with a larger group, it was too much for two people to finish, even if one of those people were me.

Both of the dinners that Katie and I ordered came with two sides. We both chose salads for one of our sides. She chose the Dinner Salad above. This was your basic salad. Nothing to write home about. I got the Signature Lettuce Wedge. Whenever I order a wedge salad, I am always concerned that I will not have enough dressing for it, but that was not the case here. The dressing was good and the iceberg, was iceberg. The wedge was missing something though, and that something was bacon.  It is funny that a steak restaurant would not think of putting bacon on their wedge salad. Anyways, bacon would have made this salad better.

Katie went with the Garlic Lover's Medallions & Shrimp. This was 9 ounces of steak and five grilled shrimp. I tried the shrimp and did not really taste any garlic, but for me there can never be enough garlic. She also always gets her beef well done, so I did not even give that a try. For her second side item she selected the Jumbo Baked Sweet Potato. As you may know from my past posts, I am not too big of a fan of sweet potatoes. This one was decent, only because they added sugar, cinnamon, and butter to it. Anything tastes better with that combo.

My sparse plate was the Five-Star Filet Mignon with Garlic Mashed Potatoes for a side item. I wanted my bacon wrapped filet medium rare, and that is how it turned out. Perfectly cooked, and with a good flavor. The garlic mashed potatoes were okay. Again, they were lacking in the garlic department, with only a faint garlic taste present. The presentation of my plate was a little odd . It seemed like they should have used a smaller plate, or tried to spruce it up with some color, instead of using kale.

Lone Star is a decent steakhouse. If you take Lone Star for what it is, a chain steak restaurant, you will not be disappointed. Lone Star and the other steak chains, (Black Angus, Outback, etc.), are there to satisfy your steak cravings, when you do not want to spend an arm and a leg at one of the higher end steak restaurants. I think that the portions could be a little bit bigger for what you pay, ( Katie's plate was $16.99, and my plate was $19.99),  or they should give you a choice of salad, and let you choose two side items. The service was good, and if you hit it at just the right time, you even get to see your server dance to some country music.

Out of five soccer balls, (because the nickname of the National soccer team of Liberia is the Lone Stars), five being best to zero being worst, Lone Star Steakhouse gets 2.5 soccer balls.

For more information on Lone Star Steakhouse, click here: http://www.lonestarsteakhouse.com/files/home.aspx

Stealing the Show at Leatherby's

Leatherby's Cafe Rouge

615 Town Center Drive

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

On a recent Thursday night, Katie and I were lucky enough to be invited to an event at Leatherby's Cafe Rouge. The occasion was an event to introduce their chef, Ross Pangilinan to some of the media. Chef Ross has been at Leatherby's since late last year. He is an eclectic mix; born in Tennessee, raised in Orange county, two stints in Michelin starred restaurants in France, opening Sinatra restaurant in Vegas, and this is his third time working in a Pantina owned restaurant.

Letherby's is located on the bottom floor of the Renee and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, part of the Orange County Performing Arts complex in Costa Mesa. Opened since 2006, Letherby's has been a favorite spot for the theater set. Let's see if Chef Ross can keep them coming back.

Our first little surprise of the night was the amuse-bouch pictured above. It was a watermelon cube, topped with a blueberry, balsamic vinaigrette, and also Pop rocks, yes you read that right, Pop rocks! I have not had Pop rocks since I was kid, and now I was having them on top of watermelon, at Leatherby's. You first had the taste of the sweet, then a salty taste, and then it finished off with the bang of the Pop rocks. A real rocking, (sorry, I had to say it), start to the meal.

Alright, sorry my pictures all turned out so pink. I was under rose colored lights, and they were not the best to operate under, but at least you can clearly see the food. Just remember that the food was not all this pink. What we had here for our first course was the Fresh Seafood Quartet. Four different kinds of seafood, I may have missed some of the ingredients, but these were all good. The octopus on the bottom right was served with sweet tomato, olives and radish. Even though Katie and I are not fans of octopus, this tasted fine to us. The lobster on the bottom left was served with a panzanella salad. I could have had a lot more of this. The lobster tasted so fresh. On the top right we had tuna tar tare in a crispy won ton wrapper. The top left featured , Japanese hamachi topped with green apple, jicama, and seven flavor chili pepper. I felt that this was a playful way to present fish and accent each to make each stand on it's own.

The second course was the House made Fettuccine. This also had roasted mushrooms, white wine Parmesan sauce, and truffles. This dish was very creamy and rich. The richness did not come from the truffles, but from the Parmesan sauce. I really liked the texture of this dish.

Katie selected the Black Striped Bass as her main course selection. This was served with Israeli couscous, paella, mussels, shrimp, saffron and chorizo. Yes, you read that right also, chorizo. I only had one bite of this, and that was not enough for me to get all of these big flavors. I liked the bite I had, but I needed more to take it all in. Katie felt that the bass was very tender, but she was not wild about the skin being left on the fish. She was a fan of the paella and the couscous.

Through my rose colored picture you can see my main course, the Maple Leaf Farms Duck Breast. This hearty dish was served with mushroom risotto, caramelized blackberries, Szechuan pepper, and cider jus. This was true comfort food. The duck had a great flavor as usual, but there were some fatty pieces. The mushroom risotto was unbelievable. The jus and blackberries worked well with the duck. I did not snap a picture of the other main course offered, but I did sneak a bite from Vanessa, the Beef Short Ribs were probably the best choice of the night. Very tender pieces, and accompanied by a mushroom red wine sauce that was awesome. Thanks for the bite Vanessa!

These two desserts were my favorites of the ones I tried. The first was the Sorbet/Ice Cream. This stood out because the watermelon sorbet had a hint of pepper after the initial sweetness wore off. It was an unexpected surprise, mush like the Pop Rocks at the beginning of the meal. The other dessert that stood out was the, "Not Classic" New York Cheesecake. I am usually not a cheesecake person, but this one was not chalky, and had a smooth texture. This was also sprinkled with butterscotch crumbles, and fresh berries. Very light and a great way to cap a great meal.

Before we left I snapped a few pictures of the dining room. I loved the wavy glass window that stretched all along the dining room. When we were seated at 6:30 the place was buzzing with activity, but as soon as the shows started, we were the only ones left in the restaurant.

This was a really nice event put on by Leatherby's. Chef Ross was very quiet and straight forward when he came out to our table. He was polite and answered all of our questions. I really enjoyed his playfulness of items in his dishes. It was also great getting to know some of the other blogger's that I read all of the time, Kat from Kats 9 lives, Griffin from Griffin Eats Oc, and more. Both Katie and I are looking forward to coming back to Leatherby's in the near future to do a review.

For more information on Leatherby's Cafe Rouge, click here: http://www.patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=20

Loving Lakeside Chinese? - CLOSED

Lakeside Chinese Cuisine

23022 Alicia Pkwy

Mission Viejo, CA 92630

I always thought that my 100th post would be at some fancy Newport Beach restaurant or a restaurant in the Zagat guide. But here we were on a Saturday night, and I knew that this would be the place: Lakeside Chinese in Mission Viejo. We chose to stay close to home—I'm not sure why—but this is where we decided on.

Living in Mission Viejo, I receive a weekly coupon from Lakeside Chinese and their sister restaurant, Crown Chinese (also in Mission Viejo). The coupons must work because here we are. The restaurant was nearly deserted when we arrived at six on Saturday night. The phone, however, was ringing off the hook from when we got there to when we left. They must do a substantial take-out business. Let's see how the food tastes.

Our coupon was for five dollars off of a family dinner. It's not the best coupon ever, but five dollars off is five dollars off. You receive soup, appetizers, and two entrees with the family dinner. Above is the soup that Katie picked, the Egg Flower Soup. This had a mild to almost non-existent flavor. This would not have had been my choice for the soup, but I was trying to be a good boyfriend, (plus I picked the entrees, so I got my way later on).

Here are the appetizers that came with our meal: egg rolls, paper-wrapped chicken, and fried wonton tons. None of these were very memorable. The egg rolls were just okay but lacking in fillings. The paper-wrapped chicken was greasy and average. The fried wonton ton was the worst of the lot; it was tasteless. This was nothing that you could not get at your local Panda Express.

The first of our entrees arrived, and it was Mongolian Beef. This is always one of my favorites in Chinese restaurants. This dish had plenty of onions, and the beef had a good flavor. I am not saying this is one of the best Mongolian Beef dishes I have had, but it was all right. This was my favorite dish of the night.

Our second dish was a chef's special, Honey Walnut Shrimp. I have had this dish at other restaurants and have liked it. Here, it was just okay. The white sauce that came with this was a little off to me. I liked the candied walnuts, but the shrimp was lost in this dish. The shrimp did not pop with flavor like you would expect. Katie had never had this before and was not a real fan, but I let her pick the soup, so we were even.

The last of our trilogy of dishes was the Orange Peel Chicken. I found this to be the most disappointing dish of the night. For some reason, the chicken was all very tiny pieces. The flavor was just right, with orange flavor. On the menu, it said it would be spicy, but even Katie did not register the heat. I would have liked this better with bigger pieces of chicken.

The dessert that came with the family dinner was the caramelized apples and fortune cookies. The apples were okay, but like the rest of this meal, they were nothing special.

Lakeside Chinese is just your average neighborhood Chinese joint. It stays in business because it is convenient for many households. Lakeside is definitely not destination dining. I could not see people going out of their way to eat there. That is not to say it is awful. It will do in a pinch when you want to avoid driving out of your neighborhood or when you want to take advantage of the numerous coupons they give out, the ones that clutter your junk drawer.

Of five Pennysaver coupons, five being best to zero being worst, Lakeside Chinese Cuisine gets two coupons.

For more information about Lakeside Chinese Cuisine, head to their website here: https://www.lakesidechinesecuisine.com/