Lima Tell You About Inka Mar! (sorry for the bad pun) - CLOSED

Inka Mar

25542 Jeronimo Rd. 

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

Lately, I have heard a lot about Peruvian food. I remember eating Peruvian food long ago in Costa Mesa at a restaurant called Inka Grill. I liked it the one time I went, but I have yet to go back. I am still trying to figure out why. I recently got an email asking me to try Inka Mar. Wanting to try something out of the norm for us, I enlisted Katie and Richard to tag along with me.

Peruvian food has been influenced by many different cultures over the years. Italians, Asians, and Spanish, among others, have left their marks on the food of Peru. The result is a menu that is unique and varied. Inka Mar recently changed from an Italian/Peruvian restaurant to a Peruvian restaurant only in mid-January. Let's see if the food here will make us crave Peruvian cuisine.

Above is the Bread and Aji sauce served before each meal. The bread was average, but the aji sauce was very good. Made of lettuce, jalapenos, and other spices, this really had a great spicy flavor. The spice did not overpower the sauce, but you definitely knew it was there.

When I am trying a place for the first time, I like to get a sampler platter to judge more of the food. So that is what we did here. This appetizer platter consisted of three items, the Trio Criollo.

Going left to right on the plate, we have the Papa a la Huancaina. This is boiled potatoes served with a creamy cheese sauce, garnished with a hard-boiled egg. I was not in love with this part of the dish. The potatoes surprised me by not being warm. They were served cold. The cheese sauce was also just average to me.

The middle portion of the plate was occupied by the Ceviche Mixto, which is fish, shrimp, calamari, and mussels mixed with lime juice. The fish tasted fresh and had a good flavor, but the lime at the end of each bite overpowered this part of the plate.

The last portion of this appetizer platter was the Choritos A La Chalaca. Here, mussels are topped with tomatoes, peppers, onions, cilantro, and lime juice. I found the seafood fresh, and the mussel topper was very flavorful. This is like an oyster shooter, just with a different shellfish. This was definitely my favorite part of this plate. Katie did not try this because she is not a fan of mussels (that is why she dates me!).

Now, on to the entrees. Up first is my Arroz Con Mariscos, or Peruvian Paella. This dish combined Peruvian rice with peas, onions, mussels, and other assorted seafood. I liked the flavor of this, and it came out steaming hot. The rice was very flavorful, but if there was one drawback about this dish, it was that there was not an abundance of seafood. A little more seafood would have made the $16 price tag for this a lot better.

Richard got the Bistec a lo Pobre or poor man's steak. This charbroiled steak had fried eggs, plantains, sweet potatoes, and rice. I had this kind of dish at a Colombian restaurant a few months back. The steak here was more tender, though. Richard would have liked the steak to have more seasoning. He loved the rice but felt the egg did not add anything to this plate. This was Richard's first time having a plantain, and he was not sure he liked it. I tried it and enjoyed it.

My favorite item of the night was Katie's choice for dinner, the Saltado de Pollo. This unique dish combines chicken, tomatoes, onions, and French fries, sauteed and served with white rice. These items all worked very well together. The chicken was flavorful and tender, and the fries were not all soggy like you would expect. Katie was even excited by the rice. I would gravitate towards this the next time I came here.

For dessert, we were given some of their homemade ice creams. The flavors were Lucuma (kind of like pumpkin), Maracuya (passion fruit), and Mango. All of these were very good, and you can definitely tell that they make them here. They had the texture of homemade ice cream that I had as a kid, and the flavors were very unique.

Inka Mar has a good vibe. They have a very large menu, and it may take me some time to find my favorites. The food here was very fresh. The service was good, but there were only four other tables eating at the time we were there (7 p.m. on a Wednesday night). Hopefully, the word will get out about this place, and they can fill those tables.

Out of five Machu Picchus (the most familiar icon of the Inca world, located in Peru), five being the best and zero being the worst, Inka Mar gets 2.5 Machu Picchus.

For more information on Inka Mar, click here: http://www.inkamar.com/index.php

Fabtabulous Hot Dogs in the Valley!

Fab Hot Dogs

19417 Victory Blvd.

Reseda, CA 91335

Being a part of a couple really makes you busy. Katie has such a large family that it seems like every weekend we have some party, shower, or baptism to attend. This weekend it was the latter, and it was all the way in the Valley.

To my best recollection I had never been to the Valley before. This really freaked Katie and her family out, so before we left I looked on-line to see what the Valley has to offer in the way of restaurants that have been on TV. That is when I found out we would be driving by Fab Hot Dogs, which was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Fab Hot Dogs is owned by New Jersey native Joe Fabrocini. After trying hot dogs in all areas of the US, he decided to open a spot where you could get all of the great hot dogs our country has to offer, under one roof.   With a heavy influence on east coast hot dogs, he has introduced the people of LA to a north New Jersey favorite, the Ripper, along with hot dogs that snap when you bite into them, like the dogs you can find in Manhattan. Enough talking about the hot dogs, let's take a look at what all the fuss is about.

Here are two looks at the Carolina Slaw Dog. Both Katie and I decided we would try all of the hot dogs that Guy Fieri tried when his show visited Fab's. This dog featured southern slaw, mustard, chili and a steamed all beef hot dog. I liked this hot dog. The coolness of the slaw, in comparison with the spicy chili really hit the mark for me. The hot dog definitely did have a great snap to it, and the bun stayed out of the way. Katie on the other hand was not so happy with this choice. She felt that the slaw was too sweet and overpowered the dog. I guess she does not agree with me all the time.

Next up is a Bald Eagle Ripper. A ripper is a deep fried hot dog, which has a great following in New Jersey, (and you thought the garden state only gave us bad reality TV stars!). Bald eagle sauce is a mixture of relish and mustard with a spicy twist. I liked the deep fried hot dog on this one, but the bald eagle sauce was too much for me. Not a big fan of the taste of it. Maybe it was a little too bitter for me.

Another hot dog that was featured on DDD, was the LA Street Dog. This bacon wrapped hot dog was topped with peppers, onion, mayo, ketchup, mustard, jalapenos, and tomato. This was easily Katie's favorite. She liked the sweet taste of the peppers. I liked this, even though there were so many big flavors on this. The bacon was kind of lost here, but I would get this again for sure.

Lastly, the famous Texas Burrito Dog. This fantastic creation was two all beef hot dogs, chili, cheese, onion, mustard, and Frito's, wrapped in a giant tortilla. The tortilla was then grilled and cut in two. The slight crisping of the tortilla was a nice touch, and all the ingredients in this worked so well with each other. The Frito's were not noticeable in this, but that was not a big deal. The chili was great, plenty of cheese and onion, it was a real pleasure eating this. Well worth the trip!

I guess by reading this far you can say that I was more than a little pleased with Fab Hot Dogs. This counter service restaurant has over twenty specialty hot dogs, along with over thirty toppings, so the combinations of what you would like on your hot dog are endless. I just wish I lived closer to Fab's, so I could satisfy my cravings for the Texas Burrito dog. I never thought I would want someone in Katie's family to throw another get together, just so we could head up to the Valley again, and definitely pass by Fab's.

Out of five Milli Vanilli Cd's, (because of course one of the supposed singers on their albums was named Fab), five being best to zero being worst, Fab Hot Dogs gets 4 Milli Vanilli Cd's.

For more information on Fab Hot Dogs click here: http://www.fabhotdogs.com/index.html

Picture Perfect Pizza at Pizzeria Ortica? - CLOSED

Pizzeria Ortica

650 Anton Blvd.

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I have wanted to try Pizzeria Ortica for a long time now. It seems like it has been on my list of places to try forever, but we have just not had the opportunity to make the trek up the 405 to Costa Mesa. After going to New York and having some great pizza, we were on a quest to find an equally great pizza in the OC. Pizzeria Ortica has been on so many of the best pizza lists, so that is where we are headed. 

Pizzeria Ortica is located adjacent to the theater district of Costa Mesa. Modestly decorated, long, and narrow, this restaurant has high ceilings that do not diminish the noise. Very hard to hold a conversation in a loud room. Also, the tables were crammed too close together. We sat along the front window and were brushed by a passerby at least twice. The atmosphere got us off our game, but the food could bring us back. Let's see if this will be the case.

To start, Katie and I chose one appetizer. Above is her choice, the Conserva di Pollo. This consisted of olive oil, shredded chicken, Parmigiano, vegetables, and balsamic dressing. Think of it as a warm chicken salad. I thought the taste of this was fine, but Katie, who found a bone in it, would not get this again. She summed up this dish by saying it was "not fantastic."

I usually see lamb on a menu and gravitate towards it, and this was the case here. Above is the Arrosticini d'angello. Two lamb skewers were served with wilted dandelion greens and a mint salsa verde. The lamb was cooked well and very tender, and the mint worked well with the meat. The dandelion greens were very strong and oily, and they really overpowered this dish.

Now on to the main course, and the reason we are here: the pizza. Katie went with the Milanesa Pizza. This featured fontina cheese, asparagus, Parmigiano Reggiano, and a fried egg. This pizza was very good. It was unique and rich in flavor. The Fontina and egg rocked it. Katie really enjoyed this pizza as well, calling it "more of a pizza quiche."

I ordered the more traditional type of pie, the Salsiccia pizza. This came with homemade sausage, fennel, mascarpone, red onion, and buffalo grana. These are big flavors for this pizza, and they all worked well together. I am usually not a crust guy, but this one had a good chewiness to it. They were light on the toppings, but that might have been by design. The absence of sauce was not noticeable at all. It was a very good pizza.

Lastly, for dessert, we went with the exotic-sounding Budino di Cioccolato. This was chocolate layered with caramel, topped with two berries. This tiny dessert was okay—not too decadent, but with a smooth texture. I'm unsure if I would order this again, but it was all right.

There are two different kinds of pizzas out there. One is the kind we grew up on, from Chuck E Cheese, Pizza Hut, or Haus of Pizza. These have lots of cheese and toppings and taste really good. The other type of pizza is more of a refined, grown-up-only kind of pizza. It is a pizza that lets the toppings and dough be the show's star instead of just piling on mounds of cheese. Both pizzas are good in their own way, though, so I will continue eating both.

The refined, grown-up pizza is what should bring you to Pizzeria Ortica. They use a 300-year-old biga to create their dough and have great options for what to put on their pizzas. This has been the best pizza we have had in the OC for a while. The rest of the menu, however, was a disappointment, and the service at this restaurant could have been better than you would expect. Our waiter seemed lost for the majority of our time here. We will definitely be back for the pizza, though, and we will skip the rest of the menu.

Out of five train cars (because Ortica is an area in Milan that used to have a famous railway station), five being best to zero being worst, Pizzeria Ortica gets 3 train cars.

For more information on Pizzeria Ortica, click here: http://www.pizzeriaortica.com/

Terrific Night at Taste of Anaheim

16th Annual Taste of Anaheim

Anaheim Garden Walk

321 West Katella Ave.

Anaheim, CA 92802

One of my favorite food events every year is the Taste of Anaheim. Unlike other Taste of... (insert city name here), your admission to the festival is your passport to trying all the samples you can eat. I was fortunate enough to be given a press pass for this event, but Katie was pleased to pay the $40 entrance fee, and we both felt this was more than worth it.

The Taste of Anaheim features food from 50 restaurants, ranging from fast food to fine dining. Although the crowd was large, everything appeared to run smoothly. Lines for food booths went pretty quick. There was definitely enough food to go around. In addition to the food, the TOA also had three bands to entertain the crowd, local artists, and many exhibitors from the local community.  So, without further ado, let's check out the food.

Of course, one of my favorite Anaheim restaurants is Mr. Stox, so that is one of the first booths we hit. They were sampling their Crab Cakes and Chocolate Macaroon cookies. Both were great, and of course, I did go for seconds.

Fire and Ice Restaurant was hosting the VIP party and was offering the above items. This Mongolian-style grill had slider hamburgers, sausage pasta, and a beef dish. The drink above is their signature Scorpion drink, made with two kinds of rum, gin, brandy, and other juices. Very smooth, even with all of the alcohol in this.

Cantina Lounge was handing out Carne Asada tacos and Mexi-Mac and Cheese. Both of these had a decent flavor.

Canyon Neighborhood Restaurant, a place on my list of places to try now, sampled a BBQ Beef Quesadilla and a Tuna Salad. Both were very tasty, and the presentation was good here as well.

Last year I called Concourse Bowling Center's food the worst at the TOA. This year they were a lot better than the veal meatballs and chicken curry dish they had last year. This year they went with more traditional items for a bowling alley, a Roast Beef Slider, and Beef Chili. Much better choices.

Another on my worst list last year was Alcatraz Brewing Company, but the rib above was tender, and the light beer they were sampling was smooth and had a mild flavor. Much better!

Taste of Anaheim is not just for restaurants already in business but for introducing themselves to the community before opening. This is the case for The Ranch Restaurant. This place, located on Ball Road, will be open in the fall. They offered three samples, a Lamb Chop (tender and flavored well), Tortilla Soup (nice flavor but too runny), and a light dessert that I did not catch the name of (refreshing). I will definitely give them a try when they open in the fall.

Old Anaheim stalwart rolled out three offerings as well. The cheesecake was light and fruity, the shrimp salad was okay, and the spicy shrimp ceviche was excellent and bursting with flavor.

La Brea Bakery also made my list of worst booths last year, but they offered a Turkey-Bacon Panini that was much better than last year's samples.

Another of my favorite restaurants was in attendance, Slater's 50/50. They sampled their Signature Burger and a burger I have been dying to try, The Peanut Butter and Jealousy Burger. The signature burger is always a good bet, and the peanut butter and jelly burger were tasty, but it needed more PB and J. I still want to try it at the restaurant, though.

The above is an actual sample at one of the busiest booths of the night, Ruth's Chris Steak House. They were giving out full versions of their Prime Burger. At the restaurant, this sets you back $13.50, and here you can eat three of these and about pay for your admission to the TOA.

I have many more pictures of other foods I consumed on my Facebook page, which you can find here: http://www.facebook.com/EatingMyWayThroughOC. While you are there, if you could "like us," I would appreciate it.

As for the Taste Of Anaheim, another job was well done by the Anaheim Chamber of Commerce, who put this event on. The food gets better and better each year. I could not even compile a list of best and worst because nothing really stood out as worst. I always look forward to this, like Christmas, and I can not wait until next year.

For more information about Taste of Anaheim, click here: http://www.tasteofanaheim.com/TOA10.php?page=home.php

Flopping on Broadway at Ellen's

Ellen's Stardust Diner

1650 Broadway

New York, NY 10019

I will preface this review by saying that I am not a real big Broadway guy. I have seen some shows, but I do not really seek them out. I usually only go because I know that someone else wants to go. I also have to admit that I am also put off by theater-type performers. Their thirst for attention and getting noticed usually comes off as desperate to me.

So with that said, I knew that Ellen's Stardust Diner would not be for me. I knew this going in, but I was still hoping for a good meal. I mean just because I had to listen to some song from Little Mermaid that I did not know, didn't mean they could not make a good breakfast, or a decent dessert, right?

Ellen Stardust Diner has been in business since 1987 in the heart of Times Square. Besides the singing wait staff, they have a 50's nostalgia theme going on here also. My parents, bigger Broadway fans than myself, had been here before and loved it. So we came here twice, once for breakfast and once for dessert. So let's see if the food will be a big hit or Broadway flop.

I will start with my Dad's omelet. To be honest, I did not try this omelet, and I am not even sure what was in it. From the picture, it looks like a veggie omelet. It also looked like it was a little sparse when it came to the cheese. My Dad finished this with no problem, and no complaints, so I will take that as it was good.

My Mom's standard breakfast is an egg sandwich on an English muffin. This was not even on the menu, but they accommodated her request. The bacon on this looked good, and again, I did not try this. She liked this meal, calling it, "good".

Katie followed my Mom's lead when she got the Breakfast Sandwich served on a bagel. Katie felt that this breakfast was average. She thought that the bagel was the best part of this meal.

I was not too enthused by the breakfast menu at Ellen's. I finally decided on the Breakfast Burrito. This breakfast burrito came wet style, with egg, cheese, and sausage. The burrito really lacked flavor. It was decent sized but tasted like nothing. The potatoes were equally bland and tasted like something you would get out of the freezer case at the supermarket.

Now on to dessert at Ellen's. The whole trip Katie had wanted to try New York Cheesecake, and sadly she chose this place to get it. She claimed that this was a mediocre cheesecake. I tried a bite of this also and would have to concur.

For the second time on our trip, my Dad got an Ice Cream Soda made with chocolate ice cream. Looking from across the table this looked to be a gloppy mess. No complaints from the big guy with this ice cream soda though, so I guess it was all good.

This soupy mess was my Brownie Mudslide Sundae. It came out half melted. The ice cream that was not already melted was fine, but the brownie was not anything spectacular.

I will sum up Ellen's this way. The only reason to go to Ellen's is if you enjoy singing waiters. The food we had was all average to below average. Maybe their lunches and dinners are better than what we had, but if the above is any indication, they probably aren't. The service was okay, considering that the wait staff was more concerned with grabbing a piece of the spotlight, rather than finding a bottle of Tabasco.

Out of five cattle calls, (because I imagine the waiters here have been to plenty of cattle calls), five being best to zero being worst, Ellen's Stardust Diner gets 2 cattle calls.

For more information on Ellen's, click here: http://ellensstardustdiner.com/