Is It Wise to Go to Sage? CLOSED

Sage

2531 East Bluff Dr.

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Orange County Restaurant Week feels like Christmas to food bloggers. I love plotting out where we are going to dine, perusing the menus, and of course eating. I usually pick restaurants that I have never been to and also offer some of the greatest amounts of food. This year, due to a week full of obligations and an impending vacation we were only going to be able to make it to one restaurant. It always seems to work out this way for us during restaurant week. So I carefully chose where we were going, and the choice was Sage.

I have wanted to try Sage for some time now. I have heard good things and their restaurant week menu looked good. Sage is slipped into the corner of an out of place shopping center in Newport Beach. Sandwiched between a CVS and a Ralph's, it could be easy to miss this place.

Sage has been around since 1997. Opened by Chef Rich Mead, former employee at the IRS, he came back to his true passion of creating food using local sourced ingredients. The dining room at Sage is dominated by the color white, and is made very comfortable by the attentive wait staff. Off to one edge of the dining room is a tiny bar that is filled from our 6pm arrival until we left at 7:30. The dining room fills up with people throughout our visit as well, so I am really expecting the food to be good. Lets see how it came out.

I always like a unique bread basket to start off, and we were presented with a different one here at Sage. There was some pretty good bread here, and a cracker type bread that resembled cheesy naan. No butter was used here either. We were given a tomato humus, which was a nice variation from the normal bread and butter used in many restaurants.

Katie started off her three course meal with this Blue Crab Spring Roll appetizer. This was served with a green papaya salad and a spicy dijon dipping sauce. Unfortunately the salad or the dijon sauce really over powered the taste of the spring roll. It also did not help that the spring roll lacked big crab flavor. The plus side of this appetizer was that it was made with very fresh ingriedients.

For my starter I went for the soup option, the Roast Weiser Farm's Butternut Squash Soup. This soup was playfully topped with creme fraiche and pomegranate molasses. The result was a smooth, mellow soup that had little spoonfuls of surprise flavor from the creme fraiche and the molasses. Not overly rich, but a satisfying soup.

Katie had no problem choosing an entree out of the three that were offered on the restaurant week menu. She selected the Roast Goat Cheese and Garlic Stuffed Half Chicken. This chicken was moist and tender. There was a mustard au jus that added a mellower flavor than its name would suggest. Katie really enjoyed that this was paired with goat cheese. She was also excited by the broccolini with garlic, but was less enthused by the egg noodles. She felt these added nothing to this plate.

If you are a consistent reader of this blog, you are not surprised by my dinner selection this night, the Grilled Hanger Steak with Chimichurri Sauce. If there is a steak on a restaurant week menu, I will almost always gravitate towards it. This dish had many layers to it. First off, the steak was cooked a wonderful medium rare.  The chimichurri sauce had a nice little tang to it. I felt the serving size of this was a little on the small side, but after seeing Katie's large serving of chicken I just expected more. The steak was served with grilled vegetables and curried Israeli cous cous. The veggies were fine, but the cous cous was just okay. I would have liked a side item with a little more substance.

The Meyer Lemon and Meringue Tart really surprised Katie pleasantly. The meringue was light and fluffy and the lemon flavor really refreshed her. Even not being a lemon fan, I found this to be a delightful dessert.

The Warm Chocolate Truffle Cake was calling my name. I really enjoyed the cake portion of this dessert. It was made even better when I mixed it with the sauce that was drizzled on the plate. The other component of this dessert was a spiced cherry port compote. I am not too big on cherries, but this worked here. Kind of made this dessert more of a black forest type dessert.

How to sum up our dinner at Sage? First off you should know that none of the items above are available on their regular dinner menu. These items were made for restaurant week only. With that being said, I would like to come back and try some of their regular dinners. The items we had on this night were very solid, but nothing that really blew us away. Katie really liked her choices a lot better than I liked mine, and after trying bites of hers I can admit that she did a better job of ordering the better items. I will get her back though, restaurant week is only 11 months away!

Out of five comic books, (because in X-Men there is a mutant character named Sage, who has perfect memory skills), five being best to zero being worst, Sage gets 3 comic books.

For more information on Sage, click here: http://www.sagerestaurant.com/

Zipping Down to Zip Fusion - CLOSED

Zip Fusion

2560 Tuscany St. Ste 102

Corona, CA 92881

In the last year, I have become more accustomed to having sushi. It has been a tough lesson, but I have learned that quality will always trump quantity. So it was with some trepidation that I went to Zip Fusion to try their all-you-can-eat sushi deal. I was prepared for a Hometown Buffet-like experience, where everything is subpar. However, my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins are really into this place, so I was hoping for the best.

Zip Fusion comes to us from Jason Ha. This young Korean went by the name Zip because it means home in Korean. Many people think of this place as home because there are now three other Zip Fusion Restaurants, not including this one. The others are in San Diego, Mira Loma, and Downtown LA.

We arrived at Zip Fusion at 6 on a Saturday, and I was surprised that we did not have to wait for a table. The restaurant is more significant than it appears from the outside and is all spread out. When they say fusion, they really mean it.  In the back, they have teppan tables (think Benihana-style eating), the sushi bar is located near the front of the restaurant, and there are plenty of booths and a large patio for when the weather gets a little warmer.

At Zip Fusion, you can order items singularly off of the menu, or they also have an all-you-can-eat menu that is not publicized on their website. Not sure if they are trying to keep this a secret, but I am here to let the cat out of the bag. This was the option that the four of us in our party took.

Here is a quick shot of the AYCE menu. I really liked the variety offered here. 23 different rolls, 12 kinds of sushi, and 15 appetizers. Some of the restrictions they speak of are; no sharing, no to-go containers, and you must eat what you order.

We each ordered one item from each menu section to start. Some of the standouts for me in this round were the Las Vegas Roll (avocado, crab meat, three kinds of fish, and cream cheese), the Spicy Tuna Roll, and the Pork Gyoza. I ordered the Oyster Shooter because of its novelty of it. It was not bad, but I limited myself to one of these. The Spicy Edamame was basic but good.

The next four appetizers for round two were all pretty solid. The best of the bunch by a long shot was the Baked Mussels. Jenny and I ordered this numerous times throughout our stay at Zip Fusion. They had multiple layers of flavor in each bite. The Fried Calamari was lightly battered and served with a delicate sauce, but the calamari kind of got lost here. The Teriyaki Chicken with Rice was a pretty generous portion for an appetizer. The Crab Cream Cheese Wonton was okay, but I am not too much of a cream cheese fan, and the cheese really overwhelmed the crab taste.

When I saw a limit of one Baked Lobster on the menu, I had to take advantage of it. This plate was vibrant and had a great lobster taste. Unfortunately, the night's worst two things were the Rainbow Roll and the Crab Sushi. The crab was stringy and not very good. It almost tasted like imitation crab. The rainbow roll sounded good with assorted fish and avocado placed on top of a California roll, but this roll could not deliver a great taste.

Chris and Jerry are not into sushi, so they ordered off of the traditional menu at Zip Fusion. Chris started with the Miso Soup, which he called "good." Very descriptive, Chris! The Shrimp and Vegetable Tempura was his choice for dinner. There were no complaints from him with this straightforward plate.

As you can see from this picture, Jerry's dinner, the Bulgoki Special Bowl, came out steaming hot. This bowl consisted of marinated beef and assorted veggies. This is the meal that Jerry gets almost every time he comes here. His old standby. He really enjoys the "hot air" that comes with this. Sorry, inside joke there.

The food at Zip Fusion was not all hits. There were some misses on the menu here. I will not tell you this is the best, freshest sushi you will ever have, but it was still above average in my limited sushi opinion. For the money, I felt this was a great value. The all-you-can-eat dinner is $23.95, and I can guarantee you will not leave hungry. Our waitress was really on top of things during our visit. Glasses were full, and our orders were taken promptly. She seemed genuinely upset when we announced that we were all done with the all-you-can-eat meal. We told her we would be back, though.

Out of five pieces of mail (because all pieces of mail include a Zip code), five being best to zero being worst, Zip Fusion gets 3 pieces of mail.

For more information about Zip Fusion, click here: http://www.zipfusion.com/index.html

Christakis, Going for the Gold!

Christakis Greek Cuisine

13011 Newport Ave.

Tustin, CA 92780

Mexican restaurants dot our county in almost every strip mall. You could almost throw a rock in any direction and hit a restaurant specializing in sushi. Italian restaurants? Sure we have plenty. What we do not have is a plethora of Greek joints. I always forget how much I enjoy Greek food, until I actually have it. Does that even make sense? Greek food for me is one of my favorite forgotten food genres.

Luckily, I had been told about Christakis Greek Cuisine about a year ago, from a lady at my work. I was happy that I remembered to write it down. I was not so happy that it had taken me a year to get over there. Christakis is located in the odd shaped shopping center at the corner of Irvine Boulevard and Newport Avenue. When I have come to this retail center before, no matter the time, I have noticed the lack of decent parking. The lot almost always is filled. Of course Nieuport 17 and the Tustin Brewing Company share the same lot, so that might explain the lack of spaces.

Christakis has an elegant, without being pretentious feel to it. Of course the colors blue and white dominate the restaurant, subtly reminding the patrons of the national colors of Greece. On the Thursday night we arrive they have a guitar player adding to the bistro ambiance.  After perusing the not overly large menu, we ordered, and this was they way the food was brought out.

Humus is to a Greek restaurant, as chips and salsa is to a Mexican eatery. If this analogy was on the SAT I would have aced the test. Unfortunately it wasn't, and I do not want to let you know what I actually got on the test, but I digress. The humus here is a blend of garbanzo beans, Greek olive oil, tahini, garlic, and lemon juice. The result is a smooth tasting humus that is better than anything you can get in the grocery store. Katie called this one of the better humus's she has ever had. I would have to agree.

I was the only one at the table to order an entree, and the entrees come with a choice of soup or salad. As you can see from the picture above I went with the Greek Lemon Soup. This soup was not my favorite. I am not to big a fan of lemon in the first place, but this soup was way too sour. The sourness overwhelmed the taste for me. I would have liked this better if it was a little more creamy and had something to cut the sour taste.

They say the house specialty at Christakis is the Rack of Lamb, and after tasting this I would say they are correct in this statement. I went with the half rack of lamb, because the price listed was market priced. Glad I did because this half rack was $32. Even though this was a little pricey it was well worth the money. This could be one of the tastiest pieces of lamb I have had. Very tender, spiced well, and not gamy in the least. After eating these I wish I had taken out a loan at the bank, and ordered a full rack. The side items of oven baked lemon potatoes, rice, and green beans were present on the plate, but were totally over shadowed by the lamb. This is a must get when dining here.

Katie and Kathleen were not in a big dinner mood when we were eating here, so they went with the Spartan Salad, which is basically a Greek salad with grilled chicken breast placed on top of it. The salad included mixed greens, onions, feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, cucumbers, and a pink house dressing. They both remarked that the salad portions of this were made with fresh items, but they were not too excited by the heavy use of the pink hued dressing, which overtook the flavor of everything. The chicken was tender and cooked well here.

Tradition states that at least one of us has to try the most Greek of all desserts, the Baklava. This baklava was okay, not great. The outer portion of this was very hard to break off to get a good forkful. The inside was passable, but not overly sweet. This was not as rich as some other baklava's we have had.

The other dessert we had was not even close to being traditional Greek, the Brownie and Ice Cream Plate. This dessert started with a moist brownie as its base, then was surrounded by two small scoops of ice cream and whipped cream. The chocolate sauce drizzled on top of this was a nice touch as well. We would definitely get this again on future visits.

Christakis definitely quenched my Greek food yearnings. My dinner was very good, but maybe a little pricey for the amount of food you get. Other dinners here run in the $15 to $24 range. The girls liked their meals as well, but not as much as I liked mine. The service when we were here was competent, and not in your face, like some smaller places can be. Christakis is open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 to 2:30, and then open seven days a week for dinner at 5 pm. If you have a yearning for a good lamb chop this is your place.

Out of five frat parties, (because the fraternities of most colleges are named after Greek letters), five being best to zero being worst, Christakis Greek Cuisine gets 3 frat parties.

For more information on Christakis Greek Cuisine, click here: http://christakisgreekcuisine.com/

Nothing Little About Tony's Pizzas!

Tony's Little Italy 

1808 North Placentia Ave.

Placentia, CA 92870

People are very passionate about pizza. They wage war over which city has the better pie. They claim that their favorite pizza restaurant makes the best pizza. Pizza lovers even clash over what kind of toppings are the best to have on a pizza. Enough fighting about all of this! Let's just agree that pizza is a great food however you like it, and from anywhere you like it, (as long as it is not from Chuck E. Cheese, ugh).

With that said, I have always been on the lookout for a pizza that would be as good as the one I had in Chicago at Gino's East. The city of Chicago is known for its deep-dish pizzas. These are pizzas that are more like a pizza casserole, than the pizzas we are used to in southern California. Utensils are definitely needed to eat a deep-dish pizza.

I heard about Tony's Little Italy a while back, but I was a little skeptical. I have been tricked before into believing that authentic windy city pizza could be had in our great county. Tony's is located in a desolate shopping center in Placentia. This small pizzeria has nine tables, and all the obligatory Chicago sports posters all over the wall. After ordering at the counter we sat at a table and waited for the food to arrive.

When we were ordering we were told that our pizza would take 45 minutes to make. I was really hungry though, and I could not wait that long. I quickly added a Pizza Bread with Cheese appetizer to help tide me over. The bread was very crisp, and the cheese and pizza sauce were very good. This appetizer reminded me of those Stouffer's french bread pizzas that I used to have in my younger days. Not saying this was frozen or anything, but that is what it reminded me of. If this was any indication of how the pizza was going to taste, I knew we were in for a treat.

After 45 minutes the Pepperoni and Sausage Deep Dish Pizza finally arrived. These pictures do not even do it justice. First off I noticed just the sheer mass of this pizza, and this was only a medium! This pizza was one of the heaviest I have ever tried to lift. After 45 minutes in the oven it of course came out piping hot, but I could not wait for my first bite. That first bite transported me back to Chicago. The cheese was smooth, the sauce was slightly sweet, and the crust, which is often just a vehicle for carrying the rest of the pizza, was a great accompaniment, kind of like how a great dinner roll compliments a meal. I really liked the sprinkled Parmesan cheese that was on top of this pizza. It gave a great contrast to the sweet sauce. This sturdy pizza had eight slices, but after just two I was already stuffed. Very filling, but satisfying pizza.

I learned a few things at Tony's Little Italy. First, you should definitely call in your order. It is hard to wait 45 minutes for food. Second, look past the woman at the register who is not very friendly, and focus on the guy behind her, Tony. He is the real deal, and the reason this place has been in business for 34 years. He makes all of the dough here, creates each pizza, and was really a very nice guy on top of all that. Lastly, I learned that there is deep-dish Chicago pizza in southern California, and you can get it at Tony's.

Out of five baseballs, (because Phil Nevin played baseball for El Dorado High School in Placentia, and also played for the Chicago Cubs, so I am sure he would appreciate this pizza), five being best to zero being worst, Tony's Little Italy get 4 baseballs.

For more information on Tony's Little Italy, click here: http://www.tonyslittleitaly.com/index.html

Billy's Deli an Oasis in a Deli Wasteland? - CLOSED

Billy's Deli

216 North Orange St.

Glendale, CA 91203

Southern California is not normally known for their delis. It can be like searching for a needle in a haystack, when trying to find a great deli in LA. Okay, maybe I should make that like trying to find someone in LA that has not had plastic surgery. That seems better, and a little more impossible! Either way, it is even worse in OC, where it is almost a deli wasteland. So when I heard that Katie's Dad wanted us to meet up with the family at Billy's Deli in Glendale, I was a little apprehensive that it would be good. Let's see if my fears would materialize.

Billy's has been slinging sandwiches around since 1948. An achievement most restaurants will never get close to seeing. The ownership has changed. The original Billy, who was not even a Billy at all, is a long time Glendale resident, Frank Whitten.  In the late 60's to early 70's, Frank's son, Lee created the famous wall that has become an iconic part of the storefront here. The wall features individual molds of salami, cheeses, and casks of wines for decorations.

Not only does Billy's feature a sit down restaurant, but half of the place is a delicatessen and bakery. The deli is known for slicing their famous meats, while the bakery side bakes bread for sandwiches, and I am also told they whips up some impressive brownies. The whole restaurant exudes nostalgia, and not just because of the big pictures on the wall depicting Glendale in bygone days. Enough of the old days, lets come back to today and look at the food.

No bread basket is served here, it is a deli remember? After being seated you are brought a bowl of pickles. I really enjoyed these. They had a great crunch, and the flavor was very crisp and clean. A word of warning before you gobble all of these down. The first bowl is free, and the next will cost you fifty cents. Well worth it though.

Katie has had a soft spot in her heart for Matzo Ball Soup since she had it in New York. She claims this was about as good as anything she had on our East Coast trip. This cup of soup featured tender pieces of chicken,  vegetables, and of course a big matzo ball plopped right in the center of the cup. The matzo ball was comforting. and rich in flavor. Katie claims this soup is medicine for the soul. I could argue that, but if it cuts down on medical bills I am all for it.

With your sandwich selection you get to choose a side salad. Choices are all pretty representative of a deli, potato, macaroni, Cole slaw, carrot salad, and pasta salad. As you can probably tell from the picture above, I selected the Potato Salad. This potato salad had a nice mellow flavor, but was much more creamy than other potato salads I have had. There were no big hunks of potato to be found here. I liked this potato salad, but Katie's Uncle Tim was not too fond of this chunk free potato salad. So the potato salad debate will live on, chunks or not!

Katie did not want to look far down the menu, so she ordered the Number 1 Three Decker Sandwich. They really piled on the turkey, pastrami, and Swiss on this sandwich. Katie liked this very much. She felt the turkey was a little on the dry side, but the pastrami was right out of New York City.  The rye bread held the contents of this sandwich well. There was so much meat on this sandwich that Katie had to take some of it off, just so she could get her mouth around this. She got the macaroni salad to go along with this, and felt it was pretty good.

Lynn went to the sea for her pick, the Tuna Salad Sandwich. This tuna came on rye bread, which she was really keen on. The tuna portion of this sandwich really satisfied her appetite. Just looking at this it looked like a lot of lettuce, and a little bit of tuna. She claims that it was not the best tuna she has had, but she would not throw this tuna back, (little fish humor for ya!).

Uncle Tim went real old school when he selected Triple Decker Sandwich Number Three for lunch. This sandwich contained liverwurst, salami, Swiss cheese, and dressing. This is what he gets every time he comes here, his old standby. He likes the flavor combination of this, and it never disappoints him.

I did not get a real good shot of Aunt Mel's French Dip Sandwich. She called the meat, "fall apart tender", but she was not crazy about the au jus here. She added pickles to the sandwich for texture. Melody did state that she would get this again. The fries were cooked to her liking, and made even better with ranch dressing. How can anything not be good with ranch?

Dennis, the pure traditionalist amongst us, got a simple Pastrami Sandwich. He really enjoys the consistency here. The sandwich tastes the same as it did 25 years ago. The pastrami was lean and stacked high. Just the way he likes it.

There was no doubt that I was going to go big here. What you see above is the Triple Reuben. This sandwich featured the hat trick of meats, turkey, pastrami, and corned beef, along with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut. Needless to say this sandwich was very filling. Out of the three meats, my favorite was the corned beef. Great flavor and cooked the right way. The turkey is not that processed stuff you get at other deli's, it is the real thing. The pastrami was some of the leanest I have had, and it was sliced nice and thin. I got a side of Russian dressing for a little flavor boost with this and it was the right call. Great all around sandwich.

After eating at Billy's I can see why it is a local legend. The sandwiches are what a deli should be. The meats are cooked the right way and stacked high on rye bread. The prices might be a little on the high side, but the quality of them makes up for it. Sandwiches run from $7 to my $14 Triple Reuben. We received good service while we were here. We got to the deli at noon on a Sunday, and there was definitely a steady stream of patrons sampling the delicious sandwiches here. The decor is not going to wow you. It is less about the frills, and more about the down and dirty deli experience. In the abyss of average to below average deli's in Southern California, Billy's is a welcome diversion.

Out of five jewels, (because the city of Glendale has the nickname the Jewel City for some reason), five being best to zero being worst, Billy's Deli gets 3.5 jewels.

For more information on Billy's Deli, click here: http://www.billysdeli.com/