Finally Getting Into the Food Truck Game

Soho Taco

Gourmet Taco Truck

Santa Ana, CA 92707

This post is a long time coming for a lot of reasons. The most important reason of course is, this is going to be our first food truck review. I know, way to get into the food truck craze a few years too late. Hey, I did not even have a Twitter account until a few months ago. Also, if you see my cell phone, it is an old school flip phone, with no internet, so it was hard for me to follow food trucks. At least these are my reasoning's.

It is fitting that Soho Taco would be our first mobile food truck review, because they have more than their fair share of great press. Our good friend Anita, from Diary of a Mad Hungry Woman has raved about these guys for so long, it really made us want to try them. The great food/novelist at OC Weekly, Gustavo Arellano, dubbed Soho Taco, one of the best restaurants of 2010. With all of this great word of mouth, from impeccable sources, I knew this was going to be a great experience.

Just in case we were still sitting on the fence as to whether we would be coming to Soho Taco, Rico contacted me about coming out to see their operation. It turns out that he reads the blog. So, I felt if he could sit through reading all of my ramblings, then the least I could do is come try his food. So we checked out Twitter, and headed to their location in Irvine.

We arrived to their location, an Irvine apartment complex at about six on a Friday night. I was surprised that there were not tons of people, because I hear sometimes the waits can get very long. We must have been a little early for the dinner rush. After ordering one of everything on the menu, I introduced both Katie and myself to Rico. He could not have been a nicer guy.

Rico showed us around his food truck, like a proud papa would show off his new baby. You can really see the pride that these guys have in their truck and the food they serve. The night we were here they offered five different tacos. With the carne asada, chicken, and chorizo tacos they let you dress the tacos up by adding their salsas, cilantro, pico de gallo, and onions. For an additional charge of fifty cents you can also add a mango salsa, or some guacamole.  The veggie tacos and shrimp come already dressed. Enough talk, I was getting hungry and made it to the table just in time. Here's how it all came out.

Let's start with the taco I was least excited to try, The Veggie Taco. This meat free taco was filled with portabello mushrooms, spinach, bell pepper, and grilled onions with some jack cheese and chipotle sour cream. To tell the truth, I only missed the meat here a little bit. There was a smokey, almost meat component to the veggies here. The cheese was a nice touch, and the tortilla was one of the best we have had. Not going to replace my carnivore craving anytime soon, but a solid alternative for people not into meat.

From time to time they offer some specialty tacos, and this night it just so happened they had a Shrimp Taco. This taco combined marinated shrimp, garlic butter, shredded cabbage, jack cheese, and their signature chipotle sour cream. Not to ruin it for you, but this taco was the best of the bunch. Delicious. All the ingredients went so well together, played well off of each other. The shrimp was fresh and cooked wonderfully.

Now on to the tacos that we dressed ourselves. Starting with the Grilled Chicken Taco. I added chopped red onions and half the taco with their green Jalapeno Salsa and the other half for Katie, with their Roasted Red Tomato Salsa. The jalapeno salsa was really spicy, but did not overpower the chicken. Great pop to this salsa. The chicken was tender and could stand on its own.

Next up was the Carne Asada Taco. We dressed this taco the same way as we did the chicken. The meat was marinated well here. Tacos are funny things. They seem so simple in theory, but one thing goes wrong, or one component is off, and the whole thing goes out of whack. Not the case here. These are well balanced  tacos. The tortillas are definitely worth mentioning. Soft and very well made. Held the contents of the taco and still tasted great. Good scene.

The only miss of the night for us was the Chorzio Taco. This was dressed simply with red onion, a little cilantro and some cheese. The chorizo was a little on the dry side. I moistened it up with some of the very good Mango Salsa. This salsa was not overly sweet like a lot of mango salsas can be. The sweet with the saltiness of the meat really had a nice yin and yang thing going, and saved this taco.

Rico was so nice he comped our chips above. They went well with the guacamole that we had bought. The guacamole was very fresh tasting, and spiced just enough. Well worth the fifty cents we paid for this. The chips were thicker than you normally get at Mexican restaurants, which I totally like. Not greasy at all, but you get the feeling that they were made very recently.

It was no surprise to me that the Soho Taco lived up to all the hype. I would have been shocked if it had not. Almost everything we ate here this night was very good. All the tacos are either $2.55 for the basic tacos, (pork, chicken, beef, and veggies), or $3.01 for shrimp, salmon, and lobster. Special note, all of these are not available everyday, so you may have to hit them up a couple times before you get to try the whole menu, but it will not be too much of burden trying Soho Taco every chance you get. The guys behind Soho Taco are even nicer than I imagined. Rico introduced us to Chef Gabe, who seemed like a great, but busy guy in the truck. It might start getting even harder to make it out to the truck because the catering business for Soho Taco is really picking up for these guys. They are in great demand. So when a truck event announces that they are going to be there, make plans to try it. Glad we could make this our first food truck review. The other trucks have a lot to live up to.

Out of five cast iron buildings, (because the Soho district in NYC boasts the greatest collection of cast iron architecture in the world), five being best to zero being worst, Soho Taco gets 3.5 cast iron buildings.

For more information about Soho Taco, and where they will be located, click here: http://www.sohotaco.com/

Making It Just In the Nick of Time!

Nick''s Laguna Beach

440 S. Coast Highway

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Laguna Beach is one of those cities we do not make it to nearly enough. There is literally a treasure trove of great restaurants in the city. We were going to be meeting our good friends Matt and Mary, but we arrived early for our dinner reservations. So we walked around looking at menus around the downtown area. Walked by Broadway, 230 Forest, and Brussels Bistro, making mental notes as to what I would order at each of these places, and adding them to our list of places we are eventually going to get to. This killed our thirty minutes in no time, so we headed back to where we would be dining this night, Nick's.

We had wanted to eat earlier, but there were no reservations for anything earlier than 7:30, on a Wednesday night. The other restaurants we had walked by looked half empty, so I had a good feeling about Nick's. The place was very loud, and busy as we were brought to our table.

Nick's is owned by the son of Claim Jumper Founder, Craig Nickoloff, hence the name of this restaurant. There are two other locations, (San Clemente and Belmont Shore), as well as a spin-off restaurant, which has a south of the border inspired menu, also in San Clemente. The atmosphere at Nick's is sophisticated, but not stuffy. Waiters are all dressed in black, the restaurant is on the darker side, and wood dominates the hip-looking dining area. At this point, I was famished, but lucky for me the food was brought out soon enough. Let's take a look at it.

The first of our three appetizers was this Fire Roasted Artichoke, which is marinated, broiled, and served with lemon butter. This artichoke was very fresh, and we all detected a hint of peppercorn which helped punch up the flavor factor here. The lemon butter helped in this department as well. The portion size of this does not look too hefty, but we seemed to be going at this for a while.

Next up was our order of Short Rib Sliders. These came with onions and horseradish cream. The bun was very sturdy and held the meat well. Unfortunately, the short rib was not as memorable as the bread. I thought these were just okay. I did enjoy the horseradish sauce, but it also needed a little more oomph behind it.

The last of our trifecta of starters was the unique sounding Asparagus Fries. These stalks of asparagus are breaded with a crispy Parmesan crust and served with a buttermilk ranch sauce. The breading was very easy here. Not too overpowering or greasy. As unusual as this appetizer sounds, it actually worked. The only drawback of this was the ranch dressing. It was a tad on the runny side.

The last time we went out with Matt he had ordered a salad with fruit in it, and I gave him a bunch of grief about it. Matt was not to be deterred, even with my scorn, when he ordered the Citrus Pecan Salad. This colorful salad contained chopped greens, mixed berries, avocado, pecans, mandarin slices, crumbled blue cheese, sliced apples, and raisins, with a citrus vinaigrette. This creation seemed like the cross-breeding experiment of a garden salad and a fruit salad. Matt felt this had plenty of dressing, with a real prominent citrus taste. The produce was fresh here, and the portion size was pretty generous as well.

I have been flip-flopping between Caesar salads and wedge salads recently, and at Nick's, the Baby Wedge won out. This wedge salad consisted of all the basics you would expect on this kind of salad. Bacon, tomatoes, buttermilk blue cheese dressing, and red onion. This salad turned out great. I loved that there was more than enough dressing on this. The big-time flavors here really complimented each other. The one drawback about this salad, and all wedge salads, is that they are all hard to cut. I am sure they would have chopped this for me, but I did not even think about it at the time of ordering. I would definitely get this on my next trip here.

On to the main entrees, and let's start with the ladies selections on this night. Katie had the wildly popular Blackened Halibut Sandwich. Included on this fish sandwich were a house-made tartar sauce, cabbage, tomato, and fried onions all on a brioche bun. Katie really enjoyed this sandwich. The bun and fish were fresh, the cabbage gave this a good texture, and the tarter sauce was well made. With her sandwich she was given an option of one side item, so she selected the Mac and Cheese. She felt this big noodle mac and cheese was spot on, delicious.

Mary is a vegetarian, so the House Made Veggie Burger was right up her alley. This veggie burger was accompanied by avocado, Swiss cheese, fried onions, mixed greens, tomato, and herb mayo all on a wheat bun. Mary felt this burger was, "good-sized and had a texture that was spot on". She was also a fan of the bun here. For her side item, she got the Burnt Brussels Sprouts without the crumbled bacon on top of them. She felt these were great as well.

Matt always enjoys a good steak, so it was no surprise that he went with the Center Cut Filet. This steak was topped with a blue cheese crust, which Matt wishes had been a little better. He did enjoy this steak though, calling it, "good". Matt was much more excited by the side items that came with this steak. Calling the seasonal roasted vegetables, "fantastic", and the brussels sprouts, "the best ones I have ever had". Glowing praise from our friend Matt.

I was not so sure what I would be getting when I got to Nick's, but as soon as I heard the special, I instantly knew that the Sea Bass would be my choice for this evening. This was a very good, and well-seasoned piece of blackened sea bass. The fish was very flaky and had a nice mellow taste. Side items were fair here. The mashed potatoes were smooth but did lack the butteriness I would have liked out of them. The creamed spinach was decent, but I would have liked more creaminess here. Still a decent entree though.

Recently we have been having great luck with desserts. This was definitely the case at Nick's as well, with the Warm Butter Cake. The picture above does not do this dessert justice. The cake was served warm and had a great rich flavor. Very decadent. There was plenty of ice cream with this as well. This is the perfect way to end your meal at Nick's.

We left Nick's feeling completely satisfied with our meals. Everything was pretty good at Nick's. Prices were decent here. Almost all of the items were under the $20 mark. The menu is a little on the small size, but there is enough variety that there will be something for everyone here. The service was excellent on our visit. Everyone we encountered was very down to earth and seemed to enjoy that we had come in. In a city with lots of great restaurants, Nick's is right up there with some of the best.

Out of five artists, (the old nickname of sports teams from Laguna Beach High School, which are now known as the Breakers), five being best to zero being worst, Nick's Laguna Beach gets 3.5 artists.

For more information on Nick's Laguna Beach, click here: http://nicksrestaurants.com/nicks-laguna-beach/

How Does Stacks Stack Up?

Stacks Pancake House

34255 Pacific Coast Highway

Dana Point, CA 92629

My last day of vacation came very quick. I had spent a long week of eating some pretty good food and then writing about it. We wanted to stay close to home to get ready for the week ahead, so we scoured our list of places to try for breakfast in south county. That is when Stacks Pancake House popped out at us.

Stacks is located right next to Chronic Taco on PCH, in Dana Point. They serve burgers, sandwiches, and salads, but their main claim to fame is breakfast. This is a pancake house after all. It even says so on the sign. We have not been here for lunch, but this place was cranking for the Sunday breakfast crowd.

The ordering process at Stacks might need a little tweaking. Ordering is done at the counter, but the restaurant inside is really small and cramped, so if you feel claustrophobic, be advised. We were here at peak breakfast time, so I kind of knew what we were getting into. After ordering and getting our number, we staked out a place on the patio out front and waited for our food to come out. This is how it all transpired.

Starting us off is Katie's selection, the Florentines Scramble. This egg dish contained bacon, onion, spinach, and Swiss cheese, served with two pancakes, and home fried potatoes. According to Katie, the cheese was melted evenly throughout this scramble. The veggies were fresh, and the overall texture of the scramble was good. She felt the potatoes were overcooked though. The pancakes are pretty solid here but are easily overshadowed by another breakfast bread staple that you will see in a moment.

There is a slight Hawaiian tint to the menu at Stacks, and that is nowhere more evident than with their version of the Aloha states famous breakfast dish, the Loco Moco with Portuguese sausage. Two eggs prepared whichever way you would like, I got my sunny side up, served over rice, sausage, and brown gravy. I have only had this dish one other time in my life, at Paul's Coffee Shop in Fountain Valley. At Paul's, they served this with a hamburger patty instead of the sausage. I liked this sausage version much better. The gravy needs to be a little thicker for my taste, but the sunny side egg is the way to go here. Loved the runny yolk mixed with the rice and gravy. The sausage was good as well.

All of this food is just a prelude to this next dish. It has been two weeks since we have been to Stacks, and this is the item I keep thinking about. The Captain Mac French Toast is simply the best French Toast I have ever had. Yes, it is that good! At Stacks they use thick pieces of Hawaiian bread, then coat it in macadamia nuts and crushed up Captain Crunch cereal, then as if that was not enough, they offer coconut maple syrup to pour over it. This is as sweet as it sounds. The nuts cut the sweetness just enough to not cause cavities with each bite. I will definitely be making the trek down to Dana Point to have these again, but they also offer a version made with peanut butter Captain Crunch. I might have a dilemma on my hands!

Man, if I just had to rate this restaurant on the Captain Mac french toast, it would be right up there with some of the best restaurants we have eaten at. I liked the french toast that much. The rest of the meal was good but paled in comparison. Food was all served warm, with no temperature issues. The girls that bring out the food are really hustling trying to keep up with the crowds. The prices were very fair. All breakfast items are under the $9 mark, and the french toast is $7, and I would pay double that. Sorry, a little obsessed. They are only opened until 2pm, seven days a week. Very happy to end my vacation on this happy note.

Out of five bicycles, (because the city of Dana Point hosts the Dana Point Grand Prix race every year, and it passes right in front of this restaurant), five being best to zero being worst, Stacks Pancake House gets 3.5 bicycles.

For more information on Stacks Pancake House, click here: http://stackspancakehouse.com/

Deli Day in Los Al!

Katella Deli

4470 Katella Ave. 

Los Alamitos, CA 90720

Well you can cross another city off of our list of cities we have yet to venture to. After our visit to Katella Deli in Los Alamitos, we are now down to six more cities that we need to hit before we can honestly say that we are eating our way through all of OC. It was a real toss up as to where we were going to hit in Los Alamitos. I had five or six choices staring me in the face, but a highly rated deli almost always gets my vote, so Katella Deli is where we ended up.

I have been hearing about Katella Deli for almost as long as I have been writing this blog. I know this place has been around forever, and the clientele here looks like they have been around just as long. We arrived on a Saturday after what we thought would be the lunch rush. Wrong. We had a thirty minute wait at 2pm. Maybe this is the new dinner hour for the elderly. Talk about your early bird special!

Since we were going to have about a half hour wait, we took some of that time and went to the attached service deli and bakery, just off the main lobby of the restaurant. Just like the restaurant, the deli and bakery were busy helping lots of customers. We did not get anything here, but it everything looked great.

After being seated I was amazed at how large this place is. They have counter seating, booths and tables. For as crowded as it is, the pace of the workers was nice and relaxed, while getting the orders out pretty quickly. After checking out the very large menu, this is what we came up with.

Almost one hundred percent of the time when we are in an authentic deli, and Matzo Ball Soup is on the menu, Katie will order it. Katella Deli was no exception. She described the matzo ball as velvety, and the noodles were cooked well. According to Katie, this was a very filling soup, that could stand on its own as a meal. This was served with a choice of bread, so she selected the cornbread. This mini loaf was pretty moist and was served with a sweet honey butter. Not much of a cornbread fan, but this one was pretty good.

I selected a soup that I have never had before, a cup of Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup. This soup was like two tastes in one. At first I got the sweetness, and then it turned sour. This soup also had chopped up tomatoes, bits of brisket, and of course cabbage. Very good soup that is only served on Saturdays here. For my bread item I ordered the Zucchini Muffin. This muffin was very fresh. It was moist with a spongy texture. The muffin had little bits of zucchini that you could see. I was very tempted to get some of these in the bakery on the way out.

I don't know what it is about delis, but they make Katie a creature of habit. Like at Benjie's, she ordered a Tuna Sandwich on an Egg Roll. The tuna was served cold, finely chopped, and very fresh. She liked the egg bread, and called it, "delicious". The sandwiches are served with one side item, and she went with Macaroni Salad. She felt this salad was very mellow tasting, but still decent.

I guess I should not chastise Katie about always getting the same thing in a deli, especially when my, "go to item at a deli I have never been to",  is a Reuben. At Katella Deli they offer their Reuben with either corned beef or pastrami, I went with the corned beef. The sandwich overall was good, but the meat was a little on the dry side. I did order some Russian dressing, which did help a lot. The sauerkraut was a little overpowering here, and really took over the taste of the sandwich. The rye bread and Swiss cheese were very good on this sandwich. For my side item I got the potato salad, which was mild tasting, with some bigger hunks of potato for texture.

I liked our trip to Katella Deli, but it can not match the sandwiches at Benjie's. The bakery items and soups were very good, but the sandwiches were just a step below those of other delis we have been to recently. The menu at Katella Deli is very large. Visitors will easily find something that they like on this mammoth menu. Service during our visit was polite and very efficient. They got the food out to us quick. Prices were not overly outrageous. No sandwich on the menu is over $11, and that is something that a lot of delis of this type can not claim. Glad we made this the first Los Alamitos restaurant we went to. Now it's time to find out what else this city has to offer.

Out of five sugar beets, (because the city of Los Alamitos was brought to prominence by a sugar beet factory in the 1890's, when most of Katella Deli's customers were born!), five being best to zero being worst, Katella Deli gets 3 sugar beets.

For more information on Katella Deli, click here: http://www.katellabakery.com/

Prime Cut Cafe 3 Course Meals for $20!

Prime Cut Cafe

1547 W. Katella Ave.

Orange, CA 92867

The Stadium Promenade has suffered some loses in the past few years. Bob's Big Boy, my very first reviewed place shut down early this year. A short time later the Auld Dubliner shuttered as well. A few years back, Carino's suffered a similar fate. None of these restaurants have been replaced with anything since their departure. I would say this center is cursed, but they do have some good going on here, like Prime Cut Cafe.

Prime Cut Cafe opened in 2008, and we reviewed it in late 2010. You can read that review here. We liked the restaurant back then, but I knew that I should have gotten what they were famous for, beef. Lucky for us we were invited to try their new $20 Three Course dinners, and I was sure that there would be some red meat on this prix fixe menu. I would not let my chance slip away this time.

Prime Cut can best be described as a California casual restaurant. Earth tones dominate the dining space, and a spaciousness is indicated with its high ceilings. The decor and service is reminiscent of a fine steakhouse restaurant, but with a more relaxed feel to it. What you probably will not see at one of those fancy steak places is a $20 Three Course dinner. This dinner is offered Monday through Thursday, 4pm to close. Enough of the details, let's check out the food.

The first course selections include eight different options. So whatever you are in the mood for, you will find something to start your meal off right. Both Katie and I selected salads to begin our meal at Prime Cut Cafe. She went with the Baby Iceberg Wedge Salad. This salad brought big time flavor with the addition of applewood smoked bacon, chopped egg, tomatoes, and Point Reyes blue cheese crumbles. Hearts of Romaine Caesar Salad was my choice. The presentation was a little different than I expected, but the house made Caesar dressing more than made up for it, and the unique Parmesan croutons were an excellent addition here.

This shot of the Shortrib Pasta is a little deceiving. It makes the portion size look small, but this was definitely not the case. This comfort food classic is made of a heavy ragout sauce of slow cooked shortribs, served over fettuccine noodles. Katie had a hard time cleaning her plate here. The meat was tender, the pasta cooked well, and there were bursts of garlic in the sauce that really blew her away. She would get this again for sure.

True to my word, I selected a red meat option, the Filet Mignon Steak Sandwich. This sandwich had it all. Sturdy bun that held all the contents perfectly, steak that was cooked the way it is supposed to be, medium rare, fresh produce, and a solid flavor boost from the Point Reyes blue cheese crumbles. I was really happy with this sandwich.

The Three course meal wraps up with dessert. Katie selected the Creme Brulee, which is made in house at Prime Cut Cafe. Katie called this one of the best she has had. Good caramelization on top to go along with the smooth vanilla bean custard below. I am a real Carrot Cake snob, but this one was among some of the best I have had. The cake portion was filled with pineapple, walnuts, coconut, and carrots. Very moist, but the whipped cream cheese icing stole the show here. It was light and had a hint of cinnamon. great way to finish our meal.

We left Prime Cut knowing that we will be back very soon. This three course meal is a real bargain at $20. With six entrees, four dessert options, and eight starters the combinations of meals you can have at Prime Cut Cafe are going to keep you coming back. Service was first rate during our visit here.

We would like to thank the staff and management of Prime Cut Cafe for hosting this wonderful food event for us. You were all great. We would also like to thank Pamela Waitt of the Orange County Restaurant Association for the invitation to this great dinner. Thank you so much.

For more information on Prime Cut Cafe, and their prix fixe meals, click here: http://primecutcafe.com/