Football Frenzy #10 at OC Tavern

OC Tavern 

2369 S. El Camino Real

San Clemente, CA 92672

Ugh! My football team is the worst! If you are a regular reader of this blog you know that my team is the Jacksonville Jaguars, or hopefully the soon to be Los Angeles Jaguars. That topic should be left to the sports blogs out there, but more relevant to our restaurant blog is the fact that we are trying to find the ultimate place to watch football on Sunday mornings. It has been increasingly difficult to get out and watch my team with their poor play, but I trudge out most Sunday mornings to help you find the ultimate football watching paradise. This Sunday's option is OC Tavern in San Clemente.

It has been well over a year since we have made it down to the most southern city in our great county. This is a shame because there are plenty of great places to try, and plenty that have been on our list for some time. Today though was all about football. The criteria for our ultimate football hangout is great food, great atmosphere, and great service. This holy trinity of standards has been met in parts by our other nine football haunts, but there is always room for improvement. Let's see if OC Tavern can meet all of these goals.

The Jaguars were playing an afternoon game on this particular Sunday. This meant that we would be arriving when almost everyone else was leaving. This is a good thing, less people to watch my crappy team. There was only one other game being played at the same times as ours, so I knew it would be a smaller than normal crowd here. We arrived at about 10 minutes until one, and had not trouble finding a seat. The door guy was very nice about making sure we would be able to see our game from our table, but of course that would be no trouble with only two NFL games going on.

OC Tavern kind of has a man cave vibe to it. There are giant TV's on every wall, along with sports and beer paraphernalia, and a laid back beach vibe. Even with this man cave atmosphere, there were plenty of families and kids eating in the room we were located. They even have a large arcade for the kids, so they will not interfere with you watching the games. Not into football but still want to bet on something? OC Tavern claims to be the only sports bar in California to offer satellite wagering on horse racing from around the country. They have dedicated a whole room, outfitted with 26 TV's and its own bar for this purpose. Of course this day was all about the pigskin, so I did not check out the betting room. Maybe on future visits. It was now time for kickoff and getting some food. Let's see how OC Tavern treated us.

It may have been one in the afternoon, but it would not be Sunday football without at least one Bloody Mary ($5.00). These were on special during football, and had a nice spice to the mix. Not enough heat so it overwhelms your taste buds, but you definitely get the little kick in it. Not the best Bloody Mary I have had, but not the worst by far. I had two of these during our stay here.

While we were waiting for our friend Riley to arrive fashionably late, both Katie and I wanted something to side track us from another turnover by the Jags, so I ordered this self proclaimed, Award Winning New England Clam Chowder ($3.50). This soup was very creamy, with big cuts of vegetables. The clam ratio could have been a little better, but the soup itself needed to be seasoned a little more for my taste. Not a bad chowder though.

The other item we got to nibble on was the Chips ($5.95). These tri-colored tortilla chips came with guacamole and a homemade salsa. The salsa was very chunky, with onion playing a prominent part in the chunk factor. It was a tad watery, but had a nice mellow flavor to it. The guacamole was very fresh, but it needed just a little more pop of something to bring it to life. The chips were pretty average.

After Riley arrived, well into the first quarter of the games, (way to support your team Riles!), we got the Nachos ($8.95) to share. Not exactly the most picturesque  plate of nachos ever. They used the same tri-colored tortilla chips as they served with the salsa, then dumped black beans, cheddar and jack cheeses, pico de gallo, jalapenos, sour cream and guacamole on top of the chips. Not a bad plate of nachos, but the chips did kind of get soggy because of an excessive amount of beans. This was enough for the three of us to pick at.

The Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwich ($9.95) would of course be Katie's choice for lunch. She has really become pretty predictable when going out lately. This chicken breast sandwich came with onion, tomato, mayonnaise, and Swiss cheese. Katie thought that the bread held up pretty well with this sandwich, but she would have liked the chicken grilled a little longer. Not a bad sandwich, but nothing that made a lasting impression with her.

Riley had worked up quite an appetite rooting his Jet's on, so he selected the Tavern Burger ($10.95). This half pound burger came with all the usual toppings; pickles, onions, tomato, lettuce, cheddar cheese, and bacon. Riley thought this was a pretty good burger. He liked the juiciness of the burger and the frssh porduce that came along with it. Not a burger that is going to blow you away, but a solid burger nonetheless.

I was also feeling the burger cravings, so I got the Blues at the OC Burger ($10.95). This one of course came with melted blue cheese crumbles and bacon. The burger patty was juicy, but I added some mayo to make my burger experience even more to my liking. I know most restaurants like to cross their bacon for a presentation effect, but this means about half the bites you take of a burger will not have bacon involved, which is a shame. I tore my bacon into three smaller strips, so I had maximum bacon coverage. The burger itself was pretty good, but nothing that wowed me. I did like that they grilled the bun just a tad. Very nice touch.

OC Tavern was a pretty good place to watch football. They really cater to the sports fan here. They were very prompt about getting games switched once they were over. The whole restaurant just exudes a comfortable, laid back vibe. Even though we were in the minority rooting for the Jaguars, we never felt like the Raider fans were going to get all crazy towards us. The service was pretty strong here as well. Our waitress was very out going, and kept checking on us regularly. The part of our criteria where OC Tavern misses the boat on being the ultimate football watchers paradise is with the food. Not that it was awful, but it was all pretty average. Nothing that really grabbed our attention, or anything that we have craved since we came here. Of course we just came here once, so there might be something on the menu that we might have missed. Even with the pretty standard food here, OC Tavern is definitely one of the better places to watch football on Sunday mornings. I just wish I would have had the opportunity to watch my team win while we were here. Oh well, maybe next week.

Out of five bougainvillea's, (the city flower of San Clemente), five being best to zero being worst, OC Tavern gets 3 bougainvillea's.

For more information about OC Tavern, click here: http://www.octavern.com/

Beware the Monster Burger is on the Loose! - CLOSED

JT Schmid's Restaurant and Brewery

2415 Park Ave.

Irvine, CA 92782

I love watching restaurant shows on TV. Diner's Drive-Ins and Dives, Best Thing I Ever Ate, Food Paradise, Food Wars, and Man V Food are some of my favorites. There are two reasons I like watching these shows. One is that I enjoy seeing great food and how it is prepared; the second reason is that it motivates me to travel places. I get a thrill seeing a place on TV that we have been to. During the three years of this blog, we have had the opportunity to take quite a few trips, and during these trips, we have sought out quite a lot of these TV restaurants.

Restaurants in OC should be more prominently featured on these shows. Sure, some bakeries have been featured on some Cupcake shows, Guy Fieri has spotlighted three of our OC restaurants for his show, and a long while ago, Rachel Ray made her way through Laguna on $40 a Day. I like some of these shows, but my favorite food show was Man Verses Food. I liked seeing host Adam Richman tour an area and tackle an eating challenge. If his show was still in production today, JT Schmid's might get some serious consideration to be featured on his show.

What we have above is JT's Bigger, Badder, Asser Burger. This six-pound behemoth of a patty is grilled, then joined with four extra pounds of bun and toppings to weigh in at an unbelievable ten pounds of hamburger bliss. Throughout the preview night, we were here, they brought out different varieties of this burger. The one above came with the usual burger toppings: lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, cheddar cheese, and roasted corn mayo.

Luckily for all the food bloggers in attendance, we did not have to worry about slicing this ourselves. It came neatly sliced on an enormous plate or a platter. I thought the burger would have a meatloaf quality, but it tasted more like a burger. The custom-made bun stood up well to the burger toppings, but as you can see, the bottom bun absorbed a lot of the grease from the burger and the sheer weight of everything piled on top. Very understandable. I talked to Jason, the owner of JT Schmid's, and he told me they are still working on the bun issues and tweaking things.

Not only does JT Schmid's have a ten-pound burger, but it can also be prepared in different ways. This was my favorite version of this burger that night. The Cowboy Bigger, Badder, Asser Burger came with blue cheese crumbles, colossal onion rings, bacon, and BBQ sauce. Big-time flavors with this one! I really liked the inclusion of the blue cheese. It added pop to this burger. Another version of this burger that came out, but I did not try, was the Jalapeno Turkey Burger. This was probably for the more health-conscious, but how healthy can you get eating ten pounds worth of burgers? I did overhear my fellow bloggers remark how much they liked this more nutritious alternative.

It was not all about the burgers that night, although I took about fifty pictures. We also got to try some new, more traditional items on the JT Schmid's menu. The Hawaiian Coconut Shrimp should be insulted to be called shrimp because these were anything but small. These jumbo shrimp were covered with coconut, deep fried, and served with an excellent orange marmalade. I usually do not like these, but I ate my fair share this night.

The food just kept on coming! This is another new item, the Jalapeno Mac & Cheese. This is different from your everyday version of this comfort food classic. This is a jazzed-up version, for sure. JT's adds chicken, tomatoes, and bacon to a radiatori pasta, then coats it all with a cheese sauce made from their own ale and a trio of cheeses. This has been getting rave customer reviews, and the same response was given on this night. I really liked the jalapenos in this. Some mac and cheese dishes can put your taste buds to sleep, but this one did not have that problem.

After eating my fair share of the burgers, I needed more room to eat the new pizzas at JT's, but I did try two of them. The Sausage and Basil Pizza was a good pizza with plenty of sausage and went well with the fresh basil. The other slice of pizza was a little less conventional. The Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Pizza is something that I would usually not eat, but in this instance, I was glad I did. This pizza had it all; sliced red pears, sage, mozzarella and blue cheeses, grilled onions, and pecans. It sounds like a mishmash of many items, but they all worked well together.

The last of the food items we tried was the Meatball Sandwich. I consider myself an aficionado of meatball sandwiches and could endorse this as good. The meatball here was very dense, with a meaty texture and taste. The marinara had a strong hint of garlic while maintaining a low-key sweetness. The bread held everything together well. Some more melted mozzarella cheese could have made this sandwich even better.

Most of my visits to JT's are made to Anaheim, right across from the Honda Center. We usually hit them up for drinks before and after the hockey games. So, I am pretty familiar with their beers. JT Schmid's recently changed their JT Imperial Stout. JT's Brewmaster, Gil Chacon, is aging the beer with French Oak. I will need to learn more about beer to tell you how this changes things, but I did like this beer. It was vibrant and malty. They only serve this in a pint-size due to the high ABV of 8%, but that will get you feeling good in a hurry!

New menu items were also spotted on the dessert menu as well. I did not get a chance to snap up one of the slices of Black Forest Cake because I zoned right in on the other two options for dessert. The Pineapple Sorbet piqued my interest for the unique presentation. The sorbet was served right in the cored-out portion of a pineapple. This added a perceived element of freshness to the refreshing sorbet. It did not strike me until later what the Dream Bomba reminded me of. This dessert had a core of caramel surrounded by a peanut butter gelato, then coated with chocolate and a peanut butter drizzle. What childhood dessert did this remind me of? Of course, it was Drumsticks. This was a delicious dessert. The caramel in the center was like finding a buried treasure, and getting to the caramel was half the fun. The peanut butter flavor and the chocolate outside were good and thick. This would be a great dessert on a hot summer evening.

The new menu items at JT's were all strong but dwarfed by the Bigger, Badder, Asser Burgers. Of course, almost any food item I have ever seen would be dwarfed by such a massive burger. Of course, I had to inquire about the possibility of the food challenge, and Jason said that it has been discussed, but I am still waiting for word on it. I could see no one being able to finish this burger unless Adam Richman wants to do a reboot of his Man V. Food Show.

We would like to thank everyone who made it possible for us to sample all the new menu items at JT Schmid's. First, we should start with the man at the top, Jason Schmid. He was so gracious, answering our questions and providing all the food for us. Also, thanks go out to the wonderful staff at JT's, some of which are pictured above. They really kept on top of things and made sure we did not have a want for anything else. Thanks for your excellent service, guys. Thanks to Pam from the OC Restaurant Association for this superb opportunity to sample this food. One last note of appreciation to our fellow food bloggers, who are always the life of the party, and we always enjoy getting together. You guys rock!

For more information about JT Schmid's, click here: http://jtschmidsrestaurants.com/Home.html

Is DeSimone's De-Best? CLOSED

DeSimone Deli and Bakery

2279 North Tustin Ave.

Orange, CA 92865

At a recent food event Griffin, from Griffin Eats OC and I were talking about Cuban sandwiches. I have had some good ones here in OC, but nothing that compares to the ones I have had in Miami. Both him and my Mom had mentioned seeing a sign on a deli across the street from the Village at Orange, (which will always be called the Mall of Orange to me). Anyways, this sign as you can see in the above picture is still up, and proclaims that they have the best Cuban sandwich in OC.

I am always very skeptical of places that have signs proclaiming that they are the "best". I have had my expectations let down too many times. Does anyone really believe that Knowlwood's really makes the worlds best burger? Numero Uno is the number one pizza around? Staying with pizza, this is a little off topic but I think it needs to be said. Any place that says it is real New York pizza, is usually 99 percent of the time not like New York pizza. So, when I saw this sign I was a little skeptical walking into the place, but let's see how it worked out for us.

DeSimone has two locations, this one in Orange and another in Huntington Beach. They do have very limited hours. They are open until 6pm on weekdays, and 5pm on Saturdays. They are closed on Sundays. Even with these limited hours it is very convenient for me to drive by here on Monday afternoons on my way to my parents house in Yorba Linda. I was one of two customers in the deli on my recent trip here.

The inside of this deli and the menu does not really distinguish itself much from other delis in the area. There are about five tables inside the restaurant and two patio tables situated outside. The menu is all pretty standard for a deli. What sets DeSimone's apart is that they bake their own bread everyday. Along with that, they also roast their own turkey breast, seasoned pork roast, pastrami, and roast beef daily. That's a lot of work for a small, two location place to handle. So let's see if we can taste all the hard work that goes into this sandwich.

The only sandwich that I got on my trip here was the Large Cuban Sandwich ($12.90). This 16 inch sandwich was cut into fourths, which was good because I was sharing it with my Mom, Dad, and Sister. This Cuban had roasted pork, ham, Swiss, butter, mustard and pickles on it. The bread was crusty, without being too dense. It had just the right amount of chew to it. The meats inside were very well done. The pork was the better of the two, with a great meaty flavor. The supporting cast of the sandwich also came together here. They had the right amount of mustard, cheese, and pickles on this sandwich. All the ingredients really made this a very well balanced sandwich, which I feel is the key to a great sandwich.

After the four of us scarfed this sandwich down, we all thought this was one of the best in OC. The sign did not lie this time. I guess I have learned that I have to be more trusting in the future. Some of you may scoff at the $12 price tag for this sandwich, but this was enough to feed two people for sure, and maybe one of me. The quality and taste of this sandwich makes the price worth it. I would like to try other sandwiches off of their menu to see if they are just as good, but I do not think I could come here and not get the Cuban sandwich. This sandwich does have to rank right up there, with not just Cuban sandwiches, but all sandwiches in OC.

Out of five baseballs, (because the national sport of Cuba is baseball, and because the season officially wrapped up recently), five being best to zero being worst, DeSimone Deli and Bakery gets 3.5 baseballs.

For more information on DeSimone Deli and Bakery, click here: http://www.desimonedeli.com/Home_Page.html

Slater's Bacon-tacular New Menu Items! - CLOSED

Slater's 50/50

17071 Beach Blvd. 

Huntington Beach, CA 92647

The transition from summer to fall is a busy time for restaurants. This is the time when restaurants are changing their menus. We have noticed this a lot lately with the number of announcements and tastings we have been invited to. For the last month, we have been asked to at least one restaurant weekly to try new menu items and some old favorites. Needless to say, I was excited when an invitation to Slater's 50/50 showed up in my inbox. Katie had to work, so I brought my good friend Rob to Slater's Huntington Beach location on a recent Wednesday afternoon.

Slater's has been making some noise lately. They are opening their Pasadena location next month and have announced plans to open a South OC location in Lake Forest, in the old Hooters location right next to the 5 Freeway. That will be their fifth Southern California location, and rumors are swirling that they will then try their hand at an out-of-state location. That's in the future, though, and their new menu items are here today for us to try, so let's see what they have in store for us.

Slater's started us off with enough appetizers to call it a night, but there was more to come. Leading off the appetizer parade was the Beer Cheese Fries. These fries are layered with Slater's signature chili, a beer cheese sauce, pepper jack cheese, and jalapenos. It's an updated take on Irish nachos. The chili was a little milder than I like, but the jalapenos remedied that situation quite nicely. This did not lack in that department with the two kinds of cheese here. Even with all the stuff on top of the fries, they remained crunchy throughout this appetizer, a significant feat.

I grouped all these following appetizers together because these can all be combined to create your perfect combo plate of appetizers, from a Pick 2 to a Pick 6 (sorry, the Sweet Potato Fries and Beer Battered Onion Rings are not shown here). What is shown here are the Slater's Fries, which come with Slater's bacon ketchup. Yes, you read that right, bacon-infused ketchup. I could taste the smokiness in the ketchup. Next up was my favorite appetizer of the night, the Beer Battered Jalapenos served with a cilantro-lime sour cream. These were addictive. I knew I would eat a lot here but could not escape these. Most of these were not crazy hot, but I used the cooling sauce to slow down the burn with the ones that were.  Fried Dill Pickle Chips are not among my favorite things, so I tried only two. Rob and I thought these tasted better with the Tapatio ranch than with the mustard sauce these were served with. It is a familiar menu item, but the Fried Bacon Mac and Cheese Balls are another favorite. These are perfectly fried on the outside, and the inside keeps the perfect mac and cheese texture. For an extra flavor, not that these needed it with the cheese and bacon, these come with the Tapatio ranch that went so well with the fried pickles.

Salads at Slaters? Yes, some people who come here might not be into burgers (crazy people!). We got to try two samples of their new salads. The Top Ramen Salad really reminded me of my childhood. My Mom used to make a salad that was very similar to this one. Iceberg lettuce, napa cabbage, and shaved carrots join crunchy ramen pieces and chicken breast into a salad that features a ramen-seasoned vinaigrette. This salad was a straightforward salad, which was very light-tasting. It's surprising from a place known for big flavors and shocking us. A salad that was more in the Slater's wheelhouse was the Bacon Cheeseburger Salad. This is a house salad with bacon bits, red onions, tomatoes, Thousand Island dressing, dill pickle chips, and a ground beef patty covered with cheese on top of the salad. Another pretty simple salad, but I liked this one. The warm patty contrasted with the colder greens well, and the bacon bits were real bacon, so that can always be good. This would be my choice if I had to have a salad here.

Do you love Panda Express orange chicken? Have you ever wanted to make a sandwich out of it? If the answer to those questions is yes, you need to get to Slaters as soon as possible. It's not the best picture of this sandwich, but the Orange Chicken Sandwich tasted like a higher quality Panda Express orange chicken piece. The sauce was very sweet, but to counteract that, they added a Sriracha mayo to give the sandwich a little bite. Add some coleslaw for texture, and you will have a unique chicken sandwich I am surprised no one else has ever thought to make.

To be utterly truthful to everyone at Slater's the other night, I did not try this World's Greatest Turkey Burger. I know it is topped with fresh Gouda cheese, red onions, pesto sauce, and a portobello mushroom, which all sound delicious, but I wanted to save room for the stuff I know is terrible for me. I did hear that other people liked it, but I did not try it myself.

Now, this is more like it! Luckily for my cholesterol count, we were only given quarters of the burgers, although I did sneak an extra quarter of this one. The Frito's Crunch Burger had to come from a kitchen experiment where a hamburger was combined with a Frito Pie. This fantastic burger starts with a ground beef patty and is then topped with chili, cheddar cheese, a layer of Frito's, and Thousand Island dressing. Both Rob and I really enjoyed this creation. It wasn't crazy over the top, just a solid, good-tasting burger.

Do you like bacon? Do you really like bacon? If yes, this is the burger for you. The B' B' B' Bacon Burger is every bacon lover's dream come true. Bacon is included in almost every layer of this. Starting with the signature 50 percent ground beef, 50 percent ground bacon patty, a bacon thousand island dressing, bacon American cheese, strips of thick-cut bacon, and a sunny-side-up egg, all situated on a bacon pretzel bun. Wow, our first bite of this set off a euphoric bacon experience like none other. This burger was excellent but might be too much for some people, but not me.

My buddy Rob had never been to Slater's before, and while we were there, he was looking over the menu. The burger that caught his eye the most was Slater's Classic, the Peanut Butter and Jealousy. This burger meets PB and J sandwich starts with a ground beef patty and then topped with bacon, peanut butter, and strawberry jelly strips. I know it sounds odd, but this burger really works. I have had issues correcting the suitable peanut butter-to-jelly ratio, but this burger is always a hit. Of course, the whole wheat bun makes it healthy, right?

After the burgers, we also got to sample some of their new Mac N' Cheese creations. The one on top is the Baked Potato Mac N' Cheese. This one was made of mashed potatoes, sharp cheddar cheese, bacon, green onion, sour cream, and a Parmesan-panko crust. Basically, it's anything you would want on your loaded baked potato. This was good, but I could not hold a candle to the Buffalo Chicken Mac N' Cheese. This is different from your typical macaroni and cheese out-of-the-blue box. The macaroni is paired with a three-cheese Alfredo sauce, buffalo chicken pieces, chopped celery, blue cheese crumbles, and a Cheez-Its crust. I would have liked some Franks Hot Sauce or another buffalo sauce to go along with this, but it did have a good texture, and the Cheez-It crust was genius.

Food is not the only thing new at Slater's. They also now have Beer Cocktails. I tried two of these concoctions while we were here. The first one I had was called the Elementary School Teacher. I now know what my teachers were drinking after school. Amaretto, apple and lemon juice, simple syrup, and a pale ale made up this one. A little on the sweet side for me. I liked IPA Cocktail #2 a lot better. The IPA was mixed with amaretto and appeal and topped with fresh lemon. A lot less sweet than the other one I tried. It is not new, but we had to try the Bacon Mary. The bacon-centric cocktail uses Three Olives Bacon Infused Vodka, bloody mary mix, and just for good measure, the rim of the glass is coated with bacon salt and garnished with a piece of bacon. Now, you can drink your bacon for breakfast!

Dessert time at Slater's, and you would not think they could use bacon in dessert, but you would be wrong. We tried the Maple Bacon Milkshake. This had a decent maple flavor, but the real bacon bits added a slight smokiness to this well-made milkshake. Another favorite for us was the Chocolate Pop Rocks Shake. It has probably been about thirty years since I have had Pop Rocks, but I have never had them in ice cream. They still popped, just like I remembered. A lovely nostalgic trip back in time, drinking this milkshake.

I liked some of the new menu items on Slater's. The Frito Burger, Orange Chicken Sandwich, and Fried Jalapeno Rings were all hits, in my opinion. For my friend Rob, who had never been to Slater's, this was a great introduction to this one-of-a-kind restaurant. He really loved the over-the-top aspect of it. Claiming that he never eats like this, he came home happy and full and vowed to do an extra session at the gym the next day.

We really wanted to thank everyone at Slater's 50/50 for the chance to try all of this great food. We met Scott Slater, founder of Slater's, who was even gracious after I brought up the Chargers awful season. His mother was also there and shared some great childhood stories of Scott. Thanks also go out to Jody, the Manager of this Slater's location. Thanks for taking care of us so well, Jody! Also, thanks to all the servers and staff who brought the food for us and made us feel comfortable during our stay tonight. Lastly, a big thank you to Beth Chee of Downing Street Public Relations for the invite to this great event. It has always been great working with you, Beth!

For more information on Slater's 50/50, click here: http://slaters5050.com/