Hopscotch Media Preview Night

Hopscotch

136 E. Commonwealth

Fullerton, CA 92832

There are a few places that I feel more comfortable than in bars. Sitting back, having food and drinks with friends, and catching up on each other's lives are just some of the best memories I have when going out. I like the people watching as well. On the other hand, I have never been too comfortable in nightclubs. The loud music, all the people dressing to impress, and cover charges have never been my thing. Some of my favorite bars are located in Fullerton, so I was pretty excited to hear about a new joint opening up in the same area. I was even more excited when I was asked to attend a media preview of the new bar on the block, Hopscotch.

This newest bar venture in Fullerton has been teasing their Facebook fans about opening for awhile. The day is finally close. According to their Facebook page, they are set to open November 27th. This is good news for their over 1,300 fans of this, as yet not open for a business tavern. If they already have this many fans without being open, they just might have a hit on their hands.

Hopscotch is located in the old Spadra spot, which also used to house the Pacific Electric Railway Depot. Hopscotch is different from most bars in the downtown area because they are focusing on whiskey, craft beers, and slow-cooked food items. In fact, they are going to be carrying 105 small-batch whiskeys. That is quite a lot to try. Before we got to try any of the drinks we took a few pictures of the place.

The dining room is located a few steps down from the bar area, for a more cozy atmosphere. The bar area features high top tables, liquor quotes by famous people inscribed on the walls, animal heads hanging in various areas, a Hopscotch diagram on the floor, and a penny-farthing hanging from the rafters. This old-time bicycle is Hopscotch's logo and is emblazoned on their t-shirts and walls. The bar is dominated by wood and earth tones, which really lends to the rustic vibe here. The bar is made out of old whiskey barrels, and really lends a unique aspect to the place.

My friend Clay, who went with me to this event is a real connoisseur of whiskeys and bourbons. He was very impressed with the wide variety served at Hopscotch. He was the one that ordered the Woodford Reserve on ice. This always seems to be his drink of choice when we go out. I admit I am not much of a whiskey or bourbon drinker, but I tried two of their signature cocktails which featured whiskey. The Morning Glory was served in the martini glass. I did not catch all of what came in this labor-intensive drink, but I do know that it involved using an egg. This was my favorite drink of the night. The other drink I had was the Merryweather. In this one, I could definitely taste the alcohol. Again, I did not catch what was in this one, because I was very preoccupied with the food that had started coming out of the kitchen.

I have never been a fan of Deviled Eggs, but Clay tried the ones here. He said the mustard on these was very prominent. The Crackling Rosemary Flatbread was very much more my style. This flatbread really popped with flavor. This appetizer was topped with butter, rosemary, and crunchy pork cracklins. The pork on top gave this a nice little crunch, and the bread portion of this reminded me of the cheese bread at La Cave and Northwood's Inn. I had to limit myself to only three slices because I knew more was on the way.

Dinner was served buffet style for our media event. The main event was the Pulled Pork and the BBQ Beef. The meats at Hopscotch are cooked low and slow to help ensure that they are very tender, with great flavors. To help enhance the meats they offer four different sauces. I only tried the Bold and Tangy, which I liked, but the St. Louis Sweet will be my choice on future visits here. Side items are not to be overlooked here either. I am a harsh critic when it comes to baked beans, but I really enjoyed the one here. They were not over the top sweet but still had enough flavor to keep my interest. The Potato Salad was another solid side item. The potatoes were cooked perfectly, with a slight mustard twinge to it. One of the better restaurant potato salads we have had.

The head chef at Hopscotch is Kent Pawlowski, who was the Regional Executive Chef at Mastro's Steakhouse, before he left in 2008 to work in Tbilisi, Georgia at The OVAL Restaurant. He is back in the States now, and serving up this ButterSCOTCH Cake, which is very similar to the something you can get at one of his former employers. This version is not as moist on the inside, but just as good. It was infused with some scotch, which I just got a hint of, and topped with a very well made whipped topping. The raspberry sauce drizzled on the plate really complimented this dessert well. Maybe because Hostess has been in the news lately, but this dessert kind of reminded me of the Hostess O's Raspberry Filled Donuts. This dessert is a must get when coming to Hopscotch.

I am really looking forward to seeing how people will receive Hopscotch and seeing if the owners stay true to their passion for what they envision this place to be. So many places start out as one thing and then turn into something completely different, based on what the public wants or demands. If tonight is any indication, the owners will not have to tweak their concept very much at all. The atmosphere was pretty laid back and comfortable, the bar set up was on point, and the food promises to bring in lots of people. I am excited to come back and try one of their Juicy Lucy Burgers, which is a cheese-stuffed burger, originated in Minnesota. After our first impression, it will not take us too long to get back to Hopscotch again.

We would really like to thank all of the people at Hopscotch for making us feel so welcome. Co-owners, Bryan Gonzalez and Rob Marshall were nice enough to answer all of our questions, and share what they expect Hopscotch to be. Thanks also go out to all of the employees here that made the night excellent and kept things running smoothly. Another big thank you goes out to Rob Hallstrom, from 714 Media, for thinking of including us at this great event. Lastly, thanks to my partner in crime on this outing Clay. Glad you could experience this whiskey lover paradise with me.

For more information on Hopscotch, check out their web page here: http://hopscotchtavern.com/

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