Hoping Not to Get Burned at Smoqued BBQ

Smoqued California Barbeque

128 North Glassell St.

Orange, CA 92866

Barbecue has always mystified me. Why is it always so much better in other parts of the country? I mean enough people in California have come from other barbecue rich parts of the US, so surely they could use their expertise to open a great barbecue joint like the ones we have seen in Texas, Kansas City, and the South. California is a wasteland when it comes to barbecue. Sure there are some good places, but they are far and few between. To show how bad it is in the Golden State when we went to Florida earlier this year we had a layover in Dallas, coming and going. The barbecue that we had in the airport was way better than almost anything you could get in OC. When airport food is better, something has got to change.

The thing I find most frustrating about barbecue restaurants is the lack of consistency. Some places have really good tri-tip, but then their ribs are awful. The pulled pork could be excellent, but then the brisket is bad. Inconsistency gets kicked up to another level when you throw the barbecue side items into the mix. It seems a lot of restaurants out here like to specialize in one particular barbecue item, instead of doing all of their barbecue items well. I was really hoping this was not going to be the case when we visited the new barbecue kid in town, Smoqued California Barbeque.

Smoqued is located in Downtown Orange. It replaces Beach Pit BBQ, which are closing locations at a record clip. I haven't made it to Beach Pit yet, but now there are only two of them left. Smoqued has been open since September. On their website, they claim to cook their meats low and slow in a wood-fired pit. We got here on a brisk December night around 5PM, and the place was buzzing with activity, but we did not have to wait for a table.

The vibe at Smoqued was pretty welcoming. The restaurant is dominated by brick walls and high ceilings that show off the wood beams above. Not as big as I had imagined, they maybe have twenty or so tables. The tables are pretty close together and might need to be spaced out a little more. We kind of felt like we were eating on top of people. By the time we left, this restaurant was packed and had a wait at the front door. Enough about the atmosphere at Smoqued, let's check out the food.

After reading about one of my favorite local food writer's visit Smoqued, I knew I would start my meal with the Chingaderas ($10.99) Over at Stick a Fork In It, the great Dave Lieberman wrote about this interestingly named appetizer, which you can read about here. I have never seen anything like this on any menu. Cream cheese jalapeno, wrapped in bacon, with shrimp and dates, then deep-fried. Yes, you read that right, all of these items deep-fried. When I heard about this appetizer I could not imagine it. I thought there was going to be too many big-time flavors in this, that they would all cancel each other out. That was not the case. We got little bits of all the ingredients, all in different bites of this. The sweetness of the date, along with the brininess of the shrimp, the heat from the jalapeno, and the saltiness of the bacon, all came in different waves of this appetizer. We would definitely get this again, but be aware that there are only three of these to order, so if you are here with four people or more, there could be some fighting as to how to divvy these up.

Starting up the entree portion of our evening will be my Dad's choice for dinner, the Smoqued Brisket Sandwich ($10.49). The brisket here is joined by caramelized onions and placed on a Challah Roll. The brisket was in bigger pieces than I had thought it would be, which made eating this sandwich a little more awkward. My Dad had mixed thoughts about this sandwich. He really liked the toasted Challah roll and the caramelized onions, but he felt the meat lacked flavor and was too fatty. He did not detect a smoked flavor from the meat. He said he would get something else next time he was here.

Another parent another sandwich. Apparently, my parents love to get sandwiches in barbecue restaurants. My Mom had the Smoqued Pulled Pork Sandwich ($9.99). This sandwich usually comes with coleslaw on it, but my Mom got it on the side here. She liked the taste of this sandwich but would have liked the pork to be shredded a lot more than it was. She felt the meat was moist and had a nice mellow flavor, but the coleslaw was very bland. I tried it as well, and could not detect any sort of dressing on this. Tasted just like shredded cabbage.

Tacos at a barbecue restaurant? It does kind of make sense, and it was Katie's selection for dinner. The Street Tacos ($9.49) came three to a plate and were filled with pulled pork, coleslaw, and avocado sauce. She was gracious enough to let me have half of a taco, and I was surprised how good these were. The pork was very moist, the coleslaw added a good crunch, and the avocado sauce was very smooth and flavorful. I also liked that they put plenty of peppers and pickled cauliflower on the plate, even though Katie is averse to heating up her food with them. With any sandwich or taco entree, you have the option of getting a side for $3 more, or just 99 cents off of the regular price. Big time bargain. Anyways, Katie took advantage of this by getting the Deviled Eggs with Smoked Bacon. She really enjoyed these deviled eggs. The bacon at Smoqued is one of their claims to fame, and she really enjoyed this different take on the breakfast staple, bacon, and eggs.

Readers of this blog know that when I got to a barbecue restaurant, I almost always get a combo meal of meats to sample. This is the best way to sample a little bit of everything. At Smoqued I got the Choice of Three Meats ($21.99). I selected the beef jalapeno sausage, beef brisket, and baby back pork ribs. All three portions of meat were pretty good. I liked the sausage,, but did not get a lot of the jalapeno flavor from it. The casing was well made and the inside of the sausage had a rich, meaty taste. The brisket was very tender and had just the right amount of fat on it for my taste, although I can see how some people would not like this much fat on their meat. The baby back ribs were very solid. The meat cleared the bone, with just a little tug. The rub was pretty good and added a good amount of flavor.

Another thing I liked about the meats at Smoqued was that they came out without sauce. I like the option of adding my own sauce to barbecued meats. At Smoqued they had three sauces available on the table. Their Backyard BBQ, the California Gold, and the spicier Hab Raz. I actually liked all three of these to a different degree. My favorite was naturally the Hab Raz, which was a, you guessed it, habanero/raspberry concoction. This combination worked well together. The sweet raspberry and the spicy habanero kept each other in check. I am hit and miss when it comes to mustard, and I assume that the California Gold sauce must be mustard-based, but it was still a solid and unique sauce. I probably liked this one second best. The Backyard BBQ was okay but did not strike me as anything special. I liked that all of these sauces were different from each other, so you could experiment with what went well with each type of meat.

I guess I got a little sidetracked here, but with my dinner, I also got to choose two side items to try. I went with the Amazing Mac and Cheese and the BBQ Beans. The macaroni and cheese were good, but nothing set it apart from others I have had. The cheese coated the noodles well, and the bread crumbs on top were a nice touch. The beans were a different story. I liked the uniqueness of them. These are not an overly sweet baked bean, they are more robust in flavor. It appears that they use two types of beans in here, and the consistency of this was more like a soup. Not a bad side item.

It used to be that you could only get cookie skillets at BJ's, but that is not the case anymore. It seems like almost every restaurant we go to has a version of this dessert on their menu. At Smoqued they call theirs the Chocolate Cookie Skillet ($6.99). This is a pretty standard version of this dessert. The cookie was a little undercooked, but that helped us eat this easier. The chocolate fudge sauce could have been thicker. This sauce was just a basic chocolate sauce. I did think that they put plenty of ice cream on this, and I was thankful for that since we were eating with my Dad, and he has a tendency to hog all the ice cream. Just kidding big guy.

I left Smoqued liking it, but not loving it. There were some hits, (the meats, the chingaderas, the tacos, and the beans), but there was also some misses, (the mac and cheese, the big hunks of meat on the pulled pork sandwich, and the dry cornbread that I forgot to mention that came with my meal). The one thing that bothered me the most about this restaurant was the serving sizes, for the amount of money they charge. If you look at my plate and ask yourself how much this plate costs, you would never guess it was over twenty dollars. Four ribs, a sausage link, and two strips of brisket do not work out to twenty dollars. Yes, side items are included, but even these were on the small size. The mac and cheese came in a six-inch skillet, and the beans were not served in a very large container either. I know that barbecue is a very labor-intensive food to make, thus the higher prices, but the servings could be bigger for what you are paying. Also, aside item for a ten dollar sandwich would not be too much to ask for. They do give the option of getting a side item for 99 cents less than the original price, but even that is too much for two deviled eggs. The service was pretty strong on the night we were here. Jericka was our server and was running around making sure things were running smoothly for us and a good majority of the restaurant. We will be back to Smoqued. I liked the California spin on their barbecue, and I am looking forward to seeing how this young restaurant grows.

Out of five grapes, (because before the orange groves took over in Orange, the farmer's most successful crop had been grapes used for raisins), five being best to zero being worst, Smoqued California Barbeque gets 3 grapes.

To find out more information about Smoqued California Barbeque, click here: https://www.smoquedcaliforniabbq.com/

Football Frenzy #11 at Daily's Sports Grill

Daily's Sports Grill

29881 Aventura

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688

I know I have been pretty lax on finding the best sports bars to watch football on Sunday mornings for you. This year has been another bummer for my beloved Jacksonville Jaguars. They have won only one game all year going into this late November tilt with the hated Tennessee Titans. It has been hard to get up and go watch the many fumbles and interceptions ruin a great Sunday off of work. We were at Katie's apartment, and of course, they were not showing our game on TV at home, so we decided to make the mile trip over to a sports bar I have been to before, but haven't blogged about, Daily's Sports Grill.

Daily's is kind of an iconic sports bar in these parts. They opened their doors seven years before the city of Rancho Santa Margarita was even incorporated. To say that the bar scene in RSM is limited, would be an understatement. Sure some of the restaurants in this city have bars, but those are not bars that people go to hang out in. According to a quick search of bars in the city, besides a couple of wine bars, RSM has one other stand-alone bar, (Tapas and Beer). I have not been to that bar, but when I lived in this inland city, I visited Daily's from time to time during my five-year residency here.

Daily's is located well off of the main street of Santa Margarita Parkway, in the back of the same plaza that houses a KFC and the post office of this fine city. From the outside, this sports bar does not look so big, but once inside, it really is a pretty spacious place. The front area is dominated by a long bar and booths, the cavernous back room has plenty of high top tables and some smaller booths. Of course, a wide array of sports memorabilia is plastered to every wall you glance at.

We got to Daily's ten minutes before kickoff. We had no problem getting a table. It always seems that as the season moves along, the bars get a little more empty as teams drop off the playoff chase. There was a group of boisterous Steeler's fans near one of the TVs, but Daily's also caters to families as well. When we sat down we were surrounded by two families that had children ranging in age from seven to newborn. The waitress made sure that we sat at a table where we could see the game of our choosing, which was very nice of her. Now we just had to sit back, hope for the best with our team, and have some breakfast. This is how it came out for us.

Katie had the French Toast and Eggs ($6.95) for breakfast. Okay, not the most picturesque bacon and egg picture, but Katie felt these over hard eggs and bacon were pretty standard. What really woke up her taste buds was the French toast. Daily's french toast comes with sliced strawberries and bananas, then topped with a thin caramel sauce. Katie liked this different take on French toast and felt that this version was a little less sweet than if she would have had this with maple syrup. She claims she would get this again.

I saw that they had this Montana Skillet ($7.95) on the menu, and it said it was made for someone with a lineman's appetite, so of course, I had to get it. I love skillet breakfasts because you get all of the breakfast food rolled into one plate. This skillet came with two scrambled eggs, bell peppers, onions, and choice of breakfast meat, (I went with bacon), all topped with cheddar cheese. The menu said that this was going to have hash browns in it also, but the plate came out with baby red potatoes on the side. The potatoes were cooked fine, but I did miss the crunchiness of the hash browns. To be honest I thought this was going to be a little bigger. I had no problem polishing off this breakfast. The eggs were a little too diced up, and there was not enough bacon in this. The gravy served with this was very thin, so I used this sparingly. I did enjoy that the sourdough came with more than enough butter for the two slices that was served with this.

In case you have forgotten our criteria for judging places to watch football on Sundays, we base it on ambiance, service, and food. Daily's definitely had the first two criteria met. Our server, Jules was very nice, kept great tabs on us, and really seemed to know almost everyone in this bar. Both Katie and I felt really comfortable here as well. Sometimes local bars can seem a little cliquey, but that was not the case at Daily's. Everyone was really nice, and even asked how we became Jaguar's fans. The area that Daily's needs to improve on if it wants to ascend to the ultimate football hangout spot, is its food. There was nothing too wrong with it, but it was nothing that made us clamor for more. The only thing the food really had going for it was that it was very reasonably priced. Looking through their menu, they only have one item that is above the ten dollar mark, and none above ten dollars for breakfast. They did have drink specials during football as well. I took advantage of their $4 Screwdriver special, which came in handy when Katie and I had to toast to the Jaguars second win of the season on this afternoon. Unfortunately, this would be the Jags last win of the season, and they would finish 2-14, but there is always next year.

Out of five newspapers, (because a daily could also refer to that thing that you used to have delivered to your house to get the news of the day), five being best to zero being worst,  Daily's Sports Grill gets 2.5 newspapers.

For more information on Daily's Sports Grill, check them out here: http://www.dailyssportsgrill.org/

The Best and Worst Restaurants of 2012

Happy New Year everyone. I can not believe that this is the third year that I have written a recap of the best and worst restaurants we have visited. Time has really flown by. I guess it is true what they say, time flies when you are having fun. I really am having a great time sharing all of our dining adventures with all of you.

This is the third straight year that we have increased our reviews on the blog. A few stats for you to peruse. We have now eaten in 68 different cities, and have almost hit every city in OC. I promise we will make it to Cypress, La Palma and Seal Beach in the early part of 2013. We have written 383 posts, not including this one, and have visited 354 different restaurants. Wow, that sounds like a lot of eating. Hamburger joints seem to be our favorite, not surprising anyone there, with Mexican food coming in second, and sandwiches winning the bronze medal in the most blogged about food categories.

Besides the actual eating, one of my favorite things about this blog is the people we have met because of it.  Most of these people are fellow bloggers, and their blogs can be found on the right hand side of this blog, under the heading, "my favorite food blogs". When we started this blog, I thought it was going to be an isolated experience, but it has been anything but isolated. We have been lucky enough to have been invited to some events, and gotten to know, and become friends with a good many of the best food writers this county has to offer. I still aspire to be as good as them someday.

Lastly, we would like to thank you, our readers for making this such a great year. We have had the most page views and visits that we have ever had this year. We would also like to thank the people that comment or email about the blog. I really enjoy interacting with all of you. love getting your feedback and suggestions. Keep them coming.

Now without further ado, here are our top five best and worst restaurants that we have been to this year. We will get the worst one's out of the way first, so we can savor the best we had in 2012. Here are the worst restaurants of the year, in no particular order.

I think I can safely say that I am not the target customer that the Gypsy Den is going for. The food here was not awful on our visit, but it did not taste like anything either. I was expecting some flavor that never came. It was not all the Gypsy Den's fault though, my dining companions made some questionable choices when it came to their food. I mean really Clay? A Vegan Chicken Wrap, that sounded bad from the time he ordered it. I can see why people like this healthier based menu, but I would rather have a burger any day.

When you are a food blogger, you almost always have to make the decision on where to go for dinner. Back in July, I made the unfortunate choice of having dinner at Johnny Rebs'. I can remember growing up liking Johnny Rebs' but those days are over. The theme the night we were here must have been desert oasis, because almost all of the items we tried were dry. This restaurant did nothing to help my food blogger credibility with my friends. Not that I have any credibility to begin with.

Birthday parties with Katie's family usually mean two things, lots of laughs, and a bad restaurant. The New Shogun provided both of these for us. We all laugh a lot whenever we are all together, but lets just say they do not have the Midas touch when it comes to picking places for birthday dinners. I mean Emily once had us go to Bubba Gump Shrimp, and this teppan place was not much better. The focus here is on the show, and obviously not the food. The only thing more dated than the decor here, is the teppan master doing the onion volcano for the 200th time.

I am sure that most of you are shocked to see Peter's Gourmade Grill on this list. I am surprised they are here as well, but after our visit to their now closed Newport location, we could not leave them off of this list. It will be hard to forget this visit, much like they could not remember to order cheese, pastrami, lids for cups, forks, and marshmallows for their Gooey Fries. One of the biggest disasters we have had in our three years of going to restaurants for this blog, but they eventually made it up when we went to their Tustin location six months later. You can check that review out here.

One of my biggest disappointments this year was that we went to Woody's Diner, and did not keep on driving a little further into the shopping center to eat at Break of Dawn. This beach themed diner has some the most boring breakfast food in the county. I can usually find a bunch of things on a menu to eat, but at Woody's the breakfast menu was very average, and the food barely met that same mark.

Okay, here we go, the best five restaurants we have been to in 2012. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in any of these restaurants, feel free to bring me a dogie bag from any of them. They are all winners.

Like most people, we came to Anepalcos Cafe for their Chilaquiles, but soon found out that every item on their menu is a hit. This Mexican/French fusion restaurant is a larger version of their other Orange location, but this one serves dinner. We have already put it down on our list to come back and try their dinners in the new year. If they are half as good as the breakfasts here, we will be in for a real treat, and you will be seeing them on our list again of the best restaurants of the year.

The only thing keeping G Burger from taking over the OC burger scene is their current location in the most northern city of OC. Let me tell you though, it is worth the drive to get here. At G Burger they do not cut corners. They make as much as they can from scratch, and the namesake G Burger with everything on it is one of the best burgers I have had. It is not all about burgers here though, they also have chicken sandwiches and their side items are not to be missed, including their onion rings. Wow!

We only have two disappointments with Slapfish: A Modern Seafood Shack. One's that they are not located closer to us, and two is that it took us until August to make it to their restaurant. So much wasted time. Both Katie and I sampled about 5 items off of their menu on our trip here. All five were fantastic. The chowder fries, the fish taco, and the major crunchy fish sandwich should not be missed. Keep an eye out for their specials as well. Theses guys are very passionate about serving fish in a responsible way, so they work with other agencies to prevent over fishing and harmful fishing practices. Serving good food with a conscience, how could Slapfish not be on this list?

My family used to go to Mr. Stox for almost every family celebration, but with their impending closure it is a good thing we found The Ranch Restaurant. The Ranch could not be in a stranger place, an industrial area, just off of Ball Road. Located on the bottom floor of the Extron building, this saloon/restaurant is the dream of Extron owner, Andrew Edwards. He wanted a place where he could listen to country music, and also serve some of the best food around. Mission accomplished. The Ranch has a seasonal driven menu that is not overly large, but whatever you choose from it will be great. We are looking forward to many more family celebrations here.

Nothing sparks debate quite like pizza, so let the conversation start. The best pizza I had this year was from Tony's Little Italy Pizza. This is the real deal, Chicago style pizza that you thought you could not get out in Southern California. The pizzas here are deep dish, and full of toppings, sauce, and cheese. I struggled to eat two slices, and I am a big eater. Make sure you call in your orders, because these big boy pizzas take over 45 minutes to make, but are well worth the time.

So there is the list of our top five restaurants for 2012. I want to just acknowledge a few other restaurants that just were outside of the top five, in no particular order. Game Day Hot Dogs, De Simones Sandwiches, Mick's Karma Bar, Park Avenue, Bruxie, Crow Bar Kitchen, Gabbi's Mexican Kitchen, Chapter One: the Modern Local, Soho Taco, Nick's Laguna Beach, Stack's Pancake House, Tap's Fish House and Brewery, Pee Wee's Hot Dogs and Burgers, Shortstop BBQ, Crow Burger Kitchen, and Bayside Restaurant. Thanks to all of you for some very memorable meals out.

Special thanks go out to all of my dining companions this year. Thanks for allowing me to dictate where we would be eating, allowing me to snap pictures of your food, and then answering my endless questions about how you liked the food. We had such a good time, let's do it again in 2013.

Another Night in the IE at Anchos

Anchos Southwest Grill and Bar

10773 Hole Ave.

Riverside, CA 92505

Getting back from our vacation, we were going to be swapping pictures with Sabrina and Anthony, who live in Corona. Since we've been back we had not had Mexican food in a long while. Meanwhile, my Uncle Jerry has been raving about this restaurant in Riverside since September. So it seemed like Anchos would be the natural choice for us to quench our Mexican food cravings, and satisfy my Uncle's request that we try this restaurant. It was off to Anchos we go.

Anchos has been anchored in the Inland Empire for over twenty years now. Almost everyone that lives in the IE knows about this restaurant. They have won numerous awards for their food. Anchos has been mentioned in "Best of Lists" from Inland Empire Magazine, the Press Enterprise, as well as other media sources. We arrived here on a Saturday night at about 7:30, and the place was packed. The location is a little odd. They share a shopping center with the County of Riverside Health Agency. This shopping center is kind of off to itself, in a heavily residential area. It was promising that even with the hidden location of this restaurant, we still had a ten minute wait for a table.

The outside of Anchos reminded me of what some of the old El Torito's used to look like. White stucco buildings, with wood logs sticking out near the roof line, lending to the hacienda kind of vibe. The inside was one giant room, full of tables. They must have had at least forty tables in this restaurant. The large, boisterous  crowd really gave this place a life of its own. The inside of this restaurant really reminded me of a Chevy's. The menu here is pretty large, but we finally decided what to order. Let's see what this Riverside culinary landmark had in store for us.

Most places just give you Chips and Salsa, but at Anchos they also give you a refillable basket of flour tortillas. I had not noticed it while we were being seated, but in the middle of the dining room was a tortilla making station. We all really enjoyed this touch. They even gave out butter to go along with these tortillas. There is something magical about freshly made tortillas. They just make the world a happier place. Thank goodness for the tortillas, because the tortilla chips were not the best here. They are made here, but are very thin and needed more substance behind them. The salsa is also made at Anchos. This salsa did have a little heat behind it, but I like a chunkier salsa than this overly blended one.

As is customary when it is on the menu, Katie always has to order a side of Guacamole ($4.00). This guacamole featured very fresh avocados, but the guacamole needed to be seasoned a little more. Not the worst guacamole we have had, but it needed something extra added to it.

We already had the tortillas, so it was natural that we get the Queso Flameado ($9.99). I have had something similar to this called Queso Fundido in other restaurants, so I was looking forward to Anchos take on this dish. This stringy and thick dip is made of cheese and chorizo. This is a very heavy and greasy appetizer, but it is oh so good. Kind of hard to scoop out of the bowl, but it went well with the tortillas and the guacamole. The chorizo added a nice bite to the dip, and helped prevent a cheese overload. We all would get this appetizer again.

Before we delve into each of our meals, I wanted to show how crowded our table got after they brought out the food. Yes, for some reason they serve their rice and beans on separate plates at Anchos. They also had separate plates for the chiles rellenos that came with mine and Anthony's combo meal. Maybe to conserve space and eliminate waste, Anchos should consider serving their beans and rice family style, out of one bowl for an entire table. Just a thought I had after looking at this picture.

Starting off our entrees will be Sabrina's selection for the evening, the Chicken Enchiladas ($11.99). At this point of the blog, I would usually say something sarcastic about my table mate Sabrina, but I am going to refrain from this. It is the holiday season after all. Speaking of the holidays, Anchos gives you a choice on what sauce you want over your enchiladas; red, green, or Christmas sauce, which is a combination of both red and green sauce. The menu says this is a specialty of the Santa Fe area. Sabrina probably does not even know where Santa Fe is, but she thought these enchiladas were just okay. She liked the green sauce better than the red, and felt the chicken was just average. The serving size of this meal was on the large size, even without including the rice and beans. I know Anchos is busy, but they definitely need to work on their plating. From the looks of this plate, they just plopped these two enchiladas down.

The Chicken Fajitas ($14.99) are done a little differently here at Anchos. They do not come out steaming hot and sizzling, and they do not include bell peppers. Besides the grilled onions buried underneath the chicken, all of the other produce is placed on yet another plate. I am not a big fajita fan. I actually like that these fajitas did not come with bell peppers and I did not miss the sizzle that makes other diners in the area take notice. I applaud you Anchos for taking a stand on how you prepare your fajitas. That is where the accolades for this dish stop though. I felt awful for Katie to have to try to get through this meal. Lesson number one about Anchos, skip all chicken. This chicken was so dry it was like sand paper going down. No amount of refried beans could make this taste any better. After getting home and reading the reviews, everyone seems to be in agreement that the steak is the way to go at Anchos. Sorry Katie, I wish I would have known this before we came here. Not only was the chicken dry, but it was also flavorless. It really needed more seasoning. I took her leftovers home, but could not make them edible the next day either.

Both Anthony and I got the same thing, which usually means that I have to write less, but at Anchos, Our Number One Combination Dinner ($15.50) came on a whopping four plates, so no shortage of writing for me. Let's start with plate number one. This combination meal came with two chicken enchiladas, a crispy beef taco, and a tamale. The chicken enchiladas came Christmas style, with both red and green sauce. Both of these sauces were pretty pedestrian. Not too much going on with these enchiladas. The chicken was dry, but not as dry as in the fajitas. The tamale was probably the best thing in this combo meal, and even that was not memorable. I'm not even sure if it was a pork or beef tamale. I remember it being semi-moist, but not big on flavor. The Beef Taco was probably the most disappointing thing on this plate. It was not filled with very much beef, no cheese anywhere to be found here, and the tortilla had a supermarket shelf quality to it. I only ate half of it. Taco Bell makes better tacos than this.

Plates two and three were the Beans and Rice. Again the theme of the night went unchanged, because both of these tasted like nothing. I liked that they had hunks of chicken in their rice, but then I realized it was the same dry, flavorless chicken that was in the fajitas. The refried beans were a little on the soupy side, and were only useful when trying to make other items we had more moist. When we packed some of our food to go, both of us left these two plates on the table.

The last of our four plates was the Chile Relleno. At Anchos they make their chile rellenos with Poblano chilies. The Poblano chili is a very mild chili, so this relleno lacked the bite of other ones we have had. They stuffed the Poblano with jack cheese, then doused it with a red sauce that almost resembled tomato sauce. I was a little more forgiving about this chili relleno than Anthony, who said it, "tasted like nothing. No flavor whatsoever." I thought it was okay, but nothing I would get again.

So if you have made it this far through our review, you know this is not going to be one of our highest rated restaurants. I do give Anchos some leeway here though. They are not claiming to be a Mexican restaurant. It's in their name that they are a Southwestern grill, so that will explain the lack of heat in their food, but it does not explain the lack of flavor or the overcooked chicken. Our meal started out good with the freshly made tortillas and queso flameado, but after that it was just one low light after another. Maybe we should have just stuck to their Southwestern specialties like their ribs, skirt steak, or bacon wrapped shrimp. These are the items that get praised on-line at Anchos. The prices were pretty high here. There are no combination plates that are under $14, but you do get a lot of mediocre food with these combination plates. The service the night we were here was pretty solid. Our waiter had a very pleasant personality and checked on us often enough. It is safe to say we will not be going back to Anchos anytime soon. This place is all yours Uncle Jerry.

Out of five navel oranges, (because the city of Riverside is not only home to Anchos, but it is also the birthplace of the navel orange in California, way back in 1874), five being best to zero being worst, Anchos Southwest Grill and Bar gets 2 navel oranges.

For more information about Anchos, check out their web site here: http://www.anchos.net/

A New Burger Comes to Town, Welcome Smashburger - CLOSED

Smashburger

26541 Aliso Creek Rd. Ste. C

Aliso Viejo, CA 92656

As we near the end of 2012, it has become clear to me that this year's burger craze will continue well into next year, and who knows how long it will be after that. The OC area has been inundated with new burger places this year and last. I welcome all these burger places, many of which are from outside this area. The Habit, Five Guys, Boardwalk Burgers and Fries, and Umami Burger are all encroaching on what used to be, or for some people still is,  In N Out territory. I will leave the debate for which burger place is best for another post, but for now, I was one of the lucky ones to attend a media tasting of another newcomer to the area, Smashburger.

I had heard of Smashburger before because I had read a few San Diego food blogs. This new burger concept has 11 San Diego locations, and now they are spreading northward. The food bloggers in our south enjoy the burgers here, so I knew I would be in for a treat. It just so happens that this latest location is mere blocks away from my "real" job, so I was able to make the lunchtime media preview of Smashburger. I was also lucky enough to bring my friend Steve along so he could get the food blogger and Smashburger experience.

Back to Smashburger, though. To say that they have shot out of nowhere would be an understatement. They recently topped Fast Casual's 2012 Movers and Shaker list and were also named one of America's Most Promising Companies by Forbes magazine in 2011. With these great accolades, it is no wonder that they are now operating 191 restaurants across the US, Canada, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Costa Rica. All this from a company started less than five years ago.

Here's a quick look around the place. Ordering is done at the counter, where you are given a number, then the food is brought out. The interior design of Smashburger is clean and sleek. Like other burger places, their logos and walls are dominated by red and white. I really enjoyed the video menu boards above the counter. They gave this burger spot a more modern feel. For those of you who would like an adult beverage to accompany your meal, they offer wine by the glass and at least five different bottled beers. Some of the beer selections I saw were Corona, Stone IPA, Stella's, and two more, which I missed. I was here during lunch hour, so there would be no drinking, but I ate my fair share. This is what came to our table after we had ordered.

We will start with my good friend Steve's meal first. Steve had the Avocado Club Smashburger ($5.99). This burger came with avocado, tomato, lettuce, ranch dressing, applewood-smoked bacon, and mayo, all on a multi-grain bun. Steve was a delighted boy eating this burger. The burger was cooked exactly medium, which is the way he likes them. The produce at Smashburger was all very fresh, and some nice flavors and textures were added to the burger. The avocado was exceptionally creamy. The mayo and ranch combination worked well, and the bacon here is not to be missed. I was unsure about the multi-grain bun, but it did not taste as healthy as I imagined. It held all of the burger parts well. The Chili Cheese Fries ($2.99) was a good-sized portion. The fries were layered with meat-based chili, cheddar cheese, onions, and some of the hottest jalapenos. What I liked most about these chili fries was their layered well. I hate when places put all the toppings on top of the fries, so when you get to the bottom, all you have left are plain fries. The chili was not spicy, but the fresh jalapenos had enough heat to remedy that situation. I could tell Steve was very happy with his meal because this was the only time I remember him being so quiet. Thanks, Smashburger.

The base model I judge any burger place on is their version of a bacon cheeseburger. At Smashburger, it is their Classic Smash with Bacon added ($7.49). This burger was seasoned well, and the applewood smoked bacon was one of the best I have had on a fast food burger. The juiciness of this burger needs to be mentioned as well. I got the spicy chipotle mayo to add to the burger for a little extra kick. The sauce did not overpower the burger but complimented it rather nicely. The egg bun used at Smashburger was very fresh, pillowy, and soft. I ordered the Smashfries (1.99) to go along with this burger, but I did not get a chance to snap a picture before they were gone. I know; it's a real rookie food blogger mistake. The smashfries are their regular french fries tossed with rosemary, olive oil, and garlic. Since these are the same price as the regular fries, it is a no-brainer that I would get these again. The french fries were a skinny, fast-food fry, but adding the garlic, rosemary, and olive oil really kicked them up a notch in the flavor department. The garlic was the most prominent, which was fine because I am a garlic fiend.

I was pretty full from the burger and fries, but I was convinced to try the Chili Cheese Dog ($4.99). This all-beef Angus hot dog came with chili, cheese, onions, and hot jalapenos. The hot dog had a great beefy flavor, but I had to take a few of the jalapenos off to avoid some of the heat they emitted. The chili was mild but congealed well with the hot dog, cheese, and onions. My only complaint about this chili cheese dog was that it needed more cheese. Other than that, this was an excellent chili cheese hot dog.

No, I did not eat all of this as well. I snapped pictures of other people's food before they could eat it. Special thanks to my good friend, Shelby, from Glitterful Felt Stories for letting me take photos before they dug in. She seemed delighted with her food. Smashburgers is not just all about burgers and hot dogs, they also offer four salads as well. I did not sample the Baja Cobb Salad ($5.99) above, but it was a very generous serving size. The Veggie Frites ($2.99) will not replace my love of french fries anytime soon, but they were a crowd favorite this afternoon. The OC Burger ($5.99) will be the next burger I will try on my next trip here. Smashburger has a signature burger for each region, and in Orange County, it is the aptly named OC Burger. This burger comes with portabella mushrooms, arugula, and grilled onions. Swiss cheese and truffle mayo. That sounds like a winning combo, and I can not wait to try it.

As a special treat at the end of our meal, we were taken to the back of the restaurant and made our own Smashburger with company founder Tom Ryan. To say that we were in awe of Tom Ryan would be an understatement. My buddy Steve, pictured above on the right with Tom Ryan, called him "a food genius." Why the high praise for Mr. Ryan? He only created the Stuffed Crust pizza and the Lovers line of pizzas for Pizza Hut, the McGriddle, Big and Tasty, and the Dollar Menu at McDonald's, and as if that was not enough, he also came up with the Steakhouse Beef Dip and the Sammie's at Quizno's. Quite an impressive resume, to say the least. Both Steve and I attempted to make our own Smashburger. Steve's turned out better than mine, but I expect that since Steve is a butcher by trade. The grill at Smashburger can handle only four burgers at a time, so each patty gets the attention it deserves. The 100 percent Angus beef is packed loosely into a ball and then flattened with a tool that Tom came up with. The secret to creating a good Smashburger is not to overhandle the meat. The burger is flipped once and then ready to be placed on the bun. It was an absolute honor to be able to cook with this legend of fast food. Both Steve and I still talk about this experience we shared together.

After this introduction to Smashburger, we look forward to our next visit. What sets Smashburgers apart from its competition is the quality of the ingredients it uses. The produce, meats, and condiments had a freshness you do not see from a fast food concept. The menu is varied enough that anyone can definitely find something on it that they will like. We hope to see this burger trend of other regions' favorite burger places invading Orange County continue into the new year and beyond. As their expansion into OC continues, Smashburger may soon become one of our county's favorite burger spots.

Special thanks to everyone at Smashburger for the opportunity to experience Smashburger firsthand. Starting at the top, we thank Tom Ryan for talking with us and allowing us to flip burgers with him. We also need to mention the franchise owner of this location and the Mission Viejo Mall location, Ernie Sandoval. Ernie, you may have a hit on your hands here. Our gratitude also goes out to the staff of Smashburger, all of whom took outstanding care of us on this particular afternoon. Lastly, we must thank Ali Metzger at Bolt PR for the invitation to this great event. Thanks so much, Ali. We had a great time.

Experience Smashburger for yourself. Visit their website for locations and other information here: http://smashburger.com/