A Night of Surprises at the Batasiolo Wine Dinner at Canaletto - CLOSED

Canaletto

545 Newport Center Dr.

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Almost everyone who knows me knows I am not much of a wine drinker. I profess to know next to nothing about wines. I know that red wines go with meat and whites go with fish and poultry, but that is about the extent of my knowledge. After attending the Batasiolo Wine Dinner at Canaletto, my wine appreciation has grown immensely just in this one night.

The great people at Canaletto invited us to their monthly wine dinner this past week. I was a little intimidated walking into this event. Not only is Canaletto one of the most excellent restaurants at Fashion Island, but I was also walking into a wine dinner with people I did not know and people who I assumed had way more wine intelligence than me. In other words, I half expected to make a fool out of myself.

Nothing could have been further from the truth. We arrived right on time for the 6:30pm wine dinner. For those of you who do not know Canaletto, they are located between Neiman Marcus and Whole Foods Market. When we walked in, the bar was predictably busy. Canaletto is well-known for having one of the best happy hours at Fashion Island. They offer pizzas, appetizers, artisan cocktails, and wine for $5 while serving up $3 draft beers. Great prices for a restaurant where you pass by Lamborghini's and Ferrari's at their front door.

The Batasiolo Wine Dinner was being held in the restaurant's private room. We were immediately welcomed by the staff and made to feel at home. I was relieved there was no stuffiness in the room. In fact, these people were enjoyable, not like I had anticipated at all. About thirty of us were at the two tables for this wine dinner. Our wine expert for the evening was the very nice Stefano Poggi. He told us about all the wines we were about to drink and gave a novice like me a bit of history about Italian wines. For this, I will be forever grateful. I was also thankful for the food coming out, so let's look at what we consumed on this wonderful evening.

The antipastini course would be first. These tray-passed appetizers included Assorted Crostini, Tomatoes Stuffed with Crab Meat Salad, Mini Assorted Pizzas, and Cerignola Green Olives. You will not see olive in these pictures because I am not a big fan of that fruit. The other appetizers were delicious, though, with the best tomato stuffed with crab. I am no fan of raw tomatoes, but I could not keep myself from having about five. The crab salad was very fresh and kept my texture issues with tomatoes to a minimum. The mini pizzas had a nice chewy crust, with just enough cheese and prosciutto to keep this pizza on the lighter side without sacrificing taste. It was a lovely start to the meal and excited us for what was to come.

Here is a quick shot of the bread placed on the table. Looking at these pictures, I can almost smell this bread again. It was very well made and came out warm, and again, I had a hard time sharing it with my table mates. This bread was made even better by adding olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It was very addicting.

Talk about starting with a bang. This was my favorite dish of the night, the Vitello Tonnato Con Capperi Fritti. This was roasted veal served cold with fresh herbs and a fantastic house-made tuna and caper sauce. The tuna was from Italy, which was great with this dish. I am not much for mixing seafood and beef, but this worked perfectly. The veal was fork tender, the celery on top added some nice crunch, and the smooth tuna sauce reminded me of my tuna sandwiches when I was younger. The entire plate came together very nicely. The Gavi Batasiolo 2011 paired with this course was very light and crisp. I was supposed to taste light citrus with this wine, but it did not come through for me. My wine palette is still evolving. I was sorry to see this course leave the table.

The pasta course was up next, and we were given two pasta dishes to try. The Ravioli Con Salsiccia E Verze Brasate was a mellow ravioli filled with sausage, savoy cabbage, caramelized onions, and ricotta cheese. The light butter sauce used here was excellent, and this was one of the lightest sausage ravioli I have ever had. The Risotto Alle Rape Rosse E Caprino Fresco looked like a raw hamburger but became a favorite of Katie. This red beet risotto came with Parmigiano and goat cheese crumbles. I am by no means a risotto connoisseur, but this was one of the best-made ones that I have had. It was cooked perfectly, the beet flavor just poked through enough to interest the taste buds, and the cheeses brought everything home. The serving size would be too much for me, but I had no problem polishing this off. The wine for this course was the Batasiolo Sorvana 2010. This wine comes from a single vineyard in Barolo, Italy. It was very smooth and paired nicely with the ravioli.

Katie and I strategically picked the opposite of the two choices during the main course. She went with the Pesce Bianco Avvolto Nel Prosciutto Con Salsa Di Tartufi. Yeah, my Italian is good when I type these words; saying them is tricky. This white sea bass was wrapped in prosciutto with black truffles. I should have chosen this main course because it was delicious. First off, the serving size of this was phenomenal. A massive piece of flaky and light bass, with the prosciutto's flavor hanging around. Very well cooked. This was served with some green beans and a delicious potato cake. The potato cake was like a gigantic scalloped potato. The wine pairing with this fish dish was predictably a white wine. The Batasiolo Gavi di Gavi Granee 2009 was much like our first wine of the evening, but this time, I did get the slight citrus taste. This was Katie's favorite wine of the night.

If you have noticed, I have talked about the food here first before mentioning the wine. It's not unusual since I am more partial to food than wine, but this Batasiolo Barolo Cerequio 2006 was very special. First of all, it is scarce. Stefano told us that there are only ten cases in the US. The grapes used to make this wine are only grown on one hill. This wine was very smooth, had a great fragrance, and is just coming into its prime right now. Stefano told us that this wine will continue to improve with time, as the peak drinking years for this wine are from now till 2028. I may have some for my 56th birthday. This wine came with Costicine Di Manzo Brasate Al Barolo E Pastinache. I should have taken Italian in high school. This boneless short rib was braised with Barolo wine and parsnips and served with the exact potato cake Katie got with her entree. As usual with beef short ribs, these were fork tender. You could almost see the meat falling apart when I lifted my fork to them. I liked that the sauce was subdued with this dish, so the short rib's meatiness could be the show's star. A very hearty meal.

Dessert was our final act, and man, we were full by this point. I still did finish this Torta Di Chocolato E Nocciole Con Gelato Alla Vaniglia. I must be learning some Italian because I did not have difficulty translating this one. This warm chocolate and hazelnut cake was joined by a vanilla gelato. The cake was moist enough but made an excellent combination when mixed with the gelato. This was like Nutella in cake form with the hazelnut and the chocolate. Excellent dessert. I might have found my favorite kind of wine, dessert wines. They are a little sweeter and go down really smooth. With this dessert, we had two different varieties of Moscato. The Batasiolo Moscato d'Asti 2011 and the Batasiolo Moscato Rose. Both of these were fruity and sweet without crossing the overly syrupy line.

To say that the Batasiolo Wine Dinner exceeded my expectations would be an understatement. Not only was it not pretentious and snobby, but it was a lot of fun. We met many great people, and the food and drink were well done. We will also be back for their monthly wine dinners and regular meals here. Looking at Canaletto's regular menu, I noticed that the Veal Scaloppine and the Chicken Cannelloni caught my eye. I am also intrigued by the passport dinners that Canaletto and their sister restaurant, Il Fornaio, offer. For two weeks every month, they feature items from a different region of Italy. Three-course meals for $29.99, plus you get a gift. If you get your passport stamped six times, you are then entered into a drawing for a trip for two to Italy to experience fine Italian cooking firsthand. Even if you do not win the trip to Italy, you can definitely experience great Italian cooking at Canaletto in Newport Beach. You do not even need the hassle of going through the security lines at the airport to eat here.

We would like to thank all of the servers, bussers, kitchen staff, and the management at Canaletto for making our experience so great. We must also thank everyone at our table for making this a fantastic event. You made this an enjoyable night that Katie and I will not soon forget. Thanks also to Stefano Poggi, Export Manager for Batasiolo, for explaining his great wines to novice wine drinkers like me. Lastly, we thank Lindsey Gaines, the Event Coordinator at Canaletto, for the invite and for putting on such a great night of food, wine, and new friends. Thanks for everything, Lindsey; we look forward to seeing you and everyone at Canaletto again soon.

To find out more information about Canaletto, click here: https://www.ilfornaio.com/canalettonewportbeach

Membership Has Its Privileges at Riders Club

The Riders Club Cafe

1701 El Camino Real

San Clemente, CA 92672

I guess it is no surprise that we love burgers. We started this blog partially because we wanted to find the best hamburger that is offered in our area. In the three and a half years that we have had this blog, we have written about 65 different burger places. That is roughly 15 percent of our just over 400 posts that have featured burgers. I guess you can say that we are a little obsessed.

In those three and half years, a number of burgers stand out. The over-the-top half bacon, a half ground beef burger at Slater's 50/50, the great flavor profiles of the Burger Parlor in Fullerton, the very well made, yet simple burger from Mick's Karma Bar, and my favorite burger up until this point, G Burger, from the far outpost of  La Habra. Now our burger beat takes us from the county's most northern city to the city that is the most southern, San Clemente, where we have heard good things about Riders Club Cafe.

Riders Club Cafe came across my radar while the OC Weekly was doing their Game of Burgers contest. That contest never did declare a winner, but I tried some good burgers because of it. Riders Club did not even get out of the first round of that contest because they went up against Mick's Karma Bar. That was a tough matchup for sure because Mick's makes a very solid burger. There were only 32 burger places in this OC Weekly contest, so I had some high hopes for the burger at Riders Club.

Riders Club Cafe is kind of off by itself. I do not know this area too well, but there does not seem to be anything else really around the restaurant. We got to Riders Club at about 6pm on a Saturday night. We must have hit it at a good time because there were only two people ahead of us in line, and after we ordered the line was close to being out the door. The menu is located right next to the register, on a chalkboard. It is not a very big menu. Only four food items on it; the burger, a hot dog, a carnitas sandwich, and a club salad. After ordering, finding a place to sit in this tiny ten-table restaurant can be a challenge. We got lucky and found a place outside. The food was brought out by the hard-working surfer-looking guys working here. Let's see if the burgers from Riders Club will be as memorable as others we have had.

Up first is Katie's burger. The burgers at Riders Club are of the build-your-own variety. The lettuce, pickle, raw or grilled onions, and house spread come with the burger automatically. You of course have the option to add additional items for an extra charge. From the extras list, she selected the goat cheese spread and mushrooms. With these two extras at one dollar each, her burger was $9.95. She could not have been happier with this juicy burger. She felt all of the toppings came together to create a subtle flavor that did not overtake the flavor of the beef. She was also a big fan of the freshness of this burger. It did not leave a heaviness that other burgers leave you with sometimes. On future visits here, she would be hard-pressed to get anything but this burger.

I sometimes go overboard at these build-your-own burger places. I have to learn that simplicity is the key when trying out a burger place for the first time. Even with that said, I still really enjoyed my creation here at Riders Club. With my burger, I added a poached egg, bacon, cheddar cheese, and avocado. This burger was delicious, but I should have gotten it with a runny egg, or not gotten the egg at all because it was overcooked. Like Katie had said, the toppings were all very good, but they did not detract from the beef here. All of the items were very fresh. I would have liked a little more of their house spread on this, but I always like a lot more sauce than the usual burger eater. The bun is also worth noting at Riders Club. It was very soft, but still held the contents of the burger nicely. There are no fries at Riders Club, their burgers are served with kettle chips. To tell you the truth I did not even miss the fries, because I liked the thickness of the kettle chips.

You know that I was not just going to come down here to just have a burger, I also needed to try one of their Chili Dogs ($3.00). This chili dog featured their home-cooked chili, sharp cheddar cheese, and red onion. The hot dog was good, but nothing that would make me order it again. It was definitely an all-beef hot dog with a decent snap to it. The chili was good and smooth, but a little too mild for my taste. The bun was pretty average.

I left Riders Club Cafe very satisfied, and pretty impressed with their burgers. Where do they rank out of all the burgers in OC? They definitely have a place on the Mount Rushmore of OC burgers that I have tried so far. That puts them in the top four. Nothing gets people more heated than when you mention what you consider to be your top burgers. Okay, maybe pizza gets people ramped up as well, but burgers are a very close second. I would definitely make the trek back down to San Clemente for another burger anytime. I would also like to try their carnitas sandwich on future visits. With the cramped quarters of this restaurant, it might be a challenge coming here, but it will definitely be worth it once you have one of their burgers.

Out of five surfboards, (not only because the city of San Clemente has a number of surfboard manufacturers, but also because the San Clemente High School surf team has won numerous national championships), five being best to zero being worst, The Riders Club Cafe gets 3.5 surfboards.

For more information about The Riders Club Cafe, click here: http://www.ridersclubcafe.com/

Raising a Glass at the Pint House - CLOSED

The Pint House

1547 W. Katella Ave.

Orange, CA 92867

To say that I am excited that hockey is back would be an understatement. Two months into this shortened season, things could not have gone better for me. Not only has my favorite sport come back to life, but my beloved Ducks have been the second-best team in all of hockey for most of the season. Going to the games has become fun again. Adding to the excitement of the hockey season are the new restaurants that have opened up near Honda Center since the last time the puck was dropped. The Tilted Kilt has opened in the old Carino's space on Katella. Also in the same center is another new restaurant, and this game's restaurant for a pregame meal, the Pint House.

The Pint House takes over where the Auld Irisher was located. The original Pint House opened in Downtown Fullerton in 2009. This new location has been open just six months, and I am sure they are excited to have the hockey crowds come in before and after the games. You would think that with all of the turnover in this shopping center, the operators of this center would be a little laxer about people parking here to go to the games. We have never had a problem, but the security guards in the golf carts make a pretty big show about writing down license numbers and letting people know that they can't park here for the games. If it wasn't for the fans going to the games, some of these new restaurants may suffer the same fate as Carino's, Bob's Big Boy, and the Auld Irisher. It doesn't make sense to drive people away from your shopping center which has certainly had its problems keeping tenants.

Sorry for my little rant. Back to the Pint House. We got here about an hour before the game, and the bar area was packed with fellow Ducks fans and a couple of Wild fans. I was not sure we were going to have time to eat, but when we approached the hostess stand, she took us right to a table in a room behind the bar. The interior of this restaurant is a lot sleeker than it was when this was the Irisher. That restaurant always seemed a little dingier, but the Pint House is a little more updated and feels cleaner. We only had about forty minutes to eat before making our walk down Katella to hopefully watch another Ducks win, so let's see how the food turned out for us.

None of the appetizers really caught my eye, so I let Katie order what she wanted. She selected the Soft Pretzels ($6) to start off with. These three large Bavarian-style pretzels came with salt on them and a Bechamel-cheese sauce. The pretzels were soft, with a good chew to them. I would have liked the pretzel heated a little more than it was. The bechamel sauce was very mellow and coated the pretzels nicely. For not being a pretzel kind of guy, I liked these enough to eat one out of the three that we got.

Instead of focusing on the appetizers here, I really wanted to try their salads. If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you know that I almost always order a Caesar salad when it is available. This would be the case again at Pint House. The Caesar Salad ($8) started with the normal base of romaine lettuce, croutons, and Parmesan cheese, but then they added grape tomatoes and red onions to make this Caesar their own. I actually liked the inclusion of the red onion here, but it did take away from the feeling that this was a Caesar salad. Also not helping matters here was a very bland house-made Caesar dressing. It really added nothing to this salad. On the positive side, this was a very large salad for the price, but I would not get this salad again.

Katie had a little bit better luck with her salad choice here, the side salad version of the Pint House Salad ($3). She was very happy with the freshness of the produce here, along with a very good ranch dressing. Other than that she thought this salad was not earth-shattering, but it did satisfy her. Well worth the three-dollar price tag.

When the burgers arrived, that is when the Pint House kicked it up a notch. Let's start with mine. I ordered the Black and Bleu Burger with bacon added ($13 + $2 for the bacon). This burger came with caramelized onion, blue cheese crumbles, blue cheese dressing, and A-1 steak sauce. The burger patty was seasoned with lots of black pepper and was full of flavor. The toppings each added their own component to this burger as well. The bacon was cooked crisp, and the heavily studded sesame seed bun was sturdy enough to hold all of the contents of the burger. A very satisfying burger experience. With my burger, I had the choice of a side item, and I went with the Parmesan garlic fries. These were fried nicely, but the garlic did not really shine through like I had hoped. Still well-made fries though.

Katie ordered a burger as well, but her choice was the Napa Burger ($13). This one came stacked with melted brie, sundried tomato, caramelized onions, garlic aioli mayo, and lettuce, with the half-pound burger being glazed with a Cabernet demi-glace reduction. Very fancy burger toppings for sure. She thought this burger was very rich with all of these ingredients. The demi-glace was the most memorable part of the burger for her, and she would opt for a different kind of cheese next time to help cut down on the richness of this burger.

We usually get dessert, but we were running a little bit behind for the game, and we still had a ten-minute walk to get there. The burgers at the Pint House really saved this place for me. I was not too fond of the salad or the pretzel, but their menu is pretty large, so I know I would be able to find other side items and salads that I might like here. I felt the prices were a few dollars too high for the burgers though. My burger was good, but I do not think it was fifteen dollars good. The portion sizes were definitely very generous at the Pint House. The service was very good for us on this night, with one exception. All of the food above came out at the same time. All five plates hit our table at the same time, so I had to juggle my usual eating order so my burger did not get cold. Even with this minor hiccup, we will definitely make the Pint House part of our rotation of restaurants to eat at before Duck's games, as long as our car does not get towed from their parking lot.

Out of five pucks, (because I am happy that hockey is back, and I could not think of anything else), five being best to zero being worst, the Pint House gets 3 pucks.

For more information on locations and menus of the Pint House, click here: http://www.thepinthouse.com/orange/#

No Need to Cry for Us, We are Having Argentine Food

Villa Roma

25254 La Paz Road

Laguna Hills, CA 92653

It always seems to be the case. When it is restaurant week, that is always the week we are the busiest. Whether it be Ducks games, family dinners, or get together with friends, or as was the case for this year's Orange County restaurant week, we had all three of these things to do on this very jam-packed week. With so much going on it left us with just one night to enjoy the prix fixe meals from some of the top restaurants in OC. With just one night to ourselves, we wanted to experience restaurant week, but we didn't want to travel far from home. So we went to the closest participating restaurant to us, which just happened to be Villa Roma.

Villa Roma is located in Laguna Hills, behind the Hot Off the Grill, and in the same shopping center that has that empty restaurant on the corner that has been many different eateries including Elephant Bar and Yamato. Both of those restaurants are now long gone, but Villa Roma has survived in that same shopping center for close to eight years now. Villa Roma was originally located in Lake Forest back in 1993, but due to the remodeling and closure of the shopping center it was in, it necessitated a move. Also when Villa Roma opened it was strictly an Italian restaurant. Now after several trips to his native Argentina, the owner has incorporated Argentine food, as well as Italian.

We got to Villa Roma a little after six on a Thursday night. Coming from the outside, this restaurant is deceptively large. There are about twenty tables in the spacious dining room. A long bar off to one side, and they even have a market selling Argentine items, sandwiches, and wine. While we were eating here they switched from 80's music coming through the speakers, to live music standards played by a guitar-wielding singer. During our visit, the restaurant got to be busier but was never more than half full. Most tables were here to try the OC Restaurant Week menu, so let's see if this dinner was worth sacrificing a rare night at home for us.

Before we even ordered, this bread basket was placed before us. When it was placed in front of us my first thought was that this could have fed five people, not just Katie and me. Of course, we took this as a challenge and ate the whole basket. The bread was soft on the inside, with a sturdy crust on the outside. In lieu of butter, we used the oil and vinegar provided on the table.

The restaurant week menu at Villa Roma featured four courses for $30. A really great deal. It started with our choice of appetizers. Of the three that were offered, I knew it was never in doubt that Katie would choose the Insalata Caprese. This appetizer started out with sliced tomatoes topped with buffalo mozzarella, basil, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Katie was pretty impressed by the serving size of this starter. The thick cuts of tomato and mozzarella were both very fresh and started Katie's meal off perfectly.

Much like how Katie's appetizer choice was never in doubt, mine never was either. The Empanada and Bruschetta were calling my name from the moment I saw this menu. The empanada was one of the best I have had. They come with either chicken, beef, or spinach, and of course, I selected the beef. The whole empanada was so well made from the great crust to the not overly seasoned beef inside. These lacked the greasiness that I have had with other run-ins with other empanadas. I usually hesitate to get bruschetta, because my Mom always makes a big deal over me having something with tomatoes, since she knows my disdain for the fruit. I guess I will have to live with the gentle ribbing once again. This bruschetta featured lots of garlic, while not focusing too much on the tomatoes. Also making this even better, was the nice crunch that the bread had. I may never be a tomato guy, but this was a good bruschetta.

Onto course number two, the soup and salad portion of the evening. Katie had the Ensalada Mixta. This mixed green salad also included tomatoes, red onion, Kalamata olives, Parmesan cheese, and a vinaigrette dressing. The garlic flavor in the dressing really gave this salad a boost. It was also was helped by the fact that the produce was very fresh here. Katie went as far as calling this salad, "scrumptious". I think that means she liked it.

Lately, I have turned into a soup kind of guy. At Villa Roma, the same held true when I ordered the Minestrone Soup. This Italian vegetable soup was a little on the mellow side. I was asked if I wanted Parmesan cheese with this, and who would ever say no to cheese, definitely not me. The cheese brought the soup a needed flavor boost. The soup would have been okay on its own, but the cheese made this even better. This minestrone soup had a lot of veggies in this large bowl.

I have been with Katie for four years, and this is the first time I have seen her order eggplant. This Melanzane ala Parmigiana had a real eggplant lasagna feel to it. The eggplant was sauteed with ricotta cheese, herbs, and onions, then topped with mozzarella and marinara sauce. Katie was not too fond of this plate. She thought that this was a very bland eggplant, and the sauce needed more spice. This was served with a penne marinara, which Katie described as cooked well, but the sauce was very watery.

Since Villa Roma is an Italian/Argentine restaurant, and because Katie already got something off of the Italian portion of the menu, I had the Entrana Villa Roma. When I think of Argentine food, I always think of skirt steak and chimichurri. For those of you that are unsure what chimichurri is, it is a sauce traditionally made up of finely chopped parsley, garlic, olive oil, oregano, and red or white wine vinegar. It really goes well with steak. The chimichurri was very well made here, but the steak is what I had issues with. I know that skirt steak is not the best cut of beef, but this one did have some good parts to it. The middle part of the meat was very good and tender, but the ends were riddled with fat, and not cooked well at all. The serving size was very generous, but if it was not for the chimichurri sauce, the meat would have had a hard time standing on its own. This was paired with roasted potatoes and vegetables. The veggies were in big hunks and cooked nicely, while the potatoes needed to be a little crisper, and brought to the table warmer.

We finally made it to course number four, dessert. The Housemade Flan Tiramisu sounded interesting, but we did not detect any hint of flan with this. The tiramisu was light, and not overly drenched in espresso. The mascarpone was just right, and this was not as wet as some tiramisus can be. A very solid dessert.

I of course saw chocolate as a dessert option, so I took the opportunity to order the Chocolate Mousse. I was surprised when this chocolate mousse came out as a slice, as I was expecting a cup of mousse for some reason. This mousse was accompanied by a raspberry sauce, which helped cut the sweetness of the rich chocolate. I would have liked this a little more if it would have had more of a cookie crust.

I guess after seeing all the food that we got during our visit to Villa Roma, you can say that this OC Restaurant Week deal was well worth the visit. We got all of this food for thirty dollars each, and when I added the individual prices up on the menu, it came to over $40 for each of us. A savings of $20 between us. The food here at Villa Roma was a little hit-and-miss. We both liked our starters and some other parts of the meal, but the entrees failed us. They were not awful, but both of us would probably get something else on future visits here. Dinners on their regular menu hover right around the $20 mark, which might be a tad high for this restaurant. The service we had on this night was very good. Even as the restaurant got busier as the night went on, our waiter and bussers took great care of us. Wish we had more time to visit other restaurants during OC Restaurant Week, but like I have said for almost three straight years, there is always next year.

Out of five horses, (because the national sport of Argentina is not soccer, but a sport called, "pato", which is played on horseback, and is a mix between polo and basketball), five being best to zero being worst, Villa Roma gets 3 horses.

For more information on Villa Roma, click here: https://www.villaromamenu.com/

Fueling Up at the Filling Station

Filling Station

201 N. Glassell St.

Orange, CA 92866

Sometime a repeat visit is deemed necessary. Some restaurants are more known for their breakfasts, rather than the lunches they serve, while sometimes just the opposite is true. This will be our second trip to the Filling Station. We made our first visit almost a year and a half ago for lunch. You can read that review here. The lunch was pretty standard, but I had heard that breakfast was the thing to get at the Filling Station.

Lucky for me, my usual dining partner when I am in Downtown Orange had morning tutoring to do at Chapman University, so Chris suggested we try the breakfast at the Filling Station. We got to the Filling Station at 9 on a recent Thursday morning. The weather was a little crisp, but we chose to grab a seat on the patio, just like the last time we visited. The patio borders Glassell, and has a great view of the downtown Orange hustle and bustle, (okay not exactly New York or Boston, but there are some people walking by).

For those of you that do not know, the Filling Station got its name because back in the day this used to be a gas station. Now they are more known for filling peoples stomachs, instead of filling their tanks. I was excited to try their breakfasts here, and wanted to see if they were worth all of the hype. Let's see how it all worked out for Chris and I.

If there is one thing I have learned about my Cousin Chris on our dining adventures through Orange, it is that he does not really eat a lot. Okay, he might eat like a normal person, but compared to me, he eats like a bird. Just kidding big guy. Chris opted to get the Belgian Waffle with Banana added ($7.25). This was a good sized waffle, but I could have finished this off rather quickly. Chris felt this waffle was better than average and that the banana was fresh. Other than that he really did not have too much to say about his breakfast.

Okay now this is more like it. I love breakfast, and if my breakfast doesn't come on two plates, then I don't feel like I have enough food to start my day. At the Filling Station I had three plates, so I had some high hopes that this would at least fill me up. The Cinnamon French Toast Breakfast ($9.75) comes with two slices of cinnamon french toast, two eggs, and either two strips of  bacon or two sausage links. The bacon and eggs were okay here. It is kind of hard to make these two items stand out too much, unless it is really thick bacon, which this was not. The bacon was nice and crisp though. The featured act for this breakfast was to be the cinnamon french toast. I ordered this because many of the reviews on Yelp mentioned the french toast. They use Hawaiian bread for their french toast here. I liked the sweetness of the toast, but I did not get much in the way of cinnamon with this. This french toast was rather pedestrian. It did not really stand out too much for me. It was not bad, just average. To round out the breakfast, and get a serving of vegetables I ordered a side of Hash Browns ($3) These hash browns were nice and crisp which I liked, and they were not too greasy, so they were almost healthy for me.

The Filling Station was a decent place to have breakfast, but just like their lunches, they failed to produce that wow factor, that would justify a long drive to downtown Orange. If I were in the area again, and wanted breakfast, I would still come back to the Filling Station, but I would probably try one of their specialty items that they have listed on the menu, and forgo the french toast. The patio is a really nice place to sit, and if you can not be parted from your dog, the patio is canine friendly as well. Glad I had the chance to visit the Filling Station again, and it is always great to catch up with my cousin Chris.

Out of five squeegee's, (because I always seem to hit the gas stations that don't have squeegee's), five being best to zero being worst, the Filling Station gets 2.5 squeegee's.

For more information about the Filling Station, click here: http://www.fillingstationcafe.com/index.html