Trying to Settle the Taco Debate in Yorba Linda

Esther's Taco House

2001 E. Orangethorpe Ave.

Placentia, CA 92870

A few reviews ago, I wrote about a war between restaurants brewing in my hometown of Yorba Linda. On one side of the fence, or should I say one part of town, you have the supporters of Blue Agave. On the other side of town, you have the fans of Esther's Taco House. Now I know that these restaurants probably do not have any ill will towards each other. I mean, Yorba Linda has a population of 65,000, so there is definitely room for the two of these restaurants to survive here. They have done so for almost twenty years apiece. They do not even serve the same kind of food. Blue Agave serves a southwestern style menu, while Esther's is more of what some would call traditional style Mexican food. Okay maybe this war between the two restaurants really is just in my own mind, but I have wanted to try Esther's for a long time now, so I enlisted my Mom into going with me to the Esther's Taco House.

I always like hearing the history of restaurants. Esther's actually has a very long history. In a nutshell, the restaurant was opened in 1957, by Esther Santana in Downey. This incarnation of the restaurant was just a take out joint at first, but after a shoe store went out of business next door, they opened up a dining room. Then in 1972, the family opened another location in Long Beach. Esther passed away in 1994, but her legacy has now passed to her daughter Linda, and her son Brian. Wanting to open closer to where they live, they closed both the Downey location and Long Beach restaurant and opened in Placentia. A Yorba Linda location would follow, and that brings us to the present day.

After we had made a trip to the Yorba Linda restaurant and discovered that they are closed on Mondays, (how about including your hours on your website?), we took the ten-minute drive to their original OC location in Placentia. They are located in the same shopping center as The Pizza Store, Jack in the Box, and Kimmie's Coffee Cup. This restaurant is on the large size, with plenty of tables for the bustling lunch scene. Based on the banter between the staff and customers, there seemed to be a lot of regulars here. The menu was very traditional, with tacos, burritos, enchiladas, and tostadas dominating the menu. They also had a fairly large amount of lunch specials going on here, so we ordered our food, and this is what hit the table.

Of course, as with almost any Mexican restaurant, the Chips and Salsa hit the table before the meal. I was very impressed with the chips and salsa at Esther's, and I do not even think it was because I was hungry. The chips here are thicker than most, with a very nice crunch. They seemed like they were recently fried, with just a touch of greasiness that made them addictive. The salsa had a great consistency to it. The tomatoes were the right size, there were enough onions for flavor, and the liquid to chunk ratio was right on. Good flavor with this salsa, but it could have been a little hotter for my taste. The Hot Sauce would satisfy my heat needs. This was some real hot sauce. It went very well with the chips and really made the food come alive at Esther's. I can think of only a few hot sauces that I have liked better in restaurants.

My Mom is not a big eater, so it was no surprise to me that she would get a one item lunch special. She went with the One Carnitas Taco with Rice and Beans ($6.89). We were both surprised by them adding lettuce to a carnitas taco, but it was easily discarded. My Mom ordered this taco soft, and it came with a decent amount of pork in it. The meat was tender, with a nice flavor. The beans were a tad overdone, but still had a smooth taste to them. The rice here was pretty bad. On the dry side, and really lacked any sort of taste. My Mom would get this plate again, but maybe just ask for double beans.

One thing that no one will ever call me, is a small eater. When I am in a restaurant I want to try as many things as possible, and a combination plate is the best way to do this. I decided on the Three Item Combo ($13.59). For this combo, I came up with the combination of a Beef Taquito, Cheese Enchilada, and a Hard Shelled Chicken Taco. Let's break this plate down item by item. The taquito was one of the better ones I have had. It was not as greasy as I had expected, and it had plenty of meat inside, along with plenty of guacamole served on the side. The cheese enchilada had lots of cheese, with a very mild red sauce. Predictably the cheese did overpower this portion of the meal, but if you love cheese, this is the item to get at Esther's. I was probably most excited to try their chicken tacos here. I had heard good things about them, and they lived up to the hype. The fried tortilla reminded me of my Mom's tacos, the chicken inside was very tender, and they put more than enough cheese on here. A very well made basic taco that I would definitely get again. I will echo my mom's sentiments about the beans and rice. The beans were good but overdone a little, and the rice was not good at all. Put me down for double beans next time I am here as well.

I really enjoyed Esther's Taco House. The food was all good, and it was very safe and comforting. Very basic Mexican food is served here. I did have a couple of gripes with Esther's though. The prices are a tad on the high side for the amount of food that you get. I did not think that my three-item combo was actually worth almost $14 I paid for it. For dinner, one taco and beans and rice comes out to $7.50. That is a little steep for this restaurant. We had spotty service while we were here. They seemed to only have two servers on staff, and a full restaurant during the lunch rush. The ordering process and food came out quickly, but then everything came to a standstill when we had finished our meal. Our empty plates stayed in front of us for a long while, and the check did not come for almost fifteen minutes. Even with these minor hiccups, we will be back to Esther's. As far as the war in my mind over the better restaurant between Blue Agave and Esther's, I will cop out and say that they are both good, and too different for me to say which one I like better.

Out of five stars, (because the name Esther is derived from the Persian word which means star), five being best to zero being worst, Esther's Taco House gets 3 stars.

For more information about Esther's Taco House, go to their website here: http://www.estherstacos.com/

The Long Wait is Over, Sidecar Doughnuts is Open

Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee

270 E. 17th St. #18

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

I felt like Christmas had come early for me last week. Well, okay maybe that is not the way to put it, because anyone that knows me, knows that I am not a fan of that holiday. That's for another post though. This post is all about doughnuts. Orange County was lucky enough to be home to a new doughnut shop that flung open its doors to the world last Friday. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a media preview of this new doughnut shop, and I was very impressed.

Sidecar comes from the creative minds of Brooke Des Prez and Sumter Pendergrast. Each of them brings a different aspect to Sidecar Doughnuts. She is the chef, who comes up with many of the creative ideas for the doughnuts. He is the coffee guy that envisioned a gathering place where there would be cutting edge coffee. The result of all their hard work came to fruition with the opening of Sidecar Doughnuts.

When I first pulled up to the early morning event, I was immediately drawn to the 1959 International Harvester Metro Van parked out in front of the store front. For those of you old enough to remember, this truck is reminiscent of the old Helm's Bakery trucks that roamed neighborhoods in Southern California in the 50's and 60's. I did not snap a picture of the back, but this van also has the wooden drawers, where doughnuts are kept for catering events. Very nostalgic, and definitely a way to distinguish Sidecar Doughnuts.

Once I walked through the door, I was handed a sampler plate of doughnuts to try. This is what heaven must look like to Homer Simpson. I promise, that will be my only reference to Homer during this post. The storefront of Sidecar is very small. Of course there were about 20 of us crammed into the space, so maybe it just appeared smaller than it actually is. I can not imagine them putting any tables in here, plus it will detract from the real reason people are here, the doughnuts.

While no one was looking, I sneaked around the counter and took some close up shots of the doughnuts. Okay, truth be told they did not seem to mind, as the other invited guests were doing the same thing as me. On the day we were here they featured ten different varieties of doughnuts. These are scratch made doughnuts, with no preservatives. They are meant to be eaten right away, or at least within a few hours. They are a very light and non-greasy doughnut. In fact, I ate probably four whole doughnuts during my visit here, (don't judge) and did not even feel full at all. The flavors are going to rotate depending on the availability of seasonal ingredients. The big winners in my opinion were the cake doughnuts. The Birthday Cake, Cinnamon Crumb, Meyer Lemon Poundcake, and the Huckleberry were all among my favorites. Definitely some of the freshest doughnuts I have had, but also some of the greatest tasting ones too. They were not overly sweet, conservatively glazed, and unique with their flavor profiles. The raised doughnuts offered on this preview day were the Maple Bacon, Raspberry, Toasted Coconut, Callebaut Chocolate, and the Hawaiian specialty doughnut, the Malasada and the Malasada with Haupia (a light coconut cream). Out of this group I liked the Raspberry one the most, which is surprising because I am not much of a fruit person. It had a fresh raspberry flavor, that was more on the subtle side. Of course the Maple Bacon was good with it's low key maple approach and the saltiness of the bacon. I was also pretty impressed with the Malasada with Haupia, it really brought me back to Hawaii. I liked all of these, but am already looking forward to other visits to see what other doughnuts they are going to come up with.

No offense to Sumter, the Coffee Guy at Sidecar, but I am no fan of the breakfast beverage of choice for more than 100 million Americans every morning. I did hear rave reviews for the coffee here at Sidecar though. They are the first in Southern California to use Stumptown Coffee. Stumptown Coffee is a Portland born coffee company that has really made a name for themselves by doing small batches, keeping their standards high, and developing a direct trade program with the coffee producers. They develop direct relationships with the farmers, which improves the quality of the coffee, while offering incentive based rewards to the farmer. These rewards helps the growing communities financially and with sustainable improvements. At Sidecar they will be rotating a different roast that will be paired with what kinds of doughnuts they will be serving that month. Kind of like wine and food pairings, but at breakfast time. They will also be serving all of your espresso drinks as well at Sidecar, using Stumptown's Hair Bender Espresso. I always want Katie around, but more so at this point of our visit to Sidecar, because she knows way more about coffee than I do. I kind of just nodded and acted like I knew what I was talking about.

So a week in, and I have heard some real good things about Sidecar. On their opening day they sold out of doughnuts by noon, and the line was wrapped around the building. For those of you headed over there, I suggest that you get there early. They open at 7AM on weekdays, and 8AM on weekends. They are only open until they run out of doughnuts, which has been happening around two in the afternoon on average. They bake every hour, and what does not sell that hour is taken off of the shelf. These doughnuts are not cheap. They are priced anywhere from $1.50 to $4, which might deter some people from coming to Sidecar. That would be a shame though, because then they are missing out on what a well made doughnut this is. I am really looking forward to coming back to Sidecar Doughnuts and seeing what kinds of flavors they have up their sleeve.

To find out what flavors of doughnuts are being offered, and for more information on Sidecar Doughnuts and Coffee, click here: http://www.sidecardoughnuts.com/

Cookie Quest at South Coast Collection - CLOSED

Christopher Garren's

3321 Hyland Avenue Suite J and H

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I can clearly remember one of my first cookie memories. I was about three, and watching Sesame Street. I saw Cookie Monster going on and on about chocolate chip cookies. Mashing down on them, so the crumbs flew all over the place. I knew that if a monster could love cookies so much, there must be something to them. That show, that was so much apart of so many peoples childhood, helped me to become a great fan of the cookie. It helped spark my quest for a great cookie, which continues until this day. A quest that randomly brought us to Christoper Garren's.

After checking out Surfas, we decided to take a quick walk through the other stores at the South Coast Collection. Katie had wanted to get a coffee, but we ended up at the Seventh Tea Bar instead, due to the long line at Portola. With teas in hand, we walked around looking at all of the hipster type stores, that I really had no interest in buying stuff at. Craving a cookie, Christopher Garren's shimmered like a fedora in this hipster oasis, (fedoras are still considered hipster wear, right?).

To be honest, walking into Christopher Garren's I had never heard of this bakery. If you are a fan of baking shows you probably know that this shop has been featured on the WE Network show, "Amazing Wedding Cakes". I have never seen it, and I am not really sure that I get the WE Network with my cable package, but now I will have to look for it. They have been on this show for three seasons now, and have been in business since 2001. Their original location was on Newport Boulevard, but have been situated here at the South Coast Collection since 2009.

The interior of this bakery is a little on the girlie side. They have a very nice cake gallery off to the side, where they show off some of their creative cakes. I would have taken pictures, but there was a sign that asked for no photos of the cakes to be taken. Guess you will have to see their cake decorating prowess for yourself. My main focus was on cookies, but they also have a very nice looking display case that features many baked goods including; scones, brownies, tarts, bundt cakes, cinnamon rolls, and other various cakes. They also have a small breakfast and lunch menu that is served Tuesday through Saturday until 3PM. I had zeroed in on the cookie that I wanted, so we grabbed a seat at one of their tables and were ready to dig in.

Here's a quick shot of the two cookies that we got. The first thing I noticed was the size of these babies. They were pretty good sized, and pretty hefty in the weight department. Let's go in for a closer look, and more description about these cookies.

Katie for some reason was instantly drawn to the interesting Caribbean Cookie ($3.50). This cookie had a little bit of everything in it. Coconut, white chocolate, macadamia nuts, apricot, mango, and a touch of rum gave this cookie a kind of an island feel to it. To put it simply, Katie loved the uniqueness of this cookie. Everything came together for her here. I am not a big fan of dried fruit, but the base of the cookie was good for me.

I went the more traditional route with my cookie choice, the Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie ($3.50). This was not just your average chocolate chip cookie though. What made it ultimate was that it contained not only chocolate chips, but oats, pecans, and coconut as well. When I looked at this cookie I thought it was going to be on the dry side, but it was moist enough with plenty of chocolate chips and maybe the coconut gives this cookie some moisture also. I have always been partial to oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and this cookie was more in this vain, but with a subtler oat flavor. The outside had a little crunch, and the inside had a nice softness. A perfect balance that makes for a very nice cookie. This cookie was heavy and did its job of keeping me full until my next meal.

I was pretty impressed with the cookies we had at Christopher Garren's. Cookies are all about flavor and texture to me, and these were spot on. One of the best cookies we have had to date. I know some might scoff at the price of these cookies, but after trying them I would consider them worth every penny. I am now looking forward to my next visit to the South Coast Collection for another trip to Christopher Garren's. I hear that they make a great cinnamon roll as well, so I will have to give that a try. Thanks Cookie Monster and Sesame Street for getting me hooked on cookies.

Out of five C's, (because as Cookie Monster famously sang on Sesame Street, "C is for cookie"), five being best to zero being worst, Christopher Garren's gets 3.5 C's.

For more information about Christopher Garren's, go to their web site here: http://www.christophergarrens.com/home 

Checking In to the Taco Asylum - CLOSED

Taco Asylum

2937 S. Bristol

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I will be the first to admit that my taste has changed since I started this blog. I used to be a really traditional kind of guy. I liked my steaks without steak sauce. I enjoyed my hot dogs with mustard, relish, and maybe a little chili if I felt daring. I looked at some places we had been to when we started the blog, and I sometimes felt that restaurants were trying a little too hard to make themselves different. At the time, I did not understand that they were trying to break out of the mold of what everyone else was doing. Coming up with new twists on items to help make them their own.

Before the blog, I had preconceived notions of what I thought Mexican food was. Pretty much almost anything on a Don Jose's menu. When I heard the word taco, I assumed it would contain beef, chicken, or pork and usually comes with a side of beans and rice. Now, of course, I know better. In this age when food trucks have brought fusion foods to the masses, I have learned to open my mind to many more things. That's the way I approached our recent visit to Taco Asylum.

We are the last food bloggers to have made it to this restaurant at The Camp in Costa Mesa. Taco Asylum comes to us from the guys who gave us Haven Gastropub. At Taco Asylum, Executive Chef Greg Daniels focuses on non-traditional tacos, emphasizing global cuisines. His partner, Beverage Director Wil Dee, has created an eclectic group of beers and bottled sodas. There are no fountain drinks here.

We got to Taco Asylum at about six on a Saturday night. Usually, parking in this shopping center can be a little hairy, but the parking gods were with us that night because we got a spot in the front row. Taco Asylum is located smack dab in the middle of The Camp. It is a small place, with maybe ten tables with some seating outside on their small patio. They had a large TV hanging over their bar, which was muted so the music could play through the speakers. The music they played here was a wide array of stuff that had Katie Shazaming almost every song. Despite the large crowd at The Camp, Taco Asylum was not overly packed. They maybe had five tables full during our visit here. Ordering is done at the counter, and the food is brought to you. We waited about ten minutes for the food, which hit our table.

Okay, you have to wait a little longer because I wanted to mention the hot sauces they brought to the table. These ranged from mild to hot, going right to left. The three on the right (the Cayenne, Keeper Sauce, and Red Salva), I did not try. Katie tried them all and did not report they were too hot for her. She is a wimp when it comes to spicy things. The spicier of the two are the Habanero and the Ghost Chili. The Habanero was good but did not pack the punch I expected. I used it more to actually add moisture to the tacos. I was a little nervous trying the Ghost Chili sauce, but it did not overwhelm the flavors inside the taco. It definitely added some heat. It did not get me sweating, but it did make my tongue tingle. Really an excellent hot sauce. I also liked the labels they used for these. Since this is an asylum, the hot sauces would come with a prescription label. Nice touch.

As you can see from the picture, this is different from your average run-of-the-mill taco spot. Let's start with Katie's plate first. They used to have Taco Flights on the menu, which were street taco-size versions of their tacos. They have done away with that and gone the taco plate route. With the Taco Plate ($14.50 for this one), you can choose three tacos and their own version of bean and rice. Katie was in love with the side items here. These are far from being the rice and beans you are used to. The beans were a cold lentil salad with red wine vinaigrette and chevre. The rice comprised quinoa, bell peppers, cilantro, and onion. I felt both were okay, but Katie was over the moon with the quinoa. She even finished mine in trade for some extra bites of her tacos. A trade I will gladly make at any time. Let's break this down taco by taco.

Katie's first choice was the Wild Mushroom Taco. This one, of course, came with mushrooms but also a chickpea puree, parsley salad, and fried chickpeas. Predictably, this taco had a very earthy flavor. Katie really liked the texture provided by the fried chickpeas. She also remarked that the flavor would lead her to get this taco again.

Next up was the Sichuan Fried Chicken Taco. This taco was filled with buttermilk fried chicken, five-spice yogurt, black bean and garlic puree, and scallions. A lot was going on with this one. The chicken was less greasy than we had expected, but it still had a good flavor. The bean and garlic puree was good, but we only got a little garlic coming through. The yogurt sauce was odd but did not get in the way, adding moisture to the taco. This was my favorite out of this plate.

The last of Katie's tacos was the Steak and Potato Taco, which came with a root vegetable potato salad, blue cheese, and fried leeks. This one would be my favorite, but it had some tough pieces of steak, and the blue cheese was not as prominent as I would have liked. I did like the crunch that the fried leek contributed.

Of course, I was also going for a Taco Plate ($15.50). I was not as enthused by the side items as Katie was. I liked the lentil side item better. The chevre was a nice little touch, and the vinaigrette gave it a little punch. These two will not replace my love for traditional beans and rice, but for one night, they were okay. The main benefit is that these were not heavy side items at all. Now, on to the tacos.

I love pork belly, and I always tell people to order it if they see it on the menu. You will not be sorry. So, it is no surprise that I was most excited to try this Pork Belly Taco. At Taco Asylum, they braise their pork belly in coconut milk, then add it to some pickled mushrooms, Fresno chilies, a kaffir lime emulsion, and cilantro. With the coconut milk and the pickled mushrooms, this veered toward an Asian-style taco. I really liked this taco, but I would have liked it more if it had more pork belly included. The pork belly that I did have was very well cooked and tasted even better. Probably my best taco of the night.

It's not every day that you see a Rabbit Taco on the menu, so I had to try it. This rabbit was poached in olive oil, then joined in the tortilla by celery root puree, roasted celery, a few celery leaves, pickled mustard seed, burnt scallion puree, and a carrot-cumin hot sauce. There was a lot of celery and other things going on with this taco. First, I really liked the rabbit. It was cooked very well and could easily have stood on its own. Even with all of this stuff in this taco, the whole vibe of the taco was mellow. It could have been due to all the celery used here. The carrot and cumin hot sauce really got lost in this taco.

The Short Rib Taco is the most traditional-looking taco on the menu at Taco Asylum. The short rib is paired with pickled red onions, salsa verde, cotija cheese, and cilantro. It would not be far-fetched to see this taco on other restaurant menus. After all the other tacos, this one was boring. The meat was a little on the dry side, but some of the ghost chili hot sauce helped to cure that. I should mention the tortillas used here. They are pretty pedestrian, and their only job is to be a vessel for the fillings inside, which I have no problem with. These tacos are not overly stuffed, so this is an easy task for these tortillas to perform.

It's not part of the taco plate options, but when I saw it on the menu, I had to try the Surf and Turf Taco ($6).  This one was made of surf and turf, including lobster and pancetta, and then is topped with arugula and Siracha mayo. I was disappointed with this taco. The pancetta was totally lost here. I did not get a whiff of it at all. They also piled on too much arugula, which is easy to take off, but in doing so, you also lost a good deal of the Siracha mayo, which was very thin. The saving grace for this taco was the big hunk of lobster that I got. It really added a big wallop of flavor to this otherwise bland taco.

While at Taco Asylum, we saw a young family come in and sit down. After looking at the menu, they got up and left. I can imagine that this happens quite a lot. Not because the food is terrible but because the tacos they serve at Taco Asylum are not what people imagine when they hear the word taco. I do not believe this restaurant is for everyone. If you have a preconceived notion of what a taco should be and are unwilling to change, you should do what that family did and just walk out. For the rest of you who like to be challenged and are not tired of the normal but want to try something a little out of the box, this is the place for you. I was not blown away by the tacos here, but they were good for a change. It's not a place I would always eat, but they rotate some unique tacos in and out of place, so it could pique your interest enough to visit. The service when we were here was excellent. Courtney talked to us about the restaurant, gave us suggestions, and even gave us a few of her favorite places to go in Fullerton. I'm not going to lie. The prices here are on the high side for the amount that you get. I did not leave Taco Asylum stuffed to the brim, but it did give me room to stop by Blackmarket Bakery and have a cookie or two on the way out of the Camp.

Out of five straight jackets (for obvious reasons), five being best to zero being worst, Taco Asylum gets 3 straight jackets.

For more information about Taco Asylum, click here: http://www.tacoasylum.com/

Taking It Easy at Delizie

Delizie Ristorante and Bar

25380 Marguerite Parkway

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

After living in Mission Viejo for the last five years, you might have thought that I would have gone to all of the restaurants in the city where I live. The fact is that there are 229 restaurants listed on Yelp for the city of Mission Viejo. Sure some of those are fast food places and still others are now closed, but that number kind of amazed me. I could eat at a different place from January 1st to well into August. Fortunately, this blog is not called, "Eating My Way Through Mission Viejo", because we would have already exhausted all of our dinner options.

I had heard about Delizie's from a reader of the blog, S. Hurd. She had written to me asking advice on where to go out for her birthday dinner. After I gave her my suggestions, she struck out on her own by going to Delizie's. After getting back she emails me to tell me that I must go, that the service was great, and it would make for a great review. Not one to shy away from a great tip, I set up a long-overdue double date with our friends Richard and Lindsay, and we headed to Delizie Ristorante and Bar.

As I was doing a little research for this review I found out that this restaurant is owned by the same owner of another Italian place in Mission Viejo, Piccolino's. We have been to that restaurant before and enjoyed our experience there. The two restaurants serve the same style of Italian cuisine but are trying to distinguish themselves from one another by featuring different menu items.

Delizie's is located in the same shopping center as Michael's and Big Lots, across from the City Hall of Mission Viejo. This was the same location of another Italian restaurant, Capriccios. I never did make it there, but that place has been gone for almost two years now. We did not have a reservation on this Sunday evening, but the restaurant was not very busy. Maybe three or four tables during our visit here. The restaurant has a nice colorful vibe. Walls are a brighter shade of green than I would have expected, which lends to the cheerfulness of the space. There is a small bar off of the hostess stand right when you walk in the door. The menu is pretty large and features the usual Italian staples; pasta dishes, salads, pizzas, and entrees. Since Richard was running about ten minutes late, I was starving. So we checked out the menu, and this is what we got.

Of course, most Italian restaurants start you off with a bread basket, and Delizie's was no different. What was different was that instead of butter, they give you a cucumber based dip that was kind of like a cross between an aji sauce and a tapenade. It was pretty mild but went well with the rather average bread.

We all must have been hungry because we each got something before our meal. Let's start with Lindsay's pre-meal selection, the Cream of Celery Soup ($8). This was the soup of the day on the day we were here. Lindsay thought that this was a pretty bland tasting soup, but she did like the creaminess of it and the toasted bread that was placed on top of it.
 

There is something I can almost always count on when I am at an Italian restaurant with Katie, she will almost always order the restaurants version of a Caprese. This Mozzarella Alla Caprese ($13) was made up of yellow and red beefsteak tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil. Katie felt the items used in this were very fresh, she liked the inclusion of the yellow tomatoes as well, and the serving size of this was pretty good sized. This is one Italian appetizer I can not really get into, so I passed on having any of this.

By this time in my blogging career, I feel I have become a pretty good judge of Caesar salads. This has been my go-to salad choice for some time now. It was again at Delizie's as well. This Caesar ($7) was a pretty traditional version, with the chopped romaine hearts, shaved Parmesan, croutons, and Caesar dressing. This was a better than average Caesar. The produce was good, the dressing could have been poured with a heavier hand, but I always favor extra dressing. I liked the large squares of Parmesan, but the croutons were a little on the bigger side, and not easily broken down with my fork.

When we are dining with people, it is always tricky taking pictures of their food. I try to be quick, so that explains why I only got one faraway shot of Lindsay's dinner, the Pollo Marsala ($18). This basic chicken dish did not win much praise from Lindsay. She felt it was okay, but nothing she would get again. This was served with roasted potatoes and vegetables. She also got a side of Asparagus ($5). She commented that she liked the side items here, more than the chicken.

In contrast to Lindsay's feelings on her dinner, Katie seemed pretty happy with hers. She went with the Tagliolini dell' Orto with Chicken added ($18). This plate started with a base of small flat ribbon pasta, which also contained leeks, spinach, green beans, and chicken broth. It kind of had a chicken noodle soup feel to it, but just not quite as wet. Katie liked the lightness of this plate and loved the freshly made pasta used here. The chicken was tender and was a good add on in her opinion.

Lindsay's much worse half, Richard went for a baked pasta dish for his meal, the Rigatoni al Forno ($14). This heavy-looking plate included ricotta, mozzarella, tomato sauce, and Italian sausage. I never thought I would hear Richard complain about there being too much sausage around him, but that was his major gripe with this plate. He felt the sausage really overpowered the well made pasta and sauce. I guess Richard is not as much of a sausage lover as I thought. Who knew?

I had a little trouble deciding what I wanted here, but I am really happy I settled on the Penne Con Salsiccia ($14). This dish consisted of small tube pasta, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and a spicy tomato sauce. All of these items went really well together. The pasta is well made, the sauce was not as spicy as I would have liked, but it coated the noodles well and still had a decent flavor to it. The sausage and mushrooms were well placed in this dish, and not over the top at all. A very good pasta dish that I would have a hard time passing up again. Both Richard and I split an order of Meatballs ($4) and a Grilled Italian Sausage ($6). I very rarely order extra meats at Italian restaurants, but I kind of like this idea now. The meatballs were pretty tender, with a very good meaty flavor. The sausage was very flavorful, but a little on the dry side. I think I would stick with the meatballs on my next visit.

All of us were pretty full from the meal at this point, but passing up dessert was not an option. Richard and Lindsay decided to split the Chocolate Gelato ($7). Both of them thought the gelato was good, and they really liked the edible bowl it came in and the fresh strawberries. Katie and I tried their Dessert Special, the Chocolate Spec ($9). This tiramisu like cake was pretty good. Not as moist as other Italian desserts seem to be, but with a real subtle chocolate flavor. Not very heavy, this was a very good send off for a good meal.

Both Katie and I liked Delizie's more than Richard and Lindsay did. I felt all the dishes that we consumed had fresh ingredients, were made well, and the presentation was pretty strong here. There is definitely nothing that we experienced on this visit that would prevent us from coming back again. I think the prices are a tad too high, but a nice meal could be had here for under $30 a person. I really enjoyed the service during our stay. Our waitress had plenty of help, and it was a real team effort service wise. Glad that a reader of the blog pointed us in the right direction by giving us this hidden gem, right in our own backyard. It definitely proves that there are more great restaurants that we need to try out there.

Out of five surfboards, (because the word delizie in Italian means delight and the birthplace of Glen Campbell was Delight, Arkansas. In turn, Glen Campbell was a touring member of the Beach Boys from 1964 to 1965. I know it's a reach, but that is what I came up with.), five being best to zero being worst, Delizie Ristorante and Bar gets 3.5 surfboards.

For more information about Delizie Ristorante and Bar, click here: http://deliziemv.net/