Meeting Up With a Nice Crab in Corona

El Cangrejo Nice

510 Hidden Valley Parkway #101

Corona, CA 92879

It was time to come out to Corona again to see Sabrina and Anthony. It had been a while, and true to form, I was left in charge of picking the restaurant. Before we had left home, I had two places in mind. One was a run-down shack restaurant, that Yelp promised had good food. The other was a sit-down restaurant, that would prove to be a little more comfortable, especially with the stifling heat that Corona was experiencing. I gave Sabrina and Anthony the options, and just like I had predicted in my mind, they went with the more upscale of the two choices. That Sabrina is always so high maintenance. So it was off to El Cangrejo we would go.

El Cangrejo was a short trip up the 15 Freeway from Sabrina and Anthony's house. This is a newer looking shopping center right off of Hidden Valley Parkway. The shopping center features a Stater Bros., a Kohl's and the recently relocated Twisted Gourmet. There was also another restaurant in this center that caught my eye, the Hot Dog Shoppe. We almost got sidetracked by their large hot dog menu, but our resolve was strong. The hot dogs would have to wait for another day. We had Mexican seafood to consume.

El Cangrejo Nice translates to the nice crab in English, so I had a sneaky suspicion that we would be in for some good seafood during our visit. The restaurant is much larger than it appears from the outside. Black and white checkered floors, large TVs, loud, booming music, and a DJ booth dominated the dining room. With all of this going on, it really reminded me of restaurants on the Mexican Riviera that I have been to, without the 80 percent humidity. Kind of a laid back, vacation type vibe going on here. Now that I was relaxed, I was ready for some food. We ordered, and the parade of food just kept on coming. Here's how it came out for us.

As with most Mexican restaurants, we were given chips and salsa to start off with. These tortilla chips were not your standard chips. They were of the lighter variety, maybe using white corn instead of the standard yellow. Also, they were seasoned with a light dusting of chili powder. Not too greasy, and definitely a lighter chip. The salsa could have been a little chunkier, but there was definitely some heat in this. Not a bad start to the meal.

A lot of the Yelp reviews recommended the Shrimp Empanadas ($12), just like our waitress, so that's what we started with. I have never had a shrimp empanada before. The outside of this empanada was also a little foreign to me as well. It was not as doughy as others I have had. It was fried to a very crispy, golden brown, but lacked any residual grease. The inside of the empanada was very basic. It only had lightly seasoned shrimp in there, which was very fresh, and not on the briny side. This came with a sauce that is prepared tableside by your server. She was very coy about what was in these sauces, only telling us that ketchup was one of the ingredients. Whatever was in there made this a wonderful dipping sauce for the empanadas. Mellow, but with a tiny little kick, by the end of the empanadas we had wiped the dish clean of the sauce.

Ceviche is not something I normally order in restaurants. It's not like I do not enjoy it, but I kind of like my shrimp to be on the warm side. This Ceviche de Camaron ($5) might help change my ceviche habits. This thing was loaded with cooked, chilled shrimp. Just like with the empanada before, the shrimp here was very fresh. The onion, tomatoes, avocado and other assorted items heaped together with the shrimp, really combined to make one heck of a ceviche tostada. The only minor complaint about this dish was that the tortilla got a little lost under the mound of shrimp, but that can never be a bad thing.

Now on to the entree portion of the evening for us. Sorry for the poor photo quality of Sabrina's dish. Her dark personality must have affected the camera. Sabrina is not much into seafood, so she stayed within her comfort zone by ordering a very traditional Trio Combination ($12). For her three items, she went with a Cheese Enchilada, a Chicken Flauta, and a Pastor Taco. Sabrina was not too impressed with her meal. She was not too big of a fan of the enchilada sauce that was used here. She felt it was a little too creamy, and really detracted from the cheese and the tortilla. She also thought the flauta was a little over fried, and it was hard to cut through to the chicken inside. She passed the pastor taco onto Anthony, who had it for lunch the next day. Anthony felt it was an average taco. The beans and rice also failed to impress fickle Sabrina. She summed up this dish by calling it middle of the road. She would probably try something else on future visits.

There was so much going on with Anthony's selection for dinner, that it was hard getting it all in one picture. Hence, the four shots above. La Campesina ($17) means the peasant in Spanish, but I do not know too many peasants that eat as well as this. There was a lot of food on this platter. I would characterize this meal as a deconstructed combo fajita plate. Included in this were beef ribs, Asada, grilled chicken, nopal, chorizo, and queso. Anthony seemed very pleased with everything on his plate. I tried some of the chorizo and the Asada and felt both were pretty good. This was also served with a large side of guacamole. Most places skimp on this, but at El Cangrejo they make sure that you get plenty of guacamole.

El Cangrejo is known for their seafood dishes, so both Katie and I got meals that featured our friends from the sea. Katie loves fish tacos, so it was no surprise that she selected the Ensenada Style Fish Tacos ($12) for her meal. Katie said something complimentary about each layer of these tacos. Starting with the fish, she was excited by the light breading that really showcased the fresh fish underneath. The cabbage added a nice texture, while the sauce that was drizzled over the fish added a pleasing flavor to the taco. Lastly, Katie was pretty impressed with the two tortillas that encased the contents of the tacos, which she determined to be made on the premises. Not sure about that, but I thought these were some pretty good fish tacos as well.

Much like Anthony's meal, my dinner plate had a lot going on with it as well. The La Mariscada ($16) is a seafood lovers delight. Bacon-Wrapped Shrimp, along with Breaded Shrimp, a Tilapia Fish Filet, Langostino, and an Octopus Rice made up this large tray of food. I am usually not much for tilapia, but this filet was seasoned well and cooked just right. The bacon-wrapped shrimp were a little on the salty side, but that was to be expected. The breaded shrimp were large and went well with the cocktail like sauce that came with this plate. This sauce had a nice little kick to it, and really enhanced a lot of the seafood on this plate. The one and only time I have had langostino, I thought it was too much work for such a small amount of meat. El Cangrejo split these miniature lobsters for me, and there was more meat in them than the smaller ones I had eaten at the other restaurant I had them at. The octopus rice was hidden under the tilapia, and it was full of flavor. I had thought it was going to be too fishy, but they got the right balance here. Even seafood novice Sabrina did not think the octopus rice was too bad.

Even though all of us were full to the rafters with food, the owner, Jorge, brought us out a sampler of two of their desserts. The Flan de la Casa ($3) was not very heavy with caramel-like a lot of other restaurant flans are. Here the caramel was drizzled on the plate, along with a strawberry sauce. The flan was good, not drenched, but still moist enough. The Churros ($6) are the dessert to get here. The outside of these looked like any churro you could get at the ballpark or amusement park, but they were served warm, which made them softer than normal. The real surprise was inside, there was a cream waiting to be bitten into. Not overly sweet, this was a great way to end our meal at El Cangrejo.

I was very pleased leaving El Cangrejo Nice. I left the restaurant very full and satisfied, and because of the tropical atmosphere inside, I left feeling like I was on vacation while I was here. I'm not going to lie and tell you this restaurant is for everyone. If you just want regular Mexican food, you might want to head somewhere else, but if you want Mexican seafood that is fresh, spiced well, and if you are an eater with an adventurous streak, this could be the place for you. I really liked the uniqueness of it. The menu was a little overwhelming for us, but if you listen to what the servers recommend, you will more than likely enjoy your dining experience. We met one of the owners of El Cangrejo, and he let us know that they are headed to OC soon, with details to soon be announced. We definitely will be headed back when they open in OC, if not sooner to this Corona location.

Out of five mermaids, (not only because of the nautical theme here but because the nicest crab I have ever seen was Sebastian, from The Little Mermaid) five being best to zero being worst, El Cangrejo Nice gets 3 solid mermaids

For more information on El Cangrejo Nice, click here to go to their website: http://cangrejonice.com/

Adding a Little Something Extra at Hapa Cupcakes - CLOSED

Hapa Cupcakes

1210 Jefferson St. Suite Q

Anaheim, CA 92807

One of the fringe benefits of writing this blog is going to some great food events. For most of these food events, maybe about 90 percent, I bring my partner in crime and in life, Katie, with me. Sometimes, she can not make an event because of her eight-to-five job, and that is when I get to ask someone else to be my plus one. I have tried to spread it around so no one gets hurt. I always ask someone who will like the kind of event we are going to. When I heard this event was all about cupcakes and alcohol-infused cupcakes, there was only one person I had in mind to be my sidekick at this event, my sister Kristin.

My sister has been known to enjoy a cocktail or two in her time. She's also a good baker, making some of the best chocolate chip cookies out of anyone that I know. This event worked out even more perfectly because it was on her way home from work, and because it was summer, there were no kids to pick up from school. It all fell into place perfectly.

We met at the Hapa Cupcake's place just after 4PM on a recent Friday. Hapa Cupcakes, for the time being, shares space with Bedazzled Deli and Catering. Bedazzled works out of the space for the first part of the day, and then Hapa takes over at 4PM. Most of their ordering is done online. You order online the day before you want your cupcakes with their easy-to-navigate website. Then, you can pick up the cupcakes or have them delivered to you. Cupcakes run between $29 to $34 a dozen, depending on whether they are alcohol-infused or not.

The masterminds behind Hapa Cupcakes are lifelong friends Akemi and Hanayo. These local OC girls started this business about a year and a half ago. Akemi is more on the business side of things, while Hanayo is the culinary force behind Hapa Cupcakes. She used her friends and family as a guinea pig to help perfect her recipes and try out new flavors that pop into her head. Lucky them. Her latest creations are Hot Cupcake Sundaes, which can be tried at their storefront. We were lucky enough to get to try these for ourselves.

We were offered two versions of their Hot Cupcake Sundaes ($4.95). I am more of a chocolate guy, so I went with the Chocolate Jameson Sundae. The base of this sundae was their Valrhona Chocolate Jameson cupcake, which was warmed just enough to melt the vanilla ice cream on top of it. The sundae is topped with vanilla bean whipped cream and Oreo cookie crumbs. I made quick work of this sundae. The cupcake part was very moist, and the chocolate flavor was delicious. I detected a hint of the Irish whiskey used in this, but it did not overpower the sundae. Kristin went with the Banana Sundae. We both liked this one out of our two. The banana cupcake is infused with Meyer's dark rum, topped with vanilla ice cream and vanilla bean whipped cream, and then sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon. The banana was very pronounced here, and the rum was more evident in this sundae. This will be my choice on future visits back to Hapa Cupcakes.

After we devoured our sundaes, the girls from Hapa Cupcakes gave both my sister and me a four-pack of cupcakes to take with us. I was very excited to try their cupcakes. Hapa Cupcakes was recently featured on the Food Network TV show Cupcake Wars. I have never seen an episode of the show, but I'm looking forward to catching it on repeats to see the Hapa girls in action. Spoiler alert: They told me they did not win but seemed happy with their performance. I always like eating at places featured on TV, which added to my anticipation for these cupcakes.

Since I was headed to my parent's house after this anyway, we decided this would be the perfect opportunity for a cupcake-sampling party. My Mom did all the work of cutting the eight cupcakes into quarters, so we all got to sample each one. Let's see which of the four would come out on top in our version of Cupcake Wars.

First up is the Will You Remember Me in the Morning Cupcake. The batter used in this cupcake is a mix of Madagascar vanilla and Kahlua. It is then topped with their signature cream cheese frosting and cinnamon streusel. We all really liked the cream cheese frosting on this one, even my Dad, who is no fan of cream cheese frosting. The vanilla batter was good, but we needed more Kahlua flavor.

I have always wondered why red velvet cupcakes have gotten so popular. It is a chocolate cake with red food coloring. Don't get me wrong, it is good, but this is everyone's favorite cupcake flavor of the moment. The red velvet version of this at Hapa Cupcakes is the Red Velvet Stiletto. This was our third favorite of the four that we tried. The cake portion was very moist; again, the cream cheese frosting was not heavy on the cream cheese and not sickeningly sweet like others have been known to be. An excellent cupcake.

Our second favorite of the night was a secret cupcake from the secret menu at Hapa Cupcakes. The Vanilla Raspberry Cupcake is not to be missed here. It is a vanilla cupcake with a dollop of raspberry sauce on top of it. This cupcake reminded me of the Hostess O's I had as a kid. They were powdered sugar donuts with raspberry jelly on the inside. I miss those donuts, but this cupcake returned some of those old memories. A little more raspberry was used on this, and I would have been transported back to Saturday mornings watching cartoons in my PJs.

No surprise to me, but our favorite cupcake of the night was this Jameson Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcake. We really liked everything about this cupcake. The base of this was a Valrhona chocolate Jameson batter, which had an incredible richness while not too sweet. The peanut butter cream cheese frosting was spot on. Excellent peanut flavor that played well with the chocolate cake. It was hard for me not to eat more than my fair share of what was allocated for this cupcake. A week later, this is the cupcake I keep returning to in my mind.

So my thoughts on Hapa Cupcakes? I really liked them. Some bright spots for me were that the frosting was just a little over the top, like at other gourmet cupcake places. I was also happy that these are a more manageable size than their cupcake competitors. If I want a huge cupcake, I'll have a piece of cake. I really just liked the whole vibe at Hapa Cupcakes. Being a guy, some of the cupcake places are just so girly and prissy. That is not the case with Hapa Cupcakes. They are a little on the naughty side, with the names of their cupcakes, the flavors they are coming up with, or the inclusion of alcohol into their cupcakes. Just by talking to Hanayo and Akemi, you can tell they love what they are doing, which shows in their excellent product. These cupcakes were a hit with not only me but with my sister and parents as well. Glad I could share this experience with my family.

If you would like to experience Hapa Cupcakes for yourself, go to their website here: http://www.hapacupcakes.com/

Dropping In On the Surfin Cowboy = CLOSED

The Surfin Cowboy

34245 Doheny Park Way

Dana Point, CA 92624

Okay, so this is the second straight review that features hamburgers. I had mentioned in the review before that I was a little obsessed. A lot of it stems from the fact that if there is a great burger in OC, and I have not had it yet, I feel a little cheated. When the OC Register came out with their top ten list of burgers, there were four places on that list that I had not been to yet. After our trip to The Corner in Huntington Beach, I am now down to three, and after our visit to the Surfin Cowboy, I will only have a mere two more hamburger Mecca to hit up. With dreams of great burgers in our eyes, we headed south on the day before the Fourth of July to beat the heat and try one of the reported ten best burgers in OC.

The Surfin Cowboy is located in the Dana Point area known as Capo Beach. I am not that familiar with the south OC beaches, so I have never been to Capo Beach before. Looking at the map now, I can see that we were about three to four blocks away from the beach. This used to be the location of a bar and grill called Coconuts. Looking at that Yelp page, the reviews were all over the place. The Surfin Cowboy took over the place in the Fall of last year. The reviews have been on the more positive side since, and they of course were recognized as having one of the best burgers in OC.

We got to the Surfin Cowboy at about 6PM. They really had a good dinner crowd on this night. The bar area was jammed, but the hostess lead us to a table, right near where there appeared to be a stage, sectioned off by a low wall. This is not a huge place, maybe fifteen or so tables, with some very nice high definition TVs surrounding the room. Half the TVs were playing assorted baseball games, while the other half were playing music videos from the past and present. The group of customers was a little on the older side, and when we sat down it seemed every table was waiting for their food. After our order was taken, we would soon be right with these people, but it did not take too long for the food to hit our table. Let's check out how everything looked.

I was pretty hungry, so we needed to get an appetizer, stat. I have always liked Fried Mac and Cheese ($4.95 at the happy hour price), so it was natural that we would give the one at the Surfin Cowboy a try. This one was a little different, as it was served in a roasted tomato beurre blanc sauce. The breading on the outside of these was good and crisp, but the rest of this appetizer really let us down. The inside of the mac and cheese ball was devoid of cheese, while the sauce really did not add much flavor. I am not sure if the happy hour portion of this is smaller than the normal $8 price, but I would have been a little miffed if we had only received two of these for $8. On to the entrees.

Specials on Wednesday feature a pasta dish from the mind of Executive Chef, Sima Ganaba. On this particular Wednesday, she offered a Short Rib Pasta ($15) that Katie could not resist. I am a big fan of short rib, and this one was right on point. The meat was fork tender, the flavor was spot on, and there were plenty of short ribs included in this dish. Katie felt the sauce overwhelmed a bit, and that the inclusion of a vegetable here would have been nice. She did feel that the pasta was cooked well. If this was offered on our future visits here, she would not hesitate to get this again.

Now of course the real reason I came to the Surfin Cowboy, is the O.G. Burger ($10). What I first noticed about this burger when it was sat in front of me, was the good-looking pretzel bun it came on. It was soft, but still carried all of the contents without breaking. The thick patty was topped with a house-made rub, caramelized onions, pepper jack cheese, and chipotle aioli. With all of these big flavors, I had expected more of a pop of flavor. The cheese and the chipotle aioli really kind of got lost here, maybe they were neutralized by the sweetness from the caramelized onions. The meat itself was very juicy, with a good hearty taste to it. The seasoning that they used on the burger was more evident than on most other burgers. The fries were pretty basic, even though I paid an extra $2 to make them Parmesan Garlic Fries. The fries were not helped by the fact that they came out lukewarm at best, not that it probably would have mattered anyways.

I was pretty happy with the entrees that we had at the Surfin Cowboy, but the other items did not really shine on the night we were here. I can see why the burger gets people in the door though. On future visits, I would probably go for a burger, like their Black and Blue Burger, in which the condiments and toppings will more than likely pop with more flavor than the O.G. Burger that I had. The base of the burger, the meat, and the bun, provided a very solid foundation, that a lot of other burgers fail to execute properly. The night we were here, service was spotty in some parts of our visit. Maybe an added waiter or two would help, during the dinner rush. I'm glad we could get down to Capo Beach to cross this burger off our burger wishlist. Now only two more to try, until someone else puts out the best burger in the OC list.

Out of five seahorses, (because it is natural that a surfing cowboy would ride a seahorse), five being best to zero being worst, The Surfin Cowboy gets 3 seahorses.

For more information about The Surfin Cowboy, click here: http://www.thesurfincowboy.com/

Cornering the Market on Good Burgers?

The Corner

8961 Adams Ave. 

Huntington Beach, CA 92646

I have to admit, I have become pretty obsessed. I recently got a copy of the Orange County Register's Burger Guide, and I was shocked to see that I had not been to some of the places on their top ten burgers list. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the ever-changing OC restaurant scene, but there were a few of these places that I had never even heard of. At that moment, it made me question my whole quest about eating at the best places in OC and show them to you to make some good choices on where to spend your hard-earned dollars when going out to eat. So I have now made it my mission to hit up all the burger restaurants listed on the top ten that we have not been to yet, starting with The Corner.

We were up this way for a beach outing with some great food. I probably had about ten ribs, salad, and other assorted barbecue treats, but I saved enough room to try the burger at The Corner. We were driving right by it on the way back home, so this was a golden opportunity to try out one of the ten best burgers in the county. Coming from the beach, I was a little worried that we would be underdressed for this restaurant, but the dark restaurant really hid the wear and tear the beach had on us.

We got to The Corner at about 8PM on a Saturday night and were lucky enough to get a table immediately. This restaurant is located in an older strip mall with a bustling Italian market and takeout place next door. Unlike the strip mall, the inside decor of the Corner was sleek and dark. Part hipster vibe, but without the pretentiousness, we came in here with our flip-flops and shorts but did not feel uncomfortable. Two rooms make up The Corner. One side is the busy and loud dining room, while the bar area takes up the other half and shows off a painted ceiling mural left over from when this establishment was a Chinese restaurant. The restaurant really had a good mix of customers. Small groups of young women out for a bite to eat before hitting the clubs, middle-aged couples out on a rare night away from the kids, and multiple generations of the same family enjoying dinner together. The Corner also kind of felt like the neighborhood kind of place where a lot of people know each other.

The menu here is kind of all over the place. I guess I would characterize the cuisine as new American. The menu is sectioned off by appetizers, salads, small plates, and entrees. The menu notes that many of their items are prepared without gluten, and for vegetarians out there, there are quite a few options for you here. The menu's cocktail portion also looked promising, but I did not get a chance to try anything from the bar. Let's take a look at what we did order, though.

I was not in the mood for an appetizer because I had eaten at the beach, but Katie wanted one, so I deferred to her and let her pick which starter we would share. She settled on the Pickled Seasoned Vegetables ($7). This odd appetizer came with pickled veggies, grilled sourdough bread, house-made butter, and white cheddar cheese. The components were all executed well here. The bread was nice and grilled, the vegetables were pickled well, and the butter was very creamy, but I do not see how all of these items fit together. The cheese and butter were not easily spreadable on the bread, and the veggies seemed out of place here. After this selection, Katie has now had her appetizer ordering privileges revoked for a long while.

Hopefully, Katie had better luck with her dinner selection at The Corner. She went with the House Made Spaghetti ($10). This is an eggless carbonara-style pasta dish with English peas. Since no eggs were used here, it was not as heavy as other carbonaras we have had. The lightness of this dish did not sacrifice flavor, though. The sauce was seasoned well, the pasta was fresh, and this meal helped return some of the food creds that Katie had lost by ordering that appetizer. This was not a large serving size, but it was more than fair for the ten-dollar price tag. Katie would definitely get this again.

Now the real reason we made the stop here, the 7oz. Hand Formed Burger ($12). This burger came with many toppings, including white cheddar cheese, bacon-stuffed jalapenos, grilled onion, tomato, and salsa mayo. The meat here resembled a backyard-style burger. Delicious flavor, seasoned well and cooked to a perfect medium. The jalapeno provided a slow burn that escalated as time went on. The bacon inside the jalapeno was pushed to the background, but it still lingered. The cheese and salsa mayo provided moisture to the burger but not much else. Both seemed to get a little lost here. The bun kept everything together but was a little on the bready side. This was a good burger and would be worthy of being either on the top ten burgers list or close to just missing the list. For just $2 more, you could add their 48 Hour Fries to your meal. These fries were some of our best and kind of overshadowed the burger. They are soaked overnight, dried, frozen, and deep fried. Whatever this does to the fries really made them taste good. They had a decent crunch outside, and the potato inside was pillowy and soft. These were served with house-made ketchup and a secret sauce that resembled a less tangy thousand island type sauce. The dipping sauces were good but not needed with these great fries.

I liked our visit to The Corner, but the next time I eat here, I will not be eating at the beach beforehand. I look forward to exploring more of their menu in the future. The Lobster Shepard's Pie, the Sweet and Sour Pork Belly, and the Bacon Wrapped Dates all look very promising and will be on our table during our next visit, which will hopefully be soon. I did not think the prices were too out of control here. They seem to cut down on the serving sizes a bit to shave some dollars off the prices. Not necessarily a bad thing. During our visit, the service was a little on the spotty side, maybe due to the busy Saturday night crowd, but it did not detract from our experience here. I'm glad I could cross another burger off the OC Register's best burger list, and now I am down to three that I have yet to try. Better get going.

Out of five soccer balls (because you can not have a corner kick without one), five being best to zero being worst, The Corner gets 3.5 soccer balls.

For more information on The Corner, click here: http://www.thecornerhb.com/