Happy Hour, Happy Stomach at Del Frisco's Grille

Del Frisco's Grille

772 Spectrum Dr.

Irvine, CA 92618

One of the questions that I get a lot in your emails is, "Where is there a good happy hour?" To be honest, I rarely go out for happy hour. Katie has to work til 6pm almost everyday, so that means I would have to drive myself to a happy hour spot, drink alone or meet up with a friend, and then behave myself and only have one or two drinks, so I can drive home under the limit. Also, most of the time happy hour food items underwhelm me. That was until me and my good friend Danny were invited to try out Del Frisco's Grille's version of happy hour.

Del Frisco's is a part of the Del Frisco's Restaurant Group, which also includes Sullivan's Steakhouse, and Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse. I haven't eaten at either of these, but I've heard great things about them. This DFG opened at the Irvine Spectrum over a year ago now, and they recently added a happy hour menu to the delight of many of their regulars. We reviewed them the first of this year, when we ate here on New Years Eve. You can see that review here.

The Spectrum is a big place, so if you are coming here for happy hour, it's best to park in the parking structure nearest Nordstrom's, and exit the structure near the valet stand. Located right next door to Brio, Del Frisco's is easy to get to, and you can avoid the hustle and bustle of the main part of the Spectrum.

When we walked in here at just after 4pm, the restaurant was near empty, but that changed rather quickly as the after work crowd congregated in the comfortable bar area to take advantage of the Sip and Share Happy Hour promotion. This is the first DFG location where they offer happy hour, and according to General Manager Katie Pavkov, the early buzz has been overwhelmingly positive. Happy hour runs Monday through Friday 4pm to 6:30, and is offered in the bar only. Danny and I were excited to experience it for ourselves, so we headed to one of the high top tables, with a great view of the basketball game on TV, and ordered almost everything on the happy hour menu.

Before we showcase the culinary exploits of the happy hour menu, we started things off with some cocktails. Danny selected the White Sangria ($6 during happy hour or $12 the rest of the day) to start off with. I'm usually not much into wine based cocktails, but this one was delicious. Pinot Grigio was the base for this, and then they added white peach puree, peach schnapps, and garnished it with a strawberry peach Popsicle. Very refreshing, and not overly sweet. This kind of brought a little touch of summer to this December afternoon. I ordered The VIP ($6) because I wanted to be a VIP for once in my life. This concoction consisted of sweet Hawaiian gold pineapple-infused Svedka Clementine Vodka. When this arrived I was afraid this was going to be over the top sweet, but it was mellower than I imagined, and went down rather easily. I wanted another one, but the food started coming out, so I ultimately saved some space for the happy hour grub.

If you are an ardent fan of this blog, you know that I'm pretty partial to the ahi tacos here at Del Frisco's Grille, but sadly they are not offered on the happy hour menu. There are tacos on their happy hour menu though, Asian Street Tacos ($6). These tacos definitely brought to mind a bahn mi sandwich. It had plenty of barbecued pork, pickled daikon and carrots, cucumber, cilantro, and chiles. The sauce provided was good, but I really enjoyed their very well done chipotle ranch paired with these. Really good tacos, and hard to limit ourselves to only one order of these.

Almost as iconic as DFG's ahi tacos, their Cheesesteak Eggrolls ($6) luckily were included on their happy hour menu. These taste just as they sound, like the insides of a cheesesteak wrapped in an eggroll wrapper. I'm always astonished that these are not as greasy as I imagine them to be, and they still feature the best part of a cheesesteak, the meat. These come with a spicy mustard sauce and a very well made sweet and spicy chili sauce, which has a great yin and yang thing going for it. These are a must try when coming to happy hour here.

If any of you enjoy blue cheese, you need to try these Buffalo Blue Cheese Chips ($6). House made potato chips are doused with a buffalo wing sauce, then sprinkled with blue cheese crumbles. Something so simple, but yet very addicting. The blue cheese kind of overpowered here, but these chips were mellowed out with an avocado ranch dressing. I could see these chips becoming the next flavor that the guys at Lay's use in their yearly contest to come up with new flavors.

DFG went a little south of the border on their next happy hour item, the Pulled Pork Nachos ($6). This mini nacho skillet started with some very sturdy tortilla chips as a base, then they were topped with jalapenos, crema, something that appeared to be taco seasoning, cheese, cilantro and pulled pork. I really enjoyed this, especially the top layer, where all the flavors were co-mingled. The pork here is very good, with a nice natural flavor to it. This was Danny's favorite food item of the night.

Up next were the misnamed on the menu Frites ($6). These were actually a mixture of frites, which is the fancy way of saying french fries, and sweet potato fries. I'm not really into sweet potato fries, but these were some of the best I have had. I'm not yet a convert to this variety of fries, but I would not thumb my nose at having these again. The regular fries were much more to my style, as they were seasoned just enough, and went well with the chipotle ranch dipping sauce provided. I also had to keep Danny from snaking the little squeeze bottle of ketchup from the restaurant. You can't bring Danny anywhere.

The last happy hour food item we had on this afternoon were these Wagyu Corndogs ($6). I was very skeptical about these when they came to the table, but they turned out to be pretty good. The hot dog inside was beefy, and the batter on the outside, along with being crunchy, had a great flavor to it, even better than the ones you can get at the mall. Both dipping sauce were good, but I enjoyed the better than most honey mustard sauce with these, and I'm not even a mustard person.

With our stomachs full from all that we had eaten, we wanted to have another round, just so we could finish watching the basketball game and enjoy the happy hour atmosphere at Del Frisco's Grille. I went with the Dutch Mule ($12, and not on the happy hour menu). This twist on the very popular Moscow mule still used ginger beer and mint, but also added some Nolet's Silver Gin and was garnished with a slice of grapefruit. This was good, but I'd probably stick with the standard version, which I've had here before. The grapefruit kind of threw this off for me. I really liked Danny's beverage selection better, the Apt 5D ($12, also not on the happy hour menu). This vodka based drink also came with fresh strawberries, lemon sour, simple syrup, and a dash of balsamic, which helped even this out. I liked the balance of this, but Danny thought it was on the sweeter side.

Both Danny and I really enjoyed this happy hour at Del Frisco's Grille. It's really a great option for people in the Irvine area, who want to take a break from a long day at work, shopping at the Spectrum, or just want to have some really good food. The Sip and Share happy hour program here is also very economical as well. All of the happy hour items we had on this afternoon would have only set us back  $48, and there was easily enough food here for more than just us two. Also not shown, but offered on the happy hour menu are their very good flatbreads and deviled eggs, which are also $6. All draft beer is $5, and there's also a selection of spirits and wines that are offered at the affordable $6 price point as well. Basically something for everyone is offered here. Now when someone asks me about a great happy hour spot, Del Frisco's Grille will be near the top of my list.

Both Danny and I would like to thank everyone that we encountered on this afternoon at Del Frisco's Grille. They took such great care of us, along with their other guests, and they made sure we had everything that we needed during our stay. A special thanks to our good friend, General Manager Katie Pavkov for an excellent afternoon of catching up, and showcasing her wonderful restaurant. We'd also like to thank Executive Chef, the very talented Sarah Daniels for taking the time to come out and say hello during the start of the dinner rush. It was much appreciated Sarah. We'd also like to thank the food runners, bartenders, and other management who stopped by to say hello. You all make a great a team.

If you would like to experience Del Frisco's Grille, and their happy hour for yourself, you can find out more about them by going to their website here: http://delfriscosgrille.com/

This Tin Roof is not Rusted

Tin Roof Bistro

3500 North Sepulveda Blvd. #100

Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Yes, we are up in the South Bay area again, so you know what that means. We are taking our good friends Chuck and Stephanie to LAX for one of their six trips a year to visit their grandkids in South Carolina. Most people need to be in their golden years to travel this much, and luckily Stephanie married someone that was way older than herself, and well into his golden years when they met all those years ago. I can write this because Chuck probably has misplaced his bifocals, and can't read this anyways.

With this dynamic duo traveling so much, you might think that we are running out of places to eat when heading up this way. Nothing could be further from the truth. The South Bay area has so many great restaurants that we want to try, Chuck will be 105 years old by the time we have even made a dent in our list of restaurants to hit up. Of course, that's only three years away, but new places are opening all the time. On this trip, we came up to try the highly rated Tin Roof Bistro.

Tin Roof Bistro is located on the outskirts of the Manhattan Village Mall, which is on the corner of Sepulveda and Rosecrans. This restaurant visit added a little more importance to me, because of the recently opened up Simmzy's back in OC at the new shopping and entertainment venue, Pacific City. Simmzy's is the sister restaurant to Tin Roof Bistro, and part of the Simms Restaurant Group, which also includes the restaurants, Fishing With Dynamite, Manhattan Beach Post, and of course the now five location-strong Simmzy's.

Tin Roof Bistro, which opened in 2009, is Mike Simm's vision of a wine country locals spot. A restaurant where you can feel comfortable wearing a t-shirt and jeans, or in a sports jacket. Mike knows a little something about wine country, as he worked up in the Napa Valley after graduating college. He also has the restaurant business in his genes, as his dad and grandfather are longtime restaurateurs.

We got here at just before 8:30 on a Friday night. We had no reservation, but at this later dinner hour, we had no problem being seated right away. I'd say they nailed Mike's vision, as the restaurant was very comfortable, lively, and unpretentious. The feel of it reminded me of one of our favorite spots in San Clemente, Vine Restaurant, which is also going for the wine country feel, without the stuffiness. The menu is dotted with appetizers, salads, a fine selection of daily specials, and entrees. The entrees are all reasonably priced, with none of them reaching Chuck's critical $30 mark. Let's see if we could send Chuck and Stephanie off to South Carolina with a great meal.

First up is an item that you can also order at Simmzy's, the Blue Cheese Haystack ($6.75). On Tin Roof Bistro's Yelp page, this gets a lot of love, and that held true at our table as well. A mound of shoestring fries is topped with a blue cheese dressing and a sauce that resembled a milder buffalo-style sauce. I enjoyed these, but because the fries were so skinny, it was hard for the sauce to cling to them. They were good quality fries and the blue cheese had a little tang to it. A nice start to our meal at Tin Roof.

Since Chuck was buying dinner in exchange for the ride to the airport, we all got salads. This was Katie's selection, the half version of the Manhattan Beach Cobb ($8). This take on a Cobb salad had Katie drooling. It came with romaine, bite-sized chicken pieces, avocado, bacon, walnuts, celery, grapes, crispy shallots, and a combination of herb vinaigrette and blue cheese dressing. This updated spin on a Cobb salad was refreshing and hit the mark. Lots of different textures kept each bite interesting, and the combo salad dressing was the best of both worlds. Katie remarked that she might just get the full version of this salad next time.

I've been on a real roll with Caesar salads lately, and that held true to form on this night as well. This Classic Caesar ($8.75) had all the components you'd expect to find in a Caesar; chopped romaine, plenty of shaved Parmesan, some pretty solid croutons, and their self-described, "take no prisoners" Caesar dressing. This salad was not revolutionary, but I liked the combined effect everything had here. There was plenty of the dressing on here, the crunch from the croutons was good, and they also did not skimp on the shaved cheese. A delicious, yet basic Caesar.

I guess Chuck was in a good mood because he allowed himself and Stephanie to split this Simple Greens Salad ($5.75). This was a pretty good-sized salad for the price, and it came with a good variety of greens, tomatoes, shredded carrots, croutons, and a honey Dijon vinaigrette. No complaints from either Chuck or Stephanie about this salad, which they said had fresh produce, and the dressing provided a nice flavor to the greens.

We saw a number of pizzas coming out of the kitchen this evening, and two of them made their way to our table, the first of which was this M.S.G. Pizza ($13.50). Mushroom, sausage, and garlic made up the name of this pie, but there was also red sauce, mozzarella, and plenty of green scallions topping this. Katie really enjoyed her choice here. She felt that the toppings on this pizza went well together, without one of them stealing the spotlight from the others. She also was a big fan of the crust here, as it was not soggy in the middle, like a lot of these wood-fired pizzas tend to be. I also enjoyed the piece I stole from her.

Almost without fail, if there's a menu item with the word spicy included in the title, Stephanie makes a beeline for it. She was true to form when she chose this Spicy Chicken BBQ Pizza ($12.50) for her and Chuck to share this evening. Fresno chilis, smoked mozzarella, chicken, cilantro, and caramelized onions topped this pizza, which predictably, Stephanie said could have been spicier. Both she and Chuck did like the pizza, thought the chicken was tender, and the crust was pretty solid. They would probably get something else on their next visit here but had no qualms about this being their first meal at Tin Roof Bistro.

I was not feeling like a pizza this evening and instead opted for something off of their entree portion of the menu. This Grilled Flat Iron Steak ($26.25) caught my eye right away. This 8-ounce steak was cooked perfectly to my desired medium rare specifications, tender, and made even better with a very good homemade Worcestershire sauce. Almost outshining the beef was the fingerling potato hash, which was topped with plenty of blue cheese and bacon. One of the better side dishes I have had in a while. The potatoes were done right, and you can never go wrong with a blue cheese and bacon combo. A very satisfying meal.

Chuck and Stephanie still had about two hours before their flight, so we decided to splurge on dessert with this Bittersweet Chocolate Mousse ($4.25). This was a lighter than expected mousse but still had a rich chocolate presence. I wish there was a little more of the pecan brittle toffee incorporated here, but this was a great way to end our stay at Tin Roof Bistro.

I left here pretty impressed with almost everything we experienced at Tin Roof Bistro. The food was exactly what they were striving for, chef-inspired cuisine, with an emphasis on freshness. Almost overshadowing the food was the warm, yet professional service we experienced on this evening. When patrons would get up during their meals, the staff would fold their napkins for them, which is not something that you see at a restaurant with this price point. I also noticed a real team atmosphere among the wait staff, which helped keep things running smoothly. After eating here, I'm really looking forward to this restaurant group's entry into the OC dining scene. Tin Roof Bistro was a great sendoff for Chuck and Stephanie.

Out of five cats, (for the obvious reason of when I hear the words tin roof, I immediately think of the play by Tennessee Williams, "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"), five being best to zero being worst, Tin Roof Bistro gets 3.5 cats.

For more information about Tin Roof Bistro, head to their website here: http://www.tinroofbistro.com/

Worth the Ride to this Club - CLOSED

The Riders Club Cafe

27221 Ortega Highway Suite G

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

I'm ashamed to admit that we had not been back to Riders Club since we wrote about them two years ago. In that review, I wrote that they would be on my Mount Rushmore of OC burgers. Yes, that would put them in the top 4 folks, but that was two years ago, and I've eaten a lot of burgers in those two years, so I'm not sure they would still be up there.

A return trip was now warranted because they have opened a spot even closer to us. This new Riders Club, just off of Ortega Highway, is a lot more convenient and comfortable compared to the original San Clemente spot we visited two years ago. There's plenty of parking, and roominess in the small restaurant, and they also added something that the San Clemente location can not offer because of the size of their kitchen, french fries.

Opened in the spot that once housed a German restaurant we never had the pleasure of eating in, this Riders Club is in the same shopping center as Tannins, and the new restaurant to make it onto our restaurant must-visit list, Public 74. We showed up on a recent Wednesday night and were met with a half-full restaurant, which almost never happens at the San Clemente location. Maybe people don't know that this one opened seven months ago. Whatever the reason is for the half-empty restaurant, we were excited to order at the counter, and have our pick of seats while waiting for our food. Let's see if this location is just as good as the one down south.

Rider's Club does not have a huge menu. In fact, they have two versions of a hot dog, a carnitas sandwich, that we will get to a little later, and then they have their burgers, which you build how you want them with their selections of toppings. This first one is Katie's creation. This Burger ($11.20) came with Katie's desired toppings; Havarti cheese, an egg over hard, grilled mushrooms, house spread, lettuce, and pickles. This burger was a little on the rich side for her, but she ended up finishing most of it and called it delicious. She'd probably tone it down a bit next time. The fries were fried well, but kind of average. They were made better when dipped in the house spread, which could be described as a tamer thousand island dressing.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you must know about my love of bacon cheeseburgers, and that's what I went with again here at Riders Club. This burger ($10.45 with the cheese and bacon), was just as good as I remembered from our last visit. Along with the cheddar cheese and bacon, this burger came with lettuce, grilled onion, and their very good house spread. The beef here is ground fresh daily, and it makes for a very fresh and juicy burger. The challah bun is also worth noting here, as it stands up to anything you want to top your burger with, and keeps everything together like a good bun should. This burger is what brings people in, but you should not bypass the other item I ordered by any means.

The Carnitas Sandwich ($8.95) kind of outshined the burgers for me on this night, and that's surprising because I really enjoyed my burger. This sandwich was awesome. It came with tender and moist shredded pork, a carrot slaw, cilantro, house spread, and jalapenos. This kind of had a banh mi kind of feel to it, and I really liked the inclusion of the jalapenos to kick things up a notch. The pork had some good bits of crispness to it, which I really like when ordering carnitas. It will be hard for me to forgo this sandwich on future visits to Riders Club.

I'm happy to report that this Riders Club location is just as good as the one in San Clemente, and a lot more comfortable. I'd have to write down all the burgers I've had, and come to some sort of decision on if these burgers are still on my Mount Rushmore of burgers, but they are definitely in the conversation. The burgers might actually be hurt by the very good carnitas sandwich I had this evening. I can't stop thinking about it, and now that they are closer to where we live, I foresee many more trips to Riders Club.

Out of five broncs, (because the mascot of Rider College in New Jersey is a bronc), five being best to zero being worst, Riders Club Cafe gets 3.5 broncs.

For more information about Riders Club Cafe, go to their website here: http://www.ridersclubcafe.com/

Holsteins Has Moo-ved Into OC - CLOSED

Holsteins Shakes and Buns

3333 Bristol St. 

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

As sad as I was to see Charlie Palmer leave South Coast Plaza in May, it softened the blow when I heard who would be replacing them. In came all the cow paraphernalia, which is synonymous with one of the most heralded burger spots in Las Vegas, Holsteins.

We had been to Holsteins, which is located at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Resort, once before. You can read that review here. To summarize, we were pretty impressed with that location, which has won plenty of praise for their food and had their burgers placed on many of the top burger lists in Las Vegas. I really enjoyed Katie's burger and the vibe of the place and was anxiously waiting for them to open a lot closer to my home, and in a place where I would not be tempted to gamble my savings account away.

We were lucky enough to be invited into Holsteins shortly after they opened, to have an informal look at some of their smaller bites and shake samplings. As you can see in the above pictures, this only whetted our appetite for a quick return visit to Holsteins. Thanks to everyone at Holsteins, and of course J Public Relations, for this wonderful time. When we were going to be going out with our good friends Tom and Daniele, I did not even hesitate about where I wanted to eat with them. We made a beeline for this restaurant, which is attached to Bloomingdale's at South Coast Plaza.

Daniele had made reservations at 7pm on a recent Friday night. The restaurant was pretty busy throughout our stay. The inside still has the feel of the old Charlie Palmer, but now there's burger artwork on the walls, and the large wine case as you enter the building is now filled with beer instead of wine. Speaking of beer, they offer one of the largest selections that I have seen in a while around here. The vibe inside the restaurant kind of felt like an upscale coffee shop, which lends to the cool, hip feel of the place.

The menu at Holsteins OC is a little toned down from the Vegas one that we experienced. No fried bacon is on the menu, and they have geared more menu items to the health conscience Orange County lifestyle. The menu offers plenty of starters, a few salads, some entrees, shakes, and of course burgers, which there are 13 varieties, including beef, veggie, turkey, salmon, and lamb choices for patties. Of course, I would be enjoying a burger this evening, but let's see what everyone else had as well.

After a few drinks at Tom and Daniele's house, we definitely needed to get some food in us quickly, so we started things off with this Poutine ($11.50 with egg added). This is probably the closest thing I have ever had to true poutine. Its base is french fries, then topped with cheese curds, stout gravy, shredded short rib, and the added fried egg. A true poutine has a lighter gravy, and no short rib, but this was a delicious way to start our meal at Holsteins. The cheese curds were not as squeaky as I imagined them to be, but I really enjoyed the melding of flavors on this plate. A very comforting starter.

Since Holsteins is pretty famous for their burgers, it was not shocking that Katie went in the opposite direction, and tried one of the entrees on their menu, the Porter Braised Short Rib ($26.00). After the short rib that was included in the poutine, she had high hopes for this plate. The short rib was very tender, and flavorful, as it was topped with an IPA battered onion ring, and accompanied by a truffle potato puree. Both were winners, but I would have liked a little more sauce with this. Katie had no complaints, as she had no problem finishing this, and would not hesitate to get this again.

Tom selected the burger that I had on my visit to the Vegas location, the Rising Sun Burger ($17 with the optional egg added). This Asian inspired burger came topped with teriyaki glaze, nori furikake, (a Japanese seasoning), a crispy yam, spicy mayo, and to top it off, a tempura avocado. Tom enjoyed this burger very much and was stuffed by the end. When I had this burger the first time, I felt the teriyaki kind of overpowered, but Tom did not share my sentiments on this evening.

Both Daniele and I opted for the same burger, proving once and for all that great minds definitely think alike. The Gold Standard Burger ($17 with optional egg added) would be our choice on this evening. This is their version of a souped-up bacon cheeseburger. It comes with goat cheese cheddar, tomato confit, smoked bacon, arugula, and a garlic chive aioli. I really liked this burger, and the toppings were mellow enough to allow the ground sirloin to be the star of the show. I thought the goat cheese cheddar was going to be a lot more intrusive than it was, but that was not the case. They don't really over sauce their burgers here, which allows the natural flavor of the meat to shine through. The fries were okay but not as good as their burgers. They had a good crunch to them but were kind of left to the side until I finished my burger.

My first trip to the Vegas location, I did not have one of Holsteins' signature Bam-Boozled Shakes ($13), but I rectified that on this visit. They have ten of these adults-only shakes on their menu, with such interesting flavors as Red Velvet, Cereal Bowl, and something called the Fat Boy, which comes with pretzels, Oreo cookies, Butterfinger bits, Reese's, and Cap'n Crunch. That sounded like way too much for me, and as a traditionalist when it comes to shakes, I went with a good old fashioned Cookies and Cream Shake. This was a very creamy shake, with plenty of crushed up Oreo's and chocolate chip cookies inside, and it was made with Smirnoff Whipped Cream Vodka, which added to the creaminess. I liked this, but I'm not sure I'd get one of these shakes again. I felt the payoff was not enough to warrant the $13 dollar price tag, and I'm not really that big of a shake guy.

Always up for something a little different, we had tried these Nitro Meringues ($1.50 each) at the happy hour event we attended a month or so ago, and wanted to introduce Tom and Daniele to them. They come in three flavors, Peppermint, Stout Beer, and Strawberry. Nitrogen ice cream places are all the rage right now, and this is a fun way to end your meal here. I definitely like the peppermint one the best. They evaporate in your mouth, and you are left with the flavor, and a plume of smoke from the nitrogen. Something a little different from the usual dessert.

Holsteins is definitely my kind of place, and I'm pretty excited that they opened up right in my backyard. I can see us eating here frequently, or as frequently as we eat anywhere since we are always on the hunt for the next great spot we want to share with you. The burgers were on point, and this is the perfect place to head to if you are in the mood for a more upscale burger. If Katie's meal is any indication, the rest of the menu might be worth exploring for you non-burger lovers. Yes, the prices are a little on the high side, but the quality here is pretty stellar, and this is South Coast Plaza, so it's understandable. We had some very good service on this evening, as our waiter Greg made sure we had everything we needed at all times. I hated to see Charlie Palmer leave, but I'm pretty excited to see Holsteins in OC.

Out of five cruise ships, (because New Holstein, Wisconsin is the birthplace of Edward Schildhauer, the chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project, and a lot of cruise ships go through this on a daily basis), five being best to zero being worst, Holsteins Shakes and Buns gets 3.5 cruise ships.

For more information about Holsteins, head over to their website here: http://www.holsteinsburgers.com/