Another Year Older and Another Thai Restaurant

Bhan Baitong Thai Cuisine

23808 Mercury Road

Lake Forest, CA 92630

I guess we now have a tradition with David, my friend at work. His birthday rolls around right after the holidays, and the last three years we have taken him out for his birthday. David is a great worker, and he makes my job infinitely easier than it would be without him being there. I always ask him where he wants to go for his birthday dinner, and he always makes me pick. The life of a food blogger, I guess. This year I picked a place none of us had been to, Bhan Baitong Thai Cuisine in Lake Forest.

This restaurant is located in the same shopping complex as quite a few other restaurants. Sammy's Original, Nory's Peruvian, and Tutto Famigilia are some of the food places that have piqued my interest in this out of the way shopping center. For those of you that are still lost, it's in the same shopping center as Boot Barn, and where the Black Angus used to be off of the 5 Freeway.

I picked this restaurant because I know that David likes Thai food, and they get a pretty high rating on Yelp, 4 stars with over 300 reviews. At first, I thought I had made a mistake with my pick, as when we walked in at 6, the place was deserted. As the night wore on though, the phone rang non stop with to go orders, and when we left at 7:30, the restaurant was packed with hungry customers.

The menu at Bhan Baitong is pretty much what you would expect from a Thai restaurant. There are a good number of appetizers, curries, noodle dishes, soups, chicken and beef entrees. I had a hard time deciding what to order here, as I do not really have a go-to favorite at Thai restaurants. I kind of just let what I'm feeling on a particular night kind of guide me. Let's see if this would be the night that I found my all-time favorite Thai food item.

Over the three years that we have gone out for David's birthday, he always starts with a Thai Iced Tea ($2.75). He enjoyed this one and made it last all throughout his meal. He's not really much into being too descriptive about his food, so I assume this was to his liking.

David's a pretty big eater, so two appetizers were definitely in order, the first of which were these Fried Wontons ($5.95). These were not very remarkable. They were fried nicely, with a decent crunch to them, but there was nothing to the insides. There was a small amount of chicken inside, about the size of a dime, and it, of course, did not make an impression. The best part of this was the provided sweet and sour sauce, which added some flavor to the fried wontons. This appetizer was a miss for us this evening.

What wasn't a miss for us, was this Chicken Satay ($8.95). This chicken was flavored wonderfully, grilled, and placed on a stick, the way that all food tastes better. It was served with one of the better peanut sauces I have had. They did not skimp on the amount of chicken here like they did with the wontons. A much better appetizer choice.

Katie wanted something to warm her up on this rather chilly evening, so she tried the Tom Yum Soup ($5.95). I have a sneaky suspicion that this was not the soup she had wanted to order. After our trip to Lotus of Siam in Vegas, she has been searching for an equally great OC version of their Tom Kha Soup. This soup was good, came out volcano hot, and had some chicken included in this slightly sour soup. Good, but she'll probably get the Tom Kha here next time.

We might as well start our entrees off with the birthday boy's selection, the Mussamun ($8.95). David had this curry which contained potatoes, onion, carrot, beef, and peanuts. He really enjoyed this but would get this spicier next time. He had this medium spiced, and it contained no kick to it at all. It's always a crap shoot when you are eating in a Thai restaurant for the first time, and they ask how spicy you want things. Some places are really tentative about adding spice, while others really overdo it. I'd say Bhan Baitong is like the former, where they add spice sparingly, so you can feel safe going up a spice level, and still enjoy your meal.  Lesson learned David.

A lot of people on Yelp were talking about this Pumpkin Curry ($8.95 plus $2 for a cup of Brown Rice), so it was not too hard for me to choose what to have on this evening. The most difficult part was deciding on having chicken or beef in it, and the beef won out after seeking the advice of the waitress. This pumpkin curry was delicious, with real smooth texture, slight pumpkin tinge to it, and some pretty tender beef. I asked for this spicy, and it came with the perfect amount of heat. Not overwhelming, but still enough spice to have you notice it. A very delicate balance to achieve. A balance they did not achieve here was the amount of rice to the pumpkin curry. I would have asked for more rice but did not feel like paying four dollars for two cups of rice. A little outrageous in my opinion. Probably the best entree of the night that we had.

Last but not least is Katie's dinner, the Pad See Ewe ($9.95). This beef and flat noodle dish came with a brown sauce which Katie thought was a little on the thin side, as compared to the ones she has had in the past. I liked this dish but had hoped she would have gotten this with more spice than her requested mild spice designation. A good sized portion for under ten dollars though.

David's birthday dinner was a complete success. We got together outside of work and had some pretty good Thai food. Bhan Baitong is not the best Thai food we have had, but it's definitely worth a visit if you are near the area. The dining room is well lit, has a modern feel to it, and makes the patrons feel comfortable inside of it. Service was a little spotty on this evening, as they were pretty busy with just two servers, so drinks did sit empty for stretches at a time. I still have not found my perfect Thai food item to eat, but I look forward to exploring more Thai food in the future, and not just on David's birthdays.

Out of five elephants, (because this large animal is one of the national symbols of the country of Thailand), five being best to zero being worst, Bhan Baitong Thai Cuisine gets 3 elephants.

For more information about Bhan Baitong Thai Cuisine, go to their website here: http://www.bhanbaitongthaicuisine.com/

Blast From the Past at Galley Cafe

Galley Cafe

829 Harbor Island Dr.

Newport Beach, CA 92660

Some people do not believe in time machines. I'm here to tell you that they do exist though, in the form of restaurants. There are some restaurants where if you closed your eyes, put away your cell phone, forgot about the upcoming presidential election, and wiped your mind clean of ever hearing about the new Star Wars movie, you would swear that you were picked up and placed in another decade.

Restaurants like this are rare, but they are around. Five Crowns, Mrs. Knott's Chicken House, Watson's Soda Fountain, and the Crab Cooker are all pretty good examples of OC restaurants that have not changed in all their many decades of being in business. Sure they may have added a few items to their menu, or maybe remodeled their decor a bit, but these are pretty much the same as they are today, as when they started. You can add one more restaurant to this list, Galley Cafe in Newport Beach.

Galley Cafe has been around since 1957, and not much has changed since then. This small diner sits in the middle of a residential area, close to the road that takes you to Balboa Island. It's not a big restaurant, with only 10 or so tables, and some counter seating available. The Galley Cafe brings to mind Ruby's on the Balboa Pier, back before they became corporate. The nostalgia is not pushed on you like it is at Ruby's, but you definitely know this restaurant has been here forever.

Owned by the same people that now run Wings Cafe at the Fullerton Airport, the menu is not going to shock you with its creativity, but it brings plenty of people to this out of the way location. The menu is dotted with the standard breakfast items, sandwiches, burgers, and plenty of ice cream specialties. It was a little too early for us to try their famous shakes and malts, so we made our breakfast selections rather quickly, and waited for our food to make an appearance, as we enjoyed the view from our booth of the Balboa Yacht Basin and Beacon Bay beyond that.

My dad starts things off for us with this Omewich ($10.55). Equal parts omelette and patty melt, this uses a third pound beef patty with cheese, and an omelette, sandwiched in between two slices of toasted white bread. I could tell my dad liked this, but was not in love with it. He said he'd probably get the chili cheese omelette on his next visit here. This came with one side item, and he went with the unusual choice of cottage cheese. Odd, but he's never been the kind of guy to follow the crowd.

My mom likes her first meal of the day to be pretty basic, and that held true to form here at the Galley Cafe, when she ordered this One Egg Breakfast ($8). Really not much to talk about here, as this was a solid breakfast with three strips of bacon, an over hard egg, and a good sized helping of hash browns. A solid breakfast, but not one that is going to blow too many people away.

I should have taken a picture of the inside of this Breakfast Burrito ($9.99), but I didn't want to halt Katie's progress on it anymore than I usually do. This was a pretty basic breakfast burrito. Eggs, bacon, and cheese on the inside, and for a walk on the wild side, she used the provided pico de gallo. She had no complaints about this breakfast burrito, and was actually surprised that it was as good as it was, for only having three things in it. It kept her satisfied until dinner.

This place came across my radar when the OC Weekly rated the Galley Cafe as having one of the best chicken fried steaks in the county. That was all I had to hear to make me order this. This Country Fried Steak ($11) came with two eggs and hash browns. Was this the best country fried steak I have had? It was not, but it was definitely better than most. The meat was good, but what made this for me was their very tasty gravy, which had a great consistency to it, and would have been great on anything.

Galley Cafe is a great place to come if you want to relive the past, and want to get away from the present for an hour or two. The breakfast food here is all very solid, and you will leave here satisfied, but not blown away. I thought the prices were more than fair for the amount of food that you get. I'd be interested to see how their burgers and ice cream treats are on my next visit. The service here was nice and relaxed while we were here. Be aware that this is a small restaurant, and during peak times there might be a wait, but the do get the food out rather fast, so it should not be too long before you can dig into your food. Glad there are still restaurants like this around OC, places where you can decompress from modern life.

Out of five oars, (because this is how galley ships were powered back in the day), five being best to zero being worst, the Galley Cafe gets 3 oars.

For more information about the Galley Cafe, go to their website here: http://www.thegalleycafenewportbeach.com/

Chowing Down at Eat Chow

Eat Chow

211 62nd Street 

Newport Beach, CA 92663

It's been our new years resolution to get out more with friends, and that also helps this blog. Along with socializing more, it means that we will be going to more restaurants than we did last year. Our first foray out in the new year was with our good friends Tom and Daniele. They are both food bloggers, Tom writes the ever popular Tom's Foodie Blog and Dani pens the always entertaining Dani's Decadent Deals.

When we are out with this crazy couple, it's always a big debate on where we are going to eat. For some reason this time they wanted me to give them a list of suggestions. Since we were headed to Newport for cocktails after dinner, I focused on restaurants in this sea kissed city. I gave them a list of about five places, and the four of us came to a conclusion rather quickly. We would be eating at Eat Chow in Newport.

Yes, we have eaten at Eat Chow before, but that was at their location up Newport Boulevard in Costa Mesa. We also had never eaten here for dinner, so that's why we wanted to review this restaurant again. If you are curious as to our other review, you can find it by clicking here.

Their website claims that their menu is all over the place, but they like to call their cuisine, "New American." After taking a look at it online, I'd have to agree with them. There's a lot on here; Mexican, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, pasta dishes, and much more to please just about everyone in your party.

This location of Eat Chow is kind of hard to find. Located between Cappy's and Big Belly Deli off of Pacific Coast Highway, it's right behind the Spaghetti Bender and a Best Western Motel. We got here at about 8pm on a Saturday night, and the restaurant was almost empty. There was one party just finishing up their meal, and another couple near the back of the restaurant. Our waitress explained that this is a weird time of the year, when people are saving money, or not eating out as frequently, trying to keep their new years diet for at least a few more days. No diet for us, as we hurriedly made our selections.

One thing I love about eating with these two is that they never shy away from getting an appetizer, or on this evening, two. The first thing to hit our table were these Fried Green Tomatoes ($4.50). My aversion to tomatoes kept me from enjoying these too much, but the rest of our group favored these. They seemed to have a cornmeal coating, and then were topped with a blend of red tomatoes, onion, a cotija cheese, and a chili herb aioli.

Appetizer number two was much more in my wheelhouse, these Cheesy Tots ($7.50) really struck a chord with me. I'm pretty much a tater tot fiend, and then you add bacon, green onion, and a five cheese fondue, and I fall in love. Even though the tater tots were served in a cheese sauce, they kept their integrity, were fried crisp, and went well with the provided chili aioli. A very comforting dish that I wanted to hoard for myself.

Let's start the entrees with Tom's selection first, which was a special on this evening, the Sand Dabs ($15). Tom was pretty pleased with his selection. The sand dabs were tender, with a non-obtrusive butter sauce drizzled on top of them for some added flavor. This special also included an arugula salad, which was paired with a lemon dressing and some grated Parmesan cheese. This salad won raves from all that tried it, including myself. The potatoes here were topped with the same butter sauce as the sand dabs, and was just fine.

Katie went with one of the Mexican inspired entrees at Eat Chow, the Crispy Beef Tacos ($12). These tacos used shredded ribeye as their protein, and then were topped with salsa fresca, cotija cheese, and lettuce. Katie liked these, but was not in awe of them. They are the kind of tacos you can get at a lot of places. Nothing, including the ribeye really made them stand out. The black beans that came with these tacos were pretty standard as well.

It's always an adventure watching Daniele pick something to order, and then tweak it. She seemed to have a hard time deciding on what to have here at Eat Chow, and when she finally decided on this Albacore Tuna Melt ($10), she had to make a modification to it. This tuna melt was supposed to come with three cheeses on it, but Daniele wanted the Swiss left off of it. She liked the fresh tuna, but because this was so rich, she only ate half of it here. Like with all the sandwiches, this came with a dinner salad, featuring some fresh greens and a very good blue cheese dressing.

For my meal on this rather chilly night, I had this Chow Patty Melt ($14) warm me up. This is not you father's patty melt. It starts with eight ounces of ground chuck, which is topped with Worcestershire caramelized onions, a house made mustard aloutte, a pickled pepper relish, muenster and Swiss cheeses, all sandwiched between Parmesan encrusted white bread. I really did enjoy this patty melt, but the beef kind of got lost here with everything else going on. I was a little worried the mustard was going to overpower, but what really did was the bread. The bread to meat ratio was way off, and made this patty melt good, when it could have been great. I had the Caesar to go along with this, which was good, but could have used a little more dressing for my taste.

We were about ready to hit the bars in Newport, but first each couple picked one dessert to serve as a base for the cocktails we were going to be having. My selection was an easy one, the Gooey Butter Cake ($8). This was not like any butter cake I have ever had. It was very moist, still had the great flavor you'd expect from this dessert, and it came with a caramel-pecan sauce on the side. A different take on one of my favorite desserts. This version is not going to rival the ones I've had at Mastro's, Nick's or Reunion, but I'd definitely get this again.

Daniele was very excited about her dessert as well, the Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding ($8). It wasn't until I got home and looked at my first review of Eat Chow that I realized this was the dessert that we had tried on that visit. My opinion of this dessert has not changed since we had this three years ago. It sounds a lot better than it actually is. The banana chocolate chip bread is too dense, and the chocolate chips are kind of lost here. I did like that they put plenty of whipped cream on here, and the added chocolate and caramel sauce was a nice touch. I feel I won the battle of the desserts on this evening. Sorry Daniele.

Taken for what Eat Chow is, I'd definitely come back here again. I'd classify this restaurant as upscale diner food, at very reasonable prices. There's something for everyone on this menu, and you will for sure find something to like at Eat Chow. Nothing is over the $20 mark, and most things hover around the $10 to $14 price point. I hear that breakfast is their busiest time, and more what they are known for, so that might be what we try on our next visit. Service was very solid on this evening, and Tracy was very patient with all of our questions, and lingering after our meal. Eat Chow was a nice way for us to start off our new year.

Out of five pearls, (because the chow is an obsolete unit of measure for pearls in India), five being best to zero being worst, Eat Chow gets 3 pearls.

For more information about Eat Chow, head to their website by clicking here: http://www.eatchownow.com/

Giving Sambuca a Shot - CLOSED

Sambuca Italian Bistro

31161 Niguel Road

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

I crave Italian food when the weather turns colder or as cold as it ever gets in OC. I think it's because the red sauces or the plates always come out steaming hot. It also might be how Italian food coats your insides, like a warm blanket. Whatever the reason is that I crave Italian when the temps go lower than 70 degrees, I'm always willing to try a new Italian place. This time, we met my in-laws at a new place for all of us, Sambuca Italian Bistro in Laguna Niguel.

Sambuca has been around for three years now. They might have yet to come across your radar, and ours, because they are located in a sleepy little shopping center on Niguel Road, a shopping center whose biggest draw has to be a Carl's Jr., and even that closes at 8pm. That tells you all you have to know about this area of town.

People have found this restaurant, though. They get a four-and-a-half-star rating on Yelp, and that's with 100 plus reviews. Even when we showed up here at 7, the dining room was packed with people, which might explain why the tables are so close to each other. The decor is understated and comfortable, which is good because it keeps your view of all the action in the open kitchen.

The menu at Sambuca is heavily dominated by many seafood dishes. Almost all of their plates of pasta contain something from the sea. Out of their 17 pasta offerings, 11 of those involve either shrimp, lobster, or calamari. The entree portion of the menu makes an about-face, with only one seafood dish offered out of the eight on their current menu. We arrived shortly after Katie's parents, who had already made their dinner selections, so we hurriedly made our choices as well, and this is how it all worked out for us at Sambuca,

Our meal started off with this La Caprese ($9). To be truthful, I'm not a very big fan of caprese, but the rest of our party loved this starter. All the key ingredients were here to make a good one; sliced tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and olive oil balsamic. The three of them quickly worked on this, and all said they would get this again.

Since I was not partaking in the caprese, I ordered the Sambuca Classico Caesar ($6). Their version of a Caesar comes with garlic croutons, plenty of Caesar dressing, olives, and cubed tomatoes. I really enjoyed the relatively large size of this salad, and there was plenty of dressing included here, which I liked. The croutons added a lovely crunch, but I'm not a big fan of tomatoes on a Caesar, so they were quickly discarded. Overall, it was a pretty good salad.

It's a running joke about Katie's dad, Dennis, who always asks what the soup of the day is, and about 90 percent of the time, he does not get it. This Mushroom Soup ($5) must have hit him on the right day because he actually went ahead and tried it. Not exactly what he was thinking when he ordered this, he liked this twist on mushroom soup. He described this as very thin but big on flavor. A soup he would order again, providing it was available when he was here next time.

We could start the entree part of this review with the one I liked best, The Brandy Gorgonzola Roasted Chicken ($17). This plate had a lot going on with it. The good-sized portion of chicken was served over a bed of lemon risotto and then topped with a Gorgonzola brandy cream sauce. I was unsure how the lemon from the risotto and the Gorgonzola would interact, but it made an excellent flavor combination. The chicken was tender, and the veggies were crisp. A very well-done plate and a superb start to our entree portion of the evening.

The Spaghettini Bolognese is a straightforward dish for Dennis this evening ($14). When we asked our waitress what some of her favorites were on this menu, this was one of them, and she stated that they were very proud of this dish. They have every right to be proud. This was a very meaty sauce; the noodles were cooked well, and the sauce's flavor was on point. I would have added some cheese and red pepper flakes to make it pop, but Dennis enjoyed it just the way it came out.

If there was one thing the people on Yelp loved more than any other item at Sambuca, it was this Black Linguine with Lobster and Shrimp ($18). I was taken aback when Katie's mom, Lynn, ordered this dish. Black linguine is topped with seared lobster, white Gulf jumbo shrimp, basil, garlic, and tomato sauce. I can see why they have so many seafood dishes on their menu; they cook seafood well. The lobster and shrimp were tender, and the black linguine was excellent for a change. The sauce was okay, as it was plain tasting, but that suited Lynn just fine.

Unfortunately, the only clunker among the entrees was my selection, the Penne Filletto ($15). This bowl had such promise with its diced filet mignon, mushrooms, and creamy tomato brandy sauce, but it fell flat. The beef was way overcooked, and the sauce was not very good. I was only able to make this more enjoyable by adding parmesan and red pepper flakes to it. It was definitely not the right choice for me this evening.

I hoped we could finish with a bang by ordering this Tartuffle ($7), but it was not meant to be. This dessert was fair but not what I was expecting. I thought it was going to be more like other tartufos we have had. This was coated with nuts and more closely resembled a fried ice cream that you would find in Mexican restaurants. It was not bad, but it was probably not something I'd get again.

Sambuca was a solid Italian restaurant, even though I was not in love with my plate. From our experience, seafood is the way to go here, and it will be what I have the next time we visit. Be advised that this differs from the food most people consider when going out for Italian. This is more traditional, with no lasagna, fettuccine alfredo, or chicken parmesan on the menu. The service was warm and friendly during our stay on this night. This might not be everyone's ideal Italian spot, but it did help to warm us up this evening when it reached the bone-chilling 50-degree mark.

Out of five coffee beans (because when doing a shot of Sambuca, usually coffee beans are included in the shot glass), five being best to zero being worst, Sambuca gets 3 coffee beans.

For more information about Sambuca Italian Bistro, go to their website here: http://www.sambucabistro.net/