Not Wurst By A Long Shot

Wursthaus

305 East 4th Street #106

Santa Ana, CA 92701

I was pretty upset when I was leaving Wursthaus. Not upset with anything that happened inside this restaurant, it was more about wasted time. They recently celebrated their one-year anniversary, and I had yet to make it in for a visit. It took an invite from the great PR company, Ajenda Public Relations for me to get my butt in here, and I have been thinking about going back ever since.

Downtown Santa Ana has tons of great spots. There's of course 4th Street Market, with all of those great options, there's also Kutsi Cocina, Chapter One, C4 Deli, and I could go on and on, but Wursthaus is not to be overlooked when headed to this restaurant-rich area. Located on the corner of 4th and French Streets, between the Northgate Market and the Playground Restaurant, I was excited to see what they had waiting for us inside this red brick building.

What they have is a re-imagined German beer hall, without all the over-the-top frivolity of an Oktoberfest celebration. There are no hard-to-handle beer steins, no Oom Pah Pah band playing, and no shot girls in lederhosen, although I would not be opposed to this if they wanted to add this feature. Co-owners, Gabriel and Georgina Ruiz have updated the brew hall concept, with a backroom that features long communal tables, a wood-topped bar, and a nice mellow atmosphere.

As we arrived here at just after 5pm, it appears that this is a favorite of people for after-work beverages and food. There was a rather large group huddled in one corner, the bar seating was already pretty filled up, and as the night went along, the communal tables became exactly that, filled with people, strangers, and friends partaking in libations and in what the OC Weekly had voted the best hot dog in Orange County last year.

The ordering process can be a little intimidating here, but only because there are so many great options. First, you choose your sausage from the classic, gourmet, or exotic section of the menu. Next up is your choice of pretzel bun or a traditional grinder roll, and then you finish it off by adding toppings to your creation. Ordering is done at the front of the storefront and then delivered to you in the surprisingly large back room. Let's see how everything turned out for me and my good friend George on this evening.

Starting things off are a few of the beverage offerings available this evening. At Wursthaus they have 20 Belgian and German beers on tap, and more bottled. I'm by no means a beer expert, but the bartender was very open to allowing me to try a few samples until I found something that I liked. I eventually went with the Leffe Blonde ($5), which was one of their lighter offerings, and one that would not overpower the sausages I'd be having. George is not much into beer, so he enjoyed a Filbert's Watermelon Soda ($2.90). No fountain drinks here, but they had a nice selection of bottled drinks, and also for you coffee fiends out there, they also feature critically acclaimed Stumptown Coffee products.

The item I was most excited to try was the first one out of the kitchen for us, and it was also the one that I had heard the most about from Wursthaus, the Drunken Fries ($9.50). I'd describe these as Animal Style Fries on steroids. They start with a base of their very good Belgian fries, which are hand cut from Kennebec potatoes, then they are triple fried, to provide a good crispness while leaving a soft and tender inside them. These fries are then topped with IPA caramelized onions, a very tasty house andalouse sauce, and your choice of sausage. We went with the spicy Polish, which added a nice slow heat to this. This has been haunting my thoughts since my last visit here, it's that good. George really enjoyed the fries, calling them, "the best fries he has had."

George and I did two rounds of sausages here, and I started my sausage saga off with this Smoked Polish ($6.50). The sausage is the star of the show here, with a good amount of paprika present, along with a tinge of garlic to compliment the pork. I had mine topped with plenty of jalapenos to provide a slow burn. The pretzel bun here is pretty tasty, and it is sourced from a local Santa Ana bakery, Bread Artisan Bakery. Their stuff is always stellar, as was the case here at Wursthaus.

George's initial foray into sausage nirvana was this Gourmet Chicken Jalapeno Sausage ($7.50). He likes his stuff topped with sauerkraut and tri-colored peppers. He really enjoyed this, and for once he was quiet, which if you know George is kind of a rarity. I was pretty happy that there were six condiment choices on each table. Yes, five of them were a type of mustard, (Dijon, spicy, honey, American, and whole grain), but I always enjoy mixing and matching to find my perfect combination for each sausage.

For my second, and final sausage at Wursthaus, I selected this Smoked Cheddar IPA Bratwurst ($7.50). I kind of just ordered this on a whim, not expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. It had a great snap to it, with a nice and meaty inside. The cheese here was not overly prevalent and allowed the natural flavor of the pork to come through. This went really well with the American mustard provided on the table. After having this, I also figured out that I'm more partial to the grinder rolls than the more bready pretzel rolls.

I was pretty surprised when George ordered this Smoked Hungarian ($6.50). I guess even after knowing someone for 26 years, you can still be surprised by something they do. Another pork-based sausage, which is spiced with garlic and paprika, this had George singing its praises. He loved the heartiness here, which went well with the slightly sweet caramelized onions. A very nice pairing, even if this is not the most photogenic food item ever.

Yes, it took a little nudge for us to make it into Wursthaus, but we will not need to be nudged again for our eventual second and subsequent visits. I have not been to Wurstkuche in LA, but I have been to Linx, Dog Haus, and Joe's, and this is right up there with those sausage titans. A number of their Yelp reviews mention the relaxed vibe here, and I think that's a fair assessment. Wursthaus is not trying to be too hipster, they are not really trying to be something they are not. They have cultivated a spot where you can hang out, enjoy some European beer, and have a sausage or two while enjoying your friend's company. A perfect fit for Downtown Santa Ana.

If you would like to experience Wursthaus for yourself, or for more information about Wursthaus, head to their website here: https://wursthaussantaana.com/

Returning Visit to Stubrik's Stekhouse

Stubrik's Steakhouse and Bar

118 East Commonwealth Avenue

Fullerton, CA 92832

I was looking over some of my older reviews, and was pretty embarrassed by some of the pictures I used in the early days of this blog. I know I'll never be a great photographer, but the camera I was using back six year ago looks like it maybe had two mega pixels, and the pictures looked even worse in low light.

One of those early reviews was for a place we were going to be eating for our good friend, Jamie's birthday. I felt this was a great opportunity to of course do an updated review, but also help me get over the sub-par pictures that I took of the food at Stubrik's Steakhouse in Downtown Fullerton.

Stubrik's has been one of the stalwarts in Fullerton for well over ten years. I don't even remember the first time I was here, but it was a long time ago. If I remember the story correctly, this place was opened by two friends, Stub and Rik, who worked in the restaurant business together, and then wanted to open up their own joint. They wanted a spot that was not overly stuffy, served good food, and at a relative value.

Located right next to the Fullerton Train Station, Stubrik's does have a laid back vibe. The restaurant is pretty dark, with lots of exposed red brick throughout the place, and an open ceiling revealing many wood beams. Towards the front of the house there's a bar that runs the length of the room, and near the back entrance, there's some comfy, secluded booths. I've never been upstairs, but I know there's a couple pool tables, and a lounge in this loft-like space.

The menu here is pretty diverse, and most people will have no problem finding something here to eat. There are of course a good number of steak options, along with seafood, chicken, and pasta dishes. Most entrees are in the mid twenty dollar range, with some cheaper, and some a little more expensive. Our party of ten finally all made it here after battling traffic on a recent Monday night, finding parking in this very crowded lot, and made some quick decisions on what to eat. Let's see if Stubrik's is still as great as we remember.

My best friend Chris, and his wife Adrienne are perennially late for almost everything, but they made it here just as our first appetizer hit the table. Very proud of you guys. First up was this Garlic Cheese Bread ($6). This sourdough loaf was nicely sliced, which enabled easy sharing, and was topped with garlic butter and cheddar cheese. This was an okay garlic cheese bread. The garlic was not as noticeable as I would have liked, and the bread needed more of a crunch to it. This one was a little too doughy for my taste.

Steak Fries ($5) were out next, and these were your basic, straight out of the bag french fries. Not bad, but nothing that would make you take notice. They were seasoned with salt and a little bit of pepper. These resembled the fries from Red Robin.

The birthday girl, Jamie does not eat meat, so this might explain why these appetizers were a little on the tame side. The trend continued with this Corn Bread ($6). This was a pretty average cornbread. One of the positive points is that this was not really crumbly, like a lot of our cornbread experiences we've had recently. Unfortunately, this was not very moist, and was kind of boring. It was only jazzed up a bit when slathered with the provided honey butter.

I don't know what it is about salads that have sunflower seeds included in them, but I'm starting to really like this trend. Entrees at Stubrik's come with your choice of soup or salad, and of course I went with this Traditional House Salad. Mixed greens, red onions, a pretty solid blue cheese dressing, and of course those sunflower seeds are included here. Fresh produce, the good flavor from the red onion, and the nutty essence of the sunflower seeds made this an above average dinner salad.

Not in the mood for a steak, Jamie's goofy brother Jake had this Meatloaf ($16).  He was even generous enough to give me a bite of this, and I have to admit it was pretty good, as far as meatloaf goes. The meatloaf here is topped with a wild mushroom sauce, which contained plenty of fungi. Very moist meatloaf, with a good sauce over it, made this a winner in my book. This came with some veggies, which were alright, but the scalloped potatoes shined here. Cooked crisp, with some real nice bark on the outside, and a tender inside, these were one of the better scalloped potatoes we have had. Not a bad dinner option when coming to Stubrik's.

Most of the rest of us had steaks at Stubrik's, but I was sitting at the end of the table, so I only got shots of mine and my friend Chris's plates. All of the steaks were basically the same looks wise, but Chris went big and had the 24 Ounce Porterhouse ($42). I had the 16 Ounce Ribeye ($29) served black and blue style, which means this steak was stuffed with dry blue cheese, and covered in a burgundy blue cheese sauce.  This is probably the way to get the steaks here, because these are not the best quality of steaks, and it kind of hides that fact. I understand that ribeyes have a good amount of fat included in them, it's a trade off for adding more flavor, but the one I had here was more fat than beef. The sauce is good, if you are a blue cheese fan, but the blue cheese is not as overpowering as you may think. The steaks here come with some veggies, and garlic mashed potatoes with gravy. The potatoes were devoid of any garlic flavor, and the gravy did not add much either. Maybe subbing the scalloped potatoes is the way to go instead.

Taken for what it is, Stubrik's is a pretty average steak house. If you come here expecting to be blown away by your steak, you will probably leave here disappointed. The steaks are better than the ones at Outback, but then again, which ones aren't. Stubrik's is probably in the same company as Black Angus and Lone Star Steakhouse. I thought the prices were a few dollars too much, for the quality of the beef you get here. Nothing on this trip really stood out as anything memorable, or something that we will definitely have to come back for. Service was pretty good, which is always a crap shoot when you are a party of ten. Our waitress was right on top of everything we needed. It was good getting together with our friends, and also good that we got to do an updated review and pictures of this place.

Out of five red hats, (because Fullerton is home to the founder of the Red Hat Society), five being best to zero being worst, Stubrik's gets 2.5 red hats.

For more information about Stubrik's, head to their website here: http://stubriks.com/

Hopping Along to LAX

Hopdoddy Burger Bar

830 North Sepulveda Blvd.

El Segundo, CA 90245

Yes, you guessed it, another trip up this way to take Chuck and Stephanie to LAX. For ardent readers of this blog, you already know they are flying off to North Carolina to see their grand kids for one of their 8 annual trips to the East Coast. With all of these trips up the 405 Freeway, we'd have run out of places to try, but just like OC, the South Bay always seems to have a new place opening up. This time, we sent Chuck and Steph off with a meal from Hopdoddy Burger Bar.

Hopdoddy is a burger chain from Austin, Texas, that just recently pushed into California. This chain established its first restaurant in 2010 and now has locations in Texas, Arizona, Colorado, and soon to be four spots in California. They have three already open and operating in the Golden State (Playa Vista, Newport Beach, and this one, El Segundo) and a coming soon sign hanging over Tustin. This South Bay location opened last August and has had some positive press, so the four of us were excited to try it.

I could sense Chuck's apprehension about us getting them to the airport on time when we pulled into this pretty busy shopping center on the corner of Sepulveda and Rosecrans. The shopping complex is called The Point, and its anchor stores are all pretty hip and include restaurants like True Food Kitchen, North Italia, and Mendocino Farms. Chuck's high anxiety about leaving here on time was not warranted because we almost walked up to the counter at Hopdoddy.

As you are waiting in line to order your food here, you are assigned a table by a hostess. I like this system, as it prevents people from staking out a table before they even order, which is one of my pet peeves. I felt this system helped the flow of customers, but this is one of the biggest complaints about this restaurant online.

The menu here is, of course, burger-driven, but there are three salad options for the two of you who are not into burgers. There are 15 burgers to choose from here, one of which includes a special burger, which is rotated frequently. Burgers run the gamete from beef, bison, lamb, chicken, turkey, tuna, and a black bean corn patty for non-meat eaters. There are also a few sides and a wider variety of shakes available. This menu brings to mind the one we experienced at Shake Shack in Vegas. Let's see if we'll like this place as much as we enjoyed that New York-based restaurant chain.

We started with these Green Chili Queso Fries ($6.75). The fries here are made with Kennebec potatoes, and tasted pretty fresh. They were fried well, with the absence of any grease. I would have liked them bigger because we had to dip them into the green chili queso dip. This dip had a slight punch, and I liked it. It resembled more of a soup than a dip, but maybe that's because I could have seen myself eating this with a spoon. It was that good.

We tried the Truffle Fries ($6.95) at Hopdoddy as if we did not have enough fries. These were not as good as the ones above. Yes, the fries were the same, but the truffle flavor failed to shine for us. Also, without grease, the Parmesan and green onion slid off these fries relatively easily and collected on the bottom of the basket. Stick with the green chili queso fries.

It was burger time, and up first was Katie's selection, the Magic Shroom ($9.75). This burger starts with an Angus beef patty and is then topped with goat cheese, mushrooms, tomato, mayo, basil pesto, white onion, and red-leaf lettuce. Katie really enjoyed how all these toppings played well with each other. The burger was juicy, and you can definitely tell that they grind their beef daily here. It's a very fresh-tasting burger and one that she'd get again.

Whenever we eat with Stephanie, she always scans the menu for the items with some heat behind them. That's probably why she got the ominously named El Diablo Burger ($9,25). Again, the Angus beef patty is in play here and is outfitted with pepper jack cheese, habanero and, serrano chilies, caramelized onions, salsa roja, and chipotle mayo. As is the case with most items she tries, she claims that it could have been hotter, but she did appreciate the heat that was there. Stephanie did make quick work of this burger, but that's probably because old man Chuck was prodding her under the table to hurry up, as they only had two hours until their flight.

Speaking of old man Chuck, he wanted a burger that reminded him of his boyhood, and since they didn't have dinosaurs on the menu here, he settled on this basic Classic Burger ($8). This basic model, with added cheddar cheese, also came with tomato, lettuce, and sassy sauce, and their house spread was made up of mayo, mustard, and horseradish. Not as strong as I was expecting, I rather enjoyed this sauce. Chuck was impressed with his burger, calling it one of the best he's had in awhile.

I had difficulty deciding what burger to have here, but ultimately went with the Terlingua Burger ($9.50). This burger had a meaty chili, cheddar cheese, Frito's, and sassy sauce. I did a little digging and found out why they call this burger the Terlingua. There's a chili cook-off every year in Terlingua, Texas, on the first Saturday of November. Still determining if this chili would win there, but this was a superb burger. The chili had a mild flavor, the Fritos added some crunch, and the Tillamook cheddar is always one of my favorites on a burger. The buns here are freshly made every day and do an excellent job of standing up to the insides of this burger. I would have liked more sauce on this, but that would be my only complaint with this burger.

The burgers at Hopdoddy are not going to wow you with their size. We all left here satisfied, but not overly stuffed. The burgers are a little bigger than the ones at Umami, but what they lack in girth, they more than makeup for with flavor. We all really enjoyed these, and would come back here in a heartbeat. I look forward to checking out our Hopdoddy at Fashion Island soon. I thought the prices were manageable here, but if you are hesitant to pay ten dollars for a burger, this might not be your spot. Service was good on this visit. The guy who brought our food to the table checked on us frequently and even got Chuck a refill on his drink, saving his arthritic hip a few steps. If we ever run out of spots to hit up when driving these two to the airport, we would definitely visit here again.

Out of five bats (because Hopdoddy started in Austin, Texas, in 2010, and one of that city's biggest attractions is watching over one million of these flying mammals fly out from under a bridge in search of that night's dinner), five being best to zero being worst, Hopdoddy Burger Bar gets 3.5 bats.

For more information about Hopdoddy Burger Bar, go to their website here: http://www.hopdoddy.com/ 

A Return Thai Trip to Lotus of Siam

Lotus of Siam

953 East Sahara Ave. #A5

Las Vegas, NV 89104

I usually do not like revisiting a restaurant that we have been to before while on vacation, especially in a city like Las Vegas, where there are so many places that are on my wish list, that there is no way that I'd be able to hit them all. I came back here for two reasons though. One being that I have been in a real Thai food phase since the first of the year. The second, and probably most important reason is because Katie wanted to come back to Lotus of Siam. She doesn't really ask for much, so when she request a return trip to a place, I'll usually oblige.

Also joining us on our Thai food adventure is my longtime friend Steve, and his friend, Jason. They both just happened to be in Vegas attending their yearly conference, so we decided to have dinner with them before they had to fly out the next morning. I could kind of sense that they were both new to Thai food, but they seemed pretty excited to give it a try. Maybe they just loved our company.

For someones first time having Thai food, eating at Lotus of Siam is kind of like going from being a high school football player, and going straight to the pros, playing your first game in Cowboy Stadium in front of 80,000 people. Of course if you're on the Cowboys, most people expect you to lose anyways, so there's probably not that much pressure. Sorry about that Steve, I had to slip that in there.

Lotus of Siam has been on tons of TV shows, been written about numerous times, and has a steady stream of taxi cabs coming from the strip dropping off hungry tourists. Owner and Chef Saipin Chutima has owned this place since 1999, and won a James Beard Award in 2011 as best chef in the Southwest. As if all of this was not enough, there are tons of pictures all over the restaurant of all the famous celebrities that have eaten here over the years.

We arrived here on a Thursday evening at about 7:30, and were met with a 45 minute wait. No worries for us though, because we found a dive bar in this desolate shopping center, enjoyed a few cocktails, and listened to a know it all bartender telling some tall tales. Both Steve and Jason really enjoyed this guys company, but we finally got the call on Katie's phone that our table was ready, so we settled up with our new friend.

Lotus of Siam features food from Northern Thailand. I'm by no means an expert on Thai food, but I can tell you that the food of Northern Thailand is generally a little more mild than that from the south. The menu here is pretty hefty, and whether you are into seafood, curries, noodles, fried rice, or one of the northern specialties, you will most likely find something to your liking here. Let's see if that was the case for the four of us on this evening.

Starting things off for us were two appetizers, the first of which were these Fried Wontons ($7.95). These fried pockets were filled with ground chicken, and served with a house made sweet and sour sauce. These were fried well, with the absence of grease, but they needed to be filled a little more than they were. The ground chicken did not shine here. We'd probably forgo these on future visits.

One of my favorite things to try in Thai restaurants is satay, so we definitely needed to try the Chicken Satay ($10.95) at Lotus of Siam. This was an excellent version. The chicken was tender, and flavored nicely, and the peanut sauce here is out of this world. If I could have, I would have asked that this sauce be packed up to go, and I'd use it sparingly when I got it home to make it last as long as possible. This was also served with a cucumber salad, which kind of got neglected at our table.

The real reason I think Katie wanted to make a return visit to this restaurant was because of this Tom Kah Kai Soup ($4.95). She has been trying to find a local replacement for the one served here, with no luck. This Bangkok style soup comes with sliced chicken, mushrooms, galanga, which I learned is a root that resembles ginger, lemongrass, coconut milk, and a touch of fresh lime. A complex soup, but simple in taste, she of course enjoyed this immensely, and is still on the lookout for another version that can equal this one.

Entrees were up next, and we'll start things off with my good friend Steve's meal. He kept things pretty basic here with his choice of Sweet and Sour Chicken ($9.95). This had everything you would expect from this dish, pineapple, tomatoes, cucumber, red and green bell peppers, green and white onion, and it was topped with cilantro. He felt this was a good version, but it did not dazzle him. He'd definitely try something else if he were to come here again.

Katie's meal was probably the best of the night. She could not be happier with this Pad Se-Ew ($8.95), even claiming that this was the best version of this dish she has ever had. Very high praise indeed for this noodle dish that also had eggs, Chinese broccoli, black soy sauce, and some very tender beef. After two trips to Lotus of Siam, she has now found her perfect meal here, and will probably not deviate from it.

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When I knew we would be coming here for a return dinner, I checked out Yelp for their most popular items, and the one that kept popping up were these Garlic Prawns ($27.95). They were mentioned in over 300 reviews, so I had to give them a try. The prawn portion of these was great, with a very good burst of garlic in each bite. Good sized, and they were cooked well. I did not really like the shell portion of these, which was attached to the prawn. The menu states that these are like potato chips, but after eating a few of them, I decided they weren't for me. A very good dish though, and I'm glad I had the chance to try it, even though this did not fill me up too much.

Probably not the best choice for someone having their first Thai food experience, Jason went with the Seafood Pad Ped ($17.95). This seafood combination dish was filled with crab, octopus, shrimp, and other seafood, along with a roasted curry paste, mushrooms, lemon grass, lime juice, and mint leaves. Jason was very game with this dish, which was not what he was expecting. He enjoyed the flavor of the sauce, but found the seafood here not to be of his liking. Maybe he should have started with one of their very good curry dishes, or maybe a pad Thai. He does get points for at least trying everything in his bowl. I have a sneaky suspicion that he and Steve went by In-N-Out on their way back to their hotel after this meal.

Even though I would have liked to have tried a new restaurant on our last night in Vegas, I was more than happy to make Katie happy with a return meal to Lotus of Siam. The Thai food here is pretty legendary, and I really would not mind another trip here when we are back in Vegas. The menu is so large, it almost rivals Cheesecake Factory, and it would take numerous times to try a good cross section of it. For this restaurant being as popular as it is, the prices are more than fair. Service was pretty good on this night, until we straggled after our dinner talking, and it was clear that they wanted to close up shop and wanted us to leave, which is understandable. It's always good getting together with our good friend Steve, and our new friend Jason. Next time you guys can pick the restaurant.

Out of five water lilies, (because lotus is another name for these aquatic plants), five being best to zero being worst, Lotus of Siam gets 4 water lilies.

For more information about Lotus of Siam, go to their website here: http://lotusofsiamlv.com/