The Nittty Gritty at Grits - CLOSED

Grits

133 West Chapman Ave. #102

Fullerton, CA 92832

When I hear the word grits, my mind automatically thinks of breakfast. There are probably two reasons for this. One reason is that when you are traveling in the south, if your first meal of the day does not include grits, then you have not done a southern breakfast properly. The second reason is that we had a really good breakfast the first time we visited critically acclaimed Grits in Fullerton. I just learned however that Grits also serves dinner, and we were invited to try out some of their latest supper items.

After nearly seven years of writing this blog, I still enjoy media events, but this one had me really excited, and I think a lot of that has to do with the man at the helm of this restaurant, the great, Chef Cody Storts. Chef Cody has been a mainstay in Fullerton for a while now, working in many roles at Stubik's, Bourbon Street, Hopscotch, The Lime Truck, and Nieuport 17. Grits, however, is the first restaurant where he is the owner, chef, and founder. A spot where he's grown this restaurant from concept to fruition.

With a background in theater, Chef Cody wanted this restaurant to be a culinary showplace, hence the bar seating, with a great view of all the drama of the kitchen right in front of you. The Grit's website boldly proclaims that they exist because "Fullerton dining needed a kick in the ass." A pretty audacious statement, but one they seem to back up with their philosophy of this restaurant. They look at themselves as a team of leaders, who want to shake up the dining scene, but refuse to be pigeon-holed by labels. They are excited by the food they are creating at Grits and want it to keep evolving, so you might want to order what you like because it might not be there the next time you visit.

Grits is located just a stone's throw away from the rambunctious hub of Downtown Fullerton. Situated a block west of Harbor, they share a small strip mall with  Philly's Best, Kaori Sushi, and Chronic Tacos. Known first as a breakfast/brunch/lunch restaurant, they now are winning rave reviews for their dinner service, and more notably, their monthly beer dinners, which have been described as epic, and I've been advised that I should not miss the next one that features Golden Road Brewing on June 24th. For now, though, I was pretty pumped to see what Chef Cody had in store for us this evening.

Things started out nicely with this good looking Charcuterie Plate, which was loaded with pickles, a variety of cheeses, pickled veggies, and some thick slices of ham. I took it nice and easy to start here because I peeked at the upcoming items on the menu and decided to save room. See, you can teach an old dog some new tricks. Anyways, I did enjoy the pickled vegetables here, and the one piece of ham that I had was smoked wonderfully. A nice mellow start to my night.

This plate was way more my style, as it featured a very well done Blood Sausage. When most of the people at our media event heard that this was blood sausage, they kind of avoided it, and that was fine with me, as I ate more than my fair share. So much for taking it easy at the start. The sausage had a great flavor to it and was accentuated with the very good mustard provided. The toasted bread was nice, but I envisioned having this sausage in a bun and eating it like a bratwurst. That would be epic.

For those of you that know me, or follow this blog pretty closely, you know I'm usually averse to vegetables, but this Salmon Lox Salad was pretty impressive. Sliced salmon was joined by one of the more unique dressings I have seen in a while, a cumin vinaigrette. This was delicious, and I wanted to sneak some of it out of here. This is one way to get me to eat my produce servings.

The food started coming out quickly now, and it was agony waiting for everyone to get their perfect pictures, because the food all looked so good, and I could not wait to dig in. Starting off the entree portion on this evening was the Pork and Grits. A Dr. Pepper braised pork shank was perched atop some of the best white grits you will ever shovel into your mouth, and the pork was finished off with a dried Bing cherry glace. Wow, just wow. The pork was incredibly tender, and the braise added a great deal of flavor. The cherry glace was subtle, but lingering in the background. I fork battled my table mates for as much of the grits as I could get my hands on. They are that good.

Next up was the Fried Chicken from Grits, which they offer on Sundays as an All You Can Eat Fried Chicken Dinner. After inhaling this poultry, we will definitely be making plans to head back here on a Sunday to partake in this delicious fried chicken, which the menu describes as, "fried chicken that does not suck."  A very apt description indeed. There was a nice crunchy outer shell, and moist, and tender chicken inside. I was also a fan of the provided hot sauce to dip the chicken into, even though this was unnecessary for a lot of my fellow food friends at this event.

I should have taken a picture of the inside of this Meatloaf En Croute, but it was not on my plate too long. I'd describe this as a poor man's beef wellington, but not in a bad way. Instead of the traditional steak inside the puff pastry, Chef Cody substituted meatloaf, and topped this with a hunter sauce, and paired it with a duck fat mash. This is true stick to your ribs kind of food, which I am always a fan of. The meatloaf was very flavorful, the brown hunter sauce went well here, and the duck fat mashed potatoes were incredibly decadent. A very creative plate, and one I have been thinking about ever since.

I don't know why, but I was not expecting a burger on this night, but we were presented with this Big Papa Burger. Not sure of the size of this burger, but I'm putting it in at two-thirds of a pound. The loosely packed beef was topped with Havarti cheese, peppadews, plenty of red cabbage, cilantro, and a Cajun aioli. I really liked this unique burger, which is not like anything I have had recently. The beef was seasoned well and cooked to a wonderful medium. The red cabbage added some crunch, there was plenty of the very good Cajun aioli on here, and the South African peppadews added a nice sweetness. Also worth noting, the bun held everything together and was a great vessel for the insides of the burger. Not sure who supplies their bread, but they should be commended.

The last of our entrees came out, and I really did not know what to expect from these Thai Balls. The menu describes these as a buttermilk fried cutlet, with jalapeno, shallots, maple syrup, and fish sauce. Okay, that sounds like an odd combination, but these were a hit with almost all in attendance. I liked the different flavors working together here. You have a sweet and savory thing happening here, and it works well. The pork was delicious, the pancake balls soaked up the syrup, and got me upset that I did not try these when I came here for brunch. The fish sauce was present but did not overpower, only providing an Asian tinge to this dish. A very well balanced plate in my opinion.

Yes, even with all of this food, there's always room for dessert, especially if dessert is this very awesome Bread Pudding. My friend Anne Marie took a bite of this first, and by her reaction, I knew it was going to be good. The sliced buttered brioche was served with some kind of sauce. To be honest, I heard Chef Cody describing this, but I was in my own euphoric state, and could not be brought out of it until I cleared my plate. Do yourself a favor, and make sure to try their bread pudding when having dinner at Grits.

After this visit to Grits, I will never make the mistake of thinking of this restaurant as only breakfast joint again. Chef Cody dazzled with his dinner menu, and I 'd be happy to come back here again for any of these entrees. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to pick my favorite of the night. They were all great. Also, knowing Chef Cody's philosophy of an evolving menu, I look forward to seeing what delicious changes he has in store for us on subsequent trips here. Be aware that dinner is served at Grits only Wednesday through Sunday, so plan accordingly. We are already setting aside some time to partake in their all you can eat fried chicken dinner on Sundays.

I'd like to thank everyone at Grits for this opportunity to try out their impressive dinner items. Many thanks to the man of the hour, Chef Cody Storts, who impressed all of us with not only his culinary prowess but his willingness to answer all of our annoying questions. I'd also like to thank Beverage Director Mike Ruvalcaba, who has created a masterful beer list at Grits and is always on the lookout for the next great addition to make the tap lineup. Lastly, I"d like to thank my food bother from another mother, Niyaz Pirani of Knife and Spork PR for this invite, and for putting together such a great group of OC food people. It was truly a pleasure.

For all the latest things happening at Grits, head over to their website here: http://gritsfullerton.com/

MRK Might Be Short for Remarkable

MRK Public

1402 South El Camino Real

San Clemente, CA 92672

South OC has been blowing up lately, with many independent, chef-driven restaurants opening. Sol Agave, Ironwood, Public 74, and Central, which is located in Laguna, are just some off the top of my head that have debuted recently and are on our list of restaurants to hit up. Also on our list is MRK Public, which has been getting lots of praise lately, and that was enough for us to move them to the top of our list.

MRK comes to us from the three local chefs who used to be at Tabu Grill in Laguna. Lending the first letter of each of their names gives us the name of this restaurant, which used to be a burger joint but has been revamped into this chef-driven spot. Coming from a more fine dining background, the three chefs wanted to create a casual place, encouraging customers to become regulars. If the crowd here on this particular Saturday night we visited is any indication, they now have tons of regulars.

The term gastropub gets thrown around often, and I guess this restaurant/bar qualifies. MRK has a solid list of craft beers priced at $5. There's also a small list of red and white wines. The decor here is minimal, with white walls, some sporadic art hanging up, and comfortable black booths. There's a ten-seat bar as you enter to the left and maybe 30 or so tables here, including the busy patio out in front of the restaurant. They nailed the casual, laid-back beach atmosphere they were going for.

Chalkboards all around lend to a slight hipster vibe at MRK, but not in an annoying way. Checking out their customer base, I see a good cross-section of people here. Young families, seniors out for a date night, and millennials out for a quick bite before hitting the bars. The space is loud but lively kind of way, which is good because it gave Katie a break from listening to me for a while. It also allowed us to focus on the food here. So, let's see how it all worked out for us this evening.

I recently read an article by the Register's Restaurant Critic, Brad Johnson, about wings, and he mentioned these Vietnamese Sticky Wings ($13) among his best. I would also have to tend to agree with his summation. I'm usually more partial to a traditional hot wing with the neon orange sauce, but these were fantastic. They came out of the kitchen scalding hot, had a great crispy shell to them, and included plenty of tender chicken on each drum and wing. They struck a delicate balance by having just the right amount of sweetness so it did not detract from the chicken. Wonderfully done.

With only one of four sandwiches at MRK, Katie selected this photogenic Red Wine Braised Angus Short Rib Sandwich ($14, but $17 with the fries) as her meal. This sandwich overflowed with shredded short rib, caramelized onions, a very good horseradish crema, pickled Fresno chilis, baby greens, fried onions, and jalapenos. Katie fell in love with this sandwich, throwing words around like "perfect, balanced, and comforting." She loved the crunchy bread this came on, the tender short rib, and the clean heat she got from the jalapenos. She proclaimed this the best sandwich she has had all year, and the bite I had could not discount this statement. The fries were freshly cut and fried to perfection. These came with a tasty rosemary garlic aioli that I used with my upcoming entree. Even the house-made ketchup was good, and I'm usually not a fan of ketchup made in-house.

With only three other sandwiches left to try, one being a burger, I guess you can assume which one I went with. This House Burger ($12) starts with a half-pound of Angus beef and is topped with white cheddar, oven-roasted tomato, lettuce, house-made pickles, a grilled onion spread, and lemon aioli. This was one of the cleanest burgers I have had in recent memory. Not relying on the condiments to do the work. The bun-to-burger ratio was on point, and the beef was stellar. I would have liked the condiments to be more prominent here, but I used plenty of rosemary garlic aioli. The cheese melted superbly, and even the roasted tomato, which I am not a fan of, worked well. Very good burger.

Every time we have gone out recently, we have ended our meal with bread pudding. This evening, it was a variation of that dessert. The Brown Butter Banana Bread ($8) was not soaked like bread puddings and was topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream, five-spiced cashews, and banana caramel. To be truthful about this, I did not really get a lot of bananas from either the bread or the caramel. I liked the crunchy texture of the nuts, and they included enough ice cream for Katie and me to share. Usually, we jockey with our spoons for the ice cream, but not so at MRK. Katie enjoyed the muted sweetness of this dessert.

MRK deserves all of the praise it receives. Not only were they lauded for their very good wings, but they were also placed on the Top 75  Places to Eat List by the OC Register. Pretty impressive for a restaurant that has only been around for less than two years and is located in the sometimes neglected southernmost city in our great county. The only knock I have with this restaurant is that their menu is pretty limited. They feature only four sandwiches, three salads, and a handful of light snacks. This might be due to their small kitchen, which you can get a good look at as you walk through their door. We received great service from our waitress, Elizabeth, this evening, and everyone else we encountered was also friendly. Good food and nice people make this a great addition to the chef-driven restaurants of South OC.

Out of five ravens (because the initials MRK are also used as the airport code of Marcos Island Airport in Florida, and the lone airline that flies there is Raven Airlines), five being best to zero being worst, MRK Public gets 3.5 ravens.

For more information about MRK Public, click here to go to their website: https://www.mrkpublic.com/

Hoping Taps Will Be The Tops - CLOSED

Taps Fish House and Brewery

13390 Jamboree Road

Irvine, CA 92602

I play it off like I am unemotional, but I can be pretty romantic when I want to be. For weeks before our first anniversary, Katie asked me what to do. I told her, just like with Christmas and our birthdays, we'll just go out for a quick dinner, with no presents. So when it was our anniversary night, I surprised her at work, got her flowers and a card, and even made reservations for dinner. Since she works so close by, and we've always loved our trips to Taps, that's where we headed to celebrate one year of wedded bliss.

This Irvine location of Taps is also celebrating its first anniversary next month. Founded by the successful Joe Manzella, Taps now has three locations (this one, Corona, and the original Brea spot). Also under his co-leadership is one of my favorite barbecue restaurants in OC, Lillie's Q. Built on the former Buca Di Beppo site, the interior of this Taps is completely unrecognizable from its last tenant. High ceilings, comfortable booths, and a wonderful brick archway lend elegance to the space, while the expansive bar area helps even things out with an upscale sports bar theme. The real showcase for this restaurant is the open kitchen, which allows diners a fantastic view of the goings on in this large culinary wonderland.

I had made reservations but did not need to on this quiet Monday evening in the dining room. During our stay, there was a slow procession of customers inhabiting the dining room, but we never encountered anything close to a rush during this early dinner hour. The menu at this location of Taps is a little different from the others. There are more table-side presentations on this menu, which I like, and I hope they come back in fashion. The rest of the menu is straightforward, with many seafood, steaks, and starters. They also feature a prix fixe menu, where for $31.99, you get to create your own three course meal from their selected offerings. This sounded great to both Katie and I, so we quickly ordered from our waiter Greg, and talked about all of the grievances we have experienced with each other from our first year of marriage. Just kidding, wanted to make sure you were still reading along. Here's how everything came out for us.

As is customary with all meals at Taps, they start you out with a Quarter Loaf of Sourdough and some Oil and Vinegar. This bread comes out piping hot, and that makes it even better. We devoured two servings of this before we had to stop ourselves.

You might think these Short Rib Meatballs were my first course, but you'd be wrong. Katie selected these as her appetizer course. I knew I married her for some reason. These tender meatballs were bathed in an arrabbiata sauce and topped with an interesting house-made lemon ricotta and gremolata. I later learned that gremolata is an herb condiment of lemon zest, garlic, and parsley. It really added to these meatballs. The citrus was evident, but did not overpower, which also could be said for the cheese used here. Both allowed the meatballs to be the star of the show.

I'm always a sucker for a Caesar Salad, and I had an inkling that this one was going to be good, and I was right. On their regular menu this Caesar is prepared table for two people, but this prix fixe portion was prepared in the kitchen. Romaine hearts, croutons, and pecorino romano cheese made up this salad with a very subtle Caesar dressing. I'd like a little more dressing, but a very solid yet simple Caesar.

Katie was torn between several choices but eventually went with this Harissa Grilled Atlantic Salmon. The salmon was presented on top of a bed of red quinoa and topped with toasted almonds, a cucumber bouquet, lemon vinaigrette, and fennel pollen. I'm not going to lie to you, I'd probably never order this, because I've never had a great experience with quinoa, but Katie loved this. She loved the freshness of the fish here, the use of cucumber, and the playful use of textures they came up with. She would totally get this again on future visits to Taps.

I went simple with my entree selection, the 8 Ounce Prime Top Sirloin. If a restaurant can cook a top sirloin and make it taste good, then you know they are doing it right. This was done to my desired medium, rare, and was more tender than expected. I would have liked a sauce with this, but it was fine when I alternated bites with good mashed potatoes. These were some of the best-mashed potatoes I've had in a while. Really tasty. This also came with some asparagus as the seasonal vegetable on this evening.

Dessert time was next, and I had this Classic crème brulee. Tahitian vanilla bean custard was topped with whipped cream and mixed berries. It was a strong creme brulee, but nothing that made it stand out. I did enjoy that it was pretty good sized and had a nice caramelized coating.

I have been on a roll with bread pudding lately, but this Salted Caramel Bread Pudding might take the cake as the best we have had. The bread pudding was moist and delicious, the salted caramel plentiful, and it really came alive with the addition of Pop Rocks. I know that they rotate their versions of this dessert, but if this is offered when you are here, order it; you won't be sorry.

Celebrating our anniversary at Taps was a great choice, if I do say so myself. The prix fixe menu was a great value. I added up everything I had, which would have cost me $45 instead of the $31 I paid. Katie's meal was an even better deal, as we would have had to shell out $49 for hers, but again, this costs us just $31. Good food and good for your wallet as well. The food at Taps is very solid, but what I had this evening was prepared too simply. I'd definitely jazz up my meal on my next visit. As much as I hate to say it, Katie's picks were better than mine this evening. Our service was on point, and the food made its way out to us promptly. Taps was a great place to celebrate our anniversary; it might just become our anniversary tradition.

Out of five barrels of oil (because the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System, also known as TAPS, has carried 16 billion barrels of oil to date), five being best and zero being worst, Taps Fish House and Brewery gets 3.5 barrels of oil.

For more information about Taps Fish House and Brewery, head to their website here: http://www.tapsfishhouse.com/