The Best Part of the Day is Still Recess (Room)

The Recess Room

18380 Brookhurst St.

Fountain Valley, CA 92708

When you are a kid, it seems like the world is so small. Most of your life revolves around a two or three-mile radius. You go to school, or maybe the local store, but other than that, you stay pretty close to home. At least that's how it was for me, growing up in the late 70s and early 80s. You probably had a group of friends, and you thought that you would know these people forever, not just on Facebook. For most of us, this was not the case, but for the five owners of the Recess Room in Fountain Valley, they have remained friends since childhood, and have now even opened a restaurant together.

Recess Room is the culmination of five lifelong friends, who wanted to bring a different kind of restaurant to their hometown. Fountain Valley has a lot of noteworthy Asian restaurants, a very good Turkish place, (Istanbul Grill), and a smattering of Mexican restaurants, but they were lacking a place for modern American cuisine, until now. These five friends brought this restaurant to the city they grew up in, not only because there was nothing like it around, but because they also wanted to give their fellow citizens a place where they could take a break from their lives, and experience a little recess, which is something we all daydream about.

Opened a few weeks ago, I was afraid that this restaurant was going to be kind of over the top with the elementary school theme, but thanks to restaurant designer, Kenneth Ussenko's tutelage, the restaurant has an understated nod towards a schoolyard, without being too in your face. The ceiling over the bar area is a replica of a redwood basketball court from the 60s, there are chain curtains, which are a slight nod to playground swings, and the tables are made from one-hundred-year-old wood. I also liked that the center bar area was separated from the dining area by a wall, but at the same time, you felt included in the bar action, due to the big windows that allowed for easy access to view one of their two TVs over the bar. With all these renovations, it's almost inconceivable that this used to be Coco's just over a year ago.

The menu at Recess Room is also light years away from Coco's. A good many of the items here are intended for sharing, but there's also a varied selection of entrees for people who are not too keen on sharing their food, like me. Manning, the kitchen is the very talented Chef Sergioivan Ortega, who has spent time at heavy hitters, ARC, Cucina Enoteca, and Social. As I mentioned before, this menu is probably best described as modern American, but most items offer a twist from the norm. I was definitely intrigued, and we hurriedly made our selections and waited for our food to hit the table.

A lot of my friends swear that I do not get enough veggies in my life, and that's not true. I sometimes get a stray piece of lettuce on a burger, and fries are made from potatoes, which are also a vegetable if I remember that from studying the food groups in second grade. Anyways, we started things out here with these Sprouts ($10). It seems like everyone is doing a Brussels sprout dish these days, and this one was pretty stellar. The sprouts are jazzed up with the inclusion of some brown butter, Meyer lemon, hazelnut, Parmesan, and Chinese sausage, lap Cheong. Their choice to use the milder Chinese sausage, instead of the more in-your-face bacon, really made the sprouts the star of the show here. This was a cleaner version of this dish, than most other restaurants showcase. Each tasting note, whether from the lemon, the hazelnut, or the brown butter, came through in short bursts. A great start to our night at Recess Room.

Just our second item, but this was the star of the night for me. These Blue Crab Beignets ($15) are definitely a must-order when dining at the Recess Room. These little balls are filled with Maryland blue crab, and a little mascarpone, and then served with a very good guajillo aioli for dipping. No filler inside of these, you just get the delicious crab through and through, and I was surprised that the outer shell was grease free and lighter than expected. The aioli had a little kick to it, but was very manageable, even for a spice lightweight, like Katie. Don't miss your chance to try these when you are here.

Probably my least favorite thing that we tried on this evening was these Deboned Wings ($12). I think I was just expecting more of a boneless chicken wing kind of feel, and what I got was like no boneless wing I have ever had. They had a great spicy gochujang sauce covering them, which was both spicy and sweet at the same time, but there was very little meat on them. I did like the crispy skin on the outside, but I'd probably forgo these in favor of trying another one of their appetizers, like their avocado toast or bone marrow mac and cheese, on my next visit.

Entree time was next for us at the Recess Room, and both Katie and I contemplated what to order for a while. She finally decided on this Hue Dip ($14), which she enjoyed very much. This sandwich was inspired by the "other" Vietnamese soup, bun bo hue. This sandwich was filled with thinly sliced brisket, spicy lemongrass, a jalapeno slaw, and seasoned with some coriander, all included on a very solid ciabatta, which held up to the au jus admirably. This was like two sandwiches in one. Without dipping the sandwich, you could really get a good feel for the contents of the sandwich, and Katie was impressed with its crunchy texture of this. Dipping the sandwich was like giving this a flavor boost, even though it did not need any help in that department. This sandwich came with plenty of their beer-battered fries, which we had a hard time finishing, even though they were so addicting.

I was torn between the skirt steak, short rib, and the burger, and I guess you can see that I ended up with the Bone Marrow Burger ($16) this evening. This was a stellar burger, made with some pretty high-quality beef. Even though this burger featured bone marrow and a bacon jam, it was still a subtle burger, which let the natural flavor of the beef shine through. Don't get me wrong, this was rich but not heavy, due to the lack of greasiness. Again, the bun here deserves some credit for keeping its integrity throughout the life of this burger. I enjoyed the generous serving of fries here, and the beer batter gave these fresh fries a great crunch.

The decisions at Recess Room are not easy, as I really wanted to try their cereal-inspired creme brulee, which is made with Frosted Flakes and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but the call of this Fluffer Nutter ($9) was too great to overcome. Their take on this east coast favorite includes the predictable peanut butter and marshmallow fluff, and then they add bananas and vanilla ice cream on the side. The bread is battered and fried to a very crisp french toast-like feel to it. I liked this dessert, but feel the inclusion of a little chocolate sauce could have elevated this to even greater heights. Of course, I'm a big fan of peanut butter and chocolate, so I always feel these two items belong together. Good finish to our meal here.

Recess Room has been getting lots of love from the OC food community. I read lots of restaurant review blogs, and the consensus among everyone is that these five lifelong friends have a winner on their hands. The future looks promising as well since they are expected to get their craft cocktail program up and running, once they get their liquor license, which should be any day now. Liquor license or not, this restaurant was packed with people on this Saturday night, and they were just here for the food, so that's a promising sign that this area was starving for a restaurant like this. Everyone we encountered here, from two of the owners that we chatted with, to our waiter, Roy, and to all the food runners and bussers we interacted with, all shared pride in the food and were excited to hear our thoughts as well. I'm happy that these five friends have remained so close for so long, but I'm most happy for all of us, that they opened this restaurant.

We'd like to thank everyone at the Recess Room for their hospitality, and for the chance to experience their food this evening. We did not get a chance to meet Chef Ortega on this initial visit, due to the packed restaurant, but we were really impressed with everything we consumed here. Special thanks also go out to our waiter Roy, who shared his thoughts on the food and gave us some great suggestions. He knew this menu inside and out and was at our table frequently to fill their rather small water glasses. Thanks for that Roy, and we promise not to be so thirsty on our next visit. Lastly, we'd also like to thank the great PR powerhouse, Nerissa Silao for the invite to come and try the Recess Room. Thank you for thinking of us Nerissa, we had a great time.

For more information about Recess Room, head to their website here: http://therecessroom.com/

Same Address, Same Result?

Sol Agave

31111 Rancho Viejo Road

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

I think it's safe to say that this address has had a pretty good run. We first visited this quiet little shopping center, nestled above the more hectic mission area of San Juan about a year ago, when South Coast Kitchen inhabited this very same space.  We raved about Chef Justin Davis's wine country-inspired food, but he got the itch to actually move up north, to real wine country and left broken-hearted culinary fans wanting more from this kitchen. Enter Sol Agave.

Sol Agave started as a food truck about two years ago but opened up in the former South Coast Kitchen spot at the start of this year. Executive Chef Manny Velasco is the man in charge here, and his prior work experience was obtained at Marie Calendars, Carmelita's, Amorelia, the Costa Mesa restaurant that recently got included on our restaurant wish list, and also some time spent at the now-shuttered Savannah Chophouse, as their Executive Chef. I learned of Chef Manny's cuisine from a former coworker, who turned me on to his Instagram account, and I knew I would be trying his food eventually.

Eventually turned out to be about two years later, but hey, we've been busy. I made reservations on a recent Saturday night at 7 pm, and I'm pretty glad I did. Having been here before, I knew this restaurant was small, so reservations were encouraged to avoid the twenty-minute wait other diners experienced on this evening. That will soon change, as later on this month, they will be moving across the parking lot, to the much more spacious revamped Harlow's old spot. I'm looking forward to seeing how that shakes out for them.

As for this evening, we were seated on their small patio out in front of their restaurant. According to their website, they tout their food as, "upscale, organic Mexican," and judging by the menu I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment. The Sol Agave menu boasts ten entrees ranging in price from $10 to $19 and is complimented with a fair assortment of starters and salads. There's also a brunch menu offered here on weekends, which we will definitely have to try out in the future, but for now, it was all about a long-overdue date night for Katie and I. Let's see how everything turned out for us on this evening.

As is customary when eating in a Mexican restaurant, we were brought out Chips and Salsa before our meal, but Sol Agave also included Bean Dip to up the ante. I always enjoy it when a restaurant includes an extra like this. These chips were pretty solid, with a nice crunch to them, and the salsa had a good consistency to it, with a mild pop of heat. The bean dip was nice and smooth and complimented the salsa wonderfully. After this little starter, I had quite a good feeling about this evening at Sol Agave.

Something that I've noticed that has been passed down to Katie, from her parents is a love of Guacamole ($7), as she orders it, just like they do in every Mexican restaurant they inhabit. The streak continued here at Sol Agave. This avocado mash is mixed with tomatoes, cilantro, Serrano chilies, chipotle cream, onion, and sprinkled with a little queso, and adorned with two plantains. This was very fresh and clean tasting guacamole, but I was hoping for a little flavor boost from the ingredients added to this. I might see if they can make a spicy version of this next time we are here.

I knew we'd be getting this Cazuela de Queso ($9) when I read OC Register Restaurant Critic, Brad Johnson's glowing review a few months back, and he was spot on. I learned from the waitress that this is not listed as a queso fundido because this includes sour cream in the bubbly cheese mixture. It's also topped with pasilla pepper, guacamole, and a little pico de gallo. Maybe because this had the sour cream added, or for some other reason, this was probably one of the lightest versions of this starter that we have ever had. It was delicious, with a subtle flavor that was not in your face, or too heavy. It came with handmade corn tortillas that were the best I have had, and I'm not even a fan of corn tortillas. They were thick but had an airiness to them. Excellent, and this is a must-try when dining at Sol Agave.

Just like Katie ordering guacamole in a Mexican restaurant, you can almost always count on her ordering Chicken Fajitas ($20) in that same restaurant. True to form, that's what she had here. This organic chicken came with plenty of grilled veggies, a dollop of sour cream, and guacamole. These fajitas did not need the attention-grabbing sizzle and steam that most restaurants use to drum up interest in their fajitas. The chicken was one of the most tender we have had, as that is one of my litmus tests for a Mexican restaurant since most over cook pollo to almost jerky-like toughness. The orange sauce covering the chicken was almost like an orange chicken sauce, just not as sweet. The veggies were done well, and this also came with the great corn tortillas and beans and rice, but not pictured. Sorry about that.

Okay, I guess I shouldn't publicly shame Katie for getting the same thing all the time, as I always seem to gravitate towards Carnitas ($16) on my maiden voyage to a new Mexican restaurant. This was an excellent rendition of this dish. The Kurobata pork was tender, a bit fatty, which I don't mind, and full of flavor. Really good swine here. I opted for the flour tortillas, which were okay, but I should have gotten the much better corn version. The beans and rice were okay, but nothing earth-shattering. I really did enjoy the pork though.

Pretty full by this point, but we were tempted by the Churros ($6). These freshly fried churros were filled with cajeta, which is a caramel-like syrup, usually made with caramelized goat's milk. Not sure if that was the case here, but I kept that fact hidden from Katie, who's a little squeamish about things like that. Anyways, back to these churros, which also came with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and cinnamon whipped cream. These came to the table super hot, and we had to let them sit for a while which was hard to do. I really enjoyed these, but wish there was a little more cinnamon or sugar clinging to the churros, and of course, a little more ice cream could never hurt.

Modern Mexican is quickly becoming one of my favorite kinds of cuisine. Restaurants like Sol Cocina, Tacos y Amor, Anepalcos, Tempo Urban Kitchen, and more have shown OC diners that Mexican food has evolved from the combo plates that they have grown up with. You can definitely add Sol Agave to the list of very good upscale Mexican, and I'm pretty stoked that they are located close to where we live. This restaurant, along with the others I have listed, really shows their chef's creativity and commitment to quality. I'm really looking forward to seeing how this restaurant evolves once they are in their new, larger digs across the parking lot. I'm also pretty interested to see what takes over their old spot and hoping for a third straight great restaurant for this charming location.

Out of five bottles of tequila, (not only because agave is essential in the production of tequila, but also because they will be showcasing a great selection of tequila when they move to their new location), five being best to zero being worst, Sol Agave gets 3.5 tequila bottles.

For more information about Sol Agave, and to keep up with their impending move, check out their website here: http://www.solagavesjc.com/

You Snooze, You're Not Going to Lose

Snooze an AM Eatery

3032 El Camino Real 

Tustin, CA 92782

I've come to realize that most people are not morning people. I'm proud to say that I am a morning person. I love waking up early, getting some stuff done, and if I'm being completely honest, taking a nap later in the afternoon to make up for the sleep I missed by waking up early. My wife Katie is completely the opposite, as she likes to sleep in until noon, and then stays up late checking out her phone until the late hours of the evening. So it was rare that I could get her up and out the door to try a breakfast restaurant that has gotten a lot of buzz for the better part of three months now, Snooze.

A little bit of buzz might be one of the biggest understatements I have ever made on this restaurant blog. Snooze, which opened its first OC location in early July, has been a real hot ticket since opening up at the Tustin Marketplace, right next to Hopdoddy Burger Bar, and in the same parking lot as Ikea. They not only usually have wait times on weekdays, but on weekend mornings like this one, you can wait up to two hours to get inside and get a table. Needless to say, I was intrigued about the new kid in town.

Snooze is not a new restaurant. They have locations scattered about in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, and two others operating in San Diego. Founded by two brothers, a little over ten years ago in Denver, they wanted to reinvent the first meal of the day, which to be honest is a little challenging for a lot of restaurants. Don't get me wrong, I love eating breakfast foods, but after seven years of writing this blog, it's become apparent that a lot of restaurants serve the same old breakfast entrees that we've all become accustomed to for years. From the little that I knew about Snooze, I knew this was not going to be the case on this morning.

The Snooze menu is broken up into egg dishes, Benedict's, sweet breakfast foods, lighter fare, and a few breakfast inspired sandwiches, including a very intriguing Havana Day Dreaming sandwich, which is a riff on a Cuban, which is my favorite sandwich of all time. I also enjoyed seeing on their menu that they encourage customers to customize their items to suit their tastes, something that a lot of restaurants have gotten away from these days. Snooze also features a full bar and touts several cocktails, Bloody Mary's, and champagne drinks.

We arrived here at just before 10 and were met with a two and a half hour wait. Not that we didn't see this coming with all the people waiting outside the restaurant, and everything we had heard about this place. We gave the hostess our cell phone number, and killed time by walking around the entire Tustin Marketplace, which made the time go relatively quick, even though I was becoming hungrier by the minute. Finally, as we were in T.J. Maxx, my phone buzzed, and we high-tailed it back to the restaurant and got seated two hours and fifteen minutes after putting our name in. Let's see if the wait would be worth it.

Ladies first, so we'll start with Katie's choice on this now early afternoon, the Snooze Breakfast Burrito ($10.25 or $15 as Katie ordered it). Yes, you read that correctly, this breakfast burrito was $15, as Katie added caramelized onion, sausage, and avocado to their base burrito that also came with scrambled eggs, hash browns, black beans, cheddar and jack cheese, and was then topped with pico de gallo and a green chili sauce. This was a huge burrito, which Katie only finished half of it and I took the other half home for dinner. I really enjoyed this the next day, even though Katie did not leave me too much in the way of sausage. Very selfish.

The breakfast taco has always intrigued me, and it must have done the same for our good friend Oscar, as he went with the Juan's Breakfast Tacos ($10 or $12 with bacon added). These three corn tortillas came topped with scrambled eggs, hash browns, and jack cheese. Oscar is a lightweight when it comes to spice, so he opted to omit the green chili hollandaise sauce and pico de gallo from his tacos. I'm sure this would have made these better, but these did not receive any complaints from our friend. I'll have to try breakfast tacos soon to see what all the fuss is about.

The creativity of the breakfast items at Snooze really makes itself evident in the Benedict portion of the menu. I was happy that they offered a Benny Duo ($13.25) for the indecisive here so I could try two Benedict's at the same time. It was a tough choice choosing between the six Benedict's offered, but I went with the Chilaquiles Benedict and the Chili Verde Benny. I did enjoy both of these, but I think the chilaquiles version edged out the chili verde version. The chilaquiles version had barbacoa beef placed on top of a stack of ranchero sauced tortillas and is finished with cheese, poached egg, roasted poblano hollandaise sauce, pico de gallo, and cotija cheese. The beef was good, and the hollandaise sauce provided a nice spark of heat. The egg was poached well, and the runny yolk bound everything together perfectly. The chili verde option came with a very good pork topping the green chili drenched tortillas, along with cheese, green chili hollandaise, poached egg, pico de gallo, and cotija cheese. The pork was solid here, but I expected a little more from the green chili sauce. It kind of fell flat for me. I also had wished that the serving size of these were a little larger. It seemed like I took three bites, and they were gone. These also came with house hash browns, which were pretty average. I asked for this extra crispy, but they were still a little soft in some spots.

I guess I was pretty indecisive, or I just wanted to get a good lay of the land here at Snooze because I also took advantage of their Pancake Flight ($10.50). With this option, you get to choose three different kinds of pancake offerings. Oh, the breakfast spot you go to only has two or three kinds of pancakes, not the case at Snooze. Here they have six varieties, plus three kinds of french toast, which you can also include in your pancake flight. I selected the Pineapple Upside Down Pancake, the Pancake of the Day, and the OMG French Toast. The pineapple upside down is a gold medal winner here, with its caramelized pineapple chunks, vanilla cream, and cinnamon butter. No need for syrup with this sweet pancake. The silver medal out of this trio would go to the OMG french toast. Here they stuff brioche with mascarpone, and top it with fresh strawberries, vanilla cream, salted caramel, and toasted coconut. The result is a decadent french toast, which does not overwhelm with sweetness, and a good crunch to the outside, which I liked a lot. The pancake of the day on this particular Sunday was a white chocolate raspberry concoction, which was also pretty solid, but would end up with the bronze medal on this plate.

I really enjoyed my time at Snooze. The food was good, but what made this restaurant for me was the creativity of it. This is not a normal diner breakfast, this is breakfast food with some pizazz. They really made breakfast their own, and it seems to have struck a chord with people. Not sure if it's a wait two hours every weekend kind of food, but every once in awhile for sure. I can definitely see Snooze opening up additional OC locations down the line, which will help alleviate wait times here. I thought the prices were on the high side, but again, this is more of a special occasion kind of breakfast restaurant, instead of every weekend. Service was exceptional on this visit, even with our waitress, Mel nearing the end of her busy shift. She was cheerful and answered all of our queries. I've heard that food can sometimes take awhile to make its way out to the tables, but ours was served in a timely manner on this afternoon. I'll look forward to coming back here again and trying their breakfast pot pie, more of their pancakes, and of course that Cuban-style sandwich. Hopefully, I can get Katie to turn into a morning person again real soon.

Out of five alarm clocks, (because of course all of them have a snooze button, which probably gets used way too much), five being best, to zero being worst, Snooze an AM Eatery gets 3 alarm clocks.

For more information about Snooze, head to their website here: http://snoozeeatery.com/

 

Sound the Alarm, There's a New Barbecue Restaurant in South OC - CLOSED

Firehouse Ribs and More

111 West Avenida Palizada 

San Clemente, CA 92672

Katie and I have been trying to be more active in this last part of the year. We have been walking a lot more frequently, which has actually made us feel pretty good. On a recent Friday afternoon, Katie had gotten off work early, and we decided to go walk one of our favorite trails in all of OC, the San Clemente Beach Trail.

This trail not only offers the picturesque coastline of the Pacific Ocean but has the added excitement of watching the commuter trains passing by, only a few feet from the walkers, cyclists, and joggers taking advantage of this great spot. This trail also offers us the advantage of trying out some nearby restaurants, and after giving Katie three choices, she decided we'd give Firehouse Ribs and More a try.

I've often lamented the fact on this blog that there are not many good options for barbecue in South OC. In my opinion, the only decent option for barbecue south of the El Toro Y is Dickey's, but they are really more of a fast-casual spot, and not really a restaurant for dining in at, although you can definitely do that if you wish. With the lackluster barbecue in these parts, I always get excited by the prospect of a new barbecue spot becoming my new favorite place to get ribs, brisket and more, and that's what I was hoping for when we entered Firehouse.

Firehouse Ribs is located in one of the strangest shopping centers we have been to in a while. One block south of El Camino Real on Palizada is Old City Plaza, which is also home to a Chinese, Mexican, and breakfast restaurant. It was also the location of some retail shops, which were all closed at the very early hour of 6 pm. Kind of odd, and even odder, was the fact that when Katie and I walked in Firehouse, the only other table occupied besides our own belonged to my aunt and uncle. We quickly took the two empty seat at their table and set up shop while they waited for their food to arrive.

Opened since April, the decor here can best be described as kitschy. There's a disco ball hanging from the ceiling, along with a Millennium Falcon, lots of framed rock music posters and albums, and if you feel so inclined, you can eat in one of their two private dining rooms, which just happen to be converted jail cells from the Historic San Clemente Jail. The menu is pretty straight forward, and not going to make you gasp at the hugeness of it. There are seven barbecue plates, along with two burgers, pulled pork sliders, and chicken strips. They are also waiting for a liquor license, which we were assured was on its way soon. Since we ordered after my aunt and uncle, let's take a look at their food first, and see if this will become our go-to spot for barbecue in South OC.

First up was my uncle's selection, off of their specials board in front of the restaurant, the Baby Back Rib Special ($12.99). With this special, that seems to be available regularly based on the pictures on Yelp, you receive three ribs, two sides, and cornbread. He had no qualms with the ribs, calling them, "delicious." For his sides, he opted for the mashed potatoes and the baked beans. The cornbread won rave reviews from him and his wife. A very satisfying meal for my uncle.

Not what many would consider ordering in a barbecue restaurant, my aunt Hiroko had the Chicken Strip Dinner ($9.99). These tender pieces of white meat chicken were not overly breaded like others tend to be. This allowed the natural flavor of the chicken to shine through. The fries were pretty average, and nothing special. A good plate for people not wanting barbecue.

Katie went a more traditional barbecue route at Firehouse, by getting the Pulled Pork Sliders ($9.99). These three sliders came with plenty of pork and coleslaw, and also included fries as a side item. She liked the pulled pork here, calling it, "tender and juicy," while the coleslaw added a nice textural crunch. The fries again were just average.

As is my usual in a barbecue restaurant, I always try the largest combo plate available. At Firehouse that would be this Rib Combo Plate ($21.99). This plate was made up of three baby back ribs, two beef ribs, one side item, and cornbread. The best of the bunch was the beef ribs. These had plenty of meat on them, which was tender and flavorful. I don't think beef ribs get enough love from barbecue enthusiasts, and I'm going to attempt to change that by ordering beef ribs whenever I'm in a barbecue restaurant. The baby back ribs were a little disappointing. Parts of them were good, but some parts of the ribs were on the dry side, which was rectified with adding some extra sauce. I also had mixed thoughts about the side item I selected, the mashed potatoes. The menu says these include onions, parsley, and bacon, which they did, but I expected a bigger flavor boost from these. They did have a good texture, not too lumpy or too dry. The cornbread was good, but not as sweet as I enjoy it. It did hold up structurally, which is my pet peeve when it comes to cornbread, which can sometimes be too crumbly.

Firehouse Ribs and More is a welcome addition to the desolate barbecue landscape of South OC. This is still a very new restaurant, so I'm curious to see where they go from here. The barbecue this evening was not knocked your socks off, but it's a better alternative than not having any barbecue options. I'd probably stick to the specials here, as they are more moderately priced than the regular plates, and the portions are pretty much the same size, and you also get to choose an extra side item. People are slowly finding out about this place, as when we left the restaurant, it was packed with customers consuming lots of ribs. I've also heard great things about their burgers, and they looked fantastic as well. With only two servers to help a full restaurant, service was stretched a little thin on this evening, but they were at least trying. We will definitely be back after future visits to our favorite walking trail in OC, the San Clemente Beach Trail.

Out of five dalmatians, (because all firehouses need to have one these black and white spotted dogs), five being best to zero being worst, Firehouse Ribs and More gets 3 dalmatians.

For more information about Firehouse Ribs and More, head to their website, which has one of the longest web addresses ever, here: http://bbqrestaurantsanclemente.com/bbq-restaurant-san-clemente-san-clemente-bbq-restaurant-firehouse-ribs-bbq-restaurant-san-clemente-ca-ribs-san-clemente-ca-golden-roasted-chicken-san-clemente-pulled-pork-sandwiches-san-clemente-beef-ribs-san-clemente-pork-ribs-san-clemente-old-town-san-c