A Blast From the Past, Naugles Returns

Naugles Corporate Kitchen

18471 Mt. Langley St.

Fountain Valley, CA 92708 

For people that are over the age of 40, you have definitely heard of Naugles. Most of all the people in this age group that we encountered are pretty excited about the return of this iconic fast food chain. For people under the age of 40, allow me to introduce you to Naugles, a Mexican fast food restaurant, which probably has a soft spot in the hearts of your parents and other older people you may know, who grew up in California, Nevada, and parts of Missouri, Utah, Illinois, and Arizona.

Naugles was founded by Dick Naugle, who was a former Del Taco partner back in the day. In its heyday, there were 275 Naugles restaurants in operation, in 10 states. Then in 1988, both restaurants were bought by the same company, and merged with each other. This was the beginning of the end for Naugles, as the parent company began systematically converting all of the old Naugles into Del Tacos. By 1994 the conversion was complete when the last remaining Naugles in Missouri were turned into Del Tacos.

Now fast forward to 2010, when my friend, and fellow food blogger, Christian Ziebarth, wrote a blog post about his love of Naugles, and he was taken aback by the avid response that he got from his readers. Christian then started doing pop-ups, featuring Naugle's original recipes, made by people that actually worked there back in the day, and these Naugles pop up events were big hits, and just whetted everyone's appetite for more Naugles. This is when Christian went to court to try to get the Naugles trademark from Del Taco. After a long trial, he finally won the right to use the Naugles logo and recipes, which has paved the way for the return of Naugles.

Christian and his investors have a very aggressive plan in place, a plan that calls for close to 275 Naugles restaurants in the near future, and maybe even more than that when all is said and done. They are looking at spots that will offer a 24-hour drive-thru, which was one of the many innovations that first took place at the original Naugles back in the day. For now, there's only one spot to get your Naugles fix, and lucky for us in OC, it's centrally located right here in Fountain Valley.

This Naugles Corporate Kitchen is open every day from 8 am to 9 pm. They also have a seasonal location, which is operating during the summer months, near the Huntington Beach pier. I have to admit I only remember eating at Naugles a couple of times in the early 80's, as my parents were pretty loyal to Del Taco and Taco Bell. I recall eating at the one on Esperanza Road a few times, and also the one on our way out to the river, but other than that, I don't remember too much about the food, but was excited to give it a try.

Christian recently hosted a blogger meet up at his corporate kitchen in Fountain Valley, and he was even gracious enough to allow my sister and brother in law, who are big Naugle's fans to also attend. I was even more excited when we walked into Naugles for the first time in decades. The bright colors really evoked some long lost memories in me and got me even more excited to try their reformulated original recipes, which now match current health sensibilities, without sacrificing the original flavor of the food. We quickly ordered at the counter and waited patiently for our food to arrive at our table.

Katie's meal was the first to come out, and I was the first one to grab some of her French Fries ($2.50). I love crinkle cut fries, and these were done right. Fried nice and crisp, the crinkle in the fry held just the right amount of ketchup when dipped. Katie was pretty excited by the Combo Cup ($5.00), which is basically a taco in cup form. It comes with beans, cheese, beef, choice of sauce, red or green, and was topped with tomatoes, I swiped a few bite of this as well, and really enjoyed it. It was kind of like a combo burrito, in cup form. To round out her meal, Katie also got the Naugles fan favorite, the Cheese Burrito ($3.00) with green sauce. This is like a quesadilla, but even better, because you get more cheese in each bite. I've heard numerous stories that this is a great thing to consume after a late night of drinking. You'll feel a lot better in the morning after having one of these cheese burritos.

For my meal on this evening, I went with the Combo Burrito ($5.50) and the Naugleburger ($6.00). I feel bad that I did not take a picture of the inside of the combo burrito, but burritos are not really the most photogenic of food items. It was good, as it was full of ground beef, beans, plenty of cheese, and red sauce. It was like a better version of the one I had at Del Taco last week. The Naugleburger was truly something special. I had asked Christian about it, and he boasted that a lot of people feel this is a superior burger to In-N-Out, and I'd have to agree. This comes with double patties, two slices of cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, white sauce, and pickles. The cheddar cheese really stood out here, and I liked the way the white sauce complimented the beef and other toppings. I'll have to get some extra sauce on the side the next time I have this burger. A very fresh, and appetizing fast food burger.

My brother in law was very excited by these Hombre Nachos ($5.00), which could easily feed three people. Plenty of tortilla chips are topped with beans, house made cheddar cheese sauce, beef, and sour cream. Even though I'm not really a fan of cheese sauce, I even enjoyed these, and I was happy that they did not skimp on the toppings here. There's nothing worse than getting nachos, and most of the chips are not covered by anything. This was not the case with these nachos. Every chip was covered with cheese and the other toppings. Very well done nachos at Naugles.

I was pretty full at this point but wanted to give their Original Taco (2.50) a try. It was just as good as the new Del Taco that I'm addicted to at Del Taco. This taco reminds me of the ones I had as a kid. The cheese tastes freshly grated and was plentiful. There's a nice sized layer of beef included here, and the lettuce and tomatoes are both fresh. As an added bonus, if you're eating at Naugles on a Tuesday, they offer two tacos of your choice, a bag of chips, and a drink for only $5. A great deal, and I recommend getting these hard shelled beef tacos.

I have to admit, I left this rebooted Naugles pretty excited by the food, and for what the future has in store for this eventual chain. My uncle asked me if I thought Naugles would be able to compete with the Del Taco's and the Taco Bell's of the world, and my answer is an emphatic yes, as long as the stay true to the concept, and churn out food like we had on this evening. They might have to expand their menu a bit, but this evening proved that people who are nostalgic for Naugles, will be very happy with what they eat here.

Thanks so much for hosting us Christian. We are very happy to see your dream becoming a reality and look forward to seeing how everything works out in this venture. We would also like to thank all the energetic employees we encountered on this evening. You all take great pride in this restaurant, and it shows.

For more information about Naugles, and to keep up with all the latest news from them, go to their website here: http://www.nauglestacos.com/index.php

Mesa Proves to Be a Good Opening Act

Mesa

725 Baker Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Going through my day to day routine, I never really stop to think that I'm getting older. Most days I still have the mindset that I'm in my late twenties/early thirties, or after a long day at work, maybe pushing 35. The truth is, as much as I don't feel like it, I'm a lot closer to 50, than I am to 40.

I bring this up because Katie had gotten us tickets to see Culture Club, who were playing at the Segerstrom Concert Hall in Costa Mesa. I had told a number of my coworkers about going to the concert, but not too many of them knew anything about this 80's band, that featured Boy George. After some awful singing of some of their hit songs on my part, and my coworkers still having no clue as to who Culture Club was, I was left feeling like my parents probably did when they were shocked that I did not have any idea who Bobby Rydell was when I was a kid. Now a little dejected, I needed a good restaurant to head to before listening to "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me".

Katie had bought the tickets two days before the concert, (I know, I'm shocked there were still tickets available too), so I only had a day to make reservations. I quickly went to Open Table, which is my favorite spot for making restaurant reservations. I saw Mesa was available at 6 pm and jumped on it.

I had heard some great things about this restaurant, and their very talented chef, Niki Starr Weyler. She has been at Mesa for two years now, and before that, she had been working at Broadway in Laguna, and two restaurants that are no longer with us anymore, Charlie Palmer at Bloomingdale's and French 75. A pretty impressive list, and she's gotten glowing reviews at Mesa, which has been around since 2007.

Mesa is located in a corner of The Camp shopping complex, which has way too small of a parking lot for a retail center with this many in demand shops and restaurants. It's best to save the headaches of driving around in circles or following leaving patrons to their cars, and just pay for valet parking at Mesa. We arrived a little before our 6 pm reservation time and were met with a locked door. They don't open until 6, which I found to be a little odd, but they make up for it by being open late, until 2 am, and serving food almost until closing time.

I loved the feel of this 21 and over restaurant. We got here early and got to watch this loungy, LA kind of vibe restaurant, fill up with the young, gorgeous people of the South Coast Plaza area. Even though this joint was way hipper than a 40's something guy going to a Culture Club concert, I definitely felt comfortable here, and it was great for people watching. The main attraction for me in the dining room, besides the clientele, was the retractable room, which was open on this mild fall evening, and made this restaurant even cooler than it already was.

The small, compact menu is not going to overwhelm diners with a wide variety of things to choose from. They offer three salads, some pizzas, nine entrees, and the largest section of this menu is the appetizer portion, which included a good assortment of things, including their signature item, the Cast Iron Skillet Mussels. I did not order this because Katie would not eat it, but when we come back, I'm getting this for sure. For now, let's take a look at what we did order.

I have shied away from getting drinks in restaurants so I could focus more on the food, but I felt like letting loose on this evening and tried their version of a Moscow Mule ($7). No cooper mug here, but this beverage was still delicious. It came layered with vodka, ginger cordial, lime juice, and Angostura bitters. Different from others I have had, maybe due to the ginger cordial being used instead of a ginger beer. It gave this a little more depth.

For a month or so now, I have been on a real beet kick, and when we saw that a Roasted Beet Salad ($13) was offered at Mesa, we could not resist. This salad included roasted gold and red beets, a beet puree, champagne vinaigrette, burrata, pickled cherries, and croutons, which were really more like toast points. I don't think the menu described this quite right, or maybe I had envisioned something completely different. The beets were delicious, and the inclusion of the pickled cherries was a nice surprise. I did not get very much burrata here, and I felt six pieces of beets were more like a sample than an actual salad. It was clean tasting and light, but I expected a little more substance.

Entree time and Katie had this Wine Braised Short Rib ($26). This Italian-tinged dish featured some freshly made gnocchi, mushrooms, caramelized onions, and Parmesan cheese. The short rib was unbelievably tender, and what made this dish for me was the very well done sauce, which coated the meat and gnocchi perfectly. Real stick to your ribs kind of dish, and I could not get enough of that sauce. Luckily this was a pretty filling dish, so Katie allowed me to finish it. What a perfect wife.

I had some pretty mediocre experiences with pork chops growing up. My mom would get the really small ones at the store, and then fry the heck out of them, until they were made even smaller. They had such little meat on them, I would often just fill up on jarred applesauce and the boxed au gratin potatoes on pork chop night at home. This Berkshire Pork Chop ($29) is a very distant cousin of the pork chops of my youth. This had more meat than all the pork chops I had as a kid combined, and the pork on this one was tender and flavorful. I really enjoyed the cranberry mustard sauce way more than I thought I would when I saw it on the menu. Both the bacon braised Swiss chard and the butternut squash puree really rounded this out nicely. This helped get me over the trauma of overly done pork chops.

We had to get going to our concert, but there's always time for dessert, and I knew we had to give their Aunt Lauren's Fried Cookies ($11) a try. A few miles down the road is the home of everything deep fried, the OC Fair, but these were much better than anything you can get in July at the fairgrounds. These little balls of cookie dough were fried nicely and were not overly greasy, so you got the full flavor of the dough, and they came with plenty of vanilla ice cream. Maybe a little more chocolate in the dough or a dipping sauce would have made these even better.

Mesa was a total hit for dinner before the concert. Maybe the beet salad was not what we were expecting, but our entrees and dessert really hit the mark on this evening and made our date night even better. We'd definitely come back to Mesa when we are going to see another 80's band that no one has ever heard of, and thus making us feel like we are older than we already are. From Assistant General Manager, Joshua Uhler, to our waitress, Ashley, and everyone else we encountered on this evening, we had fantastic service, and they really made us feel welcome during our stay. I even forgive Josh and Ashley for having no idea who Culture Club is, but they promised me that they would Google them.

Out of five chameleons, (in reference to Culture Club's most well-known song), five being best to zero being worst, Mesa gets 3.5 chameleons.

For more information about Mesa, head to their website here: http://www.mesacostamesa.com/

Back to Black Angus

Black Angus Steakhouse

1350 North Tustin Ave.

Santa Ana, CA 92705

People ask me all the time where I'm going to be eating in the next few days. I guess that after doing this blog for seven years, my friends and family now know me as the restaurant guy. When I told people we were going to be eating at Black Angus, more than one person thought they had gone out of business. I think the main reason for this is based on where I work. I work in South OC, and our only Black Angus, in Lake Forest, shuttered about six years ago. After this lunch, I can assure everyone that Black Angus is alive and kicking, and still serving some pretty impressive steaks and other items.

We were recently invited into the Black Angus located on Tustin Avenue, right across from Western Medical Center. This partially hidden spot has been here for years, churning out steaks, seafood, salads, and starters for decades. In fact, my sister got her start bartending in this very location, back in the Square Cow Fun Bar days, which were many years ago. I had some pretty good times coming here when I used to work nearby and took full advantage of their great happy hour specials. Being back here really brought back a flood of memories.

Speaking of specials, they still have some good ones going on. Their coupons in the Sunday circulars are legendary and offer many great deals. Black Angus also still has a killer happy hour, which runs from 3 to 7, Monday through Friday, and goes all day on Tuesdays and Sundays in their re-branded Bulls Eye Bar. Happy hour specials are plentiful here, with many options available in the $4, $5, and $6 price levels, while people with heartier appetites will want to take advantage of their Wagon Wheel Sampler Platter, which is $5 off during this truly happy time for your wallet.

Not much has changed in the dining room of your local Black Angus. They still have the western motif going on here, with some of my favorite booths in any restaurant. The high-backed, southwestern patterned booths offer one of the most private, and comfortable dining experiences out there. A table where you can take a break from your hectic day, and immerse yourself in the aromas of steak wafting through the busy, yet quietly relaxing restaurant.

On this particular afternoon, I brought along my good friend Ozker, who had not been to Black Angus for a good many years. We were greeted by District Manager, Jeff Gadberry, who is a 40-year employee of Black Angus, and a man that knows this company inside and out. His excitement over the food and beverages we were going to be having was infectious. He really got both Ozker and I pumped up for what was in store for us.

Black Angus is really committed to overhauling their beverage program, by introducing cocktails made with seasonal ingredients, that will show new patrons, and long time customers that they are not just living on their storied past, but want to feature fresh and modern cocktails. These two handcrafted drinks are on their new fall menu, which debuted earlier this month. The top picture was my favorite of these two, the Jack's Berry Margarita ($8.75). This is a different spin on your typical margarita. They pair Sauza Blue Reposado tequila, with Jack Daniels, a fresh lime agave mix, a splash of cranberry, and then garnish this with whiskey-spiked cranberries. I really enjoyed this take on a margarita, because it did not feature the sweet and sour feel of humdrum margaritas. The Jack Daniels was front and center, but the tequila and the cranberry helped balance this out a bit. Not being a Jack fan, I was a little less enthusiastic about the straight forward Old Fashioned Jack ($11.25). This was a heavy pour of Jack Daniels, which was joined in the glass by some very flavorful orange-cinnamon bitters, which sweetened up the Jack. I loved the inclusion of the bitters here, which do not get used nearly enough. Glad to see Black Angus rectifying that.

Since we started with two drinks, we definitely needed to balance that out with some food, and out first for us were these Fire-Grilled Fresh Artichokes ($9.99). This would be Ozker's first time having artichokes, and he's now hooked. Usually, artichokes are too much work, for too little of a payout, but these had a lot of the pulpy portion of the pedal included, which was made even better by the sauces served with this. I could not decide which one of these house made sauces I enjoyed better. I alternated evenly between the lemon aioli and the pesto mayo. Really a good starter.

Since we had our first food at Black Angus, I guess it was time for another round of drinks. I felt like we were on vacation. This round of drinks was definitely way more up my alley. Lately, I've been all about Moscow Mules, and at Black Angus, they have different variations on the usual ginger beer, vodka, and lime beverage. I was given the Tennessee Mule ($8.25) to try. Again, I'm no fan of Jack, but this was a nice spin on your typical Moscow Mule, which used lemon instead of lime, substituted Jack for tequila, and then was finished off with Q Ginger Beer. For JD fans, this is sure to be a winner. I also got to sample the Tropical White Sangria ($8.00). White wine, spiced rum, pineapple, mango, and a hint of citrus brought to mind the tropics, and the earlier part of my day melted away, sip by sip.

So I was four drinks in, and had only had artichokes up until this point, so it was definitely time for some more food, and Black Angus delivered with this very solid BBQ Chopped Chicken Salad ($14.99). I'm always a little skeptical about chicken in restaurants because most of the time they overcook it into shoe leather, but that was not the case here. This tender and juicy chicken was joined in this salad with diced tomatoes, black beans, corn, cheese, tortilla strips, chopped greens, ranch dressing, and a drizzle of barbecue sauce. I couldn't get enough of this southwestern inspired salad and took a good deal of it home for dinner later on that night, and it held up perfectly.

Now this is what Black Angus is known for. Also on their fall menu, this Big Ranch 20 Ounce T-Bone ($32.99) will satisfy any meat eater you may know. You get two steaks for the price of one with this, as the New York strip and the filet are framed by the T-bone. Ozker and I could not get enough of this. It came to our table cooked perfectly medium rare, was well marbled, and full of flavor. With this dinner, you get to choose two sides, and we went with the grilled asparagus and the au gratin potatoes. Both of these sides were superbly done. I loved that the asparagus was grilled, and it really absorbed a lot of flavor from the grill. The potatoes had a real comfort food feel to them, and I enjoyed the crunch from the broiled bread crumbs on top of this. Added a nice textural component that went well with the rich and cheesy potatoes underneath.

My steak of choice when I'm in a steak restaurant is the Ribeye ($28.99). This 16-ounce chunk of meat had all the characteristics that I love about this cut of beef. It had some fat running through it, which provided big bursts of flavor, and it was also made even better with the addition of bistro butter, which is offered for a dollar extra and would be well worth it at double the price. For this entree, we got their very satisfying Roasted Brussels Sprouts, which were done nicely in a brown butter, and the homey Mac and Cheese. Ozker would not stop raving about this mac and cheese version and quickly claimed it when we were boxing up our leftovers.

It had been about five minutes since they had brought out a cocktail, so it was definitely time for another one. This was my favorite beverage of the afternoon, the Hand Shaken Mojito ($8.50). At Black Angus they offer four styles of this Cuban cocktail; mango, berry, ginger, and this one, the classic. It had a clean, refreshing tinge to it, and was one of the better versions I have had. Very well done by the bartenders at Black Angus.

Just when I thought we were done, we were presented with this Large Cold Water Atlantic Lobster Tail ($32.99). There's nothing like the audible gasp that you hear when a lobster tail is placed on a table, and Ozker and I could not stifle our excitement over this lobster. It was fork tender, had a slight sweetness to it, and went down like a warm blanket when dunked in the drawn butter. A very impressive end to the entree portion of our meals.

The last item on the Black Angus fall menu is a must for people who love pumpkin everything, and I know there's lots of you out there. This Pumpkin Cheesecake ($6.50) was heralded by Ozker as being one of the best he has ever had. The graham cracker crust is the base for the autumn inspired pumpkin filling. I liked that the pumpkin seasonings were all present, but were not all in your face. Very good, but next time I'm going to have to give their carrot cake a try.

So now you can see that the reports of Black Angus's death were greatly exaggerated. To be honest, I came in here not really expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised by our meal, and would not hesitate to return very soon. Black Angus is a great option for people that want to get more value for their money than they would be able to get at one of the high-end steakhouses that serve everything ala carte. Here, the 21-day aged steaks not only includes the beef, but also comes with two side items, and their legendary warm molasses bread as well. They even offer their Campfire Feast, which includes an appetizer and dessert for 2, for less than $30 a person. That won't even get you in the door at those high-end steakhouses. This will definitely not be our last time at Black Angus.

We would like to thank everyone at Black Angus for this fun and delicious afternoon. It was great seeing everyone's passion for this restaurant that has been around for over 50 years, and it's very commendable to see that they are changing with the times, while still keeping lots of things the same. We would personally like to thank District Manager Jeff Gadberry for the wonderful hospitality, and taking the time out of his busy day to share his vision and passion for this iconic brand. We really enjoyed getting to meet you, and getting to know your team at this Santa Ana Black Angus location. We also would like to thank PR guru, Jill Fox at JCutler Media Group for coordinating this visit, and for setting this up. It was great working with you, Jill.

If you would like to find your local Black Angus or would like more information, you should check out their website here: https://www.blackangus.com/