Finally Making It After Everyone Else - CLOSED

Afters Ice Cream

2738 Alton Parkway

Irvine, CA 92606

As with most things in my life, I'm behind the times. I bring up a song or catchphrase to my coworkers, and they look at me and say that was so yesterday. My wardrobe has been called grandfatherly. We were the last ones on earth to get Netflix. I was also one of the few people among my friends who wanted to get a smartphone, and now that I have it, I am curious to know how I got along without it for so long. Even though I write this restaurant blog, I'm sometimes behind the times in trying some of the hot items on Instagram, or as we cool kids call it, The Gram. What, we are not doing that anymore?

I was recently invited to try one of the hottest ice cream sensations to hit OC in years. I can't scroll through my Instagram account and not see something from Afters Ice Cream. It's unsurprising, considering that this was Scott Nghiem and Andy Nguyen's first venture together. These lifelong friends came up with this concept three and a half years ago, and it has blossomed into a mini-empire of 15 locations spread throughout Southern California. The pair have gone on to start other non-ice cream projects, GD Bro Burger and Pig Pen Delicacy, which has the excellent Mac Daddy Burger, which is fantastic.

Back to what has finally brought us to Afters on this warm weekday afternoon. As if this place needs another popularity boost, they have partnered with Sanrio, the world-renowned brand that has given us the wildly popular Hello Kitty and other characters. Afters has created two Hello Kitty-inspired flavors, available at all 15 locations until Sunday, August 13th. My friend Erin and I could not wait to try these two flavors and experience Afters for the first time.

While all the Afters locations have limited Hello Kitty flavors, their Irvine location is the most decorated with Hello Kitty decor. All the walls are plastered with this little feline, and there's plenty of Hello Kitty merch to buy while you wait for your ice cream to be scooped. We saw many people snapping pictures in front of the walls this early afternoon.

Now, on to the main event, the two limited edition Hello Kitty-inspired flavors. We first tried Mama's Apple Pie, a vanilla-based ice cream with applesauce, apple pie filling, and crumbled cinnamon sprinkled on top. We got this in a cup and in their Milky Bun, a warmed glazed donut with ice cream inside. Of course, the Milky Bun version is the way to go. The contrast between the warm donut and the cool ice cream was excellent. This apple ice cream was okay, as the cinnamon topping overshadowed any apple flavor we could taste in the ice cream. Great hand modeling, Erin.

This Yummy Strawberry Cake is the flavor to get at Afters. Erin and I loved this ice cream, loaded with plenty of strawberries, a strawberry swirl, and shortcake bits. This ice cream would fit right in at the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival. Again, the Milky Bun was the way to go if I had a choice. They topped it with rainbow sprinkles this time, which helped make the picture pop. I talked briefly with Afters Founder Andy Nguyen, and I was surprised to find out that they make their own ice cream and the glazed donuts they use in making the milky buns. I was impressed.

Even if you're reading this after August 13th, try Afters Ice Cream. I can't wait to come back and try the Banana Walnut Fudge and their interesting-sounding Churro flavor. Glad I finally got with it and made it to Afters Ice Cream. It won't be our last visit.

For more information about Afters Ice Cream and to find your nearest location, head to their website here: https://www.aftersicecream.com/

Our Position on Puesto

Puesto

8577 Irvine Center Dr. 

Irvine, CA 92618

It might not be fair, but most of the time I'm in a restaurant it's hard not to compare it to one of their competitors. This is especially true when I've eaten at the competitor recently. This was the case when we ate at Puesto in Irvine. I immediately thought back to early June when we dined at Urbana in Anaheim. The menus are kind of reminiscent of each other, and I'd describe both as fancy Mexcian cuisine. I loved Urbana and had some pretty high hopes for Puesto.

Puesto is new to Orange County, but they have been open in La Jolla since 2012 and opened another spot in San Diego after that. This Puesto is situated in the suddenly restaurant rich Los Olivos Shopping Center, which is located right across the freeway from the hoards of people trying to to find a parking space at the Irvine Spectrum. I know one of these days those people are going to find out about Angelina's, Burnt Crumbs, and Burger Lounge, and it might become hard to find a parking space in this center.

Back to Puesto though. It was started by a couple of brothers, Eric and Alan Adler, along with their cousin and partner, Isidoro Lombrozo. Executive Chef and Partner Luisteen Gonzalez and Executive Creative Chef  Katy Smith hold down the kitchen duties for this rapidly expanding mini chain. They are opening in Santa Clara and also have another Irvine spot opening soon at Park Place Irvine. The menu here is of course taco driven, but there's also a decent selection of snacks and share plates, a few seafood offerings, and two enchilada choices.

I had made reservations on a recent Saturday night at 7 pm, and this stylish restaurant was hopping with activity. Puesto uses artists to create their dining space. For this Irvine spot, they utilized San Diego artist, Paul Basile who used contemporary Mexico City and the Mexican jungle as his inspiration for this restaurant. Highlights for me were the three dining tables located inside the open kitchen and the bar area, which straddles the inside of the restaurant and the outdoor patio with its agave shaped firepit. So now that we settled into our seats and made our selections, it was time to see what we thought of the food at Puesto.

Unlike our visit to Urbana earlier in the month, Puesto gives you some Chips and Salsa to start off your meal. The chips were very fresh and crisp. The salsa here was more like a hot sauce, as there wasn't any chunkiness to it all. It did have a bit of heat to it, which I enjoyed. A good start to our meal.

I've heard some good things about the Crab Guacamole ($14), which is one of four types offered on the Puesto menu. They all start with their classic guacamole as a base, which comes with plenty of fresh avocados, and then they add cilantro, onion, a fresh squeeze of lime and orange, and some chile habanero to finish it off. This crab version is then topped with flaky, white crab. This is some solid guacamole, but save yourself the extra four dollars and forgo the crab. It really didn't add much, and I never thought I'd write this, but the guacamole is the headliner here, instead of the crab. It had a great texture to it, which was both chunky and smooth at the same time. They could have added a little more habanero for a kick, but still a very good effort.

When I see a fundido on a menu, I almost always get it. It's one of my favorite things to get as a starter in a Mexcian restaurant, and the one here intrigued me because it was a Queso Fundidio Verde ($8). This was my first time having green chorizo, which I think is just green chiles being mixed in with the ground pork. This was a more subtle version of this cheesy appetizer. It was not as heavy as some we have had. I had thought the chili would have been more prominent with this, but the cheese did take over. It went well with the provided blue corn tortillas that Puesto is famous for. Not a bad fundido, but I was hoping for a bigger burst of flavor.

Both Katie and I got the Three Taco ($15) option for dinner, so we got the opportunity to try half of their tacos that they have on the menu. She opted for the Grilled Market Fish (+$2), Chicken Verde, and the Chicken al Pastor tacos. On this particular evening, the market fish taco featured salmon, and this was her gold medal winner out of these three. The salmon was done nicely and the provided adobo verde, salsa fresca, tinga verde, and habanero massaged kale gave this plenty of flavor. All these weeks later, and Katie still raves about this taco. She was also fond of her two chicken choices, but not as much as the salmon. The Chicken Verde taco had a lot going on with it. It featured cilantro- cumin tomatillo sauce, their signature crispy melted cheese, caramelized onion, serrano tinga verde, and was topped with cilantro and a slice of avocado. This was a good taco, but the chicken was kind of overshadowed by the other items in it. The Chicken al Pastor was probably the most basic taco she had on this evening, but even that one had a cavalcade of items in it. Hibiscus and chipotle tinga, avocado, pina habanero pico, and the crispy cheese made up this taco, which was the one that showcased the chicken the most, which was moist and tender. A good trio of tacos for Katie.

I went a little more diverse with my Three Taco Plate ($15) than Katie. I had the Carnitas, Baja Fish (+$1), and the off the menu Heroe (+$3.50) taco. The best of the bunch was the Heroe, which is the surf and turf version that our server suggested. It had some lobster and filet mignon, crispy cheese, avocado, and onion strings. I really liked this taco. The lobster was a big hunk and definitely worth the upcharge. I thought the crispy cheese was going to be more prominent, but it blended in nicely, just like the rest of this taco. The Carnitas Taco failed to impress. The pork was not flavored very well, and some of the strands of meat were dry, but the guacamole and tomatillo fresca helped to hide it a bit. The Baja Fish Taco sounded good on the menu with its shredded cabbage, avocado, chile crema, and salsa, but I never got that big flavored bite I was looking for. The cod also needed to be seasoned a little more.

Dessert was up next, and I really wanted to try their Pina Colada Carrot Cake, but I let Katie select this Tres Leches de Cafe ($10). This really had more of a tiramisu vibe to it with its soaked sponge cake, mascarpone whip, and mocha sauce. I'm not into coffee flavored anything, but Katie enjoyed this after I had my obligatory three bites. What we do for the ones we love.

I was kind of disappointed with Puesto. It wasn't that it was awful or anything, but I had hoped it would be as good as our trip to Urbana was. It would have been nice to not have to drive all the way up to Anaheim for great fancy tacos when we could have just driven to Irvine. I'd still go back to Puesto though. These tacos were good, but they are going to be better on Tuesdays when they are priced at $2.50 after 3 pm. Puesto also has a happy hour Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 pm when the tacos are $3.50 each. A much better deal, and one that we will take advantage of soon. Our server Jose was great and provided everything we needed during our stay. Management was very hands on here running food and visiting tables which was nice. Unfortunately, it was not enough to get me to forget about Urbana, but it's way better than anything you can get right across the freeway at Javier's.

Out of five cell phones, (because this restaurant was very near to the old Verizon Amphitheater, and lots of music lovers hope there's a new version of this concert venue at the Great Park), five being best to zero being worst, Puesto gets 3 cell phones.

For more information about Puesto, head to their website here: http://eatpuesto.com/

Hoping Kaiser Grill Will Continue Our Roll in the Desert - CLOSED

Kaiser Grille

74-040 Highway 111

Palm Desert, CA 92260

My parents' 50th anniversary weekend in the desert was quickly coming to an end, and we wanted to finish it with a flourish. We could have gone to one of the national steak chain restaurants in town, but we could have eaten at one of those back in OC, and it would have tasted just the same as it does in Palm Desert. No, we needed to take this opportunity to eat at a local spot. After scouring my usual resources for a restaurant, we ended up at Kaiser Grille.

The original Kaiser Grille, founded by Kaiser Morcus in 1992, was located near this latest incarnation of Kaiser Grille. Mr. Morcus relocated from Vail, Colorado, and thought the Coachella Valley would be a great place to retire. Retirement was not in the cards, though, as he opened that restaurant and then another, and soon, the Kaiser Restaurant Group was born. Indeed, a family-run business, his two sons and a daughter also help manage their restaurants here in the Palm Springs area and the famous Hog Breath Inn in Carmel, once owned by Clint Eastwood. Other restaurants included in this restaurant group are The Chophouse, The Deck Restaurant and Sky Bar, Big Fish Grille, Fresh Grind Brgr Bar, and the Jackalope Ranch.

This Palm Desert location of Kaiser Grille used to be the site of Chophouse, which was retooled in 2014 into a Kaiser Grille and run by the very personable and quite impressive Eric Morcus. Eric just happened to be on hand this evening, and we had a great conversation with him throughout our stay at his restaurant. Along with being very hands-on in the restaurant, he also serves on various community and business associations, including being a Board Member of the Palms Springs Restaurant Association, Board Member of the Palm Desert Chamber of Commerce, and President of Palm Springs Restaurant Week, among others. It's a wonder he still has the energy to run his restaurant.

Kaiser Grille, located at the corner of Highway 111 and Portola, is hard to miss, with its large orange awnings providing some much-needed shade over their windows. Parking this Saturday evening utilized a valet, and the restaurant is tucked into the back corner of this small shopping plaza. Once past the hostess stand, the bar and lounge area will lead you into the dining room. There was some live music going on, which would dominate the space, but it was just the right level to not distract dining room guests. We were seated in a very comfy booth with a great view of the moderately busy happenings in the dining room that evening.

The menu at Kaiser Grille has everything for everyone at your table. Of course, there are red meat offerings, but there are plenty of fish, poultry, and pasta offerings. I was also surprised to find so many specials used to entice diners to come in and give Kaiser Grille a try. They have sunset/early bird dinners, which are reasonably priced at $19.99, and happy hour every night, with drink specials and discounts on over 20 food items. Three-course dinner options run from $29 to $59 depending on your entree choice, reminiscent of many Restaurant Week menus we have participated in. With so much to take in, we had difficulty deciding, but we finally put in our order. Let's see if this visit to Kaiser Grille would be a fitting end to our desert anniversary celebration.

As is the case in most restaurants, we were brought out this bread basket filled with a generous supply of warmed sourdough bread after ordering. I loved the chewiness of this bread, and it went great with the provided butter. It was hard to restrain ourselves from a second basket, but we managed.

My mom is a sucker for Chicken Tortilla Soup ($7), so she gave the version at Kaiser Grille a try. I really enjoyed this version, which was spicier than most, and the chicken was very tender. With my meal, I had the choice of salad or soup, and I could not resist trying their Castroville Cream of Artichoke Soup ($7). This was a very creamy and muted soup, which was very pleasing. The artichoke flavor lingered in the background, making this a very subtle soup.

Katie is a Caprese Salad ($12) fiend, so it was a no-brainer that she would order it this evening. This version had plenty of fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic glaze, and, of course, mixed greens. Katie liked the manageable bite-sized mozzarella balls used here, and she recalls that each bite of this salad burst with flavor.  

We might as well finish off Katie's food this evening, as she got this Pan Seared Salmon ($28) as her entree. This salmon was served over a brussel sprout hash bed consisting of mushrooms, caramelized onions, bacon, potatoes, and a touch of truffle oil. The fish was topped with a very well-done yogurt dill sauce. Katie was impressed with the way this salmon was prepared. It was light and flaky and very fresh. However, she would have liked a tad more of the yogurt dill sauce. The hash was full of flavor and very unique. This a dish she would recommend to all salmon lovers.

My dad also went the seafood route with this Swordfish Special ($38) offered this evening. I missed the description of this dish, but the swordfish came out perched on a bed of sauteed spinach, surrounded by a yellow sauce, with some tomatoes topping the fish. My dad was not a big fan of this plate. The swordfish was boring, and whatever the yellow sauce was did not help matters too much. This was made much better when we asked for some tartar sauce to be brought out. It was not something my dad would order again, even though the spinach was good.

I guess my family did not get the memo that Kaiser Grille is known for their steaks, as my mom also got something from the sea, a Crab Cake ($17). This crab cake was good-sized and came with a bit of coleslaw, which was the perfect meal for my light-eating mother. The crab cake came topped with a beurre blanc sauce, thicker than most but very tasty. The inside of the crab cake did have some filler, but there was also plenty of good-tasting crab inside. My mom was very pleased with this meal.

Okay, I shouldn't give my family a hard time about not ordering steak here, as I did not try red meat at Kaiser Grille either. I could not escape this Pork Chop Special ($29) when our server went through the specials. This was one of the 3-course dinner options on this evening, and it was excellent. This bone-in pork chop was huge and came with a blackberry compote, which went well here. The pork was moist and tender and cooked to perfection. A good quality and clean-tasting chop. I could not resist eating the meat off the bone at the end of my meal. The mashed potatoes and sliced carrots that came with this were okay but could not come close to outshining the pork.

After clearing our entree plates, our table quickly looked like a dessert buffet. Since I had told them about my parent's anniversary when making the reservations, they gave us a dessert, and my meal came with a dessert, and I'm still determining where our third dessert came from. I actually liked the Black and White Mousse the best. It was a simple dessert done well. The mousse was smooth and creamy, and I enjoyed combining the two flavors in the same bite. As is usual, I left the fresh berries to someone else. My parents had a Creme Brulee the first night of our weekend, and they liked this version at Kaiser Grille better than that one, and I would agree. It had a nice crystallized crust topping it, and the custard inside was sweeter and creamier than the one we had our first night in the desert.

Kaiser Grille was a lovely end to our weekend in the desert. Except for my dad's swordfish dish, we all had a delightful evening dinner. Indeed, this differs from the quality of food you can get at Maestro's or any other high-end national steak chain restaurant, but it will not set you back a paycheck and a half either. I appreciated all of the specials they offer here, and it's a great way to entice people to give them a try, which, judging from the pretty full dining room, seems to be working. The service this evening was excellent, and we loved getting to know Eric Morcus and his family's story. It was also a great weekend of celebrating my parents and showing them how much we love and appreciate them.

Out of five footballs (because as I was researching for this review, I learned that Kaiser Morcus was a personal friend of President Ford, who played football at Michigan before becoming a politician), five being best to zero being worst, Kaiser Grille gets 3.5 footballs.

For more information about Kaiser Grille, head to their website here: http://www.kaisergrillepalmdesert.com/

Starting Our Day off with Wilma and Frieda

Wilma & Frieda

73575 El Paseo 

Palm Desert, CA 92260

Anniversary shenanigans continued during our desert trip celebrating my parent's 50th anniversary. We had a big day planned, as we were going to visit Elvis's Honeymoon Hideaway, then I had compiled a list of stars' homes that I thought my parents might like, and hopefully, we would have time for a nap before dinner.  Also on the agenda was breakfast, which was going to help us get through our day in the desert heat, which was expected to reach into the low 110s. The choice for this breakfast was easy, we made our way to Wilma and Frieda's.

Wilma and Frieda's is located in the Gardens at El Paseo, right next door to Sak's 5th Avenue. I picked this breakfast and lunch restaurant for primarily two reasons. One, they are one of the most reviewed restaurants in the Coachella Valley on Yelp, and also because they just recently appeared on Diner's Drive-Ins, and Dives within the last month. I was also pretty impressed that they have a four-and-a-half-star rating with over 1000 reviews. I had high hopes for this place.

Wilma and Frieda is named after Owner Kelly McFall's grandmothers. Kelly has over 30 years in the hospitality business and with the help of a Kickstarter campaign, she wanted to open this place to serve comfort food to the people of Palm Desert. The brunch menu is dotted with just that, plenty of breakfast staples, house specialties, salads, sandwiches, and even a burger. There's also a big selection of baked goods, which are prominently displayed upfront.

I really got excited when we arrived at the nearly empty mall, but there was still a thirty-minute wait for this restaurant. It almost seemed like Wilma and Frieda was the only thing open on this rather warm morning at 11. Once Katie received the text telling us that our table was ready, we were whisked into the busy dining room, which probably had about 15 or so tables filled with hungry patrons. It definitely felt busy, but the staff was doing a great job controlling the scene. Since we were on a little bit of a tight schedule we made our selections pretty quickly. This is what we ended up with.

Since the baked goods caught my eye as we were being led to our table, I had to give their Cinnamon Roll ($5.50) a try. This was lighter than I had imagined it would be, but it did not sacrifice in the flavor department. The cream cheese frosting was one of the lightest I have ever had, while the bread underneath was pillowy soft. A little more cinnamon and butter inside the folds would have been favorable, but one delicious cinnamon roll for sure. The four of us devoured this way too fast.

My dad might have still been full from the dinner the night before because he got this rather light meal, the Tomato, Mushroom, Avocado, and Queso Fresco Omelet ($14). He loved this veggie omelet, as there were plenty of tomatoes and mushrooms stuffed inside the well-crafted egg portion of the omelet. He also went the lighter route by getting a side of fruit instead of potatoes and tried the very good house-made English muffin as his breakfast bread on this late morning. A great start to his day in the desert.

The only one of the four of us to get a sandwich, my mom opted for the BLTA Sandwich ($14). This souped-up BLT came on whole wheat as per my mother's wishes and was full of some of the best bacon you will ever try. The bacon here was thick-cut and smoked just enough. There was so much bacon in this that my mom took some out, which I was more than happy to relieve her of. This sandwich came with fries, which were excellent with the provided ranch my mom requested.

Katie fell back in line with the breakfast vibe here at Wilma and Frieda when she selected this Chicken Sausage, Tomato, and Goat Cheese Omelet ($14). This omelet satisfied Katie greatly. It was lighter than she imagined it would be, and she loved the way the goat cheese and the chicken sausage worked off of each other. The egg portion of this omelet lacked the greasiness that can sometimes accompany this kind of dish. The hash browns were good, and she really enjoyed the very well-done biscuit and fresh preserves that came out with this omelet. She left here a very happy girl.

It's been a long while since I got the best item at the table, but we all agreed that this Mark's Short Rib Eggs Benedict ($16) was the best thing to be sat down in front of us this morning. I loved this dish, with its house-made English muffin, perfectly poached egg, delicious and tender short rib, and excellent hollandaise sauce. It pained me to give everyone a bite of this as I wanted to make it last as long as possible. The hash browns were done nice and crispy and rounded this meal out wonderfully.  

Just in case we did not have enough on our plates, I also ordered Kim's Caramel Banana French Toast ($13). This plate kind of left me wanting more. It was fine, but I expected a thicker caramel sauce, and the french toast was just kind of there. I thought the drizzle of sour cream was going to be odd on this, but it ended up not even being present. After the spectacular Benedict, this was kind of a letdown.

Even with the rather lackluster finale on this early afternoon, we left Wilma and Frieda singing its praises. I can not envision myself coming back down to the desert and not coming to this fine restaurant for brunch. I can't wait to explore more of their menu soon and I have my eye on their burger, meatloaf, and churro waffle to try next. Visiting Wilma and Frieda was a great kickoff to our day in the desert, and we actually ended up having enough time for that elusive weekend nap.

Out of five cartoons, (because of course Wilma Flinstone is an iconic cartoon character, but there's also the lesser known Frieda, who made numerous appearances in the Peanuts comic strips and TV specials), five being best to zero being worst, Wilma and Frieda get 4 cartoons.  

For more information on Wilma and Frieda, check out the website here: http://wilmafrieda.com/