Consuming CroCreams at Churned Creamery

Churned Creamery

2493 Park Ave. #21

Tustin, CA 92782

After a rather lackluster dinner experience nearby, I was really ready for some dessert. Since it has been so warm and humid out there lately, ice cream was, of course, the natural choice. A quick check of Yelp led us to Churned Creamery, which is located on the backside of the Union Market at the District at Tustin Legacy.

Not knowing too much about Churned Creamery before getting here, the ordering process was a little confusing at first. The three step process starts with how you want your ice cream; in a bowl, a brownie bowl, cone, or in a croissant. Then you pick your flavor, which on this particular evening they had 13 available with the wildest ones being either the honeydew or the whiskey and cream. There are also four sorbets available. The third and final step in the process is to add your toppings and maybe a drizzle of Nutella or caramel over your creation. There's also shakes and soda floats for people that would rather drink their ice cream than eat it with a spoon.

Katie went the simple route at Churned Creamery with this Single Scoop of Chocolate ($4.50 + $1 for up to three toppings). The ice cream was very creamy and the chocolate shined here. I liked the consistency of the ice cream, as it was not overly heavy, but did stay cold for awhile. I was a little disappointed with the selection of toppings that they had. There were no crushed up Resse's, no crushed peanuts, and no peanut butter drizzle. Sounds like they are anti-peanut or maybe I just really wanted a peanut butter and chocolate vibe. Katie settled on Butterfinger pieces and chocolate sprinkles which she seemed to really enjoy.

Here's the real reason to come to Churned Creamery, their signature Crocream ($7 with three toppings included). I was pretty stoked with this creation. It's a croissant cut open with a scoop of ice cream inside of it and then you choose up to three toppings to complete your masterpiece. I had the Resse's Peanut Butter ice cream with a Nutella drizzle, chocolate chips, and granola rounding this out. They were not shy with the amount of ice cream they added inside of the croissant, so I ate a few bites with my spoon and then finished this off eating it like a sandwich. Even though I would probably not get the underachieving Resse's ice cream again, this was a delicious dessert, and one I have thought about since I had it a few weeks ago.

Churned Creamery finished our evening off well. I'll definitely go back and have another Crocream the next time I am at the District. Now that I got the lay of the land here, I'll create an even better version of my masterpiece next time. Probably a mint concoction with chocolate and Oreos. I didn't think that the prices were too out of control, especially when you consider the area. Service was pretty solid, and the guy who helped us was very patient with all of our questions. A very welcome addition to the Union Market, especially since Mr. Holmes Bakery is always closed when we are here.

Out of five blimps, (because this restaurant is in the shadows of the massive hangars that were once a storage and repair area for blimps during the Marine Corp Air Station days), five being best to zero being worst, Churned Creamery gets 3 blimps.

For more information about Churned Creamery, head to their website here: http://www.churnedcreamery.com/#home-section

Enamored with Ike's Love and Sandwiches?

Ike's Love and Sandwiches

2487 Park Ave. 

Tustin, CA 92782

It seems that all of a sudden restaurants from other regions of the country have been opening up in OC. We are now home to the Midwest favorite, Steak and Shake, (yuck), Portillo's, (delicious), and Raising Cane's, (I could take it or leave it) among others. It didn't use to be this way. It used to be that if you wanted to try let's say, Five Guys, you had to travel to the East Coast. Now at last count, there are 11 in OC so you can see for yourself if this chain truly is the In-N-Out of the east.

It's another import that has brought us out on this early evening, Ike's Love and Sandwiches. Ike's comes to us from the Castro District in San Fransisco, where on most days there's a long line of customers from the time they open until they close. They even had to reduce their hours at one point to keep their neighbors from revolting against this suddenly expanding chain of sandwich shops. There are now 36 places where you can get one of Ike's sandwiches, including three spots in OC, including this location at The District at Tustin Legacy.

Ike's menu is a little intimidating for first timers like myself. There are close to 50 sandwiches named after celebrities and San Francisco pro sports players. As if that's not enough, there are also some secret menu items, and each location of this sandwich chain has its own special menu items tailored towards its clientele. With so many options, I was really nervous about making the wrong choice, so I decided to try two sandwiches, and take half home for lunch the next day.

Ike's is situated in the old Capriotti's location at the ever changing District at Tustin Legacy shopping complex. They have been here for almost a year now, and have gotten plenty of love from Yelp, with a four and a half star rating with over 150 reviews. Ike's is a quick service restaurant, as you order at the register and your sandwiches are made in full view of customers. The space is dominated by large logos featuring Ike Shehadeh, founder of this concept and of course, a good portion of another wall is used to feature all the numerous sandwiches offered here. Let's see what we ended up getting off this humungous menu.

Katie will start us off with her sandwich pick, the Backstabber ($9.99). This sandwich utilizes diced up, tender halal chicken as its base, and then tops it with Caesar dressing, marinated artichoke hearts, and a blanket of provolone. Katie got this on their famous Dutch crunch bread, which is dense, yet doughy at the same time and has a distinctive cracked crust topping it, which yields a slight sweetness to it. Really good bread. Katie loved the chicken here, which she claimed was very flavorful and went well with the Caesar dressing. She could see herself getting this sandwich again. Katie also got a bag of Zapp's Cajun Dill chips and was pretty happy with them. The dill really came through and made this into a pickle in potato chip form. I look forward to trying more flavors from this Louisiana chip company in the future.

The first of my two sandwiches was this Paul Reubens ($9.99). This take on a Reuben sandwich has pastrami as a base and then dresses up the sandwich with some french dressing, poppy seed coleslaw, and Swiss cheese. I liked this sandwich but was not in love with it. I got this with their sourdough bread, which went well here, but I would probably get their Dutch crunch bread next time. I'd also ask for extra french dressing, as they applied it pretty lightly, and I like my sandwich condiments to stand out a bit more. A decent Rubenesque sandwich, but I'd probably get something else next time.  

I ordered this sandwich by mistake. I had meant to get the John Wayne but for some reason when  I was ordering, the Bruce Wayne ($9.99) slipped out of my mouth instead. So, instead of the steak and American cheese that comes on the John Wayne, I got the roast beef, swiss, and steak sauce that came with this sandwich. This was an okay sandwich, but what made it for me was the Dutch crunch bread. Other than the bread it was a little boring. Too much lettuce, the swiss cheese really got lost here, and steak sauce is not really my favorite. The serving size of the roast beef was a little on the skimpy side, so I'd ask for double meat next time.

Alright, Ike's did not really impress me too much with this visit, but with so many sandwiches available, and enough ingredients to come up with over 400 sandwich combinations, I still feel like there's hope for me that I could come up with a really great sandwich at Ike's. I'm glad that Ike's is one of the many imports to have opened up in OC recently. Not only do I look forward to finding my favorite sandwich here soon, it also saves us some airfare miles going up to San Fran to try them out.

Out of five cable cars, (because of the ties that this restaurant has to San Francisco), five being best to zero being worst, Ike's Love and Sandwiches gets 2.5 cable cars.

For more information about Ike's Love and Sandwiches, head to their website here: http://ilikeikesplace.com/

Getting Away from It All by Staying Close to Home at Islands

Islands 

799 The Shops at Mission Viejo Suite A

Mission Viejo, CA 92691

When Katie and I are not out finding new restaurants, we are homebodies. We curl up on the couch and watch the four plus shows we are currently watching on Netflix. I love trying new restaurants, but sometimes you just need a break. On these rare nights, we usually stay close to home. One of the places we find ourselves at probably once a month or so is the new Islands at the Shops at Mission Viejo.

It's hard to believe that this Islands location escaped the cursed Kaleidoscope center nearly a year ago. Now with plenty of parking, no more broken escalators, a much more open floor plan, and a wonderful patio to take advantage of outdoor dining, Islands has seemed to have hit its stride at this almost always packed restaurant, which is situated next door to P..F. Chang's and the entrance to the food court.

It's also kind of hard to believe that Islands has been around for 35 years. That's when Islands founder Tony DeGrazier opened his first location in West Hollywood, bringing a little bit of Hawaii to Southern California. He wanted a place where you could get a burger, fresh hot fries, and drinks after a long day. My first Islands experience was in the mid-eighties and has continued to the present day.

We were lucky enough to have been invited to our local Islands to try their limited time menu items. That's one of the things I admire most about Islands, is the fact that they always have some limited menu items, keeping things fresh for those of us that visit their restaurants frequently. I look forward to every year when their spicy Nalu Nalu Burger is available as a limited time item.

We arrived at half past six on a recent Thursday evening and the restaurant was humming with activity. We were seated right away and perused the menu not out of necessity, but more out of habit since Katie pretty much always get the same thing, and I already knew I'd be trying their limited time items. Let's see how everything turned out for us on this evening.

The first of the two limited time items offered was this Islands Golden Ale ($8.55). Since it's been so hot and humid lately, this brew, which is exclusively crafted for Islands by Karl Strauss Brewing Company really hit the spot. I was afraid this was going to be too hoppy for my taste, but it had just the right amount of bite to it and a very clean finish. They say this pairs well with their Waimea Burger, but I could see this pairing well with just about anything.

Can't come to Islands and not get their Cheddar Fries ($8.65). Looking back on it, I think Islands was the very first place that I ever had fries with cheese on them. They are still as good now as they were back in the 80's. These fresh cut fries are fried crisp and then topped with plenty of melted cheese and scallions. Yes, you can have these with chili and bacon added, but they are perfect this way, with just a little ranch to dip them in.

I always think it's a little odd that Katie gets these Northshore Tacos ($9.79) at Islands because I always think of this place as a burger spot, but this is her, "go to" item here. These chicken tacos are filled with plenty of cheese, lettuce, and come with sour cream and salsa to round things out. Katie also always orders a small side of guacamole to complete her meal. She loves the tender, slightly spicy chicken, and the ranchero beans that accompany this.

Alright, it was burger time, and this Waimea Burger ($11.75) is available for a limited time. This burger features some Kalua pulled pork, caramelized onions, teriyaki glaze, pineapple, and Swiss cheese. This burger screamed Hawaii and really fit in perfectly with the Islands vibe A little on the sweet side, I'd probably ask for the teriyaki on the side when I have this burger again. Since I had the cheddar fries as a starter, I decided to forgo the endless fries option and get a Caesar side salad instead. This was the right call. The Caesar salad at Islands is very underrated and came with some flavorful dressing, crunchy croutons, and a little parmesan.

Maybe because I had a big lunch, this meal really seemed to fill me up, but I would not be deterred from getting a little something for dessert. Katie and I split this individually sized Fudge Brownie ($2.69), which really hit the spot. The small brownie was topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some chocolate sauce. Simple, yet delicious and a great end to our visit to Islands.

As usual, it was another stellar visit to our local Islands restaurant. Both of the limited time items I tried were a nice change of pace and something I would totally get again. Manager Hector and his entire staff did a great job of meeting not only our needs but also making sure that all of their guests were having a great dining experience. We consider ourselves pretty lucky to have this Islands location situated right across the street from where we live for those rare nights we stick close to home.

For more information about Islands, and to find your nearest location head over to their website here: https://www.islandsrestaurants.com/

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/