Playing Tourist at Summer House for Newport Beach Restaurant Week

Summer House

2744 East Coast Highway

Corona Del Mar, CA 92625

The first of the year not only brings a more relaxed time at my place of business, but it also brings some much needed time off. Gone are the days of working six days a week, and getting all the overtime that you can handle. The first of the year is the time of the year when I get a chance to breathe. It's also a time of the year I look forward to because it's within these first few weeks of the year that one of my favorite food events take place, Newport Beach Restaurant Week.

Restaurant weeks are pretty exciting to me. There are no coupons to clip, you just have to check out the prix-fixe menus, see something that piques your interest, and go. I usually cross reference my selections with my restaurant wish list. Even though this particular restaurant week was spread over two weeks, we only had one night available to head to Newport to take advantage of this year's restaurant week deals. Darn scheduling and commitments. Anyways, we chose to spend our lone NBRW experience at Summer House in Corona Del Mar.

Summer House has been on my list ever since Edwin Goei, Restaurant Reviewer from the OC Weekly went by and gave their ginger crusted ono a glowing review. Edwin is definitely someone that I trust wholeheartedly when it comes to restaurants in OC, so when I saw that the ono was available on the restaurant week menu, we beelined it to Summer House.

As is the case with most businesses on busy PCH, if you were not looking for it, or if you blinked, you would probably miss Summer House amid the many things that capture your attention driving north on this iconic highway. Summer House occupies the former El Ranchito spot, almost across the street from Sherman Library and Gardens, where PCH intersects with Goldenrod.

Summer House has been here since 2010, which means they must be doing something right to survive in this very competitive restaurant market in this part of town. According to their website, they are a contemporary American restaurant, with a summer vacation home kind of feel to it. I'd say they nailed the vibe they were going for. Even though tables are very close to each other, and the noise on the evening we were there was a little on the loud side, it did kind of feel like we were whisked off on a quick mini-vacay. Since we were at Summer House for restaurant week, it did not take us too long to make our selections off of their $20 three course menu. Let's see how it all worked out for us.

The first course was out pretty quickly and as is our custom while enjoying restaurant week menus, we get different things so we can try each other's choices. Katie went with the Chicken and Vegetable Potstickers ($9.25). These five potstickers came out with an Asian slaw in the middle, a very tiny drizzle of wasabi aioli, and a soy sauce that the menu said had a pineapple tinge to it. The potstickers themselves were nicely done and lacked any discernable grease on them, but more of the wasabi aioli and a more prominent filling would have made these better. I did not really get too much in the way of pineapple in the soy sauce, but soy sauce tends to overpower anyways. I love a Caesar ($4.50), but this one kind of fell flat. It had plenty of squares of parmesan and crunchy croutons, but they needed to have more dressing included on this to keep me interested throughout the life of this salad. Kind of a boring Caesar.

Not on the restaurant week menu, but Katie had heard some good stuff about this Ahi Poke with Wonton Chips ($13.50) and since she is poke fiend, she wanted to give this a try. The fresh ahi tuna is seasoned with sesame seeds and green and red onions and comes with a good amount of sliced avocado. This was an excellent version of poke, clean tasting, not overly seasoned, and went well with the provided avocado and wonton chips. Way better than you can get at most of those build your own poke shops.we frequent way too much.

Entrees were up next, and we might as well start with Katie's pick, the Pesto Chicken Sandwich ($13). This sandwich starts with a grilled chicken breast and then is layered with tomato, lettuce, red onion, mayo, mozzarella cheese, and is finished off with a very well done pesto. Katie did not have anything to say about this sandwich negatively. She threw out adjectives like delicious, good, fresh, and crave-worthy when describing this sandwich. She liked the fries but prefers bigger fries that hold more ketchup.

It's probably their signature dish at Summer House, so it was a no-brainer that I had to give their Ginger Crusted Ono ($21) a spin during restaurant week. This baked Hawaiian ono was incredibly light and the ginger was very subtle, which I appreciated. It came with an orange beurre blanc sauce, which I had wished there was a tad more of so I could have had enjoyed it with the jasmine rice and the red bell peppers. A very light, yet satisfying meal.

Dessert would be our last stop on the restaurant week menu at Summer House, and Katie tried their seasonal offering which was a Lemon Cake ($5). This lemon cake was accompanied by a strawberry garnish and a strawberry sauce drizzled on top of it. I'm not much into lemon anything, and I thought the lemon was a tad too tart here, and the cake could have been moister. I had high hopes for the Chocolate Heaven ($6) that I had ordered, but it was rather pedestrian. The ratio of flourless brownie souffle cake and ice cream was off by quite a bit. I usually don't complain when there's an overabundance of ice cream, but it really made this flourless cake invisible.

Even with a few less than stellar items on this restaurant week visit, I was pretty pleased with our time at Summer House. I got to try their signature dish, along with plenty from the rest of their menu for the affordable price of $20, which basically means we got the starters and the desserts for free. Not too bad. This visit has gotten me excited to come back here and try one of their good looking burgers, or their weekend breakfast, which gets glowing reviews online. Summer House reminded me of a less polished R and D Kitchen, with a more diverse menu. It was definitely beach casual, and a spot where locals like to come for a low-key dinner. Our server Alison was very friendly and took great care of us during our stay. Wish we could have experienced more restaurant week menus during Newport Beach Restaurant Week, but there's always next year. Just have to get through the dreaded holidays first.

Out of five footballs, (because there used to be a reality TV show on ESPNU which featured college football players living in a house before they got drafted, and it was called Summer House), five being best to zero being worst, Summer House gets 3 solid footballs.

For more information about Summer House, head to their website here: http://www.summerhousecdm.com/index.php

Comfortably Satisfied at the Wall in Orange - CLOSED

The Wall

80 Plaza Square

Orange, CA 92868

As amazing as it sounds, I do not think we will ever run out of restaurants to eat at with my parents. As is our custom, we usually meet somewhere between us, which usually lands us in Tustin, Santa Ana, or, as the case was this evening, Orange. Every time we need a meeting place, I look for restaurants on Yelp that my food-conservative parents would like. There's always something new to try, and we chose to meet at The Wall on this visit.

The Wall is located at the northeast corner of the plaza in Orange, right near the Starbucks by the Wells Fargo Bank. I remember this being a real girly retail store at one time. The Wall has been open for about a year and a half now. They get their name in thanks to a wall inside the restaurant that includes over 50 self-serving taps dispelling craft beers, wine, kombucha, and nitro coffees to thirsty patrons.

The men behind The Wall have a unique backstory for why they opened this place. Dan Martinez and Ryan Sauter wanted a place to share their travels and escapades through food and drink. They wanted a restaurant that felt like home but had food that made guests feel like citizens of the world while they experienced food and drink like they never had before. Those are lofty goals.

Dan has business roots in the family entertainment industry, at such places as Universal Resorts, Disney, and most recently at Palace Entertainment Group, where he was Chief Operating Officer for the company which runs Raging Waters and Castle Park locally, along with many more family fun amusements nationally. Ryan has an even more diverse backstory. He's owned several businesses, including a movie studio in China, helped to co-create a non-profit foundation, Wonderlight, and, along with his business partner, Dan has recently acquired the Splash Kingdom in Redlands and hopes to turn that waterpark around.  As if they are not busy enough, we hear they are opening a new venue, The Wall, in LA, but our server was a little sketchy about those details.

My parents beat us here, and we were seated on the patio in front of the restaurant when we finally arrived. I never did walk into the restaurant, but it appeared long and narrow, with just a couple of tables. With the fantastic weather, it was a pleasure sitting outside. Since I follow this restaurant on Instagram, I know that the menu at The Wall changes rather frequently, along with a rotating burger of the month and other specials from time to time. During our visit, Chef Ryan Rainstar had just recently switched the menu, and I was excited to see what was new. Let's check it out.

Definitely not new, but you do have to try the Belgian Fries ($4) at The Wall. These hand-cut, twice-fried, sliced potatoes were addictive and made even better with the Garlic Aioli ($.50). I would have liked bigger fries because at the bottom of the basket were a lot of shorter, more secondary fries, but they ended up still tasting great.

Fish and Chips ($10) are usually more of my mom's thing, but my dad beat her to the punch by ordering this first. This two-piece fried fish plate was just the right size for my dad. I recall the server saying that they used haddock for this and then finished it with a beer batter. The result was a nicely done fish with a nice crunch, and the flaky fish underneath was exposed. A very light fried fish, according to my dad. The menu says that this was to come with tartar sauce, but it appeared to be accompanied by a chipotle aioli and ketchup, which got no complaints from my dad. The fries were just as good as the ones we had earlier.

Out of the four of us, Katie probably got what owners Dan and Ryan had envisioned when they helped create the menu at The Wall. They wanted customers to share small plates inspired by their travels worldwide. It's easy to assume that Ryan's stint in China inspired this Sticky Belly Bao ($8). They fill a bao with gochujang-cola marinated pork belly, cucumbers, and shredded carrots. When I asked her about them a few weeks later, Katie thought these baos were fine, but nothing made them stand out. She claims that she'd get something else on her next visit. She brightened up a bit when I asked her about the other item she had that evening, the Polenta Fritta ($5). I don't know what inspired this starter, but Katie liked this unique way of having polenta. The suggestion was to dip the polenta in the provided chimichurri sauce, but I liked it better with the garlic aioli. The polenta was grease-free and had a nice crunch on the outside of it.

My mom is not a big eater, so this order of Chicken Wings ($8) was just the right size for her. You have your choice of sauce for your six wings: a Creole dry rub, Coca-Cola caramel, or the gochujang my mom selected. The sauce was sweet yet savory, with a small tinge of spice that did not overwhelm my mom's non-spicy palette. The wings had plenty of meat, and she left here very happy with her meal.

Small appetizers are not my thing, so I searched the menu for something a little heftier. I went with their burger of the month, the Happy New Beer Burger ($12). This burger featured an Angus patty with onion strings, lettuce, tomato, and a house-made beer cheese sauce. I do not usually like cheese sauces, but this one worked here. The consistency was like a melted cheese sauce, which went well with the well-seasoned burger. The bun was nice and soft, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked this burger. This burger proves that paying attention to their burger of the month is worthwhile.

Dessert was not in the cards for us this evening, but they do get a lot of press for their Choco-taco, but that'll have to wait for our next visit. The Wall is, of course, a haven for beer lovers, but there are some good options here regarding the food. I'd like to see a little more variety regarding bigger plates, but they seem committed to the share plate concept. Prices seem fair, but with such small portions, you might have to order more than one thing to get totally full. Service was stellar this early evening, as our server ensured we had everything we needed throughout our stay. The Wall is a good option for visitors to Downtown Orange and us, who wanted a good meeting place between my parents' house in North OC and ours in South OC.

Out of five vinyl records (of course, because of Pink Floyd's iconic 1979 album, The Wall), five being best to zero being worst, The Wall gets 3 vinyl records.

For more information about The Wall, head to their website here:https://thewall.beer/

Stepping Back into the 40's at the Apple Pan

The Apple Pan

10801 West Pico Blvd. 

Los Angeles, CA 90064

Few restaurants can say that they have been in business for ten years. Even fewer can say they have been around for 25 years. The number shrinks to a minuscule amount when you think of restaurants that have been around for half a century. 71 years is almost unheard of. On an unofficial list of the oldest restaurants, I found online a few years ago, they list Apple Pan as the 64th oldest restaurant in the LA metro area still serving guests. That's some pretty rare company when you consider the number of restaurants in LA, Orange, Ventura, San Bernadino, and Riverside counties that this list covers. If you want to check out this great list, see it here.

Back to the Apple Pan, though. They opened in 1946, the same year my dad was born, which seems like eons ago when you know what he looks like now. Just kidding, dad. In this age of changing for customers' tastes, it's almost a badge of honor that the menu at the Apple Pan has not changed in the 71 years they have been in business. No gluten-free, quinoa, kale, or any other trendy ingredients of the moment, and recipes that have not changed since Harry Truman was President.

While they get kudos for not changing a thing, I'm not going to lie, this is not the most comfortable of restaurants to eat at. First, this is a cash-only restaurant, and no cards of any kind are accepted. You will probably be directed to the bank across the street if you do not expect it. Secondly, there is only counter seating, so you will get to know your neighbors, and depending on your shyness level and how much you appreciate your personal space while eating, this might make some a tad anxious. Lastly, there's the waiting system, which is not explained well upon entering. You line up to either the left or right side of the almost always full 26-seat counter and wait for people to finish their meals while trying to keep track of who was before you. It made me feel a tad nervous that we would not be able to get a seat, but then I realized they have been doing this for decades, and I haven't heard of too much trouble at the Apple Pan. One of the other customers directed us to a pair of seats at the end of the counter about 20 minutes after we had arrived.

The Apple Pan was the basis for the Johnny Rockets chain, as their founder modeled his restaurant after this one. You can see it, but the nostalgia here is not forced like at Johnny Rockets. This is just the way things have always been at The Apple Pan. The compact menu includes two burgers, five sandwiches, and fries and pie. The men behind the counter appeared to have been employed here for a long while, as they knew many customers around us. With such few options, and since I had looked at the menu before leaving the house, we quickly made our selections and waited for our food to arrive.

The Fries ($3.10) came out rather quickly after ordering. Like at Johnny Rockets, the server puts the ketchup on a side plate for you and refills it as needed. The fries here are excellent, crisp, and soft on the inside. A very well-done fry and one that went well with the ketchup.

My Double Hickory Burger ($10.10) arrived about ten minutes later. This paper-wrapped burger comes with lettuce, mayo, and their hickory sauce, which I'd describe as a mixture of ketchup and a sweet barbecue sauce, Tillamook cheddar cheese, and pickles. The bun had a nice toast to it, which was appreciated. They could have had a heavier hand with the mayo, and I was happy that the hickory sauce did not overpower the clean-tasting beef. Tillamook is always an excellent choice for cheese on a burger, which was the case here. I took a little of the lettuce out and like to eat the pickles separately. A solid, simple burger that almost made me forget my beloved bacon on a burger.

Much like In-N-Out, but with way better burgers, The Apple Pan has a secret menu that some insiders know about. These secret items include root beer floats, cheese fries, lettuce-wrapped burgers, and perhaps the most famous secret item, this Tuna Melt ($10.35). They have a tuna salad sandwich on the menu, but for a little extra, they'll add some cheese and put it on the grill for you. Katie had this special tuna melt on rye. The white tuna is studded with pickles, and the mayo-to-tuna ratio is nearly perfect. Katie felt this was a perfect tuna melt. The bread had a good crunch from being on the grill, the tuna was fresh, and the cheese-to-tuna ratio was spot on. She can see why this sandwich gets so hyped, even though it's not on the menu.

You are doing it all wrong if you are at a restaurant named The Apple Pan and do not try their Apple Pie Ala Mode ($9.50). I was a little shocked when this was sat in front of us. It was very syrupy, and it did not seem like we got the extra $2.25 that we paid to get ice cream with this. The pie was pretty sweet but still tasted freshly made, which all pies are, as they are made on the premises every day. The crust was not as light as I would have liked, and the apples were pushed to the background by the syrup's overabundance. Not bad, but we've had better. Their banana cream pie that our neighbor had looked amazing.

The nostalgic factor at The Apple Pan is off the charts, and from just talking with the people around here, they are crazy for this place. How do I feel about it? I enjoyed it, but it's not the best burger I've ever had. With it being a simple burger, I enjoyed it well enough, especially since it does not include bacon. I could not help but compare The Apple Pan to Pie N' Burger in Pasadena. Both places are similar, although Pie N' Burger is a tad newer, as it opened in 1963. I liked both the apple pie and the burger at Pie N' Burger better, but the tuna melt and fries at The Apple Pie are superior, but that's just my opinion. The Apple Pan is definitely worth a try, especially if you are in the area and want to step back into a time machine to 1946. Glad to see that they are churning out the same food as they did in the middle of the last century and have not succumbed to the fads that their customers will move on from in the next month.

Out of five bikinis (because just like The Apple Pan, the two-piece bathing suit made its debut in 1946 in Paris), five being best to zero being worst, The Apple Pan gets 3 bikinis.

For more information about The Apple Pan, head to their website by clicking here: https://theapplepan.com/

LA Barbecue Comes to Costa Mesa - CLOSED

L.A. Brisket

2930 Bristol Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Nothing gets my feet moving out from behind this computer faster than barbecue. I can hear about a new pizza place opening, or maybe even a burger joint, and I'll put it on my restaurant list and sit there for a while. I do the same thing about barbecue, but something gets me thinking about it and finding reasons to be nearby to try it. This happened when my good friend Ed came to town a few weeks ago and wanted to meet up for dinner. We decided to give LA Brisket a try.

LA Brisket is at the always-busy Lab Anti-Mall in Bristol, Costa Mesa. Meeting Ed on a Friday evening at 7 was challenging because getting a parking spot was difficult. I used the valet while Ed got lucky and pulled into an open spot near the back of the lot. LA Brisket is situated right near the driveway where you enter, and this is their second location, with the original being in Artesia.

LA Brisket focuses on brisket, but they also offer chicken, pulled pork, and pork ribs. No combo plates are available, although you can order these meats by the pound, and they will come with sliced white bread and BBQ sauce. Bowls, a version of loaded fries, and a handful of sides are also available, but their main focus is on their sandwiches. There are 6 to choose from, all named after Southland Freeways, except for the 405, which is a buck more, priced at $11.

Ordering is done at the register right next to the front door, and then you wait for your food in the dining area, which has about twenty tables, hanging lighting, and a self-serve soda machine. When we walked in at 7, we were one of two tables occupied, but as the evening went along, the tables did fill up, but it was never what I'd consider overly crowded. I have it on good authority that they smoke their meats on the premises, but the smoker is outside eyesight, and the overwhelming smoke smell you'd expect was not really present this evening. It took us about five to eight minutes for our food to arrive, which is how it turned out for us.

Let's start with Ed's evening meal, the Chicken Bowl ($10). Ed has always been odd, so seeing him order a chicken and rice bowl in a barbecue restaurant wasn't a shock. Joining the dark and white meat bird and garlic-infused rice in this was some of their LA Slaw, adding a slight tinge of vinegar. I did not see Ed use the green sauce that comes with this, and I'm not even sure what that green sauce was. Ed felt this was a good dish. The chicken was tender and flavorful, with a slight pepperiness. The garlic rice and the slaw made this a nicely balanced bowl.

Loaded Fries ($11) are always a favorite of mine when I see them, so I had to try them at LA Brisket. You can have these here with chicken, pork, or the protein we tried, their famous brisket. Also topping the sturdy fries was some of their slaw, caramelized onions, mushrooms, parsley, and a blue cheese sauce. Then, they were finished off with a generous dusting of parmesan cheese. This worked well for me. The blue cheese had just the correct bite and did not overwhelm. The brisket was tender, but with everything else around it, it was hard to get a feel for whether it was good or not. The fries remained crisp during the whole life of this starter, and the parmesan was a nice touch that finished this off. I'd get this again for sure.

Okay, I did something I had never done before in eight-plus years of writing this blog. I ate my meal before taking a picture of it. It couldn't have been the conversation because Ed is not that interesting. It must have been that I was starving or something else. Anyway, I had to go back and buy another sandwich and bring it home to my house. As I said earlier, LA Brisket offers six different freeway-inspired sandwiches, and the one I pictured here is the 101 ($11). This one comes with garlic aioli, mustard sauce, slaw, caramelized onion, and gruyere cheese. As you can see from the pictures, most of these items could be more prominent. They were in there, but because of the way the sandwich was constructed, it was hard to get everything in one bite. Everything was very compartmentalized with this sandwich. They were also very stingy with the aioli and the mustard sauce. I would have appreciated a heavier hand with these condiments. The brisket was good, and they supplied plenty on this sandwich. It had a nice smokiness but could have been a tad more tender. The bread was excellent, with a lovely crunch, and held its structural integrity. Again, if the menu had not alerted me to the fact that there was cheese on this, I never would have known.

I had really wanted to love LA Brisket, especially after I had read a few critics rave about these sandwiches, but I left a little disappointed. It was not awful, but it was like Christmas morning when your heart is set on an Atari 2600, and your parents get you a Pong video game. Yes, I'm showing my age a bit here. My point is I was left disappointed in both cases. I'll give them another chance and ask for extra aioli or sauce on the side next time. I'd also be interested in their pork ribs and pulled pork. Everyone I encountered on my visits has been friendly and pleasant, except for my cantankerous friend Ed, but I've known him for over 40 years, so I'm stuck with him.

Out of five night-vision goggles (because the land that now occupies the LAB retail complex used to be home to a night-vision goggle factory more than 20 years ago), five being best to zero being worst, LA Brisket gets 2.5 night-vision goggles.

For more information about LA Brisket, head to their website here: http://labrisket.com/

A Little Taste of Cuba in Irvine

Habana

708 Spectrum Center Dr. 

Irvine, CA 92618

If you have been to the Irvine Spectrum Center recently you have probably noticed all of the construction going on in the former Macy's area of this large South OC shopping and entertainment complex. The Macy's has been demolished, there are quite a few parking spots being taken away by the construction, and the Irvine Company has just announced 14 of the eventual 30 new businesses that will be opening over the next year.

These include an 85 Degrees Bakery and Cafe, a Hello Kitty Cafe, an Afters Ice Cream, a BLK Coffee, and a Falasophy, which is a modern Lebanese street kitchen. It's not all food places of course, as there's also going to be a Sephora and the always trendy H&M. This roster of new stores and restaurants is sure to make the Spectrum busier, but there's also going to be a new 1,500 space parking structure built to help alleviate the troublesome parking situation here.

For now, Habana is kind of on an island off by itself. If you are coming from the mall side, Habana is situated right behind the Urban Outfitters, Barnes & Noble, and Tilly's. If you are coming from the parking lot, look for Dave and Buster's and it will be to your left. Complicating things a bit, Habana has no sign on its building. I'm not sure if this is a temporary thing or not, but it does make it a little harder to find this isolated (for now) restaurant.

Habana is not new of course. The location at the LAB in Costa Mesa has been open for over twenty years now and has been the scene for some wild late nights when I was in my 20's and early 30's. I've also had some pretty good Cuban dinners at Habana, including this one that I reviewed seven years ago. Has it really been that long? Geez, it was definitely time to visit Habana's new spot at The Spectrum.

Entering Habana is done on the mall side of the restaurant. If you enter from the parking lot you will be entering their small coffee shop and bakery. The inside of Habana transports you to a bygone era that most of us have just seen in the movies or on TV. There's a patio which we hear is nice and serene, but we were seated in their glorious dining room, with its arched, high ceilings, which lends to the grand ballroom feel you get when dining here. Adding to the ambiance is the table setting, with its small lamps providing not enough lighting to the darker than I would like restaurant, the glass chalices used for water glasses, and the china that looks like it's right from the 50's, and only used for special occasions. All of this ambiance was great, but it's all for naught if the food is not good, so let's see how that turned out for us.

Mexican restaurants traditionally start you off with chips and salsa, while at Habana they start your meal with a trio of cassava, taro, and sweet potato chips and then pair it with a trio of sauces; chimichurri, a red pepper and garlic salsa, and the best of the bunch, a black bean dip which I could not get enough of. Addictive, and they were not shy about refilling this.

It had been almost two days since my last Caesar salad, and I was intrigued by the Habana Caesar Salad ($7), so I had to give it a try. Not only was this a very generous portion size for a Caesar, it could have easily fed two people, but I liked the slight twist they made to make this their own. It came with some very good garlic croutons, some parmesan crisps which added some nice texture, and a very well done papaya seed Caesar dressing. The key to the success of this salad was plenty of parmesan and the just right amount of dressing used on this. The papaya tinge was just enough but did not overpower. A delicious salad which I would get again without hesitation.

Ozker must have been a little jealous that I was enjoying my salad so much because he hastily ordered this Mariscos Fritos ($14). This fried fish platter contained some calamari, shrimp, and conch fritters. That's at least what the menu said, but I only saw one or two shrimp and no conch. Maybe Ozker snagged them before I got a chance to try them, but he's not that fast. The buttermilk fried calamari was nicely done, without the heaviness that usually accompanies fried fish. I really enjoyed the jalapeno crema that came as a dipping sauce with this.

Sorry for the poor picture quality of Martin's entree, it was really dark in the dining room on this evening. He had the El Churrasco ($28). This plate included an 8-ounce skirt steak, corn on the cob with a chile lime butter and cotija cheese, white rice, plantains, and black beans. Martin thought the steak was a little under-seasoned, but it was helped out with a good chimichurri sauce included and was just tender enough. As for the sides, he was not really a big fan of the corn but liked the rice and the black beans well enough. He'd get something else the next time he was at Habana.

Ozker probably got the most famous of all Cuban dishes, the Ropa Vieja ($20). He made quick work of this shredded beef which was studded with sweet peppers, onions, garlic, and tomatoes, and then served over rice. A very comforting dish, the beef was flavorful and tender, and the sides of black beans and plantains did not last too long either. A very good rendition of Cuba's national dish.

I always steer towards pork at Cuban restaurants, and that was the case when I stepped up and had this El Puerco Primo ($23). This homey meal had a great balance to it. A very large pork shank was plopped in the middle of some creamy and delicious garlic mashed potatoes, greens, and sweet plantains to finish it off. I loved the savory pork, it did not have a bad bite in the bunch. The greens worked well with the potatoes, and the plate was rounded out nicely with the sweet plantains, which I'm not usually too fond of, but they went well here. A winning dish for sure.

No dessert for Martin, as he'd rather drink his dessert apparently. When you are at Habana you will no doubt hear the bartenders chopping coconuts to make this Al Centro Pa Dentro ($10). Looking around the dining room on this evening, this might be the signature drink at Habana. It's a mixture of coconut water, mint and Bacardi served in a freshly chopped coconut. I liked the refreshing taste of this, with the little kick you get from the rum after each sip. Be advised that these tip over rather easily, as both Martin and Ozker, spilled theirs at different parts of the evening. Amatures.

There were many desserts which sounded good to finish off my evening, but when I saw these Banana Fritters ($8) on the menu, I knew my quest for dessert was over. These bananas were wrapped in pastry dough and then fried and drizzled with a rich caramel rum sauce, and served with ice cream. I liked these, but they were a little difficult to eat. The pastry dough was not as light as I was hoping for. It was difficult to cut through, and once I did get through it, all the fried dough came off in one fell swoop. The caramel sauce was magical though.

This visit to Habana reaffirmed their position as top of the Cuban restaurant throne in OC. Not only is this one of the most beautiful restaurants in Orange County, but they have the food to back it up. I do wish they had their Cuban sandwich on the dinner menu, but that just gives me a reason to go back for lunch very soon. There's also a brunch that we have heard some good things about. Service on this evening was very professional, and our server kept things moving along nicely with some good pacing. I'm looking forward to the other new restaurants opening up at The Spectrum, but having Habana there is a great way to start things off.

Out of five bags of sugar, (because most people probably don't know this, but there's a Habana in Queensland, Australia named after a now-shuttered sugar mill), five being best to zero being worst, Habana gets 3.5 bags of sugar.


For more information about Habana, head to their website here: https://www.restauranthabana.com/#home-section