Birthday Dinner at Garduno's Ristorante

Garduno's Ristorante

398 East 17th Street

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

As I get older, birthdays seem to mean a little less to me. You would think it would be just the opposite because with each birthday it brings you closer to the end. I know, that's too dark of a thing to write on a restaurant review site, but it's true. As the early part of June rolls around, and Katie inevitably asks what I want to do for my birthday, I usually want to forgo hanging out with family and friends that want to make a big deal about my latest trip around the sun. I just want to have a low key day, try a restaurant that I have yet to try, with just my beautiful wife by my side.

That's what we ended up doing on this beautiful Sunday early evening in OC. We napped a little in the afternoon, drove to the beach and walked the boardwalk between the Newport and Balboa piers, and then we had planned on eating at one of the restaurants back in Newport. Unfortunately, where we wanted to eat was packed with people watching the NBA Finals, and we could not get a seat for at least a half of NBA basketball, which meant easily another two hours. So we decided to get out of the packed Newport area and headed slightly inland to Costa Mesa.

That's when it hit me that I had a dentist appointment coming up, and my fantastic dentist would ask me for the sixth straight appointment if I had tried one of his favorite Italian restaurants in Costa Mesa yet. Not wanting to disappoint the guy with the sharp implements mere inches away from my open mouth, I decided it would be best to have my birthday dinner at Garduno's Ristorante.

We were just coming from walking at the beach and were unsure if we were dressed appropriately enough to eat here, so we cautiously walked through the door and were put at ease with the red and white checkered tablecloths, wallpapered walls, and the overall general hominess of the place. It also helped assure us since there was only one other table occupied during our entire visit at Garduno's.

Garduno's has been around since 1988 and is situated in the same food rich shopping center as Sidecar Doughnuts, Pie-Not, Mi Casa Mexican Restaurant, and Shirley's Bagels. The menu at Garduno's is pretty much what you would expect from an Italian restaurant in these parts. They have a handful of appetizers to choose from, veal, chicken, baked dishes, and different types of pasta to select from. They make all of their pasta every day and have 14 varieties of sauce to pick from. Pretty impressive from such a small place. I was intrigued and excited to see what my dentist has been talking about the last three years.

Bread came out rather quickly after we had ordered. This was a pretty good representation of Italian sliced bread. It was a bit crusty on the outside and soft on the inside, and it came out warmed with butter packets that were easy to spread since they were heated up a bit by the warm bread.

I don't think I have seen Mozzarella Fritta ($7.95) served like this before. This fried mozzarella was sliced like a thick piece of french toast, breaded, and bathed in a creamy tomato sauce. I guess this is the more grown-up version of mozzarella sticks that lurk on the menus of almost every restaurant around. This was a very good starter. The cheese had a nice stringy quality to it and was not as heavy as I would have expected. The breading had a slight crunch to it, while the sauce was a good version of a blush sauce.

I'm always happy when a salad is included with a meal, and that was the case here at Garduno's, even with the pasta dishes. This House Salad included a nice mix of greens, red cabbage, tomatoes, shredded carrots, olives, cucumber wedges, peppercinis, mozzarella cheese, and a very tangy Italian dressing. The produce was fresh and I definitely appreciated the variety of the veggies in this, but the Italian dressing was too tangy for both Katie and I. A lot of people love this dressing in the online reviews I have read so it might have just been this batch that had too much tang.

When we first started dating I made a carbonara for Katie, and she claims that it helped cement her love for me, which I'm not so sure that's the case, but that's what she claims anyway. She tried the Carbonara ($19.90 which includes a $2.95 upcharge for picking tortellini as her pasta) on this evening at Garduno's. This was a very creamy version of a carbonara sauce. It did include peas, pancetta bacon, and mushrooms, and ended up being quite good. I'm not a big fan of tortellini, but Katie liked it with this dish, even though it did not bring to mind other traditional carbonara dishes she has had in the past. This came out scalding hot, and as it cooled the sauce kind of grew on me. I even scraped her bowl clean and mixed it with half of my meal that I took home for work the next day.

For my birthday dinner, I went with the Meat Lasagna ($15.95). This was a very saucy, yet meaty version of a lasagna. They use a mix of ground brisket and chuck, then add parmesan, mozzarella, and ricotta cheeses to this almost noodle-less lasagna. There might have been a couple of pasta sheets in here, but they were kind of overwhelmed by the very thick tomato sauce and meat. Not that I didn't mind the extra abundance of meat in this, it just would have been nice to have it be a little more balanced. I've gotten into the habit of ordering Meatballs ($3.90 for 2) at every Italian restaurant I've eaten at lately. These were not a bad version whatsoever. They had a nice texture to them, not too firm, but still loose enough to break easily using a fork. They had a good flavor and went well when I added one of them to my already meaty lasagna.

What would a birthday dinner be without dessert? I'm not usually too excited by Italian desserts. Not really a fan of tiramisu or cannolis, but these Gelato Truffles ($5.95) hit the spot. These were described perfectly on the menu as large bonbons. We had the Mint and the Salted Caramel variety. These worked out perfectly for Katie and I as I liked the mint one, while she was content with the salted caramel bonbon. These were about the same size as a racquetball, with some pretty decent gelato included inside the chocolate shelled scoop that resembled the Magic Shell we used as kids.

Garduno's ended up being a very adequate spot for my birthday dinner. I wouldn't say that it blew us away, but it's a good neighborhood Italian restaurant and one that we would visit fairly frequently if we lived nearby. In an area where there is some pretty stiff competition for Italian food, (Mama D's, Filomena's, North Italia, and others), Garduno's kind of gets lost in the shuffle, but they are worthy of a visit. Service during our stay was a bit awkward, but in the end, our server kept things moving along at a decent clip. Glad I can finally report back to my dentist that I made it here after nearly three years of him asking me. Now maybe he'll take it easy on me with all of those root canals.

Out of five crazy chickens, (because the largest employer in the city of Costa Mesa is El Pollo Loco), five being best to zero being worst, Garduno's Ristorante gets 3 crazy chickens.

For more information about Garduno's Ristorante, head to their website here: https://www.gardunosristorante.com/

Farm to Table Comes to Corona - CLOSED

Blackburn's Farm to Table

4300 Green River Road Unit 106

Corona, CA 92880

It's another trip out to Corona to visit our good friends Sabrina and Anthony. We met them about 8 years ago now, and can't get rid of them. We have been on vacations together, played in the same bowling league for way too long, and they even read at our wedding three years ago. Although we don't see each other all too often these days, when we do reconnect, we pick up like no time has passed. We alternate between heading out to see them and them coming this way.  As is my usual job, I pick where we are going to eat, and this time we headed to Backburn's Farm to Table.

Blackburn's is situated in a shopping center that I have driven by numerous times when I'm out this way but had never stopped at. There's a couple of retail shops, a Mediterranian, Mexican, and a pizza place in this 91 Freeway adjacent shopping plaza. Blackburn's has been open for coming up on three years next month and is brought to us by Bill Blackburn, who wants to share his passion for farm fresh, organic food with the people of the Inland Empire.

Blackburn left a lucrative job in telecommunications, went to culinary school, and opened up a catering company in OC. After a stint in Redlands, he opened up Blackburn's Farm to Table in these Corona foothills. He's gotten plenty of positive press from the Press Enterprise, Inland Empire Magazine, Dining Out Magazine, and Westway's Magazine. It's not just food publications that have given Blackburn's their seal of approval, they have a solid four-star rating with over 500 reviews on Yelp. I was intrigued to see how our visit would go on this evening.

We arrived at Blackburn's at 6pm on a recent Saturday evening with a reservation from OpenTable. We did not seem to need one, as we were one of two tables occupied at this rather early dinner hour. People must have known that Sabrina was going to be eating here, so they got out of Dodge. It did get a tad busier as the evening went along though, but never more than half the dining room was full at one time. The dining space is nice and sleek, with assorted artwork on the walls, pale wood table tops, and a darkened ceiling.

The one-page menu at Blackburn's is broken up into appetizers, soup and salads, entrees, and desserts. Entree prices range between $13 to $29 with ten options to choose from. Appetizers, salads, and soups hover around the ten dollar mark, and there are five choices offered. We made our meal selections leisurely since we hadn't seen each other for a long while. Here's how everything turned out for us at Blackburn's on this evening.

I have a weird relationship with mac and cheese. I never had it while I was growing up, not even the Kraft blue box variety. I put that fact on my online dating profile, and it's one of the reasons that Katie reached out to me, so I guess I have mac and cheese to thank for being married. Thus, I now have a soft spot for this very comforting dish and have learned an appreciation for it. We tried the Skillet Macaroni and Cheese ($9.95) on this evening at Blackburn's. This was a very good representation of a grown-up mac and cheese. A very good four cheese blend, which was equally delicious and clung to the noodles wonderfully. The top had a nice amount of bread crumbs which provided a nice textural element. The menu online states that this used to come with shrimp and crab, and that would make this version even better than it already was.

Katie and I are clearly salad people, as we both opted to add a salad to our dining experience at Blackburn's. She had the Organic Field Greens ($6.95), while I went with the Iceberg Wedge ($7.95). Her salad included cucumbers, sliced tomato, sunflower seeds, and a white balsamic vinaigrette that impressed her a lot. Blackburn's lived up to their name with this salad which featured some farm fresh produce and that very good dressing tying everything together. I love wedge salads but I am not a fan of having to chop it up myself, but I did not mind with the one here. The fresh iceberg was paired with plenty of blue cheese chunks, chopped tomato, and some of the best bacon I have had in a while. It was very crisp and flavorful and went well with the other ingredients of the salad. I was happy with the change from my usual Caesar salad that I get almost everywhere I eat out. I definitely see more wedge salads in my future, especially if they are just as good as this one.

It's always a crapshoot as to what light eating Sabrina will get when we go out to eat, and she finally settled on this Garlic Pesto Chicken Flatbread ($9.95) after some great debate. Besides the chicken, garlic, and pesto, this also came with some balsamic onions, roasted red peppers, and mozzarella cheese. Sabrina was of course very stingy with giving me a taste of this, but she proclaimed that it had a good flavor, she thought the portion size was more than fair, and she would definitely get this again. High praise from hard to please Sabrina.

Katie wanted something light for dinner, so she zeroed in on this Vegan Bolognese Spaghetti ($19.95). Spaghetti squash was the base for this very healthy dish, while the bolognese sauce was made up of quinoa and lentils. Predictably, when I tried this I was not a fan, but Katie really enjoyed this different take on spaghetti. She claimed that she did not miss the noodles and meat in this, found the sauce wonderfully flavored, and it has even inspired her to try making this at home. I'll probably eat somewhere else when she finally gets around to doing this.

Anthony could not resist the allure of the Fresh Fish of the Day ($26.95) which happened to be sea bass on this evening. The sea bass was flaky, fork tender, and had a nice sear to it, but it was kind of plain tasting on its own. It definitely needed a sauce to help boost its flavor profile. The green beans and the mashed potatoes were nicely done sides that helped save this dish a bit. Not the best fish dish Anthony has had but it ended up being adequate.

I asked our server what the most popular entree was here, and she immediately stated it was this Center Cut Pork Chop ($21.95). This was a big double cut pork chop, which was topped with sliced peaches and a fruity sauce, which I could not detect what it was made from, maybe cranberry? It was good, but a little too much on the sweet side for my liking. Some bites of the pork chop were on the dry side, which is hard to get around with a piece of pork this big. I remedied this by alternating bites of the mashed potatoes and mixed veggies. A beautiful dish, but one that fell a little flat for me.

Dessert was going to be our last hurrah at Blackburn's and this Whiskey Bread Pudding ($6.95) might have been the best thing we had here. The bread pudding base was neither too soggy nor too dry, which is one of my major critiques with bread pudding. This one passed with flying colors. It was moist and had a nice structure to it, along with a nice caramel sauce and plenty of vanilla ice cream perched proudly on top. A very nice ending to our long overdue rendezvous with Sabrina and Anthony.

Blackburn's did have a few hiccups with their entrees on this evening, but it's easy to see that this is the kind of restaurant that Corona needs more of. Restaurants that are chef-driven, independent restaurants serving food made with good quality and healthy ingredients. Highlights for me on this evening were the mac and cheese, salads, and the dessert, but the entrees were underwhelming and missed the mark for me. I've heard really good things about their breakfasts though, so that might be another opportunity for us to come here again. Service was pretty good, and our server kept things moving along nicely and did not seem to mind us sitting here for a while after our meals to continue catching up. Can't wait to see where the four of us end up next.

Out of five hawks, (because the hockey team based in Blackburn, England is known as the Blackburn Hawks, and I'm missing hockey this summer), five being best to zero being worst, Blackburn's Farm to Table gets 3 hawks.

For more information about Blackburn's Farm to Table, head to their website here: https://chefbillblackburn.com/

Pizza Without Any Parallel? - CLOSED

Parallel Pizzeria

34255 Pacific Coast Highway Suite 101

Dana Point, CA 92629

I used to have a rule that I would wait until a restaurant was around for a year before I would review it. My reason for this was that I did not want a website full of reviews of boarded-up restaurants. That stat still floats around: about 90 percent of restaurants fail to make it to their first anniversary before closing up shop. Now coming up on my ninth year of writing this restaurant review site, inevitably, there are a good number of restaurants that I have been to that have gone the way of drive-in theaters, rotary phones, and record stores (I know I'm definitely dating myself with these references). I realized this was a silly rule because most of you want to see if you should eat at that new place in town. If that new place in town you are wondering about is Parallel Pizzeria, the answer is yes, you should head there right away.

I had a sneaky suspicion that Parallel Pizzeria would be great when I heard who was behind it. Chef Ryan Adams of the vaunted 370 Common in Laguna Beach and the soon-to-be very busy Buttermilk Fried Chicken in Downtown Orange, along with his business partner, James Nunn, opened Parallel late last month. Situated in The Row Shopping Strip, this is a homecoming for Chef Adams. He used to skate and surf in this area when he was younger and always lamented that there were no good pizza places in Dana Point. He decided to rectify that by bringing Parallel to town.

To say that New Haven-style pizza is under-represented here in OC would be an understatement. I did some quick research and discovered that this is the only place serving New Haven-style pizza in the county. I could have overlooked a spot, and someone will correct me if that is the case. New Haven pizza is distinctive in that its shape is oblong instead of round, the dough is fermented for 72 hours, the pizza is cooked in a charcoal oven at 700 degrees, and they even did some water analysis with some help from the guys at UCI to get the water as close to Connecticut's as possible. A lot of work went into this restaurant.

Thankfully, this is not a build-your-own pizza concept, which is refreshing for a change. Haven't we reached our saturation point with the build-your-own pizza places? The menu here is divided into a small selection of starters, salads, and sandwiches. There are eight signature pies and a red and white base model that you can customize with an added upcharge per topping. These are not single-serving sizes of pizzas either. They offer medium and large on most pizzas, and the medium could definitely serve two. They also serve a gluten-free cauliflower crust for people who are into that sort of thing, like my fantastic sister-in-law, Emily. Enough build-up; how did we like this new pizza place in town?

I've been on a real meatball kick lately and had to give these Housemade Meatballs ($7.95) a spin. These smaller-than-I-imagined meatballs came five to an order, were bathed in a tangy red sauce, and dusted lightly with parmesan cheese. The meatballs were tender and had a pleasant texture. I loved the marinara sauce, which was not too acidic and had a slight sweetness. After devouring these in record time, I looked forward to trying their meatball sandwich on my next visit.

The medium version of this Chopped Salad was the perfect size for sharing. Chopped iceberg lettuce is jazzed up with radicchio, sliced salami, tomato, artichoke, mozzarella, onion, olives, and garbanzo beans and is then rounded out with a red wine vinaigrette. The freshness of this salad cannot be debated, and I liked that they added lots of items to it. I was not thrilled with the dressing on this, though. I thought it had a tanginess that was too strong for my palette, but Katie seemed to love it. I'm more of a creamy salad dressing kind of guy.

Now, the real reason you come here is the pizzas. Katie got the White and Green Pizza ($18.95) for her maiden visit to Parallel. This pizza is topped with prosciutto, ricotta, a well-done cilantro pesto, chili flakes, garlic, parmesan, and plenty of arugula. Katie felt this was a very flavorful pizza, and the absence of sauce allowed the excellent toppings to be the show's star. The chili flake added a tinge of spice, while the delicious prosciutto and creamy ricotta added a nice textural element. I had imagined this would be a dry pizza, but that was not the case. A very clean-tasting pizza and a great first impression of New Haven-style pizza for us.

I came here knowing I would have this Clam Pizza ($22.95). I know it might seem a little crazy to most of you, but clams on a pizza is pretty much a tradition in New Haven, Connecticut, so since this would be my first time experiencing this type of pizza, I thought I might as well go all in. The little neck clams are joined on the pizza by cuts of bacon, pecorino cheese, red onions, olive oil, and chili flakes. If you are averse to clams on pizza, they are not fishy or slimy like you might expect. The sliced bacon and the spicy chili flakes overshadowed the clams, which were a little hard to pick out while eating them. New Haven pizza is very light on the cheese and sauce, but the crust was delicious, and I definitely do not consider myself a crust guy. A very light pizza, which did not make me feel as heavy as I only ate half of it and saved the rest for dinner the following evening. The perfect bacon used here excited me to try their carnivore pizza next time.

I'm thrilled that the people of Dana Point have a great pizza option in their town. Since this was our first foray into New Haven-style pizza, I don't have anything else to compare it to, but I liked what I had this evening. The pizzas were lighter than Chicago's heavy, deep-dish style, less greasy than New York-style thin crust, and had more flavor than Neapolitan-style pizzas. You can say that the New Haven type of pizza is comfortably right in the middle ground of pizza. A sweet spot, if you will. Since Parallel has only been open for a month, I look forward to seeing how it's received by the community and how it evolves. We had the pleasure of running into Chef Ryan Adams during our visit, and his passion for the culinary landscape of Orange County is contagious and very optimistic, which is something that I like to hear. Plus, he's one of the most down-to-earth chefs/owners we have met in the nine years of writing this restaurant review blog. I'm glad I decided to break my rule of waiting a year to review a restaurant, even though I have no doubt this one will be around way longer than that.

Out of five lollipops (because New Haven not only was the birthplace of the first hamburger, submarine, and corkscrew but the lollipop was invented in this town in 1892 as well), five being best to zero being worst, Parallel Pizzeria gets 3.5 lollipops.

Parallel Pizzeria has a minimal website, which will hopefully be updated soon. You can see it here: http://parallelpizzeria.com/

That Boy Not Only Good, He's Great - CLOSED

That Boy Good

326 Horne St. 

Oceanside, CA 92054

It's that time again when we go south to get Katie a new Coach purse for her birthday at the Outlets in Carlsbad. It's no secret that I do not like shopping at the outlets down here. I usually go into the jam-packed Coach store for about five minutes, soon grow bored, and wait outside for Katie to finish getting her discounted purse. So, my favorite part of the day is, of course, picking somewhere to eat. I narrowed our choices to six restaurants this year and finally decided on That Boy Good BBQ.

Leaving Carlsbad, I punched That Boy Good into Google Maps, and it led us to this newer of the two T..B.G. locations, which was fine because I had heard that parking at their original location on PCH can be a little bit challenging, especially on weekends like this one. This location, situated on the corner of Horne and Civic Center, has an oversized lot and is closer to the freeway. This is their walk-up counter and catering center and space, which they share with Northern Pine Brewing Company.

That Boy Good is owned by a husband and wife team. Chef Mark Millwood is a Navy veteran who lived all over the world growing up, including Mississippi, where he acquired his love of southern cooking, which would later become the basis for this restaurant. In 2008, while both were working in Colorado, Mark met his future bride while they opened a five-star resort in Vail. Together, they finally settled in Oceanside, had a son, and opened their first spot nearly six years ago. This second location opened just over half a year ago. I've heard this spot is a great alternative when there's a long wait at the one on PCH.

We arrived just before 5 Sunday evening and walked to the register to order. The menu will not overwhelm you with choices. They offer six kinds of smoked meats, seven different sides, and then a couple of what I'd call hybrid specials that combine both their sides and meats. Prices are not extreme, and I've seen more wallet-draining prices at other barbecue restaurants. We quickly made our selections and sat at one of their unoccupied communal tables that filled the rather ample space. Let's see if this is indeed the best barbecue in these parts.

Here's a brief overview of what we got at That Boy Good. Yes, we went overboard, but I was still determining when I'd be back and wanted to try most of their menu. So mission accomplished. Let's take a look at all of this food in more detail.

Let's start things off with what Katie ordered this early evening. She's a big fan of deviled eggs, so the Deviled Egg of the Day ($3.50) was a must. On this day, the deviled egg was a barbecue chicken egg. It was topped with a jalapeno, some barbecue sauce, and a chicken and egg mousse pipped into the hollowed egg shell. Katie said they nailed this. There was definitely a barbecue chicken feel to these, and she would not hesitate to get them again. For her entree, she went with the Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwich ($9.25). The hefty pork on this sandwich was moist but not mushy, which is a tricky balance. The bun was structurally sound and nicely toasted. If you like extra meat, you can add it to the sandwich for an additional $3, but there was plenty on here for Katie's taste. One of the better-pulled pork sandwiches Katie has had in a while. With the sandwich, you get a choice of one small side item, and Katie selected the Corn on the Cob, which was grilled over the same wood they use to smoke their meats, and as a result, it infused a smokiness into the ear of the corn to elevate this side a bit. She was delighted with everything she had here on this visit.

When I saw that they offered a BBQ Combo Plate ($27), I knew I'd be having that. Whenever I'm eating at a new place for the first time, my strategy is to get the most variety on one plate, and this was definitely the best option at That Boy Good. It comes with Half a Rack of Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork, and Chopped Beef Brisket. They give you at least half a pound of meat for each, but that's a conservative guess. The portion sizes are enormous. The best of the meats was the brisket, which I will ask for sliced instead of chopped next time. This moist and tender brisket included a good meat mixture, a small fat, and crispy end pieces. It's one of the best I have had since a trip to Bludso's many years ago. The pulled pork was another winner. Just like Katie's sandwich, it was moist without being too mushy. The ribs completed the trifecta of excellent meats. Plenty of delicious pork on each bone. It pulled gently away from the bone with minimal effort. I liked that they did not mask the authentic flavor of the meat with lots of smoke flavoring, and they allowed each customer to add their desired sauce to each option, not that you even need sauce for barbecue this good. The sides were on point as well. The Collard Greens are the real deal here and do not need to be gussied up with bits of meat like many other places have to resort to. The Mac and Cheese is another subtle side item that works. Not over the top cheesy, it clings to the well-cooked noodles wonderfully and provides a nice mellow flavor, making this one of the lightest versions of this sometimes too heavy for its own good side dish. The only thing I was not so excited about was the Cornbread. It had a good texture, but I like a sweeter version. However, Katie loved this, and I was happy she took it off my hands.

To round out our meal at That Boy Good, we got these Dirty Fries with Beef Hot Links ($11). These are basically cheese fries with your choice of meat on top of them. I was surprised that they put four hot links on top of these, but they do not skimp on the serving sizes at That Boy Good. The fries were fried nicely, and I'm not usually a big fan of cheese sauce, but it was good here. The beef links were excellent, with a nice snap to the casings, but it would have been easier to eat if they were sliced in more manageable bite-sized pieces. Next time, I'm getting these fries with brisket on them.

As I walked out of That Boy Good with my three to-go containers filled with food I would cherish eating for the next two days, I had a sense of dread spread over me, thinking about next year's visit to the Carlsbad Outlets. Part of the only reason I like coming down here is the chance to pick and try a restaurant we usually would not get a chance to try, and it will now be hard to pass by here and not come to That Boy Good. But, of course, the other reason I like coming down here is to make Katie happy with a gift she deserves for putting up with me. Just had to make sure I got that in. Back to this visit, though. That Boy Good is one of the best barbecue restaurants in Southern California and one of the best we have been to recently. The value for the money is excellent as the servings are good-sized, and you will have leftovers for the next day. Service at this casual counter restaurant was cordial, and the vibe was very mellow. 

Out of five bicycles (because Oceanside is the starting point for the 3,000-mile bike race, Race Across America), five being best to zero being worst, That Boy Good BBQ gets 4 bicycles.

For more information about That Boy Good, head over to their website here: https://www.thatboygoodbbq.com/

Burger Kravings in Newport - CLOSED

The Krave Kobe Burger Grill

21133 Newport Coast Dr.

Newport Coast, CA 92657

It's burger time again on this blog. Early in the life of this blog, every other restaurant review was about hamburgers. A quick check of the categories listed on the right-hand side of this page bears this out. We have reviewed 138 burger restaurants where I had a burger. Yikes, that's a lot of burgers. I have slowed down on my quest for the perfect burger, though. We are almost halfway this year, and this will be only the sixth burger I have reviewed on these pages. See, I've evolved.

Anyway, it was time to try out another burger place that's been on my list forever. Krave Kobe Burger Grill landed on my list because they had invited me to their grand opening, but I could not go. That was almost two years ago now. Man, time is flying by. I also noted that they were featured in Orange Coast Magazine's Best Burgers of the Year issue last October. They were mentioned in the $10 or less category, which in this neighborhood is a steal.

Katie had some business to tend to after work one evening near Fashion Island, which is definitely close enough for us to make it to Krave. Just so we are clear, and there's no confusion, this is not affiliated with Krave Asian Fusion in Irvine. That place specializes in Korean fried chicken, which we've tried, and it is really good. This Krave is all about burgers.

Located in a shopping center I did not know existed until this evening, Krave is situated on the corner of Newport Coast Dr. and San Joaquin Hills Road. There's a Pavillion, a Zov's Restaurant, First Class Pizza, two banks, a nail salon, and, of course, two Starbucks in this shopping plaza. I guess people can never get enough coffee around these parts.

The idea for Krave started when Co-Founder and CEO of Krave, Ardy Farokhirad, traveled abroad and found out that in other countries, people were pretty concerned with what they put in their bodies, unlike at home. He decided to create a burger spot that provided a high-quality burger with nutritious and safe-to-eat products at an affordable price. That means they get their beef from independent farmers who do not add hormones and raise their cows humanely. This must have been a hit with consumers because the company said they are set to open up 10 locations this year and have 60 up and running within two years. These are lofty goals; we'll see how it all goes.

Back to our present visit, though. We arrived here just before 6pm on a recent Wednesday evening. The restaurant is bigger than it appears from the outside. To the left of the registers where you place your order, there's bar seating, which allows a good view of the happenings in the kitchen. Plenty of TVs turned to sports around the dining room, many of which were ignored by the relatively thin crowd this evening. Most people were ordering their food to go. We, of course, got our food for here, so let's see how everything turned out for us this evening.

Starting things off for us at Krave was this Trio ($8.99), which allows you to try all three of their sides; French Fries, Onion Rings, and Sweet Potato Fries. The best of the bunch were the onion rings. They had a very crunchy panko breading, which did not tear away from the onion inside as easily as other onion rings tend to do. A big plus in my book, as it's nice to have the salty outer shell with the sweet onion underneath. The fries were standard on this visit. The Kennebec potato could have been better here, as these fries came out lukewarm at best. They might have been better if they were seasoned a tad more with salt and if they did not cool so quickly.  I'm not a big fan of Sweet Potato Fries, but Katie liked these. They were warmer than the fries, but the menu claims these are great with their marshmallow sauce, which we did not get with our order. You may have to ask for the sauces to get them.

Katie was not feeling a burger, so she went with this Chicken Breast Sandwich ($7.99). This sandwich is made with free-range chicken and then topped with Swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, caramelized onion, and garlic aioli. She had asked for avocado, but they forgot to put it on, which was a problem this evening. Katie was not a big fan of this sandwich. She thought it was plain tasting, the chicken was dry, and the garlic aioli did not shine on this. They might have needed a heavier condiment hand to make it more noticeable and spice this sandwich flavorwise. She would definitely get something else here next time.

Now, the reason I was drawn here is the Kolossal Burger ($11.24 with cheese added). The burgers at Krave come with only tomato, lettuce, caramelized onions, and garlic aioli. Bacon and cheese are additional upgrades of $1.25 and $1.50, respectively. This Kolossal version features two patties, and I opted for cheddar cheese and bacon, although the bacon was missing from the burger. I decided I did not need the bacon with a burger this big, so I let it go, but it would have made this burger even better than it already was. I loved how the cheddar cheese melted across the patties, and even though they put way too much lettuce on this (I had enough for a salad after I pulled more than half of it off), I was pretty stoked with this burger. You could taste the freshness in the meat, and the patties were very juicy. The bun did an excellent job keeping things together, but more garlic aioli would have been appreciated. It is a very clean-tasting burger. It is not good enough to crack my top four burgers in OC, but it is better than most. I see why this is among the top 40 listed in Orange Coast Magazine.

I left Krave Kobe Burger satisfied, but it could have been better if they had remembered items on Katie's and mine's entrees. The bacon and added aioli would have made this burger even better, while the missing avocado could have moistened the chicken sandwich to make it better than average. Except for the exquisite onion rings, the sides could have been more impressive this evening. It may be an off night for them, but with an aggressive expansion plan in the coming years, they might still have some kinks to work out.

Out of five bags of beef jerky (not because of the meat here, but because there's a brand of beef jerky called Krave, which was bought by the Hershey Company in 2015 for 240 million dollars), five being best to zero being worst, Krave Kobe Burger Grill gets 2.5 bags of beef jerky.

For more information about The Krave Kobe Burger Grill, head to their website here: http://kravekobeburger.com/