Another Great Night of Mexican Food in Placentia

El Cantarito

120 W. Santa Fe St.

Placentia, CA 92870

Some cities in Orange County are just known for some things. Newport Beach is known for high-end restaurants. Garden Grove has lots of great Vietnamese restaurants. Fullerton gets my vote for having the best bar food in our county. Now after going to our second straight great Mexican restaurant in Placentia, I am almost willing to crown Placentia best Mexican food city in Orange County.

Okay, maybe we have just hit a hot streak in picking Mexican restaurants in Placentia. We had recently been to El Farolito, which is right around the corner from El Cantarito. El Farolito was awesome. So when I heard that there was another great Mexican restaurant in the same neighborhood, I was a little skeptical that it could be as good. Not wanting to ruin the surprise for you, but it was very close to being as good.

El Cantarito is a very laid back, local restaurant. This place is not a dive, because it is clean, but not exactly popping with atmosphere and decor. They have about fifteen tables, a jukebox, and two TVs to add to the family feel of this place. The service was subdued but attentive. Let's check out the food.

Of course, the first thing you notice about a Mexican restaurant is the chips and salsa. Here we even ordered as a bonus, a side of Guacamole. How could you not, at only $1.99? The chips were obviously made here and had a good thickness and crunch to them. A touch of smoothness from the oil these chips were fried in still remained on them and added to the flavor of the chip. The salsa was good, not great. A little too mild for me, but still very flavorful. The guacamole was okay as well. My Dad was the first to notice that there was some seasoning missing from it. We should have maybe added a little salt to it, to enhance the flavor. Maybe next time.

Let's start with my Mom's meal here. She went with the 2 Item Combination Plate. She had a Cheese Enchilada and a Soft Carnitas Taco. She was very pleased with this $7 combination plate. The cheese enchilada was filled with lots of cheese, and the sauce was nice and mild. The taco had sour cream added to it and was called, "great", by my Mom.

After some great deliberation, my Dad wanted to have breakfast for dinner, so he chose the Huevos Rancheros. He felt that this dish was light and flavorful. The highlight of this dish for him were the beans served with this. They were really fresh and tasted homemade.

Just like my Mom, Katie also had a 2 Item Combo. Katie had a Chile Relleno and Chicken Taco. She called the relleno well made and full of flavor. She liked the fried shell of the chicken taco a lot and felt that the chicken inside was well seasoned and very tender. She also liked the lightness of the rice. Very good rice here, maybe some of the best we have had in a long while.

Not only did I have my meal that is coming up next, but I also ordered the items above. I did share these with the table though, just to ease my guilt. The thing with most Mexican food is that it does not photograph too well, plus I was really hungry and did not want to take much time to snap pictures. The Taquitos here was very good, without being too greasy. We had the beef, but carnitas and chicken are also available. The Quesadilla was filled with carnitas and toasted perfectly. The meat was very flavorful in this and got me really excited for my meal.

When I first saw my Carnitas Plate, I was a little disappointed because it looked like I was jipped on the amount of meat I was given. After eating this though, I had made four tacos out of this and was feeling very full. The carnitas was a little greasy, but that added to the flavor of these. The meat did feature portions of crispness along with tender pieces of pork. A very good combination. The flour tortillas I had here were also superb. Homemade tasting and they really hold up to the tacos I made with the carnitas. The refried beans were silky smooth, but the rice really stood out to me. Well cooked and flavorful, even for me a very tough critic of rice.

When we were leaving El Cantarito we could not help but compare this restaurant to El Farolito. I mean we passed right by it and everything. At the time we could not decide which restaurant we liked better, but after writing this review, and taking some time to think about it, I decided that I liked El Farolito just a tad better. The food here was great and I would not hesitate to return. I just liked the atmosphere a little bit better around the corner. The menu at both places are similar, but the prices are also a little better at El Farolito. So that is why it gets a slight edge over El Cantarito. A very solid restaurant though.

So out of five jugs, (because Cantarito translates to jug), five being best to zero being worst, El Cantarito gets 3.5 jugs.

For more information on El Cantarito, click here: http://el-cantarito.cafes-usa.com/

Citrus City Sweet or Sour?

Citrus City Grille

122 N. Glassell St.

Orange, CA 92866

Downtown areas in the OC have seen a rebirth lately. Fullerton has always had a large downtown fan base with its bars and restaurants. Brea has been opening and closing retail outlets and restaurants almost weekly for awhile now. Then there is downtown Orange. In the last few years they have increased their restaurant credibility by opening a number of highly touted dining spots. Haven Gastropub, Gabbi's, and Bruxie moved in to downtown Orange to join old stalwarts like Felix, Watson's, and the restaurant we were headed to this night, Citrus City Grill.

Citrus City Grill has been around since 1996, which just barely makes it a veteran restaurant at The Orange Circle. It was bought by three longtime friends back then, but it was sold to its current owners in 2000. They revamped the menu, renovated the concept, and even expanded, when they opened another CCG out in Corona. We came to downtown Orange to take a haunted walking tour, but first we wanted to see if the food here would be a trick or a treat.

Here is a shot of the bread basket. This bread was not very memorable. I did not even write anything about it in my notes, so I guess it failed to make an impression.

Jamie started her night off with the Butter Lettuce Salad. This salad featured poached pears, Gorgonzola, and a raspberry vinaigrette. The ever articulate Jamie, claimed that eating this salad reminded her of Christmas time. Not sure why she said that, but she wanted me to make sure I put that in. I liked this salad, because of the varying textures that were included here. A little more Gorgonzola would have made this salad even better.

I had not realized it until I looked back over my last few posts, but I have been on a real Caesar salad kick recently, and here at Citrus City Grille that trend continued. The thing that distinguishes this Caesar from others is the capers that are added to this, in place of anchovies. This was a good twist, but the croutons here were not as good as I would have liked, and the result made this Caesar average.

Katie bucked the trend by not opting for a salad, but having the Vegetable Spring Rolls instead. These rolls had a crunchy outer shell, were a little greasy, but had a good flavor. These were not what we had expected, but I am not usually a big fan of spring rolls because they can seem rather flavorless. These had a decent flavor, the veggies were slightly crisp, and peanut sauce was milder than usual, but it worked well with these rolls.

Now on to the main entrees, starting us off is Nathan's selection, the Reserve Angus Filet Mignon. This 12 ounce steak was over cooked according to Nathan. He felt that the veggies and potatoes were cooked very well, and over shadowed the filet. Not something that you want to happen when you are paying $38 for steak. The bite that I had of this was okay, but it was cooked too much for my taste as well.

To put it mildly, Jamie is a real picky eater. She does not eat meat, and I never see her eat anything other than pizza. Okay, maybe that is because we are in a bowling league where we get a pizza every week, but that is besides the point. This was my first time seeing her eat grown up food, and she chose the Bow Tie Pasta. The bow tie pasta comes with basil, Parmiggiano cheese, pine nuts, (which she omitted), and a tomato cream sauce. She really enjoyed this dish and I did as well. The sauce was a little on the thin side, but was very flavorful.

Katie sees Shrimp Scampi on any menu, and it is usually a good bet that she gets it. At CCG the scampi is served over linguini, with feta cheese, Roma tomatoes, and of course a garlic butter sauce. Katie called this dish, "mild". The feta did add some bite to this dish, but the shrimp was served lukewarm. It is not usually a good sign when a scampi is described as mild. This dish should pop with flavor, and this one failed to do so.

I admit it, I stole Nathan's choice for dinner. Sorry big guy! I had the Prime Pork Flat Iron. This 10 ounce hunk of meat was cooked very well, and had a nice flavor. I wish I had more maple syrup glaze with this, but that is my only complaint with the pork. The veggies served with this were average, but the Gorgonzola potatoes were a step above the vegetables. I also enjoyed the caramelized onions that were served along side the meat. They gave a nice contrast to heartiness of the pork. I also ordered the side dish above, the Sauteed Spinach. This was not very good. The spinach was a little over cooked, and lacked a big flavor punch that I had expected.

By the time dessert rolled around we were all pretty full, but we had to try their Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee. This was very pudding like, but not as creamy as we would have liked. The flavor was also just a bit off for us. Not a horrible creme brulee, but not the best one we have had.

The ambiance is pretty good at Citrus City Grille. The mood is relaxed and casual. Kind of an older crowd the night we were here. We got here at six on a Friday night and the place was very busy. Almost all of the thirty tables were taken, and most of the bar seats were occupied as well.  The service was very attentive, without being too pushy. We felt that the prices might be a little on the high side for what you get.The menu was varied just enough, so that I am sure almost anyone could find something to their liking.

So out of five tools, (because the location that houses this restaurant, started as a hardware store in 1886), five being best to zero being worst, Citrus City Grille gets 2.5 tools.

For more information on Citrus City Grille, click here: http://www.citruscitygrille.com/

 

Too Much Flour Power at Berkeley Dog - CLOSED

Berkeley Dog

25522 Marguerite Parkway Ste 101

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

We have now written over 200 restaurant reviews. I sometimes wonder about the restaurants we have written about and if they have improved since we last went there. I saw an advertisement for Berkeley Dog, and they were promoting a new bacon hash dog. Bacon hash! That is all they had to say, and I was back with my friends Mike and Richard to give Berkeley Dog another shot.

The last time we were at Berkeley Dog, they were sharing their space with a yogurt shop. Big surprise: The yogurt shop, like many others throughout the county, is not here anymore, and they have the space all to themselves. We arrived at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday, ordered from a very cheerful employee at the counter, and waited for our food to come out. Here is what we had.

On our first journey to Berkeley Dog, I tried the sausages. This time, we went big, starting with the Monster Fries above. Monster fries are topped with onions, bacon, and cheese sauce. These tasted just okay. I am not really a big fan of cheese sauces. I would have rather had grated cheese on this instead. The fries were your average fast-food fries.

Another new item since the last time we were here is the Chili Cheese Dog. Mike and I split this, and we both had the same opinion of this dog. The chili was good, but it took a lot of work to get past the bun. The buns at Berkeley Dog are some of the worst we have had. There is just too much bread for a hot dog. They would be better off getting store-brand hot dog buns and using those. Since there was so much bread, so the hot dog and cheese got lost here.

Now, the reason I came back here is the Bacon Hash Dog. The hash consisted of hash brown sticks, onions, and bacon bits. The hash browns needed to be seasoned with salt. The hot dog and bacon were good, but like the chili dog above, the bun detracted from the flavor and made this specialty dog dry. I had such high hopes for this and was so let down.

The next sausage I had was the Louisiana Hot Link. This really packed a punch. It was very spicy and had a good snap to the hot dog.This was my favorite thing here this afternoon, but again, the bun tried to steal the show from the hot dog and almost won in this case.

Mike has been on a fried egg kick lately, adding it to numerous hamburgers at Slater's 50/50 and other places. Berkeley Dog was no exception for him. Here, he added an egg to the Juicy Habanero. According to Mike, the egg added nothing here. He would have liked to have had the egg seasoned with pepper or salt. The result of not doing this made the egg flavorless and unnecessary.  He felt that the habanero had a decent kick he would leave out the egg next time.

Mike still hoped for a redeeming hot dog when he ordered the Kielbasa with onions and peppers. His hopes were dashed after finishing this, though. Mike described the kielbasa as "bland." Like the hash brown sticks and egg before them, the peppers and onions added nothing to the kielbasa. Finally tired of the bun, he discarded it less than halfway through this sausage. He was very disappointed.

As disappointed as Mike and I were about this place, Richard was even more disappointed about Berkeley Dog. He called the Kobe Beef Dog delicious but was too distracted by the bun to enjoy this hot dog. His second choice, the Calabrese, he did not finish. The fennel in this sausage really over powered the taste, and led Richard to call this sausage, "awful".

Richard also chose to order the Funnel Cake Fries here. These "fries" were listed right along with the regular fries, but they were more of a dessert than french fries. We did agree that these were good, but they were missing something. Maybe some caramel or chocolate dipping sauce would go even better with them. Without a sauce, we grew tired of these rather quickly.

The last thing we went with was the Chili Cheese Fries. Like the chili cheese dog, we liked the chili enough to call these fries solid. I especially liked the grated cheese on top of these. The chili, cheese, and fries ratio here was pretty good, and that can sometimes be hard to get just right.

So, was our second trip to Berkeley Dog better than the first? No, it was not. Like the first time I was here, the main problem with this place is the bun. There is too much of it, and it takes all the moisture out of the hot dog and the toppings you put on it. A simple fix would be offering a more traditional bun,, allowing the hot dogs and sausages to shine. The meats here are delicious but get pushed to the side by the overpowering bread. Also, a little seasoning from the cooks would help bring out some flavor in the grilled onions, egg, peppers, and hash browns. I did like the wide variety of mustards and relishes that they offer, but I am not sure that is enough to make us want to come back.

So out of five golden bears (because that is the nickname for the University of California sports teams located in Berkeley), five being best to zero being worst, Berkeley Dog gets 2 golden bears.

For more information on Berkeley Dog, click here: http://www.berkeleydogs.com/index.html 

Is It All in the Name at Savannah Chop House? - CLOSED

Savannah Chop House

32441 Golden Lantern 

Laguna Niguel, CA 92677

You could probably put, "chop house", at the end of any restaurant and it would make me want to eat there. I envision great steaks and pork chops coming out of the kitchen at any place with this in its name. Even Del Taco Chop House makes me want to head over and get a steak taco.

Savannah Chop House had been on my list of places to try for some time now. I had lost a golf bet to Katie's Dad, so this is where I chose to pay off the dinner bet. Our party of four arrived at six on a Sunday night and were sat immediately. The dining room has high ceilings, with a great view of the rolling foothills of southern Orange county. The restaurant, with its dark wood and dim lighting, brought to mind what I would imagine it would be like to eat in a hunting lodge in Wyoming or Montana. Not bad ambiance for a chophouse. Let's see if the food can match it.

Up first is a shot of the breadbasket. Pretty standard fare here. In fact, I did not even write anything down about this breadbasket. I did like that the butter was served only slightly chilled, so you could spread it easily.

This bland looking dish was our appetizer for the evening, the Lobster Mac N Cheese. In this version of mac and cheese, they use three kinds of cheese, Gruyere, white cheddar, and Parmesan. Along with the cheeses, the dish also featured lobster with bechamel sauce. I say that this dish had lobster, but only Katie and her Dad had a hunk of lobster, myself, and Lynn got shut out of the lobster lottery. I expected this to be a rich dish, but the flavor was very mellow. I would probably skip this appetizer in the future.

Katie opted to get their Mixed Greens Salad. This salad featured blue cheese crumbles, apples, candied pecans, and a sherry vinaigrette. Surprisingly, this salad was not tangy. Very clean tasting, and very fresh ingredients. Katie, as well as myself really enjoyed this salad. I liked the different textures this salad offered, as well as the taste.

Now on to the entrees, and the first one will be Lynn's choice, the Honey and Buttermilk Fried Chicken. Lynn felt the flavor of this chicken was good, but the breading was a little too tough to cut through. The piece of chicken I had was a little on the dry side, but I did not try it with the thyme gravy that was served with this. The mashed potatoes did get good marks from Lynn.

Katie always seems to get shrimp and this night was no exception. Creole Shrimp Pasta was in her sights tonight. This plate combined four jumbo shrimp with a white wine cream sauce served over pasta. Katie summed up this plate by calling it well cooked. She liked the mild flavor of the sauce and felt that the pasta was well done.

The "golf expert", also known as Dennis, tried the Filet Mignon Stroganoff. This stroganoff was a little different from the traditional ones I have had before. Here they combined the meat with cremini mushrooms and a mustard sauce. Dennis liked that this did not have the traditional heavy sauce. He felt that steak was cooked and seasoned well. I felt the meat was a little on the tough side, but I am not much of a stroganoff guy.

Of course, you know that I ordered a steak in a chophouse. I went with my old reliable, the Bone-In Rib-Eye.  This steak looked odd to me. I had ordered it medium rare, and it came out medium-well. That contributed to this hunk of meat being a little tough. Not only was it hard to get through, but the flavor was off also. I know that this particular cut of meat is known for having a lot of fat, but this one had extra and it did not contribute any flavor here. As a last resort, I was hoping that the jalapeno cheddar potatoes would help me out by waking up this dish, but they fell flat as well. Cooked well, but they did not pop like their name suggests.

When it was time for dessert I was really stuffed, so I let Katie and Lynn choose what we would have, and they went with Strawberry Cheesecake. I am not really into cheesecakes because I can find them to be very heavy. This one was heavy, but it was also delicious. The berries were very fresh, and the only complaint I could make about this dessert was that there could have been extra sauce served with this.

The four of us all had the same feeling about Savannah, it would not be at the top of our list of places to come again. The atmosphere and service were good, but the food was overpriced for being mediocre. Most dinners are in the $20 range, but steaks and fish meals will set you back $25 to $34. My choice for the evening, the rib-eye was at the high end of this range. This would be a place we would come for a couple of drinks on their patio, and nothing more. So, I guess the lesson here is just because a place calls itself a "chop house", it does not mean that it is automatically good.

Out of five steamships, (because the first steamship to cross the Atlantic ocean was the SS Savannah in 1818), five being best to zero being worst, Savannah Chop House gets 2 steamships.

For more information on Savannah Chop House, click here: http://savannahchophouse.net/index.shtml

Becky's Birthday Brunch at The Alley

The Alley Restaurant

4501 W. Coast Highway

Newport Beach, CA 92663

Brunch is so much better at the beach. Don't get me wrong, I love brunch no matter where it is, but mixed with the sea air and sun, it becomes magical. Our friend Becky and her friends do brunch in Newport almost every Sunday. It was her birthday, so we decided to join her this time. 

The Alley is one of those places I used to frequent when I was down in Newport carousing it up. It seems they stay open later than almost every other bar in Newport, so this was almost always one of our last stops. Known by the locals as the place with the "best pour by the shore," the Alley has been in business for over twenty-five years. I have eaten here a half dozen times, but never for brunch, so let's check it out.

Much like the classic bread basket served at dinner time, the brunch version is filled with biscuits. Unfortunately, these biscuits were photographed better than they tasted. The inside was a little too dry and relatively flavorless. Not sure what the pink butter was all about. I forgot to ask the waitress what it was supposed to be. It really just tasted like regular whipped butter with red food coloring. 

It was brunch time, so a Bloody Mary was called for. I ordered this Bloody Mary spicy, and it had a nice kick. These were very affordable at $6. They also offer the option of bottomless champagne for $10 with the purchase of a brunch entree. 

For Katie's brunch entree, she went with the Breakfast Sandwich. This is not the same breakfast sandwich you can get at McDonald's. They use Gruyere cheese, avocado, tomato, egg, and Canadian bacon here. Katie felt that this was a good breakfast sandwich with very fresh ingredients. Her one negative comment about this plate was the temperature of the cheesy potatoes that came with this brunch entree. She found them cold and would have liked more cheese on them. After trying these, I would have to agree with her. 

Stephanie had the brunch classic, the Eggs Benedict. She was also generous enough to give me half of it. She claimed the reason was that she had to fit into a wedding dress in a couple weeks, but I like to think it was just because she reads my food blog and wants to know my thoughts on her food. Okay, the first reason is probably correct, but I can dream, can't I? Plus, she already looks fine enough to fit in her wedding dress, so there will be no problem with that. Anyways, we both agreed that this was an average Benedict. She did like that this was not super-rich. I always feel that if I order this dish, I want it to be super rich. No one is ordering this to be healthy, so go decadent. The hollandaise sauce was okay, but this plate's highlight was that the egg was cooked well. The runny yolk always goes good with a Benedict. 

Not every day that you see a Breakfast Burrito on a brunch menu, and since I am on my quest to find the best one in the OC, I had to get one here. For the breakfast burrito at The Alley, you are allowed four fillers to add to your burrito. Of the twenty-two choices, I went with cheddar cheese, avocado, bacon, and sausage. Having bacon and sausage sounded like a great idea then, but these two big flavored breakfast types of meat canceled each other out. Next time I would just choose one and add some onions. The burrito was still good, but not great. The rice served with this was average. Lacking in big flavor.

The birthday girl went the traditional route with her brunch when she ordered the Classic Breakfast. This included three eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, and cheesy potatoes. Pretty standard fair here, but not an insufficient amount of food for $11.

Since it was Becky's birthday, she received a free dessert, the Fudge Cake. This dark chocolate cake was served with vanilla bean gelato. I did not try this dessert, but it got very good raves from the people who had some.

The brunch at The Alley was decent. I am not going to lie to you. I really like brunches that are served buffet style better. I definitely get my money's worth at buffets, but I am flexible and can do both. The service for our party of fifteen was excellent. The menu here is limited. They have eight items to choose from. The atmosphere was beach casual, with a very young crowd. We were just happy we could celebrate Becky's birthday with her.

So out of five laneways (because that is the term Australians use instead of alleys), five being best to zero being worst, The Alley gets 2.5 laneways.

For more information on The Alley, click here: http://thealleynewportbeach.com/