A Healthy Meal for Our 300th Post!

True Food Kitchen

451 Newport Center Drive

Newport Beach, CA 92660

When I first started this blog two and a half years ago I never dreamed of reaching 300 posts. That is a lot of eating! I also never thought it would be this much fun. I have really enjoyed meeting all of you, whether it is through email, comments, or even in person at various food-related events. I would have also never thought that our 300th post would be a health-conscious restaurant, but here we are at True Food Kitchen.

True Food Kitchen does not want to put itself out there as a healthy food restaurant. Instead, they want you to think of them as a nutritious restaurant that focuses on flavor and taste. The menu at True Food is guided by Dr. Andrew Weil's Anti Inflammatory Food Pyramid. This is Dr. Weil's eating guide to help reduce the risks of age-related diseases and improve overall health through diet. Of course, I go way off of the pyramid, but I am game to try it for at least one night, as long as the food tastes good.

True Food is located right next to Fleming's Steakhouse at Fashion Island. We arrived at 6:30 on a Thursday night to a bustling dining room and a twenty-minute wait. Once we were seated the airy and bright-colored dining room became apparent. Wood floors and lots of greens and yellows around the room added to the earthiness of this restaurant. Just in case you do not get the vibe of this place, check out the zen garden, complete with a rake, near the restroom. Enough of the ambiance of this place, let's check out what comes out of the kitchen.

The drink menu at True Food is a little funky because of the absence of Coke, Pepsi, and other soft drinks. These apparently do not fit inside the food pyramid. What does fit inside the pyramid are their Natural Refreshments, such as the Medicine Man beverage above? This antioxidant blast combines pomegranate, sea buckthorn, cranberry, black tea, and soda. The result was a refreshing drink that was not overly sweet and quenched Katie's thirst. A little pricey at $6, so I just stuck with regular iced tea.

The first of our two appetizers was the Grilled Shrimp Spring Roll. The spring roll was very fresh, full of shrimp, green papaya, soba, and cashew. The spring rolls were fine on their own but really brought to life by the sauce that accompanied them. Not sure what the sauce was or what it was made of, but it really added the kickstart to get these rolls going.

When Katie ordered the Caramelized Onion Tart, I was a little skeptical. After a few bites, I was turned into a believer in this starter. Smoked garlic, black fig, and Gorgonzola joined the onion to create this delicious appetizer. I could have eaten this whole thing by myself. The tart was kind of like a flatbread. The sweetness from the fig and caramelized onion were balanced nicely by the jolt from the Gorgonzola. This is a must-get when coming here.

Matt was not too excited by any of the appetizers here, so he ordered the odd-sounding Strawberry Chopped Salad. I am pretty anti-fruit in my salad so I did not get a chance to try this. The salad of course had strawberries, snap peas, fennel, goat cheese, and walnuts, with balsamic vinaigrette. Matt was not too into this salad saying, "it lacked flavor and there was not enough dressing on it".

Now on to the entrees and Rene's choice, the All Natural Steak Tacos. These mini street-sized tacos came with avocado, cotija cheese, tomatillo salsa, red onion, and sour cream. Rene felt that the steak was tender and was flavored well. She was also a big fan of the salsa used here. The tacos were served with a bowl of Anasazi Beans. There was no mention of how these beans tasted, but the bowl really looks huge in the pictures, towering over the tiny tacos.

Matt was feeling Italian, so he looked no further than the Turkey Bolognese. This gluten-free pasta was made of brown rice pasta and served with ground turkey and Parmesan cheese. Matt liked the little bit of spice in the sauce but was less than thrilled with the rest of the dish. He claims that the pasta was not as good as regular, gluten, pasta. It is hard making gluten-free pasta taste as good as the real thing. Matt will shy away from this dish on future visits here.

Katie had looked at the menu before our visit here and knew exactly what she would be getting for dinner, the  Asparagus, and Artichoke Pizza. Joining the, "A list" of vegetables was smoked mozzarella, oregano, and sweet onion. Katie detected a pine flavor in the bites of this pizza. She enjoyed this mellow pizza and felt the asparagus was the highlight of the pie.

It was a real dilemma for me to choose from the menu here. I went with the safest bet for me, the Grass Fed Bison Burger. Yes, you read that right, bison! This buffalo-like burger was complimented with onion, Parmesan cheese, umami, mushroom, and mayo on a flax seed bun. I went in with low expectations of this burger but was pleasantly surprised. This burger had a turkey burger feel to it, but it was juicier. The mushroom and cheese probably accounted for some of this juiciness, but it was a very well-put-together burger. Even the flax seed bun did not detract from the burger as much as I thought it would. This burger was served with two sides, a kale salad and a sweet potato hash. The kale salad did nothing for me. Not really a big fan. The hash was not bad, but I am not too much into sweet potatoes. It was the best of the two though.

We were out with Matt, so of course, dessert was a must. Matt is strange when it comes to desserts. He does not enjoy chocolate in the least. He is more of a fruit guy. So it was no surprise that he would get the Lemon Tart with strawberries and coconut cream. We all felt the lemon was refreshing, and the flavor of this was really good. Not surprisingly, the crust was a little off for me on this. Of course, it is gluten-free.

Rene is not averse to chocolate, so her selection was the Flourless Chocolate Cake with vanilla ice cream and caramel. This cake is made with 72 percent cocoa, which of course made the chocolate very prominent here. What did not stand out was the caramel. I had two bites of this and did not detect any of the sweet stuff. Decent flourless cake, but I will stick to regular cakes full of flour.

The dessert that everyone agreed was the best of the night belonged to Katie. It was the Banana Chocolate Tart with something called a mesquite flour crust and crushed Brazil nuts all over it. The banana was very ripe, the chocolate was pronounced, and the crust did not get in the way of the filling. The Brazil nuts were a nice touch here. Not a dessert that will blow you away, but this is the dessert to get here.

I was in a weird mood, and my choice is not typical of me, so please do not judge. I had the Dairy Free Organic Chocolate Pudding. Walnuts and pistachios were added to this dessert. Of course, the taste of this was a little off. Kind of gritty tasting and not real smooth. I came to the realization after eating this that pudding must include milk to taste good. I know, shocking.

True Food Kitchen is not my kind of place for sure, but I did not mind eating here. If I was to come back, the Bison Burger would be my choice for sure, assuming that it was still on the menu. They change their menu about four times a year, corresponding to the seasons. I could definitely find something on their menus to order on future visits here. Prices were not out of hand, considering the area. Starters were in the $5 to $12 range, while entrees went from $14 to $24. Our service was really pretty good. A little slow in spots, but we were having a nice leisurely meal anyways. Not really what I imagined our 300th post to be, but there are definitely worse places to eat, (I'm looking at you Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.)

Out of five zen gardens, (because I could still not get that out of my head, and I could not think of anything else to tie in here), five being best to zero being worst, True Food Kitchen gets 3 zen gardens.

For more information on True Food Kitchen, click here: http://www.truefoodkitchen.com/

Stuffed Pizza Showdown in North OC

PHAT Pizza

18340 Yorba Linda Blvd. Suite # 104

Yorba Linda, CA 92886

Shhh! If you listen very carefully you can hear a pizza war being waged in North OC. Okay, maybe I am exaggerating a little bit. After writing my review of Tony's Little Italy, I got an email from my friend Erven about PHAT Pizza in Yorba Linda. As you can tell from my review of Tony's, I really enjoyed their stuffed pizza. Erven told me he liked PHAT pizza better. So we headed to the, "land of gracious living", to give PHAT Pizza a try.

When we entered PHAT Pizza, I was amazed that there was not any Chicago paraphernalia all over the place. Most restaurants from a specific region always have sports posters and pennants all over the restaurant to try to legitimize the food they are serving. Not the case here.

Another glaring difference I noticed between this place and their neighbor in Placentia is the lack of customers. When we went to Tony's for a mid week lunch, the place had a steady stream of customers. At PHAT Pizza, we arrived to an empty restaurant at 5pm on Sunday. In fact, the whole shopping center at the corner of Imperial and Yorba Linda Boulevard was pretty dead. Chronic Tacos, and almost all the other businesses were closed at this early hour.

Owner Rance Ruiz confirmed to us that this shopping center location is a real challenge to his, and others businesses. Access in and out of the shopping center limits traffic to the center. It is for this reason that Rance told us they will be moving to a new place in Costa Mesa soon. This will help make Chicago stuffed pizza less centralized in north OC, and cut down driving times for fans of Windy City style pizza.

After eating at Tony's I now know the protocol with stuffed pizzas. They take a long time to make, about fifty minutes. So instead of hanging around a shopping center with no open businesses, we called our order in ahead of time. Rance had just pulled our pizzas out of the oven when we arrived. Perfect timing. So we paid for the pies and headed to Erven's house to eat. This is how they turned out.

There was going to be eight of us eating pizza, so two pizzas were going to have to be ordered. We went with the Carnivore Pizza and a House Special pizza. Both of these large pizzas had eight slices, but theses are not your run of the mill slices from Pizza Hut. These have some girth behind them. Even with the eight of us we still had leftovers.

First off the House Special Pizza. This one included sausage, green pepper, onions and mushrooms. A few more vegetables than I usually like, but I knew I had to order for the group, not just for me. The first thing I noticed about this pizza were the tomatoes on top. Bigger hunks of tomato on this pizza than the one at Tony's. The toppings on this were a little too mellow for me. The sausage really got lost here.

The Carnivore pizza is way more my style. Pepperoni, sausage, and Canadian bacon went on this behemoth of a pizza. This one still had the hunks of tomato on top of the pizza, but their sweetness was balanced out by the saltiness of the meats here. I definitely preferred this pizza to the house special pizza. Each slice was very flavorful and was full of meatiness.

I liked the pizzas at PHAT, but I think I have to give the edge of this pizza war to Tony's. What did it for me was the crust. The crust here at PHAT lacked the buttery flavor of the ones at Tony's, and could not stand on its own. Also, the cheese seemed to be a little more prominent at Tony's as well.

I think PHAT Pizza will do just fine in their new home in Costa Mesa. A little distance from Tony's will quell the comparisons between the two pizza joints. The distance will also introduce more of OC to this true stuffed pizza. Rance is a great guy, that seems to be passionate about his pizzas, and it shows in the end product. We will definitely come to the new place in Costa Mesa.

Out of five $ signs, (because the city of Yorba Linda is identified as being the richest city in the US, with a median household income of $121,000, more than any other city), five being best to zero being worst, PHAT Pizza gets 3 $ signs.

For more information on PHAT Pizza, click here: http://www.phat-pizza.com/#

Headed South to Memphis

Memphis Cafe

2920 Bristol St.

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I have a certain fondness for Memphis Cafe. I moved out of my parents house in early 1995, and it just so happened that Memphis opened its doors that year as well. I was lucky enough to move to the same neighborhood as this upstart eatery. At that time of my life I was experiencing my first taste of independence, and I also got my first taste of Memphis Cafe.

Memphis was like no other restaurant I had been to at this point of my life. I was a basic hamburger, pizza and breakfast kind of eater. The food here at Memphis showed me that there was more to life than just eating at Ruby's, Red Robin and Islands, (no offense to any of these restaurants, because I still do enjoy going to them occasionally).

Memphis is located in a building straight out of the 50's. In fact, to be more exact it is from 1953. A trio of friends got together and restored the dilapidated building, turning it into a retro roadhouse joint, serving southern comfort food with a twist. The dining room is furnished in lots of yellows, with wood all over the place. The room is dark and a little cramped, with lots of action going on. Let's see if Memphis is as good as I remember.  

After getting seated, we were brought these Mini Cornbread Muffins. This is their version of a bread basket. I must say that I am kind of a harsh critic when it comes to cornbread, but these little muffins were pretty moist, not too crumbly, and made even better with the real butter that came alongside of them. I definitely could have eaten another bowl of these, but I was saving myself for dinner.

Katie had her heart set on the Zuni Flatbread Appetizer. This flatbread was topped with sage pesto, corn salsa, and pepper jack cheese. This was an interesting appetizer to me. I liked the corn salsa and the lightness of the toppings, but this would have been better with crisper flatbread and the chicken option that is offered for an extra two dollars. Can not say that I would get this again.

Since I did not order an appetizer I got a Caesar Salad instead. At Memphis their Caesar included romaine lettuce of course, along with garlic croutons, Parmesan cheese, egg less anchovy, and garlic dressing. The dressing was very oily, but I warmed up to it as I ate the salad. The best part of this Caesar was the garlic croutons. Really added good texture and flavor.

Katie actually stole the dinner selection I was going to have when I walked in here, but I was gracious enough to let her order the Buttermilk Fried Chicken. What a good boyfriend I am. This chicken is served with mashed potatoes and mustard greens, then smothered in an andouille sausage gravy. Katie felt the chicken was dry in some parts, but the breading helped out some. Of course the gravy helped out too. Very good, without being too rich. The biggest surprise for Katie on this plate were the mustard greens. Cooked well and not too greasy, these could definitely stand on their own. A really good comfort food plate.

So it was plan B for me, with the Southern Meatloaf. The meatloaf was covered with aged cheddar cheese and red wine gravy. This meatloaf tasted like a Christmas tree with gravy. Lots of rosemary in this. Really gave this moist meatloaf a different kind of twist. The mashed potatoes were pretty smooth, and of course they went well with the meatloaf. This meal hugged my insides on the way down.

It's good to know that Memphis is still as good as the last time I was here. Even with the restaurant being busy, the service was still strong this night. The menu is not real large, but there is enough variety for everyone to find something they would like on it. Most of the meals are going to set you back about a $20 bill, not too bad. The serving sizes are not overly large, but you will not have to stop for more food on the way home from Memphis. The vibe here is kind of hipster, and gets even more that way as the night winds on. I can still be proud that Memphis helped in making me the food lover I am today.

Out of five steamboats, (because the city of Memphis, Tennessee has a steamboat on it's city seal, symbolizing the cities transportation, trade and commerce on the Mississippi River), five being best to zero being worst, Memphis gets 3 steamboats.

For more information on Memphis, click here: http://memphiscafe.com/

Tooting Their Horn at Tutto Fresco

Tutto Fresco

30642 Santa Margarita Parkway

Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688

I don't like to pigeonhole my friends, but I do it almost every time we go out. I have friends that are my steak experts. I have friends that know about great burgers. I even have friends and family that know about great sushi places to try. This is the second time we have been out with Chuck and Stephanie, and they are quickly becoming my, "Italian food couple".

On our first journey out with them we went to Antonucci's in Mission Viejo. For this dining adventure, we made the trek out to Tutto Fresco in RSM. I had not realized how popular this place is. They get very positive reviews on Yelp, and they have an 85 percent approval rating on Urbanspoon. There is also another location of Tutto Fresco in Orange. That location is more of a casual Italian restaurant. They even have a drive-thru. Now that is casual.

No drive-thru at this location. When we arrived here at 7 on a Friday night, the restaurant was packed. We did not have to wait for a table though. The dining room is comfortable even though the tables are pretty close to each other. High-backed chairs give you a kind of intimacy that you might not get without them. After perusing the rather large menu this is what we came up with.

First off, the obligatory bread basket shot. The bread here was soft and good. It was definitely seasoned with some herbs. The bread was made even better by dipping it in olive oil and vinegar.

The last time we were out with Stephanie and Chuck we had a very good bruschetta. At Tutto Fresco we hoped lightning would strike twice with the Bruschetta al Pomodoro. This, "do it yourself", bruschetta was served in a bowl and then we put it on the toasted bread. This bruschetta was very citrusy and was mostly in a liquid state. Not a bad bruschetta, but not the best we have had.

Both Katie and I had salads to start us off. She went with the Garden Salad. This salad included cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, croutons, and shredded zucchini, along with her choice of dressing, Ranch. She liked the fresh ingredients here, and the salad was a nice start to the meal. I had the Caesar Salad, which was your basic Caesar with romaine lettuce, croutons, Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing. I liked that they added extra dressing here. Basic, but still a solid salad.

I was always told to defer to my elders, so we will start with Old Man Chuck's meal. In his infinite wisdom, he selected the Jambalaya Risotto. This plate combined rice with chicken, sausage, shrimp, red and yellow peppers, onions, tomatoes, and celery in a lightly spiced Cajun sauce. You don't see this on a lot of menus at Italian restaurants. The meats were pretty good in this, but there were zero spicinesses going on here. You can not call it a jambalaya if there is no spice. Chuck summed up his meal as, "good, but not great".

What we all agreed was great was Stephanie's dinner, the Chipotle Chicken Linguine. This flavorful dish was made up of blackened chicken, red and yellow peppers, roasted corn, and onions, in a spicy chipotle cream sauce. The chicken was tender and full of flavor with the spices used on it. The sauce was spicy, without taking away from the rest of the dish. It woke up the taste buds without being overpowering. I would recommend this meal on visits here.

I have come to the conclusion that I should give up on ordering veal in restaurants. Not based on some moral grounds, but because I am almost always let down by it. Not saying this was a bad dish or anything, but I thought it would be better. Vitello alla Romana was my choice at Tutto Fresco. Veal scallopine sauteed in butter and sage, then topped with rosemary ham and provolone cheese. This sounded like it could not go wrong, right? Well, it was served only lukewarm, but was sent back and came out much better temperature-wise. The veal was not as tender as the veal should be. If I order veal I should be able to cut it with only my fork, that is the whole point of veal. The flavors here were not bad on this plate, I just expected more. This was served with a side of Spaghetti Checca, which is a pasta sauteed with tomatoes, feta cheese, capers, basil, and garlic. Not a bad side pasta dish. It helped round out the plate.

The last of our meals was Katie's, the Linguine Alla Cardinale. This dish was comprised of ribbon pasta, with sun-dried tomatoes, grilled chicken, and a tomato cream sauce. Not a bad meal at all. The flavor of this was a little on the mellow side but was easily spiced up by some red pepper flakes. The tomato cream sauce was very good and clung to items well. Sun-dried tomatoes added a nice little sweetness to the plate.

Dessert time at Tutto Fresco. We decided to get two of their selections and split them. The first choice was the Tiramisu. I am not usually a tiramisu kind of guy, but this one was very good. Moist, without a very heavy espresso taste. You could still taste the espresso in there, but it did overpower the whole dessert. This is a very well-made tiramisu and a very good serving size. More than enough for two people to share.

Also, a big serving was our other dessert, the Carrot Cake. Four layers of cake with cream cheese frosting and walnuts. I just have to say it, this has been the best carrot cake I have had since writing this blog. Great moist cake, solid cream cheese frosting, and a nice, comforting spice added up to making this a great finish to this meal. Even if the meals were awful, I would plan to make a trip back here just to have that carrot cake again.

Fortunately, the meals were not horrible, and we will probably return here in the future so I can have some more of that carrot cake. I might have been disappointed with my meal, but everyone else liked theirs. I will have to try something else on our next visit. The prices were not crazy out of control here either. Prices hovered around the $14 mark for almost all items on the menu. Service was very strong during our visit here. Glad we spent some time with our Italian experts, Chuck and Stephanie. Can not wait to do it again in the future.

Out of five hockey pucks, (because Rancho Santa Margarita native, Jonathon Blum, has played for the Nashville Predators in parts of two seasons. Pretty good for a kid from sunny Southern California), five being best to zero being worst, Tutto Fresco gets 3 hockey pucks.

For more information on Tutto Fresco, click here: https://tuttofresco.com/trattoria/

Educating Ourselves on Macarons - CLOSED

Merely Sweets

260 W. Birch

Brea, CA 92821

We have done some firsts around Eating My Way Through OC lately. We recently did our first review in the city of Brea. Now, this will be our first full-on bakery review, which happens to be in Brea. Crazy how that works!

My family has recently been introduced to macarons. To be honest, I had never had one until a few weeks ago. I had read about them on other people's blogs but had yet to try them. I really did not understand the hype surrounding them. I was still trying to distinguish between macarons and macaroons. I think I got that part down now. Macaroons with an extra "o" are the coconut-based cookies we grew up with. These are found on shelves in your local supermarket. Macarons are sandwich-like cookies in various flavors and colors, filling inside.

After going out to lunch, I went to Merely Sweets with my Mom. She was raving about these macarons, so I was excited to try them. Merely Sweets is a small bakery in the downtown district of Brea. This area has been cleaned up since the last time I was here. Lots of stores and restaurants all over the place. Merely Sweets is a very clean/sterile bakery. White is definitely the dominant trait here. All baking is done in the back, away from prying eyes. Let's see what they have in store for us.

Merely Sweets has a small space, so only four glass cases are full of baked goods. When we were here, they featured about six different cupcakes, some tarts, a few varieties of cookies, and some buttery-looking palmiers that I will have to try on future visits. For now, though, I was focused on macarons.

The first lesson that I learned about macarons is that these little suckers are a little pricey. $1.65 apiece, or $18.50 for a dozen, which brings them down to about $1.54 each. Merely Sweets had 10 different flavors the day we were here. Some of the more interesting-sounding ones were Gingerbread, Earl Grey, and Vanilla Bean. My Mom did not want to mess around with any of these flavors. She already knew what flavors she wanted. So we picked up a dozen and headed home to disperse them among the family.

My favorite macaron of the day was this Salted Caramel version. I have been on a real salted caramel kick lately. The two flavors work so well together that it is frightening. When I first bit into the macarons, I was surprised at how soft they were. They melted away in my mouth. The flavor was dead on what it was supposed to be: salted caramel. These were also richer than I imagined they would be.

In my family, there is great debate over which of these two macarons is better: the salted caramel or the Peanut Butter and Jelly. I liked this one, but I give the edge to the salted caramel. This one reminded me of being a kid. The PB&J was right on. Again, the outer shell dissolved right after the initial crunch, leaving the taste buds to savor the peanut butter and jelly. It was a very close second to the salted caramel.

The Hazelnut Chocolate did not reach the critical acclaim that the other two macarons did. They were good, but the hazelnut flavor did not shine through. Got more chocolate here.

Cake Pops are also all the rage right now. My nieces each had one. These are definitely different from Tootsie Roll Pops; it only takes three bites to finish them. Five-year-old Lillie said, "This is the best cake pop I have had!" That is a bold statement for a five-year-old who has had her fair share of cake pops in her half-decade.

Merely Sweets was a great place to be introduced to macarons. They were a lot better than I had imagined. These will be the macarons that I judge all others by. I am also happy that I finally learned the difference between macarons and macaroons.

Out of five Big Macs (because macarons are so popular in France that even McDonald's sells them), five being best to zero being worst, Merely Sweets gets 3 Big Macs.

For more information on Merely Sweets, click here: http://www.merelysweets.com/