Checking In to the Taco Asylum - CLOSED

Taco Asylum

2937 S. Bristol

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

I will be the first to admit that my taste has changed since I started this blog. I used to be a really traditional kind of guy. I liked my steaks without steak sauce. I enjoyed my hot dogs with mustard, relish, and maybe a little chili if I felt daring. I looked at some places we had been to when we started the blog, and I sometimes felt that restaurants were trying a little too hard to make themselves different. At the time, I did not understand that they were trying to break out of the mold of what everyone else was doing. Coming up with new twists on items to help make them their own.

Before the blog, I had preconceived notions of what I thought Mexican food was. Pretty much almost anything on a Don Jose's menu. When I heard the word taco, I assumed it would contain beef, chicken, or pork and usually comes with a side of beans and rice. Now, of course, I know better. In this age when food trucks have brought fusion foods to the masses, I have learned to open my mind to many more things. That's the way I approached our recent visit to Taco Asylum.

We are the last food bloggers to have made it to this restaurant at The Camp in Costa Mesa. Taco Asylum comes to us from the guys who gave us Haven Gastropub. At Taco Asylum, Executive Chef Greg Daniels focuses on non-traditional tacos, emphasizing global cuisines. His partner, Beverage Director Wil Dee, has created an eclectic group of beers and bottled sodas. There are no fountain drinks here.

We got to Taco Asylum at about six on a Saturday night. Usually, parking in this shopping center can be a little hairy, but the parking gods were with us that night because we got a spot in the front row. Taco Asylum is located smack dab in the middle of The Camp. It is a small place, with maybe ten tables with some seating outside on their small patio. They had a large TV hanging over their bar, which was muted so the music could play through the speakers. The music they played here was a wide array of stuff that had Katie Shazaming almost every song. Despite the large crowd at The Camp, Taco Asylum was not overly packed. They maybe had five tables full during our visit here. Ordering is done at the counter, and the food is brought to you. We waited about ten minutes for the food, which hit our table.

Okay, you have to wait a little longer because I wanted to mention the hot sauces they brought to the table. These ranged from mild to hot, going right to left. The three on the right (the Cayenne, Keeper Sauce, and Red Salva), I did not try. Katie tried them all and did not report they were too hot for her. She is a wimp when it comes to spicy things. The spicier of the two are the Habanero and the Ghost Chili. The Habanero was good but did not pack the punch I expected. I used it more to actually add moisture to the tacos. I was a little nervous trying the Ghost Chili sauce, but it did not overwhelm the flavors inside the taco. It definitely added some heat. It did not get me sweating, but it did make my tongue tingle. Really an excellent hot sauce. I also liked the labels they used for these. Since this is an asylum, the hot sauces would come with a prescription label. Nice touch.

As you can see from the picture, this is different from your average run-of-the-mill taco spot. Let's start with Katie's plate first. They used to have Taco Flights on the menu, which were street taco-size versions of their tacos. They have done away with that and gone the taco plate route. With the Taco Plate ($14.50 for this one), you can choose three tacos and their own version of bean and rice. Katie was in love with the side items here. These are far from being the rice and beans you are used to. The beans were a cold lentil salad with red wine vinaigrette and chevre. The rice comprised quinoa, bell peppers, cilantro, and onion. I felt both were okay, but Katie was over the moon with the quinoa. She even finished mine in trade for some extra bites of her tacos. A trade I will gladly make at any time. Let's break this down taco by taco.

Katie's first choice was the Wild Mushroom Taco. This one, of course, came with mushrooms but also a chickpea puree, parsley salad, and fried chickpeas. Predictably, this taco had a very earthy flavor. Katie really liked the texture provided by the fried chickpeas. She also remarked that the flavor would lead her to get this taco again.

Next up was the Sichuan Fried Chicken Taco. This taco was filled with buttermilk fried chicken, five-spice yogurt, black bean and garlic puree, and scallions. A lot was going on with this one. The chicken was less greasy than we had expected, but it still had a good flavor. The bean and garlic puree was good, but we only got a little garlic coming through. The yogurt sauce was odd but did not get in the way, adding moisture to the taco. This was my favorite out of this plate.

The last of Katie's tacos was the Steak and Potato Taco, which came with a root vegetable potato salad, blue cheese, and fried leeks. This one would be my favorite, but it had some tough pieces of steak, and the blue cheese was not as prominent as I would have liked. I did like the crunch that the fried leek contributed.

Of course, I was also going for a Taco Plate ($15.50). I was not as enthused by the side items as Katie was. I liked the lentil side item better. The chevre was a nice little touch, and the vinaigrette gave it a little punch. These two will not replace my love for traditional beans and rice, but for one night, they were okay. The main benefit is that these were not heavy side items at all. Now, on to the tacos.

I love pork belly, and I always tell people to order it if they see it on the menu. You will not be sorry. So, it is no surprise that I was most excited to try this Pork Belly Taco. At Taco Asylum, they braise their pork belly in coconut milk, then add it to some pickled mushrooms, Fresno chilies, a kaffir lime emulsion, and cilantro. With the coconut milk and the pickled mushrooms, this veered toward an Asian-style taco. I really liked this taco, but I would have liked it more if it had more pork belly included. The pork belly that I did have was very well cooked and tasted even better. Probably my best taco of the night.

It's not every day that you see a Rabbit Taco on the menu, so I had to try it. This rabbit was poached in olive oil, then joined in the tortilla by celery root puree, roasted celery, a few celery leaves, pickled mustard seed, burnt scallion puree, and a carrot-cumin hot sauce. There was a lot of celery and other things going on with this taco. First, I really liked the rabbit. It was cooked very well and could easily have stood on its own. Even with all of this stuff in this taco, the whole vibe of the taco was mellow. It could have been due to all the celery used here. The carrot and cumin hot sauce really got lost in this taco.

The Short Rib Taco is the most traditional-looking taco on the menu at Taco Asylum. The short rib is paired with pickled red onions, salsa verde, cotija cheese, and cilantro. It would not be far-fetched to see this taco on other restaurant menus. After all the other tacos, this one was boring. The meat was a little on the dry side, but some of the ghost chili hot sauce helped to cure that. I should mention the tortillas used here. They are pretty pedestrian, and their only job is to be a vessel for the fillings inside, which I have no problem with. These tacos are not overly stuffed, so this is an easy task for these tortillas to perform.

It's not part of the taco plate options, but when I saw it on the menu, I had to try the Surf and Turf Taco ($6).  This one was made of surf and turf, including lobster and pancetta, and then is topped with arugula and Siracha mayo. I was disappointed with this taco. The pancetta was totally lost here. I did not get a whiff of it at all. They also piled on too much arugula, which is easy to take off, but in doing so, you also lost a good deal of the Siracha mayo, which was very thin. The saving grace for this taco was the big hunk of lobster that I got. It really added a big wallop of flavor to this otherwise bland taco.

While at Taco Asylum, we saw a young family come in and sit down. After looking at the menu, they got up and left. I can imagine that this happens quite a lot. Not because the food is terrible but because the tacos they serve at Taco Asylum are not what people imagine when they hear the word taco. I do not believe this restaurant is for everyone. If you have a preconceived notion of what a taco should be and are unwilling to change, you should do what that family did and just walk out. For the rest of you who like to be challenged and are not tired of the normal but want to try something a little out of the box, this is the place for you. I was not blown away by the tacos here, but they were good for a change. It's not a place I would always eat, but they rotate some unique tacos in and out of place, so it could pique your interest enough to visit. The service when we were here was excellent. Courtney talked to us about the restaurant, gave us suggestions, and even gave us a few of her favorite places to go in Fullerton. I'm not going to lie. The prices here are on the high side for the amount that you get. I did not leave Taco Asylum stuffed to the brim, but it did give me room to stop by Blackmarket Bakery and have a cookie or two on the way out of the Camp.

Out of five straight jackets (for obvious reasons), five being best to zero being worst, Taco Asylum gets 3 straight jackets.

For more information about Taco Asylum, click here: http://www.tacoasylum.com/

Taking It Easy at Delizie

Delizie Ristorante and Bar

25380 Marguerite Parkway

Mission Viejo, CA 92692

After living in Mission Viejo for the last five years, you might have thought that I would have gone to all of the restaurants in the city where I live. The fact is that there are 229 restaurants listed on Yelp for the city of Mission Viejo. Sure some of those are fast food places and still others are now closed, but that number kind of amazed me. I could eat at a different place from January 1st to well into August. Fortunately, this blog is not called, "Eating My Way Through Mission Viejo", because we would have already exhausted all of our dinner options.

I had heard about Delizie's from a reader of the blog, S. Hurd. She had written to me asking advice on where to go out for her birthday dinner. After I gave her my suggestions, she struck out on her own by going to Delizie's. After getting back she emails me to tell me that I must go, that the service was great, and it would make for a great review. Not one to shy away from a great tip, I set up a long-overdue double date with our friends Richard and Lindsay, and we headed to Delizie Ristorante and Bar.

As I was doing a little research for this review I found out that this restaurant is owned by the same owner of another Italian place in Mission Viejo, Piccolino's. We have been to that restaurant before and enjoyed our experience there. The two restaurants serve the same style of Italian cuisine but are trying to distinguish themselves from one another by featuring different menu items.

Delizie's is located in the same shopping center as Michael's and Big Lots, across from the City Hall of Mission Viejo. This was the same location of another Italian restaurant, Capriccios. I never did make it there, but that place has been gone for almost two years now. We did not have a reservation on this Sunday evening, but the restaurant was not very busy. Maybe three or four tables during our visit here. The restaurant has a nice colorful vibe. Walls are a brighter shade of green than I would have expected, which lends to the cheerfulness of the space. There is a small bar off of the hostess stand right when you walk in the door. The menu is pretty large and features the usual Italian staples; pasta dishes, salads, pizzas, and entrees. Since Richard was running about ten minutes late, I was starving. So we checked out the menu, and this is what we got.

Of course, most Italian restaurants start you off with a bread basket, and Delizie's was no different. What was different was that instead of butter, they give you a cucumber based dip that was kind of like a cross between an aji sauce and a tapenade. It was pretty mild but went well with the rather average bread.

We all must have been hungry because we each got something before our meal. Let's start with Lindsay's pre-meal selection, the Cream of Celery Soup ($8). This was the soup of the day on the day we were here. Lindsay thought that this was a pretty bland tasting soup, but she did like the creaminess of it and the toasted bread that was placed on top of it.
 

There is something I can almost always count on when I am at an Italian restaurant with Katie, she will almost always order the restaurants version of a Caprese. This Mozzarella Alla Caprese ($13) was made up of yellow and red beefsteak tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil, and extra virgin olive oil. Katie felt the items used in this were very fresh, she liked the inclusion of the yellow tomatoes as well, and the serving size of this was pretty good sized. This is one Italian appetizer I can not really get into, so I passed on having any of this.

By this time in my blogging career, I feel I have become a pretty good judge of Caesar salads. This has been my go-to salad choice for some time now. It was again at Delizie's as well. This Caesar ($7) was a pretty traditional version, with the chopped romaine hearts, shaved Parmesan, croutons, and Caesar dressing. This was a better than average Caesar. The produce was good, the dressing could have been poured with a heavier hand, but I always favor extra dressing. I liked the large squares of Parmesan, but the croutons were a little on the bigger side, and not easily broken down with my fork.

When we are dining with people, it is always tricky taking pictures of their food. I try to be quick, so that explains why I only got one faraway shot of Lindsay's dinner, the Pollo Marsala ($18). This basic chicken dish did not win much praise from Lindsay. She felt it was okay, but nothing she would get again. This was served with roasted potatoes and vegetables. She also got a side of Asparagus ($5). She commented that she liked the side items here, more than the chicken.

In contrast to Lindsay's feelings on her dinner, Katie seemed pretty happy with hers. She went with the Tagliolini dell' Orto with Chicken added ($18). This plate started with a base of small flat ribbon pasta, which also contained leeks, spinach, green beans, and chicken broth. It kind of had a chicken noodle soup feel to it, but just not quite as wet. Katie liked the lightness of this plate and loved the freshly made pasta used here. The chicken was tender and was a good add on in her opinion.

Lindsay's much worse half, Richard went for a baked pasta dish for his meal, the Rigatoni al Forno ($14). This heavy-looking plate included ricotta, mozzarella, tomato sauce, and Italian sausage. I never thought I would hear Richard complain about there being too much sausage around him, but that was his major gripe with this plate. He felt the sausage really overpowered the well made pasta and sauce. I guess Richard is not as much of a sausage lover as I thought. Who knew?

I had a little trouble deciding what I wanted here, but I am really happy I settled on the Penne Con Salsiccia ($14). This dish consisted of small tube pasta, Italian sausage, mushrooms, onions, garlic, and a spicy tomato sauce. All of these items went really well together. The pasta is well made, the sauce was not as spicy as I would have liked, but it coated the noodles well and still had a decent flavor to it. The sausage and mushrooms were well placed in this dish, and not over the top at all. A very good pasta dish that I would have a hard time passing up again. Both Richard and I split an order of Meatballs ($4) and a Grilled Italian Sausage ($6). I very rarely order extra meats at Italian restaurants, but I kind of like this idea now. The meatballs were pretty tender, with a very good meaty flavor. The sausage was very flavorful, but a little on the dry side. I think I would stick with the meatballs on my next visit.

All of us were pretty full from the meal at this point, but passing up dessert was not an option. Richard and Lindsay decided to split the Chocolate Gelato ($7). Both of them thought the gelato was good, and they really liked the edible bowl it came in and the fresh strawberries. Katie and I tried their Dessert Special, the Chocolate Spec ($9). This tiramisu like cake was pretty good. Not as moist as other Italian desserts seem to be, but with a real subtle chocolate flavor. Not very heavy, this was a very good send off for a good meal.

Both Katie and I liked Delizie's more than Richard and Lindsay did. I felt all the dishes that we consumed had fresh ingredients, were made well, and the presentation was pretty strong here. There is definitely nothing that we experienced on this visit that would prevent us from coming back again. I think the prices are a tad too high, but a nice meal could be had here for under $30 a person. I really enjoyed the service during our stay. Our waitress had plenty of help, and it was a real team effort service wise. Glad that a reader of the blog pointed us in the right direction by giving us this hidden gem, right in our own backyard. It definitely proves that there are more great restaurants that we need to try out there.

Out of five surfboards, (because the word delizie in Italian means delight and the birthplace of Glen Campbell was Delight, Arkansas. In turn, Glen Campbell was a touring member of the Beach Boys from 1964 to 1965. I know it's a reach, but that is what I came up with.), five being best to zero being worst, Delizie Ristorante and Bar gets 3.5 surfboards.

For more information about Delizie Ristorante and Bar, click here: http://deliziemv.net/

Scratching the Culinary Surface at Surfas - CLOSED

Surfas Culinary District

3303 Hyland Avenue

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Truth be told, I was not too excited to come to Surfas. I am not much into shopping. I very rarely cook at home, even though I love to cook. I had only been to the South Coast Collection (SOCO) center once before and was not so excited by the hipster type vibe I experienced there. I mainly went to Surfas because when Katie had heard that we were invited, her eyes lit up like I haven't seen them in a long time. She was ecstatic about our trip to Surfas. I have to admit that after our trip, I was pretty ecstatic about the store also.

First a little history behind Surfas. Started in 1937, this is truly a family-owned business, now with their third generation working here. The original Surfas operated in Los Angeles as a major supplier of equipment to the burgeoning culinary market that LA was becoming. In 1989, they outgrew their warehouse/showroom on Jefferson and moved to their current LA location in Culver City. This larger location allowed them to carry gourmet cheeses and other specialty food items that are just not available anywhere. Still only open to wholesalers and restaurant industry personnel, in the mid-'90s Surfas flung open their doors to the public to allow them to experience some of the 20,000 food products, along with their large collection of commercial quality kitchen necessities. After many years of people asking for another location of Surfas to be opened up, the owners found what they think is the perfect spot, the South Coast Collection in Costa Mesa.

This is the third location of Surfas, (they have a small storefront in the resort town of Hot Springs, Arkansas). This OC location has become a culinary wonderland to the many kitchen designers, chefs, foodies, and just your average run of the mill consumer. From the moment we walked in I was amazed at all of the things that they carry. Lucky for us, we had the wonderful Kaitlin Novell to guide us along on a tour of this food lovers paradise.

We started off our tour by checking out all the products used to make great food. I was really impressed by all of the state of the art kitchen items that they carry. Deep fryers, pots, and pans of all sizes and types, mixers, ovens, ranges, sinks, faucets, freezers, shelving, and more. Surfas not only sells these items but for over sixty years they have helped design and install commercial kitchens for a good many clients, big and small.

Need a gravy boat, tea kettle, bar supplies, or maybe some new glassware? Surfas has small stuff covered as well. Aisle upon aisle of kitchen gadgets of the higher quality than you can find at your local Target store. In fact, I was recently at Target trying to find an ice pick, a simple item that I was sure they would carry. No such luck. During our visit to Surfas, I not only found an ice pick for $4.70, but I also found an ice chisel, ice carving knife, and an ice carving toolset. Great for when I start my new career as an ice block designer. I will for sure know where to go for my tools.

Katie made me promise that I would spotlight the seconds that are offered at Surfas. These are dishes that may have a tiny chip on the bottom of them or have a slight factory defect. The prices on these are incredible, and of higher quality, since they are to be used in restaurants. They have to be sturdy since they are being used every day. These seconds are reason enough for Katie to come back to Surfas.

We, unfortunately, did not get a chance to tour the test kitchen at Surfas because they were holding a cooking class at the time of our visit. This test kitchen is located right off of the showroom and hosts a variety of events. The already mentioned cooking classes take place here on a regular basis, along with chef demos, workshops, and private events, such as wine tastings, pop up dinners, and group parties.

Surfas also boasts a cafe that helps feed hungry shoppers. A good many of the items served here feature items from around the store. Back in 2006, when the first Surfas Cafe opened in Los Angeles, they were named by Zagat as one of the top ten new restaurants in Los Angeles. A pretty big honor for a store that started out as a kitchen supply store. Kaitlin kept us moving right along, but both Katie and I made a mental note to come back to Surfas soon to try out their cafe.

Now for the part of the tour that I was most geared up for, the food portion of the tour. Looking for Himalayan coarse pink salt? They got that. Searching your supermarket for Guajillo powder? They definitely will not have that, but Surfas does. Want to find that olive oil that you had while in Italy? They have close to 100 kinds of olive oil at Surfas, so there's a chance that they will have it. I have worked in the grocery business for 25 years, and have yet to see a collection of food items like the ones they have Surfas. They carry items that other places simply do not. From Swedish pancake mix straight from Sweden, to honey mustard powder to give your popcorn an extra flavor boost, Surfas can definitely get a chef's creative juices flowing.

Not only does Surfas carry dry goods, but they also have a wide array of refrigerated and frozen items as well. Clarified butter, rare bottled sodas, black truffle butter, rabbit, gourmet ice cream, and clotted cream can all be easily gathered at Surfas.

This is not like your Ralph's or Pavilion's deli case. The Epicurean Center at Surfas had almost any kind of cheese you have heard of and a lot of them that I had never heard of. There were plenty of people behind the counter to help you select the right kind of cheese or packaged meat you are looking for. Unsure about some of the cheeses? Off to the side of the cheese, counter are two communal tables where they offer Cheese Taster Trio's ($16.00) and Salumi Samplers ($18.00). After our tour around the store I was very excited to have this opportunity to sit down and rest, and of course, try some of the meats and cheeses.

These were much more than your average meat and cheese trays. You can see that the guys behind the counter really take great pride in their work. For the Cheese Taster Trio, we selected Cowgirl Creamery's Red Hawk, the Midnight Moon, and the Le Amuse. I am by no means a cheese connoisseur, but my favorite of the three was the Midnight Moon. It had a good earthy flavor, while still being a little on the buttery side. The jam that came with the cheese plate was made by the good people behind the counter, with items made from things right in the store. So good, and it went well with the cheese too. For the Salumi Sampler, I wanted something a little peppery, so our guy suggested the Olli Speck Duroc. This was probably one of the best prosciutto's that I have had. It was peppery but did not overshadow the meat. Very well balanced, but still with a kick. This was paired with a San Danielle Prosciutto, which comes exclusively from one of ten regions in Northern Central Italy. The meat can never be frozen and has to be matured for a certain amount of time. This was a very clean prosciutto, very meaty bite, and good texture. It was hard for me to keep from gorging on the slices of bread here, but I definitely had my fair share. This plate was garnished with some dried fruit, almonds, and chocolate. Really good respite after our tour of Surfas.

Surfas really won me over. I admit I went into this with a bad attitude. I thought everything was going to be overpriced, that the employees would look down on me for not being gourmet enough and that the customers here would be too snooty. I was wrong on all accounts.  I found the prices to be pretty good actually. The employees were very helpful, even taking the time to explain cooking methods and making suggestions based on our interaction. The customers were actually nice, and when we stopped to look at an item, more than once a fellow customer would let us know what they thought of a particular item. That's something people don't do at Albertson's. It was a really nice experience at Surfas, and with so many reasons to return, it will not be long before we do.

We would like to thank everyone at Surfas for the opportunity to visit their wonderful store. We were really impressed with all of you, and because of you, we will be back soon. We would also like to thank our tour guide and new friend Kaitlin from Purry Communications Group. She set up this opportunity and took time out of her Sunday to drive down the 405 to show us around the store. We can not thank you enough Kaitlin.

If you would like to know all the latest happenings with everything going on at Surfas, do not hesitate to check out their web site: http://www.culinarydistrict.com/