Trying Burrissimo, and a Giveaway Too! CLOSED

Burrissimo

1534 Adams Ave. #D

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

The restaurant business is a funny business. Someone has an idea, it becomes successful, then there are a bunch of copycats. Now that I think of it, I guess that is the way it works in lots of other industries as well. I mean there is one hit teen vampire movie, and all of the sudden there are ten shows about teen vampires on TV. Okay, I am kind of rambling here, but my point will be made shortly.

We were recently contacted by the folks over at Burrissimo to come in and see what they were all about. I immediately went to their website to check out the menu. Within three seconds of looking at it, I immediately knew what it reminded me of, an Italian version of Chipotle. It was as plain as day. You choose a style, a protein, a sauce, and then finish it off with veggies and cheeses. For all of you that know me, or have read the blog for an extended period of time, you know my distaste for Chipotle, but that is based on their serious lack of flavor, not their ordering process, so Katie and I made plans to head out to Burrissimo.

Burrissimo is located at Harbor and Adams in Costa Mesa. The same shopping center as Haus of Pizza and The Habit. This little shopping center was really packed when we showed up at 6pm on a recent Wednesday night. After walking in the door of Burrissimo, the first thing I noticed was the nice open feel to this restaurant. The high ceilings, and the separation between tables really made us feel comfortable right away. Let's take a look at the ordering process first.

The first step in the process is to determine what kind of meal you want. Burrissimo offers three options for you. You can have a Salad, a Pasta Bowl, or the namesake of the restaurant, the Burrissimo, which is an Italian Burrito. Yes, you read that correctly, an Italian burrito. After choosing what kind of meal you are going to have, it's time to choose a grill item. Here they offer six kinds. Vegetarian ($6.49), Chicken ($6.49), Crispy Chicken ($6.49), Meatballs ($6.79), Steak ($6.79), and Salmon ($7.99). As you can see, your choice of grill item determines the price that you pay. The next step is to select a sauce. There are three warm signature sauces, (Pomodoro, Diavolo, and Alfredo), and eight cold signature dressings that are used primarily in the salads, (Red Pepper Pesto, Zesty Parmesan, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Blue Cheese, Ranch, Italian Herb Vinaigrette, and Oil and Vinegar). The final step is to top it off with veggies and cheeses of your choice. They offer three kinds of cheeses and multitude. of vegetables. The tagline for Burrissimo is, "Served fast and fresh", and it was definitely fast. We had our food on our tray as soon as we paid, and we were on our way to our table. Let's see how everything turned out for us.

Katie went a very traditional route at Burrissimo, by getting a Pasta Bowl. She added lots of stuff to this large bowl. Starting with the Angel Hair Pasta and the Lemon, Rosemary and Garlic Chicken, then the cavalcade of items started. She selected the Pomodoro sauce, sauteed mushrooms and zucchini, sauteed onions and peppers, Italian corn, artichokes, spicy beans, roasted garlic, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. See, I told you she went nuts here. She was very happy with her choices. She felt that the pasta was cooked well, was not sticky, and was a great vehicle for the rest of the ingredients. Not only was the pasta good, but the serving size for this was more than Katie could handle. She had more than enough left over for lunch the next day.

Of course I hear the word Italian burrito, so I had to try one for sure. The Burrissimo is started with an organic Italian flatbread, which is lightly brushed with oil, and is then put on a warming surface for a few seconds on each side. I kind of went for a traditional Italian feel with my picks here. I selected meatballs to join the angel hair pasta in the Burrissimo, then I added sauteed onions and peppers, Diavolo sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella cheeses. I would have liked a little more of the spicy Diavolo sauce, but even without this, the Burrissimo was not dry. The produce was fresh, the angel hair acted like rice, and the meatballs had a nice meatiness to them. I thought the serving size for this was a very good value. Not quite as big as a Chipotle burrito, but it had way more flavor. I look forward to coming back and perfecting my ultimate Burrissimo experience.

Burrissimo has a few side items on their menu as well. Just in case we did not have enough to eat, we also ordered a half order of Pepperoni Rolls ($3.29). This Italian bread is brushed with butter and stuffed with some thicker than usual pepperoni. It is then dusted with Parmesan cheese. Ours was a little under cooked, but it still was good. There was plenty of pepperoni, and the cheese did not overpower this side item. This is served with your choice of three dipping sauces. We went with ranch, but pomodoro will be our next selection with this.

Just as we were about done with our dinner, one of the friendly employees of Burrissimo was handing out samples of their Tuscan Sausage Potato Soup. I was surprised they did not offer sausage as one of their grill items, but the sausage was definitely evident in this soup. It was very full of flavor, extremely creamy, and really got me psyched to have this soup on my next visit here.

No trip to Burrissimo would be complete without having the Zeppole's ($2.99). These Italian doughnuts are fantastic. These came out warm, had plenty of cinnamon and sugar, and lacked the greasiness that I had expected. You have your choice of having these with a raspberry dipping sauce or a vanilla icing. We went with the icing choice, and could not have been happier. If you do not get these when you are here, you have made a grave mistake.

We really enjoyed our visit to Burrissimo, even more than we thought we were going to. All of the items we had on this night really satisfied, and we left very full. I really thought this place is a great value. Nothing on their menu is over $8, so a family of four can easily eat here for under $40 including dessert. I'm really happy that Burrissimo took an existing idea, tweaked it just enough, and out did the original concept. Okay that will be my last dig at Chipotle, at least for this review.

Would you like to try Burrissimo for yourself? The great folks at Burrissimo have given me ten ($10) gift cards to give away to readers of my blog, plus one grand prize winner will receive a Happy Birthday Costa Mesa Prize pack, which includes, a pair of 60th anniversary concert tickets for June 28th, a $25 Burrissimo gift card, a Burrissimo logo cap, a bottle of BSting Signature Hot Sauce and an order of Zeppoles, which are not to be missed. The city of Costa Mesa is holding some great events for their 60th anniversary, and you can find out more detail here: http://www.travelcostamesa.com/costa-mesa-60/index.html. Enter the contest below, and good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Even if you do not win one of the eleven prizes, you can still get something for free. From June 24th to June 30th, Burrissimo will be giving away a free order of Zeppoles with a minimum $7 purchase. This is a great deal, because I am still thinking about those Italian doughnuts. So good. For more information on Burrissimo, go to their web site, http://www.burrissimo.com/.

Shhhhh! Pie Society is Open in Costa Mesa

Pie Society

353 East 17th St.

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

When I heard that a speakeasy was being opened in Costa Mesa, my mind immediately went to a time of gangsters, flappers, and a time when the foxtrot was all the latest craze on the dance floor. Speakeasies became necessary when the US went through prohibition from 1920 to 1933. It is hard for me to imagine a time when you could not get an alcoholic drink anywhere, but these secret clubs. Luckily, the law was repealed, and booze is again free flowing.

Pie Society is located in the rear of Pitfire Pizza, on 17th Street. We have not made it to Pitfire yet, but walking through the restaurant to get to Pie Society, we took note of the great looking pizzas, salads, and pasta dishes. The atmosphere was so awesome, they even had a DJ spinning records in this restaurant. I have now made a vow to come experience Pitfire for myself, but tonight was all about Pie Society.

You enter Pie Society through the back of the Pitfire building. I'm not sure if there are any signs, as we were invited to a special preview media event, and met at the front door of Pitfire Pizza. The space is not huge. 600 square feet, a fifteen seat bar, and about another six tables are about all there is around the darkened room. Even with the other 30 or so assembled media, the space never really felt cramped.

With the dark paneled walls, eyes are immediately drawn to the lightened bar area. As an ode to the former tenant of this building, Marie Callender's, the Pie Society places their top shelf bottles on what was the original pie oven. I was also drawn to the knockout pose of Muhammad Ali along the far wall, with the tag line, "I was born bad". He definitely was one bad dude in his prime.

No, I did not drink all of these beverages, but I did sample all of them. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty good after our night was done. The man behind these cocktails is OC native, Steve Garcia. Steve has quite the resume. He's an original member of the Orange County Bartender's Cabinet, and he's been in charge of the cocktail program at Mesa Restaurant and Broadway by Amar Santana. Now he's created the cocktail and beverage program for Pie Society. What I got with these drinks, even before I took my first sip, was that theses cocktails are very labor intensive. The three bartenders behind the bar were really working hard getting the concoctions just right and adding the correct garnishes. Their hard work really did payoff when I got the chance to try these cocktails. Some favorites of the night included The Art of the Kill ($10), which is the second picture from the top. Using Death's Door Gin, Gran Classico Cynar, a tangerine garnish, and one large ice cube, this was a drink I could imagine one of the Rat Pack drinking. It was a very grown up drink, with a hint of sweetness. The Old Man and the Sea ($12) is the fourth picture down, and was made up of Zaya 12 year old Rum, St. Elizabeth Allspice Dream, Barspoon Turbinado Syrup, a lime ribbon, and one large ice cube. I'm not going to lie to you and make you think that I know all of these ingredients that went into this drink, but this take off on an old fashioned was very delicious. I really got a lot from the all spice that was used in this beverage. The last drink I wanted to highlight was the Mai Thai ($12) in the last picture. This is not you Grandmother's Mai Thai. At Pie Society they use Smith and Cross Jamaican Rum, Rhum Argicole, Orange Curacao, Lime juice, mint, and an orchid garnish. This was not like any Mai Thai I have ever had. Not real heavy on the orange, it was more minty than it was anything else. Very good, and really took me out of Costa Mesa and put me somewhere in French Polynesia, without having to go through customs.

After all of the drinking, I was definitely ready to try the food at Pie Society. When we entered the room they had bar snack laid out on each table. These are not your normal pretzels and Chex mix though. Pie Society's holy trinity of bar snacks include Our Pickles ($4), Pastrami Peanuts ($3), and Smoked Olives ($5), or you could get the whole trio for $8. I'm not a big olive fan, but the olives were a big hit around the table. The nuts did not really taste like pastrami, but they were more of a candied nut variety, with salt on the outside. Three kinds of pickles are offered at Pie Society, Dill, Bread and Butter, and Siracha. I did not get a chance to try the Siracha pickle, but the bread and butter pickles were right on point. I wanted to smuggle some home and put some on a burger.

It seems like everywhere we have been recently they have had hard boiled eggs on the menu. Pie Society was no exception, with their Kimchi Deviled Eggs ($4). My Mom will be shocked to hear that I tried one of these. I am not a big fan of deviled eggs, but in a room of fellow food bloggers, I did not want my food cred to take more of a hit than it probably already has, so I tried one of these deviled eggs. Not too bad. I did not get any of the kimchi flavor that the name of these promised though. The texture was smooth and the paprika added a slight pop. I'm still not going to eat these all the time, maybe only when my peers are in the same room.

I have been a shrimp fiend the last few weeks, so when this Crispy Dim Sum Shrimp ($8) hit our table, I was very excited. I'm not entirely sure why they called this dim sum shrimp though. It more resembled a honey walnut shrimp dish to me. You can not see it from the picture, but under the shrimp is a sweet mayo sauce and pineapple, which gave this a sweetness. There was just enough sauce under there that you could dip your shrimp into it. The shrimp was cooked well, a little crispy on the outside, and not overdone on the inside.

The big hit of the night for me was the Tater Tots ($7). Yes these were regular tater tots, but what made them extra special was the chorizo fondue that was served alongside of the spuds. I could not help myself from dipping my fork into the chorizo mixture and almost eating it all by myself. Of course I did this after everyone was done with this dish. I wanted to get some extra to take home, and have it on hot dogs the next day. I'm not even sure what the white dipping sauce was, because all of my attention went to my beloved chorizo fondue. This will be a dish we get on return visits.

I just realized that I have not mentioned anything about the chef that is responsible for all of this food at Pie Society. Chef Jason Neroni is the man behind the menu. Chef Jason is from Superba Snack Bar in Venice. That restaurant has won critical acclaim from tons media outlets and foodies alike. Superba is also owned by Pitfire Pizza founder, Paul Hibler. They are hoping that their winning combination works down in OC. To help hedge their bets, they have brought the Superba Fried Chicken ($8) down south. This chicken was very good. Not like any I have ever tasted. The menu says it has a red wine vin glaze, chilies, and Parmesan. All of these flavors play against each other really well. I got the Parmesan first, then a slight heat from the chilies, then the overpowering, but great taste of the almost vinegar like tang from the wine glaze. Great flavor waves. The chicken was tender as well. This is another must get dish at Pie Society.

My love for pork belly is well known to lots of my friends. My mantra has become, "if you see pork belly on a menu, order it". The Sweet and Sour Crispy Pork Belly ($8) could not come around quick enough. The cubes of crisp pork belly were topped with pineapple and opal basil. The pork was a tad on the dry side, but the pineapple helped to moisten that up. The hunks of the belly are like eating bacon dice, so good. I kind of hoarded this dish when others were too busy talking.

The Cheeseburger Hot Pocket ($8) did not win much praise from the people at our table, but I kind of liked them. They kind of had a lumpia kind of feel to them. The ground meat was finely chopped, the cheese was not overly present for me, and the house made ketchup and mustard provided a good one-two punch for dipping. These were not overly greasy like I had expected, and even though the name conjured up visions of those vile frozen Hot Pockets that you can find at your grocery store, I ended up enjoying these much more than I thought I would.

Being under the same roof as Pitfire Pizza, it is probably no shock that there are two pizzas on the Pie Society menu. The first one we got to try was the Deli Pizza ($12). This was my favorite pizza of the two. It featured pastrami meatballs, Gouda cheese, mozzarella, and lots of caraway seeds. The meatballs were divine, and the cheeses all worked well together, without overpowering the pizza. The crust was pretty solid for being a thin crust. The Soprano Pizza ($13) was the pizza that mostly everyone liked. It came with tomato, mozzarella, caramelized onion, olives, Fresno chilies, salsa verde, and sopprasta, which is a dry salami. I liked this pizza, but I needed more flavor from it. It was very mellow.

Our visit, and this special media preview event were definitely a success in my book. I really am excited to come back to Pie Society and see how it does. I know that the word will definitely get out about this place, because almost every food media person I could think of from OC was here on this night. I talked to a lot of them, and they were all pretty excited for Pie Society to open. They are now open Tuesday through Sunday, from 5PM til Closing. The Pie Society Bar Menu kicks into gear at 8PM, and they offer a limited Pitfire menu from 5 to 8. We are really looking forward to heading back through the unmarked Pie Society door again.

We would like to thank everyone at Pie Society for making us feel so welcome, and for allowing us to come see what this place was all about. I was pretty impressed with what I saw on this night. The bartenders, waitstaff and food runners all did a great job for us. I also wanted to thank all of the other food bloggers and traditional media invitees. You all help make these events even better, and we always enjoy catching up with you. Lastly, a big thanks goes out to Devon Klug and Juilana Pesavento of Wagstaff Worldwide for the invitation to join them on this great night. You put together a great night for all of us. Thanks again.

Pie Society does have a web site, so click here to go to it: http://www.piesocietybar.com/

Eat Chow? Sounds Like the Place for Me

Eat Chow

1802 Newport Blvd. 

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

I love getting two things done at once. The second weekend of May this year included both my Dad's birthday and of course Mother's Day. This double dip seems to happen almost every year. So killing two birds with one stone, I decided to combine both celebrations with one dinner for the both of them. I consulted one of my favorite food resource sites, Urabanspoon, and looked up restaurants in Costa Mesa. Eat Chow had over a ninety percent approval rating, and a few of the blogs I read regularly had liked the food, so that is where we headed.

Eat Chow has a Newport Boulevard address, but it is really located on 18th street, a stones throw from one of my favorite bars, Goat Hill Tavern. Eat Chow shares this address with a clothing store, and the windows of the restaurant look out on shoppers buying what I assume to be, expensive apparel. The restaurant is not big, maybe ten or so tables. Even with the cramped quarters we really felt pretty comfortable here. The restaurant kind of had an LA feel to it. Part hipster, but in a laid back kind of way. The restaurant's decor is dominated by darker woods, but with the large windows facing the street and the windows in the back, Eat Chow conveys an openness.

We got to the restaurant at about 4PM on a recent Saturday evening. There was a smattering of customers here when we arrived, but the place filled up around us as we ate. The menu here is dominated by some Mexican dishes and sandwiches, among other things. I was pretty impressed with their sandwich selection. They offer 17 different kinds, and I really had a hard time deciding which one to have. Everyone else must have been having the same problem as me, because it took us awhile to decide on what we were going to have. After some tough decisions, this is what hit our table.

Reading the reviews on-line before I got here, almost everyone had mentioned the Beer Battered Onion Rings ($4.50) and the Truffle Parmesan Fries ($5). Let's start with the better of the two, the onion rings. These were a very solid onion ring. The breading stuck to the onion, the batter was not too greasy, and the Point Reyes blue cheese dip went well with these rings. Not a bad one in the bunch. The fries had a good amount of truffle flavor on them, but I thought a bigger french fry would have been preferable here. An increased surface area would have made the truffle and Parmesan more intense, but that's just my opinion. Everyone else really liked these fries. I thought the serving size for these was pretty generous.

Katie went big here, with the #1 Ahi Burger (Market Price, but the day we were here it was $18). This very rich tuna burger had a lot going on with it. Not only did this contain a big slab of ahi, it also came with a chili aioli, Roma tomatoes, and a ginger wasabi slaw, all on a toasted brioche bun. The mild spiciness of the condiments helped to cut down on the richness from the ahi. Everything played off each other nicely here. Katie could not finish this, leaving about a quarter of it for me, which I did not mind. The sandwiches here come with either a side green salad or a Caesar. Both Katie and I chose the Caesar with or meals. I really enjoyed this Caesar. It kind of had a Cole slaw type vibe, and was dressed nicely with a good Caesar dressing. Very fresh produce and plenty of cheese, made this Caesar a winner.

We'll skip to my Dad's dinner next, the Hot Turkey Pastrami Sandwich ($13). This was listed as one of their specials, so I'm not sure if it is available all the time or not. Here they take their house made turkey pastrami and then add Swiss cheese, a creamy three mustard jalapeno slaw and some cotija cheese. I did not really get the taste of the cotija cheese with this one, but I did detect the slight heat from the jalapeno slaw. The turkey was done nicely, and my Dad could not have been happier with his sandwich. Glad to make the old guy happy every once in awhile.

If you have been an avid follower of the blog, you might know that I am always looking for great Cuban sandwiches when we go out. To me there is not a more balanced sandwich than a Cuban. My Mom beat me to the punch by getting the Media Noche Cubano ($10) here at Eat Chow. Stuffed between two grilled pieces of sweet egg bread was plenty of roasted pork, smoked ham, house made pickles, Swiss cheese, and spicy mustard. You get the sweet from the bread, the saltiness from the meats, and the sour from the pickles. A little taste of everything for your tongue. The version at Eat Chow was pretty spot on. It really conveyed the media noche taste, and my Mom had plenty left to bring home to my bother in law. She also really enjoyed the side salad that was served with this sandwich. Not sure what kind of vinaigrette was on this salad, but she made a point of saying that she really liked it.

I really did have a hard time narrowing down my choices at Eat Chow, but I finally made my choice of the Reuben ($11). The sandwich was served on sourdough, with house made corned beef, thousand island dressing, Swiss cheese, and a red cabbage kraut. I really liked that they grilled the sandwich. It added a nice crunch to the bread. The overall taste of the sandwich could have been a little better though with a few tweaks. The red cabbage really overpowered the sandwich, thus the meat got lost in most of my bites. This sandwich also could have used a little more dressing, which I ended up asking for. A good sandwich, but there are too many other items on their menu that I want to try before getting this again.

All four of us were pretty full by this point, but we persevered and split one dessert four ways. The Banana Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding ($8) was our almost unanimous choice. This bread pudding was drizzled with caramel and chocolate sauce, and topped with whipped cream. I had higher hopes for this dessert when we ordered it. The bread pudding was a little on the dense side, and the chocolate chips did not shine through for me. Again, not bad, but not something I would probably get again.

Eat Chow really made both Mother's Day and my Dad's birthday a great success. Both of my parents left Eat Chow very happy and satisfied with their meals. I liked mine, but I will definitely have to come back to find my ultimate meal here. I really liked the playful way that they tried to make each item their own by adding something that you might not expect. The prices were pretty reasonable for the serving sizes offered. The service on this late afternoon was pretty solid. Jessica and her busboys really took good care of us, refilling our drinks and clearing plates. It was a very good day, celebrating two family celebrations at the same time. Now if I could just do that with every family occasion, I would have more time on my hands than I would know what to do with. I know, its not going to happen, but I can still dream.

Out of five dog houses, (because the Chow Chow is a breed of dog, and I could come up with anything better), five being best to zero being worst, Eat Chow gets 3 dog houses.

For more information about Eat Chow, click here: http://www.eatchownow.com/