Flashing Brilliance at Selanne Steak

Selanne Steak Tavern

1464 South Coast Highway

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Writing this post is pretty bittersweet. As I'm starting to write this, the LA Kings are about to win their second Stanley Cup in the last three years. In this day and age in sports, that almost constitutes a dynasty. My beloved Anaheim Ducks were sent packing in a great seven game series with the Kings about a month ago. The end of that series, also meant the end of the line for the greatest player to ever lace up the skates for the Ducks, Teemu Selanne. He had announced this was going to be his last season, and he would be retiring. Lucky for all of us in OC, his legacy will live on with the opening of his steak restaurant in Laguna Beach. Would it live up to the high standards he has set on and off the ice? We will soon find out.

When Katie asked me where I would like to go for my birthday dinner, there was only one place we both had in mind, Selanne Steak Tavern. Opened in the old French 75 spot, this restaurant has been winning rave reviews from just about everyone that has eaten here. Not just relying on name recognition alone, Selanne's is co-owned by Teemu's neighbor, Kevin Pratt, who along with Teemu has put together a great culinary team at this restaurant. Manning the kitchen is Chef Joshua Severson, formerly of St. Regis Monarch Beach in Dana Point. He's created a menu that is of course heavy on steak options, but also since this restaurant is close to the beach, it also features some seafood offerings for non-steak eaters. Also of note is the Pastry Chef here, Heather Fisher, who has gotten some notice for her fantastic desserts. I was eagerly awaiting our dinner here.

Katie had made reservations for 5PM on a recent Sunday. Selanne Steak is only open for dinner, starting at that time. When we had walked in the door, there was already a good amount of people around the small bar area, and hovering around the hostess stand, waiting to be seated. I had never been to French 75 when it was here, but from what I have heard, this restaurant is much more vibrant and lighter than its predecessor. There are four different areas of this restaurant, which was built as a single family home in the 30's; the bar area, private wine rooms, the main dining room, and the popular patio in the front of the restaurant. We were seated next to the bar, which was a great place for us, so we could watch the hockey game from our table. From this vantage point, Selanne Steak seemed to be beach elegant, but not overly stuffy. The restaurant is not overly decorated with a plethora of Selanne memorabilia. There is one case entering the tavern area which houses a replica Stanley Cup and his numerous Olympic medals, including the one he won at this years Olympics in Sochi. It was now time to see if the food here at Selanne Steak would take the gold.

As is the custom here on our blog, we always like to take a shot of the bread basket, and this one was pretty unique at Selanne's. It had a lot of varieties of bread in it. Katie was partial to the pretzel bread, while I really enjoyed these more traditional rolls. Wish they had asked if we wanted more, but maybe they saw the way we scarfed these down, and wanted to save more for the other guests.

None of the appetizers on the menu really caught our eye, so we both went for salads to start. Katie selected the salad that I would usually order, the Prosciutto Caesar ($12). As soon as this hit the table, we both knew this wasn't your average, run of the mill Caesar salad. This one of course included hearts of romaine, Parmesan cheese, and croutons, but it also featured a black garlic aioli, smoked prosciutto, and white anchovy. Not only was this presentation wonderful, but this salad won the praises of Katie as well. There were equal parts of salty and peppery notes in this salad, there was ample dressing, and the produce was exceptionally fresh. The only drawback to this salad, was that it required a lot of cutting, to help get it into bite size pieces, but other than that, it was great.

When I don't order a Caesar, I usually end up with a Wedge ($12), like I did on this night. Again, the presentation here required a lot of cutting, but I liked the look of this salad. This wedge had all of the components of a typical wedge salad, but they made it their own by tweaking little things. They used baby iceberg, instead of the typical quartered iceberg, they used heirloom tomatoes, instead of diced ones, and this salad included a bacon foam, along with some bacon bits. The salad was then finished off with a great dressing made from Point Reyes blue cheese. This salad had a lot of smokiness to it, from the bacon bits and the well made bacon foam. There were not too many tomatoes on here, but they got just the right amount of dressing on here. A very well done wedge.

It's funny, when we were driving to Selanne's Steak, Katie had mentioned maybe trying one of their fish dishes, or going with the chicken. As soon as she asked the waitress for her recommendation, Katie was all about this Beef Short Rib ($34). This ten ounce, Brandt Farms short rib was served with a white polenta and a Gouda fondue. The meat on this plate was as tender as could be, with a great flavor to it from the mild Gouda fondue and the natural juiciness of the beef. This was the perfect size for Katie, as she did not feel overly stuffed by finishing this. The polenta kind of had a cheesy grits kind of feel to it, which worked well here. I could tell it was pretty hard for Katie to share even a few bites of this with me, as she wanted it all to herself.

If I had a quarter for every time that I pulled out my phone and showed someone a picture of this Ribeye ($46), I would have enough quarters for this one and another one. This 14 ounce ribeye was probably one of the best ones I have ever had. Now even two weeks later, I still find myself marveling at it. I always love the flavor of ribeye, but usually there's so much fat on them. This was not the case with this one. Very good beef to fat ratio, and the chef's truffle butter and borelaise negated the need for any extra sauces. It was cooked to my desired medium rare, and was rendered almost fork tender. Good sized, and I could tell this was a prime cut of beef. It was served simply with a mushroom of some sort and a single pearl onion, so the ribeye could be the star of this plate. Simply amazing, and worth the price.

Not to ruin the suspense for the rest of this review, but the Selannes Mac and Cheese ($13) was the only minor misstep of our evening. Not that it was bad, but we just expected a little more. It's made with Rustichella d'Abruzzo pasta, which I learned is a brand of pasta that has been around since 1924, and is known for it's denser and superior texture. We had no problem with the elbow shaped pasta here, which stood up very well to the five cheese fondue and bread crumbs. I just expected a little more pop from the cheese sauce, which had a good creaminess to it, but was kind of boring after the first bite. I'd probably go with a potato side or maybe the risotto on my next visit.

We decided to splurge with two desserts on this night, the first of which was Katie's choice, Pie in a Jar ($10). I learned it's very hard to take a decent picture of desserts in jars. Sorry, I did not get a good shot from the side, as I was preoccupied by my dessert. This jar was filled with mixed berries, rhubarb, vanilla bean ice cream, and a brown sugar streusel. I'm not really a fresh berry lover, but Katie enjoyed this dessert very much. She liked that it was not overly sweet, there was plenty of ice cream, and the berries were farmers market fresh.

Pastry Chef Heather Fisher knocked this dessert out of the park, and it's definitely worth having three pictures here. This Monkey Bread ($12) could be the best dessert we have had in a long time. For those of you that do not know what monkey bread is, it's little balls of sticky buns rolled in butter, cinnamon, and sugar, then stuck together. At Selanne's it's then topped with caramel pecans, banana ice cream, a caramel sauce, and then garnished with caramelized bananas. Wow, just like it pained Katie to share bites of her short rib, I was very greedy with this dessert. It was that good. The banana did not come through as much as I would have liked in the ice cream, but the rest of this dessert was great. The monkey bread portion was nicely baked, the caramel sauce was not overly sweet, and the bananas almost fooled me into thinking this dessert was good for me. I am actually considering coming back here for just this dessert sometime, it was just that good.

If you have made it to the end of this review, and have not made a reservation to go to Selanne Steak and Tavern yet, go do it now. Having this restaurant in our own backyard is a real blessing. The little touches that they have made here, as well as the food is definitely worth your time. They even had mints and a thank you card placed inside our car when it was brought from the valet. I'd expect nothing less from a restaurant that has Teemu's name on it. There are just a few things here that would make this restaurant even better. When you make a reservation, they should ask where you would prefer to sit. We were in the louder bar area, which is fine for us because we wanted to watch the game, but I could see how some people would rather sit in a the quieter dining room. It worked out fine for us, but I can see how this might rub some people the wrong way. Also, they could have had a few more chicken or pasta options on the menu, but I get it, this is a steak focused restaurant, and these are some great steaks at Selanne's. The service we encountered on this night was very cordial and relaxed. The staff was right on top of everything, the busboys were some of the hardest working ones we have seen in a long time. Eating at Selanne Steak Tavern has even softened the blow of the Kings eventually winning this years Stanley Cup (almost).

Out of five race cars, (because Teemu is a big auto racing fan), five being best to zero being worst, Selanne Steak Tavern gets 4.5 race cars.

For more information about Selanne Steak Tavern, go to their website here: http://www.selannesteaktavern.com/

Hoping for an Epic Meal in Yorba Linda - CLOSED

Epic Noodle

17401 Bastanchury Road

Yorba Linda, CA 92886

It's May, so it must be time for another family celebration. I am always interested to see where my family picks to eat for dinner for these things. There are three nieces in my family to consider, ages 12, 10 and 7, so you have to factor them into the decision making. This time it was my sister's turn to pick since it was her birthday. She decided on a place close to their house, Epic Noodle in Yorba Linda.

The rest of my family had been to Epic Noodle before, and all really liked it. This would be my first visit here. Epic Noodle is a Mongolian BBQ place located at the intersection of Bastanchury and Imperial Highway. Kind of in an awkward shopping center, with no direct access from Imperial Highway. If you are coming north on Imperial, then you'll have to make a right on Los Angeles Street and work your way back to the restaurant.

Epic Noodle has been around for three years and has had one ownership change that I know of. According to Yelp reviews, it seems that people are more partial to the last owners than the current owners, but that's only if you choose to believe the people on Yelp, (which I usually don't).

At Epic Noodle the barbecue buffet is located in the front of the restaurant. As with many all you can eat places there are some rules you need to follow. Every glass partition above the food asks that you not smash down the food in your bowl. Not sure why this is a big deal, so I smashed all of my stuff down. It is all you can eat, but once you get your second plate, you are not allowed to take leftovers home with you. You then take it to the guy, who grills it on the heated circular table. Here are a few shots of the process.

Okay, that was way more than a few pictures, but this way you get the process. For the less adventurous, they had some suggested bowls you could make. They offer four kinds of meat at Epic Noodle; beef, pork, chicken, and lamb. The meat comes curled and frozen, maybe to prevent you from overfilling your bowl. Their menu states that they have 24 veggies to fill your bowl with, and I'll have to take their word for it because I was not going to bother counting vegetables. They did have more sauce options than other Mongolian BBQ restaurants I have been to. I spotted twelve kinds of sauces that could be mixed and matched to create your desired flavor for your bowl. Lastly, you have the option of topping your bowl with the neon orange noodles provided. At this point, getting all the noodles to stay in my bowl, was like me trying to play Jenga after a few cocktails. I managed to get it over to the guy without dropping too much on the floor. From there it is dumped on the steam table, doused with water and oil, then placed on your plate with your choice of rice.

My first plate ($12.95 for all you can eat) was made up of all the items that would make it spicy. I started with lamb and pork, then added jalapenos, onions, peppers, fire sauce, and hot sauce. When I first got back to the table, I noticed this was not nearly as spicy as I would have hoped. It only got a little spicy with the addition of the Sriracha that was provided on each table. I think the amount of oil and water added during cooking kind of diluted the sauces. The lamb and pork were not very tender here either. Really tough to get through, and they were in too big of pieces. I went with their famous bacon rice, which was cooked fine, but the bacon really did not come through for me here. Tasted just like fried rice from other places.

Soup and Bread are also included in the cost, maybe from keeping you from making too many trips through the buffet line. The soup here is kind of like a vegetable chicken soup. There were some big hunks of chicken in here, along with the lots of veggies. It had a decent flavor to it. I'm used to having pocket bread with Mongolian BBQ, but with this bread, you could not make a pocket out of it. I took one bite of this bread, and that was it for me. Not very fresh, and not worth filling up on.

Since my nieces were here, and they are not too fond of Mongolian BBQ, they opted for the Chicken Nuggets with Fries ($6.95) instead. Lillie and Gracie were not too fond of these, and they did look like they were overcooked a bit. They even had a hard time getting through the frozen fries here, which is surprising since they are french fry fiends.

Yes, I had one other plate before I left Epic Noodle. This time I went with chicken and beef as my proteins, then added white and green onions, noodles, and a ton of their garlic-based sauce. Again the sauce was kind of bland, and I had to add Sriracha to bring my plate alive. At least the beef and chicken were easier to get through than the pork and lamb. These meats are a much better choice here. I did not finish my plate but made a pretty good dent in it. I felt bad about leaving food, but they were pretty stringent about not giving me a to-go container for this second plate of mine.

I left Epic Noodle kind of feeling like I knew I would when I walked in. I know that does not sound like I had an open mind coming here, but we all have preconceived notions walking into a restaurant, and it's up to the restaurant to change our minds. Epic Noodle did not do that for me on this trip. The food was all fresh, but kind of lacked flavor. We have definitely been to better Mongolian restaurants than Epic Noodle. The service that we had on this night was pretty good. The employees working at the table were all very nice, and the wait staff was all very friendly. Glad we made it through another family get together, looking forward to seeing where our next one will be.

Out of five maple leaves, (because the longest spaghetti noodle ever created was 503 epic feet long, and created in Toronto, which is also home to the Maple Leafs), five being best to zero being worst, Epic Noodle gets 2 maple leaves.

For more information about Epic Noodle, go to their web site here: http://www.epicnoodle.com/index.php

New Spring Menu Items at Stonefire Grill

Stonefire Grill

3966 Barranca Parkway

Irvine, CA 92606

When I was a little kid, and my parents were having a party, I always looked forward to the food of course. I would park myself as close as I could to the table, and just gorge myself. Yes, things have not changed too much from today. Anyways, I would eat everything, but I always made sure to get my fair share from the veggie tray that would inevitably be put out. I'd eat the carrots, broccoli, and even a few sticks of celery, but would never touch the cauliflower. Even now, I'm a little leery of cauliflower, but that might just change after this visit to Stonefire Grill.

We were recently invited to Stonefire Grill, where they debuted their Spring menu last month. Not only does their new menu include a few dishes featuring my nemesis, cauliflower, but they also premiered some new sandwiches, a new salad, and a shrimp dish.

For those of you that have not heard of Stonefire Grill, they are a mini chain of fast-casual restaurants, featuring freshly made American favorites. Started in 2000, by sisters Maureen and Mary Harrigan, there are now seven locations of Stonefire Grill in Southern California, with two of those in OC, (this Irvine one, and another in Fountain Valley). Their menu is dominated by salads, sandwiches, pasta, pizza, and grilled items, but they are probably most known for their breadsticks and tri-tip, but I am very partial to their carrot cake. Of course dinner is before dessert, as I heard my mom's voice in the back of my head, urging me to try all of the cauliflower dishes.

We were at an event, so the serving sizes were portioned out as samples thank goodness, because there was lots to try. Starting things off was the Roasted Cauliflower Pita ($5.99). This pita was inspired by one of the sister's trips to Israel recently. In fact, the pita bread used here is sourced directly from a bakery in Jerusalem. Inside this very well made pita is roasted cauliflower, lemon tahini, chopped tomato, green onion, and a spicy cilantro-Serrano sauce. I was a little taken aback by this. I thought it was going to be very light and mild, but the cilantro-Serrano sauce really made this pop. It gave the cauliflower a good boost, I liked the slight citrus tinge, and the pita bread was excellent. If you like spice, this sandwich is for you.

Man can not live by cauliflower alone, so Stonefire Grill has added three slow roasted, hand-carved turkey sandwiches to their menu, the first of which we tried was the Traditional Turkey ($6.99). This November favorite included red leaf lettuce, cranberry sauce, mayo, and plenty of turkey, all on a whole grain bread. The turkey was nice and moist, and the cranberry added a nice sweetness. Brought back memories of Thanksgiving dinner, without the family squabbles.

Another turkey favorite at this media dinner was the Italian Turkey ($6.99). This time the thickly sliced turkey was placed inside a French roll with sliced tomato, shredded lettuce, red onion, mozzarella cheese, mayo, and a Dijon mustard vinaigrette. The bread used for these new sandwiches is from La Brea Bakery, which delivers fresh bread every morning to Stonefire Grill. The bread was a great vehicle for this tangy sandwich. Loved the red onion and mustard vinaigrette on this one.

Recently at another sandwich spot, I had a caprese sandwich, and I actually liked it. I have never been a big fan of caprese salads, but maybe I am more of a caprese sandwich fan, because this one was good as well. Stonefire's version of a Caprese Sandwich ($7.99) had all of the usual suspects you would expect from a caprese; grape tomatoes, pesto, fresh mozzarella, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and arugula, all on a toasted ciabatta. Big flavors, which helped me forget that there was no meat on this sandwich.

Stonefire Grill added two new salads to their Spring menu, a Cauliflower Salad ($1.59 for a single serving), and a Keen Green Salad ($8.99). Both of theses salads were pretty solid, but I was surprised that I liked the Keen Green one the best. It included quinoa, chopped spinach, artichoke hearts, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan cheese, and fresh pesto. I think they definitely got the name right with all of these green items in this salad. Even with my disdain with quinoa, it did not get in the way of the other items in this salad. The avocado added a nice creaminess, the pesto added some moisture, and the spinach brought everything together. I felt pretty good eating these healthy salads, they made me feel like I could have two slices of the carrot cake that was to come later.

You probably do not believe me, but this was my favorite item of the night. Even I was shocked when I found myself up at the buffet line getting seconds of this Whole Roasted Cauliflower ($5.99). I had never had roasted cauliflower before, and the roasting gave the tips a tinge of crunchiness, while the inside was very tender. The cauliflower was topped with a lemon tahini and parsley. I added a little extra tahini, which made the cauliflower sing. On our next visits to Stonefire Grill, I can see Katie and I splitting this side item.

The last of the entrees that we tried was this Shrimp ($12.99) dish. The plentiful shrimp is seasoned with lemon, olive oil, garlic, and chopped parsley, then served atop a big mound of quinoa. I stayed away from the quinoa on this one, but the shrimp were seasoned very nicely. Since everyone had filled up on the other items here, and this one was bought out last, I pretty much had as much shrimp as I could handle.

This of course was the moment I was the most excited about, the time when the desserts hit the table. At Stonefire Grill they have three deserts offered. They offer cheesecake and fudge brownies, which I am sure are good, but for me, it's all about their Incredible Carrot Cake ($3.29). This is one of the best carrot cakes we have had. It's moist, but still firm enough to stand up to the good amount of cream cheese frosting that tops this. The frosting is not too sweet, and does not go overboard with the cream cheese flavor. Just like Goldilocks said, "it's just right." A very good end to a wonderful night.

Stonefire Grill and their new menu surprised me on this night. I was surprised that I enjoyed all of the vegetable dishes and salads as much as I did. I even managed to take down some quinoa, although I am still not a fan of it. The turkey sandwiches were pretty good as well. Stonefire Grill is the kind of place that you can bring the family to, and everyone will be happy with their selections. For families, they have plenty of Family Meals that will give you a night off from cooking. They also have several Crowd Pleasing Meals for bigger groups of six or more, at pretty affordable prices starting near $7 per person. A real bargain. Stonefire has helped me get over my cauliflower aversion, and now I might even eat some off of the next veggie tray I see.  

We would like to thank everyone at Stonefire Grill for making us feel so comfortable during our visit on this night. From the servers, the cooks, and the hostess staff, you all made this a wonderful night. We would also like to thank Elly Salter and Allie Briscoe for hosting this great event, and answering all of our questions about Stonefire Grill. You guys were awesome. We would lastly like to thank Erick Martinez and Jenna Satariano of the fabulous PR agency, Groff-Hinman, for thinking of inviting us to this great event. It was great seeing you both again.

For more information about Stonefire Grill and all of their menu options, go to their website here: http://www.stonefiregrill.com/