Worth the Ride to this Club - CLOSED

The Riders Club Cafe

27221 Ortega Highway Suite G

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

I'm ashamed to admit that we had not been back to Riders Club since we wrote about them two years ago. In that review, I wrote that they would be on my Mount Rushmore of OC burgers. Yes, that would put them in the top 4 folks, but that was two years ago, and I've eaten a lot of burgers in those two years, so I'm not sure they would still be up there.

A return trip was now warranted because they have opened a spot even closer to us. This new Riders Club, just off of Ortega Highway, is a lot more convenient and comfortable compared to the original San Clemente spot we visited two years ago. There's plenty of parking, and roominess in the small restaurant, and they also added something that the San Clemente location can not offer because of the size of their kitchen, french fries.

Opened in the spot that once housed a German restaurant we never had the pleasure of eating in, this Riders Club is in the same shopping center as Tannins, and the new restaurant to make it onto our restaurant must-visit list, Public 74. We showed up on a recent Wednesday night and were met with a half-full restaurant, which almost never happens at the San Clemente location. Maybe people don't know that this one opened seven months ago. Whatever the reason is for the half-empty restaurant, we were excited to order at the counter, and have our pick of seats while waiting for our food. Let's see if this location is just as good as the one down south.

Rider's Club does not have a huge menu. In fact, they have two versions of a hot dog, a carnitas sandwich, that we will get to a little later, and then they have their burgers, which you build how you want them with their selections of toppings. This first one is Katie's creation. This Burger ($11.20) came with Katie's desired toppings; Havarti cheese, an egg over hard, grilled mushrooms, house spread, lettuce, and pickles. This burger was a little on the rich side for her, but she ended up finishing most of it and called it delicious. She'd probably tone it down a bit next time. The fries were fried well, but kind of average. They were made better when dipped in the house spread, which could be described as a tamer thousand island dressing.

If you have read this blog for any length of time, you must know about my love of bacon cheeseburgers, and that's what I went with again here at Riders Club. This burger ($10.45 with the cheese and bacon), was just as good as I remembered from our last visit. Along with the cheddar cheese and bacon, this burger came with lettuce, grilled onion, and their very good house spread. The beef here is ground fresh daily, and it makes for a very fresh and juicy burger. The challah bun is also worth noting here, as it stands up to anything you want to top your burger with, and keeps everything together like a good bun should. This burger is what brings people in, but you should not bypass the other item I ordered by any means.

The Carnitas Sandwich ($8.95) kind of outshined the burgers for me on this night, and that's surprising because I really enjoyed my burger. This sandwich was awesome. It came with tender and moist shredded pork, a carrot slaw, cilantro, house spread, and jalapenos. This kind of had a banh mi kind of feel to it, and I really liked the inclusion of the jalapenos to kick things up a notch. The pork had some good bits of crispness to it, which I really like when ordering carnitas. It will be hard for me to forgo this sandwich on future visits to Riders Club.

I'm happy to report that this Riders Club location is just as good as the one in San Clemente, and a lot more comfortable. I'd have to write down all the burgers I've had, and come to some sort of decision on if these burgers are still on my Mount Rushmore of burgers, but they are definitely in the conversation. The burgers might actually be hurt by the very good carnitas sandwich I had this evening. I can't stop thinking about it, and now that they are closer to where we live, I foresee many more trips to Riders Club.

Out of five broncs, (because the mascot of Rider College in New Jersey is a bronc), five being best to zero being worst, Riders Club Cafe gets 3.5 broncs.

For more information about Riders Club Cafe, go to their website here: http://www.ridersclubcafe.com/

Holsteins Has Moo-ved Into OC - CLOSED

Holsteins Shakes and Buns

3333 Bristol St. 

Costa Mesa, CA 92626

As sad as I was to see Charlie Palmer leave South Coast Plaza in May, it softened the blow when I heard who would be replacing them. In came all the cow paraphernalia, which is synonymous with one of the most heralded burger spots in Las Vegas, Holsteins.

We had been to Holsteins, which is located at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Resort, once before. You can read that review here. To summarize, we were pretty impressed with that location, which has won plenty of praise for their food and had their burgers placed on many of the top burger lists in Las Vegas. I really enjoyed Katie's burger and the vibe of the place and was anxiously waiting for them to open a lot closer to my home, and in a place where I would not be tempted to gamble my savings account away.

We were lucky enough to be invited into Holsteins shortly after they opened, to have an informal look at some of their smaller bites and shake samplings. As you can see in the above pictures, this only whetted our appetite for a quick return visit to Holsteins. Thanks to everyone at Holsteins, and of course J Public Relations, for this wonderful time. When we were going to be going out with our good friends Tom and Daniele, I did not even hesitate about where I wanted to eat with them. We made a beeline for this restaurant, which is attached to Bloomingdale's at South Coast Plaza.

Daniele had made reservations at 7pm on a recent Friday night. The restaurant was pretty busy throughout our stay. The inside still has the feel of the old Charlie Palmer, but now there's burger artwork on the walls, and the large wine case as you enter the building is now filled with beer instead of wine. Speaking of beer, they offer one of the largest selections that I have seen in a while around here. The vibe inside the restaurant kind of felt like an upscale coffee shop, which lends to the cool, hip feel of the place.

The menu at Holsteins OC is a little toned down from the Vegas one that we experienced. No fried bacon is on the menu, and they have geared more menu items to the health conscience Orange County lifestyle. The menu offers plenty of starters, a few salads, some entrees, shakes, and of course burgers, which there are 13 varieties, including beef, veggie, turkey, salmon, and lamb choices for patties. Of course, I would be enjoying a burger this evening, but let's see what everyone else had as well.

After a few drinks at Tom and Daniele's house, we definitely needed to get some food in us quickly, so we started things off with this Poutine ($11.50 with egg added). This is probably the closest thing I have ever had to true poutine. Its base is french fries, then topped with cheese curds, stout gravy, shredded short rib, and the added fried egg. A true poutine has a lighter gravy, and no short rib, but this was a delicious way to start our meal at Holsteins. The cheese curds were not as squeaky as I imagined them to be, but I really enjoyed the melding of flavors on this plate. A very comforting starter.

Since Holsteins is pretty famous for their burgers, it was not shocking that Katie went in the opposite direction, and tried one of the entrees on their menu, the Porter Braised Short Rib ($26.00). After the short rib that was included in the poutine, she had high hopes for this plate. The short rib was very tender, and flavorful, as it was topped with an IPA battered onion ring, and accompanied by a truffle potato puree. Both were winners, but I would have liked a little more sauce with this. Katie had no complaints, as she had no problem finishing this, and would not hesitate to get this again.

Tom selected the burger that I had on my visit to the Vegas location, the Rising Sun Burger ($17 with the optional egg added). This Asian inspired burger came topped with teriyaki glaze, nori furikake, (a Japanese seasoning), a crispy yam, spicy mayo, and to top it off, a tempura avocado. Tom enjoyed this burger very much and was stuffed by the end. When I had this burger the first time, I felt the teriyaki kind of overpowered, but Tom did not share my sentiments on this evening.

Both Daniele and I opted for the same burger, proving once and for all that great minds definitely think alike. The Gold Standard Burger ($17 with optional egg added) would be our choice on this evening. This is their version of a souped-up bacon cheeseburger. It comes with goat cheese cheddar, tomato confit, smoked bacon, arugula, and a garlic chive aioli. I really liked this burger, and the toppings were mellow enough to allow the ground sirloin to be the star of the show. I thought the goat cheese cheddar was going to be a lot more intrusive than it was, but that was not the case. They don't really over sauce their burgers here, which allows the natural flavor of the meat to shine through. The fries were okay but not as good as their burgers. They had a good crunch to them but were kind of left to the side until I finished my burger.

My first trip to the Vegas location, I did not have one of Holsteins' signature Bam-Boozled Shakes ($13), but I rectified that on this visit. They have ten of these adults-only shakes on their menu, with such interesting flavors as Red Velvet, Cereal Bowl, and something called the Fat Boy, which comes with pretzels, Oreo cookies, Butterfinger bits, Reese's, and Cap'n Crunch. That sounded like way too much for me, and as a traditionalist when it comes to shakes, I went with a good old fashioned Cookies and Cream Shake. This was a very creamy shake, with plenty of crushed up Oreo's and chocolate chip cookies inside, and it was made with Smirnoff Whipped Cream Vodka, which added to the creaminess. I liked this, but I'm not sure I'd get one of these shakes again. I felt the payoff was not enough to warrant the $13 dollar price tag, and I'm not really that big of a shake guy.

Always up for something a little different, we had tried these Nitro Meringues ($1.50 each) at the happy hour event we attended a month or so ago, and wanted to introduce Tom and Daniele to them. They come in three flavors, Peppermint, Stout Beer, and Strawberry. Nitrogen ice cream places are all the rage right now, and this is a fun way to end your meal here. I definitely like the peppermint one the best. They evaporate in your mouth, and you are left with the flavor, and a plume of smoke from the nitrogen. Something a little different from the usual dessert.

Holsteins is definitely my kind of place, and I'm pretty excited that they opened up right in my backyard. I can see us eating here frequently, or as frequently as we eat anywhere since we are always on the hunt for the next great spot we want to share with you. The burgers were on point, and this is the perfect place to head to if you are in the mood for a more upscale burger. If Katie's meal is any indication, the rest of the menu might be worth exploring for you non-burger lovers. Yes, the prices are a little on the high side, but the quality here is pretty stellar, and this is South Coast Plaza, so it's understandable. We had some very good service on this evening, as our waiter Greg made sure we had everything we needed at all times. I hated to see Charlie Palmer leave, but I'm pretty excited to see Holsteins in OC.

Out of five cruise ships, (because New Holstein, Wisconsin is the birthplace of Edward Schildhauer, the chief engineer of the Panama Canal Project, and a lot of cruise ships go through this on a daily basis), five being best to zero being worst, Holsteins Shakes and Buns gets 3.5 cruise ships.

For more information about Holsteins, head over to their website here: http://www.holsteinsburgers.com/

GD Bro Burger Settles in Santa Ana - CLOSED

GD Bro Burger

2321 East 4th St. 

Santa Ana, CA 92705

It seems like the burger wars are starting to heat up again in OC if they ever really cooled down. All of a sudden there seems to be a new burger place opening up every week or so. In just the last few months, Krave Burger, Holsteins, and Hopdoody Burger Bar have made their presence felt by opening new locations in Orange County. On our way to watch the Ducks early-season woes, we swung by another burger place that's getting a lot of attention for their burgers, GD Bro Burger.

If you are a big fan of the TV show "The Great Food Truck Race," then this restaurant might ring a bell for you. Unfortunately, I have not had too much time to watch food TV these days, as I have been binge-watching Mad Men and Breaking Bad on Netflix. I did look it up though, and the GD Bro Burger truck finished in third place on this year's race on Food Network. On the show, there were three of them running things, good friends Kevin, Geoffrey, and Mark. Now their restaurant website only lists Kevin and Mark as running things. Not sure what happened to Geoffrey, but I was still pretty excited to give this place a try.

GD Bro Burger is located in the old Toro Burger spot, on the corner of 4th Street and Tustin Avenue, right next to the 55 Freeway. There's a Subway right next door, along with a UPS store. I believed that the GD stood for god damn, but I was wrong. I guess that would make my mom happy that they are nice guys that wouldn't say god damn. It actually means globally delicious. There are currently six burgers to choose from on their menu, along with some signature fries, regular style fries, and mozzarella sticks. I've also seen some killer shakes on their Instagram page, but did not have one on this evening. Maybe next time. Let's see what we did have though, and how we liked it.

Let's start things off with Katie's selection, the KBBQ Poutine Burger ($9.95). Before we get to the burger, you'll probably notice the bright red buns at GD Bro Burger. These are their signature raspberry buns, but they also offer a traditional bun as well. To tell the truth, I did not really get too much raspberry from these buns, but they did an admirable job of keeping everything together, which is basically all I ask for in a hamburger bun. This burger was topped with mozzarella cheese, Korean short rib, pickled red onions, sesame seed chives, and homestyle gravy, which Katie asked for on the side. She stated that she has not had such a delicious burger in quite a long time. The short rib was tender, and added a nice flavor to the well made burger patty. A wonderful mixture of flavors made this burger a winner in Katie's book.

I was really torn when it came to choosing a burger here, but this Italian Stallion ($9.95) eventually won out. This pizza inspired burger came with mozzarella sticks, pizza sauce, spinach, pepperoni, and ranch. The toppings are what make the burgers here, but this is a good quality hamburger, and the toppings really enhanced it. The mozzarella sticks were some of the best I have had recently, and I was afraid that the pizza sauce would overwhelm, but it did not. The burgers were not overly huge, but I would not be able to eat two of them like I can do at Umami Burger. I liked this burger but would try their Mexican inspired Juan and Only Burger on my next visit.

We did try the Mexican inspired Consuela Fries ($5.95) on this evening though. These fries were topped with pepper jack cheese, avocado, pico de gallo, chipotle mayo, and some Cajun seasonings. I really liked the spicy flavor of these, and they resembled a much better version of In-N-Out's animal fries. The one problem with these was that the cheese was all clumped together, as these fries were not served hot. Lukewarm, but still a must-try when you come here.

I really enjoyed our time at GD Bro Burger. Are these the best burgers in OC? Not sure about that after only this one visit, but I think I'd need to come back and try some of their other burgers on their menu to make up my mind. It kind of seems to me that the toppings on these burgers are what make them stand out, which is fine by me. Don't get me wrong, the burgers on their own are good here, but what I really enjoyed was the creativity of their signature burgers. In my opinion, these are near the top of my burger list. I also did not feel that these burgers were too expensive, and they definitely did feel me up. The service that we experienced was great, and I should mention that they offered us samples of their house made juices when we walked in, and they were all pretty solid. I've heard that the wait times can get pretty long for this place, but we must have hit them at just the right time, 5pm on a Wednesday night, as we were able to walk right in, place our order, and have our food ready within ten minutes. GD Bro Burger is definitely a player in the burger wars that are taking place in OC right now.

Out of five spices, (because GD is the country code for the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, which is known as the Island of Spice), five being best to zero being worst, GD Bro Burger gets 3.5 spices.

For more information about GD Bro Burger, head to their website here: http://www.gdbrotruck.com/

Driftwood Kitchen, Not Just a Pretty Venue

Driftwood Kitchen

619 Sleepy Hollow Lane

Laguna Beach, CA 92651

Work has been pretty crazy for both Katie and I lately. She recently had her year end, which means 10 to 13 hour days at her job. My job has been hit by people going on disability, finding better jobs, or just not wanting to deal with the public anymore. Since we are short staffed, that means I get the pleasure of working six days a week. That's sarcasm if you could not tell.

Anyways, this has not left us anytime to get away for a little mini vacation since we got back from our honeymoon in April. I decided to mix things up for us on a recent Sunday, and surprise Katie with dinner with a view, and a quick walk on the beach. I decided on dinner at a restaurant I had heard a lot about, and one where we could witness the sunset. We headed to Driftwood Kitchen in Laguna Beach.

As you can see in the picture above, the view at Driftwood Kitchen is not exaggerated. During our visit, we witnessed almost everyone here taking time to make sure to take at least one picture on their phones. I was a little worried that with a view like this, that the food would be a secondary thought. Many beach restaurants rely on their proximity to the water as a drawing point, and take shortcuts with their food. Let's see if that would be how it plays out for us on this evening.

We arrived a little early for our 6pm reservation, but it was no problem getting seated right away. Driftwood Kitchen has the feel of a beach house for sure, which I was alerted to the fact that this used to be the former home of the Beach House Restaurant. Light colors, and good looking servers and clientele, brought to mind a real vacation vibe. The row of tables on the patio were in very high demand on this evening, with the hostess not knowing when one would be available. People seemed to linger as sunset quickly approached. We were seated inside, against the window nearest the patio, and had an excellent vantage point of the shore.

The cuisine here is the brainchild of Chef Rainer Schwarz, whose food we have tasted at various food festivals, but we were excited to try his food on his home turf. The menu promises fresh cuisine that's prepared simply, with a focus on seasonal ingredients. His menu is organized by small and large plates, along with soup, salads, and desserts. We had the view for sure, but I was excited to view the food hitting the table. Let's see what we thought of Driftwood Kitchen.

Since we were so close to the ocean, seafood was on our minds, so we started with the Dungeness Crab Cake ($15). This crab cake was served alongside an Asian pear and endive salad and a dill lebni, which I learned is a kefir cheese, which is made with live cultures, and has the consistency of sour cream. The crab cake here was pretty solid. Not a lot of filler holding it together, so you got plenty of the natural crab flavor coming through. The salad was a nice add on, but was easily overshadowed by the crab cake. I found the lebni an odd choice here. I've never had sour cream with a crab cake before, and it did not work here. I'd have rather of had a tarter sauce, or maybe a softer sauce that went better with the crab cake.  

Since we were experiencing a real vacation vibe, why not throw caution to the wind and order these Driftwood Fries ($9) as well. I had heard good things about these fries, which are hand cut from Kennebec potatoes. The fries by themselves were good, but could have been a little more crisp for my taste. However, these fries were pushed to even greater heights by the awesome herb aioli that these came with. Delicious, and even the house made ketchup was not as awful as other house made ketchup's almost always inevitably end up. Easy to see why these fries get such high praise.

As you can tell by these pictures, the sun had set between our appetizers and our entrees, as we definitely needed the flash to capture our dinners. Up first is Katie's selection, the Lobster Spaghetti Carbonara ($22). This mound of spaghetti may look small, but there was a lot going on with it. It was topped with grated pecorino romano, guanciale, (an Italian cured meat made from the cheeks or jowl of the pig), a farm fresh egg, and of course lobster. When this was placed in front of Katie, I thought that the serving size was a little on the small size, but a little of this went a long way since it was so rich. Katie liked that this had plenty of lobster included in it, which was prepared well, and very juicy. She also commented that she loved the layering of flavors in this, and it kept her taste buds guessing as she made her way through this plate.

Not the most picturesque plate I have ever photographed, but when I saw this Butcher Steak and Pork Belly ($24) on the menu, I had to have it. I mean, two meats on one plate, and one of them is pork belly? Sign me up. This double dose of meat came with some roasted mushrooms, a chimichurri, and some fried red onions. Both meats were delicious, with the steak cooked to a wonderful medium rare, and paired nicely with the chimichurri for a slight Argentine influence. The pork belly was not to be outdone, as it had a great flavor to it, and was fried wonderfully, resembling a great hunk of slightly fatty bacon. Divine. Even with some great seafood options on the menu at Driftwood, I would be hard pressed to deviate from ordering this on my future visits here.

Not on the dessert menu anymore, but I had heard great things about this Sticky Toffee Cake ($9), so I inquired about it. Our waiter informed us that it is what's offered to people celebrating an event at the restaurant. I asked if we could order it, and he obliged. It was delicious, with a nice salted caramel and a whipped cream to accompany it. Next time we will definitely make up an event we are celebrating, just so we can have this dessert, and save nine dollars at the same time.

I'm pleased to report that after eating this meal at Driftwood Kitchen, I can definitely say that they are not just relying on their view to bring people through the door, the food is almost as fantastic as their vantage point over the Pacific. Even though we were in the touristy area of Laguna Beach, I did not feel that the prices were too crazy for what you get at Driftwood. Service was on point, and very friendly. This restaurant was the perfect spot for a little two hour getaway from the hassles of real life. We're looking forward to heading back again real soon.

Out of five sand dunes, (because driftwood is sometimes the foundations of sand dunes), five being best to zero being worst, Driftwood Kitchen gets 3.5 sand dunes.

For more information about Driftwood Kitchen, go to their website by clicking here: http://driftwoodkitchen.com/

Kissing Summer Goodbye at Baci Di Firenze

Baci Di Firenze Trattoria

416 North Lakeview Ave. 

Anaheim, CA 92807

Fall is finally in the air for Southern California. Not that the last few months have felt like it, as we have routinely had days in the 90's, but it seems like we have finally turned a corner weather wise. Now that the weather is finally cooperating, and with the arrival of pumpkin flavored everything and football, it is finally feeling like fall. Football is what brought us up this way on a recent Saturday night. My niece Kaylie is a cheerleader for her hometown Yorba Linda Giants, and we were coming to watch her perform, but first we were having dinner with my parents, and I chose to eat at Baci Di Firenze.

Baci Di Firenze is located across the street from the old Kaiser Hospital space in Anaheim Hills, and in the same shopping complex as the Steer Inn. From what I can gather looking at their Yelp page, they have been in business for 8 years, even though our waiter commented that they have been around for only six. The entrance to the restaurant is a little odd, as you enter through the side outdoor patio. Not a huge restaurant, with maybe about 15 or so tables inside, we got seated right away without a reservation at about 5:30 on a Saturday night. The place did fill up to capacity during our stay though.

The menu here is pretty much what you would expect from an Italian restaurant in Southern California. There are a good number of pasta dishes, veal, beef, chicken, and seafood entrees to choose from. Prices for entrees are in the $16 to $30 range, and they do include a side of pasta or veggies with them. We were kind of on a strict time schedule, so we made our choices rather quickly, and waited for our food to come out. This is what transpired for us on this evening at Baci Di Firenze.

Bread is always an important thing for Italian restaurants, and this bread at Baci Di Firenze was pretty solid. The outside had a good solid crust to it, while the center was soft. It went well with the oil and vinegar provided, but I would have liked to have tried it with some butter as well. Tasty bread, and they were generous refilling the basket throughout our stay.

Even though salads were not included with our meals, three out of four of us ordered one to start things off. Katie selected this Insalata Alla Baci ($5.50), their version of a house salad to get things rolling. This salad combined mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, mushrooms, and red onion, with a very well done creamy Italian dressing. Katie of course mentioned the freshness of the produce here, and the wonderful house made dressing, that she could not get enough of. A very promising start to her meal.

I might be overstating my love for this Insalata Alla Cesare ($6.95), but this was one of the best I have had during the 6 year run of this blog. All of my requirements were met for a great Caesar salad at Baci Di Firenze. The dressing was on point, and there was plenty of it included here, without overloading the fresh romaine. There was also plenty of shaved Parmesan topping this, and some very well made croutons. My dad's not a crouton fan, and even he did not gripe about the inclusion of croutons on his salad. Since this visit, every time we are up this way, I think about stopping in for just this salad, it was that good.

Just like you can expect to be in for a crowded day when you visit Disneyland, you can almost always expect my mom to have chicken Parmesan in an Italian restaurant. This was the case on this night as well. This Pollo Alla Parmigiana ($16.95) had her singing its praises. The chicken breast was lightly breaded, with plenty of mozzarella cheese and a lighter than normal tomato sauce. The chicken was tender, and true to form, she took half of this to go for my dad's lunch the next day.

Sorry for the shot from across the table, but my dad could not wait to dig into this Pollo Al Marsala ($18.95), so I had to take this picture real quick. This traditional Italian Marsala dish had a good sized portion of chicken breast sauteed with Marsala and mushrooms. The chicken on its own was good, but what really made this dish was the delicious sauce. It really pushed this meal to well above average. My dad also enjoyed the mushrooms, which did not only taste good, but kept my mother, who has an adverse reaction to the fungi, from trying any of his meal. Well played sir.

 

I must have zoned out when Katie was ordering, because I was shocked to see her plate arrive at the table. She had the Involtini Di Pollo ($20.95), and this had a lot going on with it. Her chicken breast was stuffed with Italian ham, spinach, and mozzarella cheese, and topped with a mushroom sauce. Kind of like a saltimbocca, but with spinach added. The ham added a nice saltiness here, which gave this plate some bite. She was very happy with her selection.

I wish I could say the same with my choice on this evening. This Cannelloni Alla Romana ($16.95) did not live up to my expectations. The menu says that these crepes were stuffed with veal, cheese, and and tomato sauce, but they must have forgotten the veal, because there was none present. Still moderately tasty, this definitely needed meat to make it better. I will definitely try something else on my next visit.

Even though my meal was not what I expected, everything else we had on this evening was above average. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the mood for upscale Italian, in a relaxed, family run atmosphere. Yes, the prices might be a little on the high side, but you're paying for the quality here, and they do Italian the right way.  The service was a little stiff at first, but quickly warmed during our stay. A great place to eat before watching my niece cheer, and enjoy some of the cooler weather we have in store for us.

Out of five boars, (because this restaurant's name translates to Kisses of Florence, and one of the most popular tourist spots in that city is a bronze statue of a boar, which tourist rub its snout hoping it will bring a return trip to the city), five being best to zero being worst, Baci Di Firenze Trattoria gets 3.5 boars.

For more information about Baci Di Firenze Trattoria, head to their website here: http://www.bacianaheim.com/