Mojito Madness 2016

This post is going to be a little different from our usual restaurant reviews. My good friend Richard never gets to come hang out with his friends, but on his birthday this year, I had an excellent idea of taking him on a bar crawl to find him a great mojito. It just so happens that mojitos are his favorite alcoholic beverage, and he got permission to come out and find the best one with me.

The first task was scouting a location with an abundance of mojitos available for us to try. There are not too many places left in OC where you can do pub crawls. Yes, there are the beach cities, but after this evening, he was going to need a ride home, and since his wife had already relented into letting him go, we could not put her out more by making her drive any further to pick his presumedly drunk ass up.

For those of you that are new to the mojito scene, they are a rum based drink, which also includes sugar, lime juice, soda water, and of course muddled mint. The birthplace of this cocktail is Cuba, but there are conflicting stories as to who invented it, and how it got named. It's also been rumored to be Ernest Hemingway's favorite cocktail, but this is also doubted by some historians.

I did a quick search online and found that the Irvine Spectrum would fill the bill nicely for us. Not only is it centrally located between mine and Richard's abodes, but a quick Yelp search confirmed that nearly 10 of their restaurant tenants serve, or are capable of serving a mojito. Score.

We were not going to be drinking ten mojitos, and I wasn't even going to be ordering one, as they are not really my favorite. I picked five places to try, and we can maybe try the other five next year. We also would be ordering something to eat at each of these places, because we're responsible like that. So sit back, relax, and watch the mojitos fly, as we try to find the best mojito at the Irvine Spectrum.

We started things off at Del Frisco's Grille due to their proximity to the parking structure that I parked in. We were here at just after 3 pm, and the bar was pretty empty but filled up as we approached their happy hour, which starts at 4. They do not have a mojito on their cocktail menu, but their amicable bartender, Diane made Richard his initial birthday Mojito ($11.50) happily. This beverage drew rave reviews from Richard, who thought it had the right amount of sweet, with just a tinge of bitterness on the back end of the drink. He was less excited by the Cheesesteak Egg Rolls ($13), which he called bland. I've always said that these would be made better with the sauce served on the side, instead of streaked across the plate. On to spot number two.

Yard House was next on our journey. The best part about our time at Yard House was that we hit this place right at Happy Hour, which goes from 3 to 6 pm weekdays. The Mojito ($7.75 with the $2 off during happy hour) was obviously made from a mix, and not really good. Way too sweet, Richard couldn't even tell if there was alcohol in here or not, as it tasted just like sugar water. The Blue Crab Cakes ($7 on HH, but $12.45 most of the time) were also not worth the bother. These good sized crab cakes were mostly filler, overly breaded, and placed in this weird, runny white sauce, along with diced mango, papaya, and passion fruit. Nothing about this screamed order this next time to us, so we'll skip it on future visits.

Another happy hour spot we were lucky to hit was Paul Martin's American Grill. I've always kind of been let down by this restaurant, as I've always though it should be better than it is. This was not the case on this late afternoon. The Mojito ($5 on HH or $13 all other times), was pretty solid and helped wash away the taste of the one we had back at Yard House. It was definitely made to order and was just a tad too heavy with the rum for Richard's palette. Happy hour goes on from 3 to 7 pm, seven days a week here at Paul Martin's, which gives you ample time to take advantage of their Bistro Burger Special ($14), which also comes with fries and your choice of a craft beer. The burger was pretty solid and was made even better with great melted cheese, which spread evenly across the warm beef. This simply dressed burger is rounded out nicely by a very well done bun, which is soft, but keeps its integrity. The fries were good as well and seasoned with salt and herbs. The perfect spot for two guys visiting as many bars as possible in a short time.

I've always been a big fan of Wood Ranch. Yes, their barbecue is good, and in fact, I think they are one of the better of all the chain barbecue restaurants, but there's something else that I crave when I walk by here at the Irvine Spectrum, their Oreo Cookie Crunch ($6.95). Of course first, we had to try the Havana's Best Mojito ($7 for happy hour, or $9 the rest of the day). This was not an awful version of this drink. It was pretty sweet, and the mint was kind of lost here, but you still knew you were drinking a mojito. Pretty good balance. Glad they took the time to prepare this cocktail the right way. The Oreo cookie crunch was delicious and so simple. It's a scoop of good vanilla bean ice cream, rolled in Oreo cookie crumbs, and then served with chocolate and caramel sauces. This works wonderfully, and the only way to make it better would be to swap out the chocolate sauce and use hot fudge instead. Still one of my favorite desserts I've had during the seven-year run of this blog.

Yes, we had already had dessert, but we still had about twenty minutes before Richard's wife would pick him up, so we decided to try the Mojito ($10) at Cucina Enoteca. When we were at other bars, bartenders told us that they thought this would be the best mojito that we would encounter on our trip around the Spectrum. It wasn't. It wasn't horrible, but was definitely on the bitter side, and was rather boring due to the lack of mint used in it. What wasn't boring was this Giant Meatball ($9). The food has always impressed me here, and this meatball was no exception. Very tender, with a great flavor to it. I liked the melted cheese on top of it, but what rounded this all together for me was their very tasty red sauce, which really made this dish pop. A must get when eating at Cucina Enoteca.

So we made it through five different mojitos in the span of three hours. Who had the best? We liked the one at Del Frisco's Grille as our number one pick. It was the most balanced and refreshing versions that we tried on this afternoon. Second place would go to the one at Paul Martin's, and then the one at Wood Ranch would probably be third. The worst was by far the one at Yard House, which almost every bartender that we asked had predicted it would be.

Their food was not much better. The Yard House crab cakes definitely were the worst thing we ate on this afternoon. Not a very good showing for the folks at Yard House. The best food item for me probably was the meatball from Cucina Enoteca, then the Oreo Cookie Crunch and the bronze medal would go to the Burger at Paul Martin's.

All in all, this was a great afternoon with my friend Richard. We got to celebrate his birthday, go bar hopping, and try some pretty good food. I can hardly wait until next year when we get to hang out again and try the rest of the mojitos offered at the Irvine Spectrum.

To help plan your pub or food crawl around the Irvine Spectrum, check out their website here: http://www.shopirvinespectrumcenter.com/

Come and Get It at Cowgirls Cafe

Cowgirls Cafe

1720 South Grand Ave.

Santa Ana, CA 92705

Father's Day is a little rough on married couples. You have to make time to see both dads, and that usually involves some sort of a compromise. Luckily, Katie's family is pretty flexible about when they get a chance to see us. They pretty much allow my family to make plans, and then we work around them to make sure we get to see Katie's family. This year, my parents were doing something later in the afternoon, so that left Father's Day morning open to spending with my dad. Since they live in Yorba Linda, we always try to meet somewhere in the middle, and this time it just so happened that we met at Cowgirls Cafe in Santa Ana.

I found this place, as I usually do, on Yelp, and it was highly rated, and fit our criteria of being near the midpoint for all of us. I'm not sure of the history of this restaurant, but it's been in business for over ten years. Located just south of Edinger, in a heavy industrial area, the restaurant has a classic diner vibe. It kind of felt like a retro Denny's, with a western tinge to it. The booths were comfortable, there was a tiny six-seat, old school counter, along with plenty of cowboy pictures hanging on the wall, with a special emphasis on John Wayne. Also of note, a wall of license plates covering one wall, right above the counter seats.

We were a little worried this place was going to be packed, with it being Father's Day and all, but we got right in at 8:30. The menu here is dominated by American breakfast classics, with five items offered for those of you that would prefer a Mexican slant on your first meal of the day. They also have a whole page of their menu dedicated to lunch items, but be advised that they close by 3 on most days, and by 2 pm on the weekends. As usual, I showed up here knowing already what I wanted to have, so I waited for my parents to make up their minds, and then waited patiently for our food to arrive. This is how our Father's day went down at Cowgirls Cafe.

Even though it was Father's Day, it's still ladies first, so we'll check out Katie's choice, this Breakfast Burrito ($7.65). This was listed on the front of the menu, under specials. This double wrapped breakfast burrito came filled with egg, sausage, onion, green chilies, cheese, and ranchero sauce, which Katie opted to have on the side. She called this a solid breakfast burrito which was easy to handle, and she liked it, but, was not wowed by it. This also came with a side of hash browns, which she enjoyed.

Also listed on the front of the menu, under the specials was this Breakfast Croissant ($7.45) that my mom took down. Two eggs divided between each half of a croissant, then topped with bacon, cheese, and usually tomato, but my mom decided she did not want the tomato. My mom loves breakfast sandwiches, and even though this was a pretty simple one, she enjoyed it. The croissant was fresh and was a nice deviation from the usual breakfast sandwiches she usually orders. Instead of the hash browns that usually come with this, she opted for a bowl of fresh fruit, which she shared with the rest of us.

Now the man of the hour on this Father's Day, my dad's meal was the Cowgirl Omelette ($9.95). This three-egg omelet was filled with cheddar cheese, bacon, tomato, mushroom, and topped with plenty of avocados. Even though this was three eggs, my dad had no problem finishing this meal. He called this, "a solid meal, and a great way to start the day." I guess it was a trend on this morning, my dad also wanted to forgo the potatoes that come with this and had the cottage cheese instead. I'm not a fan of this option, but it was his day, so I held my tongue.

I'm not really big on surprises, so I almost always check out menus before we leave the house, so I knew I'd be having this Country Skillet ($9.95) on this morning. I'm a big fan of skillet breakfasts, and this was a very good and hearty one. The base was of course diced potatoes and is then topped with three eggs, cubed sausage, bacon, cheddar cheese, and country gravy. The cheese and bacon kind of was pushed to the background here, but there was also enough to keep me interested. The gravy was pretty solid, with plenty of flavors, and a nice smooth texture. I also was a big fan of the sausage used here. Potatoes could have been cut up a little more, but still a good, stick to your ribs kind of meal. This also came with toast, which was nicely toasted and buttered well.

Yes, I had enough with just the skillet, but I like to have sweet to go along with my savory for the first meal of the day, so Two Hotcakes ($3.45) were brought out for us also. These were some pretty tasty cakes. They were lighter than others, and still retained their flavor, a very delicate balance to achieve.

The food at Cowgirls Cafe is not going to blow you away with its creativity, but if you are in the mood for an honest and solid first meal of the day, then you may want to head over here. Service was spot on this morning, as they were very intent on keeping glasses full, checking on us regularly, and turning over tables, so they could seat everyone waiting at the front door. The staff did all of this in a nice, relaxed way, which was much appreciated by all. My dad summed it up best, when he commented, "This is the kind of breakfast spot that we need in Yorba Linda." He's right, and I'm not just saying that because this was Father's Day. Every neighborhood deserves a good breakfast spot, a place where you can sit down with your neighbors, have a cup of coffee, and chow down on some legit breakfast foods. For the people of southeast Santa Ana, this is your place. For the rest of us, it's a great spot to visit if you are in the area.

Out of five horses, (because all cowgirls need a horse to get around), five being best to zero being worst, Cowgirls Cafe gets 3 solid horses.

Cowgirls does not have a website but check out their Yelp page for more information: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cowgirls-cafe-santa-ana-3

Feed Your Pie Hole Here

The Pie Hole

177 N. Glassell St. 

Orange, CA 92866

I have to admit that when I heard that the Pie Hole was headed to OC, I had to reread the news article numerous times. It seemed almost unreal. Like we were winning the dessert lottery or something. To have one of the best pie joints I have ever had the pleasure to dine in, come to our neck of the woods, it was a dream come true, but not for my waistline.

The Pie Hole came across my radar about five years ago when I was reading a Foodbeast article, which was listing the best spots to eat pie in each state. Of course, you can probably guess that the California representative was Pie Hole, but if you want to plan a pie lovers trip around the US, read the rest of their article here. Anyways, we made a trip up to their original Arts District location about a year after that article was published, and became big fans of Pie Hole. You can read about that first visit by clicking here.

Pie Hole is now starting a thoughtful and slowly evolving expansion process. They are taking things nice and slow by picking locations to open up that meet certain criteria. They of course want high-traffic areas, but they also want places that will allow them to become part of the community. They want to be a meeting place for the neighborhoods they occupy, which also helps them keep advertising costs down since they do not seem to advertise at all.

Even though they now have four locations, (the original Arts District spot, along with Pasadena, Hollywood, and Orange), they are still a family-run business. Started by mom, Becky Grasley and her son, Mathew Heffner, they are also joined by Matt's friend, Sean Brennan. Becky always dreamed of selling her award-winning pies, and once she retired from a nursing job, this trio set out to make their dream a reality.

Opened in the forgettable Old Towne Grinder spot on the corner of Glassell and Maple, right across the street from the Filing Station, they started selling their pies in early May. Their menu not only features sweet pies but savory pies as well. The current menu on their website has four breakfast pies offered, along with 7 pies more suited for a meal than a dessert. We had already eaten a few doors down at Burger Parlor, so we got in line, ordered our slices of pies, and waited for them to come out. Let's see if the quality has been diminished as Pie Hole has expanded.

This Mexican Chocolate Pie ($6.50) is probably one of the Pie Hole's most well-known pies, so of course, we needed to give it a try. Not an overly sweet pie, the chocolate comes through, but was not sickeningly sweet, like others tend to be. The crust is good here, and I'm not even a real fan of crust. It's not just a vessel for the filling of the pie, it's actually part of the pie. I like that they incorporated the sugary crystals in the crust. A very well-rounded slice of pie.

The first pie I ever had at the Pie Hole in Downtown LA was this Mom's Apple Crumble Pie ($8.75 with ice cream added). It blew me away then, and it did the same now. The apples in here are not drenched in syrup like almost every other apple pie out there. They allow the natural sweetness of the apples to shine, with very good cinnamon crumble topping the slice. Just the right amount of sweetness here, this really is a balanced piece of pie that is brought together with the optional, but I say necessary scoops of vanilla ice cream. To my knowledge, my grandmothers never baked, but this is the kind of pie I'd imagine a grandmother would bake.

My dad is always a little screwy when it comes to pies that he likes. When we were growing up he always would get coconut cream or sour lemon. I never really understood why he did this until he let it slip that he got these weird flavors, so he wouldn't have to share with anyone. He probably thought this trend would continue when he ordered this Maple Custard ($7.25), but he was wrong. This was another winner this evening. The custard was nice and smooth, and the maple flavor came through strong. I really enjoyed the texture of this unique pie. Of course, the crust was just as good as the other pieces we had. Very impressive for a pie I would normally not order.

If you could not tell from the preceding, I love the Pie Hole. I know what some of you are probably thinking. How can I justify paying over $7 for a piece of pie, when you can go to Marie Callender's, Polly's, or Coco's and get a whole pie for that same amount? Those places are fine, everyday kinds of pie shops, but for a real, homemade style pie, you will want to make it to the Pie Hole. Their pies are just better and do not taste like mass-produced, overly sweetened pies. Ordering is done at the counter, and then the food is brought out to your table. We had no problems with the service this evening. So happy that the Pie Hole has come to OC, and look forward to finally trying their savory pies in the near future.

Out of five teeth, (because a pie hole is a slang term for a mouth, and of course, you can't eat without teeth), five being best to zero being worst, the Pie Hole gets 3.5 teeth.

For more information about the Pie Hole, head over to their website here: http://www.thepieholela.com/

Burger Parlor Expands to Orange - CLOSED

Burger Parlor

149 N. Glassell St. 

Orange, CA 92866

The Plaza, (not the Circle I have learned), has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to restaurants all of a sudden. They have had stalwarts like Haven Gastropub, Gabbi's, Taco Adobe, and Bruxie for a long while now. Then the next wave of spots opened up, Linx, Smoqued, and Pizza Press have set up shop in this area that used to be dominated by antique shops, rather than places to eat. Now there appears to be a third wave hitting this historical district that has been used as a backdrop for a ton of movies and TV shows. The new Watson's, The Pie Hole, and Burger Parlor have opened up in the last few months.

When my parents asked me where they could take me for my birthday, without hesitation, I said they could take Katie and me to the new Burger Parlor in Orange. This is our fourth visit to Burger Parlor, as we first tried them out when they were renting space at Rialto Cafe in Fullerton, and then we made two more visits when they finally moved into their own space, again in Fullerton. You can read about those visits here and here.

Now open in Orange since early April, it seems like they haven't lost a step in their new digs. They have a four and a half star rating with just under a hundred reviews doled out on Yelp. Glowing reviews and accolades are nothing new to Joseph Mahon and his team at Burger Parlor. They have been named best shakes in OC by KCBS Channel 2, they were written up in numerous magazines; Westways, Locale, and Sunset Magazine. They've also gotten glowing reviews from the OC Register, OC Weekly, and the LA Times.

To be truthful, I'm kind of enthralled with Chef/Owner Joseph Mahon's story. He graduated from the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and quickly started working in a pretty impressive list of restaurants. He then hightailed it to the south of France to hone his craft even more. After leaving France there were more restaurants to conquer in NYC, and then perhaps missing his native California, he found himself working in some great LA restaurants, all the while moving up the ranks in kitchens, to where he was in charge.

Being the Executive Chef at critically acclaimed, Bastide would in a roundabout way lead him back to his hometown of Fullerton, and opening Burger Parlor. At Bastide he came up with Burger Mondays, and it was such a hit, he decided he was going to shed his fine-dining job and open a burger joint, which would eventually turn into Burger Parlor. I was just hoping that with the addition of a second Burger Parlor location that the quality of my first visit was not going to dip. Let's see what we thought of this new Burger Parlor.

We started things off with two sides, the first of which were these Onion Rings ($4.29). The menu says these are hand-dipped and made to order, and they taste like it. The beer batter breading is lighter than expected and actually clings to the onion ring, which is what I want from onion rings. These circular onions are made even better when dipped into their very well done ranch dressing. Excellent rings.

At first glance, these Plaza Fries ($7.95) resemble the weak animal style fries from In-N-Out, but they are so much better. Also known as the DTF Fries at Burger Parlor's Downtown Fullerton location, these freshly cut fries are topped with plenty of their secret sauce, which is reminiscent of a thousand island, cheese, caramelized onions, and chili. It defies science, but the fries stay crisp, even under the weight of the toppings here. The chili is meaty, but kind of devoid of a spiciness, which would bring this up a notch or two in my book. I really liked the sweetness from the onion, which contrasted nicely with the saltiness of the rest of this. I'd get this again for sure.

Not the most photogenic of burgers, but my dad did not have one complaint about this Danish Blue Burger ($9.29). Caramelized onion, mushrooms, Danish blue cheese, oven-roasted tomato, and arugula was sandwiched between these two sturdy buns. Big flavors on this one. The blue cheese was pretty pungent on this evening and worked well with everything else here. The beef was still prevalent, and I got the sense that this burger did not need to be overstuffed with toppings to be enjoyable.

My mom only took down half of this Crispy Chicken Sandwich ($8.89). Not because she didn't like it, she did, but it was much too big for her smaller appetite. This chicken had a nice crunchy outer crust, with tender white meat chicken inside. It was topped with American cheese, bacon, mayo, and tomato. I really enjoyed the bite I had, but if I'm coming to Burger Parlor, I'm more than likely getting a burger here.

And what a burger I had. Behold the impressive Frito Chili Cheese Burger ($11.49). Their hormone-free beef patty is smothered in chili and cheese sauce, and then topped with chili cheese Frito's and jalapenos. This is definitely a knife and fork burger, and it's even served in a metal bowl. I enjoyed this burger immensely. I'm very anti eating burgers with a knife and fork, but it had to be done here because they did not skimp on the toppings on this one. The chili was the same one used on the fries, and it was solid, but helped out more on this with the addition of the jalapenos. The Frito's added a nice crunch element here but were kind of lost in all of this. A messy burger, but well worth it.

Katie rounded out our time at Burger Parlor with this enormous Tuna Melt ($8.29). Served in a large lobster roll, this was stuffed with their house-made tuna salad, lettuce, Roma tomatoes, and she substituted Swiss cheese instead of the cheddar this usually comes with. Highlights of this sandwich for Katie included the toasted lobster roll, the plentiful Swiss cheese melted on top of this, and the fresh tuna inside. She even claims this might be her go-to item when coming back to Burger Parlor.

I can not hide my excitement that Burger Parlor has moved even closer to me, (okay it's really only twenty or so minutes, but with rush hour traffic that could almost be an hour). This visit to their new Orange location has shown that they have not lost their consistency and reconfirmed that they are one of the top burger restaurants in OC. In fact, since others always ask me, I'll put them in my top three OC spots, along with The Counter and G Burger. Of course, there's always a new burger coming down the pipe, so these rankings are of course subject to change. Burger Parlor has a great feel to it, the food is wonderful, and we experienced great service this evening. With Burger Parlor added to the mix, this might the greatest wave of new restaurants to hit the Plaza in Orange. Time will tell.

Out of five stethoscopes, (because the three largest employers in the city of Orange are all hospitals, UCI, St. Joseph's, and CHOC, and of course these house many stethoscopes hung around doctors necks), five being best to zero being worst, Burger Parlor gets 3.5 stethoscopes.

For more information about Burger Parlor, head to their website here: http://www.burgerparlor.com/