Hoping This Toast Will Be the Toast of the Town

 Toast Kitchen and Bar

190 South State College

Brea, CA 92821

The restaurant business, just like other parts of society is a trend-based culture. If someone comes upon a really good thing, others seem to copy it. Remember when frozen yogurt shops were sprouting up almost everywhere? Then people seemed to turn their attention to poke, and you could get those fish cubes almost everywhere. Now it seems like the tides have turned once again, and it's not a type of restaurant that is the new hot thing, but rather a name. 

A quick Yelp search of the restaurants with the name Toast yields six results throughout southern California. Okay, maybe it's not as big of a trend as the others I had mentioned, but it could be a little confusing if your friend mentions that they want to eat at Toast, and you both show up at different restaurants. To help you out a bit, I think I got all these Toast restaurants figured out until another one sprouts up. 

There's the wildly popular Toast Kitchen and Bakery in Costa Mesa, which almost always requires a wait for a table, especially on weekends. Toast in Temecula is also a very popular spot and gets some great reviews online. Toast Bakery and Cafe is yet another one up in LA and is situated on trendy Third Street. Don't worry people of North San Diego County, you are not to be left out with your very own, Toast Gastrobrunch. 

The aforementioned Toast restaurants are all independent of each other, with no connection that I'm aware of. That brings us to Toast, which has been operating in Whittier since 2016. They have a sister restaurant at the corner of Birch and State College in Brea, which they initially called The Dylan, but it has recently been renamed, and you guessed it, it's now Toast Kitchen and Bar. Confused? I'm sure you're not the only one. 

I recently ventured to Toast in Brea with my parents right around the time of their name change. At the time they still had a banner over their old name, so I assume the name change was just made recently from the time of my visit. I had not been to the Dylan, but I had been here when it was a Claim Jumper, several years ago. The dining area is much more opened up and brighter from what I remember during these CJ days, with some very high ceilings and plenty of white paint on the walls. 

The all-day menu predictably is breakfast-focused, but they are now open until 8pm, so there's salads, entrees, burgers, and sandwiches to choose from as well. Breakfast options hover around the $17 price point, but the steak and eggs will set you back $29. My parents and I had looked at the menu online and were pretty quick to make our selections. Here's how everything turned out for us on this late Thursday morning. 

Let's start things off with my dad's selection, the Bacon Avocado Benedict ($16). This is one of the nine benedicts available here at Toast. It came layered with an avocado mash on the bottom, two strips of bacon, poached egg, and hollandaise sauce blanketing the penthouse level. My dad called this excellent, even though there were temperature issues with this. He was a big fan of the generous amount of bacon and avocado that came with it. He'd totally get this again. 

Breakfast sandwiches are my mom's thing, so she had to give this Breakfast Croissant ($14) a try. This sandwich had a little more heft to it than she's used to on other breakfast sandwiches she's had at other places. They use both black forest ham and bacon at Toast, then top it with an egg, sliced Tillamook cheddar cheese, and a touch of dijon aioli to round things out. She had asked for this to come with the egg over hard, but it came out with scrambled eggs instead. Not wanting to make a fuss, she ate it anyway and enjoyed it just the same. Both my mom and dad opted for the fresh fruit as their side, and they could not have been happier with their choice. They felt the fruit selection here was an upgrade from their usual breakfast spots. 

If my mom's thing is breakfast sandwiches, mine right as of this moment is breakfast burgers, as I've had many over the last month or so. This Brunch Burger ($17) is made up of an eight-ounce patty featuring both chorizo and beef and is then built up with a slice of white cheddar, bacon, sunny side up egg, and avocado all on a brioche bun. The patty really distinguished itself, with a more striking flavor profile due to the inclusion of the chorizo. The rest of the assembled cast added good texture and flavor in bursts. The yolk was runny and helped bind everything together, so my extra side of aioli that I asked for was not needed too much. I was intrigued by the description of the Hash Brown Chips, which the menu described as a cross between fries, potato chips, and hash browns. The menu got this right, but they were awkward to eat, as they were fried crispy and I wanted to eat them with my fingers like chips or fries, but they were too little to get a good handle on. It was also futile to eat them with my fork, as I could only pick them up one at a time. I'd prefer getting their country potatoes next time with cheese and jalapenos added. 

Toast Kitchen and Bar was better than I imagined it would be. It was definitely an improved alternative to a recent brunch we had at the nearby Lazy Dog Cafe on Mother's Day. I liked almost everything we had but did find the prices a few dollars too high on most items. There were also some issues with the kitchen on this visit, most noticeably the lukewarm temperature of my dad's meal and my mom's eggs being scrambled instead of over hard as she had instructed. Service was fine, but not especially warm and inviting. Even though Toast is not the most original name for a breakfast spot, I'd return here to try more of their menu. I'll just have to make sure that whoever I'm meeting knows what Toast to show up at. 

Out of five Ferris wheels, (because like the electric toaster, the Ferris wheel came into existence in 1893), five being best to zero being worst, Toast Kitchen and Bar gets 3 Ferris wheels. 

For more information about Toast Kitchen and Bar, head to their website here: https://www.toastbrea.com/

Everyday They're Hustlin' at Everyday Eatery

Everyday Eatery

6634 Irvine Center Drive

Irvine, CA 92618

We've gotten very lazy on Sunday mornings. I roll out of bed around six, which is two hours later than I usually wake up when I'm working. Katie sleeps way more than I. She will probably kill me when she reads this, but she could easily sleep 10 to 12 hours at a time and still takes a nap later in the afternoon. All this sleeping does put a crimp into our chance to try some breakfast spots. 

This particular Sunday was rare though. Katie had gotten up relatively early for her, right at 8am. She was a ball of energy, making plans to go out and get breakfast, walk around the Great Park in Irvine, and visit the Farmer's Market that operates there every Sunday from 10 to 2pm. I don't know what got into her, but she hasn't been like that very often or since then. Not wanting her to heed the siren call back to her comfy bed, I hastily picked a place near the Great Park where we could have breakfast. I selected Everyday Eatery. 

Everyday Eatery opened their doors in late 2019. This restaurant is run by a husband and wife team from New Zealand. After moving to California, these Kiwis missed the breakfast places from their homeland. They decided to take action and open up their own place. After a couple of mentions in the OC Register, Orange Coast Magazine, and OC Weekly, things have taken off here. They are the proud owners of a four-and-a-half star rating on Yelp, with over 500 reviews, and there's a big line on weekends if you wake up too late like Katie usually does. 

We arrived at just before 9 on a recent Sunday and were met with a very manageable line of three people ahead of us. Ordering is done at the counter, you are given a number, and then the food is brought out to you at one of the many tables located out in front of the restaurant. The one-page food menu is separated into breakfast and lunch options, but both are available all day. Prices consistently hover around the $12 price point. We quickly made our choices, found an empty table, and waited about five minutes for our food to arrive. 

I guess you can say that I've been on a Chocolate Croissant ($4.50) kick as of late. I've had five in the last two months, and seem compelled to get one whenever I have the opportunity. I'm not sure if they make all of their pastries in-house, but this was a very solid croissant. It was predictably flaky and had nice-sized chunks of chocolate inside. I'm sure it's not something that places do with a proper croissant, but I wished they would have heated it to get the chocolate nice and melty. Maybe next time I'll get one to go and heat it up myself at home. 

Katie is always partial to sampling breakfast burritos at new spots we eat at for the first meal of the day, so that led her to the Bacon Breakfast Burrito ($12.50) at Everyday Eatery. Some breakfast burritos are massive, and keep you full the rest of the day. This was not like that, but I'd say it was more of a gourmet breakfast burrito. It contained bacon, fluffy scrambled eggs, green onion, roasted potatoes, jack cheese, chipotle aioli, and roasted salsa on the side. Katie opted to have avocado added, hence the extra two-dollar charge quoted above. She liked the freshness of this and liked the slight bitterness that the arugula added. It made it unique. She would not hesitate to get this again.  

 

Out of the thirteen breakfast options that dot the Everyday Eatery menu, the Bacon and Fried Egg Sandwich ($11.50) was the one that really jumped out at me. Placed on the well-made brioche bun were a nicely fried egg, cheddar cheese, two strips of thick bacon, some arugula, jalapenos, and a tomato jam. I really enjoyed this sandwich a lot. Each bite was pretty consistent, and even though the tomato jam did not stand out as much as I would have liked, the provided chipotle aioli, which might have been meant for the brekkie potatoes, was excellent on this. I usually prefer a crisper potato at breakfast, but these spuds were nicely seasoned. 

It's easy to see why they call this Everyday Eatery. because I could imagine a lot of people making eating here a habit. I could for sure see myself getting that breakfast sandwich again many times over. The food here was lighter than most breakfast restaurants, and you can tell that they take great care to get the best ingredients and prepare them the right way. The service was cheerful during our stay, and with so many people here early this morning, the food was out way quicker than I imagined. Hopefully, this visit will entice Katie to wake up a little earlier on Sundays so we can visit here again without waiting in a long line. 

Out of five beach umbrellas, (because wherever you are in New Zealand, where the owners of this place were originally from, you are never more than 80 miles away from the seashore), five being best to zero being worst, Everyday Eatery gets 3.5 beach umbrellas. 

For more information about Everyday Eatery, head to their website here: https://everydayeatery.com/

Sailing off to Glasspar for Our Sixth Anniversary Dinner

Glasspar

24961 Dana Point Harbor Drive

Dana Point, CA 92629

It's a whole new world this year. Last year during our anniversary we were relegated to takeout from a Mexican restaurant. It was fine, but we longed for the ritual of making reservations, getting dressed up a bit, having a leisurely night out while being waited on, and hopefully having some pretty fine food. Flash forward to a year later, and that's what we were hoping for when we visited Glasspar in Dana Point. 

Since dining restrictions have been lifted a bit, I've been trying to hit up as many of the restaurants on my restaurant wishlist as possible. Trying to make up for the lost time I guess, and also not taking time for granted. Glasspar made my list because they were featured as one of the best restaurants of 2021 by Orange Coast Magazine. 

Glasspar, which is situated in the same retail center as Jimmy's Famous American Tavern and underrated breakfast favorite, What A Dish Cafe, is a stone's throw from Dana Point Harbor and took over the space that was once occupied by the always packed, but unremarkable sushi restaurant Mahe. Glasspar is headed by chef-owner Rob Wilson. He started his culinary career up the hill from here, at the Chart House. After graduating culinary school he cooked at many prestigious OC resorts up and down the coast before opening this spot in late 2019. 

The vibe they are going for here is an east coast seafood dining hall, with a west coast slant of being casual and making visitors feel welcome. We were seated on the spacious patio overlooking the center of this retail center. The brunch, lunch, and dinner menus at Glasspar have plenty of overlap when it comes to food offerings. Entree prices for dinner range between $18 to the market price for their swordfish and halibut selections. There's also a few non-seafood choices for people that shy away from fishy dishes. Let's see if Glasspar was a worthy place to usher in our sixth year of wedded bliss. 

We started off our meal with a Glasspar Caesar ($13) for Katie and I went with the Glasspar Clam Chowder ($12). The caesar salad was pretty traditional, with long strips of romaine piled on the plate topped with plenty of parmesan cheese, dressing, one large crouton, and occupying the top layer of the salad were two white anchovies. This was a good salad with a very nice balance between the ingredients. I'm always partial to a chopped version, but Katie seemed fine with having to cut this herself. I just don't like the extra work. The clam chowder was one of the darker versions I have seen, with plenty of clams, potato, and smoked bacon in each spoonful. This was a very comforting chowder and one that should not be missed. 

Katie must not have been feeling like seafood this evening, as she zeroed in on this 10 Ounce Prime Grilled Short Rib ($36) rather quickly. This plate burst with color, from the bright greens of the broccolini to the contrast between the eye-popping reds of the blistered tomatoes and the chasseur sauce topping the sliced steak below. The piece of short rib that I was granted really went down nicely, but I wish I would have tried it with the delicious-looking celery root puree that was hiding beneath the broccolini. Maybe next time. 

It's hard for me to be this close to the ocean and not try something from the sea. I went with the IPA Fish and Chips ($18) to celebrate another year of marriage in the books. These fish and chips were as great as the last six years with Katie, which have been pretty great by the way. The light, but flavorful breading had a great crunch to it without a greasy feel to them. The fish underneath, which I believe was halibut, but don't quote me on that, was nicely mellow and allowed the breading and the well-made tartar sauce and atomic cocktail sauce to share the stage with the excellently executed fish. You can never go wrong with duck fat fries, and these were no exception. They were lightly dusted with parmesan and chives and were made even better when I asked for a side of garlic aioli to go along with them since they arrived at the table with no dipping sauce. A very solid meal. 

We rounded out our meal with Roasted Brussels Sprouts ($12). Every restaurant seems to have their twist on this popular side dish, and at Glasspar they made this their own by adding goat cheese, pomegranate molasses, along with the obligatory but not unwelcome bacon. I enjoyed the competing flavors and textures in this. The creamy goat cheese and the crunch from the roasted sprouts went well with the tinge of sweetness from the molasses. 

Our server and the menu described the Desserted Island ($12) as a butter cake, but to Katie and I, it reminded us more of a cross between the lava cake that you can get at Chili's and an Almond Joy chocolate bar. The inside was filled with chocolate that came spilling out when pierced with our spoons, while the toasted coconut surrounding this, along with the coconut ice cream, added to the Almond Joy experience. It was good but needed a bit more ice cream as it melted way too fast because of the heated cake it was sitting atop. 

The food we consumed at Glasspar lived up to the lofty expectations I came here with this evening. Everything was very good, and it made me want to make return trips to try their oysters Rockefeller, swordfish, their burger with a crab cake added, and even their brunch. The lone downside of the evening was the pace of the meal. Calling it leisurely would be way too kind. Fifty minutes into our evening, we had just finished our first course, and it would be another 100 minutes before we were back in our car on the way home. I know that restaurants are having staffing issues, but Glasspar was not terribly busy this evening, and even though we had no other plans for this evening, we did have some TV to watch at home. See, we are an old married couple now. 

Out of five fiberglass boats, (because I recently learned that Glasspar was one of the largest fiberglass boat makers in the US, and they started out in Costa Mesa in the late '40s), five being best to zero being worst, Glasspar gets 3.5 fiberglass boats.  

For more information about Glasspar, head to their website by clicking here: https://www.glasspar.com/

Hooking up for Hot Dogs in Orange

Pacific Coast Hot Dogs

3438 East Chapman Ave. 

Orange, CA 92869 

If there's one thing that south OC needs, it's a good hot dog place. Sure, there's a few restaurants down this way that have a hot dog on their menu, like The Hat, Tommy's, Five Guys, and Hot Off the Grill, but we need a hot dog-centric restaurant. A no-nonsense place where the main focus is hot dogs and no Wienerschnitzel's diminished quality over the last few years does not count. We need a place like Pacific Coast Hot Dogs, which unfortunately is not south of Irvine, but instead resides in the city of Orange. 

PCH Hot Dogs reached out to me recently on Instagram to come by for a visit. It had been seven years since my last visit, so you could say that I was definitely ready to quench my hot dog cravings. I decided I'd meet up with my good friend Rebecca, a long-time Orange resident, one who has passed by this place many times but had never stopped until now. 

Situated as close as you can get to the heavy traffic on very busy Chapman Avenue, PCH celebrated their 25th year in business last year and is still going strong. The man who started it all is Scott Browning, a self-proclaimed hot dog fiend. He was a big fan of the hot dogs at Cupid's in Northridge, where he grew up. When he moved to OC, he was frustrated by the lack of good hot dog spots, (I feel your pain, Scott), and he decided to create his own hot dog legacy. 

This roadside restaurant has nine hot dogs on their menu, fries, and a ground beef taco, which we are told is slowly gaining in popularity. PCH uses Thrifty's ice cream to make floats, freezes, shakes, or, if you prefer, just scoops for those with a sweet tooth. Prices are not growing to break the bank here, as most hot dogs hover around the $4 mark, which is two dollars more than what you can get at Weinrchnitzel, but the quality here is way better. 

Rebecca and I decided on what to have and found a table on their patio, which was shielded from the wind while we caught up with each other's lives and basically just gossiped about all of our old coworkers. We could easily talk for hours, as we did this afternoon, but we also had hot dogs to eat, so let's check out Pacific Coast Hot Dogs. 

Here's what we picked up fresh from the window. We decided to get a nice cross-section of their menu but did not want to make hogs of ourselves, even though I could have totally eaten way more than this, but I did show some restraint for once. Let's dive a little deeper into each item.  

I could sense Rebecca's anticipation of diving into these Chili Cheese Fries ($4.65) as I was snapping my pictures as quickly as I could. The crispy fries, chili, and grated cheese were as photogenic as anything I have eaten recently. The fries were nice and crisp, they layered the chili well so every french fry had some on it, and what made this for me was the hand-grated cheese, which is very rare these days with the popularity of bagged cheese that almost everyone else uses. A very nice start to our visit.   

These two hot dogs look similar, but they are not. The one up at the top is the BBQ Bacon Dog ($5.40) with its slice of bacon, jalapenos, pickle, and barbecue sauce topping the snappy hot dog. I'm not usually a big fan of barbecue sauce, but it worked here, with the tinge of spice from the jalapeno and the smokiness of the bacon. On the bottom is the Tijuana Dog ($5.40), which comes dressed with mustard, diced tomato, grilled onions, and jalapenos. This one showcased the all-beef flavor of the hot dog and the snap of the casing better than the bbq bacon dog. I also have to mention the buns, which were pliable and soft, but still held everything together nicely. 

I did not ask, but I'd bet that the Chili Cheese Dog ($5.40)  is the most popular item on the menu at PCH Dogs. This was filled with chili, grated cheese, onion, and mustard. The chili is very solid, but not overly spicy. It adds good flavor, which goes well with the rest of this hot dog. I appreciated that this is not a sloppy chili dog, one that is so overloaded with chili that most of the chili winds up on the parchment paper as you consume it. This did not happen here, as it had the perfect amount topping it. I easily could have eaten another two or three of these with no problem. 

Since I visited Pacific Coast Hot Dogs, I have lamented the fact that they are not located closer to where I live. It would be so nice to be able to swing by whenever the hot dog cravings set in, but maybe because they are so far away, it makes a trip to PCH seem even more special. Check them out for yourself and let me know what you think of them. Now that Rebecca has tried them out, I'm sure she will be swinging by from time to time. Lucky girl. 

For more information about Pacific Coast Hot Dogs, head to their website here: https://pacificcoasthotdogs.com/home

Socializing at Saint and Second

Saint and Second

4828 Second Street

Long Beach, CA 90803

Katie doesn't have many friends that she hangs out with. Preferring to be with her family, playing with her nieces and nephews, and staying home to watch tv, have her eyes glued to her phone for long stretches at a time, or her favorite pastime by far, sleeping as much as she can. So, it's very rare for Katie to make plans with one of her friends, and actually keep those plans instead of weaseling out of them. That's how I know that she really enjoys someone, like her friend Diana and her boyfriend Carlos, with whom we were going to be meeting for brunch on a recent Sunday morning. 

They live in Long Beach, and since we never make it up this way, we decided to come up their way to check out the Long Beach dining scene. I had sent Diana a list of brunch spots, and let her pick where we'd be eating. She said my list was pretty good, and she selected Saint and Second, which is in the Belmont Shore area of Long Beach. 

Saint and Second opened in 2015 and is brought to us by the Hofman Hospitality Group, which is under the same umbrella as Hof's Hut and Lucille's BBQ. In fact, this site used to be a Lucille's but was converted to this new concept six years ago. They are going for a restaurant experience that is comfortable, yet sophisticated at the same time. A very tough balance to achieve. Their website states that they strive for food that is local and organic, from purveyors that equal their very high standards. I was intrigued. 

Traffic from OC was lighter than usual, and we had some good, "parkma," getting a spot pretty much right in front of the restaurant. Adding to everything coming together nicely, Diana and Carlos pulled up just as we were getting out of the car. Our little quartet made our way to the restaurant and was seated to the side of the restaurant, where they had constructed some booths on the sidewalk. 

Brunch at Saint and Second is served on weekends from 9 to 2pm. The one-page menu is not going to blow you away with its diversity, but there's enough here to satisfy most people. There's six egg dishes to choose from, followed by a couple of hashes, one flatbread, and one each of pancakes, waffle, and two offerings of french toast. Prices range between $12 to $19 for entrees, which is pretty modest when you consider the area this restaurant is situated in. Let's see if Diana made a good pick from my list of brunch places in the LBC. 

Let's start things off with what Carlos had as his first meal of the day, the Classic Eggs Benedict ($14). This version of a benny uses a cheddar biscuit as a base and then tops it with thick-cut Canadian bacon, poached eggs, and hollandaise sauce as a topper. Carlos seemed pretty pleased with this meal, as it did not stay around very long. From my vantage point, the eggs looked nicely poached and the hollandaise sauce appeared to be thick. The house potatoes that came alongside this looked like they would be right up my alley, as the potatoes were different sizes, so there would be some variety in texture from bite to bite. 

Diana has been described as a spicy dish many times before, so it was no surprise to the three of us that she went with the Chicken Chorizo Avocado Hash ($18). Joining the chicken, avocado, and chorizo on this plate were some potatoes, green beans, butternut squash, two poached eggs, and a chipotle hollandaise sauce. An unusual mixture of ingredients for a breakfast hash, but one that was lighter than most, and did not sacrifice flavor. 

I got the other hash on the menu, the House Smoked Tri-Tip Hash ($19). This hearty meal combined potatoes, tri-tip, onions, broccolini, bacon, two poached eggs, and the same chipotle hollandaise sauce that was used on Diana's hash. I really enjoyed this. I thought the tri-tip was going to get lost here, but it was front and center, and very good. The poached egg and hollandaise sauce tied everything together well, and the potatoes did offer some bites with creamy potato, and others that were on the crispy side. My only criticism would be that they could have added a little extra bacon, but I'm always clamoring for extra bacon with my meals. 

The most straightforward meal between the four of us belonged to Katie, who got the Traditional ($13). This came with two eggs, she got them over hard, two strips of bacon, potatoes, and a cheddar biscuit with butter and preserves. Katie was impressed with the high quality of the food she had here, which helped set it apart from other breakfast spots. She was especially fond of the cheddar biscuit, which was worth breaking her keto diet for, at least for a few bites.  

Since I'm always fond of combining sweet and savory at breakfast, I also got the seasonal favorite, the Tres Leches French Toast ($13). The two slices of french toast were topped with caramelized banana, pecan and oat crumble, and caramel whipped cream. This was the weak link of my meal at Saint and Second this morning. It was just kind of bland, and the muted sweetness did nothing to rouse my taste buds. It would have been better with some syrup alongside it. 

Even though the french toast failed to impress, the same could not be said about the rest of our meal at Saint and Second. The four of us all enjoyed our meals and would come back again for another visit. This trip whetted my appetite to try their lunch or dinner next time. I especially have my eye on their tri-tip sandwich, signature burger, and smoked pork chop on future visits. Back to this meal though, I did not find their prices crazy expensive, which is not always the norm when you are eating out in the Belmont Shore area. Service was pretty solid this morning, as our server kept tabs on us regularly, without being too intrusive while we were busy catching up with Diana and Carlos. Hopefully, Katie will make more time for her friends as things open up more and more. 

Out of five knots, (because Belmont Shore is the site of a youth sailing program which was founded in 1929, and I'm sure they have taught many of their young sailors to tie many knots over those 92 years), five being best to zero being worst, Saint and Second gets 3 knots. 

For more information about Saint and Second, head to their website here: http://saintandsecond.com/

Getting Sauced in Orange

Sauced BBQ and Spirits

1535 West Katella Ave. 

Orange, CA 92867

I have to admit I was a little skeptical walking into Sauced BBQ and Spirits. The last time I was in this building it was Old Crow Smokehouse, and although I liked the meats that I got during that visit, the rest of the meal, including the sides, cornbread, and dessert kind of fell flat. Proving once again that it's hard to find a well-rounded barbecue restaurant in OC, even though the barbecue landscape has improved dramatically in the last couple of years. 

I was also a little doubtful about Sauced because I had looked at their website, and they had five locations, all of them except for this one in Northern California. In my experience, the best barbecue restaurants are the ones that have no other locations. Sorry, that rules out a lot of people's favorites like Lucille's, Famous Dave's, and Dickey's. 

So, it was with a little trepidation that I made reservations for us and my parents on a recent Sunday afternoon. For those who are not aware of where this restaurant is, it's near the Honda Center, in the Stadium Promenade, which is also home to King's Fish House, Lazy Dog, Tilted Kilt, and Anchor Bar, a place I also want to try soon for their wings. 

Sauced wants to make sure that you are aware that they are a completely different restaurant than Old Crow. They state on their website in bold print that they have completely different management, menu, concept, and a new team from the previous tenants. To further distance themselves from the previous occupants of this space, Sauced transformed their restaurant a bit by lightening the walls up and creating a nice and open ambiance. When you walk in there's a bar to your right with some very large TV's providing plenty of sports to watch. Towards the restaurant's back, there's ax-throwing cages, which seems to be all the rage right now, as I've seen it on ESPN numerous times recently. 

The two-page menu at Sauced is pretty good-sized. Separated into sections of starters, salads, burgers, barbecue plates, combo meals, and sandwiches. Prices range between $10 to $20 for starters, sandwiches, will set you back on average of $18, and entrees are competitively priced compared to other barbecue restaurants in the area, with prices ranging between $17 to $40 for a full rack of St. Louis Spare Ribs. The menu was a lot to take in, but we managed to make our choices. Let's see if Sauced could squash my skepticism. 

I was outvoted when it came to the starter that we eventually had. I really wanted to try their brisket chili cheese fries, but my parents and Katie really wanted these Hand Grenades ($14.99 +$4.39 because we added an extra one). Hand grenades are oversized breaded jalapeno poppers filled with pulled pork, cream cheese, and sharp cheddar cheese. I've never been a big fan of jalapeno poppers because I'm not really too fond of cream cheese, but these were a little light on the cream cheese, and the addition of the cheddar helped counteract the cream cheese. The pork also got a little drowned out by the other things going on here, like the crunchy outer layer and the muted heat of the jalapeno. A little more ranch dressing would have been appreciated for these four enormous poppers. They were fine, but I'd try another appetizer on my next visit. 

My dad almost always gets sandwiches when he's at a barbecue restaurant and that held true with his selection of the Brisket Melt ($18.99) on this late afternoon. This came on Texas toast with cheddar cheese, bacon, and cubed brisket. My dad was very excited by the brisket here, calling it, "killer." He also enjoyed the toast but wished for a bit more cheese to be included on this sandwich. Still, this was one of the better barbecue sandwiches he's had. He got the stone ground jalapeno cheese grits for his one side, and after his first taste, he became a big fan. 

My mom has always been a light eater, so she forgoes the big plates at barbecue restaurants, instead, veering towards smaller portions. She ordered these Sliders ($13.99) off the stater portion of the menu. These three mini sliders were perfect for her, and she also took one home for lunch the next day. She got two sliced brisket and one with pulled pork, but you can mix and match any way that you want. She loved the slightly sweet bun and was partial to the brisket. Out of the four sauces available, she could not get enough of the Pig Candy bbq sauce which had equal parts sweet and tangy coming through in each bite. 

Katie got the more substantial Two Meat BBQ Combo Plate ($28.99 + $1.49 + $2.99 for upgraded sides). Picking from the eight types of meat offered, she went with the Smoked Jalapeno Cheddar Sausage and the Pulled Pork. Both portions of meat were very good. The pork had a nice mixture of bark and a little bit of fat that made each bite a joy to consume. The sausage was well made, with a nice snap to the casing and just enough cheese to support, but not overwhelm the sausage. The upgrade for her salad was an extra buck and a half, but as you can see from the picture, the salad was very good sized. The Buffalo Chicken Mac was another three-dollar upcharge and Katie enjoyed this twist on regular mac and cheese. 

To no one's surprise, I one-upped Katie by having the Three Meat BBQ Combo Plate ($37.99). My meat selection was the Sliced Brisket, Pork Ribs, and Pork Belly Burnt Ends. All were pretty stellar, but I liked the pork belly burnt ends the best. They were a little fatty, but that just added to the flavor that these emitted. The glaze on them added an additional element that I was not expecting. The ribs came clean off the bone and were nice and moist. The brisket for the most part was good, but in the bites where there was no fat present, it was a tad dry. The meats are not over-smoked like other barbecue places, so the natural flavor of the proteins shines through. I did not need too much barbecue sauce with this, but I liked the variety that was available, with the sweet version being my favorite, when I could pry it away from my mom. The jalapeno cheese grits had a very comforting feel to them, but some added heat from the jalapeno would have made this even better. The jalapeno sweet heat slaw was sweeter than spicy, and as a result, was a little boring. 

Ever since the pandemic started, I've been on a real banana kick; banana chocolate chip bread, chocolate-covered bananas, and of course, banana pudding. I can not get enough and had to try the Banana Pudding ($6.49) at Sauced. This one came in a small mason jar with sliced bananas, nilla wafers, and whipped cream on top. The banana pudding portion of this was very smooth and satisfying, but they could have used more nilla wafers in here for a change of texture. I'd still get this the next time I'm here, but I'd get my own, as this was way smaller than I was expecting for six dollars. 

I'm big enough to admit that I was wrong about my preconceived notions about Sauced before even visiting here. Like I stated earlier, I thought Sauced could not be good because they had several other locations, but I was wrong. Based on the meal we had this afternoon, this is a definite upgrade from the barbecue restaurant that was here before. The meats were all stellar, and not as overly smoked as other places that are popular at this moment. Sides were fine as well, but I'd like to try others the next time we visit, which will be often once the Ducks allow more fans to their games, which should be this fall. Service was another black mark for the former tenant here, but Sauced provided some very good and pleasant service throughout our stay. Prices were a little high, but barbecue is worth treating yourself to every so often, or in my case almost every two weeks. Welcome to OC Sauced. 

Out of five jars of mayonnaise, (because the most popular sauce/condiment in the US is mayonnaise, which brings in 2 billion dollars annually in sales), five being best to zero being worst, Sauced BBQ and Spirits gets 3.5 jars of mayonnaise. 

For more information on Sauced BBQ and Spirits, head to their website here: https://www.saucedbbqandspirits.com/