Driving around SoCal - Help!

Hi everyone,

I will be cruising around Orange County, Riverside County, and San Diego very often for the next several months (work related.)

Any and all LTH-approved dining suggestions would be a welcome respite from the hundreds of chain restaurants I have already driven past! Lunch or dinner, anywhere in the areas I mentioned earlier, any price point. Brewpubs, 4 star restaurants, you name it.

Most of the time I am working solo, so nothing too romantic and/or scary. Thank you everyone in advance!

Double-double with cheese, animal style!

Yikes, that doesn't narrow it down too much. If you can pinpoint more the locations you will be and the types of food you are looking for, I can certainly be of assistance, especially in Orange County.

Heck, I can even direct you to the Chicago comfort foods here (pizza, italian beef, etc).

I didn't narrow it down too much because I can't narrow it down, geographically speaking. I will be everywhere from Sunset Beach to Palm Springs, La Habra to Chula Vista. Nature of the beast.

As far as cuisine goes, I'm up for anything... good. Really. If there is somewhere that serves up the greatest Chicago comfort food this side of the Mississippi, I'll try it, but the options are limitless. I don't dislike any particular cuisine and I like trying new things, as long as it's in an OK neighborhood (esp at dinnertime) since I am by myself.

Khaoppat, guess what I had already had for dinner last night!? (Well, I had a single hamburger.) I have to say it was... not bad. The tomatoes were food service quality, the burger a wee bit dry, but the fries were outta this world. They actually tasted like potatoes. Not bad for a $4.65 dinner (with a drink!) I'll be back for sure, going animal-style next time.

Business took me to Southern California last week, and while most of my time was further north into LA County, I can point you to the long-established Katella Deli in Los Alamitos in Orange County.

This Jewish-style deli - think more Bagel or Max's than Manny's - packs in the diners for a mix of traditional deli fare (Matzo Ball Soup, Gefilte Fish and all the sandwiches) and diner standbys (burgers, dinners, entree salads).

I happened to be in the area last Wednesday night, the first night of Passover, and in the absence of any family decided to try the Katella, having been there last 30 years ago. The special Passover meal was excellent, with Matzo Ball Soup, homemade Gefilte Fish and homemade red horseradish Charoset, Brisket or half chicken, roast potatoes and tzimmes. A Macaroon Torte finished it off.

Jewish comfort food at its' finest, with an outstanding bakery on-site if the mood strikes you for a late night sweet nosh.

KATELLA DELI
4470 Katella Ave
Los Alamitos, CA 90720
(562) 594-8611

I have to spend a couple of days in Newport Beach. Anyone been there lately and have someplace to recommend? I am staying at the island hotel. Will have a car.

iblock9 wrote:I have to spend a couple of days in Newport Beach. Anyone been there lately and have someplace to recommend? I am staying at the island hotel. Will have a car.

The Crab Cooker is kind of like the old Davis Street Fish Market in that they have a seafood counter where you can buy fresh fish to take home, but it's also a restaurant. The fish is pristinely fresh and everything is cooked over live wood. The Crab Cooker is a must stop for me every time I'm in Newport Beach. Disclaimer, it's been over 5 years since I've been there, so things could have changed, but I doubt it.

The Crab Cooker
2200 Newport Blvd.,
Newport Beach CA 92663
(949) 673-0100

Newport Beach recs:
Absolutely love Haute Cakes for breakfast or brunch; Pescadou Bistro for fabulous unpretentious French-Med seafood fare.
http://www.hautecakescaffe.net/
http://www.pescadoubistro.com/about.htm

Depending upon your preferences, Sage is also nice:
http://www.sagerestaurant.com/

The Crab Cooker seems like what Im looking for. Thanks

stevez wrote:The Crab Cooker is a must stop for me every time I'm in Newport Beach. Disclaimer, it's been over 5 years since I've been there, so things could have changed, but I doubt it.

Stevez,

Thank you for the heads up. The Crab Cooked was excellent. I dont know what it was like five years ago but as of yesterday I wouldnt change a thing about this place. Great atmosphere, location, great chow and very reasonable prices considering the quality of the seafood being served.

I had the excellent shrimp and crabmeat cocktail followed by alaskan king crab claws. The highlight of my meal was a piece of smoked albacore that we split as a started. I dont know that I have ever tried smoked tuna before but this was a revelation. The flavor was perfectly mild and the fish didnt suffer from any overwhelming dryness. I would love to find somewhere in Chicago that does this. The carry out fish case was selling this stuff for $9.95/lb which gives you an idea of the kind of value you can expect at the crab cooker.

This place is a departure from everything else you can expect (or at least I did) to find in Orange County. Home run, thanks again.

PitaChip wrote:I will be cruising around Orange County, Riverside County, and San Diego very often for the next several months (work related.)

Any and all LTH-approved dining suggestions would be a welcome respite from the hundreds of chain restaurants I have already driven past!

Fresh back from a weekend in Southern California (Temecula & San Diego), palate recalibrated & soul rejuvenated, you need not, for perhaps the only time in your life, listen to the estimable authors of this post.



Shackled by wedding obligations in Temecula, my opportunities were limited, and I do regret not being able to get to nr706’s favourite winery in the area, but I was able to salvage the trip in large part thanks to half-dozen-time-LTH-poster (but frequent lurker!), kare_raisu (Alex).

While acknowledging the relative dearth of dining destinations in Temecula, Alex did have about a half-dozen tips for me, the top of the list being Las Brisas Taqueria in nearby town of Fallbrook. Las Brisas seems to primarily focus on homecooking-style comfort foods, with a steamtable up-front lined with soulful guisados. I got there one day too early (Friday) to slurp my therapeutically needed menudo, which I’m told should not be missed, but I did manage to negotiate a plate of things to try and in the meantime sized up the salsa bar.

Totopos


Salsa bar


Right before I started rapidly falling into the salsa-bar trap (not unlike the salad-bar trap), my plate of carne hit the table.

Carnitas (bottom), costillas de puerco (middle), barbacoa de res (top)


Pay no attention to the rice and beans (even if the beans were rich and lardy). Do pay attention to the guacamole, which for some reason I can’t put my finger on, was just head and shoulders above others. The obvious answer is that you’re in avocado country stupid (even an Avocado Festival here), but there something else to it for sure. Alex hypothesized they threw chicharrones in there, I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

The sweetheart proprietoress steered me towards the flour tortillas, and I’m glad she did, as they were evocative of the chapatis of my youth.

Tortillas


Slow-cooked ribs were meaty & tender, in a mild but savory gravy.

Costilla de puerco


One of the house specials is beef barbacoa, which was a different style than what I’m used to, this one served in a chili-laden sauce with peppers and onions. I don’t know my regional barbacoa variants well, but I think this is common in Zacatecas where the folks are from (Alex, help me out here). Regardless, it is outstanding.

Barbacoa de res


But what’s still haunting me are the carnitas, among the very best to be had. Crispy & juicy on the outside, melting yet meaty on the ins, the best of pork worlds.





Las Brisas Taqueria
1005 S Main Ave Ste A
Fallbrook, CA 92028
(760) 723-0115

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While I hadn’t actually had my heart set on sampling fish tacos on this trip, Alex did mention that a place in Temecula, when on their game, makes one of the best around. It’s hard to have your mind altered and your life changed for a buck seventy-five, but it does happen to folks on occasion (eg, Tacos del Pacifico). The tacos at Senor Baja did neither of the above, but were a well-above average version, excellently seasoned & expertly fried, worth getting if you’re in the area anyways.

Fish and Shrimp tacos


Senor Baja
26491 Ynez Rd
Temecula, CA 92591
(951) 296-2164

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Back in San Diego and, despite thinking about several curb-side-type meals, couldn’t help but want to sit at a bar and linger over a variety of plates with my good pal sake. Izakaya Sakura is a tiny spot in a tiny strip mall, with a tiny handwritten sign taped to the window, the only sign with its name.



To get the party started, a plate of ankimo:



Then came a commonly seen appetizer on west-coast Japanese menus, shishitou tempura. The thin-skinned pepper lends itself well to tempura, and its slight sweet / slight heat lends itself well to being a great bar snack.



Maguro yamakake, another standby, was a particularly excellent version, and I didn’t feel the usual need to shoyu-up the sometimes bland glue (Japanese mountain yam).



While I don’t think it’s Aji (Spanish mackerel) season, I don’t argue with the itamae when he breaks down a clear-eyed, smiling fish in front of you and slides it down your way.



Sashimi was astoundingly good - rich, buttery and full-flavored fishy in every good sense of the word.

Aji sashimi


While this may look like the makings of any Northeast cheesesteak grinder, it was marinated nicely, extremely tender and perfectly accented by a spritz of lemon juice and a dab of shoyu.

Marinated, grilled beef


As I was just contemplating my next plate, the grisly remains of my mackerel were resurrected after a hot-oil bath and set before me. The salty, crispy cracker bones and the burst of hot fish fat from the head was enough to roll my eyes back up into my skull.

Deep-fried Aji bones


At that point, the best that I could do was have pork belly for dessert, and I think the following photo reflects the state of mind at that point:



It’s going to be hard not going back to Izakaya Sakura on every subsequent visit to San Diego.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92184
(858) 569-6151

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The morning before my flight, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting up with Alex, at a spot he found that specializes in barbacoa de borrego. Alex is a very interesting dude with vast knowledge of regional Mexican cuisine and so I looked forward to getting down to borrego business with him. Aqui es Texcoco was founded in Tijuana over 15 years ago and only recently opened up in Chula Vista. They don’t mess around with plates of rice & beans & salad, the menu is laser-focused on what they’re all about. The heady smell of steam-roasted maguey-wrapped lamb hits you like a ton of bricks as you walk in, and you notice a tall glass of fresh papalo at the tables and you know they’re taking it seriously. And if you’re still not convinced, sip on a cup of consomme, smooth but de-fatted, intense lamby nose, rich in flavor but yet still very clean-tasting (PIGMON are you listening? ) , it was obvious there was a certain special skill at hand.

We opted for the full cabeza, which came de-boned upon request, but complete with brain, tongue, cheeks and all bits in between.

Cabeza – brain (right), random head meat (middle), tongue (buried on the left)


Unadorned taco


While there’s no need to dress them up, they do eat particularly well with a few sprigs of papalo, some onions, a squirt of the excellent deep-red pasilla chile salsa. Simply outstanding.

I’d never had the pleasure of fresh huitlacoche until then, and it was a totally different experience, like comparing canned mushrooms to fresh.

Quesadilla con huitlacoche


To finish, we had a pancita taco, which Alex affectionately described to me as “Mexican haggis”. Cooked in a spicy chile sauce, quite meaty in texture, I found the flavor of liver most prominent (which I happen to like).



Aqui es Texcoco is a gem and a truly outstanding place serving up delicious tradition.

Aqui es Texcoco
1043 Broadway Ste 108
Chula Vista, CA 91911
(619) 427-4045

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At a time when I had to hit the reset button on my tastebuds, the San Diego area came through. You just never know.

Alex, I hope you share more with us here on LTH.

-Nab

Hi Nab!

Loved your pictures of some of my favorite places. The menudo will be waiting for you on your next trip out at Las Brisas http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=menudo+las+brisas Don't be surprised if you are shoulder to shoulder with well seasoned agricultural workers, heads hidden in the steam of their delicious bowls of Menudo. You almost need a reservation to get a table here Sunday morning.

They do have a secret ingredient in their guacamole, I do think its chicharron but who knows for sure...
Cool that they were able to make a sampler plate for you. I really like the costillitas rancheras and barbacoa too - which are Zacatecas recipes for sure. The flour tortillas are the huge Sonoran style that you can practically throw over your shoulder. Its a family run shop in the greatest sense - father and son usually cooking and son's wife and sister and law manning up front. For me, Las Brisas is the Destination restaurant for Temecula/N. SD county.

I havent had better carnitas anywhere.

As for Senor Baja/Taco Nazo - I think even an 'ok' fish taco there is way better than the corporate mess of rubios fish tacos. I wish they were like how I remember though. More Reason for me to take you to Ensenada!

You ordered magnificently at Sakura - which is best known as the 'secret' un signed restaurant of SD. For Japanese, its the #1 not miss in town.
We also have a Yakitori specialist youll have to hit next time.

Paco Perez of Aqui es Texcoco wants to open a Barbacoa restaurant one day in Chicago, he told me. So be on the lookout guys. It will be the perfect thing to warm you up on your winter days. Its already expanding here in the county. Tradition and respect for the beast rules at texcoco, I cant think of a more unique restaurant here.

Nab - thank you for contacting me and next time you are out I'll expect a line from you - we got more eating to do!

sushi ota - san diego- it's in a strip mall, the clientel is mainly Japanese, and the quality of the fish is outstanding. maybe my favorite sushi joint in the world.

4529 Mission Bay Dr
(at Bunker Hill St)
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 270-5670

After the incredible details and pictures on previous reviews I am almost ashamed to write this. However, on a recent overnight trip to the Foothills Ranch area of Orange County, I stopped by Tasty Thai in Lake Forest, CA. It's a simple store front operation in a mini strip mall just south of a bunch of chain restaurants right off of Lake Forest Drive. It's just off of I-5.

I had a simple lunch before heading to the airport of Spicy Fried Rice, a simple salad and Thai iced tea. I have no complaints. If I am ever back in the area, I will definitely head back there for either lunch or dinner. Simple setup, fast service and the food was excellent. Again, I did not sample the more exotic fare, but the menu was pretty deep and everyone there seemed to be in there to eat good food and get on with their day. My kind of place when traveling: good food, fast, and no hassle service.

I wish my company gave me a Blackberry with photo capability, but unfortunately, not going to happen.

If you are in the area, I'd give this place a big thumbs up for good Thai at very reasonable prices. With a lunch special, Thai iced tea and tip, I got out of there under $11.00.

Tasty Thai
22722 Lambert St.,
Lake Forest, CA
(right off I-5 and East on Lake Forest Dr.)

Must stop at >> http://www.wahoos.com/index.php
Locations all round soCAL. Got to have at least two fish tacos one grilled one blackened.
Report back and lemmme know whatca think. ENJOY THE HEAT!!