Orange County Blog

Anyone who attended college, lived in campus housing with roommates, joined them in staring into a TV set playing Make Me Laugh at 11 every weeknight, finished the last of the 12-pack, desperately needed more brew, had to resort to walking -- because no one had a car, the campus shuttle stopped running at 9:30 and, besides, don't drink and drive, kids -- to the local liquor store, then realized upon pulling on the locked entrance door that liquor stores in this college town close at 11 can look at this from UC Irvine's New University online student news as a beautiful thing:

The Newport Beach company Midnight Muncheez has been serving night owls in the Newport and Costa Mesa area for 14 months and is now spreading to UC Irvine.

In addition to providing students with late-night grub, party supplies, toiletries and accessories all with affordable delivery, Midnight Muncheez is allowing UCI partiers one extra supply: alcohol.

Booze, brought to your door like it was a pizza, clean diapers or a notice to evict. Brings a tear to this old co-ed's eye. 

For years, Barbeques Galore seemed to do brisk business in a little Costa Mesa strip center it shared with a liquor store, Big 5 Sporting Goods and Wherehouse Records. Then, in no particular order, Wherehouse went online only, a larger, adjacent shopping center at Harbor Boulevard and Wilson Street got a massive makeover and Barbeques Galore moved into a bigger, 8,000-square-foot space as a BBQ superstore while retaining its original spot as sort of the outlet mall version of its new self.

The Barbeques Galore chain filed for bankruptcy in August 2008, but the next month the Costa Mesa store and locations in Irvine and Laguna Niguel were separated out as Barbecues & More under new owners, the Maister Group of Companies of Santa Ana.

Anything BBQ related you could possibly want or need was carried among the three stores' 3,000 different products, which included enough hot sauces, grilling sauces and rubs to fill a wall, floor to ceiling. The store later began carrying saunas, so you could boil yourself while grilling your dogs. What more could Orange County suburbia desire?

Well, Barbecues & More had a problem. While it sold the Cadillacs of grills for thousands of dollars, much cheaper knock-offs could be purchased at Target, Costco and Home Depot, which had a store anchoring the same madeover shopping center the Costa Mesa Barbecues & More moved into. The Irvine and Laguna Niguel locations ultimately went bye-bye, and today the Maister Group announced that in the next couple weeks it will close that Costa Mesa store mere steps from where the original Barbeques Galore opened 22 years earlier.

"We are closing our final store due to the tough retail climate where consumers are extremely concerned about the economy and are holding onto their money," said CEO Brett Maister.

On the bright side, merchandise is marked off 40 percent and more, meaning I'd finally be able to afford it if only my credit cards weren't maxed out.

Stolen from our new food blog...

"Hola, readers, and welcome to the Weekly's latest Internet endeavor: a food blog! Expect the same gourmand insanity I have brought ustedes for the past six years as food editor and Edwin Goei has in his year-and-a-half as my classier half: Where's the great local grub, the great personalities, but also the great failures, great insanities and other great greatness (can you tell I need to stop writing?). And something new for our vigorously provincial coverage: national affairs (but always through la naranja's prism)! Stay tuned..."

Further notes...

It's called Stick a Fork in It, and the direct URL is http://blogs.ocweekly.com/stickaforkinit. You can also get an RSS feed--just look where it says "RSS feed" and subscribe. And comment! And comment! And comment!

It's my job as a food critic to have only one moral--tell readers about the county's best-tasting food. Little time to dwell on the many philosophical debates--corporate vs. indie, veganism contra an omnivorous diet, the virtues of organic against agrobusiness--afflicting modern-day cooking. My reviewing motto is Veni, vidi, comí--I came, I saw, I ate.

About a month ago, I told ustedes about a faithful reader's efforts to save the Yorkshire pig her son could no longer raise. None of you cold-hearted bastards bothered to contact Kat, so I offered to buy the pig from her for $250 on the condition the hog wasn't slaughtered. Kat found a great non-profit animal sanctuary, Animal Acres, who picked up the sow from La Habra High School yesterday.

Why did I save an animal who won't live with me? At the insistence of my vegetarian girlfriend partly, but mostly because of Kat, a longtime Weekly reader and frequent Navel Gazing commentator whose plea on behalf of her son to make sure the pig wasn't killed melted the heart of even this carnivore.

Before the pig--named Caboose after a character in the insanely popular XBox series Halo--was taken, I visited my new ward and met up with Kat and her guy at the La Habra High School Future Farmers of America stables. Kat apologized for the stable's smell, but I told not to worry--I'm used to it; I'm Mexican, for chrissakes. While most of the pigs lay down on the hard concrete, flies attacking any open wounds, Caboose trotted around with the personality of a puppy. Weighing in at about 200 pounds, with fine bristles and a healthy pink cmplexion, the year-old gal responded to her name, rubbed up against everyone's leg constantly, and dropped to the ground the moment there was the possibility of a belly rub. But mostly, she chewed--on a rubber hose (pictured), on her food, and on both of my shoes three times. "Don't worry about it--she's playful like that," Kat cracked as Caboose gnawed on my Chucks (the feeling was akin to somebody grabbing your arm repeatedly).

Another Caboose picture after the jump!

From faithful commentator Kat:

I'm asking everyone I can.....my son has a pig he has raised for the FFA at school. He is supposed to take it to the OC Fair July 20th, but due to a death in the family, he is supposed to go to Ohio with his sister on July 1st. The school has told me that I am responsible for the pig, so we were trying to sell the pig before the 1st....

The pig is a female Yorkshire, approx. 9 mos., approx. 170 lbs.
She was bred for eating, but if I had the room, we'd keep her as a pet cuz she is so personable....lol
I owe the school $250 for the pig, feed, etc...
It would be great to break even, but I'm willing to negotiate due to the urgency/short time we have....

Save the pig's sweet, sweet meat from carnivores like me. Anyone interested can contact Kat at hhairball9@yahoo.com.

G’day, mate! Got some bad news for you.

That “Australian” beer, the Foster’s lager you’ve been buying in the big blue can, or bottle, for years at your local Ralphs/Albertsons/Smart & Final? The one with the kangaroo on it? And the new Foster’s, in the big green cans that say “Special Bitter” and “Foster’s Premium Ale?”

They’re about as Australian as grits and fried armadillo. They’re brewed in Albany, Georgia and Fort Worth, Texas by "Oil Can Breweries," a front for (I find this difficult to even write) Miller, purveyor of one of the crappier American crap beers, Miller Lite - which rhymes with shite for a good reason.

Probably why you no longer see the word “Imported” on the Foster's product. Though that was an advertising duplicity for many years, anyway. The lager’s taste changed about a decade ago, when it started being brewed in Canada “under the supervision of Foster’s Australia Ltd.” Technically it was imported – just not from Down Under.

Now, when your original population was thieves, rapists, muggers and people convicted of sexual relations with farm animals, you’re not expected to be a fount of honesty and integrity. But lying about the provenance of your beer? That, pal, is a hanging offense.

While in Philadelphia last week, I was able to taste the city's two most famous Philly cheesesteak joints: Geno's and Pat's King of Steaks. Read my review of Geno's here, then come back. Read it? Geno's doesn't begin to COMPARE to some of OC's better Philly cheesesteak gems--I'm thinking Philly's Best or Philly's Famous Cheesesteak in Tustin. Pat's, on the other hand, is better than our places, but only because they offer dried chilies only a Mexican can love...

The souring economy has closed two Orange County hole-in-the-wall favorites, is threatening a third, and changing a fourth. Closed for unknown reasons is Irie Jamaican Restaurant in Cypress, long the only local Jamaican restaurant. Shut down as a casualty of downtown Fullerton's continuing gentrification is Ruben's Panaderia, which I've been frequenting since a kid, so I know it didn't close for lack of business. Jason's Downtown in SanTana is now only open for dinner Thursday through Saturday because of slow business. And then there's the yummy, massive sangak bread sold at Wholesome Choice in Irvine. Due to "drastic rises" in flour, according to a taped paper at the market's sangak line, owners have had to raise the price--by a dime. Four feet of toasted brilliance now sets you back $2.79. The horror, the horror...

As you can see, I'm not fundamentalist in my definition of fast food. All mass-produced snack product is fair game, as perhaps could be noted by the fact that the first one I did involved the Dave & Busters menu.

On a late night beer run, I espied a display at the 7-11 with three new kinds of Mountain Dew. Since I adore all Dew except for that pretender flavor that you can only get at Taco Bell and doesn't even taste good with vodka, this was like a goldmine. Alas, two of these flavors are temporary. Which two? Apparently, you get to pick.

Of course, Dew-heads know that even these three were narrowed down from a wider range of possibilities at Dewmocracy.com. I tried to vote in that poll, but the site made me play a bunch of annoying mini-games first, one of which I couldn't figure out how to beat so I gave up. This is a good microcosmic argument for why there should be no poll tax.

But I will review the new flavors right now, trying to do so blindly. Maybe my vote won't count on the site, but my voice will be heard.

DEW #1
Tastes like: Artificial raspberry.
Label sez: Charged with raspberry citrus flavor and ginseng.
Color: blue like blue Gatorade, but not as dark as blue Powerade.
Name: Mountain Dew Voltage
Review: Like a blue raspberry slush puppy without the brainfreeze headache. I could enjoy this once in a while, but it's not addictive-tasting like original Dew or Code Red, or compellingly new like the late great Pitch Black.

Santa Ana residents living near the Weekly's HQ are going to have to find a new place for late night liquor runs - the Ralph's at 1523 W. 17th, near the Denny's and Target, is closing.

It's a strange sight, seeing a major corporate grocery store branch having a clearance sale, with shelves half empty. Needless to say, all the liquor is gone, though there is some cheap beer and wine still to be had. Was last night, anyway. With so many liquor vendors closing prior to midnight, Ralph's was always a last, best hope.

No longer. According to the cashier, the rent on the building was tripled, so the company decided to bail. Why couldn't it have been the Target that left? I mean, there's another Target only a few blocks away, so it's not like we'd really be losing anything.

Now I, I mean hypothetical consumers, will have to head a little further afield to Albertson's at 1720 E. 17th for the hard stuff.

Meanwhile, there are bargain groceries to be had at close-out prices.