Flickr photo from Mangrove Mike

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Clockwork Coker did a post about megablog The Daily Beast's ridiculous assertion that Anaheim and SanTana are the second- and third-best cities in the United States to find love. Being that Anacrime is my hometown and SanTana my adopted one and given I know the female of each species' cities, I can categorize that assertion as a DAMN LIE (Long Beach as the top spot, on the other hand, isn't that far-off given its teeming, horny singles). But even more laughable is the "romantic hotspot" that the writer of this post picked for the two cities.

The White House as the ultimate romantic restaurant in Anaheim? I like the place, but it's overrated, too expensive, and the place is in the middle of an Anaheim barrio that, while pretty cozy, will probably scare off your date with all the Mexicans loitering outside. And Ambrosia Restaurant for SanTana's love place? The Daily Beast obviously doesn't know that the walking cold shower called Mike Harrah owns the place, or that Ambrosia--while offering good food--is also overpriced and tries way too hard to unsuccessfully recreate the days of the Brown Derby.

My choice for Anacrime? Rufino's Ristorante, where the old couple manning the place will teach you what romance is while serving great pastas. SanTana? Can never go wrong with Memphis at the Santora.

A friend of mine sent me a message earlier. They've just bought a house in Yorba Linda and apparently are looking for new kitchen appliances, including a new refrigerator, which means they're doing due diligence on the models they're considering.

zen @ flickr.com CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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The IM has been lost to history, but it amounted to, "Why the hell would a refrigerator be kosher-certified?" Sure enough, Viking sell a range of appliances, including refrigerators, that carry the Star-K hechsher, that is a stamp of approval in the form of a K in a star that means that this has been approved for use by the Orthodox.

The jokes just spring to mind here: hermetically-isolated meat and dairy compartments, automatic fuzzy-logic pork rejector, chazerai detector ("It's Tu B'Shevat, eat fruit instead!"), in-door chicken soup dispenser, etc.
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A while back, Papa John's claimed they used better ingredients in their pizzas than Pizza Hut. Pizza Hut sued them and won a judgment that Papa John's couldn't use the slogan "Better Ingredients. Better Pizza." because it falsely implied that the competition's ingredients were not fresh or wholesome. Pizza Hut called the Papa John's advertising "puffery."

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans overturned the ruling, and Papa John's was allowed to continue its advertising campaign. In 2004, the Supreme Court of the United States refused to rule in favor of Pizza Hut, and so the "puffery" was allowed to continue. What a valuable use of our justices' time and energy!

Well, in this ad, Domino's head chef, Brandon Solano, called out Papa John's. In a "national taste test" (conducted by an "independent research company", though it's telling that the fine print didn't say who it was), they assert that Domino's new hand-tossed pizza with pepperoni beat Papa John's equivalent. The commercial was shot in front of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals and made heavy allusion to the Pizza Hut case.

The verdict: Domino's, Papa John's and Pizza Hut, your pizzas all taste disgusting, your sauces contain too much sugar, your crusts are thick, bready and unappealing, and anyone who eats your pizza when he or she has a choice to eat pizza from an independent pizzeria is in desperate need of some taste bud re-education. That's not puffery either.

Chad Sengstock

​You might remember Hidden Kitchen, the spectacular but clandestine restaurant experiment that a foursome of aspiring restauranteurs (Jeff Dobkin; his wife, Julie Thompson-Dobkin; Holly Roberts; and her husband, Jason Coulston) opened up a few nights a week in borrowed space at The Rooster Cafe in Costa Mesa. It was just a temporary home for it. Since they left almost exactly a year ago, they've been looking for a permanent space to resurrect their project.

I recently checked in with Jeff Dobkin and Jason Coulston to get a progress update and to chat.

OC Weekly: So can you give us any hints on where the Hidden Kitchen will find a permanent home?

Jeff Dobkin: One of the challenges we are currently confronting is finding a neighborhood space that people can tuck into for a nice, relaxing meal. Costa Mesa doesn't have as many of these types of spots (as say San Francisco) and for us (Julie, Jason, Holly and myself) the feel of the new space is really important. No corporate space is going to work for us and this is limiting our choices.

In addition, the prices in the market haven't really come down to a level that we feel reflects the current market conditions (I kind of sound like I know what I am talking about, don't I?...but don't let me fool you).

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Still stuck for a place to eat this Valentine's? The local restaurants have been busy trying to get the word out. There's an awful lot of chocolate mousse out there, folks.

This isn't a complete list, obviously; this is only the stuff that's been sent to us. If you want your OC or Long Beach-based Valentine's special listed in a later post, please e-mail us at dining@ocweekly.com by tomorrow night for posting on Thursday

Courtesy of Morton's Steakhouse

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Edwin Goei

​Our friend Craig Medici has made me aware that a new ramen joint called Mizuki is close to opening up at Jamboree and Michelson, next to Sports Chalet. Not only that, he heard that it will be one of the largest ramen houses in the country. The flyer Craig sent me said that it would be able to accommodate 150 customers. The expected debut date is sometime this month.

Curious, I did a drive by this afternoon. Actually, I did more than that: I peeked inside through a crack in the door. It is, indeed, large. I saw a very long hostess podium among other things being constructed. But since this space is where Narano Sushi used to be, I don't expect it to be bigger than that space. Of course, seeing as how I've never been to Narano before it closed, I don't know how spacious it really was.

If anyone has more information about Mizuki, please feel free to chime in.

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Meet Daniel Jimenez, the Executive Chef at Back Bay Bistro. He makes a mean Bananas Foster Nuggets, which I described thusly in my earlier review: "Simply put, I've never had anything involving bananas that impressed me more than this dessert." But in reading his responses to our silly questionnaire, maybe I should've also tried his seafood pasta.

1. Dish you cook that most represents you.

I love pasta and sea food--sea food pasta fits me the best! I love to make it healthy with olive oil, fresh herbs and white wine.

2. What was the last meal you had at home?

I BBQ'd ribs at home with my family for super bowl. Also, shrimp skewers for children.

3. Your favorite restaurant (other than yours):

Las Brisas in Laguna Beach.

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One of the worst-kept secrets in Southern California is that the God of California, Huell Howser, frequently shops at the Hollywood Farmer's Market, held every Sunday near Hollywood and Ivar. He was there yesterday (and remembered me!), and the crowds surrounding him quizzed Huell specific episodes, all which he remembered to their delight. Seriously: the guy rocks.

Howser has done quite a few profiles on Orange County landmarks over the years, which is why I'm doing this quiz (other celebrities yesterday? Andy Richter and Booger from Revenge of the Nerds). To have him as a blind item would be way too easy, so for a jar of my chica's basil jelly: what did ol' Huell have for lunch? The hint (and it nearly gives it away): it's a foodstuff that many nationalities prepare, almost always universally the same. To make it a bit harder, though, you'll not only have to guess the food but also the nationality of the food stall from where Huell bought his grub. One guess (grub and nationality) per comment, por favor. And, now: Huell tripping!

For decades, the February editions of magazines contained articles aimed at single, desperate young women, usually with depressing names like "How To Win Your Man's Heart With Dessert", the assumption being that anything that did not involve boardrooms, guns or grills was up to the woman in a relationship, including planning a Valentine's evening.

Then, after men discovered they could cook without their gonads dropping off, the men's magazines started aiming articles at guys whose cooking prowess was limited to delivery order, like a sort of reverse Sadie Hawkins: "you only cook for V-Day and her birthday, guys, so here's a way to make a lovable attempt that still won't taste good."

Well, here at Stick A Fork In It, we don't make gender judgments like that. Regardless of what gender you are and what gender you're trying to seduce, the fact is that the road to the bedroom is shorter after a tempting, homemade dessert. Following are five desserts that look harder to make than they are.

leonardlow @ flickr.com CC BY 2.0

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Dave Lieberman

​There are a dozen or more sites tracking where the new gourmet food trucks at any given time. People follow the trucks on Twitter and retweet compulsively when one they like has shown up nearby.

I prefer a more aleatory approach: I go to the Bruery and see what's there. They've been inviting the more popular food trucks to park outside the door of the tasting room at the weekend, and more and more are responding. Food from trucks, incidentally, tastes better with beer. It's just one of those inescapable facts of life.

Yesterday's visitor to Greater Southwestern Placentia was the Louks To Go truck, a Greek truck whose name is a play on two Greek comestibles: loukaniko (sausage) and loukoumades (fritters).
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