Things to put down on your day planner, your iPhone calendar, Blackberry, or whatever: January 18-22 is going to be the Third Annual Newport Beach Restaurant Week.  This is the time when a selected roster of restaurants will be offering a three-course prix fixe for $15 or $20 for lunch, and $20 or $35 for dinner. 

I'd usually laugh at the idea of people paying money to learn how to make tamales (no need for moolah, people--just hang out with Mexican women come Christmas Eve), but the event that Slow Food OC is hosting is worth it and muy cheap. From their recent newsletter:

Learn how to make your own tamales in this informal and delicious presentation. Ms. Lilly Garo will show us step-by-step how to make sweet and savory tamales, a seasonal treat from our latino heritage in Southern California. We will be sharing a meal based on our class preparations, and all participants will be able to take home tamales for their holiday celebration. Cost is $5.00 for Slow Food Members and $15.00 for Non-Members. For reservations, please contact events@slowfoodoc.org or call Stephanie at (714) 910-4295. Please RSVP by November 30. Event will be held at Spurgeon United Methodist Church, 1025 W. Memory Lane in Santa Ana.

I know the above email said to reserve by yesterday, but I'm sure they can still sneak in a soul or two. More importantly, why haven't you joined Slow Food OC, part of the Slow Food movement that seeks to relocalize cuisine and make it more delicious?

A food tasting at a car dealership? Yep, you heard right. This weekend, Saturday, Oct. 18-19 from 11 AM-5 PM, Irvine BMW will host it's Third Annual Taste of Irvine BMW at its dealership at 9881 Research Drive in Irvine.

There will be a raffle where a percentage of the proceeds will go toward finding a cure for Fragile X, "the most common inherited cause of intellectual impairment and autism".

There will be complimentary everything, including valet and live entertainment, and, of course, free tastings from local restaurants. Expected to attend: Kimera Restaurant Lounge, BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, Kings Fish House, the Wine Pavilion, Donna B's Bakery, Pat & Oscar's, La Cocina De Ricardo, The Counter and TGIS Catering.

And if you come to this event with the intent of scoring some free food, but end up buying a new bimmer, well then, that's fine too.

This Saturday, October 4, is the City of Irvine's Annual Global Village Festival, held from from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. at Bill Barber Park.

Festival admission and parking are free. There will be musical performances and of course, lots of dancing, including hula, belly, and break.

But what's a festival without food. Listed below are all the vendors who are expected to show.

If you'd like to see what the shindig's actually like, check out my buddy Chubbypanda's blog post from last year.

Big Papa New Orleans Cuisine
Blackmarket Bakery
Blueberry Hill
Caspian
Cha FOR TEA
Champagne French Bakery Cafe
Champion Food Co.
Clay Oven Inc.
CrepeMaker Harland Mae, Inc.
Crystal Jade -Asian Fine Dining
Formosa Chinese Restuarant
Irvine Korean Parents Association/Koba Tofu Grill
Its A Grind Coffee House
Juice It Up
Kannada Kali - Irvine
Kettle Corn Express
Kettlecorn & Frozen Lemonade
Layer Cake Bakery
Masala Bowl
Maui Wowi Hawaiian Coffees And Smoothies
Mochilato Bakery Boutique
Otafuku Foods, Inc.
Pomodoro
Repicci
Rubys
Smooth Operator
Stricklands Ice Cream
Swaad Indian Cuisine
The Flame Broiler, Inc.
The Upper Crust Catering Inc.
Whole Foods Market

Usually when I decide to spend like a baller for a nice dinner (about twice a year), Newport Beach is the first place I think of. Luckily, the 20th Annual Taste of Newport rolled into town, bringing an onslaught of appetizers and entrees to sink my teeth into. By the time I had scarfed and sipped my way around the place, I counted about 30 restaurants in all.

In an attempt to start the night on a light note, one of the first pasta samples that caught my eye was a catering company called Alacarte Catering. I know, it sounds pretty standard and obviously a pasta salad isn't usually much to write to home about, but their samples of cold Italian pasta with just as flavorful and light as I had hoped. The sample left plenty of room for a few beers.

In an effort to stick with the cold stuff, I picked up a small Styrofoam box worth of Crunch Rolls from San Shi Go, a great little sushi place on Balboa Island. They had a pretty basic menu for TON, which didn't even begin to match their restaurant menu. But I guess when you're doing a street fair exhibition, you have to leave the fancy stuff at home.

One place that was definitely a hit was Back Bay Bistro and their Lobster Quesadilla along with their highly touted sea food chowder. In the hot foods category, the chowder scored high marks. It was a hearty little cup bursting with shrimp, crab and potato; definitely something worth going back for. If you're a fan of any seafood dish that doesn't require cracking a shell, then the chowder is a must try.

And of coarse, my Italian genes would not let me leave the gates without a sausage sandwich slathered in marinara and onions from Sabatino's. On hearty Italian bread, Lido's Italian sausage was so authentic, sweet and greasy that it made me shed a little tear for New York as I chomped it down.

Okay, not really, but it was the perfect concert snack by the time 90's KROQ alums Third Eye Blind strutted on stage to packed crowd. But I must confess, I didn't really give a crap about the band. Not because I can't stand to watch a band rise out of alt-rock obscurity to fire up the crowd at a food festival, but because the crowd rush to the stage freed up the food lines... a precious 45 minutes which I made sure to take advantage of.

Oktoberfest starts today. Yes, in the middle of September. But are you going to quibble the details when we're talking about the only time of year when public drunkenness and enjoying polka music are socially acceptable?

Both can be accomplished this weekend, thanks to the Phoenix Club of Anaheim, who are hosting their annual Oktoberfest starting tonight. It will continue for every weekend until the end of October.

There will be Bavarian schuhplattler (dancing) complete with lederhosen and dirndl dresses, along with beer, German food, beer, a big tent, and beer.

But only tonight, September 19th at 6:00 PM, will the admission be free.

If you come Saturday (also starts at 6:00 PM), admission will be $10.00 for the general public ($5.00 for Phoenix Club members). Same with Sunday, except the thing will last all day and there will be a pig roasted on a spit.

Sounds like fun for everyone, except for the pig, who will be a little tied up.

For details, click HERE.

For a full run schedule, click HERE.

For directions, click HERE.

*Photo is stock. Not a guarantee.

P.S. If wine and gourmet food's more your thing, Taste of Newport is also this weekend.

For those whose only exposure to Armenian culture is Zankou Chicken (actually, not a bad start), here's a chance to widen your perspective.

This weekend (Saturday, September 13th from 12 PM-10 PM, and Sunday, September 14th from 12 PM - 8 PM), the 4th Annual Armenian Festival will be held at the Laguna Hills Community Center at:

25555 Alicia Pkwy.
Laguna Hills, CA 92653
(at Paseo de Valencia)

Parking is free. Admission is $5. Children under 12, free.

There will be arts and crafts, music and folk dancing, and of course, food!

What kind of grub can you expect? Shish kebabs. Soujoukh Sandwiches. Armenian pizza. Sourj coffee. Armenian pastries and baklava.

No word if they will have that magical garlic paste that Zankou makes..

Attention all ramen-loving, manga-reading, anime-watching Japanphiles: Mitsuwa Marketplace in Costa Mesa is hosting its Hokkaido Fair from Thursday (9/11) to Sunday (9/14).

In attendance will be Asameshi Maeda Honpo, a ramen purveyor who does "Asahikawa shoyu-based soup".

Asahikawa, by the way, is a town in central Hokkaido famous for their ramen -- crinkly noodles in a murky pork-bone broth (tonkotsu) with an added seafood component.

And "Would you like some cute dessert?" as the Mitsuwa website proclaims in hilarious Engrish?

There will vendors selling cream puffs and ice cream! "The secret of rich and full flavored taste is the freshly-extracted milk."

Pullman Bakery will dole out their curry bread -- which will look and taste like a cross between a croquette and a cake donut that's been stuffed with curry.

"Please experience the greatly boasted tastes!"

Just got back from the Long Beach Lobster Fest -- officially titled "The Original Long Beach Lobster Festival," which was a bit odd, as that moniker would seem to signify some competing crustacean frenzy occurring somewhere in the general area. That, or it’s meant to herald a comeback of some sort after having been away, which could very well be true (though I can’t recall a lobster lollapalooza when I lived in the LBC from ’97 till ’03, but whatev…)

My verdict? Ehhh…not that great. Call it a “Lobster Fest,” and I expect to see lobster offered up every which way—boiled, steamed, grilled, etc.—and I want to see a gaggle of lobster-specializing local restaurants representin’, with workers staffing booths where they serve up amazing variants of their shellfish. I want to see lobster tacos, lobster burgers, lobster beer, chocolate-covered lobster, lobster ice cream, and the chicken-fried lobster that I seriously had in Las Vegas last year. That insane variety show is the way it’s done at food fests I’ve been to in the Southern U.S., anyway—where they really know how to hold a party where food is the central theme.

But here—after I paid my $15 just for the privilege of entering the damn place—it was pretty much just a single big stand with one very long line, serving up 2-pound and pound-and-a-quarter lobster dinners, for $40 and $20, respectively. Although it was kinda cool to see all the freshly-boiled lobsters get lifted out of the vat of boiling water (see crappy camera phone pic), by the time I waited in line to get me some plopped down on my Styrofoam tray, it was lukewarm. Then, after waiting in another line where several apron-wearing, knife-wielding young men cracked your lobster for you . . . and after wandering around the expanse of the fest site at Rainbow Lagoon (I know, that’s a lovely name, but the "lagoon" is actually a pondscum-encrusted toilet, always has been) looking for a shady place to actually eat the thing . . . well, my lobster was as chilly as my coleslaw, as was the plastic cup of melted butter. Still, lobster is lobster, but I probably could’ve had better (and cheaper) at, well, Red Lobster.

So: Calling it a “Lobster Festival” but providing so little variety is kind of like having a Japanese Food Festival where the only available cuisine is Yoshinoya. Or a Mexican Food Festival where everything is from Taco Bell. You get the idea. When, oh when, will someone stage a local barbecue fest? God knows there are enough great mom-and-pop BBQ places in OC and Long Beach who’d totally take part . . .

Other random bitching: I saw several people giving business to the hamburger, corn dog and cheese steak stands. Who the hell goes to a lobster festival to eat corn dogs?