Dave Lieberman

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It's been about four months since Edwin reviewed the Ramsay-revamped Luigi's D'Italia in Anaheim and three months since the show aired on FOX. Gustavo went for the taping of the show itself; I went the following week, to see what they'd done to a restaurant that inspired one of two reactions in the locals: fierce loyalty, or a jaw-splitting yawn.
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Dave Lieberman

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Hearing I ask from the holy races,
Of Edwin's news post, both high and low;
Thou wilt, dear reader, that well I relate
Of the food I tasted from men long ago.
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ProfessorSalt.com

"Chocolate," one of two dessert courses

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Last year, we broke the news that Chef Dee Nguyen was opening Break of Dawn Restaurant for dinner in 2012. And by dinner, we don't mean dinner every day, or even every week. This dinner pops up on the first Friday of each month with a menu that will likely change every time.

Stick-A-Forkers Gustavo, Dave and I met up with Niyaz Pirani of Fat Dude On a Diet to sample our way through the inaugural menu last Friday.

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​We take a certain amount of homegrown pride to let you know Orange County's very own Bruxie took the No. 2 spot in Yelp's Most Popular U.S. Restaurants for 2011. Congratulations, Bruxie!

Well, Yelpers, Stick a Fork In It broke the news about Bruxie's real-deal Wisconsin frozen custard, and our readers probably learned about the waffle sandwiches before they heard about it on Yelp. Plus, we were first to report other important Bruxie news, such as the announcement of its second location. So you'll excuse us if we feel a territorial attachment to "our" Bruxie.

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Courtesy Hidden Dinner / Photograph by Meg Strouse

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The last time we checked in with Hidden Dinner, the underground dining pop-up created by Anahita Naderi, Betty Lang and Justin Veiga, it was in a warehouse where diners were led blindfolded into the room and fed thirteen small plates meant to evoke the tastes and smells of the past.

Last time, just before Christmas, it was in an apartment building's shared kitchen where forty or so diners sat at three large tables and was entitled, "How the Grinch Stole Hidden Dinner".

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Dave Lieberman

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Halal phở? Given that we live in a county where halal pizza, halal Chinese food and halal hot dogs are all available, it shouldn't come as a shock that Phở Ellie, OC's first (and, to my knowledge, only) halal Vietnamese restaurant, has opened.
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Seabirds Truck

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Have you ever wanted to cook delicious vegan food like the crew of OC's own Seabirds Truck? Well, fire up your tablets, because over the Christmas weekend, the Birds released an e-cookbook of the all-vegan luxe lonchera's greatest hits.

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Dave Lieberman

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One of the best things about writing about food in Orange County is the discovery of something great in a really out-of-the-way place. If you'd asked me what there was to eat in Yorba Linda, I'd have stammered something about the Wild Artichoke and are you sure you can't get to Placentia or Anaheim Hills?

Nevertheless, my friend Mark, a recently arrived yorbalindero, was so excited about Sushi Noguchi that I went, expecting it to be the usual kind of rock-and-rolls sushi bar that infests nearby Fullerton.
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Dave Lieberman

​Anaheim is continuing its reputation as the most multicultural city in Orange County; it's hard to think of another city that is home to so many ethnic enclaves, from Middle Eastern to Samoan, from Korean to Mexican.

One of the growing communities in West Anaheim is what I'll call Horn of Africa; there's a community of Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalis and Djiboutians growing in northwest Anaheim. Where there's a community, there's likely to be a restaurant, and Abyssinia Ethiopian Cuisine, which opened in October, is the fourth restaurant from that region to open in Anaheim.
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Dave Lieberman

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We had a lot of love for Wadiya, Orange County's only place to get Sri Lankan food. I raved about the hopper nights, and Gustavo reviewed it in 2009 and named it #5 in our 100 Favorites from 2010. Sadly, Wadiya closed in April and has been replaced by the new, buffet-less incarnation of Victory Bakery. It was exciting, then, to see that there was a Sri Lankan business still open in OC.
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