Orange County Food Blog

​Fascinating article in Business Week this week about Subway's stumbling into the goldmine that is their current $5 footlong sub deal -- a promotion that started as a lark at an "obscure Miami franchise" and has grown to give the chain $3.8 billion in sales. This is the kind of story professors use as case studies in business school.

Coincidentally, about the same day the article came out, I was also drawn to the cheapness. Because it's really all about the cheapness, isn't it? But frankly, I quite liked my Spicy Italian. The article is correct though: $5 is "the magic number" for the sandwich. And also, like the story mentions, I took the other half and ate it for dinner after crisping it up further in the toaster oven.

​Wahoo's, started in 1988 by a bunch of surfers in Costa Mesa, is about to celebrate its 21st anniversary. The problem is that the founders were so laid-back that nobody really remembers when the first store actually opened. They aren't letting this stop them from having a good time, though, so they're starting their 21st birthday celebration on Saturday, Nov. 21 with a party and giveaways.

In the nine months since their 20th birthday celebration (which Edwin told us all about back in February), they've expanded onto the UCI campus, added menu items (a tofu bowl, chicken-spinach rolls and a chopped salad), and held a contest to name the new additions.

As part of the 21st birthday celebration, every person who visits a Wahoo's on that day will get something (items such as a gift card or a free meal), but the first 21 people into each of the restaurant will get a bag o' stuff, including some action sports-related swag.

Doors open at 11 a.m. at all OC Wahoo's locations, so put on your surf shirt, show off that nautical star tattoo, and get your grilled fish taco on (seriously, Wahoo's, you're 21 now, go buy some deep fryers and give us some fried fish taco love!). Make sure to ask for the Indonesian sambal (Mr. Lee's Chili Sauce) that is the object of Edwin's admiration.

Wahoo's Fish Taco has 15 locations in OC; find your nearest one at their website.

Photo Courtesy Travel Channel

​I don't like where this is going.

Scripps Network Interactive Inc., owner of the Food Network, which has slowly but noticeably descended into semi-homemade mediocrity, bought a controlling stake in the Travel Channel last week.

For Anthony Bourdain's sake, I hope that the "controlling" part doesn't mean what it sounds like. Bourdain, as people know, jumped the Food Network ship for creative reasons, to put it mildly, taking his food travel show concept to Travel Channel, where it became the critically acclaimed and Emmy-winning No Reservations.

​So if you're not on board with the upcoming local appearance of Adam Richman (a.k.a. Fred Savage's forever ravenous evil twin), how about Thomas Keller? Well either way, I'm willing to bet that last sentence of mine is the first to mention both names together in the same breath.

Yes, Keller, the only known human being (other than Ferran Adria) to be able to make culinary bad-boy Anthony Bourdain blush, swoon and fawn like a schoolgirl, is coming to South Coast Plaza's Williams-Sonoma to sign copies of his latest cookbook, ad hoc for the home. There's one stipulation, you have to buy it at Williams-Sonoma the day of his visit, this Thursday, November 12, at 11 a.m.

If you'd browsed you'd also find these food stories this past week. Just in case you didn't:

- Twilight-themed restaurant planned for Wash. town - Associated Press
- Chinese Urbanites Drop Chopsticks for 'Western' Food - ABC News
- Lawmaker Wants Oyster Policy Reversed - Food Safety News
- One Hundred Things Restaurant Staffers Should Never Do (Part 1) - The New York Times
- Rachael Ray brings the Yum-O to city public school cafeterias - Village Voice

​

Hot off the announcement that Top Chef Masters is going to be getting a second season, Bravo is developing ANOTHER spin-off. What is it? Take the original Top Chef recipe, add a pinch of Ace of Cakes, maybe a few telegenic hotties that look like Jennifer Aniston and BAM! (with apologies to Emeril), you get Top Chef: Just Desserts, which is a delicious pun, I admit.

The new show, of course, will feature pastry chefs, and is now holding auditions. Desserts, as you know, has never been the strong suit of any of cheftestants thus far. Foams yes; meringues, not so much.

I should've seen this coming. After all Bravo is owned by NBC Universal, who's all about franchising (ahem, overextending) its hits. Think of Law & Order and the children it begat. Law & Order: SVU, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: Escape from Guantanamo Bay. I made that last one up, but still.

I predict the same thing with Top Chef.

Top Chef: Just Desserts is just for, um, starters.

Secretly, I'm looking forward to the day they ask back the losers (you know those cheftestants who got the boot first) for a spin-off entitled Top Chef: Just Bring Me The Check.

The Bruery

Mama always said for you to eat your vegetables. She didn't say they couldn't be in your beer.

​
Today is Black Tuesday at the Bruery, the craft beer mecca in Placentia. They'll be releasing this year's Black Tuesday Imperial Stout at a special event at the brewery.

Bravo TV

It was Restaurant Wars last week in Top Chef: Las Vegas, and finally this season, things got interesting. Now I've never been a fan of Top Chef when the show focuses on the extracurricular antics of the cheftestants -- the head shaving incidents of Season 2 and the hidden-camera canoodling of Season 5 come to mind -- but when the tempers flare during the heat of competition, like what transpired between Robin and Michael Voltaggio on this episode, now that's entertainment!  And then there's the most amazing thing I've seen the entire season: the stoic, Zen-master coolness of his brother Brian amidst all this.

Buono dropping off her goodies to Old Vine Cafe...

​I can attest to the wonderful food produced by Morningsong Farms (based in the Temecula-area town of Rainbow, but owner Donna Buono lives in San Clemente and provides Best Restaurant in OC Old Vine Cafe with most of its produce) because the chica and I subscribe to their Community Supported Agriculture (CSA, for short) program for our weekly food needs. I've also visited their farm, rolling hills that scream for the orange crate label treatment. You can experience this as well this Sunday--but it'll cost you BUT you'll get good eatin', también.

From 11 in the morning until four in the afternoon, Buono will offer a multipronged workshop that shows off her farm. She'll lead tours that will highlight her chickens, her macadamia and orange trees, and a cameo by llamas. Others will teach you how to can, jam, and preserve, and the day will end with a three-course Buono meal featuring Morningsong's produce and other Temecula-area goods. The cost is $90, but makes for a good Sunday afternoon and delightful conversation on the one-and-a-half-hour trip from OC to Rainbow. More info? Call Donna at 949-310-4870.

Flight Bistro

​Susan Feniger, what hast thou wrought?

After one-half of the Too Hot Tamales, of Border Grill fame, opened the nearly un-Googleable Street in Hollywood as a restaurant specializing in street foods from around the world, it seems like everyone has started jumping on the bandwagon.

Edwin reported six weeks ago that K'Ya in Anaheim had changed from a normal restaurant to a global street-food place, with a lot of small plates arranged by country.

Now Flight Bistro in Huntington Beach, under the direction of new executive chef Derrick Hamilton, has revamped its menu to include a long list of "Global Tapas." The ethnic origins of some of the small plates are unclear (scallops and oxtail with orange segments?), which leads us to the dreaded F word--fusion.

Photo Courtesy of Eddie Lin

​You may have seen, heard, or read Eddie Lin before. That was him you saw chomping pig's ear and nibbling crickets with the jolly-Buddha-meets-cueball Travel Channel host Andrew Zimmern on the Los Angeles episode of Bizarre Foods. That was him you heard regaling NPR listeners on "the pleasures and perils" of eating brain last Saturday on Evan Kleinman's Good Food show on KCRW. And that was him you read on the pages of our humble rag a few years ago, where he started his piece on pho with: "The first time I put a bull's cock in my mouth was about four years ago in Shanghai."

Donley: Her creations make See's taste like a shower mat

​If the reward for running full speed, shoulder-first into a wall was a lifetime supply of C Salt Gourmet's pistachio-and-cherry-spiked chocolate, I'd do it. But Courtney Dudman Donley, the O.C. native and Long Beach resident behind the company who uses the kitchens of the Gypsy Den to create her crack, also makes mean truffles, truffles so damn decadent I can honestly only eat about five or six of them in one sitting. She'll be at Long Beach's 4th St. Vine this Sunday at 4 p.m., leading a truffle-making workshop. $40 gets you wine, truffles, and a grand old time. For more info, call (562) 343-5463. And do call: Donley's classes tend to fill up quick, although she's too sweet to leave you hanging outside, looking into her workshop while bitterly swallowing a Snickers.

Orange County Health Care Agency

​
After the OC Register's exposé of the sanitation in OC's restaurants in 2008, the County Board of Supervisors empaneled a grand jury to examine how to improve food safety in OC eateries.

The grand jury did its research and decided that the best way to avoid these "dining dangers" (ninjas at table 3!) was for OC to adopt the A-B-C letter grade system used in all of our surrounding counties.

The Board of Supervisors decided in December not to move to a letter grade or color-based system, but instead passed a proposal to change the existing inspection seals to show whether the restaurant passed, conditionally passed or failed the inspection.

After nine months of eating my way through the county, I'm off to pastures new: LA, to be precise. Not exactly the other side of the world, then, but too far to continue contributing to this blog.

Granted, I'll be close to the likes of Mozza (yes!), Cecconi's (overrated? I'll find out) and the super-new Philippe Chow (there is a god!), but there are some OC places I'll still hanker for, and I'll still make the drive back down for. Namely:

​

Pizzeria Ortica. Wonderful pizzas, fantastic pies and a chocolate budino to die for. And so close to where I live now (sob, sob).

Here are five interesting food stories that I've come across during a week of browsing.

- Top chef Ferran Adria 'poisons' El Bulli diners with additives - Times Online
- Organizations Attempt to Dispel Study's Food Safety Claims - QSR Magazine
- Crafty Ways Restaurant Cut Costs - SmartMoney Magazine
- Bogus beef: Miami restaurants say it's Kobe, but it's not - Miami New Times
- Burger King makeover: Fast food profits off franchisees' whopping costs - Daily Finance

And finally a fond farewell to our fellow Stick-a-Forker Lesley, who's moving up to L.A., and thus is leaving us! Bon appétit, Lesley! Or more appropriately (since she's a Brit), cheers or cheerio!

Photo by Edwin Goei

​It's a long, long way from Garden Grove to New York's Lower East Side, but Young Ja Chun's kim chi had made the trip and was featured by The New York Times in a short but sweet article.

​Running until next Thursday, October 22, the event features cut-price lunches and dinners for as little as $10. Around 100 restaurants, including Crow Bar, Sage on the Coast, Fleming's and Brasserie Pascal, are taking part. Canaletto isn't, sadly, but who cares when you have so much choice?

As an added bonus, you get a coupon for 20 per cent off and a free bottle of Perrier, to be used at any participating restaurant between October 23 and November 30.

For further details, including menus, visit the official website... Then get chowing, people!

Photo Courtesy of French 75

​Korean tacos are one thing. But French tacos? C'mon! Don't we have enough reasons to make fun of the French already?

"Le Taco Tuesday": That's what the folks at Culinary Adventures' French 75 are dubbing their latest promotion. With this development, I think, we're finally seeing the honest-to-goodness living incarnation of the term gabacho taco.

Photo Courtesy of Kogi BBQ

​Those in O.C. who monitor the Kogi BBQ blog got a nice surprise yesterday as the company officially announced that they have a dedicated truck to service O.C.

Not only that, it's no longer their Azul truck. This one's a shiny, new behemoth called, wait for it...Naranja! Niiiice!

See the schedule here, which hits pretty much all of their tried and true old haunts in O.C., except now, almost everyday!

​
And when we say champers, we mean the good stuff, and to go with it, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, no less. Yes, them of the bacon and chocolate combos, although, sadly, I can't find any of those on the following menu:

Featured Wine and Champagne:
Piper Sonoma Brut
Piper-Heidsieck Brut
Piper-Heidsieck Rose Sauvage

​According to general manager Ahmed Labbate, the once-a-month wine sell-off, whereby 50 wines are reduced in price by 50 percent, proved so popular that they're now running it every other weekend, from 3 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. The savings are pretty good, whether you're looking at the higher or lower end of the scale.

​That's one plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and Swedish potatoes (normally 99 cents) and one cup of coffee (also normally 99 cents) per person.

OK, so you're hardly saving a ton, but it still feels good to get something for nothing, right?, especially if you're headed that way anyway. 

Jonathan Ho

​It seems like it's a frozen yogurt chain's rite of passage. It happened with Pinkberry, as you may remember. And now, it's happening with Yogurtland.

An L.A. law firm has announced via this press release that they have filed a class action lawsuit against the chain and "on behalf of all purchasers of a certain so-called 'frozen yogurt' product made and/or marketed by Yogurtland International, LLC ("Yogurtland")" 

I didn't know that International Vegetarian Day falls on Oct. 9--I didn't even know there was an International Vegetarian Day (is there an International Carnivore Day?). To celebrate this day, Animal Acres--the Los Angeles-area farm that saved a piggy I bought from the cleaver--will hold a fundraiser at Cal State Long Beach tomorrow. Tickets are $35 presale, $45 at the door, but catering comes from a lot of local vegan eateries in the Long Beach area and you get to support a cool organization. Starts at 7 p.m. at the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden at Long Beach St., 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach. More info, call (562) 439-1736.

And now, one of the great arguments against animal cruelty: Babe!

​For such an upscale restaurant, this deal is pretty good.

As an appetizer, choose either the chopped salad or the roasted butternut squash soup; the entrée selection includes crackling pork osso bucco and filet mignon brochette--and you also get a side dish!--while dessert (save room!) might be dark chocolate mousse cake with almond brittle and malted crème anglaise.

The deal runs through January 4, 2010.

And remember: In autumn and winter there's no such thing as a diet as we all need to keep our layers of flab for hibernation. That's my excuse, anyway, and I'm sticking to it.

Like all of you, I was SHOCKED SHOCKED SHOCKED when I read the LA Times on Monday and saw the news about Gourmet magazine. But leave it to Jon Stewart to put even this in perspective. I need not say anymore, because really, the man has said it all.

Keith May

​Kogi's still going strong. This after countless knockoffs have taken to the road and naysayers have taken to the comment boards. Seriously, it seems that the number of vehement objections to their popularity is directly proportional to their popularity.

These days, it seems fashionable to be a Kogi hater (let's see how many I attract with this post).

Regardless, don't think that any of it will make the lines shorter.

But if your frustration with Kogi is that line, here's a tip: I wait until close to the end of the shift before I attempt a rendezvous. And if they've run out of food, or the line's still prohibitive, I come back the next time they're in town, which, by the way, is this weekend.

​The food blog network Foodbuzz has come out with the nominations for The Foodbuzz Blog Awards and it's as if the Oscars were actually smart enough to nominate The Dark Knight for Best Picture -- something I can get behind.

​Mitch Gillan, who was, until recently, the chef at French 75 in Laguna Beach, has updated us on where he is now in a comment made on my review of the restaurant. The meal I reviewed, coincidentally, turned out to be one of the last meals he cooked there.

Mall restaurants aren't everyone's first choice when dining out, but South Coast Plaza is surely an exception? Not the fast-food joints and run-of-the-mill chains, of course, but the higher-end spaces. Name one other shopping center in the US that's home to a trifecta of the caliber of Hamamori, Charlie Palmer and Marché Moderne?

On Friday and Saturday I took part in a two-day event that gathered a group of local (OC and LA) food bloggers and led us around the crème de la crème of SCP's eateries. From Hamamori to Pizzeria Ortica, we didn't stop tasting, talking and taking notes.

Here's the itinerary, with the high spots picked out:

​

Sushi and steak at Hamamori. Thinly sliced wagyu beef, which you cook yourself on a hot plate over rock salt and then dip in sauces (apple sesame, soy steak and rock salt with chili pepper). I'm not a meat lover but, tender and full of flavor, this had me converted. Can't believe we fell for James Hamamori's leg-pulling (he offered to provide a fellow blogger with some "left-handed chopsticks!!")