For the last eighteen months, we have been watching as Carlos Salgado's Taco María truck became the darling of the food community. People who refused to eat from a mobile catering truck lined up for Taco María's food, from burritos to chilaquiles, from ezquites to bone marrow quesadillas.

It's finally time; the truck is going to be parked and Taco María will move into the OC Mart Mix sometime this spring.

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Stephanie Morgan photo by Kimberly Valenzuela / OC Weekly

Chef Geeta Bansal of Clay Oven and Chef Stephanie Morgan of Seabirds

Clay Oven has played host to a few pop-up restaurants recently, usually with cutesy names ("Play Oven" for the Jason Quinn pop-up), but tonight's "Clay Birds" seems like an obvious match: the ladies from Seabirds will be teaming up with Chef Geeta Bansal to cook two seatings' worth of Indian-inspired vegan fare.

See also:
- Seabirds Will Team Up With Clay Oven In September Pop-Up
- The Playground & Clay Oven Team Up To Do "Play Oven" Pop-Up
- The Seabirds Truck e-Cookbook + A Recipe For OC Weekly Readers
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Anne Marie Panoringan

Who knew this luxe lonchera would be so successful it made their Top 5 last year? This gal. Andrew Gruel and Jethro Naude did good with their goal of branding into a brick-and-mortar establishment back in April. They've already gotten two shout outs on our countdown so far, but this is my go-to comfort dish bowl meal.

I'm sure it's our Bay Area roots calling, but nothing says home like piping hot clam chowder. And not the red stuff, either (stay in Manhattan!). We're talking creamy, tater-on-tater action.
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Photo by Matthew Pih

"We want to change the way people think about and choose their seafood" says SLAPFISH co-owners Andrew Gruel and Jethro Naude. "The idea is to get people to eat more seafood, but the right types of seafood, because sustainable tastes better."

When we interviewed Andrew for On the Line last summer, we met in a space that could morph into the refreshingly responsible seafood shack. His propensity to immerse himself and Jethro in current food news was apparent with each visit. Jethro and Andrew designed the nautical space to match their oceanic lifestyles. Their menu selection reflects both the luxe lonchera they departed, plus a few new specialties.
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Dave Lieberman

The future home of Seabirds... but only if you help.

​Late last year, we reported that Stephanie Morgan and her partners in awesome vegan cuisine were looking at the space next to Playground in downtown Santa Ana's Fiesta Marketplace East End. It's taken a few months, but they've finally committed to the space.

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Dave Lieberman

​Ever walked through the pedestrian plaza on Second Street between Sycamore and Broadway? You walk past the Gypsy Den and Memphis, then Lola Gaspar and the soon-to-open Road Less Traveled and Belly Sprout stores, and then, on your left . . . scaffolding and an indescribably ugly fence closing off what looks as if it were Paul Revere's house plunked down in the middle of Southern Califas.

This beautiful building, which once housed offices of The Gas Company, has sat empty for as long as I've lived in Orange County. It is destined, finally, for public service once again: Jason Quinn, formerly of the Lime Truck and current enfant terrible at Playground on la Cuatro, intends to open a restaurant there.

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Meranda Carter/OC Weekly

Andrew Gruel

​Last month, we reported that OC fave SlapFish Truck would be going brick-and-mortar (yep, this is a thing these days), and now we've got an address to share.

As announced on its Facebook page, the restaurant will be located at 19696 Beach Blvd. in Huntington Beach. It's expected to open in early March.

Executive chef Andrew Gruel tells Orange Coast that they'd like to have three Orange County locations in the next two years. That means three whole kitchens providing us with Lobsticles and other sustainable seafood dishes. Yessss. 

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​So many of our luxe loncheras have started opening brick-and-mortar locations that we're going to have to start keeping a monthly tally, like we do with openings and closings. This time it's Shortstop BBQ, which has its invite-only soft opening tonight at their new digs near Cal State Fullerton.

Shortstop, which is located at 711 N. Placentia Ave. in Fullerton, just east of the 57, joins the Lime Truck (or, at least, the Lime Truck's chef), Slapfish, Dos Chinos, and Seabirds in the fight to find restaurant space in OC (or in LA, hmph!).

No official opening date has been set.

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