Red O Restaurant - Newport Beach

Red O Restaurant - Fashion Island, Newport Beach
143 Newport Center Drive
Newport Beach, CA 92660
Tel: (949) 718-0300
redorestaurant.com

Rick Bayless, the celebrity chef and host of the emmy-nominated show "Mexico: One Plate At A Time", has opened his newest restaurant at Fashion Island in Newport Beach. This is Red O's second location, the first being in Los Angeles. More locations will hopefully be opening soon. Red O restaurant features a dramatic interior paired with high-end Mexican food. I was recently invited down to try some of their culinary delights.

We started our meal off with an Amuse-Bouche of Dungeness Crab Tostaditas. A deep-fried plantain chip was topped with sweet dungeness crab meat, grilled pineapple and tomatillo-avocado salsa. It was absolutely amazing, and probably my favorite part of the meal.

Next, up we tried the Corn & Goat Cheese Tamales and a Tasting of Guacamole that came with four different kinds of guacamole and fried plantain chips. The tamales were light, fluffy and slightly sweet. The goat cheese added a nice creamy, rich flavor that complemented the masa perfectly. I'm thinking of asking my mother-in-law to make some goat cheese tamales for Christmas this year... The guacamole sampler came with Classic, Pomegranate-Walnut, Macha and Yuzu guacamoles. Of the four, I believe that Yuzu was my favorite. The guacamole was spiked with Japanese yuzu and shishito peppers.

 

Next up was Tortilla Soup. The broth was poured tableside over a bowl of chicken, avocado and fried tortilla strips. The broth was filled with sauteed onions and reminded me a lot of French Onion soup. I wish this soup had more spice to it.

For my entree, I selected the Lamb Mole Negro. Four lamb chops arrived on the plate in a pool of black mole sauce. There seemed to be some consistency issues with the sizing of the lamb chops as some of the plates seemed to be twice as big as others. Each plate came with four lamb chops, but some chops were huge compared to some of the others. The lamb itself was cooked perfectly and was very tender. The mole sauce added a smoky flavor with the slightest hint of sweetness. A fantastic dish.

To finish off the meal, we were served Tres Leches cake. Tres Leches is usually made by soaking a sponge cake in three different milks, evaporated, condensed and regular milk or cream. Red O uses pound cake instead of sponge cake and opts to use non-fat milk instead of cream. The result is a cake that is a little denser than most, and not quite as rich. The cake was topped with toasted meringue and spicy pears.

Overall, Red O is a very good option if you are looking for upscale Mexican food. The prices here will likely make it a "special occasion" restaurant for most. Dinner entrees range from $15-$56. If you're looking to dine there on a budget, try going for lunch when their prices are a little lower.

Agora Churrascaria - Irvine

Agora's Passion Fruit Caipirinha

Agora Churrascaria
1830 Main Street
Irvine, CA 92614

949-222-9910
www.agoranow.com

Agora Churrascaria is a restaurant that I am sure many of you have heard of. It is known as Orange County's best Brazilian Steakhouse aka Churrascaria. Large skewers of fire-roasted meats are paraded around the restaurant and sliced directly onto your plate. It's a veritable all-you-can-eat meat-apalooza. Since every article written about this place is focused on the meat....the juicy, tender, succulent, flavorful, scrumptious meat....I have decided to talk a little bit about something different. The salad bar.

The salad bar at Agora Churrascaria is included in every meal. The idea is that you are supposed to go up to the salad bar to get yourself a salad or some side dishes before you gorge yourself on meat. Often times though, I see many people skip the salad bar altogether and just pig out on meat. Now, while this may seem like a good way to get your money's worth, you're really missing out on some of the best stuff that Agora has to offer.

Here are a few pictures of the salad bar.






The salad bar is filled with some of the most delicious, fresh produce you have ever seen. Red, ripe juicy tomatoes with fresh mozzarella and thick stalks of asparagus are laid out in a meticulous fashion. You will also find a nice selection of cured meats, like salami and prosciutto spread out near a giant platter of crumbled parmesan cheese. Large peeled shrimp are served chilled with cocktail sauce. One side of the salad bar is made of pre-made salads like pasta salad and potato salad and are among some of the best you will ever have.



In addition to the chilled salad bar, there is also a hot food bar that includes several different side dishes that would often be seen as a meal by themselves. On the hot food bar you will find selections such as black bean stew (fejioada), clams with olive oil and white wine, chicken stroganoff, garlic rice, salmon, mussels, sautéed collard greens and mashed potatoes.

So, while I would still highly encourage anyone to visit Agora when they want to pig out on meat, I urge you to give the salad bar a try. You will find some delightful treats that will nicely complement your meat feast. Perhaps you can even use some of the selections from the cold bar to cool yourself down after the meat sweats start...

Current prices as of August 2012:
Adult Lunch: $25
Adult Dinner: $43
Hot Bar and Salad Bar Only: $21 lunch/$31 dinner
Children age 6-10 are half price

Stonehill Tavern - St. Regis Resort, Monarch Beach

Stonehill Tavern
1 Monarch Beach Resort
Dana Point, CA 92629
Tel: 949.234.3318
http://michaelmina.net/restaurants/locations/stoc.php

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited down to Michael Mina's restaurant, Stonehill Tavern at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, to try the new tasting menu. I know that sometimes I review fast food joints on this blog. Well, Stonehill Tavern would be as opposite of a fast food joint that you can get. This restaurant is the epitome of fine dining. The food and service at this establishment are truly first-class.

The evening started out on the gorgeous balcony with the Seasonal Shellfish Platter ($29pp). This item is not usually included with the tasting menu. We were also given a couple of Stonehill Tavern's signature cocktails to try, the Violet Turning Violet and the Moscow Mule.



The platter consisted of some of the freshest shellfish from the sea served in a variety of imaginative ways. On the shellfish platter were (from left to right) a kumamoto oyster, giant clam ceviche, marinated abalone sashimi, spot prawn cocktail, dungeness crab leg and uni flan.


Next, we were moved inside to start the tasting menu. The tasting menu is $148 per person. You can add a wine pairing to each course for an extra $95 or a pairing of alternate alcoholic beverages (think cocktails, sake and more) for $65 per person. Below are the courses that we sampled (Selections may vary).

Ahi Tuna Tartar (image courtesy of Stonehill Tavern)


Smoked Salmon with Cucumber Dill Yogurt Sauce and Pumpernickel Toast


"Three Eggs" Layers of Uni Custard, Scrambled Chicken Egg and Wasabi Tobiko Caviar


Dry-Boat Halibut with Asparagus, Green Almonds, Ramps and Pancetta


Lobster Pot Pie


Grimaud Farms Duck with Black Barley and Baby Turnips


Wagyu Striploin with Porcini, Broccoli and Bone Marrow


Melted Camembert on House-Made Brioche with Rhubarb Confiture


Raspberry Curd

The menu included a variety of artfully presented delights. My two favorites for the evening would have to be the Grimaud Farms Duck and the Lobster Pot Pie. All of the above dishes are available in a larger entree size. I am told that if you order the entree size Lobster Pot Pie, it comes in a large copper kettle with an entire lobster inside. S's favorite dish of the night was the halibut.

Overall, I know this restaurant may be out of price-range for a lot of you. If you can swing it though, you are in for a real treat. I have been to many fine dining restaurants in my life and Stonehill Tavern has some of the finest service of any restaurant I have been to. The attention to detail and the presentation that the chef puts into each dish makes each plate a feast for both the eyes and your stomach. The next time you are looking for a fine dining restaurant, make sure that Stonehill Tavern is on your list of considerations.

Fleming's Steakhouse 5 for $6 til 7

I have recently discovered that Fleming's Steakhouse in Newport Beach has a bunch of amazing happy hour specials, 7 nights a week! Their happy hour is called 5 for $6 til 7 because they have a selection of 5 appetizers, 5 wines and 5 cocktails for $6 each until 7:00 PM. As an added bonus, you can also get a big 'ol cheeseburger with onion rings for $6 as well. I recently had the opportunity to try all of the appetizers that Fleming's offers during the happy hour. The appetizers and the burger are pictured below.


Tenderloin Carpaccio


Sweet Chile Calamari Tossed with Banana Peppers


Wicked Cajun Barbecue Shrimp


Roasted Mushroom Ravioli


Baked Brie in Puff Pastry


Fleming's Prime Burger with Cheese and Bacon


My favorite of all the selections was the Tenderloin Carpaccio. I'm a total sucker for raw beef though. The thinly sliced filet mignon was paired perfectly with some salty capers, diced red onion, fresh basil and hard boiled egg. Absolutely delicious. The burger was also an amazing deal for only $6. This is a gourmet burger with onion rings at a price that is lower than many fast food joints. These food specials, plus the drink specials below, are available 7 days a week, at the bar, from 4-7 PM.

$6 Cocktails
TROPICAL MARTINI, Malibu Coconut Rum
WHITE COSMO, Svedka Vodka
POMTINI, Smirnoff Vodka
LIMONCELLO MARTINI, Smirnoff Vodka
STOLI BOMBSHELL, Stoli Vodka (99 calories)

$6 WINES BY THE GLASS
SPARKLING, Mas Fi Cava, Spain
CHARDONNAY, Canyon Road, California
PINOT NOIR, Mark West, California
MERLOT, Red Diamond, Washington
CABERNET, 14 Hands, Washington

Digg's Restaurant & Bar Huntington Beach

Digg's Huntington Beach
8052 Adams Avenue
Huntington Beach, CA 92646
(714) 960-3670
www.diggsrestaurant.com

Digg's Restaurant & Bar in Huntington Beach opened their doors about six weeks ago, but just had their grand opening celebration this past weekend. They said that they were using this time to fine tune their skills to make sure that everything was perfect for their opening weekend. I think they should have taken more time. I battled traffic for about an hour and a half to get to the restaurant and was extremely disappointed with my experience.

Digg's invited the media down during their grand opening celebration to sample their food and check out the place. I was one of only four media people that showed up. The four of us were brought out three plates with four bites each for all of us to share, so I was only able to taste one bite of three of their appetizers. I got to try a beef skewer($8), a small egg roll($6) and one bacon wrapped shrimp($14). (Prices are for a full order)



The food that I tried wasn't bad, but it wasn't really anything special either. The skewers were generic, the shrimp were plain and I think that Jack in The Box has better egg rolls, and they're much bigger too. I was pretty disappointed that I only got to sample these three appetizers. The entrees at Digg's sound very good and I look forward to trying them if I ever return.

The service at Digg's was pretty awful as well. It took them almost two hours to bring out these three small samples and their knowledge of them was limited. I asked how many pieces came in a full sized order and the waitress had no idea. She said she would check with someone, but I never saw her again for the rest of the night. In fact, I think I only saw my waitress twice the entire night. She took our drink order when we first arrived and dropped off one of the samples and took a second drink order. Only half of our second drink order made it to the table. The other items were just dropped off by food runners. Throughout the night various staff members stopped by the table and said "Is this your food?" I told them that I was doing the media tasting so I hadn't actually ordered anything. They would then walk off to ask everyone else in the restaurant if it was their food.

Overall I think that Digg's has a long way to go in their service and product knowledge. They should really consider doing a hardcore training session with their staff so that everyone knows about the menu and what they are serving. Digg's is even advertising specials like "Sushi Night Tuesday", but no one seemed to know what it was. The PR rep said she would ask the owner about it, but came back and said that even the owner wasn't sure. I think these things should be thought out and planned before they are advertised.

The dinner menu at Digg's looks like it has a lot of good sounding entrees. When I first looked at their menu I even thought it sounded like a restaurant that I would not mind driving 20+ miles for. They serve a variety of steaks, acai bowls, seafood and pasta. Unfortunately I don't think I was really given the opportunity to sample enough of their food to determine whether or not it is good. If I had to judge the restaurant on the three small bites I was given, I would not recommend it. Since their menu looks so good though, I may try Digg's again someday when they have had time to work out their kinks. If they don't do it soon though, I can't see how they will survive.

AGORA CHURRASCARIA

As seen in Hungry? Thirsty? OrangeCounty 1st edition
By Griffin Tamura

AGORA CHURRASCARIA
MEAT, MEAT, ALL YOU CAN EAT MEAT! A CARNIVORE'S PARADISE!
$$$$
1830 Main Street, Irvine 92614
(at MacArthur)
Phone (949) 222-9910
Fax (949) 222-9965
www.agoranow.com

CATEGORY
[Dinner] [Hipster eatery] [Restaurant Bar] [Steakhouse] [Trendy joint] [Upscale] [Where the ‘boys’ go to eat]

Monday-Friday
Lunch 11:30am-2:00pm
Dinner 5:00pm-10:00pm

Saturday-Sunday
Dinner 5:00pm-10:00pm


PARKING
Parking in front of the restaurant is valet with a fee. There is free parking further away in the lot. If you go on a weekday, your best bet would be to park in front of McDonalds. If you go at night or on the weekend, there should be plenty of open parking.

PAYMENT
[VISA] [MC] [AMEX] [DISC]

POPULAR DISH
The waiters or "gauchos" here bring around large skewers of cooked meat and slices off a portion for you at your table. The best meat dish here is also their signature dish. "Picanha" or top sirloin cap, is cooked to perfection with a salty exterior and a moist juicy interior.

UNIQUE DISH
Most of the meats here are pretty standard, but they do offer chicken hearts for those looking to try something a little different.

DRINKS
A full bar with specialty brazilian cocktails is available. They also serve soft drink, coffee, tea etc.

SEATING
Large restaurant with plenty of seating. This place is popular though, so reservations are recommended.

AMBIANCE/CLIENTELE
This is an upscale brazilian steakhouse. Expect to see plenty of business people. Kids are rarely seen here.

EXTRAS/NOTES
This is a place to go when you are HUNGRY. My buddy Tim and I often starve ourselves for the entire day before going here and then compete to see who can eat the most meat. You will leave here feeling so full that you'll have to unbutton your pants. Happy hour is available in the bar from 5-7 PM Mon-Fri. Happy hour specials include small plates of meat and free appetizers.