Lemonade - Fashion Island, Newport Beach

Lemonade
Fashion Island
Newport Beach
http://lemonadela.com/
Lemonade, a restaurant known for serving fresh, seasonal, Southern California comfort food, opened earlier this week in Fashion Island. It is located near the Island Cinemas movie theaters. Lemonade offers a unique experience by serving gourmet food in an old-school cafeteria-like environment. You start at the beginning of a long line of tasty delights and point out what you want along the way. Items are priced individually and range from $1-$13. Items are seasonal and change eight times per year. Below are pictures of some of the items they had available during the media preview.






Of the many items I tried, I really enjoyed the snap pea and edamame salad with sesame dressing, the red miso braised shortribs and the white truffle mac and cheese. I then decided that my two favorite items I tried were the Avocado and Cherry tomato salad, and the BBQ braised brisket. The BBQ brisket had a nice spicy kick that I loved.

But then......then....I had the COCONUT CAKE!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH THAT COCONUT CAKE WAS SOOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!! I MUST HAVE MORE NOW!!!!!!! Light fluffy layers of extremely moist coconut cake were layered with frosting that had the perfect amount of sweetness. The cake reminded me a little of a tres leches, because I think the cake was soaked or drizzled with some sweetened condensed milk. It was SO good. Did I mention it was good? I think I'm going to stop writing now so I can go get more of that cake....

Pitfire Pizza - Costa Mesa

 353 E 17th St.

Costa Mesa, CA 92627

949-313-6333

www.pitfirepizza.com

Please Note: The following is a guest review written by Jeff L.

I attended a media event so take my reviews as such. I was coming from PCH and drove past the restaurant but the parking behind it is very intuitive. This is the first restaurant of theirs in OC and the 6th location overall having been in LA for years. Costa Mesa makes sense for a restaurant like this with its simple, laid back atmosphere yet subtle attention to details. For example, the column you see when ordering was made out of mahogany from a boat deck, the bulbs on the wall to your left as you walk in spell Pitfire in braille, and the seats are made from VW beetle car seats. The place is very approachable and I liked the open counter seating encouraging you to sit next to the kitchen in a community type arrangement. The counter made me think of a diner meets European café setting.

The drink menu was limited but focused to make anyone happy. They have all your major wines but all hand picked trying to get from California if they could. I had one of the signature cocktails called Crystal Cove which was quite refreshing and the rosemary stick made for an interesting touch – you could smell the fresh rosemary though drinking it could be challenging because the rosemary kept wanting to go in my nose – I somehow managed though. I had a sample of the beer which was very refreshing yet bold in flavor. They have from 5-10 beers on tap. In addition to regular sangria they also offered a pear apple version. The boomboom red wine was excellent and highly recommended by management. It reminded me of a daily drinkable Italian table wine that just was what it was. For pricing of $7 to $12 a glass it was perfect with the pizza.

The chicken meatballs were uneventful but the sauce brought them to life. On to pizza, I tried several and all were excellent. The crust was thin akin to a southern Italy but not crispy on the bottom. The topping to crust ratio was just right. The edge of the pizza crust was quite crispy though giving it a good combination. I am not a pumpkin person usually but pumpkin squash pizza was quite lovely, very subtle yet flavorful with the brown butter and fontina cheese rounding it out nicely. The Burrata pie was excellent with the arugula a nice touch. One pizza had me intrigued because it was pear but had a spicy kick, turns out they put a few red chili flakes on it. On to my favorite, the sausage party was divine and seeing all that meat on it had me anticipating a more saltier version but the balsamic drizzle kept it at bay and really brought out the flavor. The final pizza was the Tuscan off-menu with thinly sliced potatoes of all things but it worked.

Chicken Meatballs

Pumpkin Pizza

Burrata Pizza

Sausage Party Pizza

Tuscan Pizza with Potatoes

They make almost if not all of their own food and even have their own bread room. In the spirit of community they have a nice private dining room behind the kitchen and even installed the first oven they ever used from 15 years ago. Overall it has high quality food made by people that are passionate about what they do. The three themes of food, design and community are abundant throughout the entire experience and I will definitely be back with a high recommendation.

Tustin Pizza Company

Tustin Pizza Co.
13842 Newport Ave # B
Tustin, CA 92780-7802
(714) 838-1944

I recently had a craving for pizza and I had a coupon for Tustin Pizza Company, so I decided to give it a shot. I ordered one large pizza with pepperoni and garlic on one half and bacon and jalapeno on the other half ($10.50 for pizza + $1.75 for each topping-$14.00 total). I also decided to get a bavarian cream dessert pizza that they call a "sweetzah pie" for $3. I got a free order of toasted ravioli for checking in on Facebook.


The toasted ravioli weren't bad. They were just your basic frozen appetizer, served with a side of marinara.

The pizza was of a decent size and had plenty of toppings. The bacon was actually large pieces of bacon instead of bacon bits. There was also a generous helping of garlic on the pepperoni side. The pizza was very good. The crust was of medium thickness and was chewy on the inside, but crusty on the outside. I thought the crust was nearly perfect, but V thought it was a little too chewy. The sauce had a nice tangy flavor and was not overly sweet like a lot of pizza places. The cheese was the perfect texture as well.

The dessert pizza was not as good as I expected it to be. It was basically pizza dough with a thick pudding on top that tasted really artificial. I might try their raspberry flavor sometime since they are only $3, but I will not get this bavarian cream one again

Overall I really enjoyed the pizza from Tustin Pizza Co. I will definitely be getting pizza from here in the future. I think I will stick to just the pizza though and pass on the appetizers and dessert.

Lazy Dog Cafe in Irvine Opens Tonight 3/4/2010

13290 Jamboree Rd
Irvine CA 92602
Ph. (714) 731-9700

Alternate OC locations:
1623 West Katella Ave.
Orange CA 92867
Ph. (714) 769-7020

16310 Beach Blvd
Westminster CA 92683
Ph. (714) 500-1140

www.lazydogcafe.com

CLICK HERE TO SEE MY OTHER REVIEWS OF LAZY DOG CAFE

The new Lazy Dog Cafe in the Irvine Marketplace will open at 5:00 PM tonight. They are taking over the spot that has been vacated by the failed restaurants French 75, Wilhelm's Chophouse and Martin Yan's restaurant that I can not recall the name of. Lazy Dog Cafe already operates restaurants in both Westminster and Orange. You can also find locations outside Orange County in Torrance, Valencia, Thousand Oaks and coming soon, in Temecula.

The Lazy Dog Cafe is a full service casual dining restaurant that was started by the founder of the Mimi's Cafe chain. It is often described as a cheaper version of Claim Jumper. The restaurant serves a large variety of comfort food, pizza, sandwiches, burgers, seafood, pasta and even Chinese food.

I was lucky enough to be invited down to a Pre-Grand Opening party this past Tuesday. The restaurant was generous enough to let me bring three guests. V, T and IG accompanied me to the party.

Here is an overview of what we ordered.


Boston Tea Party Fishbowl ($16.95*)


Hand Muddled Citrus Margarita


Trio of Hummus Dips ($7.95)


Wok-Fired Calamari ($9.95)


Angry Achiote Rocky Mountain Wings ($9.25)


Small Chicken Tortilla Soup ($3.75)


Small Caesar Salad ($5.95)


Bleu Cheese New York ($23.95)


BBQ Baby Back Pork Ribs ($17.95)


Garlic-Butter Glazed Flatiron Steak ($17.45)


Fig and Prosciutto Pizza ($11.95)


Cinnamon and Sugar Pizza ($4.95)


Sweet Tooth Sundae ($2.95)

With the exception of a few tough ribs (some were tough, some were not) everything was really good. V really likes Keri's Mediterranean veggie pizza from this restaurant and used to think it was the best pizza she had ever had. She now thinks that the Fig and Prosciutto pizza is better. The Tortilla Soup is an item that Lazy Dog is known for. They do an incredible job with it. The Cinnamon Sugar pizza is a perfect dessert to share when you are dining with a group.

The portions here are generous and the prices are very reasonable. I have always enjoyed going to Lazy Dog Cafe in the past, but hated driving to Orange or Westminster. Now that they are open in Irvine, I can see myself going there any time I want a quick, casual, delicious meal. The service here is also top notch. Whenever I have dined at a Lazy Dog, the service has rivaled some of the finest restaurants I have been to. I highly recommend The Lazy Dog Cafe to anyone looking for a delicious upscale dining experience, without the upscale price.

*Prices are for reference only. My meal was comped.

Do Not Go To Johnnie's New York Pizzeria In Irvine!

3939 Portola Parkway
Irvine, CA 92602

714-505-3355

www.johnniesnypizza.com

RESTAURANT ADDED TO BLACKLIST DUE TO POOR SERVICE

If you must go to Johnnie's though, I suggest you get takeout. The food is good, but I had horrible service there last night. I went down to Johnnie's for dinner with a party of eight. After we were seated, the waiter informed us that we were there during happy hour so all appetizers were half off and wine and beer were a dollar off. We weren't initially planning on getting appetizers, but since they were on special we decided to get an order of calamari and an order of bruschetta. We also ordered two bottles of wine.

A while later the waiter returned to take our order. We all ordered our entrees. V ordered the gnocchi with the blue cheese parmesan cream sauce.

After about 45 minutes to an hour, the waiter started bringing our entrees out. He brought out everyone's entree except for V's. About 5-10 minutes after he brought all the other entrees out he came back and said to V, "I just found out that we don't have any gnocchi." Then he just stared at her. After a few moments I broke the silence and said, "Why didn't you let us know earlier?" He said that he had just found out. Again, silence. "Well.....can she order something else?" I said. "I guess so" he replied. "Can we see the menu again?" I replied. "Oh yeah" he said and left to go get a menu.

We were all in shock that the waiter had waited 5-10 minutes after delivering the entrees to tell V that the item she ordered was unavailable. The waiter returned with the menu and told V that he would comp whatever entree she wanted. V looked over the menu and ordered a carne asada pizza. The waiter came back a few minutes later to tell us, "The kitchen says it's going to take a long time."

V sat and patiently waited while the rest of us ate our entrees. She picked on the bread basket and ate some of C's pizza. The waiter came by again after we had all finished eating and said to V, "Should I just pack up your pizza to go, since you guys are all ready to leave?" V just said, "That's fine...."

The waiter came back with V's pizza and our check. We handed him a 15% off coupon that we had. A few moments later the waiter came back and said "I can't take your 15% off coupon. You ordered appetizers and since they are half off for happy hour, we can't take your coupon." I asked to speak with the manager. The manager came by our table and repeated, "You can't use this coupon because you ordered happy hour specials." I told the manager that we had only ordered appetizers because the waiter had told us they were half off when we sat down. We had no idea that ordering them would invalidate our coupon. The manager then snapped back, "I already gave you a free carne asada pizza!" I told him that that was because of a completely different issue. He responded, "Fine, I'll give you 15% off your bill but I am going to charge you full price for your appetizers." I told him that was fine and that we would just not return to the restaurant again. "Whatever," he muttered and walked away.

The food at Johnnie's is actually very good. I'm very disappointed with the service here though. D&C had been to this restaurant previously and also had problems with receiving the correct order and the kitchen being out of items that they ordered. If this restaurant had better service and made sure that their kitchen was stocked with the items on their menu, I would be highly recommending this place. Since this is not the case though, I think you are better off visiting one of the hundreds of other Italian restaurants in the area.

Domino's New Pizza Recipe - Does it Deliver?

In case you haven't heard yet, Domino's pizza is making a risky business move to celebrate their 50th year in business. Domino's decided to completely scrap their old pizza recipe and release a new and improved pizza recipe in all of their stores. They apparently did a lot of focus groups and found that people thought that their old pizza tasted like cardboard. Therefore, they spent millions coming up with a new pizza recipe. They have changed every component, the crust, the cheese, and the sauce. They documented the whole thing and launched a website to promote the event (pizzaturnaround.com).

I have never been a big fan of Domino's. Whenever I get quick takeout pizza, I usually opt for Pizza Hut. I decided to try Domino's tonight though to see if their new and improved pizza was really as good as they say it is.

I logged on to their website and saw that they were selling their new pizzas for $5.99 each when you purchase at least two medium, two-topping pizzas. The website let's you build your own virtual pizza on the screen while you order it. The first thing I noticed was that there was a lot more variety than Pizza Hut. First of all, you could pick between three different sauces; classic tomato, white sauce or barbecue sauce. To make a fair comparison, I decided to order my pizza close to my standard pizza at Pizza Hut. This means I got pepperoni and extra tomato sauce. Domino's offers regular size pepperoni and jumbo pepperoni. I had them add both since I usually get double pepperoni at Pizza Hut. V decided to get a slightly different pizza than her usual. At Pizza Hut V gets ham and jalapeno pizza. Since Domino's offered white sauce and a larger variety of toppings, she decided to get white sauce, prosciutto and feta cheese.

I arrived at Domino's 15 minutes later to pick up my pizza. I opened the boxes to check the accuracy of my order. I opened V's pizza and saw what looked like a plain cheese pizza. I told the cashier that my order was incorrect. I told him the the prosciutto was missing. He showed me my order on his computer and it did not say anything about prosciutto. He called the manager over and the manager informed me that she had never heard of prosciutto as a topping. She kept telling me that maybe I was seeing things because she didn't think they even had that topping on their website. I kept insisting that I wasn't seeing things. I pulled out my iPhone and showed her the Domino's website with prosciutto listed as a topping. She apologized but said she still didn't have the topping. I asked her to remake the pizza with ham instead of the prosciutto which she agreed to. I was annoyed to say the least. How can a large corporate website let me order something that their stores know nothing about? It especially annoys me that this topping mysteriously disappeared from my order when it was transmitted to the store. It is as if they knew that the store didn't have the topping but they let me order it anyway and then just took it off before sending my order to the store.

After my second pizza was made, I headed home to try the pizzas. The pizzas smelled fantastic on the car ride home. I opened the pizza boxes at home and saw two nice looking pizzas.


(Ham, feta cheese and white sauce)

(Jumbo pepperoni, regular pepperoni, extra tomato sauce)

One of the new features of Domino's pizza is a garlic butter crust. It was very tasty and I even heard V use the word "gourmet" when she was eating it. It was nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. This was nothing like their old cardboard crust.

Overall the pizzas were very tasty. The sauce was nice and tangy, slightly sweet and had the tiniest kick to it from crushed red pepper. The crust was nice and slightly buttery and the cheese is now a blend of mozzarella and provolone. V really enjoyed her pizza. She was very happy with the fact that Domino's has white sauce since she doesn't really like tomato sauce. I thought that the pizza was as good or a little better than Pizza Hut. It was also a lot better than a lot of pizzas that I have gotten in full service sit-down restaurants. I will most likely be getting this pizza again in the future, especially if they keep the $5.99 price tag. They just really need to work on making sure their website is accurate.....

Cosi - Costa Mesa, Metro Pointe

901 South Coast Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone: 714-957-6191
Fax: 714-957-3384

More than 100 locations Nationwide

www.getcosi.com


Cosi is a little sandwich cafe that reminds me of Panera. You order at the counter and then wait at a cozy table for your food. They also offer free wi-fi. In many ways though, I think Cosi is much better than Panera. I kind of wish there was a Cosi on every corner around me, instead of Panera.

Cosi is modeled after a small Parisian cafe. This is not to be confused with a small Persian cafe like someone I know thought. It's Parisian, as in Paris, France. The menu at Cosi consists of salads, soups, hot and cold sandwiches and flatbread pizzas. In the evening, they also serve hearth baked dinners like grilled salmon and chicken in alfredo sauce.

I went to the counter to place my order. I decided to get a dinner sized flatbread pizza ($9.99) that I could customize with my own toppings ($1.49 each). I asked the cashier if they had fresh garlic and cilantro available as toppings. She looked at me and said, "Ummmmm....how fresh?" I laughed and said that I just wanted garlic on my pizza that wasn't roasted or cooked in any way. She had no idea and yelled back to the cooks, "Do we have fresh garlic?!?" They responded with a quick "No." I asked if they had any kind of garlic. The answer again was no. "Ok, what about the cilantro?" She yelled back again, "Is our cilantro fresh?!?!?" The cook yelled back "Uhhh....yeah...." So in the end, I ended up ordering a pizza with pepperoni and fresh cilantro.

As a side note, if you have never tried this combination on a pizza, you are really missing out. Pepperoni and Cilantro pizza is probably one of the best kinds of pizza you can get. The only thing that would make it better is fresh garlic. If you haven't tried these toppings together on a pizza, stop reading this article, go out and find a pizza place that offers these toppings and go get it. You can come back and read this article later. But I digress....

T went up to the counter and ordered the Wasabi Roast Beef sandwich ($7.39) and a cup of Tortilla Soup, which was advertised as the soup of the day. The cashier told him that they didn't have Tortilla soup. She said that it was coming soon, but not yet available. He ended up getting a cup of the Tomato Soup ($2.19 with purchase of entree) instead.

V decided to get the T.B.M sandwich ($6.39) that had tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese. The cashier asked if she wanted it grilled or cold. V decided on grilled (which makes the sandwich $6.59). The cashier then asked if she wanted chicken in the sandwich. V responded with, "No....No Chicken....No meat of any kind." "Ok" responded the cashier.

A fourth was dining with us, "I", but to be honest I forgot what she ordered. I also forgot to take a picture of her food, so shame on me....Sorry.

Cosi also has a unique dessert that we decided to try. They offer "do it yourself" S'mores. The menu says that you have your choice of graham crackers or giant Oreo cookies to make your S'mores with. An order for two people costs $7.79 and an order for four people costs $13.59. We all just wanted to try it, so we decided that all four of us would share the order for two. We tried to order our S'mores with the Oreo cookies, but the cashier looked confused and again yelled into the kitchen, "Do we have Oreos?" Of course, their response was "No."

They handed us our number and we sat down at a table. The atmosphere is really nice. The decor reminds me of Panera as well. It seems more like you're in a cozy coffee shop than a restaurant. We didn't have to wait long for our food at all. My pizza was the first to arrive.

I received a pretty large pizza that was rectangular in shape and 15 inches long. The pizza was made on the same flatbread that everything here seems to be made with. I took a bite of pizza and was pleasantly surprised. It was quite good! The sauce had a nice bold tomato flavor and the pizza overall had a nice fresh taste to it. The amount of pepperoni wasn't bad and I liked that they gave me plenty of fresh cilantro. I was only able to eat about half of this pizza since it was so big.

Next they brought V's sandwich. "Chicken TBM Sandwich?" they said. "Um....no" V replied. "I was very clear that I did not want any meat in my sandwich." They apologized and took the sandwich away. I'm wondering if we actually got charged for the chicken sandwich. I have no idea though because we were never provided with a receipt for our dinner, just a number.

They then brought T's sandwich and soup. All of the sandwiches here seem to be served on the same flatbread that is split in half. It kind of reminds me of having a sandwich in a pita pocket. T thought the soup was ok but was very disappointed in his sandwich. The menu was not really clear on whether the sandwich was hot or cold. T was expecting a hot roast beef sandwich, but it was ice cold. He also thought that the sandwich was really, really sweet. He couldn't stop talking about how sweet it was. He said he could barely force himself to eat the sandwich because it was so sweet.


A few minutes later they returned with V's correct sandwich. Her sandwich contained three slices of mozzarella, three slices of tomato and three leaves of basil. She thought the sandwich was just average. V thinks she would prefer to have a sandwich from Panera. I think they could have put a little more into the sandwich. Her sandwich seemed like it barely had any filling at all.

When we finished our dinner, we went up to the counter and told them we were ready for our S'mores. They brought us out a large round platter with a mini fire pit in the middle of it. On the platter was one Hershey bar, eight marshmallows and four graham crackers broken in half. It was pretty fun making s'mores at the dinner table over this tiny fire pit. V thought that since they charge almost $8.00 for this dessert, which is more than any of their sandwiches, that they should have given us more marshmallows. V is a marshmallow addict though.

I really like the environment at Cosi. It is exactly as the name implies, cozy. I think that this is a great place to go get a casual inexpensive dinner. I will definitely get the pizza when I return. I will also probably order the S'mores again because it was really fun. I just hope that they have the giant Oreo cookies next time.

Red Brick Pizza - Tustin District

2455 Park Ave, Unit 1
Tustin, CA 92782

Phone 714-258-3500

Various locations across US, 21 within 50 miles of Irvine

Always looking for the next great pizza, I decided to try Red Brick Pizza at The District in Tustin. I looked over their menu online and was immediately impressed with the number of options that they had. At Red Brick, you can not only choose your toppings, but you can choose your sauce and crust as well. Red Brick Pizza boasts that they bake your pizza in a 1000 degree oven so that your pizza only takes 3 minutes to bake.

After looking over their menu, I decided to get a large Pepperoni Suprema ($18.00) and a Medium Pizza with Chipotle sauce, Canadian Bacon and Jalapenos ($15.00). I ordered my pizza online using LiveOnTheGo.Com (Use code "GRIFFINEATS" to get $5 off your first order-Many other restaurants to choose from). I asked them to have the pizza ready at 7:00 PM. I drove down to the District and had quite a difficult time finding parking. I finally found a spot and walked over to Red Brick. I walked in at 7:00 PM on the dot. The pizza wasn't ready, so I stood around for about 10 minutes until it was.

I took the pizza home and opened my large Pepperoni Suprema. I was shocked to see that this "Suprema" hardly had any pepperoni on it at all. The pizza was also pretty small. This did not look like an $18.00 pizza. I grabbed a slice and took a bite. My tongue was immediately attacked by oregano. I am a HUGE fan of oregano, and I even sprinkle it on my pizza sometimes. This tasted like the cook had accidentally spilled an entire gallon of it on to my pizza though. The taste of the oregano was so strong, I couldn't even taste the pepperoni or the cheese. The crust was also a little dry. I was annoyed that I had paid so much for this pizza. I have had $5 large pizzas that were much better than this.

The second pizza was to be shared by "I" and "V". They opened their pizza box and found a tiny pizza inside. This "medium" pizza would barely pass for a small at any other restaurant. The pizza was about the size of an individual pizza that you would expect to get at a casual dining restaurant. Both of the girls liked the pizza, but said that the Chipotle sauce was not spicy at all. They also didn't think the pizza was worth anywhere near the $15 we had paid for it.

Overall, we were all very disappointed with this pizza place. We paid $35.56 for these two pizzas. We would have been much better of going to Pizza Hut, Pacino's, Ameci or many other pizza places, and we would have spent a lot less. I would not recommend Red Brick Pizza to anyone. The only way I would even consider trying it again, would be if they cut their prices in half...or maybe even by 75%...

Do you like Red Brick Pizza? Please leave me a comment and tell me why. I'd love to hear from you.